Investigation of the solubility of olivine for use in carbon dioxide storage

Abstract

Olivine is present in large amountsin nature and has a high concentration of magnesium oxide. The carbonation of olivine occurs via the reaction with carbon dioxide by forming environmentally stable carbonate, thus it is considered as one of the most promising minerals for achieving carbon dioxide capture and storage. However, the carbonation process of magnesium products in olivine takes thousands of years in the natural environment. In this presentation, different reaction parameters such as temperature, pH, and reaction duration have been investigated for their influence on olivine solubility. We will show that decreasing the pH can significantly improve the dissolution rate of olivine. The olivine solubility was also increased by the introduction of carbon dioxide to the solution directly. In addition, we will describe how carbon dioxide was successfully mineralized by a direct carbonation process.