Reactor Modelling of Three-Phase Mineral Carbonation

Global warming, therefore climate change, is recognized as one of the biggest global problems of our time, and CO2 is attributed as the main reason for this problem. 87% of the CO2 emissions result from fossil fuel consumption. One of the solutions to reduce emissions resulting from fossil fuels is low-carbon energy transition. However, the high cost of the implementation of low-carbon energy and the excessive availability of fossil fuels cause a delay in this transition. Therefore, Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) offers promising and well-recognized systems to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The International Energy Agency also believes CCUS is one of the most powerful tools for satisfying climate requirements.
Mineral carbonation has the most attention among all CCUS systems since it brings several advantages, especially long-term storage. The mineral-rich industrial waste is one of the options that can be used in mineral carbonation to capture CO2. The usage of the mineral by-product also brings waste valorization, permanent storage for CO2, neutralizing potentially harmful waste, and obtaining valuable end products that can be used as construction materials, fire retardants, fillers, etc.
The chemical and physical properties of mineral by-products vary significantly based on factors such as the feeding during production, the method of production, and how the mineral by-product is cooled. This leads to the production of different mineral by-products exhibiting distinct behaviors. This project was conducted to gain a better understanding of the phenomena prevailing in three-phase mineral carbonation, particularly the mass transfer and reaction kinetics of the used mineral by-product. In addition to the carbonation kinetics, several operational parameters were investigated for the material.
A model equation explaining the mineral by-product carbonation system for a specific mineral by product has been obtained as a result of this project. It has been observed that this model provides approximate values to the experimental data in different pressure test results. Recommendations to improve the experimental model are provided in the report. The obtained results or implications have also been used to develop a phenomenological reactor model to guide future design studies.