I-Corps: Direct air capture and sequestration of carbon dioxide (CO2)

这个I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是可能开发一种低成本的直接空气碳捕获和封存技术。为了应对气候变化和实现气候目标，可能需要大规模增加直接空气捕获和去除二氧化碳的技术。对于降低二氧化碳的低能量成本、廉价且可扩展的解决方案存在强烈的商业兴趣。这项技术可以通过提供一种永久的、可验证的、低成本的解决方案来消除空气中的二氧化碳，从而满足这一市场需求。此外，所提出的技术同时可以将填埋的工业废物升级为负碳胶凝材料，这可能有助于减少水泥生产的环境足迹。由于废物蓄水池通常位于低收入和服务不足的社区，该技术的商业化可能会为这些社区带来经济利益，I-Corps项目的基础是开发一种利用工业废料直接从大气中捕获二氧化碳的技术。该技术基于两步矿物碳酸化方法，利用碱金属碳酸盐溶液作为中间试剂，从固体矿物废物原料中提取碱度。这种方法源于对矿物溶解和碳酸化的基础研究，该研究发现在碱性条件下，在碱金属碳酸盐的存在下，矿物溶解可能会显着增强。通过协同地增强矿物溶解和溶液pH，可以在环境条件下从固体原料快速产生类似于当前现有技术的基于强氢氧化物液体的直接空气捕获方法所使用的氢氧化物溶液。矿物碳酸化与直接空气捕获的直接耦合消除了资本和能源密集型单元，例如煅烧炉、消化器和压缩机，潜在地最小化了用于从空气中直接去除二氧化碳的能量使用和资本成本。此外，由于矿物碳酸化过程通过凝胶介导的溶解/沉淀机制进行，碳酸化矿物原料显示出增强的火山灰特性，这可能使它们能够作为胶凝材料进行升级循环。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the potential development of a low-cost direct air carbon capture and sequestration technology. To combat climate change and meet climate goals, a large-scale ramping up of technologies for direct air capture and removal of carbon dioxide may be needed. There is a strong commercial interest for low energy cost, inexpensive, and scalable solutions to reduce carbon dioxide. The proposed technology may respond to this market demand by offering a permanent, verifiable, and low-cost solution for removing carbon dioxide from the air. In addition, the proposed technology simultaneously may upcycle landfilled industrial wastes as carbon-negative cementitious material which may help to reduce the environmental footprint of cement production. Because the waste impoundments are often located in low-income and underserved communities, commercialization of the technology may provide economic benefits to these communities.This I-Corps project is based on the development of a technology that utilizes industrial waste materials to directly capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. The CO2 is then stored as a stable mineral. The proposed technology is based on a two-step mineral carbonation method that utilizes alkali carbonate solutions as intermediary reagents to extract alkalinity from solid mineral waste feedstocks. This method stems from fundamental research on mineral dissolution and carbonation, which led to the discovery that mineral dissolution may be significantly enhanced under alkaline conditions in the presence of alkali carbonates. By synergistically enhancing mineral dissolution and solution pH, hydroxide solutions similar to those used by the current state-of-the-art strong hydroxide liquid-based direct air capture processes may be rapidly generated from the solid feedstock under ambient conditions. Direct coupling of mineral carbonation to direct air capture eliminates capital and energy intensive units, such as the calciner, slaker, and compressor, potentially minimizing the energy use and capital cost for direct removal of carbon dioxide from the air. In addition, because the mineral carbonation process proceeds through a gel-mediated dissolution/precipitation mechanism, the carbonated mineral feedstocks show enhanced pozzolanic properties, which may allow them to be upcycled as cementitious materials.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.