CO2-Sequestering Mineral Carbonates (COSMIC): Ground Improvement Applications

在实现净零碳排放的竞争中，工业运营需要使用创新的工艺，要么减少二氧化碳的排放量，要么理想地充当碳汇，吸收工业生产的二氧化碳。因此，COSMIC公司建议生产吸收大量二氧化碳的碳酸盐矿物，采用成本效益高、需要低能源投入的工艺。这可以通过简单的化学合成或利用在自然碳封存中起主要作用的光合微生物来实现。在COSMIC中，这些矿物将用于处理土壤和类似土壤的废物，这些废物受到污染和/或太弱，容易发生工程故障，对人类和环境造成危害。主要重点是将这些非原位或原位生产的碳酸盐用于矿山尾矿的处理。在欧洲和全世界发生了许多矿山尾矿储存设施的故障，对附近的人口、环境和基础设施造成了毁灭性的后果。即使是稳定的尾矿堆，也会因风和水带来的粉尘而对健康和环境造成重大危害。在实验室开发后，COSMIC将在一个矿山尾矿储存设施进行开创性的实地试验，以评估所建议的抑制粉尘和稳定尾矿的处理方法是否成功。然后将根据环境影响和整个生命周期成本对这些技术进行评价，以便为工业制定指导方针。在一家国际采矿公司的支持下实地应用新工艺将是朝向工业吸收的重大进展。在工业规模上，捕获的工业废气二氧化碳可以在过程中被消耗。因此，COSMIC同时处理通过工业二氧化碳吸收减缓气候变化、废物处理设施和基础设施建设或维护的环境影响、以及基础设施的复原力和应对气候变化的能力。

In the race for net carbon zero, industry operations need to use innovative processes which either emit reduced amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) or ideally, act as carbon sinks, absorbing industrially produced CO2. COSMIC thus proposes to produce carbonate minerals which absorb high amounts of CO2 with cost-effective processes that require low energy input. This can be done by simple chemical synthesis or using photosynthetic microorganisms which play a major role in natural carbon sequestration. In COSMIC these minerals will be used for the treatment of soils and soil like wastes, which are contaminated and/or too weak and prone to engineering failure, causing hazards for people and the environment. The main focus is the application of these carbonates produced ex situ or in situ for the treatment of mine tailings. Numerous failures of mine tailing storage facilities have occurred in Europe and worldwide with devastating consequences for the nearby population, the environment and infrastructure. Even stable mine tailing heaps can be a major health and environmental hazard due to dust transported by the wind and water. After development in the laboratory, COSMIC will perform a pioneering field trial at a mine tailing storage facility to assess the success of the proposed treatments in suppressing dust and stabilising the tailings. The techniques will then be evaluated in terms of environmental impact and whole life costs to produce guidelines for industry. The field application of the novel processes with the support of an international mining company will be a major advancement towards industry uptake. At industry scale, captured industrial waste CO2 can be consumed in the processes. COSMIC therefore simultaneously addresses climate change mitigation by industrial CO2 absorption, the environmental impact of waste disposal facilities and that of infrastructure construction or maintenance, as well as infrastructure resilience and futureproofing to climate change.