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

在净碳零的竞争中，行业运营需要使用创新的工艺，这些工艺要么减少二氧化碳（CO2）的排放量，要么理想地充当碳汇，吸收工业生产的CO2。因此，COSMIC建议生产碳酸盐矿物，吸收大量的CO2，具有成本效益的工艺，需要低能量投入。这可以通过简单的化学合成或使用在自然碳封存中发挥主要作用的光合微生物来完成。在COSMIC中，这些矿物将用于处理土壤和土壤类废物，这些废物被污染和/或过于脆弱，容易出现工程故障，对人类和环境造成危害。主要的焦点是应用这些碳酸盐岩生产的非原位或原位处理尾矿。欧洲和世界各地发生了许多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破坏性后果。即使是稳定的尾矿堆也可能是一个重大的健康和环境危害，因为风和水带来的灰尘。在实验室开发后，COSMIC将在尾矿储存设施进行开创性的现场试验，以评估拟议处理方法在抑制粉尘和稳定尾矿方面的成功。然后将从环境影响和整个寿命成本方面对这些技术进行评估，为工业界制定指导方针。在一家国际矿业公司的支持下，新工艺的现场应用将是行业吸收的重大进步。在工业规模上，捕获的工业废物CO2可以在过程中消耗。因此，COSMIC同时通过工业二氧化碳吸收、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对气候变化的适应能力和未来适应能力来应对气候变化。

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.