Capture and sequestration of carbon dioxide via carbonation reaction in magnesium-rich tailings; towards decarbonization of nickel mining industry

该提案涉及开发一种经济和技术上可行的工艺，通过加拿大镍公司镍矿开采项目富镁尾矿中的碳酸化反应捕获和封存二氧化碳。该项目的目标是消除、捕获和封存未来采矿作业中产生的100%的二氧化碳，甚至可能考虑利用该作业的过剩产能进一步从大气中消除二氧化碳。 与加拿大和地球仪的其他一些采矿项目和作业类似，该采矿项目的尾矿富含镁矿物。这些矿物对二氧化碳吸附，即与二氧化碳反应具有很强的亲和力。因此，有可能在未来采矿厂的尾矿场地中固定大量的二氧化碳，作为含有矿物的固体二氧化碳。该项目的重点是开发加工流程，优化和模拟加拿大镍矿公司镍矿开采项目的二氧化碳捕获和封存能力。这项研究将使加拿大受益，因为它突出了由联邦碳定价模型激励的工业主导的绿色技术。它将作为在全面采矿中固碳的概念证明，并激励加拿大其他业务部门采用类似的技术。

This proposal pertains to the development of an economic and technically viable process for capture and sequestration of carbon dioxide via a carbonation reaction in magnesium-rich tailings for Canada Nickel Company's nickel mining project. The objective of the project is to remove, capture and sequestrate 100% of the carbon dioxide produced in this future mining operation, and even potentially consider further carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere with the excess capacity of the operation. The tailings of this mining project, similar to some other mining projects and operations in Canada and around the globe, are rich in magnesium minerals. Those minerals have strong affinity for carbon dioxide adsorption, i.e. reaction with carbon dioxide. Therefore, it is possible to fix a substantial amount of carbon dioxide in the tailings site of the future mining plant, as solid carbon dioxide containing minerals. The focus of this project is the development of a processing flowsheet, its optimization and modelling of carbon dioxide capture and sequestration capacity of the Canada Nickel Company nickel mining project. This research stands to benefit Canada as it highlights industry-led green technology incentivized by the Federal carbon pricing model. It will serve as a proof of concept for carbon sequestration in full-scale mines and motivate other Canadian operations to pursue similar technologies.