ANTICARB session at the next European Mineralogical Conference – EMC24 – in Dublin
Keynote: Chiara Boschi
Nadia Malaspina (University of Milano-Bicocca; nadia.malaspina@unimib.it); Andrea Rielli (Italian National Research Council; andrea.rielli@igg.cnr.it); Alicja Lacinska (British Geological survey; alci@bgs.ac.uk)
In the last decades many studies have been focusing on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) as a technology to mitigate the increase of atmospheric CO2 concentration. Even though capture technologies are relatively mature, how to safely store CO2 is still debated. Mineral carbonation is amongst the most promising storage approaches because CO2 is stored in stable carbonate minerals (such as magnesite MgCO3) with theoretically no risk of release. This process takes place spontaneously in ultramafic systems through the interaction of CO2-rich aqueous fluids and divalent cations such as Mg2+ derived mainly from serpentine and brucite. However, spontaneous carbonation is relatively slow, compared to the rates of anthropogenic CO2 emissions, and thus innovative carbonation pathways and/or new catalysers are required to speed up the reaction. This session welcomes studies of natural carbonation systems, as well as experimental approaches aimed to advance mineral carbonation in ultramafic rocks both in- and ex-situ.
