The researchers have not yet tested the process on a working coal-fired stationary boiler, but they are working on developing a reactor in the laboratory that can continuously treat the flue gas. 'The high surface area of the silicon dioxide makes it a natural sorbent for capturing more carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide,' says Maroto-Valer. The silicon dioxide can be used to remove sulfur dioxide from the flue gases, which can subsequently be converted to sulfuric acid to use in the first part of the process. This solid can be used to manufacture construction blocks and there is also a small market for hydrated magnesium carbonate in the cosmetics industry. The researchers were able to convert large amounts of the serpentine’s magnesium to these chemicals providing large surface areas for reactions to occur in solution at room temperature.Ĭarbon dioxide passed through the solution of magnesium sulfate and magnesium hydroxide converts both to magnesium carbonate or magnesite, which becomes a solid and falls to the bottom. Treating some of this magnesium sulfate with sodium hydroxide also creates some magnesium hydroxide. When serpentine dissolves in sulfuric acid, the silicon in the mineral becomes silicon dioxide, or sand, and falls to the bottom, while the magnesium becomes magnesium sulfate. Department of Energy’s National Energy Laboratory in Pittsburgh, dissolved the crushed serpentine in sulfuric acid. Kuchta, graduate student in geo-environmental engineering, all at Penn State and Dan J. Andresen, director of the Consortium for Premium Carbon Products from Coal (CPCPC), the Energy Institute Yinzhi Zhang, post doctoral fellow, the Energy Institute Matthew E. The researchers, who also include John M.

Our method is much less energy expensive.' 'With our method, we do not need to crush it that fine and we do not need high temperatures. 'Previous researchers investigating serpentine for use in sequestering carbon dioxide have crushed serpentine very finely, to sizes smaller than beach sand, but, even at these small sizes, it takes high temperatures to speed up the reaction, 'says Maroto-Valer. deposits of the minerals that can be used for this process – serpentine and ovivine – can sequester all the carbon dioxide emissions produced from fossil fuels. He researchers used material from the Cedar Hills quarry on the Pennsylvania/ Maryland border for this study, but the mineral is available in large quantities in many places. The metamorphic mineral serpentine - or magnesium silicate hydroxide - is composed of magnesium, silicon and oxygen and is plentiful.

Carbon dioxide formula