Experimental Study of Mineral Carbonation of Wollastonite for Increased CO2 Uptake
Abstract: The cement and concrete industry stand for approximately 8% of the global CO2 emissions. The demand of concrete and cement is expected to increase rapidly with the growing world population and increased urbanization. This makes it of the utmost importance for the industry to try to mitigate its emissions. One way to reduce the industry’s environmental impact is by mineral carbonation curing through which CO2 can be sequestered in the concrete. This investigation studied the CO2 uptake of wollastonite (CaSiO3) which can be used for mineral carbonation. The CO2 uptake of different brands of wollastonite powders for different temperatures, pressures and water to solid ratios were tested through carbonation, and the samples were then analyzed through XRD, SEM and particle size analysis. The results showed large differences in CO2 uptake between the brands of wollastonite powders. They also indicate that lower temperatures lead to higher CO2 uptake but also possibly slow down the reaction rate and that higher CO2 pressures seem to increase CO2 uptake though the effect is small. There was significant variation of the effects of the water to solid ratios on CO2 uptake between the tested brands. The morphology of the powders also seemed to be of little relevance as an amorphous and crystalline powder were the two best performing powders, similarly particle size is not indicated by the result to have a large effect on CO2 uptake, though further studies are required to fully determine the effect of the morphology and particle size.
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