Capturing and Reusing CO2 by Converting It To Rocks

Within Earth’s surface, there are billions of tons of rocks containing minerals that are reactive with CO2, which is a greenhouse gas that has harmful effects on our planet’s climate. Over thousands of years, these minerals interact with the CO2 in the air, converting the gas into new carbonate minerals and permanently storing the CO2 in a solid form. Today, as society develops solutions to combat the harmful effects of excess CO2 in our atmosphere, the processes carried out by these reactive minerals could present a valuable opportunity. There is a challenge of speeding up the reactions so they happen within days (or even weeks), rather than thousands of years. Climate solutions like this are still new and will require more young and enthusiastic minds to advance their development so our climate is livable for generations to come!

Within Earth's surface, there are billions of tons of rocks containing minerals that are reactive with CO , which is a greenhouse gas that has harmful e ects on our planet's climate. Over thousands of years, these minerals interact with the CO in the air, converting the gas into new carbonate minerals and permanently storing the CO in a solid form. Today, as society develops solutions to combat the harmful e ects of excess CO in our atmosphere, the processes carried out by these reactive minerals could present a valuable opportunity. There is a challenge of speeding up the reactions so they happen within days (or even weeks), rather than thousands of years. Climate solutions like this are still new and will require more young and enthusiastic minds to advance their development so our climate is livable for generations to come!

WHY IS CO HARMFUL, AND WHAT CAN BE DONE?
Since the late s, we have used fossil fuels as our main source of energy. Fossil fuels include coal, petroleum, and natural gas. While they give us a lot of energy, they are also in limited supply, and they emit carbon dioxide (CO ) when we burn them. Release of CO into the atmosphere contributes to unfavorable changes in our planet's climate.
There are several ways to reduce the amount of CO being emitted into Earth's atmosphere. One approach is replacing fossil fuel energy with renewable energy, like solar and wind, which do not emit CO .

RENEWABLE ENERGY
Energy that comes from a source that is in such abundance that it cannot be used up, such as wind or solar energies.
Another approach is to use energy-e cient technologies that require less energy, such as electric cars and LED bulbs. However, some CO emissions cannot be avoided, and we call these "hard-to-avoid" emissions. These are most often found in industrial processes, like those that produce cement, iron, and steel. Because these products are necessary for building our roads, bridges, and buildings, it is important to find ways to avoid the emissions caused by their production. That is where carbon capture comes in to save

CARBON CAPTURE
A technology that captures CO from emission sources (or directly from the air) to prevent the CO from causing changes to Earth's climate. the day! Carbon capture works exactly as it sounds: technologies that "capture" CO from emission sources. There are a lot of ways to go about capturing CO . One approach is called carbon mineralization, in which the CO gas reacts with certain minerals to form new minerals, called carbonates.

CARBONATES
Solid minerals that are formed from interactions with CO and water.

WHAT ARE CARBONATE MINERALS?
You have likely already seen lots of carbonate minerals since they are the building blocks of things like seashells, chalk, and concrete.
These three examples all contain calcium carbonate (CaCO ), which is also called limestone. The idea of carbon mineralization is based on a natural process called mineral weathering, in which certain

MINERAL WEATHERING
A natural process where rocks and minerals break down to form new rocks and minerals. Weathering can involve reactions with CO from the atmosphere, leading to carbonate formation. minerals interact with CO in the air, forming white carbonate minerals like those in the White Cli s of Dover below (Figure ). This process occurs over thousands of years, but if it could be sped up to take place over hours or days, we could use this approach to capture and store CO !

HOW DOES CARBON MINERALIZATION WORK?
The idea of a gas changing to a solid may seem strange, but it happens in other ways that you see every day. The orange rust you see on old metal objects like cars and bikes forms when iron gets wet and reacts with oxygen in the air. The frost you might see on your window in the winter is due to the water vapor in warm humid air touching the kids.frontiersin.org February | Volume | Article |

Figure Figure
You may have already seen carbonate minerals without realizing it. Calcium carbonate makes up seashells, chalk, and even the White Cli s of Dover shown here. Carbonates can form from a variety of ways, all involving interactions with calcium and CO that is dissolved in the water.
cold glass surface. In the case of carbon mineralization, when certain reactive minerals become wet and come into contact with CO , they react to form carbonates, permanently storing CO and keeping it out of the atmosphere for thousands of years.
The reactive minerals used for carbon mineralization need to contain high amounts of calcium or magnesium. These can be found naturally in ultramafic rocks, which are found in the earth on a scale of up

ULTRAMAFIC ROCK
Rocks with relatively large amounts of magnesium, making them ideal for carbon mineralization.
to hundreds of billions of tons (> , , , tons). Reactive minerals can also be found in wastes from industrial and mining processes. When important materials are made (like iron, steel, or cement) or mined (like diamonds, nickel, or copper), waste is generated and placed in piles near the facility. Much of this waste is rich in calcium or magnesium.
It is important to remember that CO is also a waste gas in our atmosphere. Ever since human civilization started using fossil fuels, this heat-trapping gas has been released into the air as a waste product of combustion. Using carbon mineralization, ultramafic rocks and industrial/mining waste could react with the waste CO present in the air to form carbonate minerals, helping to remove CO from the air and prevent it from accumulating to excessive amounts. This waste management process is illustrated in Figure . kids.frontiersin.org February | Volume | Article | Figure   Figure Carbon mineralization involves combining two forms of waste to make new carbonate products. When valuable materials are made (like iron, steel, and cement) or mined (like diamonds, nickel, and copper), solid wastes are also produced, which are often rich in calcium or magnesium. The same processes that produce or mine these valuable materials often also produce CO as a waste that is emitted into the atmosphere. As shown in this figure, the waste CO can be combined with the solid wastes to produce new carbonate minerals.

WHAT CAN WE DO WITH THE CARBONATE PRODUCTS?
The process of using the products produced from carbon mineralization is known as CO utilization. Carbon mineralization can

CO UTILIZATION
The process of changing CO into a new form and using it as a valuable product. be expensive, so by selling the carbonate products, money can be made so that the process is more a ordable. Also, if the carbonate products can be made into building materials, like concrete, these new building materials could replace current building materials that emit CO when produced, so CO utilization could potentially avoid tons of CO emissions! Let us look at concrete as an example. Concrete is made from a mixture of cement, aggregates, and water ( Figure ). Cement acts AGGREGATES Non-reactive materials that provide volume and stability to concrete, ranging from small sand particles to larger gravel rocks.
as the glue that binds the ingredients together. Various sizes of aggregates, such as gravel or sand, are used to provide volume and stability to the concrete. The water allows the concrete to be mixed well before it hardens.
Cement production creates a lot of CO -it accounts for % of all of humanity's CO emissions! Researchers are trying to find ways to reduce cement-related emissions by reducing the amount of cement used in concrete or by changing the way cement is produced. Successful changes in the cement industry could have a major impact on the amount of CO being emitted into our atmosphere! Some companies are using carbonate minerals to create new aggregates for concrete that are more useful than normal aggregates. Some companies have figured out a way to inject CO directly into wet concrete, where it reacts and causes the concrete to become even  Figure Concrete is made up of cement, water, and aggregates. Aggregates are particles of various sizes, such as gravel or sand, and they provide volume and stability to the concrete. Cement acts as the glue that binds the aggregates together. Water is added to allow the concrete to mix well before it hardens.
stronger once it dries. Other companies get creative by using di erent sources of calcium (like industrial wastes) as a new cement in their concrete.
There are already companies around the world that are using carbon mineralization to create new building products, but they are facing a di cult task. Most of the building materials we have today are cheap and relatively easy to use, so replacing them requires some creativity. It is not impossible to replace a cheap and useful product with a new one; take phones as an example. Before we had iPhones, we had basic flip phones that were simple, functional, and cheap. The iPhone became popular not because it was more a ordable than a flip phone, but because it was a better product. Hence, new carbonate building materials must o er better features than materials that are currently available and release less CO during their manufacture than current products do.

HOW DEVELOPED IS THIS TECHNOLOGY?
Building materials made from mineral carbonates have significant potential to decrease CO emissions in the cement industry. However, for the technology to become popular, work still needs to be done in several areas: kids.frontiersin.org February | Volume | Article | • Research: The process to make carbonates with CO is still expensive and complicated, and it needs to be improved. More research is also needed to prove that the new cement and concrete are better than the ones we have now. • Carbon incentives: There are ways for the government to pay money to people who store CO and prevent it from entering the air, "incentivizing" CO storage and use. This would help carbon mineralization be more a ordable. • Regulations: There are strict regulations that dictate which materials can be used to make concrete for roads and buildings. Some of the regulations are old and could be updated to encourage the use of new carbonate materials. This would depend on whether the new materials are proven to perform well.

CARBON MINERALIZATION IN THE OCEAN
Just as CO is floating in our air, it is also dissolved into our oceans. This is similar to how CO is dissolved in your fizzy soft drinks. The CO gas likes to be in equilibrium between the air and water. Because there is more CO in a soda can than in the air around it, when you open a soda can, the CO quickly leaves the can and enters the air so it can reach equilibrium.
Our oceans do not make bubbles like soda because the CO is already in equilibrium between the ocean and the air. By adding calcium and magnesium to the ocean, the CO dissolved in the ocean can mineralize and form carbonate minerals, reducing amount of CO in the water and disturbing the equilibrium. This will cause more CO to leave the air and enter the ocean. Scientists are researching safe ways to add calcium and magnesium to the oceans so that we can use the help of the oceans to remove CO from the atmosphere! [ ].

HOW CAN YOU GET INVOLVED?
Carbon mineralization is just one of the many solutions that are needed to stop Earth's climate from changing. All of the solutions will require help from all sorts of minds.

JENNIFER WILCOX I am the Presidential Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering and Energy
Policy at the University of Pennsylvania and am also a Senior Fellow at the World Resources Institute. My research takes aim at the nexus of energy and the environment, developing both mitigation and adaptation strategies to minimize negative climate impacts associated with society's dependence on fossil fuels.