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Mineralization of carbon dioxide represents a principal raw material feedstock for carbonate-based materials, revenues of which are expected to reach $1 trillion/yr. by 2030.
Such direct transformation of CO2 gas to solidified added-value carbonates represents an industrially effective route to utilisation, generating stable, inert, non-hazardous,
ready-to-use profitable materials.
Magnesite (MgCO3) is an ideal carbonate used in cement and agriculture.
Promisingly, vast amounts of raw magnesium (Mg) silicate minerals and Mg-rich industrial wastes exist worldwide that may be carbonated, reducing reliance on mined MgCO3 imported
from Russia and China.
The principal challenge for speeding up CO2 utilisation via mineralization as a cost-effective CCUS technology, is the
slow rate of mineral precipitation from solution; magnesite in particular. Driven by this challenge, as-faced by
Cambridge Carbon Capture Ltd (our industrial partner) and related industries working on CO2 mineralization,
FUNMIN is an industry-driven project focusing on discovering & optimizing conditions for speeding up MgCO3 formation.
The aim of FUNMIN is to optimise the process of CO2 mineralisation into MgCO3, actioned from the most evolved simulations & empirical determinations
worldwide of the molecular events surrounding MgCO3 formation from inert solution. FUNMIN is an UK-led industrial-academic collaboration between
Cambridge Carbon Capture Ltd,
which is developing technologies to mineralize CO2 gas into solid MgCO3, and leading academics with a record of accomplishment in the investigation of the fundamental aspects
of crystal growth & nucleation using simulation & experimental techniques: atomistic methods and neutron scattering (Queen Mary University),
geochemical modelling (Utrecht University),
spectroscopy (University of Grenoble), imaging (University of Granada),
and structural analysis (University of Oviedo).
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FUNMIN comprises four main work packages, designed to achieve the scientific, technical, and industrial objectives of the project.
By combining first principle simulations and advanced experimental techniques, WP1-3 will characterise the molecular processes controlling Mg-dehydration,
MgCO3 nucleation, and growth.
WP4 applies these fundamental aspects towards optimising industrially relevant & applicable process conditions.
This knowledge will evolve the current state-of-the-art in mineral carbonation, and lead to the identification of factors catalysing MgCO3 formation.
The development and optimisation of CO2 mineralization technologies under mild, non-hazardous, and non-toxic conditions will
facilitate the emergence of Carbon Capture & Utilisation technologies.
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