Carbon dioxide storage in olivine basalts: Effect of ball milling process

Abstract

The goal of this study is to propose a cost-effective method for the optimization of the ex situ carbonation of basaltic rocks. The ball milling process was applied to a sample of olivine basalt from the Troodos ophiolite complex (Cyprus) for the first time, in order to fabricate novel nanomaterials for CO2 storage. The purpose was to accelerate the kinetics of rock–fluid reactions during the carbonation procedure. Various methodologies were used for the characterization of the starting rock material and the ball-milled samples. Preliminary results reveal that only a few hours of wet ball milling with ethanol as process control agent can induce significant changes to olivine basalt towards improvement of its performance for CO2 storage. Specifically, CO2 uptake measurements via the use of the temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) technique indicate that 4h of ball milling with 50wt.% ethanol can lead to an enhancement of the carbonation of olivine basalt by 295%. The experimental results strongly suggest that (i) olivine basalts have important CO2-storage capacity and are very promising lithotypes for ex situ carbonation, and (ii) the ball milling process provides hopes for its use at an industrial scale as a preparation technique for the safe and permanent ex situ storage of CO2.

•The ball milling process was used to create novel nanomaterials for CO2 capture.•The experiments were carried out using a sample of olivine basalt.•Olivine basalt shows higher CO2 uptake compared to the reference forsterite.•The pore volume principally controls the extent of carbonation.•Ball milling results in an enhancement of the carbonation of olivine basalt by 295%.