Mineralization of alkaline waste for CCUS

Ex-situ mineralization processes leverage the reaction of alkaline materials with CO2 to form solid carbonate minerals for carbon capture, utilization, and storage. Annually, enough alkaline waste is generated to reduce global CO2 emissions by a significant percentage via mineralization. However, while the reaction is thermodynamically favorable and occurs spontaneously, it is kinetically limited. Thus, a number of techniques have emerged to increase the efficiency of mineralization to achieve a scalable process. In this review, we discuss mineralization of waste streams with significant potential to scale to high levels of CO2 sequestration. Focus is placed on the effect of operating parameters on carbonation kinetics and efficiency, methods, cost, and current scale of technologies.