CO2-Sequestering Mineral Carbonates (COSMIC): Ground Improvement Applications

In the race for net carbon zero, industry operations need to use innovative processes which either emit reduced amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) or ideally, act as carbon sinks, absorbing industrially produced CO2.

COSMIC thus proposes to produce carbonate minerals which absorb high amounts of CO2 with cost-effective processes that require low energy input.

This can be done by simple chemical synthesis or using photosynthetic microorganisms which play a major role in natural carbon sequestration.

In COSMIC these minerals will be used for the treatment of soils and soil like wastes, which are contaminated and/or too weak and prone to engineering failure, causing hazards for people and the environment. The main focus is the application of these carbonates produced ex situ or in situ for the treatment of mine tailings.

Numerous failures of mine tailing storage facilities have occurred in Europe and worldwide with devastating consequences for the nearby population, the environment and infrastructure.

Even stable mine tailing heaps can be a major health and environmental hazard due to dust transported by the wind and water.

After development in the laboratory, COSMIC will perform a pioneering field trial at a mine tailing storage facility to assess the success of the proposed treatments in suppressing dust and stabilising the tailings.

The techniques will then be evaluated in terms of environmental impact and whole life costs to produce guidelines for industry.

The field application of the novel processes with the support of an international mining company will be a major advancement towards industry uptake. At industry scale, captured industrial waste CO2 can be consumed in the processes.

COSMIC therefore simultaneously addresses climate change mitigation by industrial CO2 absorption, the environmental impact of waste disposal facilities and that of infrastructure construction or maintenance, as well as infrastructure resilience and futureproofing to climate change.