(127e) CO2 & Steel Slag for Industrial Mineral Carbonation: Chemistry and Economics Are On Our Side

As the world rapidly industrializes, the environment pays a heavy cost; governments around the world are committed to tackling the problem of greenhouse gas emissions. There are roughly 6000 coal fired units in the world and growing. China and India are adding between 1-2 gigawatts of capacity every week. World market energy consumption will rise from 536 quadrillion KJ in 2010 to 715 quadrillion KJ in 2030. Almost 211 quadrillion KJ will come from burning coal. Likewise steel production will continue to grow. It is the dominant metal produced in the world, 95% of all metal produced is steel. Steel will also continue to be energy intensive and therefore a CO2 intensive industry emitting ~2 tons of CO2 for every ton of steel produced. The industrial mineral carbonation offers a ready opportunity to be one of the first globally deployable technologies to capture, quantify and sequester CO2. More importantly, mineralization technology offers a distinct advantage over geo-sequestration: positive revenue generation with a policy neutral position. We explore the economics and chemistry of using CO2 to convert steel slag into several product slates.