Technology
The heart of the Calera process is the technology associated with carbon capture and conversion to stable solid minerals. We refer to this new process as Mineralization via Aqueous Precipitation, or MAP for short. In its simplest form MAP involves contacting gas from the power plant with water. The water chemistry is controlled such that the carbon dioxide in the power plant gas is absorbed into the water and reacts with the water hardness to form solid mineral carbonates and bicarbonates, which are very similar to finely disseminated 'whitings' seen in tropical oceans at mid-day. These solid mineral carbonates and bicarbonates now contain carbon dioxide that would have been emitted into the air. After removal from the water and with further processing, the solids have value in a number of construction applications. Calera is also developing a proprietary suite of electrochemical technologies called Alkalinity Based on Low Energy (ABLE). Once fully developed this could allow low energy and high efficiency production of chemicals, both for use as inputs to the MAP process as well as in green chemical applications.
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