Carbonate Formation Science
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 Carbon Mineralization via Aqueous Precipitation or CMAP for short. In its simplest form CMAP involves contacting gas from the power plant with water (aqueous) containing hardness and a base buffer (alkalinity). 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, which are very similar to fine limestone particles. These solid mineral carbonates now contain carbon dioxide that would have been emitted into the air. After removal from the water and appropriate processing the solids have value in a number of construction applications. The versatility of CMAP also allows the generation of bicarbonates using half the amount of input materials but still mineralizing carbon dioxide that can be pumped into any underground saline zone for storage without the possibility of leakage of carbon dioxide.