[E&E seminars] SEMINAR: The Feasibility of CO2 Mineralization as a Climate Change Mitigation Option - Nov 5; 2-3:30pm

[Mary E Gallagher]

The Feasibility of CO2 Mineralization as a Climate Change Mitigation Option

Kurt Zenz House

Friday, November 5

2:00-3:30 PM
MIT Energy Initiative Conference Room, E19-319<http://whereis.mit.edu/?go=E19>

Please join us on Friday, November 5 for a Seminar on The Feasibility of CO2 Mineralization as a Climate Change Mitigation Option by Kurt Zenz House.  The seminar will be held in Room E19-319 from 2:00pm to 3:30pm with refreshments served.

Abstract
The energetic feasibility and the potential scale of carbon dioxide (CO2) mitigation through the use of industrial alkalinity production is considered. Specifically, several options for the artificial production of alkalinity are analyzed, including:  (1) Geologic deposits of reactive hydroxide minerals (e.g., brucite), (2) Physical and thermal treatment of silicate minerals, (3) Industrial wastes, and (4) Electrochemical production of alkali solutions. We assess the energetics of producing alkalinity by these options and the scale at which the options could be performed. That comparison reveals that in certain circumstances, alkalinity production is an energetically attractive approach to CO2 mitigation, but that the potential scale of those circumstances is limited. In other circumstances, the potential scale for CO2 mitigation is extraordinarily large, but in those circumstances, the thermodynamic work required to capture one unit of CO2 as carbonate mineral is close to the work that can be performed from producing that unit of CO2 in a coal-fired power plant; as such, for the approaches to be effective CO2 mitigation options, then these processes must be powered by less carbon intensive CO2 sources than coal-fired plants.

About the Speaker
Kurt Zenz House studies the physics, chemistry, and economics of capturing and storing anthropogenic carbon dioxide in ways that will ensure it does not enter the atmosphere.  That work includes both storing CO2 in the sub-surface as well as converting CO2 to stable carbonate minerals.  He is currently a fellow at MIT, where his work is partially supported by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. In addition, he is the President of C12 Energy, which is commercializing geologic CCS.
In 2007, Esquire magazine featured him among its "Best and Brightest," in 2009, he was named by Technology Review Magazine as one of the "Top 35 Innovators Under 35," and in 2010 he was named one of Boston's "Top 15 Innovators" by the Boston Globe. He has a bachelor's degree in physics from the Claremont Colleges and a Ph.D. in geoscience from Harvard University.



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Mary Gallagher
MIT Energy Initiative
Room E19-370G
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA  02139-4307
+1.617.258.0307



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