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Geologic Carbon Sequestration pp 213–229Cite as

Mineral Carbonation in Ultramafic and Basaltic Rocks

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Abstract

Carbon capture and storage in the form of mineral carbonation in ultramafic and basaltic rocks offers a geologically stable repository of anthropogenic CO2. This chapter provides fundamental, theoretical and applied concepts relevant to mineral carbonation in peridotite, serpentinite and basaltic rocks. We explore the general global distribution of these lithologies and bring to the discussion the potential role of sedimentary serpentine, so far an overlooked type of rock that may offer both reactive silicate minerals and requisite permeability for CO2 injection. The chapter recalls chemical reactions, field observations, and historical perspectives that have informed experimental and modeling developments in the area of mineral carbonation. Encouraging scientific results have inspired the injection of CO2 in basaltic rocks in Iceland and Washington, USA, and proposed drilling in Oman. Besides the high economic cost of mineral carbonation, other limitations include the availability of water, distance between CO2 sources and target rocks, and various coupled geochemical and physical aspects that remain to be further addressed.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dana Thomas (Stanford University) for furnishing basalt photographs and SEM images, and Anna Harrison (Stanford University) for insightful revisions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, 450 Serra Mall, Bldg. 320, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

    Pablo García del Real

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India

    V. Vishal

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Correspondence to Pablo García del Real .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

    V. Vishal

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India

    T.N. Singh

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García del Real, P., Vishal, V. (2016). Mineral Carbonation in Ultramafic and Basaltic Rocks. In: Vishal, V., Singh, T. (eds) Geologic Carbon Sequestration. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27019-7_11

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