Electrochemically Enabled Mineralization of Produced Water via Anthropogenic CO2

Emissions of carbon dioxide from burning of fossil fuels and industrial processes has wide-spread public effects, leading to global climate change and acidification of the oceans. Climate change in turn increases the occurrence of droughts and wildfires and influences food production, which causes human suffering. Carbon conversion and long-term storage technologies are important components of achieving net-zero carbon economy by 2050 to help limit the most severe impacts of global climate change. Produced water, is byproduct of oil and gas production, a higher quantity of brine will need to be stored, transported and disposed of as the result of increased energy development. These larger quantities can lead to greater risks for spills. Brine spills negatively affect the soil and vegetation, impairing their ability to produce crops and forage. This program will result in an industrial system for the simultaneous treatment of anthropogenic carbon dioxide and produced water to generate market value products while enabling beneficial water reuse. The system is based on an electrochemical reactor and subsequent mineralization of products with market value, like calcium carbonate and generation of hydrogen and chlorine gases as value-added by-products. The Phase I developed a membrane less electrochemical reactor system to produce calcium carbonate from produced water and carbon dioxide feedstocks, resulting in preliminary system prototype design. System optimization was conducted to maximize product yields and minimize reactor fouling tendencies. In addition, the project team studied techno-economics and lifecycle analysis of the technology and identify partners for commercial technology of the technology. Phase II will design, build, demonstrate and optimize the electrochemical mineralization of produced water using CO2 at an alpha-scale, to demonstrate and validate the scalability of the process using actual produced water to meet the target specifications (e.g. yield, efficiency, and energy consumption) of DOE and commercial partners. An economic and life cycle analysis will be developed that can be utilized to improve electro-crystallizer system design. The system developed in the proposed program would simultaneously use carbon dioxide and produced water for conversion to calcium carbonate for subsequent use in end products such as building/construction materials, paper and plastics. Conversion of the carbon dioxide to calcium carbonate provides a permanent storage solution for the carbon while potentially enabling beneficial reuse of the produced water for irrigation, mining, power, and manufacturing operations, freeing valuable surface and ground water resources.