Basalts are known as one of the promising prospects of for carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration through mineral trapping due to the high concentration of calcium (Ca2+), magnesium (Mg2+), and iron (Fe2+) rich silicate minerals in the rocks. Kuantan Basalt on the East coast of Peninsular Malaysia was selected as a promising formation, for which no study has investigated its mineral carbonation potential upto date. In this study, the mineralogical and chemical composition, as well as the dissolution characteristics of the Kuantan Basalt, was investigated to determine the mineral carbonation potential. Elemental and mineralogical characterizations were conducted using scanning electron microscope with dispersive X-ray energy spectrometry (SEM-EDS) and quantitative evaluation of minerals by scanning electron microscopy (QEMSCAN), respectively, to determine the suitability of the Kuantan Basaltin the process of mineral carbonation. Besides, CO2-water-rock interaction and static batch experiments were conducted at different temperatures of 50 oC to 150 oC, pressures of 1600 psi to 3200 psi, and salinity of 0 mg/lto58500 mg/lsodium chloride (NaCl) for 120 h.Also, effluent analysis by the inductively coupled plasma - optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) technique was performed on the water sample collected periodically at each of the 20th h intervals to observe the ionic changes during the CO2-water-rock interaction. Results showed that the Kuantan Basalt contains abundant silicate minerals with the required cations amounted to 21 wt.% of divalent metal cations.Moreover, the static batch experiment study on basaltic rock showed a rapid dissociation of the divalent metal cations within 120 h. The dissociation of divalent metal cations was accelerated with increasing the temperature except for magnesium concentration. The impact of pressure on the dissolution of the Kuantan Basalt was observed to be minor. Whereas, the increase in salinity was shown to promote the dissociation of divalent metal cations in the aqueous solution. The findings of this research showed that the Kuantan Basalt is a suitable feedstock for mineral CO2 sequestration, and the dissolution characteristics of this rock at different conditions depict its potentiality for the conversion of CO2 into stable carbonate phases.
Volume 12 | 08-Special Issue
Pages: 1145-1157
DOI: 10.5373/JARDCS/V12SP8/20202629