The aim of CO2SOLID is to kick-start the installation of new large- and small-scale carbon capture and storage facilities in Europe and across the world by demonstrating a new streamlined and cost-efficient carbon storage hub at an already approved site in Iceland, and by identifying new favourable sites within Europe to install this technology. CO2SOLID builds on an existing technology that has already been demonstrated as a safe and efficient method for permanent CO2 storage via carbon mineralisation , . This method has gained support of the local community in Iceland where the first hub will be established. These factors will enable CO2 injection demonstration and validation to take place within the timeframe of the proposal. This first hub will serve as a blueprint for the installation of similar large-scale storage hubs in and beyond Europe. Further efforts will be made towards the characterisation and development plan for a second large-scale carbon mineralisation hub to be deployed in Italy.
To achieve the CO2SOLID goals, work will be carried out on three fronts: (1) Fundamental science where CO2SOLID will add to the current knowledge on carbon mineralisation by combining lab experiments and field exploration. (2) Demonstration, where the first infrastructure for a new large-scale carbon storage hub will be installed. (3) Generalisation where roadmap including deployment plan of injection sites of different capacities will be developed. A stream of the most promising European sites readily developed for carbon mineralisation will be identified. For this techno-economic analysis on the resources needed to construct such sites and the associated infrastructure for CO2 transport networks to supply the CO2 for injection will be carried out, along with analysis of the economic, social, and legal factors needing to be addressed to pave the way for the rapid deployment of carbon mineralisation in Europe and beyond