Utilisation CO2 in commercial mineral production

The use of CO2 in mineral processing may contribute to cost-effective production of value added products and significantly increase the value of some of Norway?s mineral resources. Development of carbonation processes for mineral ores can also represent a viable alternative for storage of CO2. Since the CO2 is stored as stable minerals, the concerns around safety and the requirements for monitoring are few. Further technology development and cost reductions are needed for deployment of mineral CO2 sequest ration. The project is a collaboration between two industry partners and a research institute. Nordic Mining has a commercial production of anorthosite in Norway and wants to develop and industrialise their production. StatoilHydro is exploring ways to utilise CO2 and in general supporting innovative solutions in the Norwegian industry. Institute for Energy Technology is the expert center of carbonation in Norway. The pre-project will focus on the need for understanding the major commercial drivers in the project and to get initial scenarios on energy consumption, balances and CO2 production and consumption. Further the project will focus on initial lab testing, and sample characterisations.