Mineral Carbonation

What is mineral carbonation?

Mineral carbonation is like turning carbon dioxide (CO₂) into stone! It’s a natural or engineered process where CO₂ reacts with minerals to form stable solid carbonates, permanently removing CO₂ from the atmosphere.

  • Carbon Capture

    Think of it as “locking away” carbon safely in rocks for thousands of years. This is one of the most promising carbon capture technologies to fight climate change.

  • Kinetics

    In nature, this process happens slowly, but scientists and engineers are working to accelerate it using catalysts, heat, pressure, and optimized minerals.

Images retrieved from the article in Materials Today and credits to the author.

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Why mineral carbonation?

Kazakhstan has generated 4 billion tons of waste of mining waste (Waste Management in Kazakhstan,2023). The mining wastes collected in tailings management facilities and their safety and environmental impact are now under consideration. In 2023, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) started an initiative in Central Asia to promote an understanding of the risks associated with tailings and raise awareness of tailings as a hazardous activity. The map of mining tailings in Kazakhstan has been created by UNECE. The 2024-2026 plan of UNECE includes the improvement of shared understanding and risk management across countries on mining wastes. However, the literature review revealed no attempt to study CO₂ mineral trapping using mining waste rocks in Post-Soviet countries, and this project will pioneer CO₂ mineral trapping in CIS.

Mineral Carbonation Team Members
all questions and inquiries to meiirzhan.nurmyrza@nu.edu.kz
  • Amina Togay, BSc
    1st Year MS Student in Civil and Environmental Eng., NU
  • Meiirzhan Nurmyrza, MS
    1st Year PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering, NU
    Lab Captain & Team Leader. Leading research on
  • Joshua Rasheed Akinrele
    1st Year BEng Student in Civil and Environmental Eng., NU
    Developing
To join Mineral Carbonation Team,
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