This research activity is a part of the company’s ongoing efforts to identify second generation commercial applications for its properties that can be deployed concurrently or after the mining activity has concluded.
Whilst the concept of using salt as a medium to convert CO2 emissions into inert carbonates is already established, to date the work in this area has been focussed on off-shore installations using sea water as a medium by oil companies.
Under the programme of research to be conducted on behalf of Bicarb Sequestration, UniQuest will initially carry out a six month proof of concept to establish the principle of using a solution mining based process to enable CO2 to be converted into carbonates/bicarbonates (mostly NaH CO3) and then stored underground.
Should the initial research prove successful, UniQuest will then carry out further programmes to establish the optimum operating conditions and optimum process equipment to allow a preliminary design for a pilot plant to be created.
Richard Poulden, chairman of Sirius, said: “We are optimistic that the approach being proposed by our Bicarb Sequestration division will be able to overcome the issues previously encountered when research teams have looked into the possibilities of converting CO2 into carbonates in an onshore environment.”
