The Greensols Process
Greensols Pty. Ltd is an Australian company with an economic technology to precipitate carbonates and other valuable compounds from brines thereby producing fresh water and in the process and sequestering significant amounts of carbon dioxide.
The Greensols Process is our preferred option for producing the magnesium carbonate required for the Gaia Engineering tececology due to fact that it uses industrial CO2 from power stations and waste acid as inputs and is potentially low cost. Potable water and a number of commodity salts are other outputs which can be sold to help fund the process.
The Greensols Technology modifies volumes of seawater, very slightly, to promote the inorganic precipitation of calcium carbonate or other carbonate mineral phases such as magnesium carbonate. The process permanently fixes CO2 as mineralogically stable calcium carbonate or magnesium carbonate. There can be minimal change to the overall chemical composition of seawater with the discharged water being within the compositional range of normal coastal waters. Alternatively water with significantly less salt can be further purified to make drinking water. No nutrients are added.
The Greensols Technologies differ from sequestration projects involving vegetation as the sequestering agent, in that the removal of atmospheric CO2 during the precipitation of the carbonate mineral is permanent. The extraction of CO2 from the atmosphere and the production of calcium carbonate results from a one-way exchange between atmospheric carbon dioxide and seawater. Additionally, the leakage and stability problems currently associated with in-ground geo-sequestration technology are avoided, as are the nutrient enrichment problems associated with ocean nourishment.
The hydrogen bonding in water keeps oppositely charged ions from combining. Water “dissolves” them. Strongly charged ions such as calcium, magnesium and carbonate attract hydration shells of water around them. For example magnesium and calcium ions polar bond to oxygen and the negative carbonate ion polar bonds to hydrogen. These bonds can propagate through several layers of water and are strong enough to prevent the formation of calcium and magnesium carbonates even from supersaturated solutions. It is the polar nature of water that keeps the ions apart. Kept apart they stay in solution.
Waste acid is used to de polarise a statistical proportion of water molecules by attaching a proton whereby positively charged sodium, calcium or magnesium ions as well as negatively charged ions including carbonate ions are released, can combine and then precipitate.
Hydration Shelling Around Calcium and Magnesium Ions
Strongly charged ions such as calcium, magnesium and carbonate attract hydration shells of water around them. Magnesium and calcium ions polar bond to oxygen and the negative carbonate ion to hydrogen. These bonds can propagate through several layers of water and are strong enough to prevent the formation of calcium and magnesium carbonates even from supersaturated solutions.
De Orientation and Departure after Depolarisation
The addition of a proton to water using strong waste acid results in its depolarisation whereby it no longer electronically holds as many ions (sodium, calcium, magnesium or carbonate etc.) statistically releasing them and allowing them to combine and precipitate as carbonates and other more valuable salts leaving behind essentially fresh water.
Precipitation Reaction with Free Ions Combining
The statistical release of both cations and anions results in precipitation of for example magnesium carbonate as shown above.
The magnesium carbonate produced can remain as such, providing mineral sequestration. Alternatively it can be used as input for the manufacture of magnesium metal or passed to the MgCO2 Cycle component of the CarbonSafe process which removes (and stores) the carbon dioxide, producing magnesium oxide.
The Greensols process is much cheaper than current state of the art reverse osmosis as it does not require the energy to work against the hydrogen (or polar) bonding of water to the salts it contains. It relies on the alternative mechanism of chemically depolarising water thereby removing thsi energy barrier.
Greensols |
REVERSE OSMOSIS |
|---|---|
Low energy costs.- Does not work against the electronic forces in water. |
Relatively high energy costs |
Low maintenance |
High Maintenance |
No damaging or dangerous outputs |
Highly saline water is potentially damaging |
Value adds include fresh water, sequestration, valuable salts and building products |
The only value add is fresh water |
Greensols Pty Ltd is a member of the Global Sustainability Alliance and the Greensols process is an important part of Gaia Engineering tececology which results in the production of valuable salts including gypsum, calcium and magnesium carbonates, water and significant sequestration.
printer friendly