Potential applications for geopolymers in carbon capture and storage: Fid-Bau Portal

Potential applications for geopolymers in carbon capture and storage

Freire, Alisson Lopes / José, Humberto Jorge / Moreira, Regina de Fátima Peralta Muniz

Highlights • Geopolymers is a low cost and eco-friendly material for CCS. • Geopolymer has relevant physico-chemical properties for application in the CCS. • Geopolymer has high potential as an adsorbent material for capturing CO2. • Geopolymer showed excellent results in cementing and plug wells for CO2 storage.

Abstract Carbon capture and storage technology is used to decrease the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and mitigate climate change. Geopolymers are versatile inorganic materials (aluminosilicates-alkalis) that have wide applications due to different properties (compressive strength, surface area, porosity, chemical stability and others) exhibited according to their formulation and fabrication process. In addition to being low cost and environmentally-friendly materials, important aspects are related to the raw materials, such as fly ash, slag, rice husk ash and red mud, used in their synthesis. Hybrid materials produced by mixing geopolymers with zeolites, activated carbon and hydrotalcites, for example, exhibit new properties that enable them to be applied in carbon capture and storage processes. Furthermore, geopolymers can advantageously replace the Portland cement commonly used in CO2 storage wells. In this paper, we present a comprehensive review on the potential application of geopolymeric materials in the separation and purification of CO2 and as an alternative to replace Portland cement for the cementing and plugging of storage wells (CO2 and brine). The challenges and drawbacks associated with these different applications are presented and the perspectives for future research activities in this field are discussed.

Graphical abstract Display Omitted