Objective Capital's Industrial Metals, Minerals & Investment Summit 2010 London Chamber of Commerce and Industry 3 November 2010 Speaker: Michael Priestnall, Cambridge Carbon Capture

1. INDUSTRIAL METALS, MINERALS
AND MINEABLE ENERGY
INVESTMENT SUMMIT 2010
LONDON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY ● WEDNESDAY, 30 NOV 2010
www.ObjectiveCapitalConferences.com
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Developing scalable CO2 capture technology
Michael Priestnall – Founder, Cambridge Carbon Capture

2. © Cambridge Carbon Capture 2010 2
Developing scaleable CO2
capture technology
electrochemical mineral carbonation
opportunities in minerals & metals
Industrial Metals, Minerals & Mineable Energy Investment Summit
London Chamber of Commerce & Industry, 3rd November 2010
Michael Priestnall
Cambridge Carbon Capture
michael.priestnall@cacaca.co.uk tel:+44-7980-707076

3. © Cambridge Carbon Capture 2010 3
Mineralisation - issues I’ll address
• What is mineral carbonation?
• Why alternatives to geological-CCS are
needed
• Cambridge Carbon Capture’s profitable
approach
• Why minerals, metals, mining & coal
sectors should be interested
• Engaging with Cambridge Carbon Capture

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Carbonate-silicate cycle
CO2(g) + CaSiO3 weathering→ CO3
2-(aq) + Ca2+(aq) + SiO2 mineralisation→ CaCO3(s)
~1012 tonnes CO2
in atmosphere
~1018 tonnes CO2
in carbonate rocks
~109 t/yr CO2
c-s cycle

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Mineral carbonation at global scale
~7x109 tonnes/year CO2
fossil-power emissions
~27x109 tonnes/year
of mineral products
Silicate rock required:
~20x109 tonnes/year
Mg3Si2O5(OH)4
(~70% conversion)
Available:
Mg = 2.1wt% earth’s crust;
(~1018 tonnes Mg) or waste
mineral high in Ca, Mg, Fe
~25x109 t/yr
aggregates used
5-30%
energy

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What’s wrong with geological CCS?
• +£1bn per power station
• ~30% parasitic energy; ~30% electricity cost increase
• £/MWh CCS coal > £MWh nuclear & onshore wind
• ~€40-90/tonne CCS >> €15/tonne ETS price
•Will CCS costs fall
fast enough?
•When will ETS
price > costs?
•Decades until
CCS investable?
•Pipeline & storage
timeframes & costs
•Will the public
accept CO2?
•Utilities have other
options.
•China will not let
CCS risk growth.

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CCC’s unique technology
wastes or natural
minerals, high in
Ca, Mg or Fe
oxides
+
CO2 or fossil fuel
electrical energy
+
precipitated carbonates
+
amorphous silica
+
residual metals
electrochemical
mineral carbonation

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Using fuel cells to mineralise CO2
• carbon → CO2 gas = ~400kJ/mole
• carbon → CO3
2- solid = ~470kJ/mole
• using a fuel cell allows some of this extra 15% energy to be released as electricity
– to offset energy required to digest/activate mineral feedstock
• hydroxide flowing through the fuel cell captures the CO2 into solution as carbonate
• Mg (or Ca) added in to the carbonate solution regenerates the hydroxide &
sequesters the CO2 as a solid carbonate mineral
• the “fuel” can be CO2 in flue gases or hydrocarbon fuels
AFC + CCS
Air (CO2)
Mineral input
Electricity
Mineral by-
product
SiO2
Electrolyte Electrolyte
Fuel / CO2
Fuel cell

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500MW power station (an illustration)
conventional alkaline
fuel cell using base-
metal electrodes and
fossil fuel
air
re-circulating
KOH/K2CO3 (aq)
electrolyte (NH3 &
molten salt options)integrated or distant:
Mg2+& Ca2+ from
olivine, serpentines,
industrial wastes,
mine & quarry fines,
oil drilling cuttings &
combustion ash etc.
OR
flue-gas CO2
CO2-free electricity
water
exhaust gas: CO2-free air
solid Mg & Ca carbonate
mineral phases (for sales into
cement, concrete, aggregate, bricks etc)
0.9 million tonnes/yr coal
500 MWe power plant
3.3 million tonnes/yr CO2
>5.2 million tonnes/yr forsterite
>6.3 million tonnes/yr carbonate products
~500MW electricity
silica powders
metals (Fe, Ni, Co)
~12,000 tonnes/yr Ni
£ waste remediation &
CO2 abatement value
C + O2 + 2OH- CO3
2- + H2O CaCO3 + 2OH- dG = -ve
KOH Ca2+, Mg2+
~pH9 - 13
~4.5 million tonnes/yr SiO2
~pH14
5-30% of energy output
100% CO2 capture feasible

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Mineral Carbonation v. CCGS
• Revenues from mineral products cover costs of CCS
• No waiting for pipeline or storage infrastructure
• No safety concerns of supercritical CO2 storage leakage
• Works where there are no empty aquifers or oil/gas wells
• Can start small in high-value niches & scale from there
• Can integrate & replace flue-gas desulphurisation
• Can consume historic & unwanted grades of fly-ash
• Mineral products can replace aggregates mining
• …but significant logistics challenges
– supply & storage of feedstock mineral 3-10X larger than coal
– transport, storage & supply chain development for products

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Opportunities for mining sector
• High-value metals extraction
– digestion of low-grade mine ores & wastes to extract residual
high-value metals & chemicals (+ potential CDM value)
• De-carbonising of processed coals & oil shales
– CO2 sequestration into combustion ashes & ultramafic minerals
• Remediation/valorisation of metal refining wastes
– Stabilisation & conversion to carbonates & silica
• Mining & conversion of ultramafics to Mg/Ca oxides
– Production of CO2 sequestration materials, construction
aggregates and byproduct silica & metals from serpentines
– Practicality in absence of CO2 pipeline & storage infrastructure
• Mine-site co-generation of clean electricity
– On-site integrated conversion of fossil fuels & mineral wastes to
electricity & mineral carbonates & silica

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Conclusions & where next?
• CO2 mineralisation is compatible with global-scale power emissions:
– more than enough silicate rock to capture 7bn T/yr CO2
– aggregates market = mineralisation process output
• Mineral carbonation can be profitable for the minerals industry
– revenues from aggregates, chemicals, waste remediation, metals & minerals
– revenues from clean-electricity (& CO2 abatement)
• CCC fuel cell process offers lower-energy/cost route for CCS
– Offset energy for kinetics by recovery from thermodynamics
• Demonstration of electrochemical mineral carbonation is needed
– Real-world data on mineralisation energy inputs, total costs & chem eng design
– Learning curves to optimise & reduce costs of processes
– Development of supply chain for feedstock & output materials
– R,D&D needed to maximise process product values (e.g. use of SiO2)
– R&D needed on feedstock digestion chemistry & process energetics)
• CCC wants development partners in the metals & minerals sectors

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Thanks
• Cambridge University Dept. materials
• Centre of Innovation in CCS (U.Nottingham)
• Technology Strategy Board
• Cambridge Enterprise
• EEDA
• Renewables East
Michael.Priestnall@cacaca.co.uk
Cambridge Carbon Capture, Hauser Forum, Charles
Babbage Road, Cambridge, CB3 0GT, UK. 07980-707076