Acid Leaching for Carbon Sequestration with Prospects for Critical Metal Recovery.
7 affiliations
- 1Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AlbertaT6G 2E3, Canada.
- 2School of Earth, Atmosphere & Environment, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria3168, Australia.
- 3Travertine Technologies, Inc., Boulder, Colorado80301, United States.
- 4Research Centre for Carbon Solutions, School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, EdinburghEH14 4AS, U.K.
- 5Trent School of the Environment, Trent University, Peterborough, OntarioK9L 0G2, Canada.
- 6Independent Researcher, 79106Freiburg-im-Breisgau, Germany.
- 7ANSTO Melbourne, Clayton, Victoria3168, Australia.
Abstract
Reducing carbon emissions and supplying critical metals for the green energy transition are essential to limiting global warming to below 1.5 °C. Here, we propose heap leaching ultramafic material with sulfuric acid followed by sequential precipitation for nickel recovery and carbon sequestration. Ultramafic materials were subjected to benchtop-scale acid leaches using 0.08-0.8 M H2SO4. The leachates were combined with NaOH to precipitate Ni (oxy)hydroxide minerals and then with NaOH + Na2CO3 to precipitate Mg carbonate minerals. The carbon sequestration potential of each sample and the efficiency of each experimental stage were calculated to estimate carbon sequestration using these techniques. The acid leaching released 2-57% of the Mg2+ along with 6-64% of the Ni2+ into the leachate, depending on acid strength and tailings mineralogy, while carbonation precipitated up to 95% of the dissolved Mg2+ and 90% of the CO32- + HCO3- in solution, depending on initial Mg2+ concentrations. Techno-economic analysis demonstrates that treatment cost and Ni production are the most important factors determining the profitability of the process, with CO2 removal being less important due to the relatively low value of carbon credits compared to Ni, but still contributing to the sustainability of this process.
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BibTeX
@article{turvey2026acid,
title = {{Acid Leaching for Carbon Sequestration with Prospects for Critical Metal Recovery.}},
author = {Connor C Turvey and Arif Hussain and Adam Majusiak and Dan Su and Maximilian Mann and Zhen Wang and Annah Moyo and Ben Kronholm and Jaswanth Yaddala and Kwon Rausis and Ian M Power and Jonathan Spence and Amy McBride and Jessica Hamilton and Laura Lammers and Phil Renforth and Andrew Frierdich and Sasha Wilson},
journal = {Environmental science \& technology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1021/acs.est.6c02916},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42916020},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Acid Leaching for Carbon Sequestration with Prospects for Critical Metal Recovery.
AU - Connor C Turvey
AU - Arif Hussain
AU - Adam Majusiak
AU - Dan Su
AU - Maximilian Mann
AU - Zhen Wang
AU - Annah Moyo
AU - Ben Kronholm
AU - Jaswanth Yaddala
AU - Kwon Rausis
AU - Ian M Power
AU - Jonathan Spence
AU - Amy McBride
AU - Jessica Hamilton
AU - Laura Lammers
AU - Phil Renforth
AU - Andrew Frierdich
AU - Sasha Wilson
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - Environmental science & technology
DO - 10.1021/acs.est.6c02916
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42916020
AB - Reducing carbon emissions and supplying critical metals for the green energy transition are essential to limiting global warming to below 1.5 °C. Here, we propose heap leaching ultramafic material with sulfuric acid followed by sequential precipitation for nickel recovery and carbon sequestration. Ultramafic materials were subjected to benchtop-scale acid leaches using 0.08-0.8 M H2SO4. The leachates were combined with NaOH to precipitate Ni (oxy)hydroxide minerals and then with NaOH + Na2CO3 to precipitate Mg carbonate minerals. The carbon sequestration potential of each sample and the efficiency of each experimental stage were calculated to estimate carbon sequestration using these techniques. The acid leaching released 2-57% of the Mg2+ along with 6-64% of the Ni2+ into the leachate, depending on acid strength and tailings mineralogy, while carbonation precipitated up to 95% of the dissolved Mg2+ and 90% of the CO32- + HCO3- in solution, depending on initial Mg2+ concentrations. Techno-economic analysis demonstrates that treatment cost and Ni production are the most important factors determining the profitability of the process, with CO2 removal being less important due to the relatively low value of carbon credits compared to Ni, but still contributing to the sustainability of this process.
SN - 0013-936X
SN - 1520-5851
ER -