Washington-Alcoa Inc. is one of six companies selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to participate in finding ways to turn captured industrial carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into useful products. Alcoa has been awarded a $12 million grant to study methods to convert CO2 into a carbonate product that can be used as fertilizer, soil additives, or construction fill material. According to DOE, Alcoa’s pilot-scale process will demonstrate the high efficiency conversion of flue gas CO2 into soluble bicarbonate and carbonate using an in-duct scrubber system featuring an enzyme catalyst. The bicarbonate/carbonate scrubber blow-down can be sequestered as solid mineral carbonates after reacting with alkaline clay, a by-product of aluminum refining. The pilot-scale project will take place at Alcoa’s Point Comfort, Tex., refinery, which produces alumina, the primary product in aluminum. Alcoa will contribute $3 million to the project, and scientists from the Alcoa Technical Center in Upper Burrell will lead the project, said spokeswoman Judy Smydo. DOE Secretary Steven Chu described the objective of the Alcoa and other projects, which are funded with $106 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and matched with $156 million in private cost-sharing funds, as designed to demonstrate the potential opportunity to use CO2 as an inexpensive raw material instead of causing pollution problems.
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