Comparative reactivity study of forsterite and antigorite in wet supercritical CO2 by in situ infrared spectroscopy

• An in situ study of silicate mineral reactivity with dry and wet CO2 was performed.
• The extents of reaction were strongly dependent on water concentration.
• When water was present, thin water films formed on the surface of the minerals.
• We show the first direct evidence of bicarbonate dissolved in the water films.
• Antigorite's low reactivity was attributed to slow, incongruent mineral dissolution.

The carbonation reactions of forsterite (Mg2SiO4) and antigorite [Mg3Si2O5(OH)4], representatives of olivine and serpentine minerals, in dry and wet supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) at conditions relevant to geologic carbon sequestration (35 °C and 100 bar) were studied by in situ Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Our results confirm that water plays a critical role in the reactions between metal silicate minerals and scCO2. For neat scCO2, no reaction was observed in 24 hr for either mineral. When water was added to the scCO2, a thin water film formed on the minerals’ surfaces, and the reaction rates and extents increased as the water saturation level was raised from 54% to 116% (excess water). For the first time, the presence of bicarbonate, a key reaction intermediate for metal silicate reactions with scCO2, was observed in a heterogeneous system where mineral solids, an adsorbed water film, and bulk scCO2 co-exist. In excess-water experiments, approximately 4% of forsterite and less than 2% of antigorite transformed into hydrated Mg-carbonates. A precipitate similar to nesquehonite (MgCO3·3H2O) was observed for forsterite within 6 hr of reaction time, but no such precipitate was formed from antigorite until after water was removed from the scCO2 following a 24-hr reaction period. The reduced reactivity and carbonate-precipitation behavior of antigorite was attributed to slower, incongruent dissolution of the mineral and lower concentrations of Mg2+ and HCO3− in the water film. The in situ measurements employed in this work make it possible to quantify metal carbonate precipitates and key reaction intermediates such as bicarbonate for the investigation of carbonation reaction mechanisms relevant to geologic carbon sequestration.