Project Summary

The goal of NANOCAP project is to capture CO2 and use it for the industrial production of high commercial value products such as calcium carbonate nanoparticles (CaCO3, known as PCC) and magnesium carbonate (4MgCO3Mg(OH)24H2O known as BCC). The production processes of the raw materials (CaO, MgO and CO2) of these inorganic salts are highly intensive in CO2 (e.g. for MgO corresponds to 250000 ton/yr, while for CaO to 150000 ton/yr). To achieve this goal, it is proposed to combine the innovative process of chemical absorption of CO2 and the use of the latter as a raw material in an innovative Rotating Pack Bed (RPB) for the production of carbon nanoparticles. The proposed CO2 capture unit permits the reduction of energy requirements by 50% with respect to conventional units, due to the utilization of innovative low temperature amines solvents. Subsequently, RPB allows the reduction of the size of the equipment by 10 times compared to conventional stirred or column reactors. Both these processes will be examined via experimental pilot units and consequently a techno-economic analysis of the scaled-up processes will be conducted.