Limenet has industrialized the process of the geological carbon cycle, developing a technology that can store CO₂ permanently in the oceans through calcium bicarbonates.
The raw materials used in this process are sea water, calcium carbonate and CO₂.
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Limenet accelerates the reaction between calcium carbonate and CO₂, producing calcium bicarbonate based on well-known chemical principles in scientific literature.
Based on the energy cost and the resulting carbon footprint, Limenet is testing different solutions that allow the plant to operate with electricity produced from renewable sources or thermal energy from biomass.
Step 1: Production of Lime
Limestone (CaCO₃), one of the most abundant materials on Earth, is heated using renewable electricity.
This process converts the limestone into calcium oxide, also known as quicklime, releasing fossil CO₂.
The quicklime is then mixed with water to produce slaked lime, or calcium hydroxide.
Step 2: Production of Calcium Bicarbonate to obtain Carbon-free Lime
To obtain carbon-free lime, fossil CO₂ reacts with seawater and half of the slaked lime produced. This reaction generates a clear solution of calcium bicarbonate, which has the same pH as seawater. The calcium bicarbonate, when dissolved in seawater, increases the alkalinity, restoring the buffering capability of the marine environment to counteract ocean acidification.
The remaining half of slaked lime can be considered carbon-free lime.
Step 3: Uses Carbon-free Lime
Carbon-free lime can be used for:
a) Carbonation: CO₂ is captured from the atmosphere by the Carbon-free lime, which naturally absorbs atmospheric CO₂ like a sponge when exposed to it.
b) Ocean Liming: Carbon-free lime is spread directly on the surface of the ocean, where it naturally absorbs atmospheric CO₂, generating calcium bicarbonate.
c) Storage of biogenic CO₂: the carbon-free lime is used to store the CO₂ in the ocean as calcium bicarbonates.
We have built the world’s largest plant for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in the sea in the form of calcium bicarbonate. Located in Augusta (Italy), this plant has a production capacity of 100 kg/h of CO₂ stored, a scale that exceeds by 100 times that of our pilot plant inaugurated in La Spezia (Italy) at the beginning of 2023. To learn more about Limenet’s plant, click here.
