La Plante et al. – Working paper: Electrolytic seawater mineralization and how it ensures (net) carbon dioxide removal
Erika La Plante, Xin Chen, Steven Bustillos, Arnaud Bouissonnie, Thomas Traynor, David Jassby, Lorenzo Corsini, Dante Simonetti, Gaurav Sant IN: ChemRxiv. Cambridge: Cambridge Open Engage; 2023
The authors present mass balances associated with carbon dioxide (CO2) removal (CDR) using seawater as both the source of reactants, and as the reaction medium via electrolysis following the “EquaticTM” (formerly known as “SeaChange”) process. The process involves the application of an overpotential that splits water to form H+ and OH– ions, producing acidity and alkalinity, i.e., in addition to gaseous co-products, at the anode and cathode, respectively. The alkalinity that results, i.e., via the “continuous electrolytic pH pump” results in the instantaneous precipitation of calcium carbonate (CaCO3), magnesium carbonates (Mg–CO3), and/or magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH)2) depending on the CO32– activity in solution.