CarbonSafe, Greensols and Newcomen Engines

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CarbonSafe, Greensols and Newcomen Engines

• Talk by John Harrison B.Sc. B.Ec

For that which is common to the greatest number
has the least care bestowed upon it. Every one
thinks chiefly of his own, hardly at all of the
common interest and only when he is himself
concerned as an individual. (Aristotle 350 BC)
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A Planet in Crisis?

• In the next 50 years it is crunch time for

• Energy
• Water
• waste and pollution
• loss and degradation of topsoil
• global warming.

• Are we thinking about it? Do we have an answer?

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Fresh Water

• The amount of water in the world is finite. The
  number of us is growing quickly and our water use
  is growing more quickly.
• A third of the world's population lives in
  water-stressed countries. By 2025, this is
  expected to rise to two-thirds.
• The world's supply of fresh water is running out.
  Already one person in five has no access to safe
  drinking water.

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Global Warming
Rises in the levels of carbon dioxide and other
gases (methane, water vapour)
Are causing a rapid rise in temperature
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The Carbon Cycle and Emissions
Emissions from fossil fuels and cement production
are the cause of the global warming problem
Source David Schimel and Lisa Dilling, National
Centre for Atmospheric Research 2003
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Energy Crisis
Peak Oil Production (Campell 2004) Most models of
oil reserves, production and consumption show
peak oil around 2010 (Campbell 2005) and serious
undersupply and rapidly escalating prices by
2025. It follows that there will be economic
mayhem unless the cement and concrete industry
acts now to change the energy base of their
products.
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Waste Pollution
Waste releases methane, can cause ill health in
the area, leads to the contamination of land,
underground water, streams and coastal waters
(destroying our fisheries) and gives rise to
various nuisances including increased traffic,
noise, odours, smoke, dust, litter and pests.
Most damaging is the release of dangerous
molecules to the global commons
There are various estimates, but we produce about
5-600 million tonnes of waste each year.
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Ecological Footprint
Our footprint is exceeding the capacity of the
planet to support it. We are not longer
sustainable as a species and must change our ways
TO SURVIVE
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We Must Learn from Nature (Biomimicry)

• Nature is the most frugal economist of all. The
  waste from one plant or animal is the food or
  home for another.
• By studying Nature we learn who we are, what we
  are and how we are to be. (Wright, F.L.
  1957269)
• In nature photosynthesis balances respiration.
• We have nothing that balances our emissions in
  the techno-process
• There is a strong need for similar efficiency and
  balance

By learning from Nature we can all live together
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Biomimicry

• The term biomimicry was popularised by the book
  of the same name written by Janine Benyus
• Biomimicry is a method of solving problems that
  uses natural processes and systems as a source of
  knowledge and inspiration.
• It involves nature as model, measure and mentor.

The theory behind biomimicry is that natural
processes and systems have evolved over several
billion years through a process of research and
development commonly referred to as evolution. A
reoccurring theme in natural systems is the
cyclical flow of matter in such a way that there
is no waste of matter or energy.
Nature is very economical about all Processes. We
must also be MUCH more economical
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Economically Driven Sustainability
The challenge is to harness human behaviours
which underlay economic supply and demand
phenomena by changing the technical paradigm in
favour of making carbon dioxide and other wastes
resources for new materials with lower take and
waste impacts and more energy efficient
performance.
- ECONOMICS -
Sustainable processes are more efficient and
therefore more economic. Natural ecosystems can
be 100 efficient. What is needed are new
technologies that allow material and energy flows
to more closely mimic natural ecosystems. Innovati
on will deliver these new technical paradigms.
Sustainability will not happen by relying on
people to do the right thing
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Sustainability Culture Technology
Increase in demand/price ratio for greater
sustainability due to cultural drift.

Supply
Greater Value/for impact (Sustainability) and
economic growth
Equilibrium shift
ECONOMICS
New Technical Paradigms are required that deliver
sustainability.
Demand
Increase in supply/price ratio for more
sustainable products due to technical innovation.

A measure of the degree of sustainability of an
industrial ecology is where the demand for more
sustainable technologies is met by their supply.
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Changing the Technology Paradigm
We need materials that require less energy to
make them, that last much longer and that
contribute properties that reduce lifetime
energies. The key is to change the technology
paradigm

• By enabling us to make productive use of
  particular raw materials, technology determines
  what constitutes a physical resource1
• Pilzer, Paul Zane, Unlimited Wealth, The Theory
  and Practice of Economic Alchemy, Crown
  Publishers Inc. New York.1990

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Examples of Economic Changes in Technical
Paradigms that result in Greater Sustainability
Light Globes Light Globes in the last 10 years
have evolved from consuming around 100 watts per
1700 lumens to less that 20 watts per 1700
lumens. As light globes account for around 30 of
household energy this is as considerable saving.
Solar Panels Producing More than one Electron for
each Photon of Light In all solar cells now in
use - in everything from satellites to pocket
calculators - each incoming photon contributes at
most one energised electron to the electric
current it generates. This barrier has now been
broken by Victor Klimov of Los Alamos National
Laboratory, New Mexico USA .
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Examples of Economic Changes in Technical
Paradigms that result in Greater Sustainability
Eco-Cements Eco-cements set by absorbing CO2 out
of the air and are suitable for the Pareto
proportion (80) of materials used for
construction in the built environment. Coupled
with capture of CO2 during manufacture the
resulting sequestration is significant
Robotics Construction in the future will be
largely done by robots because it will be more
economic to do so. Like a color printer different
materials will be required for different parts of
structures, and wastes such as plastics will
provide many of the properties required for the
cementitious composites of the future used. A
non-reactive binder such as TecEco tec-cements
can supply the right rheology, and like a
printer, very little will be wasted.
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Economics of Sustainability

• Solving global warming will require new
  technologies and probably require less money than
  is being spent on the new space station.
• Markets do not take a longer term view and
  governments should therefore step in and support
  innovation to develop new technologies that
  deliver sustainability.
• Present inefficient technologies such as persist
  in power generation may be locked in as a result
  of network externalities and sunk costs.

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A Low Energy Post Carbon Waste Age?
Maybe then we can move confidently into a more
sustainable future.
The construction industry can be uniquely
responsible for helping achieve this transition
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Abatement and Sequestration

• To solve sustainability problems our approach
  should be holistically balanced and involve
• Everybody, every day
• Be easy
• Make money

New technical paradigms are required

CarbonSafe Sequestration and waste utilisation.
Abatement Efficiency and conversion to non
fossil fuels
TecEcos Contribution
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The TecEco Dream A More Sustainable Built
Environment
CO2
OTHERWASTES
CO2 FOR GEOLOGICAL SEQUESTRATION
PERMANENT SEQUESTRATION WASTE UTILISATION (Man
made carbonate rock incorporating wastes as a
building material)
MINING
MgO
TECECO KILN
MAGNESITE OTHER INPUTS
TECECO CONCRETES
RECYCLED BUILDING MATERIALS
We need materials that require less energy to
make them, that last much longer and that
contribute properties that reduce lifetime
energies
There is a way to make our city streets as green
as the Amazon rainforest. Fred Pearce, New
Scientist Magazine
SUSTAINABLE CITIES
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The TecEco CarbonSafe Geo-Photosynthethic Process
The CarbonSafe Geo-Photosynthetic Process is
TecEcos evolving techno-process that delivers
profitable outcomes whilst reversing underlying
undesirable moleconomic flows from other less
sustainable processes.
Inputs Atmospheric or smokestack CO2,
brines,waste acid, other wastes Outputs Potable
water, gypsum, sodium bicarbonate, salts,
building materials, bottled concentrated CO2 (for
geo-sequestration and other uses).
Solar or solar derived energy
TecEcoKiln
TecEco MgCO2 Cycle
MgO
MgCO3
Greensols Process
1.29 gm/l Mg
Coal
Fossil fuels
Carbon or carbon compoundsMagnesium oxide
CO2
Oil
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The TecEco CarbonSafe Industrial Ecology
InputsBrinesWaste AcidCO2
OutputsGypsum, Sodium bicarbonate, Salts,
Building materials, Potable water
We must design whole new technical paradigms that
reverse many of our problem molecular flows
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The CarbonSafe Geo-Photosynthetic Process
1.354 x 109 km3 Seawater containing 1.728 1017
tonne Mg or suitable brines from other sources
Seawater Carbonation Process
Waste Acid
Gypsum carbon waste (e.g. sewerage)
fertilizers
Bicarbonate of Soda (NaHCO3)
CO2 from power generation or industry
Other salts Na,K, Ca2,Cl-
Gypsum (CaSO4)
Sewerage compost
CO2 as a biological or industrial input or if no
other use geological sequestration
Magnesite (MgCO3)
Solar Process to Produce Magnesium Metal
Magnesium Thermodynamic Cycle
Simplified TecEco ReactionsTec-Kiln MgCO3 ? MgO
CO2 - 118 kJ/moleReactor Process MgO CO2 ?
MgCO3 118 kJ/mole (usually more complex
hydrates)
CO2 from power generation, industry or out of the
air
Magnesite (MgCO3)
Magnesia (MgO)
Hydroxide ReactorProcess
Sequestration Table Mg from Seawater
CO2
Eco-CementTec-Cement
Tonnes CO2 sequestered per tonne magnesium with various cycles through the TecEco Tec-Kiln process. Assuming no leakage MgO to built environment (i.e. complete cycles). Billion Tonnes
Tonnes CO2 sequestered by 1 billion tonnes of Mg in seawater 1.81034
Tonnes CO2 captured during calcining (same as above) 1.81034
Tonnes CO2 captured by eco-cement 1.81034
Total tonnes CO2 sequestered or abated per tonne Mg in seawater (Single calcination cycle). 3.62068
Total tonnes CO2 sequestered or abated (Five calcination cycles.) 18.1034
Total tonnes CO2 sequestered or abated (Ten calcination cycles). 36.20
Other Wastes
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Why Magnesium Carbonates for Sequestration?

• Because of the low molecular weight of magnesium,
  magnesium oxide which hydrates to magnesium
  hydroxide and then carbonates, is ideal for
  scrubbing CO2 out of the air and sequestering the
  gas into the built environment
• More CO2 is captured than in calcium systems as
  the calculations below show.
• At 2.09 of the crust magnesium is the 8th most
  abundant element
• Magnesium minerals are potential low cost. New
  kiln technology from TecEco will enable easy low
  cost simple non fossil fuel calcination of
  magnesium carbonate with CO2 capture for
  geological sequestration.

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Reduction Global CO2 from CarbonSafe Process
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The Greensols Process

• The Greensols process involves the addition of
  waste acid and CO2 to brines containing magnesium
  including seawater.
• The process produces
• Valuable salts
• These salts will pay for the process
• Fresh water
• considerable profits could be generated
• The problem of brines from reverse osmosis
  processes is avoided.
• CO2 is sequestered as magnesium carbonate further
  used by TecEco in the CarbonSafe process.
• 10 km by 10 km by 150 metres thick is all the
  magnesium carbonate required a year to more than
  meet our needs for sequestration.

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Why Greensols is Important

• For many years geologists have wondered how all
  the huntite, magnesite and dolomite found in
  nature was formed.
• Greensols solves this geological enigma. Waste
  acid hydrolyses water which is therefore able to
  release the positively charged magnesium ions out
  of solution.
• The protons associated with the anion in an acid
  attach to water and de polarise it thereby
  releasing Mg for precipitation as carbonate
  potentially resulting in massive sequestration.

Contacts John Harrison, TecEco Pty. Ltd.
www.tececo.com Prof Chris Cuff, Greensols Pty.
Ltd.
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Thinking About Energy..

• Australia is a big country with huge transmission
  losses over long distances.
• We should be choosing decentralised generation
  options over centralised ones if they can be
  demonstrated to be more efficient
• Recent breakthroughs in solar technology will
  result in double or more efficiency
• Abundant solar energy ins available e.g.
  Townsville with sun 330 days a year.
• Unfortunately, sustainable energy other than from
  hydro so far does not suit large centralized
  power generation power plants and is therefore
  discredited by them further slowing their
  introduction.
• Policies are therefore needed to encourage more
  sustainable generation of electricity such as a
  system of eco credits and debits as described in
  our last TecEco newsletter (No 59?).
• Newcomen engines can potentially significantly
  increase the efficiency of existing fossil fuel
  powered electricity generation.

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Newcomen Engines
In contrast to Rankine cycle engines Newcomen
engines capture the pressure change and heat
released in the transition from a vapour back to
a liquid. Newcomen engines can be retrofitted to
existing fossil fuel and nuclear power stations
and as a bonus produce distilled water. The
Newcomen engine concept follows from the original
steam engine invented around 1712 and with the
application of modern technology heat exchangers,
condensers pumps, turbine technology and a few
other smarts have the potential to
significantly improve efficiency.
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Low Grade Heat and Newcomen Engines

• The world's resources of low grade heat, both
  natural and man-made far exceed our energy
  requirements.
• Low grade heat resources are not used because
  they cannot efficiently be used to drive
  conventional turbine generators.
• Newcomen engines utilise the large volume
  differences when water vapour collapses to form a
  liquid. And can utilise low grade heat.

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A Simple Solar Powered Newcomen Engine
Primary vapour is generated in a large
evaporation chamber. When it collapses on cooling
the rush of air and steam towards reduced
pressure powers a turbine as in conventional
fossil fuel powered power stations.
To reduce visual clutter, the thermal feedback
loop has been omitted.
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Solar Powered Newcomen Engine (2)
In the above version brine in the evaporation
chamber is heated directly by solar energy and by
heat liberated when secondary vapour condenses in
the underlying condensation chamber. Fresh brine
is continuously added at the cold end of the
trough, with hot, concentrated brine being drawn
off at the hot end. The heat stored in the
concentrated brine is re-cycled, to pre-heat the
turbine cooling water. At the cool end of the
condensation chamber, the secondary vapour always
ends up transferring its latent heat to the
overlying brine, because the vapour pressure
builds up until it reaches its dew point.
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Fresh Water and Sequestration Using Newcomen
Engines

• Newcomen engine generators can produce fresh
  water as a by product.
• Newcomen generator systems are designed to work
  using low grade heat, so by combining a Newcomen
  generator with a suitably designed carbon capture
  plant the capture process can be made more cost
  effective.

Contacts John Harrison, TecEco Pty. Ltd.
www.tececo.com Dr Bill Courtney, Cheshire
Innovation
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TecEco Binder Systems
SUSTAINABILITY
PORTLAND
POZZOLAN
Hydration of the various components of Portland
cement for strength.
Reaction of alkali with pozzolans (e.g. lime with
fly ash.) for sustainability, durability and
strength.
TECECO CEMENTS
DURABILITY
STRENGTH
TecEco concretes are a system of blending
reactive magnesia, Portland cement and usually a
pozzolan with other materials and are a key
factor for sustainability.
REACTIVE MAGNESIA
Hydration of magnesia gt brucite for strength,
workability, dimensional stability and
durability. In Eco-cements carbonation of brucite
gt nesquehonite, lansfordite and an amorphous
phase for sustainability.
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TecEco Formulations

• Tec-cements (5-15 MgO, 85-95 OPC)
• contain more Portland cement than reactive
  magnesia. Reactive magnesia hydrates in the same
  rate order as Portland cement forming Brucite
  which uses up water reducing the voidspaste
  ratio, increasing density and possibly raising
  the short term pH.
• Reactions with pozzolans are more affective.
  After all the Portlandite has been consumed
  Brucite controls the long term pH which is lower
  and due to its low solubility, mobility and
  reactivity results in greater durability.
• Other benefits include improvements in density,
  strength and rheology, reduced permeability and
  shrinkage and the use of a wider range of
  aggregates many of which are potentially wastes
  without reaction problems.
• Eco-cements (15-95 MgO, 85-5 OPC)
• contain more reactive magnesia than in
  tec-cements. Brucite in porous materials
  carbonates forming stronger fibrous mineral
  carbonates and therefore presenting huge
  opportunities for waste utilisation and
  sequestration.
• Enviro-cements (5-15 MgO, 85-95 OPC)
• contain similar ratios of MgO and OPC to
  eco-cements but in non porous concretes brucite
  does not carbonate readily.
• Higher proportions of magnesia are most suited to
  toxic and hazardous waste immobilisation and when
  durability is required. Strength is not developed
  quickly nor to the same extent.

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TecEco Technologies Take Concrete into the Future

• More rapid strength gain even with added
  pozzolans
• More supplementary materials can be used reducing
  costs and take and waste impacts.
• Easier to finish even with added pozzolans
• The stickiness concretes with added fly ash is
  retarding use
• Higher strength/binder ratio
• Less cement can be used reducing costs and take
  and waste impacts
• More durable concretes
• Reducing costs and take and waste impacts.
• Use of wastes
• Utilizing carbon dioxide
• Magnesia component can be made using non fossil
  fuel energy and CO2 captured during production.

Tec -Cements
Tec Eco-Cements
Eco-Cements
Contact John Harrison, TecEco Pty. Ltd.
www.tececo.com
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TecEco CO2 Capture Kiln Technology

• Can run at low temperatures.
• Can be powered by various non fossil fuels.
• E.g. solar

• Theoretically capable of producing much more
  reactive MgO
• Even with ores of high Fe content.
• Captures CO2 for bottling and sale to the oil
  industry (geological sequestration).
• Grinds and calcines at the same time.
• Runs 25 to 30 more efficiently as use waste
  heat from grinding
• Will result in new markets for ultra reactive low
  lattice energy MgO (e.g. cement, paper and
  environment industries)

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Sustainable Materials in the Built Environment -
2007

• Technical Focus
• This Conference will focus on
• The impacts and connectivity of different parts
  of the supply chain.
• Fabrication, performance, recycling and waste
• New developments in materials and processes
• Reviewing existing materials assessment tools
• Future directions in regulation
• Opportunities/barriers to introduction of
  sustainable materials and technologies in the
  building industry.
• New materials and more sustainable built
  environments the evidence?

Sustainable Materials in the BuiltEnvironment200
7Innovation - Process DesignAnnouncement and
Call for Papers 18th to 20th February
2007 Melbourne, Australia www.materialsaustralia.c
om.au/SMB2007
Joint Venture WebsitesASSMIC Website
www.aasmic.orgMaterials Australia Website
www.materialsaustralia.com.au