Olivine, a magnesium-iron silicate mineral, is common in the earth’s subsurface, and can sometimes contain other valuable elements, such as cobalt, manganese and nickel. Olivine has been explored as a possible sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide in carbon-capture methods that involve carbon mineralization. If critical materials (Co, Mn, Ni and so on) could be recovered during mineralization, it would offer a source of revenue for carbon-capture projects.
Olivine mineral (Shutterstock)
Determining the levels of critical elements contained within particular olivine deposits is essential to identifying the most promising targets for carbon mineralization, but it requires labor-intensive laboratory work. Now, a team of researchers and students at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL; Richland, Wash.; www.pnnl.gov) has developed an expanded database to help connect the analysis of olivine structure to its composition. “Instead of requiring complicated measurements, researchers can leverage the relationship between X-ray diffraction data and chemical composition to quickly learn more about an olivine sample,” the PNNL team says.
PNNL says the work, which was published in the journal ACS Earth and Space Chemistry, is being actively used in the “development of an exploration vector for identifying U.S. resources with the highest potential for both carbon mineralization and recovery of critical minerals.”