Browsing by Author "Troncoso P., Felipe"

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    Assessing the Technical Suitability of Precipitated Materials from the Electrochemical Decarbonation of Limestones for Cement and Hydrated Lime Production: A Reproducibility Study Performed in Canada and Chile
    (2025) Ramirez Amaya, Dario Alonso; Mahmood, Osamah; Noël, Martin; Kavgic, Miroslava; Martinez, Natalia P.; Troncoso P., Felipe; Gazzano, Valeria; Dreyse, Paulina; Canales Muñoz, Roberto; González, Marcelo
    Concrete is essential for most civil engineering applications, but its use faces pressing challenges to reduce CO2 emissions. These emissions are linked principally to the chains of cement production that calcinate limestones (CaCO3 → CaO þ CO2) for quicklime, hydrated lime, and clinker production. Electrochemical decarbonation is a novel technology with the potential to introduce synergistic strategies to mitigate CO2 emissions from this chemical reaction. However, its early incorporation in the current chains of cement and lime production requires evidence of the quality of materials produced by this technique under the broad conditions of the cement and lime industries worldwide. In this reproducibility study performed in Canada and Chile, multiple sources of limestone feedstock used for lime and cement production were subjected to an electrochemical decarbonation process to precipitate low-CO2 intermediary feedstock materials. The potential of the precipitate materials (PMs) as an intermediary for cement manufacturing and as a final hydrated lime product was assessed by contrasting the lime saturation factor, lime concentration, content of secondary oxides (MgO, K2O, and Na2O), and content of CO2 with those of theirprecursor limestones and the requirements established by the state of practice of these industries. Results showed that regardless of their origin, the obtained PMs mainly comprised calcium hydroxide [CaðOHÞ2 > 78.8% by mass], with increased lime concentration (CaO > 65.39%) and decreased other primary oxides (SiO2, Al2O3, and Fe2O3 < 1%) and carbon dioxide content (CO2 < 9.42% by mass). Several PMs had suitable chemical and physical characteristics to be considered directly for clinker and lime manufacturing, which is critical to the scalability of the electrochemical decarbonation process.
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    High-performance and low-cost electrochemical reactor for limestone decarbonation applied to clinker production – A validation at laboratory scale
    (2024) Martínez, Natalia P.; Troncoso P., Felipe; Gazzano, Valeria; Ramírez Amaya, Darío Alonso; González Hormazábal, Marcelo Andrés; Navarrete Leschot, Iván Ignacio; Canales Muñoz, Roberto; Dreyse, Paulina
    Limestone decarbonation to obtain CaO (calcium oxide) and produce cement is an industrial activity with enormous CO2 emissions, due to the intrinsic calcination reaction of CaCO3 (calcium carbonate), in addition to the use of fossil fuels. One of the most recent ideas to reduce CO2 emissions in this process has been the electrochemical decarbonation of limestone where Ca(OH)2 (calcium hydroxide) is obtained as an intermediate product that is then used as CaO precursor in clinker synthesis. This study shows the design of a low-cost electrochemical reactor and the optimization of the parameters to produce Ca(OH)2 with high purity and yield from the decarbonation processes of pure CaCO3 and limestone used in the cement industry. In addition, the remaining limestone sludge and electrolytic solutions were analyzed, and it was found that the sludge can be used as a correction material in clinker preparation, and it is also possible to reuse the electrolytic solution twice. Finally, the main finding is the proposal of a new clinker synthesis, which results in a cement with comparable characteristics to those of ordinary Portland cement, using Ca(OH)2 obtained from the electrochemical decarbonation of CaCO3, achieving a reduction in CO2 emissions of approximately 90% compared to the conventional method.