Carbonation of steel slag for CO2 sequestration: Leaching of products and reaction mechanisms

Carbonation of industrial alkaline residues can be used as a CO2 sequestration technology to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. In this study, steel slag samples were carbonated to a varying extent. Leaching experiments and geochemical modeling were used to identify solubility-controlling processes of major and trace elements, both with regard to carbonation mechanisms and the environmental properties of the (carbonated) steel slag. Carbonation was shown to reduce the leaching of alkaline earth metals (except Mg) by conversion of Ca-phases, such as portlandite, ettringite, and Ca-(Fe)-silicates into calcite, possibly containing traces of Ba and Sr. The leaching of vanadium increased substantially upon carbonation, probably due to the dissolution of a Ca-vanadate. The reactive surface area of Al- and Fe-(hydr)oxides increased with the carbonation degree, which tends to reduce the leaching of sorption-controlled trace elements. Sorption on Mn-(hydr)oxides was found to be required to adequately model the leaching of divalent cations, but was not influenced by carbonation. Consideration of these three distinct reactive surfaces and possible (surface) precipitation reactions resulted in adequate modeling predictions of oxyanion and trace metal leaching from (carbonated) steel slag. Hence, these surfaces exert a major influence on the environmental properties of both fresh and carbonated steel sla