Abstract:
Carbonatization of ultramafic rocks is potentially important pathway for carbon mineralization occurred in nature, which is an effective and permanent geochemical trapping system for storing the CO
2. The above process can be carried out spontaneously through weathering, and at the same time, manual intervention can further improve the efficiency of carbonatization reaction and promote the process of industrialization. Based on the 1∶1 000 000 geological map and database of northwest China, the storage potential of ultrabasic rocks is evaluated theoretically in this paper. After the statistics and calculations on the data of the ultramafic rocks of the northwest China, the results show that the CO
2 sequestration capacity of ultramafic rocks. Totally 96.323 billion tons of carbon sequestration was estimated for northwest China, and the ultramafic rocks in Xinjiang have the greatest amount of CO
2 sequestration, which can reach 61.352 billion tons, accounting for 63.69% of the total storage capacity in northwest China. The amount of CO
2 sequestered by ultramafic rocks in northwest China is roughly 10 times as against the total CO
2 countrywide emissions in 2021. Under the condition that the carbon sequestration potential is fully released, based on the national emissions in 2021, a preliminary static estimate suggest that CO
2 can be sequestered for about 10 years. Therefore, ultramafic rocks in northwest China have great potential for CO
2 sequestration. In the future, the fine basic geological survey data of the single typical ultramafic rock should be collected, and supplementary survey and research should be carried out to further delineate favorable targets for CO
2 sequestration. In this region, the geological solution to promote the sequestration of CO
2 in ultramafic rocks has become one of best solutions to achieve the carbon neutrality goals in the future.