Emerging industrial kaolin and mineral processing technology company Zeotech Limited (ASX:ZEO) announced today that it has secured a dedicated research agreement with The University of Queensland (UQ) to evaluate the performance of proposed carbon capture using synthetic zeolites.
“This program is another example of our strong collaboration with UQ and continues Zeotech’s proactive approach in assessing the diverse and important commercial applications of synthetic zeolites,” said Zeotech Managing Director Peter Zardo.
The nine-month carbon capture research program, which is said to begin March this year, will see Zeotech assessing how to leverage its proprietary mineral processing technology for economically feasible environmental management solutions.
“Our objective is to combine the potential of our low energy and production time efficient, mineral processing technology with the unique and proven CO2 adsoprtion capabilities of synthetic zeolites in order to determine the delivery of a commercially viable environmental management solution for the very large and lucrative carbon capture market,” Zardo added.
A study conducted by Polaris Market Research projects that the global carbon capture market will reach USD 6.15 billion by 2027.
The program is designed with three stages: characterisation of synthetic zeolites and commercial adsorbents, carbon dioxide adsoprtion capacity and selectivity measurement, and granulation study of synthetic zeolite products.
Zeotech’s carbon capture idea utilizes synthetic zeolites, a large point source of CO2 that should improve efficiency for CO2 capture.
“Adsorption processes using solid sorbent capable of capturing CO2 from flue gas streams have shown many potential advantages, compared to other conventional CO2 capture processes using aqueous amine solvents,” the release said.
Commenting on the agreement, Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellow Dr. Hong (Marco) Peng said: “Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is critical for the future of our planet and we are excited to have the opportunity to work on research aimed at leveraging Zeotech’s technology to potentially develop cost-effective synthetic zeolite centric carbon capture solutions.”
The company is also collaborating with UQ in the development of its Queensland-based Abercom Kaolin Project acquired in August 2019.
