CO2 Mineral Trapping: An Experimental Study on the Carbonation of Basalts from the Eastern Deccan Volcanic Province, India

Rock specimens from Deccan flood basalts have been reacted in the laboratory under high pCO2 (5 and 10 bars), total pressure (vessel pressure between 10 and 20 bars), and temperature (100 and 200 °C) conditions for 50, 60, 70, and 80 hours. XRD and SEM-EDS analyses show that calcite, aragonite, siderite and magnesite, and clays are derived from the alteration of Deccan basalts under water-saturated, hydrothermal-like conditions. Alteration reactions were accompanied by significant variation in the pH of the reacting aqueous solution, dependent upon time, pCO2, and temperature variables of the experiment. Neo-formed secondary products also include significant amounts of smectite, chlorite, and smectite/chlorite mixed layer clays.