Serpentine Carbon Sequestration Foamed Lightweight Soil
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional foamed lightweight soil technologies rely on cement, leading to high CO2 emissions, significant energy consumption, and inefficient utilization of serpentine resources, resulting in waste accumulation and environmental pollution.
Innovation Solution
A method using serpentine tailings and magnesium oxide as cementing materials, combined with CO2 foaming to produce a green, environmentally friendly foamed lightweight soil, which reduces carbon emissions and promotes resource recycling, by grinding serpentine tailings to replace part of the magnesium oxide and using CO2 as a foaming agent.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If conventional cement is used as curing agent in foamed lightweight soil, then the soil achieves required strength and stability, but CO2 emissions and energy consumption increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the chemical composition parameters of the curing agent system by replacing conventional cement with magnesium oxide and serpentine tailings. This substitution maintains the strength-hardening function while fundamentally altering the emission profile, as magnesium oxide carbonization consumes CO2 rather than releasing it, and serpentine tailings utilization avoids the high-emission cement production process
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts harmful factors into beneficial effects in multiple ways: (1) CO2, a harmful greenhouse gas, is transformed into a useful foaming agent that creates the lightweight porous structure; (2) Serpentine tailings, which are waste materials causing pollution, are converted into valuable cementing components; (3) The carbonization process of magnesium oxide, which normally releases CO2, is reversed to become a CO2 consumption process that sequesters carbon while producing strength
2Loss of substance
If serpentine tailings are utilized through acid extraction and recycling methods, then serpentine resources are recovered, but environmental pollution and energy consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies self-service by allowing serpentine tailings to directly function as cementing materials without requiring complex acid extraction and purification processes. The tailings are ground into fine powder and mixed with magnesium oxide and other components to form the foamed lightweight soil, enabling the waste material to serve its own potential function as a binding agent
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts only the necessary component from serpentine tailings by grinding them into fine powder, removing the need for complex chemical extraction processes. This physical size reduction enables the tailings to be effectively incorporated into the soil matrix as cementing material, achieving resource utilization without the harmful chemical processing steps
3Productivity
If magnesium oxide is used as cementing material for carbon sequestration, then strength increases rapidly and CO2 is recycled, but production cost and material availability become limiting factors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple materials to create a synergistic cementing system: magnesium oxide provides rapid carbonization and strength gain, serpentine tailings contribute to binding and structural stability, and foaming agents create the porous lightweight structure. This combination allows the system to achieve high productivity through magnesium oxide carbonization while mitigating material availability constraints by incorporating abundant serpentine tailings
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite cementing material system combining magnesium oxide, serpentine tailings, and other components. This composite approach leverages the rapid strength gain and CO2 sequestration properties of magnesium oxide while utilizing the abundance and cost-effectiveness of serpentine tailings, thereby balancing productivity with material availability
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach results in rapid strength increase, low carbon footprint, energy savings, and effective waste resource utilization, meeting the demands of green construction while enhancing the material properties for engineering applications.
Implementation Method 1
Carbon sequestration technology through the use of magnesium oxide is characterized by low calcination temperature, recyclable CO2 during the production process, and rapid increase in strength
Implementation Method 2
Foamed lightweight soil is a light and porous soil made by adding the foam generated by the foaming agent to a slurry
Implementation Method 3
If the serpentine tailings can be ground into fine powder to partially replace the magnesium oxide to prepare foamed lightweight soil
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosure belongs to the technical field of materials for civil construction engineering, and specifically relates to a green and low carbon emission foamed lightweight soil prepared by using serpentine, magnesium oxide and CO2 as raw materials. In the serpentine carbon sequestration foamed lightweight soil, the ingredients of raw material include: magnesium oxide, serpentine, a filler, CO2 bubbles and water.