Methods and Systems for Electrolytic Upcycling of Sulfate Waste during Resource Extraction for Carbon Dioxide Mineralization

Abstract

Methods of electrolytic upcycling of sulfate waste during resource extraction are provided. Methods of interest include electrolyzing an aqueous sulfate to produce an acidic solution and a basic solution, wherein the electrolyzing comprises the use of an electrolyzer stack of one or more electrochemical cells comprising an anode within an anode chamber containing an anolyte, a cathode within a cathode chamber containing a catholyte, and a cation exchange membrane separating the anode and cathode chambers. Methods also include extracting a mineral from a mineral source using the acidic solution, thereby producing a sulfate waste product, precipitating an inorganic alkaline solid formed from the sulfate waste product, thereby regenerating the aqueous sulfate, and recirculating the regenerated aqueous sulfate to the electrolyzer stack for electrolysis. Systems for practicing the invention are also provided.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.