An indirect CO2 utilization for the crystallization control of CaCO3 using alkylcarbonate

Abstract Carbon mineralization into calcium carbonate (CaCO3) has been widely studied as a promising CO2 resource utilization pathway. In this work, CO2 was fixed to alkylcarbonate through phase change absorption in polyethylene glycol 200 (PEG) plus ethanediamine (EDA) system at ambient conditions. This alkylcarbonate was identified by FTIR and 13C cross-polarization magic-angle spinning (CP-MAS) NMR spectra. It was used as both CO32− source and crystal modifier to induce crystallization of CaCO3 particles. The CaCO3 microsphere with uniform morphology and vaterite crystal phase was acquired by adjusting quality of alkylcarbonate, concentration of Ca2+ concentration, and crystallization period without any additives. Furthermore, a plausible self-assembly formation mechanism toward inducing crystallization of vaterite CaCO3 microsphere also was proposed. This synthesis strategy is environmentally friendly and offers an alternative strategy for indirect utilization of CO2.