UAE pioneers low-energy method to lock CO2 in industrial waste using only water

The United Arab Emirates has made headlines by identifying what scientists are calling a novel, low-energy pathway for permanently removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Essentially, they’ve figured out a way to turn industrial waste into a stable mineral form that traps the CO2. According to a report from Ean Libya, a team at United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) managed to secure a patent in December 2025 for a method that, astonishingly, only uses water at room temperature to convert carbide slag, an industrial by-product, into calcium carbonate, locking CO2 inside a solid, durable material.

Now, here’s the interesting part: this technique turns one tonne of carbide slag along with about half a tonne of CO2 into approximately 1.5 tonnes of calcium carbonate. The report explains that this material can be used as a substitute for quarried limestone or added into cement blends. That’s a pretty clever way of making use of industrial waste while also providing a possibly permanent way of sequestering carbon. The inventors emphasize that their process doesn’t need any external chemicals or extra heat, pretty handy if you’re thinking about scaling it up, since it could potentially cut down on the energy and emissions usually associated with other carbon capture methods, like direct air capture.

The UAEU researchers say the idea came about from addressing a sustainability challenge posed by Gulf Cryo and because of the high lime content in carbide waste. This allowed them to apply mineral carbonation, a method known for being extremely durable for storing CO2. They frame their project as aligned with the UAE’s national goals: the country has set a pretty ambitious target of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, and this research is seen as contributing towards that end. The team’s also working on industrial trials with partners like ADNOC and has set a mid-term goal of capturing around 10 million tonnes of CO2 per year by 2030. To put that into perspective, that’s roughly equivalent to the emissions from over two million traditional internal combustion engine vehicles, which is quite noteworthy.

Of course, some industry experts are cautious. They remind us that successes in lab conditions or small pilot programs don’t automatically translate to full-scale operations. Scaling up mineral carbonation, for example, hinges on consistent supply of raw materials, logistics for waste transportation and processing, and a thorough understanding of the entire lifecycle, covering everything from collection to downstream use of the calcium carbonate. The lead report mentions that the UAEU is trying to tackle many of these challenges by using abundant low-value waste and by creating a saleable solid product.

This latest patent application for converting carbide slag into calcium carbonate is part of a series of exciting climate-related innovations from UAEU in 2025. Back in September 2025, they also secured a US patent for a Metal-CO2 battery that converts CO2 into electricity and useful chemicals, like formate and hydrocarbons, using what’s called a zero-gap flow design. That technology’s claimed to offer higher energy density and current capacity than traditional batteries, turning a greenhouse gas into valuable products. Then, in August 2025, a multidisciplinary team at UAEU patented a process to recycle carbon fiber waste into materials that can treat desalination brine , in other words, addressing two big environmental issues from the Gulf region: waste from desalination plants and industrial CO2 emissions.

All these innovations seem to reflect a deliberate focus on the circular economy, where waste is minimized, resources are recovered, and carbon is managed effectively. The university credits internal funding and talent development programs for supporting this research. The inventors see these technologies as complementary: mineral carbonation offers permanent storage and can replace construction materials, electrochemical conversion turns CO2 into energy or chemicals, and recycled materials reduce the environmental impact of desalination and industry.

For policymakers and industry players in the UAE, these approaches are quite appealing. Gulf economies generate a lot of industrial waste, and their energy-intensive sectors, like petrochemicals, steel manufacturing, and desalination, stand to benefit from low-cost waste diversion, construction input substitution, and carbon sequestration. Industry insiders suggest that partnerships, especially with big players such as ADNOC, will be vital to pilot these technologies in real-world settings, and to develop the necessary supply chains for large-scale deployment.

That said, there are still many technical and commercial questions. Mineral carbonation generally needs enough reactive calcium or magnesium in the starting material, and it typically performs better when reaction rates are sped up through heat, pressure, or chemical additives. The UAEU’s claim that just room-temperature water can achieve this remains to be seen, independent verification is needed, through pilot studies that measure conversion efficiency, energy input, emissions, water use, and the long-term stability of the calcium carbonate. Lifecycle assessments will be essential to determine whether the environmental benefits, mainly CO2 avoidance per processed tonne, actually make the process viable on an industrial scale.

The ambitious vision to capture 10 million tonnes of CO2 each year by 2030 is quite a leap, especially since most current commercial carbon removal projects operate on far smaller scales, like kilotonnes or low-megatonne levels annually. Reaching such a target in five years would require rapid scaling, heavy investment, and supportive regulatory and market mechanisms, things that would need to be put in place for the process to make a real impact, particularly in terms of creating a market for carbonated building materials or cement.

The UAE’s own situation contains both opportunities and obstacles. On one hand, the country has the institutional capacity and funding to support large pilot projects and a clear policy goal to lead in climate action while diversifying its economy. But on the other hand, water scarcity remains a concern, especially for processes relying on aqueous media, even if they happen at room temperature. The report doesn’t specify how much water the process consumes, which will be a crucial question to answer before scaling further.

All in all, UAEU’s recent work adds to a growing international diversity of approaches to manage CO2. The reports indicate that both researchers and industrial partners are planning phased tests in actual industrial environments. If independent trials confirm that the process is economically feasible and environmentally beneficial, then the carbide slag route could become part of a mixed portfolio of solutions tailored to the Gulf’s unique industrial landscape. For now, though, this invention is promising from a laboratory perspective, fitting nicely with national climate ambitions, yet it still faces many hurdles before it can be considered a scalable and impactful part of UAE or global decarbonization strategies.

Source: Noah Wire Services