Patent ID: 7655193

Claim:
An apparatus for extracting and sequestering CO 2 from a gas stream, comprising: a reactor vessel; an aqueous solution; means for introducing said gas stream into said reactor vessel; carbonate disposed in said reactor vessel, wherein said carbonate is of the form X(CO 3 ) m wherein X is any element or combination of elements that can chemically bond with a carbonate group or its multiple, wherein at least one said element is a group IA, IIA, IIIA, IVA, IB, IIB, IIIB, IVB, VB, VIIB, VIIB, or VIIIB element of the periodic table, and wherein m is a stoichiometrically determined positive integer; means for hydrating said CO 2 with said aqueous solution to form carbonic acid, thereby resulting in a CO 2 -depleted gas stream; means for removing said CO 2 -depleted gas stream from said reactor vessel; means for reacting said carbonate with said carbonic acid to form a waste stream solution of metal ions and bicarbonate; means for removing said waste stream solution from said reactor vessel; an ion exchange device for pre-treating said waste stream solution to reduce the amount of CO 2 outgassing and carbonate precipitation that may occur after said waste stream solution is released into a disposal site; and means for releasing said pretreated waste stream solution into said disposal site.