Postgraduate research project

Carbon storage in reactive rock systems: determining the coupling of geo-chemo-mechanical processes in reactive transport

Funding
Fully funded (UK and international)
Type of degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Entry requirements
2:1 honours degree View full entry requirements
Faculty graduate school
Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences
Closing date

About the project

When carbon dioxide (CO2) comes in contact with mafic to ultramafic rocks (e.g. basalt, peridotite), mineral dissolution and precipitation reactions produce carbonate minerals. This process provides a pathway by which CO2 can be removed from the atmosphere and permanently stored in the geologic subsurface.

Engineering this COmineralization process has the potential to remove mega- to giga-tonnes of COper year. To develop the full COremoval potential of these rocks, we must understand the fundamental processes of fluid flow and reactive transport of these fractured multi-scale rock systems, where permeability, porosity and reactive surface area are continually changing through time.

The principal aim of this project is:

  1. to examine how geo-chemo-mechanical processes affect the overall COmineralisation capacity of basalts and peridotites; and
  2. to deliver physical and geochemical benchmark data for the development of a micro-scale mechanical model (pore scale) and an upscaled continuum model, the latter of which will be used to study and predict the chemo-hydraulic interactions between fractures and rock matrix during COmineralisation.

For full project details visit the Inspire project page.

Supervisors

  • Professor Juerg Matter (University of Southampton)
  • Dr Ismael Falcon Suarez (National Oceanography Centre)
  • Professor Joseph Labuz (University of Minnesota, USA)