Carbon sequestration is an evolving area in geoscience with the potential for scientific breakthroughs, and one that will become increasingly important as the concentration of atmospheric CO2 rises. This Special Issue of Geoscience aims to advance the science of Carbon Sequestration towards enabling society to make informed decisions on the technical, environmental, economic, and social merits of carbon sequestration strategies. We invite contributions that discuss fundamental processes and emerging strategies, field, laboratory, and modelling studies. Guest editors: Ian Power (Trent University) and Anna Harrison (University College London).
New publication: Room temperature magnesite precipitation
Published in Crystal Growth & Design, we demonstrate the formation of magnesite at room temperature using carboxylated polystyrene spheres. Scaling this process has implications for sequestering carbon dioxide at Earth surface conditions.
Publication by Lin et al. in Carbonates & Evaporites
Great new manuscript published by Lin, Zheng, Ye and Power in Carbonates & Evaporites. This study documents the hydromagnesite deposits from Dujiali Lake, central Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and its trace and rare earth element geochemistry.
New Publication: Mineral reactivity
Harrison et al. publishes "Changes in mineral reactivity driven by pore fluid mobility in partially wetted porous media" in Chemical Geology (2017). This innovative study led by Anna Harrison explores mineral reactivity at the pore-scale using microfluidics experiments.
Heading to Trent University!
Excited to announce that I'll be starting as an Assistant Professor in Environmental Geosciences at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario beginning June 1st.
New Publication: Cement Carbonation
Assessing the carbon sequestration potential of magnesium oxychloride cement building materials
Magnesium oxychloride cement (MOC) boards have the potential to offset carbon emissions through mineral carbonation, a process whereby carbon dioxide (CO2) is converted to carbonate minerals. Boards (0-15 years old) contained MOC phase 5 (21-50 wt.%), brucite, primary (e.g., magnesite) and secondary (hydromagnesite and chlorartinite) carbonate minerals. Quantitative mineralogy, electron microscopy and carbon abundance data demonstrate that secondary carbonates form through the reactions of MOC and brucite with CO2 within interfacial water layers after board manufacturing. Stable carbon isotopic data confirmed the source of sequestered CO2 as being the atmosphere. Carbonation rates were approximately 0.07 kg CO2/m2 board/year or 9 kg CO2/t board/year over 15 years, offsetting ~20-40% of estimated carbon emissions. In experiments using 10% and 100% CO2 gas, carbonation was accelerated by approximately 400 and 1600 times in comparison to the passive rate. Integration of carbonation reactions into MOC board production could provide significant carbon offsets.