New and continuing members of the PowerGeolab!

A big welcome to Kwon Rausis who is joining us from Barcelona, Spain where he completed his PhD in Environmental Engineering. Kwon will be working on a wide range of projects in mineral carbonation, MgO looping, and enhanced rock weathering. He will also play an important role in our future field pilots with De Beers in South Africa.

Continuing their research, Justin Lockhart and Teanna Burnie, are starting master’s degrees. Justin will examine cementation through carbonation as a means of stabilizing tailings and Teanna is studying biosignatures within magnesium carbonate minerals with relevance to the search for life on Mars.

The lab continues to grow and I am continuing to accept applications for graduate studies!

Amorphous Mg-carbonate and diatoms!

Undergraduate research assistant, Bugatti, has been busy contributing to our ongoing research on CO2 sequestration by studying the reactions that cause amorphous magnesium carbonate to crystallize into magnesite, a stable mineral for long-term CO2 storage. Normally magnesite requires either heat or time to form, so Bugatti is examining unique and possibly more efficient methods for its synthesis. He is also using our new and fancy Bruker D2 X-ray diffractometer for determining the mineralogical composition of his precipitates during transformation. Additionally, Bugatti has been setting up vibrantly lit environmental chambers for growing diatom cultures. Diatoms have a siliceous frustule and are thus, a sink for dissolved silicon. He plans to grow these microbes in association with silicate minerals to see if their growth has a positive impact on mineral dissolution, often a rate-limiting step in CO2 mineralization.

Perseverance has landed!

Congratulations to NASA on a successful landing of their Mars rover, Perseverance! On Thursday, February 18, 2021 at 3:56 pm the Perseverance rover landed safely at Jezero crater on Mars, where it will begin assessing and collecting samples for a future return mission. Jezero crater was chosen as an ideal setting to search for possible signs of past life because it is an ancient lake basin with abundant ultramafic volcanic rocks, clays, and magnesium carbonates according to orbiter data. To aid in understanding Perseverance’s samples, Teanna Burnie (honours student) has been researching morphologic biosignatures in carbonate samples collected from four natural analogues on Earth including the Atlin playas. We are looking forward to the initial findings from the mission and finding out more about Perseverance’s sample collection.

Duncan's awesome experiments

Duncan (M.Sc. student) has setup some cool column experiments to determine rates of CO2 sequestration through enhanced rock weathering of pulverized kimberlite, wollastonite skarn, and dunite. He is tracking changes to the solid, aqueous, and gaseous phases as he artificially weathers these rocks in the laboratory. The second phase will see these columns moved to an outdoor space on Trent’s campus to monitor weathering rates under real-world conditions.

Congratulations Amanda!

Congratulations to Amanda Stubbs for successfully defending her Master’s thesis on weathering and carbonation of kimberlite residues from South African diamond mines. Amanda began working in the lab in 2018, completed field campaigns at the Venetia and Cullinan diamond mines, and carried out fantastic experiments for simulating weathering and directly measuring the drawdown of CO2 into mine wastes. She is the first student to complete a graduate degree in the PowerGeolab and her research will significantly contribute to the field of carbon dioxide removal through weathering and carbonation of ultramafic rock! Well done Amanda, we’re all very proud!

Amanda at the Cullinan Diamond Mine posing with her new best friend while sampling cemented and weathered mine wastes!

D2 Phaser X-ray diffractometer

Last week our Bruker D2 Phaser X-ray diffractometer arrived and was installed. This benchtop XRD will enable our lab to routinely analyze rock, sediment, and tailings samples from the field and experiments. We can prep using the micronizer and run samples for both qualitative and quantitative mineralogical analyses. And we have a variety of sample mounts. Looking forward to getting lots of fun and exciting data!

Bruker D2 Phaser X-ray Diffractometer

Back from the shutdown

We have been back in the lab after some time off during the shutdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.  Like any work place, we’re adapting to a new normal and taking precautions to prevent the spread.  Keeping people safe by wearing masks, physical distancing, and additional cleaning.  We’re fortunate that Peterborough has not had too many cases (total of 95 as of Jul. 19) and it has been about three weeks since there was a new case, all previous cases have been resolved now. These are strange times, but we’re glad to be doing science, experiments, analyses, which has been really enjoyable!

Big experiments!

Carlos, Amanda, and I travelled to Johannesburg to setup pilot experiments that we’ll use to understand kimberlite weathering and carbonation.  We’re using a variety of tools to measure changes in the waters, solids, and gases.  These pilots will continue for at least six months, providing us with valuable information that will enable mining companies to use their mineral wastes to sequester carbon dioxide.

Axe throwing to celebrate the holidays!

PowerGeolab and axe throwing champion, Carlos!

The whole lab went out for axe throwing! Somehow Carlos managed to beat Ian and then go on to take the championship! We played a round robin, learnt some trick throws, and then the tournament when Ian choked and Carlos was victorious!

De Beers Workshop in Calgary

Sampling at the Venetia Diamond Mine in South Africa.

Ian attended a workshop at De Beers to present the group’s research on enhanced weathering and carbonation of kimberlite residues.  The work was well received and the team is looking forward to a productive 2020 when we’ll launch field trials to better quantify the rates of weathering and carbonation and further develop our carbon verification protocols.