We’re interested in the weathering of rocks and minerals under real-world climatic conditions and at relatively large, metre-scales.

We’re using a range of equipment to measure CO2 fluxes under laboratory conditions where we can control important variables like moisture content.

In the PowerGeolab, we use a variety of column experiments to study mineral weathering including the influence of organic amendments. These columns are held in an environmental chamber that controls temperature and relative humidity.

We carry out a range of batch reactor experiments to understand cation release and CO2 mineralization. These reactors are being injected with 100% CO2 gas.

We use a variety of chambers, some are inexpensive Tupperware, others are more sophisticated including a CO2 incubator. Here, we’re examining the cementation and stabilization of tailings through carbonation.

In nature, wetting drives mineral dissolution, releasing cations such as Mg and Ca, while evaporation drives mineral precipitation. This experimental setup is able to do 4 wet/dry cycles per day.

Mineral ID and quantification.

This reactor enables us to perform carbonation experiments at elevated temperatures and pressures.

We use this microscope to examine tiny precipitates, image polished sections, and even do basic petrography.

We’re doing some really fun and interesting experiments using our CO2 incubator (left) and environmental chamber (right).

This instrument measures the inorganic carbon content of solids and waters.

Surface area directly relates to mineral reactivity. We use a BET system to obtain accurate surface areas of tailings samples.

We have plenty of equipment for sample preparation including balances, sonication and shaker baths, centrifuge, and fumehood.

We can determine particle sizes of tailings and sediments using our vibratory sieve shaker and a laser-based system.

We embed rock, tailings, and sediment samples into epoxy, polish, and examine using techniques such as scanning electron microscopy.

In the PowerGeoLab, we use this micronizing mill to finely grind samples for mineralogical analyses by X-ray diffraction.

This mill is able to pulverize a kilogram of rock in less than a minute!

Automatically titrate any solution.