FOM researcher solves how minerals dissolve
On 18 September 2015, Science published an article by CSER tenure track researcher Mariëtte Wolthers, in which she reviews a variety of mineral dissolution mechanisms. Minerals are the building blocks of rocks and stones, as well as sand and clay – but human bones and many other materials are largely made up of minerals as well.
"When it comes to dissolving minerals, or growing them: it all happens at the interface between mineral and fluid", states FOM-workgroup leader Mariëtte Wolthers. In the Science Perspective article, she describes different mechanisms of calcite dissolution, in a wide range of settings. The examples Wolthers describes range from the dissolution of marble statues, to the dissolution of calcite in the subsurface in response to the injection of CO2-rich fluids for CO2 storage or enhanced oil and gas recovery.
Wolthers' article refers to new research by an American research group (Laanait et al.), which reveals how fast and variable atoms and molecules are transported away from a dissolving calcite crystal surface. This research was published in the same Science edition.
Ambitions
Over the next few years, Wolthers will be modeling similar dissolution and growth processes of carbonate minerals (chalk). More than half of the oil and gas reserves in the world are locked up in massive carbonate rock layers. Such models are therefore needed to find new ways of extracting these supplies of oil and gas. Wolthers hopes to simulate the mechanisms from the atomic scale up to the (centi)meter scale.
Wolthers' research is funded by FOM, NWO and NERC.
Reference
Wolthers, M. (2015). How minerals dissolve. Science 349 (6254), p. 1288. doi 10.1126/science.aad0852
Contact
Mariëtte Wolthers, +31 030 253 50 42.