Reactive flow and transport, and chemical reactions take place in pores and along the mineral surfaces in confined porous systems. These coupled multiphysics processes are critical to various subsurface applications such as subsurface resource recovery, carbon sequestration, and environmental fate and transport. Over the past decade(s), microfluidic devices have been applied for mixing-controlled (bio)geochemical reactions in porous media and the feedback of reaction products (e.g., precipitants, dissolved species, biofilms) on reaction processes. Microfluidics has been used to account for pore-scale systems which can identify mineral-fluid interfaces accurately. The experimental works with computational simulations have been studied to provide fundamental mechanistic explanation of how (bio)geochemical processes and pore-scale interfacial reactions interact and alter hydrodynamics and reaction processes under different geochemical compositions and pore configurations. In this work we will highlight how pore scale microfluidic experimental works with computational simulations improved our understanding of bio-geochemical reactions for calcium carbonate precipitation and dissolution processes. In addition, a few applications of fluidic devices that can be relatively easily built using PMMA or 3d printing will be presented to highlight applicability of fluidic devices for various micro/nano scale flow and transport processes which are governed by coupled reaction processes at the mineral-fluid interface.

Micofluidics applications for reactive transport and flow behavior along mineral-fluid interfaces

ACS Spring 2022

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