Mineral Surface after Reaction with Aqueous Solution at High Temperatures and Pressures

This work presents new experimental results on surface chemistry of reacting minerals and interface kinetics between mineral and aqueous solutions. These experiments were carried out using a flow reactor (packed bed reactor) of an open system as well as a continuous stirred tank reactor, CSTR. The authors measured reaction rates of such minerals as zeolite, albite and carbonate (rhodochrosite, dolomite) in various solutions, and tested corresponding mineral surface by using SEM, XPS, SIMS, etc. This paper mainly presents the experimental results of zeolite dissolution in water and in low pH solutions at room temperature, and dolomite dissolution at elevated temperatures. The results show that the release rates of Si, Al and Na of zeolite are different in most cases. The incongruent dissolution of zeolite is related to surface chemical modifications. The Na, Al and Si release rates for dissolution of albite and zeolite in water and various solutions were measured as a function of temperature, flow velocity, pH and solution composition in the reaction system. In most cases, dissolutions of both albite and zeolite are incongruent. Dissolution of dolomite is also incongruent in most cases and varied with T, pH, and nature of aqueous solutions. For dolomite dissolution, the release rates of Mg are less than those of Ca at high temperatures as T increases from 25 to 300°C. SIMS study indicates that the contents of Al, Na and Si in the leached layer of zeolite or albite surface, change with the distance from the surface, exhibiting a non-linear behaviour within a thickness range of 1000%. The distributions of Ca, Mg, Mn, H and Cl in the leached surface layer of carbonate have a non-linear behaviour too.

Adsorption and desorption of lanthanum at sulfide mineral surface

Batch adsorption experiment with four sulfide minerals - Chalcocite galena, pyrite and sphalerite - were used to study for the adsorption and desorp-tion behavior of La (III) in the presence of EDTA, a model humic matter. Linear adsorption was found in all cases.The presence of soluble organic complexing ligand should reduce the mobility of La (III) in porous media and its transport to groundwater in the percolating soil solution. Binding mechanism is proposed to account for this preferential binding behavior.

Effect of reactive surface area of minerals on mineralization trapping of CO_2 in saline aquifers

The reactive surface area, an important parameter controlling mineral reactions, affects the amount of mineralization trapping of CO2 which affects the long-term CO2 storage. The effect of the reactive surface area on the mineralization trapping of CO2 was numerically simulated for CO2 storage in saline aquifers. Three kinds of minerals, including anorthite, calcite and kaolinite, are involved in the mineral reactions. This paper models the relationship between the specific surface area and the grain diameter of anorthite based on experimental data from literature （Brantley and Mellott, 2000）. When the reactive surface areas of anorthite and calcite decrease from 838 to 83.8 m^2/m^3, the percentage of mineralization trapping of CO： after 500 years decreases from 11.8% to 0.65%. The amount of dissolved anorthite and the amounts of precipitated kaolinite and calcite decrease significantly when the reactive surface areas ofanorthite and calcite decrease from 838 to 83.8 m2/m3. Calcite is initially dissolved in the brine and then precipitates during the geochemical reactions between CO2-H20 and the minerals. Different reactive surface areas of anorthite and calcite lead to different times from dissolution to precipitation. The pH of the brine decreases with decreasing reactive surface areas of anorthite and calcite which influences the acidity of the saline aquifer. The gas saturation between the upper and lower parts of the saline aquifer increases with decreasing reactive surface areas of anorthite and calcite. The mass density distribution of brine solution shows that the CO2^＋brine solution region increases with decreasing reactive surface areas ofanorthite and calcite.

Distribution and composition of authigenic minerals in surface sediments of the western Gulf of Thailand

Generation, morphology, and distribution of authigenic minerals directly reflect sedimentary environment and material sources. Surface sediments were collected from the western Gulf of Thailand during 2011–2012, and 159 samples were analyzed to determine detrital minerals. Authigenic minerals, including siderite, pyrite, and glauconite, are abundant whereas secondary minerals, such as chlorite and limonite, are distributed widely in the study area. Siderite has a maximum content of 19.98 g/kg and appears in three types from nearshore to continental shelf, showing the process of forming-maturity-oxidation. In this process, the Mn O content in siderite decreases, but FeOand Mg O content increase. Colorless or transparent siderite pellets are fresh grains generated within a short time and widely distributed throughout the region; high content appears in coastal area where river inputs are discharged. Translucent cemented double pellets appearing light yellow to red are mature grains; high content is observed in the central shelf. Red-brown opaque granular pellets are oxidized grains,which are concentrated in the eastern gulf. Pyrite is mostly distributed in the central continental shelf with an approximately north–south strip. Pyrite are mainly observed in foraminifera shell and distributed in clayey silt sediments, which is similar to that in the Yangtze River mouth and the Yellow Sea. The pyrite in the gulf is deduced from genetic types associated with sulfate reduction and organic matter decomposition. Majority of glauconite are granular with few laminar. Glauconite is concentrated in the northern and southern parts within the boundary of 9.5° to 10.5°N and is affected by river input diffusion. The distribution of glauconite is closely correlated with that of chlorite and plagioclase, indicating that glauconite is possibly derived from altered products of chlorite and plagioclase. The KO content of glauconite is low or absent, indicating its short formation time.

A flexible multi-body model of a surface miner for analyzing the interaction between rock-cutting forces and chassis vibrations

The discontinuous nature of rock cutting can easily cause unwanted vibrations in the structure of a surface miner.If these vibrations are not properly addressed,the related stress cycles can gradually damage the chassis resulting in fatigue failures.These events can seriously undermine the safety of operators and digging operations may be stopped for days,with an obvious economic impact.This work presents an analysis of the dynamics of a surface miner,focusing on the interaction between cutting machine dynamics and cutting forces,which is a new approach for this type of machine.For this purpose,the authors developed a numerical model of the cutting process made up of(1)a multi-body model of the cutting machine,which takes into account the chassis's flexibility;(2)a model of the rotating cutting head;and(3)a model of the interaction between the cutting head and rock,based on Shao's model.The model was compared with experimental results and then used to investigate the effects of cutting speed and cutting depth on the machine dynamics.

Unraveling the size distributions of surface properties for purple soil and yellow soil

Soils contain diverse colloidal particles whose properties are pertinent to ecological and human health, whereas few investigations systematically analyze the surface properties of these particles. The objective of this study was to elucidate the surface properties of particles within targeted size ranges（i.e. 〉 10, 1-10, 0.5-1, 0.2-0.5 and 〈 0.2 μm） for a purple soil（Entisol） and a yellow soil（Ultisol） using the combined determination method. The mineralogy of corresponding particle-size fractions was determined by X-ray diffraction.We found that up to 80% of the specific surface area and 85% of the surface charge of the entire soil came from colloidal-sized particles（〈 1 μm）, and almost half of the specific surface area and surface charge came from the smallest particles（〈 0.2 μm）. Vermiculite,illite, montmorillonite and mica dominated in the colloidal-sized particles, of which the smallest particles had the highest proportion of vermiculite and montmorillonite. For a given size fraction, the purple soil had a larger specific surface area, stronger electrostatic field, and higher surface charge than the yellow soil due to differences in mineralogy.Likewise, the differences in surface properties among the various particle-size fractions can also be ascribed to mineralogy. Our results indicated that soil surface properties were essentially determined by the colloidal-sized particles, and the 〈 0.2 μm nanoparticles made the largest contribution to soil properties. The composition of clay minerals within the diverse particle-size fractions could fully explain the size distributions of surface properties.