Publication

Direct currents stimulate carbonate mineralization for soil improvement under various chemical conditions

Abstract

The present study integrates direct electric currents into traditional calcium carbonate mineralization to investigate electrochemical interactions and the subsequent crystalline growth of CaCO3 bonds in sand. A specific line of focus refers to the effect of three chemical reactive species involved in the stimulated geo-chemo-electric system, namely CaCl2, Ca(CH3COO)2 and Ca(CH3CH2(OH)COO)2. By altering treatment conditions and the applied electric field, we capture distinctive trends related to the: (i) overall reaction efficiencies and distribution of CaCO3 crystals is sand samples; (ii) promotion of CaCO3 mineralization due to DC (iii) crystallographic and textural properties of mineralized bonds. The study introduces the concept of EA-MICP which stands for Electrically Assisted Microbially Induced Carbonate Precipitation as a means of improving the efficiency of soil bio-cementation compared to traditional MICP-based works. Results reveal both the detrimental and highly beneficial effects that electric currents can hold in the complex, reactive and transport processes involved. An interesting observation refers to the “doped” morphology of CaCO3 crystals, which precipitate under electric fields, validated by crystallographic analyses and microstructural observations.

About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Related concepts (34)
Electric field
An electric field (sometimes E-field) is the physical field that surrounds electrically charged particles and exerts force on all other charged particles in the field, either attracting or repelling them. It also refers to the physical field for a system of charged particles. Electric fields originate from electric charges and time-varying electric currents. Electric fields and magnetic fields are both manifestations of the electromagnetic field, one of the four fundamental interactions (also called forces) of nature.
Electric current
An electric current is a flow of charged particles, such as electrons or ions, moving through an electrical conductor or space. It is defined as the net rate of flow of electric charge through a surface. The moving particles are called charge carriers, which may be one of several types of particles, depending on the conductor. In electric circuits the charge carriers are often electrons moving through a wire. In semiconductors they can be electrons or holes.
Electromagnetic field
An electromagnetic field (also EM field or EMF) is a classical (i.e. non-quantum) field produced by moving electric charges. It is the field described by classical electrodynamics (a classical field theory) and is the classical counterpart to the quantized electromagnetic field tensor in quantum electrodynamics (a quantum field theory). The electromagnetic field propagates at the speed of light (in fact, this field can be identified as light) and interacts with charges and currents.
Show more
Related publications (69)

Photoinduced Second-Order Nonlinearities in Centrosymmetric Media

Ozan Yakar

The interaction of light and matter enables nonlinear frequency conversion and the creation of coherent currents. The optical control of electric currents is of fundamental relevance and prominent research focus in the last decades. These photocurrents ena ...
EPFL2024

A review of the modeling approaches of the lightning M-component with special attention to their current and electric field characteristics

Marcos Rubinstein, Mohammad Azadifar, Farhad Rachidi-Haeri, Carlo Alberto Nucci, Qi Li

In this paper, we present the characteristics of current, electric fields and modeling approaches of lightning M-component mode of charge transfer. We consider both the classical M-components (occurring after return strokes) and M-component-type ICC (Initi ...
2023

Charging and Electric Field Effects on Hydrogen Molecules Physisorbed on Graphene

Klaus Kern, Shai Mangel, Alessio Scavuzzo, Tobias Wollandt

Molecular hydrogen adsorbed on graphene was investigated by analyzing rotational excitation spectra obtained with a gate-tunable scanning tunneling microscope (STM). Through the shift of the rotational excitation energy, the tunability of physisorbed H2 on ...
AMER CHEMICAL SOC2023
Show more
Related MOOCs (32)
Plasma Physics: Introduction
Learn the basics of plasma, one of the fundamental states of matter, and the different types of models used to describe it, including fluid and kinetic.
Plasma Physics: Introduction
Learn the basics of plasma, one of the fundamental states of matter, and the different types of models used to describe it, including fluid and kinetic.
Plasma Physics: Applications
Learn about plasma applications from nuclear fusion powering the sun, to making integrated circuits, to generating electricity.
Show more