Probabilistic nucleation and crystal growth in porous medium: New insights from calcium carbonate precipitation on primary and secondary substrates

摘要: Knowledge of crystal nucleation and growth is paramount in understanding the geometry evolution of porous medium during reactive transport processes in geo-environmental studies. To predict transport properties precisely, it is necessary to delineate both the amount and location of nucleation and precipitation events in the spatiotemporal domain. This study investigates the precipitation of calcium carbonate crystals on a heterogeneous sandstone substrate as a function of chemical supersaturation, temperature, and time. The main objective was to evaluate solid formation under different boundary conditions when the solid–liquid interface plays a key role. New observations were made on the effect of primary and secondary substrates and the role of preferential precipitation locations on the rock surfaces. The results indicate that supersaturation and temperature determine the amount, distribution pattern, and …