Mineral precipitation in porous media systems: Controlling factors and impacts on porous media evolution

Mineral precipitation in porous media is an important process that controls the evolution of physical-chemical properties of many natural and engineered systems. This review aims to provide an overview of the status quo understandings of this process and a perspective on future research needs. We reviewed the fundamentals of the thermodynamic and kinetic theories of nucleation and crystal growth, and the key factors (e.g., substrate properties and pore sizes) that control mineral precipitation in porous media. In particular, we focused on how local reactive transport conditions dictate the extent and spatial distribution of mineral precipitates in flowing supersaturated solutions, mixing dominated systems, and coupled mineral dissolution and precipitation systems. Moreover, the review summarizes constitutive relations that have been used to model precipitation-driven alteration in bulk properties such as permeability, diffusivity and mineral reactivity, as well as their applicability and limitations. While there have been exciting developments in experimental and modeling efforts in improved understanding, some outstanding research questions require dedicated future investigations. They include more rigorous descriptions of emerging precipitation phenomena such as oscillatory zoning during the precipitation of solid solutions, considerations of the coupling between geochemical and geomechanical processes with precipitation induced cracking being a worthy example, and the upscaling of fine scale process and properties (e.g., confinement, multiphase flow dynamics) in to macroscopic predictive models. Overall, this review highlights the importance, advances and challenges of improved understanding of mineral precipitation in fractured porous media.