Eric Oelkers

Visiting Faculty

Visiting Professor - Professor of Geochemistry

Current

Biography

Eric Oelkers is an international leader in carbon capture and storage technology.  Eric was a co-founder and co-director of CarbFix, the only ongoing subsurface carbon mineral storage project.  Eric has made major contributions to the fields of mineral fluid thermodynamics, mineral dissolution/precipitation kinetics, reactive transport modelling, and quantifying the global cycles of the elements.

Selected Publications

The dissolution rates of naturally altered basalts at pH 3 and 120° C: Implications for the in-situ mineralization of CO2 injected into the subsurface

S. Delerce, P. Bénézeth, J. Schott, E.H. Oelkers

Chemical Geology 621, 121353 (2023)

 

Riverine Particulate Matter Enhances the Growth and Viability of the Marine Diatom Thalassiosira weissflogii

C. Grimm, A. Feurtet-Mazel, O.S. Pokrovsky, E.H. Oelkers

Minerals 13 (2), 183 (2023)

 

Moving Subsurface Carbon Mineral Storage Forward

E.H. Oelkers, S.R. Gislason, P.B. Kelemen

Carbon Capture Science & Technology, 100098

 

Carbonate geochemistry and its role in geologic carbon storage

S. Delerce, C. Marieni, E.H. Oelkers

Surface Process, Transportation, and Storage, 423-477 (2023)

 

Determination of the equilibrium magnesium isotope fractionation factors between brucite and aqueous inorganic and organic species

F.M. Stamm, M .Méheut, T. Zambardi, J. Chmeleff, J. Schott, E.H. Oelkers

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 336, 33-49 (2022)

 

The subsurface carbonation potential of basaltic rocks from the Jizan region of Southwest Saudi Arabia

E.H. Oelkers, S. Arkadakskiy, A.M. Afifi, H. Hoteit, M. Richards, J. Fedorik, ...

International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 120, 103772 (2022)

 

A comprehensive and internally consistent mineral dissolution rate database: Part I: Primary silicate minerals and glasses

M. Heřmanská, M.J .Voigt, C. Marieni, J. Declercq, E.H. Oelkers

Chemical Geology 597, 120807 (2022)

 

A pre-injection assessment of CO2 and H2S mineralization reactions at the Nesjavellir (Iceland) geothermal storage site

I.M. Galeczka, A. Stefánsson, B.I. Kleine, J. Gunnarsson-Robin, ... E.H. Oelkers

International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 115, 103610

 

An experimental study of sepiolite dissolution and growth rates as function of the aqueous solution saturation state at 60° C

J.J.P.A. Mulders, E.H. Oelkers

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 315, 276-294 (2021)

 

Novel laboratory investigation of huff-n-puff gas injection for shale oils under realistic reservoir conditions

P .Mahzari, T.M. Mitchell, A.P. Jones, E.H. Oelkers, A. Striolo, F. Iacoviello, ...

Fuel 284, 118950 (2021)

Education

B.S. Chemistry, Massachusetts institute of Technology, Cambridge MA, USA, 1981

B.S. Earth Science, Massachusetts institute of Technology, Cambridge MA, USA, 1981

Ph.D. Geochemistry, University of California, Berkeley CA, USA, 1987.

Professional Profile

Academic :

1999-2022 : Directeur de Recherche du CNRS, Laboratoire de Géochimie, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.

1996-2000 : Co-founder and co-director CarbFix.

2013-2021: Professor of Aqueous Geochemistry, University College of London, UK

1994-1999: Chargé de Recherche du CNRS, Laboratoire de Géochimie, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.

1991-1994 : NATO Post-doctoral Fellow : University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse France

1998-1991: Post-doctoral Research Scientist, University of California, Berkeley, USA

  

Other (past 15 years):

2014-2022    Founding co-Editor, Geochemical Perspectives Letters

2013-2015    Principal Organizer, 2015 Goldschmidt meeting Prague, Czech Republic

2012-2016    Coordinator: European Research and Training Network, CO2-REACT

2011-2023    Adjunct Professor, University of Iceland, ICELAND.

2011-2018    Founding co-Editor, Geochemical Perspectives

2009-2010    President European Association of Geochemistry (www.eag.eu.com)

2007-2009:   Co-Convenor: 2009 Goldschmidt meeting, Davos, Switzerland

2007-2009:   Editorial Advisory Board: Elements.

Scientific and Professional Membership

European Association of Geochemistry

Awards

2020 Neumann Medal, Mineralogical Society of Great Britain

2019 Urey Medal, European Association for Geochemistry

2019 Fellow, Geochemical Society/European Association for Geochemistry

2005 Gast Lectureship: Geochemical Society.

KAUST Affiliations

Ali I. Al-Naimi Petroleum Engineering Research Center (ANPERC)

Research Interests Keywords

Carbon Storage Experimental Geochemistry Mineral Reactivity Mineral-Fluid Interactions Reactive Transport Modelling