Mathematical model of the effect of electrodiffusion on biomineralization

Abstract

Biofilm-induced mineral precipitation is a fundamentally important phenomenon with many potential applications including carbon sequestration and bioremediation. Based on a mixture model consisting of three phases (calcite, biofilm, and solvent) and also accounting for chemistry, mechanics, thermodynamics, fluid, and electrodiffusive transport effects, we describe the self-induced generation of an electric field due to different diffusivities of different ion species and study the effects of this field on ionic transport and calcite precipitation. Numerical simulations suggest that one of these effects is enhanced precipitation.