Dr James Minto

Strathclyde Chancellor's Fellow

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Personal statement

I am a Chancellor's Fellow in the Civil & Environmental Engineering department where I work on developing low viscosity alternative grouting materials for subsurface engineering works and investigate fundamental flow processes in fractured and porous media.

One such grout we are developing utilises naturally occurring soil bacteria Sporosarcina pasteurii to produce calcium carbonate via a biochemical reaction. The process is termed microbially induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) and is an exciting and multidisciplinary field combining microbiology, geology, hydraulics and subsurface engineering with the potential, for certain applications, to replace the use of cement and chemical grouts with a less expensive, less toxic and low CO2 “bio-grout”.

Our aim is to develop the MICP process for rock fracture sealing and ground improvement then demonstrate the feasibility of the process at the large scale. Our work combines micro-scale experiments characterised by 4D X-ray CT with large scale laboratory experiments and multi-scale numerical modelling.

Publications

Contaminated or just dusty? Understanding the nature of contaminants found in biomass grown on historic mine sites to inform pre-treatment options
Nunn Benjamin, Lord Richard, Minto James, Davidson Christine, Manzoor Neelam
EGU General Assembly 2023 (2023)
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-1006
Contaminated or just dusty? Understanding the nature of contaminants found in biomass grown on historic mine sites to inform pre-treatment options
Lord Richard, Nunn Benjamin, Davidson Christine, Minto James, Manzoor Neelam
31st European Biomass Conference & Exhibition (2023)
Microbially induced calcite precipitation for sealing anhydrite fractures with gouges
Sang Guijie, Lunn Rebecca, Minto James M, El Mountassir Grainne
56th US Rock mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium (2022)
Biomineral sealing of cracks in degraded concrete structures
Lunn Rebecca J, Turner Ronald J, Minto James M, Salifu E, El Mountassir Grainne
Waste Management Conference 2022, pp. 1-5 (2022)
Micro-scale processes in microbially induced carbonate precipitation
Minto James M, Lunn Rebecca J, El Mountassir Grainne, Anderson Mary M
Proceedings of the Resilient Materials 4 Life 2020 (RM4L2020) International Conference , pp. 220-224 (2021)
Calcite biomineralisation for the repair of damaged concrete
Turner Ronnie J, Minto James M, El Mountassir Grainne, Lunn Rebecca J
Proceedings of the Resilient Materials 4 Life 2020 (RM4L2020) International Conference Resilient Materials for Life International Conference 2020, pp. 58-62 (2021)

More publications

Professional activities

BTG Workshop - Net-Zero
Participant
18/5/2022
XCT Imaging and Analysis Training Course
Invited speaker
4/4/2022
Calcite Biomineralisation for the Repair of Damaged Concrete
Contributor
20/9/2021

More professional activities

Projects

Mobile X-ray/MRI/PET cells to image 4D fluid flow in porous media
Minto, James (Principal Investigator) Pagano, Arianna Gea (Co-investigator) El Mountassir, Grainne (Co-investigator)
This is a modular and configurable system that enables injection of liquids through porous media (such as sand packs, glass bead packs, and cylindrical rock cores), is compatible with X-ray, MRI and PET imaging, and is suitable for reactive flow experiments e.g. mineral precipitation, dissolution, and biofilm growth.

The main components of this equipment are:
1) Two dual piston isocratic injection pumps (Watrex DeltaChrom P102). Flows from 0.01 to 10 mL/min, 10 MPa max pressure, PEEK flow path for chemical compatability, no limit of injection volume, with pulse dampener.
2) Dual channel syringe pump (Chemyx Fusion 4000) offering pulseless and programmable injection/extraction at extremely low flow rates, volume limited by syringe volume, pressure limited by syringe type.
3) PEEK HPLC columns of various lengths and diameters (30mm length, 4.6mm internal diameter, 100 x 4.6, 250 x 4.6, 50 x 7.5). 10 MPa max pressure. Can be packed with loose sand or glass beads and imaged with X-ray/MRI/PET, but more suitable for X-rays due to their small size.
4) In-house designed and built 1" (25.4 mm) rock core holder. Max pressure 4 MPa at 25 °C. Can be imaged with X-ray/MRI/PET.
5) Digital pressure transducers continuously recording inlet pressure, outlet pressure, and confining fluid pressure (for rock core holders) allowing measurement of permeability.
6) Range of fittings, tubing, backpressure regulators, and sample injection options.
7) Computer for recording data and controlling pumps.
8) Mobile system intended to be moved to different imaging facilities.
01-Jan-2018

More projects

Address

Civil and Environmental Engineering
James Weir

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