Mechanistic and kinetic study of pyrite-hydrogen interaction at low temperature using electrochemical techniques

Abstract : Within the context of the investigation of the impact of the geochemical evolutions of the nuclear waste storages on the surrounding material, the objective of the work presented here was the characterization of pyrite interaction with hydrogen at low temperature (25-90°C). The emphasis was put on the understanding in depth of both phenomenology and kinetics. For this purpose, the use of electrochemical techniques in combination with pyrite mineral electrodes has constituted a novel experimental and complementary approach in comparison with the geochemical research realized by Truche et al. (2010) under hyper-thermal temperatures, from 90 to 180°C and under H2 partial pressures pH2 ranging from 8 to 18 bars.