High-pressure laboratory autoclaves rejuvenated (2024)

Project description

The “Synthesis and experimentation” section of the Geochemistry-Mineralogy platform comprises 2 laboratories. Each of these laboratories comprises a set of pressure- and temperature-controlled reactors and autoclaves, enabling the synthesis of reference minerals, or experiments under hydrothermal conditions to study natural geochemical processes. All these experiments are carried out over a wide range of pressures and temperatures, up to 4000 bar and 600°C. This ability to reproduce mineral-forming conditions over such a wide range is relatively unique in France, and is a major asset for the platform. These facilities are mainly used by the mineralogy and geochemistry teams for internal ISTerre research projects, but also as part of collaborations with outside teams (including international ones). The present project aims specifically to refurbish 8 high-pressure/high-temperature cold-joint autoclaves.