Lattice Boltzmann modeling of reactive transport in porous media: A review of interface dynamics, boundary conditions, and dissolution patterns

This review comprehensively examines the application of the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) for the simulation of reactive transport and dissolution–precipitation processes in porous media. It covers fundamental LBM theory, including governing equations, collision operators like Bhatnagar–Gross–Krook and multiple-relaxation-time, and key boundary condition schemes such as no-slip, Dirichlet, curved-wall, and reactive formulations. Special attention is given to advanced reactive boundary conditions by Kang et al., Ju et al., Weinmiller et al., Kashani et al., and Izadi et al., which enable accurate modeling of nonlinear reaction kinetics and curved interfaces. The review also compares interface-tracking methods, volume of fluid, and volume of pixel, highlighting their impact on dissolution pattern accuracy and computational efficiency. LBM is shown to effectively capture dissolution regimes (wormhole, face, uniform) influenced by Péclet and Damköhler numbers, temperature, wettability, porosity, and interfacial tension. The paper concludes by identifying persistent challenges such as modeling multiphase systems, non-isothermal effects, and upscaling pore-scale results and emphasizes the need for improved benchmarking, experimental validation, and advanced boundary conditions to enhance predictive capability in realistic porous media applications.