Thermoporometry as a new tool in analyzing mesoporous MCM-41 materials

Carbonaceous Materials Porosity Investigation in a Wet State by Low-Field NMR Relaxometry

The porosity of differently wetted carbonaceous material with disordered mesoporosity was investigated using low-field 1H NMR relaxometry. Spin−spin relaxation (relaxation time T2) was measured using the CPMG pulse sequence. We present a non-linear optimization method for the conversion of relaxation curves to the distribution of relaxation times by using non-specialized software. Our procedure consists of searching for the number of components, relaxation times, and their amplitudes, related to different types of hydrogen nuclei in the sample wetted with different amounts of water (different water-to-carbon ratio). We found that a maximum of five components with different relaxation times was sufficient to describe the observed relaxation. The individual components were attributed to a tightly bounded surface water layer (T2 up to 2 ms), water in small pores especially supermicropores (2 < T2 < 7 ms), mesopores (7 < T2 < 20 ms), water in large cavities between particles (20−1500 ms), and bulk water surrounding the materials (T2 > 1500 ms). To recalculate the distribution of relaxation times to the pore size distribution, we calculated the surface relaxivity based on the results provided by additional characterization techniques, such as thermoporometry (TPM) and N2/−196 °C physisorption.

Ni-CeO2 Catalyst with High Ni Loading Prepared by Salt-Assisted Solution Combustion for CO2 Methanation

An Ni-CeO2 catalyst with high Ni loading (50 wt.%) prepared by a salt-assisted solution combustion method was characterized by different methods and used for CO2 methanation. The specific surface area of the Ni-CeO2 catalyst prepared by salt-assisted solution combustion is 7 times that of the catalyst prepared by conventional solution combustion. The Ni-CeO2 catalyst prepared by salt-assisted solution combustion has smaller particle sizes of Ni and exhibits excellent activity at low temperatures. The high Ni loading and small Ni particle size can provide more metal Ni site and Ni-CeO2 interface, which help to improve the CO2 methanation performance.

Smectite fraction assessment in complex natural clay rocks from interlayer water content determined by thermogravimetric and thermoporometry analysis

The smectite content is a key parameter to be determined for various applications of clays and clay-rich rocks. The quantity of interlayer water characteristic of swelling domains can be used to assess the smectite content in clays. We propose in this study to use a simple approach to determine water distribution in clays (mainly between pores and interlayers) by means of thermoporometry and thermogravimetric analysis. Provided the interlayer water does not freeze at low temperature upon thermoporometry experiments, the difference between water quantities determined by the two techniques is assigned to interlayer water. Single-phase model clays and complex natural clay rocks and their composites in water-saturated state are characterized by this approach. The open question is the application of available thermoporometry models developed for simple pore geometry to characterize the complex pore network of clays. Depending on the approach used, different pore sizes were obtained highlighting the limit of a simplified model to describe the complex porous network. The results are more coherent when quantifying the amount of interlayer water, further used for smectite content estimation. Good agreement was obtained between smectite fraction contents deduced from the results of thermal analysis and those measured by conventional mineralogical techniques.