Solvation in high-temperature electrolyte solutions. I. Hydration shell behavior from molecular simulation

NaCl aggregation in water at elevated temperatures and pressures: Comparison of classical force fields

The properties of water vary dramatically with temperature and density. This can be exploited to control its effectiveness as a solvent. Thus, supercritical water is of keen interest as solvent in many extraction processes. The low solubility of salts in lower density supercritical water has even been suggested as a means of desalination. The high temperatures and pressures required to reach supercritical conditions can present experimental challenges during collection of required physical property and phase equilibria data, especially in salt-containing systems. Molecular simulations have the potential to be a valuable tool for examining the behavior of solvated ions at these high temperatures and pressures. However, the accuracy of classical force fields under these conditions is unclear. We have, therefore, undertaken a parametric study of NaCl in water, comparing several salt and water models at 200 bar-600 bar and 450 K-750 K for a range of salt concentrations. We report a comparison of structural properties including ion aggregation, hydrogen bonding, density, and static dielectric constants. All of the force fields qualitatively reproduce the trends in the liquid phase density. An increase in ion aggregation with decreasing density holds true for all of the force fields. The propensity to aggregate is primarily determined by the salt force field rather than the water force field. This coincides with a decrease in the water static dielectric constant and reduced charge screening. While a decrease in the static dielectric constant with increasing NaCl concentration is consistent across all model combinations, the salt force fields that exhibit more ionic aggregation yield a slightly smaller dielectric decrement.

Hydrothermal properties of the COS/D2 water model: a polarizable charge-on-spring water model, at elevated temperatures and pressures

Molecular simulations have been conducted to assess the pVT properties and static permittivity of the charge-on-spring polarizable water model COS/D2 at hydrothermal conditions from 300 to 450 °C and bulk densities of 0.001 to 1.0 g cm⁻³.

An anti-biodegradable hydrophobic sulfonate-based acrylamide copolymer containing 2,4-dichlorophenoxy for enhanced oil recovery

We report the synthesis of a novel hydrophobic sulfonate-based acrylamide copolymer which exhibits remarkable water solubility, excellent resistance to biodegradability, and superior ability to enhance oil recovery.

Electromagnetohydrodynamic modeling of Lorentz effect imaging

Lorentz Effect Imaging (LEI) is an MRI technique that has been proposed for direct imaging of neuronal activity. While promising results have been obtained in phantoms and in the human median nerve in vivo, its contrast mechanism is still not fully understood. In this paper, computational model simulations were used to investigate how electromagnetohydrodynamics (EMHD) may explain the LEI contrast. Three computational models of an electrolyte-filled phantom subject to an applied current dipole, synchronized to oscillating magnetic field gradients of an LEI protocol, were developed to determine the velocity and displacement of water molecules as well as the resulting signal loss in an MR image. The simulated images were compared to images from previous LEI phantom experiments with identical properties for different stimulus current amplitudes and polarities. The first model, which evaluated ion trajectories based on Stokes flow using different mobility values, did not generate an appreciable signal loss due to an insufficient number of water molecules associated with the ion hydration shells. The second model, which computed particle drift based on the Lorentz force of charged particles in free space, was able to approximate the magnitude, but not the distribution of signal loss observed in the experimental images. The third model, which computed EMHD based on the Lorentz force and Navier-Stokes equations for flow of a conducting fluid, provided results consistent with both the magnitude and distribution of signal loss seen in the LEI experiments. Our EMHD model further yields information on electrical potential, velocity, displacement, and pressure, which are not readily available in an experiment, thereby providing a robust means to study and optimize LEI for imaging neuronal activity in the human cortex.

Structure of an accurate ab initio model of the aqueous Cl- ion at high temperatures

The structure of an accurate ab initio model of aqueous chloride ion was calculated at two high-temperature state points (573 K, 0.725 g/cm(3) and 723 K, 0.0098 g/cm(3)) by a two-step procedure. First, the structure of an approximate model was calculated from a molecular dynamics simulation of the model. Then the difference between the structure of the ab initio model and the approximate model was calculated by non-Boltzmann weighting of a sample of configurations taken from the approximate model simulation. Radial distribution functions, average coordination numbers, the distribution of coordination numbers, an analysis of orientations of water in the first coordination shell, and the free energy of hydration of the chloride ion are reported for both state points. The most common water structure has one hydrogen close to the chloride ion and one pointing away (46% at 573 K and 57% at 723 K). Waters in the first coordination shell that are not strongly bound to the chloride ions are common. Several variations of the method were tested. Models in which the water-water interaction is calculated with ab initio methods predict only a slightly different structure than models in which water-water interactions are determined from the approximate models. Similarly, using the approximate model for solute-water interactions when the water is far from the chloride ion did not affect the results. Uncertainties due to the limited sample of configurations are estimated and found to be small. The results are in qualitative agreement with X-ray and neutron diffraction experiments and with simulations of approximate models.

Hydrogen Bond Structure and Dynamics in Aqueous Electrolytes at Ambient and Supercritical Conditions

Hydrogen bond (HB) connectivity in aqueous electrolyte solutions at ambient and supercritical conditions has been investigated by molecular dynamics techniques. Alkali metal and halides with different sizes have been considered. Modifications in the water HB architecture are more noticeable in the first ionic solvation shells and do not persist beyond the second shells. The coordination pattern is established between partners located in the first and second solvation shells. High-temperature results show dramatic reductions in the coordination number of water; at liquidlike densities the number of HBs is close to 2, while in steamlike environments water monomers are predominant. The addition of ions does not bring important modifications in the original HB structure for pure water. From the dynamical side, the lifetime of HBs shows minor modifications due to the simultaneous competing effects from a weaker HB structure combined with a slower reorientational dynamics of water induced by the Coulomb coupling with solute. At supercritical conditions, the overall dynamics of HB is roughly 1 order of magnitude faster than that at ambient conditions, regardless of the particular density considered.

Limitations of the rigid planar nonpolarizable models of water

We analyzed the ability of variants of the SPC/E and TIP4P types of water models to describe the temperature dependence of their second virial coefficients, liquid-vapor phase envelopes, and corresponding coexistence vapor pressure. We complete the characterization of the two most promising models by testing their adequacy to predict the structure of the 13 known crystalline phases of ice by (Parrinello-Rahman) isothermal-isobaric Monte Carlo simulations. While these models perform well for the description of properties to which their force fields were fitted (density, heat of vaporization, structure at the level of pair correlations), their transferability to the entire phase diagram is unsatisfactory, i.e., none could significantly mitigate the shortcomings of the original models. In fact, the most appropriate alternative appears to be the TIP4P-EW model, i.e., the recent reparametrization of the original TIP4P water model. Model parametrizations aimed at improving the description of ice behavior fail even in the description of the liquid phase.