Probing the Behaviour of Fluids Confined in Porous Materials by Neutron Scattering: Applications to CO Sequestration and Enhanced Oil and Gas Recovery.

The current review presents a discussion on the utility of neutron scattering, with emphasis on neutron total scattering and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), to explore the structural properties and the phase behaviour of fluids confined in nanopores. The effectiveness of contrast matching SANS on the evaluation of accessibility of porous materials to invading fluids is highlighted too. This review provides also an overview regarding the neutron scattering studies on the structure and the accessibility of greenhouse gases in the complex pore network of geomaterials, with applications to CO geological sequestration and enhanced oil and gas recovery.

Neutron Scattering Measurements of Carbon Dioxide Adsorption in Pores within the Marcellus Shale: Implications for Sequestration.

Shale is an increasingly viable source of natural gas and a potential candidate for geologic CO sequestration. Understanding the gas adsorption behavior on shale is necessary for the design of optimal gas recovery and sequestration projects. In the present study neutron diffraction and small-angle neutron scattering measurements of adsorbed CO in Marcellus Shale samples were conducted on the Near and InterMediate Range Order Diffractometer (NIMROD) at the ISIS Pulsed Neutron and Muon Source, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory along an adsorption isotherm of 22 °C and pressures of 25 and 40 bar.

Scanning of Adsorption Hysteresis In Situ with Small Angle X-Ray Scattering.

Everett's theorem-6 of the domain theory was examined by conducting adsorption in situ with small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) supplemented by the contrast matching technique. The study focuses on the spectrum differences of a point to which the system arrives from different scanning paths. It is noted that according to this theorem at a common point the system has similar macroscopic properties.

Anomalous Depletion of Pore-Confined Carbon Dioxide upon Cooling below the Bulk Triple Point: An In Situ Neutron Diffraction Study.

The phase behavior of sorbed CO{2} in an ordered mesoporous silica sample (SBA-15) was studied by neutron diffraction. Surprisingly, upon cooling our sample below the bulk critical point, confined CO{2} molecules neither freeze nor remain liquid as expected, but escape from the pores. The phenomenon has additionally been confirmed gravimetrically.

On the Formation of Nanobubbles in Vycor Porous Glass during the Desorption of Halogenated Hydrocarbons.

Vycor porous glass has long served as a model mesoporous material. During the physical adsorption of halogenated hydrocarbon vapours, such as dibromomethane, the adsorption isotherm exhibits an hysteresis loop; a gradual ascent is observed at higher pressures during adsorption, and a sharp drop is observed at lower pressures during desorption. For fully wetting fluids, an early hypothesis attributed the hysteresis to mechanistic differences between capillary condensation (adsorption) and evaporation (desorption) processes occurring in the wide bodies and narrow necks, respectively, of 'ink-bottle' pores.

Investigation of confined ionic liquid in nanostructured materials by a combination of SANS, contrast-matching SANS, and nitrogen adsorption.

Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), contrast-matching SANS, and nitrogen adsorption have been utilized to investigate the confined ionic liquid (IL) [bmim][PF(6)] phase in ordered mesoporous silica MCM-41 and SBA-15. The results suggest that the pores of SBA-15 are completely filled with IL whereas a small fraction of the pore volume, the pore "core", of MCM-41 is empty. The contrast-matching SANS measurements confirm the enhanced solubility of water in IL.

Grafting of imidazolium based ionic liquid on the pore surface of nanoporous materials--study of physicochemical and thermodynamic properties.

Supported ionic liquid phase (SILP) systems were prepared by immobilizing a methylimidazolium cation based ionic liquid onto the pore surface of two types of support, MCM-41 and Vycor. The "grafting to" method was applied, involving (3-chloropropyl)-trialkoxysilane anchoring on the supports' silanol groups, followed by treatment with 1-methylimidazole and ion exchange with PF(6)(-). Optimum surface pretreatment procedures and reaction conditions for enhanced ionic liquid (IL) loading were properly defined and applied for all modifications.

Neutron diffraction study and magnetic properties of La(1-x)Ba(x)CoO(3) (x = 0.2 and 0.3).

The magnetic properties together with the crystal and magnetic structures of the cobaltites La(1-x)Ba(x)CoO(3) (for x = 0.2 and 0.3) are determined by DC magnetization, AC magnetic susceptibility and neutron powder diffraction measurements over a broad spectrum of temperatures.

Characterisation of pillared clays by contrast-matching small-angle neutron scattering.

The contrast-matching SANS technique has been utilised to determine inter-pillar distances (and surface texture) in montmorillonite and beidellite pillared smectite clays; they lie in the range 1.40-1.80 nm, reflecting different inter-pillar orderings.