TY - JOUR

T1 - Nanoscale pore structure of Carboniferous coals from the Ukrainian Donets Basin: A combined HRTEM and gas sorption study

AU - Vranjes-Wessely, Sanja

AU - Misch, David

AU - Issa, Inas

AU - Kiener, Daniel

AU - Fink, Reinhard

AU - Seemann, Timo

AU - Liu, Bo

AU - Rantitsch, Gerd

AU - Sachsenhofer, Reinhard F.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2020 Elsevier B.V.

PY - 2020/4/13

Y1 - 2020/4/13

N2 - Various compositional, depositional and maturity related influencing factors affect the complex pore structure of coal. To study the pore structural evolution at nanoscale, a well characterized sample set of vitrinite-rich Carboniferous coals from the Ukrainian Donets Basin, covering a maturity interval from 0.69 to 1.47%Rr, was selected. Conventional bright field transmission electron microscopy (BF TEM) and high-resolution TEM (HRTEM) imaging was used to directly determine pore size distributions, pore morphology, geometry factors and other structural features, while gas invasion techniques such as low-pressure gas adsorption (CO 2 and N 2) were used for the investigation of micro- and mesopore structural parameters. High-pressure CH 4 sorption experiments revealed changes in the methane storage capacity within the investigated maturity range, while associated structural changes of vitrinite were monitored by Raman spectroscopy. The results indicate pore occlusion in vitrinite mainly at peak oil window maturity, the sensibility of micro- and mesopore structure to thermal maturity and the importance of organic sulphur as a catalyst for kinetics of structural modification. Observed structural changes at 1.10%Rr were related to the onset of wet-gas generation. A structural control on micromechanical properties of vitrinite is indicated by the correlation between reduced elastic moduli from a previous study and average nanopore diameters obtained by HRTEM. The applied comprehensive approach improved the understanding of depositional and maturity-related processes that may affect pore evolution and resulting gas storage capacity of coals.

AB - Various compositional, depositional and maturity related influencing factors affect the complex pore structure of coal. To study the pore structural evolution at nanoscale, a well characterized sample set of vitrinite-rich Carboniferous coals from the Ukrainian Donets Basin, covering a maturity interval from 0.69 to 1.47%Rr, was selected. Conventional bright field transmission electron microscopy (BF TEM) and high-resolution TEM (HRTEM) imaging was used to directly determine pore size distributions, pore morphology, geometry factors and other structural features, while gas invasion techniques such as low-pressure gas adsorption (CO 2 and N 2) were used for the investigation of micro- and mesopore structural parameters. High-pressure CH 4 sorption experiments revealed changes in the methane storage capacity within the investigated maturity range, while associated structural changes of vitrinite were monitored by Raman spectroscopy. The results indicate pore occlusion in vitrinite mainly at peak oil window maturity, the sensibility of micro- and mesopore structure to thermal maturity and the importance of organic sulphur as a catalyst for kinetics of structural modification. Observed structural changes at 1.10%Rr were related to the onset of wet-gas generation. A structural control on micromechanical properties of vitrinite is indicated by the correlation between reduced elastic moduli from a previous study and average nanopore diameters obtained by HRTEM. The applied comprehensive approach improved the understanding of depositional and maturity-related processes that may affect pore evolution and resulting gas storage capacity of coals.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85083426146&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.coal.2020.103484

DO - 10.1016/j.coal.2020.103484

M3 - Article

VL - 224.2020

JO - International journal of coal geology

JF - International journal of coal geology

SN - 0166-5162

IS - 1 May

M1 - 103484

ER -