Simultaneous determination of the pore-length distribution and pore connectivity for porous catalyst supports using integrated nitrogen sorption and mercury porosimetry

Well-known and std. techniques exist for the detn., from gas sorption data, of key characteristic parameters of porous heterogeneous catalysts, such as the sp. surface area (BET), pore-diam. distribution (BJH), and pore connectivity (percolation anal.). However, at present, there are no methods to det. the pore-length distribution. Many previous math. modeling studies have shown that the nature of the relationship that exists between pore diam. and pore length heavily influences the rate of mass transport processes in porous solids, such as heterogeneous catalysts. Hence, a major obstacle to the proper implementation of pore-network models to study coupled diffusion and reaction processes in catalysts is the lack of a method for detg. the pore-length distribution. This paper presents a new anal. method to det. the pore-length distribution from the results of novel expts. using the recently introduced integrated nitrogen sorption and mercury porosimetry technique. The anal. also, simultaneously, delivers improved ests. of pore connectivity and lattice size. [on SciFinder (R)]