Measuring adsorption, diffusion and flow in chemical engineering: applications of magnetic resonance to porous media

Magnetic resonance (MR) techniques are increasingly used to improve our understanding of the multi-component, multi-phase processes encountered in chemical engineering. This review brings together many of the MR techniques used, and often developed specifically, to study chemical engineering systems and, in particular, processes occurring within porous media. Pulse sequences for relaxometry, pulsed field gradient measurements of diffusion, imaging and velocimetry measurements are described. Recent applications of these MR pulse sequences to microporous, mesoporous and macroporous structures are then reviewed. Considering the microporous and mesoporous systems, we focus attention on studies of rock cores, manufactured materials such as cement and gypsum plaster, and catalysts. When considering macroporous structures, the transport through packed beds of particles typical of fixed-bed catalytic reactors is reviewed; a brief overview of the increasing research interest in gas-solid fluidized beds is also presented. We highlight the field of sparse k-space sampling as an area that is in its infancy and suggest that, combined with Bayesian methods, it will offer new opportunities in both extending the application of high-field MR techniques to chemical engineering and increasing the range of measurements that can be carried out using low-field hardware.