Search results for "Clathrate hydrate"

2018

Abstract. Sediments containing gas hydrate dispersed in the pore space are known to show a characteristic seismic anomaly which is a high attenuation along with increasing seismic velocities. Currently, this observation cannot be fully explained albeit squirt-flow type mechanisms on the microscale have been speculated to be the cause. Recent major findings from in situ experiments, using the gas in excess and water in excess formation method, and coupled with high-resolution synchrotron-based X-ray micro-tomography, have revealed the systematic presence of thin water films between the quartz grains and the encrusting hydrate. The data obtained from these experiments underwent an image proce…

Natural gas hydrate investigations by synchrotron radiation X-ray cryo-tomographic microscopy (SRXCTM)

2008

[1] We report the 3D microstructure analyses of natural gas hydrates sampled from Gulf of Mexico. The samples were characterized by synchrotron radiation X-ray cryo-tomographic microscopy (SRXCTM) using the ‘TOMCAT’ beam line at the Swiss Light Source (SLS). The SRXCTM demonstrates its applicability to unlock some microscopic features of the marine hydrates, in particular of crystallite size and grain boundary network. The gas hydrate domains are surrounded by a network of pores of typically a few micrometers, which are largely due to decomposition. Out of the SRXCTM data, the porosity, total volume of the voids, the void surface area and number of the total gas-filled voids have been calcu…

Martian zeolites as a source of atmospheric methane

2016

The origin of the martian methane is still poorly understood. A plausible explanation is that methane could have been produced either by hydrothermal alteration of basaltic crust or by serpentinization of ultramafic rocks producing hydrogen and reducing crustal carbon into methane. Once formed, methane storage on Mars is commonly associated with the presence of hidden clathrate reservoirs. Here, we alternatively suggest that chabazite and clinoptilolite, which belong to the family of zeolites, may form a plausible storage reservoir of methane in the martian subsurface. Because of the existence of many volcanic terrains, zeolites are expected to be widespread on Mars and their Global Equival…

Properties of methyl radical trapped in amorphous SiO2 and in natural SiO2-clathrate Melanophlogite

2013

Abstract We report an experimental investigation by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) on methyl radical (CH3 ) observed in γ-ray irradiated high-purity amorphous silicon dioxide (a-SiO2) and in a polycrystalline sample of Melanophlogite, a rare natural form of SiO2-clathrate. From the analysis of the EPR spectra we estimate the correlation time of the hindered rotational motion of CH3 molecules at T = 77 K in the two different materials. This physical quantity gives a quantitative measure of the freedom of motion of CH3 molecules trapped in the two solid systems, putting forward relevant information on the properties of the cavities/interstices in which the radicals are confined. In par…

Semiconducting Clathrates Meet Gas Hydrates: Xe24[Sn136]

2014

Semiconducting Group 14 clathrates are inorganic host–guest materials with a close structural relationship to gas hydrates. Here we utilize this inherent structural relationship to derive a new class of porous semiconductor materials: noble gas filled Group 14 clathrates (Ngx[M136], Ng=Ar, Kr, Xe and M=Si, Ge, Sn). We have carried out high-level quantum chemical studies using periodic Local-MP2 (LMP2) and dispersion-corrected density functional methods (DFT-B3LYP-D3) to properly describe the dispersive host–guest interactions. The adsorption of noble gas atoms within clathrate-II framework turned out to be energetically clearly favorable for several host–guest systems. For the energetically…

Microstructural evolution of gas hydrates in sedimentary matrices observed with synchrotron X-ray computed tomographic microscopy

2015

The formation process of gas hydrates in sedimentary matrices is of crucial importance for the physical and transport properties of the resulting aggregates. This process has never been observed in situ at submicron resolution. Here we report on synchrotron-based microtomographic studies by which the nucleation and growth processes of gas hydrate were observed at 276 K in various sedimentary matrices such as natural quartz (with and without admixtures of montmorillonite type clay) or glass beads with different surface properties, at varying water saturation. Both juvenile water and metastably gas-enriched water obtained from gas hydrate decomposition was used. Xenon gas was employed to enha…

Ab initiolattice dynamical studies of silicon clathrate frameworks and their negative thermal expansion

2014

The thermal and lattice dynamical properties of seven silicon clathrate framework structures are investigated with ab initio density functional methods (frameworks I, II, IV, V, VII, VIII, and H). The negative thermal expansion (NTE) phenomenon is investigated by means of quasiharmonic approximation and applying it to equal time displacement correlation functions. The thermal properties of the studied clathrate frameworks, excluding the VII framework, resemble those of the crystalline silicon diamond structure. The clathrate framework VII was found to have anomalous NTE temperature range up to 300 K and it is suitable for further studies of the mechanisms of NTE. Investigation of the displa…

Spontaneous cocrystal hydrate formation in the solid state: crystal structure aspects and kinetics

2013

Kinetics of anhydrous cocrystal hydration and that of cocrystal monohydrate formation from starting compounds in the solid state are studied as a function of RH and time. The propensity of the anhydrate to hydration is related to the crystal structures of anhydrous and hydrated forms.

Acetonitrile inclusion complexes of piperazine-based macrocycles

1995

New piperazine-based macrocycles with single small cavities were prepared by using high dilution technique. The inclusion of acetonitrile into the cavity (7, 8) or clathrate formation (3) was studied by 1H-NMR spectroscopy in solution and by X-ray diffraction in the crystalline state. The cycle 3 forms a molecular cleft, a molecular pocket, where the acetonitrile molecule is held by four weak N…H interactions reinforcing the clathrate formation. The cycles 7 and 8 contain a rigid cavity for an exact sterical fit with the methyl group of a linear compound like acetonitrile. The acetonitrile inclusion complex with 7 proved to be stable under normal conditions and was studied by means of therm…

A similar to 32-70 K FORMATION TEMPERATURE RANGE FOR THE ICE GRAINS AGGLOMERATED BY COMET 67 P/CHURYUMOV-GERASIMENKO

2015

Grand Canonical Monte Carlo simulations are used to reproduce the N$_2$/CO ratio ranging between 1.7 $\times$ 10$^{-3}$ and 1.6 $\times$ 10$^{-2}$ observed {\it in situ} in the Jupiter family comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko by the ROSINA mass spectrometer aboard the Rosetta spacecraft, assuming that this body has been agglomerated from clathrates in the protosolar nebula. Simulations are done using an elaborated interatomic potentials for investigating the temperature dependence of the trapping within a multiple guest clathrate formed from a gas mixture of CO and N$_2$ in proportions corresponding to those expected for the protosolar nebula. By assuming that 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko agglom…