Competitive diffusion of gases in a zeolite using proton NMR and a slice selection procedure

The study of the co-diffusion of several gases through a microporous solid and the resulting instantaneous distribution (out of equilibrium) of the adsorbed phases is particularly important in many fields, such as gas separation and heterogeneous catalysis. Classical 1H NMR imaging is a good technique for the visualization of these processes but, since the signal obtained is not specific for each gas, this requires that each experiment be performed several times under identical conditions, and each time with only one incompletely deuterated gas. In contrast we have proposed a new NMR imaging technique (based on the so-called NMR lift) which gives a signal characteristic of each adsorbed gas. It can therefore provide directly, at every moment and at every level of the crystallite bed, the distribution of several gases competing in diffusion and adsorption.

► A new NMR imaging technique gives the signals characteristic of co-adsorbed gases. ► Direct visualization of co-diffusion and adsorption of gases in porous solid bed. ► Hindrance of benzene upon co-diffusion of hexane in silicalite-1.