An 1H NMR microimaging study of water vapor sorption by individual porous pellets

The H-1 NMR microimaging technique is applied to study water vapor sorption by the individual cylindrical silica gel and alumina pellets impregnated with hygroscopic salts. The two-dimensional images or the one-dimensional profiles of the sorbed water distribution are detected sequentially to monitor the transport of water within the pellets in real time In the course of the sorption process. The results identify the propagation of the sorbed water front through the dry regions of the pellets as the rate-limiting stage of the sorption process. This propagation can be facilitated by employing the pellets with the eggshell distribution of the salt, but in such cases the salt redistributes readily in the course of the sorption process, as revealed by the relaxation weighted H-1 NMR microimaging experiments in which paramagnetic salts are used. The diffusion equation with water content dependent diffusivity is employed to model the one-dimensional radial profiles of water distribution within the pellet with appropriate correction for the relaxation weighting effects.