果冻传媒

Whether it is in electrochemical devices, reactors or subsurface rocks to store hydrogen in: porous materials are omnipresent in energy research. 果冻传媒鈥檚 David Rieder, Maxime van der Heijden and Frank Peters took the initiative of bringing together people on the topic of pore network modelling to advance this field of expertise.

鈥極ften, compounds with lots of pores, channels or simply holes inside them are labeled 鈥減orous鈥�, think for example about electrodes in batteries, catalyst beds in chemical reactors, underground reservoirs or simply ground coffee,鈥� David Rieder explains. 鈥楾here are two extremes to how they can be modelled numerically, either as a continuum with analytical closures or by resolving each pore in detail starting from basic material properties. We are using a technique called pore network modelling, which is somewhere in between those two extremes.鈥�

Versatile technique
In pore network modelling, the empty spaces in a porous material are perceived as a network of small pockets connected by tiny pathways, the 鈥榩ores鈥� and 鈥榯hroats鈥�. This model helps to study how substances move through the material and how the surfaces inside the pores interact with these substances. Frank Peters: 鈥楾he main advantage of this approach is its computational speed: you can use these models to run real time simulations on your laptop and compare the results with actual processes. In the model, you can play around with different designs for your porous material and get an immediate idea of how different design parameters influence the process you want to use them for. In my case for example, I use it to optimize a packed bed reactor.鈥� 鈥楶ore network modelling is extremely suitable for quick parameter sweeps,鈥� Maxime van der Heijden adds, 鈥榝or example to find out how properties like pore size, pore distribution or operating parameters influence the reactions in an electrochemical system.鈥�

Pore network modelling is gaining more interest for applications that are of relevance for the energy transition

Pore network modelling is gaining more interest for applications that are of relevance for the energy transition, Rieder observes. 鈥楾here is an increasing amount of projects where these models come into play.鈥� 鈥楿nfortunately, there are not that many people working on it yet, and they often are unaware of peers they could turn to for advice,鈥� Maxime van der Heijden says. As a result, everyone is reinventing the wheel, instead of building on each other鈥檚 models and expertise. With the pore network modelling community the three Eindhoven researchers are currently setting up, they want to help others to hit the ground running when they want to start using this modelling technique.

Expert panel
鈥榃e want to build an expert panel you can turn to when you want to discuss the limits and merits of various approaches,鈥� Van der Heijden explains. 鈥楢nd we want to share our models and packages for others to use,鈥� Rieder adds. 鈥楢t the moment, everyone who wants to use open-source pore network modelling platforms, such as tends to start building their models from scratch, when it makes much more sense to build further on existing models others have developed before.鈥�

Though the three initiators started small, by setting up a Sharepoint site, they ultimately hope to build a national platform around this modelling technique. 鈥楩rankly, we do not know how many people are working with this tool already,鈥� Van der Heijden says, 鈥榖ut I think there are many more than you would think.鈥� As a starter, Rieder took stock of all 果冻传媒 publications that mentioned pore network modelling and reached out to all of the corresponding authors via email.

Call to action
The triumvirate is certain their initiative serves a need: 鈥楶ore network modelling is an easy to use, cheap solution to explore the behavior of any porous medium. It is a method that can easily be used in a PhD or even in an MSc project. You just set up a framework and you can immediately start modelling something. This fall, we want to organize a first meeting to bring together people who are either working with the models already, or are interested in exploring their use. So, if you are intrigued by this possibility and want to know more, please do not hesitate to contact us!鈥�