The black box opened: Non-invasive observation of nanoparticle transport in rock pore systems
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Birmingham
Department Name: Sch of Geography, Earth & Env Sciences
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Publications
Riley M
(2019)
Magnetic susceptibility monitoring and modelling (MSMM): A non-invasive method for acquiring and modelling exceptionally large datasets from column experiments with manufactured nanoparticles
in Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects
| Description | The use of manufactured nanoparticles (NPs) is very rapidly increasing in many consumer products. Inevitably, NPs will be released into the environment. There is a fear that many types of NPs could be a risk to health. It is therefore important that we understand how NPs move once they escape into the environment. Here we are concerned with their mobility in groundwaters, and this is the subject of a joint EPSRC-funded project with Glasgow University (Vernon Pheonix). Field experiments using NPs are not permitted in the UK, and all research is based on laboratory experiments interpreted using computer models. The laboratory experiments often consist of columns filled with porous media representing rocks through which NP suspensions are passed. A major problem is that interpretation of breakthrough curves - the concentration variation with time at the downstream end of the columns - is inherently ambiguous, and what is needed is additional information on concentrations within the columns at all times during the experiment. One way of doing this is using MRI, and this is the focus of the work on this EPSRC project being led by our partners, Glasgow University (principally reported by Vernon Phoenix at Glasgow). However, MRI is only possible in rocks very low in iron, and these are rare. The aim therefore of the Birmingham-led part of the EPSRC project is to develop a method for imaging NPs inside columns using a method that can be applied to iron-rich rocks. The approach is to develop an imaging method using the magnetic properties of magnetic NPs. We have developed a new laboratory rig and associated software for measuring the magnetic susceptibility at millimetre scale intervals as a function of time throughout the length of a porous medium column whilst NP suspensions are being pumped through the column. Though magnetic susceptibility measurement (MSM) logging has been attempted once before, our new rig is the most advanced yet produced. We have shown that magnetic NP movement through laboratory columns of porous media can be tracked using magnetic susceptibility measurements that can be interpreted to yield concentration-distance and concentration-time data in great detail. In addition, our work shows that NPs attached to the porous medium have lower susceptibilities than suspended NPs. This provides a great opportunity for quantifying attached NPs, and may even offer a possibility of determining different types of attachment. We have also discovered that we can estimate particle size using measurements at different frequencies. This is of potentially great use, in that it will enable the process of aggregation to be investigated within the columns. Our experiments have been undertaken in range of porous media, including disaggregated and intact iron-oxide coated sandstone, media that MRI is unable to image. By numerical modelling of the concentration-distance results, we have shown that the imaging method is indicating processes that we would not otherwise have been aware of, offering exciting possibilities for a step-change in our understanding of NP movement in groundwater systems. In addition to the work on MSM logging approaches, we have also undertaken hydraulic modelling on MRI results produced by our partners in this project. This proved a necessary step in developing the MRI approach, ensuring that the images were physically realistic. |
| Exploitation Route | We have demonstrated the principles of a magnetic method that allows both imaging of nanoparticle (NP) movement through porous media and basic characterising of NP properties within the porous medium. Future work would be: 1. to refine the methods used to quantify attachment and particle sizing; 2. to develop from our existing prototype a 'production' lab rig; 3. to use the rig to investigate the moment of NPs through a wide range of porous media / rocks, providing the data to test existing, and develop improved, models of NP transport in groundwaters; this approach could be adapted to examining a range of types of NP by coating a magnetic core with the material of interest. The outcome of this work would be a much better constrained and accurate method of predicting the mobility of NPs, leading to a much improved method for assessing the risks from the burgeoning range of NPs being released into the environment. |
| Sectors | Environment |
| Description | Mainly through MSc training and awareness of manufactured nanoparticles, with several MSc projects devoted to the subject. In addition, various talks have been undertaken involving the public and general groundwater scientist audiences. Ultimately, the work will facilitate the development of laboratory testing, and thence the understanding of processes that in turn will lead to informing risk assessment of the behaviour of nanoparticles in the natural environment. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2013 |
| Sector | Education,Environment |
| Title | MSMM: Magnetic susceptibility monitoring and modelling of nanoparticle movement in porous media |
| Description | A non-invasive method for acquiring and modelling exceptionally large datasets from column experiments with manufactured nanoparticles |
| Type Of Material | Technology assay or reagent |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | None yet. Paper only came out in 2019, though results had previously been discussed in scientific conferences. |
| Description | Glasgow University |
| Organisation | University of Glasgow |
| Department | School of Geographical and Earth Sciences Glasgow |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Glasgow University, led by Dr Vernon Phoenix, is the main collaborator on the current EPSRC project. We have undertaken hydraulic modelling on MRI results produced by Glasgow. This proved a necessary step in developing the MRI approach, ensuring that the images were physically realistic. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Supplied the MRI results for us to model. These results were also an integral part of the joint project. Over the project, in all aspects of both parts of the project there has been cooperation and discussion. |
| Impact | So far we have presented a joint conference paper at the 2015 Congress of the International Association of Hydrogeologists. |
| Start Year | 2013 |
| Description | New Mexico |
| Organisation | New Mexico Highlands University, USA |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We supply the nanoparticles and the research need for the measurements. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Professor Michael Petronis of New Mexico Highlands University, USA, has a very well equipped rock magnetics laboratory, including equipment that we do not otherwise have access to. He is undertaking characterisation of the magnetic nanoparticles we have used in our experiments under specialised conditions. This is necessary if we are to understand the theory behind the possibilities of using susceptibility measurements to distinguish particle size and attachment type. |
| Impact | The work is on-going, but will result in at least one joint publication. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Title | Magnetic Susceptibility Logging Rig |
| Description | A laboratory rig for logging the magnetic susceptibility of a column of porous medium during experiments where suspensions of magnetic nanoparticles are passed through the column. In addition, associated software to run the rig, record the data, and allow the effects of measurement convolution to be taken into account. |
| Type Of Technology | Physical Model/Kit |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | This rig represents a step-change in experimental techniques available to quantify nanoparticle movement through porous media. It will allow new conceptual models to be developed and will provide data to constrain mathematical models, providing as it does concentration data anywhere in the column and at any desired time, and in principle information on attached as well as suspended concentrations. This represents a step change in our ability to reduce the inherent ambiguity of experiments where only the column-end concentration breakthrough curves can be obtained. |
| Description | Bath Geological Society Talk |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Invited talk given to the Bath Geological Society by John Tellam entitled "Nanoparticles in Sandstone Groundwaters" |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Departmental Seminar University College Dublin |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | University Seminar by Carl Stevenson entitled "Novel applications of anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) analyses: rock, ice and nanoparticles" |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Departmental Seminar University of Manchester |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Departmental seminar given by Carl Stevenson entitled "Novel applications of anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) analyses: rock, ice and nanoparticles" |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | MAGNETIC INTERACTION 2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Talk given to geomagnetics professionals by Neil Suttie entitled "Magnetic susceptibility recording of nanoparticle transport in porous media" |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Project Workshop, Glasgow, Jan 2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | Talk to study members and select invited imaging researchers from around the country given by Neil Suttie entitled "Magnetic susceptibility recording of nanoparticle transport in porous media" |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Student Talk (Sedgwick Club, Cambridge) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Talk to the student group by Carl Stevenson entitled "Novel applications of anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) analyses: rock, ice and nanoparticles". |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Talk as part of the IAH/Geological Society Ineson Lecture Meeting, 2018 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Talk on nanoparticles in groundwater research, with an emphasis on the magnetic susceptibility work funded by the project, as part of the 'Ineson Lecture' meeting organised by the International Association of Hydrogeologists and the Hydrogeological Group of the Geological Society of London at the Geological Society in London. Around 100 audience members from regulatory, consultancy, and academic organisations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |