Confinement Effects on Carbon Dioxide Methanation: A Novel Mechanism for Abiotic Methane Formation

Abstract An important scientific debate focuses on the possibility of abiotic synthesis of hydrocarbons during oceanic crust-seawater interactions. While on-site measurements near hydrothermal vents support this possibility, laboratory studies have provided data that are in some cases contradictory....

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Autores principales:	Thu Le, Alberto Striolo, C. Heath Turner, David R. Cole
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2017
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/5dd3129337424ac1bd7ecfacc4f0c855
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:5dd3129337424ac1bd7ecfacc4f0c8552021-12-02T11:52:31ZConfinement Effects on Carbon Dioxide Methanation: A Novel Mechanism for Abiotic Methane Formation10.1038/s41598-017-09445-12045-2322https://doaj.org/article/5dd3129337424ac1bd7ecfacc4f0c8552017-08-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-09445-1https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract An important scientific debate focuses on the possibility of abiotic synthesis of hydrocarbons during oceanic crust-seawater interactions. While on-site measurements near hydrothermal vents support this possibility, laboratory studies have provided data that are in some cases contradictory. At conditions relevant for sub-surface environments it has been shown that classic thermodynamics favour the production of CO2 from CH4, while abiotic methane synthesis would require the opposite. However, confinement effects are known to alter reaction equilibria. This report shows that indeed thermodynamic equilibrium can be shifted towards methane production, suggesting that thermal hydrocarbon synthesis near hydrothermal vents and deeper in the magma-hydrothermal system is possible. We report reactive ensemble Monte Carlo simulations for the CO2 methanation reaction. We compare the predicted equilibrium composition in the bulk gaseous phase to that expected in the presence of confinement. In the bulk phase we obtain excellent agreement with classic thermodynamic expectations. When the reactants can exchange between bulk and a confined phase our results show strong dependency of the reaction equilibrium conversions, $${{\text{X}}}_{{\bf{C}}{{\bf{O}}}_{{\bf{2}}}}$$ X C O 2 , on nanopore size, nanopore chemistry, and nanopore morphology. Some physical conditions that could shift significantly the equilibrium composition of the reactive system with respect to bulk observations are discussed.Thu LeAlberto StrioloC. Heath TurnerDavid R. ColeNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-12 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Thu Le Alberto Striolo C. Heath Turner David R. Cole Confinement Effects on Carbon Dioxide Methanation: A Novel Mechanism for Abiotic Methane Formation
description	Abstract An important scientific debate focuses on the possibility of abiotic synthesis of hydrocarbons during oceanic crust-seawater interactions. While on-site measurements near hydrothermal vents support this possibility, laboratory studies have provided data that are in some cases contradictory. At conditions relevant for sub-surface environments it has been shown that classic thermodynamics favour the production of CO2 from CH4, while abiotic methane synthesis would require the opposite. However, confinement effects are known to alter reaction equilibria. This report shows that indeed thermodynamic equilibrium can be shifted towards methane production, suggesting that thermal hydrocarbon synthesis near hydrothermal vents and deeper in the magma-hydrothermal system is possible. We report reactive ensemble Monte Carlo simulations for the CO2 methanation reaction. We compare the predicted equilibrium composition in the bulk gaseous phase to that expected in the presence of confinement. In the bulk phase we obtain excellent agreement with classic thermodynamic expectations. When the reactants can exchange between bulk and a confined phase our results show strong dependency of the reaction equilibrium conversions, $${{\text{X}}}_{{\bf{C}}{{\bf{O}}}_{{\bf{2}}}}$$ X C O 2 , on nanopore size, nanopore chemistry, and nanopore morphology. Some physical conditions that could shift significantly the equilibrium composition of the reactive system with respect to bulk observations are discussed.
format	article
author	Thu Le Alberto Striolo C. Heath Turner David R. Cole
author_facet	Thu Le Alberto Striolo C. Heath Turner David R. Cole
author_sort	Thu Le
title	Confinement Effects on Carbon Dioxide Methanation: A Novel Mechanism for Abiotic Methane Formation
title_short	Confinement Effects on Carbon Dioxide Methanation: A Novel Mechanism for Abiotic Methane Formation
title_full	Confinement Effects on Carbon Dioxide Methanation: A Novel Mechanism for Abiotic Methane Formation
title_fullStr	Confinement Effects on Carbon Dioxide Methanation: A Novel Mechanism for Abiotic Methane Formation
title_full_unstemmed	Confinement Effects on Carbon Dioxide Methanation: A Novel Mechanism for Abiotic Methane Formation
title_sort	confinement effects on carbon dioxide methanation: a novel mechanism for abiotic methane formation
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/5dd3129337424ac1bd7ecfacc4f0c855
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Confinement Effects on Carbon Dioxide Methanation: A Novel Mechanism for Abiotic Methane Formation

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