Coal and shale have complex pore structures and size. There should be specific standard methods for evaluation. I want to know the opinions and suggestions of different researchers.
There are no standards for characterising pore size and structure of coal and shales. Researcher in oil and gas industry borrow methods from other fields. In general, low pressure gas adsorption tests(N2, CO2, Argon et al.) and mercury intrusion method can be used for quantifying open pore size up to 100nm. Electronic microscopies can be used for visualising pore size and shape. Neutron scattering approaches can be used for quantifying both open and dead pores.
The following is a descent review papers on this topic:
Anovitz, L. M., & Cole, D. R. (2015). Characterization and analysis of porosity and pore structures. Reviews in Mineralogy and geochemistry, 80(1), 61-164.
A major problem when analyzing pores of coals is to obtain devolatilized coals otherwise the volatiles will interfere with BET surface areas/pores and Hg porosimetry analyses. Recent methods such as computer x-ray tomography might be another approach although the resolution is about 10 microns (thus macroporosity only). It might be that there exists higher resolution CT scanners but I'm not familiar with these developments.
Dear Dr V.A. Mendhe,
It may also be possible to use XRD accompanied by GSAS analysis. During my graduate study, I used this approach to calculate the particle size and structural analysis of ball milled activated carbon. Hope this helps.
Best regards,
BBN
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