Porous media characterization using mercury porosimetry simulation. 1. Description of the simulator and its sensitivity to model parameters

A porosimetry simulator associated with a tridimensional pore network model was developed. This simulator, presented in two joint papers, is used to i nfer the actual pore size distribution of a catalyst particle by means of a n iterative method. In this first paper, the network model and porosimetry simulator are introduced and a sensitivity study of the simulator to the mo del parameters is performed. These parameters were divided in two main grou ps. The first relates to the spatial arrangement of the three-dimensional p ore network and includes the number of pores, the mean coordination number, the accessibility, and the network geometry. The second group is related t o the characteristics of the pore size distribution, namely, its spreading, symmetry, and number of modes.