Nanometre-sized pores in coal: Variations between coal basins and coal origin

We have used small angle neutron scattering (SANS) to investigate the differences in methane and hexane penetration in pores in bituminous coal samples from the U.S., Canada, South Africa, and China, and maceral concentrates from Australian coals. This work is an extension of previous work that showed consistent differences between the extent of penetration by methane into 10–20nm size pores in inertinite in bituminous coals from Australia, North America and Poland.