Adjacent Pores Research Articles

X-ray μCT analysis to characterize cork spot disorder in Chinese pear ‘Chili’ (Pyrus bretschneideri)

Abstract Healthy and disordered fruit of Chinese ‘Chili’ (Pyrus bretschneideri Rehd.), a well-known pear cultivar in China, are used to investigate the cork spot disorder by non-destructive X-ray computed microtomography (μCT) scanning technology, with pixel resolution of 67-70 μm and scanning time of 60 min on intact fruit. The results suggested that X-ray μCT could clearly and accurately distinguish the internal organization, size and location of cork spot in the pear fruit. CT images showed that the spots mostly locate in the pulp tissue between the calyx end and the equator of disordered fruit, and usually within 14 mm below the pericarp. STL format 3D images had great potential to distinguish cork spotted fruit core from healthy one. In addition, total number of pores is strongly decreased while larger pores bigger than 900 μm are considerably increased in disordered fruit as compared to healthy fruit, which indicates that larger pores maybe formed by the extension and interconnection with adjacent pores of some small pores. Further analysis in pore skeleton-network shows that extremely higher porosity and highly branched, more connected and thicker pores are observed in cork spotted fruit than those in healthy fruit. In addition, the average length of the healthy pore throat is 160.08 μm, which is significantly smaller than that of disordered fruit (277.91 μm). Moreover, the coordination number of pores in cork spotted fruit is 2, while it is 0 in healthy fruit. All the above results indicate that X-ray μCT provides a new perspective to the non-destructive visualization, quantification and knowledge of the 3D image structure of pear fruit with cork spot, and it is highly essential for early diagnosis and further study of the pathogenic mechanism of this disorder.

A pore-scale thermo–hydro-mechanical model for particulate systems

A pore scale numerical method dedicated to the simulation of heat transfer and associated thermo–hydro-mechanical couplings in granular media is described. The proposed thermo–hydro-mechanical approach builds on an existing hydro-mechanical model that employs the discrete element method for simulating the mechanical behavior of dense sphere packings and combines it with the finite volume method for simulating pore space fluid flow and the resulting hydro-mechanical coupling. Within the hydro-mechanical framework, the pore space is discretized as a tetrahedral network whose geometry is defined by the triangulation of discrete element method (DEM) particle centers. It is this discretization of DEM particle contacts and tetrahedral pore spaces that enables the efficient conductive and advective heat transfer models proposed herein. In particular, conductive heat transfer is modeled explicitly between and within solid and fluid phases: across DEM particle contacts, between adjacent tetrahedral pores, and between pores and incident particles. Meanwhile, advective heat transfer is added to the existing implicit fluid flow scheme by estimating mass–energy–flux from pressure induced fluid fluxes. In addition to the heat transfer model, a thermo-mechanical coupling is implemented by considering volume changes based on the thermal expansion of particles and fluid. The conduction and advection models are verified by presenting comparisons to an analytical solution for conduction and a fully resolved numerical solution for conduction and advection. Finally, the relevance of the fully coupled thermo–hydro-mechanical model is illustrated by simulating an experiment where a saturated porous rock sample is subjected to a cyclic temperature loading.

Estimation and uncertainty analysis of fluid-acoustic parameters of porous materials using microstructural properties.

This study quantified the microstructure of polyurethane foams and elucidated its relationship to fluid-acoustic parameters. The complex morphology derived from the three-dimensional images obtained by micro-computed tomography was analyzed using digital image processing and represented by a pore network model (PNM) and a distance map model. The PNM describes the fluid phase of a porous medium with equivalent spherical pores and circular throats, whereas the distance map model describes the solid phase with the average frame thickness. The porous materials were then modeled by six representative microstructural parameters that describe the geometry and topology of the fluid and solid phases. These parameters were pore radius, throat radius, distance between adjacent pores, coordination number, pore inclination angle, and frame thickness. Semi-phenomenological and empirical approaches were proposed to relate the microstructural properties to the fluid-acoustic parameters. These models effectively described the acoustic parameters and sound absorption performance of six different polyurethane foams. Since the representative microstructural parameters were obtained from small sample volumes of a heterogeneous material, notable variations were observed across different regions of the sample. Hence, this study quantified the effect of the uncertainty in each microstructural parameter on the resulting acoustic parameters using global sensitivity analysis.

Investigation of formation and evolution of organic matter pores in marine shale by helium ion microscope: An example from the Lower Silurian Longmaxi Shale, South China

Using a helium ion microscope (HIM), we carefully observed and analyzed organic matter (OM) pores in several Longmaxi shale samples collected from the Upper Yangtze Platform, South China. The results indicate that the formation process of OM pore essentially involves gradual expansion and connection of defects/space within OM. This process, which is divided into the four stages of formation, expansion, connection, and consolidation, can involve pore scales ranging from a few nanometers to over a micrometer under HIM. More specifically, spotted spherical pores first form within OM, then expand until they connect to adjacent pores. Within large areas of such connectivity, “pit” structures eventually form, preliminarily defined as OM pores that are significantly larger than surrounding pores, essentially being greater than 100 nm in size. As the final stage of OM pore evolution, the shape and size of “pit” structures can be limited by the framework of mineral particles around or within the OM. Additionally, we found that surrounding pores are smaller when “pit” structures develop, perhaps because removal of side chains of OM tends to occur on the inner surface of the formed pores, leading them to rapidly expand, or because OM particles have differing compositions or structures, some of which may be unfavorable to pore development.

Impact of Oil-Prone Sedimentary Organic Matter Quality and Hydrocarbon Generation on Source Rock Porosity: Artificial Thermal Maturation Approach.

This work investigates the relation between the molecular composition of the organic matter (OM), hydrocarbon generation, and porosity of artificially matured mudstones from the Kimmeridge Clay formation. Anhydrous thermal maturations, geochemical characterization (gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, gas chromatography with a thermal conductivity detector), scanning electron microscopy observations, and nitrogen adsorption measurements were carried out. The results were compared to the calculated OM porosity after maturation. Our results reveal that samples richer in phytoplanktonic OM generated more abundant oils enriched in alkanes and lighter aromatic hydrocarbons (i.e., biphenyls and naphthalenes) that are more able to fill the adjacent pores of the mineral matrix during maturation. Both the calculated and the observed OM porosity increases during maturation, but the measured rock pore volume shows a non-linear evolution related to the amount of gas generated and the ensuing ability of the rock to preserve the pores. The secondary cracking of highly oil-prone samples generated larger amounts of C1–C5 gases but lower pore volumes, less well preserved. OM composition and its ability to generate oil and gas seem therefore to affect the pore volume. These variations are nevertheless small compared to the effect of thermal maturity, which remains the major process controlling the evolution of porosity. During gas generation, high C2–C5 concentrations are generated compared to methane. The short thermal maturation duration of our experiments may have delayed the conversion of C2–C5 hydrocarbons to methane. In addition, slight differences in the concentrations of saturated and aromatic components and markedly different pore volumes and pore size distributions exist between artificially and naturally matured rocks. The conditions of artificial maturations may thus impact the thermal transformations of OM, emphasizing the necessity to investigate the role of the artificial maturation kinetics on OM and porosity.

Electromechanical coupling in the hyperpolarization-activated K+ channel KAT1.

Voltage-gated potassium (Kv) channels orchestrate electrical signaling and control cell volume by gating in response to either membrane depolarization or hyperpolarization. Yet, while all voltage-sensing domains transduce transmembrane electric field changes by a common mechanism involving the outward or inward translocation of gating charges1–3, the general determinants of channel gating polarity remain poorly understood4. Here, we suggest a molecular mechanism for electromechanical coupling and gating polarity in non-domain-swapped Kv channels based on the cryo-EM structure of KAT1, the hyperpolarization-activated Kv channel from Arabidopsis thaliana. KAT1 displays a depolarized voltage sensor, which interacts with a closed pore domain directly via two interfaces and indirectly via an intercalated phospholipid. Functional evaluation of KAT1 structure-guided mutants at the sensor-pore interfaces suggests a mechanism in which direct interaction between the sensor and C-linker hairpin in the adjacent pore subunit is the primary determinant of gating polarity. We suggest that a ~5–7 Å inward motion of the S4 sensor helix can underlie a direct-coupling mechanism, driving a conformational reorientation of the C-linker and ultimately opening the activation gate formed by the S6 intracellular bundle. This direct-coupling mechanism contrasts with allosteric mechanisms proposed for hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channels5, and may represent an unexpected link between depolarization and hyperpolarization-activated channels.

Top-Down Shape Abstraction Based on Greedy Pole Selection.

Motivated by the fact that the medial axis transform is able to encode the shape completely, we propose to use as few medial balls as possible to approximate the original enclosed volume by the boundary surface. We progressively select new medial balls, in a top-down style, to enlarge the region spanned by the existing medial balls. The key spirit of the selection strategy is to encourage large medial balls while imposing given geometric constraints. We further propose a speedup technique based on a provable observation that the intersection of medial balls implies the adjacency of power cells (in the sense of the power crust).We further elaborate the selection rules in combination with two closely related applications. One application is to develop an easy-to-use ball-stick modeling system that helps non-professional users to quickly build a shape with only balls and wires, but any penetration between two medial balls must be suppressed. The other application is to generate porous structures with convex, compact (with a high isoperimetric quotient) and shape-aware pores where two adjacent spherical pores may have penetration as long as the mechanical rigidity can be well preserved.

Metal Filled Nanostructured Silicon With Respect to Magnetic and Optical Properties

Within this work the utilization of nanostructured silicon as host material for filling with various magnetic nanostructures is reviewed whereas the magnetic and optical properties of the gained composite systems are elucidated. The metal filling of the pores is mainly performed by electroless deposition or by electrodeposition which is discussed by means of some examples. Furthermore two different types of porous silicon (PSi) morphology are used for the deposition procedure. On the one hand microporous silicon offering luminescence in the visible range is utilized as template material. It offers a branched morphology with a structure size between 2 and 5 nm. In this case not only the magnetic response is investigated but also the influence of the metal filling on the optical properties. On the other hand mesoporous and macroporous silicon in it’s low pore regime is employed which offers straight pores with diameters up to 90 nm. In this case the magnetic response strongly depends on the size, the geometry and the spatial distribution of the metal deposits within the pores. A crucial role plays also the morphology of the porous silicon, especially the distance between adjacent pores which is an important parameter regarding magnetic interactions.

A White-light Flare Powered by Magnetic Reconnection in the Lower Solar Atmosphere

Abstract White-light flares (WLFs), first observed in 1859, refer to a type of solar flare showing an obvious enhancement of the visible continuum emission. This type of enhancement often occurs in most energetic flares, and is usually interpreted as a consequence of efficient heating in the lower solar atmosphere through nonthermal electrons propagating downward from the energy release site in the corona. However, this coronal-reconnection model has difficulty in explaining the recently discovered small WLFs. Here we report a C2.3 WLF, which is associated with several observational phenomena: a fast decrease in opposite-polarity photospheric magnetic fluxes, the disappearance of two adjacent pores, significant heating of the lower chromosphere, a negligible increase of the hard X-ray flux, and an associated U-shaped magnetic field configuration. All these suggest that this WLF is powered by magnetic reconnection in the lower part of the solar atmosphere rather than by reconnection higher up in the corona.

Effect of Pore Size Heterogeneity on Hydrocarbon Fluid Distribution, Transport, and Primary and Secondary Recovery in Nano-Porous Media

In this paper, we investigate the effect of pore size heterogeneity on fluid composition distribution of multicomponent-multiphase hydrocarbons and its subsequent influence on mass transfer in shale nanopores. The change of multi-contact minimum miscibility pressure (MMP) in heterogeneous nanopores was investigated. We used a compositional simulation model with a modified flash calculation, which considers the effect of large gas–oil capillary pressure on phase behavior. Different average pore sizes for different segments of the computational domain were considered and the effect of the resulting heterogeneity on phase change, composition distributions, and production was investigated. A two-dimensional formulation was considered here for the application of matrix–fracture cross-mass transfer and the rock matrix can also consist of different segments with different average pore sizes. Both convection and molecular diffusion terms were included in the mass balance equations, and different reservoir fluids such as ternary mixture syntactic oil, Bakken oil, and Marcellus shale condensate were considered. The simulation results indicate that oil and gas phase compositions vary in different pore sizes, resulting in a concentration gradient between the two adjacent pores of different sizes. Given that shale permeability is extremely small, we expect the mass transfer between the two sections of the reservoir/core with two distinct average pore sizes to be diffusion-dominated. This observation implies that there can be a selective matrix–fracture component mass transfer as a result of confinement-dependent phase behavior. Therefore, the molecular diffusion term should be always included in the mass transfer equations, for both primary and gas injection enhanced oil recovery (EOR) simulation of heterogeneous shale reservoirs.

The in vitro and in vivo biological effects and osteogenic activity of novel biodegradable porous Mg alloy scaffolds

Inspired by the process of bone reconstruction, porous scaffolds with robust osteogenesis and biodegradability would provide an ideal bone substitute for clinical practice. In this study, a novel porous Mg–Nd–Zn–Zr (JDBM) alloy scaffold coated with brushite (i.e., DCPD), denoted as JDBM-DCPD, is fabricated using a special patent template technique, which forms the main spherical pores (400–450 μm) and smaller pores (150–250 μm) interconnected between the adjacent main pores, facilitating nutrient penetration and cell in-growth, exhibiting sufficient mechanical properties. In vitro results demonstrate that JDBM-DCPD scaffolds promote cell in-growth and osteogenic differentiation, which significantly enhance mineralization, osteogenesis and angiogenesis-related genes expression when cultured with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells. After implanting in vivo, JDBM-DCPD scaffolds effectively stimulate angiogenesis, osteogenesis, and remodeling with the degradation of JDBM-DCPD, and perfectly repair large bone defect in rat and rabbit models. Results from the present study provide the solid evidence that porous biodegradable Mg-based scaffolds whose pore structure can be precisely regulated by a spacer-selection technique may be a promising tissue engineering scaffolds for large bone defect repair clinically, free from any extra growth factors and live cells, such advances will make scaffold-based bone tissue repair safer, more convenient and more cost-effective.

Wettability Effects on Primary Drainage Mechanisms and NAPL Distribution: A Pore‐Scale Study

AbstractThe pore‐scale processes governing water drainage behavior in porous media have implications for geoscience multiphase scenarios including carbon capture and storage, contaminant site remediation, oil recovery, and vadose zone processes. However, few studies report directly observed pore‐scale water drainage phenomena in 3‐D soils. This knowledge gap limits our ability to verify assumptions underlying existing models and develop optimal solutions. This paper utilizes synchrotron X‐ray microtomography to present an experimental pore‐scale examination of nonaqueous phase liquid (NAPL)/water distribution along a primary drainage front as dense NAPL was injected upward into water wetting (WW) and intermediate wetting (IW) sand‐packed columns. Pore‐network structures were extracted from imaged data sets and mapped onto segmented NAPL/water data sets which allowed quantitative examinations of wettability impacts on (a) the extent to which NAPL fills individual pore bodies and (b) relationships between pore size and the phase occupying the pore, with both considered as a function of distance (and capillary pressure) relative to the NAPL front. These results revealed that several hypotheses treating IW sand similarly to WW sands are simplistic. IW systems exhibited a sequence of pore filling that deviated from traditional capillary pressure‐based model predictions: NAPL invades smaller pores, while larger, adjacent pores are bypassed leaving multipore residual water ganglia. NAPL pore saturations were close to 1 and did not change with capillary pressure in IW systems. Overall, the results illustrate how a relatively small change in operative contact angle alters NAPL distribution during water drainage, with important implications for geoscience multiphase flow scenarios.

Influence of Moisture of Wheat on Acoustic Wave Propagation Characteristics

HighlightsA novel measuring device was developed for the propagation constant of acoustic waves in grain.Increase in moisture of wheat from 1.1% to 7.8% (wet basis) decreased the wave velocity and increased the attenuation coefficient.Increase in moisture of wheat from 7.8% to 21.2% increased the wave velocity and decreased the attenuation coefficient.Using the Johnson-Champoux-Allard (JCA) model and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, the influence of moisture on the pore structure in wheat was characterized.Abstract. Acoustic methods have been widely used for the measurement of grain moisture content and temperature as well as for detecting the presence of insects in grain. Therefore, this study was conducted to understand the influence of wheat moisture content on acoustic wave propagation characteristics. A novel device was developed for measuring the acoustic wave propagation constant. The propagation constants of 12 samples of wheat were measured, with each sample having a different moisture content in the range from 1.1% to 21.2% (wet basis). The results showed that the acoustic wave velocity decreased slightly with an increase in moisture from 1.1% to 7.8%, while the attenuation coefficient increased slightly. When the moisture increased from 7.8% to 21.2%, the velocity increased gradually, while the attenuation coefficient decreased. A quadratic equation described the results well. In addition, a Johnson-Champoux-Allard (JCA) model was adopted to study the influence of moisture on the pore structure of wheat samples. With the increase in moisture from 1.1% to 21.2%, the average radius of interconnection between two adjacent pores decreased from 0.275 to 0.262 mm at moisture below 7.8% and then increased to 0.304 mm, and the average radius of the pores decreased from 0.773 to 0.481 mm at moisture below 7.8% and then increased to 1.2 mm. Keywords: Acoustic standing wave tube, JCA model, Moisture content, Propagation constant, PSO algorithm, Wheat.

Electron Transmission through Coordinating Atoms Embedded in Metal-Organic Nanoporous Networks.

On-surface metal-organic nanoporous networks generally refer to adatom coordinated molecular arrays, which are characterized by the presence of well-defined and regular nanopores. These periodic structures constructed using two types of components confine the surface electrons of the substrate within their nanocavities. However, the confining (or scattering) strength that individual building units exhibit is apriori unknown. Here, we study the modification of the substrate's surface electrons by the interaction with a Cu-coordinated TPyB metal-organic network formed on Cu(111) and disentangle the scattering potentials and confinement properties. By means of STM and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy we find almost unperturbed free-electron-like states stemming from the rather weak electron confinement that yields significant coupling between adjacent pores. Electron plane wave expansion simulations match the superlattice induced experimental electronic structure, which features replicating bands and energy renormalization effects. Notably, the electrostatic potential landscape obtained from our abinitio calculations suggests that the molecules are the dominant scattering entities while the coordination metal atoms sandwiched between them act as leaky channels. These metal atom transmission conduits facilitate and enhance the coupling among quantum dots, which are prone to be exploited to engineer the electronic structure of surface electron gases.

Characterization of liquid–liquid mass transfer performance in a novel pore‐array intensified tube‐in‐tube microchannel

AbstractLiquid–liquid mass transfer performance of a novel pore‐array intensified tube‐in‐tube microchannel (PA‐TMC) was investigated with the water‐benzoic acid‐kerosene system. Both mass transfer efficiency (E) and volumetric mass transfer coefficient (K La) are found to increase simultaneously with the flow rate, but decrease with total number of pores and rows. However, E increases but K La decreases with the annular length. In particular, the pore size shows an optimal value at 0.3 mm due to the interplay problem of the radial adjacent pores. Computational fluid dynamics simulations reveal that the high kinetic energy generated by the pore‐array section plays a significant role in mass transfer process. The artificial neural network model is established to correlate K La with the investigated parameters of PA‐TMC. The comparison of K La with other types of contactors indicates that PA‐TMC has superior mass transfer performance and high throughput for a broad industrial application.

Gravity‐Induced Bubble Ripening in Porous Media and Its Impact on Capillary Trapping Stability

AbstractCapillary or residual trapping is considered one of the safest geologic CO2 storage mechanisms due to its hydrodynamic stability. We present a first study of the impact of gravity on Ostwald ripening in porous media and show it may render capillary trapping thermodynamically unstable. Gravity induces a vertical chemical potential gradient that leads to the upwards diffusion of CO2. Thus, bubbles at shallower depths grow at the expense of bubbles in deeper strata, leading to the formation of an overriding gas cap. We first develop a pore‐scale model for two bubbles trapped within adjacent pores and then upscale it to obtain a one‐dimensional continuum model. We use the latter to predict the macroscopic evolution of a trapped bubble population. Factors controlling the ripening process are isolated to assist in selecting CO2 storage sites. Gravity‐induced ripening may also play a role in geologic fluid emplacement and migration over millions of years.

Microstructure evolution of leached cement paste: Simulation and experiments

In this paper, a reactive transport model is developed to simulate changes in the microstructure of leached cementitious composites. The model simultaneously takes into account the relation between the real microscopic pore size and macroscopic porosity via MIP and nitrogen adsorption, and the coupling between pore size and the transport properties. Quantitative validation of the model is achieved by comparison of simulation and leaching experiments, and the results show good agreement in terms of both the microscopic pore size distribution and the macroscopic porosity. In addition, SEM analysis and simulations indicates that decalcification may leads to a connection of the adjacent pores, and the increase in the critical pore size is much smaller than the threshold pore size. Some adjacent pores may be connected due to the growing threshold pore size, and the new connected pores will accelerate the growth of the threshold pore size. Besides, leaching induces additional peak on differential pore size distribution curve.

Tuning Pore Dimensions of Mesoporous Inorganic Films by Homopolymer Swelling.

The functionality and applications of mesoporous inorganic films are closely linked to their mesopore dimensions. For material architectures derived from a block copolymer (BCP) micelle coassembly, the pore size is typically manipulated by changing the molecular weight corresponding to the pore-forming block. However, bespoke BCP synthesis is often a costly and time-consuming process. An alternative method for pore size tuning involves the use of swelling agents, such as homopolymers (HPs), which selectively interact with the core-forming block to increase the micelle size in solution. In this work, poly(isobutylene)-block-poly(ethylene oxide) micelles were swollen with poly(isobutylene) HP in solution and coassembled with aluminosilicate sol with the aim of increasing the resulting pore dimensions. An analytical approach implementing spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) and ellipsometric porosimetry (EP) alongside atomic force microscopy (AFM) and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) in transmission and grazing-incidence (GISAXS) modes enabled us to study the material evolution from solution processing through the manifestation of the mesoporous inorganic film after BCP removal. The in-depth SE/EP analysis evidenced an increase of more than 45% in mesopore diameter with HP swelling and a consistent scaling of the overall void volume and number of pores. Importantly, our analytical toolbox enabled us to study the effect of swelling on the connecting necks between adjacent pores, with observed increases as high as ≈35%, offering novel pathways to sensing, electrochemical, and other mass-transfer-dependent applications.

Geochemical Evidence of Metal-Driven Anaerobic Oxidation of Methane in the Shenhu Area, the South China Sea.

Anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) is a common biochemical process in the ocean and it plays an important role in global climate change, elemental circulation, and atmospheric evolution over geological time. In this paper, we analyzed of δ34S, Fe, Mn, Ca/Ti, and Sr/Ti ratios, and the date of carbon and sulfur from the site SH3 of Shenhu area. Result showed that (1) 0–6 mbsf (meter blow the sea floor) was mainly affected by OSR (anaerobic oxidation of organic matters) and 7–15 mbsf was a paleo-SMTZ (sulfate–methane transition zone) position. The modern SMTZ was mainly distributed at 19–25 mbsf. The barium sulfate precipitation above the modern SMTZ indicating that the current methane leakage was stable and lasted longer during geological history. (2) By studying the change of magnetic and the different carbonate minerals, results showed that there were two AOM stages. During the early stage, Fe2+ were mainly produced by sulfide abiotic reductive dissolution. During the later stage, Fe2+ were mainly produced by the metal-AOM. (3) Study of the mineral characteristics of the paleo-SMTZ and the modern SMTZ showed that the modern SMTZ carbonate minerals were mainly low-Mg calcite and aragonite, while the paleo-SMTZ carbon minerals were mainly high Mg minerals. The reason for this difference is that the modern SMTZ layer was only experienced the first stage of anaerobic oxidation of methane. In the paleo-SMTZ layer, it has experienced two stage of anaerobic oxidation of methane. During the last stage of metal-AOM, the low Mg carbonate minerals were converted into high Mg carbonate minerals. This research confirms the presence of metal-driven methane anaerobic oxidation at the bottom of sulfate-driven methane anaerobic oxidation and during the metal-driven methane anaerobic oxidation, methane and metal oxides or hydroxides would couple to convert the in situ metal oxides or hydroxides into metal ions, meanwhile the phosphorus adsorbed on the surface of the metal oxides is released into adjacent pore water, and convert to new P-bearing minerals under suitable conditions.

Plant growth, root distribution and non-aqueous phase liquid phytoremediation at the pore-scale

The success of phytoremediation is dependent on the exposure of plants to contaminants, which is controlled by root distribution, physicochemical characteristics, and contaminant behavior in the soil environment. Whilst phytoremediation has been successful in remediating hydrocarbons and other organic contaminants, there is little understanding of the impact of non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) on plant behavior, root architecture and the resulting impact of this on phytoremediation. Light NAPLs (LNAPLs) may be present in pore spaces in the capillary zone as a continuous or semi-continuous phase, or as unconnected ganglia which act as individual contaminant sources. Experimental work with ryegrass (Lolium perenne) grown under hydroponic conditions in idealised pore scale models is presented, exploring how plant growth, root distribution and development, and oil removal are affected through direct physical contact with a model LNAPL (mineral oil). In the presence of low levels of LNAPL, a significant decrease in root length was observed, whilst at higher LNAPL levels root lengths increased due to root diversion and spreading, with evidence of root redistribution in the case of LNAPL contamination across multiple adjacent pores. Changes to root morphology were also observed in the presence of LNAPL with plant roots coarse and crooked compared to long, fine and smooth roots in uncontaminated columns. Root and shoot biomass also appear to be impacted by the LNAPL although the effects are complex, affected by both root diversion and thickening. Substantial levels of LNAPL removal were observed, with roots close to LNAPL sources able to remove dissolved-phase contamination, and root growth through LNAPL sources suggest that direct uptake/degradation is possible.