A continuous and high-efficiency process to separate coal bed methane with porous ZIF-8 slurry:Experimental study and mathematical modelling

Coal bed methane has been considered as an important energy resource.One major difficulty of purifying coal bed methane comes from the similar physical properties of CH_4 and N_2.The ZIF-8/water-glycol slurry was used as a medium to separate coal bed methane by fluidifying the solid adsorbent material.The sorption equilibrium experiment of binary mixture(CH_4/N_2)and slurry was conducted.The selectivity of CH_4 to N_2 is within the range of 2-6,which proved the feasibility of the slurry separation method.The modified Langmuir equation was used to describe the gas-slurry phase equilibrium behavior,and the calculated results were in good agreement with the experimental data.A continuous absorption-adsorption and desorption process on the separation of CH_4/N_2 in slurry is proposed and its mathematical model is also developed.Sensitivity analysis is conducted to determine the operation conditions and the energy performance of the proposed process was also evaluated.Feed gas contains 30 mol%of methane and the methane concentration in product gas is 95.46 mol%with the methane recovery ratio of 90.74%.The total energy consumption for per unit volume of product gas is determined as 1.846 kWh Nm^(-3).Experimental results and process simulation provide basic data for the design and operation of pilot and industrial plant.

Enhancing bioactivity and stability of polymer-based materialtissue interface through coupling multiscale interfacial interactions with atomic-thin TiO2 nanosheets

Stable and bioactive material-tissue interface(MTF)basically determines the clinical applications of biomaterials in wound healing,sustained drug release,and tissue engineering.Although many inorganic nanomaterials have been widely explored to enhance the stability and bioactivity of polymer-based biomaterials,most are still restricted by their stability and biocompatibility.Here we demonstrate the enhanced bioactivity and stability of polymer-matrix bio-composite through coupling multiscale material-tissue interfacial interactions with atomically thin TiO_(2)nanosheets.Resin modified with TiO_(2)nanosheets displays improved mechanical properties,hydrophilicity,and stability.Also,we confirm that this resin can effectively stimulate the adhesion,proliferation,and differentiation into osteogenic and odontogenic lineages of human dental pulp stem cells using in vitro cell-resin interface model.TiO_(2)nanosheets can also enhance the interaction between demineralized dentinal collagen and resin.Our results suggest an approach to effectively up-regulate the stability and bioactivity of MTFs by designing biocompatible materials at the sub-nanoscale.