The Dynamic Experiment on Treating Acid Mine Drainage with Iron Scrap and Sulfate Reducing Bacteria Using Biomass Materials as Carbon Source

The study is aimed at the problem of high content of Cr^(6+),Cr^(3+)and SO_(4)^(2-)is high and low pH value in acid mine drainage(AMD).Moreover,treatment of AMD by sulfate reducing bacteria(SRB)requires the addition of carbon source,while the treating effectiveness is not good enough on its own.The sugarcane slag,the corn cob and the sunflower straw were selected as the SRB carbon source cooperating with iron scrap to construct the dynamic columns 1,2 and 3.The mechanism of removing Cr^(6+),Cr^(3+),SO_(4)^(2-)and H+and the regularity of sustained release of carbon source and TFe release was studied in AMD.The removal efficiency of heavy metal ions,the ability of sustained release of carbon source,and the ability of adjusting acid by the three dynamic columns were compared.The result shows that the average removal rates of Cr^(6+),Cr^(3+)and SO_(4)^(2-)in effluent of dynamic column 1,filled by sugarcane slag,iron scrap and SRB,were 96.9%,67.1%and 54.3%.The average release of TFe and chemical oxygen demand(COD)were 4.4 and 287.3 mg/L.Its average pH was 6.98.Compared with the performance of dynamic columns 1,2 and 3,dynamic column 1 performed best in removing Cr^(6+),Cr^(3+)and SO_(4)^(2-)from AMD and controlling the release of COD and TFe,adjusting the pH of the solution.The study is of significance in treatment of AMD by taking for biomass materials as SRB carbon source in cooperation with iron scrap.

Latest advances in ionic liquids promoted synthesis and application of advanced biomass materials

The utilization of sustainable resources provides a path to relieving the problem of dependence on fossil resources. In this context, biomass materials have become a feasible substitute for petroleum-based materials. The development of biomass materials is booming and advanced biomass materials with various functional properties are used in many fields including medicine, electrochemistry, and environmental science. In recent years, ionic liquids have been widely used in biomass pretreatments and processing owing to their “green” characteristics and adjustable physicochemical properties. Thus, the effects of ionic liquids in biomass materials generation require further study. This review summarizes the multiple roles of ionic liquids in promoting the synthesis and application of advanced biomass materials as solvents, structural components, and modifiers. Finally, a prospective approach is proposed for producing additional higher-quality possibilities between ionic liquids and advanced biomass materials.

Facile preparation of Fe/N-based biomass porous carbon composite towards enhancing the thermal decomposition of DAP-4

Fe/N-based biomass porous carbon composite(Fe/N-p Carbon) was prepared by a facile high-temperature carbonization method from biomass,and the effect of Fe/N-p Carbon on the thermal decomposition of energetic molecular perovskite-based material DAP-4 was studied.Biomass porous carbonaceous materials was considered as the micro/nano support layers for in situ deposition of Fe/N precursors.Fe/Np Carbon was prepared simply by the high-temperature carbonization method.It was found that it showed the inherent catalysis properties for thermal decomposition of DAP-4.The heat release of DAP-4/Fe/N-p Carbon by DSC curves tested had increased slightly,compared from DAP-4/Fe/N-p Carbon-0.The decomposition temperature peak of DAP-4 at the presence of Fe/N-p Carbon had reduced by 79°C from384.4°C(pure DAP-4) to 305.4°C(DAP-4/Fe/N-p Carbon-3).The apparent activation energy of DAP-4thermal decomposition also had decreased by 29.1 J/mol.The possible catalytic decomposition mechanism of DAP-4 with Fe/N-p Carbon was proposed.

Adsorption of Cu^(2+) from aqueous solution by modified biomass material

Cu2+ adsorption from simulated aqueous solution was investigated using a modified spent shiitake substrate (MSSS). The results showed that the MSSS has a high adsorption efficiency and removal performance. The Cu2+removal rate of the MSSS reached above 95%. Compared with spent shiitake substrate (SSS), the specific surface area, electronegativity and surface functional groups of the MSSS were all improved, resulting in a high adsorption capacity. The Cu2+ adsorption of MSSS reached equilibrium after 0.75 h and was an exothermic reaction. The SEM and EDS analyses of the MSSS before and after Cu2+ adsorption showed that the pores on the surface of the MSSS were occupied after adsorption and the Cu content increased but the Na content decreased.

Enhancement of Biomass Material Characterization Images Using an Improved U-Net

For scanning electronmicroscopes with high resolution and a strong electric field,biomass materials under observation are prone to radiation damage from the electron beam.This results in blurred or non-viable images,which affect further observation of material microscopic morphology and characterization.Restoring blurred images to their original sharpness is still a challenging problem in image processing.Traditionalmethods can’t effectively separate image context dependency and texture information,affect the effect of image enhancement and deblurring,and are prone to gradient disappearance during model training,resulting in great difficulty in model training.In this paper,we propose the use of an improvedU-Net(U-shapedConvolutional Neural Network)to achieve image enhancement for biomass material characterization and restore blurred images to their original sharpness.The main work is as follows:use of depthwise separable convolution instead of standard convolution in U-Net to reduce model computation effort and parameters;embedding wavelet transform into the U-Net structure to separate image context and texture information,thereby improving image reconstruction quality;using dense multi-receptive field channel modules to extract image detail information,thereby better transmitting the image features and network gradients,and reduce the difficulty of training.The experiments show that the improved U-Net model proposed in this paper is suitable and effective for enhanced deblurring of biomass material characterization images.The PSNR(Peak Signal-to-noise Ratio)and SSIM(Structural Similarity)are enhanced as well.

Preparation of Ammonia Adsorbent by Carbonizing and Activating Mixture of Biomass Material and Hygroscopic Salt

We put forward a new and ingenious method for the preparation of a new adsorbent by soaking, carbonizing and activating the mixture of hygroscopic salt and biomass material. The new adsorbent has high porosity, uniform distribution and high content of Ca Cl2, and exhibits high adsorption performance. The ammonia uptake and specific cooling power（SCP） at 5 min adsorption time can reach as high as 0.19 g·g^-1 and 793.9 W·kg^-1, respectively. The concept of utilizing the biomass materials and hygroscopic salts as raw materials for the preparation of adsorbents is of practical interest with respect to the potential quantity of biomass materials around the world, indicating that there would be a new market for biomass materials.Key words： biomass material; adsorption system; ammonia; calcium chloride; activated carbon

Development of a Cross-Flow Fish Smoking Kiln Fired by Biomass Material

Traditional smoking of fish in Nigeria is often carried out in open and unsanitary environment. In addition, the current process does not result in uniformly smoked fish and uses wood （an increasingly scarce material） as heat source. The fish smoking kiln designed and fabricated in this study addresses these problems. The kiln （700 × 800 × 1,500 mm） is made of stainless steel on the inside and mild steel on the outside with glass fiber insulation separating the inside and outside covers. The sample to be smoked is totally enclosed by the kiln with a latchable door provided at one of the sides for placing of samples to be smoked. In addition, the kiln was designed to use waste biomass resource as fuels （sawdust and/or maizecob）. Bonga fish （Ethmalosafimbriata） and African catfish （Clarias gariepinus） were used as test samples for the kiln. The temperature of the chamber increased to about 120 ℃ to 160 ℃ when fueled with sawdust and about 150 ℃ to 200 ℃ for maizecob. The total heat transfer resistance through the kiln walls was determined to be 1.0 ℃/W. About 6-8 h was required to smoke-dry 16 kg of fish samples from initial moisture content of 75% to about 25% or 20% moisture level.

Green,Sustainable Architectural Bamboo with High Light Transmission and Excellent Electromagnetic Shielding as a Candidate for Energy-Saving Buildings

Currently,light-transmitting,energy-saving,and electromagnetic shielding materials are essential for reducing indoor energy consumption and improving the electromagnetic environment.Here,we developed a cellulose composite with excellent optical transmittance that retained the natural shape and fiber structure of bamboo.The modified whole bamboo possessed an impressive optical transmittance of approximately 60%at 6.23 mm,illuminance of 1000 luminance(lux),water absorption stability(mass change rate less than 4%),longitudinal tensile strength(46.40 MPa),and surface properties(80.2 HD).These were attributed to not only the retention of the natural circular hollow structure of the bamboo rod on the macro,but also the complete bamboo fiber skeleton template impregnated with UV resin on the micro.Moreover,a multilayered device consisting of translucent whole bamboo,transparent bamboo sheets,and electromagnetic shielding film exhibited remarkable heat insulation and heat preservation performance as well as an electromagnetic shielding performance of 46.3 dB.The impressive optical transmittance,mechanical properties,thermal performance,and electromagnetic shielding abilities combined with the renewable and sustainable nature,as well as the fast and efficient manufacturing process,make this bamboo composite material suitable for effective application in transparent,energy-saving,and electromagnetic shielding buildings.

Characteristics of biomass ashes from different materials and their ameliorative effects on acid soils

The chemical characteristics,element contents,mineral compositions,and the ameliorative effects on acid soils of five biomass ashes from different materials were analyzed. The chemical properties of the ashes varied depending on the source biomass material. An increase in the concrete shuttering contents in the biomass materials led to higher alkalinity,and higher Ca and Mg levels in biomass ashes,which made them particularly good at ameliorating effects on soil acidity. However,heavy metal contents,such as Cr,Cu,and Zn in the ashes,were relatively high. The incorporation of all ashes increased soil p H,exchangeable base cations,and available phosphorus,but decreased soil exchangeable acidity. The application of the ashes from biomass materials with a high concrete shuttering content increased the soil available heavy metal contents. Therefore,the biomass ashes from wood and crop residues with low concrete contents were the better acid soil amendments.

Recent progress on green electromagnetic shielding materials based on macro wood and micro cellulose components from natural agricultural and forestry resources

Recent research efforts in the field of electromagnetic interference shielding(EMI)materials have focused on biomass as a green and sustainable resource.More specifically,wood and cellulose nano fiber(CNF)have many advantages,some of which include lightweight,porosity,widespread availability,low cost,and easy processing.These favorable properties have led researchers to consider these types of biomass as an EMI shielding material with great potential.At present,while many excellent published works in EMI shielding materials have investigated wood and CNF,this research area is still new,compared with non-biomass EMI shielding materials.More specifically,there is still a lack of in-depth research and summary on the preparation process,pore structure regulation,component optimization,and other factors affecting the EMI shielding of wood and CNF based EMI shielding materials.Thus,this review paper presents a comprehensive summary of recent research on wood and CNF based EMI shielding materials in recent three years in terms of the preparation methods,material structure design,component synergy,and EMI mechanism,and a forward future perspective for existing problems,challenges,and development trend.The ultimate goal is to provide a comprehensive and informative reference for the further development and exploration of biomass EMI shielding materials.

Research on a Composite Biomass Insulation Material with Geopolymers as Binders and Forestry Waste as Fillers

A composite biomass insulation material,which uses geopolymers as adhesives and forestry waste as fillers,was proposed and experimentally tested.The orthogonal experimental method was adopted to analyze the optimum theoretical oxide molar ratios and the mass ratio of mixing water to binder(m_(w2)/m__(B))for preparing geopolymers.The influences of curing regimes(including one-stage and two-stage curing methods)and m_(w2)/m_(B) ratios of the insulation materials on mechanical,thermal,and hydraulic performances were also studied by experiment.The results indicated that the optimum combination scheme of preparing geopolymers was molar ratio x_(SiO_(2))/x_(Na_(2)O)=3.3,x_(SiO_(2))/x_(Al_(2)O_(3))=3.2 and m_(w2)/m_(B)=0.5 with the highest mechanical strength of 34.21 MPa.Besides,the best curing conditions of the composite material were the curing temperatures of 85°C and 70°C under the two-stage curing regime,which could achieve the low heat conductivity of 0.123 and 0.125 W/(m·K),and the high mechanical strength of 1.70 MPa and 1.71 MPa,respectively.The optimum m_(w2)/m_(B)ratios of the biomass material were 0.5 to 0.55 with heat conductivity of 0.114 to 0.125 W/(m·K).This novel composite insulation material has satisfying physical performances,which is helpful for achieving building energy conservation.

Efficient nitrogen doped porous carbonaceous CO_(2) adsorbents based on lotus leaf

In this work, the waste biomass lotus leaf was converted into N-doped porous carbonaceous CO_(2) adsorbents. The synthesis process includes carbonization of lotus leaf, melamine post-treatment and KOH activation. For the resultant sorbents, high nitrogen content can be contained due to the melamine modification and advanced porous structure were formed by KOH etching. These samples were carefully characterized by different techniques and their CO_(2) adsorption properties were investigated in detail. These sorbents hold good CO_(2) adsorption abilities, up to 3.87 and 5.89 mmol/g at 25 and 0 °C under 1 bar, respectively. By thorough investigation, the combined interplay of N content and narrow microporous volume was found to be responsible for the CO_(2) uptake for this series of sorbents. Together with the high CO_(2) adsorption abilities, these carbons also display excellent reversibility, high CO_(2)/N 2 selectivity, applicable heat of adsorption, fast CO_(2) adsorption kinetics and good dynamic CO_(2) adsorption capacity. This study reveals a universal method of obtaining N-doped porous carbonaceous sorbents from leaves. The low cost of raw materials accompanied by easy synthesis procedure disclose the enormous potential of leaves-based carbons in CO_(2) capture as well as many other applications.

Pyrolyzed bacterial cellulose/graphene oxide sandwich interlayer for lithium–sulfur batteries

Herein, a facile strategy for the synthesis of sandwich pyrolyzed bacterial cellulose（PBC）/graphene oxide（GO） composite was reported simply by utilizing the large-scale regenerated biomass bacterial cellulose as precursor. The unique and delicate structure where three-dimensional interconnected bacterial cellulose（BC） network embedded in two-dimensional GO skeleton could not only work as an effective barrier to retard polysulfide diffusion during the charge/discharge process to enhance the cyclic stability of the Li–S battery, but also offer a continuous electron transport pathway for the improved rate capability.As a result, by utilizing pure sulfur as cathodes, the Li–S batteries assembled with PBC/GO interlayer can still exhibit a capacity of nearly 600 mAh·g^-1 at 3C and only 0.055% capacity decay per cycle can be observed over 200 cycles. Additionally, the cost-efficient and environmentfriendly raw materials may enable the PBC/GO sandwich interlayer to be an advanced configuration for Li–S batteries.