Thermal pretreatment of willow branches impacts yield and pore development of activated carbon in subsequent activation with ZnCl_(2) via modifying cellulose structure

Development of pore structures of activated carbon(AC)from activation of biomass with ZnCl_(2) relies on content and structure of cellulose/hemicellulose in the feedstock.Thermal pretreatment of biomass could induce dehydration and/or aromatization to change the structure of cellulose/hemicellulose.This might interfere with evolution of structures of AC,which was investigated herein via thermal pretreatment of willow branch(WB)from 200 to 360℃and the subsequent activation with ZnCl_(2) at 550℃.The results showed that thermal pretreatment at 360℃(WB-360)could lead to substantial pyrolysis to form biochar,with a yield of 31.9%,accompanying with nearly complete destruction of cellulose crystals and remarkably enhanced aromatic degree.However,cellulose residual in WB-360 could still be activated to form AC-360 with specific surface area of 1837.9 m~2·g^(-1),which was lower than that in AC from activation of untreated WB(AC-blank,2077.8 m~2·g^(-1)).Nonetheless,the AC-200 from activation of WB-200 had more developed pores(2113.9 m~2·g^(-1))and superior capability for adsorption of phenol,due to increased permeability of ZnCl_(2) to the largely intact cellulose structure in WB-200.The thermal pretreatment did increase diameters of micropores of AC but reduced the overall yield of AC(26.8%for AC-blank versus 18.0%for AC-360),resulting from accelerated cracking but reduced intensity of condensation.In-situ infrared characterization of the activation showed that ZnCl_(2) mainly catalyzed dehydration,dehydrogenation,condensation,and aromatization but not cracking,suppressing the formation of derivatives of cellulose and lignin in bio-oil.The thermal pretreatment formed phenolic-OH and C=O with higher chemical innerness,which changed the reaction network in activation,shifting morphology of fibrous structures in AC-blank to“melting surface”in AC-200 or AC-280.

Surface modification of ilmenite and its accompanied gangue minerals by thermal pretreatment:Application in flotation process

The effect of conventional thermal pretreatment on the surface properties of ilmenite and its accompanied gangue minerals was investigated using flotation experiments(microflotation and laboratory cell flotation),XRD,XPS and FT-IR analysis and zeta potential and contact angle measurements.After treatment at 600℃ for 25 min as optimal condition,the floatability of ilmenite is improved from 73.5%to 91%at a pH value of 6.3.As demonstrated by XRD and XPS analysis,under this pretreatment condition,the Fe^(3+)content increases by almost 16.5%without any phase decomposition and structural changes in ilmenite.FT-IR analysis and contact angle and zeta potential measurements give evidences that the improvement of ilmenite floatability can be related to the enhancement of collector adsorption and the formation of a more insoluble hydrophobic layer of ferric iron oleate.The ore flotation experiments show that the thermal pretreatment process without making a significant change in TiO2 content of ilmenite concentrate enhances the TiO2 recovery from 65.4%to 73.7%.

Effect of thermal pretreatment on the surface structure of PtSn/SiO2 catalyst and its performance in acetic acid hydrogenation

The effect of thermal pretreatment on the active sites and catalytic performances of PtSn/SiO2 catalyst in acetic acid （AcOH） hydrogenation was investigated in this article. The catalysts were characterized by N2 physical adsorption, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, pyridine Fourier-transform infrared spectra, and H2-O2 titration on its physicochemical properties. The results showed that Pt species were formed primarily in crystalline structure and no PtSnx alloy was observed. Meanwhile, with the increment of thermal pretreatrnent temperature, Pt dispersion showed a decreas- ing trend due to the aggregation of Pt particles. Simultaneously, the amount of Lewis acid sites was remarkably influenced by such thermal pretreatment owning to the consequent physicochemical property variation of Sn species. Interestingly, the catalytic activity showed the similar variation trend with that of Lewis acid sites, confirming the important roles of Lewis acid sites in AcOH hydrogenation. Moreover, a balancing effect between exposed Pt and Lewis acid sites was obtained, resulting in the superior catalytic performance in AcOH hydrogenation.

Characterization of Energy_Transduction in Thermal Pretreated Chloroplast from Spinach

Characterization of energy-transduction on die chloroplast thylakoid membranes from spinach (Spinacia oleracca L.) after thermal pretreatment was investigated. The related reactions of energy-transduction in chloroplasts were seriously affected by thermal pretreatment. The results were obtained as following: (1) The rate of cyclic photophosphorylation declined when the pretreatment temperature increased in the range of 25 to 45 degreesC. (2) The thermal pretreatment led to a decrease of the activity of thylakoid membrane-bounded ATPase. (3) Proton uptake of chloroplasts acid the fluorescence quenching of 9-aminoacridine (9-AA) in thylakoid membrane decreased after the thermal pretreatment, but addition of dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCCD) could partially restore the fluorescence quenching of 9-AA. (4) Both the rates of fast phase in electrochroism absorption change at 515 nm and the millisecond delayed light emission (ms-DLE) of chloroplast showed a progressive decrease upon raising the temperature of pretreatment. (5) Immunbloting analysis showed that the thermal pretreatment caused the changes of protein content and the electrophoresis mobility of thylakoid membrane-bound ATPase and its alpha -subunit. (6) If the temperature of pretreatment were higher than 33 degreesC, oxygen uptake of PS I -mediated in the samples was rapidly inhibited, but addition of sinapine into the reaction medium could partially restore the ability of oxygen uptake in the samples. These results are briefly discussed in relation to the change of permeability of thylakoid membranes, the dissociation of coupling factor complex as well as accumulation of the radicals in the thylakoid membranes after thermal pretreatment.

Effects of thermally pretreated temperature on bio-hydrogen production from sewage sludge

Hydrogen can be obtained by anaerobic fermentation of sewage sludge. Therefore, in this paper the effects of thermally pretreated temperatures on hydrogen production from sewage sludge were investigated under different pre-treatment conditions. In the thermal pretreatment, some microbial matters of sludge were converted into soluble matters from insoluble ones. As a result, the suspended solid（SS） and volatile suspended solid（VSS） of sludge decreased and the concentration of soluble COD（SCOD） increased, including soluble carbohydrates and proteins. The experimental results showed that all of those pretreated sludge could produce hydrogen by anaerobic fermentation and the hydrogen yields under the temperatures of 121℃ and 50℃ were 12.23 ml/g VS（most） and 1.17 ml/g VS （least）, respectively. It illuminated that the hydrogen yield of sludge was affected by the thermally pretreated temperatures. Additionally, the endurance of high hydrogen yield depended on the translation of microbial matters and inhibition of methanogens in the sludge. The temperatures of 100℃ and 121℃ （treated time, 30 min） could kill or inhibit completely the methanogens while the others could not. To produce hydrogen and save energy, 100℃ was chosen as the optimal temperature for thermal pretrcatment. The composition changes in liquid phase in the fermentation process were also discussed. The SCOD of sludge increased, which was affected by the pretreatment temperature. The production of volatile fatty acids in the anaerobic fermentation increased with the pretreatment temperature.

The Possibilities of Bioenergy Production from Whey

The wastes and the by-products of food industrial technologies are suitable for bioenergy generating because of the high organic matter content. Anaerobic digestion is the eldest technology for waste stabilization and however by controlled decomposition a high value and marketable energy source can be produced. Whey is normally used as a component of dairy products or as an additive for food product. In our work we focused on another utilization method： biogas generating from membrane separated fractions i.e.： permeate and concentrate of whey. The effect of the pH, thermal, microwave pre-treatment and their combinations on the biogas yield were investigated. Our results showed that the applied pre-treatments had significant effect on biogas production. In consequence of the hydrolysis of large molecules the biodegradability of the pre-treated whey fractions was enhanced, therefore the biogas and methane production yield increased significantly.

Comparison of mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic digestions of thermal hydrolysis pretreated swine manure: Process performance,microbial communities and energy balance

Anaerobic digestion (AD) of swine manure (SM) commonly shows low biogas output and unsatisfactory economic performance. In this study, thermophilic AD (TAD, 50±1℃) was combined with thermal hydrolysis pretreatment (THP, 170℃/10 bar), to investigate its potential for maximizing biogas yield, securing successful digestion and microbial diversity, as well as improving energy balance. Four lab-scale continuously stirred tank reactors were operated for 300 days and compared with each other, i.e., reactor 1 (raw SM fed in mesophilic AD:RSM-MAD), reactor 2 (THP-treated SM fed in MAD:TSM-MAD), reactor 3 (RSM-TAD),and reactor 4 (TSM-TAD). The results showed that THP was efficient to increase methane production of SM, TSM-TAD mode led to the highest methane yield (129.8±40.5 mL-CH_(4)/gVS/day) among the tests (p <0.05). Although TAD was more likely to induce free ammonia (> 700 mg/L) or volatile fatty acids (> 6000 mg/L) accumulation compared with MAD in start-up phase, TSM-TAD treatment mode behaved a sustainable digestion process in a long-term operation. For TSM-TAD scenario, higher Shannon–Weaver (3.873) and lower Simpson index (0.061) indicated this mode ensured and enlarged the diversity of bacteria communities. Phylum Bathyarchaeota was dominant (59.3%-90.0%) in archaea community,followed by Euryarchaeota in the four reactors. RSM-MAD treatment mode achieved the highest energy output (4.65 GJ/day), TSM-TAD was less effective (-17.38 GJ/day) due to increased energy demands. Thus improving the energetic efficiency of THP units is recommended for the development of TSM-TAD treatment mode.

Facile strategy for carbon foam fabrication with lignin as sole feedstock and its applications

This research is a follow-up to our recent discovery of a facile strategy for directly converting lignin powder into carbon foam.In this work,we report that the thermal pretreatment parameters in air can remarkably influence the formation and properties of the derived carbon foam.Thermal pretreatment parameters(heating rate,temperature,and residence time)were systematically investigated and a conversion mechanism into carbon foam was proposed.During the thermal pretreatment,relatively low temperatures,low heating rates,and short residence time hindered the formation of smooth and well-connected structures in the carbon foam.The overall product yields were similar regardless of the thermal pretreatment conditions.The densities of the different carbon foams ranged 0.27–0.83 g∙cm^(−3).The carbon foams with the highest compressive strengths(>10 MPa)were KLPC280-2-5,KLPC300-0-5,and KLPC300-2-2.5.KLPC280-2-5 exhibited a high iodine sorption value(182 mg∙g^(−1)).KLPC300-2-5 exhibited a specific capacitance of 158 F∙g^(−1) at a current density of 0.05 A∙g^(−1).The maximum evaporation rates in the solar vapor generation experiments were 1.05 and 1.38 kg∙m^(−2)∙h^(−1) under 100 and 150 mW∙cm^(−2) irradiation,respectively.The good performances are attributed to the robust,porous,and continuous structure.