Upcycling plastic wastes into value-added products via electrocatalysis and photoelectrocatalysis

Plastic,renowned for its versatility,durability,and cost-effectiveness,is indispensable in modern society.Nevertheless,the annual production of nearly 400 million tons of plastic,coupled with a recycling rate of only 9%,has led to a monumental environmental crisis.Plastic recycling has emerged as a vital response to this crisis,offering sustainable solutions to mitigate its environmental impact.Among these recycling efforts,plastic upcycling has garnered attention,which elevates discarded plastics into higher-value products.Here,electrocatalytic and photoelectrocatalytic treatments stand at the forefront of advanced plastic upcycling.Electrocatalytic or photoelectrocatalytic treatments involve chemical reactions that facilitate electron transfer through the electrode/electrolyte interface,driven by electrical or solar energy,respectively.These methods enable precise control of chemical reactions,harnessing potential,current density,or light to yield valuable chemical products.This review explores recent progress in plastic upcycling through electrocatalytic and photoelectrocatalytic pathways,offering promising solutions to the plastic waste crisis and advancing sustainability in the plastics industry.

Production optimization in a fractured carbonate reservoir with high producing GOR

The Gas-Oil Ratio(GOR)is a crucial production parameter in oil reservoirs.An increase in GOR results in higher gas production and lower oil production,potentially leading to well shut-ins due to economic infeasibility.This study focuses on a real fractured oil field that requires urgent production operations to reduce the producing GOR.In this study,the static model for the field was developed using commercial software,involving steps such as data collection,fault modeling,meshing,and statistical analysis to prepare for dynamic simulation.The dynamic model incorporates geometry,gridding,and rock properties from the static model,utilizing a dual-porosity approach for the naturally fractured reservoir and the Peng-Robinson equation for fluid phase behavior.Initial reservoir conditions,production history,and rock-fluid interactions were defined,with relative permeability curves indicating a water-wet reservoir and low critical gas saturation affecting the GOR.To better understand the relationship between reservoir and production parameters,a detailed sensitivity analysis was performed using the Response Surface Methodology(RSM).Following the sensitivity analysis,a history matching process was conducted using the Designed Exploration and Controlled Evolution(DECE)optimizer to validate the model for future forecasts.Six operational scenarios were defined to decrease the production GOR and enhance final recovery from the field.The results indicate that the water injection scenario is effective in preventing the GOR increase by maintaining reservoir pressure,thereby sustaining production over a longer period.This scenario also improves oil recovery by approximately 6%compared to the base case.Finally,optimization was carried out using the DECE optimizer for each scenario to fine-tune the operational parameters.The goal was to maximize oil revenue for each scenario during the optimization process.This study stands out as one of the few that provides a comprehensive analysis of production behavior and development planning for a real fractured reservoir with high producing GOR.

Boosting C–C coupling to multicarbon products via high-pressure CO electroreduction

Electrochemical CO reduction reaction(CORR) provides a promising approach for producing valuable multicarbon products(C_(2+)), while the low solubility of CO in aqueous solution and high energy barrier of C–C coupling as well as the competing hydrogen evolution reaction(HER) largely limit the efficiency for C_(2+)production in CORR. Here we report an overturn on the Faradaic efficiency of CORR from being HER-dominant to C_(2+)formation-dominant over a wide potential window, accompanied by a significant activity enhancement over a Moss-like Cu catalyst via pressuring CO. With the CO pressure rising from 1 to 40 atm, the C_(2+)Faradaic efficiency and partial current density remarkably increase from 22.8%and 18.9 mA cm^(-2)to 89.7% and 116.7 mA cm^(-2), respectively. Experimental and theoretical investigations reveal that high pressure-induced high CO coverage on metallic Cu surface weakens the Cu–C bond via reducing electron transfer from Cu to adsorbed CO and restrains hydrogen adsorption, which significantly facilitates the C–C coupling while suppressing HER on the predominant Cu(111) surface, thereby boosting the CO electroreduction to C_(2+)activity.

Influence of Pt/Ru anodic ratio on the valorization of ethanol by PEM electrocatalytic reforming towards value-added products

The ethanol electro-reforming process was studied over PtRu/C catalysts synthesized by the modified polyol method with different compositions.In particular,this work reports the influence of anodic Pt:Ru ratio(5:1,2:1 and 1:2)on the organic product distribution(acetaldehyde,acetic acid and ethyl acetate)and pure hydrogen generation at different current densities operation levels.Physicochemical characterization of the catalysts was made by X-ray diffraction(XRD),temperature-programmed reduction(TPR)and N_(2) adsorption-desorption measurements.XRD patterns showed that Ru is introduced into the Pt structure,forming an alloy between both metals.Also,the degree of alloy was higher by increasing the Ru amounts.From TPR profiles Pt was found to be properly reduced while Ru was both in metallic state and forming RuO2.The electrochemical behaviour of each catalyst towards ethanol electroreforming process was investigated through electrochemical techniques in a half cell and a single proton exchange membrane(PEM)cell systems.An intermediate Pt:Ru ratio was found to result in high current density and electrochemical surface area(ECSA)values along with lower amounts of adsorbed species.Also,Ru addition seems to diminish the degree of degradation of the catalyst.Based on characterization and in agreement with essays carried out in a PEM cell at mild conditions(80℃ and 1 atm),PtRu/C 2:1 anode provided the best electrocatalytic results in terms of current density(740 mA cm^(-2)),hydrogen production and selectivity toward acetic acid(up to 15%apart from acetaldehyde and ethyl acetate)while requiring the lowest energy consumption.

Artificial photosynthesis for high-value-added chemicals:Old material,new opportunity

Solar energy utilization has drawn attention due to ever-increasing environmental and energy issues.Photoelectrochemical(PEC)and photocatalytic(PC)water splitting for hydrogen production,which is the most popular and well-established solar-to-chemical conversion process,has been studied thoroughly to date but is now facing limitations related to low conversion efficiency.To resolve this issue,research in PEC cells or photocatalysts has recently aimed to produce alternative value-added chemicals by modifying their redox reactions,which potentially enables high economic reward to compensate for the low efficiency.Here,various kinds of redox reactions that decouple classic water splitting reactions to produce value-added chemicals via PEC and PC processes are introduced.Successful coupling of CO_(2) reduction,O_(2) reduction and organic synthesis with either water oxidation or water reduction is comprehensively discussed from the perspective of basic fundamental and product selectivity in terms of the band structure of materials,cocatalyst design,and thermodynamics and kinetics of the reactions.Throughout the review,future challenges and opportunities are suggested with respect to the redesigned artificial synthesis,which might be an alternative development for the commercialization of PEC or PC value-added chemical production technologies in the near future.

Discovery of natural products capable of inducing porcine host defense peptide gene expression using cell-based high throughput screening

Background:In-feed antibiotics are being phased out in livestock production worldwide.Alternatives to antibiotics are urgently needed to maintain animal health and production performance.Host defense peptides(HDPs)are known for their broad-spectrum antimicrobial and immunomodulatory capabilities.Enhancing the synthesis of endogenous HDPs represents a promising antibiotic alternative strategy to disease control and prevention.Methods:To identify natural products with an ability to stimulate the synthesis of endogenous HDPs,we performed a high-throughput screening of 1261 natural products using a newly-established stable luciferase reporter cell line known as IPEC-J2/pBD3-luc.The ability of the hit compounds to induce HDP genes in porcine IPEC-J2 intestinal epithelial cells,3D4/31 macrophages,and jejunal explants were verified using RT-qPCR.Augmentation of the antibacterial activity of porcine 3D4/31 macrophages against a Gram-negative bacterium(enterotoxigenic E.coli)and a Gram-positive bacterium(Staphylococcus aureus)were further confirmed with four selected HDP-inducing compounds.Results:A total of 48 natural products with a minimum Z-score of 2.0 were identified after high-throughput screening,with 21 compounds giving at least 2-fold increase in luciferase activity in a follow-up dose-response experiment.Xanthohumol and deoxyshikonin were further found to be the most potent in inducing pBD3 mRNA expression,showing a minimum 10-fold increase in IPEC-J2,3D4/31 cells,and jejunal explants.Other compounds such as isorhapontigenin and calycosin also enhanced pBD3 mRNA expression by at least 10-fold in both IPEC-J2 cells and jejunal explants,but not 3D4/31 cells.In addition to pBD3,other porcine HDP genes such as pBD2,PG1-5,and pEP2C were induced to different magnitudes by xanthohumol,deoxyshikonin,isorhapontigenin,and calycosin,although clear gene-and cell type-specific patterns of regulation were observed.Desirably,these four compounds had a minimum effect on the expression of several representative inflammatory cytokine genes.Furthermore,when used at HDP-inducing concentrations,these compounds showed no obvious direct antibacterial activity,but significantly augmented the antibacterial activity of 3D4/31 macrophages(P<0.05)against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria.Conclusions:Our results indicate that these newly-identified natural HDP-inducing compounds have the potential to be developed as novel alternatives to antibiotics for prophylactic and therapeutic treatment of infectious diseases in livestock production.

Determination of Melamine in Animal Blood Products by High Performance Liquid Chromatography

[Objective] To investigate the optimal determination conditions of melamine in animal blood products by high performance liquid chromatography （HPLC）. [ Method] The blood samples were extracted with ultrasonic in 1% trichloroacetic acid （TDA） and acetonitrile. After purifying by solide phase extraction （SPE）, the samples were analyzed by H PLC. r Result I The optimal conditions of HPLC were as follows： the chromatographic column was Zorbax SB-CS; the mobile phase was ion-pairs buffer-acetonitrile （95/5, V/V） ; the flow rate was 1.0 ml/min; the column temperature was 25 ℃ and the UV detection wavelength was 235 nm. The determined melamine concentration range was 0.001 -0.050 mg/ml; the linear correlation coefficient was 0.999 4; the concentration limit of melamine was 0.1 mg/kg; the average recovery rate of the melamine were 97.60% - 100.65%, and the relative standard deviation （RSD） was 1.23% -3.04%.[ Conclusion] The HPLC is simple, accurate and repeatable for determination of the melamine in animal blood products.

Comparison of Two Real-time PCR Technigues for Quantification of GMO Contents in Highly Processed Products of Soybean

The RR soybean was quantitatively detected by ABI Prism 7300 sequence detector with PCR primers and fluorescence probes were designed according to the sequences of endogenous Lectin gene and exogenous CP4-EPSPS gene, and the PCR systems were based on SYBR Green I and TaqMan. The standard curve of ACt between CP4-EPSPS gene and Lectin gene of the RR soybean in standard materials was generated and a linear regression equation was obtained. Quantification methods were optimized through two different real-time PCR chemistries, i.e. SYBR Green I and TaqMan, and the RR soybean contents were quantified in five standard samples and seven highly processed products by the two assays. Both methods are proved to be specific, highly sensitive and reliable for both identification and quantification of soybean DNA. The results indicate that the two optimized PCR system can be used for the practical quantitative detection of RR soybean in highly processed products.

Chinese Autos'Debut in Cambodia-Let more Cambodians know high-quality Chinese products

The 3rd Mudan Cup China International Auto Exhibition (Vietnam & Cambodia) was held in January 28, 2005 in Phnom Penh Hotel. This is the first debut of Chinese autos in Cambodia. 11 buses, 12 seats tourism vans, cargo vans and trucks and 9 motorcycles of different brands showed Cambodians the real Chinese famous brands and high-quality automobiles. The 3rd "Mudan Cup"China International Auto Exhibition Tour was organized by the Society of Automotive Engineers of China, Department of Media and Press of CCPIT, Cambodia Tang Ren International Co., Ltd.,Cambodia Kaide Trade Co., Ltd. andChina Grand River Group.……

Application of Liquid Chromatography-High Resolution Time-of-flight Mass Spectrometry in the Detection of Raw Milk and Dairy Products

Milk and dairy products are more and more popular with consumers due to their various nutrients, and their quality and safety issues have always been concerned. Therefore, the development of rapid, accurate and simple screening techniques is of great significance. Liquid chromatography-high resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometry has high-resolution and high-throughput detection functions, and has gradually begun to be applied in the detection of milk and dairy products. This paper summarized the application of milk and dairy products in liquid chromatography-high resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometry, laying a foundation for the development of new methods.

Let “Made in China” Truly Be the Sign of High Quality Products

On September 11th, 2007, a meeting of China's domestically and internationally famous brands was held in Beijing in the Great Hall of the People.……

China's Imp.& Exp.of New and High-tech Products

Import of New and High-tech Products Increases Rapidly The proportion of new and high-tech products in the total import continues to increase.Ever since 1991,the proportion of new and high-tech products in the total import has experienced a continuous growth.It took up only 14.8% of the total import in 1991.The figure reached 20.8% in 1998,and further rose to that of 26.3% in 2001.From January to June this year,the import of new and hightech products totaled 34.540 billion USD,up 18.1% over the same per...

Steiger Highlights Three Products

The products of Steiger are including: ARIES.3, GEMINI 2.130, and LIBRA 3.130.ARIES.3 Aries.3 makes all knitters’ dreams come true. The centralism has manifested Steiger technologies on this machine, so that designers could use their imagination freely.

NEW BREAKTHROUGH OF HEAVY OIL UPGRADING TECHNOLOGY——INTEGRATION PROCESSES OF VRFCC/RMC FOR PRODUCTION OF HIGH VALUE PRODUCTS AND STEAM CRACKING FEED

An integration process of vacuum residue FCC(VRFCC)and moderate pressure hydro cracking(RMC),developed by RIPP and BDI,opens a new route for maximizing production of both high value products and the feed for steam cracking(SC).VRFCC technology has been put on stream at Yanshan Petrochemical Co (YPC)since November 1998.A 79 2%(mass percent)high value product(LPG+GSL+LCO)was surprisingly made on the test run from a resid feedstock of 85 0%(mass percent)Daqing crude VR content.No facility coking was found during the operation.RMC is a renovating moderate pressure hydrocracking technology,the end point of the heavy VGO feed is as high as 534 ℃,and the RMC catalyst performance shows high hydrodenitrogenation activity and high ring opening selectivity.The process highlights the flexibility of product slates——maximum premium mid distillates yield(38 0%(mass percent))and/or maximum hydro unconverted bottoms(Hydro BTMs)yield(50%～70%(mass percent)).Over 30%(mass percent)ethylene was produced from SC process based on Hydro BTMs feed. The application of VRFCC/RMC integration at YPC not only covers the shortages of SC feed for 660 kt/a ethylene production capacity,but also increases the total yield of premium fuel products.

A High Throughput Screening Platform for Skin Tuning Properties from Natural Products: Identification of Skin Tanning Compounds

Skin lightening and tanning are two major areas dominating the market of skincare and cosmetic products. Though the demands are originated from two different communities, the two areas share a same goal—skin colour tuning. The known safe compounds with skin colour tuning activities are limited. In contrary, Chinese medicinal herb provides a pool of natural bioactive compounds, which have been used in Asian countries for long time and have been tested for its toxicity. Here, we demonstrate a high throughput screening platform for potential compounds usable for skin colour tuning. From 147 natural compounds, 26 of them showed potential in skin tanning functions by using the high throughput melanogenesis platform based on the melanogenesis assay on B16 melanocytes. Five of them promoted melanogenesis by over 50%. Moreover, apart from 1, 8-dihydroxyanthraquinone, the other four compounds showed enhancement effect on tyrosinase activity. From the result, the compounds increased the Vmax of tyrosinase without changing the Km in a dose-dependent manner. Thus, there should be no irreversible structural change of the enzyme. Definitely, this report contributes to the development of personalization in skincare and cosmetic products.

Maize-soybean strip intercropping： Achieved a balance between high productivity and sustainability

Intercropping is one of the most vital practice to improve land utilization rate in China that has limited arable land resource. However, the traditional intercropping systems have many disadvantages including illogical field lay-out of crops, low economic value, and labor deficiency, which cannot balance the crop production and agricultural sustainability. In view of this, we developed a novel soybean strip intercropping model using maize as the partner, the regular maize-soybean strip intercropping mainly popularized in northern China and maize-soybean relay-strip intercropping principally extended in southwestern China. Compared to the traditional maize-soybean intercropping systems, the main innovation of field lay-out style in our present intercropping systems is that the distance of two adjacent maize rows are shrunk as a narrow strip, and a strip called wide strip between two adjacent narrow strips is expanded reserving for the growth of two or three rows of soybean plants. The distance between outer rows of maize and soybean strips are expanded enough for light use efficiency improvement and tractors working in the soybean strips. Importantly, optimal cultivar screening and increase of plant density achieved a high yield of both the two crops in the intercropping systems and increased land equivalent ratio as high as 2.2. Annually alternative rotation of the adjacent maize-and soybean-strips increased the grain yield of next seasonal maize, improved the absorption of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potasium of maize, while prevented the continuous cropping obstacles. Extra soybean production was obtained without affecting maize yield in our strip intercropping systems, which balanced the high crop production and agricultural sustainability.

Changes in Organic Carbon and Nutrient Contents of Highly Productive Paddy Soils in Yujiang County of Jiangxi Province,China and Their Environmental Application

Paddy field is an important land use in subtropical China. Development of high soil fertility and productivity is the management goal of paddy field, Fertilization and management practices have not only influenced the status of organic matter and nutrients in the soil but also affected the environmental quality. This article investigates the contents of organic carbon and the nutrients, and the change over the last 20 years in highly productive paddy soils and their environmental application. Field soils were sampled and the analytical results were compared with the corresponding values in the Second Soil Survey in Yujiang County of Jiangxi Province, China. The results showed that surface soils at a depth of 0-10 cm in highly productive paddy fields in Yujiang County of Jiangxi Province had contents of organic carbon （20.2 ±3.88） g kg^-1, total nitrogen （2.09±0.55） g kg^-1, and available phosphorus （42.7 ±32.7） mg kg^-1, respectively, which were all at very rich levels. Over the last 20 years, the organic carbon pool of the highly productive paddy soils reached a steady state. Total N and available P significantly increased, whereas available K changed a little. The amount and percentage of P immobilization in the surface soil （0-10 cm） of highly productive paddy fields were （142.7 ~ 41.1） mg kg-~ and （36.2~ 10.4）% of added P, and CEC （7.93 ~ 1.32） cmol kg-~. These two parameters were not higher than the mean values of paddy soils and upland red soils in the areas. Results also showed that fertilizer P in highly productive paddy soils had a high mobility and was prone to move toward a water body, which is the main source of nutrients causing eutrophication. Because of a weak K-fixing capacity, the available K content was not high in highly productive paddy soils. This suggests that attention should be paid to the K balance and the increase of soil K pool.

Formulation development and preparation of fish oil liposome by using high pressure homogenizer for food supplement product

It is known that “Fish Oil” is the raw material that has lot of benefits for health, because fish oil consists of several necessary unsaturated fatty acids, particularly Omega-3 and Docosahexanoic acid (DHA). Omega-3 can decrease triglyceride level, and then it can increase HDL cholesterol level. In addition, DHA can support brain cell synthesis and also nervous system for human.

Development Strategies for Achieving High Production with Fewer Wells in Conventional Offshore Heavy Oil Fields in Bohai Bay,China

Development strategy for heavy-oil reservoirs is one of the important research interests in China National Offshore Oil Corp. （CNOOC） that plans a highly effective development for heavy oil fields in multilayered fluvial reservoirs because of their significant influence on marine oil and even on China＇s petroleum production. The characteristics analysis of multilayered fluvial reservoirs in the heavy oil fields in Bohai Bay indicates that large amounts ofoil were trapped in the channel, point bar and channel bar sands. The reserves distribution of 8 oilfields illustrates that the reserves trapped in the main sands, which is 20%-40% of all of the sand bodies, account for 70%-90% of total reserves of the heavy oil fields. The cumulative production from high productivity wells （50% of the total wells） was 75%-90% of the production of the overall oilfield, while only 3%-10% of the total production was from the low productivity wells （30% of the total wells）. And the high productivity wells were drilled in the sands with high reserves abundance. Based on the above information the development strategy was proposed, which includes reserves production planning, selection of well configuration, productivity design, and development modification at different stages.