Evaporation-driven water flow induced electricity from porous carbon film

Subject code:E02 With the support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China,a collaborative study by the research group led by Prof.Zhou Jun(周军)from Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics,Huazhong University of Science and Technology,Prof.Guo Wanlin(郭万林)from Nanjing University

The coupling between hydrodynamic and purification efficiencies of ecological porous spur-dike in field drainage ditch

In this study, a series of ecological porous spur-dikes are arranged in an experiment channel to simulate a real field drainage ditch. The inside and outside flow fields of spur-dikes are determined by numerical simulations and experimental methods. An Ammonia-Nitrogen（NH3-N） degradation evaluation model is built to calculate the pollution removal rate by coupling with the inner flow field of the porous spur-dikes. The variations of the total pollutant removal rate in the channel are discussed in terms of different porosities and gap distances between spur-dikes and inlet flow velocities. It is indicated that a reasonable parameter matching of the porosity and the gap distance with the flow velocity of the ditch can bring about a satisfactory purification efficiency with a small delivery quantity of ecological porous materials.

Porous carbon from vinegar lees for phenol adsorption

An effective technology for utilizing vinegar lees （VL）, a biomass waste generated during its production, is much needed in China due to the huge consumption of vinegar. This study investigates the preparation of porous carbon （PC） from VL, now reporting on the adsorption capability of PC in removing phenol from its aqueous solution. The preparation of PC consists of carbonization of VL in N2 and activation in CO2. The results show that the optimal activation temperature and time in CO2 for VL char carbonized at 800 ℃ were 875 ℃ and 1 h, respectively. The PC prepared was found to have large specific surface area and micropore volume, with an adsorptive capacity for phenol from its aqueous solution much higher than that of commercial coconut shell activated carbon （CSAC）. Adsorption of phenol from its aqueous solution by the VL-based PC was found to follow the isothermal Langmuir equation.

Preparation and ion exchange properties of egg-shell glass beads with different surface morphologies

A subcritical water treatment method was developed for preparing porous-surfaced glass beads with an egg-shell structure in a batch reactor. Based on the ＂corrosion-ion-migration-recondensation＂ strategy, ordinary soda-lime glass beads with a diameter of about 100 um were made first to react with subcritical water to effect controlled quantity of silicate dissolution of glass by adjusting treatment time and temperature. The dissolved silicate was then made to recondense on the glass core to form different porous shell morphologies： pores, flakes and fibers. Among these, glass beads coated with fibers with surface area of 154.5 m2/g, pore volume of 0.27 cm3/g and pore size of 7.1 nm were obtained at 573 K after 2 h of treatment. The prepared porous-surfaced glass beads were then used as adsorbent for heavy metal ions, showing various ion exchange properties. Glass beads covered with fibers displayed fast kinetics and high sorption capacity because of their egg-shell structure and high surface area. More than 90% of copper ions were adsorbed within 100 min from a solution with an initial concentration of 110 mg/L at 313 K. Ion sorption capacities were 149.33, 81.33 and 42.96 mg/g respectively for Ag＋, Cu2＋ and Ni2＋ at 313 K. A green and low-cost method was thus developed to produce egg-shell-structured porous glass with high sorption capacity.