Hydrate capture CO_2 from shifted synthesis gas, flue gas and sour natural gas or biogas

CO2 capture by hydrate formation is a novel gas separation technology, by which CO2 is selectively engaged in the cages of hydrate and is separated with other gases, based on the differences of phase equilibrium for CO2 and other gases. However. rigorous temperature and pressure, high energy cost and industrialized hydration separator dragged the development of the hydrate based CO2 capture. In this paper, the key problems in CO2 capture from the different sources such as shifted synthesis gas, flue gas and sour natural gas or biogas were analyzed. For shifted synthesis gas and flue gas, its high energy consumption is the barrier, and for the sour natural gas or biogas （CO2/CH4 system）, the bottleneck is how to enhance the selectivity of CO2 hydration. For these gases, scale-up is the main difficulty. Also, this paper explored the possibility of separating different gases by selective hydrate formation and reviewed the progress of CO2 separation from shifted synthesis gas, flue gas and sour natural gas or biogas.

Efficient CO_2 capture on low-cost silica gel modified by polyethyleneimine

In this work, a series of polyethyleneimine （PEI） functionalized commercial silica gel were prepared by wet impregnation method and used as CO2 sorbent. The as-prepared sorbents were characterized by N2 adsorption, FT-1R and SEM techniques. CO2 capture was tested in a fixed bed reactor using a simulated flue gas containing 15.1% CO2 in a temperature range of 25-100 ~C. The effects of sorption temperature and amine content on CO2 uptake of the adsorbents were investigated. The silica gel with a 30 wt% PEI loading manifested the largest CO2 uptake of 93.4 mgcoz/gadsorbent （equal to 311.3 mg^oz/gPEI） among the tested sorbents under the conditions of 15.1% （v/v） CO2 in N2 at 75 ~C and atmospheric pressure. Moreover, it was rather low-cost. In addition, the PEI-impregnated silica gel exhibited stable adsorption-desorption behavior during 5 consecutive test cycles. These results suggest that the PEI-impregnated silica gel is a promising and cost-effective sorbent for CO2 capture from flue gas and other stationary sources with low CO2 concentration.

lnc1343对小鼠胚胎干细胞多能性的影响及其基因座潜在作用机制

哺乳动物基因组可以转录数以千计的长非编码RNA(longnon-coding RNA,lncRNA),lncRNA能够在多种层次以灵活的方式对基因表达进行调控.尽管lncRNA在基因表达调控过程中的作用已经毋庸置疑,但目前只有少数lncRNA的功能和作用机制得到了研究.lnc1343是一条由小核仁RNA宿主基因3所转录的lncRNA,其表达失调与许多人类疾病有密切关联.研究结果表明lnc1343能够通过自身转录本来调控小鼠胚胎干细胞(mouse embryonic stem cells,mESCs)的多能性维持,CRISPR-cas9介导的lnc1343的转录起始位点和基因座的敲除显著降低了多能性基因(Nanog,Sox2,Oct4)的表达,同时也能通过邻近调控相邻基因Rcc1的表达.此外,通过对Chip-seq数据库的分析,发现lnc1343基因座位存在大量的H3K27ac以及H3K4mel的表观遗传修饰,通过Capture C实验捕获与lnc1343基因座位相互作用的DNA区域,发现大部分相互作用区域位于基因的启动子区,表明lnc1343基因座位可能发挥增强子功能,通过长距离染色质相互作用调控基因表达,进而调控mESCs多能性.总之,lnc1343不仅可以通过自身的转录剪切形成的lncRNA来调控mESCs的多能性,同时也能通过其基因座位调控染色质的长远距离相互作用.

Oxygen permeability and CO_2-tolerance of Ce_(0.8)Gd_(0.2)O_(2-δ)-Ln BaCo_2O_(5+δ) dual-phase membranes

A series of oxygen permeable dual-phase composite oxides 60 wt% Ce0.8Gd0.2O2-δ-40 wt% LnBaCo2O5＋δ （CGO-LBCO, Ln = La, Pr, Nd, Sin, Gd and Y） were synthesized through a sol-gel route and effects of the Ln3＋ cations on their phase structure, oxygen permeability and chemical stability against CO2 were investigated systemically by XRD, SEM, TG-DSC and oxygen permeation experiments. XRD patterns reveal that the larger Ln3＋ cations （La3＋, Pr3＋ and Nd3＋） successfully stabilized the double-layered perovskite structure of sintered LBCO, while the smaller ones （Sm3＋, Gd3＋, and Y3＋） resulted in the partial decomposition of LBCO with some impurities formed. CGO-PBCO yields the highest oxygen permeation flux, reaching 2.8× 10^-7 mol.s-1.cm-2 at 925 ℃ with 1 mm thickness under air/He gradient. The TG-DSC profiles in 20 mol% CO2/N2 and oxygen permeability experiments with CO2 as sweep gas show that CGO-YBCO demonstrates the best chemical stability against CO2, possibly due to its minimum basicity. The stable oxygen permeation flux of CGO-YBCO under CO2 atmosphere reveals its potential application in the oxy-fuel combustion route for CO2 capture.

Synthesis of layered double hydroxides/graphene oxide nanocomposite as a novel high-temperature CO_2 adsorbent

In this contribution, a novel high-temperature CO_2 adsorbent consisting of Mg-Al layered double hydroxide （LDH） and graphene oxide （GO） nanosheets was prepared and evaluated. The nanocomposite-type adsorbent was synthesized based on the electrostatically driven self-assembly between positively charged Mg-Al LDH single sheet and negatively charged GO monolayer. The characteristics of this novel adsorbent were investigated using XRD, FE-SEM, HRTEM, FT-IR, BET and TGA. The results showed that both the CO_2 adsorption capacity and the multi- cycle stability of LDH were increased with the addition of GO owing to the enhanced particle dispersion and stabilization. In particular, the absolute CO_2 capture capacity of LDH was increased by more than twice by adding 6.54 wt% GO as support. GO appeared to be especially effective for supporting LDH sheets. Moreover, the CO_2 capture capacity of the adsorbent could be further increased by doping with 15 wt% K_2CO_3. This work demonstrated a new approach for the preparation of LDH-based hybrid-type adsorbents for CO2 capture.

Thermo economic evaluation of oxy fuel combustion cycle in Kazeroon power plant considering enhanced oil recovery revenues

Oxy fuel combustion and conventional cycle(currently working cycle) in Kazeroon plant are modeled using commercial thermodynamic modeling software. Economic evaluation of the two models regarding the resources of transport and injection of carbon dioxide into oil fields at Gachsaran for enhanced oil recovery in the various oil price indices is conducted and indices net present value(NPV) and internal rate of return on investment(IRR) are calculated. The results of the two models reveal that gross efficiency of the oxy fuel cycle is more than reference cycle(62% compared to 49.03%), but the net efficiency is less(41.85% compared to 47.92%) because of the high-energy consumption of the components, particularly air separation unit(ASU) in the oxy fuel cycle. In this model, pure carbon dioxide with pressure of 20×105 Pa and purity of 96.84% was captured. NOX emissions also decrease by 4289.7 tons per year due to separation of nitrogen in ASU. In this model, none of the components of oxy fuel cycle is a major engineering challenge. With increasing oil price, economic justification of oxy fuel combustion model increases. With the price of oil at $ 80 per barrel in mind and $ 31 per ton fines for emissions of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, IRR is the same for both models.

Engineering porous organic polymers for carbon dioxide capture

As atmospheric CO_2 levels rise, the development of physical or chemical adsorbents for CO_2 capture and separation is of great importance on the way towards a sustainable low-carbon future. Porous organic polymers are promising candidates for CO_2 capture materials owing to their structural flexibility, high surface area, and high stability. In this review, we highlight high-performance porous organic polymers for CO_2 capture and summarize the strategies to enhance CO_2 uptake and selectivity, such as increasing surface area, increasing interaction between porous organic polymers and CO_2, and pore surface functionalization.

A flexible metal-organic framework with double interpenetration for highly selective CO2 capture at room temperature

A flexible metal-organic framework of la Cu（FMA）（4,4＇-Bpe）0.s （FMA=fumarate; 4,4＇Bpe=trans-bis-（4-pyridyl）ethylene） that exhibits guest molecule-controlled gate-opening adsorption has been reported, in which the flexible pores can be enlarged by CO2 molecules rather than CH4 and N2 under a certain gate-opening pressure. The CO2 uptake can be sharply improved from 6.85 cm3 gq at 0.60 atm to 33.7 cm3 g^-1 at 1 atm due to the gate-opening effect, thus resulting in the notably enhanced adsorption selectivities for CO2/CH4 （32：1, v/v） and CO2/N2 （48：1, v/v） separations at room temperature.

Effect of Amine Structure on CO2 Capture Performance of Amine-modified SBA-15

To investigate the relative CO2 capture performance of＂molecular basket＂ type solid amine sorbents with varying amine structural characteristics, two model amine isomers, triethylenetetramme（TETA） and tris（2- aminoethyl）-amine（TAEA）, were chosen alongside mesoporous silica SBA-15 as a support. The CO2 capture perfor- mance of each amine derivative was evaluated using a breakthrough method with a fixed-bed reactor. The results show that, in the absence of moisture, the SBA-TETA sorbents show better CO2 capture performance than the SBA-TAEA sorbents; on the other hand, in the presence of moisture, the SBA-TAEA sorbents show slightly improved uptake compared to the SBA-TETA sorbents. The tertiary amine groups, such as those found on TAEA, are known to be un-reactive with CO2 in the absence of moisture, but is activated in the presence of moisture may account for these findings.

Advances of Metal-Organic Frameworks in Energy and Environmental Applications

Nowadays, energy shortage and environmental pollution issues are increasingly severe and urgent to be solved. The effective storage and use of environmentally friendly fuels and removal of harmful gases from the environment are great challenges and of great importance both for the environment protection and for human health. Porous met- al-organic frameworks （MOFs） are highly ordered crystalline materials formed by the self-assembly process of metal ions and organic ligands. Their good features such as ultrahigh porosity, large surface area, structural diversity and functionalities make them promising candidates for applications in energy and environmental fields. MOF thin films and MOF composites have also been investigated to further enhance the properties and introduce new func- tionalities. This review provides an overview of the synthesis methods of pristine MOFs, MOF thin films and MOF composites, and significant advances of MOFs in energy and environment applications such as energy storage （H2, CH4）, CO2 capture and separation, adsorption removal and sensing of harmful gases in the environment.

Ten years of microalgal biofuels in environmental applications

Over the past ten years,microalgae have been investigated as promising sources of renewable energy to replace the diminishing supply of fossil fuels and mitigate the environmental pollution caused by use of fossil fuels.In addition to providing oil-based biofuels,the use of microalgae can potentially reduce environmental pollution because algae can use industrial byproducts(CO_2,NOx,wastewater,and others)as nutrition sources.However,our previous study showed that the unacceptably high cost of biofuels production,especially culturing microalgae,remains the biggest obstacle hindering the large-scale implementation of microalgae biofuels.Therefore,future efforts will likely emphasize biotechnological approaches to improve the economic feasibility of algal biofuel production.This review summarizes the progress made over the last decade in environmental applications of microalgae,combined with data on CO_2 capture,NOx biotransformation,wastewater treatment,and synergistic applications,and discusses future prospects.