Hydrothermal decomposition of pentachlorophenol in subcritical and supercritical water with sodium hydroxide addition

Hydrothermal decomposition of pentachlorophenol （PCP, C6HC150）, as the probable human carcinogen, was investigated in a tubular reactor under subcritical and supercritical water with sodium hydroxide （NaOH） addition. The experiments were conducted at a temperature range of 30（0-420℃ and a fixed pressure of 25 MPa, with a residence time that ranged from 10 s to 70 s. Under the reaction conditions, the initial PCP concentrations were varied from 0.25 to 1.39 mmol/L, and the NaOH concentrations were varied from 2.5 to 25 times of the concentrations of PCP. The result of this study showed that PCP conversion in supercritical water was highly dependent on the reaction temperature, residence time, and NaOH concentration. PCP conversion in subcritical water is, however, only dependent on reaction temperature. NaOH concentration and residence times were found to have little effect on PCP conversion in subcritical condition. It was found that NaOH concentration affected the dechlorinations of PCP in the supercritical water. The intermediates detected were proposed to be tetrachlorophenol and trichlorophenol, respectively.

Synthesis of ZnO whiskers via hydrothermal decomposition route

ZnO whiskers with a length of 30-40μm and a diameter of about 1μm were synthesized by co-precipitation of ZnSO 4 and Na2CO3 solution at room temperature followed by hydrothermal treatment of the as-prepared Zn5(CO3)2(OH)6 precursor at 160 ℃for 6 h.The increase of the initial solution pH promotes the hydrothermal conversion of the particulate Zn5(CO3)2(OH)6 to ZnO whiskers.The presence of minor amount of EDTA in the hydrothermal solution promotes the one dimensional growth of ZnO whiskers,leading to the formation of ZnO whiskers with a length of 50-60μm and a diameter of 1-2μm.

Kinetics of Non-catalyzed Decomposition of Glucose in High-temperature Liquid Water

The decomposition kinetics of glucose was studied in high-temperature liquid water （HTLW） from 180 to 220℃ under a pressure of 10 MPa. It was found the main products from glucose decomposition were 5-hydroxymethylfurfural （5-HMF） and levulinic acid （LA）. The decomposition kinetics of 5-HMF and stability of LA in HTLW were further investigated. A kinetic model for glucose decomposition was proposed accordingly. In the model, a series of first-order reactions with the consideration of parallel by-reactions were used to illustrate the decomposition of glucose. The decomposition activation energies of glucose, 5-HMF, and LA were evaluated as 118.85, 95.40, and 31.29 kJ·mol^-1, respectively.

CoFe_2O_4/CdS nanocomposite:Preparation,characterisation,and application in sonocatalytic degradation of organic dye pollutants

A magnetic CoFe2O4/Cd S nanocomposite was prepared via one-step hydrothermal decomposition of cadmium diethanoldithiocarbamate complex on the surface of CoFe2O4 nanoparticles at a low temperature of 200 ℃.The nanocomposite was characterised by X-ray diffraction（XRD）,Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy（FT-IR）,scanning electron microscopy,energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy（EDX）,UV-visible spectroscopy,transmission electron microscopy（TEM）,N2 gas sorption analysis,X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy（XPS）,and vibrating sample magnetometry.The FT-IR,XRD,EDX and XPS results confirmed the formation of the CoFe2O4/Cd S nanocomposite.Based on the TEM analysis,the CoFe2O4/Cd S nanocomposite constituted nearly uniform,sphere-like nanoparticles of ～20 nm in size.The optical absorption spectrum of the CoFe2O4/Cd S nanocomposite displayed a band gap of 2.21 e V,which made it a suitable candidate for application in sono/photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants.Accordingly,the sonocatalytic activity of the CoFe2O4/Cd S nanocomposite was evaluated towards the H2O2-assisted degradation of methylene blue,rhodamine B,and methyl orange under ultrasonic irradiation.The nanocomposite displayed excellent sonocatalytic activity towards the degradation of all dyes examined—the dyes were completely decomposed within 5–9 min.Furthermore,a comparison study revealed that the CoFe2O4/Cd S nanocomposite is a more efficient sonocatalyst than pure Cd S;thus,adopting the nanocomposite approach is an excellent means to improve the sonoactivity of Cd S.Moreover,the magnetic properties displayed by the CoFe2O4/Cd S nanocomposite allow easy retrieval of the catalyst from the reaction mixture for subsequent uses.

Controllable hydrothermal synthesis of star-shaped Sr3Fe2（OH）12 assemblies and their thermal decomposition and magnetic properties

Pure phase star-shaped hydrogarnet Sr3Fe2（OH）12 assemblies were synthesized by a mild hydrothermal method （210℃, 12 h）, and the effects of the preparation conditions on the phase composition of the product were investigated. It was found that the impurity phases could be decreased or eliminated by increasing the molar ratio of Sr2＋ to Fe3＋, and that high temperatures favored the formation of Sr3 Fe2（OH）12 and reduced the concentration of CO32- -containing byproducts. The thermal decomposition of the star-shaped Sr3Fe2（OH）12 assemblies was examined, and the results showed that the dehydration process at higher temperatures is accompanied by the formation of SrFeO3-δ. Above 655 ℃, a solid state reaction between the SrFeO3-δ and Sr（OH）2 or SrCO3 results in the formation of Sr4Fe3O10-δ.The mag- netic properties of the as-synthesized Sr3Fe2（OH）12 and of samples calcined at different temperatures were assessed. A sample calcined at 575 ℃ exhibited greatly enhanced ferromagnetic properties, with a remanent magnetization of 1.28 emu/g and a coercivity of 4522.1 Oe at room temperature.