Recent advances in Ni-based catalysts for the electrochemical oxidation of ethanol

The electrochemical ethanol oxidation reaction(EOR) plays a crucial role in electrochemical hydrogen production and direct ethanol fuel cells, both vital for utilizing renewable energies. Ni-based catalysts are pivotal in enabling efficient EOR, leading to the formation of acetic acid/acetaldehyde or CO_(2). These can serve as alternative anodic oxidation reactions for oxygen evolution reaction(OER) in water electrolysis or the anodic reaction for direct ethanol fuel cells, respectively. This review explores recent advancements in EOR over Ni-based catalysts. It begins with an overview of EOR performance across various Ni-based catalysts, followed by an examination of the reaction chemistry, mechanism, and active sites.The review then delves into strategies for designing highly active Ni-based EOR catalysts. These strategies include promotion with transition metals, noble metals, nonmetals, and carbon materials, as well as creating amorphous structures, special morphologies, and single-atom catalysts. Additionally, it discusses the concept of self-supporting catalysts using three-dimensional porous substrates. Finally, the review highlights emerging methodologies that warrant further exploration, along with future directions for designing highly active and stable EOR catalysts.

Rational modulation of electronic structure in PtAuCuNi alloys boosts efficient electrocatalytic ethanol oxidation assisted with energy-saving hydrogen evolution

Compared to conventional electrocatalytic water splitting,electrocatalytic ethanol oxidation reaction(EOR)along with hydrogen production is considered a more energy-efficient strategy.Herein,we prepared a type of novel quaternary alloy catalyst(PtAuCuNi@NF)that exhibits excellent activity for EOR(0.215 V at 10 mA cm^(-2))and hydrogen evolution reaction(HER)(7 mV at 10 mA cm^(-2)).Experimental results demonstrated that both Cu and Ni modulated the electronic environment around Pt and Au.The electron-rich active center facilitates the rapid adsorption and dissociation of reactants and intermediates for both EOR and HER.Impressively,in the ethanol-assisted overall water splitting(E-OWS),a current density of 10 mA cm^(-2)was achieved at 0.28 V.Moreover,an advanced acid-base self-powered system(A-Bsps)that can achieve a self-powered voltage of 0.59 V was assembled.Accordingly,the self-driven hydrogen production with zero external power supply was realized by integrating A-Bsps with the E-OWS equipment.The interesting results can provide a feasible strategy for designing and developing advanced nanoalloy-based materials for clean energy integration and use in various fields.

Evaluation of regional water resources carrying capacity based on binary index method and reduction index method

Based on the regional water resources carrying capacity(WRCC)evaluation principles and evaluation index system in the National Technical Outline of Water Resources Carrying Capacity Monitoring and Early Warning(hereafter referred to as the Technical Outline),this paper elaborates on the collection and sorting of the basic data of water resources conditions,water resources development and utilization status,social and economic development in basins,analysis and examination of integrity,consistency,normativeness,and rationality of the basic data,and the necessity of WRCC evaluation.This paper also describes the technique of evaluating the WRCC in prefecture-level cities and city-level administrative divisions in the District of the Taihu Lake Basin,which is composed of the Taihu Lake Basin and the Southeastern River Basin.The evaluation process combines the binary index evaluation method and reduction index evaluation method.The former,recommended by the Technical Outline,uses the total water use and the amount of exploited groundwater as evaluation indices,showing stronger operability,while the latter is developed by simplifying and optimizing the comprehensive index system with greater systematicness and completeness.The mutual validation and adjustment of the results of the above-mentioned two evaluation methods indicate that the WRCC of the District of the Taihu Lake Basin is overloaded in general because some prefecture-level cities and city-level administrative divisions in the Taihu Lake Basin and the Southeastern River Basin are in a severely overloaded state.In order to explain this conclusion,this paper analyzes the causes of WRCC overloading from the aspects of basin water environment,water resources development and utilization,water resources regulation and control ability,water resources utilization efficiency,and water resources management.

Absorption and Structural Property of Ethanol/Water Mixture with Carbon Nanotubes

Molecular dynamics （MD） simulations are performed to study the structure and adsorption of ethanol/water mixture within carbon nanotubes （CNTs）. Inside the （6,6） and （10,10） CNTs, there are always almost full of ethanol molecules and hardly water molecules. Inside wider CNTs, there are some water molecules, while the ethanol mass fractions inside the CNTs are still much higher than the corresponding bulk values. A series of structural analysis for the molecules inside and outside the CNTs are performed, including the distributions of radial, axial, angular density, orientation, and the number of hydrogen bonds. The angular density distribution of the molecules in the first solvation shell outside the CNTs indicates that the methyl groups of ethanol molecules have the strongest interaction with the carbon wall, and are pinned to the centers of the hexagons of the CNTs. Based on the understanding of the microscopic mechanism of these phenomena, we propose that the CNTs prefer to contain ethanol rather than methanol.

Molecular simulation of penetration separation for ethanol/water mixtures using two-dimensional nanoweb graphynes

Graphyne is expected to be a new-class of highly-efficient sieving membranes due to its controllable uniform pore structure and ultrathin single-atom thickness. Herein, we computationally investigate the permeation performance of liquid ethanol–water mixtures across polyporous two-dimensional γ-graphyne sheets. It was found that, in the mixture, ethanol with larger molecular diameter permeates faster through the graphyne pores than water. The simulations demonstrate that pristine graphynes could act as highly-efficient ethanol-permselective membranes for separation of ethanol–water mixtures, with ethanol permeability remarkably higher than conventional membranes. This separation mechanism is distinctly different from the molecular-size dependent sieving process. The stronger hydrophobic interfacial affinity between graphyne and ethanol makes ethanol molecules preferentially adsorb on graphyne surface and selectively penetrate through graphyne pores. This penetration mechanism provides new understanding of molecular transport through atomically thick two-dimensional nanoporous membranes and this work is expected to be valuable in the potential development of highly-efficient membranes for liquid-phase mixture separation.

Morphology Control of SrCO_3 Crystals using Complexons as Modifiers in the Ethanol-water mixtures

Using SrC12-6H2O and Na2CO3 as the main raw materials and adding different complexons as modifiers with simple co-precipitation method, SrCO3 crystals with distinct morphologies like spherical, bundle-like, overlapping plate-like, hexagonal star-like, dumbbell-like, etc. can be synthesized in the ethanol-water mixtures. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction （XRD）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and Fourier transform infrared spectrograph （FT-IR）. The interrelated effect mechanism is presented in the end. Results show that the modifier carboxyl groups play a significant role in controlling the SrCO3 crystal morphologies, which can alter the crystal growth unit （Sr^2＋） supply mode and induce the crystal formation with the morphologies matching their spatial configurations.

Fluorescence spectrum characteristic of ethanol-water excimer and mechanism of resonance energy transfer

The steady-state fluorescence spectrum characteristic of ethanol-water excimer has been studied in this paper. By analysing the features of the sharp emission spectrum with fine structures in a shortwave band and the characteristics of the broad and featureless fluorescence peaks in the longwave band, one can conclude that the excimers are formed between the new ethanol-water cluster molecules in the excited state and the ground state through the interaction among different chromophores. The excitation spectra in the two fluorescence bands have been studied, and their emission mechanisms have been ascertained based on the energy transfer theory. Furthermore, the critical distance of the resonance energy transfer has been calculated.

A Comparative Study of Flavonoid Water-Ethanol Extraction Process in Planted Trollius Chinensis

With rutin standard sample as the comparison, flavonoid extraction rate as an indicator, UV-2450 ultraviolet visible light spectrophotometer to measure flavonoid content in planted Trollius chinensis through orthogonal experiment, this experiment optimizes process condition of flavonoid in Trollius chinensis through water extraction and ethanol extraction. The result shows that flavonoid extraction rate of Trollius chinensis through ethanol extraction method is obviously higher than water extraction, and the optimal extraction process condition is： ethanol concentration is 75%, extraction time is 90min, extraction times are 3, and fluid material ratio is 20：1.

SELECTIVE SEPARATION OF WATER-ETHANOL MIXTURES THROUGH COPOLYMERIC MEMBRANES: Ⅰ. ACRYLIC ACID AND ACRYLONITRILE COPOLYMER AND ITS IONIZED MEMBRANES

The copolymer of acrylic acid and acrylonitrile has been synthesized and pervaporation properties of the copolymeric membranes have been investigated. In order to elucidate the influence of membrane-permeate interaction on the pervaporation of water-ethanol mixtures and to prepare much improved membranes, the membranes have been treated with alkali metal, alkali earth metal and transition metal salt aqueous solutions. The treated membranes (ionized membranes) exhibited higher separation factors than the untreated membranes. The separation factors of various alkali metal cation membranes decreased in the following order : Li^+>Na^+>K^+, and the permeation rates showed an opposite tendency. The dependence of pervaporation behavior on the copolymer composition ,feed concentration and operating temperature have been studied with both ionized and non-ionized membranes. The apparent activation energies of water and ethanol permeation were calculated.

Experimental adsorption equilibrium study and comparison of zeolite with water and ethanol for cooling systems

Two adsorption refrigeration working pairs of zeolite with water and ethanol were studied and the parameters of Dubinin-Astakhov model were regressed using the experimental data of equilibrium. The coefficient of heterogeneity varied from 1.305 to 1.52 for the zeolite-water pair and from 1.73 to 2.128 for zeolite-ethanol pair. The maximum adsorption capacity varied from 0.315 to 0.34 for zeolite-water and 0.23 to 0.28 for zeolite-ethanol, respectively. The results showed that the zeolite-water pair is suitable for solar energy cooling not only because of the high latent heat of vaporization of water but also because of the better equilibrium performance. On the other hand, zeolite-ethanol gives a high adsorption capacity at high regeneration tem-perature, which means it can be used in heat engine systems like buses and cars.

Co-liquefaction of Cotton Seed and Flos Populi in Sub-critical Water/Ethanol Solvent for Bio-oil with Medical Stone Based Additives

The co-liquefaction behaviors of cotton seed(CS)and flos populi(FP)were investigated in the sub-critical water/ethanol mixed solvent using the medical stone(MS)based additives.Oil products were characterized using FTIR,GC-MS,1HNMR,and 13CNMR techniques.The test results showed that the synergistic effect of co-liquefaction was obvious when the ratio of cotton seed and flospopuli was 1:1 without additives.The additives,such as 12-phosphotungstic acid(PW12),HZSM-5,PW12/HZSM-5 and modified medical stone(MS),PW12/MS,Ni/MS,Co/MS,Mo/MS and Co-Mo/MS,could increase the bio-oil yield;and the modified MS resulted in higher liquefied oil yield than that achieved by MS.Furthermore,additives such as Ni/MS,Mo/MS,and Co-Mo/MS also could increase the yield of aliphatic hydrocarbons in liquefied oil.The addition of Co-Mo/MS could lead to a highest liquefied oil yield of 28.8%,while the additive of PW12/HZSM-5 could result in a highest total conversion of 81.6%.Results also revealed that additives,such as PW12/MS,PW12,PW12/HZSM-5,Ni/MS,Co/MS,Mo/MS,and Co-Mo/MS,could increase the H2 production and decrease the CO2 production in gas products.

Molecular dynamics simulation of the interaction of ethanol-water mixture with a Pt surface

An analysis of the molecular dynamics of ethanol solvated by water molecules in the absence and presence of a Pt surface has been performed using DL_POLY_2.19 code. The structure and diffusion properties of an ethanol–water system have been studied at various temperatures from 250 to 600 K. We have measured the self-diffusion coefficients of the 50:50% ethanol–water solution;in the absence of a Pt surface our results show an excellent agreement–within an error of 7.4% – with the experimental data. An increase in the self-diffusion coefficients with the inclusion of a Pt surface has been observed. The estimation of the diffusion coefficients of both water and ethanol in the presence of a Pt surface shows that they obey the Arrhenius equation;the calculated activation energies of diffusion of ethanol and water are 2.47 and 2.98 Kcal/mole, respectively. The radial distribution function graphs and density profiles have been built;their correlations with the self-diffusion coefficients of both ethanol and water molecules are also illustrated.

Ethanol Production Process by Lignocellulosic Material Fermentation from Water Hyacinth Biomass

In order to take advantage of the lignocellulosic material in water hyacinth （Eichhornia crassipes）, dehydration pretreatment in the first step and then sodium hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide pretreatment was performed. The microorganism used for the fermentation process was Zimomonas mobilis. Batch fermentation experiments were carried out with four tests using 22 factorial design with two levels leadings to evaluate the effect of NaOH concentration, conditioning salts as independent variables and ethanol produced as a dependent variable. The optimum condition with higher amount of glucose hydrolyzed and ethanol was： substrate conditioning cellulases, it was pretreated 10% NaOH, with 92.38% conversion of glucose to ethanol and yield of 0.47 g ethanol per g of glucose and 0.018 g ethanol per g of biomass.

Separated Hydrolysis and Fermentation of Water Hyacinth Leaves for Ethanol Production

Water hyacinth is a raw material for long-term sustainable production of cellulosics ethanol. In this study, the acid pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis were used to evaluate to produce more sugar, to be fermented to ethanol. Separated hydrolysis and fermentation （SHF） studies were carried out to produce ethanol from water hyacinth leaves. Dilute sulfuric acid pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis were conducted to select the optimum pretreatment conditions. The optimum pretreatment conditions included T = 135 ℃, t = 30 min, and sulfuric acid concentration = 0.1 M. The residue was enzymatically hydrolyzed using the mixture of enzymes cellulase, xylanase and pectinase. The maximum enzymatic saccharification of cellulosic material （76.8%） was achieved. SHF by mono-culture of Saccharomyces cerevisiae KM1195 achieved the highest yields of ethanol. Furthermore, ethanol production was accomplished with the co-culture ofS. cerevisiae TISTR5048 and Candida tropicalis TISTR5045 which produced the highest increase in ethanol Yield. In this case, the ethanol concentration of 3.42 （g/L）, percentage of the theoretical ethanol yield of 99.9%, the ethanol yield of 0.27 g/g and the productivity of 0.22 g/L/h were obtained. This suggested that mild acid pretreatment and co-cultureare promising methods to improve enzymatic hydrolysis and ethanol production from water hyacinth.

Electrochemical performance of Lil-xNaxV3O8 electrodes in lithium sulfate-water-ethanol system

A series of Lil-xNaxV3O8 materials was prepared by solution reaction followed by calcination method and their electrochemical performances in 2 M LieSOa-water-ethanol solution as negative electrodes for aqueous electrolyte lithium ion battery were studied and compared each other. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that partially substituting sodium for lithium in LiV3Os could increase the interlayer distances of （100） plane. Cyclic voltammetric experiments have demonstrated that the Li^＋ insertion and extraction kinetics of Li0.7Na0.3V3O8 is superior to that of LiV3O8. Charge/discharge results showed that the discharge specific capacity of Li0.7Na0.3V3O8 electrode is higher than that of LiV3O8 electrode.

Water Use in Sugar and Ethanol Industry in the State of Sao Paulo(Southeast Brazil)

Brazil is the largest producer of ethanol from sugarcane in the world. While the ethanol industry is economically important to Brazil for several reasons, it also has a significant impact on the environment. Here we analyze the water consumptive use in the transformation of the feedstock (sugarcane) into ethanol and the impact of industrial byproduct effluents on water resources of the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Our estimates indicated that in the 2007-2008 harvest, 700 million m3 was withdrawn mainly from rivers and streams by 140 mills, and of this total 440 million m3 was consumed which yielded a water use of approximately 1.53 m3 ·water·tonˉ1 sugarcane or approximately 18 L·water·L-ˉ1 ethanol. At the same time, a total of 120 million m3 of vinasse by-product was produced in the state, equivalent to an organic load of approximately 3 billion kg·BOD during the harvest season or approximately 8 million kg·BOD·dˉ1. Although the water used by sugarcane mills has decreased in recent decades, it is still possible to further decrease the amount of water used by ethanol production. This would decrease the pressure on 1st order streams of the state from which most water is withdrawn. In addition, the enormous volume of vinasse production must be reduced because it exerts constant pressure on aquatic ecosystems, soil and groundwater due to the constant increase in the potassium (K) concentration in areas where it is used as a fertilizer.

Design of Pilot Plant Packed Column for the Dehydration of Water from Ethanol-Water Mixtures

This use of biomass-based adsorbent has been explored for the column study of the adsorptive dehydration of water in ethanol-water mixtures. The column study was carried out using enzyme modified corn starch and the breakthrough curve parameters were used to design the packed bed column. The effect of flow rate on the breakthrough curves revealed that adsorption efficiency decreased with increased inflow rate. The empty bed contact time (τ) of the pilot plant packed column was 35.35 min while the breakthrough time is 40.78 min. 66.7% was the fraction of capacity left unused for the pilot plant from the design.

Water Sorption Behaviors of Novel Biohybrid Hydrogels as Effective Sorbents in Water-Solvent Binary Mixtures

Novel sorbent hydrogels containing acrylamide/sodium vinylsulfonate, carboxymethyl cellulose and zeolite were synthesized with free radical solution polymerization by using ammonium persulfate/N,N,N’,N’-tetramethylethyle-nediamine as redox initiating pair in presence of poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate as crosslinker. It was to investigate the water uptake properties of series of the novel hydrogels, the semi IPNs and the hybrid/biohybrid composite hydrogel sorbents synthesized in this study. Water uptake studies were performed in water and in water-solvent (acetone, methanol and tetrahydrofuran) binary mixtures at 25°C, gravimetrically. Some swelling and diffusion parameters were calculated and discussed. It has been seen that the lower equilibrium swelling factor values in all solvent compositions in comparison with the equilibrium swelling factor values in water.

表面活性剂对含盐双流体细水雾灭火效能的影响

为探究不同类型表面活性剂对含盐双流体细水雾灭火效能的影响,选用十二烷基苯磺酸钠(SDBS)、椰油酰胺丙基甜菜碱(CAB35)、烷基糖苷(APG0810),从灭火时间、冷却效果、CO浓度峰值三方面开展表面活性剂对含盐双流体细水雾灭火效能影响研究。结果显示:在空气环境下,3种表面活性剂可以有效缩短含盐类添加剂细水雾灭火时间,从而降低其灭火过程中的CO浓度峰值,但同时由于其液滴粒径减小,容易受到湍流影响,导致其冷却效果相比含单一盐类添加剂细水雾有所降低。在CO_(2)环境下,由于CO_(2)比定压热容较小,表面活性剂在对含单一盐类添加剂细水雾改性后分别存在灭火时间微幅缩短和灭火时间延长的实验现象,并且相比含单一盐类添加剂细水雾,其灭火过程中的CO浓度峰值有所增大,冷却效果也有所降低。研究结果将为防治醇基燃料火灾提供参考。

不同灵芝菌丝体水提物对乙醇诱导LO2肝细胞损伤的保护作用

为了探讨不同灵芝菌丝体水提物对乙醇诱导LO2肝细胞损伤的保护作用,本文分析了7种不同灵芝菌株发酵菌丝体水提物对乙醇诱导LO2细胞损伤的保护作用。利用乙醇诱导LO2细胞建立体外肝损伤模型,并以细胞存活率、谷丙转氨酶(Alanine Aminotransferase,ALT)、谷草转氨酶(Aspartate Aminotransferase,AST)、活性氧(Reactive Oxygen Species,ROS)、超氧化物歧化酶(Superoxide dismutase,SOD)、谷胱甘肽(Glutathione,GSH)和丙二醛(Malondiadehyde,MDA)水平为指标考察灵芝菌丝体水提物对乙醇诱导LO2细胞损伤的保护效果。结果表明,7种灵芝菌株的菌丝体水提物均具有不同程度的保护作用。综合比较,G0119与G0154菌丝体的水提物作用效果较优,相较模型组,LO2细胞存活率显著提高(P<0.05),细胞培养液中的ALT、AST活力显著降低(P<0.05),细胞内ROS水平显著降低(P<0.05),SOD活力、GSH含量显著升高(P<0.05),MDA含量显著降低(P<0.05)。经相关性分析,发现水提物中多糖组分2的分子量大小与其保肝活性呈正相关,即分子量越大,活性越强。综上,灵芝菌丝体水提物对乙醇诱导的体外肝损伤起到保护作用,并且G0119与G0154菌株的作用效果较优,其保肝作用与提取物中多糖组分的分子量大小相关。