Lithium-sulfur battery (LSB) technology has drawn enormous attention during the last decade. Benefitting from the high theoretical specific discharge capacity (1,675 mAh g−1) and energy density (2,600 Wh kg−1), LSBs have proved to be a suitable candidate for electric vehicles and large-scale power grid electrical energy storage systems. However, the commercialization of LSB is hindered by various barriers

Micro-patterned hydrogels have received increasing attention in various research fields that need a fine structure and advanced functions compared to bulk hydrogels. For enhancing their performance, control of the size and distribution of pores in hydrogels is crucial. In particular, for the application of thermoresponsive hydrogels to a soft actuator, the characteristics of pores play an important

Hazardous hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) released from the electroplating industry beyond the discharge concentration limit has created great concern worldwide. Solvent extraction (SX) is an effective method for metal separation from an aqueous system. Throughout this work, novel synergistic solvent extraction of Cr(VI) from rinsed electroplating wastewater was performed using a mixture of two organophosphorus

PEI imilti-coated PSBF (PEI-M-PSBF) wth high adsorption efficiency and good reusability for Pd(II) recovery was prepared by a PEI multi-coating method. The results of FT-IR and FE-SEM showed that the PEI-M-PSBF was successfully prepared. Batch experiments were conducted to study the adsorption/desorption performance of PEI-M-PSBF to Pd(II). The Langmuir and pseudo-second-order models were well suited

Superhydrophobic coating solutions were prepared using fumed silica nanoparticles and trimethylethoxysilane (TMES) as precursors. At this time, the surface of silica nanoparticles was modified by TMES from hydrophilic to hydrophobic in various types of catalysts and organic solvents. The prepared coating solutions were coated on a cold rolled steel sheet by using a spin coater, and then superhydrophobic

Generally, the energy and capital intensive cryogenic distillation process is applied to separate light olefins. To lower the cost of light olefin production, mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) incorporating nano-zeolite (NaY or NaA) into a rubbery poly (ether block amide) (PEBA 2533) were fabricated to separate a propylene/ethylene mixture. The effect of additive content and kind, MMM thickness, and operating

The twin cam mixer (TCM), as a general-purpose mixer, shares many attributes in common with 3D industrial mixers, like the internal mixer. We investigated the mixing process in a 2D TCM with two identical isosceles triangular cams rotating at 0.5 rpm. A 2D numerical model coupled with the species transport model was employed to study the influence of cam height-base ratio and eccentricity qualitatively

The risers of a conventional fluidized bed reactor and a stage fluidized bed reactor for the convention of methanol to olefins (MTO) were simulated using computational fluid dynamics. The reaction rates of the MTO reaction were validated to successfully match with the literature experiment. Then, the reactor stage parameters were examined by using the 2k design of the experiment method, including the

Cooking with active oxygen and solid alkali (CAOSA) is a mild and environmentally friendly method for separation of lignin components. The degradation mechanism of hemicellulose associated with this method has been investigated. It was found that the hemicellulose-derived polysaccharides were directly oxidized rather than hydrolyzed to monosaccharides for degradation. To avoid the undesirable degradation

An autoencoder that automatically generates an initial guess for the minimum energy pathway (MEP) calculations has been designed. Specifically, our autoencoder takes in the trajectories of molecular dynamics simulations as its input and facilitates the generation of feasible molecular coordinates. Two molecules (acetonitrile and alanine dipeptide) were tested using the nudged elastic band calculations

The bubble breakage rate in gas-liquid bubble columns increases for organic liquid and at high pressure. This study developed a breakage model that accounts for different liquid properties in gas-liquid pressurized bubble columns in the homogeneous regime. The Luo (1996), Lehr (2002), and Wang (2003) breakage models, which are widely used for the population balance equation (PBE) of bubble columns

Iron oxide-silica nanocomposites were prepared by sol-gel method using ammonia (NH3), acetic acid (CH3COOH) and hydrochloric acid (HCl) catalysts to generate different pH values for the reaction conditions. As starting precursors, for the silica, respectively, for the iron oxide, tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and iron-III-acetylacetonate were used. The physico-chemical characterization of the materials

Curcumin was incorporated into oil/water (o/w) emulsion by dissolving it in soybean oil to cover the surface of the oil droplets with a pH-sensitive polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) composed of chitosan and fucoidan molecules. This curcumin-loading efficiency of the suspension system was investigated. The size and zeta potential distributions of novel curcumin-loaded chitosan nanoparticles self-assembled

Using computational intelligence for prediction, modeling, and optimization of chemical process behavior could save costs and time. This study’s main goal was to predict and optimize removal efficiency and permeate flux behavior of Pb2+ aqueous solution in a nanofiltration process through using response surface methodology (RSM) and multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural network. A regression coefficient

The photocatalytic efficiency of conventional blending photocatalytic membranes suffers a significant reduction due to effective photocatalyst embedded in membrane matrix. Therefore, in this study, inspired by the bioadhesive technology of polydopamine (pDA), a novel Ti doped bismuth oxyiodide (BiOI)-polydopamine (pDA)-coated cellulose acetate (CA) (Ti/BiOI-pDA/CA) photocatalytic nanocomposite membranes

Adsorbed natural gas (ANG) storage systems are based on nanoporous adsorbents with a tailored porous structure. Activated carbons are among the most promising and widely used candidates for this application, which is explained by the availability and abundance of raw material resources. In the present work, several series of activated carbons prepared from various precursors (coconut shell, peat, polymers

The throttle pressure reducing valve has potential for the high pressure heat exchanger with the advantage of simple structure, easy operation and maintenance. We investigated the discharge capacity under different pressure difference between inlet and outlet, the area of inlet and throttle though CFD simulation and validating experiments. A theoretical formula of the discharge capacity was developed

An enormous number of specific case studies have been reported that deal with the removal methodologies customarily employed for the reduction of common aqua-soluble pollutants [particularly nitrophenols (NPs) and nitroaniline (NAs)]. However, reviews that not only organize the literature in some presentable form but also work as a guideline for new scholars looking to exploit the field of nanocatalysis

The pyrolysis characteristic of furniture processing residue (FPR), which was analyzed by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) under nitrogen atmosphere, mainly decomposed between 230 °C and 500 °C. The FPR was submitted to fast pyrolysis in a bubbling fluidized-bed reactor (BFR) for converting into bio-oil, bio-char. The product distribution and characteristics of bio-oil depend on the operating conditions

A 2-line ferrihydrite/γ-A2O3 hybrid adsorbent (Fh/γ-Al2O3 hybrid adsorbent) precipitated on 10wt% of γ-Al2O3 seed for the effective adsorption of phosphate in water was synthesized from wastewater containing ferric sulfate. The use of γ-Al2O3 seeds for particle initiation made it possible to prepare larger particles that would allow a liquid to flow through. The synthesized Fh/γ-Al2O3 hybrid adsorbent

Interactions within mixtures of the phenothiazine drug promethazine hydrochloride (PMH) and cationic hydrotropes ortho-toluidine hydrochloride (o-TDH) and para-toluidine hydrochloride (p-TDH) were investigated at different ratios and temperatures via conductometry to understand various physicochemical properties. Critical micelle concentration (cmc) was less than values of cmcid (cmc in ideal mixed

Structural supercapacitors are energy storage devices that can function as structural materials. We synthesized composite solid polymer electrolytes (CSPEs) from 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate ([EMIm][OTF]), poly (ethylene glycol) monomethyl ether acrylate (PEGA) and functionalized silica filler. Two types of fumed silica were used: one had an unmodified surface, and the other

This paper presents an optimization model via genetic algorithm (GA) to maximize the power generation potential of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) cold energy recovery plant. LNG releases a large amount of cold energy during vaporization prior to transport for service, and this cold energy can be effectively utilized to generate power using a heat engine. We performed a thermodynamic analysis for a power

Propylene is used for manufacturing commonly used raw materials and synthetic materials for petrochemical processes. However, it is a volatile and flammable material that poses fire and explosion risks. Nitrogen is inexpensive and can lower the propylene explosion limit because of the dilution effect when used as an inert gas. This study measures the explosion limit, minimum oxygen concentration (MOC)

For the long-term dynamic simulation of a fluidized bed reactor (FBR), a two-way coupled computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-direct quadrature method of moments (DQMOM) approach is proposed. In this approach, CFD is first used only for hydrodynamic information without simulating any other chemical reactions or physical phenomena. Subsequently, the derived information is applied to the DQMOM calculation

A graphene oxide/chitosan polyelectrolyte layer was used to modify the surface of a polyvinyl alcohol/tetraethyl orthosilicate membrane by layer-by-layer interfacial complexation and, thus, improve the pervaporation characteristics. The interfacial complexation between the chitosan and graphene oxide was confirmed by Fourier-transform infrared and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy; the changes in surface

To efficiently control manganese pollution, two kinds of ceramsites with pH self-adjustment ability, being synthesized from lime mud and coal fly ash, were employed to remove Mn2+ from aqueous solutions. The influence of different parameters like contact time, concentration of Mn2+ and pH on adsorption performance was examined. Also, the mechanism of Mn2+ removal by the ceramsites was investigated

This paper provides a mathematical simulation model for the reverse osmosis (RO) process with series elements. A mathematical simulation model was developed based on the mass, material and energy balances considering the concentration polarization. The simulation model is open-source and easy to couple with other computational tools like optimization algorithms and SCADA1 applications. An RO laboratory

Analytical solutions of transient concentration of degraded components inside cylindrical and slab-type PLGA particles immersed in infinite medium were derived by solving reaction-diffusion equations of autocatalytic reaction using eigenfunction expansion method. The resulting average concentrations were compared with the modeling results of spherical PLGA particles by Versypt and her colleagues to

p-n heterojunction was constructed using p-type Cupric oxide (CuO) and n-type Tin (IV) oxide (SnO2) nanoparticles using chemical synthesis and annealing method. The synthesized SnO2-CuO nanoparticles were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), etc. The methylene blue (MB) degradation

The ever-growing demand for high performance energy storage systems has fueled the development of advanced electrode materials with light weight, high energy/power densities, and stable cycle life. Mesoporous materials play an important role in achieving these goals because of their unique features such as high surface area, tunable pore size, pore volume, and pore structures, as well as adjustable

Unfortunately Table 1 was not corrected during the e.proof reading. The correct data for membrane composition in Table 1 is as follow:

Copper oxide modified activated carbon (CuO/AC) composites for the CO2 capture were synthesized via a facile assembly strategy associated with a direct solid-state heat dispersion process by introducing CuO into AC using Cu(NO3)2 as the copper source. The synthesized CuO/AC composites with various CuO contents were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and nitrogen

Chitosan/gelatin and chitosan/gelatin/nanohydroxyapatite hydrogels were rapidly and stably prepared without any crosslinking materials by using an engineered tyrosinase (mTyr-CNK) with high catalytic activity for tyrosine/DOPA-tethered polymeric biomaterials throughout a broad pH range. A dual-barrel syringe with one part containing chitosan/mTyr-CNK solution and the other containing gelatin solution

Coating superparamagnetic iron oxide particles, i.e., Fe3O4, as adsorbents have major advantages over bare adsorbents for water treatment. As a versatile material, zirconium has been extensively studied for phosphate removal. In this study, the Fe3O4 core was pre-coated with branched polyethyleneimine (PEI) first, and then loaded with zirconium to result in a highly selective adsorbent (i.e., Zr-PEI@Fe3O4)

Thermal integration in a reactive dividing wall column (RDWC) can dramatically reduce energy consumption. This study, however, addresses unfavorable energy integration of the concurrent esterification of butyl, amyl, and hexyl alcohols in the RDWC. The reaction kinetics and vapor-liquid-liquid equilibrium of reactive mixtures are utilized to assess the feasibility of energy integration in a multi-partitioned

Mixed-matrix gas separation membranes were prepared by embedding various content of halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) (0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2 wt%) within poly (ether-block-amide) matrix. XRD, FT-IR, TGA, and SEM analyses were conducted to study crystal structure, chemical bonds changes, thermal resistance, and cross-sectional morphology of the resultant membranes, respectively. Permeability values of pure

The present study examined the effects of adding bismuth oxyhalides, BiOCl, BiOBr and BiOI, on the photocatalytic properties of Bi2WO6. The samples were synthesized using a simple one-stage hydrothermal method. The samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), diffused reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and the nitrogen absorption/desorption technique. The

Removal of bacterial contaminations from water using advanced technologies is one of the essential steps in improving human health. The present study’s aim was to develop high performance microfiltration membranes from polyacrylonitrile (PAN) for bacteria removal from drinking water. The characteristics and performance of membranes were tuned through exploring the variation of prominent fabrication

Perovskite solar cells with the structure of glass/florine-doped tin oxide (FTO)/electron transfer layer (ETL)/perovskite/hole transfer layer (HTL)/Ag were fabricated. The effects of blending solvents and thermal annealing on the surface morphology, structural, and optical properties of perovskite (CH3NH3PbI3) active layer were investigated. The active layer was optimized by adding 2-butanol (2-BTA)

In view of the importance of inert-atmosphere sludge pyrolysis for effective waste recycling and carbon emission reduction, this study probed the effects of temperature (300–700 °C) and atmosphere (100% N2, 10 CO2/90% N2, or 100% CO2) on the properties of biochar and gases obtained by sludge pyrolysis in a horizontal tube furnace. The emissions of NO, SO2, H2S, and CO increased with increasing temperature

The burning of fossil fuels produces carbon dioxide emissions, increased levels of which cause serious environmental problems. Therefore, the design and use of new materials as media for capturing carbon dioxide and other gases, such as hydrogen and methane, has attracted significant research attention. In this work, three metal complexes containing a fusidate moiety were synthesized and tested as

There are various chemical, physical and biological methods that have been applied to remove antibiotic residuals from aqueous environment. We investigated the removal of ampicillin (AMP) by a novel nanometer-size Fe3O4/graphene oxide/aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (FGOA). Based on the sol-gel method, the graphene oxide (GO) was first modified by aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (APTMS) to form GOA material

This study reports the sugaring-out extraction of erythromycin from fermentation broth using acetonitrile (ACN) as solvent and glucose as a mass separating agent. Different process parameters—glucose concentration, temperature, ACN/water ratio and pH—were optimized to achieve maximum extraction of erythromycin. 88% (w/w) of erythromycin was extracted from the model system with following optimized conditions:

The behavior and characteristics of phenol adsorption by activated carbon produced from co-pyrolysis of coal tar pitch and vinasse were investigated. Coal tar pitch and vinasse (mass ratio of 1:3) were firstly co-pyrolyzed and carbonated at 400 °C for 2 h. The carbonized material produced was then soaked with saturated KOH solution and activated at 800 °C for 1 h to form activated carbon. Results from

We suggest a modified Ti-based electrode for reverse electrodialysis to increase power density and retain long-term durability. Specifically, a mesh-type Ti electrode and electrochemically fabricated Pt/Ti electrode are employed in the reverse electrodialysis single cell. The electrode systems are compared in terms of power output, resistance, specific capacitance, and redox-couple reaction kinetics

Corn cob lignocellulosic biomass is one of the useful precursors for the alternative production of fuels and chemicals. Understanding the kinetics of enzymatic conversion of corn cob through kinetic models could provide indepth knowledge and increase the predictive ability for process design and optimization. In this study, models based on the semi-mechanistic rate equations, first-order decay exponential

The onset time of buoyancy-driven instability in a saline solution where evaporation proceeds through the solution-air interface is analyzed theoretically and numerically. Based on linear stability theory, new stability equations are derived and numerically solved. Also, nonlinear numerical simulations are conducted using FEM solver, COMSOL Multiphysics. It is clearly shown that as the evaporation

A study was carried out to synthesize Ni-Co alloy coatings electrochemically from complex acidic glycine (gly) bath. The impacts of some operating parameters such as Co2+ to Ni2+ concentration ratios in the bath, gly concentrations, pH, applied current, plating time and temperature on the morphology of Ni-Co alloy were investigated. The microstructure, microhardness, and electrochemical studies were

Surface modification of thin-film nanofiltration membranes was carried out to produce high water permeable NF membranes by Air-Ar plasma treatment. The effect of composition of used gases on membrane properties was investigated. Results showed that the plasma treatment decreased the water contact angle obviously from 80.4° to 6.5°, which in turn would increase the membrane surface hydrophilicity. The

Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) was incorporated in Cellulose acetate (CA) to prepare polymeric blend membrane to enhance the antifouling properties and rejection. Blend membranes consist of different concentrations (0, 2.5 and 5.0 wt%) of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), which was the hydrophilic polymer additive and pore forming agent. The existence of membrane functional groups was analyzed by ATR-FTIR

The CO2 gas separation performance of aminated reduced graphene oxide (A-rGO) incorporated PEBAX mixed matrix composite membranes, by means of amination heating time and A-rGO loading, is reported. The 5 h of heating time resulted in an essential molecular sieving property for CO2 separation, thus used in membrane fabrication. The selective PEBAX/A-rGO5 layers were fabricated on top of the polysulfone

The influence of frictional packing limit (FPL) on prediction of hydrodynamics and performance of fluidized bed reactors was studied. Dense gas-solid flows in non-reactive (under isothermal cold and at elevated temperatures) and reactive atmospheres (fluidized bed gasifier) were simulated using Eulerian-Eulerian methodology considering a range of values for FPL. Simulations under cold flow conditions

Microbubble streaming in a microfluidic device has been increasingly studied and used in recent years, due to its unique flow pattern that can promote mixing, sort particles and trap particles in microscale flows. However, there have been few numerical studies of this subject. We performed a 3D direct simulation of a cylindrical-shaped micro-bubble, trapped in a pit of a microchannel and sandwiched

Platinum(IV) was extracted from chloride solution using kerosene solution of trioctyl ammonium chloride, methyltrioctylammonium chloride, and tetraoctyl ammonium chloride ionic liquids as solvents in high yields. To increase the Pt(IV) recovery and heterogenize the process for easy handling at industrial scale, these three ionic liquids were directly impregnated on some solid carriers, such as silica

Microplastic particles have recently attracted much attention owing to their potential adverse effects on marine and terrestrial environments. Although several studies have been conducted on this topic, one of the prominent existing challenges is developing analytical methods to precisely characterize isolated microplastics. Specifically, a systematic method that determines both the size and shape

A Ni/Ce0.8Zr0.2O2 catalyst (NiCeZr-N) was synthesized by a facile co-nanocasting technique for syngas production from ethanol dry reforming. In addition, a series of characterization techniques, such as transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), inductive coupled plasma Emission Spectrometer (ICP), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman and hydrogen temperature programmed

MoS2 microflowers were grown on the surface of a carbon cloth (CC) via a one-step hydrothermal method. Sodium borohydride was used to chemically reduce Ag nanoparticles on the surface of the as-grown MoS2 microflowers. The Ag nanoparticle-decorated MoS2 microflowers grown on the CC (Ag@MoS2/CC) were used for the photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B (RB) via visible light absorption. The Ag nanoparticles

Siloxane/graphene oxide (GO) nanocomposites were synthesized by hydrolysis and condensation of tetraethyl orthosilicate in the presence of GO nanosheets through a sol-gel process. The influence of synthesis parameters on the properties of the siloxane/GO samples was studied and their structural, morphological and physicochemical characteristics were compared using various techniques. Polyether sulfone-supported

The mixture of naphthoquinone-4-sulfonic acid sodium salt and 2-hydroxy-naphthoquinone (NQSO) and ferrocyanide dissolved in potassium hydroxide (KOH) electrolyte was used as catholyte and anolyte, respectively. We evaluated the effects of temperature and membrane thickness on the performance of aqueous organic redox flow batteries (AORFB) using the NQSO and ferrocyanide dissolved in alkaline electrolyte