Combustion properties and pollutant analysis of coal-blended bio-heavy oil fuel.

Excessive carbon-dioxide emissions drive global climate change and environmental challenges. Integrating renewable biomass fuels with coal in power units is crucial for achieving low-carbon emission reductions. Coal blending with bio-heavy oil enhances the combustion calorific value of the fuel, improves combustion characteristics, and decreases pollutant emissions. This study found that bio-heavy oil with low sulfur (0.073%), low nitrogen (0.18%), low ash, and high oxygen (11.005%) content exhibits excellent fuel performance, which can be attributed to the abundant oxygen-containing functional groups (such as C[double bond, length as m-dash]O) in the alcohols, aldehydes, and ketones present in bio-heavy oil. Additionally, the residual moisture in coal-blended bio-heavy oil reduces the fuel's calorific value. The calorific value increases with a higher proportion of blended bio-heavy oil (28.1, 28.9, 32.1, 34.7, 40.6 MJ kg-1). Experiments on combustion flame shooting reveal that the combustion time of bio-heavy oils is significantly shorter than that of coal. As the proportion of blended bio-heavy oil increases, the flame height increases. Coal blending with bio-heavy oil involves three stages: water evaporation, volatile-matter decomposition, fixed-carbon combustion and mineral decomposition. This advances the combustion process and improves coal's ignition performance. Furthermore, the amount of gaseous pollutants (sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide) in coal mixed with bio-heavy oil is relatively low, which is in alignment with the green environmental protection guidelines. The blending of coal with biomass fuel holds significant practical and strategic importance for developing high-efficiency, low-carbon, coal power units.

3D flower-like molybdenum disulfide modified graphite felt as a positive material for vanadium redox flow batteries.

3D flower-like molybdenum disulfide microsphere modified graphite felt (MoS2/GF) with excellent electrocatalytic activity and redox reversibility for the VO2+/VO2 + couple is successfully fabricated by a facile hydrothermal method. The results show that the hydrothermal reaction time has a deep influence on the MoS2 structure; an open 3D flower-like MoS2 structure with a layer spacing of 0.63 nm is uniformly grafted on the GF surface for a reaction time of 36 h. With the presence of MoS2, the total resistance (1.58 Ω) and charge transfer resistance (0.01 Ω) of MoS2/GF-36 are smaller than that of the heat treated GF (2.04 Ω and 11.27 Ω, respectively), indicating that the electrode has better conductivity and more favorable electron transfer ability. As expected, a significant increase in the capacity and energy efficiency is obtained with the MoS2/GF-36 electrode. These satisfactory results are attributed to the 3D flower-like structure on the surface of the electrode, which increases the contact area between the electrode and the electrolyte. More importantly, the MoS2/GF electrode with excellent stability has great application prospect in vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs).

A Fiber Optic Interferometric Sensor Platform for Determining Gas Diffusivity in Zeolite Films.

Fiber optic interferometer (FOI) sensors have been fabricated by directly growing pure-silica MFI-type zeolite (i.e., silicalite) films on straight-cut endfaces of single-mode communication optical fibers. The FOI sensor has been demonstrated for determining molecular diffusivity in the zeolite by monitoring the temporal response of light interference from the zeolite film during the dynamic process of gas adsorption. The optical thickness of the zeolite film depends on the amount of gas adsorption that causes the light interference to shift upon loading molecules into the zeolitic channels. Thus, the time-dependence of the optical signal reflected from the coated zeolite film can represent the adsorption uptake curve, which allows computation of the diffusivity using models derived from the Fick’s Law equations. In this study, the diffusivity of isobutane in silicalite has been determined by the new FOI sensing method, and the results are in good agreement with literature values obtained by various conventional macroscopic techniques. The FOI sensor platform, because of its robustness and small size, could be useful for studying molecular diffusion in zeolitic materials under conditions that are inaccessible to the existing techniques.

Balancing Osmotic Pressure of Electrolytes for Nanoporous Membrane Vanadium Redox Flow Battery with a Draw Solute.

Vanadium redox flow batteries with nanoporous membranes (VRFBNM) have been demonstrated to be good energy storage devices. Yet the capacity decay due to permeation of vanadium and water makes their commercialization very difficult. Inspired by the forward osmosis (FO) mechanism, the VRFBNM battery capacity decrease was alleviated by adding a soluble draw solute (e.g., 2-methylimidazole) into the catholyte, which can counterbalance the osmotic pressure between the positive and negative half-cell. No change of the electrolyte volume has been observed after VRFBNM being operated for 55 h, revealing that the permeation of water and vanadium ions was effectively limited. Consequently, the Coulombic efficiency (CE) of nanoporous TiO2 vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) was enhanced from 93.5% to 95.3%, meanwhile, its capacity decay was significantly suppressed from 60.7% to 27.5% upon the addition of soluble draw solute. Moreover, the energy capacity of the VRFBNM was noticeably improved from 297.0 to 406.4 mAh remarkably. These results indicate balancing the osmotic pressure via the addition of draw solute can restrict pressure-dependent vanadium permeation and it can be established as a promising method for up-scaling VRFBNM application.

Fabrication of mesoporous titania-zirconia composite membranes based on nanoparticles improved hydrosol.

A novel method for the fabrication of mesoporous titania-zirconia (TiO2ZrO2) composite membranes was successfully developed based on nanoparticles (NPs) improved hydrosol. ZrO2 hydrosols were synthesized through a straightforward sol-gel route using zirconium oxychloride. Compared to the polymeric sol route, this method was found to be more environmentally friendly because organic solvent was not required. Further, highly hydrophilic TiO2 NPs of 10-20nm were well dispersed in the sol and effectively reduced the sol infiltrating into the channels of the support layer by a "bridging" effect. After a rapid evaporation process, a mixed matrix gel was formed on the surface of the support. The dynamic mechanical analysis results showed that the toughness and stiffness of the gel were significantly strengthened, which was beneficial to reduce the risk of membrane cracking. So, an integrated, crack-free mesoporous TiO2ZrO2 composite membrane was obtained by directly coating and sintering the mixture on a macroporous support. It showed that the composite membrane delivered better separation performance though the filtration test. The water flux, molecular weight cutoff, and average pore size of the synthesized membrane were 60Lm(-2)h(-1)bar(-1), 4704Da, and 3.5nm, respectively.

Electric Field-Controlled Ion Transport In TiO2 Nanochannel.

On the basis of biological ion channels, we constructed TiO2 membranes with rigid channels of 2.3 nm to mimic biomembranes with flexible channels; an external electric field was employed to regulate ion transport in the confined channels at a high ionic strength in the absence of electrical double layer overlap. Results show that transport rates for both Na+ and Mg2+ were decreased irrespective of the direction of the electric field. Furthermore, a voltage-gated selective ion channel was formed, the Mg2+ channel closed at -2 V, and a reversed relative electric field gradient was at the same order of the concentration gradient, whereas the Na+ with smaller Stokes radius and lower valence was less sensitive to the electric field and thus preferentially occupied and passed the channel. Thus, when an external electric field is applied, membranes with larger nanochannels have promising applications in selective separation of mixture salts at a high concentration.

Fabrication of mesoporous TiO2 membranes by a nanoparticle-modified polymeric sol process.

A straightforward synthesis of crack-free mesoporous titania membrane on a macroporous support without intermediate layers by a nanoparticle-modified polymeric sol-gel process is reported. TiO2 nanoparticle (Degussa P25) was dispersed into the prepared sol to toughen the formed gel. This helped to avoid the cracking of membrane during the drying and early stage of sintering, particularly when the sol-gel transformation occurred on a substrate with an uneven surface. The results of X-ray diffraction and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analyses show that the nanoparticle doping did not significantly affect the particle size of TiO2 nanocrystals; however, it slightly broadened the pore size distribution because it has a larger particle size compared to the prepared materials. The sols with and without P25 nanoparticle were subsequently dip-coated on a support with average pore size of 150nm, thus formed a mesoporous membrane layer after drying and sintering processes. An integrated, crack-free mesoporous TiO2 membrane layer was obtained by this method, while the membrane prepared with the original sol developed a few cracks. Further, the filtration experiment showed that the prepared membrane had a high flux, and the membrane with nanoparticle modification delivered better separation performance by rejection of dextran.

Crystallization of CaCO3 in the presence of sulfate and additives: experimental and molecular dynamics simulation studies.

The effects of sulfate and BHTPMP (Bis (hexamethylene) triaminepentakis (methylene phosphonic acid)) on the crystallization rate, phase composition and morphology of calcium carbonate have been studied. It was observed that sulfate reduces the nucleation rate and favors the formation of aragonite form in the calcium carbonate precipitate. Moreover, in the presence of sulfate the rhombohedral morphology of the calcite crystals is modified, and during the formation of calcite, the development of {104} faces are more significantly prohibited than {110} faces. In the presence of sulfate together with BHTPMP, the crystallization process is inhibited and the modified morphology and the dominant calcite form are observed in the solid. The results from molecular dynamics simulations show the more strong combination of sulfate with calcite surface, in particular the {104} face, in comparison with the aragonite surface. The strong interaction of BHTPMP with sulfate and the aragonite surface favors the formation of the dominant calcite phase in the precipitate.

Fabrication of a visible-light response mesoporous TiO2 membrane with superior water permeability via a weak alkaline sol-gel process.

A visible-light response TiO(2) ultrafiltration membrane was fabricated via a weakly alkaline sol-gel method for the first time, and exhibited a cut-off molecular weight of 7500 Da and high pure water flux of 170 L m(-1) h(-1) bar(-1).

Preparation of meso-macroporous TiO2 ceramic based on membrane jet-flow emulsification--influences of triblock copolymers on the processes.

Meso-macroporous TiO(2) ceramics were obtained based on a two-stage ceramic membrane jet-flow emulsification and the influences of the triblock copolymers on the process are discussed in this study. The two alpha-Al(2)O(3) ceramic membranes with average pore sizes of 0.5 and 1.6 microm were used to control the structure of nonaqueous emulsions. Polyethylene oxide (PEO)-polypropylene oxide (PPO)-polyethylene oxide (PEO) with relative molecular masses of 5800 and 2900 were used as emulsifiers. Monodispersed emulsions with the same average droplet size of 2.6 microm were prepared using the two emulsifiers. However, ordered macroporous structures could only be obtained when the PEO-PPO-PEO of 5800 was used as emulsifier because the lower interfacial tension leans to produce the more stable nonaqueous emulsion. Moreover, the mesoporous structures of 5.4 nm and 7.1 nm could be obtained by the self-assembling block copolymers.

Fabrication of supported mesoporous TiO2 membranes: matching the assembled and interparticle pores for an improved ultrafiltration performance.

We report the fabrication and ultrafiltration performances of an asymmetric composite membrane with a mesoporous TiO2 skin layer coated on a macroporous alumina support. Mesoporous TiO2 was first prepared and deposited on the substrate through a sol-gel process where a ethylene oxide and propylene oxide triblock polymer (PEO-PPO-PEO, P123) was used to modify the properties of the sols and also to introduce assembled pores in the skin layer. The obtained mesoporous TiO2 membrane was characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and nitrogen adsorption. We found that there were two types of wormlike mesopores present in the TiO2 membrane: interparticle and assembled pores. By carefully controlling the sol properties, we made the two types of pores match each other, which means the size of the interparticle pores is close or smaller than that of the assembled pores. This pore-size matching ensures a narrow pore-size distribution and, consequently, a good retention performance of the obtained TiO2 membrane. The pore size of the TiO2 membrane is ca. 6 nm, as revealed by both nitrogen adsorption and dextran separation experiments, and it has a pure water flux of 7.12 L/(m(2) x h x bar) and a cutoff molecular weight of 19 000 Da, which is very attractive for applications in the enrichment and separation of proteins and polypeptides.