Prehydrolysis soda pulping of Enset fiber for production of dissolving grade pulp and biogas.

Massive tonnes of fibrous residues are produced during the harvesting of the Enset plant for food preparation. The fibers are characterized by high cellulose and hemicellulose content and low lignin and extractive content. These make the fiber a good candidate for its concurrent valorization aimed at dissolving grade pulp and biogas. Prehydrolysis soda pulping was performed using steam pretreatment as a prehydrolysis step at a severity ranging from 2.95 to 4.13. The steamed fiber (PH fiber) was subjected to subsequent soda pulping under mild (160 °C and 16% alkali concentration) and severe (180 °C and 24% alkali concentration) pulping conditions. At higher steaming severity, a pulp with a xylose content of <4% and glucose content of 96% was obtained. A simple bleaching stage was envisaged to develop oxygen-peroxide (OQP1), oxygen-double peroxide (OQP2P2, and OQP2P3) and oxygen-peroxide-chlorine dioxide (OQP2D) sequences. Brightnesses up to ∼85% ISO could be reached for all sequences with CUEN viscosities of ∼350-500 ml g-1. Higher viscosities with higher brightness were achieved mainly by OQP2D sequence. However, even with OQP1 and OQP2P3 sequences the pulps met the requirements for lyocell production. An intense steam treatment reduces the biochemical methane potential (BMP) of prehydrolysis liquid (PHL) from 462 ml g-1 vs to 315 ml g-1 vs. The reduction might be due to the inhibition effect of furan concentration increase in the corresponding PHL from 2 ppm to 24 ppm. However, due to the higher yield and carbohydrate concentration of the prehydrolysis liquid, the biogas production volumes per initial raw material were still higher at higher steaming severity.

Solvent extraction and characterization of Brassica carinata oils as promising alternative feedstock for bio-jet fuel production.

As a fossil fuel substitute, bio-jet fuel derived from inedible oilseed crops has the potential to improve energy security, decrease carbon footprint, and promote agricultural economy and social development. The efficient production of bio-jet fuels depends on the identification and characterization of eco-friendly and sustainable feedstocks. Brassica carinata (Arun Braun) cultivars are among the most significant industrial oilseeds that can be utilized as alternative feedstocks in the aviation industry. The study thoroughly evaluated four non-food Brassica carinata cultivars that are indigenous to Ethiopia to determine their suitability as substitute feedstocks for the production of bio-jet fuel. The effects of solvent extraction parameters were studied using response surface methodology with Box-Behnken design in an isothermal batch reactor. Physicochemical characterization, fatty acids profiling, ultimate analysis, analysis of metals and phosphorus concentration, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy characterization, and calorific value analyses were performed to characterize the properties of oils. Accordingly, oil yields ranged from 35.93 to 45.25%. Erucic acid (EA) was the most predominant fatty acid in all oils, accounting for 42-50%, of Derash and Yellow Dodolla oils, respectively, making Yellow Dodolla oil a super-high erucic acid oil. In comparison to the other oils, Yellow Dodolla was observed to be the least oxygenated oil, with a 7.80% oxygen content and oxygen to carbon ratio of 0.07, which may enable it to consume a very limited amount of hydrogen gas during hydrodeoxygenation in bio-jet fuel production. It was determined that, except for calcium and phosphorous levels in Tesfa, the concentrations of the metals and phosphorous were very small. Alkanes, alkenes, carboxylic acids, esters, alcohols, aromatics, and olefins were among the most significant and main functional groups identified. Our extraction and characterization results revealed that the Brassica carinata cultivars have very high oil contents, better physicochemical properties, excellent fatty acid profiles, and very low concentrations of heteroatoms (nitrogen, sulfur), metals and phosphorous concentrations, and very low level of oxygen to carbon ratios, making the oils, notably Yellow Dodolla oil, very high quality and promising alternative feedstocks for upgrading of the oils into bio-jet fuels through hydroprocessing pathway.

DFT investigation of the electronic and optical properties of hexagonal MX2/ZrXO (M = W, Mo and X = S, Se) van der Waals heterostructures for photovoltaic solar cell application.

The van der Waals heterostructure of Janus materials with a TMD monolayer was used to create a two-dimensional class of nanomaterials for photovoltaic solar cell applications. It is one of the potential methods for enhancing the performance of photovoltaic systems. Two monolayers of different 2D materials, Janus (ZrXO) and TMDs (MX2), are stacked together to form the heterojunction. Based on density functional theory structural, electrical, and optical properties were investigated. The favorable stacking and stability of the MX2/ZrXO (M = W, Mo and X = S, Se) van der Waals heterostructures are confirmed through binding energies, phonon dispersion and ab initio molecular dynamics calculations. Standard excitonic peaks, which correspond to the bound valence-band hole and conduction-band electron, as well as excitonic peaks involving the mid-gap charges, can be seen in the system's computed absorption spectrum. MX2/ZrXO van der Waals heterostructures are excellent photovoltaic candidates with a maximum achived power conversion efficiency of above 22%. Furthermore, we discovered that the heterostructure materials have a high absorption efficiency which is good for the intended photovoltaic solar cell application.

Two-dimensional MXO/MoX2 (M = Hf, Ti and X = S, Se) van der Waals heterostructure: a promising photovoltaic material.

Nanoscale materials with multifunctional properties are necessary for the quick development of high-performance devices for a wide range of applications, hence theoretical research into new two-dimensional (2D) materials is encouraged. 2D materials have a distinct crystalline structure that leads to intriguing occurrences. Stacking diverse two-dimensional (2D) materials has shown to be an efficient way for producing high-performance semiconductor materials. We explored a 2D nanomaterial family, an MXO/MoX2 heterostructure (M = Hf, Ti and X = S, Se), for their various applications using first-principles calculations. We discovered that all of the heterostructure materials utilized are direct band gap semiconductors with band gaps ranging from 1.0 to 2.0 eV, with the exception of hexagonal HfSeO/MoSe2, which has a band gap of 0.525 eV. The influence of strain on the band gap of this HfSeO/MoSe2 material was investigated. In the visible range, we obtained promising optical responses with a high-power conversion efficiency. With fill factors of 0.5, MXO/MoX2 photovoltaic cells showed great PCE of up to 17.8%. The tunable electronic characteristics of these two-dimensional materials would aid in the development of energy conversion devices. According to our findings, the 2D Janus heterostructure of MXO/MoX2 (M = Hf, Ti and X = S, Se) material is an excellent choice for photovoltaic solar cells.

Characterization of crop residues from false banana /Ensete ventricosum/ in Ethiopia in view of a full-resource valorization.

False banana /Ensete ventricosum [Welw.] Cheesman/ is exploited as a food crop in Ethiopia where it represents an important staple food. The plant is harvested and large amounts of biomass residues are originated, mainly from the pseudo stem (i.e., fiber bundles obtained from the leaf sheaths after being scrapped to produce starchy food) and the inflorescence stalk. These materials were studied in relation to their summative chemical composition, composition of lignin, lipophilic and polar extracts. Moreover, their structural characteristics, in view of their valorization, were scrutinized. The analytical studies were performed with the aid of FTIR, GC/MS, Py-GC/MS and SEM. The fiber bundles are aggregates of mainly long and slender fibers with low ash, extractives and lignin contents (3.8%. 4.4% and 10.5% respectively) and high holocellulose and α-cellulose contents (87.5% and 59.6% respectively). The hemicelluloses in the fibers are mostly highly acetylated xylans and the lignin is of the H-type (H:G:S, 1:0.7:0.8). This lignin composition is in line with the FTIR peaks at 1670 cm-1 and 1250 cm-1.The inflorescence stalk has high ash content (12.3% in the main stalk and 24.6% in fines) with a major proportion of potassium, high extractives (25.9%), and low lignin and α-cellulose contents (5.8% and 17.9% respectively). The stalk includes numerous starch granules in the cellular structure with the predominant presence of parenchyma. The potential valorization routes for these materials are clearly different. The fiber bundles could be used as a fiber source for paper pulp production with the possibility of a prior hemicelluloses removal while the inflorescence stalk has nutritional value for food and fodder. Furthermore, it can also be used for sugar fermentation products.