Perspective of reactive separation of levulinic acid in conceptual mixer settler reactor.

Levulinic acid is a carboxylic acid present in industrial downstream. It is an important chemical and can be transformed into various important chemicals such as 1,4-pentanediol, aminolevulinic acid, succinic acid, gamma valarolactone, hydoxyvaleric acid, and diphenolic acid. It is considered one of the top ten most important building block chemicals and bio-derived acids. Levulinic acid can be directly produced using biomass, chemical synthesis, and fermentation processes at industrial and laboratory scales. The biomass process produces the char, whereas the fermentation process generates waste during the production of levulinic acid, leading to an increase in the production cost and waste streams. The separation of levulinic acid from the waste is expensive and challenging. In the present study, reactive extraction was employed using trioctylamine in i-octanol for the separation of levulinic acid. The experimental results were expressed in terms of performance parameters like distribution coefficient (0.099-6.14), extraction efficiency (9-86%), loading ratio (0.09-0.7), and equilibrium complexation constant (11.34-1.05). The mass action law model was also applied and found the predicted values were in close agreement with the experimental results. The mixer settler extraction in series was used to achieve more than 98% separations of acid. Furthermore, the conceptual approach for separation of levulinic acid using a mixer settler reactor scheme was discussed and presented various design parameters including extraction efficiency, diffusion coefficient, equilibrium complexation constant, and loading ratio. The study is helpful in recovering the valuable chemicals present in industrial downstream and reducing their environmental impacts if any.

Progress and prospective of heterogeneous catalysts for H2O2 production via anthraquinone process.

This paper reviews the improvement in the field of catalytic hydrogenation of 2-ethylanthraquinone to 2-ethylanthrahydroquinone for the successful production of hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide is being used in almost all industrial areas, particularly in the chemical industry and in environmental protection, as the most promising oxidant for cleaner and environmentally safer processes. A variety of hydrogenation catalysts have been introduced for hydrogenation of 2-ethylanthraquinone in the production of hydrogen peroxide via anthraquinone (AQ) process. The aim of the present study is to describe the catalysts used in the hydrogenation of 2-ethylanthraquinone and the reaction mechanism involved with different catalytic systems. The hydrogenation of 2-ethylanthraquinone using metals, alloy, bimetallic composite, and supported metal catalyst with the structural modifications has been incorporated for the production of hydrogen peroxide. The comprehensive comparison reveals that the supported metal catalysts required lesser catalyst amount, produced lower AQ decay, and provided higher catalyst activity and selectivity. Furthermore, the replacement of conventional catalysts by metal and metal alloy-supported catalyst rises as a hydrogenation trend, enhancing by several times the catalytic performance.

Mucinous carcinoma of the male breast with axillary lymph node metastasis: Report of a case based on fine needle aspiration cytology.

Pure mucinous carcinoma of the male breast is an uncommon malignant breast neoplasm and extremely rare is its metastasis in axillary lymph nodes. Most of these cases have been diagnosed after surgical resection with only a few cases diagnosed on fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC). Although FNAC is well established in the evaluation of breast masses in females there are few reports in males. We are presenting a case of pure mucinous carcinoma of the male breast with metastasis in axillary lymph nodes in a 75-year-old male diagnosed by FNAC and confirmed on histopathology.