Cost-efficient Process Research Articles

Successful Conversion of Pb-Contaminated Soils to Low-Bioaccessibility Plumbojarosite Using Potassium-Jarosite at Ambient Temperature.

Methods promoting lead (Pb) phase transformation in soils are essential for decreasing Pb bioaccessibility/bioavailability and may offer an in situ, cost-efficient process for mitigating contaminant exposure. Recent plumbojarosite (PLJ) conversion methods have shown the greatest potential to reduce soil Pb bioaccessibility, an in vitro bioaccessibility assay measurement of the proportion of Pb solubilized under gastric chemical conditions. Soils tested utilizing the recent PLJ method were found to have a Pb bioaccessibility of <1%, compared to original soils possessing bioaccessibility of >70%. However, this technique requires heat (95-100 °C) to promote mineral transformation. Jarosite-group minerals may incorporate multiple interlayer cations; therefore, we probed the potential for jarosite to remediate Pb via intercalation by reacting presynthesized potassium (K)-jarosite with aqueous Pb and/or Pb-contaminated soil at room temperature. Both K-jarosite and heated PLJ-treated samples were investigated by pairing bioaccessibility analyses with advanced bulk and spatially resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy analyses. Samples treated with K-jarosite promoted Pb transformation to low-bioaccessibility (<10%) PLJ, with soil being converted to 100% PLJ using both heated and nonheated techniques. μ-X-ray fluorescence (μ-XRF) and μ-X-ray absorption near-edge structure (μ-XANES) showcase significant differences between elemental interactions for heated and nonheated PLJ-treated samples with anglesite impurities being found on the microscale. Although further development is necessary to accommodate for suitable field conditions, results indicate, for the first time, that K-jarosite may successfully convert soil Pb to PLJ without high-temperature conditions. The newfound utility of K-jarosite is expected to be key to future jarosite-based soil Pb remediation method development.

Highly selective catalytic conversion of raw sugar and sugarcane bagasse to lactic acid over YbCl3, ErCl3, and CeCl3 Lewis acid catalysts without alkaline in a hot-compressed water reaction system

To improve the process efficiency for lactic acid production, catalytic conversion of raw cane sugar and sugarcane bagasse (SCB) to lactic acid under subcritical water condition over Lanthanide catalysts was investigated. The effect of different types of Lanthanide (III) ion catalyst namely YbCl3, ErCl3, and CeCl3 on enhancement of lactic acid (LA) yield, selectivity, turnover number [TON] and turnover frequency [TOF] was studied in the aqueous solution. The results were compared with conventional catalytic reaction for lactic acid production in strongly alkaline solution. For raw sugar-to-lactic acid conversion, ErCl3 catalyst exhibited greatest performance at 240 °C for 15 min and achieve the highest TOF and TON with 91.8% LA yield (91.79%theoretical yield) and 90.5% selectivity. In case of SCB conversion, aqueous ammonia solution (LHWAA) was the best pretreatment to eliminate lignin and hemicellulose and attain cellulose-rich fraction. The LHWAA pretreated SCB conversion to lactic acid over YbCl3 at 240 °C for 15 min achieved supreme performance for highest TOF and TON and accomplished 98.7% LA yield (88.81% theoretical yield) and 94.2% selectivity with trace amount of formic acid, acetic acid and levulinic acid as side products. The findings provided crucial information for a combined cellulose hydrolysis step with catalytic conversion of mono- and polysaccharides to lactic acid in a very shorter time relative to conventional catalytic process and biotechnological fermentation process. Lanthanide catalysts, especially ErCl3 and YbCl3, were found as promising alternative environmentally friendly catalysts providing a potential cost-efficient process of lactic acid from bioresources in a larger scale production.

Patterned Ag/PI RFID Tag Integrated with Humidity Sensing by In Situ Metallization.

This article presents a cost-efficient flexible chipless radio frequency identification (RFID) tag with wireless humidity sensing, which is fabricated by in situ metallization and inkjet printing techniques. The inkjet printing technique is applied to print the mask for RFID antenna, which is designed with frequency-encoding simulation by a high-frequency structure simulator (HFSS). A high-quality patterned Ag antenna is realized by the in situ metallization of a polyimide (PI) film, leading to strong adhesion between the Ag antenna and PI substrate. The patterned Ag antenna of the chipless RFID tag consists three parallel dipole resonators, one of which is sensitive to humidity, while the other two are utilized to encode and store data. As a result, a 2-bit chipless RFID with high humidity sensitivity based on a Ag/PI film is developed, which displays excellent flexibility and good mechanical stability. The performance of the fabricated tag shows good agreement with the simulation results. Moreover, the tag is applied to detect the water source, where the resonance frequency shows good linearity versus the distance to the water source. These results demonstrate that the proposed chipless RFID tag with humidity sensing has a 2-bit storage capacity, high humidity sensitivity, excellent mechanical properties, and long-term stability, confirming a cost-efficient preparation process for flexible electronics.

Reliability testing of solder joints under combined cyclic thermal and bending load for automotive applications

The cost and time efficient reliability qualification process of solder joints in automotive electronic assemblies requires accelerated temperature cycling (ATC) testing. This work introduces a load-dependent reliability assessment method on board level for solder joints of multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCC) under superimposed cyclic thermal and 3-point bending load. For this purpose, a testing setup is developed to enable statistical testing of solder connections under accelerated load scenarios. The condition of solder joints is monitored online by means of impedance measurement until failure.In this work, solder joint failure of a large amount of MLCC 1206 components is experimentally investigated, where the following lifetime influencing factors are studied: solder volume variation and MLCC 1206 components from different suppliers.The resulting lifetime of solder joints with volume variation reveals, that under the same loading conditions smaller solder joints show a significantly lower survival probability compared to solder joints with larger volumes. Furthermore, significant differences in solder joint lifetime between components from two different suppliers are observed.In order to derive a load-dependent failure criterion using impedance measurement data, finite element (FE) simulation is performed under consideration of test boundary conditions. In this way, printed circuit board (PCB) deformation is determined, taking into account both the thermally and mechanically induced strains. It is shown, that the relationship between calculated load-dependent PCB strain amplitudes and experimentally detected solder joint failures are described by a power law leading to component Woehler curves for different failure probabilities.

Optimization of concrete mix design using genetic algorithms

Most of the engineering construction projects of bridges, dams consume huge quantities of concrete and other materials. Economical design can be better achieved by optimising the quantities of materials without affecting functionalities of structures. Minimising the proportions or quantities of materials without affecting its functional characteristics in a concrete mix results in most cost efficient design process. This study presents the technique of optimisation of concrete mix design applying Genetic Algorithms using a developed MATLAB program. Concrete mix design was performed for different grades of concrete and water cement ratio. It is observed that the use of Genetic Algorithms resulted in economical mix by minimizing the cement content keeping the strength of concrete unaffected. The study results indicated that quantities of cement have been reduced by about 25-40 kg per cubic meter through mix design using GA technique. This resulted in about 6-10 percent reduction in quantities of cement for various cases of mix design considered in the study. Mix design performed using optimization techniques like GA proved to be efficient when compared to mix design using manual approach. Further, the models for predicting compressive strength under different proportions of materials can also be analyzed using GA approach presented in this study.

Rsn-2-mediated directed foam enrichment of β-lactamase.

Today, the availability of methods for the activity-preserving and cost-efficient downstream processing of enzymes forms a major bottleneck to the use of these valuable tools in technical processes. A promising technology appears to be foam fractionation, which utilizes the adsorption of proteins at a gas-liquid interface. However, the employment of surfactants and the dependency of the applicability on individual properties of the target molecules are considerable drawbacks. Here, we demonstrate that a reversible fusion of the large, surface-active protein Ranaspumin-2 (Rsn-2) to a β-lactamase (Bla) enabled both surfactant-free formation of a stable foam and directed enrichment of the enzyme by the foaming. At the same time, Bla maintained 70% of its catalytic activity, which was in stark contrast to the enzyme without fusion to Rsn-2. Rsn-2 predominantly mediated adsorption. Comparable results were obtained after fusion to the structurally more complex penicillin G acylase (PGA) as the target enzyme. The results indicate that using a surface-active protein as a fusion tag might be the clue to the establishment of foam fractionation as a general method for enzyme downstream processing.

Implications of Online-Buying to Store-Pickup (O2S) for End-to-End Supply Chain Strategy

A growing body of literature examines the demand effects of the increasingly popular retailing strategies of integrating digital sales channels with brick-and-mortar stores, allowing customers to buy goods online and pick them up in a store (termed BOPS) or by the store’s curbside. Typically, however, implications of such strategies are explored for the retail channel alone while ignoring the sourcing strategy, which affects a key driver of their influence: product availability. We study such online-to-store (O2S) strategies using an analytical model of the end-to-end supply chain for two cases: a brick-and-mortar retailer expanding its market via O2S, and a retailer integrating its independent brick-and-mortar and online channels via O2S. We derive rational expectations equilibrium product availability, involving sourcing strategy and consumer choice, in pre and post-O2S cases to provide three insights about the interdependence of O2S and sourcing strategies. First, market expansion via O2S is moderated by the retailer’s sourcing strategy: it is achieved only if the equilibrium pre-O2S product availability is below a certain threshold. Second, introduction of an O2S strategy can affect the feasibility of retailer’s suppliers: it can render an existing supplier economically infeasible and make a previously-infeasible supplier feasible. Third, cost-efficient processing of goods returned by the retailer’s O2S and online consumers is necessary not just for retail profitability but also to ensure supplier feasibility. For practice, this highlights the need to plan the retail and sourcing strategies in a multi-channel environment jointly as interdependent components of an end-to-end supply chain. Managers are thus forewarned of pitfalls from separating the decision-making in retailing and sourcing strategies.

A New Control Strategy for High-Pressure Homogenization to Improve the Safety of Injectable Lipid Emulsions.

Intravenous lipid emulsions are biocompatible formulations used as clinical nutrition products and lipid-based delivery systems for sparingly soluble drugs. However, the particle-size distribution is associated with risks of embolism. Accordingly, the mean particle diameter (MPD) and particle-distribution tailing (characterized as the pFAT5 value) are critical quality attributes that ensure patient safety. Compliance with the limits stated in the United States Pharmacopoeia is ensured by high-pressure homogenization, the final step of the manufacturing process. The US Food and Drug Administration’s Quality-by-Design approach requires a control strategy based on deep process understanding to ensure that products have a consistent and predefined quality. Here we investigated the process parameters of a jet-valve high-pressure homogenizer, specifically their effect on the MPD, pFAT5 value and droplet count (determined by microscopy) during the production of a Lipofundin MCT/LCT 20% formulation. We provide deep insight into droplet breakup and coalescence behavior when varying the process pressure, emulsion temperature and number of homogenization cycles. We found that high shear forces are not required to reduce the pFAT5 value of the particle distribution. Finally, we derived a control strategy for a rapid and cost-efficient two-cycle process that ensures patient safety over a large control space.

Renewable single-walled carbon nanotube membranes for extreme ultraviolet pellicle applications

We propose a facile, cost-efficient, environmentally friendly, and scalable process to renew single-walled carbon nanotube membranes serving as extreme ultraviolet (EUV) protective pellicles. The method comprises of high-temperature treatment of the membrane by Joule (resistive) heating at temperatures higher than 1000 °C and pressure below 0.3 Pa. Using model Sn aerosol nanoparticles, the primary contaminant from extreme ultraviolet light sources, we demonstrate the proposed method to clean the membrane with the power consumption as low as 20 W/cm2. We show the proposed method to cause no harm to carbon nanotube structure, opening a route towards multiple membrane renovation. We confirm the applicability of the approach using in situ deposition from the semi-industrial EUV light source and subsequent Sn-based contaminant removal, which restores the EUV-UV-vis-NIR transmittance of the film and, therefore, the light source performance. The proposed method supports pulse-cycling opening an avenue for enhanced protection of the lithography mask and stable performance of the EUV light source. Additionally, the approach suits other composite contaminants based on such species as Pb, In, Sb, etc.

Assessment of Emulsification Potentials and Bio- Diversities of Bacterial Isolates from Bonny Loading Jetty Crude Oil Polluted Soil, Bonny Island, Rivers State.

Surfactant producing microorganisms are indispensable in utility; In the present study, contaminated homogenized soil samples from Bonny Island River showed the following physicochemical properties: pH (5.67), Chloride ion (Cl-) (321±0.2 mg/g),Potassium ion (K+) (5.26±0.01mg/g), Magnesium ion(Mg2+) (2.19±0.05 mg/g), Iron II ion(Fe2+) (38.73±0.13ppm), Calcium ion (Ca2+) (4.12±0.1mg/g), Copper II ion (Cu2+) (3.2±0.01ppm), Lead II ion (Pb2+) (0.21±0.02 ppm), Phosphate ion (PO3) (6.24±0.1 mg/g), Total petroleum hydrocarbons(TPH 364±0.05 Mg/g), Total organic carbon&nbsp; (TOC 56.5±0.05 mg/g) and Total organic matter contents (TOM) (63.45±0.2) .Prior to the emulsification screening carried out; microbial isolation and total heterotrophic counting (CFU/g) carried out showed a total of twelve microbial distinct isolates from the polluted soil with a microbial population of 2.5 x 108 and 2.1 x 108 CFU/g of the soil. Dilution folds of 10-1 and 10-2 from the Bushnell-Hass media showed microbial population of 0.33 x 104 and 0.78 x 104CFU/g respectively. Klebsiella sp. showed emulsification indices of43.3%, 51.2%, 50 and 48.9%with diesel and coconut oil, kerosene and crude oil respectively. Pseudomonas sp. showed emulsification indices of 40, 43, 54 and 45.6% with diesel, coconut oil, kerosene and crude oil respectively. Bacillus sp. showed emulsification indices of 46, 45, 32 and 37% with diesel, coconut oil, kerosene and crude oil respectively. The present study have shown the great potential of utilization of the bacterial consortium in oil recovering from various damp oil-wells and in cost efficient bioremediation process.

Nutrient composition of Chenopodium formosanum Koidz. bran: Fractionation and bioactivity of its soluble active polysaccharides.

BackgroundChenopodium formosanum Koidz. Amaranthaceae—also known as Djulis or red quinoa (RQ)—is a cereal plant indigenous to Taiwan, known for its high nutrient value. However, its bran is considered a waste product and the nutrient value has never been analyzed.MethodsIn this study, we examined the proximate composition of RQ bran, specifically its soluble polysaccharide fractions.ResultsRQ bran exhibited high contents of protein (16.56%), ash (7.10%), carbohydrate (60.45%), total polyphenolics (1.85%), betaxanthin (9.91 mg/100 g of RQ bran), and indicaxanthin (7.27 mg/100 g of RQ bran). Specifically, it was rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs; 39.24%)—with an n-6/n-3 and PUFA/saturated fatty acid (SFA) ratio of 18.137 and 0.743, respectively. Four soluble polysaccharide fractions were also obtained: CF-1, CF-2, CF-3, and CF-4, with yields of 3.90%, 6.74%, 22.28%, and 0.06%, respectively, and molecular weights of 32.54, 24.93, 72.39, and 55.45 kDa, respectively. CF-1, CF-2, CF-3, and CF-4 had respectively 15.67%, 42.41%, 5.44%, and 14.52% peptide moiety content and 38.92%, 50.70%, 93.76%, and 19.80% carbohydrate moiety. In CF-2, the glucose content was 95.86 mol% and that of leucine was 16.23%, implicating the presence of a typical leucinoglucan. All four polysaccharide fractions lacked glutamic acid and hydroxyproline. The IC50 of CF-1, CF-2, and CF-3 was respectively 12.05, 3.98, and 14.5 mg/mL for DPPH free radical–scavenging ability; 5.77, 4.10, and 7.03 mg/mL for hydrogen peroxide–scavenging capability; 0.26, 0.05, and 0.19 mg/mL for O2− free radical–scavenging capability; and 100.41, 28.12, and 29.73 mg/mL for Fe2+ chelation.ConclusionOur results indicated that RQ bran has a large amount of nutrient compounds, and a cost-efficient process for their extraction is needed. Their biomedical application as nutraceuticals also warrants further investigation.

Wafer-scale replicated gratings for compressing ultrafast laser pulses at telecom wavelengths

Wafer-scale, nanoimprint lithography-based approaches for manufacturing of high-efficiency transmission gratings at telecom wavelengths are reported. Two microns-deep, binary gratings are thereby fabricated and combined with a subwavelength, antireflective structure to achieve a cost-efficient and reliable manufacturing process. Diffraction efficiencies of 92% are experimentally achieved in the Littrow configuration. These gratings are used to compress 8 picosecond pulses with 1W of average output power at central wavelength of 1555nm to pulse duration of 378 femtoseconds

Highly sensitive, scalable, and rapid SARS-CoV-2 biosensor based on In2O3 nanoribbon transistors and phosphatase

Developing convenient and accurate SARS-CoV-2 antigen test and serology test is crucial in curbing the global COVID-19 pandemic. In this work, we report an improved indium oxide (In2O3) nanoribbon field-effect transistor (FET) biosensor platform detecting both SARS-CoV-2 antigen and antibody. Our FET biosensors, which were fabricated using a scalable and cost-efficient lithography-free process utilizing shadow masks, consist of an In2O3 channel and a newly developed stable enzyme reporter. During the biosensing process, the phosphatase enzymatic reaction generated pH change of the solution, which was then detected and converted to electrical signal by our In2O3 FETs. The biosensors applied phosphatase as enzyme reporter, which has a much better stability than the widely used urease in FET based biosensors. As proof-of-principle studies, we demonstrate the detection of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in both phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) buffer and universal transport medium (UTM) (limit of detection [LoD]: 100 fg/mL). Following the SARS-CoV-2 antigen tests, we developed and characterized additional sensors aimed at SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies, which is important to trace past infection and vaccination. Our spike protein IgG antibody tests exhibit excellent detection limits in both PBS and human whole blood ((LoD): 1 pg/mL). Our biosensors display similar detection performance in different mediums, demonstrating that our biosensor approach is not limited by Debye screening from salts and can selectively detect biomarkers in physiological fluids. The newly selected enzyme for our platform performs much better performance and longer shelf life which will lead our biosensor platform to be capable for real clinical diagnosis usage.Electronic Supplementary MaterialSupplementary material (materials and methods for device fabrication, functionalization of In2O3 devices, photographs of the liquid gate measurement setup, mobilities of the nine devices labeled in Fig. 1(b), family curves of IDS-VDS with the liquid gate setup and current change after bubbling the substrate solution (current vs. time curve for S1 antigen detection)) is available in the online version of this article at 10.1007/s12274-022-4190-0.

Incorporating catalytic ceramic membrane into the integrated process of in situ ozonation, membrane filtration and biological degradation: Enhanced performance and underlying mechanisms

The integrated process comprising of in situ ozonation, ceramic membrane filtration and biologically active carbon filtration has a bright application prospect in wastewater reclamation to confront the global water crisis. Additionally, ceramic membranes of stronger catalytic activity are highly desirable so as to further increase the process cost-efficiency. In this study, a Mn-loaded catalytic membrane was tested by conducting pilot-scale experiments of the integrated process to measure its performance in enhancing pollutant removal and in alleviating membrane fouling. Lab-scale experiments were also conducted in order to investigate the underlying mechanisms in which the conventional Al2O3 membrane was used for comparison. Results showed that the integrated process with an incorporated catalytic membrane performed very well in that at a water flux as high as 80 L/m2/h and an ozone dosage of 5 mg/L, the treated water satisfied the guideline values for indirect potable reuse and membrane fouling was minimal. Reducing the ozone dosage to 4 mg/L can still achieve significant membrane fouling control effects, and maintain good effluent quality. Catalytic ozonation could lead to the generation of hydroxyl radicals, and the catalytic ozonation effect was much stronger when the catalytic membrane was used. Catalytic ozonation took place in both the membrane tank and membrane pores, with comparable contributions to the pollutant removal and membrane fouling control. Redundancy analysis (RDA) of membrane fouling characteristics showed that residual ozone concentration in membrane tank was an essential parameter and catalytic ozonation could be more effective in abating irreversible fouling than reversible fouling. RDA also confirmed that a lower ozone dosage would be sufficient for membrane fouling control when the catalytic membrane was used. This study evidently suggested the advantage of using catalytic ceramic membrane in the integrated process for efficient while economic treatment and reclamation of wastewater.

Solution-Processed Organic Photodetectors with Renewable Materials.

An organic photodetector prepared by a simple solution method based on renewable citrus pectin with an optimized concentration of aluminum nitrate (AlC05) is introduced herein. The effects of different concentrations of aluminum nitrate on the morphology and optical properties were investigated through various characterization methods. An AlC concentration of 0.5 mg/mL was found to provide the highest on/off ratio and acceptable rise and decay times. Also, the optimized device (Al/AlC0.5/ITO) exhibited good stability and repeatability at a 0.1 V bias under 440 nm visible light. Based on these results, citrus pectin materials were successfully used to fabricate an organic photodetector with a simple and cost-efficient fabrication process, while taking into account environmental commitments.

Use of bio-based and renewable materials for sheet molding compounds (SMC) – Mechanical properties and susceptibility to fungal decay

In Europe, Sheet Molding Compound (SMC) has high market relevance in the field of glass fiber reinforced polymer composites (GFRPC). This is based on their wide range of application abilities. Almost 20 wt.-% of GFRPC are processed of SMC material, e.g. for semi-structural components in various applications from construction industry to automotive components. Based on the ability for the production of lightweight structural components in a cost-efficient manufacturing process with high design freedom and high formability, material and process are well established. Standard glass fiber reinforced SMC semi-finished products (GF-SMC) consist of resin paste, based on unsaturated polyester resin, different application specific additives, reinforcing fibers with a length of one to two inches and mineral filler materials. In this paper, the impact of the replacement of conventional mineral filler material by bio-based and renewable filler material sunflower hull meal to mechanical properties and biological decay was analyzed.

Using egg ovalbumin to synthesize pure α-Fe2O3 and cobalt doped α-Fe2O3: structural, morphological, optical and photocatalytic properties

Nanoparticles of undoped hematite (α-Fe2O3) and Co doped α-Fe2O3 were prepared by a simple, green, and cost-efficient process using Co and Fe chlorides and freshly isolated hen egg white. Several techniques of characterization, such as differential thermal and thermogravimetric analysis (DTA/TG), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), EDS analysis, X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), and Ultra-violet Visible (UV–Vis) analysis were applied. The incorporation of Co particles into the hematite matrix limits the growth of the α-Fe2O3 crystalline grain and favours the apparition of γ-Fe2O3 phase. SEM analysis reveals that there are no significant morphological differences among α-Fe2O3 and Co-α-Fe2O3 particles, whereas the XPS analysis confirms the existence of Fe and Co particles in the as-prepared samples. The optical study shows a slight reduction of band gap energy for Co doped α-Fe2O3 compared to the non-doped α-Fe2O3, which has shown enhanced visible light adsorption performance. On the other hand, the α-Fe2O3 and Co-α-Fe2O3 nano-photocatalysts with an average crystallite size of 21 and 43 nm respectively, were used to remove the Methylene Blue (MB) dye from aqueous solutions after being exposed to visible light. In a mechanistic study, the radicals OH• and •O2− were shown to be important in the degradation of MB dye. To optimise the effective parameters on MB dye degradation, the experimental parameters applied in the adsorption experiments, such as pH, photocatalyst dosage, contact time, and temperature, were tested. The optimal conditions were determined as pH = 12, photocatalyst dosage = 0.2 g/L. Degradation efficiency in the optimal conditions is 91.8 % after 120 min of irradiation. The pseudo-first and second orders were used to model the kinetic data. The removal of MB using α-Fe2O3 and Co-α-Fe2O3 photocatalysts matched well with pseudo-second-order reaction kinetics. Furthermore, the thermodynamic study reveals that MB dye adsorption on the Co-Fe2O3 absorbent was an endothermic and spontaneous process.

Designed synthesis of porous carbons for the separation of light hydrocarbons

The separation of light hydrocarbon mixtures (C1–C3) generated from petrochemical industry is vital and challenging process for obtaining valuable pure chemical feedstocks. In comparison to the energy intensive conventional separation technologies (cryogenic distillation, absorption and hydrogenation), the adsorptive separation is considered as a low energy cost and high efficiency process. Porous carbons have been demonstrated as excellent adsorbents for the separation of light hydrocarbons, owing to their designable structure and tailorable properties. This review summarizes the recent advances of using porous carbons as adsorbents for the separation of light hydrocarbons, including methane/nitrogen, methane/alkane, methane/carbon dioxide, ethylene/ethane and propylene/propane. We discuss the separation mechanisms and highlight the material features including pore structure, surface chemistry and target molecular properties that determine the separation performance. Furthermore, the challenges and development direction associated with carbonaceous adsorbents for light hydrocarbon separation are discussed, meanwhile the guidelines for the design of porous carbons are proposed.

The effect of catholyte and catalyst layer binders on CO2 electroreduction selectivity

Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is an attractive technology for converting CO 2 to value-added chemicals by using renewably generated electricity. This work combines both experimental and theoretical analyses to investigate the role of different catalysts (Ag/Vu and SnO 2 /Vu), binder materials, and catholyte compositions on the selectivity of a CO 2 electrolysis cell to the two-electron CO 2 reduction products CO and formate. As a complementary effort, a 2D multi-physics transport model was developed to elucidate the fundamental processes and species concentrations in the cathode components. It was shown that the selectivity of CO 2 reduction to CO can change significantly when different catholyte compositions and binder materials are used, whereas the selectivity of CO 2 to formate is relatively stable across the conditions studied. These insights can be used to inform decisions regarding the electrode development and system design in CO 2 electrolyzers and ultimately contribute to scaling energy-efficient electrochemical CO 2 -reduction systems. • Catalyst performance can be tuned by controlling the local microenvironment • The HCO 3 − ion is likely an active proton donor for CO 2 reduction near neutral pH • On Ag catalysts, using an anion exchange binder greatly enhances CO production • In contrast to Ag, SnO 2 catalysts produce formate very consistently The motivation and challenges for increased CO 2 utilization have been laid out and discussed across the research community. While novel research has focused on catalyst development and a move toward the utilization of gas-diffusion electrodes, the fundamental interactions that govern the electrocatalytic environment, which is composed of both the electrocatalyst and ionomer binders, have been somewhat overlooked. Gaining insight into this governing process is the key to removing energy-inefficient electrolyte layers, improving product selectivity, and enabling cost-efficient industrial processes toward a CO 2 economy. While this manuscript describes both experimental and numerical results related to the role of the catalyst layer microenvironment for systems targeting the production of carbon monoxide and formate, the methodology can and should be applied to more complex systems targeting multi-carbon products. This work demonstrates that the performance of an electrocatalyst is governed by more than just its intrinsic chemical properties. More broadly, the electrocatalytic microenvironment encompasses the influence of the electrocatalyst, support, and, perhaps most critically, the local electrolyte composition. The results presented herein are designed to (1) be used in parallel with novel catalyst development efforts and (2) bring us one step closer to all-solid-state cells.

ECO-CLIP: circular economy from factory waste material towards aircraft structural components

This paper discusses the development of short fibre frame clips and system brackets made from recycling CF/LMPAEK factory waste composites employing two technologies (injection molding and 3D-printing). The project will develop and validate fused deposition modeling (FDM) as cost-efficient process to manufacture system brackets using the novel formulation of recycled composite as raw material. Energy directors development for ultrasonic welding is presented for successful joining of the clips to the fuselage, avoiding fasteners. The manufactured parts will be assembled into the lower half of the multifunctional fuselage demonstrator. The results were developed within ECO-CLIP project, which aims to: (1) assess technical aspects of material recyclability and (2) assess the economic and environmental validity of the technology.