Solid Hydrolysis Research Articles

Intensifying Hydrogen Evolution in Solid–Liquid MgH2 Hydrolysis Reaction by a High Shear Reactor

AbstractThe reactor is very critical to intensify the reaction rate controlled by mass transfer. Solid magnesium hydride (MgH2) shows great advantages in hydrogen storage; however, poor liquid–solid hydrolysis kinetics limit its application. Various chemical reactors were explored and are used to improve the hydrolysis efficiency. Results show that the mixing style could affect the surface coating behavior. Specifically, the higher temperature and mixing strength could promote the MgH2 hydrolysis. Furthermore, induced crystallization could effectively relieve coating and strengthen the hydrolysis, especially at the high mixing level. The result indicated that the mass transfer distance between crystal seed and formed MgH2 particles played an important role in MgH2 hydrolysis.

Hydrolytic enzyme activity in high-rate anaerobic reactors treating municipal wastewater in temperate climates

Particulate matter hydrolysis is the bottleneck in anaerobic treatment of municipal wastewater in temperate climates. Low temperatures theoretically slow enzyme-substrate interactions, hindering utilization kinetics, but this remains poorly understood. β-glucosidase, protease, and lipase activities were evaluated in two pilot-scale upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors, inoculated with different sludges and later converted to anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBRs). Despite similar methane production and solids hydrolysis rates, significant differences emerged. Specific activity peaked at 37 °C, excluding the predominance of psychrophilic enzymes. Nevertheless, the Michaelis-Menten constant (Km) indicated high enzyme-substrate affinity at the operational temperature of 15–20 °C, notably greater in AnMBRs. It is shown, for the first time, that different seed sludges can equally adapt, as hydrolytic enzymatic affinity to the substrate reached similar values in the two reactors at the operational temperature and identified that membrane ultrafiltration impacted hydrolysis by a favourable enzyme Michaelis-Menten constant.

The reaction kinetics and Sn isotope fractionation of Sn(IV) chloride hydrolysis

Hydrolysis of Sn is a pivotal step during the precipitation of cassiterite, the primary Sn-bearing mineral and thermodynamically stable Sn-oxide on Earth's surface. In this contribution, we investigated the reaction kinetics of Sn(IV) chloride hydrolysis by systematic experiments at temperatures of 6.4 °C to 28.6 °C. Experimental results show that the hydrolysis reactions of Sn(IV) chloride follow a first-order kinetics model, with rate constants (0.12 h−1 to 5.5 h−1) strongly controlled by temperature. Based on the obtained reaction constants at different temperatures and the Arrhenius equation, the activation energy of the Sn(IV) chloride hydrolysis reaction is calculated to be 26.05 ± 2.25 kcal/mol, indicating a surface-controlled reaction mechanism. Additionally, the Sn(IV) chloride hydrolysis rate increases with the ionic strength. No significant Sn isotope fractionation between aqueous Sn(IV) and the solid hydrolysis product was observed during the Sn(IV) hydrolysis experiments in this study. The activation energy data and Sn isotope behavior associated with Sn(IV) chloride hydrolysis may be used to better understand the behavior of Sn during various mineralization and weathering processes.

Iron hydrolysis and lithium uptake on mixed-bed ion exchange resin at alkaline pH

The use of ion exchange resins to remove ionic impurities from solution is prevalent in industrial process systems, including in the primary heat transport system (PHTS) purification circuit of nuclear power plants. Despite its extensive use in the nuclear industry, our general understanding of ion exchange cannot fully explain the complex chemistry in ion exchange beds, particularly when operated at or near their saturation limit. This work investigates the behaviour of mixed-bed ion exchange resin, saturated with species representative of corrosion products in a CANDU (Canadian Deuterium Uranium) reactor PHTS, particularly with respect to iron chemistry in the resin bed and the removal of lithium ions from solution. Experiments were performed under deaerated conditions, analogous to normal PHTS operation. The results show interesting iron chemistry, suggesting the hydrolysis of cation resin bound ferrous species and the subsequent formation of either a solid hydrolysis product or the soluble, anionic Fe(OH)3-.

Effect of Fe3O4 nanoparticles on anaerobic digestion of municipal wastewater sludge

Anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge often achieves less than 50% destruction of volatile suspended solids and stabilization of chemical oxygen demand to methane gas. Although the impact of Fe3O4 nanoparticles on anaerobic digestion performance was investigated in past studies, this study focused directly on the impacts of the size and concentration of the Fe3O4 nanoparticles. Fe3O4 nanoparticles with two different ranges -- (12–18)-nm and (50–100)-nm -- and different concentrations were evaluated for their impact on anaerobic digestion of combined wastewater sludges (waste activated sludge + primary sludge). The volume of methane produced and the concentrations of volatile suspended solids, total chemical oxygen demand, and Fe2+ were measured during Biochemical Methane Potential (BMP) experiments. Adding Fe3O4 nanoparticles enhanced solids digestion and methanogenesis, and the impact was greater for methanogenesis. Adding 120 mg/L of the smaller nanoparticles had the greatest impact: a 1.7-fold increase in the methane yield, 26% increase in volatile suspended solids destruction, and 35% increase in total chemical oxygen demand removal, compared with the control. The smaller nanoparticles, which had higher impacts on anaerobic-digestion performance than the larger nanoparticles, led to greater release of soluble Fe2+, which may have decreased sulfide inhibition of methanogenesis, increased the rate of solids hydrolysis, or increased inter-species electron transport. A modified Gompertz model quantified how adding 120 mg/L of the (12–18)-nm nanoparticles increased the rate and extent of methanogenesis.

Enhancing ethylene glycol and ferric chloride pretreatment of rice straw by low-pressure carbon dioxide to improve enzymatic saccharification

Ethylene glycol and ferric chloride pretreatment assisted by low-pressure carbon dioxide (1 MPa CO2) realized the targeted deconstruction of lignocelluloses at 170 °C for 5 min, achieving 98 % cellulose recovery with removal of 92 % lignin and 90 % hemicellulose. After the pretreatment, the formation of stable platform mono-phenol components would be with the destruction of the lignin-carbohydrate complexes structure, and the surface of rice straw became rough, with a less negative charge and higher specific surface area, while the enzyme adsorption rate increased by 8.1 times. Furthermore, the glucose yield of pretreated straw was remarkably increased by 5.6 times that of the untreated straw, reaching 91 % after hydrolyzed for 48 h. With Tween 80 added in concentrated solid (12 %) hydrolysis at low cellulase loading (3 FPU/g dry substrate), half of the hydrolysis time was shortened than that without Tween 80, with 45 % higher glucose yield.

Inhibition of cellulase activity by liquid hydrolysates from hydrothermally pretreated soybean straw

The one-pot biomass conversion process is a promising strategy to minimize potential product loss and reduce processing costs. However, this strategy has technical limitations due to the inhibitory effects of biomass components like lignin as well as the generated inhibitors (e.g., furans, phenols) during biomass processing. In this study, the inhibitory effects of liquid hydrolysates formed by hydrothermal pretreatment of soybean straw with either sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) on cellulolytic enzyme activity were investigated. Hydrothermal pretreatment of soybean straw (10% w/v) was carried out with either sodium hydroxide (1% v/v) or hydrogen peroxide (1% v/v) at 121°C for 60 min to evaluate the effect of water-soluble inhibitors released from soybean pretreatment on cellulolytic enzyme activity. The fraction of cellulose in pretreated solids (1% w/v glucan) was enzymatically hydrolyzed for 72 h with 45 IU/g glucan (corresponding to 25 mg enzyme protein/g glucan) in the presence of either buffer or liquid hydrolysate generated from the pretreatments. Hydrolysis of NaOH and H2O2 pretreated solids resulted in 57% and 39% of glucose yields in buffer, respectively. In the presence of the liquid hydrolysates, NaOH and H2O2 pretreated biomass showed 20% and 30% glucose yield, respectively, indicating the enzyme suppression by inhibitors in the liquid hydrolysates. Of the enzyme activities in hydrolysates tested, NaOH hydrolysate showed a higher inhibitory effect on enzyme activities (mainly β-glucosidase) compared to H2O2 liquid, where enzyme deactivation has a first-order correlation and the manner in which the vacuum-filtered inhibitors were generated from pretreated soybean straw.

What Is the Right Rate? Determining Digestibility Kinetics of Pretreated Waste Activated Sludge During Anaerobic Digestion

Pretreatment of municipal sludge has the potential to improve anaerobic digestion by increasing the ultimate biodegradability of particulate chemical oxygen demand (PCOD) to methane (CH4) gas. However, the effect of pretreatment, that is, increased soluble COD from solubilization of PCOD, makes it difficult to correctly estimate hydrolysis kinetics in biochemical methane potential tests. In this study, batch digestion tests were used to evaluate the general impact of alkaline and thermal pretreatment of waste activated sludge (WAS) and to determine a different method to estimate hydrolysis rates from pretreated streams. Throughout the 60-day batch experiments, liquid and gas samples were collected and analyzed for total (TCOD) and semi-soluble (SSCOD) COD, total (TSS) and volatile (VSS) suspended solids, pH, volatile fatty acids (VFAs), and ammonium concentration. Pretreatments significantly decreased VSS concentrations at the start of digestion, but all samples showed similar VSS destruction to the control at the end of the experiments. Ultimate CH4 production was significantly increased by alkaline and thermal pretreatments, which produced 203 and 219 mL CH4 gVSS−1, respectively, versus 175 mL CH4 gVSS−1 in the control. Although CH4 generation was a good proxy for solids hydrolysis of untreated WAS, CH4 generation significantly overestimated the rate of hydrolysis of pretreated solids. The overestimation was due to the abundance of SSCOD available at the start of the experiment being converting to CH4. Incorporating SSCOD or VFAs into the hydrolysis kinetics resulted in much slower hydrolysis rates that were similar to those measured by VSS destruction directly (e.g., 0.08 d−1 with SSCOD + CH4 vs. 0.19 d−1 from CH4 alone for thermal pretreatment vs. 0.05 d−1 with VSS alone). The slower kinetics indicate that the necessity to understand the trade-offs between the performance advantages of pretreatment (i.e., solids destruction and energy conversion) versus the operational and financial impacts on large-scale digestion.

Optimisation of enzymatic saccharification of wheat straw pre-treated with sodium hydroxide

To enhance the reducing sugar yield in enzymatic hydrolysis, various factors (NaOH concentration, solid content and pre-treatment time) that affect the pre-treatment process were investigated and evaluated based on the reducing sugar yield of the subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis. The enzymatic hydrolysis was based on the cellulase from Trichoderma reesi ATCC 26921, the optimum NaOH pre-treatment conditions were an NaOH concentration of 1.0% (w/w), a solid content of 5.0% (w/v) and a pre-treatment time of 60 min. Various parameters that affect the enzymatic hydrolysis of wheat straw, including the solid content, enzyme loading, pH and hydrolysis time, were investigated and optimized through a Box–Behnken design and response surface methodology. The predicted optimum conditions for enzymatic hydrolysis were a solid content of 8.0% (w/v), an enzyme loading of 35 FPU/g substrate, a temperature of 50 °C, a pH of 5.3 and a hydrolysis time of 96 h. The experimental result showed that the maximum reducing sugar yield was 60.73% (53.35% higher than the wheat straw without NaOH pre-treatment), which is in accordance with the predicted conditions.

Simplified configuration for conversion of sugars from sugarcane bagasse into ethanol

The biochemical production of second generation ethanol involves pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation, which can be carried out using different configurations. In the present study, sugarcane bagasse was pretreated with dilute H2SO4, saccharified (enzymes), and fermented (Scheffersomyces stipitis). Two configurations, fermentation of hemicellulosic hydrolysate (FHH) separated from separate hydrolysis and fermentation of pretreated solids (SHF), in fractions obtained after filtration of the slurry, and integrated hydrolysis of pretreated solids separated from co-fermentation of cellulosic and hemicellulosic hydrolysates (IHSCF), in whole slurry, were evaluated for ethanol production. Washed or non-washed pretreated solids, and neutralized (NaOH) or detoxified (laccase) hemicellulosic hydrolysates, were evaluated in the first configuration. Neutralized (NaOH), pre-supplemented (nutrients), or detoxified (laccase) slurries in non-hybrid and hybrid systems, in the second configuration. Detoxification improved conversions in both configurations. Maximum efficiency in SHF + FHH configuration was 28.4% in 168 h, while, in IHSCF configuration, 38.9% was obtained in 96 h.

Hydrothermal pretreatment: An efficient process for improvement of biobutanol, biohydrogen, and biogas production from orange waste via a biorefinery approach

Orange waste (OW), an abundant and severe globally environmental treat, was used for biobutanol and biohydrogen production emploing acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation through a biorefinery process. The solvent yield from untreated OW was insufficient; thus, the substrate was subjected to hydrothermal pretreatment before hydrolysis. The pretreatment at 140 ℃ for 30 min resulted in the solid with the highest yield of hydrolysis and fermentation. Moreover, the anaerobic digestion of hydrolysis residue produced appreciable amounts of biomethane. However, the pretreatment liquor was not fermentable; thus, it was detoxified by overliming for 24 h at 30 ℃ and then fermented. Overall, this sustainable biorefinery, based on pretreatment without any additional chemical agent, hydrolysis of pretreated solids, detoxification of pretreatment liquor, ABE fermentation, and anaerobic digestion of residues, produced 42.3 g biobutanol, 33.1 g acetone, 13.4 g ethanol, 104.5 L biohydrogen, and 28.3 L biomethane per kg of OW that contained 4560 kJ energy.

Phenomenological Modeling of Formic Acid Fractionation of Sugarcane Bagasse by Integration of Operation Parameters as an Extended Combined Severity Factor.

In order to more conveniently simulate and optimize the solubilization of sugarcane bagasse components during formic acid (FA) fractionation, an extended combined severity factor (CSFext) was defined to integrate various operation parameters as a single factor. Two phenomenological models based on Arrhenius and Logistic equations were further used to describe the phenomenological kinetics. Different data-processing methods were compared to fit the severity parameters and model constants. Both Arrhenius-based and Logistic-based models show satisfying fitting results, though the values of Arrhenius-based CSFext (A-CSFext) and Logistic-based CSFext (L-CSFext) were somewhat different under the same fractionation condition. The solubilization of biomass components increased with CSFext, but two distinct stages could be observed with inflection points at A-CSFext of 42 or L-CSFext of 43, corresponding to bulk and residual solubilization stages, respectively. For the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulosic solids, the highest initial enzymatic glucan conversion (EGC@6h) was obtained at A-CSFext of 39–40 or A-CSFext of 40–41; however, for a long hydrolysis period (72 h), relatively high glucan conversion (EGC@72h) was observed at A-CSFext of 42–43 or A-CSFext of 43–44. Post-treatment for deformylation with a small amount of lime could help to recover the cellulose digestibility.

Bioreactor Design For Solid State Lignocellulosic Hydrolysis: A Review

Enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulose to produce reducing sugars to be used as bioethanol raw material has recently attracted many scientists’ attention to investigate. It needs to be performed on a big scale, so it is essential to select an appropriate bioreactor. This work discusses enzymatic hydrolysis in solid-state. Solid hydrolysis is suitable for the growth of filamentous fungi to produce hydrolytic enzymes. A bioreactor is the heart of the process since the chemical reactions take place in it. In biochemical reactions, bioreactor plays two complementary functions, i.e., the reaction holder and the place for microorganism to grow. Therefore, to design a good bioreactor, these two functions should be considered carefully. Besides, we also developed a bioreactor with a continuous air supply to provide oxygen for hydrolytic fungi.

Long-term storage of yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius) juice: Phytochemical profile, in vitro prebiotic potential and discriminant bioactive properties

Yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius) is a plant, with South American origin, whose roots received the designation of functional food due to fructan-type sugars and phenolics in its composition. Aiming to keep yacon beneficial compounds in long-term storage, a new food formulation was proposed, being prebiotic yacon juice preserved by lactobionic (LBA) and malic acids. Thus, yacon juice was evaluated regarding its prebiotic potential in vitro, bioavailability of phenolic compounds and bioconversion of sugars. Discriminant analysis with canonical correlation pointed out Fe2+ chelation, color, pH, total extractable polyphenols and prebiotic potential as the discriminating parameters among samples, during refrigerated storage of 120 days (6 °C ± 2 °C). The essential role of LBA and malic acid addition was confirmed as they kept: pH at desirable levels, a stable color profile, Fe2+ chelating activity at values between 30-40% until day 30, bioavailability of polyphenols up to 13% maximum loss, and almost doubled the shelf-life. Chromatographic profile by HPLC corroborated these findings, which verified a more solid hydrolysis of fructan-type sugars in the yacon juice without acids. Resultant molds and yeasts limited the shelf-life to 60 days for the control sample, and 105 days for the acid-added ones. In addition, unprecedented prebiotic potential of yacon juice was confirmed: to Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus acidophilus for at least 120 days and for 105 days for Bifidobacterium animalis. Lastly, the LBA, an alleged prebiotic compound, had no prebiotic-enhancing activity, possibly due to the amount (1%) applied.

THF co-solvent pretreatment prevents lignin redeposition from interfering with enzymes yielding prolonged cellulase activity

BackgroundConventional aqueous dilute sulfuric acid (DSA) pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass facilitates hemicellulose solubilization and can improve subsequent enzymatic digestibility of cellulose to fermentable glucose. However, much of the lignin after DSA pretreatment either remains intact within the cell wall or readily redeposits back onto the biomass surface. This redeposited lignin has been shown to reduce enzyme activity and contribute to rapid enzyme deactivation, thus, necessitating significantly higher enzyme loadings than deemed economical for biofuel production from biomass.ResultsIn this study, we demonstrate how detrimental lignin redeposition on biomass surface after pretreatment can be prevented by employing Co-solvent Enhanced Lignocellulosic Fractionation (CELF) pretreatment that uses THF–water co-solvents with dilute sulfuric acid to solubilize lignin and overcome limitations of DSA pretreatment. We first find that enzymatic hydrolysis of CELF-pretreated switchgrass can sustain a high enzyme activity over incubation periods as long as 5 weeks with enzyme doses as low as 2 mg protein/g glucan to achieve 90% yield to glucose. A modified Ninhydrin-based protein assay revealed that the free-enzyme concentration in the hydrolysate liquor, related to enzyme activity, remained unchanged over long hydrolysis times. DSA-pretreated switchgrass, by contrast, had a 40% drop in free enzymes in solution during incubation, providing evidence of enzyme deactivation. Furthermore, measurements of enzyme adsorption per gram of lignin suggested that CELF prevented lignin redeposition onto the biomass surface, and the little lignin left in the solids was mostly integral to the original lignin–carbohydrate complex (LCC). Scanning electron micrographs and NMR characterization of lignin supported this observation.ConclusionsEnzymatic hydrolysis of solids from CELF pretreatment of switchgrass at low enzyme loadings was sustained for considerably longer times and reached higher conversions than for DSA solids. Analysis of solids following pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis showed that prolonged cellulase activity could be attributed to the limited lignin redeposition on the biomass surface making more enzymes available for hydrolysis of more accessible glucan.

Production of High‐Purity Hydrogen and Layered Doubled Hydroxide by Hydrolysis of Mg‐Al Alloys

AbstractHydrogen is becoming an important clean energy and layered doubled hydroxide (LDH) is of great interest for many applications, including water treatment, environmental remediation, and chemical catalysis. The production of high‐purity hydrogen and LDH by the hydrolysis of Mg‐Al alloys is reported. The effects of initial pH, reaction temperature, reaction time, and alloy's Mg/Al mass ratio on the rate of hydrogen generation and the purity of LDH are evaluated and the solid hydrolysis products are characterized by different techniques. The initial rate of hydrogen generation increases with decreasing initial pH and increasing reaction temperature and Mg/Al ratio while the purity of LDH increases with Mg/Al ratio, reaction temperature and time. This study may provide a new, green, and sustainable approach for storage of hydrogen and material for water treatment.

A biorefinery approach to obtain antioxidants, lignin and sugars from exhausted olive pomace

Exhausted olive pomace (EOP) is the main residue of the pomace olive oil extracting industry. In this work, EOP was fractionated into valuable components for valorisation: an aqueous extract rich in hydroxytyrosol and mannitol, lignins with antioxidant properties and fermentable sugars. EOP was first subjected to water extraction at 85°C for 90min. Several pretreatments based on liquid hot water and organosolv with 50% or 60% ethanol (catalysed and uncatalysed with 1% sulfuric acid) were then evaluated in terms of delignification ability and efficiency for enzymatic hydrolysis of the pretreated solids. Once the best conditions had been selected (50 % ethanol-1% sulfuric acid at 130°C for 60min), an organosolv lignin (OL) with antioxidant properties was obtained through acid precipitation of the pretreatment liquor. This was compared to the enzymatic hydrolysis lignin obtained in the subsequent step and to the lignins purified by acid hydrolysis. OL showed a higher total phenolic content and antioxidant activity than the rest of the lignin samples. Chemical differences were also observed that could explain the results.

Integrating enzymatic hydrolysis into subcritical water pretreatment optimization for bioethanol production from wheat straw

The conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to bioethanol is a potential approach to alleviate the energy crisis and environmental deterioration. To improve the conversion efficiency of bioethanol from wheat straw (WS), the optimization of subcritical water pretreatment and high solid hydrolysis were investigated in this study. Response surface methodology (RSM) accompanied with glucose concentration after enzymatic hydrolysis as a more reasonable response value was applied for the pretreatment optimization, and the optimum conditions were obtained as 220.51 °C of extraction temperature, 22.01 min of extraction time and 2.50% (w/v) of substrate loading. After pretreatment, the hemicellulose decreased by 18.37%, and the cellulose and lignin increased by 25.92% and 8.81%, respectively, which were consistent with the destroyed microstructure and raised crystallinity. The high efficiency of separate hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF) was verified by five commercial cellulases, and yields of hydrolysis and fermentation were 77.85–89.59% and 93.34–96.18%, respectively. Based on the high solid (15%) hydrolysis and fermentation, the ethanol concentration was significantly improved to 37.00 g/L. Interestingly, 64.47% of lignin was accumulated in the solid residue after enzymatic hydrolysis and it did not affect the efficiency of SHF, which further suggested that subcritical water mainly affected the structure of WS rather than the removal of lignin. Therefore, subcritical water pretreatment combined with high solid hydrolysis is a more effective solution for bioethanol conversion, which is also a promising strategy to utilize all components of lignocellulosic biomass.

Material flow of cellulose in rice straw to ethanol and lignin recovery by NaOH pretreatment coupled with acid washing

Agricultural residues could become feedstocks for biobased products as they are renewable, carbon neutral, and do not compete with food. In India, > 130 MT rice straw is available annually for alternate uses. Exploiting this abundant biomass for biochemical production will pave way for bio-based economy. Rice straw is highly recalcitrant due to lignin-carbohydrate complex and high ash. For production of value added products, the cellulose fraction is very important and also lignin can be used. However, for overall economic efficiency, it is imperative to separate and recover these fractions maximally from biomass and convert them into high value products at high titers and efficiency. Biomass has to be deconstructed to access these fractions. An improvised pretreatment with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) coupled with acidified water wash enabled high retrieval of cellulose and lignin. More than 80% of cellulose present in raw rice straw was recovered in pretreated solids and lignin (> 65%) recovered from acidification of alkali prehydrolysates/wash waters. Enzymatic hydrolysis of solids with commercial cellulases resulted in 80–100% glucan conversion at 6% and 3% loading respectively yielding ~ 5.5% and 3.3% sugar syrups which can be fermented to value added chemicals. Saccharomyces cerevisiae LN fermented hydrolysates with 77–97% efficiency producing 0.508 gg−1 and 0.403 gg−1ethanol within 24 h consuming all glucose while xylose was unutilized. Material calculations showed that this process converted 63% of cellulose present in rice straw to ethanol potentially yielding 135 L ethanol and ~ 100 Kg lignin per ton of rice straw with limited water use.

Characterizing the solid hydrolysis product, UF4(H2O)2.5, generated from neat water reactions with UF4 at room temperature.

Uranium tetrafluoride (UF4) is an important intermediate in the production of UF6 and uranium metal. Room temperature hydrolysis of UF4 was investigated using a combination of Fluorine-19 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (19F NMR), Raman and infrared spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, and microscopy measurements. UF4(H2O)2.5 was identified as the primary solid hydrolysis product when anhydrous UF4 was stirred in deionized water. Static NMR and 19F magic angle spinning NMR measurements revealed that a small amount of uranyl fluoride can also form when anhydrous UF4 is left in water, although this species comprises less than 5% of the total sample with the remaining parts being UF4(H2O)2.5. Since UF4 is generally considered to be stable under ambient conditions, these findings mark the first time that a room temperature reaction between UF4 and water has been detected and analyzed without interference from additional chemical reagents. The Raman characterization of UF4(H2O)2.5 presented herein is the first on record. Since UF4 is one of the most used intermediates during chemical conversion of uranium ore to uranium metal for nuclear fuel and weapons, the results presented herein are applicable to numerous nuclear science fields where solid state detection of uranium is of value, including nuclear nonproliferation, nuclear forensics, and environmental remediation.