Global warming and associated global climate change have led to serious efforts towards reducing CO₂ emissions through the CO₂ capture from the major emission sources. CO₂ capture using the amine functionalized adsorbents is regard as a direct and effective way to reducing CO₂ emissions due to their large CO₂ adsorption amount, excellent CO₂ adsorption selectivity and lower energy requirements for adsorbent regeneration. Moreover, large number of achievements on the amine functionalized solid adsorbent have been recorded for the enhanced CO₂ capture in the past few years. In view of this, we review and analyze the recent advances in amine functionalized solid adsorbents prepared with different supporting materials including mesoporous silica, zeolite, porous carbon materials, metal organic frameworks(MOF) and other composite porous materials. In addition, amine functionalized solid adsorbents derived from waste resources are also reviewed because of the large number demand for cost-effective carbon dioxide adsorbents and the processing needs of waste resources. Considering the importance of the stability of the adsorbent in practical applications, advanced research in the capture cycle stability has also been summarized and analyzed. Finally, we summarize the review and offer the recommendations for the development of amine-based solid adsorbents for carbon dioxide capture.

Studies on the degradation process of waste polyethylene terephthalate (PET) have become increasingly mature, but there are relatively few studies on the separation of degradation products. The products contain many components and the separation of which is difficult. Therefore, the study on phase equilibrium thermodynamics of bis-2-hydroxyethyl terephthalate (BHET) is of great theoretical significance and practical value to provide basic data for the BHET crystallization separation. In this work, the degraded products were purified and characterized. The solubility of BHET in methanol, ethanol, ethylene glycol, water and the mixture of ethylene glycol + water were determined by static method. The experimental results were correlated with different models, such as ideal solution (IS) model, λh equation, Apelblat equation and NRTL model. Based on the van't Hoff equation, the mixing Gibbs energy, enthalpy and entropy were calculated. From this work, the basic data which can be used to guide the crystallization process of BHET were obtained, including solubility data, correlation model and thermodynamic properties.

With increasing importance attached by the international community to global climate change and the pressing energy revolution, hydrogen energy, as a clean, efficient energy carrier, can serve as an important support for the establishment of a sustainable society. The United States and countries in Europe have already formulated relevant policies and plans for the use and development of hydrogen energy. While in China, aided by the “30·60” goal, the development of the hydrogen energy, production, transmission, and storage industries is steadily advancing. This article comprehensively considers the new energy revolution and the relevant plans of various countries, focuses on the principles, development status and research hot spots, and summarizes the different green hydrogen production technologies and paths. In addition, based on its assessment of current difficulties and bottlenecks in the production of green hydrogen and the overall global hydrogen energy development status, this article discusses the development of green hydrogen technologies.

The particle size distribution of polymer always develops in emulsion polymerization systems, and certain key phenomena/mechanisms as well as properties of the final product are significantly affected by this distribution. This review mainly focuses on the measurement methods of particle size distribution rather than average particle size during the emulsion polymerization process, including the existing off-line, on-line, and in-line measurement methods. Moreover, the principle, resolution, performance, advantages, and drawbacks of various methods for evaluating particle size distribution are contrasted and illustrated. Besides, several possible development directions or solutions of the in-line measurement technology are explored

With the widespread use of lithium ion batteries in portable electronics and electric vehicles, further improvements in the performance of lithium ion battery materials and accurate prediction of battery state are of increasing interest to battery researchers. Machine learning, one of the core technologies of artificial intelligence, is rapidly changing many fields with its ability to learn from historical data and solve complex tasks, and it has emerged as a new technique for solving current research problems in the field of lithium ion batteries. This review begins with the introduction of the conceptual framework of machine learning and the general process of its application, then reviews some of the progress made by machine learning in both improving battery materials design and accurate prediction of battery state, and finally points out the current application problems of machine learning and future research directions. It is believed that the use of machine learning will further promote the large-scale application and improvement of lithium-ion batteries.

Catalyst-coated membranes (CCMs) have gained popularity among membrane electrode assembly (MEA) fabricators for their abilities and advantages compared with those of other methods, such as catalyst-coated substrates (CCSs). CCMs show a profound new analysis for reducing platinum (Pt) catalyst loading. In addition, they increase the total number of reactions that occur on the MEA because of their active area amplification, which leads to an improved catalyst-utilization efficiency rate. Moreover, several characteristics are involved in the MEA fabrication methods. Material-manufacturing effects with regard to catalyst inks and analysis of the overall performance of MEAs prepared by the CCM and CCS methods are deliberated. This deliberation emphasizes the practical approaches in minimizing performance deterioration during the fabrication of MEAs using the CCM method and converses the commercialization of the CCM fabrication method toward developing an end product. Novel research is required for MEA fabrication using the CCM methods to ensure that the fuel cell performance is improved. Therefore, this review is focusing on the pros and cons of both distinguished methods, that is, CCM and CCS fabrication, for better comparison.

With the development of digital products, electric vehicles and energy storage technology, electronic chemicals play an increasingly prominent role in the field of new energy such as lithium-ion batteries. Electronic chemicals have attracted extensive attention in various fields. Characteristics of high-end electronic chemicals are high purity and low impurity content, which requires a very strict separation and purification process. At present, crystallization is a key technology for their separation and purification of electronic chemicals. In this work, the representative fluorine-containing compounds in cathode and anode materials, separator and electrolyte of lithium-ion batteries are introduced. The latest technologies for the preparation and purification of four kinds of fluorine-containing battery chemicals by crystallization technology are reviewed. In addition, the research prospects and suggestions are put forward for the separation of fluorine-containing battery chemicals.

Polyoxymethylene dimethyl ethers are recognized as the prospective diesel additive to decrease the pollutant emission from the light-duty vehicles, which can be polymerize form the monomer of dimethoxymethane (DMM). The industrial synthesis of DMM is mainly involved two-step process: methanol is oxidized to form the formaldehyde in fixed bed reactor and then reacted with the generated formaldehyde through acetalization in continuous stirred-tank reactor. Due to huge energy consumption, this typical synthesis route of DMM needs to be upgraded and more green routes should be determined. In this review, four state-of-the-art one-step direct synthetic routes, including two upgrading routes (methanol direct oxidation and direct dehydrogenation) and two green routes (methanol diethyl ether direct oxidation and carbon oxides direct hydrogenation), have been summarized and compared. Combination with the reaction mechanism and catalytic performance on the different catalysts, the challenges and opportunities for every synthetic route are proposed. The relationships between catalyst structure and property in different synthesis strategy are also investigated and then the suggestions of the design of catalyst are given about future research directions that efforts should be made in. Hopefully, this review can bridge the gap between newly developed catalysts and synthesis technology to realize their commercial applications in the near future.

For supported metal catalyst systems, the impact on catalysis originates from the interaction between metal nanoparticles and their support. Metal-support interactions (MSI) can change electronic properties, geometric morphologies, or chemical compositions of metal nanoparticles to make active sites have specific properties and catalytic activities. Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) is one of the most effective ways to convert cheap non-petroleum-based carbon sources into high value-added chemicals or ultra-clean liquid fuels. In this review, we summarize and classify the impact of MSI on the catalytic activity, selectivity and stability of FTS catalysts. The strategies to tune MSI are introduced in detail, and the recent development of high-efficiency FTS catalysts through the manipulation of SMI strategies has been highlighted. It is emphasized that the active metal sites, which are endowed with special functions by MSI, can change the strength of adsorption bond of adsorbates, consequently controlling the product distribution.

With the increasing demand for synthetic rubber, the purification of 1,3-butadiene (C₄H₆) is of great industrial significance. Herein, the successful removal of n-butene (n-C₄H₈) and iso-butene (iso-C₄H₈) from 1,3-butadiene (C₄H₆) was realized by synthesizing a novel TaOF₅^2- anion-pillared ultramicroporous material TaOFFIVE-3-Ni (also referred to as ZU-96, TaOFFIVE=TaOF₅^2-, 3=pyrazine). Single-component adsorption isotherms show that TaOFFIVE-3-Ni can achieve the exclusion of n-C₄H₈ and iso-C₄H₈ in the low pressure region (0-30 kPa), and uptake C₄H₆ with a high capacity of 92.78 cm³·cm^-3 (298 K and 100 kPa). The uptake ratio of C₄H₆/iso-C₄H₈ on TaOFFIVE-3-Ni was 20.83 (298 K and 100 kPa), which was the highest among the state-of-the-art adsorbents reported so far. With the rotation of anion and pyrazine ring, the pore size changes continuously, which makes smaller-size C₄H₆ enter the channel while larger-size n-C₄H₈ and iso-C₄H₈ are completely blocked. The excellent breakthrough performance of TaOFFIVE-3-Ni shows great potential in industrial separation of C₄ olefins. The specific adsorption binding sites within ZU-96 was further revealed through the modeling calculation.

Ammonium phosphate fertilizer is the compounds containing nitrogen and phosphorus that are usually produced through the neutralization reaction of phosphoric acid and ammonia. At present, there are a variety of products, such as slurry monoammonium phosphate (MAP), diammonium phosphate (DAP), industrial grade MAP, water soluble MAP, water soluble ammonium polyphosphate (APP) and so on. After more than 60 years of development, China’s ammonium phosphate fertilizer industry has experienced the road of from scratch and from weak to strong. The successful development of the slurry MAP technology ended the history that the high concentration phosphate fertilizer cannot be produced by using the medium and low grade phosphate ore. The continuous, stable and large-scale production of DAP plant provides sufficient guarantee for DAP products in China. The development of new ammonium phosphate fertilizer products, such as industrial grade MAP, water soluble MAP, water soluble APP, provides technical support for the transformation and upgrading of phosphorus chemical enterprises. In this paper, the production methods, the development history and the latest research progress of ammonium phosphate fertilizers were reviewed.

Enzyme-polymer conjugates are complex molecules with great practical significance. This work was designed to develop a novel enzyme-polymer conjugate by covalently coupling a zwitterionic polymer with side dimethyl chains (pID) to Candida rugosa lipase (CRL) via the reaction between the anhydrides of polymer chains with the amino groups of the enzyme. The resulting two CRL-pID conjugates with different pID grafting densities were investigated in term of the catalytic activity, stability and structural changes. In comparison with native CRL, both the CRL conjugates displayed 2.2 times higher activity than the native enzyme, and showed an increase in the maximum reaction rate (V_max) and a decrease in the Michaelis constant (K_m), thus resulting in about three-fold increases in the catalytic efficiency (k_cat/K_m). These are mainly attributed to the activation of lipase by the hydrophobic alky side chains. Moreover, the thermostability and pH tolerance of the lipase conjugates were significantly enhanced due to the stabilizing effect of the zwitterion moieties. For instance, a five-fold increase of the enzyme half-life at 50℃ for the high-pID conjugated CRL was observed. Spectroscopic studies reveal that the pID conjugation protected the enzyme in the changes in its microenvironment and conformation, well correlating with enhanced activity and stability of lipase conjugates. The findings indicate that enzyme conjugation to the zwitterionic polymer is promising for improving enzyme performance and deserves further development.

The need for sustainable fuels has resulted in the production of renewables from a wide range of sources, in particular organic fats and oils. The use of biofuel is becoming more widespread as a result of environmental and economic considerations. Several efforts have been made to substitute fossil fuels with green fuels. Ester molecules extracted from processed animal fats and organic plant materials are considered alternatives for the use in modern engine technologies. Two different methods have been adopted for converting esters in vegetable oils/animal fats into compounds consistent with petroleum products, namely the transesterification and the hydro-processing of ester bonds for the production of biodiesel. This review paper primarily focuses on conventional and renewable biodiesel feedstocks, the catalyst used and reaction kinetics of the production process.

Cinnamon essential oil with many bioactivities is an important raw material for the production of various chemicals, and the conventional hydrodistillation (HD) for cinnamon oil extraction always require a longer extraction time. In this work, ultrasound-assisted hydrodistillation extraction (UAHDE) technique was employed to enhance the extraction efficiency of essential oils from cinnamon barks. The parameters with significant effects on the essential oil extraction efficiency (ultrasound time, ultrasound power, extraction time, liquid-solid ratio) were optimized, and the proposed UAHDE was compared with the conventional HD extraction in terms of the extraction time, extraction yield, and physicochemical properties of extracted oils. Compared to the HD extraction, the UAHDE resulted in a shorter extraction time and a higher extraction yield. Using GC-MS analysis, the UAHDE provided more valuable essential oil with a high content of the vital trans-cinnamaldehyde compounds compared with the HD. Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) confirmed the efficiency of ultrasound irradiation for cinnamon oil extraction. In addition, the analysis of electric consumption and CO₂ emission shows that the UAHDE process is a more economic and environment-friendly approach. Thus, UAHDE is an efficient and green technology for the cinnamon essential oil extraction, which could improve the quantity and quality of cinnamon oils.

Cyclohexanol is a commonly used organic compound. Currently, the most promising industrial process for synthesizing cyclohexanol, by cyclohexene hydration, suffers from a low conversion rate and difficult separation. In this paper, a three-column process for catalytic distillation applicable in the hydration of cyclohexene to cyclohexanol was established to solve these. Simulation with Aspen Plus shows that the process has good advantages, the conversion of cyclohexene reached 99.3%, and the product purity was ≥99.2%. The stable operation of the distillation system requires a good control scheme. The design of the control scheme is very important. However, at present, the reactive distillation process for cyclohexene hydration is under investigation experimentally and by steady-state simulation. Therefore, three different plant-wide control schemes were established (CS1, CS2, CS3) and the position of temperature sensitive stage was selected by using sensitivity analysis method and singular value decomposition method. The Tyreus-Luyben empirical tuning method was used to tune the controller parameters. Finally, Aspen Dynamics simulation software was used to evaluate the performance of the three control schemes. By introducing ΔF ±20% and x_ENE ±5%, comparison the changes in product purity and yield of the three different control schemes. By comparison, we can see that the control scheme CS3 has the best performance.

The characteristics of the energy structure of rich coal, less oil and less gas, coupling with a high external dependence on oil and natural gas and the emphasis on the efficient and clean utilisation of coal, have brought opportunities for coal chemical industry. However, with the large-scale popularisation of coal gasification technology, the production and resulting storage of coal gasification slag continue to increase, which not only result in serious environmental pollution and a waste of terrestrial resources, but also seriously affect the sustainable development of coal chemical enterprises. Hence, the treatment of coal gasification slag is extremely important. In this paper, the production, composition, morphology, particle size structure and water holding characteristics of coal gasification slag are introduced, and the methods of carbon ash separation of gasification slag, both domestically and abroad, are summarised. In addition, the paper also summarises the research progress on gasification slag in building materials, ecological restoration, residual carbon utilisation and other high-value utilisation, and ultimately puts forward the idea of the comprehensive utilisation of gasification slag. For large-scale consumption to solve the environmental problems of enterprises and achieve high-value utilisation to increase the economic benefits of enterprises, it is urgent to zealously design a reasonable and comprehensive utilisation technologies with simple operational processes, strong adaptability and economic benefits.

Study on gas-liquid flow in stirred tank with two combinations of dual-impeller (six-bent-bladed turbine (6BT)+six-inclined-blade down-pumping turbine (6IT_D), the six-bent-bladed turbine (6BT)+six-inclined-blade up-pumping turbine (6IT_U)) was conducted using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and population balance model (PBM) (CFD-PBM) coupled model. The local bubble size was captured by particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurement. The gas holdup, bubble size distribution and gas-liquid interfacial area were explored at different conditions through numerical simulation. The results showed that the 4 mm bubbles accounted for the largest proportion of 33% at the gas flow rates Q = 0.76 m³·h^-1 and 22% at Q = 1.52 m³·h^-1 for combined impeller of 6BT + 6IT_U, while the bubbles of 4.7 mm and 5.5 mm were the largest proportion for 6BT + 6IT_D combination, i.e. 25% at Q = 0.76 m³·h^-1 and 22% at Q = 1.52 m³·h^-1, respectively, which indicated that 6BT + 6IT_U could reduce bubble size effectively and promote gas dispersion. In addition, the gas holdup around impellers was increased obviously with the speed compared with gas flow rate. So it was concluded that 6IT_U impeller could be more conductive to the bubble dispersion with more uniform bubble size, which embodied the advantages of 6BT + 6IT_U combination in gas-liquid mixing.

The knowledge of solubility of a salt in either the pure solvent or blend solvent is of great importance for studying or operating the crystallization, extraction, and distillation processes. The solubility of sodium acetate (NaAc) in four pure solvents (water, ethanol, acetic acid and 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol) and four binary solvents (water–ethanol, water-acetic acid, acetic acid–ethanol, and acetic acid-ethyl acetate) were measured by using the laser dynamic method at temperatures from 288.15 K to 338.15 K at 0.1 MPa. The results showed that the solubility of NaAc was influenced by either the solution temperature or solvent composition. The aqueous sodium acetate solution possessed the maximal solubility under the experimental conditions. The solubility of NaAc in 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol was found to be decreased with the increase of the solution temperature. While, the solubilities of NaAc in other seven solvents increased as the solution temperature was elevated. Besides, five correlation models, including the van't Hoff model, modified Apelblat model, Yaws model, λh model, and modified Apelblat-Jouyban-Acree model were used to correlate the solubility data of those sodium acetate solutions with acceptable deviation, respectively. Finally, van't Hoff analysis method was selected to analyze the change law of thermodynamic properties of a salt during the dissolution process.

Solid phase extraction is widely used in sample pretreatment, concentration and analysis processes due to high selectivity and suitability for low concentration sample system. In this review, we systematically summarized and discussed the development trends of solid phase extraction by bibliometrics method. By analyzing papers output scale, the research and development direction of solid phase extraction technology is prospected. We also give an overview on current strategies of novel solid phase extraction from the separation medium and separation technology. The paper aims to describe the global research profile and the development trends of solid phase extraction, to help researchers to accurately grasp the research trend and to provide support for scientific research institutions to formulate scientific policies and strategic plans. Furthermore, the prospect of the development and application of solid phase extraction is also discussed.

There has been a strong interest in technologies suited for mining and processing of low-grade ores because of the rapid depletion of mineral resources in the world. In most cases, the extraction of copper from such raw materials is achieved by applying the leaching procedures. However, its low extraction efficiency and the long extraction period limit its large-scale commercial applications in copper recovery, even though bioleaching has been widely employed commercially for heap and dump bioleaching of secondary copper sulfide ores. Overcoming the technical challenges requires a better understanding of leaching kinetics and on-site microbial activities. Herein, this paper reviews the current status of main commercial biomining operations around the world, identifies factors that affect chalcocite dissolution both in chemical leaching and bioleaching, summarizes the related kinetic research, and concludes with a discussion of two on-site chalcocite heap leaching practices. Further, the challenges and innovations for the future development of chalcocite hydrometallurgy are presented in the end.