BIOMASS CONVERSION AND ITS APPLICATIONS

High worldwide demand for energy, souring prices of petroleum, and concern over global climate change has led to resurgence in the development of alternative energy that can displace fossil transportation fuel. Biomass is one of the important renewable sources for securing future energy supply, production of fine chemicals and high value biodegradable polymers, and sustainable development. Recently, efforts have been devoted to the conversion of lignocellulosic materials into fine chemicals, biopolymers, and biofuels. Attempts to transfer biomass to produce industrially useful polymers and fine-chemicals by traditional biotechnological approaches have obtained only very limited success. An effective biomass conversion requires the interdisciplinary research field which is a unique combination of biotechnology, chemistry, materials science and engineering, and may ultimately lead to cheap and effective processes for conversion of biomass into useful products such as fine chemicals, biopolymers, and biofuels

CONVERSION OF SUGARS INTO 5-HMF

At present, fossil fuels are playing the major role to meet the energy requirements of the world. The large consumption of fossil fuels creates so many environmental problems, such as green-house gases have motivated the search for alternative, renewable fuel options. Biomass is one of the few resources that have the potential to meet the challenges of sustainable and green energy systems. Current biomass resources comprise primarily industrial waste materials such as sawdust or pulp process wastes, hog fuel, forest residues, clean wood waste from landfills, and agricultural prunings and residues from plants such as lignocellulosic materials. There are already a considerable range of chemical building blocks derived from renewable resources. Among them, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is a versatile platform chemical for the synthesis of a wide range of industrially important materials, including biofuels

An Analytical Review on Spark Plasma Sintering of Metals and Alloys: from Processing Window, Phase Transformation, and Property Perspective

10.1080/10408436.2022.2049441Critical Reviews in Solid State and Materials Sciences482169-21

An overview of electrospun nanofibers and their application in energy storage, sensors and wearable/flexible electronics

Wearable and flexible electronics are currently a highly demanded and passionate topic of research owing to their excellent combination of related base functions with stretchability and foldability. Textiles are a universal interface and ideal substrate for the integration of nanomaterials, electronics, and optical devices. Smart/e-textiles are fabrics that have been designed and developed with new technologies that provide benefits to the wearer with increased functionality. The rapid development of technology in smart clothing has opened new innovations and is leading to promising applications, such as the ability to communicate with other devices, conduct energy, self-powered sensing, and safeguarding the user from environmental hazards. This review article focuses on the recent developments in the field of smart/e-textiles and mainly gives attention to electrospun nanofiber-based materials and methods used in wearable/flexible electronics, sensors and energy storage

Elucidating Improvements to MIL‐101(Cr)’s Porosity and Particle Size Distributions based on Innovations and Fine‐Tuning in Synthesis Procedures

Abstract Among the existing metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), MIL‐101(Cr) is renowned for its stability in air and water. As a result, MIL‐101(Cr) has numerous potential applications ranging from adsorptive cooling to catalysis. The industrial‐scale production of MIL‐101(Cr) is necessary before realizing these applications. Yet, there remain two main bottlenecks in preparing MIL‐101(Cr) in bulk: the toxicity of hydrofluoric acid (HF) used in conventional MIL‐101(Cr) synthesis and the challenge of ensuring that the as‐prepared MIL‐101(Cr) is highly porous with specific Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area (SBET) above 4000 m2 g−1. On the laboratory scale, MIL‐101(Cr) often presents SBET 2300–3500 m2 g−1. The synthesis and purification procedures often influence the yield, particle size, porosity, and other properties of MIL‐101(Cr). This critical review examines trends in MIL‐101(Cr) preparation procedures and the MOF's resulting properties to elucidate areas for improvement toward its real‐world applications. The purification processes for conventional HF‐based MIL‐101(Cr) whereby porosities vary despite the same synthesis approach are first investigated. Next, the reported additives for substituting HF and their influence on the resulting MIL‐101(Cr)’s porosity and particle size are discussed. The selection of additives may be application‐specific: exemplified in the examination of MIL‐101(Cr)’s preparation, its corresponding water sorption capacity, and desiccant‐related applications

Electrospun Micro/Nanofiber with Various Structures and Functions for Wearable Physical Sensors

10.1080/15583724.2022.2158467Polymer Reviews633715-76

Waste-to-Energy Technologies: Industrial Progress for Boosting the Circular Economy

Waste-to-energy (WtE) technologies enable us to recover energy from waste in the form of heat, electricity, or fuel. WtE technologies have the potential to confront the vast amount of waste produced and the increasing need for energy worldwide. This chapter describes the technological substratum of the WtE technologies and reviews the engineering aspects related to waste treatment challenges. It explores the progress, barriers, and opportunities of WtE technologies from an industrial perspective and highlights eco-sustainability and socioeconomic issues

Intelligent polymers, fibers and applications

10.3390/polym13091427Polymers139142

A review on electrospun nanofibers based advanced applications: From health care to energy devices

10.3390/polym13213746Polymers1321374