Valorisation of Biowastes for the Production of Green Materials Using Chemical Methods

With crude oil reserves dwindling, the hunt for a sustainable alternative feedstock for fuels and materials for our society continues to expand. The biorefinery concept has enjoyed both a surge in popularity and also vocal opposition to the idea of diverting food-grade land and crops for this purpose. The idea of using the inevitable wastes arising from biomass processing, particularly farming and food production, is, therefore, gaining more attention as the feedstock for the biorefinery. For the three main components of biomass—carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins—there are long-established processes for using some of these by-products. However, the recent advances in chemical technologies are expanding both the feedstocks available for processing and the products that be obtained. Herein, this review presents some of the more recent developments in processing these molecules for green materials, as well as case studies that bring these technologies and materials together into final products for applied usage

Post-annealed silicon nanocrystal formation on substoichiometric SiO

In this work is presented a detailed physicochemical, structural and optical characterization of SiOxNy thin films. The films deposited using PECVD in SiH4-N2O-He discharges were thermally annealed at 1273 K for 1 hour in ambient nitrogen. The film stochiometry was measured by Rutherford Backscattering Spectroscopy. The chemical composition was dominated by silicon suboxide containing some Si-N and Si-H bonds. Raman scattering measurements suggest the formation of nanocrystallite silicon in the annealed films. The Raman observation is strongly supported by Transmission Electron Microscopy analysis which shows a high density of silicon nanocrystals, having a mean radius ranging between 3 and 6 nm. Using Spectroscopic Ellipsometry, we discussed the dielectric function evolution as a function of the deposition parameters

Estimation des sources d'incertitude critiques dans les mesures de débit à l'aide de conditions expérimentales contrôlées

International audienceProviding experimental results along with associated uncertainties is essential not only for ensuring confidence in the quality of the final results but also for guiding improved instrument design and the protocols for measurement acquisition. Moreover, if the uncertainty analysis is conducted in a controlled manner and over a wide range for the measured variables its results can serve as a decision-making aid in conducting new experiments. This paper provides three examples of end-to-end assessments of the impact of uncertainty sources involved in the discharge estimation in open channels using point velocities measured with Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter. The analyzed uncertainty sources are: a) the sampling duration for velocity measurement, b) the number of points in the verticals, and, c) the number of verticals across the measurement cross-section. The raw data for the uncertainty estimations were acquired at the KICT River Experiment Center (South Korea), an experimental facility designed for facilitiating quasi natural-scale experiments. The three sources of uncertainties are assembled in practical visualization means that can be used for planning the acquisition of new experiments with similar instruments

Si nanocrystals embedded in an amorphous SiNx matrix: evidences of partial crystallization and limited phase separation after high temperature annealing

International audienc

Si nanocrystals embedded in an amorphous SiNx matrix: evidences of partial crystallization and limited phase separation after high temperature annealing

International audienc

Si nanocrystals embedded in an amorphous SiNx matrix: evidences of partial crystallization and limited phase separation after high temperature annealing

International audienc