Biofuels from waste to road transport

Biofuels from Waste to Road (WASTE2ROAD) is an EU funded project under the Grant Agreement No. 818120 within the LC-SC3-RES-21-2018 call, “Development of next generation biofuels and alternative renewable fuel technologies for road transport”, as a Research and Innovation Action of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme. The project started in the fall 2018 and will run for 4 years. In 2014, total waste production in the EU amounted to 2.5 billion tons. From this total only a limited (albeit increasing) share (36%) was recycled, while the rest was landfilled or burned, of which some 600 million tons could have been recycled or reused. Conversion of all sustainably available biogenic wastes and residues to biofuels could provide 27% of total transport fuel by 2050, achieving around 2.1 gigatons of CO2 emission reductions per year. The increasing demand for biofuels[1] implies the need for the transformation of diverse bio-resources into liquid fuels, and includes transformation of the biogenic part of municipal and industrial wastes into such biofuels. This clearly is a stepping stone to achieve the European goals[2] but it also poses challenges, such as 1) diversity and inhomogeneity of wastes throughout Europe (variable composition depending on the type of waste and geographical location), 2) the complexity of the conversion of wastes compared to fossil oils, 3) the technological aspects of co-refining and 4) high overall costs with moderate process performance. [1] https://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/Biofuels_Roadmap_WEB.pdf [2] https://europeanclimate.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/WASTED-final.pdf Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Predicting crystal growth via a unified kinetic three-dimensional partition model

Understanding and predicting crystal growth is fundamental to the control of functionality in modern materials. Despite investigations for more than one hundred years1, 2, 3, 4, 5, it is only recently that the molecular intricacies of these processes have been revealed by scanning probe microscopy6, 7, 8. To organize and understand this large amount of new information, new rules for crystal growth need to be developed and tested. However, because of the complexity and variety of different crystal systems, attempts to understand crystal growth in detail have so far relied on developing models that are usually applicable to only one system9, 10, 11. Such models cannot be used to achieve the wide scope of understanding that is required to create a unified model across crystal types and crystal structures. Here we describe a general approach to understanding and, in theory, predicting the growth of a wide range of crystal types, including the incorporation of defect structures, by simultaneous molecular-scale simulation of crystal habit and surface topology using a unified kinetic three-dimensional partition model. This entails dividing the structure into ‘natural tiles’ or Voronoi polyhedra that are metastable and, consequently, temporally persistent. As such, these units are then suitable for re-construction of the crystal via a Monte Carlo algorithm. We demonstrate our approach by predicting the crystal growth of a diverse set of crystal types, including zeolites, metal–organic frameworks, calcite, urea and L-cystine

<i>CrystalGrower</i>: a generic computer program for Monte Carlo modelling of crystal growth.

From Europe PMC via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: ppub 2020-11-01, epub 2020-11-18Publication status: PublishedA Monte Carlo crystal growth simulation tool, CrystalGrower, is described which is able to simultaneously model both the crystal habit and nanoscopic surface topography of any crystal structure under conditions of variable supersaturation or at equilibrium. This tool has been developed in order to permit the rapid simulation of crystal surface maps generated by scanning probe microscopies in combination with overall crystal habit. As the simulation is based upon a coarse graining at the nanoscopic level features such as crystal rounding at low supersaturation or undersaturation conditions are also faithfully reproduced. CrystalGrower permits the incorporation of screw dislocations with arbitrary Burgers vectors and also the investigation of internal point defects in crystals. The effect of growth modifiers can be addressed by selective poisoning of specific growth sites. The tool is designed for those interested in understanding and controlling the outcome of crystal growth through a deeper comprehension of the key controlling experimental parameters

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (3rd edition)

In 2008 we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, research on this topic has continued to accelerate, and many new scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Accordingly, it is important to update these guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Various reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. For example, a key point that needs to be emphasized is that there is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers or volume of autophagic elements (e.g., autophagosomes or autolysosomes) at any stage of the autophagic process versus those that measure fl ux through the autophagy pathway (i.e., the complete process including the amount and rate of cargo sequestered and degraded). In particular, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation must be differentiated from stimuli that increase autophagic activity, defi ned as increased autophagy induction coupled with increased delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (inmost higher eukaryotes and some protists such as Dictyostelium ) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). In other words, it is especially important that investigators new to the fi eld understand that the appearance of more autophagosomes does not necessarily equate with more autophagy. In fact, in many cases, autophagosomes accumulate because of a block in trafficking to lysosomes without a concomitant change in autophagosome biogenesis, whereas an increase in autolysosomes may reflect a reduction in degradative activity. It is worth emphasizing here that lysosomal digestion is a stage of autophagy and evaluating its competence is a crucial part of the evaluation of autophagic flux, or complete autophagy. Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of methods for use by investigators who aim to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as for reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to monitor autophagy. Along these lines, because of the potential for pleiotropic effects due to blocking autophagy through genetic manipulation it is imperative to delete or knock down more than one autophagy-related gene. In addition, some individual Atg proteins, or groups of proteins, are involved in other cellular pathways so not all Atg proteins can be used as a specific marker for an autophagic process. In these guidelines, we consider these various methods of assessing autophagy and what information can, or cannot, be obtained from them. Finally, by discussing the merits and limits of particular autophagy assays, we hope to encourage technical innovation in the field

Nanotechnology in SINTEF: Overview, Strategy and Recommendations

-STF90 A05407 A Strategic Working Group (SWG) was established to develop SINTEF’s strategy within Nanotechnology with representatives from SINTEF ICT and Materials and Chemistry. SINTEF looks upon nanotechnology as an important strategic area which provides unique opportunities due to the inter- and multi-disciplinary character and skills of the organization. The prioritization of strategic research within selected fields can open new markets and therefore points to an application-oriented approach which should take account of criteria; based on core expertise where SINTEF has critical mass, this being supported by basic research at a high international level and linked to activities where SINTEF or its strategic partners operate state-of-the-art infrastructure. A prerequisite to building a solid platform for success in nanotechnology are is through alliances, in particular with the universities NTNU in Trondheim (Nanolab) and UoO in Oslo (MiNaLab).SINTEF has a considerable level of resources and activities covering all aspects of the field. Mainly centred within the two divisions (SINTEF Materials and Chemistry and SINTEF ICT). A dialogue with relevant bodies and organisations has revealed that potential customers have shown a cautious and critical interest and have limited activities in this field at the present time. Health, Environment, Safety and Ethics issues are naturally considered to be important aspects of Nanotechnologies that must be thoroughly accounted for, particularly when such technologies are being actively investigated in projects and may result in products that become widely available. The SWG has thus proposed a set of recommendations, with concrete follow-up actions that have been linked to high level goals. Oppdragsgiver: SINTE

Structural changes in SAPO-34 due to hydrothermal treatment. A NMR, XRD, and DRIFTS study

When SAPO-34 is used as an industrial MTO catalyst, structural transformations leading to permanent deactivation are inevitable. The performance loss is linked principally to a redistribution of Si in the material, leading to the formation of Si-islands/aggregates with a concomitant loss of Brønsted acidic sites and catalytic activity. In this work we have studied transformations taking place in a SAPO-34 sample after hydrothermal treatment by studying two samples with different levels of Si; 7 atomic % and 13 atomic % Si T-atoms, corresponding to about one and two Si per CHA cage respectively. The 13% Si sample contains significant amount of silicon islands in its as-synthesized form, while the 7% Si sample does not. The 7% Si sample was steamed for a week at 700 °C and a partial pressure of steam of 0.7 atm. The changes were analysed in the context of Si-island formation, and compared with the 13% Si sample. The results clearly illustrated existence of two distinct types of local aggregation of silicon: Silicon islands produced during synthesis and aggregate silicon reminiscent of silicon islands induced by hydrothermal treatment. The materials were synthesized with full 29Si isotopic enrichment and allowed us, for the first time, to characterise the multiplicity of silicon species in great detail by 29Si solid state NMR.acceptedVersio