Valorization of lignin waste from hydrothermal treatment of biomass : towards porous carbonaceous composites for continuous hydrogenation

Alkali lignin has been accumulated as a by-product mixed with barium salts during the hydrothermal treatment of rye straw with Ba(OH)2. Direct heat treatment followed by acid washing of such mineralized lignin were performed in order to obtain a porous material that was further exploited for the synthesis of a carbonaceous supported FeNi nanoparticle composite as active catalysts for continuous hydrogenation

Carbon nanoarchitectures by design: pre-organizing squaric acid with urea

The synthesis of carbon nanoarchitectures from pre-organized precursor complexes with appropriate bonding patterns, here squaric acid and urea, is described. It is shown that depending on the precursor ratio, different crystal morphologies are formed, which can be transformed into nitrogen-containing carbons with either lamellar or hollow tubelike morphology. It is noted that despite the very different architecture, the composition of the final carbons is always close to a ‘C2N’ stoichiometry

Актуализация принципов планирования деятельности предприятия

Рассматриваются вопросы развития некоторых принципов планирования показателей деятельности предприятий в контексте современной парадигмы менеджмента, дается характеристика принципов планирования и условий их применения

Bioprinted Multi-Cell Type Lung Model for the Study of Viral Inhibitors

Influenza A virus (IAV) continuously causes epidemics and claims numerous lives every year. The available treatment options are insufficient and the limited pertinence of animal models for human IAV infections is hampering the development of new therapeutics. Bioprinted tissue models support studying pathogenic mechanisms and pathogen-host interactions in a human micro tissue environment. Here, we describe a human lung model, which consisted of a bioprinted base of primary human lung fibroblasts together with monocytic THP-1 cells, on top of which alveolar epithelial A549 cells were printed. Cells were embedded in a hydrogel consisting of alginate, gelatin and collagen. These constructs were kept in long-term culture for 35 days and their viability, expression of specific cell markers and general rheological parameters were analyzed. When the models were challenged with a combination of the bacterial toxins LPS and ATP, a release of the proinflammatory cytokines IL-1β and IL-8 was observed, confirming that the model can generate an immune response. In virus inhibition assays with the bioprinted lung model, the replication of a seasonal IAV strain was restricted by treatment with an antiviral agent in a dose-dependent manner. The printed lung construct provides an alveolar model to investigate pulmonary pathogenic biology and to support development of new therapeutics not only for IAV, but also for other viruses

Bio-inspired carbon electro-catalysis for the oxygen reduction reaction

We report the synthesis, characterisation and catalytic performance of two nature-inspired biomass-derived electro-catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction in fuel cells. The catalysts were prepared via pyrolysis of a real food waste (lobster shells) or by mimicking the composition of lobster shells using chitin and CaCO3 particles followed by acid washing. The simplified model of artificial lobster was prepared for better reproducibility. The calcium carbonate in both samples acts as a pore agent, creating increased surface area and pore volume, though considerably higher in artificial lobster samples due to the better homogeneity of the components. Various characterisation techniques revealed the presence of a considerable amount of hydroxyapatite left in the real lobster samples after acid washing and a low content of carbon (23%), nitrogen and sulphur (<1%), limiting the surface area to 23 m2/g, and consequently resulting in rather poor catalytic activity. However, artificial lobster samples, with a surface area of ≈200 m2/g and a nitrogen doping of 2%, showed a promising onset potential, very similar to a commercially available platinum catalyst, with better methanol tolerance, though with lower stability in long time testing over 10,000 s

Activated Carbons Prepared through H3PO4-Assisted Hydrothermal Carbonisation from Biomass Wastes: Porous Texture and Electrochemical Performance

Hydrothermal treatment of biomass in the presence of phosphoric acid is proposed for the production of activated carbons (ACs). Interestingly, H3PO4 promotes the fixation of carbon atoms in the solid during hydrothermal treatment, which renders higher preparation yields than those of the conventional impregnation method. Upon carbonisation of the resulting hydrochars at 450 °C, a notable development of porosity is achieved by using a low amount and concentration of phosphoric acid; these conditions are not adequate for conventional activation. The viability of this process for the sustainable production of ACs has been successfully checked in four biomasses of different composition and structures, and ACs of surface areas above 2000 m2 g−1 and tuneable pore size distribution have been obtained. Electrochemical characterisation of ACs prepared at 750 °C in 1 m H2SO4 demonstrates that capacitances of approximately 150 F g−1 with acceptable rate performance can be obtained through this simple method.This study was supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) of Spain (CTQ2015-66080-R MINECO/FEDER, MAT2013-42007-P, JCI-2012-12664) and Generalitat Valenciana (GRISOLIA/2014/029, PROMETEO/2013/038 and PROMETEOII/2014/010)