Core-shell graphene oxide-polymer hollow fibers as water filters with enhanced performance and selectivity

Commercial hollow fiber filters for micro- and ultrafiltration are based on size exclusion and do not allow the removal of small molecules such as antibiotics. Here, we demonstrate that a graphene oxide (GO) layer can be firmly immobilized either inside or outside polyethersulfone-polyvinylpyrrolidone hollow fiber (Versatile PES (R), hereafter PES) modules and that the resulting core-shell fibers inherits the microfiltration ability of the pristine PES fibers and the adsorption selectivity of GO. GO nanosheets were deposited on the fiber surface by filtration of a GO suspension through a PES cartridge (cut-off 0.1-0.2 mu m), then fixed by thermal annealing at 80 degrees C, rendering the GO coating stably fixed and unsoluble. The filtration cut-off, retention selectivity and efficiency of the resulting inner and outer modified hollow fibers (HF-GO) were tested by performing filtration on water and bovine plasma spiked with bovine serum albumin (BSA, 66 kDa, approximate to 15 nm size), monodisperse polystyrene nanoparticles (52 nm and 303 nm sizes), with two quinolonic antibiotics (ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin) and rhodamine B (RhB). These tests showed that the microfiltration capability of PES was retained by HF-GO, and in addition the GO coating can capture the molecular contaminants while letting through BSA and smaller polystyrene nanoparticles. Combined XRD, molecular modelling and adsorption experiments show that the separation mechanism does not rely only on physical size exclusion, but involves intercalation of solute molecules between the GO layers

Yield of Dimethyl Ether and Gasoline as a Function of Morphology of the ZSM-5 Catalyst

In this project, the catalytic behavior of some zeolite ZSM-5 crystals was evaluated. These crystals were both commercial and prepared at Luleå University of Technology. Catalytic tests done at 250°C and 370°C. Among the tested crystals there were big coffin shaped single crystals and also agglomerates of small grains with the same Si/Al ratio so it should have been possible to evaluate the influence of the morphology on the catalytic activity and the selectivity. The catalysts were characterized using gas adsorption and scanning electron microscopy. For all the catalysts, at the higher temperature, methanol was mostly converted to gasoline and almost no DME was produced because the reaction arrived to completion. It was expected that the more mesoporous crystals should give higher yield of DME at the lower temperature but this was not observed experimentally. This may be caused by that the separation of DME and methanol was not sufficient on the GC column.Validerat; 20110903 (anonymous

Selective Dehydration of Methanol to Dimethyl Ether on ZSM-5 Nanocrystals

The effects of crystal size and mesoporosity on the performance of various synthesized ZSM-5 zeolites in catalytic dehydration of methanol to dimethyl ether (DME) reaction have been investigated. The reactions were carried out in a continuous flow fixed-bed reactor at temperatures between 180 and 320°C and 1.1 bar. It was found that methanol conversion enhances by decreasing crystal size and increasing the reaction temperature. Uniform nanocrystal catalysts showed highest activity and stability for methanol dehydration to dimethyl ether in the temperature range studied. On the other hand, both the activity and selectivity of large crystals were low. The high activity and DME yield for the nanocrystals is due to smaller mass transport resistance for the Nano-ZSM-5 sample, due to the small crystal size. Furthermore, it was found that the selective dehydration of methanol to dimethyl ether on ZSM-5 catalyst is based on the product selectivity inside the pore channels; in other words, the selectivity to dimethyl ether should be 100% if there is no acid site on the external surface. From this evidence, it is concluded that in methanol dehydration to DME, the reaction activity is related to the crystal size, whereas the DME selectivity is determined by the uniformity of Al distribution, which determines acidity of external surface and low mass transport resistance of small crystal size. Therefore, a decrease in the number of acid sites on the external surface and reduction in crystal size are key ways to enhance catalytic selectivity and activity, respectively

Study of Energy Valorization of Disposable Masks via Thermochemical Processes: Devolatilization Tests and Simulation Approach

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the use of medical protective equipment, including face masks, to protect the individual from the virus. This work studies the feasibility of using these materials as fuel for thermochemical processes for the production of syngas. A preliminary physic-chemical characterization was made by means of moisture and ash determination, thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray fluorescence. Afterward, pyrolysis and gasification tests were executed in a laboratory-scale fluidized bed reactor with chirurgical and FFP2 masks investigating four temperature levels and three different operating conditions (fluidizing agents and dry/wet sample). A qualitative and quantitative analysis of condensable aromatic hydrocarbons in the produced gas, collected during the test campaign, was performed employing a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer. The experimental data from the tests were used to propose a hybrid approach to simulate the gasification process, based on experimental laws for the devolatilization step and a thermodynamic equilibrium approach for char gasification. The resulting data were compared with a thermodynamic equilibrium model, showing that the new approach captures non-equilibrium effects always present in real gasifiers operation