Steam reforming of model compounds from biomass fermentation over nanometric ruthenium modified nickel-lanthanum perovskites catalysts

Nanometric ruthenium-modified LaNiO3 perovskites prepared by coprecipitation method in aqueous and non-aqueous solvents were tested as catalysts in the steam reforming of butanol, acetone and ethanol and their mixture, named ABE, usually produced by fermentation. ABE is potentially of great interest for hydrogen production, notwithstanding the strong tendency of this mixture of oxygenated compounds to produce coke in the steam reforming conditions. The tested catalyst showed high feed conversions with improved stability

Improved photocatalytic properties of doped titanium-based nanometric oxides

Photocatalysis is considered one of the most promising technologies for applications in the environmental field especially in the abatement of water-soluble organic pollutants. In this field, titanium dioxide nanoparticles have drawn much attention recently; however, the use of this oxide presents some limitation since it allows to obtain high photoresponse and degradation efficiency only under UV light irradiation, that represents the 3 to 4% of the solar radiation, so preventing its environmental large-scale applications under diffuse daylight. In this work the photocatalytic efficiencyoftitanium-based oxides systems containing alkaline earth metals such as barium and strontium, prepared by a simple sol-gel method was investigated, evaluating the degradation of methylene blue as model compound under UV and visible light irradiation. The results were compared with those obtained with Degussa P25 titanium dioxide. The achieved degradation percentage of methylene blue are very promising showing that under visible light irradiation it is possible to obtain a maximum dye removal percentage ~ 50 % higher than that obtained with the Degussa P25

Viable Recycling of Polystyrene via Hydrothermal Liquefaction and Pyrolysis

Chemical recycling is considered one of the most sustainable solutions to limit the environmental issues related to plastic waste pollution, whereby plastic is converted into more valuable compounds when mechanical recycling is not feasible. Among the most critical fast-growing components of municipal solid waste, polystyrene represents 1/3 of the filling materials in landfills. In this work, the chemical recycling of polystyrene via two main thermochemical processes is investigated: pyrolysis and hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL). The influence of temperature (HTL: 300-360 & DEG;C and pyrolysis: 400-600 & DEG;C) and reaction time (HTL: 1-4 h; pyrolysis: 30 min) on the products obtained was studied. The obtained liquid and solid products were analyzed by using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), an elemental analysis (EA), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and a thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). During HTL, a temperature of 360 & DEG;C and reaction time of 4 h were needed to completely decompose the polystyrene into mainly oil (83%) and water-soluble compounds (10%). The former was mainly composed of aromatics while the water phase was mainly composed of aromatics and oxygenated compounds (benzaldehyde and acetophenone). The pyrolysis led to the formation of 45% gas and 55% oil at 500 & DEG;C, and the oil was 40% styrene. Pyrolysis was thus more selective towards the recovery of the styrene monomer while the HTL can be an effective process to produce renewable aromatics

Biomass Gasification and Tar Reforming in a Two-stage Reactor

Abstract Gasification is recognized as one of the most promising technologies to convert low quality fuels into more valuable ones. The principal problem related with the use of biomass in gasification processes is the high amount of tar released during the pyrolysis step. It is thus necessary to recover the tar and to transform it in lighter combustible gas species such as CH4, CO and H2 by means of catalytic processes. In this work the gasification of olive husk is performed in order to produce a high quality syngas, composed principally by carbon monoxide and hydrogen, using an innovative laboratory scale two-stage reactor. The first stage is used for gasification and the second for catalytic reforming. It is thus possible to recover the tar energy converting it into CO and H2. Ce-promoted bimetallic Ni-Co catalyst was tested and compared with Ni catalyst, both supported on γ-Al2O3

Pure hydrogen production by steam-iron process. The synergic effect of MnO2 and Fe2O3

In the energy transition from fossil to clean fuels, hydrogen plays a key role. Proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) represent the most promising hydrogen application, but they require a pure hydrogen stream (CO < 10 ppm). The steam iron process represents a technology for the production of pure H2, exploiting iron redox cycles. If renewable reducing agents are used, the process can be considered completely green. In this context, bio-ethanol can be an interesting solution that is still not thoroughly explored. In this work, the use of ethanol as a reducing agent in the steam iron process will be investigated. Ethanol, at high temperature, decomposes mainly in syngas but can also form coke, which can compromise the process effectiveness, reacting with water and producing CO together with H2. In this work, the deposition of coke is avoided by controlling the duration of the reduction step; in fact, the data demonstrated that coke deposition is significantly dependent on reduction time. Tests were carried out in a fixed bed reactor using hematite (Fe2O3) as raw iron oxide adopting several reduction times (7 minutes-25 minutes), which correspond to different amount of ethanol fed (5 mmolC2H5OH/gFe2O3-17,95 mmolC2H5OH/gFe2O3). The effect of the addition of MnO2 to increase the reduction degree of iron oxides was explored using different amount of MnO2 (10 wt% and 40 wt% with respect to Fe2O3). The tests were performed at fixed temperatures of 675°C and atmospheric pressure. The optimization of the reduction time, in the chosen operating condition, performed only with Fe2O3, shows that, feeding an amount of 5 mmolC2H5OH/gFe2O3, coke deposition is avoided and, therefore, a pure H2 stream in oxidation is obtained. The addition of MnO2 leads to increased H2 yield and process efficiency, confirming its positive effect on the reduction degree of the solid bed. A reaction pathway to demonstrate the synergic effect of Fe2O3 and MnO2 in the reduction step was proposed in this article

Efficient utilization of Al2O3 as structural promoter of Fe into 2 and 3 steps chemical looping hydrogen process. Pure H2 production from ethanol

Chemical Looping Hydrogen (CLH) allows the direct production of pure hydrogen exploiting the redox properties of Fe, with high flexibility on the type of reductant used. In this work, a highly pure hydrogen stream suitable for the direct use into Proton Exchange membrane Fuel Cells was produced, using bioethanol as renewable fuel. The influence of both redox temperature (675°C–750 °C) and chemical composition of the Fe-based particles (2 wt% and 40 wt% of alumina added) on the carbon formation rate during reduction step was also deeply analyzed. Al2O3 changed both FexOy redox kinetics and equilibrium phases, leading to a complete iron deactivation at high Al2O3 concentration. The addition of an air oxidation step (3 steps CLH) is fundamental to restore the redox activity, with a constant efficiency of about 30% at 750 °C for 10 cycles. Furthermore, Al2O3 promotes the ethanol conversion into carbon, undermining the hydrogen purity

Coupled Biological and Thermochemical Process for Plastic Waste Conversion into Biopolymers

The aqueous phase produced from the hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of three matrices (Plasmix treated with different operative conditions and polystyrene) was subjected to acidogenic fermentation (AF) batch tests to obtain organic acids, which are the ideal substrates for biopolymers (e.g., polyhydroxyalkanoates, PHA) production from mixed microbial cultures (MMC). Parallel tests in the presence of only HTL water fractions or only glucose (an easily biodegradable compound), or in presence of both, were conducted and compared to assess any possible recalcitrant or inhibitory effect of plastic waste from the HTL treatment during the AF process. These tests resulted, within approximately 30 days of operation, in a conversion of 96 ± 21% (COD/COD) of the Plasmix by-products after a 2h thermochemical treatment into organic acids, a 54 ± 7% (COD/COD) of conversion for Plasmix by-products treated 4h, and 29 ± 1% (COD/COD) of conversion in the presence of polystyrene residual water

Green hydrogen production using doped Fe2O3 foams

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).Hydrogen is the ideal energy vector to reduce our fossil-fuels dependency and diminish the climate change consequence. However, current production is still methane based. It is possible to produce hydrogen using bioethanol from the alcoholic fermentation of organic waste by chemical looping processes, but unfortunately current redox systems generate hydrogen with significant traces of CO. In the case of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC), hydrogen must be highly purified to produce electricity. Here, high porosity interconnected Fe2O3 foams doped with 2 wt% Al2O3 were manufactured by the freeze-casting method, obtaining around 5.1 mmol H2 g1 sample of highly pure hydrogen (<10 ppm of CO) consuming only 3.42 mmol of ethanol on each redox cycles, with no deactivation. This result shows the possibility of using an abundant and inexpensive raw material as the iron oxide to scale-up the direct pure H2 production and facilitates its use in the automotive secto

First case of Anaplasma platys infection in a dog from Croatia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>It is known that <it>Anaplasma (A.) platys</it>, the causative agent of infectious canine cyclic thrombocytopenia, is endemic in countries of the Mediterranean basin. However, few reports are available from the Balkans. This case report describes a dog, which was imported from Croatia to Germany in May 2010. One month later the dog was presented to a local veterinarian in Germany due to intermittent/recurrent diarrhoea. Diagnostic tests were performed to identify infections caused by <it>Anaplasma </it>spp., <it>Ehrlichia </it>spp., <it>Hepatozoon canis, Babesia </it>spp., <it>Leishmania </it>spp., <it>Borrelia burgdorferi </it>and/or <it>Dirofilaria immitis</it>.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Haematological examination of a blood smear revealed basophilic inclusions in thrombocytes, which were confirmed as <it>A. platys </it>with a species-specific real-time PCR. Additionally, an infection with <it>Babesia (B.) vogeli </it>was also detected (PCR and serology). No specific antibodies against <it>Anaplasma </it>antigen were detectable. Although the dog showed no specific clinical signs, thrombocytopenia, anaemia and elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) were observed. Sequencing of a 1,348-bp partial ribosomal RNA gene revealed highest homology to <it>A. platys </it>sequences from Thailand, Japan and France.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p><it>A. platys </it>was detected for first time in a dog imported from Croatia. As the dog was also co-infected by <it>B. vogeli</it>, unique serological and haematological findings were recorded. Thrombocytopenia, anaemia and elevated values of C-reactive protein were the laboratory test abnormalities observed in this case. <it>A. platys </it>infections should be considered in dogs coming from Croatia and adjacent regions.</p