Tropical fruit waste-derived mesoporous rock-like Fe2O3/Ccomposite fabricated with amphiphilic surfactant-templating approach showing massive potential for high-tech applications

Recently, the glycolipids biosurfactant materials have widely been utilized for many industrial applications due to their feasible surface activity, biodegradable as well as eco-friendly nature. Even though many of the earlier studies have been reported on such kind of surfactants, in this study we focused on porous rocks-like Fe2O3/C composites, which were magnificently synthesized from a novel tropical fruit biomass, using a glycolipid biosurfactant with high specific surface area of about 466.9 m2/g via a biofunctional single-step thermochemical method. They could be applied as an adsorbent to adsorb the pharmaceutical pollutants mainly, DCF from aqueous solution. Moreover, the highest adsorption capacity for DCF could be achieved, which is of about 77.51 mg/g. Furthermore, as-prepared glycolipid functionalized Fe2O3/C composites were used as electrode materials for high-performance supercapacitors. Galvanostatic charge-discharge results showed that the Fe2O3/C modified electrode possesses a specific capacitance of about 374 F/g with a current density of 0.2 A/g and it has retained 84% of capacitance, even after 3000 cycles. The remarkable performances are mainly due to the surface amendments of the Fe2O3/C composite, using biologically produced glycolipid surfactant, would have more favorable foreground towards the upcoming energy crises.publishedVersio

Novel organometallic catalyst for efficient valorization of lipids extracted from Prunus domestica kernel shell in sustainable fuel production.

This study focuses on converting Plum Kernel Shell (PKS) waste biomass into biodiesel using a novel synthesized heterogeneous catalyst, contributing to the pursuit of renewable fuel from sustainable resources. Plum Kernel Shell (PKS) is waste biomass generated from plum fruit and available abundantly; utilizing it can help in many ways, such as overcoming environmental issues and promoting a circular economy. The precursor for the heterogeneous catalyst is derived from post-oil extraction waste biomass and further modified with metallic oxides (CuO and Mo) due to its acidic nature to enhance its efficacy for biodiesel production. Thorough characterization of the synthesized catalyst was conducted using analytical techniques such as XRD (X-ray diffraction), SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy), EDS (Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy), BET (Brunauer-Emmett-Teller), and XPS (X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy) to elucidate its nature and performance. The transesterification process was systematically optimized by varying parameters such as temperature, time, methanol-to-oil ratio, and catalyst loading. The optimized yield of 92.61% of biodiesel resulted under ideal conditions, specifically at 65°C, 150 min, 5 wt% catalyst loading, and an 18:1 M ratio. The biodiesel derived from PKS oil exhibited promising fuel properties encompassing cold flow properties, density, viscosity, cetane number, and flash point, validating its potential as a viable alternative fuel source. Furthermore, the synthesized novel catalyst demonstrated exceptional efficiency, retaining stability over five cycles without significant reduction in biodiesel yield. These findings underscore the viability of PKS biomass as a renewable and sustainable source for both catalyst synthesis and biodiesel production

Bio-Oil Upgrading by Catalytic Cracking Over Different Solid Catalysts

Fossil fuel crises along with global environmental issues, due to combustion of fossil fuel, lead to focus on biomass derived fuels. Bio-oil nowadays is seriously considered to be one of the favorable, renewable and alternative energy sources to replace fossil fuel and has become a significant energy carrier for transportation, industrial and commercial applications. In this study, bio-oil was upgraded by catalytic cracking in a fixed bed reactor in the presence of three different catalysts HY, H-mordenite and HZSM-5.All of the experimental runs were carried out at 500 °C, 0.3MPa and 15:1 oil to catalyst ratio. Catalysts characterization revealed that HZSM-5 with uniform pore and TPD analysis shows the presence of large number of acidic sites as compared to HY and H-mordenite. HZSM-5 proved its effectiveness in terms of deoxygenation and converting oxygenating compounds to hydrocarbons. The amount of hydrocarbons formed was 16.27 wt % OLP for HZSM-5, 15.16 wt% for HY and 14.954 wt % for H-mordenite. HZSM-5 possessed a strong acidity, uniform pore size and high activities which tended to permit the transformation of the oxygenated compounds present in the bio-oil to hydrocarbons. The upgraded bio-oil obtained posses improved physiochemical properties such pH which was increased from 2.21 to 3.56 while density was decreased upto 0.82 kg/m3. The calorific value also increased upto 31.65 kJ/kg. The improved bio-oil by HZSM-5 catalyst can be considered as a potential for to be used as direct fuel

Biochar production from waste rubber-wood-sawdust and its potential use in C sequestration: chemical and physical characterization

Biochars have received increasing attention because of their potential environmental applications such as soil amending and atmospheric C sequestration. In this study, biochar was produced from waste rubber-wood-sawdust. The produced biochars were characterized by Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) gas porosimetry, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Pyrolysis temperature was shown to have a strong influence on both thermal and chemical characteristic of biochar samples. The experimental data shows that the biochar samples can absorb around 5% water by mass (hydrophilic) at lower temperatures (650 °C), biochar samples were thermally stable and became hydrophobic due to the presence of aromatic compounds. Carbon content (over 85%) increased with increasing temperature, and showed an inverse effect to the elemental ratios of H/C and O/C. The very low H/C and O/C ratios obtained for the biochar indicated that carbon in this material is predominantly unsaturated. BET results showed that the sawdust derived biochars have surface areas between 10 and 200 m2 g−1 and FTIR indicated an aromatic functional group about 866 cm−1 in most of the samples. The rate of CO2 adsorption on sawdust derived biochar generally increased with increasing temperature from 450 to 650 °C but then decreased with increase in the production temperature. Derived biochar represents a potential alternative adsorbent for C sequestration

Optimization of a baffled-reactor microbial fuel cell using autotrophic denitrifying bio-cathode for removing nitrogen and recovering electrical energy

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) gained emerging attention as an eco-friendly pathway for recovering electrical energy and treating wastewater. The electrochemical catalysis of cathodic reactions was one of the important issues for practical application of MFC technology. Here, it was disclosed the performance of a stake up-flow baffled-reactor MFC in which autotrophic denitrifying microorganisms catalyzed the cathodic reactions, reducing nitrate to nitrogen gas. The maximum power produced in this bio-electrochemical system (BES) was 15\ua0±\ua00.4\ua0W\ua0mNCV (net cathode volume) at an optimum cathodic nitrate loading rate (CNLR) of 150\ua0g NO −N mNCV dusing acetate as electron donor. A maximum of 76.5\ua0±\ua00.5\ua0A\ua0mNCV current and 97.7\ua0±\ua01.8% cathodic coulombic efficiency obtained at this CNLR. Autotrophic denitrification achieved on this bio-cathode was 148.3\ua0±\ua01.4\ua0g\ua0N\ua0mNCV dutilizing biological anode. The efficiency of autotrophic denitrification and current generation of this BES was inhibited by the accumulation of denitrifying by-product, nitrite (NO ), at concentrations beyond 3.59\ua0±\ua00.8\ua0mgNO −N Lin the cathodic stream. The results demonstrated that this bio-cathode based baffled-reactor MFC had a good potential to eliminate abiotic cathodes and thus, made the system more economical and sustainable alternative for wastewater treatment, nitrogen removal and energy generation

Removal of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) pollutants from water by novel TiO2-Coconut Shell Powder (TCNSP) composite

Photocatlytic removal of three pharmaceutical and personal care products pollutants using novel TiO2–Coconut Shell Powder (TCNSP) composite was investigated. The photocatalytic degradation rate of PPCPs generally increased with increasing light intensity and dissolved oxygen concentration. The degradation rate decreased with increasing initial concentration of PPCPs. The PPCPs concentration decreased substantially under irradiation of UVC when used in conjunction with the TCNSP composite. A number of composite/radiation types and intensities were tested. The concentration rate decrease trend was as: UVC/TCNSP > UVA/TCNSP > UVC > UVA. Under the UVC/TCNP combination, 99% removal was achieved compared to 30% for TiO2.QNRF NPRP09-328-2-122.Scopu