Cellulose nanofiber backboned Prussian blue nanoparticles as powerful adsorbents for the selective elimination of radioactive cesium

On 11 March 2011, the day of the unforgettable disaster of the 9 magnitude Tohoku earthquake and quickly followed by the devastating Tsunami, a damageable amount of radionuclides had dispersed from the Fukushima Daiichi’s damaged nuclear reactors. Decontamination of the dispersed radionuclides from seawater and soil, due to the huge amounts of coexisting ions with competitive functionalities, has been the topmost difficulty. Ferric hexacyanoferrate, also known as Prussian blue (PB), has been the most powerful material for selectively trapping the radioactive cesium ions; its high tendency to form stable colloids in water, however, has made PB to be impossible for the open-field radioactive cesium decontamination applications. A nano/nano combinatorial approach, as is described in this study, has provided an ultimate solution to this intrinsic colloid formation difficulty of PB. Cellulose nanofibers (CNF) were used to immobilize PB via the creation of CNF-backboned PB. The CNF-backboned PB (CNF/PB) was found to be highly tolerant to water and moreover, it gave a 139 mg/g capability and a million (106) order of magnitude distribution coefficient (Kd) for absorbing of the radioactive cesium ion. Field studies on soil and seawater decontaminations in Fukushima gave satisfactory results, demonstrating high capabilities of CNF/PB for practical applications.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (DMR-1507806

Removal of Tannic Acid From Aqueous Solution by Cloud Point Extraction and Investigation of Surfactant Regeneration by Microemulsion Extraction

The aim of this work is the extraction of tannic acid (TA) with two commercial nonionic surfactants, separately: Lutensol ON 30 and Triton X-114 (TX-114).The experimental cloud point extraction results are expressed by four responses to surfactant concentration and temperature variations: extent of TA extraction (E), remaining solute (X s,w) and surfactant (X t,w) concentrations in dilute phase and volume fraction of coacervate (Φc) at equilibrium. An empirical smoothing method was used and the results are represented on three dimensional plots. In optimal conditions, the extraction extent of TA reaches 95 and 87 % using TX-114 and Lutensol ON 30, respectively. Sodium sulfate, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) addition and pH effect are also studied. Finally, the possibility of recycling of the surfactant is proved

Valorisation of Biowastes for the Production of Green Materials Using Chemical Methods

With crude oil reserves dwindling, the hunt for a sustainable alternative feedstock for fuels and materials for our society continues to expand. The biorefinery concept has enjoyed both a surge in popularity and also vocal opposition to the idea of diverting food-grade land and crops for this purpose. The idea of using the inevitable wastes arising from biomass processing, particularly farming and food production, is, therefore, gaining more attention as the feedstock for the biorefinery. For the three main components of biomass—carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins—there are long-established processes for using some of these by-products. However, the recent advances in chemical technologies are expanding both the feedstocks available for processing and the products that be obtained. Herein, this review presents some of the more recent developments in processing these molecules for green materials, as well as case studies that bring these technologies and materials together into final products for applied usage