The production of future transportation fuels and chemicals requires the deployment of new catalytic processes that transform biomass into valuable products under competitive conditions. Furfural has been identified as one of the most promising chemical platforms directly derived from biomass. With an annual production close to 300 kTon, furfural is currently a commodity chemical, and the technology for its production is largely established. The aim of this review is to discuss the most relevant chemical routes for converting furfural to chemicals, biofuels, and additives. This review focuses not only on industrially produced chemicals derived from furfural, but also on other not yet commercialised products that have a high potential for commercialisation as commodities. Other chemicals that are currently produced from oil but can also be derived from furfural are also reviewed. The chemical and engineering aspects such as the reaction conditions and mechanisms, as well as the main achievements and the challenges still to come in the pursuit of advancing the furfural-based industry, are highlighted.

/pdf/furfural-a-renewable-and-versatile-platform-molecule-for-the-4iuy4h5ydr.pdf

Furfural: a renewable and versatile platform molecule for the synthesis of chemicals and fuels

https://research.sabanciuniv.edu/11523/1/HE4440.pdf

Storage of hydrogen in nanostructured carbon materials

Numerous reviews on hydrogen storage have previously been published. However, most of these reviews deal either exclusively with storage materials or the global hydrogen economy. This paper presents a review of hydrogen storage systems that are relevant for mobility applications. The ideal storage medium should allow high volumetric and gravimetric energy densities, quick uptake and release of fuel, operation at room temperatures and atmospheric pressure, safe use, and balanced cost-effectiveness. All current hydrogen storage technologies have significant drawbacks, including complex thermal management systems, boil-off, poor efficiency, expensive catalysts, stability issues, slow response rates, high operating pressures, low energy densities, and risks of violent and uncontrolled spontaneous reactions. While not perfect, the current leading industry standard of compressed hydrogen offers a functional solution and demonstrates a storage option for mobility compared to other technologies.

Hydrogen Storage for Mobility: A Review

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/est2.35

Hydrogen storage in carbon materials—A review

The nanomaterials have been widely used in various fields, such as photonics, catalysis, and adsorption, because of their unique physical and chemical properties. Therefore, their production methods are of utmost importance. Compared with traditional synthetic methods, the template method can effectively control the morphology, particle size, and structure during the preparation of nanomaterials, which is an effective method for their synthesis. The key for the template method is to choose different templates, which are divided into hard template and soft template according to their different structures. In this paper, the effects of different types of templates on the morphology of nanomaterials during their preparation are investigated from two aspects: hard template and soft template, combined with the mechanism of action.

/pdf/review-of-research-on-template-methods-in-preparation-of-2lewi4c3p2.pdf

Review of Research on Template Methods in Preparation of Nanomaterials

Monolithic carbon aerogels from sol-gel polymerization of phenolic resoles and methylolated melamine

The Dubinin and Astakhov's equation (DA equation) is a privileged model for describing the behaviors of gas adsorption in microporous adsorbents. However, the behaviors of hydrogen adsorption at supercritical conditions reported are quite different from the normal gas adsorption. For example, the saturation vapor pressure P S of hydrogen does not exit above its critical temperature T C (33.2 K), and the specific amount of saturated adsorbed molecules n 0 and the characteristic energy of adsorption system E vary with equilibrium temperature. Whether the DA equation is adequate for hydrogen adsorption at supercritical conditions or not is well worth discussing. The authors have measured systematically the adsorption isotherms of hydrogen over a wide range of temperatures and pressures. In present works, an interesting phenomenon was reported that hydrogen adsorption exists an utmost value at supercritical conditions. Based on the new adsorption phenomenon, the parameters of the DA equation are analyzed and further modified for application in hydrogen adsorption. The results show that the DA equation can be applied to describe the behaviors of hydrogen adsorption at supercritical conditions, if it is modified as the following, (I) n=f(T C ) RT ln (P S /P) g(T C ) 2 , in which, (II) ln P S = −134.5 T −4.3362, (III) f(T C )=α+βT C , (IV) g(T C )=λ+γT C .

Improvements of the DA equation for application in hydrogen adsorption at supercritical conditions

Adsorption limit of supercritical hydrogen on super-activated carbon

Carbon aerogels were prepared by sol-gel polymerization of phenolic novolak and furfural followed by supercritical drying and pyrolysis. The porosity and morphologies of carbon aerogels were characterized by nitrogen adsorption, apparent density, He- pycnometer method, and transmission electronic microscopy (TEM). Effect of ratios of phenolic novolak to furfural (Ra) and total concentration of reactants (C) in sol-gel step on porosity and morphologies of carbon aerogels was investigated. The carbon aerogels synthesized are rich in meso- and macropores. The Ra determines the cross-linking density of polymers, thereby the compatibility of the polymers, and ultimately the shrinkage of gels in the drying and pyrolysis. The network sizes and the porosity of organic and carbon aerogels are mainly determined by Ra. The C has no effect on volume shrinkage of gels in drying and pyrolysis and has only dilute effect in determining bulk density of organic and carbon aerogels, and ultimately the porosity of carbon aerogels. Conversion of mesopores to micro- and macropores is observed, which is related to combination of C and Ra, and determines the partition of micro-, meso- and macropores.

Liang Zhan

Papers

Monolithic carbon aerogels from sol-gel polymerization of phenolic resoles and methylolated melamine

Improvements of the DA equation for application in hydrogen adsorption at supercritical conditions

Adsorption limit of supercritical hydrogen on super-activated carbon

On Porosity of Carbon Aerogels from Sol-Gel Polymerization of Phenolic Novolak and Furfural

Effect of concentration of reactants on porosity of hydrogels, organic and carbon aerogels