Frontiers of Chemical Engineering in China 

About: Frontiers of Chemical Engineering in China is an academic journal. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Catalysis & Adsorption. It has an ISSN identifier of 1673-7369. Over the lifetime, 1167 publications have been published receiving 11481 citations.

Methanation of carbon dioxide: an overview

Abstract: Although being very challenging, utilization of carbon dioxide (CO2) originating from production processes and flue gases of CO2-intensive sectors has a great environmental and industrial potential due to improving the resource efficiency of industry as well as by contributing to the reduction of CO2 emissions. As a renewable and environmentally friendly source of carbon, catalytic approaches for CO2 fixation in the synthesis of chemicals offer the way to mitigate the increasing CO2 buildup. Among the catalytic reactions, methanation of CO2 is a particularly promising technique for producing energy carrier or chemical. This article focuses on recent developments in catalytic materials, novel reactors, and reaction mechanism for methanation of CO2.

Review of solvent based carbon-dioxide capture technologies

Abstract: Currently, a large proportion of global fossil fuel emissions originate from large point sources such as power generation or industrial processes. This trend is expected to continue until the year 2030 and beyond. Carbon capture and storage (CCS), a straightforward and effective carbon reduction approach, will play a significant role in reducing emissions from these sources into the future if atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are to be stabilized and global warming limited below a threshold of 2 °C. This review provides an update on the status of large scale integrated CCS technologies using solvent absorption for CO2 capture and provides an insight into the development of new solvents, including advanced amine solvents, amino acid salts, carbonate systems, aqueous ammonia, immiscible liquids and ionic liquids. These proposed new solvents aim to reduce the overall cost CO2 capture by improving the CO2 absorption rate, CO2 capture capacity, thereby reducing equipment size and decreasing the energy required for solvent regeneration.

Recent advances in selective acetylene hydrogenation using palladium containing catalysts

Abstract: Recent advances with Pd containing catalysts for the selective hydrogenation of acetylene are described. The overview classifies enhancement of catalytic properties for monometallic and bimetallic Pd catalysts. Activity/selectivity of Pd catalysts can be modified by controlling particle shape/morphology or immobilisation on a support which interacts strongly with Pd particles. In both cases enhanced ethylene selectivity is generally associated with modifying ethylene adsorption strength and/or changes to hydride formation. Inorganic and organic selectivity modifiers (i.e., species adsorbed onto Pd particle surface) have also been shown to enhance ethylene selectivity. Inorganic modifiers such as TiO2 change Pd ensemble size and modify ethylene adsorption strength whereas organic modifiers such as diphenylsulfide are thought to create a surface template effect which favours acetylene adsorption with respect to ethylene. A number of metals and synthetic approaches have been explored to prepare Pd bimetallic catalysts. Examples where enhanced selectivity is observed are generally associated with decreased Pd ensemble size and/or hindering of the ease with which an unselective hydride phase is formed for Pd. A final class of bimetallic catalysts are discussed where Pd is not thought to be the primary reaction site but merely acts as a site where hydrogen dissociation and spillover occurs onto a second metal (Cu or Au) where the reaction takes place more selectively.

Synthesis of hydrophobic carbon nanotubes/reduced graphene oxide composite films by flash light irradiation

Abstract: Carbon nanotubes/graphene composites have superior mechanical, electrical and electrochemistry properties with carbon nanotubes as a hydrophobicity boosting agent. Their extraordinary hydrophobic performance is highly suitable for electrode applications in lithium ion batteries and supercapacitors which often employ organic electrolytes. Also the hydrophobic features enable the oil enrichment for the crude oil separation from seawater. The ever reported synthesis routes towards such a composite either involve complicated multi-step reactions, e.g., chemical vapor depositions, or lead to insufficient extrusion of carbon nanotubes in the chemical reductions of graphene oxide, e.g., fully embedding between the compact graphene oxide sheets. As a consequence, the formation of standalone carbon nanotubes over graphene sheets remains of high interests. Herein we use the facile flash light irradiation method to induce the reduction of graphene oxides in the presence of carbon nanotubes. Photographs, micrographs, X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis all indicate that graphene oxides has been reduced. And the contact angle tests confirm the excellent hydrophobic performances of the synthesized carbon nanotube/reduced graphene oxide composite films. This one-step treatment represents a straightforward and high efficiency way for the reduction of carbon nanotubes/graphene oxides composites.

Efficient elimination of environmental pollutants through sorption-reduction and photocatalytic degradation using nanomaterials

Abstract: With the rapid development of industrial, large amounts of different inorganic and organic pollutants are released into the natural environments. The efficient elimination of environmental pollutants, i.e., photocatalytic degradation of persistent organic pollutants into nontoxic organic/inorganic chemicals, in-situ solidification or sorption-reduction of heavy metal ions, is crucial to protect the environment. Nanomaterials with large surface area, active sites and abundant functional groups could form strong surface complexes with different kinds of pollutants and thereby could efficiently eliminate the pollutants from the aqueous solutions. In this review, we mainly focused on the recent works about the synthesis of nanomaterials and their applications in the efficient elimination of different organic and inorganic pollutants from wastewater and discussed the interaction mechanism from batch experimental results, the advanced spectroscopy techniques and theoretical calculations. The adsorption and the photocatalytic reduction of organic pollutants and the sorption/reduction of heavy metal ions are generally considered as the main methods to decrease the concentration of pollutants in the natural environment. This review highlights a new way for the real applications of novel nanomaterials in environmental pollution management, especially for the undergraduate students to understand the recent works in the elimination of different kinds of inorganic and organic chemicals in the natural environmental pollution management.