Chitosan, a bio-based polymer which has similar characteristics to those of cellulose, exhibits cationic behavior in acidic solutions and strong affinity for metals ions. Thus, it has received increased attention for the preparation of heterogeneous catalysts. Recent studies demonstrated that chitosan-based catalysts had high sorption capacities, chelating activities, stability and versatility,...

High yield of H2 of high purity from acetic acid, a model compound of bio-oil from the biomass fast pyrolysis, was produced by sorption enhanced steam reforming (SESR). An oxygen carrier was introduced into a chemical loop (CL) coupled to the cyclical SESR process to supply heat in situ for the endothermic sorbent regeneration, in order to increase the energy efficiency of the process. A new mu...

We have demonstrated an improved synthesis of a cyclic carbonate of soybean oil (CSO) utilizing supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2) as the solvent. Because the mutual solubility of supercritical CO2 and soybean oil is significantly higher than that of gaseous CO2 and soybean oil, our method synthesizes the material in y1/3 of the reaction time reported in the literature. We have also demonstrate...

Catalytic microwave pyrolysis of biomass using activated carbon was investigated to determine the effects of pyrolytic conditions on the yields of phenol and phenolics. The high concentrations of phenol (38.9%) and phenolics (66.9%) were obtained at the temperature of 589 K, catalyst-to-biomass ratio of 3:1 and retention time of 8 min. The increase of phenol and its derivatives compared to pyro...

A protocol is described to assess self-healing of crack damage in a polymer coating deposited on a substrate containing a microvascular network. The bio-inspired coating/substrate design delivers healing agent to cracks in the coating via a three-dimensional microvascular network embedded in the substrate. Through capillary action, monomer flows from the network channels into the crack plane wh...

Cellulose-derived glucose generated using the supported ruthenium catalyst was applied to poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) [P(3HB)] production in recombinant Escherichia coli. By the reaction with the catalyst at 220°C, 15-20 carbon mol% of cellulose was converted into glucose. The hydrolysate also contained byproducts such as fructose, mannose, levoglucosan, oligomeric cellulose, 5-hydroxymethylfurfura...

The hydrodeoxygenation of a model compound of lignin-derived bio-oil, guaiacol, which can be obtained from the pyrolysis of biomass to bio-oil, has attracted considerable research attention because of its huge potential as a substitute for conventional fuels. In this study, platinum-loaded HY zeolites (Pt/HY) with different Si/Al molar ratios were used as catalysts for the hydrodeoxygenation of...

For production of biodiesel from bio oils by heterogeneous catalysis, high performance catalysts of transesterification and the further utilization of glycerol have been the two points of research. The process seemed easy, however, has never been well established. Here we report a novel design of catalytic distillation using hierachically integrated CNTs-based holistic catalyst to figure out th...

The synthesis and properties of an oxygen reduction catalyst based on a unique 3-dimensional (3D) nitrogen doped (N-doped) carbon composite are described. The composite material is synthesised via a two-step hydrothermal and pyrolysis method using bio-source low-cost materials of galactose and melamine. Firstly, the use of iron salts and galactose to hydrothermally produceiron oxide (Fe₂O₃) mag...