Review and analysis of renewable feedstocks for the production of commodity chemicals

Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology - Several biomass feedstocks were analyzed for their suitability in chemicals production by industry. Feedstocks included dedicated feedstock crops,...     

Chemoselective catalytic conversion of glycerol as a biorenewable source to valuable commodity chemicals

New opportunities for the conversion of glycerol into value-added chemicals have emerged in recent years as a result of glycerol's unique structure, properties, bioavailability, and renewability. Glycerol is currently produced in large amounts during the transesterification of fatty acids into biodiesel and as such represents a useful by-product. This paper provides a comprehensive review and critical analysis on the different reaction pathways for catalytic conversion of glycerol into commodity chemicals, including selective oxidation, selective hydrogenolysis, selective dehydration, pyrolysis and gasification, steam reforming, thermal reduction into syngas, selective transesterification, selective etherification, oligomerization and polymerization, and conversion of glycerol into glycerol carbonate.     

Recent progress and future research directions for electrochromic zinc-ion batteries

In recent times,future energy storage systems demand a multitude of functionalities beyond their traditional energy storage capabilities.In line with this technological shift,there is active research and development of electrochromic-energy storage systems designed to visualize electrochemical charging and discharging processes.The conventional electrochromic-energy storage devices primarily integrated supercapacitors,known for their high power density,to enable rapid color contrast.However,the ...     

生物基化工与材料产业技术的开发与探索

本文阐述了中国石油化工集团公司(中国石化)在生物基化工与材料领域的探索路径和发展战略,介绍了中国石化近年来在生物基单体、生物基材料与可降解材料等领域开展的创新实践及取得的阶段性成果,主要包括乳酸—聚乳酸、丁二酸/二元醇—生物可降解材料、长链二元酸—生物基尼龙以及生物质芳烃—聚对苯二甲酸乙二酯(PET)等技术领域.提出了建立生物基化工与材料科学技术平台、突破关键技术、发展新兴产业等建议.     

CARSA,a computer-assisted system for synthesis research in industry

Computer applications in chemical industry are outlined and the CARSA system (computer-assisted research in synthesis and application) is described. This modular system consists of the three main parts: WIFODATA (data base; substance and finding documentation), QSAR (programs for quantitative structure/activity relationships) and RDSS (reaction design by synthon substitution; program package for planning of syntheses). The vital RDSS component is discussed in more detail; the underlying philosophy is explained, and examples are given from practical work. Some future steps towards a real molecular-design system are outlined.     

Recent research efforts in the area of biotechnology for fuels and chemicals

Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology -     

Nanoarchitectonic‐Based Material Platforms for Environmental and Bioprocessing Applications

The challenges of pollution, environmental science, and energy consumption have become global issues of broad societal importance. In order to address these challenges, novel functional systems and advanced materials are needed to achieve high efficiency, low emission, and environmentally friendly performance. A promising approach involves nanostructure‐level controls of functional material design through a novel concept, nanoarchitectonics. In this account article, we summarize nanoarchitectonic approaches to create nanoscale platform structures that are potentially useful for environmentally green and bioprocessing applications. The introduced platforms are roughly classified into (i) membrane platforms and (ii) nanostructured platforms. The examples are discussed together with the relevant chemical processes, environmental sensing, bio‐related interaction analyses, materials for environmental remediation, non‐precious metal catalysts, and facile separation for biomedical uses.     

Characterization of a Defined Cellulolytic and Xylanolytic Bacterial Consortium for Bioprocessing of Cellulose and Hemicelluloses

Diminishing fossil fuel reserve and increasing cost of fossil hydrocarbon products have rekindled worldwide effort on conversion of lignocellloloses (plant biomass) to renewable fuel. Inedible plant materials such as grass, agricultural, and logging residues are abundant renewable natural resources that can be converted to biofuel. In an effort to mimic natural cellulolytic–xylanolytic microbial community in bioprocessing of lignocelluloses, we enriched cellulolytic–xylanolytic microorganisms, purified 19 monocultures and evaluated their cellulolytic–xylanolytic potential. Five selected isolates (DB1, DB2, DB7, DB8, and DB13) were used to compose a defined consortium and characterized by 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequence analysis. Nucleotide sequence blast analysis revealed that DB1, DB2, DB7, DB8, and DB13 were respectively similar to Pseudoxanthomonas byssovorax (99%), Microbacterium oxydans (99%), Bacillus sp. (99%), Ochrobactrum anthropi (98%), and Klebsiella trevisanii (99%). The isolates produced an array of cellulolytic–xylanolytic enzymes (filter paper cellulase, β-glucosidase, xylanase, and β-xylosidase), and significant activities were recorded in 30 min. Isolates DB1 and DB2 displayed the highest filter paper cellulase: 27.83 and 31.22 U mg⁻¹, respectively. The highest β-glucosidase activity (18.07 U mg⁻¹) was detected in the culture of isolate DB1. Isolate DB2 produced the highest xylanase activity (103.05 U mg⁻¹), while the highest β-xylosidase activity (7.72 U mg⁻¹) was observed with DB13. Use of microbial consortium in bioprocessing of lignocelluloses could reduce problems such as incomplete synergistic enzymes, end-product inhibition, adsorption, and requirement for high amounts of enzymes in direct use of enzymes.     

Bioprocessing of Marine Chitinous Wastes for the Production of Bioactive Prodigiosin

Recently, microbial prodigiosin (PG) has received much attention due to its numerous beneficial applications. The aim of this study was to establish the bioprocessing of marine chitinous wastes (MCWs) for the cost-effective preparation of PG. Of the MCWs, demineralized shrimp shell powders (de-SSP) were found to be a potential source of carbon/nitrogen (C/N) for PG production by bacterial fermentation using Serratia marcescens strains. Further, PG scale-up production was investigated in a 15 L bioreactor system, and the highest yield (6200 mg/L) was achieved during fermentation using 5 L of a novel-designed culture broth that included 1.60% C/N sources (a de-SSP/casein ratio of 7/3), 0.02% K₂SO_4, and 0.05% K₂HPO₄, with an initial pH of 6–7. Fermentation was conducted in the dark at 27.5 °C for 8.0 h. This study was the first to report on the utilization of shrimp wastes for cost-effective, large-scale (5 L/pilot) PG production with high productivity (6200 mg/L) in a short cultivation time. The combination of 0.02% K₂SO₄ and 0.05% K₂HPO₄ was also found to be a novel salt composition that significantly enhanced PG yield. The red compound was purified and confirmed as PG after analyzing its HPLC profile, mass, and UV/vis spectra. The purified PG was then tested for its bioactivities and showed effective anticancer activities, moderated antioxidant activities, and novel anti-NO effects.     

Materials science aspects of the research directions of electrochemistry

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - This opinion article summarizes a few electrochemical research directions whose weight is likely to increase in the near future. Connection between...     

Polymer processing research in industry: Role of academic-industrial cooperation for fundamental research

Understanding how polymers will process in such as extruders, injection molding machines, and dies can be met through academic-industry cooperation. With declining R&D budgets and globalization of businesses, this cooperation is extremely valuable for continuing fundamental research in polymer processing and fabrication technologies. This paper illustrates some examples and suggests how industry can best benefit from these programs     

New directions of miniaturization within the proteomics research area

An overview of the current trends within protein expression profiling is given where multidimensional separation of both gel- and liquid-phase techniques linked to mass spectrometry is viewed as a major route in the global proteome mapping. A clear trend in these biochemical developments is the effort to sequence and identify low-abundant protein expressions where assay miniaturization and integrated sample processing plays a central role. Two areas of miniaturization within the proteomics field are addressed: (i) sample cleanup and enrichment, and (ii) silicon microstructure developments for protein chip microarrays.     

New directions of miniaturization within the biomarker research area

An overview of the current trends within protein expression profiling is given where multidimensional separation of both gel and liquid phase techniques linked to mass spectrometry is viewed as a major route in the global proteome mapping. A clear trend in these biochemical developments is the effort to sequence and identify low-abundant protein expressions where assay miniaturization and integrated sample processing play a central role. Two areas of miniaturization within the proteomics field are addressed: (i) sample cleanup and enrichment, and (ii) silicon microstructure developments for protein chip microarrays.     

Biotechnology for production of fuels,chemicals, and materials from biomass

Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology - Biological systems can convert renewable resources, including lignocellulosic biomass, starch crops, and carbon dioxide, into fuels, chemicals, and...     

Global government applications of analogues,SARs and QSARs to predict aquatic toxicity,chemical or physical properties,environmental fate parameters and health effects of organic chemicals

Faced with the need to predict physical and chemical properties, environmental fate, ecological effects and health effects of organic chemicals in the absence of experimental data, several Government organizations have been applying analogues, Structure Activity Relationships (SARs) and Quantitative Structure Activity Relationships (QSARs) to develop those predictions. To establish some benchmarks for monitoring future increases in applications of analogues, SARs and QSARs by global Government organizations, this paper describes the current applications of analogues, SARs and QSARs by Australian, Canadian, Danish, European, German, Japanese, Netherlands, and United States Government organizations to predict physical and chemical properties, environmental fate, ecological effects and health effects of organic chemicals.     

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy—From research to industry,new frontiers for process control

This paper presents R&D activities to explore new laser parameter ranges in pulse energy, time and space for laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy. The collinear double pulse effect, which is well studied for pulses of typically several 100 mJ energy can also be observed for laser pulses having a pulse energy two orders of magnitude lower. In this case, maximum line emission intensity occurs at interpulse separations of a few 100 ns. Temporal pulse tailoring to improve the performance of LIBS is only a first step. A comprehensive approach includes spatial pulse shaping to generate craters with predefined shape or to improve spatial averaging for the analysis of inhomogeneous samples. High performance components for LIBS systems such as spectrometers, electronics and sample stands are required to enable industrial applications. Latest developments offer wide-band single spectra acquisition with a high spectral resolution at a measuring frequency of up to 500 Hz. The next generation of multi-channel integrator electronics for Paschen–Runge spectrometers equipped with PMT detectors will further push the measuring speed to up to 5 kHz, thus opening a new area of high-speed LIBS microanalysis. Novel LIBS devices for various industrial applications presented include analysis of metallic process control samples with scale layers, on-site analysis of slag samples in secondary metallurgy, high-speed identification of Al scrap, mix-up detection of pipe fittings as well as recent work towards in-process identification of hot coils in a rolling mill.     

Trends in product analysis for research in the pharmaceutical industry

Characterization of substances and formulations with respect to purity and stability is a major analytical chemical task during product development in the pharmaceutical industry. The importance of separation methods, especially liquid chromatography, is shown with some examples from work with omeprazole. The role of mass spectrometry (MS) for structure elucidation is emphasized. Dissolution testing comprises a large number of samples and adaptation to standardized procedures is important. Work is exemplified with dissolution testing of felodipine. Automation and robots with multivariate calibration are necessary approaches. Macromolecular characterization is exemplified from the fields of biomolecules and macromolecular excipients. Separation methods and MS are important tools. New challenges in the area of process analytical chemistry are discussed and chemometrics will play an important role. In all fields method validation is stressed, but should not require more power than necessary in a specification.