Physical and chemical changes in feather keratin during pyrolysis

The structural changes of chicken feather fibers (CFF) were investigated during pyrolysis by thermal analysis techniques coupled with mass spectrometry, solubility tests and gel permeation chromatography. The experimental data showed simultaneous disulfide bond cleavage and peptide crosslinking reactions, and suggested the dependency of crystalline melting on disulfide bond cleavage. The variation in the kinetics of these reactions played an important role in the melting transition and stability. Thus, careful tuning of the pyrolysis thermal profile provided conditions to obtain useful fibrous material at high temperatures. For instance, long-time heat treatments below the melting point provided sufficient crosslinks in the protein matrix to keep the fibrous structure intact. The protein matrix went through a series of transformations including cyclization and aromatization reactions above the melting point. Degradation of the matrix and liberation of aromatic carbons and cyclic amines were observed during these transformations. These pyrolysis mechanisms can serve as a guide for producing materials with desired properties from CFF and other keratin fibers, particularly in textile, high performance composite and catalyst applications.     

Inert effects on the flammability characteristics of methanol by nitrogen or carbon dioxide

Knowledge of material safety properties is critical for safe handing in the chemical process industries, especially for flammable chemicals that might result in serious fires and explosions. This study investigated the flammability characteristics of methanol under working conditions during the process. The targeted fire and explosion properties, like explosion limits (UEL and LEL), vapor deflagration index (K _g), maximum explosion pressure (P _max), and maximum explosion pressure rise [(dP dt ⁻¹)_max], were deliberately obtained via a 20-L-Apparatus in 101 kPa (i.e., 760 mmHg/1 atm), 150 and 200 °C, along with various experimental arrangements containing nitrogen (N₂) or carbon dioxide (CO₂) as inert component. Particularly, this study discussed and elucidated the inert influence on the above safety-related parameters by two different inerting gases of N₂ and CO₂. The results indicated that adding an inert component to fuel–inert gas mixtures determined the decrease of explosion range and flammability hazard degree. The results also demonstrated that CO₂ possessed higher inerting capability than N₂ in this study.     

Surface structure and composition effects on electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide electrochemical reduction has attracted significant attention due to its great potential in environmental protection and energy storage. In this mini-review, some recent progress in heterogeneous electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide is summarized, with a particular emphasis on the effects of catalyst surface modification. Several structural (metal overlayers, particle size adjustment, roughness creation, special 2D or 3D structure patterning) and compositional (alloy, doping, oxide, and composite) modification techniques are reviewed and discussed. Research directions towards more advanced catalysts design are proposed.     

Highly efficient chemical fixations of carbon dioxide and carbon disulfide by cycloaddition to aziridine under atmospheric pressure

Cycloaddition of aziridine with carbon dioxide was successfully catalyzed by alkali metal halide or tetraalkylammonium halide to give the corresponding 5-membered cyclic urethane, 1,3-oxazolidin-2-one, selectively. The reaction can be performed at ambient temperature under atmospheric pressure. Analoguous reaction of aziridine with carbon disulfide also successfully gave the corresponding 5-membered cyclic dithiourethane, 1,3-thioxazolidine-2-thione.     

Assessment of effects of the rising atmospheric nitrogen deposition on nitrogen uptake and long-term water-use efficiency of plants using nitrogen and carbon stable isotopes

This study assesses the effects of the atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition on the N uptake and the long-term water-use efficiency of two C(3) plants (Agropyron cristatum and Leymus chinensis) and two C(4) plants (Amaranthus retroflexus and Setaria viridis) using N and C stable isotopes. In addition, this study explores the potential correlation between leaf N isotope (δ(15)N) values and leaf C isotope (δ(13)C) values. This experiment shows that the atmospheric N deposition has significant effects on the N uptake, δ(15)N and leaf N content (N(m)) of C(3) plants. As the atmospheric N deposition rises, the proportion and the amount of N absorbed from the simulated atmospheric deposition become higher, and the δ(15)N and N(m) of the two C(3) plants both also increase, suggesting that the rising atmospheric N deposition is beneficial for C(3) plants. However, C(4) plants display different patterns in their N uptake and in their variations of δ(15)N and N(m) from those of C(3) plants. C(4) plants absorb less N from the atmospheric deposition, and the leaf N(m) does not change with the elevated atmospheric N deposition. Photosynthetic pathways may account for the differences between C(3) and C(4) plants. This study also shows that atmospheric N deposition does not play a role in determining the δ(13)C and in the long-term water-use efficiency of C(3) and C(4) plants, suggesting that the long-term water-use pattern of the plants does not change with the atmospheric N input. In addition, this study does not observe any relationship between leaf δ(15)N and leaf δ(13)C in both C(3) and C(4) plants.     

Studies on the oxidative degradation of nylons by nitrogen dioxide in supercritical carbon dioxide

Oxidative degradation of nylons was carried out using nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) as the oxidizing agent and supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO₂) as the reaction medium. Seven typical nylons were studied: three ring opening polymerization type nylons (nylon-6, -11 and -12) and four condensation co-polymerization type nylons (nylon-4/6; -6/6; -6/9 and -6/12). All the nylons decomposed in the NO₂/scCO₂ system under relatively mild conditions (140 °C, 1 h, and 10 MPa) and provided aliphatic α, ω-diacids such as succinic, glutaric and adipic acids in good yields. The product distribution of these α, ω-diacids strongly depended on the reaction conditions such as temperature, time and amount of NO₂, but not on the total pressure. Furthermore, the proportions of the products were affected by the type of nylon. A mechanism is proposed and a detailed discussion regarding the degradation of nylon in the NO₂/scCO₂ system is provided.     

高硫炼焦煤化学结构及硫赋存形态对硫热变迁的影响

利用红外、拉曼、热重及XANES等技术对不同煤阶高硫炼焦煤的化学结构、原煤及焦样形态硫分布进行了准确判定,对煤中化学结构及硫赋存形态与硫的热变迁行为进行了关联分析。结果表明,高硫炼焦煤中硫的热变迁行为不仅与硫赋存形态有关,而且受化学结构不同的高硫炼焦煤热解挥发分释放特性的影响。较低煤阶高硫炼焦煤中脂肪结构热分解产生大量挥发分,且挥发分释放温区较宽,形态硫分解产生的活性硫与挥发分中富氢组分相结合,形成更多的含硫气体转移到气相中,提高了热解脱硫率,焦炭体相中噻吩硫相对含量高于表面,硫化物硫则与之相反。煤化程度升高,煤中稳定噻吩类硫含量增多,挥发分释放量减少,热解脱硫率降低,且形态硫在焦炭体相与表面的分布差异不明显。无机硫脱除率与黄铁矿硫分解程度直接相关,热解过程中也将形成部分新的无机硫滞留于焦中。煤结构及有机硫的赋存形态决定了有机硫脱除率,煤阶升高时有机硫脱除率明显降低。     

Convenient synthesis of ethylene carbonates from carbon dioxide and 1,2-diols at atmospheric pressure of carbon dioxide

An efficient and convenient synthesis of ethylene carbonates was achieved by the reaction of carbon dioxide with 1,2-diols in the presence of 1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene (DBU), followed by treatment with 1-bromobutane. This DBU-promoted transformation proceeded at an atmospheric pressure of carbon dioxide at 25 °C and gave ethylene carbonates in good yields.     

Simulating the changes in carbon structure during the burn-off process

Using a simple energetic criterion, we modelled the process of activation of 'soft' activated carbons. Eighteen carbon samples, differing in degree of graphitisation, and obtained using Molecular Dynamics annealing of an amorphous carbon precursor were studied. For all samples, the geometric pore size distribution was calculated using the method proposed by Bhattacharya and Gubbins. Adsorption isotherms for Ar at 87 K were simulated and analysed using different approaches widely applied in adsorption science (α(s), DA, APD, ND, BET). It is shown that our approach leads to similar changes in microporosity (with the rise in carbon burn-off) to those observed in real experiments. Moreover, the conclusions about the reality of popular methods of carbon porosity characterisation are given.     

The structure of the carbon dioxide dimer

The structure of the carbon dioxide dimer is discussed theoretically in terms of two empirical potentials and using CNDO/2 and ab initio quantum mechanical calculations. All these methods support the conclusion that there are two structures of comparable energy, the lower one being non-polar.     

Comparative simulation study of nitrogen and ammonia adsorption on graphitized and nongraphitized carbon blacks

Grand canonical Monte Carlo simulation is used to study the adsorption of nitrogen at 77 K and ammonia at 240 K to represent weakly polar and polar molecules, respectively, on infinite and finite graphite surfaces. These graphite surfaces were modeled with different percentages of carbons removed (defects) from the top graphite layer. Increasing the number of defects increases the adsorption and the isosteric heat of nitrogen at low pressure. At moderate pressures the amount adsorbed is less due to the disruption in the packing of the nitrogen in the first layer. In contrast, the adsorption of ammonia at all pressures is reduced as the percentage of defects is increased. This is due to the disruption in ammonia bonding caused by the defects. The condensation-like step change in the ammonia isotherm on the perfect graphite surface is not observed for any of these surfaces with defects even for the case of only 10% defects. At high percentage of defects the adsorption isotherm is close to Henry law behavior for much of the pressure range. The adsorption on finite surfaces shows that the amount adsorbed for both molecules decreases compared with that of the infinite surfaces, resulting from interaction potentials with the surface and other fluid molecules at the edge. The decrease is much greater for the ammonia adsorption because the bonding between ammonia molecules is disrupted, meaning that the adsorption cannot follow the mechanism of condensation seen for the infinite surface.     

Highly selective encaging of carbon dioxide molecules in the mixed carbon dioxide and nitrogen hydrate at low temperatures

The structural identification and guest compositions of the mixed CO(2) and N(2) hydrates at low temperature conditions were investigated by both theoretical predictions and experimental measurements. From the model calculations, at very low temperatures, the highly CO(2)-concentrated hydrates over 95 mol % CO(2) on the basis of water-free concentration could coexist with the gas mixtures of low CO(2) concentrations in equilibrium. X-ray diffraction measurements of the hydrates formed with the gas mixture of 3.16 mol % CO(2) and balanced N(2) indicate that the formed hydrates at all conditions considered in this study were identified as structure I, whereas the model predicts a structural transition to structure II around 220 K. However, it was also found that the formed hydrate samples contain a considerable amount of hexagonal ice resulting from incomplete conversion of ice to the hydrates. The compositional analysis suggests that a favorable encaging of CO(2) in the mixed hydrate can be obtained by the hydrate formation at low temperatures and relative amount of CO(2) molecules in the mixed hydrates increases with a decrease of temperature.     

Insight into the ammonia torrefaction and pyrolysis system of cellulose:Unraveling the evolution of chemical structure and nitrogen migration mechanism

This study aimed to investigate the mechanism of nitrogen doping,migration,and conversion during ammonia torrefaction and also explore the evolution law of the chemical structure of cellulose.The results showed that the ammonia torrefaction pretreatment could significantly optimize the distribution of nitrogen and oxygen elements in cellulose.The carbon skeleton first captured the active nitrogenous radicals to form-NH_n-N,and pyridine-N and pyrrole-N originated from the conversion of-...     

On the structure of the carbon dioxide dimer

Molecular beam deflection studies of the carbon dioxide dimer indicate a non-polar molecule. This result is shown to be incompatible with the normally accepted T-shaped geometry. Other possible structures are compared and contrasted.     

氧气对秸秆热解氮迁移与转化的影响

以秸秆为原料,在两段式固定床反应器上模拟层燃工况进行热解实验,研究了氧气对热解过程中燃料氮迁移与转化的影响。通过对焦油中含氮化合物种类与含量的GC-MS分析,提出了热解过程中燃料氮转化的反应路径,并分析了氧气的影响。与惰性气氛下相比,氧气的引入降低了焦油与焦炭的产率,从而降低了焦油与焦炭中氮的分配比,增加了气体组分中氮的分配比。以蛋白质和氨基酸作为燃料氮的禀赋形态,其在热解过程中发生一系列一次反应,生成酰胺、胺类等初级焦油产物。初级焦油发生二次反应,进一步生成腈类及含氮杂环化合物等二级焦油产物。有氧条件下,焦油中酰胺、胺类等初级焦油成分的含量显著降低,腈类及含氮杂环化合物等二级焦油成分的含量升高。     

A computational study on the chemical fixation of carbon dioxide with epoxide catalyzed by LiBr salt

The chemical fixation of carbon dioxide with 2,3-epoxypropyl phenyl ether catalyzed by LiBr salt to produce a five-membered cyclic carbonate, 4-(phenoxymethyl)-1,3-dioxolan-2-one, has been extensively investigated at the B3LYP density functional level of theory. The solvent effects have been studied by means of a PCM model. All possible pathways are examined, and their corresponding energetics are demonstrated. Our results reveal that the overall reaction comprises three main steps: epoxide ring-opening, carbon dioxide insertion, and ring-closure of cyclic carbonate, none of which contains significantly large barriers. On the basis of the computed free energies of activation, the rate-determining step can be the ring-opening of epoxide or the ring-closure of cyclic carbonate with variation in the reaction conditions in N-methylpyrrolidinone (NMP) solvent. Our calculations indicate that path 2 is more favorable than path 1 in the gas phase, while both of them exist possibly in NMP solvent. The overall reaction is exothermic. Furthermore, the free energy profiles of all reaction pathways along the minima energy path in the gas phase and in NMP solvent were obtained and compared. It is shown that NMP solvent does not change the general trends for the reaction potential energy surfaces.     

Palaeo-variations in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide and the relationship to extinctions

It has been established from geological studies that change in the atmospheric content of carbon dioxide gas commenced about one hundred million years ago. The likely origin of this change is advanced as being the onset of the Brewer circulation caused by the rise in terrain induced by tectonic plate movement. It is demonstrated that tectonic plate movement can be affected by impacts from external bodies which penetrate the crust of the Earth. The consequences of the change in atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide are proposed as first, extinctions and reductions in animal numbers, including primates, as a result of changes in body chemistry of these animals and second, a change in the rate of weathering of rocks giving rise to changes in the availability of chemicals such as calcium and potassium which are essential for plant and animal life. This latter change contributing to the extinctions and reductions in animal numbers. It is shown that the change in weathering can account for the rise to dominance of angiosperm plants. It is concluded that there were several simultaneous evolutionary environments on Earth which were a function of altitude which gave rise to a vertical variation in atmospheric content of carbon dioxide. This variation disappeared with rise of terrain and the onset of the Brewer circulation. Such changes are advanced and being much more important than any changes in temperature caused by greenhouse effects since the disappearance of atmospheric variations in carbon dioxide allowed animal migration. It is demonstrated that the conditions of extinction could be reintroduced by human activities.     

A study of properties of porous carbon based on phenol-formaldehyde resin with carbohydrates

Structure and some physical properties of nanoporous carbon powders produced by pyrolysis of mixtures of phenol-formaldehyde resin with saccharose or cellulose were studied.     

Copolymers of carbon dioxide and nitrogen: an AM1 and ab initio computational study

Extending work by various groups on possible dimers, trimers, etc. of dinitrogen and of carbon dioxide, the authors have studied analogous copolymers of N₂ and CO₂ computationally. Twelve cyclic structures were examined with the AM1, HF/3-21G, HF/6-31G* and MP2(FC)/6-31G* methods, and the acyclic “monomer” to “tetramer” HO(C(O)O–N= N–)_nH, n=1–4, were studied at the AM1 and HF/3-21G levels; the cyclic species included 2-oxa-3,4-diazacyclobut-3-ene-1-one, 2-oxa-3,4,5,6-tetraazacyclohexa-3,5-diene-1-one, and various aza/oxa bicyclo[2.2.0] and bicyclo[2.2.2] systems. For the cyclic species, it was concluded that only the MP2(FC)/6-31G* results, which differ considerably from those at the other three levels, are likely to be reliable. These MP2 calculations indicate that only seven of the 12 cyclic structures studied are stationary points (one is a transition structure), and none of them is kinetically stable at room temperature. Although some have high energy densities (ca. 7–10 kJ g⁻¹), their expected low kinetic stabilities seems to make this of little practical value. The acyclic “copolymers” were all relative minima at the AM1 and HF/3-21G levels; unlike the cyclic species, their kinetic stabilities were not investigated directly by comparing the energies of reactants and decomposition transition states. The energy density of the infinite acyclic polymer was found by extrapolation to be 5.1 (AM1) or 5.6 (3-21G) kJ g⁻¹. The calculated vibrational spectra of the MP2 stationary points and of the acyclic molecules gave some indication of instability by the presence of low-frequency modes leading in the limit to decomposition.     

Adsorption and diffusion of carbon dioxide and nitrogen through single-walled carbon nanotube membranes

We have used atomically detailed simulations to examine the adsorption and transport diffusion of CO2 and N2 in single-walled carbon nanotubes at room temperature as a function of nanotube diameter. Linear and spherical models for CO2 are compared, showing that representing this species as spherical has only a slight impact in the computed diffusion coefficients. Our results support previous predictions that transport diffusivities of molecules inside carbon nanotubes are extremely rapid when compared with other porous materials. By examining carbon nanotubes as large as the (40,40) nanotube, we are able to compare the transport rates predicted by our calculations with recent experimental measurements. The predicted transport rates are in reasonable agreement with experimental observations.