Effect of Electrical Pulse Forms on the CO2 Reforming of Methane Using Atmospheric Dielectric Barrier Discharge

Methane conversion using an electric discharge has been studied for many years. Recently, many research groups have developed high-frequency pulsed plasma reaction for methane conversion to higher hydrocarbons and synthesis gas. CO₂ reforming of methane to synthesis gas has also attracted considerable interest as a method of utilization of the greenhouse gases, CO₂ and CH₄, which occupy most of man-made greenhouse gases. In this study, the influence of pulse form of applied voltage on methane and carbon dioxide conversions and product selectivity has been investigated using a cylindrical type DBD reactor. For this purpose, two kinds of power supply were compared, that is, AC power supply which has a high-frequency sinusoidal wave form, and AC pulse power supply which has modified AC pulse wave form. The conversions of methane and carbon dioxide were enhanced using pulsed plasma. The lower pulse width was more profitable economically.     

甲烷氧化细菌催化二氧化碳生物合成甲醇的研究

甲烷氧化细菌中包含的甲烷单加氧酶(MMO)、甲醇脱氢酶(ADH)、甲醛脱氢酶(FaldDH)、甲酸脱氢酶(FateDH)经过一系列反应能够把甲烷深度氧化生成二氧化碳，并生成一定的能量物质．把二氧化碳还原为甲醇是一个需要能量的过程，目前还没有已知的有机体在温和条件下完成这一反应．研究发现，甲基弯菌Methylosi-nus trichosporium IMV 3011可以催化二氧化碳生物转化生成甲醇．在休眠的悬浮细胞中充人二氧化碳后，反应一段时间在反应液中检测到了甲醇．二氧化碳转化成甲醇是一个需要能量推动的反应，为了补充反应所消耗的能量．反应一段时间后需要用甲烷进行再生，以恢复细胞中的还原当量NADH．我们进行了反应再生的交替连续批式反应，甲醇积累量能够维持在一个比较稳定的水平．理论上，反应不会增加温室效应，这是一个有效的、环境友好的、可恢复的反应过程．     

Engineering of Ruthenium–Iron Oxide Colloidal Heterostructures: Improved Yields in CO2 Hydrogenation to Hydrocarbons

Catalytic CO₂ reduction to fuels and chemicals is a major pursuit in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. One approach utilizes the reverse water‐gas shift reaction, followed by Fischer–Tropsch synthesis, and iron is a well‐known candidate for this process. Some attempts have been made to modify and improve its reactivity, but resulted in limited success. Now, using ruthenium–iron oxide colloidal heterodimers, close contact between the two phases promotes the reduction of iron oxide via a proximal hydrogen spillover effect, leading to the formation of ruthenium–iron core–shell structures active for the reaction at significantly lower temperatures than in bare iron catalysts. Furthermore, by engineering the iron oxide shell thickness, a fourfold increase in hydrocarbon yield is achieved compared to the heterodimers. This work shows how rational design of colloidal heterostructures can result in materials with significantly improved catalytic performance in CO₂ conversion processes.     

Computational fluid dynamics study of the dry reforming of methane over Ni/Al<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>3</Subscript> catalyst in a membrane reactor. Coke deposition

This work investigates the dry reforming of CH₄ as an important process for the conversion of greenhouse gases to synthesis gas. The mixture of methane and CO₂ is readily available in the greenhouse gas which makes realization of dry reforming of methane process more convenient. The paper is an attempt to numerically analyse by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) the coking and gasification mechanisms in the lab-scale membrane module with a fixed-bed supported nickel catalyst (Ni/Al₂O₃). The concentrations and molar fluxes obtained by the simulation are compared with the experimental profiles to validate the CFD model. It was found that working in a catalytic fixed-bed membrane reactor, in the case of the dry reforming of methane and under specific conditions, was not critical, from the point of view of catalyst deactivation.     

Surface studies of gas sensing metal oxides

The relation of surface science studies of single crystal metal oxides to gas sensing applications is reviewed. Most metal oxide gas sensors are used to detect oxidizing or reducing gases and therefore this article focuses on surface reduction processes and the interaction of oxygen with these surfaces. The systems that are discussed are: (i) the oxygen vacancy formation on the surface of the ion conductor CeO(2)(111); (ii) interaction of oxygen with TiO(2) (both adsorption processes and the incorporation of oxygen into the TiO(2)(110) lattice are discussed); (iii) the varying surface composition of SnO(2)(101) and its consequence for the adsorption of water; and (iv) Cu modified ZnO(0001)-Zn surfaces and its interaction with oxygen. These examples are chosen to give a comprehensive overview of surface science studies of different kinds of gas sensing materials and to illustrate the potential that surface science studies have to give fundamental insight into gas sensing phenomena.     

Integration of Nine Steps into One Membrane Reactor To Produce Synthesis Gases for Ammonia and Liquid Fuel

The synthesis of ammonia and liquid fuel are two important chemical processes in which most of the energy is consumed in the production of H₂/N₂ and H₂/CO synthesis gases from natural gas (methane). Here, we report a membrane reactor with a mixed ionic‐electronic conducting membrane, in which the nine steps for the production of the two types of synthesis gases are shortened to one step by using water, air, and methane as feeds. In the membrane reactor, there is no direct CO₂ emission and no CO or H₂S present in the ammonia synthesis gas. The energy consumption for the production of the two synthesis gases can be reduced by 63 % by using this membrane reactor. This promising membrane reactor process has been successfully demonstrated by experiment.     

煤层气治理与利用技术研究开发进展

煤层气作为一种非常规天然气,既是宝贵的清洁能源,其主要成分甲烷同时也是一种主要的温室气体;煤层气的直接排放不仅加剧了大气温室效应和环境污染,同时也是能源资源的极大浪费.近年来,煤层气的治理和利用受到了广泛关注,有关技术研究和开发取得了很大进展.本文对近年来煤层气的治理和利用技术研发进展进行了总结和评估,侧重于介绍煤层气分离系统中关键的中、高浓度煤层气催化燃烧脱氧技术以及乏风瓦斯逆向流催化燃烧减排及余热利用技术.最后对煤层气综合利用技术进行了展望.     

Research Progress in the Direct Synthesis of Dimethyl Carbonate from CO2 and Methanol

The direct synthesis of dimethyl carbonate (DMC) from CO₂ and methanol is one attractive way for the reduction of greenhouse gas emission and the utilization of carbon resources. Recent progress in the direct synthesis of DMC from CO₂ and methanol is reviewed with the focus on the catalyst systems, including organic metal compounds catalyst, base catalyst, acetate catalyst, metal oxide and supported metal oxide catalysts, heteropolyacid catalyst and photocatalyst. Moreover, the application of supercritical system, ionic liquid system, electrochemical system, membrane reactor and nitriles hydration in the direct synthesis of DMC are also introduced. Finally, future research direction in this area is proposed.     

Ocean-atmosphere trace gas exchange

The oceans contribute significantly to the global emissions of a number of atmospherically important volatile gases, notably those containing sulfur, nitrogen and halogens. Such gases play critical roles not only in global biogeochemical cycling but also in a wide range of atmospheric processes including marine aerosol formation and modification, tropospheric ozone formation and destruction, photooxidant cycling and stratospheric ozone loss. A number of marine emissions are greenhouse gases, others influence the Earth's radiative budget indirectly through aerosol formation and/or by modifying oxidant levels and thus changing the atmospheric lifetime of gases such as methane. In this article we review current literature concerning the physical, chemical and biological controls on the sea-air emissions of a wide range of gases including dimethyl sulphide (DMS), halocarbons, nitrogen-containing gases including ammonia (NH(3)), amines (including dimethylamine, DMA, and diethylamine, DEA), alkyl nitrates (RONO(2)) and nitrous oxide (N(2)O), non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHC) including isoprene and oxygenated (O)VOCs, methane (CH(4)) and carbon monoxide (CO). Where possible we review the current global emission budgets of these gases as well as known mechanisms for their formation and loss in the surface ocean.     

水合肼还原金属的研究进展

水合肼还原金属主要用于制备金属纳米颗粒、回收废液中的金属元素以及乏燃料后处理。 本文对水合肼作为还原剂的液相还原法制备纳米金属材料、金属离子的回收利用及乏燃料后处理等方面的研究进展作了比较全面的综述,并对液相还原法在酸性和碱性情况下,水合肼还原金属存在的差异及有关的机理、特点、影响因素等进行了分析和总结,以期为该领域研究人员在控制制备金属形状、选择实验条件、金属离子回收尤其是乏燃料处理方面提供参考。     

Enhancing the Performance of Evolutionary Algorithm by Differential Evolution for Optimizing Distillation Sequence

Optimal synthesis of distillation sequence is a complex problem in chemical processes engineering, which involves process structure optimization and operation parameters optimization. The study of the synthesis of distillation sequence is a crucial step toward improving the efficiency of chemical processes and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This work introduced the concept of binary tree to encode the distillation sequence. The performance of the six evolutionary algorithms was evaluated by solving a 14-component distillation sequence synthesis problem. The best algorithm was used to optimize the operation parameters of a triple-column distillation process. The total annual cost and CO₂ emissions were considered as the metrics to evaluate the performance of triple-column distillation processes. As a result, NSGA-II-DE was found to be the best one of the six tested evolutionary algorithms. Then, NSGA-II-DE was applied to the distillation sequence optimization to find the best operating parameters, which led to a significant reduction in CO₂ emission and total annual costs.     

Binding and Activation of N2O at Transition‐Metal Centers: Recent Mechanistic Insights

No laughing matter, nitrous oxide’s role in stratospheric ozone depletion and as a greenhouse gas has stimulated great interest in developing and understanding its decomposition, particularly through the use of transition‐metal promoters. Recent advances in our understanding of the reaction pathways for N₂O reduction by metal ions in the gas phase and in heterogeneous, homogeneous, and biological catalytic systems have provided provocative ideas about the structure and properties of metal N₂O adducts and derived intermediates. These ideas are likely to inform efforts to design more effective catalysts for N₂O remediation.     

金属氧化物异质结气体传感器气敏增强机理

金属氧化物异质结由于费米能级效应、不同组分之间的协同作用,常被用来提高电阻型金属氧化物半导体气体传感器的气敏特性。本文简述了近年来国内外金属氧化物异质结材料的类别,主要分为混合氧化物结构、层状结构、第二相粒子修饰结构、一维纳米结构和核-壳结构;重点综述了金属氧化物异质结的气敏增强机理,包括异质结效应、协同效应、催化溢流效应、响应反型、载流子分离及微结构调控六大机理;分析了当前异质结气体传感器面临的瓶颈。最后对纳米异质结气体传感器的发展进行了展望,今后金属氧化物异质结气体传感器可以从明确异质结界面机理展开,这将为自下而上地设计出符合实际需要的气体传感器提供一定参考。     

Precise Control of Metal Oxide Thin Films Deposition in Magnetron Sputtering Plasmas for High Performance Sensing Devices Fabrication

Magnetron sputtering deposition is a widely used technique to deposit thin film precisely at nanoscale level. During the deposition of metal oxide thin films, reactive oxygen gas is introduced into the deposition chamber. Pure metal and metal oxide materials can be used as sputter target, although the simplest way is by using a pure metal target. In such reactive process, the effect of target poisoning significantly influence the deposition process and the growth mechanisms of metal oxide thin films became very complex. In general, external parameters such as discharge power, working pressure, reactive gases ratio and substrate temperature are used to optimize the properties of deposited thin films. Then, ex-situ analyses such as scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffraction analysis are performed to obtain the optimized parameter. Sample depositions and ex-situ analyses consume time to achieve the goal through try and error. In this article, in-situ plasma diagnostics are reviewed focusing on an optical emission spectroscopy to precisely control and investigate the sputter target poisoning effect during the deposition of metal oxide thin films. The emission of atomic lines from several metal and oxygen atoms were used to discuss the deposition mechanisms and their correlation with the deposited thin films was observed. Finally, the deposited metal oxide thin films were proposed and tested for several applications such as gas sensor and frequency selective surface glass.     

The Effect of the Surface Oxygen Concentration of Catalysts on Activation of Methane

The improvement of synthesis gas production process is a very important research field in natural gas industry. Recent years, many researchers have suggested that catalytic partial oxidation of methane could be an attractive alternative as a process for synthesis gas production owing to its many advantages. So, it is very important to study the activation over supported metal catalyst. Activation of methane over supported metal catalysts was investigated using MS-pulse techniques in the absence of gaseous oxygen.     

Hyperbranched polyglycidol assisted green synthetic protocols for the preparation of multifunctional metal nanoparticles

Biocompatible hyperbranched polyglycidol (HBP) has been demonstrated to be an effective reducing and stabilizing agent for the synthesis of highly water-soluble monometallic (Au, Ag, Pt, Pd, and Ru) and bimetallic (Au/Pt, Au/Pd, and Au/Ru) nanoparticles (NPs), which provides a general and green protocol to fabricate metal NPs. The HBP-assisted reduction of metal ions follows an analogous polyol process. The reduction reaction rate increases sharply by increasing the temperature and the molecular weight of HBP. The size of NPs is controllable simply by changing the concentration of the metal precursor. High molecular weight HBP is favorable for the formation of NPs with uniform size and improved stability. By utilizing hydroxyl groups in the HBP-passivation layer of Au NPs, TiO(2)/Au, GeO(2)/Au, and SiO(2)/Au nanohybrids are also fabricated via sol-gel processes, which sets a typical example for the creation of versatile metal NPs/inorganic oxide hybrids based on the as-prepared multifunctional NPs.     

金属有机框架及其衍生的金属氧化物在电阻式气体传感器中的应用

高灵敏和选择性的气体传感器对于实时监测大气中有毒有害气体和早期的疾病诊断具有重要的意义。目前,传统的气敏材料仍然存在着许多问题亟待解决,例如：选择性差、检测极限不够低、使用寿命短等。作为一种多孔的配位聚合物,金属有机框架材料(MOFs)由于其超高的比表面积和较大的孔隙率在气体传感器领域已经得到广泛的应用。利用MOFs自身或者由它们衍生的不同纳米结构的金属氧化物可以提升气体传感器的灵敏度和选择性,为制备新型高性能的气体传感器提供了新的思路和方向。本文结合金属氧化物半导体(MOS)的气敏机理,综述了不同结构的MOFs及其衍生的金属氧化物在电阻式气体传感器领域的研究进展,并对其应用前景和发展方向作出了展望。     

One-step synthesis of gold and silver hydrosols using poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) as a reducing agent

Synthesis of gold and silver hydrosols was carried out in a one-step process by reduction of aqueous solutions of metal salts using poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) (PVP). Both kinds of metal nanoparticles were obtained without the addition of any other reducing agent, at low temperatures and using water as the synthesis solvent. Shape, size, and optical properties of the particles could be tuned by changing the employed PVP/metal salt ratio. It is proposed that PVP acts as the reducing agent suffering a partial degradation during the nanoparticles synthesis. Two possible mechanisms are proposed to explain the reduction step: direct hydrogen abstraction induced by the metal ion and/or reducing action of macroradicals formed during degradation of the polymer. Initial formation of the macroradicals might be associated with the metal-accelerated decomposition of low amounts of peroxides present in the commercial polymer.     

Preface for the Special Column of Methane Transformation

Methane is the main constituent of natural gas, coal-bed gas, landfill gas and methane hydrate resources. These resources may be used more efficiently as clean fuels or as chemical feedstocks if methane can be effectively transformed into liquid fuels or chemicals. However, methane only possesses C-H bonds and is a very stable organic molecule hard to functionalize. The C-H activation, particularly the selective functionalization of C-H bonds in saturated hydrocarbons, remains a difficult challenge in chemistry. The present technology for chemical utilization of methane involves the steam reforming of methane to synthesis gas and the subsequent transformation of synthesis gas to methanol or hydrocarbon fuels via methanol synthesis or Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. However, the steam reforming of methane is a high-cost process. The development of more efficient and economical processes for methane transformation is a dream of all chemists and chemical engineers. I think that this is also one of the most important themes of the Journal of Natural Gas Chemistry.