Formation of carbon oxides during tobacco combustion: Pyrolysis studies in the presence of isotopic gases to elucidate reaction sequence

During the combustion of tobacco, carbon monoxide is formed by the thermal decomposition of tobacco with primary products such as carbon dioxide and water. These three processes occur in parallel and are interdependent. The temperature ranges over which each process occurs, and their relative importance have been assessed by pyrolysing tobacco in the presence of various isotopically labelled gases. Non-isothermal pyrolyses were conducted at a heating rate of 1.6 K s^?1 up to 1000°C, with the products analysed by mass spectrometer.Pyrolysis in the presence of oxygen-18 indicates that combustion of tobacco starts at 180°C. Carbon dioxide and water are formed by combustion at 180°C, while carbon monoxide is not formed as a combustion product until 460°C. The quantities of carbon monoxide and dioxide formed by thermal decomposition of tobacco above 400°C are significantly reduced by the occurrence of combustion.Pyrolysis in the presence of carbon-13 dioxide or carbon dioxide-18 shows that its major reaction, endothermic reduction to form carbon monoxide begins at 450°C. Pyrolysis in an oxygen-18/carbon-13 dioxide atmosphere has shown that this endothermic reduction of carbon dioxide occurs in parallel with the strongly exothermic oxidising reactions. 30% of the total carbon monoxide formed was produced by thermal decomposition of the tobacco. 36% was produced by combustion of the tobacco, and at least 23% was produced via carbon dioxide. The remainder was produced by an interaction of the carbon dioxide reduction and the oxidation. Similar proportion would be expected inside the reaction zone of a burning cigarette.Pyrolysis in the presence of heavy water has shown that the major reaction of the water is to quantitatively produce carbon monoxide and hydrogen above 600°C. Considerable isotopic exchange reactions also occur. Pyrolysis in the presence of carbon monoxide-18 has shown that carbon monoxide reacts with tobacco to a small extent at temperatures above 220°C mainly to abstract oxygen combined in the tobacco and produce carbon dioxide.A sequence of general chemical steps for the production of the carbon oxides and water during tobacco combustion has been deduced. This is based on the present work together with considerations of previously published studies on graphite and coal reactions.     

Coprecipitation of Nanocomposites Based on Colloidal Particles of Sulfur and Carbonates of Alkaline-Earth Metals from Polysulfide Solutions

It has for the first time been shown that the action of carbon dioxide on solutions of alkaline-earth metal polysulfides causes a reaction yielding nanoparticles of sulfur and calcium, barium, and strontium carbonates. It has been found that, initially, particles of sulfur and a corresponding carbonate are synthesized with average sizes of about 20–25 nm; then, the particles are enlarged (aggregated) with the precipitation of a composite, which consists of hydrophobic particles of sulfur and the carbonate (the latter become hydrophobic due to the adsorption of neonol present in the reaction mixture). It has been shown that only sulfur exhibits antifungal activity in the composites, while carbonates have no effect on pathogenic fungi. The composite consisting of sulfur and calcium carbonate nanoparticles has shown the highest biological activity during germination of wheat seeds.     

C/粉煤灰复合吸附材料的制备及表征

以粉煤灰和蔗糖为原料,浓硫酸为炭化剂,制备了一种新型的C/粉煤灰复合吸附材料。 采用X光电子能谱、红外吸收光谱、场发射扫描电子显微镜、X射线衍射及N2气吸附实验对所制备复合材料进行了表征。 结果表明,粉煤灰表面被类石墨态炭纳米颗粒所包裹,复合材料表面密集分布着大量的介孔,Brunauer-Emmett-Teller(BET)比表面积SBET=5.4 m2/g,并且在该复合材料表面含有丰富的-SO3H、-COOH和-OH等含氧官能团。 考察了所制备的复合材料对典型阳离子型染料亚甲基蓝及重金属离子的吸附能力,结果表明,该复合材料具有优异的吸附性能,其对亚甲基蓝的吸附能力达到活性炭的83.7%,对典型重金属离子的吸附能力优于市售活性炭。 所制备复合材料可作为活性炭的一种替代品,用于水中有机染料和重金属离子的吸附处理。     

Carbon Dioxide/Methane Separation by Adsorption on Sepiolite

In this work,the use of sepiolite for the removal of carbon dioxide from a carbon diox- ide/methane mixture by a pressure swing adsorption(PSA)process has been researched.Adsorption equilibrium and kinetics have been measured in a fixed-bed,and the adsorption equilibrium parameters of carbon dioxide and methane on sepiolite have been obtained.A model based on the LDF approxima- tion has been employed to simulate the fixed-bed kinetics,using the Langmuir equation to describe the adsorption equilibrium isotherm.The functioning of a PSA cycle for separating carbon dioxide/methane mixtures using sepiolite as adsorbent has also been studied.The experimental results were compared with the ones predicted by the model adapted to a PSA system.Methane with purity higher than 97% can be obtained from feeds containing carbon dioxide with concentrations ranging from 34% to 56% with the proposed PSA cycle.These results suggest that sepiolite is an adsorbent with good properties for its employment in a PSA cycle for carbon dioxide removal from landfill gases.     

Fixed-bed adsorption of carbon dioxide/methane mixtures on silicalite pellets

The adsorption of carbon dioxide and methane on silicalite pellets packed on a fixed bed has been studied. Equilibrium and kinetic measurements of the adsorption of carbon dioxide and methane have been performed, and a binary adsorption isotherm for carbon dioxide/methane mixtures has been obtained. A model based on the LDF approximation for the mass transfer has been used to describe the breakthrough curves obtained experimentally. A PSA cycle has been proposed for obtaining methane with purity higher than 98% from carbon dioxide/methane mixtures containing 38% and 50% methane, and its performance has been simulated using the proposed model. The simulation results show that silicalite can be a suitable adsorbent for employment in a PSA separation process for carbon dioxide removal from coalseam and landfill gases.     

Adsorption of Carbon Dioxide on Chemically Modified High Surface Area Carbon-Based Adsorbents at High Temperature

The adsorption capacity of carbon dioxide on high surface area carbon-based adsorbents before and after chemical modification at 28°C and 300°C have been studied. The high adsorption capacity adsorbents for carbon dioxide at high temperature have been developed by introducing MgO and S–CaO–MgO on carbon-based adsorbents. Their adsorption capacities for carbon dioxide were 0.28 and 0.22 m mol/g at 300°C, 1 Bar, respectively.     

Determination of traces of sulfur in selenium by molecular emission cavity analysis

The selenium sample (ca. 1 mg) containing 40–90 μg g^-1 sulfur is decomposed in a combustion apparatus and the evolved sulfur dioxide is adsorbed on about 30 mg of silica gel. The silica gel is deposited in a cavity and the sulfur is determined by molecular emission cavity analysis. Incomplete sulfur recoveries (86 ± 4%) caused by incomplete conversion to sulfur dioxide necessitate a correction factor.     

Manometric submicro determination of carbon and hydrogen in organic materials

A method is described for the determination of carbon and hydrogen in quantities of organic material ranging from 5 to 50 μg. The method involves catalytic combustion of the sample in oxygen and measurement of the pressures of the resulting carbon dioxide and water. Special attention has been paid to the reduction of the effect of water adsorption in the apparatus. The present submicro method can be applied to non-volatile, non-hygroscopic samples and is free from interferences by nitrogen, sulphur and halogens (except fluorine). The standard deviation in the 50-μg sample range is 0.13% for carbon and 0.10% for hydrogen. The average duration per analysis when carried out in series is 20 min.     

Adsorption and catalysis at the solid/sulfur dioxide interface in the atmosphere. An examination of statistical data

From the official analytical data for sulfur dioxide and smoke in air pollution for one winter and one summer month covering residential and industrial areas in Great Britain, regression lines are computed. These reveal a large deficiency which is of very high significance of sulfur dioxide relative to smoke in winter compared with summer; the data show clearly that the deficiency is not due to the increase in domestic smoke in winter. Several reasons for the deficiency are examined semiquantitatively, and it is suggested that adsorption of sulfur dioxide occurs on solid particles followed by its catalytic oxidation by oxygen to sulfur trioxide. The amount of sulfur dioxide to be accounted for is far too high to be explained by simple adsorption on smoke particles. The catalysis may be due to traces of metals.The data also reveal that whatever may be the mechanism by which the sulfur dioxide is removed, it becomes less effective as the amount of smoke present increases, in all situations. It is suggested that a cause of this change might be the progressive covering of the very active surface of natural inorganic dust, possibly including meteoric dust, in the atmosphere by the less catalytically active smoke particles as their concentration rises.     

Microporous activated carbons prepared from palm shell by thermal activation and their application to sulfur dioxide adsorption

Textural characterization of activated carbons prepared from palm shell by thermal activation with carbon dioxide (CO(2)) gas is reported in this paper. Palm shell (endocarp) is an abundant agricultural solid waste from palm-oil processing mills in many tropical countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. The effects of activation temperature on the textural properties of the palm-shell activated carbons, namely specific surface area (BET method), porosity, and microporosity, were investigated. The activated carbons prepared from palm shell possessed well-developed porosity, predominantly microporosity, leading to potential applications in gas-phase adsorption for air pollution control. Static and dynamic adsorption tests for sulfur dioxide (SO(2)), a common gaseous pollutant, were carried out in a thermogravimetric analyzer and a packed column configuration respectively. The effects of adsorption temperature, adsorbate inlet concentration, and adsorbate superficial velocity on the adsorptive performance of the prepared activated carbons were studied. The palm-shell activated carbon was found to have substantial capability for the adsorption of SO(2), comparable to those of some commercial products and an adsorbent derived from another biomass.