Hongbing Yu

Catalysis Kinetics and Porous Analysis of Rolling Activated Carbon-PTFE Air-Cathode in Microbial Fuel Cells

The microbial fuel cell (MFC), being an environment-friendly technology for wastewater treatment, is limited by low efficiency and high cost. Power output based on capital cost had been greatly increased in our previous work by introducing a novel activated carbon (AC) air-cathode (ACAC). The catalysis behavior of this ACAC was studied here based on catalysis kinetics and pore analysis of both carbon powders and catalyst layers (CLs). Plain AC (AC1#), ultracapacitor AC (AC2#), and non-AC (XC-72) powders were used as catalysts. The electron transfer number (n) of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) with CLs increased by 5-23% compared to those n values of corresponding carbon powders before being rolled to CLs with PTFE, while the n value of Pt/C decreased by 38% when it was brushed with Nafion as the CL, indicating that rolling procedure with PTFE binder substantially increased the catalytic activity of carbon catalysts. Two-four times larger in micropore area of AC powders than non-AC powder resulted in 1.3-1.9 times increase in power density of MFCs. In addition, more uniform distribution of microporosity was found in AC1# than in AC2#, which could be the reason for the 25% increase in power density of ACAC1# (1355 ± 26 mW·m(-2)) compared to 1086 ± 8 mW·m(-2) of ACAC2#.

Catalytic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass into 5-hydroxymethylfurfural in ionic liquid.

Production of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) from cellulose catalyzed by solid acids and metal chlorides was studied in the 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([BMIM]Cl) under microwave irradiation. Among the applied catalysts, the use of CrCl(3)/LiCl resulted in the highest yield of HMF. The effects of catalyst dosage (mole ratio of catalyst to glucose units in the feedstock) and reaction temperature on HMF yields were investigated to obtain optimal process conditions. With the 1:1 mol ratio of catalyst to glucose unit, the HMF yield reached 62.3% at 160°C for 10 min. Untreated wheat straw was also investigated as feedstock to produce HMF for the practical use of raw biomass, in which the HMF yield was comparable to that from pure cellulose. After the extraction of HMF, [BMIM]Cl and CrCl(3)/LiCl could be reused and exhibited no activity loss after three successive runs.

Conversion of xylan, d-xylose and lignocellulosic biomass into furfural using AlCl3 as catalyst in ionic liquid.

In order to define a new green catalytic pathway for the production of furfural, the catalyzed conversion of xylan into furfural in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride was studied by using mineral acids and metal chlorides as catalysts under microwave irradiation. Amongst these catalysts, AlCl(3) resulted in the highest furfural yield of 84.8% at 170°C for 10s. The effect of AlCl(3) on the conversion efficiency of d-xylose and untreated lignocellulosic biomass was also investigated, the yields of furfural from corncob, grass and pine wood catalyzed by AlCl(3) in [BMIM]Cl were in the range of 16-33%. [BMIM]Cl and AlCl(3) could be recycled for four runs with stable catalytic activity. AlCl(3) is less corrosive than mineral acids, and the use of ionic liquid as reaction medium will no longer generate toxic wastewater, thus this reaction system is more ecologically viable.

The effects of temperature and catalysts on the pyrolysis of industrial wastes (herb residue).

Pyrolysis of herb residue was investigated in a fixed-bed to determine the effects of pyrolysis temperature and catalysts (ZSM-5, Al-SBA-15 and alumina) on the products yields and the qualities of bio-oils. The results indicated that the maximum bio-oil yield of 34.26% was obtained at 450 degrees Celsius with 10 wt.% alumina catalyst loaded. The pyrolytic oils were examined by ultimate analysis and calorific values determination, and the results indicated that the presence of all catalysts decreased the oxygen content of bio-oils and increased the calorific values. The order of the catalytic effect for upgrading the pyrolytic oil was Al(2)O(3)>Al-SBA-15>ZSM-5. The bio-oil with the lowest oxygen content (26.71%) and the highest calorific value (25.94 MJ kg(-1)) was obtained with 20 wt.% alumina catalyst loaded. Furthermore, the gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) was used in order to investigate the components of obtained pyrolytic oils. It was found that the alumina catalyst could clearly enhance the formation of aliphatics and aromatics.

Acidic and alkaline pretreatments of activated carbon and their effects on the performance of air-cathodes in microbial fuel cells

Activated carbon (AC) is a high performing and cost effective catalyst for oxygen reduction reactions (ORRs) of air-cathodes in microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Acidic (HNO3) and alkaline (KOH) pretreatments on AC at low temperature (85°C) are conducted to enhance the performance of MFCs. The alkaline pretreatment increased the power density by 16% from 804±70 to 957±31 mW m(-2), possibly due to the decrease of ohmic resistance (from 20.58 to 19.20 Ω) and the increase of ORR activities provided by the adsorbed hydroxide ion and extra micropore area/volume after alkaline pretreatment. However, acidic pretreatment decreased the power output to 537±36 mW m(-2), which can be mainly attributed to the corrosion by adsorbed proton at the interface of AC powder and stainless steel mesh and the decreased pore area.

Production of furfural from xylose, xylan and corncob in gamma-valerolactone using FeCl3·6H2O as catalyst.

An efficient and simple one-pot monophasic reaction system with small carbon footprint for converting xylose, xylan and corncob into furfural was developed in gamma-valerolactone (GVL, an ideal sustainable solvent derived from lignocelluloses) by using FeCl3·6H2O as catalyst. Good yields of furfural from xylose were obtained, and the system was shown to work for xylan and corncob as well. A surprisingly high furfural yield of 79.6% from untreated corncob was achieved at 458 K for 100 min. Contrary to what was generally believed, the addition of water, reduced the rate of the reactions, but showed positive effect on preventing the furfural from degradation in GVL. Besides, the C6 sugars (glucose and cellulose) afforded 11.4-24.5% furfural yields when employing this catalytic approach. The reaction system proposed in this manuscript showed great potential for optimizing the catalytic process in furfural production.

Lack of anodic capacitance causes power overshoot in microbial fuel cells

Power overshoot commonly makes the performance evaluation of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) inaccurate. Here, three types of carbon with different capacitance (ultracapacitor activated carbon (UAC), plain activated carbon (PAC) and carbon black (CB)) rolled on stainless steel mesh (SSM) as anodes to investigate the relationship between overshoot and anodic capacitance. It was not observed in all cycles of UAC-MFCs (from Cycle 2 to 4) due to the largest abiotic capacitance (Cm(abiotic)) of 2.1F/cm(2), while this phenomenon was eliminated in PAC-MFCs (Cm(abiotic)=1.6 F/cm(2)) from Cycle 3 and in CB-MFCs (Cm(abiotic)=0.5F/cm(2)) from Cycle 4, indicated that the Cm(abiotic) of the anode stored charges and functioned as electron shuttle to overcome the power overshoot. With bacterial colonization, the transient charge storage in biofilm resulted in a 0.1-0.4F/cm(2) increase in total capacitance for anodes, which was the possible reason for the elimination of power overshoot in PAC/CB-MFCs after multi cycle acclimation.

Solid acids as catalysts for the conversion of D-xylose, xylan and lignocellulosics into furfural in ionic liquid.

With the aim to develop an ecologically viable catalytic pathway for furfural production without the use of inorganic acids, H3PW12O40, Amberlyst-5 and NKC-9 (macroporous styrene-based sulfonic acid resin) were used as catalysts for producing furfural from xylose, xylan and lignocellulosic biomass in [BMIM]Cl under microwave irradiation at atmospheric pressure. A surprisingly high furfural yield of 93.7% from xylan was obtained by H3PW12O40 at 160 °C in 10 min. The degradation of furfural affected by single addition of [BMIM]Cl and solid acids was also investigated. The IL could be easily recycled and reused with stable solvent capacity for multiple runs (5×) after the product furfural was extracted with ethyl acetate.

Highly Efficient Removal of Pathogenic Bacteria with Magnetic Graphene Composite

Magnetic Fe3O4/graphene composite (abbreviated as G-Fe3O4) was synthesized successfully by solvothermal method to effectively remove both bacteriophage and bacteria in water, which was tested by HRTEM, XRD, BET, XPS, FTIR, CV, magnetic property and zeta-potential measurements. Based on the result of HRTEM, the single-sheet structure of graphene oxide and the monodisperse Fe3O4 nanoparticles on the surface of graphene can be observed obviously. The G-Fe3O4 composite were attractive for removing a wide range of pathogens including not only bacteriophage ms2, but also various bacteria such as S. aureus, E. coli, Salmonella, E. Faecium, E. faecalis, and Shigella. The removal efficiency of E. coli for G-Fe3O4 composite can achieve 93.09%, whereas it is only 54.97% with pure Fe3O4 nanoparticles. Moreover, a detailed verification test of real water samples was conducted and the removal efficiency of bacteria in real water samples with G-Fe3O4 composite can also reach 94.8%.

Simulated-sunlight-activated photocatalysis of Methylene Blue using cerium-doped SiO2/TiO2 nanostructured fibers

Cerium-doped SiO2/TiO2 nanostructured fibers were fabricated by electrospinning technology. The prepared fibers were characterized by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Using the fibers as catalysts, photocatalytic degradation of Methylene Blue (MB) aqueous solution was carried out under simulated sunlight. The 0.2% Ce doping proved to be the optimal concentration for the doping of TiO2/SiO2, compared to other Ce-doped molar concentrations. The 0.2% Ce-doped SiO2/TiO2 fibers exhibited higher photocatalytic activity than industrial Degussa P25 and the samples doped with only Ce or SiO2. The reasons for improving the photocatalytic activity were also discussed. Several operational parameters were studied, which showed that the photocatalytic efficiency of MB was influenced by parameters such as the initial dye concentration, the initial pH, inorganic anions, and so on. In addition, the influences of an electron acceptor and a radical scavenger suggested that OH was the dominant photooxidant during the photocatalytic process. The reuse evaluation of the fibers indicated that their photocatalytic activity had good stability.