Hydrothermal conversion of biomass to fuels, chemicals and materials: A review holistically connecting product properties and marketable applications.

Biomass is a renewable and carbon-neutral resource with good features for producing biofuels, biochemicals, and biomaterials. Among the different technologies developed to date to convert biomass into such commodities, hydrothermal conversion (HC) is a very appealing and sustainable option, affording marketable gaseous (primarily containing H, CO, CH, and CO), liquid (biofuels, aqueous phase carbohydrates, and inorganics), and solid products (energy-dense biofuels (up to 30 MJ/kg) with excellent functionality and strength). Given these prospects, this publication first-time puts together essential information on the HC of lignocellulosic and algal biomasses covering all the steps involved.

A novel synergistic covalence and complexation bridging strategy based on multi-functional biomass-derived aldehydes and Al(III) for engineering high-quality eco-leather.

To get rid of the chrome pollution faced by the leather industry, we explored a novel engineering high-quality eco-leather technology based on the synergistic interactions between biomass-based aldehydes and Al(III). Firstly, dialdehyde xanthan gum (DXG) was prepared to covalently crosslink with the collagen fibers (CFs) via Schiff-base linkages under alkaline conditions, endowing the leather with a shrinkage temperature (Ts) of 80 °C and opening channels for the subsequent penetration of Al species (AL). Secondly, and for this latter purpose, the DXG-tanned leather was acidified to release part of the DXG from the leather according to the dynamic nature of the Schiff-base.

[Land salinization information extraction method based on HSI hyperspectral and TM imagery].

This paper chose the typical salinization area in Kenli County of the Yellow River Delta as the study area, selected HJ-1A satellite HSI image at March 15, 2011 and TM image at March 22, 2011 as source of information, and pre-processed these data by image cropping, geometric correction and atmospheric correction. Spectral characteristics of main land use types including different degree of salinization lands, water and shoals were analyzed to find distinct bands for information extraction Land use information extraction model was built by adopting the quantitative and qualitative rules combining the spectral characteristics and the content of soil salinity. Land salinization information was extracted via image classification using decision tree method.

[Estimation of chlorophyll content in apple tree canopy based on hyperspectral parameters].

The hyperspectral reflectance of apple tree canopy during spring shoots stopping growth period was measured using ASD FieldSpec3 field spectrometer. Original spectral data were processed in deviation forms, and significant spectrum parameters correlated with chlorophyll content were found out with correlation analysis. The best vegetation indices were chosen and the apple canopy chlorophyll content estimation model was established by analyzing vegetation index of two-band combination in the sensitive region 400-1 350 nm.