Deconvoluting Substrates, Support, and Temperature Effects on Leaching and Deactivation of Pd Catalysts: An In Situ Study in Flow.

Leaching behavior of three different Pd heterogeneous catalysts (PdEnCat 30, FibreCat FC1001, and Pd/AlO) during the Heck reaction of iodobenzene and methyl acrylate, in the presence of triethylamine, was compared using a tandem flow reactor. While leaching was observed in all three cases, Pd/AlO appeared to be the most robust, showing little/no leaching at ambient temperature. The leached Pd species also appear to display different catalytic activities.

Using the Colloidal Method to Prepare Au Catalysts for the Alkylation of Aniline by Benzyl Alcohol.

Using the colloidal method, attempts were made to deposit Au NPs on seven different material supports (TiO, α and γ-AlO, HFeO, CeO, C, and SiO). The deposition between 0.8 and 1 wt% of Au NPs can be generally achieved, apart for SiO (no deposition) and α-alumina (0.

Improved Bioproduction of 1-Octanol Using Engineered sp. PCC 6803.

1-Octanol has gained interest as a chemical precursor for both high and low value commodities including fuel, solvents, surfactants, and fragrances. By harnessing the power from sunlight and CO as carbon source, cyanobacteria has recently been engineered for renewable production of 1-octanol. The productivity, however, remained low.

Engineering Biocatalytic Solar Fuel Production: The PHOTOFUEL Consortium.

The EU Horizon2020 consortium PHOTOFUEL joined academic and industrial partners from biology, chemistry, engineering, engine design, and lifecycle assessment, making tremendous progress towards engine-ready fuels from CO via engineered photosynthetic microbes. Technical, environmental, economic, and societal opportunities and challenges were explored to frame future technology realization at scale.

Catalytic reforming of oxygenated hydrocarbons for the hydrogen production: an outlook.

The catalytic steam reforming of oxygenated hydrocarbons has been holding an interest in scientific societies for the past two decades. The hydrogen production from steam reforming of glycerol, ethanol and other oxygenates such as ethylene glycol and propylene glycol are more suitable choice not just because it can be produced from renewable sources, but it also helps to decrease the transportation fuel price and making it more competitive. In addition, hydrogen itself is a green fuel for the transportation sector.

Crystal Structure of Geranylgeranyl Pyrophosphate Synthase (CrtE) Involved in Cyanobacterial Terpenoid Biosynthesis.

Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic prokaryotes that perform oxygenic photosynthesis. Due to their ability to use the photon energy of sunlight to fix carbon dioxide into biomass, cyanobacteria are promising hosts for the sustainable production of terpenoids, also known as isoprenoids, a diverse class of natural products with potential as advanced biofuels and high-value chemicals. However, the cyanobacterial enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of the terpene precursors needed to make more complicated terpenoids are poorly characterized.

CFD and kinetic-based modeling to optimize the sparger design of a large-scale photobioreactor for scaling up of biofuel production.

Microalgal biofuels have not yet achieved wide-spread commercialization, partially as a result of the complexities involved with designing and scaling up of their biosystems. The sparger design of a pilot-scale photobioreactor (120 L) was optimized to enable the scale-up of biofuel production. An integrated model coupling computational fluid dynamics and microalgal biofuel synthesis kinetics was used to simulate the biomass growth and novel biofuel production (i.

A versatile open-source analysis of the limiting efficiency of photo electrochemical water-splitting.

Understanding the fundamental thermodynamic limits of photo-electrochemical (PEC) water splitting is of great scientific and practical importance. In this work, a 'detailed balance' type model of solar quantum energy converters and non-linear circuit analysis is used to calculate the thermodynamic limiting efficiency of various configurations of PEC design. This model is released as freely accessible open-source (GNU GPL v3) code written in MATLAB with a graphical user interface (GUI).

Assessing the scalability of low conductivity substrates for photo-electrodes via modelling of resistive losses.

When scaling up photo-electrochemical processes to larger areas than conventionally studied in the laboratory, substrate performance must be taken into consideration and in this work, a methodology to assess this via an uncomplicated 2 dimensional model is outlined. It highlights that for F-doped SnO2 (FTO), which is ubiquitously used for metal oxide photoanodes, substrate performance becomes significant for moderately sized electrodes (5 cm) under no solar concentration for state of the art Fe2O3 thin films. It is demonstrated that when the process is intensified via solar concentration, current losses become quickly limiting.

Electricity generation from digitally printed cyanobacteria.

Microbial biophotovoltaic cells exploit the ability of cyanobacteria and microalgae to convert light energy into electrical current using water as the source of electrons. Such bioelectrochemical systems have a clear advantage over more conventional microbial fuel cells which require the input of organic carbon for microbial growth. However, innovative approaches are needed to address scale-up issues associated with the fabrication of the inorganic (electrodes) and biological (microbe) parts of the biophotovoltaic device.

Binuclear β-diketiminate complexes of copper(i).

The reaction of a series of dinucleating bis(β-diketiminate) pro-ligands with mesitylcopper in the presence and absence of mono and diphosphines has allowed the isolation of a new series of dicopper(i) complexes. Inclusion of trans-1,2-cyclohexyl (1), 2,6-pyridyl (2), and 2,2'-oxydiaryl (3) spacers between the β-diketiminate units has been studied. The isolation of three new copper(i) phosphine complexes [1·Cu2(PPh3)2], [2·Cu2(PPh3)2] and [3·Cu2(PPh3)2] is reported.

Pneumatic hydrodynamics influence transplastomic protein yields and biological responses during shoot regeneration of callus: Implications for bioprocess routes to plant-made biopharmaceuticals.

Transplastomic plants are capable of high-yield production of recombinant biopharmaceutical proteins. Plant tissue culture combines advantages of agricultural cultivation with the bioprocess consistency associated with suspension culture. Overexpression of recombinant proteins through regeneration of transplastomic shoots from callus tissue in RITA temporary immersion bioreactors has been previously demonstrated.

Hydrothermal upgrading of algae paste: Inorganics and recycling potential in the aqueous phase.

Hydrothermal Liquefaction (HTL) for algal biomass conversion is a promising technology capable of producing high yields of biocrude as well as partitioning even higher quantity of nutrients in the aqueous phase. To assess the feasibility of utilizing the aqueous phase, HTL of Nannochloropsis sp. was carried out in the temperature range of 275 to 350°C and Residence Times (RT) ranging between 5 and 60min The effect of reaction conditions on the NO3(-),PO4(3-),SO4(2-),Cl(-),Na(+),andK(+) ions as well as Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and pH was investigated with view of recycling the aqueous phase for either cultivation or energy generation via Anaerobic Digestion (AD), quantified via Lifecycle Assessment (LCA).

A review on hydrothermal pre-treatment technologies and environmental profiles of algal biomass processing.

The need for efficient and clean biomass conversion technologies has propelled Hydrothermal (HT) processing as a promising treatment option for biofuel production. This manuscript discussed its application for pre-treatment of microalgae biomass to solid (biochar), liquid (biocrude and biodiesel) and gaseous (hydrogen and methane) products via Hydrothermal Carbonisation (HTC), Hydrothermal Liquefaction (HTL) and Supercritical Water Gasification (SCWG) as well as the utility of HT water as an extraction medium and HT Hydrotreatment (HDT) of algal biocrude. In addition, the Solar Energy Retained in Fuel (SERF) using HT technologies is calculated and compared with benchmark biofuel.

Dynamic modelling of high biomass density cultivation and biohydrogen production in different scales of flat plate photobioreactors.

This paper investigates the scaling-up of cyanobacterial biomass cultivation and biohydrogen production from laboratory to industrial scale. Two main aspects are investigated and presented, which to the best of our knowledge have never been addressed, namely the construction of an accurate dynamic model to simulate cyanobacterial photo-heterotrophic growth and biohydrogen production and the prediction of the maximum biomass and hydrogen production in different scales of photobioreactors. To achieve the current goals, experimental data obtained from a laboratory experimental setup are fitted by a dynamic model.

Hydrothermal upgrading of algae paste in a continuous flow reactor.

This investigation demonstrates the utility of a novel laboratory scale continuous plug flow reactor for fast Hydrothermal Liquefaction (HTL) of microalgae in a quartz lined chamber. Reactions were carried out between 300 and 380 °C and residence times of 0.5-4 min.

Morphological Modification of TiO₂ Thin Films as Highly Efficient Photoanodes for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting.

TiO2 films with modified morphology have been successfully synthesized via a facile spray-pyrolysis method in the presence of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) as a templating agent. The effects of the PEG concentration on the relevant properties of TiO2 films were investigated by means of scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and UV-vis absorbance spectroscopy, while their photocatalytic properties were assessed by photoelectrochemical (PEC) water-splitting measurements. The introduction of 10 g·L(-1) PEG into the precursor solution leads to surface roughening with an exceptional improvement in PEC responses, revealing a photoconversion efficiency of 1.

Chemo- and diastereoselectivities in the electrochemical reduction of maleimides.

The electrochemical cathodic reduction of cyclic imides (maleimides) to succinimides can be achieved chemoselectively in the presence of alkene, alkyne, and benzyl groups. The efficiency of the system was demonstrated by using a 3D electrode in a continuous flow reactor. The reduction of 3,4-dimethylmaleimides to the corresponding succinimides proceeds with a 3:2 diastereomeric ratio, which is independent of the nitrogen substituent and electrode surface area.

Mononuclear Phenolate Diamine Zinc Hydride Complexes and Their Reactions With CO.

The synthesis, characterization, and zinc coordination chemistry of the three proligands 2--butyl-4-[-butyl ()/methoxy ()/nitro ()]-6-{[(2'-dimethylaminoethyl)methylamino]methyl}phenol are described. Each of the ligands was reacted with diethylzinc to yield zinc ethyl complexes -; these complexes were subsequently reacted with phenylsilanol to yield zinc siloxide complexes -. Finally, the zinc siloxide complexes were reacted with phenylsilane to produce the three new zinc hydride complexes -.

An attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR FT-IR) spectroscopic study of gas adsorption on colloidal stearate-capped ZnO catalyst substrate.

Attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR FT-IR) spectroscopy has been applied in situ to study gas adsorption on a colloidal stearate-capped zinc oxide (ZnO) surface. Infrared spectra of a colloidal stearate-capped ZnO catalyst substrate were assigned at room temperature using zinc stearate as a reference compound. Heating was shown to create a monodentate species that allowed conformational change to occur, leading to altered binding geometry of the stearate ligands upon cooling.

Process and reactor design for biophotolytic hydrogen production.

The green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has the ability to produce molecular hydrogen (H2), a clean and renewable fuel, through the biophotolysis of water under sulphur-deprived anaerobic conditions. The aim of this study was to advance the development of a practical and scalable biophotolytic H2 production process. Experiments were carried out using a purpose-built flat-plate photobioreactor, designed to facilitate green algal H2 production at the laboratory scale and equipped with a membrane-inlet mass spectrometry system to accurately measure H2 production rates in real time.

Solar-driven hydrogen production in green algae.

The twin problems of energy security and global warming make hydrogen an attractive alternative to traditional fossil fuels with its combustion resulting only in the release of water vapor. Biological hydrogen production represents a renewable source of the gas and can be performed by a diverse range of microorganisms from strict anaerobic bacteria to eukaryotic green algae. Compared to conventional methods for generating H(2), biological systems can operate at ambient temperatures and pressures without the need for rare metals and could potentially be coupled to a variety of biotechnological processes ranging from desalination and waste water treatment to pharmaceutical production.