Recovering rare earth elements via immobilized red algae from ammonium-rich wastewater.

Biotreatment of acidic rare earth mining wastewater via acidophilic living organisms is a promising approach owing to their high tolerance to high concentrations of rare earth elements (REEs); however, simultaneous removal of both REEs and ammonium is generally hindered since most acidophilic organisms are positively charged. Accordingly, immobilization of acidophilic () by calcium alginate to improve its affinity to positively charged REEs has been used for simultaneous bioremoval of REEs and ammonium. The results indicate that 97.

Morphology library of nanosilica based on a thermally induced deformable template.

We report a versatile platform for the synthesis of shape-tunable nanosilica based on a thermally induced deformable template with diverse morphologies ranging from spheres, horns, ultrathin nanosheets, and rings to belts. This was realized by creating soft templates from a pair of anionic/cationic surfactants.

Biobased Plasticizers from Tartaric Acid: Synthesis and Effect of Alkyl Chain Length on the Properties of Poly(vinyl chloride).

A series of tartaric acid (TA) esters with different side chain lengths [dibutyl TA esters (DBTAE)-C], as plasticizers for poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC), is herein reported. Their structures have been fully characterized using proton nuclear magnetic resonance and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Their compatibility and plasticizing effect for soft PVC were evaluated using thermogravimetric analysis, dynamic mechanical analysis, tensile testing, and migration testing.

Keggin-type Heteropolyacids-Catalyzed Selective Hydrothermal Oxidation of Microalgae for Low Nitrogen Biofuel Production.

Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of microalgae for biofuel production is suffering from low bio-oil yield and high heteroatomic compositions owing to their low efficiency and selectivity to hydrolysis of cellular compounds. Hereby we report Keggin-type (Mo-V-P) heteropolyacids (HPAs)-catalyzed HTL of microalgae for efficient low-nitrogen biocrude production. The increases of reaction temperature, reaction time, and vanadium substitution degrees of HPAs are favorable to biocrude yield initially, whereas a significant decrease of biocrude yield is observed owing to the enhanced oxidation of carbohydrates above the optimum reaction conditions.

Nano-Hydroxyapatite Particle Brushes via Direct Initiator Tethering and Surface-Initiated Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization for Dual Responsive Pickering Emulsion.

Well-defined polymer-grafted solid inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) are imperative for practical applications in various fields based on the prerequisite of facile initiator immobilization. Direct atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) initiator-tethered solid NPs are described using 2-bromo-2-methylpropionic acid as a tetherable initiator. To illustrate the versatility of the proposed strategy, nano-hydroxyapatite (n-HAP) nanocrystals (NCs) were selected to demonstrate the morphology-controlled synthesis of 2-bromo-2-methylpropionate (2-BrMP) group-immobilized n-HAP (n-HAP-Br) NCs.

Unexpectedly High Adsorption Capacity of Esterified Hydroxyapatite for Heavy Metal Removal.

Nanohydroxyapatite (n-HAP) as an environmentally friendly adsorbent of heavy metal ions still requires the rational design of the pore structure and surface characteristic for enhancing their adsorption capacity toward heavy metal ions. A novel one-step strategy was developed to regulate the pore structure and surface characteristic of esterified HAP (-EHAP) nanocrystals (NCs) for enhancing the adsorption capacity by incorporation of 2-bromo-2-methylpropionate (2-BrMP) groups on the surface of n-EHAP NCs. When using water as the sole solvent, the aggregation of n-EHAP NCs became unavoidable because of incorporation of hydrophobic 2-BrMP groups on n-HAP particle surfaces.

Treatment of high-nitrate wastewater mixtures from MnO industry by Chlorella vulgaris.

The aim of this work was to study the biotreatment of mixed wastewaters collected from two points of MnO industry by Chlorella vulgaris. Their growth rates in four mixed wastewaters with mass ratio of wastewater 1:2 of 20:1, 50:1, 100:1, and 200:1 were characterized, and the lag phase was shortened with increase of nitrate concentrations. The N, P, and metal removal kinetics were quantified each other day to evaluate the bio-treatment efficiencies of high-nitrate wastewaters from MnO industry.