Facile synthesis of mesoporous silica and titania supraparticles by a meniscus templating route on a superhydrophobic surface and their application to adsorbents.

Mesoporous silica and titania supraparticles with controllable pore size, particle size, and macroscopic morphology were readily synthesized by a novel synthetic pathway using meniscus templating on a superhydrophobic surface, which is much simpler than well-known emulsion systems. Moreover, we first report that despite the very large radius of droplet curvature on a millimeter scale, supraparticles kept the round cap morphology due to addition of sucrose as a shape preserver as well as a pore-forming agent. In addition, mesoporous silica and titania supraparticles provided good adsorption performance for Acid Blue 25 and Cr(VI), and were easily separated from the solution by using a scoop net after adsorption tests.

Two-in-one fuel combining sugar cane with low rank coal and its CO₂ reduction effects in pulverized-coal power plants.

Coal-fired power plants are facing to two major independent problems, namely, the burden to reduce CO(2) emission to comply with renewable portfolio standard (RPS) and cap-and-trade system, and the need to use low-rank coal due to the instability of high-rank coal supply. To address such unresolved issues, integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) with carbon capture and storage (CCS) has been suggested, and low rank coal has been upgraded by high-pressure and high-temperature processes. However, IGCC incurs huge construction costs, and the coal upgrading processes require fossil-fuel-derived additives and harsh operation condition.