Determination of phosphate in soil extracts in the field: A green chemistry enzymatic method.

Measurement of ortho-phosphate in soil extracts usually involves sending dried samples of soil to a laboratory for analysis and waiting several weeks for the results. Phosphate determination methods often involve use of strong acids, heavy metals, and organic dyes. To overcome limitations of this approach, we have developed a phosphate determination method which can be carried out in the field to obtain results on the spot.

Electricity storage in biofuels: selective electrocatalytic reduction of levulinic acid to valeric acid or γ-valerolactone.

Herein, we report an effective approach to electricity storage in biofuels by selective electrocatalytic reduction of levulinic acid (LA) to high-energy-density valeric acid (VA) or γ-valerolactone (gVL) on a non-precious Pb electrode in a single-polymer electrolyte membrane electrocatalytic (flow) cell reactor with a very high yield of VA (>90 %), a high Faradaic efficiency (>86 %), promising electricity storage efficiency (70.8 %), and a low electricity consumption (1.5 kWhL(VA)(-1) ).