Plasma jet assisted carbonization and activation of coffee ground waste.

Activated carbon has been extensively utilized to adsorb pollutants generated by industrial activities. There have been many attempts to efficiently produce activated carbon from spent coffee grounds in the field of environmental technology. In this study, the feasibility of the novel production of activated carbon from coffee ground waste using a plasma jet was evaluated.

Efficient methane-to-acetylene conversion using low-current arcs.

The proliferation of natural gas production had led to increased utilization of methane as a raw material for chemicals. The most significant bottleneck in this process is the high activation energy of methane. This paper reports the direct conversion of methane to acetylene in a novel rotating arc driven by AC electrical power.

Analysis of low-marbled Hanwoo cow meat aged with different dry-aging methods.

Objective: Different dry-aging methods [traditional dry-aging (TD), simplified dry-aging (SD), and SD in an aging bag (SDB)] were compared to investigate the possible use of SD and/or SDB in practical situations.

Methods: Sirloins from 48 Hanwoo cows were frozen (Control, 2 days postmortem) or dry-aged for 28 days using the different aging methods and analyzed for chemical composition, total aerobic bacterial count, shear force, inosine 5'-monophosphate (IMP) and free amino acid content, and sensory properties.

Results: The difference in chemical composition, total aerobic bacterial count, shear force, IMP, and total free amino acid content were negligible among the 3 dry-aged groups.

Low temperature activation of CO removal by O3-assisted catalysis.

Catalytic CO oxidation was activated at low temperature by injecting O3 as an additive. It was empirically confirmed that CO removal rate was dramatically enhanced by supplying a small amount of O3, and the reaction temperature was almost half that required for CO oxidation when using a catalyst only. By optimizing the concentration of O3, catalytic CO oxidation could be achieved within 1 min at low operational temperature.

Plasma-assisted combustion technology for NOx reduction in industrial burners.

Stronger regulations on nitrogen oxide (NOx) production have recently promoted the creation of a diverse array of technologies for NOx reduction, particularly within the combustion process, where reduction is least expensive. In this paper, we discuss a new combustion technology that can reduce NOx emissions within industrial burners to single-digit parts per million levels without employing exhaust gas recirculation or other NOx reduction mechanisms. This new technology uses a simple modification of commercial burners, such that they are able to perform plasma-assisted staged combustion without altering the outer configuration of the commercial reference burner.