Solvent-free upcycling of agricultural plastic waste using in situ self-assembly metal nanoparticles co-doped microporous carbocatalyst for advanced transportation fuels.

Plastic mulching film is ubiquitous in modern agriculture for its heat preservation and moisture retention functions. However, plastic mulching film waste accumulated on land results in microplastic pollution, posing potential hazards as these micro and nanoplastics can enter the food chain. Chemical upcycling of waste mulching film is an emerging strategy to realize sustainable development and circular economy.

Novel CRM cosine similarity mapping strategy for simultaneous in-situ visual profiling lignocellulose in plant cell walls.

Confocal Raman microscopy (CRM) is a promising in-situ visual technique that provides detailed insights into multiple lignocellulosic components and structures in plant cell walls at the micro-nano scale. In this study, we propose a novel CRM cosine similarity (CS) mapping strategy for the simultaneous in-situ visual profiling of lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose in plant cell walls. The main stages of this strategy include: 1) a modified Otsu algorithm for extracting the regions of interest (ROI); 2) a modified subtraction method for cleaning the background signals in the ROI spectra; 3) a lignin signal subtraction method based on the pixel correction factor for eliminating the interference of strong lignin signals with weak cellulose and hemicellulose signals in the Raman full spectra of the cell walls; 4) second-order derivative spectral preprocessing for enhancing the discrimination between the characteristic peaks of cellulose and hemicellulose; 5) a CS mapping algorithm for simultaneous in-situ profiling of lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose in plant cell walls.

Green hydrogen and porous carbon materials co-harvested through CO-steam co-mediated gasification.

A novel strategy was proposed for valorizing biomass to co-harvest green H and functionalized porous carbon materials. Gasification of cotton stalk (CS) was first operated in varying gasifying agents. Both the gas yields and the surface area of gasification carbon materials obtained in the gasifying combinations were higher than their counterparts, indicating the synergistic effect between the mixed gasifying agents.

On-site cellulase production by Trichoderma reesei RutC-30 to enhance the enzymatic saccharification of ball-milled corn stover.

Cellulases are essential for the enzymatic saccharification of lignocellulose. They play a crucial role in breaking down the structure of lignocellulose to obtain fermentable sugars. In this study, we conducted on-site cellulase production by Trichoderma reesei RutC-30 through submerged fermentation.

A comprehensive review of bone char: Fabrication procedures, physicochemical properties, and environmental application.

Bone waste from slaughtering is an abundant but underutilized resource. Promoting its exploitation can reduce the environmental burden and achieve energy recovery. Bone char, a solid material prepared by the thermochemical conversion of animal bone, has a unique and rich mesoporous structure and ionic polarity sites.

A novel micro-CT approach for in situ visualization of the spatial dynamics of mesovoids in aerobic composting piles.

The spatial configuration of mesovoids profoundly affects the aerobic composting microenvironment, which governs vital processes such as greenhouse gas production and emission, thermal conduction, and overall composting efficiency. Nondestructive in-situ characterization of the composting spatial structure is crucial to better understand its interaction mechanism with the microenvironment. In this study, a valuable contribution to the field of composting research was made by introducing micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) tool for in situ three-dimensional (3D) visual characterizing the void structure dynamics of straw and manure compost pile units at the mesoscale.

Rapid and inexpensive synthesis of liter-scale SiC aerogels.

Ceramic aerogels are promising materials for thermal insulation and protection under harsh environments. Yet current synthesis methods fail to provide an energy-, time-, and cost-effective route for high-throughput production and large-scale applications, especially for non-oxide ceramic aerogels. Here we reported a way to synthesize SiC aerogels within seconds and over liter scale, with a demonstrated throughput of ~16 L min in a typical lab experiment.

Pressure-Induced Enhancement in Chemical Looping Reforming of CH: A Thermodynamic Analysis with Fe-Based Oxygen Carriers.

Chemical looping reforming of methane (CLRM) with Fe-based oxygen carriers is widely acknowledged as an environmentally friendly and cost-effective approach for syngas production, however, sintering-caused deactivate of oxygen carriers at elevated temperatures of above 900 °C is a longstanding issue restricting the development of CLRM. Here, in order to reduce the reaction temperature without compromising the chemical-looping CH conversion efficiency, we proposed a novel operation scheme of CLRM by manipulating the reaction pressure to shift the equilibrium of CH partial oxidation towards the forward direction based on the Le Chatelier's principle. The results from thermodynamic simulations showed that, at a fixed reaction temperature, the reduction in pressure led to the increase in CH conversion, H and CO selectivity, as well as carbon deposition rate of all investigated oxygen carriers.

Deployment strategy of multiple miniaturized near-infrared spectrometers based on spectral transfer for characterizing soil organic matter and nitrogen.

Developing timely, convenient, and low-cost methods for high-frequency characterization of soil nutrients is necessary for implementing precise soil nutrient management. With the current availability of numerous calibration models of laboratory benchtop near-infrared (NIR) spectrometers for rapid soil nutrient characterization and the appearance of low-cost, convenient miniaturized NIR spectrometers, this study proposes an efficient deployment strategy to address model failure due to inter-device variation based on spectral transfer. The strategy involves using Direct Standardization (DS) to migrate the spectra from multiple miniaturized NIR spectrometers with a laboratory benchtop NIR spectrometer and then directly applying the existing calibration models of the laboratory benchtop instrument to the transferred spectra for soil nutrient analysis.

A new spectral simulating method based on near-infrared hyperspectral imaging for evaluation of antibiotic mycelia residues in protein feeds.

Antibiotic mycelia residues (AMRs) contain antibiotic residues. If AMRs are ingested in excess by livestock, it may cause health problems. To address the current problem of unknown pixel-scale adulteration concentration in NIR-HSI, this paper innovatively proposes a new spectral simulation method for the evaluation of AMRs in protein feeds.

Capsicum leaf protein-based bionanocomposite films for packaging application: Effect of corn starch content on film properties.

The addition of corn starch (CS) enhances the interfacial adhesion of the film-forming liquids (FFLs), weakening the internal relative molecular motion. As a result, the rheological properties and zeta potential values of the FFLs were affected. A tight spatial network structure between capsicum leaf protein (CLP), lignocellulose nanocrystals (LNCs) and CS can be formed through intermolecular entanglement and hydrogen bonding interactions.

Effects of capsaicin loads on the properties of capsicum leaf protein-based nanocellulose composite films.

This study aims to enhance the functionality of conventional protein-based nanocellulose composite films (PNCF) to meet the high demand for natural antimicrobial packaging films. Capsicum leaf protein (CLP) and cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) extracted from capsicum leaves were used as raw materials. Capsaicin, an essential antibacterial active ingredient in the capsicum plant, was used as an additive.

Microbial mechanisms involved in negative effects of amoxicillin and copper on humification during composting of dairy cattle manure.

Livestock manure often contains various pollutants. The aim of this study was to investigate how adding amoxicillin (AMX), Cu, and both AMX and Cu (ACu) affected humification during composting and the microbial mechanisms involved. The cellulose degradation rates were 16.

In-situ registration subtraction image segmentation algorithm for spatiotemporal visualization of copper adsorption onto corn stalk-derived pellet biochar by micro-computed tomography.

The non-homogeneous structure and high-density ash composition of biochar matrix pose significant challenges in characterizing the dynamic changes of heavy metal adsorption onto biochar with micro-computed tomography (Micro-CT). A novel in-situ registration subtraction image segmentation method (IRS) was developed to enhance micro-CT characterization accuracy. The kinetics of Cu(II) adsorption onto pellet biochar derived from corn stalks were tested.

Detoxification of corn stover prehydrolysate by different biochars and its effect on lactic acid fermentation.

During the utilization of lignocellulosic biomass such as corn stover, many by-products are produced in the pretreatment process that can severely inhibit the activity of microbes in the fermentation step. To achieve efficient biomass conversion, detoxification is usually required before microbial fermentation. In this study, the prehydrolysate from dilute acid pretreatment of corn stover was used as a lactic acid fermentation substrate.

Wheat straw biochar as an additive in swine manure Composting: An in-depth analysis of mixed material particle characteristics and interface interactions.

In recent research, biochar has been proven to reduce the greenhouse gases and promote organic matter during the composting. However, gas degradation may be related to the microstructure of compost. To investigate the mechanism of biochar additive, composting was performed using swine manure, wheat straw and biochar and representative solid compost samples were analyzed to characterize the mixed biochar and compost particles.

Structural identification and combination mechanism of iron (II)-chelating Atlantic salmon ( L.) skin active peptides.

In order to utilize salmon skin for high value, and investigate the structural identification and combination mechanism of iron (II)-chelating peptides systemically, Atlantic salmon () skin, a by-product of Atlantic salmon processing, was treated by two-step enzymatic hydrolysis to obtain salmon skin active peptides (SSAP). Then they reacted with iron (II) to obtain iron (II)-chelating salmon skin active peptides (SSAP-Fe) with a high iron (II) chelating ability of 98.84%.

Machine learning-aided hydrothermal carbonization of biomass for coal-like hydrochar production: Parameters optimization and experimental verification.

Biomass to coal-like hydrochar via hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is a promising route for sustainability development. Yet conventional experimental method is time-consuming and costly to optimize HTC conditions and characterize hydrochar. Herein, machine learning was employed to predict the fuel properties of hydrochar.

Insight into the effect of different nanocellulose types on protein-based bionanocomposite film properties.

This paper investigates the effect of five different types of nanocellulose on the properties of protein-based bionanocomposite films (PBBFs) and the mechanism of action. The results show that TEMPO-oxidized nanocellulose (TNC) PBBFs have the smoothest surface structure. This is because some hydroxyl groups in TNC are converted to carboxyl groups, increasing hydrogen bonding and cross-linking with proteins.

Enhanced Enzymatic Sugar Recovery of Dilute-Acid-Pretreated Corn Stover by Sodium Carbonate Deacetylation.

The prehydrolysate from dilute acid pretreatment of lignocellulosic feedstocks often contains inhibitory compounds that can seriously inhibit the subsequent enzymatic and fermentation processes. Acetic acid is one of the most representative toxic compounds. In this research, alkaline deacetylation of corn stover was carried out using sodium carbonate under mild conditions to selectively remove the acetyl groups of the biomass and reduce the toxicity of the prehydrolysate.

CO-mediated catalytic upcycling of plastic waste for H-rich syngas and carbon nanomaterials.

To establish a reliable disposal platform of plastic waste, this work developed a novel dual-stage CO-medaited decomposition-catalysis route by applying multi-functional zeolite-supported bimetallic catalysts. Catalytic upcycling of plastic was first performed in Ar as a reference environment. Bimetallic Fe-Co/ZSM5 catalyst achieved the highest gas yield (53.

Improving hydrogen-rich gas production from biomass catalytic steam gasification over metal-doping porous biochar.

Biomass to green H is a new route to produce sustainable energy. This study aimed to boost H-enriched gas production via gasification-catalytic steam reforming (GCSR) process of wheat straw (WS) over Ni, Fe, or Zn-doped carbon materials (MDCMs). Initially, steam injection rate (1 g/min) and residence time (15 min) was optimized based on the tradeoff between energy consumption and H-rich gas generation.

Kinetics and modeling of Pb (II) adsorption in pellet biochar based on micro-computed tomography characterization.

Biochar, a cost-effective adsorbent for the removal of heavy metals from aqueous solutions, has gained increasing attention. In this study, an advanced micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) system was used to investigate the adsorption kinetics by direct localization and visualization of Pb (II) on wheat straw pellet biochar. The normalized digital images indicating the dynamic changes of Pb (II) adsorption on biochar samples at different initial Pb (II) concentrations of 100, 200, 300, and 400 mg/L and adsorption times were obtained.

Nitrogen evolution during membrane-covered aerobic composting: Interconversion between nitrogen forms and migration pathways.

Aerobic composting is a promising technology for converting manure into organic fertilizer with low capital investment and easy operation. However, the large nitrogen losses in conventional aerobic composting impede its development. Interconversion of nitrogen species was studied during membrane-covered aerobic composting (MCAC) and conventional aerobic composting, and solid-, liquid-, and gas-phase nitrogen migration pathways were identified by performing nitrogen balance measurements.