Applications of process systems engineering (PSE) in plants and enterprises are boosting industrial reform from automation to digitization and intelligence. For ethylene thermal cracking, knowledge expression, numerical modeling and intelligent optimization are key steps for intelligent manufacturing. This paper provides an overview of progress and contributions to the PSE-aided production of thermal cracking; introduces the frameworks, methods and algorithms that have been proposed over the past 10 years and discusses the advantages, limitations and applications in industrial practice. An entire set of molecular-level modeling approaches from feedstocks to products, including feedstock molecular reconstruction, reaction-network auto-generation and cracking unit simulation are described. Multi-level control and optimization methods are exhibited, including at the operational, cycle, plant and enterprise level. Relevant software packages are introduced. Finally, an outlook in terms of future directions is presented.

Direct cost-effective conversion of abundant methane to high value-added oxygenates (methanol, formic acid, acetic acid, etc.) under mild conditions is prospective for optimizing the structure of energy resources. However, the CH bond of products is more reactive than that of high thermodynamic stable methane. Exploring an appropriate approach to eliminate the “seesaw effect” between methane conversion and oxygenate selectivity is significant. In this review, we briefly summarize the research progress in the past decade on low-temperature direct conversion of methane to oxygenates in gas-solid-liquid phase over various transition metal (Fe, Cu, Rh, Pd, AuPd, etc.) based nanoparticle or single-atom catalyst. Furthermore, the prospects of catalyst design and catalysis process are also discussed.

Metal and amino acid (AA), as two kinds of entities, have been widely involved in biomaterials and nanomedicines. Recently, the marriage of them has developed new nanoformulations, amino acid-metal coordinated nanomaterials (AMCNs), which show great biomedical application potential in cancer therapy, antibacterial applications, biomedical imaging, etc. With the respective characteristics of metal and AA with rich biological and chemical properties, AMCNs can not only act as drug carriers with specific tumor targeting ability, but also realize synergistic therapy and imaging-guided therapy. Although the design and synthesis of amino acid-metal coordinated nanomaterials have been in-depth investigated, there are few systematic reviews on their biomedical application. In this review, we give a comprehensive summary of recent progresses in the design, fabrication, and biomedical applications of AMCNs. We also propose the future outlooks and challenges in aforementioned field. We expect that this review would contribute some inspiration for future research and development for amino acid metal coordinated nanomaterials.

The coalescence behavior of two droplets with different viscosities in the funnel-typed expansion chamber in T-junction microchannel was investigated experimentally and compared with droplet coalescence of the same viscosity. Four types of coalescence regimes were observed: contact non-coalescence, squeeze non-coalescence, two-droplet coalescence and pinch-off coalescence. For droplet coalescence of different viscosities, the operating range of non-coalescence becomes narrowed compared to the droplet coalescence of same viscosity, and it shrinks with increasing viscosity ratio η of two droplets, indicating that the difference in the viscosity of two droplets is conducive to coalescence, especially when 1<η<6. Furthermore, the influences of viscosity ratio and droplet size on the film drainage time (T_dr) and critical capillary number (Ca_c) were studied systematically. It was found that the film drainage time declined with the increase of average droplet size, which abided by power-law relation with the size difference and viscosity ratio of the two droplets: T_dr ~ (l_d)^0.25±0.04 and T_dr ~ (η)^-0.1±0.02. For droplet coalescence of same viscosity, the relation of critical capillary number with two-phase viscosity ratio and dimensionless droplet size is Ca_c = 0.48λ^0.26l^-2.64, while for droplet coalescence of different viscosities, the scaling of critical capillary number with dimensionless average droplet size, dimensionless droplet size difference and viscosity ratio of two droplets is Ca_c = 0.11η^-0.07l_s^-2.23l_d^0.16.

Piperacillin is a polar organic substance, and can reduce the interfacial tension of oil and water when dissolved in water. In this study, changes in dichloromethane-water interfacial tensions and microdroplet sizes during piperacillin synthesis from an aqueous solution of ampicillin and dichloromethane solution of 4-ethyl-2,3-dioxo-1-piperazine carbonyl chloride (EDPC) were observed using a pendent drop technique and a coaxial ring tube system with embedded high-speed camera, respectively. It was found that the rapid N-acylation reaction caused the piperacillin at the interface to synthesize rapidly and diffuse out slowly, resulting in the interfacial tension decreased from 19.5 mN·m^-1 to 7.2 mN·m^-1 rapidly and then increased slowly as the concentrations of ampicillin and EDPC were 0.05 mol·L^-1 and 0.1 mol·L^-1. Meanwhile, the increase in the concentration of EDPC increased the peak concentration of piperacillin at the interface, and the addition of ethyl acetate to the ampicillin solution promoted mass transfer and reduced the aggregation of piperacillin effectively. During synthesis, the interfacial tension decreased, leading to a change in droplet sizes in the micro-reaction system. The two-phase reaction was carried out in a coaxial ring tube, with ampicillin and EDPC solutions as continuous and dispersed phases, respectively. The reaction reduced the dripping flow area, and the addition of ethyl acetate to the ampicillin solution slightly affected the division of the flow pattern. Under the same flow conditions, the droplet sizes of the reaction group were smaller than those of the no reaction group. The experimental results demonstrated that the increase of the continuous phase, decrease in the dispersed phase flow rate, or increase in EDPC concentration making droplet sizes smaller, and the addition of ethyl acetate slightly affected droplet sizes. These findings are important for the design and optimization of piperacillin synthesis reactors.

Study on gas-liquid flow in stirred tank with two combinations of dual-impeller (six-bent-bladed turbine (6BT)+six-inclined-blade down-pumping turbine (6IT_D), the six-bent-bladed turbine (6BT)+six-inclined-blade up-pumping turbine (6IT_U)) was conducted using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and population balance model (PBM) (CFD-PBM) coupled model. The local bubble size was captured by particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurement. The gas holdup, bubble size distribution and gas-liquid interfacial area were explored at different conditions through numerical simulation. The results showed that the 4 mm bubbles accounted for the largest proportion of 33% at the gas flow rates Q = 0.76 m³·h^-1 and 22% at Q = 1.52 m³·h^-1 for combined impeller of 6BT + 6IT_U, while the bubbles of 4.7 mm and 5.5 mm were the largest proportion for 6BT + 6IT_D combination, i.e. 25% at Q = 0.76 m³·h^-1 and 22% at Q = 1.52 m³·h^-1, respectively, which indicated that 6BT + 6IT_U could reduce bubble size effectively and promote gas dispersion. In addition, the gas holdup around impellers was increased obviously with the speed compared with gas flow rate. So it was concluded that 6IT_U impeller could be more conductive to the bubble dispersion with more uniform bubble size, which embodied the advantages of 6BT + 6IT_U combination in gas-liquid mixing.

A novel and high-efficiency coalescence membrane enhanced by nano-sized polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) nanofibers based on polyester (PET) substrate was fabricated using electrospinning method. The properties of the electrospun nanofibers such as roughness and surface morphology greatly affected the oil droplet interception efficiency and surface wettability of the membrane. A series of coalescence units were prepared with different layers of nanofibrous membrane and the separation efficiencies at different initial concentrations, flow rates, and oil types were tested. It is very interesting that the obtained nanofibrous membrane exhibited superoleophilicity in air but poor oleophilicity under water, which was beneficial to the coalescence process. The coalescence unit with four membrane layers had excellent performances under different initial concentrations and flow rates. The separation efficiency of the 4-layers unit remained above 98.2% when the initial concentration reached up to 2000 mg·L^-1. Furthermore, the unit also exhibited good performance with the increasing oil density and viscosity, which is promising for large-scale oil wastewater treatment.

Hydrophilic modification is a promising method to inhibit fouling formation on ultrafiltration membrane. In this work, different mass concentrations (1%-16%) of hydrophilic polyvinylpyrrolidone were incorporated into polyethersulfone (PES) membranes fabricated by none-solvent induced phase separation. Then, polydopamine (PDA) coating on the surface of prepared membrane was carried out at pH 8.5. The morphology and structure, surface hydrophilicity, permeation flux, BSA rejection, antifouling and stability performances of PES and PDA/PES modified membranes were investigated in detail. The results indicated that PDA was successfully attached onto the membranes. Membrane hydrophilicity was evaluated by water contact angle measurement. The contact angles of modified membranes reduced remarkably, suggesting that the membrane hydrophilicities were significantly increased. The results of filtration tests, which were done by dead-end filtration of bovine serum albumin solution, showed that the properties of permeability and fouling resistance were obviously improved by PDA modification. When polyvinylpyrrolidone mass content reached 10%, flux recovery ratio of modified membrane was up to 91.23%, and its BSA rejection were over 70%. The results of stability tests showed that the modified membranes had good mechanical stability and chemical stability. This facile fabrication procedure and outstanding performances suggested that the modified membranes had a potential in treating fouling.

Constructing efficient carbon material with enhanced mass transfer ability from vacuum residuum (VR) is of prime industrial and scientific significance. Herein, we demonstrated a one-pot synthesis of metal-free and highly symmetric hollow carbon cubes (HCCs) using cost-efficient vacuum residuum (VR) as a C/N/S source. By multi-techniques such as TEM, SEM, Raman, XPS, and XRD, it is found that the CTAB surfactant plays an important role in emulsifying and forming oil-in-water suspension particles. Subsequently, high aromatics contents in VR favor the formation of HCCs shell by graphitization on the surface of NaCl template. Notably, heavy metals (e.g., V, Ni) are not enriched in carbon skeleton due to the unique graphitization mechanism. This metal-free HCCs catalyst showed good catalytic stability and high selectivity towards direct and local electrochemical production of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) through two-electron O₂ reduction due to enhanced mass transfer ability. The results provide a novel avenue to synthesize metal-free cubic carbon material from low-cost and plentiful VR, which are essential to the design of more efficient catalysts for O₂ reduction to H₂O₂.

A series of iron (Fe) modified CuO-ZnO-ZrO₂-Al₂O₃ (CZZA) catalysts, with various Fe loadings, were prepared using a co-precipitation method. A bifunctional catalyst, consisting of Fe-modified CZZA and HZSM-5, was studied for dimethyl ether (DME) synthesis via CO₂ hydrogenation. The effects of Fe loading, reaction temperature, reaction pressure, space velocity, and concentrations of precursor for the synthesis of the Fe-modified CZZA catalyst on the catalytic activity of DME synthesis were investigated. Long-term stability tests showed that Fe modification of the CZZA catalyst improved the catalyst stability for DME synthesis via CO₂ hydrogenation. The activity loss, in terms of DME yield, was significantly reduced from 4.2% to 1.4% in a 100 h run of reaction, when the Fe loading amount was 0.5 (molar ratio of Fe to Cu). An analysis of hydrogen temperature programmed reduction revealed that the introduction of Fe improved the reducibility of the catalysts, due to assisted adsorption of H₂ on iron oxide. The good stability of Fe-modified CZZA catalysts in the DME formation was most likely attributed to oxygen spillover that was introduced by the addition of iron oxide. This could have inhibited the oxidation of the Cu surface and enhanced the thermal stability of copper during long-term reactions.

The hydrogenation of levulinic acid (LA) to γ-valerolactone (GVL) by using water as solvent is a crucial process in the production of fine chemicals from biomass. An ultrathin carbon layer coating CoRu bimetallic catalyst supported on silica (CoRu@C/SiO₂) is prepared by using tannis-ligated cobalt-ruthenium complex on silica as precursors, and applied for catalyzed synthesis of GVL from LA. Because of the synergistic effect between cobalt and ruthenium, the addition of small amounts of Ru to Co catalysts can increase the catalytic activity in the aqueous hydrogenation of LA. The ultrathin carbon layer covered on the CoRu bimetallic catalyst can greatly reduce the leaching of active metals. The CoRu@C/SiO₂ catalyst achieves high stability and is reused up to 5 runs without significant loss of performance in aqueous hydrogenation of levulinic acid.

Chemical looping reforming (CLR) is a recent trend for syngas production, which has several merits compared to the conventional manner. One of the most important issues for CLR is to find low-cost material as oxygen carriers, so iron is a promising candidate. This paper contributes to testing the thermodynamic ability of iron-based oxygen carrier for chemical looping reforming of ethanol (CLRE). Iron thermodynamically investigated in temperature 100-1300 ℃ and excess oxygen number (Φ) 0-4. It was found that the temperature and Φ have an apparent effect on the gaseous composition produced from the process. Increases in temperature within the range of 100-1300 ℃ enhanced syngas generated and reduced coke formation and CH₄. Whereas, increased Φ, particularly at higher temperatures, had also enhanced syngas production as well as reduced coke formation. However, increasing Φ for values beyond one had decreased syngas and not significantly reduced coke deposition. Moreover, an experimental investigation was carried out in a fixed bed reactor for more in-depth verification of iron ability as an oxygen carrier through using magnetite ore (mainly Fe₃O₄). It found that the effect of temperature on syngas production was consistent with that calculated thermodynamically, as syngas increased with raising the temperature through the CLRE.

Based on the theory of first-order reaction kinetics, a thermal reaction kinetic model in integral form has been derive. To make the model more applicable, the effects of time and the conversion degree on the reaction rate parameters were considered. Two types of undetermined functions were used to compensate for the intrinsic variation of the reaction rate, and two types of correction methods are provided. The model was explained and verified using published experimental data of different polymer thermal reaction systems, and its effectiveness and wide adaptability were confirmed. For the given kinetic model, only one parameter needs to be determined. The proposed empirical model is expected to be used in the numerical simulation of polymer thermal reaction process.

Chemical looping gasification (CLG) is a promising technology for high-quality syngas production. One key issue to successful CLG is the selection of high-performance oxygen carrier. In this study, several Ca- and Mg-rich steelmaking wastes from steel industry, such as blast furnace slag (BF slag), blast furnace dust (BF dust) and Linz-Donawitz converter slag (LD slag), were used as oxygen carriers in chemical looping gasification of biomass. The results showed that the reducibility of Ca- and Mg-rich waste, especially LD slag and BF dust, was superior to that of hematite. Considering long-term operation, the cyclic stability of steelmaking waste was tested. BF dust showed a poor stability, while the other carrier (hematite, BF slag or LD slag) presented an excellent stability during multiple redox cycles in spite of partial sintering and agglomeration. Moreover, the effects of supply oxygen coefficient (O/B ratio) and reaction temperature on CLG of biomass were investigated. The results revealed that Ca- and Mg-rich waste exhibited a higher syngas production compared to hematite. The higher performance could be attributed to the improved reduction rate of Fe₂O₃ and gasification rate of biomass by Ca or Mg in steelmaking waste. In addition, LD slag exhibited the higher gas value at the O/B ratio of 1 at 900 ℃. As a consequence, LD slag was an appropriate oxygen carrier for CLG of biomass in terms of perfect reducibility, superior cyclic stability and high reactivity.

The porous CeO₂ flowerlike micro-nano spheres based materials were prepared to remove HCN effectively at lower temperature range. The CeO₂ and a serious of porous flowerlike ceria based materials loaded with metal species including Cu, Ag, Ni, Co and Fe were synthesized by hydrothermal method and precipitation method respectively. The physicochemical properties were probed by means of XRD, H₂-TPR, BET, SEM and XPS. The removal ability for 130?mg·m^-3 HCN over CuO/CeO₂ showed the highest activity, the breakthrough time of which was more than 70?min at the condition of 30?℃, 120,000?h^-1 and 5?% (volume) H₂O, owe to a higher relative atomic ratio of oxygen vacancies and O_β, the stronger interaction between metal particle and support, the optimum redox properties. The reaction mechanism was speculated by detecting the reaction products selectivity at different reaction temperature. It was shown that the reaction system for removal of HCN over CuO/CeO₂ catalytic material involved chemisorption, catalytic hydrolysis, catalytic oxidation as well as NH₃-SCR reactions.

Isooctane attracts great interest in recent years because of its promising potential as friendly-environmental gasoline, which is obtained by dimerization of isobutene with a hydrogenation step. Herein, a solid acid catalyst sulfated zirconia modified by ZnO was prepared. The oligomerization of isobutene had been investigated over ZrO₂-SO₄ and ZnO(X)/ZrO₂-SO₄ catalyst in order to find efficient catalysts for the production of isobutene oligomers. The presence of ZnO obviously enhanced the dimerization of isobutene and ZnO(X)/ZrO₂-SO₄ exhibited the highest di-isobutene yield of 60%. Kinetic studies showed the higher trimerization-to-dimerization activation energy ratios of ZnO(X)/ZrO₂-SO₄ than those of ZrO₂-SO₄ from 353 to 393 K. In addition, reaction rate of dimerization was higher than trimerization over ZnO(X)/ZrO₂-SO₄. The high L/B ratio manifested the capability to enhance the selectivity of C₈ in isobutene dimerization. Furthermore, ZnO(X)/ZrO₂-SO₄ exhibited stable conversion for the dimerization of isobutene.

As a potential methane efficient conversion process, non-oxidative aromatization of methane in fluidized bed requires a catalyst with good attrition resistance, especially in the states of high temperature, long-time rapid movement and chemical reaction. Existing evaluation methods for attrition resistance, such as ASTM D5757 and Jet Cup test, are targeted for fresh catalysts at ambient temperature, which cannot well reflect the real process. In this study, spherical-shaped Mo/HZSM-5 catalyst prepared by dipping and spray drying was placed in a self-made apparatus for attrition testing, in which the catalyst attrition under different system temperatures, running time and process factors was investigated with percent mass loss (PML), particle size-mass distribution (PSMD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Carbon deposition on the catalyst before and after activation, aromatization and regeneration was analyzed by thermogravimetry (TG), and the attrited catalysts were evaluated for methane dehydro-aromatization (MDA). The results show that the surface abrasion and body breakage of catalyst particles occur continuously, with the increase of system temperature and running time, and make the PML rise gradually. The process factors of activation, aromatization and regeneration can cause the catalyst attrition and carbon deposits, which broaden the PSMD in varying degrees, and the carbon-substances on catalysts greatly improve their attrition resistance at high temperature. Catalyst attrition has a certain influence on its catalytic performance, and the main reasons point to particle breakage and fine powder escape.

An electrolyte Equation of State is presented by combining the Cubic Plus Association Equation of State, Mean Spherical Approximation and the Born equation. This new model uses experimental relative static permittivity, intend to predict well the activity coefficients of individual ions (ACI) and liquid densities of aqueous solutions. This new model is applied to model water + NaCl binary system and water + gas + NaCl ternary systems. The cation/anion-water interaction parameters of are obtained by fitting the experimental data of ACI, mean ionic activity coefficients (MIAC) and liquid densities of water + NaCl binary system. The cation/anion-gas interaction parameters are obtained by fitting the experimental data of gas solubilities in aqueous NaCl solutions. The modeling results show that this new model can correlate well with the phase equilibrium and volumetric properties. Without gas, predictions for ACI, MIAC, and liquid densities present relative average deviations of 1.3%, 3.6% and 1.4% compared to experimental reference values. For most gas-containing systems, predictions for gas solubilities present relative average deviations lower than 7.0%. Further, the contributions of ACI, and salting effects of NaCl on gases are analyzed and discussed.

The experimental solubility of sulfamonomethoxine in six different pure solvents (methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol, l-butanol, ethyl acetate and acetone) and sulfamonomethoxine hydrate in acetone + water mixture solvents were measured from 294.55 K to 362.15 K by a laser dynamic method under atmospheric pressure. Experimental results indicated that the solubility data of sulfamonomethoxine increased with temperature increasing in pure solvents and the solubility followed this order: acetone > methanol > ethanol > ethyl acetate > 1-propanol > 1-butanol, but solubility in ethyl acetate was not affected significantly by temperature. In acetone + water mixture solvent, the solubility of sulfamonomethoxine hydrate increased with temperature and the acetone concentration. Thermodynamic equations were applied to correlate solubility data of sulfamonomethoxine and sulfamonomethoxine hydrate including the modified Apelblat equation, λh equation, Wilson equation, NRTL equation, Van’t Hoff-Jouyban Acree equation and modified Apel-Jouyban-Acree equation. Furthermore, thermodynamic properties ΔG_d, ΔH_d and ΔS_d of sulfamonomethoxine and sulfamonomethoxine hydrate in dissolution process were obtained and discussed with the modified Van’t Hoff equation and Gibbs equation.

The inflammation can be stimulated by the surgical implantation and biomaterial presence through the foreign body via bio-interface. Macrophages play a key role in the interaction of host tissue to implant surfaces. In present study, the immuno-inflammatory responses of genipin crosslinked gelatin matrices (GCGM) to macrophages in vitro and the host tissue surfaces in rats were investigated. The results showed that the mechanical properties, swelling and degradation of gelatin matrices were improved by the crosslinking of genipin at physiological conditions. The macrophage on the surface of GCGM could avoid to be activated. The interaction of macrophage and GCGM suggested that GCGM could reduce the inflammatory response with downregulating the production and mRNA expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines. The anti-inflammatory effect of GCGM was demonstrated to be related to inhibit nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) signaling pathway. Furthermore, gelatin matrices crosslinked with genipin could decrease the acute and chronic inflammatory response interacting with host tissue surfaces to enhance the biocompatibility in rats. These results showed that GCGM could avoid to active macrophages and were endowed with anti-inflammatory properties, suggesting the significant potential for clinical success with the development of immunomodulatory biomaterials.

Most non-viral carriers for in vitro delivery of nucleic acids suffer from low efficiency of introducing mRNA and other nucleic acids, especially large mRNA. Cas9 protein is the nuclease part of the powerful gene-editing tool, CRISPR/Cas9 system, Cas9 mRNA is particularly large, thus presents a big challenge for delivery. We assembled a multilayered biodegradable nanocarrier to load Cas9 mRNA inside to protect Cas9 mRNA from degradation. We used a microfluidic chip to synthesize a small, positively charged, and degradable core to attract negatively charged Cas9 mRNA. The microfluidic assembly allows the core to be small enough to incorporate into a cationic liposome. The multilayered nanocarriers elevated the delivery efficiency of Cas9 mRNA by over 2 folds and increased the expression by over 5 folds compared to commercially used non-viral carriers. In addition, the multilayered nanocarriers do not require reduced serum medium for transfection. When using the standard complete medium for transfection, the multilayered nanocarriers could increase the expression of Cas9 mRNA by over 15 folds compared to commercially used non-viral carriers. The co-delivery of Cas9 mRNA and sgRNA via LRC elevated the gene-editing efficiency by 3 folds compared to that via commercially used non-viral carriers. Based on the higher transfection efficiency of Cas9 mRNA/sgRNA than commercially used non-viral carriers, these multilayered nanocarriers may have a good prospect as efficient commercial delivery carriers for Cas9 mRNA/sgRNA and other nucleic acids.

In recent years, synergistic chemo-photothermal therapy has revealed promising potential in treatments against various kinds of cancer. However, the development of superb photothermal agents with high drug loading capacity is still highly required. In this work, a hollow mesoporous polyaniline nanoparticle (HPANI NP) has been developed for encapsulating chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin (DOX) with an remarkable drug loading content as high as 37.5%. Additional PEG modification endowed the drug-loaded HPANI NPs with improved water-dispersibility and bioavailability. Such PEG-HPANI-DOX NPs exhibited strong NIR absorbance and robust photothermal conversion capacity, exhibiting highly efficient synergistic cancer treatment. More interestingly, the responsively released DOX molecules could emit strong red fluorescence, which could be employed to monitor the cellular endocytosis and drug release profile of PEG-HPANI-DOX NPs. Finally, the as-fabricated NPs showed good biocompatibility and low toxicity, serving as a promising nanoagent for highly efficient drug delivery and cancer combination therapy.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria contamination in environments imposes great threats to human life health. This research aims to develop novel targeted antibacterial biochars for achieving high selectivity to kill pathogenic Escherichia coli (E. coli). The glycopolymer N-halamine-modified biochars (i.e., BCPMA-Cl) were synthesized by the modification of biochars with poly[2-(methacrylamido) glucopyranose-co-acrylamide] (P(MAG-co-AM), followed by chlorination treatment. Based on the results of FTIR, turbidity, XPS, and UV-vis, BCPMA-Cl was successfully synthesized and demonstrated to be able to eliminate Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and E. coli. Especially, BCPMA-Cl possessed extremely potent to specific-killing 10⁴ CFU·ml^-1 of E. coli with lower hemolytic activity (<5%). Additionally, the antibacterial mechanisms of BCPMA-Cl against bacteria were contact-killing and release-killing contributed by active chlorine (i.e., Cl⁺). Therefore, this work provided a cost-effective and facile approach for preparation of functional biochars used for bacteria-specific therapeutic applications via livestock pollutants as well as showing a promising strategy to avoid bacterial resistance.

Immobilization is an effective method to promote the application of enzyme industry for improving the stability and realizing recovery of enzyme. To some extent, the performance of immobilized enzyme depends on the choice of carrier material. Therefore, the development of new carrier materials has been one of the key issues concerned by enzyme immobilization researchers. In this work, a novel organic-inorganic hybrid material, nickel-carnosine complex (NiCar), was synthesized for the first time by solvothermal method. The obtained NiCar exhibits spherical morphology, hierarchical porosity and abundant unsaturated coordination nickel ions, which provide excellent anchoring sites for the immobilization of proteins. His-tagged organophosphate-degrading enzyme (OpdA) and ω-transaminase (ω-TA) were used as model enzymes to evaluate the performance of NiCar as a carrier. By a simple adsorption process, the enzyme molecules can be fixed on the particles of NiCar, and the stability and reusability are significantly improved. The analysis of protein adsorption on NiCar verified that the affinity adsorption between the imidazole functional group on the protein and the unsaturated coordination nickel ions on NiCar was the main force in the immobilization process, which provided an idea way for the development of new enzyme immobilization carriers.

Water pollution with dye chemicals from apparel industries is a serious problem in the world. Since most of dyes are potentially have toxic and carcinogenic effects on human, it is important to remove them before they are discharged to the environment. Among many methods available for dyes removal in water, adsorption is the easiest and economically feasible that has no major obstacle for practical applications. In the present study, we tested calcined Mg/Al hydrotalcite (Mg/Al CHT) prepared by co-precipitation technique as an adsorbent for the removal of Navy Blue (NB) and Yellow F3G (YF3G) dyes. Mg/Al CHT was characterized by using a Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer, an X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results showed that Mg/Al CHT was highly effective as an adsorbent for the removal of NB and YF3G under mild-acidic condition (pH 4) with removal capacities (b) according to Langmuir isotherm model were 7.97×10^-4 and 5.80×10^-4 mol·g^-1, respectively. Kinetics study showed that the adsorption of NB and YF3D on Mg/Al CHT followed pseudo-second order with rate constant (k_p2) 11.57×10³ and 11.75×10³ g·mol^-1·min^-1, respectively. The spent adsorbent can be easily regenerated by simply calcining it at 450 ℃ for 3 h. Adsorption test on the mixture of NB and YF3G showed that the adsorption capacity of Mg/Al CHT was eightfold higher than that of Mg/Al HT and the value was maintained with repeated use.

Electrokinetic remediation is a promising method to decontamination of the heavy metals from soils. In this paper, the remediation of a contaminated calcareous soil with Zn, Cd and Pb sampled from around Zanjan province of Iran, was investigated using electrokinetic method. In this paper, the soil contain a high concentration of Zn (1400 mg·kg^-1), Cd (15 mg·kg^-1) and Pb (250 mg·kg^-1). Electrokinetic decontamination consists of two series of experiments as follows: (1) the effect of five treatments including the use of distilled water, acetic acid and EDTA electrolyte solutions, and approaching anodes systems, and the circulation flow of electrolyte at two different voltage gradient (i.e. 1.33 and 2.66 V·cm^-1), and (2) the effect of moisture content (saturated, FC and 0.7FC, FC indicated soil moisture at “Field Capacity”) with a voltage gradient of 1.33 V·cm^-1. After applying electric current for 5 days, the results of experiments indicated that the removal efficiency of heavy metals can be increased by raising the voltage gradient. In this matter, the highest remediation can be observed among different treatments in EDTA (Ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid) treatment (40.11%, 43.10% and 24.7% for Zn, Cd and Pb, respectively). Moreover, the heavy metals removal at the saturated moisture was at the highest level so that 32.62% cadmium, 31.33% zinc and 18.82% lead being removed after 120 h of electric current application. By decreasing moisture to 0.7FC, the removal percentage for the three heavy metals obtained 20.97%, 18.44% and 12.25%, respectively. Furthermore, Cd had the highest removal, and Zn and Pb were next among the three heavy metals in question.

A series of polymeric ionic liquids (PILs) used as effective heterogeneous catalysts for biodiesel production via esterification of free fatty acids (FFAs) were effectively prepared by the reaction of poly (ethylene imine) (PEI) polymers with different molecular weight and 1,3-propanesultone, followed by the further acidification with differential effective acids, i.e. H₂SO₄, CF₃SO₃H, CH₃SO₃H or p-toluenesulfonic acid (p-TSA). Ultrahigh acidity and catalytic performance were achieved and could be fine-tuned by simply adjusting the molecular weight of PEI and by further treatment of acids. Specifically, under the optimal conditions (i.e. reaction temperature was 70 ℃, reaction time was 2.0 h, catalyst dosage was 3.15% (mass), and alcohol/acid molar ratio was 14:1) acquired through the Box-BEHNKEN response surface methodology, a high oleic acid conversion of 98.42% could be obtained over the optimal PIL, PEI(70000)-PS-p-TSA. Additionally, our PILs also showed high generality for esterification of other FFAs, with general high conversion over 90% noted in each case even under much milder reaction conditions compared to other conventional catalysts.

A series of triphenylethoxysilane (TPEOS)-modified nanosheet HZSM-5 catalysts (ZN-x, x = 4%, 8% and 16%, mass) were synthesized by chemical liquid deposition to selectively change external acidity distributions. TPEOS modification was found to passivate some external Brønsted and Lewis acid sites by 37.8%, in which Brønsted acid sites (BAS) were found more easily sacrificed by breaking the surface AlO bond of bridging hydroxyl groups and forming SiOSi bonds. The selectivity of ZN-8 catalyst for light olefins (ethylene, propylene and butene) in n-decane catalytic cracking is up to 26% (450 ℃, WHSV = 10.95 h^-1), which is ca. 78% higher than that of parent one. The better performance was attributed to the appropriate external acid density in ZN-8, which inhibits bimolecular hydrogen transfer reaction of light olefins on the adjacent acid sites, resulting in more olefins, few coke precursors and thus an excellent catalytic stability.

Optomagnetic multifunctional composite based on upconversion luminescence nanomaterial is regarded as a promising strategy for bioimaging, disease diagnosis and targeted delivery of drugs. To explore a mesoporous nanostructure with excellent water dispersibility and high drug-loading capacity, a novel nanorattle-structured Fe₃O₄@SiO₂@NaYF₄:Yb,Er magnetic upconversion nanorattle (MUCNR) was successfully designed by using Fe₃O₄ as core and NaYF₄:Yb,Er nanocrystals as shell. The microstructures and crystal phase of the as-prepared MUCNRs were evaluated by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction and N₂ adsorption/desorption isotherms. The Kirkendall effect was adapted to explain the formation mechanism of the MUCNRs. The loading content and encapsulation efficiency of doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) could reach as high as 18.2% and 60.7%, respectively. Moreover, the DOX loading MUCNR (DOX-MUCNR) system showed excellent sustained drug release and strong pH-dependent performance, which was conducive to drug release at the slightly acidic microenvironment of tumor. Microcalorimetry was used to quantify the interactions between the carrier structure and drug release rate directly. The heat release rates in the heat-flow diagrams are basically consistent with the DOX release rate, thereby showing that microcalorimetry assay not only provides a unique thermodynamic explanation for the structure-activity relationship of Fe₃O₄@SiO₂@NaYF₄:Yb,Er MUCNRs but also provides powerful guidance to avoid the blind selection or design of drug carriers. Therefore, our work firmly provided a comprehensive perspective for using Fe₃O₄@SiO₂@NaYF₄:Yb,Er MUCNRs as a remarkable magnetic targeted drug carrier.