Toluene methylation with methanol to produce para-xylene has been extensively and intensively studied. However, the methanol-to-hydrocarbons (MTH) side reaction in this reaction is difficult to be inhibited, which will cause a mass of carbon deposition and cover the catalyst surface, resulting in catalyst deactivation. Here, a dual-functional Ru@HZSM-5 catalyst with high para-selectivity and low carbon deposition was prepared by encapsulating Ru metal with HZSM-5. According to catalytic performance studies, the Ru@HZSM-5 catalyst produced xylene selectivity of 98% and para-xylene selectivity of 96%. Meanwhile, we find that carbon precursors (e.g. ethylene) were very little when Ru catalyst was used, but the results of HZSM-5 catalyst were completely opposite. Ru@HZSM-5 catalyst achieves a lower carbon deposition rate of only 6% of HZSM-5. The main possible reason for this is that the initial C–C bond between methanol and the olefin is difficult to form.

In this paper, the highly efficient ZnAlLa layered double oxide (ZnAlLa-LDO) catalyst was evaluated and used in methyl carbamate (MC) alcoholysis synthesis of dimethyl carbonate. Under optimal conditions, the MC conversion was 33.5% and the dimethyl carbonate (DMC) selectivity was up to 92.4% at 443 K and in 9 h. The prepared catalysts were well characterized to investigate the effect on the catalytic performance and reaction catalysis mechanism. The experimental results show that the addition of La adjusted the structure and chemical properties of ZnAl composite oxide and that the synergistic effect among Zn, Al and La play a key role in adjusting the acid-base properties and stability of the catalyst, which definitely improved the DMC selectivity and catalytic stability. Based on the proposed reaction mechanism, two kinetic models of the catalytic reaction were established and modified: Langmuir-Hinshelwood and power-rate law kinetic model. The good agreement between kinetic models and experimental data showed that the power-rate law kinetic model based on the elementary reactions is a suitable model for providing a theoretical basis. The pre-exponential factor and activation energy of the main reaction are 5.77×10⁷ and 77.60 kJ·mol^-1, respectively.

Polyoxymethylene dimethyl ethers (OMEs) with physical properties similar to those of diesel has received significant attention as green additives for soot emission suppression. Herein, series of SO₄^2-/ZrO₂—TiO₂ catalysts were developed for OMEs production from dimethoxymethane (DMM) and 1,3,5-trioxane through sequential formaldehyde monomer insertion into C-O bond of DMM. Not Lewis but Brønsted acid sites were identified to be active for the decomposition of 1,3,5-trioxane into formaldehyde unit, however, both of them are effective for the chain propagation of DMM via formaldehyde unit insertion into C-O bond. Kinetic studies indicated each chain growth step exhibited the same parameters and activation barrier on corresponding Brønsted and Lewis acid sites due to the same reaction mechanism and very similar chemical structure of OMEs. Also, the catalytic stability investigation suggested the deactivation behavior was derived from the carbon deposition, and the decay factor could be exponentially correlated with the amount of coke accumulation.

1-Oxa-2-azaspiro [2.5] octane, as one of N-H oxaziridines, is a selective electrophilic aminating agent for N-, S-, C-, and O-nucleophiles. It has the features of stereoselectivity and the absence of formation of strongly acidic or basic byproducts, leading to considerable interest in the development of organic synthetic methods. Currently, the economically feasible route of production of 1-oxa-2-azaspiro [2.5] octane is the reaction of cyclohexanone with ammonia and sodium hypochlorite. However, due to strong exothermic reactions, massive gas release and heterogeneous reaction, the controllability, efficiency and safety of the reaction are in great difficulty using batch technology. In this paper, a microreaction system containing predispersion, reaction and phase separation was introduced into the preparation of 1-oxa-2-azaspiro [2.5] octane. The research results showed that precise control of the process including droplet dispersion, temperature control, reaction time control and fast continuous phase separation, was the key to process intensification. Under optimal conditions, the concentration of 1-oxa-2-azaspiro [2.5] octane in product obtained by microreaciton system (~2.0 mol·L^-1) was much higher than that obtained by batch technology (0.2–0.4 mol·L^-1), which demonstrated that the continuous-flow synthesis would be a more efficient substitute for batch synthesis. Meanwhile, the results of the derivation experiments also showed that the aminating agent solution with higher concentration was more advantageous in the applications.

Gasoline blending scheduling optimization can bring significant economic and efficient benefits to refineries. However, the optimization model is complex and difficult to build, which is a typical mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem. Considering the large scale of the MINLP model, in order to improve the efficiency of the solution, the mixed integer linear programming - nonlinear programming (MILP-NLP) strategy is used to solve the problem. This paper uses the linear blending rules plus the blending effect correction to build the gasoline blending model, and a relaxed MILP model is constructed on this basis. The particle swarm optimization algorithm with niche technology (NPSO) is proposed to optimize the solution, and the high-precision soft-sensor method is used to calculate the deviation of gasoline attributes, the blending effect is dynamically corrected to ensure the accuracy of the blending effect and optimization results, thus forming a prediction-verification-reprediction closed-loop scheduling optimization strategy suitable for engineering applications. The optimization result of the MILP model provides a good initial point. By fixing the integer variables to the MILP-optimal value, the approximate MINLP optimal solution can be obtained through a NLP solution. The above solution strategy has been successfully applied to the actual gasoline production case of a refinery (3.5 million tons per year), and the results show that the strategy is effective and feasible. The optimization results based on the closed-loop scheduling optimization strategy have higher reliability. Compared with the standard particle swarm optimization algorithm, NPSO algorithm improves the optimization ability and efficiency to a certain extent, effectively reduces the blending cost while ensuring the convergence speed.

The higher capacity of CO₂ adsorption on the surface of magnesium oxide (MgO) with low-coordination O^2- sites would effectively enhance the catalytic reduction of CO₂. Herein, a series of copper oxide (CuO) and MgO composites with different mass ratios have been prepared by hydrothermal method and used for photothermal synergistic catalytic reduction of CO₂ to ethanol. The catalyst with CuO mass ratio of 1.6% shows the best yield (15.17 μmol·g^-1·h^-1) under 3 h Xenon lamp illumination. The improved performance is attributable to the loose nano-sheet structure, uniform dispersion of active sites, the increased specific surface area, medium-strengthbasicity, the high separation efficiency of electrons and holes, and the formation of Mg-O-Cu species. The synthesized CuO and MgO composites with loose nano-sheet structure facilitate the diffusion of reactants CO₂, so an excellent CO₂ adsorption performance can be obtained. Meanwhile, the introduction of CuO in the form of bivalence provides higher specific surface area and porosity, thus obtaining more active sites. Moreimportantly, the Mg-O-Cu species make the donation of electrons from MgO to CO₂ easier, resulting in the breaking of the old Mg-O bond and the formation of C—O bond, thus promoting the adsorption and conversion of CO₂ to ethanol.

Accidents in chemical production usually result in fatal injury, economic loss and negative social impact. Chemical accident reports which record past accident information, contain a large amount of expert knowledge. However, manually finding out the key factors causing accidents needs reading and analyzing of numerous accident reports, which is time-consuming and labor intensive. Herein, in this paper, a semi-automatic method based on natural language process (NLP) technology is developed to construct a knowledge graph of chemical accidents. Firstly, we build a named entity recognition (NER) model using SoftLexicon (simplify the usage of lexicon) + BERT-Transformer-CRF (conditional random field) to automatically extract the accident information and risk factors. The risk factors leading to accident in chemical accident reports are divided into five categories: human, machine, material, management, and environment. Through analysis of the extraction results of different chemical industries and different accident types, corresponding accident prevention suggestions are given. Secondly, based on the definition of classes and hierarchies of information in chemical accident reports, the seven-step method developed at Stanford University is used to construct the ontology-based chemical accident knowledge description model. Finally, the ontology knowledge description model is imported into the graph database Neo4j, and the knowledge graph is constructed to realize the structured storage of chemical accident knowledge. In the case of information extraction from 290 Chinese chemical accident reports, SoftLexicon + BERT-Transformer-CRF shows the best extraction performance among nine experimental models. Demonstrating that the method developed in the current work can be a promising tool in obtaining the factors causing accidents, which contributes to intelligent accident analysis and auxiliary accident prevention.

Developing metal–organic framework (MOF) materials with the moisture-resistant feature is highly desirable for CO₂ capture from highly humid flue gas. In this work, a new core–shell MOF@MOF composite using Mg-MOF-74 with high CO₂ capture capacity as a functional core and hydrophobic zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) as a protective shell is fabricated by the epitaxial growth method. Experimental results show that the CO₂ adsorption performance of the core–shell structured Mg-MOF-74@ZIF-8 composites from water-containing flue gas is enhanced along with their improved hydrophobicity. The dynamic breakthrough results show that the Mg-MOF-74@ZIF-8 with three assembled layers (Mg-MOF-74@ZIF-8-3) can capture 3.56 mmol·g^-1 CO₂ from wet CO₂/N₂ (V_CO2 : V_N2 = 15:85) mixtures, which outperforms Mg-MOF-74 (0.37 mmol·g^-1) and most of the reported physisorbents.

In this paper, using the computational fluid dynamics based on Euler Lagrange and the commercial software Barracuda VR, the gas–particle hydrodynamics and the erosion of particles on the inner wall and internal components of the spouted bed in the integrated multi-jet swirling spout-fluidized bed (IMSSFB) are studied. Erosion experiments have obtained the characterization of particle erosion on internal components and verified the relevant numerical models. The results show that: the particle distribution within the IMSSFB is uneven due to the cyclonic effect of the axial swirl vane (ASV), resulting in particle erosion for the ASV being concentrated on one side; when the gas reaches the top, too high an erosion gas velocity leads to gas backflow. As the filling height increases, there is a tendency for the erosion position of the particles on the ASV to expand upwards. However, the effect of increasing gas velocity on the erosion position is insignificant.

MnNiS_x@Ti₃C_2x as the positive electrode of supercapacitor was successfully prepared by hydrothermal method with the assistance of amino-functionalized ionic liquids. The micromorphological structures of MnNiS_x@Ti₃C_2x were analyzed using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, transmission electron microscope, and energy dispersive spectrometer to reveal the synergistic effect between MnNiS_x and Ti₃C_2x MXene. MnNiS_x grew into a three-dimensional coral-like structure on the surface and between layers of Ti₃C_2x nanosheets. This structure alleviated the collapse and stacking of Ti₃C_2x, increased the specific surface area of Ti₃C_2x, and promoted the charges transfer on the surface of Ti₃C_2x. The electrochemical performances of MnNiS_x@Ti₃C_2x positive electrode, such as cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge/discharge, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, were investigated. The synergistic effect between MnNiS_x and Ti₃C_2x MXene improved the specific capacitance and the capacitance retention of the MnNiS_x@Ti₃C_2x electrode. An asymmetric solid-state supercapacitor (ASC) assembled using MnNiS_x@Ti₃C_2x as cathode material had the power density of 816.34 W·kg^-1, and the energy density of 35.11 Wh·kg^-1. The capacitance retention of ASC reached 98% after 5000 cycles at a current density of 5 A·g^-1.

Dining lampblack as a source of atmospheric pollution, urban residents had to spend a lot of economic costs all year round to solve its impact. However, traditional treatment methods often carry the risk of secondary pollution. The use of phase change absorption solvent (PCAS) controlled by CO₂ can effectively absorb the oily components in dining lampblack, and smoothly avoid the generation of secondary pollutants and squandering of resources. The reversibility of PCASs under CO₂ control was explained by pH changes and macroscopic visualizations. The absorption effects of favorable absorbents and PCASs on dining lampblack were compared and analyzed. The fatty acid (FA) in the oil absorption mixture was desorbed by interacting with D230. The results of GC/MS analysis on the oil components separated by desorption showed that the desorption of PCASs was effective for these refractory oil components. FAs can be enriched and applied to the subsequent dining lampblack treatment link to realize the waste recycling. In addition, the absorption and desorption of oily components by PCASs were combined with the CO₂-controlled phase transformation of PCASs itself to achieve the absorption circulation of treating dining lampblack by using PCASs.

Herein, iron oxide/hydroxides deposits (gossans) were utilized, for the first time, in the fabrication of magnetite nanoparticles (MNPs) to load modified coal (MC). The as-synthesized MNPs@MC composite was characterized via different techniques and utilized for the Cr(VI) remediation. Experimental studies supported by theoretical treatment were applied to offer a new overview of the Cr(VI) adsorption geometry and mechanism at 25–45 ℃. Experimental results suggested that the Cr(VI) uptake was mainly governed by adsorption–reduction coupled mechanism. The Langmuir model fitted well the Cr(VI) adsorption data with maximum adsorption capacities extended from 115.24 to 129.63 mg·g^-1. Theoretical calculations indicated that Cr(VI) ions were adsorbed on the MNPs@MC following the theory of the advanced monolayer statistical model. The number of ions removed per site ranged from 1.88 to 1.23 suggesting the involvement of vertical geometry and multi-ionic mechanism at all temperatures. The increment of the active sites density and the adsorption capacity at saturation with improving temperature reflected an endothermic process. Energetically, the Cr(VI) adsorption was controlled by physical forces as the adsorption energies were less than 40 kJ·mol^-1. The calculated free enthalpy, entropy, and internal energy explained the spontaneous nature and the viability of Cr(VI) adsorption on the MNPs@MC adsorbent. These results offer a new approach in utilizing the iron-rich deposits as gossans in the preparation of magnetic and low-cost adsorbents for wastewater remediation.

Carbon is a normally used adsorbent for removal of heavy metal ion in aqueous solutions, but the efficient adsorbent needs intensive modification by heteroatom doped or supported noble metals that cause severe pollution and easy leaching of active components during use. In this paper, the role of intrinsic defects on Hg²⁺ adsorption for carbon adsorbent was investigated. The maximum adsorbing capacity of defect-rich carbon has been improved up to 433 mg·g^-1 which is comparable to most of the modified carbon adsorbents via supported metal chloride or noble metal components. The basicity is increased with the content of defective sites and the strong chemical bonding can be formed via electron transformation between the defect sites with adsorbed Hg²⁺. The present study gives a direction to explore cheap and easily scale-up high-performance mercury adsorbents by simply tuning the intrinsic defective structure of carbon without the necessity to support metal or other organic compounds.

Developing novel oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts with high activity is urgent for proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Herein, we investigated a group of size-dependent Pt-based catalysts as promising ORR catalysts by density functional theory calculations, ranging from single-atom, nanocluster to bulk Pt catalysts. The results showed that the ORR overpotential of these Pt-based catalysts increased when its size enlarged to the nanoparticle scale or reduced to the single-atom scale, and the Pt₃₈ cluster had the lowest ORR overpotential (0.46 V) compared with that of Pt₁₁₁ (0.57 V) and single atom Pt (0.7 V). Moreover, we established a volcano curve relationship between the ORR overpotential and binding energy of O^* (ΔE_O^*), confirming the intermediate species anchored on Pt₃₈ cluster with suitable binding energy located at top of volcano curve. The interaction between intermediate species and Pt-based catalysts were also investigated by the charge distribution and projected density of state and which further confirmed the results of volcano curve.

The mineral species in soils vary in a wide variety of places, thus resulting in the petroleum-contaminated soil (PCS) with complex characters. Thus, the research on the effect of mineral species on oil-soil interactions in PCS takes on a critical significance. In this study, the desorption and adsorption behaviors of aromatic hydrocarbons (Ar) on two minerals surfaces were examined. Meanwhile, the interfacial forces between minerals and Ar were studied and the sources of these forces were analyzed. Moreover, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were conducted to gain insight into the interfacial interaction mechanisms. As revealed by the results of this study, in comparison with Qs–Ar (quartz sand, Qs), Mnt–Ar (montmorillonite, Mnt) contaminants required higher temperature and activation energies for thermal desorption (201.95 kJ·mol^-1 vs. 127.82 kJ·mol^-1). The above difference was generated since the adhesive forces between Ar and Mnt surfaces were greater than those between Ar and Qs. As indicated by the analysis of the adhesion force sources, the van der Waals forces were responsible for facilitating oil adhesion to mineral surfaces, even though the electrostatic force prevented oil–mineral adhesion. Furthermore, the hydrophobic forces facilitated adhesion in 3 nm. The MD results demonstrated that compared with the Qs system, there existed larger binding energies between Ar and Mnt, a lower diffusion coefficient for Ar on the Mnt surface, as well as more significant adsorption of Ar on Mnt. In general, the different mineral species affect the strength of the interaction at the oil–soil interface, which is a guideline for proposing targeted oil-soil separation measures.

Ammonium dinitramide (ADN) is a promising oxidizer with high energy characteristic, which is a relatively new environmentally friendly oxidizer without halogens and carbon elements. However, ADN has high hygroscopicity when exposed to high humidity air, restricting its applications on the solid propellants. In this paper, a novel energetic cocrystal composed of ammonium dinitramide and 3,4-diaminofurazan (DAF) was proposed and successfully synthesized by antisolvent crystallization method, and the properties of the cocrystal were systematically investigated by analytical characterization and theoretical simulation calculations. The formation of the cocrystal was confirmed by powder X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, scanning electron microscopy, infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy, indicating that the synthesized product was a cocrystal. Through theoretical studies, the ADN/DAF cocrystal structure was predicted, and the powder X-ray diffraction, morphology, water sorption capacity of ADN/DAF cocrystal were calculated, which was consistent with experimental phenomena. The results showed that newly prepared cocrystal of ADN/DAF had lower hygroscopicity compared to pure ADN, and the water sorption capacity was reduced from 15.35% to 7.90%. This may be due to the formation of N-H···O medium-strength hydrogen bonds between the ammonium ion of ADN and the O atom of DAF in the cocrystal, which prevents the binding of water molecules in the air and ammonium ions and reduces the probability of ADN binding to water molecules, leading to the reduction of cocrystal hygroscopicity. The newly prepared energetic cocrystal can provide theoretical and technical guidance for the study of the anti-hygroscopicity of ADN and advance the practical application of ADN.

As a low cost non-staple food resource, the high-viscosity paste and poor gel-forming ability of tapioca starch limit its industrial application. Herein, molasses hydrocolloids that is a by-product of the sugar refining process was applied as a blending modifier to reduce the viscosity of tapioca starch paste. The test results of paste and rheological properties show that molasses hydrocolloids exhibited a good physical viscosity-reducing effect on tapioca starch paste. The irregular network structure and high K⁺/Ca²⁺ ion contents of molasses hydrocolloids exerted wrapping, adhesion, barrier, and hydration effects on starch, leading to the reduction of viscosity. The scanning electron microscope images and textural analysis demonstrated that this strategy also improve the structure of tapioca starch gel and enhanced its puncture strength by 75.46%. This work shows the great potential of molasses hydrocolloids as a low-cost and desirable material for the viscosity reduction of tapioca starch.

The aim of this study was to design a new emulsion liquid membrane (ELM) system for the separation of succinic acid from aqueous solutions. The concentration of succinic acid varied from 20 to 60 mmol·L^-1. The prepared ELM system includes tributylamine (TBA) as a carrier, commercial kerosene as a solvent, Span 80 as a surfactant, and as a stripping agent. In order to control the membrane swelling, different values of cyclohexanone were added to the membrane phase. The effect of various empirical variables on the extraction of the succinic acid such as acid concentration in the feed solution, initial feed concentration, carrier concentration, the stirring speed of the extraction, , surfactant, and cyclohexanone concentrations, and treat ratio in the ELM system. The best result was obtained when TBA was used as the carrier. The final acid extraction efficiency was independent of pH variations of the aqueous feed solution. The extraction of succinic acid solution with a concentration of 40 mmol·L^-1 was improved by increasing the treat ratio 1:7–1:3, stripping phase concentration 0.5–1.5 mol·L^-1, stirring speed 300–500 r·min^-1 and cyclohexanone concentration in the membrane phase 1.2–1.6 mol·L^-1. No considerable effect on the extraction rate was observed for the carrier concentration in the membrane phase. But, the surfactant concentration in the feed phase showed a dual effect on the extraction efficiency.

Nowadays, the limits on greenhouse gas emissions are becoming increasingly stringent. In present research, a two-dimensional numerical model was established to simulate the deep removal of 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane (R134a) from the non-condensable gas (NCG) mixture by cryogenic condensation and de-sublimation. The wall condensation method was compiled into the Fluent software to calculate the condensation of R134a from the gas mixture. Besides, the saturated thermodynamic properties of R134a under its triple point were extrapolated by the equation of state. The simulation of the steam condensation with NCG was conducted to verify the validity of the model, the results matched well with the experimental data. Subsequently, the condensation characteristics of R134a with NCG and the thermodynamic parameters affecting condensation were studied. The results show that the section with relatively higher removal efficiency is usually near the inlet. The cold wall temperature has a great influence on the R134a removal performance, e.g., a 15 K reduction of the wall temperature brings a reduction in the outlet R134a molar fraction by 85.43%. The effect of changing mass flow rate on R134a removal is mainly reflected at the outlet, where an increase in mass flow rate of 12.6% can aggravate the outlet molar fraction to 210.3% of the original. The research can provide a valuable reference for the simulation of the deep removal of various low-concentration gas using condensation and de-sublimation methods.

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) have been shown to be effective adsorbents for boron. However, solid–liquid separation is still a problem when separating boron from industrial radioactive waste liquid. In this research, three types of Mg–Al-LDHs including Mg–Al-LDH(NO₃^–), Mg–Al-LDH(Cl^–) and Mg–Al-LDH(SO₄^2–) were applied to adsorb boron, and moreover sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS) was used to float the LDH particles from aqueous solution after boron adsorption. The results showed that 60 min was sufficient for the equilibrium adsorption of the three LDHs. The boron adsorption capacity of three LDHs was determined as follows: Mg–Al-LDH(NO₃^–) > Mg–Al-LDH(Cl^–) > Mg–Al-LDH(SO₄^2–), and was 2.0, 0.98 and 0.2 mmol·g^-1, each ranging from 0 to 80 mmol·L^–1 with the initial boron concentration. The efficiency of boron removal by Mg–Al-LDH(NO₃^–) and SDBS can reach up to 89.7%. Furthermore, the boron flotation mechanism of SDBS and LDHs has been studied, since SDBS as a flotation agent can react with LDHs and penetrate into the interlayer of LDHs in addition to electrostatic attraction. Therefore, LDHs in solution can be floated onto the foam layer to be separated from the solution, and the clarified solution was obtained. The method is simple and promising for boron removal from aqueous solution.

The poor structural stability and capacity retention of the high-voltage spinel-type LiNi_0.5Mn_1.5O₄ (LNMO) limits their further application. Herein, Al and Co were doped in LNMO materials for a more stable structure and capacity. The LNMO, LiNi_0.45Al_0.05Mn_1.5O₄ (LNAMO) and LiNi_0.45Co_0.05Mn_1.5O₄ (LNCMO) were synthesized by calcination at 900 ℃ for 8 h, which was called as solid-phase method and applied universally in industry. XRD, FT-IR and CV test results showed the synthesized samples have cation disordering Fd-3m space group structures. Moreover, the incorporation of Al and Co increased the cation disordering of LNMO, thereby increasing the transfer rate of Li⁺. The SEM results showed that the doped samples performed more regular and ortho-octahedral. The EDS elemental analysis confirmed the uniform distribution of each metal element in the samples. Moreover, the doped samples showed better electrochemical properties than undoped LNMO. The LNAMO and LNCMO samples were discharged with specific capacities of 116.3 mA·h·g^-1 and 122.8 mA·h·g^-1 at 1 C charge/discharge rate with good capacity retention of 95.8% and 94.8% after 200 cycles at room temperature, respectively. The capacity fading phenomenon of the doped samples at 50 ℃ and 1 C rate was significantly improved. Further, cations doping also enhanced the rate performance, especially for the LNCMO, the discharge specific capacity of 117.9 mA·h·g^-1 can be obtained at a rate of 5 C.

The efficient adsorption of radioactive iodine (¹²⁹I and ¹³¹I) as nuclear waste is of great importance. Polymer nanocomposites consist of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) developing for various pollutions sorption and separation have attracted much attention. This study reports the fabrication of magnetic polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIF-8) nanocomposites, PAN/ZIF-8(x%)/Fe₃O₄, x = 30 and 50, as iodine capture adsorbents. The PAN/ZIF-8(x%)/Fe₃O₄ nanocomposite beads were fabricated via the phase inversion method, and their potential for iodine capture and separation in solution and vapor was investigated through UV–vis and weighing methods, respectively. Also, antibacterial activity of the as-prepared beads was assessed against E. coil and S. aureus. The as-fabricated compounds were studied by various techniques such as Fourier-transform infrared, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy mapping, transmission electron microscope, N₂ adsorption isotherm, and vibrating sample magnetometer. The iodine capture results showed that the efficiency of nanocomposites is remarkably higher than the pure PAN beads. Additionally, the as-prepared nanocomposite adsorbents displayed higher capture capacities for iodine vapor (1524–4345 mg·g^-1) than iodine solution (187–295 mg·g^-1). The as-obtained magnetic nanocomposites can be successfully separated from polluted media by simple filtration or an external magnet, regenerated through washing with ethanol, and reused. Fast capturing, high sorption capacity, rapid separation, and good reusability make the PAN/ZIF-8(x%)/Fe₃O₄ nanocomposites highly effective adsorbents for the separation of iodine from wastewater. Additionally, PAN/ZIF-8(50%)/Fe₃O₄ bead can be considered as a potential new antibacterial agent for water and wastewater treatment.

In the past few decades, inspired by the superhydrophobic surfaces (SHPS) of animals and plants such as lotus leaves, rose petals, legs of water striders, and wings of butterflies, preparing metal materials with metallic SHPS (MSHPS) have attracted great research interest, due to the great prospect in practical applications. To obtain SHPS on conventional metal materials, it is necessary to construct rough surface, followed by modification with low surface energy substances. In this paper, the action mechanism and the current research status of MSHPS were reviewed through the following aspects. Firstly, the model of wetting theory was presented, and then the progress in MSHPS preparation through chemical etching method was discussed. Secondly, the applications of MSHPS in self-cleaning, anti-icing, corrosion resistance, drag reduction, oil–water separation, and other aspects were introduced. Finally, the challenges encountered in the present application of MSHPS were summarized, and the future research interests were discussed.

Steam cracking is the dominant technology for producing light olefins, which are believed to be the foundation of the chemical industry. Predictive models of the cracking process can boost production efficiency and profit margin. Rapid advancements in machine learning research have recently enabled data-driven solutions to usher in a new era of process modeling. Meanwhile, its practical application to steam cracking is still hindered by the trade-off between prediction accuracy and computational speed. This research presents a framework for data-driven intelligent modeling of the steam cracking process. Industrial data preparation and feature engineering techniques provide computational-ready datasets for the framework, and feedstock similarities are exploited using k-means clustering. We propose LArge-Residuals-Deletion Multivariate Adaptive Regression Spline (LARD-MARS), a modeling approach that explicitly generates output formulas and eliminates potentially outlying instances. The framework is validated further by the presentation of clustering results, the explanation of variable importance, and the testing and comparison of model performance.

Activated carbon nanofibers (ACNFs) with small diameter can significantly increase the accessibility of intra pores and accelerate adsorption of molecules from water. In this study, ACNFs were made by blending K₂CO₃ or ZnCl₂ as the activating agent into the polyacrylonitrile (PAN) in dimethylformamide solution for electrospinning prior to pyrolysis. Bisphenol-A (BPA), an endocrine disruption pollutant, is widely applied in the production of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. Accordingly, BPA is often used as a model contaminant commonly removed via adsorption. Batch adsorption studies were used to evaluate the kinetics and adsorption capacity of the ACNFs. Redlich–Peterson (R–P) and Langmuir models were found to fit the isotherm of BPA adsorption better than Freundlich model, showing the homogeneous nature of the PAN originated ACNFs. The adsorption kinetics was better described by the pseudo second-order model than that by the pseudo first-order model. The fitting by intraparticle diffusion model indicates the adsorption of BPA onto ACNFs is mainly controlled by pore diffusion. High pH value and ionic strength reduced BPA adsorption from aqueous solution. The breakthrough curves studied in two different fixed bed systems (cross flow bed system and packed flow bed system) confirmed the scalability of BPA removal by ACNFs in dynamic adsorption processes. The modified dose–response model predicted well the fixed-bed outlet concentration profiles.

A new burgeoning family of two-dimensional (2D) transition metal carbides/nitrides, better known as MXenes, have received extensive attention because of their distinct properties, such as metallic conductivity, good hydrophilicity, large surface area, good mechanical stability, and biodegradability. About 40 different MXenes have been synthesized, and dozens more structures and properties have been theoretically predicted. However, the recent progress in MXenes development is not well covered in chronological order based on different applications. This review article focuses on emerging synthesis methods, the properties of MXenes, and mainly the applications of MXenes and MXene-based material family in environmental remediation, a comprehensive review of gaseous and aqueous pollutants treatment.