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Process intensification by model-based design of tailor-made reactors
Publication date: December 2019Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering, Volume 26Author(s): Hannsjörg Freund, Johannes Maußner, Markus Kaiser, Mingquan XieThe most recent work in the field of model-based design of catalytic reactors with a special focus on the multi-level reactor design (MLRD) methodology is reviewed. The key idea of this method is to track a fluid element on its way through the — not yet specified — reactor and to optimize the reaction conditions along its way by providing the necessary material and energy fluxes. On the basis of these optimal flux profiles novel reactor ...
Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering - October 1, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research

Molecular insights into the activity and stability of popular methane reforming catalysts using quantum mechanical tools
Publication date: December 2019Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering, Volume 26Author(s): Katherine Hassan-Legault, Ojus Mohan, Samir H MushrifMethane/natural gas is an alternative feedstock to produce fuels, chemicals and electricity, but its use is limited by the profitability of the processes and transportation expenses. Currently, indirect methane reforming processes are used industrially, with nickel-based catalysts, at aggressive operating conditions. As such, the catalysts suffer from poor stability due to coking. Herein, we review quantum mechanical density functional theory (DFT)-based investigations in ...
Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering - September 21, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research

Biocatalytic conversion of methane – selected aspects
Publication date: December 2019Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering, Volume 26Author(s): Agnieszka Kasprzycka, Justyna Lalak-Kańczugowska, Anna Walkiewicz, Piotr Bulak, Kinga Proc, Łukasz StępieńIn this review we summarize the findings reported recently concerning molecular studies and biotechnological approaches to utilize natural properties of methanotrophs in the efforts to minimize human influence on the environment. Most important enzymatic mechanisms were described, along with the groups of microorganisms responsible for these. Moreover, genetic tools designed to improve the efficiency of methanotrophs...
Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering - September 14, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research

From database to knowledge graph — using data in chemistry
Publication date: December 2019Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering, Volume 26Author(s): Angiras Menon, Nenad B Krdzavac, Markus KraftOver the last couple of decades, the scientific community has made large efforts to process and store experimental and computational chemical data and information on the world wide web. This review summarizes several databases and ontologies available on the web for researchers to use. We also discuss briefly the categories of chemistry data that are stored, its main usage and how it can be accessed and understood in the framework of the Semantic Web. (Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering)
Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering - September 13, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research

Molecular properties of interfaces relevant for clathrate hydrate agglomeration
Publication date: September 2019Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering, Volume 25Author(s): Alberto Striolo, Anh Phan, Matthew R WalshClathrate hydrates of natural gases show promise for energy in regions traditionally poor of fossil fuels, suggest the possibility of mitigating the atmospheric impact of hydrocarbon consumption via CO 2 sequestration, could advance high-tech applications to address global challenges, including the water-energy nexus, and can lead to significant economic loss and potential safety hazards when they form in oil and gas pipelines. This focused review is motivated by several recent cont...
Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering - September 13, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research

Computational design of catalysts for bio-waste upgrading
Publication date: December 2019Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering, Volume 26Author(s): Jithin John VargheseCatalytic upgrading of biowaste to chemicals and fuels is a key step towards circular economy. Computational investigations of catalytic upgrading of biowaste have made valuable contributions towards catalysts design. Recent applications of 1) Density Functional Theory (DFT) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, and microkinetic modelling to derive insights on active sites, reactions mechanisms, solvation and catalyst deactivation, 2) DFT and MD simulations, multiscale models, and statistical methods f...
Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering - September 11, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research

Role of continuous flow processes in green manufacturing of pharmaceuticals and specialty chemicals
Publication date: December 2019Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering, Volume 26Author(s): Jeffrey A Bennett, Zachary S Campbell, Milad AbolhasaniRecently, focus has turned towards increasing chemical process safety and sustainability for fundamental and applied research as well as manufacturing of pharmaceuticals and specialty chemicals. Flow chemistry techniques have attracted significant interest as a way to implement and improve chemical processes in order to satisfy the growing demand for chemical sustainability. In this article, we discuss emerging flow chemistry technologies with applications in green manuf...
Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering - August 30, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research

Optical nanofluids for direct absorption-based solar-thermal energy harvesting at medium-to-high temperatures
Publication date: September 2019Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering, Volume 25Author(s): Benwei Fu, Jingyi Zhang, Huanbei Chen, Huaixin Guo, Chengyi Song, Wen Shang, Peng Tao, Tao DengDirect absorption-based solar collectors, which rely on volumetric absorption of sunlight by optical nanofluids, have emerged as a superior way to conventional surface absorption-based collectors for harvesting solar-thermal energy. In this short review, we summarize the recent progress on preparing medium-to-high-temperature solar-thermal nanofluids that can be potentially used in direct absorption-based solar collectors under co...
Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering - August 27, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research

Recent advancements of nanomaterials as coatings and biocides for the inhibition of sulfate reducing bacteria induced corrosion
This study gives an overview of the recent advancements of different nanomaterials and nanocomposites used as biocides for the inhibition of MIC. The potential and associated challenges in developing NPs as effective biocides are highlighted. (Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering)
Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering - August 27, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research

Thermally responsive ionic liquids and polymeric ionic liquids: emerging trends and possibilities
Publication date: September 2019Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering, Volume 25Author(s): Nupur Gupta, Yen Nan Liang, Xiao HuIonic liquid (IL) including polymeric ionic liquid (PIL) is a rapidly growing and widely research area due to its unique properties such as non-volatility, high ionic conductivity, electrochemical stability, and solvation potential. This focused review covers the advancement of thermally responsive ILs/PILs for applications, in which their osmotic potential and reversible interactions are exploited for water treatment and energy conversion through osmotically driven membrane processes and ...
Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering - August 26, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research

Solar thermal utilizations revived by advanced solar evaporation
Publication date: September 2019Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering, Volume 25Author(s): Xin Liu, Haizhou Liu, Xiaoqiang Yu, Lin Zhou, Jia ZhuRecent advances in the development of advanced solar evaporation have opened up new possibilities for the revived explorations of solar thermal utilization. Among them, microstructure-enabled solar evaporation received the most attention due to its unique capability of solar energy harvesting and localized heating effects, which are beneficial for an enhanced vapor production rate, a fast-responsive high-temperature steam generation, and so on. Here we review the primary ...
Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering - August 17, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research

Prospects of artificial tree for solar desalination
Publication date: September 2019Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering, Volume 25Author(s): Baoxia Mi, Casey Finnerty, Kelly ConwaySeawater and brackish water desalination provides a viable alternative to clean water supply for regions lacking fresh water sources or facing severe droughts. Current desalination technologies, however, are energy-expensive and environmentally unfriendly. Mimicking the natural transpiration process of mangrove trees that are able to survive in high-salinity environment, an artificial tree is conceived as a next-generation desalination system that can be entirely solar-powered and pote...
Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering - August 10, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research

Artificial water channels: toward and beyond desalination
Publication date: September 2019Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering, Volume 25Author(s): Woochul Song, Manish KumarArtificial water channels (AWCs) are synthetic mimics of biological water channel proteins, aquaporins. They combine the characteristic features of aquaporins, including a transmembrane orientation in biomimetic membrane matrices and the possibility of combining high water permeability with high water/solute selectivity, with higher processability and stability compared to protein channels. AWCs have thus emerged as a platform for biomimetic membrane development. During the last few years, remarkab...
Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering - August 8, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research

Progress and outlook for capacitive deionization technology
Publication date: September 2019Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering, Volume 25Author(s): James Landon, Xin Gao, Ayokunle Omosebi, Kunlei LiuCapacitive deionization (CDI), an emerging desalination technology, has received considerable attention in recent years due to porous carbon development, new cell designs, and unique operational modes providing higher performance for capacitance-based salt removal. The energy cost of this separation process has also been rigorously evaluated through a variety of efficiency calculations, and direct comparisons are now being made with more conventional membrane-based separati...
Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering - August 3, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research

Design of biocatalysts for efficient catalytic processes
Publication date: December 2019Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering, Volume 26Author(s): Esther M Sulman, Valentina G Matveeva, Lyudmila M BronsteinBiocatalysts based on immobilized enzymes received considerable attention due to important applications in syntheses of value-added chemicals, pharmaceuticals and drug intermediates with great catalytic efficiency and high yields of target molecules. The important advantages of such biocatalysts are enhanced stability in tolerant pH and temperature range, separation from reaction solutions, stability in repeated use, and so on. In this review, we discuss recent findi...
Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering - August 3, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research