by Fabiano A.N. Fernandes

Received: 23 August 2022;  Published: 17 October 2022;  doi: 10.21926/cr.2204034

Biodiesel is derived from renewable vegetable or animal sources and is either used as a standalone fuel or blended with oil-based diesel. The kinetic mechanism of the esterification of oleic acid was investigated in a conventional batch reactor and a batch reactor coupled to a water adsorption system. The esterification was performed with oleic acid and methanol at different temperatures (70 to 110 °C) and alcohol-to-oleic acid molar ratios (3:1 to 9:1), using sulfuric acid as a catalyst. A kinetic model was constr [...]

by Binita Boro  , Shivam Porwal  , Dinesh Kumar  , Snehangshu Mishra  , Subrata Ghosh  , Sakshi Kansal  , Amreesh Chandra  and Trilok Singh

Received: 14 August 2022;  Published: 14 October 2022;  doi: 10.21926/cr.2204033

Solar cells based on organic-inorganic lead halide perovskites are popular in the photovoltaic community due to their high efficiency, low cost, and solution processability. Understanding the fundamentals of metal halide perovskite and its interfaces is extremely important for achieving high-quality materials and developing efficient devices using these materials with the necessary properties. Various methodologies have been used to evaluate the excellent optoelectronic properties, efficiency, and stability of PSCs [...]

by Anastasia Skonta  , Elena Gkantzou  , Konstantinos Spyrou  , Stamatia Spyrou  , Angeliki Polydera  , Dimitrios Gournis  and Haralambos Stamatis

Received: 31 July 2022;  Published: 08 October 2022;  doi: 10.21926/cr.2204032

3D printed PLA has already been demonstrated for several biotechnological applications, including enzymes immobilization. The prerequisites for an efficient screening assay include using small volumes of reagents, low cost, and rapid screening of large numbers of compounds and extracts. Hence, assays based on microtiter plates are predominant. Thus, designing and fabricating scaffolds on a similar scale, which could serve as immobilization carriers, and their recruitment in inhibitors screening studies is of great [...]

by Despina Vamvuka  and Christia Loulashi

Received: 24 May 2022;  Published: 29 September 2022;  doi: 10.21926/cr.2203031

The present study investigated the co-gasification of two different lignites blended with the forest residue collected from the land restoration activity sites of open-pit mines located in the region of the Ptolemais basin in North Greece performed under the carbon dioxide stream. All samples were devolatilized in a fixed bed unit prior to the gasification evaluations. The gasification evaluations were performed using a thermal analysis system (TG/DTG) operated at temperatures of up to 1000 °C. The reactivity, [...]

by Pari Muradova

Received: 24 June 2022;  Published: 26 September 2022;  doi: 10.21926/cr.2203030

In this study, we prepared a fine-grained, aluminum-reinforced alumina support matrix of the active mass of catalysts, which showed activity in heterogeneous catalytic reactions stimulated by electromagnetic radiation in the microwave range. The support absorbed microwave radiation of 2.45 GHz. We compared the textural characteristics of samples of Al/Al2O3 supports obtained by conventional heat treatment to those synthesized by heat treatment in a microwave field. We found several advantages of heat treating poten [...]

by Kuldeep Saini  , Vinay Mohan Pathak  , Arpit Tyagi  and Rani Gupta

Received: 11 June 2022;  Published: 22 September 2022;  doi: 10.21926/cr.2203029

Cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase (CGTase) is a multifunctional enzyme that hydrolyzes the α-glycosidic bond between two sugar molecules and synthesizes cyclodextrins (CDs) and other transglycosylation products. It is a ubiquitously present extracellular enzyme that offers the CGTase-producing organism the sole right onto starch substrates over other microbes. The present review provides a brief account of diversity among CGTase-producing microbes, CGTase production in different heterologous hosts (wherein ext [...]

by Le Thanh Mai Pham  , Kai Deng  , Trent R. Northen  , Steven W. Singer  , Paul D. Adams  , Blake A. Simmons  and Kenneth L. Sale

Received: 26 July 2022;  Published: 20 September 2022;  doi: 10.21926/cr.2203028

Lignin is the most abundant renewable source of aromatics on earth, and conversion of it to chemicals and fuels is needed to build an economically viable renewable biofuels industry. Biological routes to converting lignin to fuels and chemicals involve depolymerizing lignin using lignin-degrading enzymes that catalyze the breaking of ether and carbon-carbon bonds in the phenolic and non-phenolic subunits of lignin. Laccases are a crucial class of lignin-degrading enzymes and are copper-containing enzymes capable of [...]

by Mikhail Kipnis  , Elvira Volnina  , Igor Belostotsky  , Roman Galkin  , Natalya Zhilyaeva  , Ivan Levin  , Sergey Kottsov  and Alexander Ezhov

Received: 09 September 2021;  Published: 19 September 2022;  doi: 10.21926/cr.2203027

A precursor CuO/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst for methanol synthesis has been prepared at room temperature by introducing a ternary salt solution into the excess of sodium carbonate solution following the reverse co-precipitation method. The catalyst was tested for the synthesis of methanol from synthesis gas. The composition (vol. %) has been presented: CO, 22; CO2, 5.8; N2, 5.5; H2, balance. The methanol productivity was recorded to be 2.7 kg kgcat–1 h–1 at a temperature of 260 °С, a pressure of 3 MPa, and a [...]

by Gabriel Santos Viana  , Jorge Álef Estevam Lau Bomfim  , Gabriel Pereira da Silva  , José Faustino Souza de Carvalho Filho  , Miriam Sanae Tokumoto  , Fernando Cesário Rangel  and Rosenira Serpa da Cruz

Received: 30 June 2022;  Published: 13 September 2022;  doi: 10.21926/cr.2203026

Technological development made in the field of biomass application allows synthesizing several high-value products, such as furfuraldehyde. Furfural, produced through sequential hydrolysis and dehydration reactions from biomass, is considered a platform molecule and a precursor of several other chemicals and biofuels that are generated following reactions such as hydrogenation, hydrodeoxygenation, and decarboxylation. This review aims to reveal the environmental-friendly mechanisms followed for producing furfural d [...]

by Liang Jiang  , Lulu Xie  , Jiao He  , Juanxue Kang  , Wei Wang  and Jiaqiang Wang

Received: 16 July 2022;  Published: 09 September 2022;  doi: 10.21926/cr.2203025

TiO2 photocatalyst was prepared using cellulase as a biotemplate through a hydrothermal process. The as-prepared catalyst was characterized based on physicochemical techniques and was used to remove As(III) from contaminated water. The cellulase templated TiO2 photocatalyst (TiO2-cellulase) had a large specific surface area, which reached 166.6 m2·g–1. It also had a strong oxidation ability and, thus, behaved well in both photocatalytic oxidation of As(III) and dark adsorption. The pH of the solution h [...]