Current Issue : January-March Volume : 2025 Issue Number : 1 Articles : 5 Articles
Glass wool is an insulation material used in large quantities; despite its popularity, it is still surprising that around 2.5 million tons of mineral wool waste is generated every year in Europe. Waste management faces numerous challenges because, with current technologies, waste cannot be cleaned and melted again for repurposing, so even the recollected glass wool ends up in landfill. Herein, we present a hydrolysis technology that decomposes the binder applied to glass fibers using exclusively water. We succeeded in decomposing the resin from the surfaces of the end-of-life fibers, originating from different sources like industrial furnace insulation and two demolition-sourced building insulation wastes. The effects of temperature, pressure, the mass flow of the water, and the applied fluid ratio were investigated. The most important parameters are the temperature and the time for the decomposition, but to minimize glass loss through the solubility of glass, the fluid ratio plays an important role as well. The fibers were efficiently cleaned after only 20 min at 300 ◦C by the optimized parameters, with a mass recovery of 70 wt.%....
Plasma from electric discharges can be used in the abatement of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The application of gas-phase pulsed corona discharge (PCD) in air–water mixtures provides favorable conditions for the oxidation of VOCs at unsurpassed energy efficiency. This research investigates the impact of water sprinkling on PCD performance in the oxidation of m-xylene as a model compound. Experimental research into the plasma treatment of continuous air flow was undertaken using the PCD reactor in dry and water-sprinkled modes. Water sprinkling more than doubled the m-xylene oxidation rate, which can be attributed to abundant OH-radicals produced at the plasma–water interface. Water sprinkling substantially reduced the formation of nitrous oxide, which is considered to be a secondary pollutant in the outlet air. Ozone is considered a by-product helping the subsequent photocatalytic oxidation of potential residues and photocatalyst maintenance. The use of water-sprinkled PCD is a promising approach to energy-efficient abatement of VOCs....
Stabilization/solidification (S/S) is an effective method used to reduce the leaching of heavy metals from soils, which is a serious environmental problem when soil is contaminated with heavy metals. In this study, a new stabilizing agent consisting of acetate-ethylene copolymer emulsion (VAE)-hydrated calcium silicate-polycarboxylate (V-CSH-PCE), water-soluble thiourea-formaldehyde (WTF) resins, cement, and fly ash was prepared for the solidification of heavy metal-contaminated soil under low-temperature conditions. The results showed that the agents significantly enhanced the compressive properties of the soil. When 10% cement, 8% fly ash, 1.5% V-CSH-PCE, and 0.5% WTF were added, the compressive strength of the subsoil after 1 day of curing was 0.3755 MPa, which was nearly 12 times higher compared with a blank sample. Meanwhile, the leaching concentrations of Cu2+, Zn2+, Pb2+, and Cr3+ in the substrate were 2.52, 1.12, 1.32, and 0.51 mg/L, respectively, which were lower than the leaching standard of “Hazardous Waste Identification Standard Leaching Toxicity Identification (GB 5085.3-2007)”. In addition, the compressive strength of the soil after 1 day of curing at a low temperature (4 ◦C) was 0.2915 MPa, which was 30.9% higher compared with the soil without the V-CSH-PCE. The results showed that the cement-fly ash-(V-CSH-PCE)-WTF mixture has good application prospects in improving the compressive strength of soil and stabilizing heavy metal ions....
Increasing demand for functional materials crucial for advancing new technologies has motivated significant scientific and industrial research efforts. High-entropy materials (HEMs), with tunable properties, are gaining attention for their use in high-frequency transformers, microwave devices, multiferroics, and high-density magnetic memory components. The initial exploration of HEMs started with high-entropy alloys (HASs), such as CrMnFeCoNi, CuCoNiCrAlxFe, and AlCoCrTiZn and paved the way for a multitude of HEM variations, including oxides, oxyfluorides, borides, carbides, nitrides, sulfides, and phosphides. In this study, we fabricated the high-entropy oxide (HEO) compound Bi0.5La0.1In0.1Y0.1Nd0.1Gd0.1FeO3 through the solid-state synthesis method. Magnetic measurements at 300 K show ferromagnetic behavior with significant coercivity. At the same time, this novel composition exhibits excellent dielectric properties and shows potential for electronic applications demonstrating that a high-entropy approach can expand the compositional range of rare earth multiferroics and improve the multifunctional properties in multiferroic applications....
Artificial intelligence (AI) requires the provision of learnable data to successfully deliver requisite prediction power. In this article, it is demonstrable that standard physico-chemical parameters, while useful, are insufficient for the development of powerful antimicrobial prediction algorithms. Initial models that focussed solely on the values extractable from the knowledge on electrotopological, structural and constitutional descriptors did not meet the acceptance criteria for classifying antimicrobial activity. In contrast, efforts to conceptually define the diametric opposite of an antimicrobial compound helped to advance the predicted category as a learnable trait. Remarkably, the inclusion of ligand–receptor interactions using the ability of the molecules to stimulate transmembrane TAS2Rs receptor helped to increase the ability to distinguish the antimicrobial molecules from the inactive ones, confirming the hypothesis of a predictor–predicted synergy behind bitterness psychophysics and antimicrobial activity. Therefore, in a single bio–endogenic psychophysical vector representation, this manuscript helps demonstrate the contribution to parametrization and the identification of relevant chemical manifolds for molecular design and (re-)engineering. This novel approach to the development of AI models accelerated molecular design and facilitated the selection of newer, more powerful antimicrobial agents. This is especially valuable in an age where antimicrobial resistance could be ruinous to modern health systems....
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