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This research paper reports the characteristics of dextran-glycerol-ammonium hexafluorophosphate (NH 4 PF 6) electrolyte system and application in proton batteries. The solid polymer electrolyte films are obtained by solution cast method. Interaction between dextran, glycerol and NH 4 PF 6 salt is examined using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis. Electrolyte with 18 wt.% NH 4 PF 6 exhibits the highest room temperature conductivity of (1.43 ± 0.16) × 10−4 S cm−1. It is inferred that the conductivity is mainly controlled by the changes in ionic mobility and diffusion coefficient. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) analysis shows the difference in the morphology with respect to NH 4 PF 6 content and verifies the conductivity result. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis confirms that the presence of plasticizer and 18 wt.% salt has decreased the glass transition temperature (T g). The temperature dependence of conductivity for the highest conducting electrolyte shows a typical Vogel-Tamman-Fulcher (VTF) behavior. The proton batteries have been discharged at different constant currents. • Dextran-NH 4 PF 6 electrolyte is a biodegradable polymer electrolyte with high conductivity values. • Dextran-NH 4 PF 6 electrolyte has flexible polymer backbone due to low glass transition temperature. • Dextran-NH 4 PF 6 electrolyte are stable up to 1.8 V. • Dextran-NH 4 PF 6 based proton batteries is observed to perform well at various constant current. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports an environment-friendly biobased foam made with cellulose nanofiber (CNF) and a biobased hyperbranched crosslinker, glycerol succinic anhydride (GSA). As a biobased hyperbranched crosslinker, carboxyl-terminated GSA is synthesized through a straightforward esterification process involving glycerol and succinic anhydride. The GSA-crosslinked CNF (GSA/CNF) foam is prepared using a facile, sustainable, cost-effective, and efficient solvent-exchange method. The resulting foam exhibits notable characteristics, including improved dimensional stability, remarkably low density (13.41 mg/cm3) with high porosity (>99 %), and exceptional compressive strength (494 kPa) and modulus (452 kPa). Further, the foam offers outstanding sound absorption capabilities with a coefficient of 0.986 at 2 kHz and remarkably low thermal conductivity (30.18 mW/mK), significantly lower than commonly used and reported porous materials, indicating its potential as an efficient, environmentally friendly sound absorption and thermal insulation material. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to achieve an industrial scale production of solketal from glycerol it is necessary to analyze the technical and economic feasibility of this industrial process. The technical study presented in this paper considers a small-medium plant capable of producing solketal with a plant processing capacity in the range of 4,000 and 20,000 glycerol t/yr. The process is simulated using an excess of acetone (glycerol to acetone molar ratio = 1:6). The total capital investment was estimated between USD 1 million and USD 3 million for plant processing capacities ranging from 4,000 to 20,000 glycerol t/yr, respectively. It is found that even for plants of 4,000 glycerol t/yr, economic indicators such as net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR) show that the process is economically viable if the sale price of solketal is higher than 2,400 USD/t. With a solketal selling price of 2,250 USD/t, plants with a minimum capacity of 10,000 glycerol t/yr remain profitable. The sensitivity analysis shows that a reduction in the cost of cooling water required to condense the excess of acetone used in this process is much more critical to the profitability of the project than a longer catalyst useful life. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The direct application of glycerol in solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) for power generation has been demonstrated experimentally but the detailed mechanisms are not well understood due to the lack of comprehensive modeling study. In this paper, a numerical model is developed to study the glycerol-fueled SOFC. After model validation, the simulated SOFC demonstrates a performance of 7827 A m−2 at 0.6 V, with a glycerol conversion rate of 49% at 1073 K. Then, parametric analyses are conducted to understand the effects of operation conditions on cell performance. It is found that the SOFC performance increases with decreasing operating voltage or increasing inlet temperature. However, increasing either the fuel flow rate or steam to glycerol ratio could decrease the cell performance. It is also interesting to find out that the contribution of H 2 and CO to the total current density is significantly different under various operating conditions, even sometimes CO dominates while H 2 plays a negative role. This is different from our conventional understanding that usually H 2 contributes more significantly to current generation. In addition, cooling measures are needed to ensure the long-term stability of the cell when operating at a high current density. • SOFC with Glycerol Steam Reforming is modelled. • The contributions of H 2 and CO on current generation are studied. • CO may play a dominating role in current generation. • The temperature field of glycerol fueled SOFC is investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen produced by water decomposition caused high diffusible hydrogen content in deposited metal, but also produced numerous spatter and unstable fragments which were considered as the main reason that deteriorated the weld formation during underwater wet flux cored welding (FCAW). Drawn inspiration from onshore gas shielded welding, in this paper, a liquid shielded welding method was invented. As a by-product of biodiesel, glycerol was chosen as liquid protectant. The results suggested that the diffusible hydrogen content in deposited metal was reduced by 62.4% with glycerol shielded due to its higher decomposition threshold and less hydrogen in decomposition products. Arc bubbles were attached to the molten pool surface and their expansion rate and rising velocity were slowed down resulted in more stable droplet transfer process and less spatter owing to high viscosity glycerol protectant. Almost porosity-free joints were obtained and the mechanical properties of the welded joints were also improved. • A novel liquid shielded welding method with glycerol as protectant was developed for underwater welding. • The generation and movement of hydrogen arc bubbles were under stable control. • The proportion of unstable droplet transfer ratio decreased from 14.74% to 6.71%. • The weld morphology was smoother and the porosity disappears. • The diffused hydrogen content decreased from 8.56 to 3.22 ml/100 g by 35.7%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the role of water cavities to break palm oil into glycerol and fatty acids. The cavities were generated by injecting water via a nozzle into palm oil in the Hele-Shaw cell at room temperature, without catalyst and pressure of 2, 6, 10 to 16 MPa. The hydrolysis reaction between triglyceride with water was verified by the Amsterdam density function (ADF) software. This suggest that production of glycerol by water jet impinging into palm oil bath is determined by three factors: the lowest static pressure produced by the jet, the largest foam of cavities produced by the static pressure, and the most energetic vibration generated during cavities formation. The cavities have very high surface tension energy, which not only breaks the palm oil into glycerol and fatty acids, but also modifies some fatty acids molecular structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes the properties of glycerol produced by transesterification, especially the ester content in the glycerol phase (ester losses) including the distribution of esters according to higher fatty acids. Glycerol, produced by transesterification of oil as a side product – the polar glycerol phase, is an important chemical raw material. The decreasing of ester losses is important because it (i) increases the ester yield and especially (ii) decreases the cost of glycerol purification. The transesterification of oils (rapeseed, olive, palm, sunflower and Camelina Sativa) with various distributions of fatty acids was carried out by methanol, ethanol and butanol including different transesterification stopping. The losses of ethyl and butyl esters are much higher than losses of methyl ester (approximately 2–3x). The distribution of ethyl and butyl esters in the glycerol phase is the same as in the ester phase, whereas distribution of methyl ester is different and depends on the way of transesterification stopping. The reason is the different polarity of methyl esters, which depends on the type of fatty acid. The polarity increases with increasing of double bonds, i.e. the most soluble is methyl ester of linolenic acid in the glycerol phase. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen is an energy carrier found from renewable sources such as biomass, geothermal, solar, or wind. Water splitting and dehydrogenation of glycerol is a sustainable process of H 2 production from renewables because water is abundant, and the glycerol is formed from the biomass-derived compounds. However, finding a suitable and best catalyst for these processes is challenging. Thus, this paper proposed a theoretical study to find the mechanism of the dissociation of water and dehydrogenation of glycerol using Au metal and PdAu alloy catalysts using the density functional theory (DFT) method. Four PdAu alloys have been constructed with different atomic compositions ranging from 1 to 3 of Pd metal to Au metal. The result showed strong adsorption on the Pd 1 Au 3 catalyst surface, and the water splitting is best on the Pd 3 Au 1 catalyst surface. Simultaneously, the glycerol adsorption on catalyst surfaces is tested before proceeding for the complete dehydrogenation mechanism of glycerol. Strong adsorption was found at the Pd 1 Au 3 catalyst compared to other catalyst surfaces on the glycerol adsorption. The dehydrogenation mechanism was found toward a downhill reaction and removed eight hydrogens from the glycerol compared to Au metal, referring to easy dehydrogenation of glycerol using the alloy PdAu. The final species that adsorbed on the Pd 1 Au 3 surface is the carbon monoxide will be turned later into carbon dioxide. • The density functional theory method is use to determine the mechanism of water dissociation and dehydrogenation of glycerol. • The water molecule is strongly adsorbed on the Pd 1 Au 3 catalyst surface, but water dissociation is the best on the Pd 3 Au 1 surface. • The mechanism reaction energy for dehydrogenation on PdAu alloy is lower than Au catalyst leads to better hydrogen production. • Moderate CO adsorption on Pd 1 Au 3 can reduce the catalyst poisoning problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tri-formaldehyde glue is a widely used type of wood glue, but the formaldehyde that it releases is extremely harmful to human health. In this paper, a new biomass adhesive is proposed to replace the triple-formaldehyde adhesive. A hyperbranched polyester was prepared using two cheap biomass materials, glycerol and maleic anhydride, using a solvent-free method. The hyperbranched polyester has good thermal properties. As an adhesive, it has better bonding and water resistance properties than tri-formaldehyde adhesives. In particular, after 3 h of boiling water immersion, the plywood still had a shear strength of about 1.12 MPa, which still satisfied the requirements of Chinese national standard (≥0.7 MPa). What's more, this synthesis is simple to perform, does not require solvents, and leaves a clean by-product which is water. Therefore, the method is expected to be replicated in industry. [Display omitted] • Sustainable bio-hyperbranched polyester wood adhesives was prepared. • Solvent free and hyperbranching crosslinking strategy. • Simple, efficient and green, also has good application prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate regulation of active components is of great significance to catalyst design. In this paper, a series of bimetallic carbide catalysts (Ni x Zn y @CN-G) were prepared using low-cost feed stock by the strategy of glycerol assisting Zn content, in which glycerol and Zn were used as phase modifiers. When used for the selective hydrogenation of biomass furfural (FAL) to furfuryl alcohol (FOL), the FOL yield from the optimum catalyst Ni 3 Zn@CN-G was 9 times higher than that of Ni@CN without glycerol and Zn incorporation. The superior catalytic performance is ascribed to the high content of single Ni 3 ZnC 0.7 phase in the catalyst. The characterization and DFT calculation show that Ni 3 ZnC 0.7 phase promotes the activation of H 2 and FAL. More importantly, the composition and content of catalyst phase can be adjusted by the Zn content change and glycerol assistance. Meanwhile, the effects of glycerol and Zn content on the catalytic reaction are discussed in detail. This work reveals the correlation between phase regulation and catalytic performance, which provides a new idea for phase design of catalysts and catalytic conversion of biomass. By a simple approach of glycerol-assisted zinc content adjustment, the Ni 3 Zn@CN-G containing Ni 3 ZnC 0.7 phase was constructed. When used for hydrogenation of bio-based furfural, the catalytic yield of Ni 3 Zn@CN-G is 9 times higher than that of Ni@CN without glycerol and zinc. The structure-activity relationship was discussed by characterization and DFT. [Display omitted] • The phase modulation of Ni x Zn y @CN-G was realized by cheap raw materials and simple preparation strategy. • The yield of Ni 3 Zn@CN-G catalyzing furfural is 9 times higher than that of Ni@CN without glycerol and Z. • The structure-activity relationship was revealed by characterization and DFT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CO 2 capture by aqueous primary and secondary alkanolamine solutions is a recognized technology in industrial CO 2 separation processes. Yet, certain obstacles caused by high-energy consumption due to the amine regeneration demands, and the formation of thermally stable salts require to be overcome for the development of these solvents. In this paper, glycerol, as a beneficial by-product of biodiesel production, has been introduced as a second promising CO 2 absorbent for aqueous diethanolamine solution in a Y-type micro-reactor with dimensions of 800 µm × 4 cm × 19 cm. The experiments of CO 2 capture into the hybrid blend of DEA-Glycerol were investigated at ambient pressure and the operating temperature of 25–45 °C, volumetric gas flow rate of 100–300 ml/min, DEA concentrations of 1.5–2.5 M, and glycerol concentrations of 5–15%wt. Experimental results demonstrated that adding 10 wt% glycerol in the aqueous blend of 2.5 M DEA-Glycerol boosts the CO 2 removal percentage, RP, up to 96.89%, and enhances the volumetric overall gas-phase mass transfer coefficient, K G a V , and volumetric mass transfer flux, N A a V , to 34.89 kmol/m3.h.kPa and 88.04 kmol/h.m3, respectively. Furthermore, based on the Box-Behnken statistical responses, under the constant concentration of 2 M of DEA, increasing the presence of glycerol from 5 to 10 wt% in the hybrid blend of DEA-Gly can intensify the CO 2 RP, K G a V , and N A a V values by 2.12% and 8.66%, and 1.80%, respectively, illustrating the glycerol contribution on the CO 2 capture process. • DEA-glycerol hybrid solvent was investigated for CO 2 capture in a Y-type micro-reactor. • Glycerol contribution on CO 2 RP and K G a V varies from 83.19% to 90.27% and from 38.19 to 48.74 kmol/m3.h.kPa, respectively. • The effect of absorption temperature on CO 2 mass transfer performance is negligible. • Adding glycerol to the hybrid solvent increases the values N A a V up to 226.3. kmol/m3.h. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Novel control strategies are proposed for the RD-based GC production process. • Three control structures without using composition loops were evaluated. • All three control schemes handle the flowrate and composition disturbances well. • Only the cascade temperature-control structure (CS3) well rejects catalyst deactivation. • The temperature difference loop improves the inference to the conversion. The overly produced by-product, glycerol (GLY), from the bio-diesel industry has resulted in serious environmental issues. Hence, processes that convert GLY to glycerol carbonate (GC) have recently been proposed. Subsequent to our previous study, the current paper uncovers the controllability of the reactive-distillation (RD) based GC manufacturing process. Three control strategies without using composition loops were established. Their performance was evaluated based on the rejection of different types of disturbances (i.e. ±10% flowrate change, -10% change in the two feed streams, and 10%/20% catalyst deactivation). Notably, catalyst deactivation holds industrial significance, but has been barely studied in most control studies for the RD-based processes. Disturbances in feed flowrate and compositions are satisfactorily rejected by all the control structures. However, only the enhanced one (i.e. CS3) handles catalyst deactivation well. The reasons to successful controls are: (1) implementing a cascade temperature-control structure to the reactive distillation column stabilizes the changes in reaction conversion under dynamic operations; (2) employing temperature-difference control to a downstream column improves the indication of conversion by its bottom temperature. Furthermore, the proposed concept of control is also applicable to other RD-based processes, which also use the highest-boiling species as a limited reactant. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, synthetic polymers are extensively used due to their superior properties such as inexpensive and ease of processing. They are non-degradable and create pollution in the environment. There is a growing demand for the use of biodegradable polymers due to increasing atmospheric pollution. Excessive use of non-biodegradable polymers causes atmospheric pollution. Therefore many scientists suggested using polymers more and more ecologically. Therefore, soy Protein Isolate (SPI) is mostly used due to low cost and readily available material. It contains 90% protein with excellent biocompatibility, biodegradability and processibility properties. Synthetic polymers based materials are used in plastic packaging being inexpensive. SPI is incorporated into the synthetic polymer to improve degradation behavior of the product and reduces atmospheric pollution. It increases the viscosity of polymeric materials and becomes a gel or viscous when heated. The purpose of this review is to focus on the study of SPI based composites and nanocomposites. The inclusion of various organic and inorganic fillers in the macro, micro and nano scale in SPI based products have exceptional degradation properties. SPI based composite and nanocomposites found their applications in various fields such as food, agriculture, biotechnology, biodegradable foams and packaging of edible or non-edible materials. It is used in wood and paper industries as a replacement for synthetic materials as adhesives and coating materials. It is also utilized as a wound dressing application due to its excellent absorbing behavior. • This review paper focused on following: • Soy protein isolate polysaccharides based composites and nanocomposites. • Soy protein isolate based products have excellent biodegradability. • Soy protein isolate mostly used in packaging applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Compare the influence of the change of microemulsion composition on the wetting effect of coal seam after water injection. • Revealed the composition and mechanism of microemulsion that dominate the wetting and spreading of coal surface. • The effect of adding glycerol to the microemulsion on the moisturizing properties of coal seams was verified. In coal mining, coal seam water injection is effective for rock burst prevention and dust suppression, and the microemulsion as a water injection agent can greatly improve the wettability of coal seams. In order to further study the effect of glycerol in microemulsion as a phase substance on the wettability of coal body after water injection in coal seam, and its role in promoting coal seam moisturizing performance, on the basis of changing the phase material, the influence of different microemulsion components on the wettability of coal is explored through the contact angle experiment and Fourier infrared spectroscopy experiment, and the effect of glycerol on the moisturizing performance of coal is analyzed through the wettability control experiment in this paper. The experimental results show that the microemulsion as a wetting agent exhibits good wettability, and the composition of the microemulsion phase material affects the formation and dissociation of the functional groups on the coal surface by the microemulsion to a certain extent. The dissociation of the functional groups on the coal surface by the surfactant components in the microemulsion dominates the wetting mechanism of coal, and the effect of glycerol molecules on the functional groups shows a certain degree of wetting promotion. In addition, glycerol molecules easily react with other molecules such as water and sulfur dioxide molecules. After being injected into the coal seam, the glycerol microemulsion has a good moisturizing effect and a certain effect of coalbed methane purification. Therefore, it has practical significance for reducing coal dust concentration on coal mining face and increasing coal seam permeability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the molecular dynamic study of ionic deep eutectic (DE) mixtures prepared by mixing glycerol (Gly) with hydroxyl ammonium chloride (HACL). Here, the dielectric relaxation spectroscopy over wide ranges of frequency (10−1-107 Hz) and temperature (193–323 K), was employed to access the dynamic observables in liquid and glassy states. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) revealed that HACL and Gly are associated via the formation of hydrogen bonds between their functional groups. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results indicated that a glass transition temperature slightly changes compared to that of pure Gly. It is worth mentioning that, at low frequencies, where α-relaxation process occurs, electrode polarization and dc conductivity affect the dielectric spectra of both neat and binary DE mixtures. The shape and intensity of the α-process are highly affected, while it is completely masked at higher concentrations due to the predominance of dc conductivity. Further, the dc conductivity of Gly abruptly increased by about 3 orders of magnitude upon adding only 1.5 wt.% HACL due to an increase in both mobility and concentrations of the introduced free ions. With further increase of HACL, it increases at a relatively low rate. Interestingly, the excellent electrical properties of the binary mixture of 1.5 wt.% HACL make it promising candidate in potential applications in the renewable energy field and energy storage devices. [Display omitted] • Glycerol and Hydroxyl ammonium chloride (HACL) were prepared as deep eutectic solvents. • Broadband dielectric Spectroscopy was applied. • Electrical conductivity of pure glycerol highly increased upon mixing with HACL. • Our prepared DESs are promising materials for energy storage applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A comprehensive CFD model was developed to simulate CO 2 separation from CO 2 /N 2 inside a hollow fiber membrane contactor. • An aqueous glycerol solution was applied as a physical green absorbent. • The effects of various operational and membrane geometrical parameters on CO 2 removal efficiency were investigated. • The AARE% value obtained between the CFD simulation results and experimental data was equal to 2.7%, indicative of a fair agreement. In this paper, CO 2 separation from CO 2 /N 2 mixed gas was experimentally and theoretically investigated inside a gas–liquid hollow fiber membrane contactor (HFMC) module along with developing and validation of a comprehensive computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model. An aqueous solution of glycerol (10 wt%) (C 3 H 8 O 3), a green and cost-effective physical solvent, was employed as the liquid absorbent, flowing in the shell side of the hollow fibers. To attain a better insight into the membrane wetting effects on separation performance, all non-wetting, partially-wetting, and completely-wetting conditions were investigated. Moreover, a correlation for CO 2 Henry's law constant was developed to estimate the CO 2 solubility in aqueous solutions of glycerol via adopting the literature data. The CFD simulation results revealed that the gas to absorbent flow rate ratio (F g /F a) is a dominant parameter in controlling the CO 2 removal efficiency. CO 2 separation performance was augmented via decreasing the gas flow rate, absorption temperature and increasing the membrane porosity to tortuosity ratio as well as glycerol concentration. In contrast, by increment of the membrane wettability from non-wetting to completely-wetting condition, the CO 2 removal percentage was dramatically reduced from 72.5 to 18.5%. A fair agreement between the CFD simulation results and experimental data with an absolute average relative error percentage (AARE%) of 2.7% was achieved, confirming the validity of the developed model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Effective utilization of glycerol is crucial to avoid environmental burden. • Glycerol is an emerging additive for polymer industry. • Glycerol affects mechanical, barrier, and thermal properties of bio-based polymers. • A lack or excess of glycerol would compromise the film's integrity. Glycerol is the major by-product of the biodiesel production line. Every cycle of processing, yields ∼10% (w/w) of waste glycerol, and therefore, creates a glut in the glycerol market. The underutilized glycerol has undoubtedly increased the environmental liability. There are plenty of research focusing on discovering the effective glycerol utilization to produce value-added chemical commodity to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. This paper portrays the existing connection between glycerol and the polymer industry, particularly as a feedstock for polymer synthesis and its role as a plasticizer in the starch polymer. Glycerol is a potential bio-based material to afford prominent biocompatible yet biodegradable polymers for a variety of applications through direct polymerization, fermentation, and chemical conversion. Besides, glycerol plays a critical role in the food packaging industry to perform a plasticizing effect; it improves the ductility of the bio-derived packaging. The native unplasticized starch film is too brittle for handling, while the glycerol-plasticized starch film has adequate flexibility and processability, but with compromised water and gaseous barrier properties. Nevertheless, more established works should be published to exploit the use of this versatile base chemical in diverse fields to good advantages, yet reducing the adverse environmental impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A curing mediator, glycerol reduced salt and water contents in cured meat products. • Quantitative proteomics could identify 301 differentially abundant proteins. • Proteins involved in oxidative phosphorylation in EG-B10 group were upregulated. • Differentially abundant proteins involved in actin cytoskeleton were downregulated. Although it has been ignored for some time, mediated curing has an impact on the quality of dry-cured meat products, and the understanding of such impact can be beneficial to the development of low-sodium cured meat products. In this paper, the effect of glycerol (a curing mediator) on the quality of cured meat was investigated. The results revealed that the curing mediated by glycerol could reduce the contents of salt and water and the hardness of cured meat (P < 0.05). Further, the influence of glycerol-mediated curing on muscle protein was evaluated by tandem mass tag quantitative proteomics, and the proteome profiles of tenderloin in the glycerol-mediated curing and control groups were compared. The results showed that the upregulated differentially expressed proteins (DAPs) in glycerol-mediated cured tenderloin were mainly involved in oxidative phosphorylation and thermogenesis pathways from the Gene Ontology (GO) and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) databases. In addition, the downregulated DAPs were mainly involved in the regulation of actin cytoskeleton. These DAPs and the participated pathways were related to meat characteristics. Based on the results, it is convincing that glycerol-mediated curing is an effective method for producing low-sodium cured meat products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Biodegradable composite filaments for additive manufacturing. • Distiller's dried grains and plasticizer enhanced the processing of polylactic acid polymer. • Biobased plasticizers improved strain at failure, mechanical and thermal properties. • Epoxidized soybean oil exhibited superior compatibility with polylactic acid matrix. Three-dimensional (3D) printing is extensively explored in scientific research and engineering applications; however, little is known about the feasibility of 3D printing multi-material composites. This paper investigates the effect of three different plasticizers including epoxidized soybean oil (ESO), polyethylene glycol (PEG), and glycerol on mechanical and thermal properties of PLA filled with distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) filaments for 3D printing. The composite filaments were extruded using a twin-screw extruder equipped with a collector to achieve uniform diameter. The eco-friendly PLA-DDGS-plasticizer based filaments were then used to print dog-bone and flexural samples. The results showed that the PLA-DDGS blends plasticized with ESO have improved elongation at break compared to pure PLA and those plasticized with glycerol and PEG. These results were evidenced by SEM micrographs showing PLA-plasticizers phase separations and formation of voids in fracture surface of PLA-DDGS plasticized by PEG and glycerol. DMA and FT-IR measurements confirmed the compatibility between PLA and ESO. PLA-DDGS blend containing 10 % ESO exhibited 6 % higher storage modulus in comparison with PLA samples, while the addition of 12.5 % ESO reduced storage modulus by 27 %. Storage modulus in 3D printed samples plasticized by PEG and glycerol showed a reduction of 32 % and 89 %, respectively. The same trend was observed in the mechanical properties of 3D printed composite filaments. Among all samples, PLA-DDGS blends plasticized by 15 % ESO exhibited higher elongation at the break while a significant reduction of 21 % was observed in ultimate tensile strength. The study confirmed that the types and amounts of plasticizer dictates the morphology and mechanical properties of PLA-DDGS composite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A biodiesel was achieved that meets the standards of glycerol and glycerides. • Two molecular distillation steps were necessary for the purification of biodiesel. • High yield was obtained, 98% in the first step, 81% in the second step. • The free glycerol and glycerides content decreased greatly (between 72 and 100%). In the biodiesel production and purification process, the washing step, where impurities such as free glycerol, mono, di and triglycerides are eliminated, is maybe the most questioned step for two reasons: i) for the generation of about 0.5 to 10 L of residual water each biodiesel liter, ii) for the complexity and the cost of productive process. The washing water is eliminated from biodiesel using separation methods that imply high operative and the maintenance costs (ultracentrifuges). Furthermore, this washing water is highly emulsified with high organic load and must be treated before being thrown away. For these reasons the reduction in the water consumption in the biodiesel purification is a priority. This paper presents the use of molecular distillation in the biodiesel purification process as an alternative to the washing conventional process. The employ of molecular distillation would avoid the water consume, a resource of highly value. This operation was employed as a purification technique to decrease the free glycerol and mono, di and triglycerides contained in biodiesel which is obtained by alkaline transesterification of soybean oil with ethanol, with sodium hydroxide as catalyzer. The effect of evaporation temperature and stirring rate on the mass and concentrations in the residue and distillated streams was studied. With two molecular distillation steps it was possible to obtain biodiesel with concentrations of free glycerol and glycerides that respect the limit set by the ASTM D 6751-08 and DIN EN 14,214 international norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microalgae can be grown mixotrophically with compounds from industrial waste, such as glycerol, obtained from biodiesel production. Therefore, considering the concerns regarding the showed, this work developed the mathematical modeling of the microalgae Tetradesmus obliquus in the photoautotrophic and mixotrophic cultivation using glycerol. The logistic factor hypothesis is based on the main routes of central metabolism. It can describe the accumulation of biomass, protein, carbohydrates, and lipids, considering a logistical factor in the system, showing computational simulations and experimental data, to the factors mentioned for both cultivations. This mathematical model paper is the first for mixotrophic cultivation with glycerol, which accurately describes the experimental data obtained for biomass and the metabolites considered simultaneously. Depending on the experimental conditions and through this biomolecules production prediction, microalgae could improve time and productivity to reduce the final biomass cost, which is one of the main factors that make large-scale cultivation expensive. • First model to describe intracellular dynamics in microalgae mixotrophic culture. • The model accurately describes the accumulation of proteins, lipids and carbohydrates. • The model is computationally fast, taking less than 1 s to run a simulation. • The model accurately described the experimental data, with SSE of 0.1721. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To adopt carbohydrate polymers as biodegradable plastic is a promising strategy to eliminate the pollution evoked by oil-based plastics. Thermoplastic starch (TPS) with different glycerol and tartaric acid (TA) contents were prepared by twin-screw extrusion, then extruded with poly (butyleneadipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) to obtain PBAT/TPS. A "Lever Principle" was adopted for adjusting the hydrogen bond strength of TPS by varying TA and glycerol contents which influenced the blocking force, mechanical properties and migration quantity of PBAT/TPS (PT) films manufactured by film blowing. Noteworthy, as the glycerol content decreased from 27.5 to 15 %, with 25 times "Lever Principle" for increasing TA content, the migration weight and blocking force decreased from 5.8 % and 58.4 × 10−4 N/mm for HPT0.5–27.5 to 1.7 % and 29.1 × 10−4 N/mm for HPT0.5–15 with 15.2 MPa tensile strength. This study adopted "Lever Principle" to adjust hydrogen bond strength, which could realize the good performance with low migration quantity for biodegradable PT films. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]