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Cellulose acetate oleate (CAO)-reinforced poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) composites were prepared by the solvent casting method. The influence of the addition of CAO on the mechanical property, thermal property, disintegration property, compatibility, and hydrophobicity of PBAT/CAO composites was investigated. Compared with PBAT, the tensile strength and Young’s modulus of PBAT/CAO with 4 wt% CAO were increased by 9.5% and 25.7%, and the disintegration rate was also increased by 2.8 times. The results of morphological property, contact angle, and water vapor transmission indicated that the PBAT/CAO composites had good interfacial interaction and compatibility, and the hydrophobicity was improved. PBAT/CAO was applied to strawberry preservation, and it showed excellent freshness retention performance. Moreover, a possible degradation pathway for PBAT/CAO composite was proposed. This work provided a way for the preparation and performance improvement of biodegradable materials, which is expected to be applied in the packaging field.

Growth-regulating factor (GRF) is a plant-specific family of transcription factors crucial for meristem development and plant growth. Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) is a cereal species widely used for food, feed and fuel. While sorghum stems are important biomass components, the regulation of stem development and the carbohydrate composition of the stem tissues remain largely unknown. Here, we identified 11 SbGRF-encoding genes and found the SbGRF expansion driven by whole-genome duplication events. By comparative analyses of GRFs between rice and sorghum, we demonstrated the divergence of whole-genome duplication (WGD)-derived OsGRFs and SbGRFs. A comparison of SbGRFs' expression profiles supports that the WGD-duplicated OsGRFs and SbGRFs experienced distinct evolutionary trajectories, possibly leading to diverged functions. RNA-seq analysis of the internode tissues identified several SbGRFs involved in internode elongation, maturation and cell wall metabolism. We constructed co-expression networks with the RNA-seq data of sorghum internodes. Network analysis discovered that SbGRF1, 5 and 7 could be involved in the down-regulation of the biosynthesis of cell wall components, while SbGRF4, 6, 8 and 9 could be associated with the regulation of cell wall loosening, reassembly and/or starch biosynthesis. In summary, our genome-wide analysis of SbGRFs reveals the distinct evolutionary trajectories of WGD-derived SbGRF pairs. Importantly, expression analyses highlight previously unknown functions of several SbGRFs in internode elongation, maturation and the potential involvement in the metabolism of the cell wall and starch during post-anthesis stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hemicellulose is a carbohydrate biopolymer second only to cellulose, which is rich and has a broad application prospect. The limitation of high-value utilization of hemicellulose has been a long-standing challenge due to its complex and diversified structure. The extraction and subsequent modification of hemicellulose from lignocellulosic biomass represent a promising pathway toward this goal. Herein, the extraction processes including physical pretreatment, chemical pretreatment, and combined pretreatment for separating hemicellulose from lignocellulosic biomass were introduced, and the advantages and disadvantages of various extraction procedures were also described. The chemical modification of hemicellulose such as etherification, esterification, grafting, and cross-linking modification was reviewed in detail. The separation and modification of hemicellulose in the future are prospected based on the earlier studies.

The efficient use of energy is an important strategic issue concerning our energy security and double carbon goals. Many industrial waste gases, such as oil refineries, contain a lot of ethylene, which is a gas that is harmful to people and the environment. The use of high-efficiency burners to reduce ethylene emissions is a proven and convenient way, so the improvement and optimization of high-efficiency burners has become a hot research issue nowadays. In this paper, a new porous media burner is designed, and a numerical model of the structure is established based on finite element software. The porous media burner is used to treat low calorific value ethylene and effectively reduce the direct emission of low calorific value ethylene in wastewater treatment and chemical industries. Based on the model, the combustion characteristics and pollutant emission characteristics of premixed gas at different equivalence ratios and different flow rates were investigated. The results show that the maximum combustion temperature can reach 1757K with a constant inlet flow rate of premixed gas and a full combustion at an equivalent ratio of 0.85; the maximum temperature increases rapidly with the increase of flow rate at an inlet flow rate of 0.65-0.85 m/s with a constant equivalent ratio, and the temperature rise effect increases slowly when the flow rate is higher than 0.85 m/s; the new porous media The maximum reduction of pollutant emissions of the new porous media burner reaches 37.9%. This study has a guiding effect on the design and engineering application of porous media combustion devices.

The CuCr mixed oxides catalysts supported on ZSM-5 zeolite (CuCr/ZSM-5) were synthesized via metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) method for catalytic oxidation of trichloroethylene (TCE). SEM, XRD, BET, H2-TPR, NH3-TPD and XPS were tested. The active components were dispersed uniformly over the surface of ZSM-5 zeolite. The catalytic experimental results exhibited that the CuCr/ZSM-5 exhibited the best catalytic performance for TCE oxidation with 90% of TCE at 338°C and the concentration of C2Cl4 decreased compared with Cu/ZSM-5 and Cr/ZSM-5. The possible reason is that CuCr/ZSM-5 has superior reducibility, higher Cu2+ surface concentration as well as more surface oxygen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The circular saw blade, which is mainly composed of carbon steel, is used to cut the stone. However, the carbon steel is easily corroded in stone processing wastewater, shortening its lifespan. In this study, a new composite inhibitor of sodium nitrite, sodium molybdate, sodium silicate, sodium tungstate, and sodium citrate was investigated firstly, and then, its inhibition efficiency for carbon steel in stone processing wastewater was explored using electrochemical measurements and weight loss measurements. The results showed that the composite inhibitor as a mixed‐type inhibitor displayed good inhibitory performance. Surface analysis including scanning electron microscope, atomic force microscope, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis, and contact angle test further revealed the form of protection of the steel surface by composite corrosion inhibitors. The prepared composite inhibitor exhibited excellent corrosion resistance for carbon steel in stone processing wastewater, and it is believed that the composite inhibitor has certain application potential in industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the effects of nano-zero valent iron (nZVI) on anaerobic digestion of sulphate wastewater with different SO 4 2 − /COD ratios, including the COD removal rate, methane yield, intermediate products and the change of microbial community structure, were investigated. The results showed that nZVI could effectively enhance the treatment efficiency and methane yield. Compared with the control group without nZVI, the methane yield increased from 348.6833 to 1007.05 mL CH4/gCODremoval with 4 g nZVI loading at SO 4 2 − /COD = 0.1. nZVI could make electron flow from sulphate reduction to methane production, which increased methane yield even at high sulphate concentration. The microbial community analysis showed that adding nZVI could increase the abundance of acetoclastic methanogens, which accelerated hydrolysis acidification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Co-pyrolysis characteristics of rice husk and cow manure using SnCl2, ZnCl2 and Fe3O4 as an additive were studied in a fixed tubular furnace. The effects of additive loading amount (0–20 wt.%) on the pyrolysis processes were investigated. The thermogravimetric-derivative thermogravimetric results showed that the weight loss rate was increased with the increase of additive content. There was no obvious shoulder peak appeared after the addition of Fe3O4, while the peak of weight loss was moved to the low-temperature region with the ZnCl2 addition. Gas yield was increased with the increase of Fe3O4 content while it was decreased after the addition of SnCl2 and ZnCl2. The highest gas yield (0.39 Nm3/kg) was obtained at 20% Fe3O4. At the same time, the additives could obviously improve the quality of syngas which promoted H2 content and reduced CO content. The H2 content was increased by 7.9%, 8.88%, and 4.44%, respectively, for SnCl2, ZnCl2, and Fe3O4. The results of GC/MS showed that the additives promoted hydrogen bond breaking and the cracking of macromolecules resulting in an increase of small polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons production. Meanwhile, the additives made a great influence on the oxygen-containing functional groups in the biochar, which increased the content of O–H and O–C–O functional groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]