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Phenol and its derivatives are highly toxic chemicals and are widely used in various industrial applications. Therefore, the industrial wastewater streams must be treated to lower the concentration of phenol before discharge. At the same time, food waste has been a major environmental problem globally and the scientific community is eagerly seeking effective management solutions. The objective of this study was to understand the potential of utilizing food waste as a renewable and sustainable resource for the production of activated carbons for the removal of phenol from water streams. The food waste was pyrolyzed and physically activated by steam. The pyrolysis and activation conditions were optimized to obtain activated carbons with high surface area. The activated carbon with the highest surface area, 745 m 2 g -1 , was derived via activation at 950 °C for 1 h. A detailed characterization of the physicochemical and morphological properties of the activated carbons derived from food waste was performed and a comprehensive adsorption study was conducted to investigate the potential of using the activated carbons for phenol removal from water streams. The effects of pH, contact time, and initial concentration of phenol in water were studied and adsorption models were applied to experimental data to interpret the adsorption process. A remarkable phenol adsorption capacity of 568 mg g -1 was achieved. The results indicated that the pseudo-second-order kinetic model was better over the pseudo-second-order kinetic model to describe the kinetics of adsorption. The intraparticle diffusion model showed multiple regions, suggesting that the intraparticle diffusion was not the sole rate-controlling step of adsorption. The Langmuir isotherm model was the best model out of Freundlich, Temkin, and Dubinin-Radushkevich models to describe the phenol adsorption on activated carbons derived from food waste. This study demonstrated that food waste could be utilized to produce activated carbon and it showed promising capacity on phenol removal., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2021 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

Thin-shelled hollow silica particles are synthesized using an aerosol-based process where the concentration of a silica precursor tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) determines the shell thickness. The synthesis involves a novel concept of the salt bridging of an iron salt, FeCl 3 , to a cationic surfactant, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), which modulates the templating effect of the surfactant on silica porosity. The salt bridging leads to a sequestration of the surfactant in the interior of the droplet with the formation of a dense silica shell around the organic material. Subsequent calcination consistently results in hollow particles with encapsulated iron oxides. Control of the TEOS levels leads to the generation of ultrathin-shelled (∼10 nm) particles which become susceptible to rupture upon exposure to ultrasound. The dense silica shell that is formed is impervious to entry of chemical species. Mesoporosity is restored to the shell through desilication and reassembly, again using CTAB as a template. The mesoporous-shelled hollow particles show good reactivity toward the reductive dichlorination of trichloroethylene (TCE), indicating access of TCE to the particle interior. The ordered mesoporous thin-shelled particles containing active iron species are viable systems for chemical reaction and catalysis.

The objective of the present work is to explore the particularities of a micro-scale experimental apparatus with regards to the study of catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFP) of biomass. In situ and ex situ CFP of miscanthus × giganteus were performed with ZSM-5 catalyst. Higher permanent gas yields and higher selectivity to aromatics in the bio-oil were observed from ex situ CFP, but higher bio-oil yields were recorded during in situ CFP. Solid yields were comparable across both configurations. The results from in situ and ex situ PyGC were also compared with the product yields and selectivities obtained using a bench-scale, spouted-bed reactor. The bio-oil composition and overall product distribution for the PyGC ex situ configuration more closely resembled that of the spouted-bed reactor. The coke/char from in situ CFP in the PyGC was very similar in nature to that obtained from the spouted-bed reactor., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

A conical spouted bed reactor was designed and tested for fast catalytic pyrolysis of miscanthus × giganteus over Zeolite Socony Mobil-5 (ZSM-5) catalyst, in the temperature range of 400-600 °C and catalyst to biomass ratios 1:1-5:1. The effect of operating conditions on the lumped product distribution, bio-oil selectivity and gas composition was investigated. In particular, it was shown that higher temperature favors the production of gas and bio-oil aromatics and results in lower solid and liquid yields. Higher catalyst to biomass ratios increased the gas yield, at the expense of liquid and solid products, while enhancing aromatic selectivity. The separate catalytic effects of ZSM-5 catalyst and its Al2O3 support were studied. The support contributes to increased coke/char formation, due to the uncontrolled spatial distribution and activity of its alumina sites. The presence of ZSM-5 zeolite in the catalyst enhanced the production of aromatics due to its proper pore size distribution and activity., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)