CATALYTIC PYROLYSIS OF DISCARDED COVID-19 MASKS OVER SEPIOLITE

This research aims to develop a new strategy to valorize wasted COVID-19 masks based on pyrolysis to convert them into useful products. First, surgical and FFP2 masks were thermally pyrolyzed at temperatures of 450–550 ºC with the purpose of determining gas, liquid (oil) and solid (char) yields. At low temperatures, solid yield was high, while at high temperatures the gas product was enhanced. The highest yield of liquid was found at an operating temperature of 500 ºC in both surgical and FPP2 masks pyrolysis. The liquid product yields were 59.08% and 58.86%, respectively. Then, the volatiles generated during thermal pyrolysis of residual masks were cracked over sepiolite as catalyst at a temperature of 500 ºC. The catalytic pyrolysis increased the yield of gas product (43.89% against 39.52% for surgical masks and 50.53% against 39.41% for FFP2 masks) and decreased the viscosity of the liquid product. Finally, the effect of sepiolite regeneration and reuse in consecutive pyrolysis tests was examined. Results showed that, with the higher regeneration-reuse of sepiolite, the catalyst was degraded obtaining a liquid product with higher molecular mass. This effect was hardly noticeable in the case of FFP2 masks. © 2022 International Multidisciplinary Scientific Geoconference. All rights reserved.

Sharing the knowledge and expertise of BSH members throughout the global Haematology community

'BSH Global Speakers' was established in 2015 as a core project of the BSH Global Haematology Special Interest Group (SIG). As the project enters its eighth year, we present an update and reflection on the successes and challenges encountered. Initially known as the 'Plenary Speaker Scheme', the project was developed following a stakeholder meeting in 2015 at the inception of the SIG. Haematology colleagues from the UK and low-and middle-income countries (LMIC) came together to discuss how the BSH may be best placed to support haematologists practicing in LMICs. Sharing of expertise and building collaborative networks were identified as key priorities. The 'Plenary Speaker Project' was conceived;BSH haematologists would be supported in delivering plenaries at the meetings of colleagues in LMICs, with the aim that each visit could act as a catalyst for creating networks and developing collaborative projects in education, research, and capacity building. We established a yearly cycle of inviting applications from LMIC societies for a funded speaker at their scientific meetings, selecting the most impactful meetings, then recruiting appropriate UK-based speakers. We place emphasis on the likelihood of ongoing collaborative working or other impacts, for example engagement with local haematology trainees. To date, ten speakers have represented BSH at the meetings of LMIC societies, presenting on diverse topics, from molecularly guided interventions to prevent relapse in AML, to adapting lymphoma treatment strategies for low resource settings. Recently we have opened applications to nurse specialists and scientists, with our first scientific speaker presenting in Thailand May 2023. The COVID-19 pandemic created significant challenges for the project due to the disruption in international travel and the cancellation of many haematology meetings around the globe. We were, however, able to adapt the project to support virtual speakers at meetings in South Africa, Vietnam, and Ghana. Although virtual meetings do not naturally lend themselves to collaborative working, we were pleased that a longer term joint educational program in haemoglobinopathy care has been established with the Vietnamese Society of Haematology as a result of BSH support. The impact of BSH Global Speakers is significant. Even at smaller meetings, speakers will have the ear of the majority of practicing haematologists in a country. From the relationships built between societies and speakers we have seen the development of fellowship programmes, online education programmes, laboratory support, and numerous networks for informal advice in clinical care, research, and more.

A review on co-pyrolysis of agriculture biomass and disposable medical face mask waste for green fuel production: recent advances and thermo-kinetic models.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is blessed with agricultural resources, and with the growing population, it will continue to prosper, which follows the abundance of agricultural biomass. Lignocellulosic biomass attracted researchers' interest in extracting bio-oil from these wastes. However, the resulting bio-oil has low heating values and undesirable physical properties. Hence, co-pyrolysis with plastic or polymer wastes is adopted to improve the yield and quality of the bio-oil. Furthermore, with the spread of the novel coronavirus, the surge of single-use plastic waste such as disposable medical face mask, can potentially set back the previous plastic waste reduction measures. Therefore, studies of existing technologies and techniques are referred in exploring the potential of disposable medical face mask waste as a candidate for co-pyrolysis with biomass. Process parameters, utilisation of catalysts and technologies are key factors in improving and optimising the process to achieve commercial standard of liquid fuel. Catalytic co-pyrolysis involves a series of complex mechanisms, which cannot be explained using simple iso-conversional models. Hence, advanced conversional models are introduced, followed by the evolutionary models and predictive models, which can solve the non-linear catalytic co-pyrolysis reaction kinetics. The outlook and challenges for the topic are discussed in detail.

Global Access to Antimicrobials and Enhanced Emergence of Amr in Covid-19 Era

Of the major global public health issues of the 21st century, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is still emerging as one of the leading threats, given its significant health, economic and security ramifications. Optimizing the use of antimicrobials through antimicrobial stewardship programs/efforts is a fundamental aspect in increasing clinical outcomes, via cost-effective treatments, as well as in reducing AMR. On the other hand, studies have shown that limited access to antimicrobials was not the answer in several settings. Accordingly, a combined approach of ensuring adequate global access to and appropriate use of antimicrobials was found to be a better response/action plan to the AMR problem. In addition to its serious health, economic and social implications, Covid-19 pandemic was a catalyst for AMR. Several AMR national action plans were affected by the prioritization of COVID-19 emergency, whereby activities and resources were diverted and channeled towards responding to the pandemic and AMR stewardship programs were not being reinforced. Additionally, the increased access to and use of antimicrobials to treat Covid-19 patients further fuelled AMR. Studies assessing the impact of the pandemic on AMR reported that antibiotic treatment was received by up to 70% of the hospitalized Covid-19 patients and among the latter high prevalence of AMR was reported during the first 18 months of the pandemic. Reasons underlying the increased prescribing of antimicrobials by the physicians treating Covid-19 patients included, suspected bacterial/fungal coinfection or superinfection, insufficient knowledge of the natural course of the respiratory illness and misdiagnosing cases due to the resemblance between the symptoms of SARS-Cov2 infection and that of bacterial pneumonia or other respiratory infection.Copyright © 2023

Ultra High-Throughput Screening Assays for Inhibitors of TMPRSS2 and SPIKE Interaction

SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes the disease COVID- 19, was identified over three years ago, yet current small molecule therapies have limited usefulness and resistance to therapies and vaccines is inevitable. Ultra high-throughput screening (uHTS) assays for novel and repurposed inhibitors of a protein-protein interaction in the viral life cycle could be used to screen a vast number of compounds with a specific target of action. In particular, the interaction between viral SPIKE protein and human TMPRSS2 is an understudied, yet critical step in viral entry. Thus, we aim to create uHTS assays to rapidly and affordably identify inhibitors of the TMPRSS2 and SPIKE interaction for further biochemical studies and therapeutic development for SARS-CoV-2.We first sought to create a Time Resolved-Forster/Fluorescence Energy Transfer (TR-FRET) assay which uses lysates of cells with overexpressed SPIKE and TMPRSS2 and fluorescently labeled antibodies to detect interactions between these proteins. Initially, we developed and optimized this TR-FRET assay in a 384-well plate then miniaturized to a 1536-well plate. We conducted a pilot screen of compounds with known biological activity to test this assay's screening capabilities. To further narrow the hits from this TR-FRET screen, we developed an orthogonal uHTS Nanoluciferase Binary Technology (NanoBiT) assay to detect the interaction between tagged SPIKE and TMPRSS2 in live cells.With these two assays in hand, we expanded our TR-FRET screen to over 100 000 compounds and identified several that were also positive in the orthogonal NanoBiT assay. Four of these compounds were found to potentially interact with either SPIKE or TMPRSS2 from thermal shift experiments, providing support for their action as SPIKE and TMPRSS2 interaction inhibitors. Thus, we have developed TR-FRET and NanoBiT orthogonal uHTS assays which have allowed for the discovery of several possible repurposed and novel inhibitors of the SPIKE/ TMPRSS2 interaction. These uHTS assays can be employed as a model for future drug discovery efforts and the compounds identified may be used as exciting starting points for development of inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2. This research was supported in part by The Emory School of Medicine COVID Catalyst-I3 award, the NCI Emory Lung Cancer SPORE (SR, HF;P50CA217691) Career Enhancement Program (AI, P50CA217691), Emory initiative on Biological Discovery through Chemical Innovation (AI) and R01AI167356 (SS).Copyright © 2023 The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

Recovery of Platinum and Palladium from Spent Automotive Catalysts: Study of a New Leaching System Using a Complete Factorial Design

The recovery of materials and energy from end-of-life products is increasingly a fundamental factor in the sustainable development of various countries. Recovering metals from different types of waste is not only a practice in support of the environment, but is also a profitable economic activity. For this reason, exhausted automotive catalysts can become renewable sources of critical raw materials such as Pt, Pd, and Rh. However, recovering Pt and Pd from spent catalysts through an efficient, economical, and green method remains a challenge. This article presents a new leaching process for the hydrometallurgical recovery of Pt and Pd from exhausted automotive catalysts. The leaching solution consists of an aqueous mixture of hydrochloric acid, two organic acids (citric acid and acetic acid) and hydrogen peroxide. A complete factorial plan on two levels (2k) was performed in order to evaluate the main effects of the analyzed factors and their interactions. The factors that were presumed to be the most influential on the leaching of Pt and Pd were the concentrations of the different reagents and the reaction time. The optimal circumstances for achieving the largest recovery (over 80% Pt and 100% Pd) were achieved using the following conditions: a concentration of HCl of 5 M, a concentration of H2O2 of 10% wt./vol., a concentration of C2H4O2 of 10%vol./vol., and a reaction time of 3 h.

Augmented Spaces: Introducing a Technology-Supported Home Environment to Improve our Mental Health during "Work from Home” Isolation

During the COVID-19 pandemic many restrictions were implemented to prevent the spread of the disease. These restrictions included working from home (WFH) and self-isolation. However, this situation had a negative impact on our mental health, causing depression and anxiety in many employees around the world. In this context, we hypothesized that our home spaces could become a catalyst of positive emotions through the use of technology-supported home environments, which use cyber-physical systems to reduce mental health symptoms during the lockdown. We used a qualitative approach, through interviews and cultural probes, to understand the experience of people who were forced to work from home during the lockdown. Additionally, we used a design science approach to explore technology-supported solutions that could enhance our home spaces. The result is a system that mixes analog and digital elements to create interactive rooms, which have a positive impact on people's well-being. © 2022 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.

In-depth study of kinetics, thermodynamics, and reaction mechanism of catalytic pyrolysis of disposable face mask using spent adsorbent based catalysts

Millions of face mask has been converted to waste since the onset of COVID-19 virus. Hence, present study explores the feasibility of converting disposable face masks to energy through catalytic pyrolysis process using a low-cost waste (spent aluminum hydroxide/oxide nanoparticle adsorbent) derived catalyst. Thermogravimetric analysis of the non-catalytic and catalytic pyrolysis of disposable face mask was conducted at varied heating rates of 10 °C/min, 20 °C/min, 30 °C/min, 40 °C/min, and 50 °C/min, respectively. Iso-conversional methods, Kissinger Akahira Sunose (KAS) and Ozawa Flynn Wall (OFW) were used for the kinetic study. The reaction mechanism was analyzed using Criado's z-master plot (CZMP) method along with the determination of thermodynamic parameters of the process. Results found that the addition of a catalyst to the process benefits the overall efficacy of the process by reducing the activation energy (Ea) (without catalyst;OFW-Ea: 188.7 kJ/mol, KAS-Ea: 186.2 kJ/mol) as well as lowering the disordered state of the process. Metal doped catalyst (Ni/ γ-Al2O3) (OFW-Ea: 168.4 kJ/mol, KAS-Ea: 167.8 kJ/mol) shows a larger reduction in activation energy in comparison to bare alumina (γ-Al2O3) (OFW-Ea: 183.2 kJ/mol, KAS-Ea: 180.4 kJ/mol). The current study presented disposable face masks as reclaimable in terms of energy and waste-derived catalyst as a potent solution to be explored in place of high-cost commercial catalysts. © 2023 Energy Institute

Characterization of the Products of the Catalytic Pyrolysis of Discarded COVID-19 Masks over Sepiolite

This research aims to develop a new strategy to valorize wasted COVID-19 masks based on chemical recycling by pyrolysis to convert them into useful products. First, surgical and filtering face piece masks, as defined in Europe by the EN 149 standard (FFP2), were thermally pyrolyzed at temperatures of 450, 500, and 550 °C, and the yields of valuable solid (biochar), liquid (biooil), and syngas products and their characteristics were determined. At low temperatures, biochar formation was favored over biooil and syngas production, while at high temperatures the syngas product yield was enhanced. The highest yield of biooil was found at a pyrolysis temperature of 500 °C, with both surgical and FFP2 masks achieving biooil yields of 59.08% and 58.86%, respectively. Then, the pyrolysis experiments were performed at 500 °C in a two-stage pyrolysis catalytic reactor using sepiolite as a catalyst. Sepiolite was characterized using nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherms and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Results showed that the two-stage process increased the final yield of syngas product (43.89% against 39.52% for surgical masks and 50.53% against 39.41% for FFP2 masks). Furthermore, the composition of the biooils significantly changed, increasing the amount of 2,4-Dimethyl-1-heptene and other olefins, such as 3-Eicosene, (E)-, and 5-Eicosene, (E)-. Additionally, the methane and carbon dioxide content of the syngas product also increased in the two-stage experiments. Ultimately, the effect of sepiolite regeneration for its use in consecutive pyrolysis tests was examined. Characterization data showed that, the higher the use-regeneration of sepiolite, the higher the modification of textural properties, with mainly higher changes in its pore volume. The results indicated that the pyrolysis of face masks can be a good source of valuable products (especially from biooil and syngas products). © 2023 by the authors.

Virtual clinics in teledermatology: an opportunity for all?

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a catalyst in the slow-moving transition to telemedicine services: dermatology has been particularly affected by this move to 'teledermatology' and the use of virtual clinics. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has also exposed and exacerbated pre-existing health inequalities. Dermatological services are prone to inequalities in service access, disease burden and equity. There are 13 million general practice consultations for skin conditions every year (https://www.not tingham.ac.uk/research/groups/cebd/documents/hcnaskinc onditionsuk2009.pdf), yet only 611 dermatology consultants provide specialist care (https://www.statista.com/statistics/ 594431/dermatologists-in-the-united-kingdom-uk-by-staffgrade/). Teledermatology with the adoption of virtual clinics has the potential to increase accessibility to dermatology patients in geographically isolated areas. However, access and use of virtual clinics for dermatology patients poses several challenges. In 2018, five million people in the UK were noninternet users (https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationa ndcommunity/householdcharacteristics/homeinternetandsoc ialmediausage/articles/exploringtheuksdigitaldivide/2019-03-04). A geographical divide exists in the UK concerning knowledge and application of basic digital skills, with the North, the Midlands and Wales falling short in a national average of 79%. The Department for Work and Pensions has impairment listings on a range of skin conditions that are most likely to be disabling (https://www.gov.uk/governme nt/publications/medical-guidance-for-dla-and-aa-decision-ma kers-adult-cases-staff-guide). Yet, 22% of all disabled people lack internet access. Ethnic disparities on the use of pre-existing online healthcare infrastructure like NHS Direct already exist (Cook EJ, Randhawa G, Large S et al. Who uses NHS Direct? Investigating the impact of ethnicity on the uptake of telephone based healthcare. Int J Equity Health 2014;13: 99). Cultural factors and those living in overcrowded housing lack the privacy needed for dermatological consultations. With austerity measures, people are unable to afford internet access or goodquality computers to make video calls to talk about their skin problems, making teledermatology an unsuitable alternative. The digital divide also exists across an age gradient, with older people more likely to report not using the internet. Dermatology patients tend to be elderly, with the median age of patients referred being 51 years. With virtual clinics projected to be significant in the future delivery of dermatology services, it would be prudent to mitigate the risks of digital exclusion for our most vulnerable patients and tackle the persisting inequalities.

Ecofriendly aminochalcogenation of alkenes: a green alternative to obtain compounds with potential anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity

Here, we report a solvent- and metal-free methodology for the aminochalcogenation of alkenes, using molecular iodine as a catalyst, DMSO as a stoichiometric oxidant, and different nucleophiles under microwave irradiation. This ecofriendly approach provided the desired products with good to excellent yields in just 20 minutes. In addition, twenty compounds obtained by this methodology were referred for evaluation of potential antiviral activity against the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Two of the evaluated compounds (named 4d and 5b) showed potent antiviral activity, with a low cytotoxic profile resulting in a promising selectivity index.Copyright © 2023 The Royal Society of Chemistry.

VIRTUAL REALITY TRAINING OF EMPLOYEES IN FOREST-BASED SMES AS A PART OF A CRISIS MANAGEMENT

Science and manufacturing have always been a generator and conduit of innovations in every field of human life. The innovations are of both fundamental and purely applied nature. The first environment for testing these innovations is the internal firm's educational system. In this regard, the last two years circumstances around the pandemic of COVID-19 served as a catalyst for the training in companies to adopt contemporary, interactive and attractive methods of training processes. Of course, some of these methods have been used in the pre-pandemic environment, but they have not been widespread. This confirms the rule related to a crisis management, namely that any crisis must be seen not only as a threat, but also as an opportunity to master new approaches and to show their effectiveness in practice. The aim of this paper is to focus on the possibilities of using virtual reality in training employees in forest-based SMEs such as specific manufacturing procedures, healthy work condition, organization of manufacturing etc. A number of research methods will be used. These will include: literature research, retrospective analysis, method of comparison etc. © 2022 15th International Scientific Conference WoodEMA 2022 - Crisis Management and Safety Foresight in Forest-Based Sector and SMES Operating in the Global Environment. All rights reserved.

Photocatalytic mineralization of pharmaceutical contaminants in water by heterogeneous photocatalysis in the presence of LED-irradiation: A green and sustainable approach

There is an urgent need to mineralize organic pollutants such as antibiotics and other toxic organic materials discharged by various pharmaceutical and chemical industries into freshwater. These organic pollutants affect the aquatic ecosystem and human health due to bioaccumulation in the food chains and food webs. Heterogeneous photocatalysis is an advanced oxidation-based green technique by which these pharmaceutics can be degraded in the wastewater by using nontoxic and eco-friendly catalysts in the presence of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as a source of irradiation. The main aim of the chapter is to disseminate information regarding the degradation of antibiotics and other pharmaceutics by green, non-toxic, and effective catalysts via economically viable techniques. Antibiotics are oxidized by hydroxyl radicals and superoxides generated during the irradiation of light on the surface of the catalyst. In this chapter, the authors discuss the most commonly prescribed antibiotics in the COVID-19 pandemic and how these antibiotics become environmental contaminants. They have also proposed the mechanism of degradation of these antibiotics in the presence of LED irradiation to attain a green and sustainable environment. © 2023 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

Urban spaces as a positive catalyst during pandemics: Assessing the community's well-being by using artificial intelligence techniques

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, lifestyles changed completely. This new normality damages human psychology and mental health. Hence, new approaches must be considered while shaping public spaces to accommodate the pandemic life. This paper aims to show the importance of exploiting outdoor spaces to save people's mental health. Accordingly, an online survey is conducted and analyzed by Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) for more precise answers. Afterward, the most important public spaces during the pandemic are extracted;consequently, another questionnaire has been held to validate these items. The last one has been run through a machine learning technique to classify and categorize the users' different preferences in three situations only. It was found that 85,17% of the sample declared the importance of outdoor public spaces. However, future research is needed to rethink urban spaces' design and to relocate the activities done within indoor public spaces to the outdoors to maintain human mental health. © 2022 THE AUTHORS

Inadvertent Use of ICTs in the South African Higher Education Sector During the Pandemic: Benefits and Challenges

Globally, higher education (HE) is under pressure to include more diverse groups of students and produce the skills needed to adapt to a rapidly changing world. One of the key catalysts which has been touted to drive the changes is information communication and technologies (ICTs) but the uptake has not been to the optimum levels especially in developing countries. However, after the COVID-19 pandemic, HE sectors, in South Africa particularly, have experienced an increase in ICT uptake for the purpose of responding to educational needs. This paper examines how harnessing the positives of ICT's could benefit the higher education sector in the post-COVID-19 era. In particular, the paper explores the benefits and challenges of ICTs in catering for educational needs within higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic. We used information systems (IS) continuation theory to move from academic theorising about inadvertent use of ICT tools toward harnessing their continued successful implementation. Documents were analysed using thematic analysis. The results showed several positive potentials from ICT uptake such as self-regulated learning and the saving of the academic calendar as well as student lives in the face of any future pandemics. This paper suggests a continued maintenance of the infrastructure growth model necessitated by the pandemic. Furthermore, we propose that the Department of Higher Education and Training must regulate establishment of ICT infrastructure funding in institutions of higher education. © 2022 IEEE.

Covid-19 as a Catalyst for Digital Education and Inclusive Learning

Background The education of our healthcare professionals is key to the success and safety of the patient experience (Grafton- Clarke et al, 2021). Over the past two years the need to continue access to this education despite the restrictions of the global pandemic was paramount, to limit the impact on service delivery and patient care. Prior to the pandemic the majority of training at Great Ormond Street hospital was in-person, most of the digital learning produced was for mandatory training. In March 2020, with the world in lockdown and all non-essential education now online, the demand for accessible and inclusive learning was highlighted and in July 2021, a new Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), the GOSH Digital Education Network (DEN), was launched. Methods The DEN was launched at pace in July 2021. An intensive comms plan was implemented with regular Trustwide communications sent via screensavers, emails, social media, and live virtual drop-ins to encourage engagement. A critical evaluation of the DEN was undertaken 9 months post launch via two methods: 1. An online survey 2. Focus groups via Microsoft Teams Results The DEN was launched with 10 live courses, one year on there are 124 courses. In total there have been 2,937 people logging in to access the DEN. The online feedback survey found 100% of external users and 54.72% of internal users rated their experience using the DEN as 'Very positive' or 'Positive'. Conclusion Continuing access to education during a global pandemic was a key reason to launch the DEN at pace in July 2021 but online learning still plays a pivotal role in education and will continue to do so in the future. The shift to online learning amplified the need for robust systems to support the delivery as well as an ongoing programme of learning for the course leaders.

Fe-Fe Double-Atom Catalysts for Murine Coronavirus Disinfection: Nonradical Activation of Peroxides and Mechanisms of Virus Inactivation.

Peroxides find broad applications for disinfecting environmental pathogens particularly in the COVID-19 pandemic; however, the extensive use of chemical disinfectants can threaten human health and ecosystems. To achieve robust and sustainable disinfection with minimal adverse impacts, we developed Fe single-atom and Fe-Fe double-atom catalysts for activating peroxymonosulfate (PMS). The Fe-Fe double-atom catalyst supported on sulfur-doped graphitic carbon nitride outperformed other catalysts for oxidation, and it activated PMS likely through a nonradical route of catalyst-mediated electron transfer. This Fe-Fe double-atom catalyst enhanced PMS disinfection kinetics for inactivating murine coronaviruses (i.e., murine hepatitis virus strain A59 (MHV-A59)) by 2.17-4.60 times when compared to PMS treatment alone in diverse environmental media including simulated saliva and freshwater. The molecular-level mechanism of MHV-A59 inactivation was also elucidated. Fe-Fe double-atom catalysis promoted the damage of not only viral proteins and genomes but also internalization, a key step of virus lifecycle in host cells, for enhancing the potency of PMS disinfection. For the first time, our study advances double-atom catalysis for environmental pathogen control and provides fundamental insights of murine coronavirus disinfection. Our work paves a new avenue of leveraging advanced materials for improving disinfection, sanitation, and hygiene practices and protecting public health.

Mechanism of microwave-assisted iron-based catalyst pyrolysis of discarded COVID-19 masks

Inexpensive iron-based catalysts are the most promising catalysts for microwave pyrolysis of waste plastics, especially a large number of disposable medical masks (DMMs) with biological hazards produced by spread of COVID-19. However, most synthesized iron-based catalysts have very low microwave heating efficiency due to the enrichment state of iron. Here, we prepared FeAlOx catalysts using the microwave heating method and found that the microwave heating efficiency of amorphous iron and hematite is very low, indeed, these materials can hardly initiate pyrolysis at room temperature, which limits the application of iron-based catalysts in microwave pyrolysis. By contrast, a mixture of DMMs and low-valent iron oxides produced by hydrogen reduction at 500 °C can be heated by microwaves to temperatures above 900 °C under the same conditions. When the hydrogen reduction temperature was incerased to 800 °C, the content of metallic iron in the catalyst gradually increased from 0.34 to 21.43%, which enhanced the microwave response ability of the catalyst, and decreased the gas content in the pyrolysis product from 78.91 to 70.93 wt%;corresponding hydrogen yield also decreased from 29.03 to 25.02 mmolH2·g-1DMMs. Moreover, the morphology of the deposited solid carbon gradually changed from multi-walled CNTs to bamboo-like CNTs. This study clarifies the pyrolysis mechanism of microwave-assisted iron catalysts and lays a theoretical foundation for their application in microwave pyrolysis. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd

Selected dechlorination of triclosan by high-performance g-C3N4/Bi2MoO6 composites: Mechanisms and pathways

Environmental-friendly and efficient strategies for triclosan (TCS) removal have received more attention. Influenced by COVID-19, a large amount of TCS contaminants were accumulated in medical and domestic wastewater discharges. In this study, a unique g-C3N4/Bi2MoO6 heterostructure was fabricated and optimized by a novel and simple method for superb photocatalytic dechlorination of TCS into 2-phenoxyphenol (2-PP) under visible light irradiation. The as-prepared samples were characterized and analyzed by XRD, BET, SEM, XPS, etc. The rationally designed g-C3N4/Bi2MoO6 (4:6) catalyst exhibited notably photocatalytic activity in that more than 95.5% of TCS was transformed at 180 min, which was 3.6 times higher than that of pure g-C3N4 powder. This catalyst promotes efficient photocatalytic electron-hole separation for efficient dechlorination by photocatalytic reduction. The samples exhibited high recyclable ability and the dechlorination pathway was clear. The results of Density Functional Theory calculations displayed the TCS dechlorination selectivity has different mechanisms and hydrogen substitution may be more favorable than hydrogen ion in the TCS dechlorination hydrogen transfer process. This work will provide an experimental and theoretical basis for designing high-performance photocatalysts to construct the systems of efficient and safe visible photocatalytic reduction of aromatic chlorinated pollutants, such as TCS in dechlorinated waters. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd

Upcycling disposable face masks into fuel range iso-alkanes through hydropyrolysis coupled with vapor-phase hydrocracking

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an alarming accumulation of plastic waste. Herein, an integrated hydropyrolysis and hydrocracking process was performed to upcycle disposable masks into fuel-range iso-alkanes over carbon supported ruthenium (Ru/C). Experimental results indicated that catalyst type significantly affected product distribution during the hydropyrolysis and vapor-phase hydrocracking of disposable masks. Compared with zeolites-induced catalytic cascade process where up to ∼25.9 wt% yield of aromatic hydrocarbons such as toluene and xylenes were generated, a ∼82.7 wt% yield of desirable iso-alkanes with a high C5–C12 gasoline selectivity of 95.5% was obtained over Ru/C under 550 °C hydropyrolysis temperature and 300 °C hydrocracking temperature at 0.2 MPa H2. The cascade hydropyrolysis and hydrocracking process also exhibited high adaptability and flexibility in upcycling single-use syringes, food packaging, and plastic bags, generating 79.1, 81.6, and 80.3 wt% yields of fuel range iso/n-alkanes, respectively. This catalytic cascade hydrotreating process provides an efficient and effective approach to convert pandemic-derived plastic waste into gasoline-range fuel products. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd