Optimising thermochemical energy storage: a comprehensive analysis of CaCO3 composites with CaSiO3, CaTiO3, and CaZrO3.

With the increasing amount of renewable energy produced, many governments and industries are pushing for the installation of battery energy storage system (BESS) solutions. Thermal batteries are systems that store heat made from various energy sources, and can be used to produce electricity upon demand. These systems are easily scalable and can be installed in cities, homes and remote locations. Thermochemical energy storage (TCES) uses the enthalpy of a chemical reaction to store and release heat through endothermic and exothermic processes, respectively. CaCO3 has been identified as an ideal TCES material as it is cheap and abundant, but maximising long-term cyclability is key to ensure battery longevity. This article investigates the addition of CaSiO3, CaTiO3 and CaZrO3 to CaCO3 in a 1 : 1 ratio to ascertain the reaction properties and cyclic capacity over time. Cycling longevity and thermodynamic properties were determined using simultaneous differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis (DSC-TGA) along with the Sieverts technique, and their reaction pathway studied by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The low cost of the CaCO3-CaSiO3 material of $1.8 USD per kW hth suggests that if a suitable particle refinement agent were to be employed to ensure cycling longevity this material would be an excellent TCES material. Despite the CO2 cycling capacity of the CaCO3-CaZrO3 system only reducing by 16 wt% over 100 cycles, the cost of ZrO2 brings the materials cost to $30.9 USD per kW hth, making this material currently unsuitable for application. The CaCO3-CaTiO3 system showed only a 17% drop in total CO2 uptake over 100 cycles, although the cost was $11.1 USD per kW hth.

Sawdust Derivative for Environmental Application: Chemistry, Functionalization and Removal of textile dye from aqueous solution.

The adsorption of Violet Remazol 5R (VR 5) on wood sawdust modified with succinic anhydride (SSA) as a function of contact time, pH, and initial dye concentrations was investigated using a batch technique under ambient conditions. The SSA obtained was confirmed by IR spectroscopy, thermogravimetry and 13C NMR, and degrees of substitution (DS) were calculated. A study on the effect of the pH on the adsorption of VR 5 showed that the optimum pH was 2.0. The interactions were assayed with respect to the pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order kinetic models, and were found to follow closely the pseudo-second-order. The isotherm was adjusted to the Langmuir, the Freundlich and the Temkin sorption models. SSA is a promising material for the removal of dye textile from aqueous solutions, and under conditions studied the removal percentage achieved was 51.7%.

Ibuprofen-loaded chitosan and chemically modified chitosans--release features from tablet and film forms.

The biopolymer chitosan was chemically modified in two sequences of reactions: (i) immobilization of methyl acrylate followed by cysteamine and (ii) the sequence of immobilization reactions involving ethylene sulfide, methyl acrylate and finally cysteamine. In both cases the pendant chains have attached nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur basic centers. The corresponding structures were characterized through elemental analysis, infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance in the solid state for carbon, thermogravimetry and scanning electron microscopy. The newly synthesized biopolymers have abilities to immobilize and controllably release the non-steroidal drug ibuprofen. The ibuprofen-loaded biomaterials as tablets or as films crosslinked with glutaraldehyde revealed that drug release is pH sensitive. The chemically modified chitosan may allow reduction of drug release in stomach fluids, since the functional groups cause a decrease in swelling rate at pH 1.2, opposite to the behavior that occurs at pH 7.4, that of nutritional fluid, where an increase of the rate of swelling occurs. In such conditions the negatively charge ibuprofen is electrostatically repelled by negative chitosan derivative surfaces.

Immobilization of ethylenesulfide on babassu coconut epicarp and mesocarp for divalent cation sorption.

A new synthetic methodology route consisted in reacting the natural babassu coconut mesocarp (BCM) and babassu coconut epicarp (BCE) with ethylenesufide, for adding basic sulfur centers in pendant chains that possess high potential activity for coordinating divalent cations from aqueous solution. All biomaterials were characterized by elemental analysis, infrared (IR), (13)C NMR and thermogravimetry. The sulfur elemental analysis gave 2.00+/-0.05 and 8.67+/-0.01% for BCES and BCMS, which correspond to 0.60+/-0.01 and 2.71+/-0.01 mmol of this element per each gram of BCE and BCM, to confer a degree of functionalization of 20.2+/-0.07 and 86.7+/-0.01 mg g(-1). This synthesis enabled from IR weak SH band at 2544 cm(-1) due to the incorporation of the reagent into the structure. The basic centers favor copper sorption with increasing pH from 2 to 6 observed by a batchwise methodology and the data obtained from the chosen pH 6 were adjusted to Freundlich and Langmuir models, favoring fit for the latter equation. The kinetics of sorption was established at 30 min for both biopolymers with a pseudo-second-order model.

Kinetics and thermodynamics of textile dye adsorption from aqueous solutions using babassu coconut mesocarp.

Extracted babassu coconut (Orbignya speciosa) mesocarp (BCM) was applied as a biosorbent for aqueous Blue Remazol R160 (BR 160), Rubi S2G (R S2G), Red Remazol 5R (RR 5), Violet Remazol 5R (VR 5) and Indanthrene Olive Green (IOG) dye solutions. The natural sorbent was processed batchwise while varying several system parameters such as stirring time, pH and temperature. The interactions were assayed with respect to both pseudo-first-order and second-order reaction kinetics, with the latter the more suitable kinetic model. The maximum adsorption was obtained at pH 1.0 for all dyes due to available anionic groups attached to the structures, which can be justified by pH(pzc) 6.7 for the biosorbent BCM. The ability of babassu coconut mesocarp to adsorb dyes gave the order R S2G>VR 5>BR 160>IOG>RR 5, which data were best fit to Freundlich model, but did not well-adjusted for all dyes. The dye/biopolymer interactions at the solid/liquid interface are all spontaneous as given by free Gibbs energy, with exothermic enthalpic values of -26.1, -15.8, -17.8, -15.8 and -23.7 kJ mol(-1) for BR 160, R S2G, RR 5, IOG and VR 5, respectively. In spite of the negative entropic values contribution, the set of thermodynamic data is favorable for all dyes removal. However, the results pointed to the effectiveness of the mesocarp of babassu coconut as a biosorbent for removing textile dyes from aqueous solutions.