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Recent Advances and Future Opportunities of Green Environmental Catalysts

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Green Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2024) | Viewed by 1590

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicadas “Dr. Jorge J. Ronco” CINDECA, CONICET-CIC-UNLP, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata 1900, Argentina
Interests: biowastes; circular economy; green chemistry; catalysis; environmental science; sol–gel technique; functionalized supports
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Since the early 1990s, academia and industry have been promoting the concepts of green chemistry and sustainable management to reduce the impact of chemical industrial production on the environment and health. As chemists and sustainability advocates, we must take preventive measures before they happen rather than allowing them to happen. Using chemical methods to design products and auxiliary processes to reduce pollution and cater to our environmental health are measures that we should consider implementing.

Green chemistry principles are deployed in industrial management, governmental policy, educational practice, and technology development around the world. A circular economy always aims to balance the economic growth, resource sustainability, and environmental protection. In this Special Issue, we aim to discuss the prospects of disciplinary elements including the establishment of redesign–reduction–recovery–recycle–reuse practices for waste reclamation and resource sustainability. Catalysts have long been fundamental building blocks of many chemical processes, whether introduced artificially or occurring naturally. There are many kinds of such catalysts, including enzymatic, photocatalytic, chemical, etc. The ways in which chemistry itself can be made more sustainable and how it can contribute to sustainable development in general are clear—we only have to apply them.

The sol-gel method is a versatile synthesis route characterized by the low temperatures the materials synthesized, which allows the incorporation of organic components. Materials created through the sol-gel technique can be used for promoting greener and more sustainable catalysis.

This Special Issue will provide an opportunity for its readership to obtain significant and helpful information concerning green environmental catalysts. This will be an appropriate occasion for the authors to exhibit and publish their latest achievements in this and related fields.

We invite you to submit your research on all relevant topics for this Special Issue in the form of full papers, reviews or communications.

Dr. Patricia Graciela Vázquez
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • green chemistry principles
  • environmental catalysis
  • heterogeneous catalysis
  • biocatalysis
  • photocatalysis
  • circular economy
  • sustainable education

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

14 pages, 5093 KiB  
Article
Efficient Toluene Decontamination and Resource Utilization through Ni/Al2O3 Catalytic Cracking
by Yifei Niu, Xiaolong Ma, Guangyi Lu, Dandan Zhao and Zichuan Ma
Molecules 2024, 29(20), 4868; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29204868 - 14 Oct 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1056
Abstract
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particularly aromatic hydrocarbons, pose significant environmental risks due to their toxicity and role in the formation of secondary pollutants. This study explores the potential of catalytic pyrolysis as an innovative strategy for the effective remediation and conversion of aromatic [...] Read more.
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particularly aromatic hydrocarbons, pose significant environmental risks due to their toxicity and role in the formation of secondary pollutants. This study explores the potential of catalytic pyrolysis as an innovative strategy for the effective remediation and conversion of aromatic hydrocarbon pollutants. The research investigates the high-efficiency removal and resource recovery of the VOC toluene using a Ni/Al2O3 catalyst. The Ni/Al2O3 catalyst was synthesized using the impregnation method and thoroughly characterized. Various analytical techniques, including scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms, were employed to characterize the Al2O3 support, NiO/Al2O3 precursor, Ni/Al2O3 catalyst, and the resulting solid carbon. Results indicate that Ni predominantly occupies the pores of γ-Al2O3, forming nano/microparticles and creating interstitial pores through aggregation. The catalyst demonstrated high activity in the thermochemical decomposition of toluene into solid carbon materials and COx-Free hydrogen, effectively addressing toluene pollution while recovering valuable resources. Optimal conditions were identified, revealing that a moderate temperature of 700 °C is most favorable for the catalytic process. Under optimized conditions, the Ni/Al2O3 catalyst removed 1328 mg/g of toluene, generated 915 mg/g of carbon material, and produced 1234 mL/g of hydrogen. The prepared carbon material, characterized by its mesoporous structure and high specific surface area graphite nanofibers, holds potential application value in adsorption, catalysis, and energy storage. This study offers a promising approach for the purification and resource recovery of aromatic volatile organic compounds, contributing to the goals of a circular economy and green chemistry. Full article
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