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Natural Minerals and Biomass for Environment/Energy Catalysis
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Natural Minerals and Biomass for Environment/Energy Catalysis

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2024) | Viewed by 3673

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Xiazhang Li

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Guest Editor
1. Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Catalytic Materials and Technology, Institute of Urban & Rural Mining, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, China
2. Key Laboratory of Clay Mineral Applied Research of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
Interests: natural mineral; biomass; nanocomposite; photocatalysis; environmental catalysis; energy catalysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Natural minerals and biomass are earth-abundant materials in the world. Due to their unique properties, including high surface area, functional groups, unique microstructure and active sites, they have great potential in catalysis for CO2 reduction, N2 fixation, H2 generation, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) degradation, wastewater treatment and so forth. They can serve as support or even become involved in the reaction through reconstruction or surface modification. The introduction of minerals/biomass as support could not only significantly reduce the application cost of catalysts, but also effectively avoid the agglomeration of nano-scale catalysts in the application process, which increase the number of active sites, and improve the catalytic efficiency. Over the past years, there has been increasing interest in the development of natural minerals/biomass that can enhance the catalytic performance. However, further improvement of the efficiency of these materials is still needed to fulfil the requirements for large-scale applications.

To facilitate diverse catalytic conversion, numerous efforts have been made towards rational design and controllable construction of novel composites with unique architectures. Particularly, mineral-/biomass-based composites constructed from diverse minerals/biomass can provide opportunities of achieving intriguing properties and enhance performance, benefiting from the synergistic effects at the composite interface. In addition, the role of natural minerals/biomass in composite catalysis, especially the co-catalytic mechanism, still needs to be explored.  Hence, this Special Issue aims to demonstrate the recent advancement of natural mineral/biomass materials with various structures to address the challenges in environmental and energy applications.

Prof. Dr. Xiazhang Li
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • natural mineral
  • biomass material
  • nanocomposite
  • photocatalysis
  • environmental catalysis
  • energy catalysis
  • CO2 reduction
  • VOC degradation
  • biomass conversion

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 6042 KiB  
Article
Effective CO2 Thermocatalytic Hydrogenation with High Coke Resistance on Ni-CZ/Attapulgite Composite
by Shumei Chen, Jiacheng Fu, Yonghui Peng, Lixing Liang and Jing Ouyang
Molecules 2024, 29(19), 4550; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29194550 - 25 Sep 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 849
Abstract
Converting CO2 into methane is considered a promising and economically viable technology for global transportation and utilization of this greenhouse gas. This study involves the preparation of a Ni-CZ (CeO2-ZrO2)/ATP (attapulgite) catalyst through the co-precipitation and impregnation methods. [...] Read more.
Converting CO2 into methane is considered a promising and economically viable technology for global transportation and utilization of this greenhouse gas. This study involves the preparation of a Ni-CZ (CeO2-ZrO2)/ATP (attapulgite) catalyst through the co-precipitation and impregnation methods. XRD, SEM, TEM, N2 absorption-desorption isotherms, XPS, H2-TPR, CO2-TPD, TG/DSC, and Raman were adapted to characterize the obtained samples. Real-time GC was used to measure the catalytic performances and to intensively study the impact of Ni loading content and ATP to CZ ratio on the catalytic performance of the products. DRIFTs was used to monitor the interstitial radicals in the catalytic reactions and to deduce the catalytic mechanisms. The results indicate that the composite catalytic matrix composed of CZ assembled on ATP demonstrated higher CO2 methanation stability and better carbon deposition resistance ability than the single CZ or ATP as the carrier, which should be attributed to the improved specific surface area and pore volume of the ATP assembled matrix and the enhanced dispersibility of the CZ and Ni species. The adoption of CZ solid solutions improves the oxygen storage capability of the catalyst, thereby providing continued mobile O2− in the matrix and accelerating the molecular exchange rate in the catalytic reactions. The ideal loading quantity of nickel contents on the CZA matrix is 15%, as the CO2 conversion decreases at elevated temperatures when the Ni loading content reaches 20%. Among the tested samples, the 15Ni-0.8CZA sample showed the best catalytic performance of 75% CO2 conversion and 100% CH4 selectivity at 400 °C. After 50 h of stability tests, the CO2 conversion rate still remained 70.84%, and the CH4 selectivity obtained 97.46%. No obvious coke was detected according to the Raman spectra of the used catalyst. The in situ DRIFTS experiment showed that formate is the main intermediate of the CO2 hydrogenation reaction on the 15Ni-0.8CZA catalyst. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Natural Minerals and Biomass for Environment/Energy Catalysis)
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12 pages, 3616 KiB  
Article
Development of Plasmonic Attapulgite/Co(Ti)Ox Nanocomposite Using Spent Batteries toward Photothermal Reduction of CO2
by Shixiang Zuo, Shan Qin, Bing Xue, Rong Xu, Huiting Shi, Xiaowang Lu, Chao Yao, Haoguan Gui and Xiazhang Li
Molecules 2024, 29(12), 2865; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29122865 - 16 Jun 2024
Viewed by 1006
Abstract
The rapid development of the battery industry has brought about a large amount of waste battery pollution. How to realize the high-value utilization of waste batteries is an urgent problem to be solved. Herein, cobalt and titanium compounds (LTCO) were firstly recovered from [...] Read more.
The rapid development of the battery industry has brought about a large amount of waste battery pollution. How to realize the high-value utilization of waste batteries is an urgent problem to be solved. Herein, cobalt and titanium compounds (LTCO) were firstly recovered from spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) using the carbon thermal reduction approach, and plasmonic attapulgite/Co(Ti)Ox (H-ATP/Co(Ti)Ox) nanocomposites were prepared by the microwave hydrothermal technique. H-ATP had a large specific surface area and enough active sites to capture CO2 molecules. The biochar not only reduced the spinel phase of waste LIBs into metal oxides including Co3O4 and TiO2 but also increased the separation and transmission of the carriers, thereby accelerating the adsorption and reduction of CO2. In addition, H-ATP/Co(Ti)Ox exhibited a localized surface plasmon resonance effect (LSPR) in the visible to near-infrared region and released high-energy hot electrons, enhancing the surface temperature of the catalyst and further improving the catalytic reduction of CO2 with a high CO yield of 14.7 μmol·g−1·h−1. The current work demonstrates the potential for CO2 reduction by taking advantage of natural mineral and spent batteries. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Natural Minerals and Biomass for Environment/Energy Catalysis)
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16 pages, 4363 KiB  
Article
Influence of Different Types of Surfactants on the Flotation of Natural Quartz by Dodecylamine
by Yuxin Ao, Cong Han, Linghao Kong, Yanbai Shen, Sikai Zhao, Wengang Liu and Shijie Zhou
Molecules 2024, 29(10), 2256; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29102256 - 11 May 2024
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1220
Abstract
The synergistic effect among flotation agents is why combined flotation agents exhibit superior performance compared to single flotation agents. This research investigates the influence of three surfactants with different charges of polar groups, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), and octanol, combined [...] Read more.
The synergistic effect among flotation agents is why combined flotation agents exhibit superior performance compared to single flotation agents. This research investigates the influence of three surfactants with different charges of polar groups, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), and octanol, combined with dodecylamine (DDA), on quartz flotation. Through the implementation of flotation tests, bubble–particle adhesion induction time testing, gas–liquid two-phase foam properties testing, and surface tension testing, it is revealed that substituting part of the DDA with these surfactants can either enhance or at least maintain the quartz recovery, affect the adhesion induction time, reduce the surface tension of the flotation system, and change the foaming performance and foam stability, depending on their mole ratio in the combined collector. Compared to DDA alone, combining CTAB or OCT with DDA can significantly increase quartz recovery, while SDS with DDA only yields an approximate recovery. Combining SDS or OCT with DDA can reduce the foam stability, while CTAB with DDA enhances the foam stability. The effect of the combination of surfactants and DDA on the adhesion induction time of quartz grains of different sizes with bubbles is the same; furthermore, there is a negative correlation between the adhesion induction time and the recovery, while the foaming properties and stability of foam are positively correlated with the recovery. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Natural Minerals and Biomass for Environment/Energy Catalysis)
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