Polymer-based conjugates are an interesting option and challenge for the design of nano-sized drug-delivery systems, as they require advanced conjugation chemistry and precise engineering. In the case of nucleic acid therapy, non-viral carriers face several biological barriers during the delivery process, namely 1) protection of the cargo from extracellular degradation, 2) avoidance of non-specific interactions with non-targeted tissues, 3) efficient entry into the target cells, 4) intracellular trafficking to the site of action and 5) cargo release. To take on these obstacles, multifunctional conjugates can act as “smart polymers” with microenvironment-sensing dynamics to facilitate the separate delivery steps. Synthesis of defined polymer architectures with precise functionalization enables structure-activity relationships to be investigated and the integration of key functions for efficient delivery. Thus bioresponsive polymer conjugates, which are equipped with molecular devices responding to the certain microenvironments within the delivery pathway (e.g. pH, redox potential, enzymes) can be assembled. This review focuses on the modular engineering and conjugation of multifunctional polymeric structures for the utilization as “tailor-made” nucleic acid carriers.

The development and application of ex-situ presulfurization (EPRES) technology for hydrotreating catalysts has been reviewed in the present article. The studies in laboratory scale and commercial practice indicated that the adoption of the EPRES catalyst in industrial application can significantly enhance the degree of presulfurization of metal oxide components, shorten the start-up period, and effectively reduce the environmental impact as well as the danger of start-up procedure in industrial hydrotreating unit. This catalyst has been proved to be versatile for different types of hydrogenation reactions. Different types of active site models are also discussed for better understanding the nature of presulfurized catalysts.

A lattice model of the nanoscaled catalyst layer structure in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) was established by Monte Carlo method. The model takes into account all the four components in a typical PEMFC catalyst layer: platinum (Pt), carbon, ionomer and pore. The elemental voxels in the lattice were set fine enough so that each average sized Pt particulate in Pt/C catalyst can be represented. Catalyst utilization in the modeled catalyst layer was calculated by counting up the number of facets of Pt voxels where “three phase contact” are met. The effects of some factors, including porosity, ionomer content, Pt/C particle size and Pt weight percentage in the Pt/C catalyst, on catalyst utilization were investigated and discussed.

This paper describes an elaborate study on obtaining Ag/PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate) leaky hollow waveguide which has a large aperture and low loss in transmitting solar energy. Through analyses and comparison, a quartz capillary with the inner diameter of 2 mm was chosen as hollow waveguide. We used the xenon light source, which has the similar spectrum as the sunlight to test and analyze the performance of the Ag/PMMA leakage hollow waveguide. The results are consistent with the transmitted theory of the dielectric/metal leaky type well. Meanwhile, the Ag/PMMA leaky-type hollow waveguide in this work had good qualities. Therefore, it will be a satisfactory medium for solar energy transmission.

A microcosm system that included river sediment, water and different zeolite capping materials (natural zeolite, surfactant-modified zeolite (SMZ), or aluminum modified zeolite (AMZ)) was designed to study the effect of capping on the release of phosphorus and three organic pollutants (phenol, pyridine, and pyrene) from the sediment to the overlying water over the course of three month. For the same amount of the three capping materials, the efficiency of phosphorus inactivation was in the order of SMZ>AMZ>natural zeolite. The inactivation of phosphorus was mainly caused by the covering effect, co-precipitation and adsorption by the capping materials. The different zeolites gave different results for the release of phenol, pyridine, and pyrene from the sediment. When natural zeolite was used as the capping material, there was no effect on the release of pyrene and pyridine, whereas capping the sediment with SMZ or AMZ inhibited the release of pyrene and pyridine but to different extents. However, for controlling the release of phenol from the sediment, aluminum modified zeolite was the most efficient material, whereas no effects were observed when natural zeolite or SMZ were used. The different capabilities of the zeolite materials for controlling the release of different organic pollutants are related to the differences in the electrical properties of these pollutants.

Silica hollow microspheres containing phosphorous have been prepared by a sol-gel/emulsion method which uses tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) as the precursor for the SiO₂ and phosphoric acid (H₃PO₄) as the precursor for P₂O₅. The hollow structure forms an emulsion system which is composed of an oil phase (kerosene, sorbitan monooleate (Span 80)) and an aqueous phase (a viscous sol solution of ethanol, TEOS and H₃PO₄). Some of the phosphorous remains in the final silica shell structure even after calcination at 650°C. The hollow structure of the P₂O₅-SiO₂ (silicophosphate) was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), polarized optical microscopy (POM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), nitrogen adsorption measurement and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR).

Due to its merits of drought tolerance and high yield, sweet potatoes are widely considered as a potential alterative feedstock for bioethanol production. Very high gravity (VHG) technology is an effective strategy for improving the efficiency of ethanol fermentation from starch materials. However, this technology has rarely been applied to sweet potatoes because of the high viscosity of their liquid mash. To overcome this problem, cellulase was added to reduce the high viscosity, and the optimal dosage and treatment time were 8 U/g (sweet potato powder) and 1 h, respectively. After pretreatment by cellulase, the viscosity of the VHG sweet potato mash (containing 284.2 g/L of carbohydrates) was reduced by 81%. After liquefaction and simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF), the final ethanol concentration reached 15.5% (v/v), and the total sugar conversion and ethanol yields were 96.5% and 87.8%, respectively.

The transesterification reaction of soybean oil with methanol over kalsilite-based heterogeneous catalysts was investigated. The kalsilite was synthesized from potassium silicate, potassium hydroxide, and aluminum nitrate aqueous solutions by controlling the pH value at 13. After calcination in air at 1200°C, a very porous kalsilite (KAlSiO₄) was obtained with surface pores ranging from 0.2 to 1.0 μm. However, this kalsilite had relatively low catalytic activity for the transesterification reaction. A biodiesel yield of 54.4% and a kinematic viscosity of 7.06 cSt were obtained at a high reaction temperature of 180°C in a batch reactor. The catalytic activity of kalsilite was significantly enhanced by introducing a small amount of lithium nitrate in the impregnation method. A biodiesel yield of 100% and a kinematic viscosity of 3.84 cSt were achieved at a temperature of only 120°C over this lithium modified catalyst (2.3 wt-% Li). The test of this lithium modified catalyst in pellet form in a laboratory-scale fixed-bed reactor showed that it maintained a stable catalytic performance with a biodiesel yield of 100% over the first 90 min.

This study demonstrates a new Cellulose diacetate graft β-cyclodextrin (CDA-β-CD) copolymer asymmetric membrane prepared by a phase inversion technique for the separation of (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) from other polyphenols in crude tea. The graft copolymer, CDA-β-CD, was synthesized by prepolymerization of cellulose diacetate (CDA) and 1,6-hexamethylene-diisocyanate (HDI), which was then grafted with β-cyclodextrin (β-CD). Surface and cross-section morphologies of the CDA-β-CD membranes were analyzed by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) indicated that the β-CD was grafted onto the CDA by chemical bonding. The influences of the HDI/CDA mass ratio and the catalyst mass fraction on the β-CD graft yield were investigated. The optimum conditions of a HDI/CDA mass ratio of 0.35 g·g^-1 and a catalyst mass fraction of 0.18 wt-% produced a β-CD graft yield of 26.51 wt-%. The effects of the β-CD graft yield and the concentration of the polymer cast solution on the separation of EGCG were also investigated. Under optimum conditions of a β-CD graft yield of 24.21 wt-% and a polymer concentration of 13 wt-%, the purity of EGCG increased from 26.51 to 86.91 wt-%.

Sorbents of the pressure swing sorption process (PSS) to remove trace amount of H₂S (190 ppm) contained in methane were experimentally studied. The sorbents consist of adsorbent carrier (silica gel or activated carbon) and absorbent which spreads outside the carrier granules’ pores (triethanolamine, TEA or N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, NMP). The results of breakthrough and regeneration tests show that silica gel is more suitable to be the carrier than activated carbon and TEA is more suitable to be the absorbent than NMP. The loaded absorbent could enlarge the sorption capacity of H₂S considerably. And the BET tests indicate that the absorbent deposits on the surface of the carrier’s pores and can reduce the mesopores’ size and block the micropores.

Zangnan Salt Lake on the south of the Tibet is a type of carbonate lake with high concentrations of lithium, boron, and potassium and obviously it differs from seawater in its chemical composition. An experimental simulation of the caloric evaporation of the lake’s brine was conducted by first freezing the brine and then performing isothermal evaporation at 288.15 K. The freezing path and the physicochemical properties of the brine were determined. The crystallization sequence was natron, hydrohalite, halite, sylvite, zabuyelite, trona, aphthitalite, thermonatrite, and borax. Rubidium and cesium salts did not crystallized out but concentrated in the mother solution. The physicochemical properties (density, refractive index, conductivity, and pH) of the liquid phase changed as the evaporation progressed. In the beginning of the evaporation processes, the concentration of potassium ions in the liquid phase gradually increased but later it decreased. A peak value of 55.21 g/L was obtained when the evaporation was 88% complete. When the mineral aphthitalite began to crystallize; the concentrations of B₂O₃, Li⁺, Rb⁺, and Cs⁺ gradually increased as the evaporation progressed. When the evaporation was 98% complete, their concentrations in the mother liquor were 40.77 g/L, 4.838 g/L, 400.17 mg/L and 31.95 mg/L, respectively. This essential fundamental study can provide an important reference for the comprehensive utilization of brines in Zangnan Salt Lake.

Green chemistry has attracted more attention in the past century. Among the 12 principles of green chemistry, only atom economy and E factor can be expressed quantitatively to depict the impact of a chemical process to environment. Atom economy was thought better than the traditional yield for evaluating the atom efficiency of raw materials. But it is not enough to reflect the conversion degree of raw material. In this paper, we proposed the concept of real atom economy (RAE) as a metric. RAE could combine the above two factors together to better express the green degree of a process. We further suggested an equation to correlate E factor with RAE. The concept of RAE is proved to be helpful for estimating an environmentally benign process.

Biomass can be converted into flammable gas, charcoal, wood vinegar, wood tar oil and noncombustible materials with thermo-chemical pyrolysis reactions. Many factors influence these processes, such as the properties of the raw materials, and temperature control and these will affect the products that are produced. Based on the data from a straw pyrolysis demonstration project, the mass and heat balance of the biomass pyrolysis process were analyzed. The statistical product and service solutions (SPSS) statistical method was used to analyze the data which were monitored on-site. A cost-benefit analysis was then used to study the viability of commercializing the project. The analysis included net present value, internal rate of return and investment payback period. These results showed that the straw pyrolysis project has little risk, and will produce remarkable economic benefits.

In a modern day sulfur recovery unit (SRU), hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) is converted to elemental sulfur using a modified Claus unit. A process simulator called TSWEET has been used to consider the Claus process. The effect of the H₂S concentration, the H₂S/CO₂ ratio, the input air flow rate, the acid gas flow of the acid gas (AG) splitter and the temperature of the acid gas feed at three different oxygen concentrations (in the air input) on the main burner temperature have been studied. Also the effects of the tail gas ratio and the catalytic bed type on the sulfur recovery were studied. The bed temperatures were optimized in order to enhance the sulfur recovery for a given acid gas feed and air input. Initially when the fraction of AG splitter flow to the main burner was increased, the temperature of the main burner increased to a maximum but then decreased sharply when the flow fraction was further increased; this was true for all three concentrations of oxygen. However, if three other parameters (the concentration of H₂S, the ratio H₂S/CO₂ and the flow rate of air) were increased, the temperature of the main burner increased monotonically. This increase had different slopes depending on the oxygen concentration in the input air. But, by increasing the temperature of the acid gas feed, the temperature of the main burner decreased. In general, the concentration of oxygen in the input air into the Claus unit had little effect on the temperature of the main burner (This is true for all parameters). The optimal catalytic bed temperature, tail gas ratio and type of catalytic bed were also determined and these conditions are a minimum temperature of 300°C, a ratio of 2.0 and a hydrolysing Claus bed.

Calcium carbide was successfully synthesized by carbothermal reduction of lime with coke at 1973 K for 1.5 h. The effect of potassium carbonate as additive on the composition and morphology of the product was investigated using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope. Addition of potassium carbonate increased the yield of calcium carbide. The sample in the presence of potassium carbonate generated acetylene gas of 168.3 L/kg, which was 10% higher than that in the absence of potassium carbonate. This result confirmed the catalytic effect of potassium carbonate on the synthesis of calcium carbide. A possible mechanism of the above effects was that the additive, which was melted at the reduction temperature, dissolved CaO and so promoted the contact between CaO and carbon, which was essential for the solid-solid reaction to form calcium carbide.

In this paper, an investigation is made to study the effects of radiation and heat source/sink on the unsteady boundary layer flow and heat transfer past a shrinking sheet with suction/injection. The flow is permeated by an externally applied magnetic field normal to the plane of flow. The self-similar equations corresponding to the velocity and temperature fields are obtained, and then solved numerically by finite difference method using quasilinearization technique. The study reveals that the momentum boundary layer thickness increases with increasing unsteadiness and decreases with magnetic field. The thermal boundary layer thickness decreases with Prandtl number, radiation parameter and heat sink parameter, but it increases with heat source parameter. Moreover, increasing unsteadiness, magnetic field strength, radiation and heat sink strength boost the heat transfer.

This paper presents the distribution of a solute undergoing a first order chemical reaction in an axisymmetric laminar boundary layer flow along a stretching cylinder. Velocity slip condition at the boundary is used instead of no-slip condition. Similarity transformations are used to convert the partial differential equations corresponding to momentum and concentration into highly nonlinear ordinary differential equations. Numerical solutions of these equations are obtained by the shooting method. The velocity decreases with increasing slip parameter. The skin friction as well as the mass transfer rate at the surface is larger for a cylinder than for a flat plate.

In this paper, a scaffold, which mimics the morphology and mechanical properties of a native blood vessel is reported. The scaffold was prepared by sequential bi-layer electrospinning on a rotating mandrel-type collector. The tubular scaffolds (inner diameter 4 mm, length 3 cm) are composed of a polyurethane (PU) fibrous outer-layer and a gelatin-heparin fibrous inner-layer. They were fabricated by electrospinning technology, which enables control of the composition, structure, and mechanical properties of the scaffolds. The microstructure, fiber morphology and mechanical properties of the scaffolds were examined by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and tensile tests. The PU/gelatin-heparin tubular scaffolds have a porous structure. The scaffolds achieved a breaking strength (3.7±0.13 MPa) and an elongation at break (110±8%) that are appropriate for artificial blood vessels. When the scaffolds were immersed in water for 1 h, the breaking strength decreased slightly to 2.2±0.3 MPa, but the elongation at break increased to 145±21%. In platelet adhesion tests the gelatin-heparin fibrous scaffolds showed a significant suppression of platelet adhesion. Heparin was released from the scaffolds at a fairly uniform rate during the period of 2^nd day to 9^th day. The scaffolds are expected to mimic the complex matrix structure of native arteries, and to have good biocompatibility as an artificial blood vessel owing to the heparin release.