{"title":"Enhanced coupling of the tubular direct ammonia solid oxide fuel cells for efficient ammonia-to-power","authors":"Shuai Chen, Xiaofei Liao, Jiacheng You, Yiting Jiang, Fulan Zhong, Huihuang Fang, Yu Luo, Lilong Jiang","doi":"10.1002/aic.18694","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aic.18694","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Direct ammonia solid oxide fuel cells (DA-SOFCs) have triggered great interest due to their efficient power generation from ammonia directly. However, the compatible match of ammonia decomposition and electrooxidation in the DA-SOFCs remains greatly challenging due to their endo/exothermic properties. Herein, multi-sizes tubular DA-SOFCs were systematically investigated for performance evaluation of power output and ammonia decomposition. Accordingly, a multi-scale electro-thermo model for tubular DA-SOFC was established to intensify the synergy between complex physical–chemical processes and geometry. With the combination of experimental work and simulations, the effects of operating conditions and geometry were comprehensively evaluated. Significantly, the rates of ammonia decomposition and electrooxidation could be effectively matched through the optimization of operating conditions. The geometric design further enables the temperature-zoning of the two processes, competently enhancing the thermal coupling between them. Conclusively, the correlation equations linking the operating conditions, geometry and electrical efficiency were proposed for the scaling-up of tubular DA-SOFCs unit. The tubular DA-SOFC achieves 3.5 W with 60% electrical efficiency, and performed a satisfactory stability for over 330 h. This study provides guidance for oriented design of tubular DA-SOFCs with high electrical efficiency.</p>","PeriodicalId":120,"journal":{"name":"AIChE Journal","volume":"71 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143677878","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AIChE JournalPub Date : 2025-03-24DOI: 10.1002/aic.18818
Xiaolong Teng, Yuanwei Gou, Xuanwei Ding, Yueping Zhang, Di Gao, Yingjia Pan, Xiaolin Shen, Jiazhang Lian, Chun Li, Jinyu Fu, Shuobo Shi
{"title":"An expanded library of 76 integration sites for gene expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae","authors":"Xiaolong Teng, Yuanwei Gou, Xuanwei Ding, Yueping Zhang, Di Gao, Yingjia Pan, Xiaolin Shen, Jiazhang Lian, Chun Li, Jinyu Fu, Shuobo Shi","doi":"10.1002/aic.18818","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.18818","url":null,"abstract":"Constructing efficient yeast cell factories involves introducing heterologous biosynthetic pathways and overexpressing key genes. Chromosomal integration of recombinant genes is preferred over episomal plasmids for greater stability during large-scale industrial cultivation. The expression of complex pathways in engineered microbes necessitates the activation of an increasing number of genes, a process limited by the availability of suitable integration sites. To address this challenge, we investigated 125 potential chromosomal sites in <i>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</i> by inserting <i>mCherry</i> using the CRISPR/Cas9 technique to evaluate their capacity to integrate and express heterologous genes. Subsequently, 76 sites were identified to support effective integration with genomic stability. Furthermore, to demonstrate the potential for multiplexed engineering, we successfully performed a one-step, four-locus integration of the β-carotene pathway using the characterized sites. The expanded integration sites are expected to be valuable for constructing yeast cell factories for applications in synthetic biology and metabolic engineering.","PeriodicalId":120,"journal":{"name":"AIChE Journal","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143678317","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Aqueous phase reforming of glycerol over Pt/NiAl2O4 catalyst","authors":"Lingxiang Huang, Xiaohui Liu, Yanqin Wang, Yongsheng Li, Yong Guo","doi":"10.1002/aic.18828","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.18828","url":null,"abstract":"Glycerol hydrogen production by aqueous phase reforming (APR) has been shown to be an efficient method of treating glycerol, which is an abundant by-product of biodiesel production. This study investigates the APR of glycerol using a Pt/NiAl<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> catalyst, aiming to develop a sustainable method for hydrogen production from biodiesel byproducts. In comparison with traditional supports, NiAl<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> provides improved thermal stability and resistance to phase transformation. Characterization techniques have revealed that the NiAl<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> support enhances the dispersion and stability of Pt particles, contributing to a glycerol conversion into gaseous products of 99.9% and a lifespan of longer than 530 hours (only 2% loss). Reaction pathways were explored, suggesting that Pt/NiAl<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> effectively promotes both dehydrogenation and water-gas shift reactions, thereby highlighting its potential for APR applications in bio-hydrogen production.","PeriodicalId":120,"journal":{"name":"AIChE Journal","volume":"16 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143672450","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"On the chaotic characteristics and turbulent mixing mechanisms of elliptical unbaffled stirred tanks","authors":"Anqi Li, Yuan Yao, Xin Zhang, Shiliang Gu, Yu Wan, Ping Li, Yundong Wang, Changyuan Tao, Zuohua Liu","doi":"10.1002/aic.18827","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.18827","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates the chaotic characteristics and turbulent mixing mechanisms of an elliptical unbaffled stirred tank. Simulations and experiments demonstrate that the mixing performance of the elliptical unbaffled stirred tank outperforms that of a cylindrical one. The elliptical unbaffled stirred tank suppresses the formation of the center-surface vortex and columnar eddy while inducing numerous multiscale eddies due to the sidewall squeezing effect. Macromixing time decreases by about 10–15 times. Turbulent kinetic energy in the impeller region increases by 2–3 times, and axial flow number rises by 30%. Correlation dimension and largest Lyapunov exponent quantify the degree of chaos, with increases of 4.4% and 14.3%, respectively. A novel chaotic attractor reconstruction based on the variational mode decomposition method reveals that more random velocity fluctuations lead to more complex chaotic attractors, suggesting that smaller-scale eddies dominate and lead to excellent mixing. This study sheds new insights into enhancing global turbulent mixing in reactors.","PeriodicalId":120,"journal":{"name":"AIChE Journal","volume":"24 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143672461","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AIChE JournalPub Date : 2025-03-21DOI: 10.1002/aic.18816
Doraiswami Ramkrishna, Kandukuri S. Gandhi
{"title":"Solution of boundary value problems for batteries: Operator-theoretic methods","authors":"Doraiswami Ramkrishna, Kandukuri S. Gandhi","doi":"10.1002/aic.18816","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.18816","url":null,"abstract":"Batteries with porous electrodes of negligible ionic and electronic conduction resistance are modeled with reaction-diffusion equations in multilayered media. The classical separation of variables becomes inapplicable to battery problems because of nonlinearities in reaction rates and constraints of imposed current. A linear operator-theoretic approach to the diffusive part converts the battery equations into an integral equation and can be efficiently solved by successive approximations. The current density condition is transformed into a restriction and applied to a battery with two porous electrodes and separator. The use of the standard inner product for solution assuming diffusion to be slow in only one electrode introduces nonselfadjointness which is cured by a modification [1]. Example of the lithium battery demonstrates the power of the method to incorporate nonlinear kinetics. This approach is a generic methodology that, combined with computation, will solve a complex variety of problems in battery dynamics in diffusion-reaction controlled regimes.","PeriodicalId":120,"journal":{"name":"AIChE Journal","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143666721","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AIChE JournalPub Date : 2025-03-20DOI: 10.1002/aic.18801
Anqing Wang, Ruixuan Ying, Yasuhiro Fukushima
{"title":"Synthesis of heat-integrated thermally coupled nonsharp distillation using self-adaptive spherical search","authors":"Anqing Wang, Ruixuan Ying, Yasuhiro Fukushima","doi":"10.1002/aic.18801","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.18801","url":null,"abstract":"Although thermally coupled distillation (TCD) exhibits strong energy efficiency, the possibility of utility cost savings remains debatable. TCD designs that do not consider vapor transport can underestimate costs, making section rearrangement crucial to find more operable configurations. This study proposes an algorithm to generate a separation matrix of basic configurations, enumerating their thermodynamically equivalent configurations using a coding method and filtering the operable configurations. Acyclic simulation and proposed section pressure distribution strategies enable optimization without altering the flowsheet. The TCD system was optimized for total annualized cost using self-adaptive spherical search. Case studies reveal that TCD saves up to 49% in heating duty compared to that of conventional sequences; however, utility costs increase by 12–133%. This study demonstrates that the flexibility of operating at different design pressures outweighs the potential savings of TCD; however, this can be compensated for by the reduced capital costs of the dividing-wall column.","PeriodicalId":120,"journal":{"name":"AIChE Journal","volume":"45 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143661151","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Tailoring titanium species to boost bifunctional Au-TS-1 catalyzing propylene hydro-oxidation","authors":"Yujie Liao, Zhihua Zhang, Yueqiang Cao, Shudong Shi, Daiyi Yu, Xuezhi Duan, Xinggui Zhou","doi":"10.1002/aic.18820","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.18820","url":null,"abstract":"The speciation of titanium is a crucial factor that influences the catalytic activity of TS-1, an efficient catalyst for selective oxidations. This study investigates how different thermal treatment conditions affect titanium speciation in TS-1. A variety of characterization techniques were employed to identify changes in the titanium speciation, while propylene hydro-oxidation served as a probe reaction to assess the impact of these changes on the synergistic interaction between TS-1 and Au nanoparticles. Our findings reveal that conventional thermal calcination induces a transformation of some titanium species from tetrahedral coordination Ti<sup>4+</sup> to extra-framework anatase TiO<sub>2</sub>. In contrast, thermal treatment under an inert nitrogen atmosphere at lower temperatures effectively mitigates this transformation, resulting in a reduced amount of extra-framework TiO<sub>2</sub>. This optimization leads to enhanced utilization of H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> and decreased isomerization conversion of propylene oxide, ultimately boosts bifunctional Au-TS-1 catalyzing propylene hydro-oxidation.","PeriodicalId":120,"journal":{"name":"AIChE Journal","volume":"37 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143641139","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AIChE JournalPub Date : 2025-03-18DOI: 10.1002/aic.18824
Chenyang Sun, Chaofeng Hou, Wei Ge, Yaning Zhang
{"title":"A prediction model for thermal conductivity of supercritical carbon dioxide","authors":"Chenyang Sun, Chaofeng Hou, Wei Ge, Yaning Zhang","doi":"10.1002/aic.18824","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.18824","url":null,"abstract":"Thermal conductivity of supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO<sub>2</sub>) plays a pivotal role in designing various industrial and energy devices. However, there is currently no universally accepted theoretical model to accurately describe its thermal conductivity. In this study, based on the thermal conductivity models for gaseous and liquid matters and kinetic theory, we propose a concise model to predict the thermal conductivity of supercritical fluids. This model effectively captures the thermal conductivity behavior of scCO<sub>2</sub>, yielding the average absolute relative deviation of approximately 13.7% compared to the experimental data. With higher temperature and pressure, the prediction deviation of the model will be lower. Comparison with the other fluid thermal conductivity models and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation demonstrates that our model outperforms in prediction accuracy. This novel model presents a promising approach for accurately predicting the thermal conductivity of scCO<sub>2</sub>.","PeriodicalId":120,"journal":{"name":"AIChE Journal","volume":"61 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143653967","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AIChE JournalPub Date : 2025-03-15DOI: 10.1002/aic.18819
Miao Ding, Xiang Li, Zhijun Xie, Jun Wang, Junjian Xie, Ji-Jun Zou, Qiang Deng
{"title":"Cobalt disulfide promotes the selective rearrangement–hydrodeoxygenation of furan alcohols to cyclopentenones","authors":"Miao Ding, Xiang Li, Zhijun Xie, Jun Wang, Junjian Xie, Ji-Jun Zou, Qiang Deng","doi":"10.1002/aic.18819","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.18819","url":null,"abstract":"Developing an efficient catalyst for converting furan alcohols to cyclopentenones for fine chemical synthesis is crucial but challenging due to the easy overhydrogenation side reactions to tetrahydrofuran alcohols and cyclopentanones. This study demonstrates that cobalt disulfide (CoS<sub>2</sub>) exhibits an unprecedented yield of 80.1% during rearrangement–hydrodeoxygenation of furan alcohol to cyclopentenone. CoS<sub>2</sub> acts not only as the Lewis acid sites for the rearrangement step but also as adjustable H<sub>2</sub> activation sites for the CC hydrogenation of 4-hydroxy-2-cyclopentenone intermediates, promoting the efficient synthesis of cyclopentenone. Furthermore, it exhibits, for the first time, a similar synthesis route toward 3-methyl cyclopentenone from 5-methyl furan alcohol and 2,5-dihydroxymethyl furan. In addition, we further explored the high-value utilization of cyclopentenones to high-density fuels with densities of 0.904–0.908 g/mL via self-photosensitized [2 + 2] cycloaddition and subsequent hydrodeoxygenation. This study presents the green and efficient synthesis of two cyclopentenones and a way for their high-value utilization as high-density fuels.","PeriodicalId":120,"journal":{"name":"AIChE Journal","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143627729","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AIChE JournalPub Date : 2025-03-14DOI: 10.1002/aic.18822
Javad Omidi, Christopher M. Boyce
{"title":"Structured bubbling flow in fluidized beds with oscillating gas injection which alternates with horizontal position","authors":"Javad Omidi, Christopher M. Boyce","doi":"10.1002/aic.18822","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.18822","url":null,"abstract":"Structured bubbling with a triangular lattice pattern has been demonstrated previously to form in fluidized beds with oscillated gas injection velocity. Here, we demonstrate using two-fluid model simulations that dividing the gas distributor into slices and oscillating gas flow with a phase offset between consecutive slices enables structured bubbling to form with a wider range of bubble sizes and lattice configurations. Local particle solidification below bubbles leads to the formation of these structures, as manifested in high particle pressures in simulations. Varying the number of slices and phase offset enables a number of configurations that mix particles faster than cases with conventional structured bubbling or unstructured bubbling with the same overall gas flow rate.","PeriodicalId":120,"journal":{"name":"AIChE Journal","volume":"22 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143627728","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}