{"title":"Co-Upcycling of Waste Electronic Plastics and Algae Biomass into High-Quality Pyrolysis Oil through Self-Catalytic Debromination and Oil Upgrading","authors":"Yuan Kong, Si-Xian Wang, Jia-Wei Huang, Yun Ge, Zhi-Yan Guo, Wen-Wei Li* and Wu-Jun Liu*, ","doi":"10.1021/acsestengg.4c0060010.1021/acsestengg.4c00600","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestengg.4c00600https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestengg.4c00600","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Upcycling waste plastics into fuel oil and gases offers an important route for waste-to-wealth conversion. However, the valorization of waste electronic plastics (WEP) remains challenging because the brominated flame retardant (BFR) components are easily converted to hazardous brominated organics, which lowers the product quality. Here, we report the copyrolysis of WEP with iron-rich algae biomass waste for high-quality oil production without the need for the external addition of a catalyst for bromine (Br) fixation. Iron-based flocculants are commonly used for collecting algae biomass from an algal-bloomed lake, resulting in iron-rich algae biomass. During its pyrolysis, the iron component was converted into Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>, which served as an efficient endogenous catalyst to facilitate Br fixation and WEP depolymerization. The oil product of the copyrolysis system (WEP/AB = 1:1, 600 °C) exhibited 80% less Br content, a 30% higher fraction of total aromatic compounds, and a 15% higher oil yield than those of the WEP-alone group. Overall, our work offers a facile self-catalytic debromination strategy for WEP upcycling by simply mixing it with iron-rich algae biomass waste for copyrolysis. Such a “two-birds-one-stone” strategy may also be extended to the upcycling of other halogen-containing organic wastes.</p>","PeriodicalId":7008,"journal":{"name":"ACS ES&T engineering","volume":"5 5","pages":"1088–1098 1088–1098"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143921341","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ACS ES&T engineeringPub Date : 2025-04-14DOI: 10.1021/acsestengg.5c0029110.1021/acsestengg.5c00291
Hee-Deung Park*, George F. Wells, Hyung-Sool Lee and Nancy G. Love,
{"title":"Environmental Biotechnologies Enabling a Carbon-Neutral Circular Economy","authors":"Hee-Deung Park*, George F. Wells, Hyung-Sool Lee and Nancy G. Love, ","doi":"10.1021/acsestengg.5c0029110.1021/acsestengg.5c00291","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestengg.5c00291https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestengg.5c00291","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":7008,"journal":{"name":"ACS ES&T engineering","volume":"5 5","pages":"1085–1087 1085–1087"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143921271","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Electrostatic Precipitator with a Superhydrophobic Coating for Efficient Filtration of Submicron Particles","authors":"Chenhua Wang, Chenzheng Yan, Junjie Liu*, Zhiyang Zhang and Xu Han*, ","doi":"10.1021/acsestengg.4c0086210.1021/acsestengg.4c00862","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestengg.4c00862https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestengg.4c00862","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Electrostatic precipitators (ESPs) have been extensively exploited owing to their cost-effectiveness and low-maintenance options in buildings. However, existing ESPs have low filtration efficiency for submicron particles and inefficient cleaning after dust loading. Here, an ESP with a superhydrophobic coating was proposed, and the effects of the electrode gap, charging voltage, air velocity and electric field strength of the ESP on submicron particles were considered. The results revealed that the contact angle and sliding angle of the water on the coating surface were 158.0° ± 1.1° and 2.1° ± 0.5°, respectively, due to the combination of low-surface-energy groups and highly rough structures. The filtration efficiency of the submicron particles increased with increasing charging voltage and electric field strength but decreased with increasing air velocity and electrode gap. When the air velocity was 2.5 m/s, the filtration efficiency of the ESP for 0.3–0.5 μm particles reached 96.5%. The filtration efficiency remained relatively high for 28 days, with an average of 95.6%. The filtration efficiency of the ESP for 0.3–0.5 μm particles can be restored to 99.8% of the initial efficiency, while the restoration of existing ESP is 67.5%. The ESP can maintain the filtration efficiency of 0.3–0.5 μm particles at approximately 95.0% after six cycles. The proposed ESP has great air filtering potential in ventilation systems for clean and sustainable building environments.</p>","PeriodicalId":7008,"journal":{"name":"ACS ES&T engineering","volume":"5 5","pages":"1215–1225 1215–1225"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143921517","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ACS ES&T engineeringPub Date : 2025-03-27DOI: 10.1021/acsestengg.4c0085410.1021/acsestengg.4c00854
Donald R. Ryan, Claire K. Baldus, Shimaa M. Kteeba, Melvin Samuel, Qianqian Dong, Yin Wang, Laodong Guo, Brooke K. Mayer and Patrick McNamara*,
{"title":"Peroxi-Electrocoagulation for PFAS Mitigation: The Impact of Water Quality and Dissolved Organic Matter on Removal Pathways","authors":"Donald R. Ryan, Claire K. Baldus, Shimaa M. Kteeba, Melvin Samuel, Qianqian Dong, Yin Wang, Laodong Guo, Brooke K. Mayer and Patrick McNamara*, ","doi":"10.1021/acsestengg.4c0085410.1021/acsestengg.4c00854","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestengg.4c00854https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestengg.4c00854","url":null,"abstract":"<p >The recent addition of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to the National Primary Drinking Water Regulationfor per- has increased the need for research on PFAS treatment technologies for water and wastewater. Electrochemical treatment processes have been widely investigated for PFAS removal. Peroxi-electrocoagulation (electrocoagulation paired with hydrogen peroxide (EC:H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>)) was evaluated as a novel water treatment process for PFAS mitigation due to the multimechanistic removal pathways that can proceed during treatment, including chemical degradation via oxidation, and physical separation pathways such as sorption to flocs, flotation layer accumulation, and foam fractionation. This work investigated the impacts of varying water quality conditions and dissolved organic matter (DOM) composition on PFAS mitigation efficacy and the corresponding removal pathways. Sources of DOM were an additional point of focus to provide insight into the role of DOM characteristics (i.e., aromaticity, molecular weight) on the fate of PFAS in EC:H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>. This aim was studied by conducting EC:H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> with five different types of DOM (including humic acid, fulvic acid, oxalic acid, salicylic acid, and one natural river DOM). EC:H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> was effective as a PFAS mitigation technology using a bicarbonate electrolyte matrix and different types of DOM (including reference DOM and natural DOM). Generally, PFAS removal was higher at pH 3 compared to pH 6.3, ostensibly due to enhanced oxidant yield, interactions between iron and PFAS, and foam formation. At pH 3, oxidation was a key route of removal for the carboxylic acids including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and 5:3 fluorotelomer carboxylic acid (5:3 FTCA). A combination of chemical degradation and physical separation processes contributed to the removal of sulfonic acids including 6:2 fluorotelomer sulfonic acid (6:2 FTS) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS). However, in the presence of DOM, especially the <1 kDa low molecular weight and low aromatic autochthonous components, PFAS were more readily removed via physical sorption to the flotation layer, potentially due to the formation of DOM-iron-PFAS complexes. Regarding engineering applications, EC:H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> may have limited feasibility for PFAS mitigation in drinking water due to the highly acidic pH conditions needed and the release of metals during treatment. Accordingly, EC:H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> may better serve as a pretreatment and foam fractionation technology for higher strength wastewaters (such as membrane concentrates and industrial wastewaters) prior to more dedicated liquid-stream destructive technologies such as electrooxidation or supercritical water oxidation.</p>","PeriodicalId":7008,"journal":{"name":"ACS ES&T engineering","volume":"5 5","pages":"1202–1214 1202–1214"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143921451","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ACS ES&T engineeringPub Date : 2025-03-17DOI: 10.1021/acsestengg.4c0057610.1021/acsestengg.4c00576
Le Fang, Guangcai Tan, Weiwei Xuan, Jiaming Liang, Liping Li, Shaogang Hu*, Zhenshan Li* and Siqi Tang*,
{"title":"Heat Capacity-Manipulated Balance in Phosphorus Bioavailability Enhancement and Heavy Metal Stabilization during Sewage Sludge Copyrolysis","authors":"Le Fang, Guangcai Tan, Weiwei Xuan, Jiaming Liang, Liping Li, Shaogang Hu*, Zhenshan Li* and Siqi Tang*, ","doi":"10.1021/acsestengg.4c0057610.1021/acsestengg.4c00576","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestengg.4c00576https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestengg.4c00576","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Disentangling the thermochemistry of sludge copyrolysis to balance phosphorus (P) bioavailability enhancement and heavy metal (HM) stabilization is challenging due to intricate and disordering thermochemical reactions caused by sludge compositional inhomogeneity. A heat capacity assembly and dispatch strategy via antagonistic additive-paired sludge copyrolysis was conceived to quantitatively determine the balance for P reclamation from sewage sludge (SS). Calcium oxide (CaO, with additions ranging from 7.54 to 10%) and wasted rapeseed meal (RM, with additions ranging from 10 to 50%)-formulated copyrolysis experiments were designed to investigate the evolved fate of P and HMs in SS-derived biochar (SSB) production. Ryegrass plant cultivation was adopted to examine the orchestrated balance of P and HMs in soil applications. RM and CaO preferentially influenced the P distribution, including iron/aluminum-bound P and apatite/CaCO<sub>3</sub>-associated P, respectively. In contrast, both additives consistently reached equilibrium with two HM ensembles, including soluble/reducible and oxidizable/residual fractions. SSB derived from RM-added (50% addition) and CaO-RM-paired (6% CaO and 47% RM addition) copyrolysis at 700 °C demonstrated preferential P acquisition of ryegrass (height increase by 17.4 and 4%, respectively) while maintaining a low HM ecological risk index (27.5 and 16.3, respectively). The kinetic and thermodynamic results confirmed that CaO and RM had antagonistic effects on the thermochemistry of sludge copyrolysis. The heat capacity reached its maximum at around 675 °C and was not affected by the paired additives. The outcome can rationalize P upcycling from SS-like waste resources through tapping the heat capacity precisely tuning the thermochemistry of copyrolysis, thereby boosting global P circularity.</p>","PeriodicalId":7008,"journal":{"name":"ACS ES&T engineering","volume":"5 4","pages":"839–854 839–854"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143818916","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ACS ES&T engineeringPub Date : 2025-03-13DOI: 10.1021/acsestengg.4c0079610.1021/acsestengg.4c00796
Qing Zhang, Linming Lao, Liangguang Chen*, Longfeng Xu, Hao Zhang, Wenjing Zhu, Lilin Liu and Guangren Qian*,
{"title":"Dual Role of Low-Cost Indirect Carbonation: Effective Carbon Sequestration and Decalcification Purification of Dechlorination Wastewater from Incineration Fly Ash Pretreatment","authors":"Qing Zhang, Linming Lao, Liangguang Chen*, Longfeng Xu, Hao Zhang, Wenjing Zhu, Lilin Liu and Guangren Qian*, ","doi":"10.1021/acsestengg.4c0079610.1021/acsestengg.4c00796","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestengg.4c00796https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestengg.4c00796","url":null,"abstract":"<p >How to reduce the amount of NaHCO<sub>3</sub> used in the decalcification of municipal solid waste incineration fly ash (IFA) prewashing wastewater is key to controlling the cost of IFA low-temperature pyrolysis. A novel route is proposed to replace NaHCO<sub>3</sub> with CO<sub>2</sub> and NH<sub>4</sub>OH for decalcification and generate vaterite CaCO<sub>3</sub> with a purity of 98.15%. The effects of different chemical additives of NH<sub>4</sub>OH, NaOH, and NaHCO<sub>3</sub> on the removal of Ca and heavy metals from IFA prewashing wastewater and on the crystalline phase of CaCO<sub>3</sub> are systematically investigated. Ca-removal rate is near 100% at the molar ratios of NH<sub>4</sub><sup>+</sup>/Ca<sup>2+</sup>, OH<sup>–</sup>/Ca<sup>2+</sup>, and HCO<sub>3</sub><sup>–</sup>/Ca<sup>2+</sup>, which are 2.5, 2, and 2, respectively. Heavy metals are almost completely removed while the solution is carbonized to form CaCO<sub>3</sub> coprecipitation. The presence of NH<sub>4</sub><sup>+</sup> favors vaterite formation, while NaOH and NaHCO<sub>3</sub> promote calcite generation. Then, the environmental and economic performances of the three carbonization scenarios with Monte Carlo simulations are evaluated by life cycle assessment with life cycle costing. The use of CO<sub>2</sub> coupling with NH<sub>4</sub>OH is always the best choice. Additionally, the successful demonstration of using real incineration plant flue gas decalcification provides a new pathway of IFA prewashing detoxification with short process and low cost without expensive NaHCO<sub>3</sub> additive.</p>","PeriodicalId":7008,"journal":{"name":"ACS ES&T engineering","volume":"5 4","pages":"1043–1053 1043–1053"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143814726","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ACS ES&T engineeringPub Date : 2025-03-12DOI: 10.1021/acsestengg.4c0074410.1021/acsestengg.4c00744
Danielle Abigail Clyde, Khai Yang Tan, Wen Jie Yiang, Wen Siong Poh, Jessin Tiu, Jiexiang Wang, Jun-tao Li, Nay Ming Huang, Binghui Chen and Chuan Yi Foo*,
{"title":"Upscaled Recycling of Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (NMC) Cathode Using an Automated Electrochemical System towards Low-Carbon Utilization of Waste Lithium-Ion Battery (LIB)","authors":"Danielle Abigail Clyde, Khai Yang Tan, Wen Jie Yiang, Wen Siong Poh, Jessin Tiu, Jiexiang Wang, Jun-tao Li, Nay Ming Huang, Binghui Chen and Chuan Yi Foo*, ","doi":"10.1021/acsestengg.4c0074410.1021/acsestengg.4c00744","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestengg.4c00744https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestengg.4c00744","url":null,"abstract":"<p >The electrochemical approach has emerged as a low-carbon, environmentally friendly, and efficient recycling technique for waste lithium-ion battery (LIB) management. Conventional recycling techniques of pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy recycle large volumes of waste LIBs to the detriment of both human and environmental health. The need for sustainable management of LIB waste driven by the gaining popularity of electric vehicles (EVs) and energy storage solutions (ESS) has called for innovative recycling solutions, such as electrochemical recycling. However, the growth of the electrochemical approach has been limited to lab-scale testing. Herein, a simple and sophisticated recycling technique centered on the electrochemical approach is developed. The designed system showed superior performance in the selective leaching of lithium from spent lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC) cathode material at different operating voltages with the minimum lithium leaching efficiency being over 80%. The cathode regenerated post-recycling achieves a capacity retention of 82.6%, outperforming the 80.6% obtained by commercial NMC after 200 cycles, owing to faster kinetics and lower impedance.</p>","PeriodicalId":7008,"journal":{"name":"ACS ES&T engineering","volume":"5 4","pages":"979–990 979–990"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143814666","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ACS ES&T engineeringPub Date : 2025-03-12DOI: 10.1021/acsestengg.4c0090310.1021/acsestengg.4c00903
Ji Qin, Tareq N. Bastawisy, Jiahao Chen, Danmeng Shuai, Meili Gong, Sean Johnston, Zhengyuan Pan, Francisco Romay, Qisheng Ou and Boya Xiong*,
{"title":"Antiviral and Sustainable Coating on Textiles by Moringa oleifera Protein for Personal Protective Equipment Applications","authors":"Ji Qin, Tareq N. Bastawisy, Jiahao Chen, Danmeng Shuai, Meili Gong, Sean Johnston, Zhengyuan Pan, Francisco Romay, Qisheng Ou and Boya Xiong*, ","doi":"10.1021/acsestengg.4c0090310.1021/acsestengg.4c00903","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestengg.4c00903https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestengg.4c00903","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Antiviral personal protective equipment (PPE) (e.g., face masks) could extend the service life of single-use PPE and reduce the pollution of single-use plastics. However, the prevalence of nanomaterials and chemical-embedded antiviral agents can impose environmental and health risks when leached. Here, we developed a highly effective and nontoxic antiviral coating on commercial textiles using natural <i>Moringa oleifera</i> seed proteins. A simple dip coating method of polyester textiles using seed water extracts was effective because of the rapid electrostatic attraction between cationic proteins and negatively charged polyesters. The coating time and seed usage were minimized by studying the adsorption of protein onto textiles under varying times, protein-to-textile ratios, and protein concentrations. In only 15 min, the optimized protein coating achieved a ∼5.4 log<sub>10</sub> reduction of infectivity of murine hepatitis virus, a SARS-CoV-2 surrogate. Such performance is better than or comparable to previously reported synthetic materials. The coated textile remained effective after repeated viral exposure, dry storage, and UV exposure and can be regenerated. This is the first demonstration of <i>Moringa</i> protein coating on textiles for broad antiviral PPE applications (respirators and gowns) controlling β-coronaviruses. Such a coating can also be applied as a novel disinfection agent for high-touch surfaces.</p>","PeriodicalId":7008,"journal":{"name":"ACS ES&T engineering","volume":"5 5","pages":"1306–1315 1306–1315"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143921447","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}