Total utilization of waste resources to harnessing energy based on the green engineering approach (biorefinery) is the main feature of this work. Kapok seed and its seed cake have been successfully transformed into renewable high-value products by the application of integrated biorefinery combining in situ subcritical methanol transesterification and pyrolysis processes. The in situ subcritical methanol transesterification of kapok seed into biodiesel was conducted at various temperatures (120−180°C) and pressures (2−3.5 MPa) for 2−8 h with a methanol/seed mass ratio of 24:1. The resulting seed cake was thermochemically converted to bio-oil and char via a slow pyrolysis process. The experiments were performed at five temperatures ranging from 300 to 700°C within 2−4 h with two heating rates of 10 and 20°C/min. The products namely biodiesel, bio-oil, and char all show suitable physicochemical properties as well as gross calorific value to be used as an alternative energy source displacing conventional petroleum fuel for industrial and transportation purposes.
The incorporation of inorganic materials into electrospun nanofibres has recently gained considerable attention for the development of extracellular matrix-like scaffolds with improved mechanical properties and enhanced biological functions for tissue engineering applications. In this study, polymer-inorganic composite fibres consisting of poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) (PEOXA) and tetrabutyl titanate as the titanium precursor were successfully fabricated through a combined sol-gel/electrospinning approach. PEOXA/Ti(OR) composite fibres were obtained with varying amounts of polymer and titanium precursors. Calcinations of the composite fibres were performed at varying temperatures to produce TiO fibres (TiO -T-60) with anatase, anatase/rutile mixed phase, and rutile crystal structures. Thin polymer films (i.e., poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) (PEOXA), polycaprolactone (PCL), and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)) were subsequently deposited onto TiO -T-60 fibre mats by spin coating to facilitate handling of the electrospun substrates after calcination, which are rather brittle and disintegrate easily, and to probe cell-materials interactions. The cellular behaviour of mouse L929 fibroblasts after culture periods of 1-5 days was compared on the following fibre scaffolds: PEOXA/Ti(OR) , TiO -T-60 (T = 600, 650, and 700 °C), TiO -T-60 spin-coated with thin PCL film (PCL/TiO -T-60), and pure PCL. The results obtained from in vitro cell culture studies for the lactate dehydrogenase release assay and confocal microscopic visualization pointed out the synergistic interplay between the TiO crystal structure and spin-coated PCL film in facilitating cell interactions with the scaffold surface. The L929 cells were observed to adhere and proliferate better on the surface of TiO -700-60 having the rutile structure than on the surfaces of TiO -600-60 and TiO -650-60 fibre scaffolds with anatase and anatase/rutile mixed phase structures, respectively.
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