The CO2−amine chemistry in gas−solid processes was investigated under both humid and dry conditions using aminopropyl-grafted pore-expanded MCM-41 silica (MONO-PE-MCM-41). To draw accurate conclusions, a set of conditions had to be met including (i) the use of an adsorbent with open pore structure and readily accessible adsorption sites, e.g. MONO-PE-MCM-41 with a mean pore size of 7.2 nm; (ii) the CO2 concentration in the feed should be high enough to achieve saturation via chemisorption, but low enough to avoid any additional physisorption, e.g., 5% CO2 in N2; (iii) the use of a reliable method for the accurate measurement of CO2/N ratio. Under such conditions, the obtained CO2/N ratios were reminiscent of those obtained in the CO2 scrubbing process using ethanolamine solutions. Under dry conditions, the CO2/N ratio was close to 0.5, consistent with the formation of carbamate. Streams with relative humidity (RH) of 27, 61, and 74% were studied as well. As RH in the feed increased, CO2/N ratio increased from 0.57 to 0.88, in line with the gradual formation of bicarbonate. As for the determination of CO2/N ratio under dry conditions, both thermogravimetry (TG) and mass spectrometry (MS) were suitable, whereas in the presence of moisture, TG was found to drastically underestimate the CO2 uptake. The seemingly disparate CO2/N ratios reported in the literature for various propylamine-bearing adsorbents were rationalized on the basis of the adsorbent pore structure and/or the experimental conditions used.

Adsorption of CO(2) was investigated on a series of primary, secondary, and tertiary monoamine-grafted pore-expanded mesoporous MCM-41 silicas, referred to as pMONO, sMONO, and tMONO, respectively. The pMONO adsorbent showed the highest CO(2) adsorption capacity, followed by sMONO, whereas tMONO exhibited hardly any CO(2) uptake. As for the stability in the presence of dry CO(2), we showed in a previous contribution [J. Am. Chem. Soc.2010, 132, 6312-6314] that amine-supported materials deactivate in the presence of dry CO(2) via the formation of urea linkages. Here, we showed that only primary amines suffered extensive loss in CO(2) uptake, whereas secondary and tertiary amines were stable even at temperature as high as 200 °C. The difference in the stability of primary vs secondary and tertiary amines was associated with the occurrence of isocyanate as intermediate species toward the formation of urea groups, since only primary amines can be precursors to isocyanate in the presence of CO(2). However, using a grafted propyldiethylenetriamine containing both primary and secondary amines, we demonstrated that while primary amines gave rise to isocyanate, the latter can react with either primary or secondary amines to generate di- and trisubstituted ureas, leading to deactivation of secondary amines as well.

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Iron nanoparticles (FeNP) were synthesized using Acacia nilotica seedless pods extract. The synthesized FeNP were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), UV/Vis spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS), electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The XRD pattern confirmed the synthesis of crystalline phase of α-Fe2O3. EDS spectroscopy showed the presence of elemental iron and oxygen, indicating that the nanoparticles are essentially present in oxide form. UV absorption in the range of 450–550 nm confirmed the formation of FeNP. DLS indicated an average FeNP particle size of 229 nm. The synthesized FeNP was tested for adsorption and oxidation degradation of methyl orange (MO) under different conditions and found to be effective in both degradation and adsorption processes. Furthermore, the synthesized FeNP has the potential to terminate the pathogenicity of several human opportunistic pathogens; belongs to gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria and one species of Candida as well.

In this study Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs), ZnO nanoparticles (ZnONPs), and Ag/ZnO nanocomposites were greenly synthesized and loaded on activated carbon via three different routes: simple impregnation, successive precipitation, and co-precipitation. Neem leaf extract was used as a reducing and stabilizing agent. The morphological and structural properties of the synthesized nanocomposites have been examined using different analytical techniques such as XRD, SEM, FTIR, and UV. The antibacterial and catalytic activity of the synthesized nanocomposites were examined and compared. The results showed that AgNPs loaded on activated carbon (Ag/AC) has the best catalytic activity compared to the other nanocomposites, which is attributed to the good dispersal of AgNPs on the surface of activated carbon. Furthermore, AgNPs showed the best antibacterial effect on eight out of 16 tested pathogens. Results also showed that the order of precipitation is an important factor, as both antibacterial activities and photodegradation activities were higher for ZnO/Ag/AC than Ag/ZnO/AC. Furthermore, the co-precipitation method was shown to be better than the successive precipitation method for 4-nitrophenol photodegradation and 14 out of the 16 antibacterial tests performed.

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