In this study, a sustainable nitrogen fixation process was presented under atmospheric conditions and without introducing hydrogen or any catalyst. The novel in situ synthesis in this study used an advanced spray-type jet plasma, which significantly improved the fixation rate of nitrite, nitrate, and ammonium. Furthermore, the mechanism focusing on the co-synthesis of the abovementioned three nitrogen compounds was proposed based on the synergistic interactions between the gas-phase plasma and liquid surface dissociation.
Plasma-assisted ammonia synthesis has been one of the promising alternatives for building a sustainable ammonia production infrastructure. This study improved this process by introducing an in situ catalytic absorption mechanism using magnesium chloride. Other than its catalytic functions, the absorption mechanism involved two pathways of forming Mg 3 N 2 and Mg(NH 3 ) 6 Cl 2 . Meanwhile, the pulse density modulation (PDM) was introduced to improve the energy performance of the system. The series of efforts improved the plasma energy efficiency of the system and achieved the highest value of 20.5 g/kwh.
Combining algae cultivation and wastewater treatment for biofuel production is considered the feasible way for resource utilization. An updated comprehensive techno-economic analysis method that integrates resources availability into techno-economic analysis was employed to evaluate the wastewater-based algal biofuel production with the consideration of wastewater treatment improvement, greenhouse gases emissions, biofuel production costs, and coproduct utilization. An innovative approach consisting of microalgae cultivation on centrate wastewater, microalgae harvest through flocculation, solar drying of biomass, pyrolysis of biomass to bio-oil, and utilization of co-products, was analyzed and shown to yield profound positive results in comparison with others. The estimated break even selling price of biofuel ($2.23/gallon) is very close to the acceptable level. The approach would have better overall benefits and the internal rate of return would increase up to 18.7% if three critical components, namely cultivation, harvest, and downstream conversion could achieve breakthroughs.
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