Methane is important in future energy schemes. The main strategies for storing and transporting methane are compression, liquefaction, and physical adsorption in synthetic porous materials. Here, we show that methane can be stored in a hydrated form using natural amino acids such as leucines as effective promoters to form methane hydrate with a high formation rate and a high capacity. In addition, the methane hydrate formed from the L‐leucine solution dissociates without foaming phenomenon. We also showed that the heavier hydrocarbons in natural gas can enhance the promoting effect of L‐leucine.
Wool powder was produced from wool fiber by pretreatment and then ground by a specially designed machine. Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) photos show that ultrafine wool powder around 2 m in diameter can be produced from fiber around 25 m in the diameter, and most of the powder is in the form of needles. The powder can be widely applied in new biomedical material development and cosmetic products. Thermal analysis of thermogravimetry (TG) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) show that the temperature for moisture evaporation in the powder was elevated to around 150°C from the control wool fiber, which was around 120°C. As the powder particle size decreases, the temperature corresponding to the crystal cleavage and the destruction of the crosslinkages increased, which is perhaps mostly due to the new crosslinks and new crystal that were produced during powder processing. The temperature for the liquefaction was also elevated and the relative TG results show that the last residue of the powder after 600°C is higher than that of the control sample. The thermal results show that as the powder particle size decreases, the thermal stability increases slightly.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.