Biomass Group, Nanjing Agricultural University, PO Box 68, 40 Dianjiangtai Road, Nanjing 210031

光大交流Visiting Everbright Environment (Group) Co., Ltd (Nanjing) for Collabration

On July 7, 2022, as invited by Dr. Jingwei Wu from China Everbright Environment (Group) Co., Ltd. (Nanjing), Prof. Zhen Fang led biomass group (Drs. Lujiang Xu, Wei Chen, Shuai Gao, Chengyu Dong and Huan Zhang) visited China Everbright Environment (Group) Co., Ltd. for technology exchanges in the treatment of wastes for further collabration in R&D.

In the Exhibition Hall, Dr. Xiaoyu Zheng (Director of the Comprehensive Institute of Everbright Environment Group Technology Research Institute) introduced the development history of Everbright Environment in three major fields of environment, resources and energy, including R&D and commercial plants for waste power generation and co-processing, biomass power generation, hazardous waste and solid waste disposal, environmental restoration, sewage treatment, reclaimed water reuse, water supply, comprehensive water environment management, resource recycling, and equipment manufacturing.

Later, Prof. Zhen Fang gave a lecture on “Pretreatment and hydrolysis of lignocellulosic Biomass for Biorefineries”. He briefly introduced the pretreatment and hydrolysis of lignocelluloses (enzymatic, catalytic and fast hydrolyses), biodiesel production, and synthesis of chemicals and biofuels. Dr. Zheru Shao, Chief Scientist of Everbright International, Director Dr. Xiaoyu Zheng, and the leaders of each group participated in the meeting, and had a lively discussion on the content of Prof. Fang’s lecture. At the same time, Everbright Environment raised current problems and needs for collaborations. It has laid a solid foundation for further in-depth discussion on the technique issues between the two parties.

方真教授一行赴中国光大环境(集团)有限公司开展交流合作

2022年7月7日，方真老师应中国光大环境(集团)有限公司武京伟博士邀请，带领生物质能源研究组（徐禄江副教授、陈伟副教授、高帅副教授、董澄宇博士和张环博士）赴中国光大环境(集团)有限公司开展交流合作，积极探索未来可能的合作方向。

光大环境集团技术研究院综合所所长郑晓宇等带领方真老师参观了光大环境展览厅，并介绍了光大环境的发展历程，在环境、资源、能源三大领域的布局情况，以及垃圾发电及协同处理、生物质发电、危废及固废处置、环境修复、污水处理、中水回用、供水、水环境综合治理、资源循环利用、装备制造等主营业务。

方真老师做了题为“预处理和水解木质纤维素生物质-生物炼制”的专题报告，重点介绍了研究组在木质纤维素的预处理和水解（酶解、催化和快速水解）、生物柴油生产以及化学品和生物燃料的合成等方面的工作。光大国际首席科学家邵哲如、郑晓宇所长、以及各小组组长等参与了交流会，并就方老师报告内容展开热烈讨论，同时也提出了光大环境目前面临的问题和需求，为双方后续进一步深入合作奠定了坚实基础。

Excellent Doctorial Dissertations Award

Dr. Song Tang won Excellent Doctorial Dissertations Award of Nanjing Agricultural University supervised by Prof. Zhen Fang with title “Study on microbial lipid production from rice straw pretreated with polyalcohols and chlorides”.

Congratulations!

生物能源组唐松博士获优博论文

南京农业大学生物能源组2017级博士研究生唐松（男）(导师：方老师），毕业论文《多元醇和氯化物预处理水稻秸秆发酵产微生物油脂的研究》获南京农业大学优秀博士论文。

祝贺唐松同学！

Hydrogen production from cotton stalk over Ni-La catalysts supported on spent bleaching clay via hydrothermal gasification

Recently, master student Mr. Yan-qing Song supervised by Prof. Zhen Fang, collaborated with Dr. A Magdziarz at AGH University of Science and Technology (Poland), Prof. AK Dalai University of Saskatchewan (Canada) and Prof. JA Kozinski at Lakehead University (Canada) published a research article in Industrial Crops & Products about hydrogen production from cotton stalk with Ni-La/ supported on spent bleaching clay (SBC) catalysts.

Cotton stalk was gasified to produce H₂ with Ni-La based catalysts in subcritical and supercritical water. Approximately 90% H₂ yield was obtained under optimized conditions (360 ^oC, 0.5 g Ni-La catalyst loading, 0.5 g biomass and 10 min) by an orthogonal design with Ni-La/SBC. In addition, the H₂ yield of rice and wheat straw increased by 41.5 and 39.5 times, respectively at optimized conditions. It was found that the activity of Ni-La materials supported with SBC ash and Al₂O₃ was similar, with H₂ yields of 108.3% and 115.1% at 380 ^oC, respectively in 5 min. Catalysts were characterized by NH₃-TPD, TPR, XRD, BET and XPS. SBC ash provided a high specific surface area (94.4 m²/g) for the Ni-La catalyst. La-promoted Ni/SBC (0.19 mmol/g) had a stronger acidity than Ni/SBC (0.16 mmol/g). Ni-La/SBC had a broad reduction peak, indicating the uniform dispersion of Ni on the support. Ni-La/SBC materials not only realized the reuse of SBC but also effectively promoted the hydrothermal gasification of agricultural wastes. Related results were published：

YQ Song, S Nanda, WJ Cong, J Sun, GH Dong, A Magdziarz, Zhen Fang*, AK Dalai, JA Kozinski, Hydrogen production from cotton stalk over Ni-La catalysts supported on spent bleaching clay via hydrothermal gasification, Industrial Crops & Products, 186 (2022) 115228. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2022.115228.

Ni-La materials supported in SBC ash for hydrothermal gasification of cotton stalk with 135.5% H₂ yield. (水热条件下Ni-La/废白土催化气化棉花秸秆，H₂产率为135.5%。)

水热条件下Ni-La/废白土催化棉花秸秆气化产氢

最近，硕士生宋彦庆在方真老师的指导下，与波兰AGH科技大学A Magdziarz博士, 加拿大Saskatchewan大学 AK Dalai院士以及加拿大Lakehead 大学工学院院长JA Kozinski院士在国际学术期刊 Industrial Crops & Products发表题为“水热条件下Ni-La/废白土催化棉花秸秆气化产氢”的研究性论文。

使用Ni-La基催化剂在亚临界和超临界水中催化气化棉秆生产H₂。以Ni-La/废白土（SBC）为催化剂，通过正交实验，筛选出最优反应条件：360 ^oC、0.5 g Ni-La/SBC、0.5 g 棉杆、10 分钟，获得了约 90% 的 H₂ 产率。此外，优化条件下水稻和小麦秸秆的H₂产量分别提高了41.5倍和39.5倍。同时，发现 SBC 灰和 Al₂O₃ 负载的 Ni-La 材料的活性相似，在 380 ^oC 下反应 5 分钟的 H₂ 产率分别为 108.3% 和 115.1%。通过NH₃-TPD、TPR、XRD、BET和XPS对催化剂进行了表征。 SBC灰为 Ni-La 催化剂提供了高比表面积 (94.4 m²/g)。La 促进的Ni/SBC (0.19 mmol/g)比Ni/SBC (0.16 mmol/g)具有更强的酸性。Ni-La/SBC 有一个较宽的还原峰，表明 Ni 在载体上均匀分散。Ni-La/SBC材料不仅实现了废白土的再利用，还有效促进了农业废弃物的水热气化。详情可见：

YQ Song, S Nanda, WJ Cong, J Sun, GH Dong, A Magdziarz, Zhen Fang*, AK Dalai, JA Kozinski, Hydrogen production from cotton stalk over Ni-La catalysts supported on spent bleaching clay via hydrothermal gasification, Industrial Crops & Products, 186 (2022) 115228. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2022.115228.

Basic catalytic transesterification of oils with homogeneous [(e.g., sodium methoxide, potassium or sodium hydroxide and heterogeneous catalysts (e.g, CaO and sodium silicate) is the most common method for biodiesel production at low temperatures (e.g., 50-60 ^oC). However, they are easily to form soap with free fatty acids (FFAs) when low qualified oils with high acid value (AV) are used as raw materials, and two-step process composed of esterification and transesterification catalyzed over acidic and basic catalysts was developed. But, the process is too complex and costly. This work aims to directly produce biodiesel from oils with high acid value without any pretreatment using activated nanosized Mg-Al hydrotalcite.
Miss Yitong Wang (Master student), under the guidance of Professor Dr. Zhen Fang from Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (CAS), prepared Mg-Al hydrotalcite (HT-Ca) nanoparticles (< 45 nm) by co-precipitation and hydrothermal activation with aqueous Ca(OH)₂ solution. HT-Ca presented both acidic and basic due to the formation of Mg₄Al₂(OH)₁₄.3H₂O, Mg₂Al(OH)₇ and AlO(OH) nanocrystals to esterify and transesterify oils with high AV. Under conditions of 5 wt% HT-Ca, 160 ^oC, 30/1 methanol/oil molar ratio and 4 h, 93.4% Jatropha biodiesel yield was obtained at AV of 6.3 mg KOH/g with 4 cycles (biodiesel yield > 86%). It was further found that it can resist FFAs, and biodiesel yield reached 92.9% from soybean oil with high AV of 12.1. HT-Ca catalyst showed a potential practical application for direct production of biodiesel from oils with high AV without pretreatment.

The results are published in Bioresource Technology:

YT Wang, Zhen Fang*, F Zhang, BJ Xue. One-step production of biodiesel from oils with high acid value by activated Mg–Al hydrotalcite nanoparticles, Bioresource Technology, 193, 84–89 (2015).

活化Mg-Al 水滑石纳米颗粒用于一步法催化高酸值油脂制备生物柴油

 由于中国的国情限制，用于制备生物柴油的非食用原料油酸值都比较高。这样，碱性催化剂在低温（如50摄氏度）制备生物柴油容易发生严重的皂化反应。而酸性催化剂制备生物柴油时，尽管没皂化反应，但要求较高的反应温度（如220摄氏度），对设备的质量要求也很高，同时易腐蚀设备。所以，本研究目的是制备同时具有酸碱性的催化剂可以一步法直接催化高酸值的油脂变成生物柴油。
中国科学院西双版纳热带植物园生物能源组，硕士生王一同小姐在方真研究员的指导下，成功合成了Mg-Al 水滑石纳米颗粒，将其活化后用于催化高酸值的小桐子油以及高酸值的混合大豆油制备生物柴油。实验结果表明：该纳米颗粒具有较好的抗酸性，在反应温度160 ^oC, 5%催化剂量，30/1醇油摩尔比和4 h 的反应时间条件下，催化酸值为6.3的小桐子油，生物柴油的产率可以达到93.4%，当催化酸值为12.1的混合大豆油制备生物柴油，产率可以达到92.9%。该纳米颗粒重复使用四次，生物柴油的产率依然可以达到86%以上。活化后的Mg-Al 水滑石纳米颗粒表现出良好的催化性能。

相关研究成果发表在国际著名能源期刊Bioresource Technology上：

YT Wang, Zhen Fang*, F Zhang, BJ Xue. One-step production of biodiesel from oils with high acid value by activated Mg–Al hydrotalcite nanoparticles, Bioresource Technology, 193, 84–89 (2015)

图为活化的Mg-Al 水滑石纳米颗粒用于小桐子生物柴油制备

随着气候变化和石油价格的不断上涨，人们日益认识到寻求能源替代品的迫切性，所以国内外研究者纷纷开展农业废弃物转化成高附加值产品的深入研究。在所有可替代资源当中，木质纤维素原料可作为较为理想的碳源。 （更多…）