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Cattail-grass-derived porous carbon as high-capacity anode materials were prepared via high-temperature carbonization and activation with KOH. The samples exhibited different structures and morphologies with increasing treatment time. It was found that the cattail grass with activation treatment—1 (CGA-1) sample obtained at 800 °C for 1 h presented excellent electrochemical performance. As an anode material for lithium-ion batteries, CGA-1 showed a high charge–discharge capacity of 814.7 mAh g−1 at the current density of 0.1 A g−1 after 400 cycles, which suggests that it has a great potential for energy storage.

As a major technical route to utilize biomass energy, biomass combustion power generation (BCPG) has been shown to be of environmental and economic significance. According to the operating experience, the installed capacity has a decisive impact on the operation and economic return of BCPG projects. In China, an installed capacity of either 30 MW or 12 MW is often chosen for constructing a BCPG project. To explore which one is more suitable for China, this paper uses actual operating data to compare the operation performance and techno-economics of two representative BCPG projects with an installed capacity of 30 MW and 12 MW. The results show that the operation situation and electricity production of the 30 MW project are better than those of the 12 MW project. The 30 MW project has a lower biomass consumption than the 12 MW project to produce per unit of electricity. The Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of the 30 MW project is greater than the industry benchmark in China and is almost three times the IRR of the 12 MW project. Therefore, it is recommended to construct BCPG projects with installed capacity of 30 MW in China.

To fix CO2 emissions efficiently from flue gas of coal-fired power plants, the culture medium, light intensity and bioreactors were comprehensively optimized in the process of CO2 fixation by Chlorella PY-ZU1. To make up for relative insufficiency of nutrients (except for the carbon source) resulting from continuous bubbling of 15% CO2, three chemicals were added into the culture to optimize the molar ratios of nitrogen to carbon, phosphorus to carbon, and magnesium to carbon in culture from 0.17 to 0.69, from 0.093 to 0.096, and from 0.018 to 0.030, respectively. Such adjustments led to a 1.25-fold increase in biomass (from 2.41 to 5.42 g L(-1)). By enhancing light intensity from 4500 to 6000 lux, the peak growth rate of Chlorella PY-ZU1 increased by 99% and reached to 0.95 g L(-1) day(-1). Use of a multi-stage sequential bioreactor notably improved the peak CO2 fixation efficiency to 85.6%.

AbstractReview: 50 refs.

Rapid pyrolysis of two types of aquatic biomass (blue-green algae and water hyacinth), and their blends with two coals (bituminous and anthracite) was carried out in a high-frequency furnace. Nitrogen conversions during rapid pyrolysis of the two biomass and the interactions between the biomass and coals on nitrogen conversions were investigated. Results show that little nitrogen retained in char after the biomass pyrolysis, and NH(3) yields were higher than HCN. During co-pyrolysis of biomass and coal, interactions between biomass and coal decreased char-N yields and increased volatile-N yields, but the total yields of NH(3)+HCN in volatile-N were decreased in which HCN formations were decreased consistently, while NH(3) formations were only decreased in the high-temperature range but promoted in the low-temperature range. Interactions between blue-green algae and coals are stronger than those between water hyacinth and coal, and interactions between biomass and bituminous are stronger than those between biomass and anthracite.

The rapidly evolving global warming is triggering all levels of actions to reduce industrial carbon emissions, while capturing carbon dioxide of industrial origin via microalgae has attracted increasing attention. This article attempted to offer preliminary analysis on the carbon capture potential of microalgal cultivation. It was shown that the energy consumption-associated with operation and nutrient input could significantly contribute to indirect carbon emissions, making the microalgal capture of carbon dioxide much less effective. In fact, the current microalgae processes may not be environmentally sustainable and economically viable in the scenario where the carbon footprints of both upstream and downstream processing are considered. To address these challenging issues, renewable energy (e.g., solar energy) and cheap nutrient source (e.g., municipal wastewater) should be explored to cut off the indirect carbon emissions of microalgae cultivation, meanwhile produced microalgae, without further processing, should be ideally used as biofertilizer or aquafeeds for realizing complete nutrients recycling.

AbstractThe intrinsic sluggish kinetics of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) limit the improvement of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance, and substituting the anodic oxidation of biomass materials is an alternative approach, given its lower oxidation potential and higher added value compared to those of OER. In this study, a Ni3S2‐MoS2 nanoheterojunction catalyst with strong electronic interactions is prepared. It exhibits high efficiency for both the HER and the electrooxidation of 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). In a two‐electrode cell with Ni3S2‐MoS2 serving as both the anode and cathode, the potential is only 1.44 V at a current density of 10 mA cm−2, which is much lower than that of pure water splitting. Density functional theory calculations confirm that the strong chemisorption of H and HMF at the interface leads to outstanding electrocatalytic activity. The findings not only provide a strategy for developing efficient electrocatalysts, but also provide an approach for the continuous production of high value‐added products and H2.

Lithium–sulfur batteries (LSBs) with a high energy density have been regarded as a promising energy storage device to harness unstable but clean energy from wind, tide, solar cells, and so on. However, LSBs still suffer from the disadvantages of the notorious shuttle effect of polysulfides and low sulfur utilization, which greatly hider their final commercialization. Biomasses represent green, abundant and renewable resources for the production of carbon materials to address the aforementioned issues by taking advantages of their intrinsic hierarchical porous structures and heteroatom-doping sites, which could attribute to the strong physical and chemical adsorptions as well as excellent catalytic performances of LSBs. Therefore, many efforts have been devoted to improving the performances of biomass-derived carbons from the aspects of exploring new biomass resources, optimizing the pyrolysis method, developing effective modification strategies, or achieving further understanding about their working principles in LSBs. This review firstly introduces the structures and working principles of LSBs and then summarizes recent developments in research on carbon materials employed in LSBs. Particularly, this review focuses on recent progresses in the design, preparation and application of biomass-derived carbons as host or interlayer materials in LSBs. Moreover, outlooks on the future research of LSBs based on biomass-derived carbons are discussed.