Process safety analysis and loss control play imperative roles in chemical process industries. However, the lack of a systemic methodology for inherent safety studies in an unsteady state causes more hazards and accidents, which also prevent most industries from realizing inherent safety to its full extent. Here describes a method for analyzing the inherent safety of chemical processes in the unsteady state. As a quantitative description of the inherent safe level for a chemical process, the inherent safety degree (ISD) is defined appropriately. A model for ISD simulation is constructed to analyze a quantitatively inherent safety level of a chemical process by fuzzy logic. In this study, the difluoro-chloromethane (F22) pyrolysis process, one step of the tetrafluoroethylene (TFE) production process, was evaluated to validate the proposed method. In addition, sixteen technological nodes in four technological sections were compartmentalized according to their technical features and the inherent safety concept. Afterwards, an index set was established to assess the hazards of chemical substances, processes, and equipment based on the identification of risk factors and the inherent safety concept. Typically, the condensation dehydration node was proposed as a case study to explain the ISD calculation under unsteady state, and the time-course profile of the ISD was also obtained. The proposed method aims to judge ISD of a process under the unsteady state and provide detailed information for the chemical processes design.

Kernel shell cellulose, kernel shell nanocellulose, and kernel shell nanocellulose residue synthesized from palm kernel shell were utilized as fuel for microbial fuel cells (MFCs) with Cellulomonas fimi. Commercially available cellulose (cellulose powder) was also tested to compare the performances of the MFCs. Kernel shell nanocellulose yielded the highest current generation, with a maximum current density of approximately 26.4±1.1 mA/m², followed by cellulose powder, kernel shell cellulose, and kernel shell nanocellulose residue, with current densities of 16.8±1.0, 15.0±1.7, and 11.9±1.5 mA/m², respectively. The current generation ability of the palm kernel shell was similar to the electrical performance of commercially available cellulose.

In this study, biodiesel was produced from microalgae (Chlorella) through a one-step process that involves simultaneous lipid extraction and transesterification under ultrasonic irradiation in the presence of CaO as the alkaline solid catalyst. The effect of ultrasonic irradiation with and without additional solid particles (alumina) on the simultaneous process was investigated. The variation of three parameters was evaluated: ultrasonic power (60–360 W), catalyst concentration (3–12 wt%), and reaction time (15–60 min). Then, the effect of alumina particles on biodiesel conversion was assessed by analysis with the conventional two-step process (lipid extraction followed by transesterification). The addition of alumina particles had a remarkable effect on the transesterification and only a slight impact on the lipid extraction step.

In the process of pharmaceutical crystallization, it is important to control polymorphic forms of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and sometimes their intermediate compounds, because such polymorphs may affect physical properties such as bioavailability and bulk powder behavior. Seeding is a typical approach to control polymorphs, and seed quality such as particle size is very important in seeded crystallization. Impurities in the crystallization mixture are known to make it difficult to control polymorphs, because impurities can inhibit nucleation and crystal growth. Herein, we show the effects that particle size of seeds and impurities included in the mixture had on the control of polymorphs in the seeded crystallization of Compound X, an intermediate compound of a drug candidate. We found that not only did ground seeds with a large surface area play a key role, but also did the presence of impurities in the mixture by inhibiting nucleation of the undesired crystal form, Form II. As a result, we were able to successfully control polymorphs to the desired crystal form, Form III, which had good filterability. Interestingly, those impurities were incorporated into Form II crystals; whereas, they were purged from Form III crystals during the process of crystallization. Furthermore, we found that the morphology of Form II crystals, which were originally needle-like, was changed by the impurities to a plate-like morphology with poor filterability. Our findings in this practical study remind us of the importance of seed quality and impurities included in crystallization mixture.

The co-pyrolysis characteristics and the interaction with a kind of low-rank coal from SunJiaCha mining area (SJC) and coking coal (Chinese pinyin for coking coal is Jiaomei, JM) from HuangLing were investigated using thermogravimetric Fourier transform infrared (TG-FTIR) analysis and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The results revealed a significant synergistic effect of the SJC+JM co-pyrolysis process The addition of JM increased the number of colloids and provided the conditions for the interaction reaction among the pyrolysis products. SJC and JM were used as hydrogen donors, the [H] and free radical fragments from pyrolysis facilitated the hydrogenation reaction. In addition, the composition and structure of the gas were changed due to the synergistic effect, which also substantially decreased the light component in tar substantially.

An anaerobic digestion effluent (ADE) from the filtration facility of an anaerobic digestion process in a sewage treatment plant was used to cultivate the halophilic oil-producing microalga Chlorella sp. strain JPCC 0782. Secondary treated sewage (STS) was used as a dilution medium (ADE/STS) to avoid growth inhibition caused by high ADE ammonium nitrogen content. Chlorella sp. grew and produced lipids in the sterilized ADE/STS with 3.6 mM–14.4 mM of the initial ammonium nitrogen concentration, thereby confirming the usability of ADE/STS as an algal medium. Although the microalga grew in the unsterilized ADE/STS in the raceway pond, ciliates also grew, resulting in consumption of the microalga biomass produced. Because the ciliates in the ADE/STS were inactivated at 10 psu, the salinity of ADE/STS was adjusted from 0.84 psu to 10 psu by adding seawater. We also demonstrated that adjusting salinity by adding seawater is a promising way to inactivate ciliates appearing in ADE/STS to prevent algal pond crash.