Light alkane aromatization for aromatic compound production, used in petrochemical industries is an attractive area of research. The effect of second metal co-impregnation was investigated in stabilizing zinc on ZSM-5 in aromatization of propane. HZSM-5 was modified with zinc and iron metal by co wet-impregnation and characterized using XRF, XRD, BET, N₂-adsorption, FTIR, FTIR-Pyridine, SEM, TEM, H₂-TPR and XPS. The effect of different loadings of Iron on Zn/ZSM-5 was investigated on acidity, aromatic yield, product distribution and aromatization performance. Performance test was conducted in a fixed bed reactor at 540 °C, one atmosphere. GHSV of 1200 mL/g-h. Co-impregnation of Zn with Fe improved the catalytic activity and aromatic yield for 10 h time on stream as compared to parent HZSM-5 and Zn/ZSM-5 of very low aromatic yield and propane conversion. Impregnation of Zn as the dehydrogenating metal on HZSM-5 steadily increased aromatic yield from 5% on HZSM-5 to 25% and was steadily dropped to 20% after 10 h TOS. The co-impregnation of iron of 1–3 wt% loading as the second metal for zinc stability with 2 wt% Zn on ZSM-5 improved propane conversion and aromatic yield to 55% for the 10 h TOS. This further enhanced aromatic product distribution and minimized light gases.

Converting plastic wastes into fuels through catalytic cracking is continuously gaining interest from researchers worldwide. In this study, the influence of iron on ZSM-5 (Fe-ZSM-5) catalyst on the reforming of the gaseous products of thermal decomposition of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) was investigated. The acidified ZSM-5 catalysts (0, 0.3, 0.6 and 1 wt% of Fe) were prepared and characterized by XRD, BET, FTIR and SEM techniques. In particular, the effects of temperature (400, 450 and 500 °C) and catalyst loading (0.5, 0.75, 1.0, 1.25 and 1.5 g) on a two-stage (pyrolyser and reformer) decomposition of the LDPE wastes into fuel were studied. The liquid fraction produced was characterized using FTIR and GC/MS techniques. The study showed that the increase in pyrolysis temperature (400–500 °C) increases the volume of non-condensable gas (31–58 wt%) and decreases the volume of the condensates (69–41 wt%) in both the thermal and catalytic pyrolyses. However, the trend was at higher level for the catalytic pyrolysis. The increase in temperature for the thermal pyrolysis had less significant effect on the aromatization content of the liquid condensate compared to the catalytic pyrolysis. The FTIR results show a significant increase in aromatic contents and decrease in the aliphatic of the liquid fraction for the catalytic pyrolysis reforming when compared with thermal pyrolysis. The GC/MS results confirmed the aromatic hydrocarbon compositions, predominantly p-xylene, increased relatively to about 70% in the liquid fraction for the best catalyst (1.25 g of catalyst and 1 wt% iron loading on ZSM-5 at 450 °C).

Hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents (HDESs) have found applications in water purification in recent years. The extent of their stability in aqueous media determines whether they are suitable materials for water purification or if they end up constituting a greater pollution load to the water they are to purify. This work sought to prepare HDESs from a monoterpene (menthol), and three long-chain organic acids (octanoic acid, decanoic acid, and dodecanoic acid). The physicochemical characteristics of the prepared HDESs were investigated. Thereafter, their moisture absorption capacity and stability in an aqueous medium were determined to ascertain whether or not they were hydrophobic as predicted.

Background: Discharge of large amounts of untreated industrial effluent into water bodies pose significant environmental challenges worldwide. This is due to the limitations of traditional wastewater treatment methods in the treatment of recalcitrant organic pollutants. Fenton processes involves the generation of hydroxyl radicals that are well suited to degrade organics in effluent water. This study focuses on reducing slag generation during Fenton processes and enhancing the reuse of nano-zero-valent iron (NZVI) through the immobilization of NZVI on activated carbon cloth (ACC) through a chitosan (CH) linker with phenol as a model pollutant. Results: Microstructural and spectroscopic techniques were employed to study the materials prepared and 37.5 wt% iron loading was achieved. Phenol degradation of 96.3% at 40 °C at pH of 3.0 with 50 mM H₂O₂ was achieved using ACC-CH-NZVI. Adsorption and degradation studies carried out using ACC-CH-NZVI catalyst revealed that phenol adsorption onto ACC-CH-NZVI fits the Langmuir isotherm model, following the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and first-order reaction kinetics. Thermodynamic studies indicate the non-spontaneous, endothermic and irreversible nature of the removal process. Comparing ACC-CH-NZVI with ACC and ACC-CH, phenol removal using ACC drops from 87.8 to 39%, while using ACC-CH, the removal efficiency drops from 73 to 20.9% and using ACC-CH-NZVI, phenol removal drops from 96.3 to about 70% and total organic carbon removal drops from 79 to about 60% with minimal iron leaching, highlighting the superior performance of ACC-CH-ZVI and the role of NZVI in enhancing phenol removal. Conclusions: The catalyst demonstrated good stability for phenol degradation to about 70% phenol removal from simulated wastewater and 60% TOC removal from industrial wastewater after five treatment cycles with minimal Fe leaching. Graphical

The evolution of Hydrophobic Deep Eutectic Solvents (HDESs) has expanded the applications of the new generation of solvents, known as Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES), to include water-based operations. How stable they are in aqueous media qualifies them to be categorised as hydrophobic. This also determines whether they are appropriate materials for water-based industrial processes or not or whether they end up constituting a greater pollution load than those processes due to the leaching of their precursors into the aqueous media when used. This work sought to prepare HDESs from a monoterpene (thymol), and three long-chain organic acids (octanoic acid, decanoic acid, and dodecanoic acid). The physicochemical characteristics of the prepared HDESs were investigated. Thereafter, their moisture absorption capacity and stability in an aqueous environment were determined to ascertain whether they are hydrophobic as predicted.