To chase the environmental regulations regarding the quality of fuels the global society calls for zero sulfur fuels. Therefore, the issue of the removal of aromatics from fuels has become more serious because the existence of aromatics in fuel hinders the production of ultra-low sulfur fuel. It creates an enormous interest amongst the scientific community worldwide in research involving the dearomatization of fuels. The present perspective review discusses the need for dearomatization, the concepts, advantages and disadvantages of various processes used for dearomatization together with advances in the dearomatization of hydrocarbon fuels, more specifically of diesel fractions by solvent extraction. The more challenging task required for the dearomatization of diesel fractions by solvent extraction is the selection of a proper solvent along with the optimum extraction conditions. This review reveals key solvents and extraction conditions influencing the removal of aromatic components from petroleum derived fractions. In addition, it demonstrates the dependence of solvent selection criteria on the properties and boiling range of the feedstock. It also demonstrates that each of the solvents used offers some advantages and disadvantages from a techno-economic point of view irrespective of the solvents used in a particular process.

Aqueous ammonia was investigated as a new absorbent of the chemical absorption process for CO₂ capture from combustion flue gas. The effects of the temperature and concentration of aqueous ammonia on CO₂ absorption in a semi‐batch reactor were studied by interpreting breakthrough curves. Raman spectroscopy analysis of CO₂ loaded aqueous ammonia provided concentration changes of bicarbonate, carbonate, and carbamate as well as CO₂ sorption capacity at given time during the absorption with 13 wt% aqueous ammonia at 25°C. It was observed that carbamate formation was dominating at the early stage of absorption. Then, the bicarbonate formation took over the domination at the later stage while the carbonate remained unchanged.

Highly ordered mesoporous silver, which exhibits well-defined mesopores, high surface area and pore volume, has been successfully obtained using a cubic mesoporous silica, KIT-6, with controlled surface hydrophobicity as the hard template.

For practical utilization of proton-conducting ceramic fuel cells and electrolyzers, it is essential to lower the sintering temperature and processing time of BaZrO₃-based proton conductors. We investigated the effect of sintering temperature and time on the structural and electrochemical properties of dense BaZr_0.8Y_0.2O_3−δ (BZY) prepared by a solid-state reactive sintering process, using NiO as a sintering aid. The sintered BZY prepared from the micronized precursor powder exhibited a density higher than 93%, and an average grain size in the range of 0.6 to 1.4 μm. The orthorhombic BaY₂NiO₅ phase was also observed in the sintered BZY from the combined conventional and synchrotron X-ray diffraction measurements. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy showed that the total proton conductivities of BZY can be modulated by sintering temperature in a wet reducing atmosphere. The maximum total ion transport number achieved was 0.89 at 600 °C, and the maximum power density of the symmetric BZY electrolyte supported cell with Pt electrodes was 5.24 mW·cm⁻² at 900 °C.

In the present work, a new mesoporous adsorbent containing ferrous/cuprous ionic species (Fe–Cu/MCM-41) has been developed for selective separation of 1-butene/n-butane. Co-impregnation of Fe²⁺ ions with Cu⁺ ions within mesopores gives superior 1-butene/n-butane separation ability. Fe–Cu/MCM-41 exhibits much higher heat of adsorption for 1-butene (−23.4 kJ mol⁻¹) compared to that of Cu/MCM-41 (−11.2 kJ mol⁻¹), resulting in a larger adsorption amount of 1-butene over Fe–Cu/MCM-41 (4.4 mmol g⁻¹ at 1 atm) than that over Cu/MCM-41 (2.8 mmol g⁻¹ at 1 atm). The results indicate that Fe–Cu/MCM-41 exhibits superior π-complexation ability for 1-butene than Cu/MCM-41. Moreover, the adsorption ability of Fe–Cu/MCM-41 does not change very much upon H₂-treatment at different temperatures in the range of 273 K to 473 K, revealing the excellent hydrogen tolerance of the adsorbent. Physicochemical analyses indicated that the existence of Fe²⁺ species prevented the oxidation and reduction of Cu⁺ species during the adsorbent preparation and during the separation process in the presence of a reducing gas such as hydrogen, i.e., the Fe²⁺ species may act as a kind of redox buffer in the Fe–Cu/MCM-41 adsorbent for improving the chemical stability of Cu⁺ species that are highly effective for π-complexation with olefin.