Biomass-Derived γ-Valerolactone: Efficient Dissolution and Accelerated Alkaline Hydrolysis of Polyethylene Terephthalate

The vast increasement of the post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic brings about the challenge of recycling waste bottles. The degradation of waste PET to its monomers in an environmental benign...

Thermodynamic and Kinetic Studies of Dissolution of Hematite in Mixtures of Oxalic and Sulfuric Acid

The dissolution of iron oxides in mixtures of acids is fairly uncommon but can result in a more efficient dissolution process. The objective in this work was to investigate the dissolution of synthetic hematite powder in mixtures of oxalic and sulfuric acid. Experiments were done at different acid ratios and temperatures. An increase in temperature from 15 to 35 °C increased solubility, whereas an increase from 35 to 50 °C did not change the solubility but had a profound effect on the kinetics. An important finding was that oxalic acid advanced the dissolution process since increasing the amount of oxalic acid in the system resulted in faster kinetics and higher solubilities. The dissolution kinetics were well described with the Kabai model, which was the only studied model able to describe the whole reaction time. However, the solid specific constant a varied for the different acid ratios and this is argued to be a result of changes in the solid phase. The changes in the constant a were not in line with the original study of Kabai, which indicates that a cannot be the solid specific constant but it can be the constant connected to dissolving media describing the changes in the dissolution mechanism.

Lutidinium-based ionic liquids for efficient dissolution of cellulose

Herein, we have studied the potential of lutidinium-based ionic liquids in the dissolution of cellulose as confirmed by the X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and 13C CP/MAS NMR, spectroscopic methods.