Temperature programmed surface reaction (TPSR) was developed as a method for rapid screening of catalysts. In this study, a series of acid catalysts was screened for the low-temperature dehydration of glycerol to acrolein via TPSR. Results suggested that most catalysts show activity of glycerol conversion to acrolein at a greatly different temperature range. HY, SiO2 supported H4SiW12O40 (STA/SiO2), SO42−/ZrO2, and SO42−/TiO2 were observed to be efficient for the conversion of glycerol into acrolein at 210 °C, which was significantly lower than that generally reported (250–340 °C). Moreover, high selectivity of acrolein was gained at 85% and 86% over SiW/SiO2 and SO42−/TiO2, respectively. A new style catalyst, ZnCl2/SiO2, was also found to be highly selective to acrolein and evaluated in a conventional fixed-bed reactor. Especially, stability tests showed that the catalyst life was up to 300 h with no clear deactivation on ZnCl2/SiO2 with hydrogen as dilution.

As the world faces water shortage and pollution crises, the development of novel visible light photocatalysts to purify water resources is urgently needed. Over the past decades, most of the reported photocatalysts have been in powder or granular forms, creating separation and recycling difficulties. To overcome these challenges, a flexible and recyclable heterostructured TiO2/polyvinylidene fluoride/graphitic carbon nitride (TiO2/PVDF/g-C3N4) composite was developed by combining electrospinning, sintering and hydrothermal methods. In the composite, PVDF was used as a support template for removing and separating the photocatalyst from solution. Compared with pure TiO2, the TiO2/PVDF/g-C3N4 composite exhibited the extended light capture range of TiO2 into the visible light region. The photogenerated carriers were efficiently transferred and separated at the contact interface between TiO2 and g-C3N4 under visible light irradiation, which consequently increased the photocatalytic activity of the photocatalyst. In addition, the flexible composites exhibited excellent self-cleaning properties, and the dye on the photocatalysts was completely degraded by the as-prepared materials. Based on the intrinsic low cost, recyclability, absorption of visible light, facile synthesis, self-cleaning properties and good photocatalytic performances of the composite, the photocatalyst is expected to be used for water treatment.

In order to improve the performance and endurance of steel rings used for twisting and winding yarns in the textile industry, a more wear-resistant ceramic version is studied and examined by conducting multiple simulations combined with microwave sintering experiments of the ring preparation process, aiming to reduce manufacturing costs and improve efficiency. The three-dimensional (3D) electromagnetic field simulation software HFSS is used to simulate the electromagnetic field distribution in the microwave sintering cavity and to determine the electromagnetic region with the most uniform electromagnetic field to guide the microwave sintering experiments. The 3Y-TZP ceramic rings are shaped by gel-casting. The effect of presintering on the performance of ceramic rings is investigated by applying conventional sintering and microwave sintering methods. The experimental results show that the simulation-guided microwave sintering process can resolve the deficiency of uneven microwave sintering at low temperatures. Comparing the final sintering temperatures and mechanical properties of the final ceramic-sintered rings obtained by microwave presintering to those obtained by conventional presintering, microwave presintered sample has a final temperature of 1400°C, which is 100°C lower than that of conventional presintering, which is 1500°C; its average grain size of 0.18 μm is dramatically smaller than that of conventional presintering, which is 0.24 μm, with about 80% of the grain sizes present in the range of 0.1-0.2 μm and a relative density of about 99%, as opposed to conventional presintering’s 70% falling between 0.2 and 0.3 μm and relative density of about 98%; the Vickers hardness and fracture toughness for microwave presintered sample reach 1550 kg·f·mm−2 and 9.05 MPa m1/2, respectively, which are both greater than 1431 kg·f·mm−2 and 8.86 MPa m1/2 in the conventional samples.