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The increasing volume of sewage sludge from wastewater treatment facilities is becoming a prominent concern globally. The disposal of this sludge is particularly challenging and poses severe environmental hazards due to the high content of organic, toxic and heavy metal pollutants among its constituents. This study presents a simple review of four sewage to energy recovery routes (anaerobic digestion, combustion, pyrolysis and gasification) with emphasis on recent developments in research, as well as benefits and limitations of the technology for ensuring cost and environmentally viable sewage to energy pathway. This study focusses on the review of various commercially viable sludge conversion processes and technologies used for energy recovery from sewage sludge. This was done via in-depth process descriptions gathered from literatures and simplified schematic depiction of such energy recovery processes when utilised for sludge. Specifically, the impact of fuel properties and its effect on the recovery process were discussed to indicate the current challenges and recent scientific research undertaken to resolve these challenges and improve the operational, environmental and cost competitiveness of these technologies.

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Two new moisture- and air-stable bis(β-ketoamino)nickel(II) complexes Ni[R1C(O)CHC(NAr)R2]2 (Ar ≡ 2,6-iPr2C6H3; R1 = R2 = CH3, 1; R1 = C6H5, R2 = CH3, 2), together with the moderately stable complex Ni2[CH3C(O)CHC(O)CH3]4[H2NtBu]2 (3), which bears a monoanionic O,O-chelate bidentate β-diketone and an sp3-N atom of tBuNH2 mixed ligands, were synthesized and characterized. The solid-state structures of the complexes have been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffractions. Additionally, these new complexes act as catalyst precursors for methyl methacrylate polymerization after activation with methylaluminoxane (MAO). The polymers obtained by 1 and 2 show broader polydispersity than that obtained by 3. 13C NMR analyses indicate that these catalytic systems initiate MMA polymerization to yield PMMA with rich syndiotacticity microstructure.

During cancer therapy, phagocytic clearance of dead cells plays a vital role in immune homeostasis. The nonapoptotic form of cell death, ferroptosis, exhibits extraordinary potential in tumor treatment. However, the phagocytosis mechanism that regulates the engulfment of ferroptotic cells remains unclear. Here, we establish a novel pathway for phagocytic clearance of ferroptotic cells that is different from canonical mechanisms by using diverse ferroptosis models evoked by GPX4 dysfunction/deficiency. We identified the oxidized phospholipid, 1-steaoryl-2-15-HpETE-sn-glycero-3-phosphatidylethanolamine (SAPE-OOH), as a key eat-me signal on the ferroptotic cell surface. Enriching the plasma membrane with SAPE-OOH increased the efficiency of phagocytosis of ferroptotic cells by macrophage, a process that was suppressed by lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2. Ligand fishing, lipid blotting, and cellular thermal shift assay screened and identified TLR2 as a membrane receptor that directly recognized SAPE-OOH, which was further confirmed by TLR2 inhibitors and gene silencing studies. A mouse mammary tumor model of ferroptosis verified SAPE-OOH and TLR2 as critical players in the clearance of ferroptotic cells in vivo. Taken together, this work demonstrates that SAPE-OOH on ferroptotic cell surface acts as an eat-me signal and navigates phagocytosis by targeting TLR2 on macrophages.