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Exploring the Utilisation of Natural Biosorbents for Effective Methylene Blue Removal (2023)
Journal Article
Güleç, F., Williams, O., Samson, A., Kostas, E., Stevens, L. A., & Lester, E. (2023). Exploring the Utilisation of Natural Biosorbents for Effective Methylene Blue Removal. Applied Sciences, 14(1), Article 81. https://doi.org/10.3390/app14010081

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the adsorbent capacity of five distinctly different biosorbents derived from untreated biomasses. The optimal adsorption capacity of seaweed (Laminaria digitata), horse chestnut husk, hazelnut husk, rap... Read More about Exploring the Utilisation of Natural Biosorbents for Effective Methylene Blue Removal.

GC-MS analysis of alkylpyrazines in the pyrolysis oils of silica-polyethylenimine CO2 sorbents (2023)
Journal Article
Coralli, I., Spada, L., Fabbri, D., Pour, S. R. S., Fiori, J., Vassura, I., …Snape, C. E. (2024). GC-MS analysis of alkylpyrazines in the pyrolysis oils of silica-polyethylenimine CO2 sorbents. Journal of Chromatography Open, 5, Article 100108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcoa.2023.100108

Solid sorbents based on silica and polyethyleneimine (PEI) are intensively investigated in the field of carbon capture and storage (CCS). Pyrolysis was proposed as a thermal process to recover the pure silica from exhausted sorbents and convert PEI i... Read More about GC-MS analysis of alkylpyrazines in the pyrolysis oils of silica-polyethylenimine CO2 sorbents.

Valorization Strategies in CO2 Capture: A New Life for Exhausted Silica-Polyethylenimine (2023)
Journal Article
Coralli, I., Giuri, D., Spada, L., Ortolani, J., Mazzocchetti, L., Tomasini, C., …Fabbri, D. (2023). Valorization Strategies in CO2 Capture: A New Life for Exhausted Silica-Polyethylenimine. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 24(19), Article 14415. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms241914415

The search for alternative ways to give a second life to materials paved the way for detailed investigation into three silica-polyethylenimine (Si-PEI) materials for the purpose of CO2 adsorption in carbon capture and storage. A solvent extraction pr... Read More about Valorization Strategies in CO2 Capture: A New Life for Exhausted Silica-Polyethylenimine.

Amine functionalized lignin-based mesoporous cellular carbons for CO2 capture (2023)
Journal Article
Sani, S., Liu, X., Stevens, L., Wang, H., & Sun, C. (2023). Amine functionalized lignin-based mesoporous cellular carbons for CO2 capture. Fuel, 351, Article 128886. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2023.128886

Amine-impregnated mesoporous carbon sorbents have been considered one of the most promising sorbents for CO2 capture from streams with low CO2 concentrations. In this work, a series of novel solid amine adsorbents were prepared by impregnating polyet... Read More about Amine functionalized lignin-based mesoporous cellular carbons for CO2 capture.

Rapid synthesis of magnetic microspheres and the development of new macro-micro hierarchically porous magnetic framework composites (2023)
Journal Article
Woodliffe, J. L., Molinar-Díaz, J., Islam, M. T., Stevens, L. A., Wadge, M. D., Rance, G. A., …Laybourn, A. (2023). Rapid synthesis of magnetic microspheres and the development of new macro-micro hierarchically porous magnetic framework composites. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 11(27), 14705-14719. https://doi.org/10.1039/D3TA01927F

Magnetic framework composites (MFCs) are a highly interesting group of materials that contain both metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) and magnetic materials. Combining the unique benefits of MOFs (tuneable natures, high surface areas) with the advantage... Read More about Rapid synthesis of magnetic microspheres and the development of new macro-micro hierarchically porous magnetic framework composites.

Solutions to hazardous wastes issues in the leather industry: adsorption of Chromium iii and vi from leather industry wastewaters using activated carbons produced from leather industry solid wastes (2023)
Journal Article
Jimenez-Paz, J., Lozada-Castro, J. J., Lester, E., Williams, O., Stevens, L., & Barraza-Burgos, J. (2023). Solutions to hazardous wastes issues in the leather industry: adsorption of Chromium iii and vi from leather industry wastewaters using activated carbons produced from leather industry solid wastes. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 11(3), Article 109715. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2023.109715

This study presents the use of an innovative material to tackle hazardous wastes in the leather industry. Activated carbons produced from Leather industry waste (LIW) were used to adsorb (Cr) III and (VI), which are found in leather wastewater. Two p... Read More about Solutions to hazardous wastes issues in the leather industry: adsorption of Chromium iii and vi from leather industry wastewaters using activated carbons produced from leather industry solid wastes.

Analytical pyrolysis of polyethyleneimines (2022)
Journal Article
Coralli, I., Fabbri, D., Facchin, A., Torri, C., Stevens, L. A., & Snape, C. E. (2023). Analytical pyrolysis of polyethyleneimines. Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis, 169, Article 105838. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaap.2022.105838

Poly(ethylene imine) is a family of polymers with a high content of amine groups employed in various applications and widely investigated as CO2 adsorbents in carbon capture and sequestration. In this study, five branched polyethylenimines (PEIs) of... Read More about Analytical pyrolysis of polyethyleneimines.

Combining molecular simulation and experiment to understand the effect of moisture on methane adsorption in kerogens (2022)
Journal Article
Li, W., Stevens, L. A., Zhang, B., Zheng, D., & Snape, C. E. (2023). Combining molecular simulation and experiment to understand the effect of moisture on methane adsorption in kerogens. Chemical Engineering Journal, 454, 139942. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2022.139942

There is a limited understanding of the critical impact moisture has on shale gas resource estimation by affecting gas adsorption and pore structure. Laboratory experiments on dry and 95% relative humidity (R.H.) isolated kerogens are combined with G... Read More about Combining molecular simulation and experiment to understand the effect of moisture on methane adsorption in kerogens.

Solutions to Hazardous Wastes Issues in the Leather Industry: Adsorption of Chromium Iii and Vi from Leather Industry Wastewaters Using Activated Carbons Produced from Leather Industry Solid Wastes (2022)
Working Paper
Jimenez-Paz, J., Lozada-Castro, J., Lester, E., Williams, O., Stevens, L., & Barraza-Burgos, J. Solutions to Hazardous Wastes Issues in the Leather Industry: Adsorption of Chromium Iii and Vi from Leather Industry Wastewaters Using Activated Carbons Produced from Leather Industry Solid Wastes

This study presents the use of an innovative material to tackle hazardous wastes in the leather industry. Activated carbons produced from Leather industry waste (LIW) were used to adsorb Chromium (Cr) III and (VI), which are found in leather wastewa... Read More about Solutions to Hazardous Wastes Issues in the Leather Industry: Adsorption of Chromium Iii and Vi from Leather Industry Wastewaters Using Activated Carbons Produced from Leather Industry Solid Wastes.

A comprehensive comparative study on methylene blue removal from aqueous solution using biochars produced from rapeseed, whitewood, and seaweed via different thermal conversion technologies (2022)
Journal Article
Güleç, F., Williams, O., Kostas, E. T., Samson, A., Stevens, L. A., & Lester, E. (2022). A comprehensive comparative study on methylene blue removal from aqueous solution using biochars produced from rapeseed, whitewood, and seaweed via different thermal conversion technologies. Fuel, 330, Article 125428. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2022.125428

This paper presents, for the first time, a comprehensive comparative analysis of the potential of using biochars from three distinctly different UK-sourced biomass feedstocks, produced via three different thermal processing techniques, to adsorb meth... Read More about A comprehensive comparative study on methylene blue removal from aqueous solution using biochars produced from rapeseed, whitewood, and seaweed via different thermal conversion technologies.

Investigating the role of solvent type and microwave selective heating on the extraction of phenolic compounds from cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) pod husk (2022)
Journal Article
Dewi, S. R., Stevens, L. A., Pearson, A. E., Ferrari, R., Irvine, D. J., & Binner, E. R. (2022). Investigating the role of solvent type and microwave selective heating on the extraction of phenolic compounds from cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) pod husk. Food and Bioproducts Processing, 134, 210-222. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fbp.2022.05.011

Cacao pod husk (CPH) is a primary waste in the cacao industry that contains favourable natural antioxidants based on phenolic compounds. This study reported an investigation of the effect of extraction parameters to maximise the bioactive yields of C... Read More about Investigating the role of solvent type and microwave selective heating on the extraction of phenolic compounds from cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) pod husk.

Simultaneous conventional and microwave heating for the synthesis of adsorbents for CO2 capture: Comparative study to pristine technologies (2022)
Journal Article
Durán-Jiménez, G., Rodriguez, J., Kostas, E. T., Stevens, L. A., Lozada-Rodríguez, L., Binner, E., & Dodds, C. (2022). Simultaneous conventional and microwave heating for the synthesis of adsorbents for CO2 capture: Comparative study to pristine technologies. Chemical Engineering Journal, 438, Article 135549. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2022.135549

Microwave has become an attractive technology in the valorisation of renewable biomass and in the mitigation of challenges of climate change. In this work, the synergic effects of coupling microwave and mild conventional heating conditions has been i... Read More about Simultaneous conventional and microwave heating for the synthesis of adsorbents for CO2 capture: Comparative study to pristine technologies.

The effect of oil extraction on porosity and methane adsorption for dry and moisture-equilibrated shales (2022)
Journal Article
Li, W., Stevens, L. A., Meredith, W., Uguna, C. N., Vane, C. H., Zhang, B., …Snape, C. E. (2022). The effect of oil extraction on porosity and methane adsorption for dry and moisture-equilibrated shales. Fuel, 316, Article 123304. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2022.123304

The porosity and methane adsorption capacity of shale used to estimate gas in place (GIP) are affected both by moisture and oil residing in the pore structure, as well as oil naturally present from maturation, which can include contaminant drilling m... Read More about The effect of oil extraction on porosity and methane adsorption for dry and moisture-equilibrated shales.

Green and simple approach for low-cost bioproducts preparation and CO2 capture (2021)
Journal Article
Durán-Jiménez, G., Kostas, E. T., Stevens, L. A., Meredith, W., Erans, M., Hernández-Montoya, V., …Binner, E. (2021). Green and simple approach for low-cost bioproducts preparation and CO2 capture. Chemosphere, 279, Article 130512. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.130512

This study has demonstrated, for the first time, a simple, fast and flexible microwave processing method for the simultaneous preparation of bio-products (bio-oil, bio-gas and biochar) using a methodology that avoids any form of catalyst or chemical... Read More about Green and simple approach for low-cost bioproducts preparation and CO2 capture.

Comparison of the impact of moisture on methane adsorption and nanoporosity for over mature shales and their kerogens (2021)
Journal Article
Li, W., Stevens, L. A., Uguna, C. N., Vane, C. H., Meredith, W., Tang, L., …Snape, C. E. (2021). Comparison of the impact of moisture on methane adsorption and nanoporosity for over mature shales and their kerogens. International Journal of Coal Geology, 237, Article 103705. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coal.2021.103705

© 2021 Elsevier B.V. Moisture in shales under reservoir conditions adversely affects gas adsorption and nanoporosity and is also likely to impact on the contribution that kerogen makes to the methane adsorption capacity. To investigate these phenomen... Read More about Comparison of the impact of moisture on methane adsorption and nanoporosity for over mature shales and their kerogens.

Efficient dye-removal via Ni-decorated graphene oxide-carbon nanotube nanocomposites (2020)
Journal Article
Hu, C., Le, A. T., Pung, S. Y., Stevens, L., Neate, N., Hou, X., …Xu, F. (2021). Efficient dye-removal via Ni-decorated graphene oxide-carbon nanotube nanocomposites. Materials Chemistry and Physics, 260, Article 124117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchemphys.2020.124117

The nickel nanoparticles decorated graphene oxide-carbon nanotubes nanocomposite has been prepared through a novel molecular-level-mixing method followed by a freeze-drying and subsequent reduction process. The resulting products showed a well-disper... Read More about Efficient dye-removal via Ni-decorated graphene oxide-carbon nanotube nanocomposites.

Designing topographically textured microparticles for induction and modulation of osteogenesis in mesenchymal stem cell engineering (2020)
Journal Article
Amer, M. H., Alvarez-Paino, M., McLaren, J., Pappalardo, F., Trujillo, S., Wong, J. Q., …Rose, F. R. (2021). Designing topographically textured microparticles for induction and modulation of osteogenesis in mesenchymal stem cell engineering. Biomaterials, 266, Article 120450. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2020.120450

© 2020 The Authors Mesenchymal stem cells are the focus of intense research in bone development and regeneration. The potential of microparticles as modulating moieties of osteogenic response by utilizing their architectural features is demonstrated... Read More about Designing topographically textured microparticles for induction and modulation of osteogenesis in mesenchymal stem cell engineering.

Performance of a silica-polyethyleneimine adsorbent for post-combustion CO2 capture on a 100 kg scale in a fluidized bed continuous unit (2020)
Journal Article
Kim, J. Y., Woo, J. M., Jo, S. H., Kim, H., Lee, S. Y., Yi, C. K., …Park, Y. C. (2020). Performance of a silica-polyethyleneimine adsorbent for post-combustion CO2 capture on a 100 kg scale in a fluidized bed continuous unit. Chemical Engineering Journal, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2020.127209

© 2020 Elsevier B.V. Polyethyleneimine (PEI)/silica adsorbents have been considered as a promising candidate for post-combustion CO2 capture, but the limited process study has been performed on a pilot-scale unit. Herein we report the 150 h continuou... Read More about Performance of a silica-polyethyleneimine adsorbent for post-combustion CO2 capture on a 100 kg scale in a fluidized bed continuous unit.

Structural and chemical heterogeneity in ancient glass probed using gas overcondensation, X-ray tomography, and solid-state NMR (2020)
Journal Article
Rigby, S. P., Stevens, L., Meersmann, T., Pavlovskaya, G. E., Rees, G. J., Henderson, J., …Fletcher, R. S. (2020). Structural and chemical heterogeneity in ancient glass probed using gas overcondensation, X-ray tomography, and solid-state NMR. Materials Characterization, 167, Article 110467. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchar.2020.110467

Rare ancient glasses have complex, multi-scale structures requiring more sophisticated and non-destructive pore characterisation techniques than usual. Homotattic patch models for nitrogen adsorption gave better fits to the isotherm data, more accura... Read More about Structural and chemical heterogeneity in ancient glass probed using gas overcondensation, X-ray tomography, and solid-state NMR.

Microwave pyrolysis of olive pomace for bio-oil and bio-char production (2019)
Journal Article
Williams, O. S., Kostas, E. T., Durán-Jiménez, G., Shepherd, B. J., Meredith, W., Stevens, L. A., …Lye, G. J. (2020). Microwave pyrolysis of olive pomace for bio-oil and bio-char production. Chemical Engineering Journal, 387, Article 123404. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2019.123404

Olive pomace is a widely available agro-industrial waste residue in Europe that has the potential to contribute towards a circular, low carbon bio-economy. This study demonstrated, for the first time, the ability to successfully pyrolyse olive pomace... Read More about Microwave pyrolysis of olive pomace for bio-oil and bio-char production.

Pore structural evolution of shale following thermochemical treatment (2019)
Journal Article
Rigby, S. P., Jahan, H., Stevens, L., Uguna, C., Snape, C., Macnaughton, B., …Fletcher, R. S. (2020). Pore structural evolution of shale following thermochemical treatment. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 112, Article 104058. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2019.104058

Shales experience heat treatment concurrent with the presence of water or steam during reservoir engineering interventions, such as high pressure water fracking and in-situ combustion of hydrocarbons. This work utilises a novel technique, which is a... Read More about Pore structural evolution of shale following thermochemical treatment.

Mesocellular silica foam supported polyamine adsorbents for dry CO2 scrubbing: Performance of single versus blended polyamines for impregnation (2019)
Journal Article
Liu, X., Zhou, K., Farndon, M., Meier, E., Stevens, L., Liu, H., & Sun, C. (2019). Mesocellular silica foam supported polyamine adsorbents for dry CO2 scrubbing: Performance of single versus blended polyamines for impregnation. Applied Energy, 255, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.113643

© 2019 Elsevier Ltd Siliceous foams with three-dimensional mesoporous structures were synthesised and used to prepare polyethyleneimine (PEI) and tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA)-functionalised sorbent materials for CO2 capture, with a particular focus... Read More about Mesocellular silica foam supported polyamine adsorbents for dry CO2 scrubbing: Performance of single versus blended polyamines for impregnation.

Shale gas reserve evaluation by laboratory pyrolysis and gas holding capacity consistent with field data (2019)
Journal Article
Whitelaw, P., Uguna, C. N., Stevens, L. A., Meredith, W., Snape, C. E., Vane, C. H., …Carr, A. D. (2019). Shale gas reserve evaluation by laboratory pyrolysis and gas holding capacity consistent with field data. Nature Communications, 10(1), Article 3659. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-11653-4

Exploration for shale gas occurs in onshore basins, with two approaches used to predict the maximum gas in place (GIP) in the absence of production data. The first estimates adsorbed plus free gas held within pore space, and the second measures gas y... Read More about Shale gas reserve evaluation by laboratory pyrolysis and gas holding capacity consistent with field data.

Developing a sustainable route to environmentally relevant metal-organic frameworks: ultra-rapid synthesis of MFM-300(Al) using microwave heating (2019)
Journal Article
Thomas-Hillman, I., Stevens, L. A., Lange, M., Möllmer, J., Lewis, W., Dodds, C., …Laybourn, A. (2019). Developing a sustainable route to environmentally relevant metal-organic frameworks: ultra-rapid synthesis of MFM-300(Al) using microwave heating. Green Chemistry, 21(18), 5039-5045. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9gc02375e

NO2, SO2 and CO2 are major air pollutants causing significant environmental and health problems. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), in particular [Al2(OH)2(C16O8H6)](H2O)6 (trivial names: NOTT-300/MFM-300(Al)), have shown great promise for capturing th... Read More about Developing a sustainable route to environmentally relevant metal-organic frameworks: ultra-rapid synthesis of MFM-300(Al) using microwave heating.

Formation of Metallurgical Coke within Minutes through Coal Densification and Microwave Energy (2019)
Journal Article
Williams, O., Ure, A., Stevens, L., Binner, E., Dodds, C., Kingman, S., …Lester, E. (2019). Formation of Metallurgical Coke within Minutes through Coal Densification and Microwave Energy. Energy and Fuels, 33(7), 6817-6828. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.9b00511

This paper shows how feedstock densification gives rise to a step change in the time required to create a metallurgical grade coke using microwave energy. Five densified coking and non-coking coals were heated in a multi-mode microwave 2450 MHz cavit... Read More about Formation of Metallurgical Coke within Minutes through Coal Densification and Microwave Energy.

Fast regeneration of activated carbons saturated with textile dyes: Textural, thermal and dielectric characterization (2019)
Journal Article
Durán-Jiménez, G., Stevens, L. A., Hodgins, G. R., Uguna, J., Ryan, J., Binner, E. R., & Robinson, J. P. (2019). Fast regeneration of activated carbons saturated with textile dyes: Textural, thermal and dielectric characterization. Chemical Engineering Journal, 378, Article 121774. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2019.05.135

This study presents an investigation for comparing the regeneration process of two activated carbons saturated with Basic Blue 9 (BB9) and Acid Blue 93 (AB93) using conventional (250–500 °C) and microwave heating (100–300 W). The effect of the textil... Read More about Fast regeneration of activated carbons saturated with textile dyes: Textural, thermal and dielectric characterization.

Continuous testing of silica-PEI adsorbents in a lab.-scale twin bubbling fluidized-bed system (2019)
Journal Article
Kim, J., Woo, J., Jo, S., Lee, S., Moon, J., Kim, H., …Park, Y. C. (2019). Continuous testing of silica-PEI adsorbents in a lab.-scale twin bubbling fluidized-bed system. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 82, 184-191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2019.01.007

In this study, a lab.-scale twin bubbling fluidized-bed system (TBS) has been used continuously to test the performance for CO2 adsorption of silica-PEI (S.PEI) adsorbents, containing 40 wt.% of PEI, which were supplied by the University of Nottingha... Read More about Continuous testing of silica-PEI adsorbents in a lab.-scale twin bubbling fluidized-bed system.

Synthesis and functionalisation of spherical meso-, hybrid meso/macro- and macro-porous cellular silica foam materials with regulated pore sizes for CO2 capture (2018)
Journal Article
Sun, Y., Liu, X., Sun, C., Meng, Y., Al-Sarraf, W., Foo, K. Z., …Liu, H. (2018). Synthesis and functionalisation of spherical meso-, hybrid meso/macro- and macro-porous cellular silica foam materials with regulated pore sizes for CO2 capture. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2018(46), 23587-23601. https://doi.org/10.1039/C8TA06224B

A variety of meso, meso/macro and macro-structured siliceous cellular foam (SCFs) materials have been tailor-designed and fabricated from using a modified microemulsion templating methodology with trimethyl benzene (TMB) as the pore expander and Plu... Read More about Synthesis and functionalisation of spherical meso-, hybrid meso/macro- and macro-porous cellular silica foam materials with regulated pore sizes for CO2 capture.

Microwave synthesis of carbon onions in fractal aggregates using heavy oil as a precursor (2018)
Journal Article
Adam, M., Hart, A., Stevens, L. A., Wood, J., Robinson, J. P., & Rigby, S. P. (2018). Microwave synthesis of carbon onions in fractal aggregates using heavy oil as a precursor. Carbon, 138, 427-435. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2018.07.066

In this work we report a method for preparing carbon onions through microwave heating of heavy oil. It was shown that microwave heating of heavy oil mixed with a carbon catalyst at 300 W leads to the growth of a several-centimetre long fractal carbon... Read More about Microwave synthesis of carbon onions in fractal aggregates using heavy oil as a precursor.

Understanding the unusual fluidity characteristics of high ash Indian bituminous coals (2018)
Journal Article
Das, B., Suresh, A., Dash, P., Chandran, S., Castro-Díaz, M., Stevens, L. A., & Snape, C. E. (2018). Understanding the unusual fluidity characteristics of high ash Indian bituminous coals. Fuel Processing Technology, 176, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuproc.2018.04.003

High-temperature rheometry and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) are two complementary techniques that have been used to investigate fluidity development quantitatively in the < 53 µm and 53-212 µm size fractions of high ash Indian non-coking coals... Read More about Understanding the unusual fluidity characteristics of high ash Indian bituminous coals.

High density and super ultra-microporous-activated carbon macrospheres with high volumetric capacity for CO2 capture (2017)
Journal Article
Liu, J., Liu, X., Sun, Y., Sun, C., Liu, H., Stevens, L. A., …Snape, C. E. (in press). High density and super ultra-microporous-activated carbon macrospheres with high volumetric capacity for CO2 capture. Advanced Sustainable Systems, 2(2), https://doi.org/10.1002/adsu.201700115

Activated carbon (AC) spheres with a diameter of 1.0–2.0 mm are synthesized from coal tar pitch for postcombustion carbon capture. The as-prepared AC macrospheres after KOH activation are found to possess extraordinarily developed microporosity of wh... Read More about High density and super ultra-microporous-activated carbon macrospheres with high volumetric capacity for CO2 capture.

Determination of pore network accessibility in hierarchical porous solids (2017)
Journal Article
Rigby, S. P., Hasan, M., Stevens, L., Williams, H. E., & Fletcher, R. S. (2017). Determination of pore network accessibility in hierarchical porous solids. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 56(50), 14822-14831. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.iecr.7b04659

This paper validates the hypothesis that the supposedly non-specific adsorbates nitrogen and argon wet heavy metals differently, and shows how this unexpected effect can be actively utilised to deliver information on pore inter-connectivity. To explo... Read More about Determination of pore network accessibility in hierarchical porous solids.

Fly ash-derived MCM-41 as a low-cost silica support for polyethyleneimine in post-combustion CO2 capture (2017)
Journal Article
Panek, R., Wdowin, M., Franus, W., Czarna, D., Stevens, L., Deng, H., …Snape, C. E. (2017). Fly ash-derived MCM-41 as a low-cost silica support for polyethyleneimine in post-combustion CO2 capture. Journal of Co2 Utilization, 22, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcou.2017.09.015

The mesoporous silicate molecular sieve, MCM-41, has been synthesized from pulverized coal fly ash (PFA), where the silicate filtrate used is a by-product from hydrothermal zeolite production. Rice husk ash was also used for comparison but fusion wit... Read More about Fly ash-derived MCM-41 as a low-cost silica support for polyethyleneimine in post-combustion CO2 capture.

Evaluation of hydrochars from lignin hydrous pyrolysis to produce biocokes after carbonization (2016)
Journal Article
Castro-Díaz, M., Uguna, C. N., Florentino, L., Díaz-Faes, E., Stevens, L., Barriocanal, C., & Snape, C. (2017). Evaluation of hydrochars from lignin hydrous pyrolysis to produce biocokes after carbonization. Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis, 124, 742-751. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaap.2016.11.010

Hydrochars were obtained after hydrous pyrolysis of a pine Kraft lignin using different reaction conditions (temperature, water content and residence time) and the residues were characterized through a wide range of analytical techniques including hi... Read More about Evaluation of hydrochars from lignin hydrous pyrolysis to produce biocokes after carbonization.

Ni Mg Mixed Metal Oxides for p-Type Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (2015)
Journal Article
Zannotti, M., Wood, C. J., Summers, G. H., Stevens, L. A., Hall, M. R., Snape, C. E., …Gibson, E. A. (2015). Ni Mg Mixed Metal Oxides for p-Type Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 7(44), 24556-24565. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.5b06170

Mg Ni mixed metal oxide photocathodes have been prepared by a mixed NiCl2/MgCl2 sol-gel process. The MgO/NiO electrodes have been extensively characterized using physical and electrochemical methods. Dye-sensitized solar cells have been prepared from... Read More about Ni Mg Mixed Metal Oxides for p-Type Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells.

Insights into the influence of the cooling profile on the reconstitution times of amorphous lyophilized protein formulations (2015)
Journal Article
Beech, K. E., Biddlecombe, J. G., van der Walle, C. F., Stevens, L. A., Rigby, S. P., Burley, J. C., …Allena, S. (2015). Insights into the influence of the cooling profile on the reconstitution times of amorphous lyophilized protein formulations. European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics, 96, 247-254. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpb.2015.07.029

Lyophilized protein formulations must be reconstituted back into solution prior to patient administration and in this regard long reconstitution times are not ideal. The factors that govern reconstitution time remain poorly understood. The aim of thi... Read More about Insights into the influence of the cooling profile on the reconstitution times of amorphous lyophilized protein formulations.

Hygrothermal simulation-informed design of mesoporous desiccants for optimised energy efficiency of mixed mode air conditioning systems (2015)
Journal Article
Sarce Thomann, F., Hall, M. R., Mokaya, R., & Stevens, L. A. (2015). Hygrothermal simulation-informed design of mesoporous desiccants for optimised energy efficiency of mixed mode air conditioning systems. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 3(33), 17290-17303. https://doi.org/10.1039/c5ta05162b

© The Royal Society of Chemistry. This paper describes an optimization technique using hygrothermal numerical modelling to determine an ideal and unknown isotherm in order to inform the design of optimised mesoporous desiccants. Their suitability for... Read More about Hygrothermal simulation-informed design of mesoporous desiccants for optimised energy efficiency of mixed mode air conditioning systems.

Experimental study of mercury removal from exhaust gases (2014)
Journal Article
Wdowin, M., Wiatros-Motyka, M. M., Panek, R., Stevens, L. A., Franus, W., & Snape, C. E. (2014). Experimental study of mercury removal from exhaust gases. Fuel, 128, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2014.03.041

An initial study has been made of the use of synthetic zeolites for mercury capture from exhaust gases. Synthetic zeolites (Na-X and Na-P1), and for comparison a natural zeolite (clinoptilolite) and activated carbon with bromine (AC/Br) were tested f... Read More about Experimental study of mercury removal from exhaust gases.

'Dry bases': Carbon dioxide capture using alkaline dry water (2014)
Journal Article
Dawson, R., Stevens, L. A., Williams, O. S., Wang, W., Carter, B. O., Sutton, S., …Cooper, A. I. (2014). 'Dry bases': Carbon dioxide capture using alkaline dry water. Energy and Environmental Science, 7(5), 1786-1791. https://doi.org/10.1039/c3ee44124e

An alkaline form of 'dry water' - a 'dry base' - is prepared by the high-speed mixing of aqueous solutions of metal carbonates or organic amines with hydrophobic silica nanoparticles. Despite being mostly water, the dry base looks and flows like a po... Read More about 'Dry bases': Carbon dioxide capture using alkaline dry water.