Facing the major national strategic demands, the aim of the division is to accelerate research on the clean and efficient conversion of solid fuels (coal, biomass, oil shale, etc.), the resource utilization of urban and agricultural and forestry wastes, and basic research and technological development of catalytic conversion and pollutant control technology, as well as reactor design and exclusive instrument development. 

In 2021, the division has published 40 articles and applied for 18 invention patents. It has undertaken projects including National Natural Science Foundation of China, Major R&D project of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences Strategic Leading Science and Technology Project and Enterprise entrustment. 

The research on resource utilization of municipal/industrial sludge and high-value application of products has been carried out. The team developed a key technology of directional regulation and preparation of highly selective mesoporous biochar functional materials, and produced the sludge based biochar (SBC) material on a self-developed sludge carbonization device. At present, the sideline scale-up test of SBC adsorption for advanced treatment of coking wastewater had been successfully completed, which provides a way to solvent the problem of sludge resource utilization.

Fig. 1 Device of advanced treatment for coking wastewater by SBC adsorption

 According to National Directory of Hazardous Waste, spend activated carbon (AC) is hazardous waste materials and the harmless treatment of spend AC is necessary. Spend AC can be recycled and the value of spend AC can be improved by regeneration. The pilot-scale (1000 ton/a) regeneration of spend AC was carried out. Compared with the traditional regeneration technology, the iodine value of regenerated AC was improved by 50% and the BET surface area of regenerated AC is higher than 1500 m²/g by new technology. A demonstration project (80000 ton/a) for the regeneration of spend AC is under way.

Fig. 2  The BET surface area of regenerated activated carbon (AC)

The group has developed the structured DeNO_x products for flue gas purification with wide temperature of 200-400^oC, which have been widely applied in the industry of steel, coking, glass, etc. Great industry impact has been achieved with building more man 100 sets of industrial equipment and obtaining gross output of over 400 billion RMB, and this achievement won the first prize for technological invention award of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation in 2020. In addition, the group further developed the multifunctional (de-NO_x, de-SO_x, dedusting, and de-dioxins) catalytic tube/bag filter by combining their nanocatalyst derived from solvent-thermal reaction with the tube/bag filter, and 20 sets of industrial equipment with the catalytic tube/bag filter have been built for the integrated flue gas purification in the glass kiln, biomass boiler, steel rotary bottom furnace, aluminium smelting furnace, etc., which have been industrialized by Nanjing Chibo Environmental Protection Technology Co., LTD and Zhejiang Hongsheng Environmental Protection Technology Group Co. LTD.

Fig. 3 Multifunctional catalytic tube/bag filter and demonstration project

 Multi-scale simulation strategy has been developed to systematically investigate the complex rheological behavior of granular materials in moving beds during the discharge process. The underlying mechanisms of the spatial-temporal correlations of granular motion are uncovered, and solutions to the non-uniform and/or unsteady flow of particles and the relevant safety issues due to the resultant stress impact are proposed. This research has provided a solid guidance to the design of novel moving bed reactor and is highly confirmed by our cooperative partner SINOPEC Research Institute of Petroleum Processing.