Rebirth of wasted agro-matters

Description :

Context and objectives

Facing the important global warming, the exhaustion of crude materials and oil and the over-consumption of energy, new materials with advanced properties and new concepts in the recyclization of wasted by-products can be the driving force and the motor to find some issues of these important challenges of our modern society and human life.
Vietnam is well recognized as one of important agricultural countries with a huge production of rice and vegetable oil. With the introduction of new technologies and new agricultural methodologies, the agricultural production has received a great jump. However, this high production speed is also accompanied by the generation of a huge quantity of wastes and by-products. Although these agro-wastes can be used for the energy production by combustion, most part of these agro-wastes are not efficiently and economically used from the scientific point of view. Instead of being wasted, rice husk (rich in carbon and silica) and vegetable oil sludge could be the useful starting materials to create new silica and carbon based nanostructures and green fuels like diesel. The development of new preparation method to generate new nanomaterials and green fuels from rice husk and vegetable oil sludge, respectively, can not only resolve the serious environmental problem, but also to generate new nanomaterials and green fuels to render these wastes of agro-products useful.
The present project deals with the development of new chemical methods to prepare silica and carbon based nanostructures as catalysts and adsorbents and to produce green fuels (diesel) by using wasted agro-products such as rice husk and vegetable oil sludge as sources, respectively.
Through this joint scientific research project, a Belgo-Vietnamese network of excellence in the field of Nanomaterials, catalysis and purification for the realization of joint innovative scientific projects could be constructed.

Methodology

This project focuses thus on three important aspects with the combination of the strong expertise in the preparation of nanomaterials of Belgian partner and those in the purification and catalysis of Viet Namese partners. The recycle of wasted agro-matters to generate new nanomaterials and biofuels from rice husk and vegetable oil sludge is main objective. The prepared nanomaterials can be used as catalysts and adsorbents for the green diesel production and the concentration of alcohols. The project will have the following methodology:

1). Extraction of silica and carbon from the wasted agro-products such as rice husk by physico-chemical techniques; 2)Utilisation of the carbon and silica extracted from rice husk as starting chemical sources and precursors for the conception of new silica and carbon based nanomaterials;
3). Synthesis of nanomaterials directly from rice husk as silica and carbon precursors;
4). Modification and functionalization of these new nanostructures;
5). Application of these modified and functionalized nanostructures as catalysts for the conversion of another waste of agro-matters, vegetable oil sludge to green fuels (biodiesel) by thermal, pyrolysis and catalytic cracking reactions.
6). Application of these modified and functionalized as selective adsorbents for the concentration of alcohols.

Documentation :

• Project Fiche
  

Rebirth of wasted agro-matters: New silica and carbon based nanomaterials prepared from rice husk as catalysts for the conversion of vegetable oil sludge to green fuels (biodiesel) and as adsorbent for the concentration of alcohols : final report  Su, Bao-Lian  Brussels : Federal Science Policy, 2013 (SP2550)
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