Thermal Pyrolysis of Used Lubricant and Cooking Oil Mixtures

Pyrolysis is the one solution to recycle hydrocarbon-based waste material such as used lubricant and cooking oil. The aim of this research was to determine the effect of temperature and sample ratio on the liquid yields of a mixture of used lubricant and cooking oil. The semibatch reactor was used with a constant nitrogen flow rate of 5 mL/min. Three different ratios of sample mixture were applied in this experiment: 0.5:1, 1:1, and 1.5:1, and three different temperatures: 4000C, 4500C, and 5000C. The thermal pyrolysis of a mixture of used lubricant and cooking oil was deemed as the most effective pyrolysis to produce liquid fraction was obtained from reaction condition with the sample mixture ratio of 0.5:1 at 5000C. At this reaction condition, the liquid yields was 58.90% which consist of 64.12% were C1-C3 and 29.54% were C5-C15. Liquid fraction is predicted to increase as the temperature increase and the ratio of used lubricant to cooking oil decrease. When the ratio is increased , more gas fraction is produced.

Periodic Polymerization and the Generation of Polymer Giant Vesicles Autonomously Driven by pH Oscillatory Chemistry

Using the radicals generated during pH oscillations, a semibatch pH oscillator is used as the chemical fuel and engine to drive polymerization induced self-assembly (PISA) for the one-pot autonomous synthesis of functional giant vesicles. Vesicles with diameters ranging from sub-micron to ∼5 µm are generated. Radical formation is found to be switched ON/OFF and be autonomously controlled by the pH oscillator itself, inducing a periodic polymerization process. The mechanism underlying these complex processes is studied and compared to conventional (non-oscillatory) initiation by the same redox pair. The pH oscillations along with the continuous increase in salt concentration in the semibatch reactor make the self-assembled objects undergo morphological evolution. This process provides a self-regulated means for the synthesis of soft giant polymersomes and opens the door for new applications of pH oscillators in a variety of contexts, from the exploration of new geochemical scenarios for the origin of life and the autonomous emergence of the necessary free-energy and proton gradients, to the creation of active functional microreactors and programmable release of cargo molecules for pH-responsive materials.