Feng Ju

The simultaneous stabilization of Cu, Ni, Pb, and As in sustainable environmental development remains a significant challenge in heavy metal remediation. In this paper, liquid phase equilibrium experiments have evaluated the immobilization efficiency of 20 potential stabilization materials. Soil stabilization experiments, material characterization, and long-term effectiveness assessments have been performed to investigate the efficient composite stabilization agent and its underlying mechanisms. Results demonstrate that seven materials, including calcium oxide (CaO) and hydroxyapatite (HAP), exhibit multi-metal immobilization capabilities. Among single-material stabilization in soil, HAP for Pb, zero-valent iron (ZVI) for As, and blast furnace slag (BFS) for Cu exhibit prominent stabilization efficiency, yet they cannot efficiently stabilize the four heavy metals simultaneously. Subsequently, the ZVI:BFS:CaO composite agent (6:3:1 mass ratio, 10% addition rate) has been proposed by formulation optimization, achieving remarkable stabilization rates: 99.92% for Cu, 96.16% for Ni, 92.06% for Pb, and 99.58% for As. XRD, XPS, and SEM-EDS analyses confirm that the stabilization occurs through synergistic mechanisms including precipitation, complexation, and lattice encapsulation. The composite stabilizing agent withstood 15 wet–dry and 150 freeze–thaw cycles, with four types of heavy metals stabilization rates > 60%, confirming its long-term effectiveness.

Fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) is the major process for heavy oil conversion in current refineries and is explored for the intake of renewable feedstocks, like biomass and plastic waste. Due to coke deposition, FCC catalysts undergo continuous reaction‐regeneration cycles. However, many gas pollutants are generated in the FCC regeneration process, and their emission characteristics and formation mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, we conducted stack tests of three industrial FCC units to monitor pollutant emissions. The spent catalysts were characterized to identify the carbon deposits formed. We developed a method to correlate the decomposition of carbon deposits and the formation of gas pollutants in regeneration experiments using in situ Raman spectroscopy, operando FT‐IR spectroscopy, and online gas‐phase FT‐IR spectroscopy. The evolution of coke species is significantly influenced by the oxygen content of the regeneration gas, leading to differences in emission concentration and formation temperature of various gas pollutants. The experimental results are compared with density functional theory (DFT) calculations to explain the formation of the major gas pollutants. This work is expected to advance pollutant emission prediction and control in FCC regeneration, thereby laying the foundation of future work in which different fossil‐based and renewable feedstock compositions can be compared, including their effect on gas pollutant formation.

Selective conversion of methane to carbon‐based compounds is promising but currently limited by issues related to scale. Unraveling the interconnected relationships between products selectivity and methane conversion plays a pivotal role in understanding of this complex process. In this work, a knowledge graph (KG) is constructed for methane conversion with the help of a robust large language model basing on the literature reported methane conversion over different catalysts under various conditions. This KG, structured around 11 entity types and 32 relationship types, allows to effectively analyze advancements in methane conversion – including identifying optimal catalytic processes, evaluating reaction conditions, and tracking development trends. A deep neural network analysis of the KG highlighted catalysts with metal active sites and multifunctional supports as particularly effective for methanol production under conditions suitable for industrial‐scale applications. These findings provide valuable insights for targeted catalyst development and industrial applications.

Emerging pollutants (EPs) associated with the petroleum industry present considerable challenges to environmental management and sustainable development. To support sustainable development and improve the control of EPs in the petroleum industry, this review systematically examines the functional uses of EPs as chemical additives across the entire petroleum supply chain—from extraction and transportation to refining and product blending. It also summarizes the environmental emissions, health impacts, mitigation strategies, and current regulatory frameworks of EPs. In addition, some challenges have been found, namely unclear data on EPs in chemical additives, insufficient attention to high-risk areas, undefined health risks of mixing EPs, lack of green assessment of alternative technologies, and regional policy disparities, which collectively hinder the effective prevention and management ofEPs. In response, we propose future perspectives including enhanced screening and substitution of high-EP-risk additives, development of source-specific fingerprinting techniques, expanded monitoring of mixed contaminants and understudied regions, accelerated deployment of green technologies, and strengthened global cooperation under sustainability-oriented governance frameworks. This study underscores the necessity of integrated, science-based approaches to align petroleum industry practices with global sustainability goals. This review underscores the critical need for a proactive and integrated approach toward the sustainable development of the petroleum industry through the control of and reduction in EPs.

Nonylphenols (NPs), widely used as emulsifiers in petroleum production and refining, are compounds of environmental concern, with endocrine-disrupting effects. They can be released during oil extraction and processing, carried into petroleum products, and subsequently emitted during downstream applications such as combustion. Despite these potential pathways, information on their occurrence in petroleum streams remains limited, partly due to the lack of reliable methods for measuring NPs in complex petroleum matrices. In this study, we developed an analytical method combining normal-phase chromatography (NPC), solid-phase extraction (SPE), and liquid chromatography–Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC–Orbitrap-HRMS) for NP determination in crude oils and petroleum products. NPC was performed using alumina (5% water deactivation) as the stationary phase. The column was eluted sequentially with n-hexane, n-hexane/dichloromethane (4:1 and 1:1, v/v), dichloromethane, and dichloromethane/methanol (2:1, v/v). The first three fractions were discarded, and the remaining two fractions were combined and further purified using a C₁₈ SPE cartridge to analysis. The method showed high recovery (82.8 ± 2.6%) and a low detection limit (1.0 ng/g) in crude oil. Application revealed widespread occurrence of NPs, with concentrations up to 784.4 ng/g in crude oils and up to 439.1 ng/g in refined fuels, indicating that these compounds can persist through refining and may be released during downstream use. These results demonstrate that the method is suitable for the routine monitoring of NPs in petroleum-related samples and provide a practical tool for supporting sustainable refining practices and improved environmental management in the upstream oil and gas sector.

Traditional designs often ignore the effect of catalyst particle shape, which suffers from capturing detailed local flow hydrodynamics, mass transport and reaction behaviors, and further significantly affects reactor phenomena. This study aims to perform particle-resolved computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to investigate the influence of operating conditions and various catalyst particle shapes on fixed-bed reactor performance. Three important industrial reaction systems, including methanol to dimethyl ether, CO₂ hydrogenation to methanol, and levulinic acid esterification, are discussed in fixed-bed reactors. The numerical results demonstrate that reactor performance varies from the important interactive contributions of hydrodynamics characteristics and reaction behaviors. Specifically, exothermic reactions such as methanol to dimethyl ether and CO₂ hydrogenation to methanol are characterized by a gradual increase in temperature along the reactor height, while endothermic reactions such as valeric acid esterification exhibit a gradual decrease in temperature along the reactor height. For the methanol to dimethyl ether system, the increase in operating temperature leads to a decrease in axial methanol concentration, as well as an improvement in axial dimethyl ether concentration. However, the change in methanol molar concentration has little influence on its conversion. Furthermore, reactor phenomena strongly vary from the different catalyst shapes. The numerical results demonstrate that the fixed bed with hollow cylinders facilitates a more uniform flow distribution, whereas the fixed bed with solid cylinders achieves higher conversion rates within a specific temperature range (483.15 K to 523.15 K). This research provides valuable insights for fixed-bed reactor optimized design, emphasizing the need for precise control over temperature, feed rate, and catalyst configuration to improve reactant conversion in industrial applications.

Single-atom catalyst technology with near-100% atomic utilization and a well-defined coordination structure has provided new ideas for designing high-performance photocatalysts, which is also beneficial for reducing the usage of noble metal cocatalysts. Herein, a series of single-atomic MoS₂-based cocatalysts where monoatomic Ru, Co, or Ni modify MoS₂ (SA-MoS₂) for enhancing the photocatalytic hydrogen production performance of g-C₃N₄ nanosheets (NSs) are rationally designed and synthesized. The 2D SA-MoS₂/g-C₃N₄ photocatalysts with Ru, Co, or Ni single atoms show similar enhanced photocatalytic activity, and the optimized Ru₁-MoS₂/g-C₃N₄ photocatalyst has the highest hydrogen production rate of 11115 μmol/h/g, which is about 37 and 5 times higher than that of pure g-C₃N₄ and MoS₂/g-C₃N₄ photocatalysts, respectively. Experimental and density functional theory calculation results reveal that the enhanced photocatalytic performance is mainly attributed to the synergistic effect and intimate interface between SA-MoS₂ with well-defined coordination single-atomic structures and g-C₃N₄ NSs, which is conducive to the rapid interfacial charge transport, and the unique single-atomic structure of SA-MoS₂ with modified electronic structure and appropriate hydrogen adsorption performance offers abundant reactive sites for enhancing the photocatalytic hydrogen production performance. This work provides new insight into improving the cocatalytic hydrogen production performance of MoS₂ by a single-atomic strategy.