Chemical Engineering June 2023 - 6

the adsorption energy of
molecules on surfaces is
important for estimating
catalyst performance.
This is normally done
using density functional
theory (DFT). However,
for large organic molecules,
like those in plastics
and biomass, this
cannot be done.
To address this issue,
scientists
from the Institute
of Chemical Research
of Catalonia (ICIQCERCA)
of the Barcelona
Institute of Science and
Technology (Tarragona,
Spain; www.iciq.es), in
collaboration with researchers
from The Matter
Lab at the University of
Toronto, have created a
new model called GAMENet,
a graph neural network
(GNN) that rapidly
evaluates adsorption
energy when molecules
attach to surfaces. On a
laptop computer, GAMENet
can quickly make
chemical predictions that
would otherwise have to
be simulated for days by
DFT on a supercomputer.
Trained on a diverse
of small- and
dataset
medium-sized molecules
that containe functional
groups, the GAME-Net
model achieves a mean
absolute error (MAE) of
0.17 eV on the test set
and is six-orders-ofmagnitude
faster than
DFT. When applied to
biomass (wood) and
plastic molecules with up
to 30 atoms, the model
predicts adsorption energies
with a MAE of 0.016
eV/atom. The new tool
is described in a recent
issue of Nature Computational
Science.
CELLULOSIC SUGAR
www.toray.
Toray Industries, Inc.
(Tokyo;
com) and Mitsui DM
Sugar Co., Ltd. (www.
msdm-hd.com)
have
demonstrated a way to
manufacture sugar derived
from inedible biomass,
such as bagasse
(a pulpy residue from
sugarcane processing),
(Continues on p. 8)
6
Spinning reactor recovers metals from
spent Li-ion batteries
R
ecycling lithium batteries (LIBs)
requires extensive use of hydrometallurgy,
which requires multiple
steps of extraction-stripping processes,
each requiring separate reactors
and different parameters. Although there
have been attempts to devise a single-step,
one-pot solution by partitioning the reactor
using membranes, these efforts have failed
in larger reactors, mostly due to membrane
failures, especially under strong stirring.
To address this issue, an interdisciplinary
research group, led by professor Bartosz A.
Grzybowski at the Center of Soft and Living
Matter within the Institute for Basic Science
(IBS; Daejeon, South Korea; www.ibs.re.kr),
reported a new method for recycling valuable
metals such as lithium, nickel
and cobalt, from spent lithiumion
batteries. Grzybowski's
group has applied its spinning
" concentric liquid reactors, " to
simplify the extraction-stripping
process for LIB recycling. The
study is described in a recent
issue of Advanced Materials.
The horizontally rotating reactor
(diagram), which was
designed by co-author Olgierd
Cybulski, can process complex
metal mixtures in which aqueous
feed, organic extractant
and aqueous acceptor phases
are all present in the same rotating vessel.
Unlike the one-pot setups that use membranes,
this reactor can be vigorously stirred
and emulsified without the coalescence of
aqueous layers. The arrangement of higherpH
" feed, " organic extractant ( " shuttle " ), and
lower-pH " acceptor " phases is maintained
by placing all these liquids in a rotating vessel
in a way that they form concentric layers stable
enough to allow efficient interfacial mixing,
but without coalescing the aqueous layers.
" The technology is also forward-looking
in the sense that, as we show, it is tunable
to different " feed " metal compositions and of
course, to metals other than those used in
batteries, " says Grzybowski.
Institute for Basic Science
A hydrogen-fired furnace for ceramics
T
his month, a demonstration experiment
will begin on a new firing
furnace for ceramics that is being
developed by NGK Insulators, Ltd.
(NGK; www.ngk.co.jp). The furnace is fired
with hydrogen instead of fossil fuels, thereby
reducing CO2 emissions.
H2-fired combustion furnaces for ceramics
have not yet been put to practical use,
but NGK has been conducting hydrogen
flame-evaluation tests in a test furnace installed
at its headquarters since January
2022. The company is striving for a firing
furnace with high temperatures and excellent
temperature uniformity. A new firing
furnace (7-m wide, 2-m deep and 4-m
high) developed by NGK will be installed at
the hydrogen-combustion test field located
at the Technical Research Institute (in Tokai
City) of Toho Gas Co., Ltd. to develop a hydrogen
regenerative burner for mass-production
facilities. The regenerative burner
performs both combustion and exhaust
through internal ceramic heat storage. By
alternating, at set intervals, between combustion
and exhaust, the exhaust heat from
the combustion gas is recovered through
the heat storage and is reused to preheat
the combustion air, resulting in high thermal
efficiency. The new furnace is expected to
save approximately 50% of energy requirements
compared to
conventional
burners.
The H2-combustion field test will enable
burner endurance measurements to
be conducted at temperatures of 1,400-
1,600°C - some of the highest temperatures
used for firing of ceramics - and will
enable the evaluation and verification of
high-performance ceramic products fired
for long periods of time.
With the new demonstration tests begun
thin month, NGK aims to establish hydrogencombustion
technology for mass production
by 2025, with the introduction to the domestic
and overseas mass-production facilities
from 2030. NGK aims to reduce CO2 emissions
by approximately 300,000 ton/yr and
achieve net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
JUNE 2023
http://www.iciq.es http://www.ibs.re.kr http://www.ngk.co.jp http://www.toray.com http://www.toray.com http://www.msdm-hd.com http://WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
Chemical Engineering June 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering June 2023
