Sulfate ester modified cellulose nanofibers having an average fiber diameter in the range of 1 nm to 500 nm, and having sulfate ester modified hydroxyl groups on surfaces of the cellulose nanofibers. A method of producing cellulose nanofibers that are nanosized, that have a high crystallinity degree, and that have large aspect ratios, the method being a chemical method that does not require any physical pulverization, that is energy-saving, and that can be performed under mild reaction conditions. A method of producing modified cellulose nanofibers including modifying the surfaces of the cellulose nanofibers through esterification or urethanization. A method of producing cellulose nanofibers includes impregnating cellulose with a fibrillation solution containing dimethylsulfoxide, at least one carboxylic acid anhydride selected from acetic anhydride and propionic anhydride, and sulfuric acid to fibrillate the cellulose.

A product includes an aerogel having a single bulk structure, the single bulk structure having at least one dimension greater than 10 millimeters. The single bulk structure includes a plurality of pores, where each pore has a largest diameter defined as a greatest distance between pore walls of the respective pore. In addition, an average of the largest diameters of a majority of the pores is within a specified range, and the plurality of pores are distributed substantially homogenously throughout the single bulk structure.

A method of forming high molecular weight (“HMW”) coal tar can include combining supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO.sub.2) and an amount of coal tar, and fractionating the amount of coal tar to form the HMW coal tar. The method can further include forming the amount of coal tar from coal. Forming the amount of coal tar from coal can include extracting the coal tar from an amount of coal using sCO.sub.2.

The present invention relates to cross-linked and recyclable nanocompounds obtained by in situ terminal treatment of raw carbonaceous materials, including charcoal, tar, activated carbon, pyrolytic carbon, coke, graphite or others having conductive structures, including graphite, graphene, different carbon nanotubes, fullerenes or a combination thereof or their derivatives, and a polymer capable of dispersing and reversibly stabilising said components, having viscous or fluid behaviour below 200° C., and may have pendant groups acting as diene or dienophile, including furan-functionalised aliphatic polyketones, furan-functionalised polyesters, ethylene rubber with propylene functionalised with furan groups or a combination thereof. Derived materials, method of obtainment and their uses as a thermostable, thermoreversible, thermoadhesive, thermoconductive, electroconductive, self-repairing additive or matrix capable of converting electricity into heat or a combination thereof and in self-assembling or self-repairing, thermoconductive, electroconductive materials capable of converting electricity into heat or a combination thereof.

The polishing particles of the present disclosure has controlled particle size and particle size distribution of cerium oxide particles comprised in the polishing particles, and thereby can suppress the formation of a scratch which may occur in a polishing process while having a characteristic of a high polishing rate.

Processes for producing alcohols from biomass are provided. The processes utilize supercritical methanol to depolymerize biomass with subsequent conversion to a mixture of alcohols. In particular the disclosure relates to continuous processes which produce high yields of alcohols through recycling gases and further employ dual reactor configurations which improve overall alcohol yields. Processes for producing higher ethers and olefins from the so-formed alcohols, through alcohol coupling and subsequent dehydration are also provided. The resulting distillate range ethers and olefins are useful as components in liquid fuels, such as diesel and jet fuel.

Provided is a boron nitride powder having excellent adhesion to a resin. The boron nitride powder has a hexagonal structure, has a carboxyl group present on a surface of the boron nitride powder, and has a molar ratio of carboxyl group to nitrogen atom of 0.001 or more on a surface of the boron nitride powder.

Disclosed is a method of decontamination by exposing a zirconium oxy(hydroxide) aerogel to a liquid, vapor, or gaseous sample suspected of containing a phosphonate compound. The aerogel may be doped with Fe.sup.3+ ions, Ce.sup.3+ ions, or SO.sub.4.sup.2− ions. The aerogel may be made by: providing a solution of ZrCl.sub.4; FeCl.sub.3, CeCl.sub.3, or Zr(SO.sub.4).sub.2; and a solvent; adding a cyclic ether to the solution to form a gel; infiltrating the gel with liquid carbon dioxide; applying a temperature and pressure to form supercritical fluid carbon dioxide; and removing the carbon dioxide for form an aerogel.

A process for treating a feed oil in the presence of in situ produced catalyst particles comprising the steps of mixing the supercritical water feed with the pressurized precursor solution in a catalyst mixer to produce a supercritical water stream; withdrawing the supercritical water stream to a process line, where the catalyst precursor is converted to catalyst particles in the process line; mixing the supercritical water stream and the hot oil stream in the mixer to produce a mixed stream; introducing the mixed stream to a reactor; processing the heavy oil in the reactor in the presence of the catalyst particles to produce a reactor effluent; reducing a temperature of the reactor effluent to produce a cooled effluent; reducing a pressure of the cooled effluent to produce a depressurized effluent; and separating the depressurized effluent to produce a product gas, a product oil, and a product water.

A supercritical water oxidation vortex reactor has a reactor shell configured to contain a pressurized and heated material including water, a burner assembly configured to create a supercritical core region in the material in the reactor shell, the supercritical core region including water above its critical point, an injector assembly configured to inject into the enclosed volume a subcritical wash stream including water below its critical point and an aspirator arranged in the enclosed volume and configured to remove a processed flow including purified water from an upper portion of the supercritical core region. The supercritical water oxidation vortex reactor is configured with an upward helical flow to transfer precipitated ionic compounds out of the supercritical core region, through a transcritical intermediate region, and into the subcritical wash stream where they re-dissolve.