Subsurface hydrogen storage controlled by small-scale rock heterogeneities

Subsurface porous rocks hold significant hydrogen (H₂) storage potential to support an H₂-based energy future. Understanding H₂ flow and trapping in subsurface rocks is crucial to reliably evaluate their storage efficiency. In this work, we perform cyclic H₂ flow visualization experiments on a...

Pore-Scale Visualization of Hydrogen Storage in a Sandstone at Subsurface Pressure and Temperature Conditions: Trapping, Dissolution and Wettability

Hypothesis<br/><br/>Underground hydrogen (H2) storage is a potentially viable solution for large-scale cyclic H2 storage; however, the behavior of H2 at subsurface pressure and temperature conditions is poorly known. This work investigates if the pore-scale displacement processes in H2-brine systems in a porous sandstone can be sufficiently well...

Selective Water Addition: Investigations of hydratases from the genus Rhodococcus

Water addition reactions to (un)-activated double bonds are very rewarding reactions as they elegantly introduce a hydroxyl-group thereby often adding value to the generated product by establishing a novel stereocentre in tertiary, chiral alcohols. However, performing selective water addition reactions is an extremely challenging task using...

Exploring the abundance of oleate hydratases in the genus Rhodococcus—discovery of novel enzymes with complementary substrate scope

Oleate hydratases (Ohys, EC 4.2.1.53) are a class of enzymes capable of selective water addition reactions to a broad range of unsaturated fatty acids leading to the respective chiral alcohols. Much research was dedicated to improving the applications of existing Ohys as well as to the identification of undescribed Ohys with potentially novel...

Biocatalysis explained: From pharmaceutical to bulk chemical production

Biocatalysis is one of the most promising technologies for the sustainable synthesis of molecules for pharmaceutical, biotechnological and industrial purposes. From the gram to the ton scale, biocatalysis is employed with success. This is underpinned by the fact that the global enzyme market is predicted to increase from $7 billion to $10...

Hydroxynitrile lyases covalently immobilized in continuous flow microreactors

Enzymes are supreme catalysts when it comes to high enantiopurities and their immobilization will pave the way for continuous operation. In this context, we show the covalent immobilization of hydroxynitrile lyases HbHNL (from Hevea brasiliensis) and MeHNL (from Manihot esculenta) in a siliceous monolithic microreactor for continuous...

Rhodococcus as A Versatile Biocatalyst in Organic Synthesis

The application of purified enzymes as well as whole-cell biocatalysts in synthetic organic chemistry is becoming more and more popular, and both academia and industry are keen on finding and developing novel enzymes capable of performing otherwise impossible or challenging reactions. The diverse genus Rhodococcus offers a multitude of...

Re-Investigation of Hydration Potential of Rhodococcus Whole-Cell Biocatalysts towards Michael Acceptors

The implementation of a stereoselective Michael addition with water as substrate is still a major challenge by classical, chemical means. Inspired by nature's ability to carry out this attractive reaction with both high selectivity and efficiency, the interest in hydratases (EC 4.2.1.x) to accomplish a selective water addition is steadily...

Enantioselective synthesis of cyanohydrins catalysed by hydroxynitrile lyases – a review

The first enantioselective synthesis was the selective addition of cyanide to benzaldehyde catalysed by a hydroxynitrile lyase (HNL). Since then these enzymes have developed into a reliable tool in organic synthesis. HNLs to prepare either the (R)- or the (S)-enantiomer of the desired cyanohydrin are available and a wide variety of reaction...

Laboratory Experiments on Environmental Friendly Means to Improve Coalbed Methane Production by Carbon Dioxide/Flue Gas Injection

Scaled in situ laboratory core flooding experiments with CO2, N2 and flue gas were carried out on coal in an experimental high P,T device. These experiments will be able to give an insight into the design of the injection system, management, control of the operations and the efficiency of an ECBM project. Although the experience gained by the...

Fit for washing; Human factors and ergonomic evaluations of washing machines

People do the laundry all over the world. About 500 million washing machines are in use at the moment. To reduce the heavy workload, washing machines were invented about 100 years ago. 50 years of innovations led to a reduction in water, energy and detergent consumption and the interface became easier to use. However, the overall usage of the...