Open Access Strategy

“I respect a man who knows how to spell a word more than one way” -- Mark Twain (American Humorist, Writer and Lecturer. 1835-1910)

You've heard of OPEN ACCESS articles, but how do find them?  Here is one way ... let's assume that you are interested in the use of sulfur in solar panels. At this stage, you want to read some scholarly articles, but you are not yet ready to pay for anything.  You just want to get a feel for the subject.

Go to Google® Scholar (www.scholar.google.com) and enter the following search string:

sulfur AND solar AND "open access"

ONE RESULT:
DOI: 10.1039/C5CC04822B (Communication) Chem. Commun., 2015, 51, 14660-14662
Solution processable, cross-linked sulfur polymers as solid electrolytes in dye-sensitized solar cells†
Peng Liu ,  James M. Gardner * and   Lars Kloo *
Applied Physical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Teknikringen 30, SE-10044 Stockholm, Sweden. E-mail: jgardner@kth.se; larsa@kth.se
Introduction
Inverse-vulcanized polymeric sulfur has been prepared and utilized for solid-state dye sensitized solar cells. A power conversion efficiency of 1.5% was recorded with a short-circuit current of 4.1 mA cm−2 and an open-circuit voltage of 0.75 V under standard AM 1.5G illumination (1000 W m−2). The results in the present study qualify the new polymeric sulfur material as a future candidate as low-cost, hole-transport material for solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells.

It is the overall cost of making, installing, and using photovoltaics that will determine if they become the future, primary renewable energy source. The important factors for reducing cost involve an increase in conversion efficiency, an increase in usable lifetime, as well as a decrease of inherent material costs for the production of the solar cells. The identification of inexpensive and abundant materials that are easily processed represents a major challenge. Exactly this challenge is the main objective of the present work. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have emerged as a promising alternative to traditional solar technologies.1,2
Read the full text source at: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2015/cc/c5cc04822b

Desulfurization of Saudi Arabian crudes by oxidation–extraction method

“As crude a weapon as the cave man's club, the chemical barrage has been hurled against the fabric of life” -- Rachel Carson, perhaps the finest nature writer of the Twentieth Century, (1907-1964)

An interesting OPEN ACCESS article produced by authors from China and Saudi Arabia is …

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Applied Petrochemical Research
Desulfurization of Saudi Arabian crudes by oxidation–extraction method
Authors
Raja L. AL Otaibi (1)
Dong Liu (2)
Xulian Hou (2)
Linhua Song (3)
Qingyin Li (3)
Mengfei Li (4)
Hamid O. Almigrin (2)
Zifeng Yan (2)

1.  Petrochemical Research Institute, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, PO Box 6086, Riyadh, 11442, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 
2.  State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, China University of Petroleum, Qingdao, 266580, China 
3.  College of Science, China University of Petroleum, Qingdao, 266580, China 
4.  College of Chemical Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266000, China

Abstract
The oxidation–extraction desulfurization of Saudi Arabian crudes was conducted with hydrogen peroxide–acetic acid oxidation system. The selection of extractant, the optimization of oxidation–extraction conditions, and the exploration of desulfurization mechanism were studied. As DMF was used as the extractant, the optimal desulfurization rate of 35.11 % and oil recovery of 95 % were obtained at 70 °C with the molar ratio of peracetic acid to sulfur of 8:1, the molar ratio of acetic acid to hydrogen peroxide of 2:1 and the volume ratio of extractant to oil of 1:1. The desulfurization effect of different fractions in the treated Saudi Arabian crudes was found to obey the following order: gasoline–diesel fraction >VGO fraction >VR fraction, due to different types and structures of sulfur compounds. The oil quality was less affected and most sulfides were mainly extracted via DMF.

Free Full Text Source:  http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13203-015-0112-3
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TIP: When you visit the page featuring this article, click on the link to Applied Petrochemical Research, and browse this Open Access journal for other interesting articles.

Coal & Sulfur

“A diamond is a chunk of coal that is made good under pressure.” -- Henry Kissinger (American Political scientist. b.1923)

Coal’s sulfur content is a major problem.  Until economical desulfurization of coal is achieved, its decline will continue.

Here is an interesting article on coal desulfurization …

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Sulfur Transformation during Hydrothermal Dewatering of Low Rank Coal
Junhong Wu, Jianzhong Liu*, Shao Yuan, Xu Zhang, Yan Liu, Zhihua Wang, and Junhu Zhou
State Key Lab of Clean Energy Utilization, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
Energy Fuels, 2015, 29 (10), pp 6586–6592
E-mail: jzliu@zju.edu.cn
Abstract
The presence of sulfur in coals has raised serious environmental issues, which are obstacles to large-scale utilization of coals. Hydrothermal dewatering (HTD) is a promising upgrading method for low-rank coals (LRCs) to significantly remove oxygen-containing groups and irreversibly decrease the inherent moisture content. To uncouple the complex behavior of sulfur evolution during HTD processing of lignite and to elucidate the main mechanism, this research experimentally studied the characteristics of sulfur transformation in a Chinese lignite from Xiaolongtan coal mine during HTD upgrading. Results reveal that the HTD upgrading of raw coal within the temperature range from 200 to 300 °C can obtain a desirably upgraded coal with higher calorific value and lower inherent moisture. Compared with raw coal, organic sulfur content decreased significantly, whereas sulfate sulfur content gradually increased after HTD. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results showed that HTD promoted aliphatic sulfur decomposition and the release of sulfur-containing gases. The released gases, such as H2S, reacted with the organic matrix of coals to form thiophenic sulfur. As a result, thermally stable thiophenic sulfur increased with increasing HTD temperature. The increase of sulfate sulfur content after HTD was attributed to the release of SO2. The calculation of the mass balance on the sulfur revealed that the vast majority of sulfur remained in upgraded coals, and only a minimal amount was released into gaseous and liquid products. The sulfur-containing gases remarkably increased with increasing HTD temperature, whereas the sulfur in the wastewater decreased.
Source: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.5b01258
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TIP: This article turned up in Google Scholar using the following search string: coal sulfur review

Review reviews

“Organization charts and fancy titles count for next to nothing.” -- Colin Powell (Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989-93). At present, US Secretary of State, b. 1937)

One of the fastest ways to get up to speed on what’s happening in any particular field is to find a review of the work in that field.

Here’s an easy way to identify those reviews.

TIP: For review articles, search the word REVIEW in the title

For example, the following Google® Scholar search string results in the items listed below …

allintitle: biomass review

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A review of quantification practices for plant-derived biomass potential
EA Christoforou, PA Fokaides - International Journal of Green …, 2015 - Taylor & Francis
The quantification of biomass potential is a useful task that may deem necessary under
various circumstances. This study aims to identify the practices that have been followed in
the recent past for the quantification of the plant-derived biomass potential. The employed ...
Cited by 3

High pressure water reforming of biomass for energy and chemicals: A short review
Ž Knez, E Markočič, MK Hrnčič, M Ravber… - The Journal of …, 2015 - Elsevier
Abstract The conversion of different organic substances, including wastes, sludge, biomass
to biofuels and biobased chemicals has attracted a lot of attention recently, largely due to the
environmental and socio-economic problems associated with the use of fossil fuels.
Cited by 7

A review on dark fermentative biohydrogen production from organic biomass: Process parameters and use of by-products
A Ghimire, L Frunzo, F Pirozzi, E Trably, R Escudie… - Applied Energy, 2015 - Elsevier
Abstract Dark fermentation of organic biomass, ie agricultural residues, agro-industrial
wastes and organic municipal waste is a promising technology for producing renewable
biohydrogen. In spite of its potential, this technology needs further research and ...
Cited by 20

Hydroisomerization of sustainable feedstock in biomass‐to‐fuel conversion: a critical review
A Galadima, O Muraza - International Journal of Energy …, 2015 - Wiley Online Library
Summary The production of diesel and gasoline range paraffins from both solid and liquid
biomass is one of the promising alternatives being considered for ensuring sustainable fuel
supply. Solid biomass gasification produces synthetic gas, which via subsequent Fischer– ...
Cited by 4

A review on biomass gasification syngas cleanup
N Abdoulmoumine, S Adhikari, A Kulkarni… - Applied Energy, 2015 - Elsevier
Abstract Energy, fuel and chemical production from biomass is increasingly attracting
interest in the world. Gasification of biomass can produce raw syngas which contains CO,
CO 2, H 2 and CH 4. In addition, raw syngas contains minor but significant quantities of ...
Cited by 2
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