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1. Chemical looping hydrogen production from ammonia and water: materials and technoeconomics

   https://doi.org/10.1039/D5GC00236B  

   Arjomand_Kermani, Amirmohammad; Shank, Kyle; Zhai, Shang (June 2025, Green Chemistry)

   Chemical looping hydrogen production from ammonia and water enables energy efficient and cost effective ammonia to hydrogen conversion. 

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2. Biobased Silicon and Biobased Silica: Two Production Routes Whose Time has Come**

   https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.202300762  

   Ciriminna, Rosaria; Laine, Richard M; Pagliaro, Mario (October 2023, ChemSusChem)

   Ross, H (Ed.)

   Abstract This study offers an updated bioeconomy perspective on biobased routes to high‐purity silicon and silica in the context of the societal, economic and environmental trends reshaping chemical processes. We summarize the main aspects of the green chemistry technologies capable of transforming current production methods. Coincidentally, we discuss selected industrial and economic aspects. Finally, we offer perspectives of how said technologies could/will reshape current chemical and energy production. 

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3. Utilization of lignocellulosic hydrolysates for photomixotrophic chemical production in Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-023-05394-w  

   Gonzales, Jake N; Treece, Tanner R; Mayfield, Stephen P; Simkovsky, Ryan; Atsumi, Shota (December 2023, Communications Biology)

   Abstract To meet the need for environmentally friendly commodity chemicals, feedstocks for biological chemical production must be diversified. Lignocellulosic biomass are an carbon source with the potential for effective use in a large scale and cost-effective production systems. Although the use of lignocellulosic biomass lysates for heterotrophic chemical production has been advancing, there are challenges to overcome. Here we aim to investigate the obligate photoautotroph cyanobacteriumSynechococcus elongatusPCC 7942 as a chassis organism for lignocellulosic chemical production. When modified to import monosaccharides, this cyanobacterium is an excellent candidate for lysates-based chemical production as it grows well at high lysate concentrations and can fix CO₂to enhance carbon efficiency. This study is an important step forward in enabling the simultaneous use of two sugars as well as lignocellulosic lysate. Incremental genetic modifications enable catabolism of both sugars concurrently without experiencing carbon catabolite repression. Production of 2,3-butanediol is demonstrated to characterize chemical production from the sugars in lignocellulosic hydrolysates. The engineered strain achieves a titer of 13.5 g L⁻¹of 2,3-butanediol over 12 days under shake-flask conditions. This study can be used as a foundation for industrial scale production of commodity chemicals from a combination of sunlight, CO₂, and lignocellulosic sugars. 

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4. Variation in Root Exudate Composition Influences Soil Microbiome Membership and Function

   https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.00226-22  

   Seitz, Valerie A; McGivern, Bridget B; Daly, Rebecca A; Chaparro, Jacqueline M; Borton, Mikayla A; Sheflin, Amy M; Kresovich, Stephen; Shields, Lindsay; Schipanski, Meagan E; Wrighton, Kelly C; et al (June 2022, Applied and Environmental Microbiology)

   Alexandre, Gladys (Ed.)

   Decrypting the chemical interactions between plant roots and the soil microbiome is a gateway for future manipulation and management of the rhizosphere, a soil compartment critical to promoting plant fitness and yields. Our experimental results demonstrate how soil microbial community and genomic diversity is influenced by root exudates of differing chemical compositions and how changes in this microbiome result in altered production of plant-relevant metabolites. 

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5. The influence of erosion and vegetation on soil production and chemical weathering rates in the Southern Alps, New Zealand

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2023.118036  

   Larsen, Isaac J; Eger, Andre; Almond, Peter C; Thaler, Evan A; Rhodes, J Michael; Prasicek, Günther (April 2023, Earth and Planetary Science Letters)

   Chemical weathering influences many aspects of the Earth system, including biogeochemical cycling, climate, and ecosystem function. Physical erosion influences chemical weathering rates by setting the supply of fresh minerals to the critical zone. Vegetation also influences chemical weathering rates, both by physical processes that expose mineral surfaces and via production of acids that contribute to mineral dissolution. However, the role of vegetation in setting surface process rates in different landscapes is unclear. Here we use 10Be and geochemical mass balance to quantify soil production, physical erosion, and chemical weathering rates in a landscape where a migrating drainage divide separates catchments with an order-of magnitude contrast in erosion rates and where vegetation spans temperate rainforest, tussock grassland, and unvegetated alpine ecosystems in the western Southern Alps of New Zealand. Soil production, physical erosion, and chemical weathering rates are significantly higher on the rapidly eroding versus the slowly eroding side of the drainage divide. However, chemical weathering intensity does not vary significantly across the divide or as a function of vegetation type. Soil production rates are correlated with ridgetop curvature, and ridgetops are more convex on the rapidly eroding side of the divide, where soil mineral residence times are lowest. Hence our findings suggest fluvially-driven erosion rates control soil production and soil chemical weathering rates by influencing the relationship between hillslope topography and mineral residence times. In the western Southern Alps, soil production and chemical weathering rates are more strongly mediated by physical rock breakdown driven by landscape response to tectonics, than by vegetation. 

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