Lignin is a promising alternative to traditional fossil resources for producing biofuels due to its aromaticity and renewability. Pyrolysis is an efficient technology to convert lignin to valuable chemicals, which is beneficial for improving lignin valorization. In this review, pyrolytic behaviors of various lignin were included, as well as the pyrolytic mechanism consisting of initial, primary, and charring stages were also introduced. Several parallel reactions, such as demethoxylation, demethylation, decarboxylation, and decarbonylation of lignin side chains to form light gases, major lignin structure decomposition to generate phenolic compounds, and polymerization of active lignin intermediates to yield char, can be observed through the whole pyrolysis process. Several parameters, such as pyrolytic temperature, time, lignin type, and functional groups (hydroxyl, methoxy), were also investigated to figure out their effects on lignin pyrolysis. On the other hand, zeolite-driven ligni
This paper investigates the impact of household cooking fuel choice on household healthcare expenditure as well as the socioeconomic and demographic factors that influence household healthcare expenditure. We employed the Tobit regression technique and data from the sixth and seventh rounds of the Ghana Living Standards Survey conducted in 2012/13 and 2016/17 respectively. The results indicate that in 2012/13, relative to households using wood as cooking fuel, households using charcoal and liquefied petroleum gas are 54.40 and 115.09 percentage points less likely to spend on healthcare services. However, the figure reduced to 28.15 and 103.25 percentage points in 2016/17 attributable possibly to a reduction in biomass energy use resulting from government liquefied petroleum gas promotion programs which helped households transition to the use of cleaner fuels. Age, education, illness reporting of household head, total household expenditure, household size and region of residence were fo
The electricity crisis in Pakistan is triggering grid power outage (load shedding) for many decades, which has not only affected the commercial and industrial sectors but also the domestic sector, specifically the livelihood of rural areas of the country. However, the extant literature advocates that renewable energy technologies, such as solar photovoltaic (PV) can be the remedy. Given the abundantly availability of solar energy in Pakistan that can be converted into electrical energy using solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, this study examines the determinants of solar PV adoption in rural areas of Pakistan. Our preliminary investigations – using government/official publications – indicate that despite a huge potential of solar energy in Pakistan, the usage of solar PV at household level in rural areas is still untapped, which makes this research agenda more appealing and provocative. In doing so, this study first conducts surveys, face-to-face comprehensive interviews, and questio