Chemical Engineering Journal Advances最新文献

{"title":"Efficient water defluoridation and phosphate removal using recycled alkali-activated glass-calcium composites: Mechanisms and optimization","authors":"Bennet Edem Akorley ,&nbsp;Ohene B. Apea ,&nbsp;Girum Ayalneh Tiruye","doi":"10.1016/j.ceja.2025.100975","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ceja.2025.100975","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A sustainable and low-cost adsorbent composite, alkali-activated glass-calcium (AAC-P@Ca) was synthesized from waste glass, plantain stalk ash (alkaline activator) and eggshell-derived CaO for the efficient removal of fluoride and phosphate ions from aqueous solutions. The as-synthesized composite material was extensively characterized using, XRD, SEM-EDX, FTIR, XRF and TGA to evaluate its structure, morphology, functional groups and thermal stability. AAC-P@Ca exhibited a moderate specific surface area (82.249 m²/g), and a point of zero charge (pzc) of 12.6, which indicate a strongly positive surface favorable for anionic adsorption. Batch adsorption experiments were performed to study the influence of contact time, pH, temperature, initial ion concentration, and ionic strength on adsorption performance. The optimized composite material achieved fluoride and phosphate removal efficiencies of &gt;96 % and 62 %, respectively. Adsorption kinetics followed the pseudo second order model for fluoride and a mixed mechanism for phosphate ions, which thermodynamic analysis confirmed exothermic (for phosphate ion), endothermic (for fluoride ion) and spontaneous uptake. Process optimization using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) based on Central Composite Design (CCD) validated the composite’s operational efficiency. The synergistic effects of Ca²⁺-rich active sites, porous morphology and multifunctional surface groups could contribute to the effective adsorption across the WHO-recommended pH range (6.5–9.5). These results highlight the AAC-P@Ca composite material as a promising circular-economy driven adsorbent for sustainable water purification and anion remediation applications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9749,"journal":{"name":"Chemical Engineering Journal Advances","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article 100975"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1,"publicationDate":"2025-12-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145797463","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Modeling of the Ni(II) removal from aqueous solutions by ion exchange resin: Comparison of various machine learning approaches","authors":"Shahrzad Maleki ,&nbsp;Maryam Mousavifard ,&nbsp;Ayoub Karimi-Jashni","doi":"10.1016/j.ceja.2025.100987","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ceja.2025.100987","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study aims to investigate the removal of Ni(II) ions from aqueous solutions using an ion exchange resin, focusing on various machine learning approaches to predict the process. The research highlights the efficiency of Amberlite IR120 Na as a strong acidic cation exchange resin, examining its adsorption capacity under varying conditions, including resin dose, initial Ni(II) concentration, solution pH, temperature, and contact time. The adsorption kinetics were accurately described by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Additionally, both surface adsorption and intra-particle diffusion played roles in the steps of the adsorption rate. The adsorption isotherm data fitted well with the Langmuir model, indicating a maximum adsorption capacity of 134.8 mg/g. Moreover, machine learning techniques were utilized to predict the resin’s performance, evaluating five diverse models: Support Vector Regression (SVR), Random Forest, Decision Tree, Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP), and Polynomial Regression. The results showed that the SVR model performed better than the others, with a training <em>R</em>² of 0.990 and testing <em>R</em>² of 0.973, along with the lowest mean absolute error and mean squared error. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of machine learning in accurately modeling the complex relationships within the adsorption process, thus offering valuable insights for optimizing heavy metal removal from wastewater.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9749,"journal":{"name":"Chemical Engineering Journal Advances","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article 100987"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1,"publicationDate":"2025-12-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145691577","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mitigating ammonia emissions for a sustainable livestock farming by advances in membrane technology and modelling tools","authors":"Paula Calvo-de Diego,&nbsp;María Cruz García-González,&nbsp;Mercedes Sánchez-Báscones,&nbsp;Beatriz Molinuevo-Salces","doi":"10.1016/j.ceja.2025.100983","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ceja.2025.100983","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>With the agricultural sector contributing to 93 % of total ammonia emissions, the development of mitigation technologies is imperative for livestock farming. This study compared the nitrogen recovery performance of two novel gas-permeable membrane configurations: System 1 (S1), with external gas flow, and System 2 (S2), with internal gas flow. The influence of initial N concentration and exposure time on N recovery rates was investigated. The results established the markedly superior performance of S2, which achieved a N recovery rate of 237 g m⁻² d⁻¹, outperforming the 154 g m⁻² d⁻¹ rate of S1. This peak rate represents a 7-fold increase when compared to previous results. Mathematical models derived from regression analysis were developed for S1 and S2 and indicating that the theoretical maximum performance of S2 was 1.8-fold higher than that of S1 (Maximum N recovery rates of 155.65 and 281.2 g N m⁻² d⁻¹ for S1 and S2, respectively). The enhanced efficiency of S2 is ascribed to its internal flow configuration, which promotes a superior nitrogen mass transfer rate across the membrane. This design demonstrated greater robustness in managing high nitrogen loads, positioning it as a highly promising technology for practical implementation in livestock operations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9749,"journal":{"name":"Chemical Engineering Journal Advances","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article 100983"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1,"publicationDate":"2025-12-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145748330","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Hybrid capacitive deionization using MgAl-LDHs-coated graphite felt electrodes for phosphate removal","authors":"Tanzila Sharker ,&nbsp;Xinxin Xiao ,&nbsp;Jens Muff","doi":"10.1016/j.ceja.2025.100985","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ceja.2025.100985","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Capacitive deionization (CDI) is a promising technology for selective phosphate removal, though its performance is often constrained by electrode materials. This study developed composite electrodes by integrating MgAl-layered double hydroxides (LDHs) onto conductive oxidized graphite felt (OGF) to improve charge storage and ion selectivity. Two types were tested: CLGF prepared with commercial nitrate-intercalated LDHs, and LLGF synthesized with chloride-intercalated LDHs. Phosphate removal performance was evaluated in synthetic mixed ion solutions as well as in real lake sediment dewatering reject water. The novelty of this work lies in both the electrode fabrication method and the integration of MgAl LDHs with oxidized graphite felt. This combination provides dual functionality with enhanced phosphate selectivity and improved charge storage for practical CDI based phosphorus recovery. Kinetic modeling identified chemisorption as the main mechanism, with both LDH-coated electrodes outperforming bare OGF in adsorption and capacitance. LLGF and CLGF showed maximum phosphate removal capacities of ∼60 mg/g, while pristine GF and OGF showed negligible ion adsorption capacity. CDI based steady state adsorption capacities stabilized at ∼10 mg/g over 5 cycles during phosphate removal from 1.0 mM mixed anions solution. Phosphate-to-sulphate selectivity coefficients were highly time dependent, reaching 2.0 (CLGF) and 4.3 (LLGF) under +1.0 V applied voltage. CLGF removed over 80 % of phosphate in reject water at both +1.0 V and open circuit (OC), while LLGF achieved moderate phosphate removal of about 57 % with better selectivity. Energy consumption for the CDI system ranged from 0.03 – 0.25 kWh/m³, within reported CDI benchmarks. Statistical analysis revealed that removal performance was significantly influenced by electrode-time and electrode-voltage interactions rather than individual factors. Overall, this study demonstrates MgAl-LDHs-OGF electrodes as a feasible electrode for lake water P removal with high selectivity towards phosphate over other competing anions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9749,"journal":{"name":"Chemical Engineering Journal Advances","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article 100985"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1,"publicationDate":"2025-12-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145691902","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Environment-, process-, and energy-specific multi-objective optimization of the industrial large-scale natural gas dehydration process","authors":"Swaprabha P. Patel,&nbsp;Mustafa Al Salmi,&nbsp;Ashish M. Gujarathi","doi":"10.1016/j.ceja.2025.100980","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ceja.2025.100980","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The industrial natural gas dehydration process using triethylene glycol (TEG) is characterized by fundamental conflicts between environmental goals and energy consumption. The study employs a multi-objective optimization (MOO) framework to systematically map these trade-offs by simultaneously optimizing six conflicting objectives: to minimize energy consumption, water content in dry gas, BTEX emissions, global warming potential (GWP), and TEG makeup, while maximizing hydrocarbon recovery. The optimization study showed that achieving a drier gas (lower water content) invariably demands higher energy. While lower regeneration temperatures reduce energy use and GWP, they simultaneously increase BTEX emissions and compromise dehydration efficiency. Pareto ranking analysis using the TOPSIS method was employed to identify optimal solutions, confirming that while energy and water content are dominant drivers, explicitly prioritizing environmental objectives significantly shifts the optimal conditions toward lower-emission operations. This work provides insights for designing sustainable and efficient natural gas dehydration processes that navigate the inherent conflicts between environmental responsibility and operational performance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9749,"journal":{"name":"Chemical Engineering Journal Advances","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article 100980"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1,"publicationDate":"2025-12-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145747815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Novel axial-tangential corrugated inner cylinders in Taylor-Couette reactors: CFD analysis of Taylor vortex modulation, turbulence, and mixing efficiency","authors":"Bin Li ,&nbsp;Guang Li ,&nbsp;Xiaogang Yang ,&nbsp;Shanshan Long ,&nbsp;Yanqing Guo","doi":"10.1016/j.ceja.2025.100976","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ceja.2025.100976","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Three novel corrugated cylinders with three-dimensional (3D) roughness elements, featuring periodic axial-tangential wave structures, were developed for Taylor-Couette (TC) reactors to investigate their regulation on Taylor vortex dynamics. CFD modelling coupled with the Reynolds stress model was employed to analyze hydrodynamics, turbulence characteristics and mixing process in TC reactors equipped with these novel cylinders, alongside a classical smooth cylinder for baseline comparison. Simulation results show the corrugated surfaces significantly affect Taylor vortex dynamic, NZ20 exerts the strongest influence on velocity fields, while NZ80 shows the weakest effect, with its flow field closely resembling that of a smooth cylinder. All novel cylinders generate higher flow strain rates compared to the smooth cylinder (e.g., NZ20 achieves a ∼40 % increase), while improving strain rate uniformity (reducing the coefficient of variance by 10–15 %). NZ20 further outperforms others by exhibiting the highest turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate (∼60% higher than the smooth cylinder), effectively reducing micro-mixing time. At Reynolds number exceeding 1249, NZ20 and NZ40 display steeper concentration-response curves and achieve 10–25% shorter macro-mixing times than NZ80 and the smooth cylinder. This discrepancy arises from the enhanced axial flow induced by their larger corrugation wavelengths; in contrast, NZ80 and the smooth cylinder show comparable mixing times due to NZ80’s high roughness density mitigating such effects. To facilitate practical applications, an empirical correlation for predicting macro-mixing time in TC reactors with various rotating cylinders has been developed. These findings provide critical insights for optimizing TC reactor performance through purposeful surface modification strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9749,"journal":{"name":"Chemical Engineering Journal Advances","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article 100976"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1,"publicationDate":"2025-12-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145748329","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Synergistic effects of a zirconium doped stannate-carbon nitride nanocomposite on design of electrochemical sensor for sensitive detection of the antiandrogen drug flutamide","authors":"Chandran Bhuvaneswari ,&nbsp;Ponnaiah Sathish Kumar ,&nbsp;Arumugam Elangovan ,&nbsp;Ganesh Arivazhagan ,&nbsp;Young-Ki Kim","doi":"10.1016/j.ceja.2025.100981","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ceja.2025.100981","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Flutamide (FLT), an anti-androgen drug widely used in anti-cancer therapy, can cause serious hepatotoxic side effects at high doses. However, released from industrial and hospital effluents, FLT is not fully removed by conventional water treatments, resulting in contamination of water sources that threatens aquatic ecosystems and thus human health. Therefore, there has been a pressing need for sensitive and reliable FLT monitoring, but existing techniques are often costly, labor-intensive, and complex, limiting their practicality. To address this challenge, herein we report the novel design of electrochemical sensor based on a new class of electrode modifier, ZS-CN nanocomposite, synthesized by integrating zirconium (Zr)-doped SnO₂ nanoparticles (ZS) onto 2D graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets (CN). Especially, we introduce Zr as a new dopant in SnO₂ and reveal that the correlative coupling of ZS with porous CN allows for their intimate interfacial contact that promotes efficient electron transfer and electrocatalytic activity, while keeping the functional groups of both components active. As a result, the electrochemical sensor designed by the ZS-CN nanocomposite coated glassy carbon electrode demonstrates an outstanding level of selectivity and sensitivity (1.6553 µA µM⁻¹ cm⁻²) for FLT with a low detection limit (0.009 µM) and a wide detection linear range (0.04–1166 µM), alongside robust reproducibility, stability, and applicability in real-world samples (e.g., human urine and river water). Furthermore, its cyclic voltammetric responses provide mechanistic insights into the correlation between multi-electron redox process and FLT transformation pathways, informing future interfacial engineering strategies for designing versatile electrochemical systems for pharmaceutical pollutant monitoring.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9749,"journal":{"name":"Chemical Engineering Journal Advances","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article 100981"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1,"publicationDate":"2025-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145691920","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Leveraging molecular simulations and machine learning to assess CO2, O2, and N2 adsorption and separation performances of diverse MOF databases","authors":"Hasan Can Gulbalkan,&nbsp;Seda Keskin","doi":"10.1016/j.ceja.2025.100984","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ceja.2025.100984","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We integrated molecular simulations and machine learning (ML) to comprehensively explore the gas adsorption and separation performances of both synthesized and hypothetical metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) available in five different MOF databases. Following the generation of CO₂, O₂, and N₂ adsorption data for synthesized MOFs at varying pressures through grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations, we developed ML models that can swiftly and accurately predict the gas adsorption properties of any MOF based on its structural, chemical, and energetic characteristics. These ML models were then transferred to four distinct hypothetical MOF databases consisting of nearly 130,000 structures to assess their CO₂, O₂, and N₂ adsorption properties in addition to CO₂/N₂ and O₂/N₂ separation performances as a very efficient alternative to computationally time and resource demanding molecular simulations. We identified the top-performing materials from each database to uncover their structural, chemical, and topological properties leading to high selectivities and concluded that synthesized MOFs with narrow pores, lanthanide metals, and linkers featuring oxalate, pyridine dicarboxylate, and fumarate offer the highest CO₂/N₂ selectivities. Our work presents the most extensive dataset produced for CO₂, O₂, and N₂ gas adsorption in MOFs, composed of ∼3.9 million data points for materials’ structural, chemical, and energetic features, gas adsorption properties, and selectivities computed at different pressures to accelerate the materials design and discovery for CO₂, O₂, and N₂ adsorption and separation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9749,"journal":{"name":"Chemical Engineering Journal Advances","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article 100984"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1,"publicationDate":"2025-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145747813","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Highly efficient removal and separation of Sr2+, Co2+, In3+ and Ni2+ in single and mixed ion systems on low-cost Zeolite, and its stability analysis: DFT and experimental investigations","authors":"Cyrille Ghislain Fotsop,&nbsp;Alexandra Lieb,&nbsp;Franziska Scheffler","doi":"10.1016/j.ceja.2025.100986","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ceja.2025.100986","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In view of the increasing demand for clean water, the aim of this work was to elucidate, by molecular Monte Carlo (MC) simulations and experimental investigations, the capture of Sr²⁺, In³⁺, Ni²⁺ and Co²⁺ in single and mixed system ions using low cost-effective zeolites based on natural kaolin. Recycled zeolites were characterized by NMR-MAS, FT-IR, XRD, SEM, EDX-mapping and TGA/DSC analysis. XRD analysis after adsorption showed that the peak intensity decreased due to the presence of adsorbed ions on the zeolite surface. NMR-MAS revealed the chemical shift of ²⁹Si and ²⁷Al after adsorption due to the presence of Co and Ni in the samples, which tend to affect the chemical environment of the orbital spin. The maximum capacities (Q_m,_exp) obtained were ∼780, ∼600, ∼1000 and ∼1300 mg/g for Sr²⁺, In³⁺, Ni²⁺ and Co²⁺, respectively. The Langmuir isotherm provided the most accurate non-linear fit to the experimental data, with an R² &gt; 0.993, indicating that the metal ions undergo homogeneous monolayer adsorption on the adsorbent surface. The Freundlich isotherm showed the presence of multilayer adsorption and heterogeneous adsorption energy. The removal of ions was favored by ion exchange and chemical reaction on monolayers with energetic heterogeneity at the zeolite surface. Pseudo-first order non-linear kinetic models were favorable with (R² ≥ 0.99) indicating the presence of chemisorption. MC modelling showed that ion capture was favorable in neutral media, with individual adsorption energies (dEads/dNi) of -0.03, -0.05, -5.8 and -13.8 kcal/mol for Co, Ni, Sr and In, respectively, in a mixed ion system at 298 K. The affinity of zeolite to adsorbed Co(II) on Ni(II), Al(III), Bi(III), Ca(II), In(III), Sr(II), K(I), Cd(II), Cr(III) and Pb(II) was observed by the highest values of the distribution coefficient (K_d) and low separation factor (α). The selectivity order was Co &gt; Ni &gt; In &gt; Ca &gt; Sr &gt; Cd &gt; Mn &gt; Pb &gt; <em>K</em> &gt; Al &gt; Cr &gt; Bi. Surface and river water influenced the adsorption capacity compared to distilled and tap water. Zeolite exhibited high stability during the removal of Sr, In, Ni and Co in both single and mixed ions systems. Removal rates were found to be in the range of ∼84 % to ∼94 % and ∼55 % to ∼80 %, respectively, after the fifth cycle.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9749,"journal":{"name":"Chemical Engineering Journal Advances","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article 100986"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1,"publicationDate":"2025-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145691921","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A new L-PLA@Croconaine-based all organic composite: selective management of thermophysical properties of L-PLA by a photothermal croconaine-based molecular additive","authors":"Maria Montrone ,&nbsp;Umberto Berardi ,&nbsp;Paola Fini ,&nbsp;Paolo Bison ,&nbsp;Stefano Rossi ,&nbsp;Salvatore Gambino ,&nbsp;Marco Pugliese ,&nbsp;Jennifer Gubitosa ,&nbsp;Pinalysa Cosma ,&nbsp;Vito Rizzi ,&nbsp;Antonio Cardone ,&nbsp;Maria Annunziata M. Capozzi","doi":"10.1016/j.ceja.2025.100979","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ceja.2025.100979","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Selective management of chemico-physical properties of <span>l</span>-polylactic acid (L-PLA) is pivotal to broaden the application range of this polymer. As a thermally and electrically insulating polymer, its application in energy field and electronic instruments requires innovative strategies capable of selectively tune thermal and electrical properties, safeguarding mechanical properties and thermal stability. Here, we propose a molecular approach to selectively enhance thermal conductivity of <span>l</span>-PLA, preserving electrical insulating capacity, by incorporating a benzoindolenine-based croconaine (CR-BI) as functional photothermal additive. <span>l</span>-PLA@CR-BI composite solid layers were prepared via solution casting, by combining different amounts of CR-BI and comprehensively characterized by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), UV–vis and FTIR spectroscopy, electrical, photothermal and thermophysical measurements. <span>l</span>-PLA@CR-BI composites displayed homogeneous coloration and a uniform CR-BI molecular dispersion inner <span>l</span>-PLA, with a molecular-level thermal network resulting in a strong impact on its thermal properties. Remarkably, the inclusion of only 1wt% CR-BI led to an over threefold increase in thermal diffusivity and conductivity compared to neat <span>l</span>-PLA. TGA evidenced a CR-BI-induced enhancement of polymer chain mobility and the formation of new crystalline domains, improving heat transfer and suggesting thermal energy storage applications. Importantly, the electrical insulating nature of <span>l</span>-PLA remained unchanged across all compositions. To the best of our knowledge, this work provides the first demonstration of croconaines as molecular modulators of <span>l</span>-PLA’s chemico-physical properties, enabling selective and efficient enhancement of thermal transport while maintaining electrical insulation- an advance with significant implications for sustainable polymer-based electronic and energy materials.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9749,"journal":{"name":"Chemical Engineering Journal Advances","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article 100979"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1,"publicationDate":"2025-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145747817","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}