As the economy becomes more globalized, a growing number of events are exerting an influence on activity and innovation globally in different fields. Therefore, we argue that "eventful cities" can act as important catalysts for eventfulness in other places as well. This article analyzes the case of the Sónar electronic music festival, an event that originated in Barcelona, Spain, but which now runs different editions in many cities worldwide. This empirical study of the innovation capacity of a cultural event examines how a locally based music festival has transformed itself by using the global "space of flows" to influence the local "space of places." The Sónar Festival has turned itself into a relational hub in a global cultural network, using stylistic innovations to link geographically dispersed nodes in order to create new products, open up new markets, and strengthen its own position as a global source of eventfulness.
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Higher education has the potential to act as ecosystem catalysts, connecting with the places our institutions which they are a part of, for learning-based changes with wicked (sustainability) challenges. This, however, calls for reorienting and rethinking of the higher educational narratives and subsequent practices towards more ecological and relational ones. In this study, a pilot aimed to connect a course at The Hague University of Applied Sciences (The Netherlands) to an industrial park next to the university which is undergoing transition towards a sustainable living space. The pilot, which ran from September 2020 to February 2021, included 17 students from 9 nationalities and 12 different bachelor programmes, and was designed according to the concepts of an ‘ecology of learning’. In this semester long course, called Mission Impact, students reflected every five-weeks, to capture their learning experiences using a combination of arts-based and narrative reflection methods. Two questions guided the analysis: (1) what are the key design characteristics of an ecological approach to higher education that connects to sustainability transformations (in times of COVID-19) and (2) what does this type of education asks from to learners. The reflective artefacts were analysed using Narratives of T-Mapping and juxtaposed with autoethnographic insights maintained by the first author for triangulation. Preliminary results of this pilot include the structure in chaos, space for transformation, openness for emerging futures & action confidence as components of such an ecological education that connects to and co-creates sustainability transformations.
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Sustainable production of aromatics, especially benzene, toluene and xylenes (BTX), is essential considering their broad applications and the current global transition away from crude oil utilization. Aromatization of lower olefins, particularly ethene and propene, offers great potential if they are derived from more circular alternative carbon feedstocks such as biomass and waste plastics. This work aims to identify the preferred olefin feed, ethene or propene, for BTX production in a fixed-bed reactor. A commercial H-ZSM-5 (Si/Al = 23) catalyst was used as a reference catalyst, as well as a Ga-ZSM-5 catalyst, prepared by Ga ion-exchange of the H-ZSM-5 catalyst. At 773 K, 1 bar, 45 vol % olefin, 6.75 h−1, propene aromatization over the Ga-ZSM-5 catalyst exhibited higher BTX selectivity of 55 % and resulted in slower catalyst deactivation compared to ethene aromatization.
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This qualitative study explores how leisure events can facilitate the creation of new narratives by analysing the case of the Kaya Kaya festival in Otrobanda, Curaçao. Kaya Kaya has played an instrumental role in transforming the dominant narrative of Otrobanda from a stigmatised area, perceived as problematic, to a vibrant, artistic neighbourhood. Through interviews and participatory workshops, including collage making, the study provides a nuanced view of how the event enabled narrative change by engaging the local community and altering physical spaces through murals and other art forms. It also examines the consequences of this narrative shift for the place, community, and individuals. The paper contributes to event studies by applying a narrative approach to understand the social value of events and by demonstrating how they can foster new, positive narratives for neighbourhoods. Ultimately, the study reveals that the new, progressive narrative remains incomplete, as a result of narrative construction.
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Pyrolysis liquids from lignocellulosic biomass have the potential to be used as a feed for aromatics such as benzene, toluene, and xylenes (BTX) using catalytic upgrading with zeolites. We here report an experimental study on the conversion of various pyrolysis oil fractions to determine the most suitable one for BTX synthesis. For this purpose, the pyrolysis liquid was fractionated using several extraction/distillation steps to give four fractions with different chemical compositions. The fractions were analyzed in detail using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, elemental analysis, gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, Karl-Fischer titration, and gel permeation chromatography. Catalytic pyrolysis experiments were carried out using a tandem microreactor with H-ZSM-5 (23) as the catalyst. The highest BTX yield of 24% (on a carbon and dry basis) was obtained using the fractions enriched in phenolics, whereas all others gave far lower yields (4.4-9%, on a carbon and dry basis). Correlations were established between the chemical composition of the feed fraction and the BTX yield. These findings support the concept of a pyrolysis biorefinery, where the pyrolysis liquid is separated into well-defined fractions before further dedicated catalytic conversions to biobased chemicals and biofuels using tailored catalysts.
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The recycling of post consumer cotton textile waste is highly requested, due to the high environmental impact of cotton production. Often cotton is mixed in blends with polyethylene terephthalate (PET). For the generation of high value products from recycled cotton, it essential that PET is separated from the cotton first. In this contribution, the depolymerization of PET in cotton / PET blend is investigated for the separation of PET from cotton fibers. Ionic liquids and NaOH are used as catalysts for the depolymerization reaction in ethylene glycol (glycolysis). It will be shown that ionic liquids have no significant influence on the conversion of PET. However, 99% conversion is achieved in this process with 2 w/w % NaOH as catalyst. This enables the selective depolymerization of PET in presence of cotton and gives rise to an easy separation of cotton from cotton / PET blends.Paper for the 14th World Textile Conference, May 26th-28th2014, Bursa, Turkey.
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Design educators and industry partners are critical knowledge managers and co-drivers of change, and design graduate and post-graduate students can act as catalysts for new ideas, energy, and perspectives. In this article, we will explore how design advances industry development through the lens of a longitudinal inquiry into activities carried out as part of a Dutch design faculty-industry collaboration. We analyze seventy-five (75) Master of Science (MSc) thesis outcomes and seven (7) Doctorate (PhD) thesis outcomes (five in progress) to identify ways that design activities have influenced advances in the Dutch aviation industry over time. Based on these findings, we then introduce an Industry Design Framework, which organizes the industry/design relationship as a three-layered system. This novel approach to engaging industry in design research and design education has immediate practical value and theoretical significance, both in the present and for future research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sheji.2019.07.003 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-de-lille-8039372/
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The catalytic conversion of glycerol to aromatics (GTA, e.g., benzene, toluene, and xylenes, BTX) over a shaped H-ZSM-5/Al2O3 (60/40 wt%) catalyst was investigated in a continuous fixed-bed reactor to study the addition of the Al2O3 binder in the catalyst formulation on catalyst performance. The experiments were performed under N2 at 550 °C, a WHSV of glycerol (pure) of 1 h−1, and atmospheric pressure. The spent H-ZSM-5/Al2O3 catalysts were reused after an oxidative regeneration at 680 °C and in total 5 reaction-regeneration cycles were performed. Catalyst characterization studies show that the addition of the Al2O3 binder does not affect the surface area and crystallinity of the formulation, but increases the total pore volume (mesopores in particular) and total acidity (Lewis acidity in particular). The H-ZSM-5/Al2O3 (60/40 wt%) catalyst shows a considerably prolonged catalyst life-time (8.5 vs. 6.5 h for H-ZSM-5), resulting in a significant increase in the total BTX productivity (710 vs. 556 mg g−1 H-ZSM-5). Besides, the addition of the Al2O3 binder retards irreversible deactivation. For instance, after 3 regenerations, catalyst performance is comparable to the fresh one. However, after 4 regenerations, some irreversible catalyst deactivation occurs, associated with a reduction in total pore volume, crystallinity, and acidity (Brønsted acidity in particular), and meso-porosity of the Al2O3 binder. This study shows that both the stability and reusability of H-ZSM-5-based catalysts for GTA are remarkably enhanced when using a suitable binder.
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