Chemical recycling of municipal packaging waste by pyrolysis

[EN]The present doctoral thesis centers on studying pyrolysis as a chemical recycling technique for rejected packaging waste fractions coming from separation and sorting plants. The pyrolysis experiments have been carried out in a lab-scale installation equipped with a 3.5 L semi-batch reactor and a condensation and collection system for the liquids and gases generated. In the present thesis, an experimental study on the conventional pyrolysis process applied to the aforementioned waste fractions has been conducted, as well as the study of non-conventional or advanced pyrolysis processes such as catalytic and stepwise pyrolysis. The study of the operating parameters has been carried out using a mixed plastics simulated sample, the composition of which is similar to that found in real fractions, and subsequently the optimized process has been applied to real packaging waste. An exhaustive characterization of the solids, liquids and gases obtained in the process has been made after each experiment and their potential uses have been established. Finally, an empirical model that will predict the pyrolysis yields (% organic liquid, % aqueous liquid, % gases, % char, % inorganic solid) as a function of the composition of the initial sample has been developed. As a result of the experimental work done, the requirements have been established for an industrial packaging waste pyrolysis plant that aims to be sufficiently versatile as to generate useful products regardless of the nature of the raw material.

Effect of the A cation size disorder and synthesis conditions on the properties of an iron perovskite series

Póster presentado en The Energy and Materials Research Conference - EMR2015 celebrado en Madrid (España) entre el 25-27 de febrero de 2015

Optimization of the pyrolysis process for the production of a biomass derived reducing agent and hydrogen-rich gases

221 p.

Mechanisms involved in Escherichia coli and Serratia marcescens removal during activated sludge wastewater treatment

Wastewater treatment reduces environmental contamination by removing gross solids and mitigating the effects of pollution. Treatment also reduces the number of indicator organisms and pathogens. In this work, the fates of two coliform bacteria, Escherichia coli and Serratia marcescens, were analyzed in an activated sludge process to determine the main mechanisms involved in the reduction of pathogenic microorganisms during wastewater treatment. These bacteria, modified to express green fluorescent protein, were inoculated in an activated sludge unit and in batch systems containing wastewater. The results suggested that, among the different biological factors implied in bacterial removal, bacterivorous protozoa play a key role. Moreover, a representative number of bacteria persisted in the system as free-living or embedded cells, but their distribution into liquid or solid fractions varied depending on the bacterium tested, questioning the real value of bacterial indicators for the control of wastewater treatment process. Additionally, viable but nonculturable cells constituted an important part of the bacterial population adhered to solid fractions, what can be derived from the competition relationships with native bacteria, present in high densities in this environment. These facts, taken together, emphasize the need for reliable quantitative and qualitative analysis tools for the evaluation of pathogenic microbial composition in sludge, which could represent an undefined risk to public health and ecosystem functions when considering its recycling.

von Neumann spin measurements with Rashba fields

We show that dynamics in the spin-orbit coupling field simulate the von Neumann measurement of a particle spin. We demonstrate how the measurement influences the spin and coordinate evolution of a particle by comparing two examples of such a procedure. The first example is a simultaneous measurement of spin components, sigma(x) and sigma(y), corresponding to non-commuting operators, which cannot be accurately obtained together at a given time instant due to the Heisenberg uncertainty ratio. By mapping spin dynamics onto a spatial walk, such a procedure determines measurement-time averages of sigma(x) and sigma(y), which can already be precisely evaluated in a single short-time measurement. The other, qualitatively different, example is the spin of a one-dimensional particle in a magnetic field. Here, the measurement outcome depends on the angle between the spin-orbit coupling and magnetic fields. These results can be applied to studies of spin-orbit coupled cold atoms and electrons in solids.

Metalloporphyrin-based MOFs: new strategies for catalyst immobilization

Comunicacion a congreso (Presentación): ICCC 40. International Conference on Coordination Chemistry. Valencia, September 09-13, 2012

Metalloporphyrin-based MOFs: First Cobalt Based TPPS-bipy Coordination Network

Poster presentado en el congreso: Third International Conference on Multifunctional, Hybrid and Nanomaterials (3-7 March 2013, Sorrento, Italy)