Sintering of porous alumina obtained by biotemplate fibers for low thermal conductivity applications

In this research report, a sintering process of porous ceramic materials based on Al2O3 was employed using a method where a cation precursor solution is embedded in an organic fibrous cotton matrix. For porous green bodies, the precursor solution and cotton were annealed at temperatures in the range of 100-1600°C using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermogravimetric (TG) analysis to obtain a porous body formation and disposal process containing organic fibers and precursor solution. In a structure consisting of open pores and interconnected nanometric grains, despite the low porosity of around 40% (calculated geometrically), nitrogen physisorption determined a specific surface area of 14m2/g, which shows much sintering of porous bodies. Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analytical methods revealed a predominant amount of α-Al2O3 in the sintered samples. Thermal properties of the sintered Al2O3 fibers were obtained by using the Laser Flash which resulted in the lower thermal conductivity obtained by α-Al2O3 and therefore improved its potential use as an insulating material. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa LBI production as an integrated process using the wastes from sunflower-oil refining as a substrate

Pseudomonas aeruginosa LBI produced surface active rhamnolipids when cultivated on waste from the sunflower-oil process under different conditions. These biosurfactants, which reduce the superficial and interfacial tensions between fluids, offer advantages over their chemical counterparts, especially because of their ecological acceptability. These molecules can be used in fields as diverse as chemical, pharmaceutical and petrochemical industries. In this work, we present the effect of C/N ratio on growth and production yield. The best production yields (Y-P/S) were achieved for C/N ratios (in g/g) of 8/1 (0.22) and 6.4/1 (0.23). The product concentration was very satisfactory (7.3 g/L) at C/N ratio of 8/1, especially when considering that the substrate was basically composed of wastes that would otherwise constitute an environmental disposal problem. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Assessment of liquid disposal originated by uranium enrichment at Aramar Experimental Center São Paulo-Brazil

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Treatment of 1,10-phenanthroline laboratory wastewater using the solar photo-Fenton process

The red Fe2+-phenanthroline complex is the basis of a classical spectrophotometric method for determination of iron. Due to the toxicity of this complexing agent, direct disposal of the wastewaters generated in analytical laboratories is not environmentally safe. This work evaluates the use of the solar photo-Fenton process for the treatment of laboratory wastewaters containing phenanthroline. Firstly, the degradation of phenanthroline in water was evaluated at two concentration levels (0.1 and 0.01%, w/v) and the efficiencies of degradation using ferrioxalate (FeOx) and ferric nitrate were compared. The 0.01% w/v solution presented much higher mineralization, achieving 82% after 30 min of solar irradiation with both iron sources. The solar photo-Fenton treatment of laboratory wastewater containing, in addition to phenanthroline, other organic compounds such as herbicides and 4-chlorophenol, equivalent to 4500 mg L-1 total organic carbon (TOC) resulted in total degradation of phenanthroline and 25% TOC removal after 150 min, in the presence of either FeOx or ferric nitrate. A ratio of 1: 10 dilution of the residue increased mineralization in the presence of ferrioxalate, achieving 38% TOC removal after 120 min, while use of ferric nitrate resulted in only 6% mineralization over the same period. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

PLA and Organoclays Nanocomposites: Degradation Process and Evaluation of ecotoxicity Using Allium cepa as Test Organism

In this study, nanocomposites of PLA and organoclays Cloisite 20A and Cloisite 30B were prepared by the melt intercalation method and the obtained samples were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Since composting is an important proposal to the final disposal of biopolymers, the influence of clays on the hydrolytic degradation process of PLA was evaluated by visual analysis and monitoring of molecular weight after periods of 15 and 30 days of degradation in compost. After degradation of the materials in composting environment, the evaluation of cytotoxic, genotoxic and mutagenic effects of compost aqueous extract was carried out using a bioassay with Allium cepa as test organism. The TEM micrographs permitted the observation of different levels of dispersion, including exfoliated regions. In the evaluation of hydrolytic degradation it was noted that the presence of organoclays can decrease the rate of degradation possibly due to the barrier effect of clay layers and/or the higher degree of crystallinity in the nanocomposite samples. Nevertheless, even in the case of nanocomposites, the molecular weight reduction was significant, indicating that the composting process is favorable to the chain scission of PLA in studied materials. In the analysis performed by the bioassay using A. cepa as test organism, it was found that after degradation of the PLA and its nanocomposites the aqueous extract of compost samples induced a decreasing in the mitotic index and an increasing in the induction of chromosomal abnormalities. These results were statistically significant in relation to the negative control (distilled water). By comparing the results obtained for the nanocomposites in relative to pure polymer, there were no statistically significant differences. The types of the observed chromosomal aberrations indicated a possible genotoxic effect of the materials, which may be related to an aneugenic action of PLA degradation products. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York.