Towars a chemical reagents and residues management at the teaching laboratories of the Chemistry School of the Universidad Nacional

The academic activities carried out at the School of Chemistry make indispensable to develop actions oriented toward the consolidation of a reagent and residue management system, especially in the teaching laboratories. The project “Management of reagents and residues in the teaching laboratories of the School of Chemistry” works under the Green Chemistry values which designs products and chemical processes that reduce or eliminate the use and production of dangerous substances, to benefit the environment. With a preventive vision, a change from the  laboratory practices is looked to select those with less environmental impact. Additionally, residue quantification is made and its management protocols are developed for each practice. The project has several stages: diagnose, action implementation, student, teacher and administration personnel training and evaluation during the process and at the end of it. The article describes methodological aspects of the project operation emphasizing on reagent and residue quantification through flow diagrams.

Anteproyecto de modelo arquitectónico de complejo alimentario, por medio de granjas agrícolas de La Geo

El presente trabajo consistió en el desarrollo del anteproyecto arquitectónico de un complejo alimentario, donde básicamente se propone la solución espacial para las instalaciones de un prototipo de anteproyecto propuesto por La Geo, el cual está compuesto de granjas agrícolas de La Geo, en un conjunto de espacios necesarios para la creación de un combustible alternativo a partir de procesos químicos y de tecnología biogás, todo esto producto de la granja avícola con capacidad para medio millón de aves, todos los desechos serán transformados a biogás para que este sea autosustentable. También cuenta con espacios complementarios como: Guardería y clínica asistencial, para el servicio de las comunidades aledañas y personal del complejo

Caracterización hidrogeoquímica del agua subterránea de la subcuenca del río Acahuapa, departamento de San Vicente

Marinero Orantes, EA. 2015. Caracterización hidrogeoquímica del agua subterránea de la subcuenca del río Acahuapa, departamento de San Vicente, El Salvador. Tesis Mag. Sc. San Salvador, El Salvador. Universidad de El Salvador. 179 p. El presente trabajo se llevó a cabo con la finalidad de ampliar el conocimiento hidrogeoquímico del acuífero en la zona de la subcuenca del río Acahuapa, en el departamento de San Vicente, que abarca los municipios de San Vicente, San Cayetano Istepeque, Tepetitán, Verapáz, Guadalupe, San Esteban Catarina, Santa Clara y Apastepeque. Así mismo, forma parte de la Región Hidrográfica del río Lempa, una de las más importantes del país. La población actual ubicada en la subcuenca es de aproximadamente 112,236 habitantes, lo cual representa el 80% de la población del departamento de San Vicente. Se recolectaron muestras de 20 pozos escavados, 15 manantiales y 10 puntos en las aguas superficiales de la red hídrica de la subcuenca. Los muestreos se llevaron a cabo en la época seca y lluviosa durante el periodo comprendido de febrero de 2011 hasta agosto de 2012.Los parámetros analizados fueron datos de cationes (Na, K, Ca, Mg, Fe total) y aniones (HCO-3, Cl-, SO-24, CaCO3-2), así como de carbonatos con el fin de determinar el balance de masa y flujo de gas CO2. Además, parámetros fisicoquímicos de temperatura, oxígeno disuelto, pH y conductividad eléctrica. Tales análisis son suficientes para el estudio de los principales procesos químicos en la mayoría de los acuíferos y sus relaciones con los sistemas hidrológicos. De forma general se concluyó que el comportamiento químico del acuífero en la subcuenca del río Acahuapa en ambas épocas lluviosa y seca, es similar, y que las familias de agua predominantes son bicarbonatadas magnésicas y cálcicas bicarbonatadas. Las aguas bicarbonatadas son malas para riego, debido a la fijación de iones en el terreno y creación de un medio alcalino.Palabras claves: subcuenca, cationes, aniones, pozos escavados, manantiales, red hídrica, época seca, época lluviosa.

Modelling early transitions toward autonomous protocells.

252 p.

Synthesis, characterization, and preliminary application of new biocompatible nanogels useful as anticancer drug delivery systems

253 p.

Effect of the Concentration of Siliceous Materials Added to Tobacco Cigarettes on the Composition of the Smoke Generated during Smoking

Two as-synthesized meso- and macro-porous siliceous materials (MPSMs), i.e., Al-MCM-41 and SBA-15, were mixed with tobacco to study their effect on tobacco smoke chemistry. A reference cigarette, 3R4F, and a commercial cigarette, Fortuna, containing different percentages of MPSM were smoked in a smoking machine, and the mainstream smoke was analyzed. SBA-15 showed the highest reductions of nicotine; close to 90% when it was added at 8 mass %. The superb behavior of these materials may be related to their high particulate matter filtering efficiency in combination with their catalytic activity. The selectivity of these materials with respect to nicotine was also analyzed. Al-MCM-41 presents higher selectivity for condensed compounds than for gases, whereas SBA-15 presents similar ratios for both fractions. The highest selectivity was obtained for the liquid fraction when smoking 3R4F cigarettes mixed with Al-MCM-41.

TGA/FTIR study of the pyrolysis of diammonium hydrogen phosphate–tobacco mixtures

Diammonium hydrogen phosphate (DAP) is commonly used as a flavor ingredient of commercial cigarettes. In addition, among its other uses, it is employed to expand the tobacco volume, to manufacture reconstituted tobacco sheet, and to denicotinize tobacco. However, the use of DAP as a cigarette ingredient is a controversial issue. Some authors have stated that ammonium compounds added to tobacco increase smoke ammonia and “smoke pH”, resulting in more free nicotine available in the smoke. On the other hand, other researchers have reported that the larger ammonium content of a cigarette blend due to the presence of DAP was not reflected in increased smoke ammonia. In this work, the thermal behavior of DAP, tobacco and DAP-tobacco mixtures has been studied by TGA/FTIR. The chemical processes involved in the different pyrolysis steps of DAP have been suggested. Marked changes in the pyrolytic behavior of both, tobacco and DAP have been detected when analyzing the behavior of the mixtures. A displacement of the decomposition steps mainly related to the glycerol and lignin from tobacco toward lower temperatures has been observed, whereas that associated with cellulose is displaced toward higher temperature. Additionally, no peak corresponding to the phosphorous oxides decomposition has been detected in the curves relating to the DAP-tobacco mixtures. All these features are indicative of the strong interactions between DAP and tobacco. The FTIR spectra show no significant qualitative differences between the qualitative overall composition of the gases evolved from the pyrolysis of tobacco in the absence and in the presence of DAP. Nevertheless, depending on the temperature considered, the addition of DAP contributes to a decrease in the generation of hydrocarbons and an increase in the formation of CO, CO2 and oxygenated compounds in terms of amount generated per mass of pyrolysed tobacco.

Hydrothermal carbonization of lignocellulosic biomass: Effect of process conditions on hydrochar properties

Although hydrothermal carbonization of biomass components is known to be mainly governed by reaction temperature, consistent reports on the effect and statistical significance of process conditions on hydrochar properties are still lacking. The objective of this research was to determine the importance and significance of reaction temperature, retention time and solid load on the properties of hydrochar produced from an industrial lignocellulosic sludge residue. According to the results, reaction temperature and retention time had a statistically significant effect on hydrochar ash content, solid yield, carbon content, O/C-ratio, energy densification and energy yield as reactor solid load was statistically insignificant for all acquired models within the design range. Although statistically significant, the effect of retention time was 3–7 times lower than that of reaction temperature. Predicted dry ash-free solid yields of attained hydrochar decreased to approximately 40% due to the dissolution of biomass components at higher reaction temperatures, as respective oxygen contents were comparable to subbituminous coal. Significant increases in the carbon contents of hydrochar led to predicted energy densification ratios of 1–1.5 with respective energy yields of 60–100%. Estimated theoretical energy requirements of carbonization were dependent on the literature method used and mainly controlled by reaction temperature and reactor solid load. The attained results enable future prediction of hydrochar properties from this feedstock and help to understand the effect of process conditions on hydrothermal treatment of lignocellulosic biomass.

Heavy metal release due to aging effect during zero valent iron nanoparticles remediation

Zero valent iron nanoparticles (nZVI) represent a promising agent for environmental remediation. Nevertheless, their application presents some limitations regarding their rapid oxidation and aggregation in the media. The aim of this study was to determine the effect that nZVI aging has in heavy metal remediation in water. Contaminants studied were Zn, Cd, Ni, Cu and Cr, which are typical elements found in ground and wastewater. Results show a high contaminant removal capacity by the nZVI in the first 2 h of reaction. Nevertheless, for longer reaction times, some of the metal ions that had already been adsorbed in the nZVI were delivered to the water. Cd and Ni show the maximum delivery percentages (65 and 27% respectively after 21 days of contact time). The starting delivery time was shortened when applying lower nZVI amounts. No re-dissolution of Cr was observed in any circumstance because it was the only element incorporated into the nanoparticles core, as TEM images showed. Contaminant release from nZVI is probably due to nanoparticles oxidation caused by aging, which produced a pH decrease and nZVI surface crystallization.

Thermogravimetric and kinetic analysis of the decomposition of solid recovered fuel from municipal solid waste

The thermal decomposition of a solid recovered fuel has been studied using thermogravimetry, in order to get information about the main steps in the decomposition of such material. The study comprises two different atmospheres: inert and oxidative. The kinetics of decomposition is determined at three different heating rates using the same kinetic constants and model for both atmospheres at all the heating rates simultaneously. A good correlation of the TG data is obtained using three nth-order parallel reactions.

Comb-like acrylic-based polymer latexes containing nano-sized crystalline or liquid crystalline domains

306 p.

Propuesta de manejo de residuos químicos generados en procesos electrolíticos de niquelado y cromado

Se ha realizado una investigación sobre el manejo de residuos químicos generados en procesos electrolíticos de niquelado y cromado, incluyendo los procesos que los preceden como el desengrase y decapado, incluyendo el impacto ambiental que estos residuos generan. Se evaluó entre las diferentes fórmulas químicas para cada uno de los procesos y se seleccionaron como objeto de análisis las dos más utilizadas en cada proceso, considerando las leyes nacionales e internacionales actualmente en rigor. Además, de esto se llevo a cabo un estudio de los residuos generados en cada proceso, evaluando los diferentes métodos y técnicas para reducir estos residuos, como también, un estudio de los diferentes análisis y tratamientos que se deben de realizar a las soluciones y a los residuos para un correcto manejo, con el fin de mejorar su calidad y duración, reduciendo la cantidad de residuos generados, su correcto almacenamiento y tratamiento final

Propuesta de manejo de residuos químicos de procesos autocatalíticos de Ni-P sobre aceros

En el presente trabajo de graduación se realizó un análisis sobre la propuesta de manejo de residuos químicos de procesos autocatalíticos de Ni-P sobre aceros, la cual es una técnica que en El Salvador aún no se realiza a nivel industrial y con el desarrollo de esta investigación se espera facilitar el desarrollo de dichos procesos. La investigación se desarrolló con la ayuda de información bibliográfica donde se describen los procesos, el manejo y almacenamiento de los químicos utilizados en los procesos y una cantidad significativa de los muchos baños que se producen, de los cuales se eligieron dos para presentar la propuesta, tomando en cuenta también el factor económico para la deposición final, con la cual se realizará la eliminación de los residuos químicos del proceso de deposición autocatalítica de Ni-p sobre aceros

[Asistencia técnica para investigar y determinar las propiedades fisicoquímicas de la materia prima y alcanzar la eficiencia en los procesos de explotación de la arcilla].

20 hojas : fotografías.