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Ecologically friendly polymer-metal and polymer-metal oxide nanocomposites for complex water treatment

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 14:49:41 GMT

Title: Ecologically friendly polymer-metal and polymer-metal oxide nanocomposites for complex water treatment Authors: Alonso González, Amanda; Bastos Arrieta, Julio; Davies, Gemma L.; Gun'ko, Yuri K.; Vigués, Núria; Muñoz Berbel, Xavier; Macanàs de Benito, Jorge; Mas i Gordi, Jordi; Muñoz Tapia, Maria; Muraviev, Dmitri N.

Bifunctional polymer-metal nanocomposite ion exchange materials

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 14:23:49 GMT

Title: Bifunctional polymer-metal nanocomposite ion exchange materials Authors: Domènech Garcia, Berta; Bastos Arrieta, Julio; Alonso González, Amanda; Macanàs de Benito, Jorge; Muñoz Tapia, Maria; Muraviev, Dmitri N.

MODSIMTex

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 13:46:50 GMT

Title: MODSIMTex Authors: Tornero García, José Antonio

Chicken feathers based composites: a life cycle assessment

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 14:31:40 GMT

Title: Chicken feathers based composites: a life cycle assessment Authors: Molins Durán, Gemma; Álvarez del Castillo, María Dolores; Garrido Soriano, Núria; Macanàs de Benito, Jorge; Carrillo Navarrete, Fernando Abstract: Chicken feathers (CFs) are a waste material generated from poultry industry in large quantities. A composite material constituted of poly lactide and CFs is proposed in order to prepare a biodegradable composite with low environmental impact. In order to evaluate its environmental impact, a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is performed. The results show that, from the environmental point of view, the more chicken feathers in the material, the greater is its impact. This is mainly due to the non - inclusion of the impact data regarding CFs current waste management treatments required in accordance with the European Directive CE 1069/2009 (in study) and to the high energy consumption of the pre - treatment stages (cleaning and sanitizing) required to transform CFs waste into a CFs technical material that can be used for the preparation of CFs/PLA composites material, which needs to be optimized.

Dielectric, mechanical, and thermal characterization of high-density polyethylene composites with ground tire rubber

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 10:41:14 GMT

Title: Dielectric, mechanical, and thermal characterization of high-density polyethylene composites with ground tire rubber Authors: Mujal Rosas, Ramón María; Marín Genescá, Marcos; Orrit Prat, Jordi; Rahhali, Ahmed; Colom Fajula, Xavier Abstract: The mass manufacture of tires and the difficulty in storing or disposing them constitute a serious environmental problem. At present, various recycling methods for tires are used, such as grinding, which separates the steel and fibers from the vulcanized rubber, then using the rubber in numerous industrial applications such as pavements, insulators, footwear, etc. The aim of this article focuses on finding a new application for the ground tire rubber (GTR). This would allow including GTR in industrial applications of recycled high-density polythene (HDPE). Tire dust and HDPE thermoplastic have been mixed, and the maximum accepted values of GTR concentration that can be admitted while keeping dielectric, mechanical, and thermal properties within acceptable values, as well as initial polymer microstructure, have been checked. In addition, the suitability of the compounds for antistatic applications is studied. The recycled tire dust which results from the industrial milling processes has been divided by sieve in three different categories according to the size of the particles (<200, 200–500, and >500 mm). This has then been mixed with HDPE in different GTR concentrations (0%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 40%, 50%, and 70%) in order to establish its conduct through electrical, mechanical, thermal, and microstructure tests, which will be held in a temperature range 30–120_C, and with a frequency range 1 _ 10_2 and 3 _ 106 Hz. The thermal tests determined the enthalpies and fusion temperatures which allow for the observation of changes in crystalline and microstructure of the matrix, and finally, the fracture surfaces of the compound samples have been evaluated using scanning electron microscopy

Instrumento quirúrgico de sutura para anastomosis automática del tubo digestivo

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 13:50:44 GMT

Title: Instrumento quirúrgico de sutura para anastomosis automática del tubo digestivo Authors: Tornero García, José Antonio; Suárez Feijóo, Raúl; Cano Casas, Francesc; Montaño Sarria, Andrés Felipe; López Cano, Manuel Abstract: En la cirugía digestiva, una anastomosis del intestino consiste en la reconstrucción del tubo digestivo por unión de dos cabos tras la resección de una porción del mismo. Este procedimiento, de común aplicación en diversos tipos de intervención quirúrgica se realiza actualmente mediante la aplicación de grapas metálicas debido a la complejidad inherente de la realización de una sutura manual. La automatización del proceso de sutura mediante un dispositivo diseñado a tal efecto supondría una notable mejora en el procedimiento quirúrgico asociado y posteriormente en la calidad de vida del paciente, ya que las grapas metálicas empleadas actualmente presentan diversos inconvenientes. El diseño de este dispositivo presenta gran complejidad debido al rigor de los requisitos funcionales y a la complejidad del entorno de funcionamiento así como las características de los materiales que intervienen en el proceso.En el presente trabajo se describe el desarrollo de un prototipo de dispositivo para anastomosis automática mediante sutura, evaluando su funcionalidad a nivel de laboratorio, con objeto de probar su validez

Colour matters: colour evaluation of textile and clothing

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 09:17:56 GMT

Title: Colour matters: colour evaluation of textile and clothing Authors: Sato, Tetsuya; Kitaguchi, Saori; Kajiwara, Kanji; Koo, Kang; Kim, Samsoo; Park, Soonjee; Valldeperas Morell, José; Lis Arias, Manuel José; Xin, John; Hansuebsai, Aran; Nobbs, Jim Abstract: The colours of textiles and clothing induce our emotions. The emotions induced from the colour are made in our brains. The colour emotions affect our interests and actions. It is very difficult to know why the colour emotions affect them. However, it is important to know how the colour emotions affect them, because we can know what textile products should be produced. As related on this matter, some numerical expression of the colour impressions has been tried. This paper was summarized the numerical expressions and the cross-cultural comparison of colour emotions, using some published papers of our previous studies

Epitaxial BaZrO3 tracks by electrospinning of metalorganic fibers on single crystals

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 11:13:55 GMT

Title: Epitaxial BaZrO3 tracks by electrospinning of metalorganic fibers on single crystals Authors: Obradors i Berenguer, Francesc Xavier; Calleja Lázaro, Albert; Ricart Miró, Susagna; Granados García, Javier A.J.; Palmer Paricio, Xavier; Solano Reina, Enrique; Tornero García, José Antonio; Cano Casas, Francesc; Puig Molina, Teresa

Composites from keratin biofibers. Study of compatibility using polyolephinic matrices

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 11:24:04 GMT

Title: Composites from keratin biofibers. Study of compatibility using polyolephinic matrices Authors: Carrillo Navarrete, Fernando; Rahalli, A; Cañavate Ávila, Francisco Javier; Colom Fajula, Xavier Abstract: The study deals with the analysis and characterization of chicken feathers (CFs) based thermoplastic composites. The performance of the composite has been characterized in terms of mechanical properties which have been related to the fibre-matrix compatibility of the composite components analyzed by FTIR and SEM. The results have shown that the addition of short CFs as a filler to the PP thermoplastic matrix did not significantly improve the mechanical properties. A slightly increase of the stiffness has been observed when using small quantities of CFs (5-10% v/v) that provides to the composites a more brittle behaviour. Analogous behaviour has been observed for HDPE/CFs composites. FTIR spectroscopy and SEM micrographs analyses show limited compatibility between the composite components (CFs and polyolephinic matrices)

Use of chicken feathers waste for the fabrication of composite materials

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 09:35:40 GMT

Title: Use of chicken feathers waste for the fabrication of composite materials Authors: Carrillo Navarrete, Fernando; Macanàs de Benito, Jorge; Colom Fajula, Xavier; Cañavate Ávila, Francisco Javier; Molins Durán, Gemma; Álvarez del Castillo, María Dolores; Garrido Soriano, Núria Abstract: Chicken feathers (CFs), mainly discarded nowadays, are an alternative reinforcement to be applied in the preparation of composite materials (CMs). The effect of different sanitizing methods on the properties of both CFs and the corresponding CMs has been studied. Some characteristic parameters such as density have been found to be dependent on the treatment that CFs endure, whereas the mechanical properties of the CMs made of thermoplastics matrices (e.g. polypropylene and high density polyethylene) were only slightly affected by the treatment. The introduction of CFs decreased the tensile strength of the CMs compared with the neat polymers while other parameters (e.g. Young’s modulus) were essentially unaffected

Intermatrix synthesis of monometallic and magnetic metal/metal oxide nanoparticles with bactericidal activity on anionic exchange polymers

Thu, 31 May 2012 08:42:44 GMT

Title: Intermatrix synthesis of monometallic and magnetic metal/metal oxide nanoparticles with bactericidal activity on anionic exchange polymers Authors: Alonso González, Amanda; Muñoz Berbel, Xavier; Vigués, Núria; Rodríguez Rodríguez, Rosalía; Macanàs de Benito, Jorge; Mas i Gordi, Jordi; Muñoz Tapia, Maria; Muraviev, Dmitri N. Abstract: In this communication, the synthesis of nanoparticles on anionic exchange polymers by the Intermatrix Synthesis method is reported. Monometallic (Ag) and core–shell metal/metal oxide (Ag@Fe3O4) nanocomposites were synthesized and characterized. Their magnetic and bactericidal activities were evaluated

High temperature transformation of electrospun BaZrO3 nanotubes into nanoparticle chains

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 11:54:45 GMT

Title: High temperature transformation of electrospun BaZrO3 nanotubes into nanoparticle chains Authors: Obradors i Berenguer, Francesc Xavier; Puig Molina, Teresa; Tornero García, José Antonio; Cano Casas, Francesc; Calleja, Albert; Granados, Xavier; Ricart, Susana; Oro, Judith; Arbiol, Jordi; Mestres, Narcís; Carrillo, Ana Esther; Palmer, Xavier

Characterization of fibrous polymer silver/cobalt nanocomposite with enhanced bactericide activity

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:45:48 GMT

Title: Characterization of fibrous polymer silver/cobalt nanocomposite with enhanced bactericide activity Authors: Alonso González, Amanda; Muñoz Berbel, Xavier; Vigués, Núria; Macanàs de Benito, Jorge; Muñoz Tapia, Maria; Mas i Gordi, Jordi; Muraviev, Dmitri N. Abstract: This manuscript describes the synthesis (based on the intermatrix synthesis (IMS) method), optimization, and application to bacterial disinfection of Ag@Co polymer metal nanocomposite materials with magnetic and bactericidal properties. This material showed ideal bactericide features for being applied to bacterial disinfection of water, particularly (1) an enhanced bactericidal activity (when compared with other nanocomposites only containing Ag or Co nanoparticles), with a cell viability close to 0% for bacterial suspensions with an initial concentration below 105 colony forming units per milliliter (CFU/mL) after a single pass through the material, (2) capacity of killing a wide range of bacterial types (from coliforms to Grampositive bacteria), and (3) a long performance-time, with an efficiency of 100% (0% viability) up to 1 h of operation and higher than 90% during the first 24 h of continuous operation. The nanocomposite also showed a good performance when applied to water samples from natural sources with more complex matrices with efficiencies always higher than 80%.

Influence of electrochemical pre-treatment in dyeing wastewater reuse for five reactive dyes

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:35:42 GMT

Title: Influence of electrochemical pre-treatment in dyeing wastewater reuse for five reactive dyes Authors: Riera Torres, Miquel Antoni; Gutiérrez Bouzán, María Carmen; Valldeperas Morell, José; Lis Arias, Manuel José; Crespi Rosell, Martin Abstract: In this study, the influence of an electrochemical pre-treatment was evaluated in dyeing wastewater reuse for five reactive dyes for cotton fabrics. The most proper dyeing method was established and the influence of alkali was also studied. Wastewater was treated in an electrochemical cell at 20 Lh_1 and 40 mA/cm2 for between 3 and 15 minutes before being reused. During the electrochemical treatment the evolution of the dye degradation was evaluated by COD measurements. From the results, it can be concluded that 70% of the wastewater can be satisfactorily reused by direct bath reuse with most of the reactive dyes obtaining DE (CMC (2:1)) values below 1 with respect to the reference. Differences of DE (CMC (2:1) can be improved up to 75% by applying an electrochemical pre-treatment. In DE (CMC (2:1)) values, DL* was found to be the most influential parameter. Finally, the influence of the level of dye degradation in the wastewater was observed as non-relevant in the direct reuse of the bath for most of the studied dyes

Thermoplastic elastomers including ground tyre rubber in a thermoplastic matrix

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 15:09:26 GMT

Title: Thermoplastic elastomers including ground tyre rubber in a thermoplastic matrix Authors: Cañavate Ávila, Francisco Javier; Casas Carné, M. del Pilar; Carrillo Navarrete, Fernando; Nogués Morell, Francesc; Colom Fajula, Xavier Abstract: Disposal of end of life tyres is regulated in many countries. The enormous amount produced every year needs the research of new ways of recycling. A common practice previous to any treatment is the grinding of the tyres by specialized companies producing ground tyre rubber powder. Several attempts to include this powder in polymeric matrixes have been developed, mainly resulting in a lack of compatibility of the components. In this paper we propose a new composite including GTR and EPDM in a HDPE matrix. The use of peroxides to produce crosslinking produces a thermoelastomeric material suitable for industrial applications.