Hybrid networks based on epoxidized camelina oil

Lately, renewable resources received great attention in the macromolecular compounds area, regarding the design of the monomers and polymers with different applications. In this study the capacity of several modified vegetable oil-based monomers to build competitive hybrid networks was investigate, taking into account thermal and mechanical behavior of the designed materials. In order to synthesize such competitive nanocomposites, the selected renewable raw material, camelina oil, was employed due to the non-toxicity and biodegradability behavior. General properties of epoxidized camelina oil-based materials were improved by loading of different types of organic-inorganic hybrid compounds – polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) bearing one (POSS1Ep) or eight (POSS8Ep) epoxy rings on the cages. In order to identify the chemical changes occurring after the thermal curing reactions, FT-IR spectrometry was employed. The new synthesized nanocomposites based on epoxidized camelina oil (ECO) were characterized by dynamic mechanical analyze and thermogravimetric analyze. The morphology of the ECO-based materials was investigate by scanning electron microscopy and supplementary information regarding the presence of the POSS compounds were establish by energy dispersive X-ray analysis and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The smooth materials without any separation phase indicates a well dispersion of the Si–O–Si cages within the organic matrix and the incorporation of this hybrid compounds into the ECO network demonstrates to be a well strategy to improve the thermal and mechanical properties, simultaneously.     

Soil and groundwater cleanup: benefits and limits of emerging technologies

Contaminated soil and groundwater have been the subject of study and research, so that the field of remediation has grown and evolved, continually developing and adopting new technologies in attempts to improve the decontamination. The cleanup of environmental pollution involves a variety of techniques, ranging from simple biological processes to advanced engineering technologies. Cleanup activities may also address a wide range of contaminants. This article is a short analysis of the technologies for cleaning up groundwater and soil, highlighting knowledge and information gaps. Challenges and strategies for cleaning up different types of contaminants, mainly heavy metals and persistent organic compounds are described. Included are technologies that treat ground water contaminants in place in the subsurface and soil technologies that treat the soil either in place or on site in a treatment unit. Emerging technologies such as those based on oxidation–reduction, bioremediation, and nanotechnologies are covered. It is evident that for a good efficiency of remediation, techniques or even whole new technologies may be incorporated into an existing technology as a treatment train, improving its performance or overcome limitations. Several economic and decision-making elements are developed in the final part, based on the analysis carried out throughout the article. The work highlights the fact that excellence in research and technology progress could be attained by the development of technologies to deal more effectively and economically with certain toxic contaminants such as heavy metals, volatile organic compounds, and persistent organic pollutants, associated with optimization of technologies under field remediation conditions and requirements, improving capacity and yields, and reducing costs. Moreover, increasing knowledge of the scope and problem of equipment development could improve the benefits.     

Design of New Camelina Oil‐Based Hydrophilic Monomers for Novel Polymeric Materials

Triglyceride‐based monomers represent a competitive alternative to petrochemical resources in the macromolecular compounds area. In the current study, several types of hydrophilic camelina oil (CO)‐based monomers were synthesized using tunable experimental protocols that involve three different steps: first—conversion of the double bonds into epoxy rings, second—partial opening of the epoxy rings and methacrylic groups grafting and last—opening of the unreacted epoxy rings and hydrophilic units attaching. 1H‐NMR, 13C‐NMR and FTIR spectroscopy demonstrate the success of the CO functionalization with polymerizable and hydrophilic moieties—polyethylene glycol units—with different molecular weights, exhibiting self‐emulsifiable properties. Several bulk and emulsion polymerization tests were performed for the synthesized monomers and their ability to build polymer networks using different photo‐chemical procedures (using visible and UV radiations respectively) was demonstrated, without additional surfactants. FTIR spectroscopy indicates the polymerization success by the disappearance of the specific bands assigned to the double bonds from methacrylic groups and thermogravimetric analysis demonstrates that the emulsion polymerization leads to materials with an improved thermostability.