Breathable water-repellent garments are common products on the outdoor market. There are many recommendations on how to wash and waterproof your garment in order to make sure that its water-repellence is cared for, but the advice given by different sources is inconsistent. Are expensive products really necessarily or are regular laundry products just as good? What waterproofing agents should one use in order to insure that the water-repellent layer is restored? Four different water-repellent wash-in products were tested on polyester and polyamide fabrics. Seven laundry products and two water-repellent wash-in products were tested on jackets with dendrimer based finishes and untreated polyamide fabrics. The results were evaluated by spray testing according to ISO EN 24920 and sessile drop tests. Not all wash-in products offer good water-repellence on polyamide and polyester fabrics. Two laundry detergents decreased the water-repellence of the jackets. The laundry detergents did not affect the function of wash-in waterproofing agents on the jackets. The water-repellence of one wash-in product was affected by the use of two different detergents on untreated fabric / Program: Textilingenjörsutbildningen

The strength, thermal stability, pore structure and morphology are keys to success for wider deployment of aerogels. Furthermore, co or subsequent functionalization of the surfaces are equally, if not more important. This study addresses these issues through a new method. The path involves successful use of surfactant templating, supercritical extraction and drying, and supercritical fluid aided functionalization of the surface. Alumina support and alumina supported nickel catalyst particles are used to evaluate the approach. Initially thermally stable surfactant alumina was synthesized. The surfactant template was removed completely with the aid of a supercritical solvent mixture. Surfactant-templated alumina aerogel showed remarkable thermal stability and gave specific surface area above 500m2 /g both before and after calcination. The alumina support is subsequently impregnated with nickel. BET and BJH method (Nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms) were used to follow the removal of solvents and templates as well as tracking the textural properties for the synthesized gel. Meanwhile, co-precipitated nickel oxide/alumina system was also synthesized for comparison with the supercritical impregnation nickel oxide/alumina system. SEM-EDS and XPS were employed to study the distribution of the nickel on the alumina support and the percentage was compared with the initial mixture of the sol gels.

A micromorfologia é a ciência que permite estudar o solo e seus componentes em amostras indeformadas em uma escala microscópica permitindo identificar feições relacionados a sua formação e processos atuantes que podem ser aplicadas em estudos de gênese, física, mineralogia, microbiologia do solo, entre outros. Para que isso seja possível é necessário formar um material rígido o suficiente para ser laminado a partir de amostras indeformadas de solo, através do processo de impregnação de solo. No entanto, para esse procedimento são utilizados atualmente, resinas plásticas (e.g. poliéster e epóxi), e dentre elas a resina poliéster, pode ser consideradas tóxica à saúde humana devido a presença do monômero de estireno na composição, além disso há o risco de danos ao meio ambiente devido a produção de resíduos oriundos de materiais tóxicos. No Brasil, por exemplo, há poucos laboratórios que realizam o processo de impregnação de amostras de solos para análises micromorfológicas, provavelmente, devido a toxicidade dos reagentes. Diante da importância da técnica para a Ciência do Solo, torna-se fundamental buscar alternativas para a técnica de micromorfologia do solo, que sejam economicamente viáveis, e que assegurem a segurança de atividades que envolvam substâncias e produtos químicos, visando garantir a proteção da saúde, da vida e das condições normais do ambiente, contribuindo para um desenvolvimento sustentável sem comprometer a qualidade do produto final. Assim, o presente trabalho teve como objetivo eliminar ou substituir a utilização do monômero de estireno no processo de impregnação de solos por substâncias similares menos tóxicas ao manuseio e avaliar o uso de soluções de resina poliéster e soluções de resina epóxi com diferentes diluentes (estireno, acetona e álcool) no processo de impregnação de amostras de solo (argiloso, textura média e arenoso). Para isso, foram utilizadas 2 tipos de resinas: resina poliéster Arazyn 1.0#00, resina poliéster Arazyn 1.0#0.8 e resina Epóxi Epoxiglass 1504; e diferentes solventes, sendo estes: o monômero de estireno, acetona P.A e álcool etílico absoluto (99,5%). Os tratamentos foram avaliados tanto para confecção de blocos quanto na fabricação de lâminas delgadas. Além disso, avaliação da qualidade da impregnação na confecção dos blocos de solo foi feita a partir dos parâmetros: odor, cor, volume de material gasto, solubilidade do pigmento, polimerização e secagem, corte, número de reimpregnações e custos dos reagentes. Também foi verificado na qualidade final do produto, a quantidade de poros não impregnados e uma avaliação qualitativa das lâminas. Verificou-se que a resina poliéster arazyn 1.0#08 tendo a acetona como solvente apresentou resultados satisfatórios na impregnação de solos, na confecção de blocos polidos e lâminas delgadas, para ambos os tipos de solo estudados. Porém, não foi capaz de substituir totalmente o estireno, contudo promove uma redução significativa do uso do estireno devido a possibilidade de substituição por acetona. Por outro lado, o tratamento com resina epóxi apresenta grande limitação da qualidade das lâminas delgadas não sendo obtidos resultados satisfatórios no produto final. No entanto, pode ser considerado uma alternativa para trabalhos que analisam apenas blocos polidos, uma vez que apresentou resultados positivos, em todas as texturas de solo que foram impregnadas. / Micromorphology uses optical microscopy and associated techniques to study soil\'s components at the microscopic scale for undisturbed samples. This technique allows identification of features related to soil processes and formation that can be applied to soil\'s genesis, physics, mineralogy, microbiology, among others. To perform these analysis, it is commonly used rigid materials to produce thin sections from undisturbed soil samples by the soil impregnation process. However, the plastic resins (e.g., polyester resin) containing the styrene monomer is considered toxic for human health. In addition, the wastes production from toxic materials may pose environmental risks. In Brazil, for instance, there are few laboratories performing the impregnation process of soil samples for micromorphological analysis, probably because of the reagents toxicity. Thus, given the importance of micromorphology for Soil Science, it is critical to seek other alternatives for soil micromorphology analysis. These alternatives must be economically feasible, chemically safe, non-hazardous for human health, attending environmental compliances, and contributing to sustainable development without compromising the product quality. Consequently, our work aimed to eliminate or replace the use of styrene monomer in the soil impregnation process by similar substances less toxic to the handling and evaluate the use of polyester resin solutions and epoxy resin solutions with different diluents (styrene, acetone and alcohol) in the impregnation process of soil samples (clayey, medium and sandy texture). We conducted an investigation using two resins, as follows: Arazyn 1.0 # 00 polyester resin, Arazyn 1.0 polyester resin # 0.8 and Epoxy resin Epoxiglass 1504; and the following solvents: styrene monomer, acetone and absolute ethyl alcohol (99.5%). We evaluated both blocks confection and thin sections manufacture. We also assessed the impregnation quality during soil blocks preparation based on the following parameters: odor, color, amount of material spent, pigment solubility, polymerization and drying, cutting, number of reimpregnations, and reagent costs. Within the product quality we also evaluate the non-impregnated pores quantities besides a qualitative evaluation of the thin sections. We found the polyester resin Arazyn 1.0 # 08 (containing acetone as a solvent) had satisfactory results in the impregnation of soil samples for both block soils and thin sections using the three soil texture types. Even though this treatment significantly decreased the use of styrene due to the potential substitution for acetone, we were unable to completely replace the styrene. On the other hand, the epoxy resin demonstrated limitations regarding the thin section quality, so that the results were not satisfactory for the final product. The epoxy resin can be considered a good alternative for analyzing soil blocks solely, since it presented positive results for the three impregnated soil textures.

Throughout this thesis work, various catalysts were investigated with combinational approach to develop highly active and selective novel catalysts for direct epoxidation of propylene to PO using molecular oxygen. The promoted and un-promoted silver (Ag), copper (Cu), ruthenium (Ru), manganese (Mn) mono and multimetallic catalytic systems over different silica supports were prepared via sol-gel method and incipient wetness method. In addition to support effect, the effects of different promoters on the catalytic performances of these catalyst candidates were investigated. The study showed that commercial silica (c-SiO2) is the most effective support when compared to silica (SiO2) and silica synthesized with templete (t-SiO2). Among bimetallic catalytic systems containing Ag, Ru, Mn and Cu metals, c-SiO2 supported Cu-Ru catalyst was determined as the most active catalytic system. In addition, the most effective v catalyst and promoter in the epoxidation reaction was determined as NaCI promoted Cu-Ru catalyst supported over c-SiO2 with 35.98% selectivity&amp / 9.55% conversion (3.44% yield) at 3000C and 0.5 feed gas ratio (C3H6/O2).. In the study, the selected catalysts showed low and high PO productivity were also investigated by characterization techniques such as XRD, XPS, BET and FTIR.It was inferred from characterization tests that bimetallic systems reveal a synergistic behavior by exposing more active sites on the silica support material with respect to their monometallic counterparts. Besides, NaCl catalytic promoter has a strong interaction particularly with the Cu sites on the Cu/Ru/SiO2 catalyst surface, altering the electronic structure of Cu sites that favors to PO production.

Due to the water pollution problems created by MTBE, significant research was focused on the production of alternative oxygenates, such as ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE), tert-amyl-methyl-ether (TAME) and tert-amyl-ethyl-ether (TAEE) as octane enhancing gasoline blending components. These oxygenates are expected to improve the burning characteristics of gasoline and reduce exhaust emissions of CO and hydrocarbons. Generally, macroreticular acidic resin catalysts (Amberlyst-15) are used for the etherification reactions between C5 iso-olefins (2M1B/2M2B) and alcohols (ethanol/methanol). But in recent years, heteropoly acid compounds are being used in the production of tert-ethers to replace those macroreticular acidic resin catalysts. HPAs are known to be active catalysts for many of homogeneous and heterogeneous acid catalyzed reactions.These compounds have high acidity, high catalytic activity but they are highly soluble in polar solvents such as water,alcohol when they are used in bulk form. In this research, applicability of bulk heteropoly acid (HPA) and its supported form, to the gas-phase etherification reaction of iso-olefin (2-methyl- 2-butene) with ethyl alcohol in a continuous differential reactor was investigated. The heteropoly acid (H3PW12O40.xH2O) was supported on activated carbon, at two different loading levels, by aqueous impregnation technique. After catalyst characterization, kinetic experiments were done in a temperature range between 80&deg / C-97&deg / C with a feed concentration of 30 vol.%2M2B+70 vol.% ethanol. Supported HPA catalysts yielded lower conversion and rate of reaction than the bulk HPA. After that, to make a comparison, same experiments have been carried out with Amberlyst-15 and a different HPA (H3PMo12O40.xH2O) at 90oC. The results showed that, at this temperature, bulk tungstophosphoric acid (H3PW12O40.xH2O) was highly active among the other catalysts. Moreover, the deactivation of bulk and supported HPA were investigated and found that partial deactivation occurred when they were reused, without any treatment. In the final part of the study, the activity of alcohol-treated supported HPA catalyst and formation of side products, dimethyl or diethyl ether, at 90&deg / C were investigated. When the supported catalyst was treated with alcohol, before utilizing in the experiments, lower conversion was obtained with respect to the conversion value obtained in the presence of fresh catalyst. The studies done on the formation of side product showed that, no side product was formed at this working temperature.

Samples of SCR catalysts were impregnated with the following alkali salts; KCl, K2SO4 and ZnCl2 at two different concentrations in a wet impregnation method. The activities of the six samples were measured in a test reactor and at different temperatures between 250-350 ºC. Compared to fresh catalyst, the impregnated samples all had lower activity. It seems like KCl is the most poisoning salt, depending on the lowest value of the activity. The experimental results are expected as compared to earlier articles, which reports that all alkali salts has deactivating effects on a catalyst and that KCl is among the most poisoning ones. By making a cross-section SEM analysis, the penetration of the metals at different depths in to the catalyst material wall was evaluated. An ICP-AES analysis was carried out in order to see the concentration of K and Zn of the test samples. Finally, the pore diameter and active surface was measured by BET method. Since the values of the active surface didn’t change compared to a fresh catalyst and the pore diameter was only slightly decreased we can suppose that the alkali salts deactivates the catalyst by coating of the catalyst pore structure and not as a pore blocking.

In this study, we synthesized amphiphilic block copolymer Poly(ethylene glycol)-b-Poly(£`-caprolactone) (PEO-b-PCL), and the mesoporous silica and phenolic were synthesized by using EISA (evaporation induced self-assembly) strategy. The mesoporous carbon also obtained after carbonization. After incorporating the precursors into the mesoporous channels through incipient wetness impregnation and further hydrogen reduction, 3D body-centered cubic (BCC) metal network/silica, metal nanowires/silica, metal/phenolic, and metal/carbon nanocomposites could be obtained. Moreover, metal replica was obtained through HF etching. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) and the small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) patterns indicate that the parent ordered mesoporous structure was well-maintained during the synthesis process. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and selected-area electron diffraction (SAED) demonstrate that Pd and Ag were reduced within the channels of mesoporous materials. The pore size distribution and BET surface area of mesoporous materials and metal/mesoporous materials composite were recorded by N2 isotherm adsorption-desorption experiment. In the future, we expect that the mesoporous metal and mesoporous nanocomposite with specific morphologies behave excellent performance in various applications, such as catalysis, gas sensors, nano electronic/optical devices and medical diagnosis.

This study investigated the production of powdered activated carbon derived from carbon black of pyrolyzed waste tires, and their adsorptive capacity on vapor-phase mercury chloride (HgCl2) using both adsorption column and thermogravimetric adsorption systems. The adsorption isotherms and kinetic models were further simulated in the study. In addition, an innovative compositive impregnation process was developed to increase the sulfur content of powdered activated carbon derived from waste tires. The activation of carbon black to form powdered activated carbon was performed in a tubular oven. The operating parameters including activation temperatures, activation time, and water feed rates were investigated in this study. Experimental results indicated that the yield of carbon-black derived powdered activated carbon (CBPAC) decreased with the increase of activation temperature, activation time, and water feed rate, while the BET surface area and pore volume decreased. In the comparison of activation time and water feed rate in the activation process, activation time had an important impact on the production of specific surface area than water feed rate. The optimal operating parameters included activation temperature of 900¢J, activation time of 180min, water feed rate of 0.5 mLH2O/gC-sec, and water injection behind activation process of 17.5 min. From the analysis of carbon surface, the carbon contents of powdered carbon black (PCB), CBPAC, commercial powdered activated carbon (CPAC) were 89.5%, 87.6%, and 88%, respectively. The C (1s) peak region of PCB consisted of 49.8% C-C, 38.9% C-O, 10.5% C=O or O-C-O. Similar analysis results showed that the total area of the C (1s) peak region of CBPAC consisted of 57.5% C-C, 26.8% C-O, 8.1% C=O or O-C-O, and 7.6% O-C=O. Similar to CPAC, the C (1s) peak region consisted of 42.6% C-C, 41.8% C-O, and 15.6% O-C=O. Furthermore, the sulfur contents of PCB and CBPAC were both 0.5%. The S (2p) peak region of PCB consisted of 58.9% ZnS (zinc sulfide) and 41.1% S=C=S. For CBPAC, the S (2p) peak region solely contained S=C=S. The comparison of two sulfur impregnation processes revealed that the innovative compositive impregnation process could simultaneously increased the sulfur content and the BET surface area of powdered activated carbon (PAC), however, the direct impregnation process increased the sulfur content while the BET surface area of PAC decreased linearly. Without the disadvantages of time and energy consumption associated with direct impregnation, the compositive impregnation is an efficient and energy-saving process for producing sulfurized PAC with a high BET surface area and high sulfur content. Experimental results obtained from the adsorption column tests indicated that the influence of the adsorption depth on the adsorptive capacity of CBPAC did not vary much, while the adsorptive capacity of CBPAC increased with HgCl2 concentration. Furthermore, the adsorptive capacity of CBPAC on vapor-phase HgCl2 was less than that of CPAC at the adsorption temperatures of 25~150¢J and high humidity of 12.3 wt %. The difference of adsorptive capacity for CBPAC and CPAC correlated closely with BET surface area and sulfur content. Results form the thermogravimetric adsorption analysis indicated that the adsorptive capacity of CBPAC and initial adsorption rate on vapor-phase HgCl2 increased with HgCl2 concentration and decreased with adsorption temperature. In the kinetic modeling, the deviation of experimental and simulated values simulated by the pseudo-first-order model was lower than those of pseudo-second-order models. Furthermore, the r (correlation coefficient) of pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models were 0.9745~0.9977 and 0.9217~0.9780, respectively. It suggested that the pseudo-first-order model could simulate the adsorption of HgCl2 onto CBPAC better than pseudo-second-order model.

The study of catalytic oxidation on the removal of NO was investigated over the Cu-catalysts . The Cu-catalysts , including Cu/TiO2 , Cu/Al2O3 and Cu/SiO2 , were prepared by impregnation method . Alougth NO2 , the product of this reaction , has higher toxicity than NO , but it might be removed completely by absorption with H2O or alkalinal solution for its high solubility . The experiments can be divided into three parts , i.e. , the screen of test catalysts , the effect of operating factors on the conversion of NO and the kinetic model . In the first part , the activity of test catalysts , which were prepared by mixing three various sources of Cu-ions¡]i.e., Cu(NO3)2 , Cu(CH3COO)2 , and CuSO4¡^with three different types of support¡]i.e., TiO2 , Al2O3 , and SiO2¡^, and were compared in form of conversion on NO to find the best catalyst . The results show that the mixture Cu(NO3)2 / TiO2 has the good performance on the conversion of NO , and also has more wider operating in range of temperature . In order to find the optimal loading of Cu on Cu(NO3)2 / TiO2 , additional test of various dosage over the catalysts was conduct in series . It is found that 8wt.% of Cu loading on Cu(NO3)2 / TiO2 is the most economic dosage . Therefore , we select this type of Cu oxide as the best catalyst in the following work . In the second part , the effect of NO inlet concentration , space velocity and humidity on the conversion of NO were performed . The results show that the conversion of NO decreases with the increasing of [NO]in when [NO]in is larger than 1000ppm¡Fthe conversion of NO is not changed with [NO]in when [NO]in is lower than 1000ppm . The better space velocity is 15000hr-1 , i.e.,the empty bed residence time is 0.24 second . The reaction on NO conversion would be restrained by higher humidity contenting in inlet gas stream , but the effect of inhibition on NO conversion is not significant . Finally , the kinetics of the oxidation of NO over 8wt.% Cu(NO3)2 / TiO2 was obtained by integral method .It is found that the oxidations of NO can be described by first order reversible reaction and the observed activation energy are 15.8 kcal/mole¡]forward reaction¡^and 25.9 kcal/mole¡]backward reaction¡^, respectively . By comparing the conversion of predicted NO with the experimentals , we can find the suitable operation conditions in application of the kinetic model : the inlet concentration of NO in a range of 300-1000ppm , the empty-bed residence time ranging from 0.12-0.48 second , and the absolute humidity ranging from 4854 to 42475ppm .

The objective of this study was to remove mercury vapor from municipal waste incinerator (MWI) by the adsorption of powder activated carbon (PAC) prepared from the pyrolysis of waste tire. The study focused on the measurement of mercury concentration in flue gas emitted from municipal waste incinerator, the preparation of PAC from the pyrolysis of the waste tire and impregnated with sulfur, and the adsorption capacity of mercury by the self-made PAC. The measurement of heavy metals in flue gas emitted from four typical MWIs was conducted in this study. Experimental results obtained from the measurement of mercury from flue gas indicated that the removal efficiency of mercury ranged from 83.71%~96.22%for the tested MWIs. This study revealed that the injection of PAC in flue gas would enhance the removal efficiency of mercury. Besides, oxided mercury (Hg2+) can be removed much more easily than elemental mercury (Hg0). Experimental results obtained from the pyrolysis of waste tires indicated that the pyrolysis temperature of waste tire was approximately 400~500¢J, and the percentage of carbon residue is 35~37%. With higher temperature and water feed rate and longer activation time, the specific surface area and total pore volume of PAC increased while the average pore radius decreased. The highest specific surface area of PAC obtained in this study was 996 m2/g. In addition, experimental results obtained from sulfur impregnation process indicated that the specific surface area of PAC decreased dramatically as sulfur was added to PAC. Experiment results obtained from the adsorption capacity of HgCl2 on PAC by column test indicated that PAC with higher specific surface area could adsorb more HgCl2 at room temperature (25¢J). The adsorption capacity of sulfur impregnated PAC decreased at 25¢J was due to the decrease of specific surface area of PAC. However, results from the comparison of two PAC with similar specific surface area indicated that the PAC with higher sulfur content had higher adsorption capacity. It suggested that the addition of sulfur to PAC could enhance the adsorption of HgCl2 at 25¢J. Experimental results obtained from column tests at 150¢J showed that the adsorption capacity of PAC increased as sulfur content of PAC increased. These results suggested that the adsorption mechanism of HgCl2 by PAC was mainly physical adsorption at lower temperature and it was chemisorption at higher temperature. Besides, the self-made PAC demonstrated the similar adsorption capacity of HgCl2 with commercial PAC used in MWIs.