Evaluating the ability of biosorbents to remove arsenic from water has global significance due to the widespread availability and low cost of biosorbent materials. In this study, the ability of coffee grounds and coconut substrate (two previously unreported biosorbents) to remove arsenic from water was compared against the performance of arsenic removal on rice husk (a recognized and widely tested biosorbent). The three biosorbents were individually screened for their ability to remove arsenite, As (III), and arsenate, As (V), from water. Batch reactors were employed to assess the percent removal, reaction kinetics, adsorption capacity, and desorption of each arsenic species onto/from biosorbents under pH buffered and non‐buffered conditions. The resulting experimental data was statistically interpreted using analysis of variance and ttesting of the means. The experimental results were also fit to existing kinetic and isotherm models to provide kinetic rate constants, the maximum adsorption capacity, and to help interpret the nature of the reactions on the biosorbent surface. While all three biosorbents removed arsenic with similar initial reaction kinetics (pseudo 1st order reaction rate constant for As (III) was 0.13 hr^‐1 for all three biosorbents and for As (V) was 0.17 hr^‐1 for coffee grounds and rice husk and 0.15 hr^‐1 for coconut substrate), the amount of arsenite and arsenate removed was highest for coffee grounds (84 and 91 percent, respectively), followed by rice husk (68 and 72 percent, respectively), and then coconut substrate (26 and 24 percent, respectively). The maximum adsorption capacity of arsenite and arsenate was determined for coffee grounds (0.66 and 0.70 mg/g, respectively) and rice husk (0.55 and 0.66 mg/g, respectively). While desorption was observed for both coffee grounds and rice husk, the total amount of desorption accounted for less than 15 percent of the total retained mass. The results of this thesis work reveal that coffee can be used as an effective biosorbent when compared to rice husk; however, coconut substrate is less effective than rice husk at removing As (III) and As (V).

L’hydrolyse spontanée du NaBH4 en milieu aqueux est une réaction lente nécessitant l’emploi d’un catalyseur pour l’accélérer. Nous présentons ici l’élaboration de catalyseurs Co supporté sur αAl2O3 mis forme de films, plus appropriés pour des applications nécessitant un démarrage/arrêt à la demande de la génération d’H2. Les films sont déposés sur un substrat Cu par dépôt électrophorétique (DEP). Par ailleurs, des catalyseurs Co supporté sur différentes argiles naturelles (Kaolinite, Illite-A et Illite-B) en provenance du Liban ont été élaborés. Le Co a été déposé sur αAl2O3 par six voies différentes : 1. Imprégnation de Co sur film αAl2O3 ; 2. Précipitation de Co sur film αAl2O3; 3. Electrodéposition du Co sur film αAl2O3; 4. Codéposition du Co et de αAl2O3; 5. Codéposition de nanoparticules de Co et de αAl2O3 et 6. DEP de Co-αAl2O3. La voie 6 est la meilleure pour l’élaboration des films 1, 5, 10 et 15 mass.% Co-αAl2O3. Ces films (homogènes) et les catalyseurs Co-αAl2O3 ont été comparés pour leur réactivité et l’étude cinétique a donné des énergies apparentes d’activation identiques: 51.3 et 52.7 kJ mol-1, respectivement.Ensuite, des catalyseurs de 1, 5, 10 et 15 mass.% Co-argile ont été élaborés selon le même procédé que celui de Co-αAl2O3. Ces catalyseurs ont montré une réactivité pour l’hydrolyse du NaBH4, donnant notamment des énergies apparentes d’activation de 58.8, 51.5 et 58.1 kJ mol-1 pour 15 mass.% Co-Kaolinite, (Illite-A) et (Illite-B) respectivement. De plus, des films homogènes de 1, 5, 10 et 15 mass.% Co-Kaolinite ont été déposés avec succès sur Inox par DEP. Cette étude a montré le potentiel de ces argiles naturelles comme supports de catalyseur / NaBH4 hydrolysis reaction is slow in aqueous medium. Therefore, it can be accelerated by addition of a catalyst. In this work, catalytic films of Co supported over αAl2O3 have been synthesized since they are more convenient for applications requiring generation of H2 on demand. Co-αAl2O3 films were deposited on Cu plates by electrophoretic deposition method (EPD). Furthermore, catalysts of Co supported over different types of natural clay (Kaolinite, Illite-A and Illite-B) provided from Lebanon were also synthesized.Co was deposited over αAl2O3 following six routes: 1. αAl2O3 film impregnation; 2. Co precipitation over αAl2O3 film; 3. Co electrodeposition over αAl2O3 film; 4. Coelectrodeposition of Co from CoCl2 and αAl2O3; 5. Coelectrodeposition of Co nanoparticles and αAl2O3 and 6. EPD of Co-αAl2O3. Route 6 was found to be the best one for the fabrication of homogeneous films of 1, 5, 10 and 15 wt.% Co-αAl2O3. A comparative study on the reactivity of Co-αAl2O3 films and powder catalysts was done and the kinetic study gave similar values of the apparent activation energies: 51.3 and 52.7 kJ mol-1, respectively. Moreover, Co was supported over clay with the same method used for Co-αAl2O3. 1, 5, 10 and 15 wt.% Co-clay catalysts were tested for the hydrolysis reaction and the apparent activation energies obtained were as follows: 58.8, 51.5 and 58.1 kJ mol-1 for 15 wt.% Co-Kaolinite, (Illite-A) and (Illite-B) respectively. Homogeneous films of 1, 5, 10 and 15 wt.% Co-Kaolinite were successfully deposited over Inox substrate by EPD. It was concluded from this work that natural clays can be used as potential supports for Co catalysts in the hydrolysis of NaBH4

Submitted by Automa??o e Estat?stica (sst@bczm.ufrn.br) on 2016-02-03T20:32:41Z No. of bitstreams: 1 BrenoAlmeidaSoares_TESE.pdf: 5447488 bytes, checksum: 8e0fcaa75efcdf3b24876215c0ef7081 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Arlan Eloi Leite Silva (eloihistoriador@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-02-04T00:03:56Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 BrenoAlmeidaSoares_TESE.pdf: 5447488 bytes, checksum: 8e0fcaa75efcdf3b24876215c0ef7081 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-04T00:03:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 BrenoAlmeidaSoares_TESE.pdf: 5447488 bytes, checksum: 8e0fcaa75efcdf3b24876215c0ef7081 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-09-15 / Neste trabalho foram desenvolvidos estudos sint?ticos e te?ricos para clerodanos bioativos obtidos de uma das plantas medicinais mais representativas da regi?o Amaz?nica do Brasil, Croton cajucara Benth. Especificamente, utilizou-se como mol?cula alvo o biocomposto majorit?rio isolado das cascas do caule deste Croton, o diterpen?ide 19-nor-clerodano trans-desidrocrotonina (t-DCTN). Derivados semisint?ticos foram obtidos de t-DCTN utilizando-se os seguintes procedimentos sint?ticos: 1) redu??o catal?tica com H2, 2) redu??o com NaBH4 e 3) redu??o estereosseletiva com NaBH4/CeCl3). Os derivados semi-sint?ticos do tipo 19-nor-furano-clerodanos alco?licos foram denominados de t-CTN, t-CTN-??OL, t-CTN-??OL, t-DCTN-??OL e t-DCTN-??OL, tendo sido caracterizados por RMN. Os ?lcoois clerodanos derivados t-CTN-??OL e t-CTN-??OL foram obtidos a partir do derivado semi-sint?tico t-CTN, que tamb?m pode ser isolado das cascas do caule de C. cajucara. Uma metodologia te?rica (DFT/B3LYP) envolvendo a previs?o de propriedades geom?tricas e magn?ticas como ?ngulos e dist?ncias de liga??es bem como deslocamento qu?mico e constante de acoplamento, foi desenvolvida para a mol?cula alvo t-DCTN em que foram correlacionados dados te?ricos de RMN e estruturais, tendo sido obtidas correla??o satisfat?rias com dados experimentais de RMN (com coeficientes de correla??o variando entre 0,97 e 0,99) e de difra??o de Raios-X. Esta metodologia te?rica foi validada para todos os derivados semi-sint?ticos apresentados neste trabalho. Em adi??o, informa??es topol?gicas obtidas com o aux?lio da Teoria Qu?ntica de ?tomos em Mol?culas (QTAIM) evidenciaram a presen?a de intera??es estabilizantes intramoleculares do tipo H-H e (C)O--H(C) em t-DCTN e t-CTN, contribuindo para o entendimento da diferente reatividade destes clerodanos na presen?a de NaBH4. / In this work it were developed synthetic and theoretical studies for clerodane-type diterpenes obtained from Croton cajucara Benth which represents one of the most important medicinal plant of the Brazil amazon region. Specifically, the majoritary biocompound 19-nor-clerodane trans-dehydrocrotonin (t-DCTN) isolated from the bark of this Croton, was used as target molecule. Semi-synthetic derivatives were obtained from t-DCTN by using the followed synthetic procedures: 1) catalytic reduction with H2, 2) reduction using NaBH4 and 3) reduction using NaBH4/CeCl3. The semi-synthetic 19-nor-furan-clerodane alcohol-type derivatives were denominated such as t-CTN, tCTN-??OL, t-CTN-??OL, t-DCTN-??OL, t-DCTN-??OL, being all of them characterized by NMR. The furan-clerodane alcohol derivatives t-CTN-??OL and tCTN-??OL were obtained form the semi-synthetic t-CTN, which can be isolated from the bark of C. cajucara. A theoretical protocol (DFT/B3LYP) involving the prevision of geometric and magnetic properties such as bond length and angles, as well as chemical shifts and coupling constants, were developed for the target t-DCTN in which was correlated NMR theoretical data with structural data, with satisfactory correlation with NMR experimental data (coefficients ranging from 0.97 and 0.99) and X-ray diffraction data. This theoretical methodology was also validated for all semi-synthetic derivatives described in this work. In addition, topological data from the Quantum Theory of Atoms in Molecules (QTAIM) showed the presence of H-H and (C)O--H(C) intramolecular stabilized interactions types for t-DCTN e t-CTN, contributing to the understanding of the different reactivity of this clerodanes in the presence of NaBH4.

M. Tech. (Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Applied and Computer Sciences), Vaal University of Technology. / Organic water pollutants such as dyes are difficult to biodegrade. In this study Fenton, photo-Fenton and photocatalysis were used to degrade methylene blue dye in the presence of copper oxide catalysts. The copper oxide catalysts were prepared with a precipitation reduction method. The effect of different preparation parameters on the catalyst properties and catalytic activity were investigated. The reducing agents, ascorbic acid (ASC, C6H8O6), hydrazine (N2H4), sodium boron hydride (NaBH4) and glucose (C₆H₁₂O₆) could be used to obtain the desired Cu2O phase. ASC, N2H4 and NaBH4 were able to reduce copper (II) to copper (I) at room temperature whereas glucose required a higher reduction temperature. Stoichiometric amounts of the reducing agents ASC, N2H4 and glucose and double the stoichiometric amount of NaBH4 were required to obtain Cu2O. A further increase in the amounts of NaBH4 and N2H4 resulted in the formation of copper metal (Cu (0)). High amounts of ASC did not over-reduce the copper. ASC also functioned as capping molecule and anti-oxidant preventing the oxidation of the Cu2O to CuO in air after preparation. Hydrazine was thus not able to protect the Cu2O against oxidation. The SEM results showed that an increase in the amount of the precipitating agent, NaOH, resulted in an increase in the particle sizes. The particle shapes changed from spherical to cubic when a high amount of NaOH was used with hydrazine as reducing agent. Smaller particle sizes were obtained when CuCl2 was used instead of CuSO4 and Cu(NO3)2. Larger crystallites formed when the preparation temperature was increased from room temperature to 100°C with glucose as reducing agent. TEM and XRD analyses showed that the micro-particles seen in SEM analyses are made up of nano-particles. The catalysts were not active for photocatalysis which may be explained by the oxidation of these nano-particles to form the photocatalytic inactive CuO. The catalysts were shown to be active for Fenton and photo-Fenton degradation. The addition of graphene and activated carbon to the Cu2O catalysts were detrimental to the catalytic activity. The percentage degradation of methylene blue by the Fenton reaction increased with an increase in the BET surface area from 1.5 m2/g to 10 m2/g and a further increase in the surface area resulted in a decrease in the percentage degradation. A direct correlation between the Fenton catalytic activity and the pore size were found which indicate that the reaction was mass transfer limited.

Le contexte environnemental (réchauffement climatique) et économique (épuisement des ressources en énergies fossiles) entraîne une nécessaire mutation du paysage énergétique mondial. L'hydrogène est présenté comme un vecteur d'énergie propre pouvant, par l'intermédiaire d'une pile à combustible, fournir de l'électricité pour diverses applications (nomade, portable, automobile et stationnaire). Cependant, son développement reste tributaire de son mode de stockage. Parmi les composés présentant de bonnes capacités de stockage, le borohydrure de sodium NaBH4 se distingue puisqu'il permet aussi un dégagement contrôlé de l'hydrogène d'après la réaction d'hydrolyse suivante : ( ) (2 ) ( ) ( ) 4 ( ) 4 2 2 2 2 NaBH ++ x H O l→NaBO . xH O + H g Il constitue ainsi une solution sûre et facile d'utilisation, et est donc envisageable pour des applications grand public. La thèse avait pour objectif l'approfondissement des connaissances relatives à la réaction catalysée d'hydrolyse du borohydrure de sodium selon deux axes principaux: la catalyse de la réaction et l'étude des produits d'hydrolyse. Concernant le premier axe, notre objectif était de mieux comprendre et d'améliorer la cinétique de la réaction d'hydrolyse, les catalyseurs étudiés étant à base de cobalt. Un catalyseur " modèle " a été utilisé et comparé à des nanoparticules métalliques synthétisées et d'autres espèces chimiques à base de cobalt (oxyde, hydroxyle et carbonate). Le modèle cinétique de Langmuir-Hinshelwood a permis de décrire la cinétique de l'hydrolyse. Un mécanisme réactionnel basé sur les adsorptions en surface du catalyseur de BH4 - et de H2O a été proposé. Enfin, la nature des sites actifs en surface a été discutée. En ce qui concerne le second axe de la thèse, nous avions deux objectifs : identifier les phases formées en fonction des conditions expérimentales et approfondir les connaissances thermodynamiques du système binaire NaBO2-H2O pour définir les différents équilibres se formant à l'issu de la réaction d'hydrolyse. Pour ce faire, les borates ont d'abord été synthétisés, puis caractérisés en termes de structure cristallographique et de stabilité en température. C'est ainsi qu'un nouveau borate de sodium, Na3[B3O4(OH)4] ou NaBO2*2/3H2O, a été obtenu. D'autre part, l'étude des équilibres liquide+solide, solide+solide et liquide+vapeur nous a permis d'établir le diagramme binaire NaBO2-H2O à pression atmosphérique.

Le contexte environnemental (réchauffement climatique) et économique (épuisement des ressources en énergies fossiles) entraîne une nécessaire mutation du paysage énergétique mondial. L’hydrogène est présenté comme un vecteur d’énergie propre pouvant, par l’intermédiaire d’une pile à combustible, fournir de l’électricité pour diverses applications (nomade, portable, automobile et stationnaire). Cependant, son développement reste tributaire de son mode de stockage. Parmi les composés présentant de bonnes capacités de stockage, le borohydrure de sodium NaBH4 se distingue puisqu’il permet aussi un dégagement contrôlé de l’hydrogène d’après la réaction d’hydrolyse suivante : ( ) (2 ) ( ) ( ) 4 ( ) 4 2 2 2 2 NaBH ++ x H O l→NaBO . xH O + H g Il constitue ainsi une solution sûre et facile d’utilisation, et est donc envisageable pour des applications grand public. La thèse avait pour objectif l’approfondissement des connaissances relatives à la réaction catalysée d’hydrolyse du borohydrure de sodium selon deux axes principaux: la catalyse de la réaction et l’étude des produits d’hydrolyse. Concernant le premier axe, notre objectif était de mieux comprendre et d’améliorer la cinétique de la réaction d’hydrolyse, les catalyseurs étudiés étant à base de cobalt. Un catalyseur « modèle » a été utilisé et comparé à des nanoparticules métalliques synthétisées et d’autres espèces chimiques à base de cobalt (oxyde, hydroxyle et carbonate). Le modèle cinétique de Langmuir-Hinshelwood a permis de décrire la cinétique de l’hydrolyse. Un mécanisme réactionnel basé sur les adsorptions en surface du catalyseur de BH4 - et de H2O a été proposé. Enfin, la nature des sites actifs en surface a été discutée. En ce qui concerne le second axe de la thèse, nous avions deux objectifs : identifier les phases formées en fonction des conditions expérimentales et approfondir les connaissances thermodynamiques du système binaire NaBO2-H2O pour définir les différents équilibres se formant à l’issu de la réaction d’hydrolyse. Pour ce faire, les borates ont d’abord été synthétisés, puis caractérisés en termes de structure cristallographique et de stabilité en température. C’est ainsi qu’un nouveau borate de sodium, Na3[B3O4(OH)4] ou NaBO2•2/3H2O, a été obtenu. D’autre part, l’étude des équilibres liquide+solide, solide+solide et liquide+vapeur nous a permis d’établir le diagramme binaire NaBO2-H2O à pression atmosphérique. / As an alternative solution to fossil fuels, hydrogen is may be the most advanced technology. However, its large scale development is today harshly hindered by the issues it encounters, its storage being certainly the most significant. Various storage methods are under investigation but solid storage as in sodium borohydride NaBH4 appears to be convenient with regard to its storage capacities, safety and cost. The hydrogen stored in NaBH4 can be released by hydrolysis at ambient temperature. The hydrolysis reaction leads to the formation of 4 hydrogen molecules and borates: ( ) (2 ) ( ) ( ) 4 ( ) 4 2 2 2 2 NaBH ++ x H O l → NaBO . xH O + H gThe efficiency of this reaction suffers from two problems. First, slow kinetics of hydrogen release is observed for this reaction. Second, the “hydration” of NaBO2 is detrimental to the storage capacities of the system NaBH4-H2O. Indeed, the higher the pseudo-hydration degree (i.e. x), the lower the gravimetric hydrogen storage capacity. Both issues are the topics we have studied in the present work. Hydrogen release can be accelerated by using a cobalt catalyst. Hence, we focused on various cobalt-based catalysts. A reference catalyst was first chosen, and then tested and compared to lab-prepared cobalt nanoparticles and other cobalt-based materials (oxide, hydroxide and carbonate). The Langmuir-Hinshelwood kinetic model well captured the kinetics of the hydrolysis reaction. Accordingly, a reaction mechanism based on the adsorptions of both BH4 - and H2O on the catalyst surface has been proposed. The adsorptions are expected to occur on specific surface sites which nature has been discussed. The gravimetric hydrogen storage capacity of NaBH4-H2O can be increased by decreasing the pseudo-hydration degree (i.e. x) of the borates. However, this implies that the thermodynamics of the NaBO2•xH2O compounds are well known as they are crucial for favouring the formation of water-free borates. Borates were then synthesized and characterized in terms of crystallographic structure, pseudo-hydration degree and thermal stability. In this context, a new sodium borate has been synthesized: Na3[B3O4(OH)4] or NaBO2•2/3H2O. Besides, we studied the liquid+solid, liquid+vapor and solid+solid equilibria that permitted to set the binary phase diagram NaBO2-H2O at atmospheric pressure