Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Texas, Aug., 2007. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

The microbial degradation of pyrene, a 4-ring polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), has been elucidated with the increasing number of pyrene-degrading bacteria that have been isolated in recent years. A pyrene degrading bacterium identified as Mycobacterium sp. strain S65, was isolated from a jet-fuel contaminated site in Sept-Iles, northern Quebec, Canada. S65 utilized pyrene, phenanthrene, and fluoranthene as sole carbon and energy sources, but did not degrade naphthalene, anthracene, and fluorene. Pyrene mineralization was enhanced by adding benz[a]anthracene, benzy[a]pyrene, or phenanthrene as cosubstrates. When added to PAH contaminated soil as a potential bioaugmentation agent, S65 did not appear to survive well, nor was it effective at degrading PAHs under these conditions. / Pyrene catabolic genes in S65 were partially characterized by Southern hybridization using a probe constructed from the naphthalene inducible pyrene dioxygenase gene, nidA, from the pyrene-degrading bacterium, Mycobacterium sp. strain PYR-1.

No description available.

The luminescence properties of Van Der Waals' dimers and clusters of pyrene and diazapyrene have been investigated. Excimers, dimeric species which are associative in an excited electronic state and dissociative in their ground state, have long been established and play an important role in many areas of photochemistry. My work here focuses on the luminescence and absorption properties of ground state dimers/aggregates, which are less understood, and allows further characterization of the ground state and excited state association of these aromatic molecules.

Neste trabalho, duas amostras de turfa (uma decomposta - TD, e outra fibrosa - TF), foram caracterizadas através de várias técnicas instrumentais, incluindo a microscopia eletrônica de varredura (MEV), a análise elementar (CHNS), a análise termogravimétrica (TG), a espectroscopia de infravermelho com Transformada de Fourier (FT-IR) e a espectroscopia de ressonância magnética nuclear de 13C no estado sólido (RMN 13C). Após a caracterização, essas amostras foram utilizadas em ensaios de adsorção para a avaliação do potencial de remoção das turfas frente ao contaminante pireno em meio aquoso. De modo geral, os resultados revelaram que ambas as amostras são estruturalmente muito semelhantes entre si. Com relação ao processo de adsorção do pireno pelas duas amostras em solução aquosa, foi possível verificar que o mesmo apresentou elevada eficiência, atingindo 91% de remoção para a TD e 92% para a TF. Além disso, o processo de adsorção parece ocorrer em múltiplas camadas, uma vez que dentre as isotermas de adsorção avaliadas, o modelo de Freundlich foi o que melhor se ajustou aos dados experimentais. A cinética de adsorção foi avaliada por meio das equações de pseudoprimeira ordem e pseudossegunda ordem, sendo o segundo mecanismo mais adequado para avaliar o processo. Dados termodinâmicos revelaram que a adsorção do pireno pelas amostras de turfa é um processo espontâneo nas condições experimentais utilizadas. Finalmente, os resultados obtidos mostram que a eficiência de remoção associada às amostras de turfa abre perspectivas para a sua utilização na remoção desse contaminante de soluções aquosas. / Submitted by Marcelo Teixeira (mvteixeira@ucs.br) on 2014-06-05T16:58:06Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Francine Girardello.pdf: 2105923 bytes, checksum: 51f7694767b4afd1bc6e98c73a560493 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-05T16:58:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Francine Girardello.pdf: 2105923 bytes, checksum: 51f7694767b4afd1bc6e98c73a560493 (MD5) / In this study, two peat samples (one decomposed DP, and another fibrous FP) were characterized by several instrumental techniques, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), elemental analysis (CHNS), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier Transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and 13C solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (13C NMR). These same samples were later used in adsorption tests for assessing the potential removal of peat against the pyrene contaminant. Although the TF present some vegetable structures newer than the TD, the results revealed that both samples are structurally very similar. Regarding the adsorption of pyrene by two samples in aqueous solution, it was possible to verify that it has a high efficiency, reaching 91% removal for the TD and 92% for TF, respectively. In addition, the adsorption process seems to occur in multiple layers, once among the measured adsorption isotherms, the Freundlich model was the best fit to experimental data. The adsorption kinetics was assessed by means of pseudo first and pseudo second order equations, being the second most appropriate mechanism to evaluate the process. Thermodynamic data revealed that the adsorption of pyrene by the peat samples is a spontaneous process under these experimental conditions. Finally, the results show that the removal efficiency associated with the peat samples opens perspectives for its use in removing this contaminant from aqueous solutions.

Neste trabalho, duas amostras de turfa (uma decomposta - TD, e outra fibrosa - TF), foram caracterizadas através de várias técnicas instrumentais, incluindo a microscopia eletrônica de varredura (MEV), a análise elementar (CHNS), a análise termogravimétrica (TG), a espectroscopia de infravermelho com Transformada de Fourier (FT-IR) e a espectroscopia de ressonância magnética nuclear de 13C no estado sólido (RMN 13C). Após a caracterização, essas amostras foram utilizadas em ensaios de adsorção para a avaliação do potencial de remoção das turfas frente ao contaminante pireno em meio aquoso. De modo geral, os resultados revelaram que ambas as amostras são estruturalmente muito semelhantes entre si. Com relação ao processo de adsorção do pireno pelas duas amostras em solução aquosa, foi possível verificar que o mesmo apresentou elevada eficiência, atingindo 91% de remoção para a TD e 92% para a TF. Além disso, o processo de adsorção parece ocorrer em múltiplas camadas, uma vez que dentre as isotermas de adsorção avaliadas, o modelo de Freundlich foi o que melhor se ajustou aos dados experimentais. A cinética de adsorção foi avaliada por meio das equações de pseudoprimeira ordem e pseudossegunda ordem, sendo o segundo mecanismo mais adequado para avaliar o processo. Dados termodinâmicos revelaram que a adsorção do pireno pelas amostras de turfa é um processo espontâneo nas condições experimentais utilizadas. Finalmente, os resultados obtidos mostram que a eficiência de remoção associada às amostras de turfa abre perspectivas para a sua utilização na remoção desse contaminante de soluções aquosas. / In this study, two peat samples (one decomposed DP, and another fibrous FP) were characterized by several instrumental techniques, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), elemental analysis (CHNS), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier Transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and 13C solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (13C NMR). These same samples were later used in adsorption tests for assessing the potential removal of peat against the pyrene contaminant. Although the TF present some vegetable structures newer than the TD, the results revealed that both samples are structurally very similar. Regarding the adsorption of pyrene by two samples in aqueous solution, it was possible to verify that it has a high efficiency, reaching 91% removal for the TD and 92% for TF, respectively. In addition, the adsorption process seems to occur in multiple layers, once among the measured adsorption isotherms, the Freundlich model was the best fit to experimental data. The adsorption kinetics was assessed by means of pseudo first and pseudo second order equations, being the second most appropriate mechanism to evaluate the process. Thermodynamic data revealed that the adsorption of pyrene by the peat samples is a spontaneous process under these experimental conditions. Finally, the results show that the removal efficiency associated with the peat samples opens perspectives for its use in removing this contaminant from aqueous solutions.

Understanding the thermodynamic properties of multicomponent mixtures is of critical importance in many chemical and industrial applications. Experimental measurements become progressively difficult as the number of solution components increases -- producing the need for predictive models. Problems in development of predictive models arise if the mixture has one or more components that interact through molecular complexation or association. Experimental solubilities of anthracene and pyrene dissolved in binary systems containing one or more alcohols were measured in order to address this problem. Alcohols examined in this study were: 1-propanol, 2-propanol, 1-butanol, 2-butanol, 2-methyl-1-propanol, 3-methyl-1-butanol, and 1-octanol. In binary solvent mixtures containing only a single self-associating alcoholic solvent, the alkane cosolvents studied were: n-hexane, n-heptane, n-octane, 2,2,4-trimethylpentane, cyclohexane, methylcyclohexane, tert-butylcyclohexane. Predictive solubility equations were developed using mobile order theory. This approach differs from classical solution models by representing hydrogen bonding with a probability term rather than with expressions derived from stepwise equilibria or expressions to represent hypothetical solution aggregates. Results were compared with the predicted solubilities found from using expressions developed using the Kretschmer-Wiebe and Mecke-Kempter approaches for modeling associated solutions. It was found that the mobile order approach provided reasonably accurate predictions for the solute solubilities in the systems studied. The limitations and applications for mathematical methods of representing experimental isothermal solubility data were also studied for 72 systems. Two possible descriptive forms for this mathematical representation were suggested based on the various nearly ideal binary solvent (NIBS) and modified Wilson models.