This diploma work Evaluation of the effectiveness of surfactants removal from wastewater at selected wastewater treatment plant at the beginning introduces the concept of surfactants, by their definition, what are types and properties of surfactants, their degradability and environmental impact. In the experimental part is described first wastewater treatment plant in Ivancice, which were within a year of sampled wastewater influent and effluent. It describes the sampling plan and method of determination of anionic surfactants and how the results of the analyzes processed. In the results are included in tables and graphs, all values that were measured and compared with each other and ultimately statistically evaluated. The following is a discussion of values and ultimately found compared with other scientific works on the same topic. At the end of the talk about whether the work encompassed the subject, met expectations and achieve the goals.

In this work, copolymers of celulose-g-polystyrene (cel-PS) and celulose-g- poly(methylmetacrylate) (cel-PMMA) were characterized using static and dynamic light scattering, transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Preparation of nanoparticles of these hydrophobic copolymers in aqueous solution was further studied, by means of precipitation from dioxane solutions using water with added low-molar-mass surfactants sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) and dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTMAB). It was shown that the ability of the surfactants to stabilize polymer nanoparticles is driven not only by the hydrophobic effect, but it depends also on specific interactions of the polar group of the surfactant with the surface of the nanoparticles. On the basis of the finding that the efficiency of stabilization of cel-PS copolymers is much higher than in case of linear PS, it can be concluded, that the branched structure of copolymers is favorable for the formation of hydrofobically stabilised polymer-surfactant complexes.

This thesis is focused on mixed systems of various copolymers (double hydrophilic block and gradient polyelectrolytes, hydrophobic graft copolymers) and low-molar-mass compounds (sodium dodecyl sulfate as a representative of a ionic surfactant or superparamagnetic iron oxides in the form of nanocrystals). The electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions in the studied systems in aqueous solutions leading to aggregation behavior and to the formation of co-assembled nanoparticles were investigated by combination of scattering and microscopy techniques, including light, X-ray and neutron scattering, electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

This work deals with the use of inorganic nanofibers in refractory castables. The thesis describes some of the results of previously conducted research on nanofibers. Also description of nanofibres, production and distribution. The experimental part is focused on studying the interaction of Al2O3 and SiO2 nanofibres with aluminate cement. The main subject of investigation is a dispersion of nanofibers using a surfactant and ultrasonication.

This thesis summarizes the current knowledge of reinforcement of concrete with nanofibers and conducted research on the issue of the use of inorganic nanofibers in ultrahighperformance concrete. Up to now, most researches focuses on the reinforcement using carbon nanotubes and nanofibers and inorganic nanofibers remained in the background of interest. Due to their different chemical properties, is not only a question of their influence on the microstructure and mechanical properties of concrete, but also the preparation of nanofiber suspension which is not explored such as in the case of carbon nanotubes and nanofibres.

Per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFASs) have become an urgent topic in the water treatment industry in recent years as a consequence of new scientific discoveries of the correlation between the ingestion of some PFASs and their toxicity in humans and other organisms. PFASs are synthetic compounds present in a variety of products. Due to their desirable physical and chemical properties, PFASs are found in everything from clothes and furniture to aqueous fire-fighting foams. These compounds have also been identified in food and drinking water. The flourine-carbon bond present in these chemicals are exceptionally strong. Hence PFASs are persistent in nature when leaked to the environment. Additionally, the mobility properties of PFASs in the soil leads to contamination of surface and groundwater, necessitating actions from drinking water treatment plants (DWTP).  Nanofiltration plants have shown to successfully reduce the PFASs content in contaminated waters. The accumulation of PFASs in the concentrate is a potent source of these compounds and requires treatment before leaving the DWTP. Foam fractionation (FF) is an aeration technique that utilizes the hydrophobic properties of the PFASs compounds, in which PFASs adsorbs to the interfaces of introduced rising air-bubbles. The foam forming at the surface is then extracted, reducing the contamination.  In this study, the efficacy of the FF system on a concentrate from a two-stage nanofiltration membrane was evaluated. Also, the ability of surfactants to enhance the PFAS reduction was explored. The study was conducted in two parts. The first part was executed in a laboratory scale environment where five surfactants were added to a batchwise FF system. A minimum dose was determined and four experimental runs were then executed for each surfactant: Zero surfactant, 1x minimum dose, 2x minimum dose and 5x minimum dose. The results were evaluated and the surfactant showing the greatest improvement of PFASs removal, in this study a cationic surfactant, was chosen for further investigations in the second part. A continuous pilot FF system was used in the second part, the inner diameter of the colon was 54 mm, the height of the water column was held at 1 m prior to the aeration, the contact time (CT) was 10 minutes and the air-flow rate was set to be 4 L/min in all runs. Four experimental runs were conducted with different doses of the cationic surfactant: Zero surfactant, 1x minimum dose, 2x minimum dose and 3x minimum dose. Each experiment was repeated three times. A total of 12 runs were performed.  The results showed a removal efficiency of > 99 % of long-chained PFASs in all conducted experimental runs. Without the addition of surfactant, the average removal efficiency of ∑ short-chained PFASs was 61 % whereas maximum removal (77 %) was obtained with the highest surfactant dose applied. The mean reduction of ∑PFASs was 90 % in the zero surfactant run and 94 % in the highest dose experiment. The main findings from the study were that: 1) FF is an efficient method for the removal of long-chained PFASs from concentrate 2) Surfactants can be added to increase the removal of short-chained PFASs, 3) Higher dosing of the surfactant positively correlated with the removal efficiency of ∑short-chained PFASs in the FF system, however the relationship was not linear. / Per- and polyfluorerade ämnen (PFAS) är ett högaktuellt forskningsområde inom dricksvattenproduktion. På senare år har ny forskning påvisat korrelationen mellan intag av vissa PFAS-ämnen och hälsoproblem hos både människor och djur. PFAS är syntetiskt framställda kemikalier som förekommer i flertalet av våra vardagliga produkter på grund av dess fördelaktiga fysiska- och kemiska egenskaper. PFAS används i allt från smink och möbler till brandskum men har också påträffats i dricksvatten och mat. Kol-fluor bindningen som förekommer i alla PFAS-ämnen tillhör den organiska kemins starkaste bindningar. Följaktligen bryts PFAS-ämnen ned extremt långsamt när de hamnar i naturen. PFAS förmåga att mobilisera sig i jorden leder till kontaminering av yt- och grundvatten vilket tvingar dricksvattenverk att vidta åtgärder.  Nanofiltration har visat sig vara en kraftfull metod för att rena vatten från PFAS. I koncentratet, det vill säga det vatten som inte renas genom membranen, ackumuleras PFAS vilket förutsätter en separat reningsprocess innan vattnet kan släppas ut i naturen. Skumfraktionering är en luftbaserad teknik som utnyttjar hydrofobiciteten i PFAS. PFAS-ämnen adsorberas till ytan hos de injicerade luftbubblorna och transporteras till vattenytan där det bildar ett skum. Uppsamling av skummet reduceras således kontamineringen.  I den här studien bedömdes effektiviteten av skumfraktionering på koncentratet från ett två- stegs nanofiltrationsmembran. Därutöver undersöktes effekterna av att tillföra surfaktanter till systemet för att optimera reduceringen. Studien genomfördes i två delar. Den första delen ufördes i en mindre skala där 5 olika surfaktanter adderades till en satsvis- skumfraktioneringsprocess. Initialt bestämdes en minimum dosering för alla surfaktanter. Totalt genomfördes 4 experiment: Ingen surfaktant, 1x minimum dosen, 2x minimum dosen, 5x minimum dosen. Den surfaktant som påvisade bäst effekt på reduceringen av PFAS, i detta fall en katjonisk surfaktant, användes sedan.  I den andra delen av arbetet användes en kontinuerlig skumfraktioneringsprocess. Den inre diametern på kolonnen var 54 mm, vattenkolumnen hölls konstant på 1 m innan luftningen, kontakttiden var 10 min och lufthastigheten var satt till 4 L/min. Totalt genomfördes 4 experiment: Ingen surfaktant, 1x minimum dosen, 2x minimum dosen, 3x minimum dosen. Varje experiment upprepades tre gånger.  Resultatet visade att > 99 % av ∑långkedjiga PFAS-ämnen reducerades i alla genomförda experiment. Den genomsnittliga reduktionen av ∑kortkedjiga PFAS-ämnen var 63 % i experimenten utan surfaktant, medan i experimenten med den högsta doseringen var reduktionen 77 %. Den genomsnittliga reduktionen av ∑11 PFAS var 94 % för den högsta doseringen medans den var 90 % i experimentet utan surfaktant. Studien visade att:  1) Skumfraktionering är en effektiv metod för att rena koncentrat från långkedjiga-PFAS 2) Surfaktanter kan fördelaktigen användas för att optimera reningen av kortkedjiga-PFAS ämnen. 3) Högre dosering av surfaktanter korrelerade med högre reduktion av ∑kortkedjiga PFAS i skumfraktioneringsprocessen, ökningen var dock inte linjär.

This research thesis reports experimental work done to design a stable magneticmicroemulsion of ionic liquid in 2-ethylhexyl laurate with the help of an ionic surfactant andan alcohol co-surfactant. The ionic liquids tested were based on a 1,3-dialkylimidazoliumcation with different alkyl chain lengths and a tetrachloroferrate anion ([FeCl4]+) to ensure theemulsion is sensitive to applied magnetic fields. Tests of solubility of these ionic liquids havebeen performed in different solvents and oils. Emulsification tests have been done withdifferent dispersing medium, surfactants as well as with different components quantities tofind the best composition possible. Polarity and chain length of alkyl radicals in ionic liquidsand hydrocarbons in alcohol co-surfactants were proved to affect the emulsification process.Shorter chains, and higher polarity of [C1C2im]+ [FeCl4]- (at 1wt%) combined with [C1C12im]+[FeCl4]- surfactant (between 3 and 5wt%) and non-polar 1-Hexanol co-surfactant (at 10 wt%)were the best combination to create a stable magnetic microemulsion in 2-ethylhexyl laurate. Applications for this microemulsion could vary from improved oil recovery to transport ofmaterials in liquid medium for examples and have all in common a better and tunablecontrollability of the used liquid via magnetic fields. / Denna forskningsuppsats rapporterar experimentellt arbete som gjorts för att designa enstabil magnetisk mikroemulsion av jonisk vätska i 2-EtylHexyllaurat med hjälp av ett jonisktytaktivt ämne och ett alkoholsamverkande ytaktivt ämne. De joniska vätskorna som testadesvar baserade på en 1,3-dialkylimidazoliumkatjon med olika alkylkedjelängder och entetraklorferratanjon ([FeCl4]+) för att säkerställa att emulsionen är känslig för applicerademagnetfält. Tester av lösligheten av dessa joniska vätskor har utförts i olika lösningsmedel ocholjor. Emulgeringstester har gjorts med olika dispergeringsmedium, ytaktiva ämnen samt medolika mängd komponenter för att hitta bästa möjliga sammansättning. Polaritet ochkedjelängd för alkylradikaler i joniska vätskor och kolväten i alkoholsamverkande ytaktivaämnen visade sig påverka emulgeringsprocessen. Kortare kedjor och högre polaritet för[C1C2im]+[FeCl4]- (vid 1 wt%) kombinerat med [C1C12im]+[FeCl4]- ytaktivt ämne (mellan 3 och 5 wt%) och opolär 1-hexanol medytaktivt medel (vid 10 wt% var den bästa kombinationen föratt skapa en stabil magnetisk mikroemulsion i 2-EtylHexyllaurat. Tillämpningar för denna mikroemulsion kan variera från förbättrad oljeutvinning tilltransport av material i flytande medium till exempel och har alla gemensamt en bättre ochavstämbar styrbarhet av den använda vätskan via magnetfält.

Title: Self-assembly in mixture of surfactants and stimuli-responsive polymers with complex architecture Author: Anna Bogomolova Department: Physical and Macromolecular Chemistry Supervisor: PhD. Sergey K. Filippov, IMC AS CR, v.v.i. Supervisor's e-mail address: filippov@imc.cas.cz Abstract: The issue of construction of complex multi-block copolymers is currently one of the most researched areas. It became a logic consequence of the continuous development in polymer chemistry. Nowadays, a great interest is attracted to multi- responsive block copolymers. As a rule, they consist of hydrophilic, hydrophobic and responsive blocks. That responsive block can be either thermo-sensitive or pH-sensitive as well as sensitive to some other external stimuli. In the present work, we will try to cover topic of stimuli-responsive block copolymers and their interactions with different types of surfactants. Understanding of polymer/surfactant interactions can be a crucial step for future modeling of drug/polymer or protein(DNA)/surfactant interactions. There is a great interest in the investigation of polymer-surfactant interactions. However, while the homopolymer-surfactant interactions are characterized well enough, the same interactions for block copolymers are poorly described. The main development in the latter topic...

The Thesis describe my studies based on self-assembly and co-assembly of block copolymer micelles that I conducted at the Department of Physical and Macro- molecular Chemistry at the Charles University, Prague in the research group of my supervisor, Prof. Dr. Karel Procházka, DrSc. The Thesis based on my publications and consists of four parts. Here I studied the formation of polymeric nanoparticles in aqueous solutions formed by polyelectrolytes with hydrophobic backbones by a combination of several experimental methods. The achieved results enabled me to explain the structure and properties of studied self- and co-assembled nanoparticles and to outline the decisive trends of their behavior. The spontaneous formation, sol- ubility and stability of complex nanoparticles depend not only on the electrostatic attractive forces but also on the hydrophobic effects. As the enthalpy-to-entropy interplay is very complex, a number of external factors such as temperature, pH, salinity and concentration affect the assembling process and structure of formed nanoparticles. 1