Actualment, es pot considerar que vivim a l'era dels plàstics. En els últims 50 anys els plàstics d'origen petroquímic han esdevingut un dels materials més emprats. La seva versatilitat, propietats tècniques i un cost relativament baix (0,70$US per Kg) són alguns dels factors que han influït en la proliferació del seu ús. Fins al moment han estat descrites moltes i molt diverses aplicacions per aquest material (Zinn et al., 2001).El principal desavantatge dels plàstics convencionals és la seva baixa biodegradabilitat. Els residus plàstics no són biodegradables i els costos dels processos de reciclatge són molt elevats (Yu et al., 1998). D'altra banda, la disponibilitat, l'accessibilitat i l'explotació de les fonts de carboni d'origen fòssil són cada vegada més limitades. El fet que sigui una font d'energia no renovable, conjuntament amb l'augment del seu cost ha fet necessari buscar altres fonts d'energia alternatives, per la qual cosa l'aplicació de processos biotecnològics ha despertat gran interès pel seu potencial.Per aquest motiu, al començament dels anys 80s, es començaren a realitzar diferents aproximacions en el desenvolupament i en la producció de plàstics biodegradables com per exemple: la cel·lulosa, el midó, la quitina, la poliamida, l'àcid polilàctic (PLA) i els polihidroxialcanoats (PHAs), ja que són considerats com una alternativa als "petroplàstics".Els Polihidroxialcanoats (PHAs) són polièsters biològics sintetitzats per nombrosos microorganismes i acumulats intracel·lularment en forma de grànuls com a reservori d'energia i de font de carboni. Aquest fenomen, sovint, està associat a un excés de la font de carboni i a la limitació d'algun altre nutrient (p.e: el nitrogen, el fòsfor, etc.). Els PHAs són materials biodegradables, biocompatibles i totalment estereoespecífics (tots els estereocentres tenen configuració [R]). Aquests biopolímers presenten propietats mecàniques semblants a alguns termoplàstics sintètics (p.e. el polipropilè), per altra banda el fet de ser materials biocompatibles fa que siguin bons canditats en el camp de la biomedicina. D'altra banda els PHAs tenen una gran versatilitat en termes de composició, de tal manera que es poden obtenir mcl-PHAs funcionalitzats susceptibles de ser modificats químicament a posteriori per tal de modular les propietats del polímer original.Els objectius d'aquesta tesi són:1. L'obtenció de nous polihidroxialcanoats (PHAs) funcionalitzats a partir de cultius de Pseudomonas aeruginosa 42A2 emprant com a substrats fonts de carboni definides i olis vegetals.2. La determinació estructural, caracterització físico-química i l'estudi microscòpic dels polièsters obtinguts.3. La derivatització dels PHAs funcionalitzats.En el present treball s'ha demostrat que Pseudomonas aeruginosa 42A2 es capaç de créixer i acumular PHA a partir dels següents substrats: àcid nonanoic, àcid undecanoic, àcid undecenoic, extracte monodi, àcid linoleic i oli de llinosa. Tots els PHAs obtinguts han estat caracteritzats mitjançant RMN, CG-EM i FTIR, de la mateixa manera també s'han analitzat les propietats tèrmiques (DSC i TGA) i s'han determinat els pesos moleculars (GPC). Quan s'utilitza l'oli de llinosa com substrat s'obté un PHA altament funcionalitzat que conté un 16% d'unitats monomèriques poliinsaturades (8,3% de C14:3 i 7,6% de (C14:2+C12:2). Aquest polímer funcionalitzat s'ha derivatitzat mitjançant tractament fotoquímic amb radiació UV per tal d'induir l'entrecreuament de les cadenes laterals poliinsaturades i generant així un nou polímer.Els canvis estructurals deguts a la reacció d'entrecreuament han estat seguits mitjançant diverses tècniques analítiques (RMN, FTIR, CG-EM, DSC i TGA). En aquest treball, també es presenta un estudi tant del bacteri com del PHA com a biomaterial emprant diverses tècniques microscòpiques (TEM i AFM), essent la primera vegada que es recullen imatges d'un polihidroxialcanoat reticulat.Paral·lelament, es va realitzar l'escalat a bioreactor dels cultius amb àcid undecanoic i àcid undecenoic, com a co-substrats. En els diferents experiments realitzats en bioreactor s'han obtingut polímers amb diferent contingut de monòmers insaturats (15-70%), indicant així que, el règim d'alimentació continu en els cultius en bioreactor permet modular la composició del polímer i augmentar el percentatge d'acumulació de PHA fins a un 50% en front del 20% que s'obtenia en els cultius amb matrassos. / Nowadays one may consider that we are living in the age of the plastics. The global dependence on petroleum-derived plastics has increased over the last 50 years. However the rapid depletion of crude oil, the increasing problems with the biodegradation of these plastics and the environmental effects has prompted much interest in biologically derived polymers, particularly of the biodegradable class, produced by biotechnological processes. Among the different types of biodegradable polymers, a class that is drawing considerable attention is the polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). Polyhydroxyalkanoates are optically active biopolyesters synthesized by a large number of microorganisms using a wide range of substrates such as fatty acids, sugars, oily wastes, etc. These polymers exhibit thermoplastic and elastomeric properties, depending on their composition. Moreover their high biocompatibility allows these polymers to be good candidates for medical applications.This doctoral thesis deals in a first part with the biosynthetic production and characterization of functionalized PHA, using defined substrates (nonanoic, undecanoic and undecenoic acid) and blends of fatty acids (linoleic acid (60%), linseed oil and an extract of hydroxylated fatty acids) as well as the undecanoic and undenoic acid has been used as a cosubstrates to obtained a block copolymer. The scale up to a 10L bioreactor of this process allows to improve the yield of PHA-accumulation reaching up to 50% versus the 20% obtained in the flasks experiments. Furthermore, the continuous feeding strategy let us to improve and to modulated the final composition of the biopolymers. Several experiments have been carried out rendering in polymers with different content of unsaturated monomers (15-70%). In the second part of this work, the functionalized PHA obtained from linseed oil, which contain up to 16% of polyunsaturated monomers (8,3% C14:3 i 7,6% (C14:2+C12:2), were modified by UV-irradiation to enhance the crosslinking reaction among the polyunsaturated side chains, in order to obtain a novel polymer with new and improved properties. The structural modifications as well as the thermal properties have been followed during the reaction by various analytical techniques (NMR, FTIR, GC, GC-MS, HPLC-MS, GPC, DSC and TGA). Besides the analytical techniques used for the characterization of these biopolymers, in this work is also showed a study of the bacterial cells as well as the PHA as a biomaterial using microscopical techniques (TEM and AFM), being the first time that a crosslinked PHA micrograph is acquired.

Up until relatively recently, the discharging of waste in the environment was the way of eliminating them, until the auto-purifying capacity of the environment was not sufficient. The permitted levels have been vastly exceeded, causing such environmental contamination that our natural resources cannot be used for certain uses and their characteristics have been altered. The main problem stems from waste coming from industry and agriculture, despite the fact that the population also plays an important role in environmental contamination. Phenols, pesticides, fertilizers, detergents, and other chemical products are disposed of directly into the environment, without being treated, via controlled or uncontrolled discharging and without a treatment strategy.In this general context, it is very clear that the strategy to continue in the search of solutions to this problem that every day presents a sensitive growth, mainly in the developing countries, will be guided to two fundamental aspects:- The development of appropriate methods for contaminated drinking, ground, and surfaces waters, and mainly- The development of appropriate methods for wastewaters containing toxic or non-biodegradable compounds.This thesis is focused in the second of these aspects. In this sense, it has been deepened in the treatment of organic compounds in aqueous solution by means of advanced oxidation processes (AOP), in the search of their elimination or transformation into more biodegradable compounds.The experimental work has been divided into four chapters. First part (chapter 3) is focused on the kinetic study of Fenton process for what two model compounds have been chosen: phenol, as reference (model compound widely studied) and an aromatic non-biodegradable compound, nitrobenzene.The second part (chapter 4) addresses to the optimisation of some treatment processes, such as photo-Fenton, H2O2/UV and Fe3+/UV-vis using different sources of artificial light and sunlight. The experimental work of this chapter was divided into two parts. In the first one, experiments were performed at laboratory scale at the University of Barcelona. In the second one, experiments in pilot plants were carried out at the EPFL (Ecole Politechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland) and at the Plataforma Solar de Almería, Spain. The experimental results showed that the photo-Fenton process was the most effective method in the mineralization of the treated solutions. It is very important to stand out that it was more effective when solar light was used as radiation source.Chapters 5 and 6 represent an application of the treatment methods used in chapter 4, in which their influence on the biodegradability of an organic chloride compound (DCDE) and of waters coming from a textile industry was studied. For this final part of the thesis, the experimental work was carried out at the University of San Diego (San Diego, USA) and at the EPFL (Lausanne, Switzerland), respectively. In the case of water solutions of DCDE, H2O2/UV process was used as pre-treatment method to obtain oxidized solutions of 25, 50, 75 and 100% DCDE degrdation. After applying different biodegradability tests, it was observed that, as the percentage of oxidation increased, it increased the biodegradability of the treated solution, thus demostrating the effectiveness of the pre-treatment. In the case of treated textile wastewaters, a strategy was put in practice to obtain a general vision when it facing the case industrial wastewaters. When applied to the textile water under study, it was found that the photo-Fenton process should be used as post-treatment step of a biological process.

ENGLISH SUMMARY:In this work, the ozonation of emergent contaminants represented by pharmaceuticals (Sulfamethoxazole and Bezafibrate) and surfactants (Quaternary Ammonium Compounds) was studied. Results in terms of target compound degradation and mineralization along with the biodegradability and toxicity assessment of formed intermediates are presented. Moreover, a previous study about the suitability of the combination ozonation-Sequencing Batch Biofilm Reactor (SBBR), using the model compound 4-chlorophenol, is shown. The preliminary runs aimed to assess the mineralization of 100 and 200 mg L-1 4-chlorophenol (4-CP) solutions by ozonation and ozonation-biological treatment (SBBR). The experimental results showed that with an ozone flow rate of 5.44 and 7.57 g h-1, 4-CP was completely removed from the solution in 15 and 30 minutes of ozonation, respectively. By the other hand, at the 4-CP abatement time, on average only 26 % of total organic carbon (TOC) removal was achieved. The biodegradability (BOD5/COD) of the pre-ozonated solutions increased from 0 until a range between 0.2-0.37. The combination of ozonation and aerobic biological treatment in an aerobic sequencing batch biofilm reactor (SBBR) gave an abatement of more than 90 % of the initial TOC.The Quaternary Ammonium Compounds (QACs) ozonation was carried out in order to assess the mineralization potential of ozonation processes for this class of compounds. To perform this study, the QACs 16-BAC (Benzyl-dimethyl-hexadecylammonium-chloride) and 18-BAC (Benzyl-dimethyl-stearylammonium-chloride) were treated by ozonation at different O3 dosage. According to experimental results, from an initial TOC concentration of 50 mg L-1, 90 minutes of ozonation reached at most 50% of mineralization at the used conditions (ozone flow rate 7.57 g h-1). In order to observe the mineralization of QACs by means of photo-Fenton, the runs were carried out with the same QAC concentration used in ozonation runs. Besides, two different lamps were used (UV and Xe). According to experimental results, after 90 minutes of treatment, the photo-Fenton process achieved up to 80% of mineralization when the UV lamp was used. The efficiency of the photo-Fenton with Xe lamp was lower.To carry out the study of the sulfamethoxazole (SMX) ozonation, 200 mg L-1 SMX solutions were treated by ozonation at different pH. Results showed that ozonation was proved to be an efficient method to degrade sulfamethoxazole. After 15 minutes of ozonation (corresponding dose = 0.4 g of ozone L-1), the complete antibiotic abatement was almost achieved with just 10 % of mineralization. The biodegradability and toxicity of the ozonation intermediates were also studied. A biodegradability enhancement (increment of BOD5/COD ratio) from 0 to 0.28 was observed after 60 min of ozonation. The acute toxicity of the intermediates was followed by the Microtox® test and the toxicity profile showed a slight acute toxicity increment in the first stage of ozonation. The second order kinetic constants for the ozonation of the SMX in an order of magnitude of 105 L mol-1 s-1 were also determined for pH 5 and 7.Concerning the Bezafibrate (BZF) ozonation, the results showed that ozonation is an efficient method to degrade BZF: after 10 minutes of treatment (corresponding to a dose of 0.73 mmoles L-1 of ozone), the complete BZF abatement is achieved, starting from an initial concentration of 0.5 mmoles L-1. However, only a small part of the substrate is mineralized. The identification of main intermediates, attempted by HPLC-MS technique, indicates that the oxidation of BZF develops through both the hydroxylation of the aromatic ring and the attack of ozone on the unchlorinated aromatic one. The assessment of by-products biodegradability and acute toxicity demonstrates that ozonation is a suitable technique to improve the biodegradability and reduce the toxicity of waters containing BZF.