Abstracts Book - IMRC 2018

• SF5-O008 Invited Talk
THE USE OF SURFACTANT SYSTEMS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL
APPLICATIONS
Margarita Sanchez Dominguez 1,2 , Javier Ivan Garza Arevalo 2 , Federico Rossi 3 , Ricardo Gomez 4
1 Centro de Investigación en Materiales Avanzados, S.C., , Mexico. 2 Centro de Investigación en
Materiales Avanzados, S.C., Unidad Monterrey, Mexico. 3 Università degli Study di Salerno,
Dipartimento di Chimica e Biologia Adolfo Zambelli/DCB, Italy. 4 Universidad Autónoma
Metropolitana, Unidad Iztapalapa, Mexico.
In this contribution, several approaches on the use of surfactant systems
towards environmental applications will be presented. Firstly, the use of a series
of commercial fatty alcohol ethoxylated surfactants, known to be low-impact
and biodegradable, was used to improve the solubility of trichloroethylene (TCE)
in water. TCE still represents a serious threat to the environment and human
health. The physical and chemical properties of TCE, including its relatively low
solubility, high specific density and the tendency to remain adsorbed to organic
materials, make its removal polluted sites extremely difficult. Thus, surfactants
are used to increase its solubility in water. In this study, the solubility of TCE in
Synperonic TM 91/5, 91/6, 91/8, 91/10 and 13/8 aqueous solutions was
evaluated. Solubility was assessed above the CMC and 0.5 mol L -1 at 20 ºC. The
best surfactant was Synperonic TM 91/10 which was able to solubilize 400 mg TCE
per gram of surfactant. Secondly, surfactant systems, namely microemulsions,
have been used as confined reaction media for the synthesis of inorganic
nanomaterials and these were evaluated for the photodegradation of model
pollutants such as phenol derivatives and dyes. Also, the microemulsion method
has been used for the synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles which have been
integrated to a moringa oleifera coagulation protein system and its used for
water purification was assesed. The presented results highlight the potential of
surfactant systems for various environmental applications.
Acknowledgment:
We are grateful to CONACYT for finantial support (Proyecto de Ciencia Básica
clave CB2011/166649, and Proyecto de Redes Temáticas 2012-194451)
Keywords: surfactant systems, microemulsions, TCE remediation
Presenting authors email: margarita.sanchez@cimav.edu.mx