Abstracts Book - IMRC 2018

• SF5-P110
ELABORATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF A FOAM FOR USE
AS HYDROPONIC SUBSTRATE
Silvia Paola Venegas Segura 1 , Martha Lilia Dominguez Patiño 1 , Israel Herrera Orozco 2 , Joel
Vargas 3 , Mario Alfonso Murillo Tovar 4 , Alvaro Torres Islas 5
1 Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas e Ingeniería,
Mexico. 2 Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medio Ambientales y Tecnológicas, Unidad de
Análisis de Sistemas Energéticos, Spain. 3 Instituto de Investigaciones en Materiales (Unidad
Morelia), Materiales, Mexico. 4 Centro de Investigaciones Químicas, Química Analítica, Mexico.
5 Centro de Investigación en Ingenieria y Ciencias Aplicadas, Ingeniería Aplicada, Mexico.
Hydroponics is a technology that emerges as an alternative to obtain various
plants from the administration of minerals without using the soil, to carry out
this, it makes use of a substrate and a nutritive solution. The substrate is a
support material that must comply with the following characteristics: stable,
inert, light, aerated and moisture retention. There are several polymeric
substrates, but currently, the use of foams has increased due to the moisture
retention they have, good support and lightness, which makes them a good
option for planting and seedling production. Morelos State in Mexico, is the first
ornamental plant producer in the country, due to this, hydroponics is an option
for plant production, which results in water savings, and avoid land usage, using
foams instead of the traditional plant cultivation.
In the present work 3 foams have been prepared in the laboratory with different
concentrations from polyols (A,B,C), likewise, 3 more foams were made (D,E,F),
adding dye (due to how they are offered in the market). The foams have been
taken to SEM to verify their porosity (cell shape, pore size), and other properties
have been determined, such as moisture absorption, reaction efficiency, and
density.
A technique that helps measure the environmental impact that is generated
from the development of a product is the Life Cycle Assessment, this
methodology is described in ISO 14040, ISO 14044. This methodology was
applied to the development of the 6 foams, after carrying out the Life Cycle
Inventory with the EcoInvent database, the SimaPro software was used, and
results were obtained in different impact categories; Climate change potential
(Global Warming), Acidification, Eutrophication, Ozone depletion, and Water
use.