Abstracts Book - IMRC 2018

• SB1-O032
SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF CLAY-POLYMER
COMPOSITES AND THEIR APPLICATION FOR THE REMOVAL OF
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS FROM AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS
Javier Illescas 1 , Maria del Carmen Diaz Nava 1 , Claudia Rosario Muro 1 , Rosa Elena Ortega
Aguilar 1
1
Instituto Tecnológico de Toluca, División de Estudios de Posgrado e Investigación, Mexico.
Clay-polymer composites consisting of different synthetic polymer and/or
biopolymer matrices and natural organo-modified clays have been synthesized
through different polymerization techniques. Namely, free radical
polymerization, frontal polymerization or solution crosslinking have been
employed, depending on the nature of the monomers or the polymer matrix.
Some examples of the employed biopolymers matrices are alginate, chitosan or
starch; in the case of the monomers, acrylic acid, acrylamide or 4-vinylpyridine
were used. Moreover, natural clays different Mexican deposits were selected
and modified with cationic surfactants, in order to change its nature hydrophilic
to hydrophobic; therefore, improving their removal capacity and affinity for
organic compounds. Lastly, natural clays, organo-modified natural clays,
polymer matrices and clay-polymer composites were characterized with respect
to their physical, chemical and thermal properties, their morphology and their
structure. As expected, it was found that composites had better properties than
polymer matrices and the incorporation of an organo-modified clay into a
polymer or biopolymer matrix improved the removal of organic compounds
aqueous solutions.
Acknowledgment:
We are grateful to CONACyT (Project Cátedras CONACyT 3056) for their financial
support, and TecNM for their infrastructure support.
Keywords: Composites, Biopolymers, Organo-modified Clays
Presenting authors email: fillescasm@toluca.tecnm.mx