Bernabé L. Rivas
University of Concepcion, Chile
Title: Polymeric materials with ability to interact with inorganic species with impact on the environment
Biography
Biography: Bernabé L. Rivas
Abstract
Polymer-clay nanocomposites researches have presented a great attention from scientific community because nanocomposite materials present enhanced properties (mechanical, thermal, and barrier properties) compared with starting material (unloaded polymers). In case of crosslinked hydrophilic materials such as hydrogel and superabsorbent materials, the addition of clay could potentially result in either an increase or a decrease in the water absorbency. The former behavior is a consequence of the higher hydrophilicity that is provided by the clay layers, and the latter effect is due to an increase in the number of crosslinked points formed by the interaction of the polymeric matrix and the clay platelets. On the other hand, membrane filtration allows easily the separation of ions bound to water-soluble polymers from non-bound ions. This technique is known as the liquid-phase polymer-based retention (LPR) technique. Applications of water-soluble polymers (WSP)s to the homogeneous enrichment or selective separation of various metal ions from dilute solutions have been reported. In this talk, we present the study on the characterization and sorption performance of polymer-clay ion exchange resins, which are based on a polymer matrix bearing functional groups able to interact with contaminant oxyanions and layered double hydroxide (LDH) dispersed within the resin as well as the removal of inorganic pollutants through membrane filtration in conjunction with water-soluble functional polymers. The removal ability depended strongly on the pH and on the oxyanion. The removal behaviour under competitive conditions was also carried out.