Day 1 :
Keynote Forum
Iakovos Yakoumis
Monolithos Catalysts and Recycling Ltd, Greece
Keynote: Towards hollow fibers automotive catalytic converters: effect of carbon on the NO abatement efficiency of Cu decorated C/Al 2 O 3 porous hollow fibers
Time : 09:15-09:40
Biography:
Iakovos Yakoumis was born in 1974 in Athens. He obtained his MSc degree in Chemical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens in 1997. He has published 14 research papers in international scientific journals. The citation index, of these papers, is more than 1042 (Google Scholar). He is the Founder and the Managing Director of Monolithos Catalysts and Recycling Ltd. In 2000, he was honored for the Organization of the Greek Small and Medium Enterprises with the Panhellenic Award of the Best Young Businessman of the Year. He was Member of the Board of several local and business associations. He has served as elected Vice-President of the City Council of Naxos and Small Cyclades Municipality (2014).
Abstract:
In this work, biopolymer/ceramic hollow fibers were manufactured at high yield using a modified polyol process in spinneret set-up and allowed to adsorb controllable amounts of Cu2+. The fibers were further converted to catalytic Cu decorated, carbon/ceramic composite hollow fibers (C/Al2O3) by a post-sintering technique. The polyol process modification pertained to the use of alginate as the metal ion binder and metallic nanoparticles stabilizer. The walls of the hollow fibers were porous, exposing a high surface area decorated with Cu nanoparticles. The structural and morphological properties of the obtained catalytic composite hollow fibers have been studied and their DeNOx abatement efficiency has been evaluated via a continuous flow process we propose here, with the gas stream sweeping the shell and lumen side of a bundle of the fibers in the tangential flow mode. The stability, long working-life and easy regeneration of the composite catalytic fibers were studied in relation to the carbonaceous content and the possible deactivation/reactivation mechanisms. It has been concluded that carbon contributed significantly to the improvement of the DeNOx activity, especially in the cases, where reducing gases such as CO were absent from the gas stream. Moreover, the DeNOx efficiency was high and stable for more than 300 hours on stream, a feature which combined with the viability in terms of manufacturability and yield, makes us propose these catalytic fibers and the respective bundle type reactor as the next generation technology for NO abatement.
Keynote Forum
Dusan Berek
Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia
Keynote: Liquid chromatography of block copolymers
Time : 09:40-10:05
Biography:
Dusan Berek, PhD, DSc is employed at Polymer Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava. He served as Elected Member of the Presidium of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, President of the Slovak Chemical Society, and Chairman of the Czecho-Slovak and Slovak National Committee of Chemistry for IUPAC. He is Corresponding Member of the Central European Academy of Sciences and Member of the Learned Society of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. He is Author or Co-author of two monographs and 250+ scientific papers in extenso published in refereed periodicals, proceedings and chapters of books, as well as 60+ patents (four of them were licensed) and was cited more than 2,000 times. He presented over 110 invited plenary, key and main lectures, as well as over 900 regular lectures and poster contributions on symposia and conferences and during lecturing tours to over 40 countries. He was elected as “Slovak Scientist of the Year 1999” and “Slovak Innovator of the Year 2001”.
Abstract:
Block copolymers represent an important group of materials with extensive applications in science, medicine and technology. In a block copolymer, at least two chemically distinct polymer chains are connected with a chemical bond. Comprehensive molecular characterization of block copolymers represents an analytical challenge. A special problem is determination of amount and molar mass of parent homopolymers, which are present in most block copolymers, and which constitute highly undesired, expensive ballast. Gel permeation chromatography, (size exclusion chromatography) GPC/SEC is commonly employed for characterization of block copolymers. Molar mass of a precursor, the block polymerized as first, is determined by GPC/SEC and the same method is employed for the approximate assessment of total molar mass of block copolymers. Due to low separation selectivity and detector sensitivity GPC/SEC size exclusion chromatography can hardly identify presences and render molar mass information on parent homopolymers. We will discuss principles and applications of the original alternative liquid chromatography methods namely liquid chromatography under limiting conditions of enthalpic interactions, LC-LC and sequential two-dimensional polymer liquid chromatography, S2D-LC. LC-LC methods are well robust and experimentally feasible. Their separation selectivity is very high and sample recovery is reasonable. LC-LC can in one single step easily and efficiently discriminate both parent homopolymers from diblock copolymers. The separated sample constituents can be one-by-one forwarded into an on-line GPC/SEC column for determination of their molar mass average and distribution. Parent homopolymers present in the block copolymer at very low concentrations below 1% of can be traced and characterized, by this novel approach.
Keynote Forum
Rafael Lucena Rodriguez
University of Cordoba, Spain
Keynote: Composites of polyamides and nanoparticles for dispersive micro-solid phase extraction
Time : 10:05-10:30
Biography:
Rafael Lucena Rodríguez is Professor at the Analytical Chemistry Department of the University of Córdoba since 2010. He has co-authored 80 scientific articles and several chapters mainly on microextraction techniques. He has been Guest Editor in one special issue of Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry journal devoted to this field. He is the Editor of Microextraction Tech blog. His main research interest comprises different areas, especially the development of new microextraction techniques as well as the evaluation of ionic liquids and nanoparticles in this context. Nowadays, he is also working on biorecognition.
Abstract:
Polymeric materials are widely employed in (micro) extraction techniques due to several advantages such as their stability and versatility. Polyamides, a specific type of polymers, are obtained by the controlled synthesis between a diacid and a diamine compounds yielding a polymeric chain where amide groups are distributed periodically. The chemical forces that allow the chain stacking can also be used for the extraction of target compounds from samples of different nature. In addition, polyamides can be easily synthesized in the lab using several monomers with different moieties that may increase the potential of these polymers as sorbents since the material can be synthesized to boost the interaction with the target compounds. The introduction of nanoparticles inside the polymeric network has been demonstrated as a good way to improve the extraction capacity of the sorbents as well as their mechanical properties. On the one hand, nanoparticles disturb the normal stacking of the polymer increasing their superficial area which results critically to improve both thermodynamics and kinetics aspects of the extraction. On the other hand, the use of special nanoparticles, like magnetic ones, may provide singular properties to the resulting composite. In this communication, the easy synthesis of polyamides-NPs composites, their main advantages and disadvantages will be described in detail to clearly show the potential of this material. This potential, which is supported by practical application of these composites in fields as different as food analysis or bioanalysis, will be explained with suggestions of further research.