5^th International Conference and Expo on Separation Techniques October 23-25, 2017 Paris, France

Alessandra Serain is a currently a Pharmacist from the State University of Campinas and a PhD candidate with FAPESP scolarship, in the Biosciences and Technology Program of Bioactive Products of the DBV / IB - UNICAMP with the research project that seeks to perform a phytochemical study of two species of Sinningia for application in Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) in Culture of human cells, and biotechnological study of plant cell culture. Has experience of Scientific Initiation at BTPB-UNICAMP, 18 months with FAPESP scholarship, in the field of phytochemistry, PDT, essential oils and microbiological activity

The Sinningia magnifica belong to Gesneriaceae family what comprises around 150 genera, distributed around the world. Phytochemical studies with Sinningia reported the identification of phenolic glycosides, anthocyanins and anthraquinones with biological properties (Scharf et al., 2016). The Photodynamic chemotherapy (PDT) has been used for many purposes, such as antitumor, performing as a non-invasive therapy with minimal side effects using photosensitizers that, under illumination at a certain wavelength and in the presence of oxygen, produce reactive oxygen species, cytotoxic to the target cells (Brown et al., 2004; Andreazza et al., 2015). In this initial work, was made a cromatographic fractionation using silica as stationary phase by flash column, open column and thin layer cromatography of an ethanolic extract of S. magnifica prepared by maceration of its tubers. This fractions and isolated compounds of our research group was used to an investigation of the potential for employment as natural photosensitizer against human prostate cell line (PC-3) and a control cell line (3T3). Also, was determined the absorption profile of isolated compounds in the visible region, and the 1,3-DPBF decay, as an indirect method of singlet oxygen generation, of the best compounds. The antiproliferative activity was assessed by the reduction of a tetrazolium salt (MTT), carried out in triplicate, using an irradiated plate and a non-irradiated plate in sub-inhibitory concentration. The irradiated plate reduced the cell viability comparing with non-irradiated plate. Despite the positive results, further investigations are necessary to confirm the potential of this technique and the bioactive compounds as PDT agent.

Ada Saccà is a chemist. She completed his PhD in Materials for the environment and energy from TorVergata University (Rome, Italy) in 2006, 2nd level Master’s degree in Hydrogen production systems and means of transport with fuel cells from Messina University (Italy) in 2008. She is actually researcher and has a permanent position at National Research Council of Italy, Institute for Advanced Energy Technologies Nicola Giordano (Messina, Italy). Her activity regards Components for PEFC, Fillers for PEM and Electrodes, Membranes for Electrochemical Devices and, recently, for Separation Processes. She published 32 papers on international journals, 73 on abstracts books, 53 reports.

In the sustainable global development context, the increasing demand of water for human requirements favored the research on alternative wastewaters purification processes. In the last 50 years, new technologies for substances separation, so-called membrane processes (Microfiltration, Nanofiltration, Ultrafiltration, Osmosis), have been extensively studied. They use different membranes and operative conditions promoting the separation and removing contaminant particles in a wide molecular cut-off range. Ultrafiltration process, used for water treatment, works in low-pressure conditions. One of the most used polymers is Polysulphone (PSF) due to its high thermal, chemical and hydrolytic stability. In the present work, a preliminary investigation on PSF membranes with hydrophilic and antifouling properties is presented. The phase inversion method by non-solvent coagulation-bath-technique was used to obtain asymmetric membranes with different characteristics of porosity, hydrophilic properties, macro-voids size and shape. The following parameters were considered: not-solvent kind, de-mixing time, polymer concentration, surfactant insertion/concentration. The membranes were characterized in terms of XRD, TGA-DSC, dimensional analysis, water retention, qualitative contact-angle, DMA. In particular, cross-section SEM was used to evaluate the relationship between membrane formation and obtained morphology, pursuing the finger-like macro-voids morphology, suitable for final application. Promising results in terms of compromise morphology/hydrophilic properties/stiffness were obtained and some of these samples permitted having a good approximation for finger-like morphology, aspect to further investigate. Permeability tests, contact angle and zeta potential measurements are actually in progress in order to individuate the most suitable procedure and the most performing sample for application in the industrial wastewaters purification and recovery of contaminating species.

Jee Young Kim has received her BS degree in Chemistry from Kosin University, Busan, South Korea in 2003, MS degree in Inorganic Chemistry from Kosin University, Busan, South Korea in 2005 and completed PhD course in Nanomaterial Chemistry from Pusan National University, Busan, South Korea in 2010. She has received her PhD degree in Chemical Engineering from Saga University, Saga, Japan in 2015. Her research interest interfacial behavior and solvent extraction kinetics with various types calix[4]arene derivatives. Moreover, recent work focuses on the Coordination Polymer, MOFs, and so on.

Precious metals, including Ag, Au, and the six platinum group metals (PGMs), possess specific properties and have been extensively applied for decades in many industrial fields, e.g. as catalysts and conductor, due to their specific properties. In the automotive industry, other metals cannot replace palladium, used as a catalyst. Palladium demand projections show a significant increase in the use of these metals for current automotive technology and the development of fuel cell vehicles. However, the separation and purification of PGMs from leachates is usually difficult because of their similar nature and chemical behavior. Thus, efficient approaches for the recovery and separation of precious metal ions have been explored. The solvent extraction process is one of the most versatile methods used for the removal, separation, and concentration of metal species from mixed metal aqueous media. Extensive work on the extractive separation of PGMs with macrocyclic compounds has been carried out, including the use of calixarenes. Calixarenes are phenolic cyclic host oligomers and have been attached much attention due to their specific structure for metal separation. In this work, a novel dibenzylamide derivative of p-tert-octylcalix[4]arene was synthesized to investigate its solvent extraction properties towards precious metal ions. Amide derivatives of calix[4]arenes (Fig.1.), BATOC, EATOC, exhibited silver selectivity over the divalent palladium ion. Both amido-type extraction reagents, BATOC, EATOC, extracted silver over the whole nitric acid concentration range, whereas the extraction percentage of palladium decreased gradually at a higher nitric acid concentration because of the increase of the protonated coordinating carbonyl oxygen atoms (Fig.2). The placement of optimal substituents on the amide group can improve the silver selectivity over palladium and trace amounts of silver ions can be removed in the presence of a large amount of coexisting palladium.

Kwangsoo Kim has his expertise in advanced nutrient removal and environmental materials of environmental engineering. His invented Biological Nutrient Removal processes namely, P/L process and CF SBR have been put to practical use at about 200 sites in Korea. Recently, his research was focused on environmental materials specialized in a fine dust and VOC removal technology. The development of activated carbon coated Electrodes, which can do without corona discharge in electrostatic-precipitator, to remove dust and VOC are very creative and the Hanji cellulose filter gave a new concept how to prepare for porous filter from natural cellulose.

Micro-porous cellulose filters were fabricated from paper mulberry pulp, which has been used for thousands of years with Korean history. ‘Han-ji’ is the name of a traditional paper used widely in Korea in construction, textile, craftworks and many household items but before now it has not been used for filtration purpose. To remove a fine dust and volatile organics, the porous cellulose fiber filters impregnated with powdered activated carbon were prepared as follows. Firstly, to convert the hydrogen bond of cellulose into carboxylation the TEMPO (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl) was used as catalyst in NaHClO solution. Secondly, to give a positive charge on the surface of powdered activated carbon (A/C) the Poly-immine was used as a chemical compound containing a carbon–nitrogen double bond. The mixtures of the carboxylic Hanji cellulose and the positive charged A/C was blended to the ratios of 1 to 1 in 1 L of water and added t-BtOH as sublimation agent to the mixtures. After being carried out vacuum filtration and freezing dry, the final ones were prepared for triple layered filter impregnated with activated carbon. The tests on fine dust and BTEX removals were performed with continuous feeding type filter, influent flow rate 100 m3/min. The removal efficiencies of them were up to 99 %, respectively, while the linear velocity of filter was operated to the range of 1 m/sec – 2 m/sec.

Malene V Christensen graduated from the University of Copenhagen at the Department of Chemistry in 2012. From 2013-2014 Malene was employed as Research Scientist at LEO Pharma at the Department of Early ADME, planning, performing and reporting physical chemistry studies upon working with HPLC/UPLC-UV and UPLC-MS. She is a third year PhD student from University of Copenhagen, Denmark at the Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology. Her work is focused on Development, Validation and use of a unique hyphenated HPLC-HRMS-SPE-19F NMR Technology for Elucidation of CPP degradation pathways.

Research in novel drug delivery approaches includes successful application of peptide-based vectors, e.g., cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) as carriers for macromolecular drugs such as insulin. Fluorescent probes are widely used for qualitative and quantitative determination but may lead to false negative or false positive results due to their large size and hydrophobic nature compared to the highly cationic hydrophilic CPPs. By introducing the very small 19F labels at one or more sites in a carrier peptide or therapeutic peptide cargo, it will be possible to evaluate the fate of the carrier. The aim of the current study is to develop a hyphenated HPLC-HRMS-SPE-19F NMR technology for elucidating CPP uptake and degradation pathways. Peptides based on penetratin and octaarginine were obtained by Fmoc-based solid-phase peptide synthesis. Peptides were initially analyzed by RP-HPLC using different, columns and mobile phases containing trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) and/or formic acid (FA). Furthermore, ion-suppression was tested to identify an MS-compatible mobile phase. Trapping efficiency was evaluated by comparing different SPE cartridge sorbent materials. Highly cationic peptides can be analyzed by LC-MS using a mobile phase containing 0.01% TFA providing acceptable chromatography and only slightly more ion suppression than 0.1% FA, although not ideal for octaargine. Peptides were most efficiently trapped on C18, C8, GP (polydivinyl-benzene) and mixed mode cation exchange SPE-cartridges. Overall the final optimized conditions for HPLC-UV-MS-SPE included a column from Supelco (Discovery BIO Wide pore C18, 150 × 4.6 mm, 300 Å, 3 μm) an MS-compatible mobile phase containing 0.01 % TFA and a silica based C18 cartridge for trapping.

Vojtech Hrdlicka is postgraduate student at the Faculty of Science of Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. Aim of his study is Development of Novel Extraction and Electrochemical Methods for determination of Biologically, Toxicologically, Pharmaceutically or Medicinally relevant substances.

Vanillylmandelic acid is an end-stage catecholamine metabolite in the human body and important biomarker of various diseases with excessive or lowered catecholamine excretion. Levels of urinary VMA are elevated in patients with tumors of catecholamine producing glands, including pheochromocytoma and neuroblastoma, most common extra cranial cancer in infants. Lowered concentrations of VMA are typical for neurological disorders such as autism or depression. Determination of urinary VMA is used for treatment monitoring as well as preliminary screening tests. In this study, novel method of hollow fiber based three-phase liquid/liquid/liquid microextraction is used in combination with differential pulse voltammetry on boron doped diamond electrode. Due to acidic nature of VMA, extraction is carried out from acidified donor solution to the basic acceptor solution in the lumen of the fiber through organic phase immobilized inside the fiber pores. Optimized parameters included different organic phases (1-octanol, dihexylether, dodecane, phenyldecane, isoamylbenzoate and propylbenzoate), extraction time, volume of donor phase, pH and ionic strength of donor and acceptor phases and stirring rate. Obtained enrichment factors were up to two orders of magnitude with error of repeated measurements RSD ≈ 15 % (n = 10). For determination of VMA after the extraction, DPV on cathodically pretreated boron doped diamond electrode was used with very good repeatability: RSD <2% (n=10). Limits of detection and determination in the absence of the extraction step were 1.2 μmol/l−1 (LOD) and 3.6 μmol/l−1 (LOQ). Simultaneous determination of VMA and another clinical biomarker homovanillic acid was also possible, even in the excessive content of uric and ascorbic acid – common urinary interferences.

Wenjing Lu got her Bachelor degree (BSc) from Shandong University in 2014. She is presently a PhD student under the supervision of Prof. Xianfeng Li at Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP). Her work involves the membrane structure design and performance research of porous ion conducting membranes for flow battery applications.

Vanadium flow batteries (VFBs) have received more and more attention due to their attractive characteristics of independently tuneable power and capacity, long cycle life, high safety, high efficiency and environmental benignity. A membrane plays the role of preventing cross-mixing of positive and negative electrolytes, while still allowing the transport of protons to complete the electrical circuit. An ideal membrane in a VFB should has features like high proton conductivity, high ion selectivity, high chemical stability and low cost. Recently, our group has succeeded in introducing porous nanofiltration membranes into VFBs, based on the idea of using pore size exclusion to realize V/H selectivity. A simple and effective solvent treatment method was developed to prepare porous membranes with tuneable morphology for VFBs. The pore structure of porous membranes was controlled by tuning the swelling force and cohesive force of polymers to optimize their performance in VFBs[4]. High ion selectivity together with excellent proton conductivity was obtained, thanks to the solvent induced shrinkage of pores. An impressive VFB performance with a CE of over 99%, and an EE of over 90% was obtained at 80 mA cm-2, which is the highest value ever reported for porous uncharged membranes (Fig. 1). Based on this work, the solvent treatment was utilized to firstly create porous membranes with critically hydrophobic/hydrophilic phase separated like structures in VFBs by solvent-induced reassembly of a polymer blend system (Fig. 2). A highly phase separated membrane structure was created, composed of a highly stable hydrophobic porous matrix and hydrophilic interconnected small pores. The resultant membrane showed an excellent battery performance with a CE exceeding 99%, along with an EE over 91%, which was among the highest values ever reported. Therefore, solvent treatment is a simple and cost-effective but highly efficient method to prepare high-performance porous membranes for VFBs.

Yi Yang’s research focuses on the Extractive Separation Science, Chromatographic Analysis and Capillary Electrophoresis. An emphasis is placed on the Magnetic Nanomaterial for Pretreatment Techniques. The magnetic adsorbent functionalized with ionic liquids and MOFs have been utilized for extraction of various pesticides from food and environmental samples, such as triazine and sulfonylurea herbicides, phthalate esters, pyrethroid, phenolic compounds, benzoylurea insecticides, etc.

Fe3O4 nanoparticles are one of the most promising magnetic nanomaterials with numerous advantages of characteristics and widely used in magnetic fields, especially extraction and separation. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a new class of hybrid inorganic-organic porous crystalline materials, which are synthesized by self-assembling metal ions with organic ligands via coordination bonds. MOFs possess many unusual properties and fascinating structures, and due to their high porosity, large surface areas, good temperature and chemical stability, etc., MOFs are excellent adsorption materials. Herein, we report a simple one-pot solvothermal method based on poly dopamine (PDA) functionalized Fe3O4 particles for the preparation of core-shell Fe3O4@PDA@MIL-101 (Fe) composites. The composite was introduced as a magnetic adsorbent to rapidly extract sulfonylurea herbicides prior to analysis with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Significant extraction parameters were optimized separately to improve the extraction efficiencies. Under optimal working conditions, the developed method showed good linearity in the range of 1–150 μg L−1, with correlation coefficients (R2) higher than 0.9991. A low limit of detection varied from 0.12 to 0.34 μg L−1 and good repeatability (relative standard deviation lower than 4.8%, n = 6) were obtained. The proposed method was successfully used to determine four sulfonylurea herbicides in environmental water and vegetable samples with satisfactory recovery ranging from 87.8 to 108.9%. The results demonstrated that core-shell magnetic Fe3O4@PDA@MIL-101 (Fe) composites possessed great potential in the extraction of trace sulfonylurea herbicides from environmental samples.

Mousa Yasir Amayre is a Assistant Professor in Chemistry Department at King Fahd University of petroleum and minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran- Saudi Arabia. He published more than 10 papers in ISI journals. He completed his PhD in Analytical Chemistry (Chromatography and Separation Science) in 2014 from KFUPM. He got his M.Sc. degree of Science in Applied and Industrial Technology from Al-Quds University, Palestine in 2010.

Differential electrolytic potentiometry (DEP) using silver electrodes coated with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) was applied as a detector in a flow injection analysis of cyanide. The direct current- differential electrolytic potentiometry (dc- DEP) and the mark space bias - differential electrolytic potentiometry (m.s.b. DEP) both were applied as indicating systems. The parameters that give the best signal were investigated and optimized. A current density of 17 µA cm-2 and a percentage bias of 2.8% were found to be optimum in case of dc- DEP and m.s.b. DEP respectively. The optimum flow rate of both the analyte and the supporting electrolyte was found to be of 85-µL s-1 using a coil length of 45 cm. In case of dc- DEP, a linear range of 1ppm to 65 ppm of KCN with a detection limit of 0.5 ppm and a relative standard deviation of 2.1%. In case of m.s.b. DEP a linear range of 1ppm to 65 ppm of KCN with detection limit of 0.35 ppm and a relative standard deviation of 1.5%. The proposed DEP-FIA methods are computer controlled fast, sensitive, inexpensive and require low consumption of reagents.

Sergey Kirillov (UrFU) has over ten years of experience on hydrometallurgical research. He has wide knowledge of hydrometallurgical unit operations such as ion-exchange, solvent extraction, precipitation for recovery of REEs and precious metals from secondary sources based on his work at Department of Rare Metals and Nanomaterials, Ural Federal University (UrFU). He is an author of more than 15 publications in these research fields. He works on his Ph.D. studies under supervision of Professor Vladimir Richkov (UrFU). He is carrying on his Ph.D. research on hydrometallurgical approach for recovery of rare earth metals from phosphogypsum

Currently, rare earth elements (REE’s) and products based on them are widely used in many industries, including the nuclear industry, where REE’s (mostly Eu, Gd and Sm) are used for control rods production as neutron absorbers. It is well-known that rare earth elements are often accompanied uranium ores. Currently, technologies of associated REE’s recovery from uranium leaching solutions, phosphorites, etc. are developed. These technologies allow removing main components and contaminants uncluding uranium, 232, 234, 230Th, 226Ra and their daughter radionuclides. However, the concentrate containing 50-90% of REE’s has activity concentration of 104-105 Bq kg-1. This activity is mainly conditioned by β-emitter 227Ac which is a relatively long-lived (21.8 a) daughter of 235U.In this paper we studied the possibility of deactivation of the REE’s concentrate produced from technological solutions after uranium in-situ leaching. Studies have focused on the sorption separation of REE’s from 227As using ion-exchange materials, synthesized via suspension copolymerization of various extractants, styrene and divinylbenzene.The developed deactivation technology was tested under industrial conditions at the uranium mining plant. Approximately 100 g of the REE’s concentrate with high activity was treated; this resulted in production of 90 g of deactivated REE’s concentrate with a the activity concentration of (1-5) × 103 Bq kg-1