Experimental study, simulation and technical-economic feasibility of an interesterification plant for hydrocarbons synthesis by using plastics and frying oil waste.

This work presents the experimental assessment of a 20 mL batch reactor's efficacy in converting plastic and oil residues into biofuels. The reactor, designed for ease of use, is heated using a metallic system. The experiments explore plastic solubilization at various temperatures and residence times, employing a mixture of distilled water and ethylene glycol as the solvent. Initial findings reveal that plastic solubilization requires a temperature of 350 °C with an ethylene glycol mole fraction of 0.35, whereas 250 °C suffices with a mole fraction of 0.58. Additionally, the study includes a process simulation of a plant utilizing a double fluidized bed gasifier and an economic evaluation of the interesterification/pyrolysis plant. Simulation results support project feasibility, estimating a total investment cost of approximately $12.99 million and annual operating expenses of around $17.98 million, with a projected payback period of about 5 years.

Customized dispersive micro-solid-phase extraction device combined with micro-desorption for the simultaneous determination of 39 multiclass pesticides in environmental water samples.

A dispersive micro-solid phase extraction (d-µ-SPE) procedure was developed for the simultaneous extraction of 39 multiclass pesticides, containing a variety of chemical groups (organophosphate, organochlorine, pyrethroid, strobilurin, thiocarbamate, triazole, imidazole, and triazine), from water samples. A customized d-µ-SPE glass device was combined with a multi-tube platform vortex and a micro-desorption unit (Whatman Mini-UniPrep G2 syringeless filter), which allowed the unique simultaneous desorption, extract filtration, and injection. A simplex-centroid mixture design and Doehlert design were employed to optimize the extraction conditions. The optimized extraction conditions consisted of an extraction time of 30 min, an addition of 6.74 % of NaCl into 100 mL of water sample, and a desorption time of 24 min with 500 µL of EtAc. The procedure provided a low limit of detection (LOD), ranging from 0.51 ng L-1 (4,4-DDE) to 22.4 ng L-1 (dimethoate), and an enrichment factor ranging from 72.5 (dimethoate) to 200 (tebuconazole). The relative recoveries of the pesticides from spiked freshwater and seawater ranged from 74.2 % (endrin) to 123 % (molinate). The proposed procedure was applied to detect the presence of multiclass pesticides in environmental water samples. Three pesticides commonly applied in Brazil, namely, malathion, dimethoate, and lambda-cyhalothrin, were detected in concentrations ranging from

Occurrence of the potent mutagens 2- nitrobenzanthrone and 3-nitrobenzanthrone in fine airborne particles.

Polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) are known due to their mutagenic activity. Among them, 2-nitrobenzanthrone (2-NBA) and 3-nitrobenzanthrone (3-NBA) are considered as two of the most potent mutagens found in atmospheric particles. In the present study 2-NBA, 3-NBA and selected PAHs and Nitro-PAHs were determined in fine particle samples (PM 2.5) collected in a bus station and an outdoor site. The fuel used by buses was a diesel-biodiesel (96:4) blend and light-duty vehicles run with any ethanol-to-gasoline proportion. The concentrations of 2-NBA and 3-NBA were, on average, under 14.8 µg g-1 and 4.39 µg g-1, respectively. In order to access the main sources and formation routes of these compounds, we performed ternary correlations and multivariate statistical analyses. The main sources for the studied compounds in the bus station were diesel/biodiesel exhaust followed by floor resuspension. In the coastal site, vehicular emission, photochemical formation and wood combustion were the main sources for 2-NBA and 3-NBA as well as the other PACs. Incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) were calculated for both places, which presented low values, showing low cancer risk incidence although the ILCR values for the bus station were around 2.5 times higher than the ILCR from the coastal site.

Determination of free and total sulfur(IV) compounds in coconut water using high-resolution continuum source molecular absorption spectrometry in gas phase.

This work proposes a method for the determination of free and total sulfur(IV) compounds in coconut water samples, using the high-resolution continuum source molecular absorption spectrometry. It is based on the measurement of the absorbance signal of the SO2 gas generate, which is resultant of the addition of hydrochloric acid solution on the sample containing the sulfating agent. The sulfite bound to the organic compounds is released by the addition of sodium hydroxide solution, before the generation of the SO2 gas. The optimization step was performed using multivariate methodology involving volume, concentration and flow rate of hydrochloric acid. This method was established by the sum of the absorbances obtained in the three lines of molecular absorption of the SO2 gas. This strategy allowed a procedure for the determination of sulfite with limits of detection and quantification of 0.36 and 1.21mgL-1 (for a sample volume of 10mL) and precision expressed as relative standard deviation of 5.4% and 6.4% for a coconut water sample containing 38.13 and 54.58mgL-1 of free and total sulfite, respectively. The method was applied for analyzing five coconut water samples from Salvador city, Brazil. The average contents varied from 13.0 to 55.4mgL-1 for free sulfite and from 24.7 to 66.9mgL-1 for total sulfur(IV) compounds. The samples were also analyzed employing the Ripper´s procedure, which is a reference method for the quantification of this additive. A statistical test at 95% confidence level demonstrated that there is no significant difference between the results obtained by the two methods.

Pesticides in fine airborne particles: from a green analysis method to atmospheric characterization and risk assessment.

The intensive use of pesticides such as herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and acaricides has been lead to ubiquitous contamination, being present not only in soils, water bodies and/or crops, but also in the atmosphere. Considering the massive amount of pesticides employed globally, together to their persistence, this may be an important concern regarding air quality and human health worldwide. In the present study we developed a green sensitive sample preparation method for determination of nine organophosphates, two pyrethroids, one carbamate, and one strobirulin in PM2.5 collected in a tropical coastal area in the Southern Hemisphere for the first time. Extraction of PM2.5 sample masses, as low as 206 µg, were performed in a miniaturized device using 500 µL of a mixture containing 18% acetonitrile in dichloromethane followed by sonication for 23 minutes and injection into GC-MS. A total of 12 pesticides were identified and quantified successfully, among them, eight banned pesticides. A risk assessment exposure and cancer risk for possible carcinogenic pesticides (bifenthrin, malathion, parathion and permethrin) were performed for exposure of adults, children and infants. Hazard Quotient and cumulative exposure for organophosphate and pyrethroid pesticides were less than 1, showing that cumulative risk is within acceptable range.

Determination of sulfur in crude oil using high-resolution continuum source molecular absorption spectrometry of the SnS molecule in a graphite furnace.

An analytical method for the determination of sulfur, as the tin mono-sulfide (SnS) molecule, in crude oil using high-resolution continuum source graphite furnace molecular absorption spectrometry (HR-CS GF MAS) has been developed. The molecular absorbance of the SnS has been measured using the wavelength at 271.624 nm and the crude oil samples were prepared as micro-emulsions due to their high viscosity. Several chemical modifiers (Ir, Pd, Ru, Zr) were tested and palladium was chosen, because it exhibited the best performance. The heating program was optimized by comparing the pyrolysis and vaporization curves obtained for an aqueous sulfur standard and a micro-emulsion of a crude oil certified reference material (CRM). The optimum pyrolysis and vaporization temperatures were found to be 600 and 2000°C, respectively. The limit of detection and the characteristic mass using micro-emulsion analysis of crude oil samples were 5.8 and 13.3 ng S. Accuracy and precision of the method has been evaluated using two crude oil CRM (NIST 2721 and NIST 2722), showing good agreement with the informed or certified values.

A simple and sensitive UFLC-fluorescence method for endocrine disrupters determination in marine waters.

The present study proposes a fast and simple analytical methodology employing C18 SPE cartridges (for preconcentration and clean-up), and a ultra-fast liquid chromatography coupled to fluorescence detector (UFLC-FLD) for determination of the following endocrine disrupters (ED): bisphenol A (BPA), 4-n-nonylphenol (4NNP), 4-n-octylphenol (4NOP), 4-t-octylphenol (4TOP), estriol (E3), estrone (E1), 17ß-estradiol (E2) and 17α-ethynylestradiol (EE2) in seawater. The proposed method was developed, optimized and validated. Separation was done by a total running time of 10 min in a Shim-pack XR-ODS C-18 (2.0 mm ID × 50 mm) chromatographic column, mobile phases were acetonitrile/ultra-pure water under gradient programming; eluent flow rate at 0.120 mL min(-1); column temperature set at 60 °C; emission wavelength of 306 nm and excitation wavelength of 280 nm. The method was validated through assessment of the following parameters: linear range, linearity, selectiveness, precision, recovery test, limit of detection (LOD), and limit of quantification (LOQ). Recoveries ranged from 91% (for EE2) to 104% (for 4NNP) and also was found a suitable repeatability (RSD <4.5%) for all considered compounds. LOD and LOQ ranged from 2.0 ng L(-1) (EE2) to 23 ng L(-1) (E1) and 9.3 ng L(-1) (EE2) to 96 ng L(-1) (E1), respectively. The analytical method using SPE UFLC-FLD was applied to seawater samples collected from Todos os Santos Bay (BTS), Brazil to determine the concentration of eight ED.

Determination of sulfur in coal using direct solid sampling and high-resolution continuum source molecular absorption spectrometry of the CS molecule in a graphite furnace.

An analytical method has been developed for the determination of sulfur in coal using direct solid sample analysis in a graphite tube furnace and high-resolution continuum source molecular absorption spectrometry (HR-CS GF MAS). The molecular absorbance of the carbon monosulfide molecule (CS), which is formed in the vaporization stage, has been measured using the rotational line at 258.033 nm. Several chemical modifiers were tested and Ru, applied as permanent modifier was chosen, because it exhibited the best performance. The optimum pyrolysis and vaporization temperatures were found to be 500 °C and 2200 °C, respectively. Aqueous standard solutions prepared from l-cysteine were used for calibration, as the linear regression obtained for this standard was not significantly different from that for a certified coal reference material (CRM) according to a Student t-test. The results obtained for sulfur in three coal CRM and six additional samples also showed no significant difference for the two calibration techniques according to the same statistical test. The sulfur concentration in the coal samples was found between 3.5 mg g(-1) and 33.7 mg g(-1) with a typical repeatability around 10%. The limit of detection for the direct analysis of solid coal samples was better than 0.1 µg S.

Development, validation and application of a SDME/GC-FID methodology for the multiresidue determination of organophosphate and pyrethroid pesticides in water.

A single-drop microextraction (SDME) procedure was developed for the analysis of organophosphorus and pyrethroid pesticides in water by gas chromatography (GC) with flame ionization detection (GC-FID). The significant parameters that affect SDME performance, such as the selection of microextraction solvent, solvent volume, extraction time, and stirring rate, were studied and optimized using a tool screening factorial design. The limits of detection (LODs) in water for the four investigated compounds were between 0.3 and 3.0 microgL(-1), with relative standard deviations ranging from 7.7 to 18.8%. Linear response data were obtained in the concentration range of 0.9-6.0 microg L(-1) (lambda-cyhalothrin), 3.0-60.0 microg L(-1) (methyl parathion), 9.0-60.0 microg L(-1) (ethion), and 9.0-30.0 microg L(-1) (permethrin), with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.9337 to 0.9977. The relative recoveries for the spiked water ranged from 73.0 to 104%. Environmental water samples (n=26) were successfully analyzed using the proposed method and methyl parathion presented concentration up to 2.74 microg L(-1). The SDME method, coupled with GC-FID analysis, provided good precision, accuracy, and reproducibility over a wide linear range. Other highlights of the method include its ease of use and its requirement of only small volumes of both organic solvent and sample.

Headspace solid phase microextraction/gas chromatography-mass spectrometry combined to chemometric analysis for volatile organic compounds determination in canine hair: a new tool to detect dog contamination by visceral leishmaniasis.

A new analytical methodology using HS-SPME/GC-MS was optimized in order to attain maximum sensitivity, using multivariate strategies. The proposed method was employed to evaluate the VOC profile exhaled from canine hair samples collected from 8 healthy dogs and from 16 dogs infected by Leishmania infantum. 274 VOCs were detected, which could be identified as aldehydes, ketones and hydrocarbons. After application of the Soft Independent Modeling of Class Analogy (SIMCA) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) healthy and infected dogs, with similar VOCs profiles, could be separately grouped, based on compounds such as 2-hexanone, benzaldehyde, and 2,4-nonadienal. The proposed method is non-invasive, painless, readily accepted by dog owners and could be useful to identify several biomarkers with applications in the diagnosis of diseases.

Review of procedures involving separation and preconcentration for the determination of cadmium using spectrometric techniques.

Spectrometric techniques for the analysis of trace cadmium have developed rapidly due to the increasing need for accurate measurements at extremely low levels of this element in diverse matrices. This review covers separation and preconcentration procedures, such as electrochemical deposition, precipitation, coprecipitation, solid phase extraction, liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) and cloud point extraction (CPE), and consider the features of the their application with several spectrometric techniques.

A sensitive flow analysis system for the fluorimetric determination of low levels of formaldehyde in alcoholic beverages.

A sensitive FIA method was developed for the selective determination of formaldehyde in alcoholic beverages. This method is based on the reaction of Fluoral-P (4-amine-3-pentene-2-one) with formaldehyde, leading to the formation of 3,5-diacetyl-1,4-dihydrolutidine (DDL), which fluoresces at lambda(ex)=410nm and lambda(em)=510nm. The analytical parameters were optimized by the response surface method using the Box-Behnken design. The proposed flow injection system allowed for the determination of up to 3.33x10(-5)molL(-1) of formaldehyde with R.S.D.<2.5% and a detection limit of 3.1ngmL(-1). The method was successfully applied to determine formaldehyde in alcoholic beverages, without requiring any sample pretreatment, and the results agreed with the reference at a 95% confidence level by paired t-test. In the optimized condition, the FIA system proved able to analyze up to 60 samples/h.

Determination of formaldehyde in Brazilian alcohol fuels by flow-injection solid phase spectrophotometry.

In this work, a solid phase spectrophotometric method in association with flow injection analysis for formaldehyde determination has been developed with direct measurement of light-absorption in C(18) material. The 3,5-diacetyl-1,4-dihydrolutidine produced from the reaction between formaldehyde and fluoral P was quantitatively retained on C(18) support and the spectrophotometric detection was performed simultaneously at 412nm. The retained complex was quickly eluted from C(18) material with the eluent stream consisting of a 50% (v/v) ethanol solution. The results showed that the proposed method is simple, rapid and the analytical response is linear in the concentration range of 0.050-1.5mgL(-1). The limit of detection was estimated as 30mugL(-1) and the R.S.D. 2.2% using a sample volume of 625muL. The system presented an analytical throughput of 20 determinations per hour. The method was successfully applied in the determination of formaldehyde in ethanol fuel.