Polymer Composites for Separation and Purification

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2022) | Viewed by 7731

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, Geelong, VIC 3216, Australia
Interests: nanotechnology; polymer science and engineering; membrane technology; water treatment; materials engineering; responsive and biological membranes; drug delivery

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue focuses on recent advances in the development of polymer composites for separation and purification applications. Over the past few years, numerous research activities have been carried out in the area of polymer composites to improve the separation and purification of essential compounds via applications including water treatment, bioseparation and gas purification, etc. Polymers and their composites present various advantages, such as providing a high surface area for rapid decontamination, advanced processability and stability, high selectivity, tunable surface properties, and cost-saving. This issue will highlight the latest research works performed in the fabrication, characterization, and application of different polymer composites, such as polymer/polymer, polymer/clay, polymer/metal, polymer/carbon, etc. Research works that involve the following factors taken into account to achieve high separation efficiency and selectivity are invited to this issue: (a) physical and chemical properties of composites; (b) fabrication methods to avoid the agglomeration of the functional compounds or fillers inside the composites; (c) interaction between polymer and functional compounds; and (d) mechanism of separation of essential or unwanted components from mixtures of compounds. Hence, this issue welcomes both original contributions and reviews related to development of novel polymer composites applied in separation and purification applications.

Dr. Anbharasi Vanangamudi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • composites
  • nanomaterials
  • water treatment
  • bio separation
  • gas purification
  • hybrid composites
  • organic-inorganic
  • metal organic framework (MOF)
  • carbon composites

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 11351 KiB  
Article
A Silica–Lignin Hybrid Filler in a Natural Rubber Foam Composite as a Green Oil Spill Absorbent
by Yati Mardiyati, Anna Niska Fauza, Onny Aulia Rachman, Steven Steven and Sigit Puji Santosa
Polymers 2022, 14(14), 2930; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/polym14142930 - 20 Jul 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2482
Abstract
Oil spills in the marine environment are a rising concern due to their adverse impacts on living creatures and the environment. Hence, remediation methods have been used to remove the oil from the contaminated water. A sorbent material is considered the best method [...] Read more.
Oil spills in the marine environment are a rising concern due to their adverse impacts on living creatures and the environment. Hence, remediation methods have been used to remove the oil from the contaminated water. A sorbent material is considered the best method for oil spill absorption. However, commonly used commercial sorbents are made from nonrenewable and nonenvironmentally friendly materials. In this research, natural rubber foam (NRF) was used as a sorbent material with the addition of a filler, i.e., silica and a silica–lignin hybrid, to increase its oil sorption capacity and reusability. The silica and silica–lignin hybrid were extracted from rice husk waste by means of the precipitation method. The silica–lignin hybrid-filled NRF exhibited excellent hydrophobicity, with a water contact angle of 133°, and had more stable reusability compared to unfilled NRF and silica-filled NRF. In addition, the optimum oil absorption capacity of silica–lignin hybrid-filled NRF was 1.36 g g−1. Overall, the results showed that silica–lignin hybrid-filled NRF has the potential to be developed as a green oil absorbent material and is promising in terms of economic and environmental aspects. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Composites for Separation and Purification)
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12 pages, 17218 KiB  
Article
Porous Ceramics Adsorbents Based on Glass Fiber-Reinforced Plastics for NOx and SOx Removal
by Hiroyuki Kinoshita, Kentaro Yasui, Taichi Hamasuna, Toshifumi Yuji, Naoaki Misawa, Tomohiro Haraguchi, Koya Sasaki and Narong Mungkung
Polymers 2022, 14(1), 164; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/polym14010164 - 31 Dec 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2006
Abstract
To reuse waste glass fiber-reinforced plastics (GFRPs), porous ceramics (i.e., GFRP/clay ceramics) were produced by mixing crushed GFRP with clay followed by firing the resulting mixture under different conditions. The possibility of using ceramics fired under a reducing atmosphere as adsorbent materials to [...] Read more.
To reuse waste glass fiber-reinforced plastics (GFRPs), porous ceramics (i.e., GFRP/clay ceramics) were produced by mixing crushed GFRP with clay followed by firing the resulting mixture under different conditions. The possibility of using ceramics fired under a reducing atmosphere as adsorbent materials to remove NOx and SOx from combustion gases of fossil fuels was investigated because of the high porosity, specific surface area, and contents of glass fibers and plastic carbides of the ceramics. NO2 and SO2 adsorption tests were conducted on several types of GFRP/clay ceramic samples, and the gas concentration reduction rates were compared to those of a clay ceramic and a volcanic pumice with high NO2 adsorption. In addition, to clarify the primary factor affecting gas adsorption, adsorption tests were conducted on the glass fibers in the GFRP and GFRP carbides. The reductively fired GFRP/clay ceramics exhibited high adsorption performance for both NO2 and SO2. The primary factor affecting the NO2 adsorption of the ceramics was the plastic carbide content in the clay structure, while that affecting the SO2 adsorption of the ceramics was the glass fiber content. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Composites for Separation and Purification)
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17 pages, 4394 KiB  
Article
Dye Adsorption Mechanism of Glass Fiber-Reinforced Plastic/Clay Ceramics and Influencing Factors
by Hiroyuki Kinoshita, Koya Sasaki, Kentaro Yasui, Yuko Miyakawa, Toshifumi Yuji, Naoaki Misawa and Narong Mungkung
Polymers 2021, 13(18), 3172; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/polym13183172 - 18 Sep 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2379
Abstract
The effective reuse of waste glass fiber-reinforced plastic (GFRP) is desired. We previously produced porous ceramics by firing mixtures of crushed GFRP and clay in a reducing atmosphere and demonstrated their applicability as adsorbents for the removal of basic dyes from dyeing wastewater. [...] Read more.
The effective reuse of waste glass fiber-reinforced plastic (GFRP) is desired. We previously produced porous ceramics by firing mixtures of crushed GFRP and clay in a reducing atmosphere and demonstrated their applicability as adsorbents for the removal of basic dyes from dyeing wastewater. However, the primary influencing factors and the dye adsorption mechanism have not been fully elucidated, and the adsorption of acidic and direct dyes has not been clarified. In this study, adsorption tests were conducted, and the effects of the firing atmosphere, specific surface area, type of dye, and individual components were comprehensively investigated. The results showed that reductively fired ceramics containing plastic carbide residue adsorbed basic dye very well but did not adsorb acidic dye well. The clay structure was the primary factor for the dye adsorption rather than the GFRP carbide. The mechanism for the basic dye adsorption appears to have been an increase in specific surface area due to the plastic carbide residue in the ceramic structure, which increased the ion exchange between the clay minerals and the dye. By adjusting the pH of the aqueous solution, the GFRP/clay ceramic also adsorbed considerable amounts of direct dye, so the mechanism was determined to be ion exchange with the calcium component of the glass fibers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Composites for Separation and Purification)
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