Alejandro Fernández-Arteaga

Ecotoxicological characterization of polyoxyethylene glycerol ester non-ionic surfactants and their mixtures with anionic and non-ionic surfactants

This paper reports on a study that investigated the aquatic toxicity of new non-ionic surfactants derived from renewable raw materials, polyoxyethylene glycerol ester (PGE), and their binary mixtures with anionic and non-ionic surfactants. Toxicity of pure PGEs was determined using representative organisms from different trophic levels: luminescent bacteria (Vibrio fischeri), microalgae (Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata), and freshwater crustaceans (Daphnia magna). Relationships between toxicity and the structural parameters such as unit of ethylene oxide (EO) and hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB) were evaluated. Critical micellar concentration (CMC) in the conditions of the toxicity test was also determined. It was found that the toxicity of the aqueous solutions of PGE decreased when the number of EO units in the molecule, HLB, and CMC increased. PGEs showed lower CMC in marine medium, and the toxicity to V. ficheri is lower when the CMC was higher. Given their non-polar nature, narcosis was expected to be the primary mode of toxic action of PGEs. For the mixture of surfactants, we observed that the mixtures with PGE that had the higher numbers of EO units were more toxic than the aqueous solutions of pure surfactants. Moreover, we found that concentration addition was the type of action more likely to occur for mixtures of PGE with lower numbers of EO units with non-ionic surfactants (alkylpolyglucoside and fatty alcohol ethoxylate), whereas for the mixture of PGE with lower EO units and anionic surfactant (ether carboxylic derivative), the most common response type was response addition. In case of mixtures involving amphoteric surfactants and PGEs with the higher numbers of EO units, no clear pattern with regard to the mixture toxicity response type could be observed.

Anaerobic digestion of amine-oxide-based surfactants: biodegradation kinetics and inhibitory effects

Recently, anaerobic degradation has become a prevalent alternative for the treatment of wastewater and activated sludge. Consequently, the anaerobic biodegradability of recalcitrant compounds such as some surfactants require a thorough study to avoid their presence in the environment. In this work, the anaerobic biodegradation of amine-oxide-based surfactants, which are toxic to several organisms, was studied by measuring of the biogas production in digested sludge. Three amine-oxide-based surfactants with structural differences in their hydrophobic alkyl chain were tested: Lauramine oxide (AO-R12), Myristamine oxide (AO-R14) and Cocamidopropylamine oxide (AO-cocoamido). Results show that AO-R12 and AO-R14 inhibit biogas production, inhibition percentages were around 90%. AO-cocoamido did not cause inhibition and it was biodegraded until reaching a percentage of 60.8%. Otherwise, we fitted the production of biogas to two kinetic models, to a pseudo first-order model and to a logistic model. Production of biogas during the anaerobic biodegradation of AO-cocoamido was pretty good adjusted to the logistics model. Kinetic parameters were also determined. This modelling is useful to predict their behaviour in wastewater treatment plants and under anaerobic conditions in the environment.

Utilización de Entornos Virtuales Educativos y Recursos Educativos Abiertos (OpenCourseWare) en cursos de Ingeniería Química de la Universidad de Granada, España

This paper describes different teaching strategies based on autonomous learning of the student in the area of Chemical Engineering of the University of Granada in Spain: use of virtual educational environments based on Moodle, development of a virtual classroom for the realization of the final technical design project, and the diffusion of courses within the philosophy of OpenCourseWare. By means of this strategies, new roles are sought for the professor and student, new teaching approaches, new evaluation methodologies, reinforcement of the transversal relations and more constructive participation of students. This means learning focused on the student. The above mentioned strategies were applied to three course subjects, describing the methodologies, the number of users, the teaching resources generated, the evaluation tools, both internal and external, and the improvements detected. The main results of the application of these strategies is the reduction in the elaboration time of the final technical design project, the increasing number of students that show interest for taking part in the virtual classroom and the increment in the satisfaction of the student about learning process.

Silica micro- and nanoparticles reduce the toxicity of surfactant solutions

In this work, the toxicity of hydrophilic fumed silica micro- and nanoparticles of various sizes (7 nm, 12 nm, and 50 μm) was evaluated using the luminescent bacteria Vibrio fischeri. In addition, the toxicity of an anionic surfactant solution (ether carboxylic acid), a nonionic surfactant solution (alkyl polyglucoside), and a binary (1:1) mixture of these solutions all containing these silica particles was evaluated. Furthermore, this work discusses the adsorption of surfactants onto particle surfaces and evaluates the effects of silica particles on the surface tension and critical micellar concentration (CMC) of these anionic and nonionic surfactants. It was determined that silica particles can be considered as non-toxic and that silica particles reduce the toxicity of surfactant solutions. Nevertheless, the toxicity reduction depends on the ionic character of the surfactants. Differences can be explained by the different adsorption behavior of surfactants onto the particle surface, which is weaker for nonionic surfactants than for anionic surfactants. Regarding the effects on surface tension, it was found that silica particles increased the surface activity of anionic surfactants and considerably reduced their CMC, whereas in the case of nonionic surfactants, the effects were reversed.