Apostolos Baklavaridis

Development of tailored ceramic microstructures using recycled marble processing residue as pore-former

Recycling of marble processing residue is significant since marble processing constitutes an important industrial sector. Therefore, the sustainable management and the valorisation, in an economically profitable manner, of this industrial by-product should be considered. In this work, the potential use of marble residue as pore-former into clayey mixtures for the production of lightweight, porous and thermal insulating ceramics is investigated. Four samples consisting of clayey ceramic body incorporating up to 50 wt.% fine marble residue powder were produced. The final ceramic products were produced upon firing (sintering) at 950oC. Porosity and thermal conductivity measurements were carried out in order to assess the thermal insulating behavior of the produced sintered ceramics. The porosity of the sintered ceramics increases substantially by increasing the marble residue admixture loading. This, in turn, leads to a decrease in thermal conductivity. Consequently, the marble residue can be successfully employed as pore-forming agent, in order to improve the insulating behavior of the ceramic materials.

A Simple Route for Purifying Extracellular Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate)-depolymerase from Penicillium pinophilum

This work proposes the purification of an active and efficient enzyme, extracellular poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB)-depolymerase, suitable for industrial applications. This is achieved by the application of an easy, fast, and cheap route, skipping the chromatography step. Chromatography with one or two columns is a common step in the purification procedure, which however renders the isolation of the enzyme a time consuming and an expensive process. A strain of the fungus Penicillium pinophilum (ATCC 9644) is used for the isolation of extracellular PHB-depolymerase. The molecular weight of the purified enzyme is about 35 kDa and is estimated by gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE, 12% polyacrylamide). The enzymatic activity of the isolated enzyme is determined to be 3.56-fold similar to that found by other researchers that have used chromatography for the isolation. The as-isolated enzyme disintegrates the poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) films successfully, as it is demonstrated by the biodegradation test results provided here.

Nanofibrous morphology of electrospun chitosan nanocomposites reinforced with WS2 nanotubes: A design-of-experiments study:

Chitosan nanofibers reinforced with tungsten disulfide inorganic nanotubes (INT-WS2) were fabricated in this study. The aim was to investigate the effect of the material parameters and the electrospinning process parameters on the obtained nanofibrous morphology of the mats. The INT-WS2 content, the polymer solution concentration, the electric field strength, and the solutions flow rate were the investigated factors within the framework of response surface methodology. Scanning electron microscopic and image analysis were used for the dimensional characterization of the nanofibrous morphology and the estimation of three selected responses. Two responses were related to the quality of the nanofibrous morphology: the number surface density of the beads (Nbead) and the average bead-to-fiber diameter (Dbead/Dfiber). The third response was indicative of the fiber thickness (Dfiber). The developed models as well as the coupling and the individual effects of the four investigated factors are given. The results indicate that the electrospun nanofibrous morphology is mostly affected by the polymer solution concentration, the electric field strength and the INT-WS2 loading. Furthermore, the response-surface results reveal possible experimental pathways that may be followed in order to obtain specified nanofibrous chitosan/INT-WS2 morphologies.

Synergistic Sintering of Lignite Fly Ash and Steelmaking Residues towards Sustainable Compacted Ceramics

The development of value-added ceramic materials deriving only from industrial by-products is particularly interesting from technological, economic, and environmental point of views. In this work, the synergistic sintering of ternary and binary mixtures of fly ash, steelmaking electric arc furnace dust, and ladle furnace slag for the synthesis of compacted ceramics is reported. The sintered specimens’ microstructure and mineralogical composition were characterized by SEM-EDS and XRD, respectively. Moreover, the shrinkage, apparent density, water absorption, and Vickers microhardness (HV) were investigated at different sintering temperatures and raw material compositions. The characterization of the sintered compacts revealed the successful consolidation of the ceramic microstructures. According to the experimental findings, the ceramics obtained from fly ash/steel dust mixtures exhibited enhanced properties compared to the other mixtures tested. Moreover, the processing temperature affected the final properties of the produced ceramics. Specifically, a 407% HV increase for EAFD and a 2221% increase for the FA-EAFD mixture were recorded, by increasing the sintering temperature from 1050 to 1150°C. Likewise, a 972% shrinkage increase for EAFD and a 577% shrinkage increase for the FA-EAFD mixture were recorded, by increasing the sintering temperature from 1050 to 1150°C. The research results aim at shedding more light on the development of sustainable sintered ceramics from secondary industrial resources towards circular economy.