Raquel E. Martini

Synthesis Techniques for Polymers Applied to Enhanced Oil Recovery

The use of water soluble polymers for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) provides an additional chance to extract between 5 to 30% of total oil in place from drilled and mature reservoirs [1]. A big number of patents, mainly from multinational companies, remark the importance of polymers for EOR [2]. The role of the polymer in the aqueous solution is to increase the viscosity of the displacement solution [3]. An important parameter to evaluate the polymer flooding efficiency is the mobility index (M) that depends on the relative permeability and the viscosity of each phase; such parameter between the oil and aqueous phases must be close to the unity to obtain high displacement efficiency [1].

Development of Bioactive Paper by Capsaicin Derivative Grafting Onto Cellulose

One of the most important applications of cellulose is in the paper industry and its use in the food and beverage packaging. In this chapter, the development of active papers for packaging applications by grafting of bioactive compounds onto commercial papers is proposed to add specific properties that contribute to food preservation. Thus, grafting of nonivamide (a capsaicin derivative) onto cellulose fibers using polycarboxylic acid as linking agent is presented. The effect of different reaction variables (time, temperature, and catalyst amount) onto grafting occurrence is analyzed. Optimal reaction conditions are selected and then grafting reaction is applied to commercial paper sheets. Also, final properties like mechanical, color, antioxidant, insect repellent, and antimicrobial of the grafted paper are measured and discussed to evaluate the efficiency of reaction on this. This route seems to be an adequate method to generate paper-based active packaging.