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The Pet
Gramerová, Zuzana ; Olivová, Kateřina (referee) ; Klodová, Lenka (advisor)
Master´s thesis looks into parallels between people and domesticate animals. Thesis shows situations where is a person in dog´s position. It points out to a typical pet´s position with human in household. However, behaviour like this is not dignified as a human life style.
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Assessment of the suitability of PET flakes produced by PETKA CZ, Inc. company for the manufacture of granulates for food purposes
Šudomová, Lucie ; Kučerík, Jiří (referee) ; Čáslavský, Josef (advisor)
This thesis deals with the recycling of polyethylene terephthalate and its subsequent processing into the form of a regranulate meeting the parameters required for food use. A brief description of recycling technology, PET flake quality rating and input material contamination is provided. Additionally, legislation regarding recycling for food purposes is discussed and regranulation technologies are described. The suitability of these technologies for processing specific flake samples has been confirmed. In the experimental part, differences in the regranulate samples are compared using DSC and FT-IR. It has been found that there are no major differences between food quality samples. Tests were carried out on 200 PET bottles (bottle, label), on which the input material was divided into 16 groups. Groups that are unsuitable for recycling with this technology was defined. In addition, contaminants of the final product were examined. Their approximate composition was determined and the relationship between the labels of the bottles at the inlet and the impurities at the outlet was found. Appropriate solutions have been proposed to reduce this contamination
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Identification of the lables used on the PET bottles for recycling
Zoufalá, Anna ; Doležalová Weissmannová, Helena (referee) ; Kučerík, Jiří (advisor)
Among the most significant sources of contamination in PET recycling belong their labels. The labels of PET bottles are composed of various materials, but the manufacturers are not obligated to declare the labels materials. From the point of view of PET recycling, PVC and PETG labels represent the biggest problem, because they cannot easily be separated from PET, and even a small amount can compromise the end-product of recycling. Therefore, this thesis deals with the identification of labels from PET bottles designated for recycling. For their identification was used FTIR-ATR spectrometer. The analysis revealed that PVC and PETG are frequently used as label materials. In many cases the analysis failed and only used additives could be identified.
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Identification of contamination sources in the PET recycling
Snopková, Martina ; Řezáčová, Veronika (referee) ; Kučerík, Jiří (advisor)
This paper deals with the identification of plastic contaminants in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) flakes obtained by mechanical recycling of PET bottles. The presence of contaminants in recycled material is undesirable and it is necessary to implement and optimize technologies to separate them. For improving the effectiveness of separation, it is crucial to determine the material of the contaminant. Papers that are focusing on the contaminant analysis in PET flakes are sporadic. In practice, there are not enough sources for enhancing the effectiveness of separation based on the material of the contaminant. The goal of this thesis is to provide missing information about the materials of plastic impurities. Obtained findings will contribute to efficiency improvement of contaminant separation and production of better-quality recycled material. For contaminant analysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy with attenuated total reflection technique (FTIR-ATR) was used. The samples were analyzed using an ALPHA II device with an ALPHA-P module with the diamond crystal. It was found out that the most frequented contaminants are polymers polystyrene (PS) and its modifications, polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG), PET mixed with other polymers or additives, polypropylene (PP), polyamide (PA), styrene acrylonitrile (SAN) and polyvinylchloride (PVC). Based on these results, the recommendations for enhancing the efficiency of separation were developed. Some of the results pointed out the actual problems that complicate PET bottle recycling.
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Detection of PET microplastics in soils
Kameníková, Eliška ; Doležalová Weissmannová, Helena (referee) ; Kučerík, Jiří (advisor)
The use of plastics leads to their gradual degradation and consequently to the formation of microplastics, i.e. the millimeter sized particles, which have been shown to cause environmental problems. Currently, the microplastics detection studies are focused on aquatic environments, but the investigation of microplastics in soils is still limited by the lack of appropriate analytical methods. The aim of this thesis was to verify the possibility to detect the PET microplastics in different soil types based on the results obtained by using thermogravimetry. Thermogravimetry data were evaluated in two ways, using a blank soil sample and using a recalibrated universal soil standard. The results showed that the thermo-oxidative properties of PET microplastics were not influenced by soil type, but vice versa, PET has affected the thermo-oxidative behavior of soils and soil processes. Furthermore, it was confirmed that recalibrated equations of the universal soil model can be used to analyze microplastics in soils.
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Low-energy recycling of poly(ethylen terephthalate) waste
Slabá, Jitka ; Beneš, Hynek (advisor) ; Cajthaml, Tomáš (referee)
This thesis deals with a new low-energy method of chemical recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) using natural oils as reagents and microwave irradiation to accelerate depolymerization. The results of experiments with PET waste and castor oil, when the reaction mixture was heated in microwave reactor, showed that a complete depolymerization of PET chain has occured. Optimal conditions for the depolymerization PET were established: wt. ratio of PET / castor oil = 1 / 9.7, when the molar ratio of ester bonds of PET / hydroxyl groups of castor oil = 1 / 2.7, catalyst : zinc acetate at wt 1% from the PET mass, reaction temperature ranging from 235 to 245řC and the reaction time 60 min. Decomposition experiments also showed, that microwave irradiation accelerated decomposition of PET. Depolymerization reactionin MW reactor was complete at 6x shorter reaction time than the decomposition in the classically heated reactor. The results of analysis showed that the resulting product,the recyclate, was composed of unreacted castor oil and polyol products, that contained partially or fully esterified structural unit of PET, which were ended by ester-linked units of castor oil.
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Identification of PET particles in soils and their influence on the environment
Šudomová, Lucie ; Svěrák, Tomáš (referee) ; Slovák, Václav (referee) ; Kučerík, Jiří (advisor)
This thesis is focused on several issues connected with plastics and their impact on the environment. Although plastics are produced for a relatively short time, they have taken a dominant position in almost all industries and aspects of everyday life. However, this causes significant challenges related especially to the waste management. If plastics are not handled properly, they can contaminate the environmental compartments where they are gradually defragmented and degraded, and macro and microplastics are formed. Both qualitative and quantitative analysis of microplastics in soil is a big challenge. In this work, it is introduced a new method based on mutual relationships between soil components called Soil Universal Model Method (SUMM). The method allowed to identify and quantify some types of microplastics in the untreated soil. It appeared to be effective in the analysis of PET, PVC and PP. A pilot study on the influence of PET microplastics on soil revealed negative effects, which include soil organic matter deterioration and faster desiccation. In addition, it was observed a gradual assimilation of PET into the soil matrix, and possible degradation, in particular at low pH values. To identify the origin of PET fragments occurring in nature it was developed a method based on PET thermophysical properties (determined using Differential Scanning Calorimetry, DSC) and advanced statistical methods. This method appeared to be effective also for the assessment of PET quality in recycling loop and classifies the PET into four groups. It was also found that controlled thermal degradation under laboratory conditions does not correlate with natural PET degradation (aging). A method based on spectroscopic parameters (FTIR) is also presented here, but it did not achieve such unambiguous results as using DSC, because it determines the molecular structure of the polymer, which proved to be insufficient for identifying changes during the PET recycling cycle.
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Adaptive Pet Monitoring System within Smart Home
Ďurina, Michal ; Rozman, Jaroslav (referee) ; Janoušek, Vladimír (advisor)
The aim of this thesis is to create an intelligent system that monitors and evaluates the behavior of a pet using image processing from a camera. The thesis will also focus on training existing models in order to improve the accuracy of animal detection. The application will run on the embedded Raspberry Pi system and, in addition to observation, performs specific actions based on the unwanted behavior of the animal using connected hardware (ultrasound, actuators, nebulizers, etc.), which has the task of influencing the animal’s behavior. Based on this monitoring and implementation of the action, the success of preventing the animal from moving to a predetermined unwanted area will be evaluated with regard to their safety. These actions will be optimized by experimentation and validation of results during development based on animal behavior. Part of the work is also a review of existing applications of Ambient intelligence in Smart Home, finding similar solutions used in practice.
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Preparation of polyethylene terephthalate model microplastics
Hrušková, Adéla ; Fojt, Jakub (referee) ; Kučerík, Jiří (advisor)
Microplastics are ubiquitous in all ecosystems and for that reason they became a subject of many studies in recent years. Due to their stability, potential release of harmful additives and ability to adsorb pollutants, they pose a threat to the environment. It was found that certain microplastics can, under certain conditions, have toxic effects on fauna, flora and human health. Most of studies include laboratory or mesocosmos testing, therefore, it is important to master their preparation. To study the environmental impact of microplastics, it is essential to be able to prepare these particles, especially required type, shape and size. This bachelor thesis deals with the preparation of model polyethylene terephthalate particles using physical and chemical methods. The physical preparation is based on the cryomilling, in which individual milling parameters are tested and it is investigated their effect on the milling efficiency and the size of the milled particles. The chemical preparation method is based on the dissolution of polyethylene terephthalate in a solvent and subsequent precipitation. In this case, the size, shape of the prepared particles and the content of residual solvent adsorbed on the particles were monitored. At the end of the work, it was concluded that the tested preparation methods are not suitable to prepare microplastics useable for environmental studies because the prepared particles do not have the required size or contain the residues of the used solvent.
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Synthesis of phosphono-bis(phosphinate) cyclam derivative
Chrappa, Michal ; Hermann, Petr (advisor) ; Veselý, Jan (referee)
Radiopharmaceuticals containing copper isotopes can be used as diagnostic tools (methods PET, SPECT) or agents for tumour treatment. Copper radionuclides must be applied into the organism in the form of a coordination compound with suitable ligand. Derivatives of 1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane (cyclam) are some of the most suitable ligands for Cu (II). A coordination compound must be thermodynamically stable and kinetically inert, the ligand must coordinate the metal ion as quickly as possible. In this Diploma thesis, one of the first unsymmetrically substituted derivatives of cyclam has been synthesized using two methods of orthogonal protection. The synthesized ligand contains one phosphonate and one methylene bis(phosphinate) pendant arm. Copper complex of the ligand was prepared, and its acid assisted dissociation kinetics were studied.
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