|
|
Analysis of hazardous metals in rPET granulate
Souček, Elena ; Řezáčová, Veronika (referee) ; Komendová, Renata (advisor)
Production of polymer products has increased rapidly in recent decades. Especially in food industry as a packaging it gained a dominant position when it replaced previously used materials. Due to the direct risk for human health it is necessary to be careful and pay attention to their composition. It is also necessary to develop methods to properly recycle and reuse already used material, not only produce new products. This thesis deals with the study of the content of risk elements in PET regranulate. The samples were completely decomposed by microwave radiation in an environment of concentrated sulfuric and nitric acid. They were subsequently analyzed by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). Flame atomization technique (FAAS) was used to determine Sb and Zn and electrothermal atomization (ETAAS) to determine Cd, Cr, Pb, Cu and Ni. This method was also used to study migration of antimony from samples to food simulant under different conditions (temperature, pH). This thesis follows up on the thesis of Mrs. Kryštofová who studied recycled PET flakes.
|
|
|
The study of PET bottles in terms of the content of risk elements
Kryštofová, Petra ; Řezáčová, Veronika (referee) ; Komendová, Renata (advisor)
This bachelor thesis deals with the issue of PET bottles in terms of the possible content of risk elements. The contents of antimony, copper and lead were determined in the PET packaging material and in the beverages contained in the bottles. A total of 15 samples of bottled still and infant water available in the Czech sales network were analyzed. The PET material was decomposed in an acidic medium under the action of microwave radiation under optimized conditions. Atomic absorption spectrometric methods with flame or graphite cuvette atomization were used to determine selected risk elements based on the predicted analyte concentrations. In the PET packaging material, 159.35 to 265.68 mgkg-1 of antimony were determined, the determined values of lead concentration were in the range of 10.96-20.23 mg·kg-1 and the copper concentration in the range of 0.11-7,52 mg·kg-1. In bottled water and in bottled infant water, antimony was identified only in samples labeled 6a, 8a, 9a and 15a, all lead concentrations were measured below LODPb, copper was determined only in samples 2a, 6a and 8a. In none of the samples did the concentrations given by the valid legislation be exceeded. The limits of these metals are not set in legislation in the packaging materials, only specific migration limits and they have not been exceeded. However, the high concentration of antimony in PET poses a potential risk of contamination of the contents of these packages.
|
|
|
Study of the medium influence on the pollutants sorption on microplastics
Hamplová, Marie ; Kučerík, Jiří (referee) ; Mravcová, Ludmila (advisor)
With the increasing production of plastic waste, the pollution of the environment by persistent microplastics is increasing simultaneously. Other environmental pollutants, such as various pharmaceuticals, can be sorbed on microplastics. This increases the toxicity of microplastics and their risk to living organisms. Nowadays, the use of so-called biodegradable polymers, which are supposed to degrade spontaneously, is expanding. However, their degradation can also produce microplastics. Therefore, this bachelor thesis deals with the sorption of drugs onto microplastics from biodegradable polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) and with the influence of the surrounding aqueous environment on the rate and mechanism of sorption. Sorption of drugs onto microplastics made of synthetic polyethylene terephthalate (PET) was also carried out for comparison. The quantity of drugs was analysed by UPLC-ESI-TQ. Sorption was observed from the drug mixture for antibiotics tetracyclines. The pH value of the surrounding environment influenced the sorption rate of tetracyclines, the highest sorption occurred at acidic pH 4. According to the results of evaluation of sorption by Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms, PHB microplastics have a higher sorption capacity than PET microplastics. Therefore, PHB microplastics could be a risk for living organisms.
|
|
|
Study of the interaction of selected pharmaceuticals with microplastics
Ioani, Aldina ; Řezáčová, Veronika (referee) ; Doležalová Weissmannová, Helena (advisor)
The bachelor thesis aims to study the interaction of selected pharmaceuticals from the group of analgesics and antibiotics with microplastics. The analysis was conducted in the mid-infrared region, which is used to identify chemical structure of the substances. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used as an analytical method. The samples were subjected to technique attenuated total reflection. Ibuprofen and trimethoprim were chosen as analytes due to their common usage in the population. Sorption of pharmaceuticals was undergoing on polyhydroxybutyrate, which is a kind of biodegradable plastics and polyethene terephthalate, which is synthetic. Measured results showed that for the study of interaction with pharmaceuticals, it is more suitable to use biodegradable plastic polyhydroxybutyrate than polyethene terephthalate because of its better results. Infrared spectra output is very influenced by a selection of a solvent.
|
|
|
Study on biotechnological potential of thermophilic gram-positive bacterium Brevibacillus sp. Bz
Filimonova, Anastasiia ; Obruča, Stanislav (referee) ; Pernicová, Iva (advisor)
Předmětem předložené diplomové práce je studium biotechnologického potenciálu termofilní grampozitivní bakterie Brevibacillus borstelensis BZ. Teoretická část obsahuje obecnou charakterizaci termofilních organismů a jejich termozymů. Popisuje také adaptivní molekulární mechanismy, které zajišťují termostabilitu těchto proteinů. Závěr teoretické části je věnován biodegradaci odpadních substrátů a polymerů na bázi přírodních a fosilních zdrojů. První část experimentální práce se zabývá produkcí hydrolytických enzymů na různých původních zdrojích a odpadních substrátech. Díky intenzivní enzymatické produkci na původních zdrojích je Brevibacillus borstelensis BZ považován za velmi slibného producenta termostabilních enzymů, konkrétně xylanáz a celuláz. Testovaný bakteriální kmen BZ byl schopen produkce termostabilních enzymů i na odpadních substrátech. Na vybraných substrátech kmen BZ přednostně produkoval xylanázy. Díky tomu byla xylanázám věnována zvláštní pozornost, kdy bylo testováno teplotní a pH optimum. Závěrem experimentální práce byla testována schopnost bakterie Brevibacillus borstelensis BZ degradovat vybrané polymery na bázi přírodních a fosilních zdrojů. Kmen BZ poskytl nový pohled na biologický rozklad polyethylentereftalátu (PET), amorfní frakce kyseliny polymléčné (PLA), semikrystalické PLA a polyhydroxyalkanoátů (PHA). Pozorováním povrchu PET fólie skenovacím elektronovým mikroskopem (SEM) se potvrdilo zdrsnění materiálu, přítomnost rýh a naprosté pronikání bakterie skrz fólii. Pokud jde o polymery na bázi přírodních zdrojů, PHA granule byly zcela degradovány. Studiem morfologie povrchu obou zmíněných PLA bylo prokázáno jasné zhoršení jejich struktury přítomností jam a trhlin na povrchu polymerů.
|
|
|
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.
|
|
|
Research on the content of risk elements in the material of PET bottles
Kryštofová, Petra ; Řezáčová, Veronika (referee) ; Komendová, Renata (advisor)
This thesis deals with the research of the content of risk elements in the material of rPET (recycled polyethylene terephthalate), supplied from various countries, and the study of different factors (type of liquid, temperature) on the migration of antimony from this material. The recycling process has the potential to increase the content of unwanted substances and promote the formation of degradation products of chemical additives and by-products of polymerization, thus contributing to higher migration of these substances into food or food simulants [1]. The supplied rPET samples were subjected to total decomposition in an environment of concentrated sulfuric and nitric acid under the influence of microwave radiation prior to analysis. Prepared samples were analyzed by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) techniques. The contents of Sb and Zn were determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS), and the concentrations of Pb, Cu, Zn, Cd, Cr, and Ni were determined by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS). Additionally, the concentrations of Sb were determined by this method in migration experiments. This thesis builds upon the author's bachelor's thesis, which included pilot experiments.
|
|
|
Study of the medium influence on the pollutants sorption on microplastics
Hamplová, Marie ; Kučerík, Jiří (referee) ; Mravcová, Ludmila (advisor)
With the increasing production of plastic waste, the pollution of the environment by persistent microplastics is increasing simultaneously. Other environmental pollutants, such as various pharmaceuticals, can be sorbed on microplastics. This increases the toxicity of microplastics and their risk to living organisms. Nowadays, the use of so-called biodegradable polymers, which are supposed to degrade spontaneously, is expanding. However, their degradation can also produce microplastics. Therefore, this bachelor thesis deals with the sorption of drugs onto microplastics from biodegradable polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) and with the influence of the surrounding aqueous environment on the rate and mechanism of sorption. Sorption of drugs onto microplastics made of synthetic polyethylene terephthalate (PET) was also carried out for comparison. The quantity of drugs was analysed by UPLC-ESI-TQ. Sorption was observed from the drug mixture for antibiotics tetracyclines. The pH value of the surrounding environment influenced the sorption rate of tetracyclines, the highest sorption occurred at acidic pH 4. According to the results of evaluation of sorption by Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms, PHB microplastics have a higher sorption capacity than PET microplastics. Therefore, PHB microplastics could be a risk for living organisms.
|
|
|
Study on biotechnological potential of thermophilic gram-positive bacterium Brevibacillus sp. Bz
Filimonova, Anastasiia ; Obruča, Stanislav (referee) ; Pernicová, Iva (advisor)
Předmětem předložené diplomové práce je studium biotechnologického potenciálu termofilní grampozitivní bakterie Brevibacillus borstelensis BZ. Teoretická část obsahuje obecnou charakterizaci termofilních organismů a jejich termozymů. Popisuje také adaptivní molekulární mechanismy, které zajišťují termostabilitu těchto proteinů. Závěr teoretické části je věnován biodegradaci odpadních substrátů a polymerů na bázi přírodních a fosilních zdrojů. První část experimentální práce se zabývá produkcí hydrolytických enzymů na různých původních zdrojích a odpadních substrátech. Díky intenzivní enzymatické produkci na původních zdrojích je Brevibacillus borstelensis BZ považován za velmi slibného producenta termostabilních enzymů, konkrétně xylanáz a celuláz. Testovaný bakteriální kmen BZ byl schopen produkce termostabilních enzymů i na odpadních substrátech. Na vybraných substrátech kmen BZ přednostně produkoval xylanázy. Díky tomu byla xylanázám věnována zvláštní pozornost, kdy bylo testováno teplotní a pH optimum. Závěrem experimentální práce byla testována schopnost bakterie Brevibacillus borstelensis BZ degradovat vybrané polymery na bázi přírodních a fosilních zdrojů. Kmen BZ poskytl nový pohled na biologický rozklad polyethylentereftalátu (PET), amorfní frakce kyseliny polymléčné (PLA), semikrystalické PLA a polyhydroxyalkanoátů (PHA). Pozorováním povrchu PET fólie skenovacím elektronovým mikroskopem (SEM) se potvrdilo zdrsnění materiálu, přítomnost rýh a naprosté pronikání bakterie skrz fólii. Pokud jde o polymery na bázi přírodních zdrojů, PHA granule byly zcela degradovány. Studiem morfologie povrchu obou zmíněných PLA bylo prokázáno jasné zhoršení jejich struktury přítomností jam a trhlin na povrchu polymerů.
|
|
|
Application of analytical pyrolysis for the detection of plastics and microplastics in the environment
Havlíčková, Lucie ; Cajthaml, Tomáš (advisor) ; Innemanová, Petra (referee)
The issue of microplastics is becoming increasingly important every year and so is the need for finding solutions. Plastic fragments smaller than 5 mm have already been found all over the planet in all spheres of the environment. Among the crucial factors of resolving this issue are, for example, restrictions in the production and overuse of plastic materials, unification and improvement of the waste management system, prevention of unintended release of plastic waste into the environment, the study of possible toxic effects of microplastics on living organisms, and the development of separation and detection techniques for the precise detection and identification of microplastics and nanoplastics. In recent years, the combination of pyrolysis, gas chromatography, and mass spectrometry (Pyr-GC-MS) has proven to be a potentially suitable instrument for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of these plastic particles. This Master's thesis proves that the Pyr-GC-MS method can, above all, be sensitive and accurate enough for the detection of microplastics in real environmental samples, where the particles are present in very low concentrations. Due to the broad diversity of physical and chemical properties of polymers, it is highly difficult to develop a single analytical method for the whole range...
|
guest ::
