Javier Pinto

Water Pollutants Removal By Nanocomposite Foamed Polymers

Abstract: Nanocomposite polymers and, in particular, nanocomposite polymer foams have been proposed in the last years as efficient materials for wastewater remediation. The main advantage of this approach is that it prevents accidental liberation of the active nanoparticles to the environment and facilitates the handling during the remediation operations.

However, the dispersion of the active nanoparticles (e.g., sepiolite) in a polymer matrix usually has associated disadvantages. The aggregation of the nanoparticles or their presence inside the polymer matrix usually hinder their remediation efficiency or increases the treatment time required to fulfil their pollutant removal capabilities.

This work compares the production of three kinds of porous nanocomposites incorporating organomodified sepiolite as active nanoparticles, analyzing how the production of the porous polymer matrix and their features are key to achieve not only a high removal capacity of pollutants such as nitrates or dyes but also fast removal kinetics.

 

Biography: Dr. Pinto obtained his PhD at the University of Valladolid (Spain) and the University of Bordeaux (France) under Prof. Miguel Angel Rodriguez-Perez and Prof. Michel Dumon, developing some of the first nanocellular polymers. Later, he worked three years on water treatment applications of polymer foams as a postdoctoral researcher at the Italian Institute of Technology (Genoa, Italy). Since 2018, he is an Assistant Professor of the Condensed Matter Physics, Crystallography, and Mineralogy Department of the University of Valladolid (Spain). His main research interests are in the fields of nanocellular polymers, environmental applications of porous materials, and the characterization of archaeological and historical materials.