ABSTRACT
Organically modified vermiculites can be used as nanostructured adsorbents of organic compounds from waters or gaseous phases similarly as organically modified smectites or bentonites. There is a large amount of research data focused on adsorption properties of organoclays, however only a little information is about their post-sorption treatment. This work is focused on study of two possible ways of subsequent processing of organovermiculite after its use as sorbent for heavily polluted waste water. At first, the vermiculite modified with hexadecylpyridinium ions was used in batch static sorption against phenol ammonium water from the coke industry to get highly contaminated sorption material, especially containing organic hydrocarbons and their derivatives. The sorbent is known to have excellent sorption properties; however ecotoxicological characteristics of original material showed that sorbent had hazardous properties even before its utilization. For that reason, it was necessary to design a post-sorption treatment. Two possible methods of treatment were investigated, specifically solvent treatment (with dichloromethane) and thermal treatment (thermodesorption) at temperatures of 300 and 1100 °C, respectively. The treated materials were studied using infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and carbon phase analyses. The solvent treatment confirmed that it is possible to reuse modified vermiculite as adsorbent several times, although adsorption capacity after each extraction decreases. The thermal treatment at 300 °C was not sufficient to remove all organic compounds from the vermiculite structure; however at 1100 °C the only presence of magnesium silicate, magnesium aluminate and ferric oxide confirmed the formation of an inert material convenient for an environmentally harmless disposal of used adsorbent.
ABSTRACT
Most of drugs are only slightly soluble in the circulatory system of the human body. This reduces the efficiency of their use and that is why new ways how to increase their solubility are investigated. One way to improve the solubility of the drug is to reduce its particle size. Conventional techniques such as crushing or grinding usually do not guarantee a narrow particle size distribution, which is required for pharmaceuticals. Application of supercritical fluids, especially of supercritical CO2, seems to be convenient method for the preparation of pharmaceuticals submicron particles or nanoparticles. The method enables the preparation of particles in a narrow size distribution and at the same time it does not leave any unwanted residues of solvents or other chemicals. The aim of this work is the micronization of ibuprofen particles using the supercritical fluid and characterization of formed products. The micronization of the particles was done using commercially available device Spe-ed SFE-4 in rapid expansion of supercritical solution mode. The applied temperatures and pressures were 308.15 K and 313.15 K and 200, 250 and 300 bar. The prepared particles were characterized using methods of X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, particle size distribution, scanning electron microscopy and tests of dissolution and permeability. Mean particles size was reduced from 180 µm (original ibuprofen) to 2.8-7.3 µm of the processed samples. The dissolution test confirmed better solubility and the permeability of newly formed particles improved.
