Search results for "Petrochemical"

Active biopackaging produced from by‐products and waste from food and marine industries

2021

The agro‐food industry cannot today do without packaging to preserve and above all market its products. Plastic materials coming mainly from petrochemicals have taken a predominant place in the food packaging sector. They have become indispensable in many sectors, from fresh to frozen products, from meat and dairy products to fruit and vegetables or almost‐ready meals. Plastics are cheap, their lightness reduces transport costs, and their convenience is fundamental for out‐of‐home catering. However, plastics pose serious end‐of‐life issues. The development of materials that are more respectful of the consumer and the environment has become a major issue. In addition, the agro‐food industrie…

Bulk deposition at the industrial area of Gela (southern Sicily, Italy): preliminary results

2009

Industrial Dynamics Involving Electrochemical Processes

1985

Many industrial activities are based on electrochemical technologies, and several other receive from electrochemical methodologies useful or even decisive contributions for their development. There are important electrochemical industries in the fields of inorganic and organic chemical production, the treatment of metals, such as extraction, refining, finishing and processing, and the production of the various battery systems. Furthermore some electrochemical technologies are dependent on, and integrated with other industrial activities, and are related to corrosion control, water treatments, and environmental protection. Like physicians with their patients, these last applications have a p…

Xylochemistry--Making Natural Products Entirely from Wood.

2015

The first total synthesis of the dimeric berberine alkaloid ilicifoline (ilicifoline B) is reported. Its carbon skeleton is constructed from ferulic acid, veratrole, and methanol. The synthesis reported herein employs starting materials solely derived from wood. The natural product is thus constructed entirely from renewable resources. The same strategy is applied to a formal total synthesis of morphinan alkaloids. The use of wood-derived building blocks (xylochemicals) instead of the conventional petrochemicals represents a sustainable alternative to classical synthetic approaches.

Sustainable access to biobased biphenol epoxy resins by electrochemical dehydrogenative dimerization of eugenol

2019

Limited fossil resources require innovative monomers and polymers derived from renewable feedstocks such as plant biomass. Thermosetting epoxy resins largely rely on petrochemical bisphenol-type monomers, which give high performance materials but are controversial due to their effects on human health. Herein, we present two biobased epoxy resins by direct dehydrogenative dimerization of eugenol, the main component of clove oil. Taking the Principles of Green Chemistry into account, we developed electrochemical dehydrodimerization at reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC) electrodes using methanol as environmentally benign solvent. Thus, fluorinated solvents such as 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoroisopropa…

Occurrence of palladium and platinum in human scalp hair of adolescents living in urban and industrial sites

2023

Platinum group elements (PGEs) can be naturally found at very low concentrations in the Earth's crust. However, the increasing uses of PGEs in vehicle exhaust catalysts, in addition to some other applications (industry, jewelry, anticancer drugs) cause their anthropogenic emission and dispersion in the environment. The use of human hair samples analysis is considered a suitable biological indicator to assess human occupational and environmental exposure. It is an easily accessible material for individuals or population groups of non-invasive sampling. The aim of this study is a comparative analysis to investigate human hair content of Pd and Pt in adolescents, of both genders, residing near…

The Unintended Side Effects of Bioplastics: Carbon, Land, and Water Footprints

2020

(One Earth 3, 45–53, July 24, 2020) In the originally published version of this article, the authors inadvertently used global volumes of bioplastics in plastic packaging instead of European volumes for Figure 1C. After noticing this, the authors recalculated European bioplastic packaging consumption, and as such, Figure 1 and its legend have been corrected in the online article (as shown below) to reflect all data sources used for estimating European bioplastic volumes in Figure 1C. In the Experimental Procedures, the Data and Code Availability section has been updated, and the section “Estimation of European Bioplastic Volumes” has been added. Additionally, reference 69 is new, and two in…

Long-term effect of arsenic exposure: Results from an occupational cohort study

2018

Background In 1976 in Manfredonia (Italy), arsenic was released into the atmosphere due to an accident in a petrochemical plant. We aimed to analyze the mortality of workers involved in the factory for the site cleaning activities. Methods The cohort consisted of 1467 workers grouped into contract, fertilizer, and plastic workers. The outcome of interest was mortality for specific causes. Standardized mortality ratios (SMR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were computed. Results For all workers and all causes of death combined, the SMR was less than 1.0. Mortality ratios were increased for malignant neoplasms of the pleura, bone and melanoma of the skin. Contract workers, the group most…

Levels of trace elements in human hair samples of adolescents living near petrochemical plants

2020

The aim of the study is a comparative analysis to investigate human hair metal profiles of adolescents residing near petrochemical plants (Sicily, Italy). We selected the small town of Augusta, Gela, and Pace del Mela, and a control area made up of the towns characterized by low anthropogenic activity. Twenty trace elements were measured in samples of scalp hair from adolescents (11–14 years old) of both genders. Hair samples were cleaned using a rigorous cleaning method, mineralized, and processed for analyses by inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). In industrial sites, zinc was always the most abundant element, ranging from186 to 217 μg g−1. Following zinc, the elements …

Engineering Zeolites for Catalytic Cracking to Light Olefins

2017

Propene is a key building block for the petrochemical industry whose demand is increasing strongly in recent years, even faster than that of ethene. The availability of propene is limited, and therefore, efforts to optimize its production are being pursued. On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the first FCC unit, we analyze some recent advances that have been achieved in the understanding and development of zeolites aiming to increase the production of light olefins as petrochemical building blocks by means of catalytic cracking. We discuss a selected group of emerging strategies in zeolite engineering that have great prospects for research and that we consider could impact the sector…