The objective of this study was to investigate structural changes and lignin redistribution in Eucalyptus globulus pre-treated by steam explosion under different degrees of severity (S0), in order to evaluate their effect on cellulose accessibility by enzymatic hydrolysis. Approximately 87.7% to 98.5% of original glucans were retained in the pre-treated material. Glucose yields after the enzymatic hydrolysis of pre-treated material improved from 19.4% to 85.1% when S0 was increased from 8.53 to 10.42. One of the main reasons for the increase in glucose yield was the redistribution of lignin as micro-particles were deposited on the surface and interior of the fibre cell wall. This information was confirmed by laser scanning confocal fluorescence and FT-IR imaging; these microscopic techniques show changes in the physical and chemical characteristics of pre-treated fibres. In addition, the results allowed the construction of an explanatory model for microscale understanding of the enzymatic accessibility mechanism in the pre-treated lignocellulose.
A numerical finite difference method is developed here to solve the diffusion equation for hydrogen in presence of trapping sites. A feature of our software is that an optimization of diffusion and trapping parameters is achieved via a non linear least squares fit. On the other hand, we have demonstrated that usual electrochemical hydrogen permeation tests are enough to assess hydrogen free energies of trapping in the range of −35 kJ/mol to −70 kJ/mol. These conclusions are obtained by assuming the presence of saturable traps in local equilibrium with hydrogen and are validated by means of simulated permeation and degassing transients. In addition, we check our model performing electrochemical hydrogen permeation tests at 30 • C, 50 • C, and 70 • C, on an API 5L X60 as received steel state to study its trapping and diffusion properties considering only one type of trapping site. The binding energies (ΔG) and the trap densities (N) are determined by fitting the theoretical model to the experimental permeation data. The steel presents a high density of weak traps, |ΔG| < 35 KJ/mol, namely, N = 1.4 × 10 −5 mol cm −3 . Strong trapping sites which alter the shape of the permeation transient are also detected; their ΔG values ranged from 57 to 72 KJ/mol.
Organoclay nanoparticles (Cloisite® C10A, Cloisite® C15) and their combination with carbon black (N330) were studied as fillers in chloroprene/natural/butadiene rubber blends to prepare nanocomposites. The effect of filler type and load on the physical mechanical properties of nanocomposites was determined and correlated with its structure, compatibility and cure properties using Fourier Transformed Infrared (FT-IR), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and rheometric analysis. Physical mechanical properties were improved by organoclays at 5–7 phr. Nanocomposites with organoclays exhibited a remarkable increase up to 46% in abrasion resistance. The improvement in properties was attributed to good organoclay dispersion in the rubber matrix and to the compatibility between them and the chloroprene rubber. Carbon black at a 40 phr load was not the optimal concentration to interact with organoclays. The present study confirmed that organoclays can be a reinforcing filler for high performance applications in rubber nanocomposites.
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