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La nueva Ley 7/2022, de Residuos y Suelos Contaminados introduce importantes modificaciones en cuanto a los residuos textiles, un sector que tradicionalmente ha recibido menos atención en cuanto al volumen y gestión de restos producidos. La industria textil es, de hecho, la cuarta más contaminante en volumen de residuos y, además, se ha visto incrementada por la práctica social del empleo de moda rápida. Por lo anteriormente mencionado, cobra especial importancia la Directiva Europea ((EU) 2018/851) por la que se modifica la Directiva 2008/98/CE sobre los residuos. Esta nueva Directiva obliga a los Estados Miembros a la recogida selectiva de residuos textiles antes del 1 de enero de 2025, y al establecimiento de unos objetivos relativos a la preparación para la reutilización y al reciclado de estos residuos. Esto supondrá un impacto para toda la cadena de valor textil pues será necesario que las empresas empiecen a diseñar y preparar sus productos para contener material reciclado y para permitir su reciclaje. Las nuevas tendencias en gestión de desechables textiles impulsan el aumento de la concienciación ciudadana sobre las prácticas de consumo así como la corresponsabilidad de productores y usuarios. La gestión de restos textiles, cuyo principal destino es la economía social, habrá de impulsar las tecnologías de valorización de los excedentes para reintroducir dichos materiales en el proceso de consumo, favoreciendo de esta forma la economía circular y la sostenibilidad.

Thermal comfort is essential when wearing a postural-corrective garment. Discomfort of any kind may deter regular use and prolong user recovery time. The objective of this work is therefore to optimize a new compound that can alter the temperature of orthopedic insoles, thereby improving the thermal comfort for the user. Its novelty is a resin composite that contains a thermoregulatory Phase-Change Material (PCM). An experimental design was used to optimize the proportions of PCM, epoxy resin, and thickener in the composite and its effects. A Box–Behnken factor design was applied to each compound to establish the optimal proportions of all three substances. The dependent variables were the Shore A and D hardness tests and thermogravimetric heat-exchange measurements. As was foreseeable, the influence of the PCM on the thermal absorption levels of the compound was quantifiable and could be determined from the results of the factor design. Likewise, compound hardness was determined by resin type and resin-PCM interactions, so the quantity of PCM also had some influence on the mechanical properties of the composite. Both the durability and the flexibility of the final product complied with current standards for orthopedic insoles., The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation under the I+D+i state program “Challenges Research Projects” (RTI2018-098900-B-I00).

The main objective of this study consists in the synthesis of a layered double hydroxide (LDH) clay doped with magnesium and aluminum in order to test the removal of phosphates and ibuprofen in water. Two different LDH composites are assessed: oven-dried (LDHD) and calcined (LDHC). Single adsorptions of phosphate and ibuprofen showed up to 70% and 58% removal in water, when LDHC was used. A poorer performance was observed for LDHD, which presented adsorption efficiencies of 52% and 35%, respectively. The simultaneous removal of phosphate and ibuprofen in water showed that LDHC allows a greater reduction in the concentration of both compounds than LDHD. Phosphate adsorption showed a close agreement between the experimental and theoretical capacities predicted by the pseudo-second-order model, whereas ibuprofen fitted to a first-order model. In addition, phosphate adsorption showed a good fit to an intraparticle diffusion model and to Bangham model suggesting that diffusion into pores controls the adsorption process. No other mechanisms may be involved in ibuprofen adsorption, apart from intraparticle diffusion. Finally, phosphate desorption could recover up to 59% of the initial concentration, showing the feasibility of the recuperation of this compound in the LDH. Defense University Center at the Spanish Naval Academy | Ref. Project PICUD-2020-03

A physiologically based extraction test (PBET) was run for the extraction of six metals (Cu, Zn, Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb) in four composts containing high concentrations of heavy metals. An aqueous solution of pepsin plus citric, acetic, and malic acids buffered to pH 2 was used to simulate the gastric mixture, and an extraction of 1 h at 37 °C was run with a solid:liquid ratio of 1:100. The results were compared to those obtained using water and CaCl 2 –DTPA solution. The PBET extracted far more metals than water, but less than CaCl 2 –DTPA for Cu, Pb and Cr, while giving similar or slightly lower results for Cd, Zn, and Ni.

There is currently much interest in the use of natural biosurfactants and bioemulsifiers, mainly in the cosmetic, pharmaceutical and food industries. However, there are no studies on the optimization of the extraction conditions of cell-bound biosurfactants. In this work, a biosurfactant with emulsifier properties was extracted from Lactobacillus pentosus cells, under different extraction conditions, and characterized.During extraction, the most influential independent variable, concerning the emulsifying capacity of biosurfactant, was the operation time, followed by temperature and salt concentration. Biosurfactant from L. pentosus was evaluated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and the composition of fatty acids was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The hydrophobic chain of the biosurfactant from L. pentosus comprises 548 g kg(-1) linoelaidic acid (C18:2), 221 g kg(-1) oleic or elaidic acid (C18:1), 136 g kg(-1) palmitic acid (C16) and 95 g kg(-1) stearic acid (C18). In addition, emulsions of water and rosemary oil were stabilized with a biosurfactant produced by L. pentosus and compared with emulsions stabilized with polysorbate 20.The optimum extraction conditions of biosurfactant were achieved at 45 °C at 120 min and using 9 g kg(-1) of salt. In all the assays biosurfactant from L. pentosus yielded more stable emulsions and higher emulsion volumes than polysorbate 20.