Abstract The real-time prediction in biorefinery industries has become essential. Models using partial least square regression (PLS) were developed to predict moisture, ash, volatile matter, fixed carbon and organic matter of coconut and coffee residues. In this study, 49 samples were collected and near infrared spectroscopy were applied to predict moisture, ash, volatile matter, fixed carbon and organic matter. For external validation 25% of the set samples were used. Moisture and volatile matter were predicted with coefficients of determination (R2cal) above 0.90, and standard errors (RSD) of the estimate of 14.4% and 2.26%, respectively. Models of ash and organic matter show R2cal > 0.77 and RSD values < 20.4%. For the external validation, the low deviations show the approximation between reference and predicted values and good prediction with R2pred > 0.70. All calibration models were acceptable for sample screening. This study demonstrates that PLS can be used to predict biomass composition of different species, with very low costs and time.

The study of conducting polymeric membranes is decisive in some areas, as in fuel cells and electrodialysis. This work aims the study of membranes using conventional and conductive polymers blends. Two types of polyurethane were used as conventional polymers, commercial thermoplastic polyurethane and polyurethane synthesized from castor oil and 4-4-dicyclohexylmethane isocyanate. Two kinds of conducting polymers were used, polyaniline doped with organic acid and a self doped polyaniline. The polymers and the membranes were characterized by electrical conductivity, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The synthesis of the membranes produced was proper, featuring a complete reaction, analyzed by FTIR. The membranes also showed good mechanical properties and thermal stability (≈ 220 °C). Among the membranes studied, the polyaniline doped with p-toluenesulphonic acid obtained higher thermal and viscoelastic properties. Thus they can be used in separation techniques using membranes.

O crescimento constante na geração de resíduos sólidos em todo o mundo tem estimulado estudos para os mais variados tipos de resíduos. Nesse trabalho, foram estudadas as Placas de Circuito Impresso (PCI), que fazem parte das sucatas eletrônicas e que são encontradas nos equipamentos eletroeletrônicos. As PCI são compostas de polímeros, cerâmicos e metais, o que dificulta o seu processamento. Na primeira etapa desse trabalho, foi utilizado processamento mecânico, como moagem, separação granulométrica, magnética e eletrostática para se obterem uma fração concentrada em metais (principalmente Cu) e uma outra fração contendo polímeros e cerâmicos. Na segunda etapa, a fração concentrada em metais foi dissolvida e enviada para uma eletroobtenção a fim de recuperar o cobre. O teor de cobre alcançou mais de 50% em peso nas frações condutoras e significativos teores de chumbo e estanho. No segundo estágio, as frações concentradas em metais foram dissolvidas com ácidos e tratadas em um processo eletroquímico, a fim de se recuperarem os metais separadamente, especialmente o cobre. Os resultados demonstram a viabilidade técnica para se recuperarem cobre usando processamento mecânico seguido de uma técnica eletrometalúrgica. O conteúdo de cobre, em solução decaiu rapidamente em todos os experimentos e o cobre obtido por eletroobtenção apresentou teores acima de 97% na maioria dos testes.

The constant growth in the generation of solid residues in the world stimulates studies for most types of residual recycling. In this work Printed Circuit Boards, that are part of electronic scraps and are found in electro-electronic equipment, were studied. Printed Circuit Boards are composed of polymers, ceramics and metals, making their processing difficult. During the first stage of this work, mechanical processes, such as comminution, sizing, magnetic and electrostatic separation were used to obtain two concentrated fractions”one with metals (mainly Cu) and the other with polymers and ceramics. During the second stage, the metal-concentrated fraction was dissolved with acids and treated in an electrochemical process to separate the metals. The results were that there was more than a 50% copper content in most of the conductive fractions and also, a significant content of Pb and Sn. This demonstrated the technical feasibility of copper recovery using mechanical processing followed by an electrometallurgical technique. The copper content in solution decayed quickly in all the experiments and the copper obtained by electrowinning was above 97% in most of the tests.