Search results for: Benoit Trouette

Authors: Marius Sebastian Secula, Andreea Vajda, Benoit Cagnon, Ioan Mamaliga

Abstract:

One of the most important classes of pollutants is represented by dyes. The synthetic character and complex molecular structure make them more stable and difficult to be biodegraded in water. The treatment of wastewaters containing dyes in order to separate/degrade dyes is of major importance. Various techniques have been employed to remove and/or degrade dyes in water. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are known as among the most efficient ones towards dye degradation. The aim of this work is to investigate the efficiency of a cheap Iron-impregnated activated carbon Fenton-like catalyst in order to degrade organic compounds in aqueous solutions. In the presented study an anionic dye, Indigo Carmine, is considered as a model pollutant. Various AOPs are evaluated for the degradation of Indigo Carmine to establish the effect of the prepared catalyst. It was found that the Iron(II)-embedded activated carbon composite enhances significantly the degradation process of Indigo Carmine. Using the wet impregnation procedure, 5 g of L27 AC material were contacted with Fe(II) solutions of FeSO4 precursor at a theoretical iron content in the resulted composite of 1 %. The L27 AC was impregnated for 3h at 45°C, then filtered, washed several times with water and ethanol and dried at 55 °C for 24 h. Thermogravimetric analysis, Fourier transform infrared, X-ray diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy were employed to investigate the structural, textural, and micromorphology of the catalyst. Total iron content in the obtained composites and iron leakage were determined by spectrophotometric method using phenantroline. Photo-catalytic tests were performed using an UV - Consulting Peschl Laboratory Reactor System. UV light irradiation tests were carried out to determine the performance of the prepared Iron-impregnated composite towards the degradation of Indigo Carmine in aqueous solution using different conditions (17 W UV lamps, with and without in-situ generation of O3; different concentrations of H2O2, different initial concentrations of Indigo Carmine, different values of pH, different doses of NH4-OH enhancer). The photocatalytic tests were performed after the adsorption equilibrium has been established. The obtained results emphasize an enhancement of Indigo Carmine degradation in case of the heterogeneous photo-Fenton process conducted with an O3 generating UV lamp in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. The investigated process obeys the pseudo-first order kinetics. The photo-Fenton degradation of IC was tested at different values of initial concentration. The obtained results emphasize an enhancement of Indigo Carmine degradation in case of the heterogeneous photo-Fenton process conducted with an O3 generating UV lamp in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. Acknowledgments: This work was supported by a grant of the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation, CNCS - UEFISCDI, project number PN-II-RU-TE-2014-4-0405.

Keywords: photodegradation, heterogeneous Fenton, anionic dye, carbonaceous composite, screening factorial design

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Authors: Guillaume Soubeyran, Fabrice Micoud, Benoit Morin, Jean-Philippe Poirot-Crouvezier, Magali Reytier

Abstract:

Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) technology is considered as a solution for the reduction of CO2 emissions. However, this technology still meets several challenges for high-scale industrialization. In this context, the increase of durability remains a critical aspect for competitiveness of this technology. Fortunately, performance degradations in nominal operating conditions is partially reversible, meaning that if specific conditions are applied, a partial recovery of fuel cell performance can be achieved, while irreversible degradations can only be mitigated. Thus, it is worth studying the optimal conditions to rejuvenate these reversible degradations and assessing the long-term impact of such procedures on the performance of the cell. Reversible degradations consist mainly of anode Pt active sites poisoning by carbon monoxide at the anode, heterogeneities in water management during use, and oxidation/deactivation of Pt active sites at the cathode. The latter is identified as a major source of reversible performance loss caused by the presence oxygen, high temperature and high cathode potential that favor platinum oxidation, especially in high efficiency operating points. Hence, we studied here a recovery procedure aiming at reducing the platinum oxides by decreasing cathode potential during operation. Indeed, the application of short air starvation phase leads to a drop of cathode potential. Cell performances are temporarily increased afterwards. Nevertheless, local temperature and current heterogeneities within the cells are favored and shall be minimized. The consumption of fuel during the recovery phase shall also be considered to evaluate the global efficiency. Consequently, the purpose of this work is to find an optimal compromise between the recovery of reversible degradations by air starvation, the increase of global cell efficiency and the mitigation of irreversible degradations effects. Different operating parameters have first been studied such as cell voltage, temperature and humidity in single cell set-up. Considering the global PEMFC system efficiency, tests showed that reducing duration of recovery phase and reducing cell voltage was the key to ensure an efficient recovery. Recovery phase frequency was a major factor as well. A specific method was established to find the optimal frequency depending on the duration and voltage of the recovery phase. Then, long-term degradations have also been studied by applying FC-DLC cycles based on NEDC cycles on a 4-cell short stack by alternating test sequences with and without recovery phases. Depending on recovery phase timing, cell efficiency during the cycle was increased up to 2% thanks to a mean voltage increase of 10 mV during test sequences with recovery phases. However, cyclic voltammetry tests results suggest that the implementation of recovery phases causes an acceleration of the decrease of platinum active areas that could be due to the high potential variations applied to the cathode electrode during operation.

Keywords: durability, PEMFC, recovery procedure, reversible degradation

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Authors: Wiam El Kheir, Anais Dumais, Maude Beaudoin, Bernard Marcos, Nick Virgilio, Benoit Paquette, Nathalie Faucheux, Marc-Antoine Lauzon

Abstract:

The high infiltrative pattern of glioblastoma multiforme cells (GBM) is the main cause responsible for the actual standard treatments failure. The tumor high heterogeneity, the interstitial fluid flow (IFF) and chemokines guides GBM cells migration in the brain parenchyma resulting in tumor recurrence. Drug delivery systems emerged as an alternative approach to develop effective treatments for the disease. Some recent studies have proposed to harness the effect CXC-lchemokine-ligand-12 to direct and control the cancer cell migration through delivery system. However, the dynamics of the brain environment on the delivery system remains poorly understood. Nanoparticles (NPs) and hydrogels are known as good carriers for the encapsulation of different agents and control their release. We studied the release of CXCL12 (free or loaded into NPs) from an alginate-based hydrogel under static and indirect perfusion (IP) conditions. Under static conditions, the main phenomena driving CXCL12 release from the hydrogel was diffusion with the presence of strong interactions between the positively charged CXCL12 and the negatively charge alginate. CXCL12 release profiles were independent from the initial mass loadings. Afterwards, we demonstrated that the release could tuned by loading CXCL12 into Alginate/Chitosan-Nanoparticles (Alg/Chit-NPs) and embedded them into alginate-hydrogel. The initial burst release was substantially attenuated and the overall cumulative release percentages of 21%, 16% and 7% were observed for initial mass loadings of 0.07, 0.13 and 0.26 µg, respectively, suggesting stronger electrostatic interactions. Results were mathematically modeled based on Fick’s second law of diffusion framework developed previously to estimate the effective diffusion coefficient (Deff) and the mass transfer coefficient. Embedding the CXCL12 into NPs decreased the Deff an order of magnitude, which was coherent with experimental data. Thereafter, we developed an in-vitro 3D model that takes into consideration the convective contribution of the brain IFF to study CXCL12 release in an in-vitro microenvironment that mimics as faithfully as possible the human brain. From is unique design, the model also allowed us to understand the effect of IP on CXCL12 release in respect to time and space. Four flow rates (0.5, 3, 6.5 and 10 µL/min) which may increase CXCL12 release in-vivo depending on the tumor location were assessed. Under IP, cumulative percentages varying between 4.5-7.3%, 23-58.5%, 77.8-92.5% and 89.2-95.9% were released for the three initial mass loadings of 0.08, 0.16 and 0.33 µg, respectively. As the flow rate increase, IP culture conditions resulted in a higher release of CXCL12 compared to static conditions as the convection contribution became the main driving mass transport phenomena. Further, depending on the flow rate, IP had a direct impact on CXCL12 distribution within the simulated brain tissue, which illustrates the importance of developing such 3D in-vitro models to assess the efficiency of a delivery system targeting the brain. In future work, using this very model, we aim to understand the impact of the different phenomenon occurring on GBM cell behaviors in response to the resulting chemokine gradient subjected to various flow while allowing them to express their invasive characteristics in an in-vitro microenvironment that mimics the in-vivo brain parenchyma.

Keywords: 3D culture system, chemokines gradient, glioblastoma multiforme, kinetic release, mathematical modeling

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