‘Emulsion locks’ for the containment of hydrocarbons during surfactant flushing

Reversible double water in oil in water (W/O/W) emulsions were developed to contain subsurface hydrocarbon spills during their remediation using surfactant flushing. Double emulsions were prepared by emulsifying CaCl₂ solutions in canola oil, and subsequently by emulsifying the W/O emulsions in aqueous sodium alginate solutions. The formation of double emulsions was confirmed with confocal and optical microscopy. The double emulsions reversed and gelled when mixed with the surfactants sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and cocamidopropyl betaine (CPB). Gels can act as ‘emulsion locks’ to prevent spreading of the hydrocarbon plume from the areas treated with surfactant flushing, as shown in sand column tests. Shear rheology was used to quantify the viscoelastic moduli increase (gelation) upon mixing the double emulsion with SDS and CPB. SDS was more effective than CPB in gelling the double emulsions. CPB and SDS could adsorb at the interface between water and model hydrocarbons (toluene and motor oil), lowering the interfacial tension and rigidifying the interface (as shown with a Langmuir trough). Bottle tests and optical microscopy showed that SDS and CPB produced W/O and O/W emulsions, with either toluene or motor oil and water. The emulsification of motor oil and toluene in water with SDS and CPB facilitated their flow through sand columns and their recovery. Toluene recovery from sand columns was quantitated using Gas-Chromatography Mass-Spectroscopy (GC-MS). The data show that SDS and CPB can be used both for surfactant flushing and to trigger the gelation of ‘emulsion locks’. Ethanol also gelled the emulsions at 100 mL/L.     

Kitchen waste valorization through a mild-temperature pretreatment to enhance biogas production and fermentability: Kinetics study in mesophilic and thermophilic regimen

Biowaste valorization through anaerobic digestion is an attractive option to achieve both climate protection goals and renewable energy production. In this paper, a complete set of batch trials was carried out on kitchen waste to investigate the effects of mild thermal pretreatment, temperature regimen and substrate/inoculum ratio. Thermal pretreatment was effective in the solubilisation of macromolecular fractions, particularly carbohydrates. The ability of the theoretical methodologies in estimating hydrogen and methane yields of complex substrates was evaluated by comparing the experimental results with the theoretical values. Despite the single batch configuration, a significant initial hydrogen production was observed, prior to methane yield. Main pretreatment effect was the gain in hydrogen production; the extent was highly variable according to the other parameters values. High hydrogen yields, up to 113 mL H2/g VSfed, were related to the prompt transformation of soluble sugars. Thermophilic regimen resulted, as expected, in faster digestions (up to 78 mL CH₄/gVS/day) and sorted out pH inhibition. The relatively low methane yields (342–398 mL CH₄/g VS_fed) were the result of the consistent lignocellulosic content and low lipid content. Thermal pretreatment proved to be a promising option for the enhancement of hydrogen production in food waste dark fermentation.