Luciana S. Spinelli

Tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which requires oral treatment withantibiotics. In uncomplicated cases, the RIPE regimen is used, consisting of rifampicin, isoniazid, pyrazinamide, and ethambutol.However, complex clinical situations require the inclusion of other drugs. This therapeutic approach can, therefore, triggeradverse effects such as nausea, vomiting, and changes in skin, eye, and urine color. In this context, polymeric systems act ascarriers and release modulators, thereby promoting the selective targeting of drugs to target cells and enhancing their efficacy.Furthermore, this study investigates advances in research on polymeric carriers applied to the treatment of tuberculosis througha bibliometric analysis and a brief literature review, with an emphasis on pulmonary delivery systems, characterizationtechniques, in vitro and in vivo assays, and cytotoxicity assessment. Ultimately, the survey highlights promising strategies basedon biocompatible polymeric carriers administered by inhalation, which mitigate adverse effects and promote adherence totreatment.

This work focuses on the characterization of five palygorskite clays from the Brazilian state of Piaui and their feasibility as eco-friendly adsorbents for the removal of Fe³⁺ ions from aqueous solutions. For characterization, we applied the techniques of X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM/EDS), size distribution measurements, density measurement by He pycnometry, superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometry, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA/DTA), zeta potential measurement, hydrophobicity determination by contact angle, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area analysis (BET technique) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Batch experiments were performed in function of process parameters such as contact time and initial concentration of Fe³⁺. The natural palygorskites (Palys) had excellent performance for the removal of Fe³⁺ from aqueous solutions by adsorption (around 60 mg/g), and the Langmuir is supposedly the best model fitted the experimental data.

The competitiveness between institutions and companies generates the need to cheapen products and services and facilitate their production. Thus, several companies establish partnerships with specialized university laboratories in order to promote the optimization of their processes. These laboratories, in order to guarantee their reliability, often resort to the application of technical standards and the obtaining of international certifications. This paper aims to discuss the relevance of international certifications by research laboratories by report a case study from a laboratory of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. The results of the implementation of the quality management system of Laboratory for Macromolecules and Colloids in the Petroleum Industry (LMCP) are presented, where excellent satisfaction results were obtained, as well as a very small number of failures, demonstrating that the system is effective, which generates more and more customers and carry out increasingly sophisticated research. As perspectives it is expected that the quality management system can increase the number of collaborations and high-quality service delivery between industry and the LMCP.

Palygorskite is a clay mineral that has several industrial and environmental applications. Palygorskite main deposits in Brazil are located in the municipality of Guadalupe, Piauí. A comparative study was performed with five samples of palygorskite from different locations through ore dressing and chemical and mineralogical characterization, using the XRD, XRF and methylene blue titration techniques. According to the results, there are significant differences in the samples composition. Among them, the most significant difference was the cation exchange capacity (CEC) value, which ranged from 24.0 to 41.0 meq.100 g-1, followed by the content of some oxides and the crystalline phases present. Despite coming from the same region, the samples contained distinct impurities.

One of the methods to prevent wax precipitation, during petroleum production, transport, and refining, is the use of polymer additives that can reduce the oil pour point. However, no single additive work for all types of crude oil and this relation is not yet well known. In this study, a family of polymers based on poly(ethylene‐co‐vinyl acetate), containing hydroxyl groups and long pendant hydrocarbon chains (from C6 to C18), were synthesized and characterized by H¹ nuclear magnetic resonance and solubility test. Four crude oil samples containing different amounts and size distribution of the wax were used. The additive's action is favored by higher contents of iso + cycloalkanes and lower contents of n‐paraffins with larger chain sizes. The presence of the CH₃COO group in the copolymers promoted the lowering of the pour point, supported by a low OH concentration and the presence of a long pendant hydrocarbon chain: the best results were obtained with C10 and C12 chain lengths. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020, 137, 48969.

Water contaminated by oil poses challenges to the management of water resources. Magnetic nanoparticles has been issue of different potential applications including remotion oil from water. Magnetic polystyrene–palygorskite nanocomposites were prepared by a heterogeneous phase polymerization for the removal of organic contaminants from water. The organo‐Fe₃O₄‐palygorskite nanoparticles were coated with polystyrene, forming water repellent and oil absorbing surfaces to promote the removal of oil from the surfaces of nanocomposites by applying an external magnetic field. X‐ray fluorescence, X‐ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, zeta potential and size distribution measurement, surface area determination by BET, density measurement by He pycnometry, carbon grade determination, thermogravimetric analysis, Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and evaluation of hydrophobicity by contact angle were used to characterize the nanoparticles. The magnetic nanocomposite obtained showed excellent hydrophobicity, around 78° contact angle. In addition, oil removal capability tests were also performed, according to which the preliminary results indicated removal of approximately 98% of oil in synthetic oily water samples. The oil–water separation using this magnetic nanocomposite provides a promising alternative strategy for water treatment. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018, 135, 46162.

Asphaltenes are blamed for various problems in the petroleum industry, especially formation of solid deposits and stabilization of water-in-oil emulsions. Many studies have been conducted to characterize chemical structures of asphaltenes and assess their phase behavior in crude oil or in model-systems of asphaltenes extracted from oil or asphaltic residues from refineries. However, due to the diversity and complexity of these structures, there is still much to be investigated. In this study, asphaltene (sub)fractions were extracted from an asphaltic residue (AR02), characterized by NMR, elemental analysis, X-ray fluorescence and MS-TOF, and compared to asphaltene subfractions obtained from another asphaltic residue (AR01) described in a previous article. The (sub)fractions obtained from the two residues were used to prepare model-systems containing 1 wt% of asphaltenes in toluene and their phase behavior was evaluated by measuring asphaltene precipitation onset using optical microscopy. The results obtained indicated minor differences between the asphaltene fractions obtained from the asphaltic residues of distinct origins, with respect to aromaticity, elemental composition (CHN), presence and content of heteroelements and average molar mass. Regarding stability, minor differences in molecule polarity appear to promote major differences in the phase behavior of each of the asphaltene fractions isolated