<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><xml><records><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Activated carbons prepared from industrial pre-treated cork: Sustainable adsorbents for pharmaceutical compounds removal</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Chemical Engineering Journal</style></secondary-title></titles><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2014</style></year></dates><publisher><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Elsevier B.V.</style></publisher><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">253</style></volume><pages><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">408-417</style></pages><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Industrial pre-treated cork – granules of expanded corkboard, prepared from renewable biomass – was used for the first time as precursor for the preparation of eco-friendly activated carbons by chemical (K2CO3 and KOH) and physical (steam) activation. Samples with different textural (microporosity/ micro + mesoporosity) and surface chemistry (acidic/basic) were obtained. In the best compromise between porosity development/preparation yield, apparent surface areas P900m2 g?1 were attained. Selected samples were assayed as adsorbents for the removal of pharmaceutical compounds (ibuprofen, paracetamol, acetylsalicylic acid, clofibric acid, caffeine and iopamidol). Kinetic results show that the steam activated carbon removes all the pharmaceutical compounds under study with removal efficien- cies between 40% and 90%. Ibuprofen equilibrium adsorption isotherms showed that sample chemically activated with KOH at 800 ?C presents higher adsorption capacity (174.4 mg g?1) and affinity for this target molecule than the steam activated and commercial samples. The overall results reveal that the lab-made carbons have adequate properties for pharmaceutical compounds removal, the results compar- ing favourably to those obtained with samples commercialized for water treatment purposes</style></abstract></record><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Polypropylene-based cork–polymer composites: Processing parameters and properties</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Composites Part B: Engineering</style></secondary-title></titles><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2014</style></year></dates><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">66</style></volume><pages><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">210-223</style></pages><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Cork–polymer composites are one of the most promising fields of cork technology to create materials for a sustainable development. In this work, cork particles and powder were compounded with polypropylene (PP) by twin-screw extrusion and further processed by injection or compression moulding. The obtained PP/cork injection moulded composites were used to investigate the tensile properties before and after water absorption (WA) tests. The addition of polypropylene–graft–maleic anhydride (PP–g–MA) and stearic acid was evaluated. The composites show good distribution and dispersion of cork with interesting aesthetic characteristics. Low cork content (5wt.%) reinforces the stiffness of the PP. The addition of PP–g–MA up to 8wt.% promotes an increase on the tensile strength while the stearic acid contributes only with a slight increase on the tensile strain. The thermo-physical properties were investigated and the composites present low WA. In general the tensile properties of the composites were not significantly affected after the WA tests. Moreover, the WA was found to increase with an increase in cork content and was reduced with the PP–g–MA and stearic acid. It was also found, that cork act as nucleating agent and promotes antioxidant protection to PP. Both properties ameliorate with the increase of the cork content. Low cork content improves the thermal resistance while increasing the bio-based component increases the composite density and the thermal conductivity. The maximum incorporation of cork on the PP matrix through extrusion process was 93% in volume.</style></abstract></record><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Novel cork–polymer composites reinforced with short natural coconut fibres: Effect of fibre loading and coupling agent addition</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Composites Science and Technology</style></secondary-title></titles><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2013</style></year></dates><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">78</style></volume><pages><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">56-62</style></pages><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Composites from high density polyethylene filled with cork powder and coconut short fibres, in two different ratios, were prepared in a twin-screw extruder followed by compression moulding process. The main motivation of this work was to improve the mechanical performance without compromising the use of high weight percentage of natural component used in the preparation of cork-based composites. The morphology of the hybrid composites were more homogeneous in the presence of the coupling agent (CA) displaying enhanced fibre–matrix adhesion. Moreover, the use of CA based on maleic anhydride promotes a mechanical reinforcement effect on the tensile properties, including the elongation at break. The addition of coconut fibre resulted on an increase of 27% in elastic modulus and 47% in the tensile strength when compared with the unreinforced cork-based (50–50) wt.% composite. This work clearly shows that the addition of 10 wt.% of short-coconut fibres, randomly distributed, can be effectively used as reinforcing strategy of cork-based composite materials, preferably in the presence of 2 wt.% of CA.</style></abstract></record><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Properties of new cork–polymer composites: Advantages and drawbacks as compared with commercially available fibreboard materials</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Composite Structures</style></secondary-title></titles><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2011</style></year></dates><publisher><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Elsevier Ltd</style></publisher><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">93</style></volume><pages><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">3120-3129</style></pages><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Cork powder (50 wt.%) was mixed with polypropylene (PP) or polyethylene (PE) by pultrusion aiming to prepare cork-based composites. In a further step, samples were produced by compression moulding using the compounded composites. Bending strength, impact resistance, hardness, dimensional stability, thermal and acoustic properties of the developed cork–polymer composites (CPC) were determined and compared with commercially available products namely medium density ﬁbreboard (MDF) and high density ﬁbreboard (HDF). It was found that the CPC have good dimensional stability, lower water uptake, a better acoustic insulation performance and similar behaviour in terms of hardness and ﬁre resistance when compared with both MDF and HDF. However, the mechanical strength is inferior comparing with both commercial materials based on ﬁbres. It was also observed that addition of cork improved the ﬂexural modulus, impact resistance and hardness on the developed CPC. Thus, the herein described CPC materials showed important characteristics to be considered as good candidates to be applied in the design of ﬂooring and construction systems.</style></abstract></record></records></xml>