This project studies the alternative chemical recycling of disposable bottles as raw material for the manufacture of a product known as polymeric concrete, which has several applications in the construction industry. Crosslinked materials from polyethylene terephthalate (PET), glycerol and clay were obtained. First recycled PET bottles were washed, cut and dried; after bis-hydroxyethyl terephthalate monomer was obtained from depolimerization reaction of PET. The monomer, glycerol and titanium dioxide reacts to synthesize a polymeric concrete. Materials with concentrations of clay from 1, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50%w/w were obtained. Differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), Soxhlet extraction, colorimetry and Shore D hardness were used to characterize the materials. The results indicated a degree of crosslinking in the synthesized material when the amount of clay was increased. A melting point around 265 °C was not observed by DSC analysis; this suggests that a crosslinked material was formed. By TGA analysis temperature degradation was observed at 394°C, which it was increasing from 408 to 416°C according to the addition of clay content. A bad dispersion of particles in the crosslinked polymer decreased the thermal stability of PET when the clay content was increased.

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Biodiesel was synthesized using waste chicken oil and ethyl alcohol as reactives as well as denatonium benzoate and tin particles as catalysts in 500 mL three neck flask. The reaction mixtures were mechanically stirred at 200 rpm during 15 minutes at 30, 40, 50, y 60 º C, after that the products were filtered trough a 400 m mesh an then casted in a separating funnel in order to obtain two layers corresponding to glycerol and Biodiesel. The tin catalyst particles were observed by optical microscopy. The biodiesel and glycerol were characterized using refractive index, pH, Fourier transformer infrared spectrometry (FTIR), while the viscosity was determined in a Brookfield viscosimeter and density using a picnometer. The results suggest that at a low concentration of denatonuim benzoate (7 ppm) the reaction will occur only if tin is present at all test temperatures. The pH of biodiesel obtained was 6, similar to petrodiesel used commonly in diesel motors.

This work is about the production of hybrid coatings of the system SiO2-PMMA (PMMA, polymethylmethacrylate). These materials have interesting mechanical and chemical properties useful for anticorrosive and wear resistance applications. SiO2-PMMA hybrids were obtained by the sol-gel traditional process, using tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and methylmethacrylate (MMA) by Aldrich Co, as starting reagents. The SiO2:PMMA ratio was varied from 0:1 to about 1:1 at air atmosphere deposition. The coatings were obtained on acrylic sheets and silicon wafers. A diversity of coatings with chemical composition ranging from SiO2 and PMMA to obtain the SiO2-PMMA hybrids were obtained. Infrared (IR) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), were performed to determinate structural and morphological behavior.