Degradable plastic mulch is being used to overcome the negative environmental impacts of burning and landfilling agricultural plastic waste. In this study P. ostreatus was used to model the capacity of a vegetal species to degrade conventional and degradable plastic films. Plastics studied were oxo-degradable polyethylene (OXO-PE), UV-irradiated oxo-degradable polyethylene (UV-OXO-PE), polylactic acid (PLA) and conventional polyethylene (C-PE). The cultivation of P. ostreatus resulted in a reduction in the median of weight (78.2%-80.2%) and volume (56.1%-60.1%) of the substrate (wheat straw). Degradation of the plastics embodied was evidenced by a reduction in the median of the elongation at break (OXO-PE 475% to 109%, UV-OXO-PE 23% to 8%, PLA 596% to 398% and C-PE 505% to 304%) and an increase in the median of the carbonyl index (OXO-PE 0.062 to 0.114, UV-OXO-PE 0.098 to 0.145 and PLA 0.024 to 0.034). The Kruskal-Wallis test found no statistical difference (p = 0.384) between the medians of the biological efficiency for substrates containing plastics and the substrate without plastic. In conclusion, plastics embodied in the substrates used for cultivation of P. ostreatus are degraded and the degradation of these plastics does not affect the short term growth of P. ostreatus.

In order to combat global warming and climate change in a sustainable way, it is necessary to capture the anthropogenic CO2 emitted by different industrial sources and use it as a raw material to obtain a matrix of products for industrial use, such as metal carbonates. Therefore, this work presents the results of CO2 capture and conversion into carbonates using Sr and Ba alkaline solutions in a semi-continuous batch reactor. The results indicate that the effects of morphological characterization, purity of solids, and reaction time at ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure conditions is an inexpensive alternative process that is easily implemented in small industrial enterprises. The results yielded a 40% conversion of CO2 at the best reaction conditions with an aqueous solution of Sr(OH)2.

As catalysis is one of the pillars of green chemistry, this work aimed at continuing the development of synthesized catalysts under controlled conditions that allow the attainment of materials with the best physicochemical properties for the process for which they were designed. Based on this, the synthesis, characterization, and comparison of copper-based catalysts supported on ammonium and acidic ZSM-5-type zeolite by two ion exchange methods, liquid phase and solid state, are presented. The catalysts obtained were characterized by SEM/EDS, FTIR, XRD, and TPR to study the effect of the synthesis method on the physicochemical properties of each catalyst. The SEM/EDS results showed a homogeneous distribution of copper in the zeolite and the TPR led to determining the temperature ranges for the reduction of Cu2+ → Cu+ → Cu0. Furthermore, the X-ray results showed no modification of the structure of the zeolite after ion exchange, heat treatment, and TPR analysis.

Among the human activities that generate greenhouse gases (GHG), the energy sector is the largest source of emissions, with carbon dioxide (CO₂) being the main gas emitted. It has been shown that the increase in the atmospheric concentration of GHG of anthropogenic origin, especially CO₂, generates global climate variations, which causes extreme natural phenomena, changes in precipitation patterns, melting glaciers, low agricultural yields, acidification of the oceans, among others, which deteriorate the quality of life of the world population. Due to this scenario, the development of CO₂ emission control technologies is gaining more interest every day, but in addition to emission control, it has been proposed to use CO₂ as a raw material to obtain products of industrial interest such as liquid fuels. Based on the above, this project proposed the conversion of CO₂ to methanol by selective catalytic hydrogenation using Cu/ZSM-5 zeolite catalysts with two SiO₂/Al₂O₃ molar ratios. The objective of the project was to generate a product with added value from the capture and conversion of CO₂, as an alternative to control the emissions of this GHG, the process is focused on the circular economy of carbon and contemplates principles of green chemistry. The hybrid catalysts allowed to obtain two value-added products from the conversion of CO₂, methanol and DME, both with great energy potential, either as fuels or raw material for obtaining chemical products, which may be of interest and benefit social, economic and environmental. However, challenges remain for this conversion alternative to be viable, in particular, CO₂ conversion must be increased to be considered as a potential alternative to reduce emissions of this greenhouse gas.

This paper presents the development and evaluation of a technology for CO2 separation and capture from a mixture of post-combustion gases through a zeolitic membrane. A silicalite-1 membrane was hydrothermally synthesized to selectively separate CO2 from a CO2/N2 mixture and permeation tests were performed on the mixture and the simple gases. The composition and morphology of the silicalite-1 crystals were confirmed by XRD and SEM/EDS. The recovered CO2 was used as raw material for its transformation into inorganic media like carbonates.