Cristina GutierrezMuñoz

• PhD
• Senior Researcher at Iberian Research Centre for Energy Storage-CIIAE

The use of supercritical fluids technology, in particular the use of CO2, is an important advantage over other production techniques of controlled release systems. The impregnation and foaming process can be carried out in a single step. By adjusting the conditions of pressure, temperature, depressurization time or type of polymer used, microcellul...

Microcellular scaffolds were prepared using high pressure fluids. Solutions of biodegradable material Poly (lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) in a green solvent such as ethyl lactate was used as the scaffold matrix. To carry out polymer foaming from polymer solutions allows the possibility of reducing the working temperature. The effect of the ratio...

Poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) is a copolymer used as drug carrier in controlled release systems as microparticles or scaffolds. Foamed structures are industrially obtained by injecting gas at temperatures above the melting point of the polymer that may promote PLGA degradation. High temperatures are avoidable in this foaming process if a po...

Microcellular foams are well-known polymeric materials since they present excellent properties: high impact strength, high toughness, high stiffness-to-weight ratio, high fatigue life as well as low dielectric constant and low thermal conductivity. Environment-friendly techniques are being proposed to prepare polymeric foams. In particular, supercr...

Microcapsules containing di(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid (DEHPA) within a sulphonated poly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene) shell (SMC-DEHPA), were characterised by different analytical techniques including the stepwise isothermal analysis and FT-IR; which indicated the presence of DEHPA, sulphonic groups and sulphone crosslinking in the material. The se...

The incorporation of CO2 into new processes is one of the most important strategies for gas emissions mitigation that also would help to decrease the Carbon footprint. Recycling of wastes is also considered as a route to prevent greenhouse emissions as well as a source of interesting raw material. The process of recycling of polystyrene (PS) wastes...

The recycling of polystyrene wastes by precipitation from limonene solutions using CO2 as antisolvent is an alternative and original environmentally friendly route to recover high quality wastes. The most suitable working conditions to conduct the process are selected based on the accurate knowledge of the phase equilibrium for the ternary mixture....

The sorption of CO2 in polymers entails their swelling and plasticization whose study is crucial for the design of processes and further applications. The operating conditions during foaming, purification, or impregnation of polymers in CO2 are mainly determined by the mentioned binary system. In this work, the modification of polystyrene's physica...

Foaming of polystyrene by previous dissolution in p-cymene is studied using CO2 to saturate the solution followed by a rapid decompression of samples. Although during the saturation stage the polymer is plasticized and the glass transition temperature is decreased, the main advantage offered by using a solvent is the reduction of the working temper...

The recycling of polystyrene (PS) wastes could be considered even economically feasible if, apart from the intrinsic environmental benefits, the wastes are transformed into high-added value products with enhanced properties. In this work, the development of an integral recycling process for polystyrene wastes by means of a new and cost-effective al...

This work describes a generalized procedure for high pressure equilibrium calculations for terpene oils. A simple semiempirical model allows the prediction of the solubilities of essential oils at high pressure on the basis of the physicochemical properties of their compounds (molecular weight, boiling temperature, density, and solubility parameter...

Nowadays polyurethanes are one of the most important classes of polymers in the chemical market due to the huge diversity of their applications. Polyurethane is placed the sixth of the most used plastics in the world ranking. As a consequence of their commercial success, a great quantity of wastes are generated, not only post-consumer products but...

Expanded (EPS)or extruded (XPS) polystyrene are packaging or insulation materials with an increasing range of applications, so the enormous volume of wastes generated makes their recycling an urgent task. The general purpose of PS foams recycling is the recovery of a more compact polymer material with minimal degradation of the original polymer cha...

Polystyrene (PS) is currently used as packaging, insulating and storing material in various industrial or domestic fields. As a result, a large quantity of PS wastes is produced. Plastic wastes are not usually biodegradable, so it is necessary to suggest a technology to recycle them. Landfills and incineration are reasonably cheap methods but are n...

The synthesis of bifunctional polyols using glycerol phosphate calcium salt hydrate as initiator and caesium hydroxide and potassium tert-butoxide as catalyst by means of anionic polymerization was achieved. If a phosphate salt is used as initiator, this reaction allows us to obtain polyols with phosphate groups in its structure not previously desc...

In the last years, plastic wastes have increased as a consequence of their wide uses and properties. By this reason, solutions to promote plastics recycling are necessary to assure compliance with current legislation. Different alternatives are known, such as mechanical and chemical recycling and incineration; nevertheless, these methods present se...