In this study, we compared the conversion of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) into porous carbons for water purification using pyrolysis and post-activation with KOH. Pyrolysis was conducted at 400–850 °C, followed by KOH activation at 850 °C for samples pyrolyzed at 400, 650, and 850 °C. Both pyrolyzed and post-activated carbons showed high specific surface areas, up to 504.2 and 617.7 m² g⁻¹, respectively. As the pyrolysis temperature increases, the crystallite size of the graphite phase rises simultaneously with a decrease in specific surface area. This phenomenon significantly influences the final specific surface area values of the activated samples. Despite their relatively high specific surface areas, pyrolyzed PET-derived carbons prove unsuitable as adsorbents for purifying aqueous media from methylene blue dye. A sample pyrolyzed at 650 °C, with a surface area of 504.2 m² g⁻¹, exhibited a maximum adsorption value of only 20.4 mg g⁻¹. We propose that the pyrolyzed samples have a surface coating of amorphous carbon poor in oxygen groups, impeding the diffusion of dye molecules. Conversely, post-activated samples emerge as promising adsorbents, exhibiting a maximum adsorption capacity of up to 127.7 mg g⁻¹. This suggests their potential for efficient dye removal in water purification applications.

In this study, ultrafiltration membranes were developed via a nonsolvent-induced phase separation method for the removal of asphaltenes from crude oil. Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and acrylonitrile copolymers with acrylic acid were used as membrane materials. Copolymerizing acrylonitrile with acrylic acid resulted in an improvement in the fouling resistance of the membranes. The addition of 10% of acrylic acid to the polymer chain decreases the water contact angle from 71° to 43°, reducing both the total fouling and irreversible fouling compared to membranes made from a PAN homopolymer. The obtained membranes with a pore size of 32–55 nm demonstrated a pure toluene permeance of 84.8–130.4 L/(m²·h·bar) and asphaltene rejection from oil/toluene solutions (100 g/L) of 33–95%. An analysis of the asphaltene rejection values revealed that the addition of acrylic acid increases the rejection values in comparison to PAN membranes with the same pore size. Our results suggest that the acrylonitrile–acrylic acid copolymer ultrafiltration membranes have promising potential for the efficient removal of asphaltenes from crude oil.

FeCoCu ternary nanoparticles distributed and stabilized in the carbon matrix of FeCoCu/C metal-carbon nanocomposites have been synthesized using controlled IR pyrolysis of precursors consisting of the “polymer / iron acetylacetate / cobalt and copper acetates” type system obtained by joint dissolution of components followed by solvent removal. The effect of the synthesis temperature on the structure, composition and electromagnetic properties of the nanocomposites has been studied. By XRD was shown that the formation of the FeCoCu ternary nanoparticles occurs due to the interaction of Fe3С with the nanoparticles of the CoCu solid solution. An increase in the synthesis temperature leads to an increase in the size of the metal nanoparticles due to their agglomeration and coalescence as a result of matrix reconstruction. Furthermore, ternary alloy nanoparticles having a variable composition may form depending on the synthesis temperature and the content ratio of the metals. Raman spectroscopy has shown that the crystallinity of the carbon matrix of the nanocomposites increases with the synthesis temperature. The frequency responses of the relative permittivity and permeability of the nanocomposites have been studied at 3–13 GHz. It has been shown that a change in the content ratio of the metals noticeably increases both the dielectric and the magnetic losses. The former loss is caused by the formation of a complex nanostructure of the nanocomposite carbon matrix while the latter one originates from an increase in the size of the nanoparticles and a shift of the natural ferromagnetic resonance frequency to the low-frequency region. The reflection loss has been calculated using a standard method from the experimental data on the frequency responses of the relative permittivity and permeability. It has been shown that the frequency range and the absorption of electromagnetic waves (from –20 to –52 dB) can be controlled by varying the content ratio of the metals in the precursor. The nanocomposites obtained as a result of the experiment deliver better results in comparison with FeCo/C nanocomposites synthesized under similar conditions.