Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Keyword
-
- Pyrolysis (3)
- Biomass (2)
- Coal (2)
- Energy storage (2)
- Light gas (2)
-
- Model predictive control (2)
- Tar (2)
- Amino acid (1)
- Antibiotics (1)
- Automated control systems (1)
- Automated flights (1)
- Automated inspection (1)
- Bacteremia (1)
- Blood (1)
- Carbon capture (1)
- Cardiac patches (1)
- Cavity replacement (1)
- Char (1)
- Coal aromaticity (1)
- Coal char (1)
- Coal conversion models (1)
- Coal particle heating (1)
- Coal tar (1)
- Cobalt (1)
- Common frame of reference (1)
- Contact angle (1)
- Cross-validation (1)
- Cryogenic (1)
- Dam inspection (1)
- Dilute-phase (1)
- Publication
- Publication Type
Articles 1 - 23 of 23
Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Proactive Energy Optimization In Residential Buildings With Weather And Market Forecasts, Cody Simmons, Joshua Arment, Kody M. Powell, John Hedengren
Proactive Energy Optimization In Residential Buildings With Weather And Market Forecasts, Cody Simmons, Joshua Arment, Kody M. Powell, John Hedengren
Faculty Publications
This work explores the development of a home energy management system (HEMS) that uses weather and market forecasts to optimize the usage of home appliances and to manage battery usage and solar power production. A Moving Horizon Estimation (MHE) application is used to find the unknown home model parameters. These parameters are then updated in a Model Predictive Controller (MPC) which optimizes and balances competing comfort and economic objectives. Combining MHE and MPC applications alleviates model complexity commonly seen in HEMS by using a lumped parameter model that is adapted to fit a high-fidelity model. Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning …
A Review Of 30 Years Of Research Using The Cpd Model, Thomas H. Fletcher
A Review Of 30 Years Of Research Using The Cpd Model, Thomas H. Fletcher
Faculty Publications
The chemical percolation devolatilization (CPD) model for coal pyrolysis was first published in 1989, and a completed version that included the vapor–liquid equilibrium model and cross-linking model was published in 1992. The CPD model was one of three pyrolysis models developed using a lattice model to account for the chemical structure of the coal and was directly based on solid-state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements of the coal structure. A correlation of coal structure parameters measured by NMR spectroscopy was performed to permit use of the CPD model to determine pyrolysis rates and yields of tars and light …
Improving And Modeling Bacteria Recovery In Hollow Disk System, Clifton Anderson
Improving And Modeling Bacteria Recovery In Hollow Disk System, Clifton Anderson
Theses and Dissertations
Identifying antibiotic resistance in blood infections requires separating bacteria from whole blood. A hollow spinning disk rapidly removes suspended red blood cells by leveraging hydrodynamic differences between bacteria and whole blood components in a centrifugal field. Once the red cells are removed, the supernatant plasma which contains bacteria is collected for downstream antibiotic testing. This work improves upon previous work by modifying the disk design to maximize fractional plasma recovery and minimize fractional red cell recovery. V-shaped channels induce plasma flow and increase fractional plasma recovery. Additionally, diluting a blood sample spiked with bacteria prior to spinning it increased the …
Correlating Pressure, Fluidization Gas Velocities, Andsolids Mass Flowrates In A High-Pressurefluidized Bed Coal Feed System, Jacob Talailetalalelei Tuia
Correlating Pressure, Fluidization Gas Velocities, Andsolids Mass Flowrates In A High-Pressurefluidized Bed Coal Feed System, Jacob Talailetalalelei Tuia
Theses and Dissertations
The goal of this thesis was to understand what parameters would be most impactful when delivering dry, pulverized coal in a dilute-phase, with a high-pressure feed-system to a pressurized oxy-combustion (POC) reactor. Many studies have conveyed materials in dense-phase plugs at high-pressure or in dilute-phase flows at atmospheric pressure. Very few studies have fluidized and conveyed materials in dilute-phase flows at high pressure, as we needed to. Additionally, studies which might have been applicable based upon system -pressure and -phase delivered findings that were empirically based and therefore not specifically applicable to non-similar systems. 220 different tests were ran using …
Development Of Automated Control Systems For Pilot-Scale Combustors In The New Byu Engineering Building Annex, Andrew Fry
Journal of Undergraduate Research
The purpose of this MEG grant was to train 3 undergraduate students from either Chemical or Mechanical Engineering on the use of OPTO 22 control system and then to direct them, along with the input from engineers at OPTO 22, as they build and install a control system and logic for the Burner Flow Reactor (BFR), Multi Fuel Reactor (MFR) and the Pressurized Oxy Coal (POC) reactors in the new Engineering Research Laboratory (ERL). This program is comprised of 6 tasks as follows:
A Combined Computational/Experimental Approach To Stabilize Proteins With Unnatural Amino Acid Modifications, Joshua Wilkerson, Dr. Thomas Knotts
A Combined Computational/Experimental Approach To Stabilize Proteins With Unnatural Amino Acid Modifications, Joshua Wilkerson, Dr. Thomas Knotts
Journal of Undergraduate Research
Proteins are versatile biological molecules that catalyze chemical reactions, provide cellular structure, and transport materials throughout the body. Proteins have been adapted for use in a wide variety of industries including food processing, medical diagnostics, and therapeutics. However, proteins must often be modified to enhance their utility in these operations. One method that can be used as an initial step in protein modification strategies is replacement of a naturally occurring amino acid with an unnatural amino acid (uAA). Previous research has suggested that it is very difficult to predict the stability of a uAA-modified protein based on any individual factor. …
Multichannel Ubm Conduit For Peripheral Nerve Repair, Elizabeth Mahoney, Alonzo Cook
Multichannel Ubm Conduit For Peripheral Nerve Repair, Elizabeth Mahoney, Alonzo Cook
Journal of Undergraduate Research
Neuropathy, disease, and trauma to the peripheral nervous system cause devastating effects. These effects can include both a loss of sensation and a loss of motor control. Due to the newness of the field of regenerative medicine, scientists are only beginning to understand how nerves regenerate. It is known that when damage occurs to the nerves, the body triggers a regeneration process. Unfortunately, this process is slow and the level of sensation that returns and motor control varies from person to person. Some options involving autografts and allografts have been employed to help the nerve endings regenerate to all distal …
Evaluation Of Novel Molten Salt Eutectics And Their Application In Novel Reactor Designs, Kraig Farrar, Matthew Memmott
Evaluation Of Novel Molten Salt Eutectics And Their Application In Novel Reactor Designs, Kraig Farrar, Matthew Memmott
Journal of Undergraduate Research
Molten salt reactors (MSR) are a relatively unexplored but promising technology for civilian nuclear power. Original experiments with this technology was performed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in the 1950s and 1960s. While this research was successful, it ultimately failed to receive additional funding and the program was cancelled as a result. Recently interest in MSR technology has resurged due to its promise of producing nuclear power at atmospheric pressure, high efficiency, and without the production of long lived waste. The purpose of this project is to determine the ideal material to use as both a fuel and coolant.
Achieving Tiered Model Quality In 3d Structure From Motion Models Using A Multi-Scale View-Planning Algorithm For Automated Targeted Inspection, Trent Okeson, Benjamin Barrett, Samuel Arce, Cory Vernon, Kevin W. Franke, John Hedengren
Achieving Tiered Model Quality In 3d Structure From Motion Models Using A Multi-Scale View-Planning Algorithm For Automated Targeted Inspection, Trent Okeson, Benjamin Barrett, Samuel Arce, Cory Vernon, Kevin W. Franke, John Hedengren
Faculty Publications
This study presents a novel multi-scale view-planning algorithm for automated targeted inspection using unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). In industrial inspection, it is important to collect the most relevant data to keep processing demands, both human and computational, to a minimum. This study investigates the viability of automated targeted multi-scale image acquisition for Structure from Motion (SfM)-based infrastructure modeling. A traditional view-planning approach for SfM is extended to a multi-scale approach, planning for targeted regions of high, medium, and low priority. The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) can traverse the entire aerial space and facilitates collection of an optimized set of views, …
Sequential Earthquake Damage Assessment Incorporating Optimized Suav Remote Sensing At Pescara Del Tronto, Michael Freeman, Cory Vernon, Benjamin Barrett, Nicole Hastings, Jeff Derricott, Janessa Pace, Benjamin Horne, Joshua Hammond, Joseph Janson, Filiberto Chiabrando, John Hedengren, Kevin W. Franke
Sequential Earthquake Damage Assessment Incorporating Optimized Suav Remote Sensing At Pescara Del Tronto, Michael Freeman, Cory Vernon, Benjamin Barrett, Nicole Hastings, Jeff Derricott, Janessa Pace, Benjamin Horne, Joshua Hammond, Joseph Janson, Filiberto Chiabrando, John Hedengren, Kevin W. Franke
Faculty Publications
A sequence of large earthquakes in central Italy ranging in moment magnitudes (Mw) from 4.2 to 6.5 caused significant damage to many small towns in the area. After each earthquake in 2016 (24 August and 26 October), automated small unmanned aerial vehicles (sUAV) acquired valuable imagery data for post-hazard reconnaissance in the mountain village of Pescara del Tronto, and were applied to 3D reconstruction using Structure-from-Motion (SfM). In July 2018, the site was again monitored to obtain additional imagery data capturing changes since the last visit following the 30 October 2016 Earthquake. A genetic-based mission-planning algorithm that delivers optimal viewpoints …
The Development Of A Multi-Objective Optimization And Preference Tool To Improve The Design Process Of Nuclear Power Plant Systems, Paul Richard Wilding
The Development Of A Multi-Objective Optimization And Preference Tool To Improve The Design Process Of Nuclear Power Plant Systems, Paul Richard Wilding
Theses and Dissertations
The complete design process for a new nuclear power plant concept is costly, long, complicated, and the work is generally split between several specialized groups. These design groups separately do their best to design the portion of the reactor that falls in their expertise according to the design criteria before passing the design to the subsequent design group. Ultimately, the work of each design group is combined, with significant iteration between groups striving to facilitate the integration of each of the heavily interdependent systems. Such complex interaction between experts leads to three significant problems: (1) the issues associated with knowledge …
Replacement Rates Of Initially Hydrocarbon-Filled Microscopic Cavities With Water, Hans Christian Larson
Replacement Rates Of Initially Hydrocarbon-Filled Microscopic Cavities With Water, Hans Christian Larson
Theses and Dissertations
Wetting behaviors influence many aspects of life and industry from consumer product goods to oil recovery to cosmetics. While the traditional solid-liquid-vapor (SLV) system has been studied for many years now, wetting transitions in the solid-liquid-liquid (SLL) system has remained relatively unexplored. The purpose of this work is to bring light to the wetting transition of the solid-liquid-liquid system and to understand the replacement rates of initially hydrocarbon-filled microscopic cavities with water and the factors affecting these rates. Factors studied were viscosity, density, diffusion related properties, and surface related properties in both hydrocarbon-saturated and hydrocarbon-non-saturated conditions. Cylindrical microscopic cavities were …
Mass-Transfer Driven Spinodal Decomposition In A Ternary Polymer Solution, Douglas R. Tree, Lucas F. Dos Santos, Caden B. Wilson, Timothy R. Scott, Jan Ulric Garcia, Glenn H. Fredrickson
Mass-Transfer Driven Spinodal Decomposition In A Ternary Polymer Solution, Douglas R. Tree, Lucas F. Dos Santos, Caden B. Wilson, Timothy R. Scott, Jan Ulric Garcia, Glenn H. Fredrickson
Faculty Publications
Nonsolvent induced phase separation (NIPS) is a widely occuring process used in industrial membrane production, nanotechnology and Nature to produce microstructured polymer materials. A variety of process-dependent morphologies are produced when a polymer solution is exposed to a nonsolvent that, following a period where mass is exchanged, precipitates and solidifies the polymer. Despite years of investigation, both experimental and theoretical, many questions surround the pathways to the microstructures that NIPS can produce. Here, we provide simulation results from a model that simultaneously captures both the processess of solvent/nonsolvent exchange and phase separation. We show that the time it takes the …
Effect Of Support, Preparations Methods, Ag Promotion And Nc Size On The Activity, Selectivity And Sintering Deactivation Of Supported Co Fischer-Tropsch Catalyst, Mahmood Rahmati
Theses and Dissertations
A series of silver-promoted, 20 wt% cobalt Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) catalysts supported on an alumina modified with 5 wt% silica were prepared using two methods: traditional incipient wetness impregnation (IWI) and a new solvent-deficient precipitation (SDP) technique. Catalysts containing silver promoter concentrations of 0.3, 0.6, 1.2, and 2.5 wt% were prepared using each of the two methods. Silver improved the reducibility of the cobalt significantly, lowering reduction temperatures by up to 100°C, and increasing the extent of reduction by up to 35%. Further, in both preparation methods, changing the silver loading altered the cobalt dispersion. The smallest Co crystallite size …
Carbon Capture And Synergistic Energy Storage: Performance And Uncertainty Quantification, Christopher Stephen Russell
Carbon Capture And Synergistic Energy Storage: Performance And Uncertainty Quantification, Christopher Stephen Russell
Theses and Dissertations
Energy use around the world will rise in the coming decades. Renewable energy sources will help meet this demand, but renewable sources suffer from intermittency, uncontrollable power supply, geographic limitations, and other issues. Many of these issues can be mitigated by introducing energy storage technologies. These technologies facilitate load following and can effectively time-shift power. This analysis compares dedicated and synergistic energy storage technologies using energy efficiency as the primary metric.
Energy storage will help renewable sources come to the grid, but fossil fuels still dominate energy sources for decades to come in nearly all projections. Carbon capture technologies can …
Model Predictive Automatic Control Of Sucker Rod Pump System With Simulation Case Study, Brigham Hansen, Brandon Tolbert, Cory Vernon, John Hedengren
Model Predictive Automatic Control Of Sucker Rod Pump System With Simulation Case Study, Brigham Hansen, Brandon Tolbert, Cory Vernon, John Hedengren
Faculty Publications
This work enables accelerated fluid recovery in oil and gas reservoirs by automatically controlling fluid height and bottomhole pressure in wells. Several literature studies show significant increase in recovered oil by determining a target bottomhole pressure but rarely consider how to control to that value. This work enables those benefits by maintaining bottomhole pressure or fluid height. Moving Horizon Estimation (MHE) determines uncertain well parameters using only common surface measurements. A Model Predictive Controller (MPC) adjusts the stroking speed of a sucker rod pump to maintain fluid height. Pump boundary conditions are simulated with Mathematical Programs with Complementarity Constraints (MPCCs) …
Beating Clusters Created With Cardiac Extracellular Matrix From Decellularized Pig Hearts And Repopulated With Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes, Isaac Myres, Bryce Allen, Silvia Moncada, Sebastian Valencia, Beverly L. Roeder, Alonzo D. Cook
Beating Clusters Created With Cardiac Extracellular Matrix From Decellularized Pig Hearts And Repopulated With Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes, Isaac Myres, Bryce Allen, Silvia Moncada, Sebastian Valencia, Beverly L. Roeder, Alonzo D. Cook
Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2019
Due to the high prevalence of heart disease, scarcity of donors, and high risk of transplant rejection, we aim to engineer patient specific beating cardiac patches and whole hearts for transplant.
Characterization Of Pyrolysis Products From Slow Pyrolysis Of Live And Dead Vegetation Native To The Southern United States, Elham Amini, Mohammad-Saeed Safdari, Jonathan Deyoung, David R. Weise, Thomas H. Fletcher
Characterization Of Pyrolysis Products From Slow Pyrolysis Of Live And Dead Vegetation Native To The Southern United States, Elham Amini, Mohammad-Saeed Safdari, Jonathan Deyoung, David R. Weise, Thomas H. Fletcher
Faculty Publications
Prescribed (i.e., controlled) burning is a common practice used in many vegetation types in the world to accomplish a wide range of land management objectives including wildfire risk reduction, wildlife habitat improvement, forest regeneration, and land clearing. To properly apply controlled fire and reduce unwanted fire behavior, an improved understanding of fundamental processes related to combustion of live and dead vegetation is needed. Since the combustion process starts with pyrolysis, there is a need for more data and better models of pyrolysis of live and dead fuels. In this study, slow pyrolysis experiments were carried out in a pyrolyzer apparatus …
Heating Rate And Temperature Effects On Pyrolysis Products From Live Wildland Fuels, Mohammad-Saeed Safdari, Elham Amini, David R. Weise, Thomas H. Fletcher
Heating Rate And Temperature Effects On Pyrolysis Products From Live Wildland Fuels, Mohammad-Saeed Safdari, Elham Amini, David R. Weise, Thomas H. Fletcher
Faculty Publications
Wildland fire, which includes both planned (prescribed fire) and unplanned (wildfire) fires, is an important component of many ecosystems. During wildland fires, low heating rate pyrolysis (slow pyrolysis) occurs during preheating and/or smoldering of plant material. High heating rate pyrolysis (fast pyrolysis) exists in the flame region. Pyrolysis temperature and heating rate play important roles on the yields and the compositions of pyrolysis products. In this work, the effects of pyrolysis temperature and heating rate on the yields and the compositions of pyrolysis products from 14 plant species native to the forests of the southern United States are shown. The …
Correlations Of The Elemental Compositions Of Primary Coal Tar And Char, Andrew P. Richards, Colson Johnson, Thomas H. Fletcher
Correlations Of The Elemental Compositions Of Primary Coal Tar And Char, Andrew P. Richards, Colson Johnson, Thomas H. Fletcher
Faculty Publications
Simulations of large-scale coal combustors rely on accurate submodels to describe the chemical and physical changes in coal during reaction. Typically, simplified empirical submodels are tuned to experimental data to reduce the computational complexity. When data are not readily available, simplifying assumptions are used, which can create inaccuracies and biases in a large simulation. One such simplifying assumption in coal research is how to describe the elemental composition of primary pyrolysis products. This paper explores several different empirical model forms to predict the dry, ash-free fractions of C, H, O, N, and S in both the char and tar, using …
Modified Cpd Model For Coal Devolatilization At Underground Coal Thermal Treatment Conditions, Ding Wang, Thomas H. Fletcher, Swomitra Mohanty, Hoaquan Hu, Eric G. Eddings
Modified Cpd Model For Coal Devolatilization At Underground Coal Thermal Treatment Conditions, Ding Wang, Thomas H. Fletcher, Swomitra Mohanty, Hoaquan Hu, Eric G. Eddings
Faculty Publications
To study coal pyrolysis behavior at underground coal thermal treatment (UCTT) conditions, a modified CPD (M-CPD) model was developed and evaluated using two scales of experiments as well as two different coals, Utah Sufco and Illinois #6. Compared with the original CPD model, three major aspects were changed, including (1) rewriting the algorithm using MATLAB built-in functions; (2) developing a correlation method between coal elemental composition and the initial functional group population to calculate the effect of cross-linking on the lattice structure; and (3) using a two-activation energy approach for gas generation kinetics modeling. Results predicted by the M-CPD model …
Review Of Carbonaceous Annealing Effects On O2 And Co2 Coal Reactivity, Troy Michael Holland, Thomas H. Fletcher, Osvalda Senneca
Review Of Carbonaceous Annealing Effects On O2 And Co2 Coal Reactivity, Troy Michael Holland, Thomas H. Fletcher, Osvalda Senneca
Faculty Publications
Coal is, and will remain for the foreseeable future, a critical energy production resource. Advanced models of coal conversion behavior in air and oxy-coal environments enhance the boiler operational efficiency and design optimization. Although coal conversion models have continuously improved over decades of research, not all aspects of coal particle heating and conversion have received equal treatment. Coal particle annealing is one aspect of the coal conversion process that is simultaneously highly sensitive to the conversion environment, exceptionally impactful on coal chemistry, and frequently neglected in coal models. However, the current body of literature has explored numerous aspects of coal …
Pyrolysis Kinetics Of Live And Dead Wildland Vegetation From The Southern United States, Elham Amini, Mohammad-Saeed Safdari, David R. Weise, Thomas H. Fletcher
Pyrolysis Kinetics Of Live And Dead Wildland Vegetation From The Southern United States, Elham Amini, Mohammad-Saeed Safdari, David R. Weise, Thomas H. Fletcher
Faculty Publications
The fundamental combustion behavior of live wildland vegetation is not fully understood. Since the combustion process during wildland fire starts with pyrolysis, there is a need for better understanding of pyrolysis to develop improved wildland fire models. The kinetics of pyrolysis of live and dead wildland vegetation has not been explored in detail. In this study, the pyrolysis kinetics were determined for 14 different plant species (live and dead) which are all native to the forests in the southern United States. Pyrolysis experiments were carried out in a Thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) under inert conditions at 5 different heating rates ranged …