Engineering Commons^™

Computational Catalysis: Creating A User-Friendly Tool For Research And Education, Kevin P. Greenman, Peilin Liao

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Catalysis is used in a significant portion of production processes in the industrialized world, including most processing of chemicals and fuels. This makes maximizing the efficiency of catalysts a high priority. However, the immense number of candidates for new catalysts precludes the possibility of testing all of them by experiments. Density functional theory (DFT) has been widely and successfully used to calculate material properties relevant to catalysis and to screen promising candidates for experimental testing, but there currently exists no publicly- available, user-friendly tool for performing these DFT calculations. This work details the development of such a tool for nanoHUB.org …

Scaling Relationships Across Chemically Related Adsorbates For Fast Screening Of Alloy Catalysts For Propane Dehydrogenation, Anne Esther Serban, Ranga Rohit Seemakurthi, Brandon C. Bukowski, Jeffrey Greeley

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

A catalyst is a material which speeds up the rate of a specific reaction. A reaction that is of significant importance to the chemical industry is the selective transformations of light alkanes (ethane, propane), which are largely available in shale gas, to olefins. These olefins can then be converted into higher-value chemicals, materials, and fuels. However, there are several undesired reactions that take place alongside the main dehydrogenation reaction, so a catalyst of high selectivity is desired. Apart from the industrially used PtSn catalyst, work by our experimental collaborators has shown that various other Pt and Pd alloys (In, Zn) …

Thermophotovoltaic Devices: Combustion Chamber Optimization And Modelling To Maximize Fuel Efficiency, Arnold Chris Toppo, Ernesto Marinero, Zhaxylyk Kudyshev

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Currently, 110 billion cubic meters of natural gas (primarily methane), a potent greenhouse gas, are flared off for environmental and safety reasons. This process results in enough fuel to provide the combined natural gas consumption of Germany and France. The research team developed a thermophotovoltaic device to convert thermal energy to electricity at a high efficiency using proprietary emitters and combustion system. With the current focus being fuel efficiency and the combustion process, the assembly was simulated using ANSYS Fluent modelling software and the following parameters were optimized: air/fuel ratios, flow rates, and inlet sizes. Simultaneously the heat transfer across …

Evaluation And Analysis Of Ethane Transformation To Liquid Hydrocarbons Through Steam Cracking, Christian Omar Villa Santos, Wasiu Peter Oladipupo, Taufik Ridha, Rakesh Agrawal

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Process design and sensitivity studies for a steam cracking reactor was performed. Steam cracking is commonly employed to convert ethane to ethylene, a building block of many other products. Although this technology is generally employed at large scale (>6 Billion pounds of ethylene per year), understanding the process and its economic performance is critical to set target criteria for other processes under development. Aspen Plus was used to simulate the ethane steam cracking reactor and other process units. Sensitivity analysis was performed to determine the most efficient and cost-effective operation regarding product yield. The results show that the maximum …

Electronic Effect Of Platinum Alloy Catalysts On Olefin Hydrogenation Kinetics, Colin Reedy, Jeff Miller, Stephen Purdy

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Dehydrogenation of alkanes is the first step in transforming light hydrocarbons into liquid fuels and chemicals. This process has traditionally used platinum alloys as catalysts. Alloys are used industrially because they have a greater selectivity than monometallic platinum. Alloying platinum with an inactive promoter modifies the crystalline structure of the surface (geometric effect), and the 5d electrons in platinum responsible for chemistry (electronic effect); both have been suggested to be primarily responsible for dehydrogenation selectivity in platinum alloys. Alloy catalysts have been synthesized using early 3d transition metal promoters with the same Pt₃M crystal structure. X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy …

Bringing Particle Scale Properties Into Descriptions Of Powder Behavior Through The Enhanced Centrifuge Method, Andrew R. Roginski, Caralyn A. Coultas-Mckenney, Contessa G. Norris, Stephen P. Beaudoin

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Inconsistent powder behavior introduces problems such as agglomeration, poor flowability, dust hazards, and segregation that decrease efficiency in powder processing environments. Understanding how a powder interacts with a surface at the particle scale provides insight into how to accommodate individual particle properties and avoid process deficiencies. This project uses an enhanced centrifuge technique to evaluate the adhesion between a stainless-steel surface and a powder comprised of fluorescent particles. Particles are deposited onto stainless steel plates which are rotated in a centrifuge. The adhesion properties are monitored by tracking the rotational speed at which particles of a known size are removed …

Developing Strategies To Toughen Bio-Inspired Adhesives, Narelli P. Narciso, Samuel Lee Huntington, Jonathan J. Wilker

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Mussels and other marine creatures adhere very well in underwater environments, having the ability to withstand the force of the sea. These animals have inspired synthetic biomimetic adhesives for wet systems, presenting potential for biomedical applications. However, most current commercial adhesives tend to be brittle, not resisting repetitive movements. This study assesses toughening strategies to improve the mussel-inspired adhesives’ ductility while maintaining its strength. The strategies included altering the polymer’s chemical structure by changing the percentage of polyethylene glycol (PEG) in the molecule and by adding fillers, such as calcium carbonate, silica and nacre - a calcium carbonate compound found …

Targeted Epigenetic Editing Using Optogenetic Tools, Joshua Hahn, Chongli Yuan

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Epigenetics markers, such as DNA methylation and histone post-translational modifications, are modifications to the structure of DNA that impact gene expression without altering the genetic code. Among them, DNA methylation plays a critical role in various biological processes including the differentiation of stem cells, regulation of gene expression, and adaptation to environmental signals. The ability to modify DNA methylation at particular genes in various cell types is thus desirable for engineering specific cell phenotypes. Although technologies exist that can alter DNA methylation at target genes, these techniques lack spatial and temporal resolution and are not able to selectively edit individual …

Platinum-Gallium (Pt-Ga) Intermetallic Alloys For Propane Dehydrogenation, Brittany K. Roopnarine, Nicole J. Libretto, Johnny Zhuchen, Zhenwei Wu, Evan Wegener, Griffin Canning, Abhaya K. Datye, Jeffrey T. Miller

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Natural gas is a source of energy for the United States. The Center for Innovative Strategic Transformation of Alkane Resources (CISTAR) plans to use shale gas extracted from shale rock formations as a bridge fuel to replace coal and oil while the US transitions to renewable energy like solar and wind. After methane, the largest components in shale gas are light alkanes such as ethane and propane. These can be catalytically converted to olefins, which can be further reacted to produce fuels, for example. Olefins from alkanes can be accomplished by dehydrogenation by promoted platinum alloys. This study compares the …

Investigation Of The Effects Of Solid-State Treatments On The Structure And Mobility Of Copper In Zeolites, Jiayang Wu, Laura Wilcox, Rajamani Gounder

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Zeolites are microporous, aluminosilicate catalysts that play an important role in industrial applications as well as studies for the fundamental understanding of catalysts for emerging reactions of interest. The introduction of aluminum into the zeolite lattice introduces a negative charge on the framework that can be balanced with extra-framework cations. The control of the aluminum distribution and the choice of charge balancing cations allows for the ability to tailor the active sites to facilitate a desired reaction. This research focuses on studying copper active sites in zeolites. Copper oxide was used as a copper precursor to introduce copper ions in …

Identification Of Proximal And Isolated Aluminum Heteroatoms In Zeolites By Infrared Spectroscopy, Melanie A. Brunet Torres, Philip Kester, Rajamani Gounder

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

High demand for energy production and limited fossil fuel reserves are two factors that motivate intense research for new alternative energy resources. While we are still far from completely moving to renewable energy solutions, a new solution that replaces crude oil and coal with shale gas is currently under investigation. For this modern technology, new zeolite catalysts need to be developed for the conversion of light hydrocarbons gases to liquid transportation fuels. These catalysts are of special interest in the production of liquid fuels since they exhibit high reaction rates, molecular sieving properties and selectivity behavior. In this work, the …

Steady-State Method To Measure The In-Plane Thermal Conductivity Of Thin Sheet Materials, Evgeny Pakhomenko, Andrew James Wildridge, Abraham Mathew Koshy, Souvik Das, Andreas Jung

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

A new generation of silicon pixel detectors is required to cope with the unprecedented luminosities at the high-luminosity phase of the Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) in 2025. The HL-LHC provides a high radiation, high interaction rate environment for the innermost detector region of the CMS detector. This can lead to an uncontrolled increase in temperature of the detector that can destroy the silicon pixels. Moreover, too high operating temperature can add noise to the data obtained from the detector and can slow the read out cheap down. Therefore, the Phase II upgrade to the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment requires …

Image Analysis Of A Vesicle To Calculate The Bending Modulus, Pheobe Appel, Charlie Lin, Vivek Narsimhan

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The cell membrane is an essential component of living cells and the dynamics of the membrane will provide insight into how a biological cell reacts to mechanical strain. Membrane mechanics are important in a variety of cellular processes like secretion, trafficking, signaling, and storage. Giant unilamellar vesicles are a model system for cellular membranes since the major component of all membranes is a phospholipid bilayer. Giant unilamellar vesicles allow one to examine physicochemical processes that occur in all cellular membranes, such as fusion, budding, and fission in a more controlled fashion. Contour fluctuations of the vesicles are analyzed to calculate …

Surface Tension, Interfacial Tension And Phase Behavior: Interactions Of Surfactant/Polymer Solutions With Crude Oil, Michael A. Steinerd, Jaeyub Chung, Bryan W. Boudouris, Nathan C. Schultheiss, Elias I. Franses

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Advanced oil recovery techniques, beyond primary and secondary recovery, are required in order to produce additional oil in existing reservoir rock. Here, we evaluated a combination of polymer and surfactant aqueous solutions, in order to generate a working fluid capable of achieving high-performance enhanced oil recovery (EOR). In this recovery process, surfactant is added to the water flooding mixture in order to lower the interfacial tension between the oil and the water. If the interfacial tension can be decreased by ~1,000-fold, then the aqueous solution can mobilize and displace the oil. Moreover, a polymer is added to the aqueous solution …

Modeling The Aqueous-Phase Copper Ion-Exchange Behavior Onto Ssz-13 Zeolites, Brian N. Bayer, Rajamani Gounder, Trevor M. Lardinois

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Copper-exchanged zeolites are utilized as catalysts for the selective catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxides, which are atmospheric pollutants found in diesel engine exhaust. The total amount of copper ions and the types of copper species (Cu(II) or Cu(II)OH) exchanged onto a zeolite can be varied. Copper is exchanged onto SSZ-13 (an aluminosilicate zeolite with the chabazite topology) during a process known as aqueous ion exchange, where the zeolite is mixed in a copper-containing solution. The distribution of copper on SSZ-13 is influenced by exchange conditions, including the molarity, temperature, and pH of the copper solution. The effect of exchange conditions …

Metabolic Comparison Of Wild-Type And Transgenic Synechocystis Pcc 6803 Cyanobacteria, Ian A. Mcluckey, John A. Morgan, Joel Yu King Hing

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The Calvin-Benson (CBB) cycle is an essential part of nature. This phenomenon allows carbon molecules in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to be converted into useful energy in the form of sugars. Cyanobacteria are single-celled organisms capable of utilizing energy from sunlight to drive this cycle and are also readily engineered. In hopes of improving this cycle, we compared a wild-type version of the Synechocystis PCC6803 cyanobacteria to an engineered version overexpressing the enzyme FBA (fructose-biphosphate aldolase), called 70 glpX, to deduce how the overexpressing strain is able to be more photosynthetically efficient. To do this, comparative metabolomics were done …

Capsule-Based Dropwise Additive Manufacturing With Pharmaceutical Suspensions, Kaitlyn N. Buck, Andrew J. Radcliffe, Gintaras V. Reklaitis

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Current manufacturing of pharmaceutical products focuses on creating a standard dosage of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API); however, dosages often need to be altered or customized to account for a patient’s age, weight, comorbidity, and other genetic factors. A potential method for dispensing precise dosages of API suspensions through dropwise addition is detailed in the following paper. By using a drop-on-demand printing rig, a series of suspensions comprised of varying volume fractions of a micron-scale API in a carrier fluid were printed, and individual drop volumes were analyzed using high-resolution imaging. From this, capsules with 1 mg dosages and 100 …

Carbon Removal And Optoelectronic Property Tuning In Copper Arsenic Sulfide Thin Films Through Ligand Exchange And Alloying, Louis R. Schroeder, Scott Mcclary, Rakesh Agrawal

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Solution processed thin film solar cells are attractive alternatives to conventional energy sources due to low waste generation, flexibility in substrate choice, and scalability. The novel semiconductor Cu3AsS4 in the enargite phase has a near ideal band gap of 1.4 eV and has earth abundant constituent elements; yet single-junction solar cells have yielded low efficiencies due to a secondary carbonaceous phase present, among other issues. This carbonaceous phase may be eliminated by exchanging the carbonaceous ligands with molecular metal chalcogenides. To characterize the ligand exchanged particles, UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and …

Novel Synthesis Of Cigs Nanoparticles For Scalable, Benign Inks For Solution Processed Solar Cells, Jacob Fields, Ryan Ellis, Rakesh Agrawal

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

One potential production route to high efficiency, low cost, photovoltaics (PVs) which was explored is Copper Indium Gallium Sulfide (CIGS) nanocrystal inks for solution processed PVs. A common CIGS nanocrystal ink synthesis utilizes ligands—molecules attached to the particle surface—for colloidal stability, size control, and shape control. It is desirable to devise a novel synthesis which will incorporate a ligand that allows suspensions in more benign solvents than current methods—a desirable characteristic for large scale production. In order to develop the aforementioned synthesis of CIGS nanoparticles, an optimization study of synthesis parameters was performed. Selection of an appropriate solvent, and sulfur …

Modal Phonon Transport Across Interfaces By Non-Equilibrium Molecular Dynamics Simulation, Yang Zhong, Tianli Feng, Xiulin Ruan

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Phonons represent the quantization of lattice vibration, responsible for heat transfer in semiconductors and dielectrics. Phonon heat conduction across interfaces is crucially important for the thermal management of real-life devices such as smartphones, electric vehicles, and satellites. Although recent studies have broadly investigated spectral phonon contribution to lattice thermal conductivity, the mechanism of phonon modal transport across interfaces is still not well-understood. Previous models, including the acoustic mismatch model (AMM) and diffuse mismatch model (DMM), only consider elastic process while neglecting inelastic phonon contributions. Herein, we employ spectral Non-Equilibrium Molecular Dynamics Simulation (NEMD) to probe the temperature and heat flux …

Separation Of Rare Earth Elements From Aluminum Using Ion-Exchange Chromatography, Shabrina Nurfitriani, Hoon Choi, Nien-Hwa Linda Wang

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Demand of rare earth elements (REEs) has increased tremendously due to their key roles in electronics and emerging technology. Recently, new technology was developed at Purdue to extract REEs from coal fly ash. This study is focused on the separation of aluminum ions (Al), a major impurity in the extract, from REEs. The goal is to test the feasibility of an ion-exchange process for separating REEs from a highly-concentrated Al solution. First, we reduced the resin particle size to decrease dispersion and diffusion effects, to increase resin productivity, and to reduce the amounts of REEs and the ion-exchange resin required …

Quantification And Characterization Of Aluminum Distributions In Commercial Beta And Mordenite Zeolites By Cobalt Exchange, Rebecca L. Reitzel, Claire T. Nimlos, Rajamani Gounder

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The aluminum distribution throughout the zeolite framework determines the structural, ion-exchange and catalytic properties of the zeolite. Several methods have been proposed to control the Al distribution, but in order to accurately assess these methods a procedure is needed to quantify Al distribution in various zeolite frameworks. Co²⁺ ions exchange onto the zeolite framework at Al pairs, and atomic absorbance spectroscopy (AAS) can be used to quantify the number of exchanged Co²⁺ ions and, in turn, the overall number of Al pairs. Each framework exhibits differences in pore size and channel configuration which affect the equilibrium conditions needed …

Effect Of Conveying And Distributive Mixing Elements On Breakage Phenomenon In Twin Screw Granulation, Jiayu Li, Shankali U Pradhan, Carl Wassgren

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Twin screw wet granulation (TSG) is gaining more attention and becoming an important process in the pharmaceutical industry. The process is widely implemented because of its flexibility, short residence time, and small equipment footprint. Past studies have shown that screw elements can have a significant impact on the performance of the TSG process. In addition, these studies identified that breakage of wet mass is a significant step in the process. Currently there is no literature that focuses on the effect of each screw element on the breakage process. In this work, experiments have been designed to isolate the breakage process …

Hydrophobic Zeolites For Applications In Adsorption And Catalysis, Zige Huang, Michael Cordon, Rajamani Gounder

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Lewis acidic zeolites such as Sn-Beta are commonly studied for use as selective catalysts for glucose isomerization to fructose in liquid water. Glucose to fructose isomerization is a critical reaction for lignocellulosic biomass upgrading, which converts abundant and renewable feedstocks into commercially desirable fuels and chemicals.

Industrial applications require catalysts that maintain optimal reactivity over long time scales, yet at typical reaction temperatures, Lewis acidic Beta zeolites are known to deactivate in liquid water through poorly understood mechanisms. Recent work in our group has shown that interactions between water and Sn-Beta zeolites can cause leaching of active Sn sites from …

Continuous Ligand-Assisted Elution Chromatography Applied To Separation Of Rare Earth Elements, Jeremy A. Weinstock, David M. Harvey, N.-H. Linda Wang

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Rare earth elements (REEs) are metals used to make many valuable products such as magnets and electronics. Following their extraction from larger materials, REEs are to be separated into their individual components as high purity is required for product manufacture. Purification is very difficult because most (15/17) of the REEs are lanthanides (Ln’s) and Ln ions have the same valence and similar atomic radii. The current industrial process for purifying REEs involves using toxic solvents to perform a series of liquid-liquid extractions. Ling and Wang (2015) proposed a ligand-assisted batch chromatography process to purify Ln’s. The latter approach is a …

Exploring The Effects Of Aromatic Molecules In Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery, Jacob M. Crain, Cliff Johnston, Rituraj Borgohain

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Chemical enhanced oil recovery (cEOR) methods are being used as a viable contributor to the world’s growing energy demands. Due to the complex chemical composition of crude oil, attempting to optimize the surfactant concentration and salinity of formulations is done empirically. This process can be very time intensive due to the wide variety of surfactant structures available for cEOR. Surfactant selection is typically done by matching the average chain length of the oil with that of the surfactant. In this study, we are trying to understand how aromatic structures present in Illinois Basin crude oil interact with surfactants. This will …

Pt-Cu Catalysts For Catalytic Dehydrogenation Of Alkanes For Energy Production, Zixue Ma, Zhenwei Wu, Jeffrey T. Miller

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

More active, selective and stable catalysts are in demand to increase the yields of olefins production from light alkane dehydrogenation. Cu was reported to promote Pt catalysts and Pt-Cu catalysts has been shown to achieve increased olefin selectivity and decreased deactivation rate. Pt-Cu catalysts with different Pt:Cu molar ratios may have different crystal structure and performance. This study seeks to understand of the promotion effect of Cu on Pt alkane dehydrogenation catalysts. Four different Pt-Cu catalysts with different atomic ratios were prepared and tested for propane dehydrogenation at 550℃. Synchrotron in situ X-ray diffraction and X-ray absorption spectroscopy are used …

Amine-Thiol Solution Route Method For Fabricating Cdxzn1-Xs Thin Film Solar Cells, Preston D. Fernandez, Xianyi Hu, Carol Handwerker, Rakesh Agrawal

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Cadmium zinc sulfide, CdZnS, is a promising material for the buffer layer of thin film solar cells because the alloy is considerably more cost effective and more optimizable than pure cadmium sulfide, CdS, in terms of band gap. The current fabrication methods of the buffer layer often require expensive equipment or produce undesirable impurities in the alloy. This study investigates a cost effective and scalable solution route method to synthesize the CdZnS buffer layer. Molecular precursors of CdZnS were dissolved in varying molecular ratios of cadmium and zinc in a mixture of hexylamine and propanethiol. The resulting alloys produced were …

Production Of Porous Alginate Substrates Via Membrane Emulsification For Pharmaceutical Applications, Genesis D. Correa-Rivera, David A. Acevedo, Zoltan K. Nagy

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released in 2013 a report that established the pharmaceuticals current good manufacturing practices for the 21^st century. This report encourages the creation of new technology in the pharmaceutical industry. Therefore, this research aims to develop a reliable method to produce porous polymers particles to be used in a novel continuous crystallization in porous substrate. The aim of the current work is to create porous polymer microspheres with uniform particle size distribution using a commercially available membrane emulsification system. In the present study, the emulsification was made using a dispersed phase composed of miglyol …

Analysis Of The Fabrication Conditions In Organic Field-Effect Transistors, Rachel M. Rahn, Yan Zhao, Jianguo Mei

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Polymer-based organic field-effect transistors have raised substantial awareness because they enable low-cost, solution processing techniques, and have the potential to be implemented in flexible, disposable organic electronic devices. The performance of these devices is highly dependent on the processing conditions, as well as the intrinsic properties of the polymer. Processing conditions play an important role in semiconductor film formation and device performance. These factors may provide an important link between structure and performance. In this study, an empirical analysis tool, Process Scout, was applied to assess processing factors such as polymer concentration and silicon modification. This sanctioned the creation of …