Engineering Commons^™

Rotating Heater Pyrolyzer (Rhp): A New Pyrolysis Technology For Biochar Production, Ariel Porat

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Biochar provides an effective and inexpensive carbon sequestration technology to combat climate change. It is formed through a process known as pyrolysis; where biomass is thermally decomposed in the absence of oxygen. In this study, a new pyrolysis reactor called the Rotating Heater Pyrolyzer (RHP) was designed and built for biochar production. RHP derived biochar properties were compared to biochars produced with a standard batch pyrolysis reactor (Pyrolytic Shaker Reactor (PSR)) to determine RHP performance. Using several biochar characterization techniques, the soil amendment potential of two solid anaerobic digestate feedstocks were investigated. Woodchip RHP derived biochar processed between 2-3 hrs …

A Comprehensive Study Of Sequential Simulated Moving Bed: Purification Of Xylo-Oligosaccharides And Fructose-Glucose, Yan Li

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Chromatographic separation is a promising alternative for separation and purification of sugars in industry. Simulated moving bed (SMB) technique has been proven as an efficient chromatographic separation method due to its enhanced productivity and purity, reduced solvent consumption, convenient operating control, and improved separation performance for some systems with low resolution and selectivity. The sequential simulated moving bed (SSMB) is a modification of the conventional SMB process, which currently has some applications for sugar separation due to its low solvent consumption. This work mainly investigates the design strategy of the innovative SSMB process and explore its advantages and disadvantages over …

Development Of A Co-Rotating, Fully Intermeshing Twin-Screw Extruder Model For The Extrusion Of Natural Fibre Suspensions, Keller J H George

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Twin-screw extruders are continuous processing devices that have been used in many industries concerned with the processing of multiphase fibrous suspensions, such as the food and pulping industries. While these devices offer great flexibility due to their modularity and customizability, optimization for specific applications can be challenging due to the unavailability of reliable, global models with accurate predictive capabilities. Consequently, this work seeks to eliminate this knowledge gap with the development of a novel global, composite model capable of predicting key process outputs for suspension-processing, phase-separating, co-rotating, fully-intermeshing twin-screw extruders. Creation of the novel global algorithm involved the modification of …

Hydrodynamics Studies Of Air Dense Medium Fluidized Bed With Binary Mixtures For Dry Coal Beneficiation, Zhijie Fu

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

A systematic and comprehensive study of fluidization hydrodynamics and separation properties was conducted in a bench-scale and a semi-industrial Air Dense Medium Fluidized Bed (ADMFB) systems for dry coal beneficiation. In order to achieve the adjustment of fluidized bed density for efficient dry gravity separation, various types of binary mixtures of solid particles were tested and used as the medium materials in ADMFB. Fluidization hydrodynamics including minimum fluidization velocity, fluidized bed expansion, solids mixing/segregation, and bed density distribution were carefully investigated. A series of continuous experiments of raw coal dry beneficiation were successfully implemented in a semi-industrial ADMFB system with …

Enhanced Carbon Fiber-Epoxy Composites For Rowing Racing Shells, Rayehe Samimi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis investigates the thermomechanical properties of two commercial composites using carbon fiber reinforcement in epoxy resins for manufacturing marine based rowing racing shells. The main goal of this project was to investigate how to control the resin properties and curing temperatures to improve the final product properties including adhesion, toughness modulus and tensile strength. Moreover, an efficient curing process was required by our supporting company to be used at low temperatures to enhance the curing characteristics and to provide improved mechanical properties. Accordingly, the current research tries to improve the manufacturing curing process and build up high performance structure …

Effect Of Coagulant Recycling On Chemically Enhanced Primary Treatment Performance, Tulip Chakraborty

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT) process is a promising method for carbon redirection and improving the performance and efficiency of wastewater treatment processes. CEPT is employed to precipitate colloidal and suspended matter from wastewater; however, this requires a significant amount of coagulant and produces large volumes of sludge. Coagulant recovery (CR) from the precipitated sludge has the potential to reduce sludge quantities, associated costs for disposal of sludge, cost of dosing fresh coagulant by regenerating and purifying the coagulant before reuse. This research was conducted to understand the feasibility and implications of CR in municipal wastewater.

In order to evaluate …

Analysis And Control Of Aluminum Concentration In Groundwater: Mathematical Modelling And Laboratory Study, Daria Popugaeva

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The remediation of metal-contaminated natural water bodies is prioritized due to metals toxicity, non-biodegradable properties, and accumulative behaviours leading to the increased incidence of adverse health effects. Current investigation is driven by the existing problem of elevated aluminum concentrations in the groundwater of Khibiny alkaline massif (Kola Peninsula). The prohibitive aluminum level exceeding the accepted standard of 0.20 mg L⁻¹ is described as a serious health concern when the groundwater used for the local water supply. The results of comprehensive field data analysis based on chemometric methods applied to the available monitoring data including 12 groundwater quality parameters are …