Engineering Commons^™

Catalytic Transfer Hydrogenation Reactions Of Lipids, Alexander Asiedu

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Catalytic transfer hydrogenation (CTH) of lipids was investigated using 2-propanol as hydrogen donor for producing liquid hydrocarbons, e.g. jet fuels. The main sources of lipids selected in this study were waste cooking oil (WCO) and oil-laden algae-derived biofuel intermediate (BI). Two different catalysts were employed in this study, namely activated carbon and trimetallic-doped zeolite.

The CTH reaction was between WCO and 2-propanol in a continuous flow reactor over a packed-bed activated carbon at near atmospheric pressure. Results revealed a high level of alkenes and aromatics compounds, which are not stable and are not environmentally unfriendly. To reduce these compounds in …

Carboxylic Acid Hydrodeoxygenation Over Supported Noble Metal Catalysts, Joshua Gopeesingh

Dissertations - ALL

Carboxylic acid hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) over supported noble metal catalysts was carried out in order identify the main challenges associated with supported monometallic catalysts and identifying solutions that may increase the practicality of these high activity metals. Using propionic acid as a probe molecule, it was found that supported platinum (Pt) and ruthenium (Ru) catalysts have two main issues: selectivity and stability. Both metals are quite unselective towards HDO products, multiple chemistries occur over the catalysts that lead to a myriad of undesired products. Decarbonylation (DCN) is the most selective pathway over Pt catalysts, while both DCN and methanation chemistries are …

A Study Of Protein And Peptide-Directed Nanoparticle Synthesis For Catalytic Materials, Abdollah Mosleh

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nanoparticles have received much attentions due to their unique properties that makes them suitable candidates for a broad range of applications. As the size of particles decreases, their surface area-to-volume ratio would increase which is the main cause of much attention. In addition to the size, their morphologies and compositions may also play important roles for defining unique properties. Nanoparticle synthesis include both bottom-up and top-down strategies. To control the process of inorganic nanoparticles synthesis one could follow the bottom-up approach to have atom-level control over their compositions, morphologies, phases, and sizes which is the subject of this work. Due …

Method Of Development And Use Of Catalyst-Functionalized Catalytic Particles To Increase The Mass Transfer Rate Of Solvents Used In Acid Gas Cleanup, Leland R. Widger, Cameron A. Lippert, Kunlei Liu

Center for Applied Energy Research Faculty Patents

The present invention relates to methods for improving carbon capture using entrained catalytic-particles within an amine solvent. The particles are functionalized and appended with a CO₂ hydration catalyst to enhance the kinetics of CO₂ hydration and improve overall mass transfer of CO₂ from an acid gas.

Functionalization Of 2d-Zno For Selective Gas Sensing: First-Principles Analysis, Alaa F. M. Shaheen

Mechanical Engineering Theses

The scope of this MSc thesis is to theoretically search for suitable materials and relevant factors (e.g., dopants and catalysts) to induce gas sensing (GS) selectivity towards harmful gases such as H₂, H₂S, and CO₂, under ambient conditions. We chose as material 2D-ZnO Honeycomb in the form of nanoribbon (ZnO-NR), which is very promising in the gas sensing applications. We employed a state-of-the-art computational method, based on a combination of the density-functional theory (DFT) and the Non-Equilibrium Green’s Functions (NEGF) formalism, which both are incorporated in Atomistic Toolkit (ATK) package. This package is famous …

Development Of A Ws2 Catalyst For Hydrogen Evolution And Improvement Via Platinum Nanoparticle Decoration, Alexander O'Brien

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

In response to a growing global need to improve utilization of green energy, the concept of renewable energy storage via electrolytic hydrogen production has gained popularity in recent years. However, the prohibitive expense of the bulk platinum catalysts currently used for the hydrogen evolution reaction prevents such a concept from being widely adoptable. This research focuses on a possible alternative catalyst, nanolayer WS₂, which is capable of promoting the hydrogen evolution reaction while maintaining economic viability. Bulk WS₂ was prepared in semiconducting, nanolayer form through liquid phase exfoliation. Prepared catalyst inks consisting of this material demonstrated successful …

Investigation Of Microwave-Assisted Synthesis Of Palladium Nanoparticles Supported On Fe3o4 As Efficient Recyclable Magnetic Catalysts For Suzuki-Miyaura Cross-Coupling, Hany A. Elazab

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this research, a facile and reproducible approach was implemented for the synthesis of palladium nanoparticles supported on Fe₃O₄ with remarkable activity as an ideal catalyst for Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling. Magnetite supported Pd nanoparticles reveal high activity in Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reactions since they could be recycled up to seven times with the same high catalytic activity. This adopted method of catalyst synthesis has many advantages, including reproducibility and the reliability of the adopted synthetic method. The produced catalyst has unique magnetic properties to facilitate catalyst recovery from the reaction mixture by using a strong magnet as an external …

A Study Of Catalytic Microcombustion For A Portable Power Supply Device, Bhanuprakash Reddy Guggilla

Theses and Dissertations

The essential need for portable and dense power sources has been greatly increased with the prevalence of portable electronic devices in the past decade. Catalytic combustion of hydrocarbon and oxygenated fuels has the potential to provide an alternative power source for portable electronic devices by replacing relatively today's heavy battery technology. A successful self-ignition and sustainable catalyst combustion for a variety of fuels using Platinum (Pt)-impregnated substrate was demonstrated in our previous work.

Present work explores the performance of a microcombustion thermoelectric coupled (MTC) device with improved reactor configuration design. Chemically synthesized platinum nanoparticles with particle diameters of approx. 8 …

Investigation Of Microwave-Assisted Synthesis Of Palladium Nanoparticles Supported On Fe3o4 As Efficient Recyclable Magnetic Catalysts For Suzuki-Miyaura Cross-Coupling, Hany A. Elazab Dr

Chemical Engineering

In this research, a facile and reproducible approach was implemented for synthesis of palladium nano particles supported on Fe₃O₄ with remarkable activity as an ideal catalyst for Suzuki Cross – Coupling. Magnetite supported Pd nano particles reveals a high activity towards Suzuki coupling reactions as it could be recycled up to seven times with the same high catalytic activity. This adopted method of catalyst synthesis has so many advantages as reproduciblity, and reliability of the adopted synthetic method. The produced catalyst has unique magnetic properties to facilitate the catalyst recovery from the reaction mixture through using a …

Elucidation Of The Catalytic Partial Oxidation Of Methane Utilizing The One-Of-A-Kind Catalytic Shock Tube Technique, Robyn E. Smith

Dissertations and Theses

The mechanism for the catalytic partial oxidation of methane has been debated in scientific literature for over 20 years. This is a seemingly simple reaction producing CO, CO₂, H₂ and H₂O through either partial oxidation followed by complete oxidation or complete oxidation followed by reforming steps. What is happening when the reaction is allowed to occur in an environment absent of transport limitations, absent of temperature gradients and temperature changes, absent of boundary layers must be understood and, until now, has yet to be achieved in one experimental technique.

A novel method using a one …