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Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Catalytic Waste Gasification: Water-Gas Shift & Selectivity Of Oxidation For Polyethylene, Mason J. Lang
Catalytic Waste Gasification: Water-Gas Shift & Selectivity Of Oxidation For Polyethylene, Mason J. Lang
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As landfills approach capacity and take up valuable land space, metropolitan areas have realized the need for waste disposal alternatives. Thus, there has been a widespread use of waste incinerators in Europe and the United States [1]; [2]. Although newer technology has made incinerators more efficient, there is an increasing interest in formulating `greener’ alternatives to incinerators. Gasification converts organic and carbonaceous materials into a combination of gaseous products known as “syngas,” or synthetic gas. This process greatly reduces the amount of hazardous emissions. The syngas produced by gasifiers has a wide range of uses, including their conversion into diesel, …
Adsorption Induced Solid Phase Transition Of Mil-53(Al), Rushik G. Bandodkar
Adsorption Induced Solid Phase Transition Of Mil-53(Al), Rushik G. Bandodkar
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Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are nano-porous solids with potential applications in a wide range of fields including gas separation and catalysis. A number of metal organic frameworks show structural transformation and exceptional flexibility on changing the temperature, pressure and adsorption of certain guest molecules. On the contrary, most of the porous solids like zeolites and activated carbon used in applications are rigid. The structural flexibility makes MOF materials very interesting to study and show promise in applications such as sensors, actuators, membrane separation and adsorptive separation. In this study, we examine the chemical potential difference (Δμ) of MIL-53 (Al), a …
Measurement Of Red Blood Cell Oxygenation State By Magnetophoresis, Nina A. Smith
Measurement Of Red Blood Cell Oxygenation State By Magnetophoresis, Nina A. Smith
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Magnetophoresis of red blood cells (RBCs) at varying partial pressures of oxygen (pO2) is hypothesized to rejuvenate stored blood to be utilized beyond the FDA regulated 42-day storage time. Magnetophoresis is a particle or cells motion induced by an applied magnetic field in a viscous media. The average magnetophoretic mobility of an oxygenated RBC is -0.126x10-6 mm3-s/kg, and a deoxygenated RBC is 3.66x10-6 mm3-s/kg, presenting magnetophoresis as a resource for RBC rejuvenation in hopes of storing it longer than 42 days. The main objective of this paper was to determine if controlling the pO2 within an RBC suspension, can singly- …
Limits Of Small Scale Pressure Swing Adsorption, Aaron A. Moran
Limits Of Small Scale Pressure Swing Adsorption, Aaron A. Moran
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Portable or small scale pressure swing adsorption (PSA) systems have gained increasing popularity in both industry and literature due to the commercial success of personal oxygen concentrators (POCs). While these processes have much in common with larger PSA systems, significant differences exist that make understanding process limitations difficult. These include faster cycle times, smaller adsorbent particles, and a reduced column size. Macropore diffusion is traditionally assumed to control the mass transfer rate in columns packed with zeolite particles in an oxygen production process. While numerous studies have confirmed this assumption for the particle size used in industrial size PSA processes, …
High-Throughput Metabolism-Induced Toxicity Assays On A 384-Pillar Plate, Sooyeion Kang
High-Throughput Metabolism-Induced Toxicity Assays On A 384-Pillar Plate, Sooyeion Kang
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The U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched the Transform Tox Testing Challenge in 2016 with the goal of developing practical methods that can be integrated into conventional high-throughput screening (HTS) assays to better predict the toxicity of parent compounds and their metabolites in vivo. In response to this need and to retrofit existing HTS assays for assessing metabolism-induced toxicity of compounds, we have developed a 384-pillar plate that is complementary to traditional 384-well plates and ideally suited for culturing human cells in three dimensions (3D) at a microscale. Briefly, human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells in a mixture of alginate …
Treatment Of Dye Wastewater Using Dehydrated Peanut Hull, Nikitha Shamirpet
Treatment Of Dye Wastewater Using Dehydrated Peanut Hull, Nikitha Shamirpet
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The release of dye waste water into environment causes harm to aquatic life when they reach drains or other water sources. They pollute the soil and causes change in cycles of plant and animal life through bio-accumulation and nutrient cycle. Dyes which form residue or precipitate causes mutations or changes in the DNA of living organisms in and around the area of release of the dye into atmosphere. In this thesis, several runs were attempted to treat the synthetically prepared dye waste water using dehydrated peanut hull. The initial dye waste water samples were all collected and checked for absorbance, …
Effect Of History On The Binary Adsorption Equilibria Of Aluminium Terephthalate (Mil-53(Al)), Ufuoma Israel Kara
Effect Of History On The Binary Adsorption Equilibria Of Aluminium Terephthalate (Mil-53(Al)), Ufuoma Israel Kara
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Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are highly porous solids with potential applications in a wide range of fields including gas separations and catalysis. Most of porous solids used in these applications such as zeolites and activated carbon usually have rigid structures. In contrast, a number of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) exhibit structural transformation in response to external stimuli. Such materials show promise for applications such as sensors, actuators and adsorptive separations. Several thermodynamic formalisms were proposed in literature to explain this phenomenon, often known as gate-opening or “breathing” of the MOF material. In this study, the adsorptive behavior of MIL-53(Al), a MOF …
Determination Of Growth Kinetics, Yield Coefficients And Biodiesel Properties For The Green Microalgae Scenedesmus Dimorphus In Freshwater And Saline Medias, Morgan L. Cohara
Determination Of Growth Kinetics, Yield Coefficients And Biodiesel Properties For The Green Microalgae Scenedesmus Dimorphus In Freshwater And Saline Medias, Morgan L. Cohara
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Of the many alternative resources capable of generating biofuel, microalgal oil serves as a promising feedstock. Unfortunately, biodiesel production from microalgae is currently hindered by high operational costs. One primary causes for these high costs is the large quantity of freshwater required for cultivation. This experiment was designed to assess the feasibility of growing the green, freshwater microalgae Scenedesmus dimorphus in an increasingly saline environment. Both average yield coefficients and growth rates were monitored with increasing salt concentration. Determination of average yield coefficients allows for process scale-up and the optimization of production costs by minimizing raw material waste. Salinity was …
Kinetics And Ensemble Dynamics Of Colloidal Ellipsoids Near An Ac Electrode, Jiarui Yan
Kinetics And Ensemble Dynamics Of Colloidal Ellipsoids Near An Ac Electrode, Jiarui Yan
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The manipulation of colloidal particles via applying electric fields has been studied over the past 30 years due to the unique properties associated with the fabricated colloidal crystals. Most works in this field focused on utilizing an alternating current (AC) electric field with spherical particles. However, utilizing spherical colloidal particles as building blocks for complex microstructures has been challenging. Consequently, more recent work has shifted to employing complex colloids (anisotropic in nature) as building blocks for advanced materials. In our work, the phase diagram and the kinetics of assembling colloidal polystyrene ellipsoids under an AC electric field at low frequencies …
Influence Of Natural Convection During Dendritic Array Growth Of Metal Alloys (Gradient Freeze Directional Solidification), Suyog N. Mahajan
Influence Of Natural Convection During Dendritic Array Growth Of Metal Alloys (Gradient Freeze Directional Solidification), Suyog N. Mahajan
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Purpose of this study was to examine the microstructural evolution of primary dendrites during Gradient Freeze Directional Solidification process in cylindrical Pb-5.8% Sb alloy samples to generate the ground- based research data to support a future microgravity experiment on the Space Station in a convection free environment. Pb-5.8Sb was selected for this study because of its ease of processing and availability of physical property data which will be required for predicting the dendrite morphology parameters, such as, primary dendrite spacing and dendrite trunk diameter. This alloy is also susceptible to thermosolutal convection caused by density inversion of the met in …
Modeling Liver Diseases Using Hepatic Cell Microarrays, Alexander David Roth
Modeling Liver Diseases Using Hepatic Cell Microarrays, Alexander David Roth
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Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is an invasive and aggressive cancer of the liver that arises due to chronic cirrhosis. Research into understanding HCC has focused on two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) technologies to simulate the liver microenvironment and use animal models to model how HCC affects the rest of the body. 3D hydrogel models are desired because they can mimic the transport behavior observed in vivo by structurally mimicking the extracellular matrix (ECM) without the ethical concerns of animal models. However, hydrogels can be toxic to cells and require optimal procedures for appropriate handling. In this study, we created 3D models …
Pure And Binary Adsorption Equilibrium Of Nitrogen And Oxygen In Lilsx Zeolite, Himabindu Gandra
Pure And Binary Adsorption Equilibrium Of Nitrogen And Oxygen In Lilsx Zeolite, Himabindu Gandra
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Chemical products are made by combination of processes that includes synthesis, separation and purification. Separation processes comprises a large portion in these industries and are considered to be critical as most of the applications in chemical industries involves mixtures. Traditional separation methods such as distillation, evaporation, drying etc., requires high energy. For example, air separation to produce nitrogen and oxygen was previously practiced by cryogenic distillation that involves high pressure units and large energy requirement. On other hand, adsorption processes utilize less energy resources and is unique among separation methods. The phase separation is achieved by the existence of a …
Evaluation Of Mass Transfer Rate In Column Of Small Lilsx Particles, Mihikumar S. Patel
Evaluation Of Mass Transfer Rate In Column Of Small Lilsx Particles, Mihikumar S. Patel
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Air separation using zeolite based adsorption processes is a widely-studied topic. Proper process modeling is a key requirement to simulate the process. Conventional process modeling for air separation is designed for large scale adsorption processes using a long cycle time. However, advanced technology now permits to use of a short cycle time using small particles, which significantly reduces the size of the process.
Traditional process models were mostly developed for large particles (dp > 1.5 mm). Typically, it is safely assumed that intra particle diffusion controls the rate of the process while axial dispersion has a much smaller effect. This is …
Effect Of Convection Associated With Cross-Section Change During Directional Solidification Of Binary Alloys On Dendritic Array Morphology And Macrosegregation, Masoud Ghods
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This dissertation explores the role of different types of convection on macrosegregation and on dendritic array morphology of two aluminum alloys directionally solidified through cylindrical graphite molds having both cross-section decrease and increase. Al- 19 wt. % Cu and Al-7 wt. % Si alloys were directionally solidified at two growth speed of 10 and 29.1 µm s-1 and examined for longitudinal and radial macrosegregation, and for primary dendrite spacing and dendrite trunk diameter.
Directional solidification of these alloys through constant cross-section showed clustering of primary dendrites and parabolic-shaped radial macrosegregation profile, indicative of “steepling convection” in the mushy-zone. The degree …
Influence Of Cross-Section Change During Directional Solidification On Dendrite Morphology, Macrosegregation And Defect Formation In Pb-6 Wt Sb Alloy, Claudine Lacdao
Influence Of Cross-Section Change During Directional Solidification On Dendrite Morphology, Macrosegregation And Defect Formation In Pb-6 Wt Sb Alloy, Claudine Lacdao
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The purpose of this research is to examine the dendrite array morphology, macrosegregation, and defect formation caused by the fluid flow at the abrupt cross-section changes during directional solidification of Pb-6% Sb alloy. Four 24-cm long cylindrical alloy samples were directionally solidified in graphite crucibles: two having a constant diameter (9-mm) grown at 10.4 and 63.1 μm s-1 , one having an abrupt cross-section decrease (from 12.7 to 6.35 mm) and one having an abrupt increase (from 6.35 to 12.7 mm) by pulling down the alloy containing cylindrical graphite crucibles from the upper hot-zone of a stationary vertical furnace into …
Evaluation Of A Microfluidic Mixer Utilizing Staggered Herringbone Channels: A Computational Fluid Dynamics Approach, Brian Hama
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Microfluidic platforms offer a variety of advantages including improved heat transfer, low working volumes, ease of scale-up, and strong user control on parameters. However, flow within microfluidic channels occurs at low Reynolds numbers, which makes mixing difficult to accomplish. Adding V-shaped ridges to channel walls, a pattern called the staggered herringbone design (SHB), might alleviate this problem by introducing transverse flow patterns that enable enhanced mixing. However, certain factors affecting the SHB mixer’s performance remain largely unexplored.
In this work, a microfluidic mixer utilizing the SHB geometry was developed and characterized using computational fluid dynamics based simulations and complimentary experiments. …
Effect Of Surface Oxidation On The Mechanics Of Carbon Nanotube Laden Interfaces, William Daniel Ivancic
Effect Of Surface Oxidation On The Mechanics Of Carbon Nanotube Laden Interfaces, William Daniel Ivancic
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Single and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT & MWCNT) have been studied over the past three decades because of their excellent properties, including their mechanical strength and large electrical and thermal conductivities. Incorporating CNTs into phases necessary for use in consumer or industrial products has been challenging because of strong attractive interactions, heterogeneity, and lack of separation techniques for these nanomaterials. Moreover, there are further challenges incorporating CNTs into multiphase materials because of the many remaining open questions regarding the properties of an interface with CNTs adsorbed or nearby. In the present work, the mechanics and microstructure of a water/air interface …
Pure And Binary Adsorption Of Methane And Nitrogen On Silicalite, Prahar S. Vaidya
Pure And Binary Adsorption Of Methane And Nitrogen On Silicalite, Prahar S. Vaidya
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Separation processes comprise a large portion of the activity in the chemical and petrochemical industries. For the chemical, petroleum refining, and materials processing industries as a group, separation processes are considered to be critical. Almost all the applications of chemical industries involves mixtures, so innovation in separation technology not only enhances productivity and global competitiveness of U.S. industries, but is also critical for achieving the industrial energy and waste reduction goals. Traditionally, air separation to produce nitrogen and oxygen and to separate nitrogen from methane was practiced by cryogenic distillation, which involved expensive high pressure units and large requirement of …
State Estimation Of Glucose And Insulin Dynamics, Morgan Nicholas Miller
State Estimation Of Glucose And Insulin Dynamics, Morgan Nicholas Miller
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Process simulation and state estimation have very important applications in chemical engineering as well as the biomedical field. Diabetes is a rapidly growing disease in the United States with 29 million people already diagnosed. The estimation of glucose and insulin concentration in patients is necessary in order to effectively treat diabetes. The Bergman Minimal Model is a popular process model that is used to simulate glucose and insulin dynamics. A simulation of this model was created based on estimated parameters for the model from historical data. This thesis investigated the estimation of glucose concentration, insulin concentration, and effect of active …
The Response Of An Ellipsoidal Colloid Particle In An Ac Field, Cornelius Adebowale Obasanjo
The Response Of An Ellipsoidal Colloid Particle In An Ac Field, Cornelius Adebowale Obasanjo
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The quest for new smart materials with engineered properties and desired functionalities has driven scientists into the domain of nanotechnology over the past 30 years. Particles with anisotropic properties as a result of their geometry, chemical patterning or surface functionality have been envisioned as building blocks for advanced materials. By tuning the anisotropic interactions engendered by anisotropic particles, one potentially could manipulate the dynamic pathways for assembly.
The work described in this thesis considers the response of an ellipsoidal colloid particle to a nearby AC electrode polarized at ~0.1 – 4 kV/m and ~0.1 – 3 kHz. The ellipsoidal particle, …
Solute Partitioning In Elastin-Like Polypeptides: A Foundation For Drug Delivery Applications, Eric Helm
Solute Partitioning In Elastin-Like Polypeptides: A Foundation For Drug Delivery Applications, Eric Helm
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No abstract provided.
Characterization Of Highly Concentrated Elastin-Like Polypeptide Solutions: Rheometric Properties And Phase Separation Analysis, Kevin Michael Otto
Characterization Of Highly Concentrated Elastin-Like Polypeptide Solutions: Rheometric Properties And Phase Separation Analysis, Kevin Michael Otto
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Elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) are environmentally responsive biopolymers. These protein based polymers are specific in that they exhibit phase separation in response to a number of stimuli. Some of these stimuli include temperature, light, and pH. There are a large number of factors to consider when designing ELP constructs that allow for control of the transitioning behavior, some of which include amino acid sequences, protein concentration, salt concentration, and the polymer chain length. Elastin-like polypeptides are soluble in water at low temperatures, however, upon an increase in temperature, the proteins become insoluble in water and phase separate. This point of temperature …
Lipid Production By Scenedesmus Dimorphus: Comparison Of Extraction Techniques And Effect Of Sodium Nitrate Concentration, Bahareh Kanani
Lipid Production By Scenedesmus Dimorphus: Comparison Of Extraction Techniques And Effect Of Sodium Nitrate Concentration, Bahareh Kanani
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No abstract provided.
Moving Horizon Estimation With Dynamic Programming, Mohan Kumar Ramalingam
Moving Horizon Estimation With Dynamic Programming, Mohan Kumar Ramalingam
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Moving Horizon Estimation(MHE) is a optimization based strategy to state estimation. It involves computation of arrival cost, a penalty term, based on the MHE cost function. Minimization of this arrival cost is done through various methods. All these methods use nonlinear programming optimization technique which gives the estimate. The main idea of MHE revolves around minimizing the estimation cost function. The cost function is dependent on prediction error computation from data and arrival cost summarization. The major issue that hampers the MHE is choosing the arrival cost for ensuring stability of the overall estimation and computational time. In order to …