Chemical Engineering Commons^™

Improving Lignin Recovery From Paper Mill And Biorefinery Waste Streams Via Liquid-Phase Splitting, Carter Fitzgerald

All Dissertations

Lignin is an abundant biopolymer with significant promise due to its aromaticity. It has been targeted as a replacement for a number of petroleum-based products including adhesives, coatings, polyurethane foams, activated carbon, and carbon fibers. However, commercially available bulk lignins are too polydisperse, and contain too many residual metals from the pulping process that are detrimental to the properties of the final product.

The Sequential Liquid-lignin Recovery and Purification (SLRP) process was developed by Michael Lake and John Blackburn, in collaboration with Clemson, with the intention of creating a continuous method for recovering lignin from paper-mill black liquors. Thies and …

Enhancing Sustainable Process Designs Through Strategic Material Utilization And Waste Minimization Approaches, John David Chea

Theses and Dissertations

Sustainability is a growing concern as resources are continually depleted for various applications without adequate renewal plans. The resulting impacts on the ecosystem, health, and resource circularity are often overlooked. This research analyzes improvement opportunities at each major stage in a product's life cycle. Raw material acquisition, product synthesis, process waste management, and the fate of a material in the end-of-life phases were examined. The viability of utilizing renewable resources has been demonstrated in this work by extracting bio-based chemicals from underutilized renewable resources at a commercial scale and transforming the extracted resources into polymeric materials. The optimization of raw …

Beeswax Wraps As An Alternative To Single-Use Plastics, Sarah Skiver

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The project goal was to compare the food storage efficacy of sustainable beeswax wraps verses the single-use plastic methods of resealable plastic sandwich bags and plastic cling wrap. The goal was also to test the reusability of the beeswax wraps, as it is a key advantage of beeswax wraps that is advertised. The project purpose was to explore sustainable and eco-friendly alternatives to single use plastics, which are harmful to the environment in both their production and their disposal. Food spoilage was compared in beeswax wrap, plastic sandwich bags, and plastic cling wrap, and spoilage was also observed in a …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Hybrid Catalysts For Fischer-Tropsch Jet Fuel Production, Jack M. Steinagel

Honors College Theses

Climate change is a major issue that our world is facing today. Finding renewable options for current infrastructure is paramount to solving this issue. Fischer-Tropsch synthesis of syngas from gasified biomass can produce renewable fuels that can be used in current conventional combustion engines. In order to make this process more industrially viable, a higher selectivity towards the desired range of liquid hydrocarbon products must be achieved. A novel way to do this is to introduce a catalyst to the Fischer-Tropsch reaction. The catalyst’s physical and chemical properties can promote chain growth of specific hydrocarbons. For the purpose of this …

Assessment Of A Decentralized Solution For Waste Plastic Management In Developing Regions, Chandniben Ashishkumar Joshi

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Rapid population growth, urbanization and availability of pre-packaged consumer goods have led to increased generation and consumption of plastic – so much so that it has become ubiquitous in the environment. An affordable, durable, and lightweight material of construction, plastic is used in innumerable products in every country on earth. However, this explosion of consumption coupled with the material’s significantly low degradability have led to serious plastic accumulation challenges, which are now an imminent threat to terrestrial and marine species globally. These challenges are especially acute in developing countries, where capital and infrastructure constraints, poor governmental regulation and lack of …

Cold Plasma Enhanced Active Sites On Supported Nip Nanoparticles For The Oxygen Evolution Reaction, Michael Ricci

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Identifying materials to efficiently facilitate the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is key to advancing water electrolysis, an essential technology in the pathway towards a sustainable energy future. Here, we explore cold-plasma treatment as a facile method to enhance the activity of NiP nanoparticles supported on activated carbon. NiP nanoparticles were synthesized on an activated carbon support using a solid-state method and were then treated with argon, oxygen, and hydrogen plasmas for extended times. In all cases, plasma treatment reduced the number of active sites on the support. OER activity was evaluated by testing the materials in alkaline conditions. The activities …

Zips Precious Plastics: Plastic Extruder, Patrick Cole

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project's goal was to design and build an affordable desktop filament extruder that can precisely and consistently extrude filament to a certain tolerance acceptable for 3D printers using wasted printing material. The group is partnering with an on campus organization focusing on engineering applications for sustainable futures. Zips Precious Plastics is a student run design group that intends to bring an innovation space on campus to help educate students about the importance of a closed looped system within plastic manufacturing.

Systems Analysis For Sustainability Assessment Of Biogas And Bio-Ch4 Production From Food Waste And Dairy Manure Mixtures In The Us, Sharath Kumar Ankathi

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The purpose of the dissertation is to relate systems analysis for bioenergy to identify optimum configurations for improved scenarios and to make better decisions in a systems perspective.

Chapter 1 is a review of the literature to identify the state of the knowledge in terms of systems analysis for anaerobic digestion (AD) bioenergy systems. The key outcomes from this review showed that anaerobic digestion of mixtures of food waste and animal manure has great potential to achieve economic and environmental benefits compared to other treatments of organic waste materials, such as landfilling or conventional manure management.

Chapter 2 focuses on …

Production Of Anti-Corrosion Materials From Uae Date Palm Waste, Nour Shehadeh Abdelrahman

Theses

Palm tree serves as the main source of biomass in the Gulf countries. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) alone is blessed with more than 40 million date palm trees, which generate a huge amount of waste annually. The main objective of this thesis is to examine the ability to produce a corrosion inhibitor from a date palm tree, waste, starting by extracting lignin from different parts of the date palm tree and characterizing the extracted lignin, converting lignin to sodium lignosulfonate, while selecting the optimum condition for the conversion reaction and characterizing the prepared lignosulfonate. Finally, the corrosion efficiency for …

Catalytic Waste Gasification: Water-Gas Shift & Selectivity Of Oxidation For Polyethylene, Mason J. Lang

ETD Archive

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, …

Development Of A Sustainability Evaluation And Control Framework For Chemical Processes, Shuyun Li

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Industry, government, and society have begun to shift from economic stand-alone focus to the inclusion of sustainability in the decision-making process. This shift can be attributed to the growing environmental and social awareness that makes consumers and stakeholders not only care about product quality and cost, but also products and processes that minimize the environmental impact and conserve natural resources. As a result, some progress has been made in recognizing and understanding the challenges of sustainable development, which helps evaluating the sustainability performance of a specific process/product. In particular, sustainability assessment tools and methodologies have been developed to help the …

Conversion Of Biomass To Liquid Hydrocarbon Fuels Via Anaerobic Digestion: A Feasibility Study, Ahmad Naqi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The use of biomass as a potential feedstock for the production of liquid hydrocarbon fuels has been under investigation in the last few decades. This paper discusses a preliminary design and a feasibility study of producing liquid hydrocarbon fuels from biomass through a combined biochemical and thermochemical route. The process involves anaerobic digestion (AD) of the biodegradable portion of the biomass to produce methane rich gas. The methane rich biogas stream is purified by removing contaminants and upgraded to liquid hydrocarbon fuel in a gas to liquid facility (GTL) via thermochemical conversion route. The biogas conversion involves two major steps: …

Maximum Recovery Of Mechanical Energy Through Work Integration: A Work Exchange Network Synthesis Approach, Aida Amini Rankouhi

Wayne State University Dissertations

Sustainable development has become a key concern in industries, largely due to natural resource depletion, global competition, and environmental pressure. Despite the efforts for sustainability improvement, still over a half of energy consumption is wasted in manufacturing sectors, where the chemical industry is responsible for an energy efficiency lower than it should be. Many attempts have been made to recover the thermal energy using heat integration techniques. Although process work is more expensive than process heat, no efficient solution has been studied to recover mechanical energy yet. In chemical plants, many process streams need to be pressurized or depressurized in …

Light Olefin Production By Cracking Nannochloris Oculata Microalgae Using Aluminosilicate Catalysts, Gaurav Goyal

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The global demand and sustainability concerns for producing light olefins encouraged researchers to look for an alternative and sustainable feedstock. Alkenes, such as ethene, propene and butene, are known as light olefins. Olefins are the backbone of the chemical industry because they serve as the chemical building blocks for the manufacture of polymers, fibers, and numerous organic chemicals. Feedstocks such as naphtha, natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) are currently used for producing light olefins, but they are non-renewable and hence unsustainable. In contrast, biomass as a potential feedstock for the production of fuels and chemicals is renewable. Microalgae, …

Experimental And Theoretical Investigation Of Sustainable Fast Pyrolysis Biofuels From Woody Biomass, Bethany Jean Klemetsrud

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Biofuels are an important advancement in alternative energy that can provide substantial environmental benefits compared to their conventional fossil fuel counterparts Said benefits are usually measured using life cycle assessments. However, it is not well understood yet how different methodological choices such as system boundaries, biomass feedstocks, conversion pathways, geographical data, etc. affect the conclusions drawn from biofuels LCA. This research shows large variability in life cycle assessment results and limits comparison across different biofuel pathways due to methodological choices set forth by policy and certification schemes. Advanced biofuels have not reached large scale production due to a limited understanding …

Model Based Process Analysis And Tool Development For Sustainable Electroplating Operations, Navdeep Bhadbhade

Wayne State University Theses

The electroplating industry has faced tremendous challenges in maintaining its economic competitiveness as well as improving its environmental performance in the global economy. In electroplating systems, waste generation from manufacturing lines has been always a serious concern, as waste emitted in different forms contains various hazardous and toxic chemicals. It is recognized that much of the generated waste is avoidable, and reduction of such avoidable waste could significantly reduce the consumption of chemicals, energy, and water. Proactive source reduction can improve not only environmental quality, but also economic performance. This type of source reduction, which could be called Proactive Pollution …

A Multidisciplinary Techno-Economic Decision Support Tool For Validating Long-Term Economic Viability Of Biorefining Processes, Sumesh Sukumara

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Increasing demand for energy and transportation fuel has motivated researchers all around the world to explore alternatives for a long-term sustainable source of energy. Biomass is one such renewable resource that can be converted into various marketable products by the process of biorefining. Currently, research is taking strides in developing conversion techniques for producing biofuels from multiple bio-based feedstocks. However, the greatest concern with emerging processes is the long-term viability as a sustainable source of energy. Hence, a framework is required that can incorporate novel and existing processes to validate their economic, environmental and social potential in satisfying present energy …

Design Of Advanced Fouling-Resistant And Self-Cleaning Membranes For Treatment Of Oily And Impaired Waters, Daniel Wandera

All Dissertations

The overall goal of my Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) research was to design and develop advanced anti-fouling and self-cleaning membranes for treating impaired waters. Initial work focused on the development of membranes to treat produced water, which is oily wastewater that is co-produced during oil and gas exploration. Economical, environmentally sustainable treatment of the large volumes of produced water is a grand challenge for oil and gas companies. While membranes offer many advantages over more conventional treatment methods, membrane-based treatment processes for oily waters often fail due to membrane fouling. Therefore, the primary objective of my doctoral research was to …

Sustainability Analysis Of Personal Transportation For Near Urban Commuting, Theodore Ansink, Matthew Atchley, Virginia Browning, Yue Cao, Michelle Everett, James Hall Jr, William R. Henson, Eugene Ng, Michael Picklesimer, Justin Ridenour, Scott Teeters, James Wilson

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Integrating Bioprocesses Into Industrial Complexes For Sustainable Development, Debalina Sengupta

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The objective of this research is to propose, develop and demonstrate a methodology for the optimal integration of bioprocesses in an existing chemical production complex. Chemical complex optimization is determining the optimal configuration of chemical plants in a superstructure of possible plants based on economic, environmental and sustainable criteria objective function (triple bottomline) and solves a mixed integer non linear programming problem. This research demonstrated the transition of production of chemicals from non-renewable to renewable feedstock. A conceptual design of biochemical processes was converted to five industrial scale designs in Aspen HYSYS® process simulator. Fourteen input-output block models were created …