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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Assessing Interatomic Potentials For Molecular Dynamics Simulation Of Soybean Oil Pyrolysis, Tanner Garrett Rust
Assessing Interatomic Potentials For Molecular Dynamics Simulation Of Soybean Oil Pyrolysis, Tanner Garrett Rust
MSU Graduate Theses
The world today relies on hydrocarbon combustion for many reasons, including its high energy density that provides ease of transportation. However, hydrocarbons sourced from fossil fuels are not expected to last forever. Biodiesel, a renewable alternative, has many attractive benefits but comes with other downsides. Biodiesel can gel in cold environments and may leave residue in an engine. Pyrolysis of biodiesel has shown promise in addressing these common detriments. Inducing pyrolysis on biodiesel feedstock (commonly soybean oil in the USA) would be an attractive option presuming it continues to produce fossil fuel analogs similar to biodiesel pyrolysis. Herein, Langevin molecular …
Ab Initio Methyl Linoleate Bond Dissociation Energies: First Principles Fishing For Wise Crack Products, Zachary Ryan Wilson
Ab Initio Methyl Linoleate Bond Dissociation Energies: First Principles Fishing For Wise Crack Products, Zachary Ryan Wilson
MSU Graduate Theses
With the prices of petroleum reflecting demand for this finite resource, attention has been turned to alternative sources of energy. Biodiesel, defined as fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs), exhibits many of the same properties as conventional diesel but is derived from biological sources. FAMEs are subsequently thermally cracked to form more light-weight petrochemical products. I aim to further understand the thermal cracking procedure, at an atomic-level, in hopes that this may aid in future engineering of viable fuels. I studied the effective computational modeling of bond disassociations in the FAME methyl linoleate. Bond dissociation in a 44-reaction database with known …