Chemical Engineering Commons^™

Nonordered Dendritic Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles As Promising Platforms For Advanced Methods Of Diagnosis And Therapies, S. Malekmohammadi, Riaz Ur Rehman Mohammed, H. Samadian, A. Zarebkohan, A. García-Fernández, G. R. Kokil, F. Sharifi, J. Esmaeili, M. Bhia, M. Razavi, M. Bodaghi, T. Kumeria, R. Martínez-Máñez

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Faculty Publications

Dendritic mesoporous silica nanoparticles (DMSNs) are a new generation of porous materials that have gained great attention compared to other mesoporous silicas due to attractive properties, including straightforward synthesis methods, modular surface chemistry, high surface area, tunable pore size, chemical inertness, particle size distribution, excellent biocompatibility, biodegradability, and high pore volume compared with conventional mesoporous materials. The last years have witnessed a blooming growth of the extensive utilization of DMSNs as an efficient platform in a broad spectrum of biomedical and industrial applications, such as catalysis, energy harvesting, biosensing, drug/gene delivery, imaging, theranostics, and tissue engineering. DMSNs are considered great …

3d Fracture Propagation Simulation And Pressure Decline Analysis Research For I-Shaped Fracture Of Coalbed, Chengwang Wang, Zixi Guo, Lifeng Zhang, Yunwei Kang, Zhenjiang You, Shuguang Li, Yubin Wang, Huaibin Zhen

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

After hydraulic fracturing, some treatments intended for production enhancement fail to yield predetermined effects. The main reason is the insufficient research about the fracture propagation mechanism. There is compelling evidence that I-shaped fracture, two horizontal fractures at the junction of coalbed and cover/bottom layer, and one vertical fracture in the coalbed have formed in part of the coalbed after hydraulic fracturing. Therefore, this paper aims at I-shaped fracture propagation simulation. A novel propagation model is derived on the basis of a three-dimensional (3D) model, and the coupling conditions of vertical fracture and horizontal fractures are established based on the flow …

Experimental Study On Co2-Sensitive Polyacrylamide As Potential In-Situ Sealing Agent For Co2 Leakage Pathways In Geological Storage Sites, Iris Laihmen Quan Lopez

Theses and Dissertations

As the world pushes for ‘greener’ technologies and carbon neutrality, efforts have focused on creating novel ways to mitigate humankind’s carbon footprint. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has become a prevalent technique that has proven to be an effective long-term method to safely relocate excess carbon dioxide (CO₂) into subsurface formations. However, CCS is a newer technique which requires constant monitoring due to potential leakage pathways present in CO₂ storage sites; therefore, a preventive approach to seal leakage pathways is recommended. This dissertation explores the potential of CO₂-sensitive polyacrylamide (CO₂-SPAM) as a novel …

Ultraviolet Chiral Plasmonics, Tiago Ramos Leite Da Silva

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The far- (λ < 250 nm) ultraviolet (UV) chiroptical response from protein secondary structures can aid in understanding protein interactions for drug discovery. Chiral metasurfaces have attracted attention to enhance the intrinsically weak biomolecular optical activity for improved structural biology characterization. However, due to materials and fabrication challenges, current metasurfaces mostly operate in the visible and near-infrared regimes with limited, if any, response in far-UV. The large spectral mismatch between metasurface and biomolecular resonances limits the chiral enhancement factor. In this work, we study aluminum planar metamaterials which display optical activity in the UV region. In the first part of this work, we experimentally and computationally investigate the resonant plasmonic-biomolecular interactions in the far-UV. To the best of our knowledge, our work is the first to experimentally explore these resonant interactions in the biologically relevant far-UV regime. We demonstrate experimentally and computationally enhanced chiral sensing of sub-10 nm amino acid films. We develop a full-wave computational model of a biomolecular film on an aluminum gammadion array using experimentally derived chiral parameters (κ) for L- and DTyrosine films. Our model shows that detectable enhancements in the circular dichroism (CD) and birefringence (CB) signals from small amounts of biomolecules are only possible when tight spectral overlap exists between the plasmonic and biomolecular chiroptical signals. We support this conclusion experimentally by fabricating aluminum gammadion arrays on fused silica substrates and sublimating ultrathin racemic, L- and D- Tyrosine films on the arrays. Complete Mueller matrix analysis of the resonant plasmonic-biomolecular system agrees with our computational results and demonstrates the importance of using far-UV active metasurfaces for enhancing natural optical activity. In the second part of this work, we study hybrid aluminum reflective metasurfaces, which leverage both local and propagating surface plasmons (PSP). These materials display strong bi-anisotropy with rich polarization conversion properties. We explore several geometries and verify how their symmetry properties affect their far-field response. Our observations provide an opportunity for researchers to improve the chiral response of plasmonic metasurfaces, especially in the challenging ultraviolet regime.

Impact Of Spray Coating On The Performance Of Hydrophobic Membranes, Dominick J. Maiorano, Hamid Fattahijuybari, David Warsinger

Discovery Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research Internship

Membrane distillation (MD) is a rapidly emerging water treatment technology used to combat the global water crisis. Membrane pore wetting is a primary barrier to widespread industrial use of MD. The primary causes of membrane wetting are membrane fouling and an exceedance of liquid entry pressure. The development of different types of polymer membranes and the use of pretreatment have led to significant movement towards the prevention of wetting in MD. We sought to take a new approach to combat membrane wetting that involves coating these membranes with hydrophilic chemical compounds, which consequently would decrease their air permeability. Pulling data …

Studies Of Multiphase Distribution And Flow In Bubble/ Slurry Bubble Columns With /Without Internals And Advanced Sustainable Construction Materials Using Sophisticated Measurement Techniques, Omar Farid

Doctoral Dissertations

"Bubble/slurry bubble columns have been widely studied and employed as multiphase flow reactors with and without vertical heat-exchanging tubes. In order to understand more deeply the effect of the dense internals on the hydrodynamics of bubble/slurry bubble column, systematic experiments were performed to visualize and quantify using the radioactive particle tracking (RPT) technique. A new methodology for implementing the radioactive particle tracking (RPT) technique has been developed to investigate the effect of the dense internals on the hydrodynamics of the bubble/slurry column reactor. Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) simulation has been implemented to simulate the system to generate a large number …

Thermodynamic Modeling Of Hydrogen–Water Systems With Gas Impurity At Various Conditions Using Cubic And Pc-Saft Equations Of State, Amer Alanazi, Saleh Bawazeer, Muhammad Ali, Alireza Keshavarz, Hussein Hoteit

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Hydrogen (H2) has emerged as a viable solution for energy storage of renewable sources, supplying off-seasonal demand. Hydrogen contamination due to undesired mixing with other fluids during operations is a significant problem. Water contamination is a regular occurrence; therefore, an accurate prediction of H2-water thermodynamics is crucial for the design of efficient storage and water removal processes. In thermodynamic modeling, the Peng–Robinson (PR) and Soave Redlich–Kwong (SRK) equations of state (EoSs) are widely applied. However, both EoSs fail to predict the vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) accurately for H2-blend mixtures with or without fine-tuning binary interaction parameters due to the polarity of …

Development Of A New Affinity Membrane For Rapidly Purifying Non-Antibody Proteins, Friendship Edioma

All Theses

This thesis project describes the modification and evaluation of a new affinity membrane for rapid chromatographic purification of non-antibody proteins. The affinity membrane utilizes Im7/CL7 coupling technology developed by Dr. Vassylyev's lab at the University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB), licensed by TriAltus Bioscience. The behavior of the membrane was evaluated using purified CL7-tagged Cas9 as my model protein for static and dynamic binding capacity analysis.

Chapter one provides an overview on biopharmaceutical drug production process development. I discuss how protein drugs are produced, isolated, and purified from the cell supernatant after upstream phases are completed. Despite increasing demands for biologics, …

Modeling And Performance Analysis Of Deb Based Hydrogen Getters, John A. Matteson

Chemical and Biological Engineering ETDs

Hydrogen getter materials are used to irreversibly absorb hydrogen gas in sealed environments. The DEB based getter system, despite finding widespread use in this application, still posses challenges with respect to experimental performance analysis and fundamental understanding of reaction mechanism. The second chapter of this report addresses the experimental challenges of this getter system by demonstrating the utility and experimental strengths of a custom magnetic suspension balance (MSB) based gravimetric sorption system. This apparatus enables performance evaluation in process relevant conditions including dilute mixed gas environments which our results indicate is necessary for accurate performance evaluation of getter systems. Chapter …

Performance And Fouling During Bioreactor Harvesting, Da Zhang

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Tangential flow filtration has many advantages for bioreactor harvesting as the permeate could be introduced directly to the subsequent capture step, the process is easy to scale up, and fouling of the filter is limited by the cross flow. However, membrane fouling has limited its widespread use. This is particularly problematic given the high cell densities encountered today. Here a reverse asymmetric commercial membrane, BioOptimal™ MF-SL (Asahi Kasei), where the more open surface faces the feed stream, and the tighter barrier layer faces the permeate stream, has been investigated for bioreactor harvesting. The open surface contains pores up to 40 …

Telotristat Ethyl Reverses Myxomatous Changes In Mice Mitral Valves, Xinmei Wang, Danielle Kuban-Johnston, Pablo Lapuerta, Carla M.R. Lacerda

Jasper Department of Chemical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Rationale: Myxomatous mitral valve degeneration is a common pathological manifestation of mitral valve regurgitation, with or without valvular prolapse. In addition to similarities between naturally occurring and serotonergic valve degeneration, an increasing body of evidence has recently suggested that serotonin signaling is a regulator of degenerative valvulopathies. Studies have found that serotonin can be synthesized locally by valvular cells and serotonin receptors in turn may be activated to promote signaling. Recently, telotristat ethyl (TE) has been introduced as a treatment for carcinoid disease, by selectively inhibiting tryptophan hydroxylase 1, the rate-limiting enzyme in peripheral serotonin synthesis. TE provides a unique …

Temporal Lidar Scanning In Quantifying Cumulative Rockfall Volume And Hazard Assessment: A Case Study At Southwestern Saudi Arabia, Abdullah A. Alotaibi, Norbert H. Maerz, Kenneth J. Boyko, Ahmed M. Youssef, Biswajeet Pradhan

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Rockfalls and unstable slopes pose a serious threat to people and property along roads/highways in the southwestern mountainous regions of Saudi Arabia. In this study, the application of terrestrial light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technology was applied aiming to propose a strategy to analyze and accurately depict the detection of rockfall changes, calculation of rockfall volume, and evaluate rockfall hazards along the Habs Road, Jazan Region, Saudi Arabia. A series of temporal LiDAR scans were acquired at three selected sites. Our results show that these three sites have different degrees of hazard due to their geological differences. The mean volume …

Advances In Energy Hybridization For Resilient Supply: A Sustainable Approach To The Growing World Demand, Haider Al-Rubaye, Joseph D. Smith, Mohammed H.S. Zangana, Prashant Nagapurkar, Yishu Zhou, Gregory M. Gelles

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Energy poverty, defined as a lack of access to reliable electricity and reliance on traditional biomass resources for cooking, affects over a billion people daily. The World Health Organization estimates that household air pollution from inefficient stoves causes more premature deaths than malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS. Increasing demand for energy has led to dramatic increases in emissions. The need for reliable electricity and limiting emissions drives research on Resilient Hybrid Energy Systems (RHESs), which provide cleaner energy through combining wind, solar, and biomass energy with traditional fossil energy, increasing production efficiency and reliability and reducing generating costs and emissions. Microgrids …

Fabrication Of Nb3Sn By Magnetron Sputtering For Superconducting Radiofrequency Application, Md Nizam Sayeed

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Particle accelerators are considered as an important device that has wide applications in cancer treatment, sterilizing waste, preserving foods, ion implantation in semiconductor industry, and in production of isotopes for medical applications. Superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) cavities are the building blocks of a linear particle accelerator. Current particle accelerators use niobium (Nb) superconductors as the sheet material to fabricate a single SRF cavity for particle acceleration. With better superconducting properties (critical temperature T_c ~ 18.3 K, superheating field H_sh~ 400 mT), Nb₃Sn is considered a potential candidate in SRF technology. Magnetron sputtering is a promising deposition …

A Novel Approach To Estimate Rock Strength Parameters From Multistage Triaxial Tests (The A-Has Method), Abo Taleb T. Al-Hameedi, Husam H. Alkinani, Shari Dunn-Norman, Munir Aldin, Sudarshan Govindarajan

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Rock strength parameters are vital to creating robust geomechanical models for wellbore stability, sand production, and hydraulic fracturing. Static rock strength parameters can be estimated from single stage triaxial tests (SST) or multistage triaxial tests (MST). Although SST tests are the most accurate way to estimate rock strength parameters, SST tests require at least four to five core plugs to estimate rock strength parameters. Thus, MST tests are used as an alternative method to estimate rock strength parameters from only one core plug to overcome the limitation of materials and save time and money. However, the currently used method to …

Quantifying The Workability Of Calcium Sulfoaluminate Cement Paste Using Time-Dependent Rheology, Sukanta K. Mondal, Adam Welz, Carrie Clinton, Kamal Khayat, Aditya Kumar, Monday Uchenna Okoronkwo

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Poor workability is a common feature of calcium sulfoaluminate (CSA) cement paste. Multiple chemical admixtures, such as set retarders and dispersants, are frequently employed to improve the workability and delay the setting of CSA cement paste. A quantitative assessment of the compatibility, efficiency, and the effects of the admixtures on cement paste workability is critical for the design of an appropriate paste formulation and admixture proportioning. Very limited studies are available on the quantitative rheology-based method for evaluating the workability of calcium sulfoaluminate cement pastes. This study presents a novel and robust time-dependent rheological method for quantifying the workability of …

Design, Synthesis And Characterization Of Triazole Based Glycoconjugates And 4,6-Acetal Protected D-Glucosamine Derivatives As Low Molecular Weight Gelators, Pooja Sharma

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses & Dissertations

Low molecular weight gelators (LMWGs) are small molecules that can form gels in either organic solvents or water in their pure form or as mixtures. LMWGs self-assemble through noncovalent interactions such as hydrogen bonding, halogen bonding, van der Waals interactions and hydrophobic forces in solvents. They have shown great potential in biomedical industry, catalysis and environmental remediation to name a few. Moreover, the formation of metallogels can be used for detection of various ions as well as catalysis, which adds a new dimension to their applications. Among many classes of LMWGs based on the type of functional groups used, carbohydrate …

Study Of Thermoelectric And Lattice Dynamics Properties Of 2d Layered Mx (M = Sn, Pb; X = S, Se, Te) And Zrs2 Compounds Using First-Principles Approach, Abhiyan Pandit

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this dissertation is the investigation of thermoelectric and lattice dynamics properties of two-dimensional (2D) MX (M = Sn, Pb; X = S, Se, Te) and ZrS2 compounds based on the first-principles density functional theory. The dimensionality reduction (e.g., using 2D structure) of bulk materials is found to have enhanced thermoelectric efficiency. This enhancement is attributed to the increase of the Seebeck coefficient as a result of higher electronic density of states near the Fermi level in low-dimensional materials. In addition, lowering the dimensionality increases phonon scattering near interfaces and surfaces in 2D materials, which leads to a …

Wind Tunnel Modeling Of Jack Rabbit Ii Mock Urban Environment Gas Concentration Measurements, Sami S. Fares

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The 2015 Jack Rabbit (JR) II field trials were conducted to improve understanding of the denser-than-air dispersion of chlorine in an urban environment. The field study involved five large-scale, outdoor release trials of chlorine in a mock urban environment (MUE) at Dugway Proving Ground (DPG). Various instrumentation was deployed, including JazTM Ultraviolet-Visible (UV-Vis) point sensors capable of measuring gas-phase chlorine concentration throughout the mock urban array.

The Chemical Hazards Research Center (CHRC) was tasked by the Chemical Security Analysis Center (CSAC) with the Mock Urban Wind Tunnel (MUWT) program to study the 2015 JR II Trials at wind tunnel scale. …

Development Of High Quantum Efficiency Strained Superlattice Spin Polarized Photocathodes Via Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition, Benjamin Belfore

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Spin polarized photocathodes are necessary to examine parity violations and other fundamental phenomena in the field of high energy physics. To create these devices, expensive and complicated growth processes are necessary. While integral to accelerator physics, spin polarized electrons could have other exciting applications in materials science and other fields of physics. In order to explore these other applications feasibly, the relative supply of spin polarized photocathodes with a high rate of both polarization and photoemission needs to be increased. One such way to increase this supply is to develop the means to grow them faster and at a larger …