Chemical Engineering Commons^™

A Model-Based Framework For The Smart Manufacturing Of Polymers, Santiago D. Salas Ortiz

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

It is hard to point a daily activity in which polymeric materials or plastics are not involved. The synthesis of polymers occurs by reacting small molecules together to form, under certain conditions, long molecules. In polymer synthesis, it is mandatory to assure uniformity between batches, high-quality of end-products, efficiency, minimum environmental impact, and safety. It remains as a major challenge the establishment of operational conditions capable of achieving all objectives together. In this dissertation, different model-centric strategies are combined, assessed, and tested for two polymerization systems.

The first system is the synthesis of polyacrylamide in aqueous solution using potassium persulfate …

Equivalent Annual Operating Cost Of Reactors In A Discrete Optimized Styrene Process, S Arizona Morgan-Harris

Honors Theses

Beginning in the fall semester, I was a member of a team that simulated and optimized a styrene production process in Microsoft Excel. After the base case was simulated, parametric and topological optimizations were completed. The optimizations had to be completed in a certain order that starts with the reactor section, then move to the separation section, heat recovery section, heating/cooling utilities section, and ends with the water and effluent treatment section. During this project, the first three sections were explored. Optimizing the base case was completed by making these changes to see how they increased the net present value …

“Polysoaps” Via Raft Copolymerization To Form Well-Defined Micelles For Water Remediation And Targeted Drug Delivery Applications, Phillip Pickett

Dissertations

Amphiphilic copolymers have become increasingly important for environmental and biological applications due to their behavioral characteristics in aqueous solution. For example, structurally-tailored statistical amphiphilic copolymers or “polysoaps” can self-assemble into micelles or other architectures in water at various concentrations. Polysoaps may be differentiated from small molecule surfactant micelles in their capability to self-assemble into unimolecular associates (unimolecular micelles) with no dependence on concentration. Such micelles offer enormous potential for dispersion of hydrophobic species in water at high dilution. Importantly, each polymer chain forms its own micelle and upon dilution, these micelles remain intact and capable of dispersing hydrocarbon material in …

Chemical And Physical Modification Of Thiol-Ene And Epoxy-Amine Networks For Advanced Control Of Gas Transport And Flame Retardant Behavior, Vivek Vasagar

Dissertations

Crosslinked polymers are widely used due to its several advantages not limited to high mechanical strength combined with the easy processability. Despite of its popular usage, the fundamental understanding of polymer structure affecting the desired properties is still lacking. This PhD thesis is in two parts, the first part is devoted to the design and developing a basic understanding of structure and chemical composition dependencies of gas transport, whereas in the second part a fundamental relationship between structure to the fire-retardant properties is established.

Membrane based gas separation technique has attracted interest of selective removal of carbon dioxide gas from …

Bioinspired Glycopolymers: Models To Investigate The Effect Of Saccharide Structure And Concentration On Amyloid Beta Aggregation, Pradipta Kumar Das

Dissertations

Aggregation and subsequent deposition of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide on neuronal cell membranes have been implicated as a cause of Alzheimer’s disease. Gangliosides in their clustered form seed and promote the Aβ aggregation process. However, the effects of the structure and the concentration of ganglioside saccharides on Aβ aggregation are not well understood. We investigated how the specific structure of saccharides (β-D-galactose and β-D-glucose) affect the aggregation pathways, kinetics, and the aggregated structures of Aβ via in vitro experiments. The effects of the local concentration of saccharides on the Aβ aggregation were also investigated.

To mimic the multivalent effect of the …

How Moisture Content Levels And Packing Density In Soil Affect Crude Oil Spreads, Shaylin N. Williams

Venture: The University of Mississippi Undergraduate Research Journal

Crude oil spills are one of the most destructive disasters that can occur, and they are extremely difficult to recover from. Many studies focus on what can be done to clean these crude oil spills, but more research should be focused on means of prevention. Currently, very little is known about how the moisture content levels and the packing efficiency of soil can affect an oil spill. These two factors alone can offer a variety of information to environmental agencies, manufacturers, and refineries. Through utilization of a chemical engineering lab, a recording mechanism, and ImagePro software, data was collected and …

Capture And Release Gels For Optimized Storage (Cargos), Theodore S. Kalbfleisch Ii

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Unassisted, the lifetime of many proteins outside their natural environment is very short. Scientists generally need to extract the sample, often in remote locations, and then transport, isolate, and store such biospecimens relatively far from the point of origin in order to study them. Currently, the most commonly used methods for storage of biospecimens are cryopreservation or refrigeration which, though effective, have their fair share of flaws. Cryopreservation and refrigeration-based storage of biospecimens requires a great deal of space and other resources to be effective. Furthermore, the hardware required for cold storage does not transport well. These factors make such …

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 …

Silver-Based Microbial Check Valve For Spacecraft Potable Water Systems, Jennifer Gaines

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

As human space exploration increases, the development of a more efficient potable water treatment system suited for spacecraft becomes crucial. This Waste-management Education Research Consortium (WERC) challenge was designed to explore the viability of microbial control through the utilization of silver ions as a biocide for possible integration into the Tranquility Node 3 water purification system aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Current systems using iodine risk causing hyperthyroidism from overexposure; however, silver can be safely ingested without this side effect. After researching silver delivery methods including electrochemical ion production, controlled release, or a combination of the two, our team …

Design And Cost Analysis Of Acrylic Acid Plant, Adam Ferrier

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this project was to model and design a plant to produce 75,000 tons per year of acrylic acid. Using the design in section B.9 of Richard Turton’s Analysis, Synthesis, and Design of Chemical Processes as a starting point, a plant was designed based around the partial oxidation of propylene to acrylic acid. The final plant design produces about 86,000 tons per year of acrylic acid. Using an interest rate of 10%, the plant has a discounted cash flow rate of return of 32% over 2 years of startup and 10 years of operation. Attached is an executive …

Stability Analysis Of A More General Class Of Systems With Delay-Dependent Coefficients, Chi Jin, Keqin Gu, Islam Boussaada, Silviu-Iulian Niculescu

SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

This paper presents a systematic method to analyse the stability of systems with single delay in which the coefficient polynomials of the characteristic equation depend on the delay. Such systems often arise in, for example, life science and engineering systems. A method to analyze such systems was presented by Beretta and Kuang in a 2002 paper, but with some very restrictive assumptions. This work extends their results to the general case with the exception of some degenerate cases. It is found that a much richer behavior is possible when the restrictive assumptions are removed. The interval of interest for the …

Synthesis, Characterization, And Evaluation Of Metal Complexes With Cancer Selective Anti-Proliferative Effects And Hydrogen Evolution Catalytic Properties., Nicholas Vishnosky

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Bis-thiosemicarbazones (BTSC) and their metal chelates have properties that are useful in several different scientific fields. These systems have already received attention in major fields of biology and engineering. Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysts need to be cheap and operate under minimal overpotentials with a long lifetime. The treatment of cancer requires, novel agents that have potent cytotoxic activity against cancer cells while displaying minimal side effects. In this dissertation the modular synthesis of these bis-thiosemicarbazone systems is utilized to regulate the redox chemistry for employment in the desired sector of chemistry. The ligand and metal chelates synthesized were characterized …

Modeling Of Electrochemical Processes At The Magnesium Anode During Struvite Formation, Tobias Dwyer

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study analyzes the current transients observed during the electrochemical formation of struvite from a solution of ammonium phosphate using a pure magnesium and magnesium alloy electrode. Through converting the chronoamperometric data to chronocoulometric data and fitting the data to various models, the driving mechanisms for struvite nucleation were elucidated. While the pure magnesium anode is controlled by only instantaneous nucleation at the electrode, the AZ31 alloy is nucleation controlled at short times and Cottrell diffusion controlled at long times.

A Review Of Field Oil-Production Response Of Injection-Well Gel Treatments, Munqith Aldhaheri, Mingzhen Wei, Na Zhang, Baojun Bai

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

As life-span extenders, bulk gels have been widely applied to rejuvenate oil production from uneconomic producers in mature oil fields by improving the sweep efficiency of improved-oil-recovery (IOR)/enhanced-oil-recovery (EOR) floods. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the responses of injection-well gel treatments implemented between 1985 and 2014. The survey includes 61 field projects compiled from SPE papers and US Department of Energy reports. Seven parameters related to the oil-production response were evaluated according to the reservoir lithology, formation type, and recovery process, using univariate analysis and stacked histograms. The interquartile-range (IQR) method was used to detect the underperforming and …

Recovery Of Water And Salt From Hyper-Saline Mine Water Using Freeze Crystallization, Gabrielle Casey

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Freezerbacks researched, designed, and economically evaluated a full-scale freeze crystallization process as well as two alternative full-scale processes: 5 stage multiple effect evaporation and reverse osmosis. All three processes were designed to treat hyper-saline mine water that was sent into evaporation pond systems. These systems were designed for Freeport-McMoRan’s mines that need to treat impacted water.

The Freeport-McMoRan copper mine in Miami, Arizona was visited in order to gain insight about the problem. The mine is no longer actively mining copper and is in the process of reclaiming land used. An essential part of restoring the land is treating …

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 …

Desalination: Freeze Crystallization, Ibrahim Guiga

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Freezerbacks researched, designed, and economically evaluated a full-scale freeze crystallization process as well as two alternative full-scale processes: 5 stage multiple effect evaporation and reverse osmosis. All three processes were designed to treat hyper-saline mine water that was sent into evaporation pond systems. These systems were designed for Freeport-McMoRan’s mines that need to treat impacted water.

The Freeport-McMoRan copper mine in Miami, Arizona was visited in order to gain insight about the problem. The mine is no longer actively mining copper and is in the process of reclaiming land used. An essential part of restoring the land is treating …

Removal And Reuse Of Phosphorus As A Fertilizer From Cafo Runoff, Hannah Young

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Eutrophication is the process in which nutrient saturated waters promote algal blooms on the surface of the water. This limits the amount of dissolved oxygen content in the water, effectively limiting the range of species that can survive in a body of water. Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) can contribute to this issue. The animals in a CAFO produce large amounts of nutrient-rich waste streams that can enter natural waterways if not properly managed and increase the problem of eutrophication. The ability to treat these waste streams and recover the excess nutrients would allow for not only the reduction of …

Effect Of Thiols For Nitrogen Reduction To Ammonia, Zakary R. Ford

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Ammonia is an important chemical used for fertilizers and also a potential carbon-free hydrogen storage medium. The Haber-Bosch process is the main production process, which requires large energy- and capital-input. Therefore, it is crucial to develop an alternate scalable synthesis that provides a less energy intensive and more economical route for synthetic ammonia production. In this paper, a 1Fe1Ni film was functionalized with C₃OH and C₆OH for the electrochemical synthesis of ammonia. This work will provide some insight into how thiol ligands can increase the selectivity of the catalyst for nitrogen reduction reaction and can be …

Effects Of Ambient And Laser Light On Water Evaporation From The Surface Of Polyurethane Swabs Doped With Surfactant, Collin Campbell

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Polyurethane swabs are a common instrument for environmental sampling in the food, medical, and forensic fields due to their high recovery of organisms like viruses, spores, and bacteria. For sampling microbes in food and medical facilities, storage of the collected samples occurs under the absence of light to promote growth for more accurate testing. In the forensic fields, microbial growth results in sample contamination so the inhibition of this growth requires the drying of the swabs. This work studies the evaporation rates of water from polyurethane swabs under zero watt incident light, 30 W fluorescent bulb, 50 mW 532 nm …