Chemical Engineering Commons^™

Applications Of Cfd Simulations On Chemical Processing Equipment Designs, Gongqiang He

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The objective of this work is to achieve process intensification by seeking optimal equipment design with CFD investigations. In this work, two projects on chemical equipment design have been discussed.

The first project is on design and optimization of fractal distributor in a novel ion-exchanger. Flow distributors are adopted extensively by chemical industry to distribute an incoming process stream uniformly to the downstream equipment. Currently, the performance of chemical equipment installed with conventional distributor is severely undermined due to poor flow distribution. For conventional distributors such as spray nozzle distributors, their design concept is based on maintaining very high pressure …

Studies In Pressurized Oxy-Combustion: Process Development And Control Of Radiative Heat Transfer, Akshay Gopan

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Fossil fuels supply over 80% of the world’s primary energy and more than two-thirds of the world’s electricity. Of this, coal alone accounts for over 41% of the electricity supplied globally. Though coal is globally well-distributed and can provide stable and reliable energy on demand, it emits a large amount of carbon dioxide—a greenhouse gas responsible for global warming. Serious concerns over the implication of the increased global temperature have prompted the investigation into low carbon energy alternatives. The idea of capturing the carbon dioxide emitted from the combustion sources is considered as one of the viable alternatives. This would …

Designing Metabolite Biosensors And Engineering Genetic Circuits To Regulate Metabolic Pathways, Di Liu

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Microbial production of chemicals has provided an attractive alternative to chemical synthesis. A key to make this technology economically viable is to improve titers, productivities, and strain robustness. However, pathway productivities and yields are often limited by metabolic imbalances that inhibit cell growth and chemical production. In contrast, natural metabolic pathways are dynamically regulated according to cellular metabolic status. Dynamic regulation allows cells to adjust metabolite concentrations to optimal levels and avoid wasting carbon and energy. Inspired by nature, synthetic regulatory circuits have shown great promise in improving titers and productivities, because they can balance the metabolism by dynamically adjusting …

Fundamental Studies Of Flame Structure Through Laser Plasma Diagnostics, Wendong Wu

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Increasing concerns about air pollution and global climate change are drawing attention to the need for efficiency improvements and emission reductions for combustion processes, which account for more than 85% of energy production in United States. Combustion efficiency and emissions are affected by the mixing and reacting of fuel and oxidizer. Understanding such behavior plays a critical role in flame structure studies and combustion optimization. However, experimentally obtaining mixture fraction, which is a widely used quantity to describe the mixing behavior, has proven to be a challenge, especially for heavier hydrocarbon fuels or fuel rich flames. Moreover, measuring flame temperature …

Removal Of Retained Electrospinning Solvent Prolongs Drug Release From Electrospun Plla Fibers, Anthony R. D'Amato, Nicholas J. Schaub, Jesus M. Cardenas, Andrew S. Fiumara, Paul M. Troiano, Andrea Fischetti, Ryan J. Gilbert

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A major challenge in developing drug-releasing electro spun nanofibers is obtaining long-term drug release over many weeks with no burst release of drug. Here, we present new methods capable of prolonging the diffusive release of small molecule drugs from electro spun poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA) nanofibers. The methods focus on removal of retained electrospinning solvent through fiber heating, maintaining fibers in a laboratory setting, or a combination of these methods. These post-fabrication methods altered the release characteristics of a model small molecule drug, 6-aminonicotinamide (6AN), from PLLA fibers. Specifically, untreated fibers released 6AN over 9 days, and fibers that underwent a …

Catalytic Oxidation And Depolymerization Of Lignin In Aqueous Ionic Liquid, Lalitendu Das, Siquan Xu, Jian Shi

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Lignin is an integral part of the plant cell wall, which provides rigidity to plants, also contributes to the recalcitrance of the lignocellulosic biomass to biochemical and biological deconstruction. Lignin is a promising renewable feedstock for aromatic chemicals; however, an efficient and economic lignin depolymerization method needs to be developed to enable the conversion. In this study, we investigated the depolymerization of alkaline lignin in aqueous 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate [C₂C₁Im][OAc] under oxidizing conditions. Seven different transition metal catalysts were screened in presence of H₂O₂ as oxidizing agent in a batch reactor. CoCl₂ and …

Mechanical Characteristics For Different Composite Materials Based On Commercial Epoxy Resins And Different Fillers, Marwa Mohamed, M. A. Radwan, M. A. Sadek, Hany A. Elazab

Chemical Engineering

The bulletproof jacket and the cassette shields of reactive armors are formed from different layers containing polymeric composite material of low density but with high resistance to penetration of high kinetic energy projectiles. Composites based on epoxies are very rigid and can resist bullet penetration specially when made with other layers of carbon fibers or Kevlar. In this work different composites based on epoxy resins were prepared and all mechanical properties were determined including resistance to high kinetic energy by falling steel ball to reach the optimum composition, which may be used in the production of the bulletproof jackets and …

Novel Synthesis Of Cigs Nanoparticles For Scalable, Benign Inks For Solution Processed Solar Cells, Jacob Fields, Ryan Ellis, Rakesh Agrawal

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

One potential production route to high efficiency, low cost, photovoltaics (PVs) which was explored is Copper Indium Gallium Sulfide (CIGS) nanocrystal inks for solution processed PVs. A common CIGS nanocrystal ink synthesis utilizes ligands—molecules attached to the particle surface—for colloidal stability, size control, and shape control. It is desirable to devise a novel synthesis which will incorporate a ligand that allows suspensions in more benign solvents than current methods—a desirable characteristic for large scale production. In order to develop the aforementioned synthesis of CIGS nanoparticles, an optimization study of synthesis parameters was performed. Selection of an appropriate solvent, and sulfur …

Separation Of Rare Earth Elements From Aluminum Using Ion-Exchange Chromatography, Shabrina Nurfitriani, Hoon Choi, Nien-Hwa Linda Wang

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Demand of rare earth elements (REEs) has increased tremendously due to their key roles in electronics and emerging technology. Recently, new technology was developed at Purdue to extract REEs from coal fly ash. This study is focused on the separation of aluminum ions (Al), a major impurity in the extract, from REEs. The goal is to test the feasibility of an ion-exchange process for separating REEs from a highly-concentrated Al solution. First, we reduced the resin particle size to decrease dispersion and diffusion effects, to increase resin productivity, and to reduce the amounts of REEs and the ion-exchange resin required …

Carbon Removal And Optoelectronic Property Tuning In Copper Arsenic Sulfide Thin Films Through Ligand Exchange And Alloying, Louis R. Schroeder, Scott Mcclary, Rakesh Agrawal

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Solution processed thin film solar cells are attractive alternatives to conventional energy sources due to low waste generation, flexibility in substrate choice, and scalability. The novel semiconductor Cu3AsS4 in the enargite phase has a near ideal band gap of 1.4 eV and has earth abundant constituent elements; yet single-junction solar cells have yielded low efficiencies due to a secondary carbonaceous phase present, among other issues. This carbonaceous phase may be eliminated by exchanging the carbonaceous ligands with molecular metal chalcogenides. To characterize the ligand exchanged particles, UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and …

Surface Tension, Interfacial Tension And Phase Behavior: Interactions Of Surfactant/Polymer Solutions With Crude Oil, Michael A. Steinerd, Jaeyub Chung, Bryan W. Boudouris, Nathan C. Schultheiss, Elias I. Franses

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Advanced oil recovery techniques, beyond primary and secondary recovery, are required in order to produce additional oil in existing reservoir rock. Here, we evaluated a combination of polymer and surfactant aqueous solutions, in order to generate a working fluid capable of achieving high-performance enhanced oil recovery (EOR). In this recovery process, surfactant is added to the water flooding mixture in order to lower the interfacial tension between the oil and the water. If the interfacial tension can be decreased by ~1,000-fold, then the aqueous solution can mobilize and displace the oil. Moreover, a polymer is added to the aqueous solution …

Capsule-Based Dropwise Additive Manufacturing With Pharmaceutical Suspensions, Kaitlyn N. Buck, Andrew J. Radcliffe, Gintaras V. Reklaitis

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Current manufacturing of pharmaceutical products focuses on creating a standard dosage of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API); however, dosages often need to be altered or customized to account for a patient’s age, weight, comorbidity, and other genetic factors. A potential method for dispensing precise dosages of API suspensions through dropwise addition is detailed in the following paper. By using a drop-on-demand printing rig, a series of suspensions comprised of varying volume fractions of a micron-scale API in a carrier fluid were printed, and individual drop volumes were analyzed using high-resolution imaging. From this, capsules with 1 mg dosages and 100 …

Modeling The Aqueous-Phase Copper Ion-Exchange Behavior Onto Ssz-13 Zeolites, Brian N. Bayer, Rajamani Gounder, Trevor M. Lardinois

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Copper-exchanged zeolites are utilized as catalysts for the selective catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxides, which are atmospheric pollutants found in diesel engine exhaust. The total amount of copper ions and the types of copper species (Cu(II) or Cu(II)OH) exchanged onto a zeolite can be varied. Copper is exchanged onto SSZ-13 (an aluminosilicate zeolite with the chabazite topology) during a process known as aqueous ion exchange, where the zeolite is mixed in a copper-containing solution. The distribution of copper on SSZ-13 is influenced by exchange conditions, including the molarity, temperature, and pH of the copper solution. The effect of exchange conditions …

Metabolic Comparison Of Wild-Type And Transgenic Synechocystis Pcc 6803 Cyanobacteria, Ian A. Mcluckey, John A. Morgan, Joel Yu King Hing

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The Calvin-Benson (CBB) cycle is an essential part of nature. This phenomenon allows carbon molecules in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to be converted into useful energy in the form of sugars. Cyanobacteria are single-celled organisms capable of utilizing energy from sunlight to drive this cycle and are also readily engineered. In hopes of improving this cycle, we compared a wild-type version of the Synechocystis PCC6803 cyanobacteria to an engineered version overexpressing the enzyme FBA (fructose-biphosphate aldolase), called 70 glpX, to deduce how the overexpressing strain is able to be more photosynthetically efficient. To do this, comparative metabolomics were done …

Modal Phonon Transport Across Interfaces By Non-Equilibrium Molecular Dynamics Simulation, Yang Zhong, Tianli Feng, Xiulin Ruan

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Phonons represent the quantization of lattice vibration, responsible for heat transfer in semiconductors and dielectrics. Phonon heat conduction across interfaces is crucially important for the thermal management of real-life devices such as smartphones, electric vehicles, and satellites. Although recent studies have broadly investigated spectral phonon contribution to lattice thermal conductivity, the mechanism of phonon modal transport across interfaces is still not well-understood. Previous models, including the acoustic mismatch model (AMM) and diffuse mismatch model (DMM), only consider elastic process while neglecting inelastic phonon contributions. Herein, we employ spectral Non-Equilibrium Molecular Dynamics Simulation (NEMD) to probe the temperature and heat flux …

Residual Stress Measurements On The Tig Weld Joint Of 57fe15cr25ni Austenitic Steel For Structural Material Applications By Means X-Ray Diffraction Techniques, Parikin Parikin, Agus Hadi Ismoyo, Riza Iskandar, Arbi Dimyati

Makara Journal of Technology

Measurements of residual stress on the 57Fe25Cr15Ni steel plate with no-filler TIG-welding process were carried out. This work was conducted to determine the nature of weld ability in synthesized steel. The bulks were formed in a dimension of 30x20x7 mm3 to ease data retrieval. Results show that the largest residual stress occurred in the weld metal area, amounting to 82.40 MPa with lattice stretching of 0.18%. Conversely, the values decreased to 65.92 MPa and a stretch of 0.14% in the HAZ area. This residual stress is a tensile stress that can reduce the mechanical strength of the material since it …

Personality Trait Based Intervention For Workplace Accident Prevention, Yassierli Yassierli, Nurhayati Nurhayati, Marisa Anatasia, Shamsul Bahri

Makara Journal of Technology

Previous research has suggested that some traits may be useful as the predictors of risk behaviours behaviors. Therefore, personality traits seem to play a role in accident involvement. The purpose of this study is was to explore the relationship between the personality traits based on the Big Five Inventory (BFI) and worker accident experiences in order to elaborate personality traits based intervention for workplace accident prevention. A cross cross-sectional study was conducted among 173 workers in a cement company using a set of questionnaires consisting of respondents’ characteristics, BFI, and self-reported accident experience. The correlations were computed using Goodman Kruskal’s …

Urban Drainage Management And Flood Control Improvement Using The Duflow Case Study: Aur Sub Catchment, Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia, Charlotte De Fraiture, Robiyanto Hendro Susanto, F.X. Suryadi, Harrini Mutiara Hapsari Wahyu

Makara Journal of Technology

Urban flooding often times staggers the livelihood in an urban area, which most likely happens in the lowland urban area. Therefore, the existing urban drainage system should be improved in order to tackle the upcoming urban flooding events, which are more than likely to be more devastating than those in the previous years. The research location is in Palembang, Sumatra, Indonesia, where 30% of its urban part is a lowland area. The selected Aur Sub Catchment is located in Silaberanti. The main objective of this research is to improve the current drainage system in order to achieve the optimal design …

Ethanol Purification Using Activated Natural Zeolite, Chandra Wahyu Purnomo, Nelliza Putri, Indra Perdana, Hirofumi Hinode

Makara Journal of Technology

Bio ethanol is one of the potential fuels in the future. However, ethanol in water mixture has an azeotropic concentration of 95.6 wt. %, which makes it difficult to purify further. The common method of purification is by using an azeotropic distillation column, which requires an intensive energy and an addition of specific solvent. In this study, ethanol purification is done using an adsorption column packed with zeolite Raschig rings. The natural zeolite ring was modified beforehand using the NaOH solution to enhance the material’s water adsorption performance. The ethanol purity can reach more than 99% with the modified zeolite …

An Efficient Palladium-Thiourea Catalysed Heck Cross-Coupling Reaction For Molecular Electronic Interest, Wan M. Khairul, Mohd Shahrul Shahmi Md Shariff, Rafizah Rahamathullah, Adibah Izzati Daud, Mustaffa Shamsuddin, Siti Kamilah Che Soh

Makara Journal of Technology

The synthesis and utilization of C-C bonds formation are concerned about the key steps for the building of several conducting molecular electronics involving many asymmetric catalysts approached, which is an essential task that most researchers would ignore in preparing these materials to enhance the production yield of cross-coupling materials. Despite the enormous progress, there still remains a great demand for economic and practicable cross-coupling processes involving ultra-low catalyst loadings with high turnover numbers due to the employment of conventional metal catalyst. Thus, there has been an excessive interest to cultivate non-phosphine palladium catalysts for excellent achievement of activity, stability, and …