Chemical Engineering Commons^™

Synthesis And Characterization Of Microporous And Mesoporous Catalysts For Shale Gas Upgrading, Danesh Contractor, Ravi Joshi, Rajamani Gounder

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The petroleum industry is gradually shifting from using naphtha to ethane as its feedstock and new ethane steam crackers are being built. Using ethane as a feedstock produces more ethene and less co-products such as propene, aromatics and C4 alkenes. Thus, the shift in feedstock will reduce the availability of these co-products. Developing methods for the interconversion of alkenes, and specifically using ethene as a reactant, can solve this problem.

This project focuses on synthesis and characterization of zeolites with the BEA framework topology, and their nickel exchanged versions as potential ethene dimerization catalysts. In future work, these materials will …

The Role Of Surface Area In Catalytic Gasification Of Biomass, Elizabeth A. Wachs, Nitish Kumar, Indraneel Sircar, Prithviraja Basak, Jay P. Gore Phd

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Gasification of biomass has the potential to provide a carbon-negative source of liquid fuels. The current limited use of gasification is due in part to the high temperatures necessary to achieve high conversion levels. These temperatures can be lowered by the use of catalysts, but the mechanisms by which catalysts affect the reaction rate are not fully understood. Here, the structural component of potassium carbonate’s role in the gasification process was examined. Samples of pinewood sawdust were impregnated with potassium carbonate, then pyrolyzed with N2 in a fixed bed reactor at 750°C (heater thermocouple reading). Half of the char was …

Synthesis And Thermoelectric Properties Of Cusbs2, Tianyue Gao, Haiyu Fang, Yue Wu

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Copper antimony sulfide, CuSbS2 nanoparticles have a large potential of being a good thermoelectric material because they are made up of earth abundant elements. Thermoelectric materials can convert thermal energy into electricity, so that the wasted energy can be saved. Also, by using this earth abundant material, we can make thermoelectric materials much cheaper. The hypothesis of this study is that CuSbS2 could have a large Seebeck coefficient, one of the most important factors of thermoelectric materials, because of the complexity of its band structure. The other hypothesis is that thermal transport could be significantly suppressed through nanostructuring. There are …

Communication: Using Multiple Tethers To Stabilize Proteins On Surfaces, Brandon K. Loong, Thomas A. Knotts Iv

Faculty Publications

Protein surface interactions are important in many applications in biotechnology including protein arrays, but these technologies have not lived up to their transformative potential because it is difficult to attach proteins to surfaces in a manner that preserves function and theoretical understanding of the relevant phenomena remains limited. Here is reported the effect of using multiple tethers to attach a protein (lysozyme) to a surface and the effects on the structure and stability of the molecule. The simulations show how using two tethers can drastically change the folding mechanism such that a protein that is initially unstable and inactive when …

Adjustable Resonance Frequency Of Rf-Mems Capacitor By Using Comb- Drive Actuators: A Design Approaches, Agus Santoso Tamsir, Sandy Tannu Wijaya, Dato’ Burhanuddin Yeop Majlis

Makara Journal of Technology

The needs of smaller size RF varactor is a must today, and MEMS comes to be the potential one. In this paper we proposed an adjustable resonance RF-MEMS varactor by using comb-drive actuators placing in each side of the square movable plate. In our preliminary simulation, we found that the device can work properly but some constraints comes such as the dominancies of harmonic resonance frequencies that influences into the nominal capacitances. Therefore for the next step of development we have to find out the window of the structural dimension for a certain spans and a certain operating frequencies.

Make Or Buy Analysis Model Based On Tolerance Design To Minimize Manufacturing Cost And Quality Loss, Cucuk Nur Rosyidi, Reza Rizkichani Akbar, Wakhid Ahmad Jauhari

Makara Journal of Technology

In a manufacturing company, manufacturing costs, or component prices, and tolerance will affect the price and the quality of a product. Companies must produce high-quality products with low manufacturing costs in order to keep their products competitive in the market; however, it is difficult to produce a high-quality product with a low manufacturing cost. Companies have difficulties in determining the components to be produced using their own manufacturing facilities (make) or outsourced to their suppliers (buy). Hence, a make or buy analysis is needed to minimize the manufacturing costs and quality loss and to determine the optimum alternative regarding make …

Observation Of Tunneling Effects In Lateral Nanowire Pn Junctions, Sri Purwiyanti, Arief Udhiarto, Daniel Moraru, Takeshi Mizuno, Djoko Hartanto, Michiharu Tabe

Makara Journal of Technology

As electronic device dimensions are continuously reduced, applied bias conditions significantly change and the transport mechanisms must be reconsidered. Tunneling devices are promising for scaled-down electronics because of expected high-speed operation and relatively low bias. In this work, we investigated the tunneling features in silicon-oninsulator lateral nanowire pn junction and pin junction devices. By controlling the substrate voltage, tunneling features can be observed in the electrical characteristics. We found that the minimum substrate voltage required for tunneling to occur in pn junctions is higher as compared with pin junctions. The main cause of these effects relies in the difference between …

Argon Ion Irradiation Effect On The Magnetic Properties Of Fe-Al2o3 Nano Granular Film, Setyo Purwanto, Isao Sakamoto

Makara Journal of Technology

We studied the effect of Argon (Ar) ion irradiation on Fe-Al2O3 nanogranular thin film. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns show that the ion dose might promote the growth of the Fe2O3 phase from an amorphous phase to a crystalline phase. The magnetic and magnetoresistance properties were investigated using a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and a four point probe (FPP). The results suggest that percolation concentration occurred at the 0.55 Fe volume fraction and with a maximum magnetoresistance (MR) ratio of 3%. The present MR ratio was lower than that of previous results, which might be related to the existence of the …

Digestibility Of Betung Bamboo Fiber Following Fungal Pretreatment, Widya Fatriasari, Wasrin Syafii, Nyoman J. Wistara, Khaswar Syamsu, Bambang Prasetya

Makara Journal of Technology

This research evaluated the effect of fungal pretreatment of betung bamboo fibers and enzymatic- and microwaveassisted hydrolysis on the reducing sugar yield. The enzymatic hydrolysis of the pretreated biomass was carried out with cellulase and 10 and 20 FPU/g of substrate in a shaking incubator at 50 °C and 150 rpm for 48 h. The sulfuric acid concentration used in the microwave-assisted acid hydrolysis was 1.0, 2.5, and 5%, either with or without the addition of activated carbon. Microwave irradiation (330 Watt) was applied for 5–12.5 min. The yield of reducing sugar was better with the microwave-assisted acid hydrolysis, and …

Electron Emission Characteristics Of Multi-Gated Field Emitters, Hidenori Mimura, Yoichiro Neo, Toru Aoki, Tomoya Yoshida, Masayoshi Nagao

Makara Journal of Technology

We have developed a multi-gated field emitter (FE) such as a quadruple-gated FE with a three-stacked electrode lens and a quintuple-gated FE with a four-stacked electrode lens. Both the FEs can focus the electron beam. However, the quintuple-gated FE has a stronger electron convergence than the quadruple-gated FE, and a beam crossover is clearly observed for the quintuple-gated FE.

Properties Of Lignin From Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch And Its Application For Plywood Adhesive, Lucky Risanto, Euis Hermiati, Yanni Sudiyani

Makara Journal of Technology

Lignin from lignocellulosic biomass is a potential biopolymer for wood adhesive. The aims of this study were to characterize lignin isolated from the black liquor of oil palm empty fruit bunch fiber pretreated with steam explosion in alkaline conditions and to examine the bond quality of aqueous polymer isocyanate (API) adhesive prepared from lignin, natural rubber latex (NRL), and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as base polymers with isocyanate crosslinkers. Lignin was precipitated from the black liquor by adding hydrochloric acid; then the precipitate was separated by filtration, thoroughly washed with water up to pH 2 and pH 5, and dried. The …

The Gaussian Orthogonal Laplacianfaces Modelling In Feature Space For Facial Image Recognition, Arif Muntasa

Makara Journal of Technology

Dimensionality reduction based on appearance has been interesting issue on the face image research fields. Eigenface and Fisherface are linear techniques based on full spectral features, for both Eigenface and Fisherface produce global manifold structure. Inability of them in yielding local manifold structure have been solved by Laplacianfaces and further improved by Orthogonal Laplacianfaces, so it can yield orthogonal feature vectors. However, they have also a weakness, when training set samples have non-linear distribution. To overcome this weakness, feature extraction through data mapping from input to feature space using Gaussian kernel function is proposed. To avoid singularity, the Eigenface decomposition …

Series-Interconnected Plastic Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Prepared By Low- Temperature Binder-Free Titania Paste, Erlyta Septa Rosa, Lia Muliani, Shobih Shobih, Jojo Hidayat, Brian Yuliarto

Makara Journal of Technology

The aim of this research is to study dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). This was implemented on a flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate using a mixture of transparent and scattered mesoporous anatase-titania as the electron transport layer for the photoelectrode. This mixture of anatase titania performed a dual function of light scattering and efficient dye absorption. In this study, a porous nano-TiO2 film was prepared on indium tin oxide (ITO) coated polyethylene terephthalate (PET) by using a binder-free titania paste; on it, a DSSC was fabricated. The paste which contained a mixture of TiO2 nanoparticles, acid chloride, and ethanol was printed …

Does A Plastron Improve Heat Transfer?, Madani A. Khan, Jeffrey Alston, Andrew Guenthner

STAR Program Research Presentations

Superamphiphobic surfaces strongly repel both water and oils. In this work, aluminum coupons are processed by sanding with various grit of sand paper to impart microscale roughness. Subsequent submersion of the aluminum substrate in boiling water grows nanoscale grass-like structures. The oxide layer of Al is slightly soluble in water. During a fast diffusion/equilibrium, Al₂O₃ nanograss grows on the surface. A low energy coating is then deposited on the surface. The micro and nanoscale features create re-entrant structures that trap air enabling contact liquid to be in a Cassie-Baxter state. Superamphiphobicity of the samples were confirmed by …

Investigation Of Stabilization Mechanisms For Colloidal Suspension Using Nanoparticles., Qingwen He

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Over the past decade, charged nanoparticles have been found to enhance the stability of colloidal suspensions. One promising explanation of this stabilization mechanism is “Nanoparticle Haloing”- the formation of a non-adsorbing nanoparticle layer surrounding neutral colloids that would induce an effective electrostatic repulsion between them. The objective of this work was to investigate the effect of additional charged nanoparticles on the interaction between neural colloids in nanoparticle-regulated complex fluids. Firstly, colloidal probe Atomic Force Microscopy (CP-AFM) is used to directly measure the interaction force in such system with nanoparticle volume fractions varying from 10-6 to 10-2. It is found that …

High-Productivity Membrane Adsorbers: Polymer Surface-Modification Studies For Ion-Exchange And Affinity Bioseparations, Heather Chenette

All Dissertations

This Dissertation centers on the surface-modification of macroporous membranes to make them selective adsorbers for different proteins, and the analysis of the performance of these membranes relative to existing technology. Traditional chromatographic separations for the isolation and purification of proteins implement a column packed with resin beads or gel media that contain specific binding ligands on their exposed surface area. The productivity of this process is balanced by the effective use of the binding sites within the column and the speed at which the separation can take place, in addition to the need to maintain sufficient protein purity and bioactivity. …

Photo-Sensitivity Of Large Area Physical Vapor Deposited Mono And Bilayer Mos2, Baoming Wang, Christopher Muratore, Andrey A. Voevodin, M. Amanul Haque

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

We present photosensitivity in large area physical vapour deposited mono and bi-layer MoS2 films. Photo-voltaic effect was observed in single layer MoS2 without any apparent rectifying junctions, making device fabrication straightforward. For bi-layers, no such effect was present, suggesting strong size effect in light-matter interaction. The photo-voltaic effect was observed to highly direction dependent in the film plane, which suggests that the oblique deposition configuration plays a key role in developing the rectifying potential gradient. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of any large area and transfer free MoS2 photo device with performance comparable to …

Application Of Membrane Processes For Concentration And Separation Of Sugar Streams In Biofuel Production, Mohammadmahdi Malmali

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The overall objective of this study was identification and development of a sugar concentration/separation membrane filtration unit to improve the bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass into chemicals and fuels. This thesis is divided into three main parts. The first part is about our studies on the use of nanofiltration membranes for concentration of sugars in a lignocellulosic biomass hydrolysate. In addition, the feasibility of simultaneous removal of acetic acid, 5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural and furfural from the hydrolysate has also been investigated. The results obtained indicate that both concentration of sugars and removal of hydrolysis degradation products is feasible. However, careful selection of the …

Hydraulic Fracturing Water Recycle Through Optimal Ultrafiltration And Nanofiltration Membranes System Design, Long Tran

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Innovations in hydraulic fracturing technology have created opportunities for petroleum and natural gas production. This technology injects water, sand, and additives to create fissures in rock formations and discharge oil and gas to the surface. The average amount of water used per well is approximately 4.4 million gallons. The large water demand and the complexities involved in wastewater treatment make this process very expensive and not sustainable as far as water use is concerned. Flexible membrane technology has not been developed to process fracking water for re-use across the U.S. The objective of this project is to compare and analyze …

A Soft Condensed Matter Approach Towards Mathematical Modelling Of Mass Transport And Swelling In Food Grains, Michael Chapwanya, N. Misra

Articles

Soft condensed matter (SCM) physics has recently gained importance for a large class of engineering materials. The treatment of food materials from a soft matter perspective, however, is only at the surface and is gaining importance for understanding the complex phenomena and structure of foods. In this work, we present a theoretical treatment of navy beans from a SCM perspective to describe the hydration kinetics. We solve the transport equations within a porous matrix and employ the Flory–Huggin’s equation for polymer–solvent mixture to balance the osmotic pressure. The swelling of the legume seed is modelled as a moving boundary with …