Chemical Engineering Commons^™

Measurement Of Interfacial Tension In Hydrocarbon/Water/Dispersant Systems At Deepwater Conditions, Mohamed Abdelrahim

LSU Master's Theses

The events of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico were associated with great water depths that made it difficult to understand the behavior of the spilled oil as it came in contact with the seawater. The remedial subsea application of chemical dispersants draws interest to evaluate the interfacial interactions between the oil and water at such great water depths. Most importantly, a quantification of the interfacial tension (IFT) between the spilled oil and seawater at deepwater conditions can provide insight into the effectiveness of the chemical dispersion of spilled oil. In this study, Macondo crude oil …

Novel Blends Of Sulfur-Tolerant Water-Gas Shift Catalysts For Biofuel Applications, Timothy Michael Roberge

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As traditional sources of energy become depleted, significant research interest has gone into conversion of biomass into renewable fuels. Biomass-derived synthesis gas typically contains concentrations of approximately 30 to 600 ppm H2S in stream. H2S is a catalyst poison which adversely affects downstream processing of hydrogen for gas to liquid plants. The water-gas shift reaction is an integral part of converting CO and steam to H2 and CO2. Currently, all known water-gas shift catalysts deactivate in sulfur concentrations typical of biomass-derived synthesis gas. Novel catalysts are needed to remain active in the presence of sulfur concentrations in order to boost …

Catalytic Tri-Reforming Of Biomass-Derived Syngas To Produce Desired H2:Co Ratios For Fuel Applications, Devin Mason Walker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study focuses on upgrading biomass derived syngas for the synthesis of liquid fuels using Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS). The process includes novel gasification of biomass via a tri-reforming process which involves a synergetic combination of CO2 reforming, steam reforming, and partial oxidation of methane. Typical biomass-derived syngas H2:CO is 1:1 and contains tars that deactivate FT catalyst. This innovation allows for cost-effective one-step production of syngas in the required H2:CO of 2:1 with reduction of tars for use in the FTS. To maximize the performance of the tri-reforming catalyst, an attempt to control oxygen mobility, thermal stability, dispersion of metal, …

Smart Packaging: A Novel Technique For Localized Drug Delivery For Ovarian Cancer, Eva Christabel Williams

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Localized drug delivery is emerging as an effective technique due to its ability to administer therapeutic concentrations and controlled release of drugs to cancer sites in the body. It also prevents the contact of harsh chemotherapy drugs to healthy regions in the body that otherwise would become exposed to current treatments.

This study reports on a model chemotherapy drug delivery system comprising non-ionic surfactant vesicles (niosomes) packaged within a temperature-sensitive chitosan network. This smart packaging, or package-within-a package system, provides two distinct advantages. First, the gel prevents circulation of the niosomes and maintains delivery in the vicinity of a tumor. …

Aggregation Of Sediment And Bacteria With Mucilage From The Opuntia Ficus-Indica Cactus, Audrey Lynn Buttice

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Flocculants are commonly used in industrial settings where solid-liquid separations are desired including industrial and municipal wastewater management and potable water production facilities. Conventional flocculants include inorganic metal salts and synthetic organic polymers. The cost, availability, and harmful effects of the non-biodegradable nature of these flocculants have led to the widespread study of natural flocculants. Current natural flocculants being studied include polysaccharides cultivated from microbial extracellular matrix products and plant based materials. In this study, the mucilage of Opuntia ficus-indica cactus was evaluated as a natural flocculant for sediments and bacteria. The O. ficus-indica cactus is also known as the …

Precipitation Of Phosphate Minerals From Effluent Of Anaerobically Digested Swine Manure, Alex Y. Lin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Swine production represents approximately 40% of the world's meat production, and its wastes contain high concentrations of organic carbon, nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P). Anaerobic digestion is an increasingly popular technology for treating animal wastes while simultaneously generating energy. Its propagation and ability to solubilize organic N and P make adding a struvite recovery process attractive. Recovering struvite (MgNH4PO4) from anaerobically digested swine waste can address global P shortages, meet P discharge guidelines, and produce slow-release fertilizer, which can be sold for revenue.

Anaerobic digesters were operated with at organic loading rates of 3.4-3.9 g volatile solids per liter per …

Design Of Colloidal Composite Catalysts For Co2 Photoreduction And For Co Oxidation, Bijith D. Mankidy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this doctoral dissertation, novel colloidal routes were used to synthesize nanomaterials with unique features. We have studied the impact of nanoparticle size of catalyst, role of high surface area of a photocatalyst, and the effect of varying elemental composition of co-catalytic nanoparticles in combination with core-shell plasmonic nanoparticles. We have demonstrated how physical and chemical characteristics of nanomaterials with these unique features play a role in catalytic reactions, specifically the oxidation of CO and the photoreduction of CO2. The first objective of this doctoral dissertation involved the preparation of CoO nanoparticles with discrete nanoparticles sizes (1-14 nm) using a …

Applications Of Cfd Simulations On Microfluidic Systems For Nanoparticle Synthesis, Yuehao Li

LSU Master's Theses

Microfluidics has been extensively investigated as a unique platform to synthesize nanoparticles with desired properties, e.g., size and morphology. Compared to the conventional batch reactors, wet-chemical synthesis using continuous flow microfluidics provides better control over addition of reagents, heat and mass transfer, and reproducibility. Recently, millifluidics has emerged as an alternative since it offers similar control as microfluidics. With its dimensions scaled up to millimeter size, millifluidics saves fabrication efforts and potentially paves the way for industrial applications. Good designs and manipulations of microfluidic and millifluidic devices rely on solid understanding of fluid dynamics. Fluid flow plays an important role …

A Review Of Offshore Blowouts And Spills To Determine Desirable Capabilities Of A Subsea Capping Stack, Louise Matilde Smith

LSU Master's Theses

The events surrounding the Deepwater Horizon disaster have changed the face of deepwater operations. In order to continue drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, the regulatory body, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), has required that applications to conduct work in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) include a plan to stop, capture, or contain any uncontrolled release of fluids. The capping and containment systems built and implemented by BP during the event are an excellent starting point for minimizing pollution from deepwater subsea blowouts, but the system has limitations. The industry recognizes these limits but is currently focused …

An Experimental And Theoretical Critique Of Flow Model Accuracy, Shannon Ray Chollett

LSU Master's Theses

In today’s exploration and production environment it is required that engineers must collect and use vast amounts of data for flow model construction and calibra- tion, as well as reservoir estimation and optimization. With modern technology, the data volume can be overwhelming. It is necessary that data monitoring and calibration are highly efficient. It is also essential that physical and mathematical models can be tested in repeatable, inexpensive experiments. The experiments described in this thesis will develop and perform verification of algorithms and can generate prior geomodels, collect and process seismic refraction data, collect and process production data, and calibrate …

Boron Composite Nanoparticles For Enhancement Of Bio-Fuel Combustion, Neng Wang

LSU Master's Theses

Bio-fuels such as ethanol are good candidates to replace fossil fuels, which are being depleted, and whose combustion is associated with net production of greenhouse gases and other environmental issues. However, bio-fuels have low energy densities and can be subject to incomplete combustion. Boron is a promising additive for bio-fuels in combustion applications. It can increase their overall heat release and reduce ignition temperature, because boron itself is among the highest energy density materials. In this study, different B/rare earth oxide and B/Fe composite nanoparticles were produced by simple mechanical milling. Also, a new low temperature milling method was developed …

A Novel Rna Extraction Method For Cyanobacteria, Zenghui Zhang

LSU Master's Theses

Research on production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) by microorganisms has captured attention over the last two decades, since PHA have similar properties as petroleum-based thermoplastics, yet are close to carbon neutral and made from renewable sources. Cyanobacteria are considered to be good PHA producers because of their simple nutrient requirements (mainly water, sunlight and CO2) and fast cell growth. However, knowledge of metabolisms behind PHA production by cyanobacteria is limited. Therefore, gene expression analysis of cyanobacteria is required to get a thorough understanding at the molecular level, and gene expression analysis requires the extraction of high quality RNA. Extracting high quality …

Advanced Nanostructured Electro-Catalysts For Electricity Generation And Biorenewable Alcohol Conversion, Zhiyong Zhang

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

In my Ph.D research, a wet chemistry-based organic solution phase reduction method was developed, and was successfully applied in the preparation of a series of advanced electro-catalysts, including 0-dimensional (0-D) Pt, Pd, Au, and Pd-Ni nanoparticles (NPs), 1-D Pt-Fe nanowires (NWs) and 2-D Pd-Fe nanoleaves (NLs), with controlled size, shape, and morphology. These nanostructured catalysts have demonstrated unique electro-catalytic functions towards electricity production and biorenewable alcohol conversion.

The molecular oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is a long-standing scientific issue for fuel cells due to its sluggish kinetics and the poor catalyst durability. The activity and durability of an electro-catalyst is strongly …

Processes Involving Acid Gas Solubility In Room Temperature Ionic Liquids (Rtils), Fadekemi E. Osideinde

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The literature contains a number of thermodynamic studies involving the solubility of acid gases in RTILs. This thesis looks at using these studies in the context of two processes: membrane separation and absorption refrigeration cycles. The first part of this study investigated the separation of a mixed dry gas feed of CO2/CH4 by four Stabilized Ionic Liquid Membranes (SILMs); 1-Ethyl-3-methlyimidazolium dicyanamide, [emim][DCA], 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium thiocyanate, [emim][SCN], 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide, [emim][Tf2N] and 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium nitrate, [bmim][NO 3]. The selectivities and permeances for the CO2/CH 4 feed were measured in all four SILMs at various partial pressures of CO2 in the feed and at two …

Preprocessing Of Biomass Using Mechanical, Chemical And Microbial Techniques, Swetha Mahalaxmi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Biomass-derived fuels have acquired a lot of attention recently due to increasing emphasis on energy independence, efforts to utilize abundance of green resources and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. Grasses, agricultural residues, animal residues and waste, used oils, etc., can be used as starting materials in the production of biofuels. Various preprocessing techniques used in the preprocessing of biomass, such as microbial preprocessing, mechanical preprocessing and chemical pretreatment, are used for enhancing the digestibility of biomass to sugars for ethanol production. In this work, studies were conducted to improve the microbial, chemical and mechanical preprocessing of switch grass by decreasing …

Admicellar Polymerization To Compatibilize Calcium Carbonate With Oil-Based Drilling Mud, Olugbenga Samuel Ojo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Weighting agents like calcium carbonate (CC) are added to drilling mud to improve mud properties and performance during oil and gas drilling operations. Oil-based mud (OBM), a more preferred drilling mud, being hydrophobic is particularly non-compatible with hydrophilic CC. This work explored an economically viable admicellar polymerization technique to surface-modify the high energy hydrophilic CC surface to a low energy hydrophobic surface by polymerizing organic styrene monomer within an admicelle of nonionic surfactant Triton X-100 adsorbed on the CC surface. BET N2 particle size analysis, Soxhlet extraction of the coated polymer, Fourier transform infrared-attenuated total reflectance (FTIR-ATR) spectra analysis, and …

"Lead-Free Solders Are Currently Used In The Electronic Components Industry…", Timothy Mead

Summer Community of Scholars Posters (RCEU and HCR Combined Programs)

No abstract provided.

Investigation Of Carbon Corrosion Resistance Of Cnt Containing Electrode, Diana Larrabee, William A. Rigdon, Eli Mcpherson, Joshua Sightler, Xinyu Huang

Faculty Publications

Carbon support corrosion is one of the major degradation mechanisms of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell. Carbon oxidation occurs in PEM electrode and is accelerated at high potential created by adverse operating conditions and improper distribution of reactants and products [1, 2, 3]. Carbon corrosion can lead to the thinning of the electrode layer and severe performance degradation. The detailed mechanisms of carbon support corrosion induced performance loss are still not fully understood; it is believed that the following events contribute to the decay: (1) structural collapse of the porous electrode due to the loss of carbon; (2) carbon …

Limited Thermal Conductance Of Metal-Carbon Interfaces, Jaime J. Gengler, Sergei V. Shenogin, John E. Bultman, Ajit K. Roy, Andrey A. Voevodin, Christopher Muratore

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

The thermal conductance for a series of metal-graphite interfaces has been experimentally measured with time-domain thermoreflectance (TDTR). For metals with Debye temperatures up to ∼400 K, a linear relationship exists with the thermal conductance values. For metals with Debye temperatures in excess of ∼400 K, the measured metal-graphite thermal conductance values remain constant near 60 MW m−2 K−1. Titanium showed slightly higher conductance than aluminum, despite the closeness of atomic mass and Debye temperature for the two metals. Surface analysis was used to identify the presence of titaniumcarbide at the interface in contrast to the aluminum and gold-carbon interfaces (with …

Evaluation Of The Reagan And Lamotte Sandstones In Southwestern Missouri For Carbon Dioxide Sequestration, Todd Jeffrey Miller

Masters Theses

"Carbon dioxide sequestration has been proposed as a way to reduce anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. Several characteristics are required in order for a geologic formation to be suitable for sequestration. There must be an impermeable confining layer to restrain CO₂ migration toward the surface, the porosity and permeability must be high enough to allow for long term injection and substantial storage capacity, and the formation must be strong enough for long term injection to occur without inducing fractures. In this work, The Reagan and Lamotte Sandstones near Springfield, Missouri were evaluated for the potential for carbon dioxide sequestration. The Derby-Doe …