Chemical Engineering Commons^™

Physical Impact Of Waterjet-Based Sediment Remediation On Benthic Organisms, Grace Harper, Andrew Curtis Elmore, Christopher Redell, Gavin Risley, Joel Gerard Burken

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Adding Activated Carbon to Sediments Has Been Shown to Be an Effective Means of Reducing the Bioavailability of Certain Contaminants. the Current State of the Practice is to Mechanically Mix Activated Carbon to a Target Concentration of 3 Percent at Depths of Approximately 30 Cm using a Rotovator or Similar Construction Equipment. Waterjets Have Been Used to Cut Hard Material using a Mixture of Water and an Abrasive. If Activated Carbon is Substituted for the Abrasive, Waterjets Have the Potential to Use Surface Injection as a Replacement for Mechanical Mixing during Sediment Remediation. a Perceived Benefit of Waterjet-Based Sediment Remediation …

Investigation Of Solid-State Shear Pulverization Processing Parameters For Polyethylene-Clay Nanocomposites , Ben Aldrich

Honors Theses

Investigates multiple processing parameters, includingpolymer type, filler type, processing technique, severity of SSSP (Solid-state shear pulverization)processing, and postprocessing, of SSSP. HDPE and LLDPE polymers with pristine clay and organo-clay samples are explored. Effects on crystallization, high-temperature behavior, mechanicalproperties, and gas barrier properties are examined. Thermal, mechanical, and morphological characterization is conducted to determine polymer/filler compatibility and superior processing methods for the polymer-clay nanocomposites.

New Catalysts For The Photocatalytic Reduction Of Carbon Dioxide To C1 Organic Compounds, Anna Hailey

Honors Theses

Photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) has recently been identified as one of the five notable research areas in catalysis because it simultaneously reduces carbon emissions while storing clean, green solar energy in organic compounds. The development of efficient photocatalysts that take advantage of solar radiation is therefore an important area of research. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a commonly-used photocatalyst for this reaction, but it requires ultraviolet (UV) radiation to excite its electrons. Carbon-doping (C-doping) has been shown to reduce the intensity of energy required, thus allowing the photocatalyst to take advantage of the visible light spectrum. Copper (Cu), added …

Simulation Of The Current Sheath Dynamics During Axial Acceleration Phase In A 600 J Plasma Focus Device., Fong Shin Chien

Student Works (2010-2019)

The project was designed to simulate the current sheath dynamics during the axial rundown phase in a plasma focus system. The computation was done by inputting parameters of a 600 J plasma focus device which is used in the Plasma Focus Laboratory, Physics Department, University of Malaya. The current sheath dynamics was simulated based on the Snow-plow Model which the calculation was done by using MS Excel. Argon gas was used and the operating pressure was varied. The computation was done having the parameter based on Argon gas with the pressures used in the experiments, which ranges from 9.0  …

Evaluation Of Simultaneous Water And Gas Injection Using Co2, Shrinidhi Shetty

LSU Master's Theses

Miscible CO2 injection is the second largest contributor to global enhanced oil recovery, as it has successfully undergone extensive laboratory tests and field applications for recovering residual oil left behind after waterflooding. Prolific incremental recoveries have been obtained for some fields. Although miscible CO2 injections generally have excellent microscopic displacement efficiency they often result in poor sweep efficiency. In order to address sweep problems and maximize recoveries, other schemes of gas injection have been developed. Two such processes are water-alternating-gas (WAG) and simultaneous water-and-gas (SWAG) injection. WAG and SWAG have been successfully used to minimize poor sweep. Improved gas utilization …

Pore-Scale Lattice Boltzmann Simulations Of Inertial Flows In Realistic Porous Media: A First Principle Analysis Of The Forchheimer Relationship, Chukwudi Paul Chukwudozie

LSU Master's Theses

With recent advances in the capabilities of high performance computing (HPC) platforms and the relatively simple representation of complex geometries of porous media, lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) has gained popularity as a means of solving fluid flow and transport problems. In this work, LBM was used to obtain flow parameters of porous media, study the behavior of these parameters at varying flow conditions and quantify the effect of roughness on the parameters by relating the volume averaged flow simulation results to Darcy and Forchheimer equations respectively. To validate the method, flow was simulated on regular and random sphere arrays in …

The Stereospecific Hydrogenation And Dehydrogenation Of Rosin And Fatty Acids, Edward O'Brien

LSU Master's Theses

Tall oil is a byproduct of the standard wood pulping process in the paper industry. It is primarily made up of C:18 fatty acids, rosin acids and a minor fraction of neutrals. Normally, tall oil is further distilled into fractions and then hydrogenated or dehydrogenated into different products. In this project, three heterogeneous catalytic methods of producing byproducts of various distilled tall oil fractions were examined at lower temperatures and pressures than the industry norm in an attempt to develop cheaper production processes. Reactions were conducted in stirred batch reactors of different sizes and product compositions were analyzed primarily by …

Simulation Study Of Sweep Improvement In Heavy Oil Co2 Floods, Venu Gopal Rao Nagineni

LSU Master's Theses

Enhanced oil recovery by CO2 injection is a common application used for light oil reservoirs since CO2 is relatively easily miscible with light oils. CO2 flooding in heavy oil reservoirs is often uneconomic due to unfavorable mobility ratios. Reservoir heterogeneity further complicates the process as CO2 channels through high permeability layers leading to premature breakthrough. However, this can be controlled by choosing a suitable modification to the CO2 injection process enabling better sweep efficiencies, and making the process economic. The current work focuses on two such methods; water-alternating-gas injection (WAG) and profile modification by blocking gas flow in the high …

Dry Reforming Of Methane On Rhodium And Nickel Substituted Pyrochlore Catalysts, Sarthak Gaur

LSU Master's Theses

Dry reforming of methane (DRM) has been widely investigated, with most studies showing rapid deactivation due to carbon deposition. This suggests a need to develop catalysts that limit carbon formation while avoiding structural changes at the elevated temperatures typical of this reaction. Here, we report CO2 reforming of methane on four pyrochlore catalysts. First, Rh was partially substituted for Zr in lanthanum zirconate (La2Zr2O7) to give La2Zr2-xRhxO7.5 (LRZ, x=0.112, 2 wt% Rh) pyrochlore. A second pyrochlore catalyst was synthesized in which Ca was further substituted into the La-site to give La1.95Ca0.05Zr2-xRhxO7 (LCRZ, x=0.055, 1 wt% Rh). A third catalyst was …

Molecular Dynamics Of Ionic Liquids In Nanoporous Electrodes, Nav Nidhi Rajput

LSU Master's Theses

Molecular dynamics simulations were performed to investigate the structural and dynamical properties of ionic liquid (IL) [EMIM+][TFMSI-] confined inside slit-like graphite pores. ILs are salts composed of an organic cation and an organic or inorganic anion with melting point below 100ºC. Their unique properties such as great thermal and chemical stability have gained them immense attention in recent years. The main goal of this research is to understand how molecular level properties of ILs are affected by the properties of the nanoporous materials. The results obtained in this work indicate that pore size has a profound effect on structural and …

Electrochemical Reduction Of Co2 To Methanol, Minh Tuyen Hoang Le

LSU Master's Theses

An efficient method to convert CO2 to fuels using renewable energy could displace crude oil without increasing CO2 emission and provide high-density energy storage reservoirs similar to liquid fuels or batteries. Although photoelectrochemical conversion of CO2 is possible, solar-to-fuel efficiencies are lower than the combination of conventional photovoltaics (up to 40% efficiency) and electrochemical cells (up to 80% Faradaic efficiency). In the electrochemical case, electrical energy from renewable sources may be converted to hydrocarbons or alcohols using electrocatalysts. The direct reduction of CO2 to CH3OH is known to occur at several types of electrocatalysts including oxidized Cu electrodes. In this …

Modeling Effects Of Coupled Convection And Co2 Injection In Stimulating Geopressured Geothermal Reservoirs, Tatyana Plaksina

LSU Master's Theses

Geopressured geothermal brines are a vast geothermal resource in the US Gulf of Mexico region. In particular, geopressured sandstones near salt domes are potential sources of geothermal energy because salt diapirs with high thermal conductivities may pierce younger, cooler strata. These characteristics enhance transfer heat from older, hotter strata at the base of the diapir into shallower strata. Moreover, widespread geopressure in the Gulf region tends to preserve permeability, enhancing productivity. As an example, the Camerina A sand of South Louisiana was chosen as a geomodel for a numerical simulation study of effects of CO2 injection and coupled convection as …

Stochastic Modelling Of Eukaryotic Cell Cycle, Murali Krushna Koneru

LSU Master's Theses

Stochastic models are developed to capture the inherent stochasticity of the biochemical networks associated to many biological processes. The objective of the present thesis is to present a detailed picture of stochastic approach for the mathematical modeling of eukaryotic cell cycle, to demonstrate an important application of such model in chemotherapy and to present a methodology for selecting the model parameters. The stochastic cell cycle model, developed using stochastic chemical kinetics approach, leads to the formation of an infinite dimensional differential equation in probabilities of system being in a specific state. Using Monte Carlo simulations of this model, dynamics of …

Supercritical Pyrolysis Of Toluene, Khue Dang Nguyen

LSU Master's Theses

The development of future high-speed aircrafts will required the jet fuel to act as the primary engine coolant to absorb excess heat produced by the engine components. To aid in removing the excess heat and reducing the aircraft’s weight, future jet fuels used for high-speed aircrafts will act as both coolant and fuel; however, by exposing the fuels to temperatures and pressures above their critical point, they undergo pyrolysis to form larger and/or more abundant polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and eventually carbonaceous solid deposits in the pre-combustion environment. The formation of solid deposits in the pre-combustion environment results in clogging …

Simulation Of Cell Seeding And Retention In A Disordered Polymeric Scaffold, Tejaswini Narayana

LSU Master's Theses

Historically, bone repair has been performed using materials like metals, ceramics, cements and bioactive glass. The major problem with all these materials is that they do not perform the necessary non-structural functions of bone. Engineered tissue, created by growing bone cells on porous biodegradable material (scaffold), will address this issue with current bone repair techniques. Improving engineered tissue treatments requires a thorough understanding of factors affecting cell seeding and proliferation inside a disordered porous material which is not feasible using current experimental techniques. A model for particle transport in a disordered porous material that can predict the particle deposition pattern …

Photoelectrochemical Etching Of Isolated, High Aspect Ratio Micorstructures In N-Type Silicon (100), Purnima Narayanan

LSU Master's Theses

Three-dimensional integration techniques have become increasingly popular to meet the ever rising demand of high capacity and reduced package size in microelectronics devices. Through Silicon Vias (TSVs) offer an efficient method to achieve 3D packaging with shorter interconnection length and higher interconnect density relative to conventional wire bonding. Wet electrochemical etching is a simple technique which may be used to create deep structures in silicon and is relatively low cost compared with Reactive Ion Etching or Laser drilling. Historically, a primary challenge is passivating TSV (macropore, microstructure) sidewalls against etching at sidewall thickness greater than twice the depletion region width. …

A Study Of A Smog-Fog-Smog Cycle And The Processing Of Pah And Oxy-Pah By A Fog Cloud, Kalindi Pramod Khadapkar

LSU Master's Theses

Fog is a multiphase dynamic system which can provide a setting for various physicochemical processes affecting the fate of various organic pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and their oxygenated forms (oxy-PAH) in the atmosphere. This study focuses on the processing of PAH and oxy-PAH during a smog-fog-smog cycle. Two field campaigns were carried out during the winters of year 2010 and year 2011 in the Central Valley of California, sampling two fog events in Fresno and five fog events in Davis. To study the transformations and distributions of PAH and oxy-PAH, different atmospheric species (fog water, gas phase, …

Electrochemical Etching Of Isolated Structures In P-Type Silicon, Joel Nino Bugayong

LSU Master's Theses

The role of the space charge region (SCR) was demonstrated in isolated structures for the first time. Electrochemical etching was conducted in differently pitched structures in p-type silicon. A design of experiment was also performed to evaluate the effect of electrolyte and applied potential. Finally chemical etching was demonstrated as a possible post-etch clean to porous structures. The results showed that the morphology of etched structures in pre-patterned silicon is strongly influenced by the SCR even in isolated structures. Using lightly-doped p-type Si (1,000-10,000 Ω-cm), deep macropores were obtained in wide-pitched patterns. However, the diameter of the pores grew larger …

Surface Modification Of Micro-Fluidic Devices, Zhan Gao

Doctoral Dissertations

"The surface modification, fabrication and characterization of microfluidic sensor systems for oxygen and glucose measurements with the use of polymeric materials were investigated in this dissertation. This dissertation is prepared in publication format. The first manuscript focuses on the surface modification of SU -8 layer to enhance the wettability. The improvement of wettability is critical since biofouling can be minimized during bioanalysis. A novel in situ photopattemable grafting technology was used to attach biocompatible polymer layers on SU-8 surface, changing its property from hydrophobicity to hydrophilicity. The results were confirmed by contact angle measurement and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectra. …

Oxygen Diffusion Characterization Of Frp Composites Used In Concrete Repair And Rehabilitation, Chandra K. Khoe

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Many independent studies have conclusively demonstrated that fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) slow down chloride-induced corrosion of steel in concrete. The mechanism for this slow down is not well understood but it has been hypothesized that FRP serves as a barrier to the ingress of chloride, moisture, and oxygen that sustain electrochemical corrosion of steel.

This dissertation presents results from an experimental study that determined the oxygen permeation rates of materials used in infrastructure repair. In the study, the oxygen permeation constants for epoxy, carbon and glass fiber laminates, concrete, epoxy-concrete and FRP-concrete systems were determined and a method developed to …