Engineering Commons^™

Protein Release Study Using Heparin Modified Methacrylamide Chitosan Hydrogels, Dakotah G. Cox

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This study was performed to improve the release of proteins from hydrogels in order to increase their effectiveness in treating spinal cord injuries. Heparin, which has the ability to bind to proteins and slow their release, underwent methacrylation, was added to prepared methacrylamide chitosan (MAC) solutions with a model protein (SDF-1α) and photopolymerized to create MAC-heparin hydrogels. Varying weight percentages of methacrylated heparin were tested in order to determine the optimal amount needed to improve the release profile. The pure MAC hydrogels and gels with 10 wt% heparin had a rapid release of the SDF-1α (>23% and >29%, respectively, …

Analysis Of The Production Data From Marcellus Shale Wells, Amanda Parrish

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The increasingly prevalent practice of unconventional technologies has called for the need for the critical analysis of production decline rates to meet economic targets. The high early time production returns and transient flow make matching a production curve to known methods of decline curve analysis problematic.

This research focuses on finding a technique that best fits a known production curve and then applying that technique to another well to check its accuracy. The goal is to find the earliest time of production data necessary to predict an accurate production curve over the lifespan of the well. This is essential to …

Modeling Effects Of Annealing On Coal Char Reactivity To O2 And Co2, Based On Preparation Conditions, Troy Michael Holland, Sham Bhat, Peter Marcy, James Gattiker, Joel D. Kress, Thomas H. Fletcher

Faculty Publications

Oxy-fired coal combustion is a promising potential carbon capture technology. Predictive computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations are valuable tools in evaluating and deploying oxyfuel and other carbon capture technologies, either as retrofit technologies or for new construction. However, accurate predictive combustor simulations require physically realistic submodels with low computational requirements. A recent sensitivity analysis of a detailed char conversion model (Char Conversion Kinetics (CCK)) found thermal annealing to be an extremely sensitive submodel. In the present work, further analysis of the previous annealing model revealed significant disagreement with numerous datasets from experiments performed after that annealing model was developed. The …

Fully Compositional Multi-Scale Reservoir Simulation Of Various Co2 Sequestration Mechanisms, Denis V. Voskov, Heath Henley, Angelo Lucia

Chemical, Biomolecular, and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

A multi-scale reservoir simulation framework for large-scale, multiphase flow with mineral precipitation in CO₂-brine systems is proposed. The novel aspects of this reservoir modeling and simulation framework are centered around the seminal coupling of rigorous reactive transport with full compositional modeling and consist of (1) thermal, multi-phase flow tightly coupled to complex phase behavior, (2) the use of the Gibbs-Helmholtz Constrained (GHC) equation of state, (3) the presence of multiple homogeneous/heterogeneous chemical reactions, (4) the inclusion of mineral precipitation/dissolution, and (5) the presence of homogeneous/heterogeneous formations. The proposed modeling and simulation framework is implemented using the ADGPRS/GFLASH system. …

Dna–Carbon Nanotube Complexation Affinity And Photoluminescence Modulation Are Independent, Prakrit V. Jena, Mohammad M. Safaee, Daniel A. Heller, Daniel E. Roxbury

Chemical, Biomolecular, and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Short single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) has emerged as the natural polymer of choice for noncovalently functionalizing photoluminescent single-walled carbon nanotubes. In addition, specific empirically identified DNA sequences can be used to separate single species (chiralities) of nanotubes, with an exceptionally high purity. Currently, only limited general principles exist for designing DNA–nanotube hybrids amenable to separation processes, due in part to an incomplete understanding of the fundamental interactions between a DNA sequence and a specific nanotube structure, whereas even less is known in the design of nanotube-based sensors with determined optical properties. We therefore developed a combined experimental and analysis platform on …

Progress Toward Applications Of Carbon Nanotube Photoluminescence, Prakrit V. Jena, Thomas V. Galassi, Daniel E. Roxbury, Daniel A. Heller

Chemical, Biomolecular, and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

In the fifteen years following the discovery of single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) photoluminescence, investigators have made significant progress in their understanding of the phenomenon and toward the development of applications. The intrinsic potential of semiconducting carbon nanotubes – a family of bright, photostable near infrared (NIR) fluorophores (900–2100 nm) with tunable properties, has motivated their use as optical probes and sensors. In this perspective, we highlight the advances made in the synthesis, processing, modification, separation, and metrology of carbon nanotubes in the context of applications of their photoluminescence.

Single Nanotube Spectral Imaging To Determine Molar Concentrations Of Isolated Carbon Nanotube Species, Thomas V. Galassi, Prakrit V. Jena, Daniel E. Roxbury, Daniel A. Heller

Chemical, Biomolecular, and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Electronic and biological applications of carbon nanotubes can be highly dependent on the species (chirality) of nanotube, purity, and concentration. Existing bulk methods, such as absorbance spectroscopy, can quantify sp² carbon based on spectral bands, but nanotube length distribution, defects, and carbonaceous impurities can complicate quantification of individual particles. We present a general method to relate the optical density of a photoluminescent nanotube sample to the number of individual nanotubes. By acquiring 3-dimensional images of nanotubes embedded in a gel matrix with a reducing environment, we quantified all emissive nanotubes in a volume. Via spectral imaging, we assessed structural …

Hybrid Metal Oxide Cycle Water Splitting, Richard B. Diver Jr., Robert D. Palumbo, Nathan P. Siegel, James E. Miller

Other Faculty Research and Publications

Hybrid thermochemical water splitting systems are disclosed that thermally reduces metal oxides particles to displace some but not all of the electrical requirements in a water splitting electrolytic cell. In these hybrid systems, the thermal reduction temperature is significantly reduced compared to two-step metal-oxide thermochemical cycles in which only thermal energy is required to produce hydrogen from water. Also, unlike conventional higher temperature systems where the reduction step must be carried out under reduced oxygen pressure, the reduction step in the proposed hybrid systems can be carried out in air, allowing for thermal input by a solar power tower with …

Sugar Versus Lipid For Sustainable Biofuels, Yaşar Demirel

Yaşar Demirel Publications

Introduction

First‐generation biofuels, namely, ethanol and biodiesel, have led to far reaching impact on the peoples’ life world‐wide.[1] However, they inter-fere with the food supply chain and may not be sustainable although some of the biomass are converted to biofuels after those biomasses have met the human needs. Still, the first‐generation–based biofuels have proved that sugar and lipid platforms can be an answer to energy security and global warming concerns without the need for new infrastructure for feedstock delivery as well as for biomass‐to‐biofuel conversion tech-nologies. At the same time, we are discovering and assessing the long‐term environmental im-plications on …

Synthesis, Characterization, And Activity Of Co/Fe Alumina/Silica Supported Ft Catalysts And The Study Of Promoter Effect Of Ruthenium, Sunday Azubike Esumike

Doctoral Dissertations

The alumina and hybrid alumina-silica FT catalyst were prepared by one-step solgel/oil-drop methods using metal-nitrate-solutions (method-I), and nanoparticle-metaloxides (method-2). The nanoparticle-metal-oxides did not participate in solubility equilibria in contrast to metal nitrate in method-1 causing no metal ion seepage; therefore, method-2 yields higher XRF metal loading efficiency than method-1. The thermal analysis confirmed that the metal loading by method-1 and method-2 involved two different pathways. Method-1 involves solubility equilibria in the conversion of metal-nitrate to metal- hydroxide and finally to metal-oxide, while in method-2 nanoparticle-metal-oxide remained intact during sol-gel-oil-drop and calcination steps.

The alumina supported catalysts were dominated by γ-alumina …

Enhanced Energy Storage And Conversion Applications By Porous Carbon And Atomic Layer Deposition, Yomna H. Abdelmoaty

Theses and Dissertations

The design and synthesis of porous materials attracted great attention recently because of their potential use in many fields like clean energy and environmental protection. Herein, we introduced new synthetic approaches for the preparation for porous carbons and organic polymers for selective CO₂ and iodine capture application. Regarding CO₂ capture application, Two new

series of porous carbons (PYDCs) and (TRI-Ps) were synthesized by thermally activating Pyrazole and Triazolo Pyridine monomers respectively using KOH as a catalyst, which leads to porous carbon. PYDCs exhibit high surface area according to Brunauer–Emmett–Tellertheory (SA_BET = 1266–2013 m² g⁻¹), …

Microemulsion Formation Of Vegetable Oils Using Mixed Extended Surfactant For Cleaning Applications, Siriluk Jariyawattanarat

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Some vegetable oils and animal fats can form semi-solid crystalline. The formation of semi-solid fats or waxy soils results in weak interactions between the oil and surfactant during the cleaning process. In this study, the anionic extended surfac-tant (C14-15, 8PO-SO4) systems were employed to form a middle phase microemul-sion with various vegetable oils (coconut, palm and soybean oil). The addition of nonionic extended surfactant (C16-18, 2PO-4EO-OH) in the mixed surfactant systems was also evaluated to observe the solubility enhancement of oil and water phase. The IFT value of formulated surfactant systems was measured to determine the optimum salinity. The Hydrophilic-Lipophilic …

Synthesis Of Magnetic Carbon Nanoparticles Using Pyrolysis Of Glycerol And Ferrocene For Antibiotic Removal, Konrat Kerdnawee

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Synthesis of magnetic carbon nanoparticles (M-CNPs) via nebulizing co-pyrolysis of glycerol and ferrocene with magnetic induction was successfully conducted. Experimental investigation on influence of synthesizing temperature and ratio of glycerol to ferrocene suggested that at 800 °C of synthesizing temperature with an initial weight ratio of glycerol to ferrocene of 3:1, the highest M-CNP synthesizing yield of 15.9 % was achieved. With the presence of magnetic induction, controlled synthesis of M-CNPs could be anticipated as a promising method for producing M-CNPs with high quality and high yield. Oxy-tetracycline (OTC) has been recognized as environmental contamination due to its over-dosage and …

Development Of Conductive Polyimide/Polysulfone Composites As Positive Temperature Coefficient Materials, Noppawat Kuengputpong

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

For positive temperature coefficient (PTC) applications of electrically conductive composites, volume resistivity at room temperature of lower than 104 Ω.cm is one major requirement. Conductive polyimide (PI) PTC with the above level of conductivity value can be achieved by a use of carbon black (CB) as conductive filler. For materials with PTC, there is a change in resistance related to temperature. In order to reduce the amount of CB used in the PTC composites, one of well-known methods is to introduce another polymer into a polymer to generate immiscible blends. When the conductive filler is dispersed in one polymer phase, …

Advanced Carbon Materials Based Electrodes For High Performance Symmetric Supercapacitors, Keliang Wang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Supercapacitors have received considerable attention due to their high energy density, long life time, rapid charge/discharge rate, and because they are environmental friendly technology. Electrode materials play a key role in the final performance of supercapacitors. Carbon, usually used as symmetric supercapacitors electrode materials, exhibit extraordinary stability in harsh electrolyte and electrochemical performance owing to its physical and chemical properties. In addition, porous structure originated from activation, excellent electrical conductivity, sustainability, wide availability and low cost further offering the improvement in electrochemical performance and make it to be a promising electrode material for symmetric supercapacitors. Considering the factors affected electrochemical …

Activated Carbon Preparation And Modification For Adsorption, Yuhe Cao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Butanol is considered a promising, infrastructure-compatible biofuel. Butanol has a higher energy content than ethanol and can be used in conventional gas engines without modifications. Unfortunately, the fermentation pathway for butanol production is restricted by its toxicity to the microbial strains used in the process. Butanol is toxic to the microbes, and this can slow fermentation rates and reduce butanol yields. Gas stripping technology can efficiently remove butanol from the fermentation broth as it is produced, thereby decreasing its inhibitory effects. Traditional butanol separation heavily depends on the energy intensive distillation method. One of the main issues in acetone-butanol-ethanol fermentation …

Successful Field Application Of A New Polymer Flooding Technique Suitable For Mature Oilfields Against Low-Oil-Price Background - A Case Study From East China, X. Wu, Y. Wu, C. Xiong, H. Xu, X. Jia, L. Shao, Y. Xiong, J. Zhang, A. Wang, H. Xu, J. Tian, Baojun Bai, X. Tian

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

DGXJ is a sandstone reservoir with temperature of 113 °C, salinity of 36235mg/L, and calcium and magnesium content of 1152mg/L and 30mg/L respectively. The reservoir is not only vertically multilayered and severe heterogeneous, but also witnesses water flowing channels, irregular and imperfect injecting production well patterns, high recovery degree (43%) and high water cut (97%). A new particle-type polymer (SMG) slug combined several small linked-polymer-gel (LPG)slugs and pregelled swellable particle (PSP) was applied during 2011-2015 and achieved remarkable technical and economic effect. The application area is composed of 16 injection wells and 22 production wells. Among the 22 wells, 17 …

Performance Evaluation Of Integrated Co2 Huff-N-Puff And Wag In Low-Pressure Heterogeneous Reservoir, Hutthapong Yoosook

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The integrated CO2 Huff-n-Puff and WAG is a novel technique to combine CO2 Huff-n-Puff technique that conducted at early state and followed by WAG technique until the end of operating time. This technique is effectiveness in term of increased oil recovery and reduced CO2 utilization. However, the integrated CO2 Huff-n-Puff and WAG process contains numerous adjustable operating parameters. Hence, numerical simulation study and sensitivity analysis become essential to investigate the effects of main operational parameters and evaluate the performance of the integrated CO2 Huff-n-Puff and WAG process in low-pressure heterogeneous reservoir to achieve the maximum benefits. According to simulation results, …

Designing And Development Of A Photobioreactor For Optimizing The Growth Of Micro Algae And Studying Its Growth Parameters, Sarmila Katuwal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents the estimated value of materials required to grow 1g of biomass and the analysis of the light intensity with respect to flow path and flow rate. This thesis aims to design the sparger for a flat plate Photobioreactor, study the flow patterns at different flow rate of air flow and check the performance of flat plate PBR by growing the cyanobacteria. The estimated value to produce 1g of biomass (C_44.6H₇O₂₅N_7.68P_0.9S_0.3) was 0.099g of N, 0.493g of C, 0.160 g of Na, 0.026 g of P, …

Engineering Of Organic Nanocrystals By Electrocrystallization, Mohamed Kilani

Wayne State University Theses

This work discusses the experimental and theoretical methods used to control the morphology of nanocrystals. The hypothesis of the thermodynamic/kinetic control of the morphology was verified. We applied the electrocrystallization to make K(def)TCP nanocrystals and we tuned the electrochemical parameters to determine their influence on the nanocrystals morphologies. The characterization was mainly performed with AFM and FE-SEM. We presented in this work the possibility to control the morphology of K(def)TCP using the electrochemical parameters. The obtained shapes ranged from nanorods to rhombohedral shape, which is reported for the first time. The observed growth behavior was modeled and simulated with a …

Enzyme-Catalyzed Reactions Using Enzymes Immobilized On Non-Spherical Particles, Alexander D. Redfearn

Honors Theses and Capstones

Modern and industrial chemical reactions often utilize enzyme-catalyzed reactions to increase product yields. Given the high cost of enzymes it is desirable to preserve the activity of the enzymes and reuse them several times. In this study, I explored the possibility of immobilizing enzymes on custom-made non-spherical SU-8 microparticles to conduct enzyme-catalyzed reactions in flow reactors. The decomposition of hydrogen peroxide using bovine liver catalase was studied due to its well-understood enzyme kinetics. Soft lithography techniques were used to synthesize prismatic SU-8 microparticles. I will discuss the progress that has been made in immobilizing the enzyme on the particle surface …

Green Thermosetting Factory: Novel Star-Shaped Bio-Based Systems And Their Thermosetting Resins; Synthesis And Characterization, Arash Jahandideh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Increasing attentions toward sustainable development, economic and environmental issues have led to many attempts at replacing the petroleum-based materials with renewables. Substitution of petroleum-based platforms with green alternative technologies is beneficiary in different ways. Using bio-renewables reduces the dependency of the national plastic industry to the petroleum resources and substantially promotes the environmental profile and sustainability of the product. It is expected that the emergence of the corn-based thermosetting industry generates substantial profits for the corn production sector. Developments in the emerging biobased thermosets are spectacular from a technological point of view. However, there are still several disadvantages associated with …

Accuracy And Precision In Force-Distance Curves, Stephen Morgan

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

No abstract provided.

Using Better Solvents To Functionalize Glass With Chlorotrimethylsilane, Jonathan Cookston

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

No abstract provided.

Fundamental Investigation Of The Electrocatalytic Activity Of Layered Mixed Metal Oxides For Low Temperature Oxygen Electrocatalysis, Ayad M. Nacy

Wayne State University Dissertations

Li–O2 (Li–air) batteries are among the most promising energy storage technologies due to their high theoretical specific capacity and energy density. Key challenges with this technology include high overpotential losses associated with catalyzing the electrochemical reactions (i.e., oxygen reduction and evolution reactions) at the cathode of the battery. One way to address this challenge is to incorporate an active electrocatalyst, such as first-order Ruddlesden-Popper series of layered oxides. We show that the composition of the A-site in first-order Ruddlesden-Popper series of layered oxides (A2BO4) has a significant effect in the electrochemical activity of Li-O2 cathodes. Among the oxides composed of …

Impedance Biosensors And Deep Crater Salivary Gland Scaffolds For Tissue Engineering, Robert Arthur Schramm

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The salivary gland is a complex, branching organ whose primary biological function is the production of the fluid critical to alimentary function and the lubrication and maintenance of the oral cavity, saliva. The most frequent disruption of the salivary organ system is one in which the rate of supply of saliva into the oral cavity is diminished, and this may vary from a minor reduction, to near cessation. Regenerative medicine is a field which seeks to find ways to overcome the symptoms of organ malfunction or damage by inducing regrowth, repair and replacement of partial or whole organ function. Historically, …

Uses For Graphene, Marcus R. Schmidt

Natural Sciences Student Research Presentations

This slide presentation for the Natural Sciences Poster Session at Parkland College discusses graphene, which is a chemically or mechanically produced single layer of pure carbon atoms. The thinnest compound known to man is also one of the strongest, with uses in technology and the health industry from faster charging batteries to motorcycle helmets. The remaining slides summarize a process by which free radicals are reduced in graphene by being treated with butyl acrylate polymerization.

Evaluation Of Captured Co2 And Waste H2 As Potential Feedstock For Methanol Production, Kankanit Kitsahawong

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Global warming is the critical issue that is the result of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) emission. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is concerned to be major GHGs. Thus, Carbon dioxide utilization is the promising pathway to reduce the emission of CO2. To utilize CO2, waste hydrogen from sodium methoxide production is used to produce methanol which can be recycled as reactant of sodium methoxide synthesis. Carbon dioxide hydrogenation process is used for produce methanol from CO2 and waste H2 from various size of sodium methoxide production process. In every size of methanol production process, methanol which produce from the process is 16.3% of …

Biphasic Cellulose Acetate/Rtil Membranes And Functionalized Graphene Adsorbents For Natural Gas Processing: Experimental And Molecular Simulation Studies, Amir Khakpay

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, gas separation using membranes is investigated for natural gas upgrading. The main objectives of this study are separation of high value hydrocarbons such as propane (c3h8) from natural gas and carbon dioxide (co2) separation from light gases such as nitrogen (n2) and methane (ch4). To achieve these goals, supported ionic liquid membranes (silms), biphasic membranes, and nanoporous graphene (npg) and graphene oxide (npgo) membranes are studied. Biphasic membranes are proposed to overcome silms issues for gas separation. The major issues with silms are low room temperature ionic liquid (rtil) content and instability at high cross-membrane pressure. For …

Structural, Interfacial, And Electrochemical Properties Of Pr2nio4+Δ – Based Electrodes For Solid Oxide Fuel Cells, Emir Dogdibegovic

Theses and Dissertations

Currently, the electrochemical performance and performance durability of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are limited by cathode materials. The high polarization resistance and phase instability of the cathode are two major challenges to hinder the commercialization of SOFC systems. Two families of oxides are presently known as potential cathode materials for SOFCs: (1) the perovskite family of oxides with a general formula of ABO₃, and (2) the Ruddlesden-Popper (RP) family of oxides (e.g. nickelates) with a general formula of A₂BO₄. The electron-hole conduction in these materials occurs simultaneously with oxygen ion conduction based on …