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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Torrefaction Kinetics Of Hemp Hurds, An Emerging Agricultural Byproduct, In A Small Retort, Tel Jensen Sep 2017

Torrefaction Kinetics Of Hemp Hurds, An Emerging Agricultural Byproduct, In A Small Retort, Tel Jensen

Civil and Environmental Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

As knowledge concerning the consequences of unsustainable energy sources and agricultural practices grows, development of low-impact alternatives to both becomes more important. Sustainable sources of biomass offer solutions to both problems. This study characterized the reaction kinetics of torrefying an agricultural byproduct, the woody interior of hemp stems, or hurds. Torrefaction was carried out at 250 °C in small and simple retorts made of galvanized steel pipe. A first-order model most closely approximated the reaction. A sensitivity analysis was performed and the data was adjusted to correct for three potential sources of error, and regressed to find the best fit …


Reduced Order Description Of Experimental Two-Phase Pipe Flows: Characterization Of Flow Structures And Dynamics Via Proper Orthogonal Decomposition, Bianca Fontanin Viggiano Aug 2017

Reduced Order Description Of Experimental Two-Phase Pipe Flows: Characterization Of Flow Structures And Dynamics Via Proper Orthogonal Decomposition, Bianca Fontanin Viggiano

Dissertations and Theses

Multiphase pipe flow is investigated using proper orthogonal decomposition for tomographic X-ray data, where holdup, cross-sectional phase distributions and phase interface characteristics within the pipe are obtained. Six cases of stratified and mixed flow with water content of 10%, 30% and 80% are investigated to gain insight into effects of velocity and proportion of water on the flow fields. Dispersed and slug flows are separately analyzed to consider the added interface complexity of the flow fields. These regimes are also highly applicable to industry operational flows. Instantaneous and fluctuating phase fractions of the four flow regime are analyzed and reduced …