Engineering Commons^™

Characterization Of Biochar Pore Structure With X-Ray Tomography, Jari Hyväluoma, Jaakko Heikkinen, Sampo Kulju, Markus Hannula, Hanne Wikberg, Anssi Källi, Kimmo Rasa

BIO-CHAR: Production, Characterization and Applications

Biochar use as soil amendment can influence both physical and chemical properties of soil. The effects of biochar depend on the raw material from which biochar is derived as well as on the used processing technology and process conditions. One commonly highlighted benefit of biochar application is improved water retention properties of soil. Biochar may affect water retention in direct or direct way. In direct mechanism water is stored and held in the biochar pores while in indirect mechanisms biochar contributes to the soil structural development (aggregation).

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How To Produce A Potential High Value Bio-Char From The Worst Invasive Plant In Canada, Chiara Barbiero, Franco Berruti, Cedric Briens

BIO-CHAR: Production, Characterization and Applications

Phragmites Australis is a perennial plant, native to Eurasia, which is spreading worldwide, increasing fire hazards, and causing damage to wildlife and its surrounding habitat. Phragmites is classified as Canada’s worst invasive plant due to the difficulty of achieving its full eradication. Phragmites plants are fast growing and can spread quickly through seeds or rhizomes. They must be processed locally to destroy seeds and rhizomes. For these reasons, mobile pyrolysis was selected as a destruction method that provides valuable bio-char. The aim of this work is to study the effect of different pre-treatment and post-treatment strategies on bio-char characteristics, such …

Biochar: Product Development In Remote Regions From Mixed Residues, Kelly Hawboldt, Stephanie Macquarrie, Hanieh Bamdad

BIO-CHAR: Production, Characterization and Applications

Biochar is a particularly interesting pyrolysis product in regions where there is an abundance of waste biomass to convert but limited ability to effectively turn the waste into a product due to distance to market, lack of infrastructure (e.g. pipelines for gas), and the heterogeneous nature of the biomass (e.g. forestry residues, fishery by-product etc.). Biochar is a more homogeneous material (compared to waste biomass) expanding possible applications, is a less dense solid (making transport less costly), and could be used to sustainably develop an industry/product in these regions.

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Biochar Production And Application In The Intermountain West, Darren Mcavoy

BIO-CHAR: Production, Characterization and Applications

The Utah Biomass Resources Group (UBRG) has focused on biochar production and application since 2011. We partner with Amaron Energy of Salt Lake City and have developed mobile pyrolysis technology for in-situ biochar production. We have also initiated field trials of biochar application in mining and agricultural settings.

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Biocharfx: Production With Carbonfx Technology, Characterization And Applications In Potting Soil Related To Plant Production, Sébastien Lange, Sylvain Bertrand

BIO-CHAR: Production, Characterization and Applications

Airex Energy started its R&D activities on torrefaction technology in 2010 and has been operating the first and only commercial-scale biocoal plant in Canada since 2015. The company has developed the patented CarbonFXTM process for biomass torrefaction. The biochar produced from this technology can be used for different applications, one of them being as a soil amendment. The biochar produced by Airex Energy is called BiocharFXTM. In Canada, the use of biochar as a soil amendment for agriculture, horticulture or mixed with other porous media, requires a certification from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

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Activation And Mild Oxidation Of Vacuum Pyrolysis Biochar, Serge Kaliaguine, Raoof Bardestani

BIO-CHAR: Production, Characterization and Applications

A biochar produced using the Pyrovac vacuum pyrolysis process for a 80% pine-20% spruce + fir biomass feedstock (moisture content of 10% w/w). The pyrolysis was run at a temperature of 475 oC under 100 kPa total pressure with a chips feed flow rate of 14 kg/h. The pyrolysis yield was 25% on a wet basis (Sample 1)

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Production Of Activated Carbon From Barley Biochar Precursor, Javier Pallarés, Ana González-Cencerrado, Inmaculada Ramos

BIO-CHAR: Production, Characterization and Applications

Agricultural production must be directed towards "sustainable agriculture", which preserves natural resources, reduces GHG emissions and maintains biodiversity. In this context, biochar is considered a product of great interest in agriculture since several studies have demonstrated its effectiveness in increasing agricultural yields, increasing the water retention capacity and nutrients in the soil, increasing the development of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus (AMF), and ultimately improving the efficiency of fertilizers, thus reducing their use and reducing enviromental pollution.

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Biochar Production Through Hydrothermal Carbonization: Energy Efficiency And Cost Analysis Of An Industrial-Scale Plant, Michela Lucian,, Fabio Merzari, Luca Fiori

BIO-CHAR: Production, Characterization and Applications

Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is an induced coalification process that converts raw biomass into a coal-like product, called hydrochar, characterized by high carbon content and high calorific value. This type of thermo-chemical conversion, also referred to as wet pyrolysis (or wet torrefaction), can be applied to a variety of non-traditional sources such as the organic fraction of municipal solid waste, wet agricultural residues, sewage sludge. Unlike traditional dry pyrolysis, the HTC process allows for the treatment of substrates with elevated moisture content, up to 75%–90%, without requiring a drying pre-treatment step.

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Pyrolysis Of Residues From Well-Established Biochemical Processes For The Production Of Biochar, Devon Barry, Cedric Briens, Franco Berruti

BIO-CHAR: Production, Characterization and Applications

The main objective of this work is to use pyrolysis for the production of biochar from the residues of well-established biochemical processes. The residues that were selected come from two major conversion processes: biogas digesters, and wastewater treatment facilities. These processes produce unconverted lignin-rich residues, made of biomass components that are refractory to biochemical conversion. Pyrolysis is an aggressive thermochemical conversion process that is ideally suited to such residues. The desired biochar characteristics were determined by the specific needs of each industrial partner. The desired traits for the biochar obtained from sewage sludge were the capture, and stabilization of heavy …

Investigation Of Innovative And Conventional Pyrolysis Of Ligneous And Herbaceous Biomasses For Biochar Production, Marina Morando, Silvia Fiore, Cedric Briens, Franco Berruti

BIO-CHAR: Production, Characterization and Applications

Pyrolysis is a thermochemical process involving the thermolysis of carbon-based materials in absence of an oxidizing agent. Adjusting the operating conditions, in order to maximize the gaseous, liquid or solid products, may optimize pyrolysis process. This work investigates the performances of three laboratory-scale reactors on the grounds of the quantity and quality of the biochar obtained from different biomasses. Three types of biomass were fed to each reactor: two ligneous (rubberwood and eucalyptus) and one herbaceous (Phragmites australis). A novel reactor developed at ICFAR, the Jiggled Bed Reactor (JBR) was employed in slow pyrolysis mode.

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Biochar Production Through Slow Pyrolysis Of Different Biomass Materials: Seeking The Best Operating Conditions, Joan J. Manyà, Manuel Azuara, José A. Manso

BIO-CHAR: Production, Characterization and Applications

In the last years, special attention has been focused on analyzing the effect of pyrolysis conditions (mainly peak temperature) on the yield and properties of produced biochar. Given that the nature of biomass plays a key role in the pyrolysis process, it becomes really difficult to establish generic trends and correlations, which can be used for any biomass feedstock to predict the properties of derived biochar. Thus, more experimental studies focused on a given biomass source are still needed with the aim of providing reliable data for further research goals. In addition, a number of techniques have been proposed to …

Biochar From Microwave Pyrolysis Of Selected Feedstocks, Tanisha M. Dreise, Daya R. Nhuchhen, Muhammad T. Afzal

BIO-CHAR: Production, Characterization and Applications

This is a brief summary of work carried out by a team of researchers to produce biochar using microwave pyrolysis system developed at Bioenergy, Bioproducts Research Lab (BBRL), at UNB. Various feedstocks such as corn stalk, spruce, maple, switchgrass, and wood pellets were used to produce biochar. A batch type microwave reactor with a frequency of 2.45 GHz and a power generator of 3 kW was used in the pyrolysis experiments. The amount of biochar obtained depends on the microwave pyrolysis conditions and type of feedstock. For corn stalk briquettes, the yield of biochar ranged from 30.9 to 41.1 wt%. …

A Three-Stage Thermochemical Conversion Process For The Production Of Biochar, Alessandro Scova, Vander Tumiatti, Francesco Lenzi

BIO-CHAR: Production, Characterization and Applications

Within a French consortium of four companies and five laboratories from two scientific groups, Sea Marconi is one of the industrial partners of the LORVER project (www.lorver.org). The project aims at the sustainable redevelopment of brownfield deriving from the deindustrialization of the Lorraine region (France) by soil reconstruction, cultivation of different non-food biomasses and their final conversion into valuable outputs (biochar, bioenergy, natural fibers, metals).

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Production And Characterization Of Slow Pyrolysis Biochar From Lignin-Rich Digested Stillage From 2nd Generation Bioethanol Production, Frederik Ronsse, Dane Dickinson, Wolter Prins

BIO-CHAR: Production, Characterization and Applications

Lignin-rich stillage from 2nd generation bioethanol production is a unique feedstock for slow pyrolysis and biochar production, as it contains high amounts of lignin (62 wt. % d.b) and ash (9.97 wt. % d.b) next to some residual cellulose and hemicellulose. As lignin is known to result in higher char and char-C yields compared to regular lignocellulosic feedstock, the suitability of a lignin-containing residue, obtained from a 2nd generation bio-ethanol pilot run using short rotation poplar, was subjected to anaerobic digestion for biogas production followed by slow pyrolysis of the digestate for the production of biochar.

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Woody And Agricultural Biomass Diversity In Torrefaction: A Complete Study In Solid Conversion And Volatiles Formation On Tga-Gcms, María González Martínez, Capucine Dupont, Xuan Mi Meyer, Christophe Gourdon

BIO-CHAR: Production, Characterization and Applications

Nowadays, there is an increasing awareness on the importance of biomass waste as a renewable source of energy, materials and chemicals. In this context, the European project MOBILE FLIP aims at developing and demonstrating mobile conversion processes suitable with various underexploited agro- and forest based biomass resources in order to produce energy carriers, materials and chemicals. One of these processes is torrefaction, which consists in a mild thermal treatment, occurring typically between 200 and 300°C during a few tens of minutes in a default-oxygen atmosphere.

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Improving Wildflower Longevity In Roadside Seeding Areas, Walter Schacht, Jonathan M. Soper, Carol Wienhold

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

Re-vegetation efforts on bare roadsides of newly-constructed highways are primarily focused on the stabilization of soil to reduce rates of erosion. The Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT) seeds roadsides with a diverse mixture of grasses and wildflowers for site stabilization as well as to enhance the visual quality of roadsides. Although grasses dominate roadside plantings in terms of cover and density, wildflowers are largely responsible for the visual enhancement of recently-seeded roadsides. In addition to the visual component, wildflowers provide essential ecological functions on roadsides. Wildflowers improve water and nutrient cycling in the compacted roadside soils by increasing water infiltration …

Relative Multiplicative Extended Kalman Filter For Observable Gps-Denied Navigation, Daniel P. Koch, David O. Wheeler, Randal Beard, Tim Mclain, Kevin M. Brink

Faculty Publications

This work presents a multiplicative extended Kalman filter for estimating the relative state of a multirotor vehicle operating in a GPS-denied environment. The filter fuses data from an inertial measurement unit and altimeter with relative-pose updates from a keyframe-based visual odometry or laser scan-matching algorithm. Because the global position and heading states of the vehicle are unobservable in the absence of global measurements such as GPS, the filter in this paper estimates the state with respect to a local frame that is colocated with the odometry keyframe. As a result, the odometry update provides nearly-direct measurements of the relative vehicle …

Relative Navigation Of Autonomous Gps-Degraded Micro Air Vehicles, David O. Wheeler, Daniel P. Koch, James S. Jackson, Gary J. Ellingson, Paul W. Nyholm, Timothy W. Mclain, Randal W. Beard

Faculty Publications

Many current approaches for navigation of micro air vehicles (MAVs) in GPS-degraded environments use a globally-referenced state for estimation and control, even though this state is not observable when GPS is unavailable. By working with respect to a local reference frame, the relative navigation (RN) framework presented in this paper ensures that the state maintains observability and that the uncertainty remains bounded, consistent, and normally-distributed. RN further insulates flight-critical estimation and control processes from the large global updates common in GPS-degraded MAV flight. This paper provides a thorough description of the details needed to successfully implement the RN framework on …

Design And Validation Of Pressure Based Flow Rate Soft Sensor For Freeze-Drying, Pasita Pibulchinda, Tong Zhu, Vaibhav Kshirsagar, Alina A. Alexeenko

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Lyophilization or freeze drying is a process of removing water by sublimation. It is commonly used to extend the shelf life of drugs in the pharmaceutical industry. Because the process is costly and time consuming, precise and efficient pressure, temperature control and drying time estimation are required. It is the goal of freeze-drying to run at maximum capacity while staying within the safe zone by carefully controlling the sublimation rate. Currently, real time estimation of sublimation rate is still challenging. The technique available called Tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) is invasive, and requires major modifications. The current study focuses …

Parallel Computation Using Mems Oscillator-Based Computing System, Xinrui Wang, Ilias Bilionis, Salar Safarkhani

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

In recent years, parallel computing systems such as artificial neural networks (ANNs) have been of great interest. In these systems which emulate the behavior of human brains, the processing is carried out simultaneously. However, it is still a challenging engineering problem to design highly efficient hardware for parallel computing systems. We will study the properties of networks of Microelectromechanical System (MEMS) oscillators to explore their capabilities as parallel computing infrastructure. Furthermore, we simulate the time-variant states of MEMS oscillators network under various initial conditions and performance of certain tasks. Recent theoretical results show that networks of MEMS oscillators have some …

Interplay Of Quantum Size Effect, Anisotropy And Surface Stress Shapes The Instability Of Thin Metal Films, Mikhail Khenner

Mathematics Faculty Publications

Morphological instability of a planar surface ([111], [011], or [001]) of an ultra-thin metal film is studied in a parameter space formed by three major effects (the quantum size effect, the surface energy anisotropy and the surface stress) that influence a film dewetting. The analysis is based on the extended Mullins equation, where the effects are cast as functions of the film thickness. The formulation of the quantum size effect (Z. Zhang et al., PRL 80, 5381 (1998)) includes the oscillation of the surface energy with thickness caused by electrons confinement. By systematically comparing the effects, their contributions into the …

Process Considerations For Protein A Affinity Capture, Virus Inactivation, And Linked Polishing Steps In Multi-Column Continuous Purification Of Monoclonal Antibodies, Robert Mierendorf, Tom Van Oosbree, Anthony Grabski, William Wessel, Emily Schirmer

Integrated Continuous Biomanufacturing III

Multi-column continuous chromatography (MCC) offers significant economic advantages over traditional batch methods for purification of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), including increased resin capacity utilization, smaller columns, reduced buffer consumption, and faster process time. The Protein A capture step is a primary target to apply MCC due to its high cost, which is driven even higher as improvements in upstream processing have produced a steady increase in mAb titers. In this study we consider the key factors in designing an MCC process that optimizes productivity. Process design begins with determination of the feed duration, which is governed by the mAb titer, column …

Performance Assessment Of Diffuse Optical Spectroscopic Imaging Instruments In A 2-Year Multicenter Breast Cancer Trial, Anais Leproux, Thomas D.O. Sullivan, Albert E. Cerussi, Amanda Durkin, Brian Hill, Nola M. Hylton, Arjun G. Yodh, Stefan A. Carp, David A. Boas, Shudong Jiang, Keith D. Paulsen, Brian W. Pogue, Darren M. Roblyr, Wei T. Yang, Bruce J. Tromberg

Dartmouth Scholarship

We present a framework for characterizing the performance of an experimental imaging technology, diffuse optical spectroscopic imaging (DOSI), in a 2-year multicenter American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN) breast cancer study (ACRIN-6691). DOSI instruments combine broadband frequency-domain photon migration with time-independent near-infrared (650 to 1000 nm) spectroscopy to measure tissue absorption and reduced scattering spectra and tissue hemoglobin, water, and lipid composition. The goal of ACRIN-6691 was to test the effectiveness of optically derived imaging endpoints in predicting the final pathologic response of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). Sixty patients were enrolled over a 2-year period at participating sites and received …

Multiphysics Simulation Of Low-Amplitude Acoustic Wave Detection By Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensors Validated By In-Situ Ae-Fatigue Experiment, Yeasin Bhuiyan, Victor Giurgiutiu

Faculty Publications

Piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) are commonly used for detecting Lamb waves for structural health monitoring application. However, in most applications of active sensing, the signals are of high-amplitude and easy to detect. In this article, we have shown a new avenue of using the PWAS transducer for detecting the low-amplitude fatigue-crack related acoustic emission (AE) signals. Multiphysics finite element (FE) simulations were performed with two PWAS transducers bonded to the structure. Various configurations of the sensors were studied by using the simulations. One PWAS was placed near to the fatigue-crack and the other one was placed at a certain …

Learning Extreme Verification Latency Quickly With Importance Weighting: Fast Compose & Level_Iw, Muhammad Umer

Theses and Dissertations

One of the more challenging real-world problems in computational intelligence is to learn from non-stationary streaming data, also known as concept drift. Perhaps even a more challenging version of this scenario is when -- following a small set of initial labeled data -- the data stream consists of unlabeled data only. Such a scenario is typically referred to as learning in initially labeled nonstationary environment, or simply as extreme verification latency (EVL). This thesis introduces two different algorithms to operate in this domain. One of these algorithms is a simple modification of our prior work, COMPOSE (COMPacted Object Sample Extraction), …

A Novel Device For Mr Foot Perfusion Stress Testing, David John Muccigrosso

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Single-Step, Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition Of Methylammonium Bismuth Iodide Thin Films, Xiao Chen

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Lead halide perovskites (CH₃NH₃PbI₃ and its variants) are promising solar cell absorber materials. Though the reported power conversion efficiencies of lead halide perovskite solar cells (up to 21%) are competitive with commercial silicon solar cells, lead toxicity in these perovskites present a challenge to further scale-up and eventual commercialization. Recently, bismuth (Bi³⁺) based organic halide perovskite has drawn attention as a substitution for lead-free perovskites, since it is a non-toxic 6p-block element, isoelectronic with Pb²⁺. Methylammonium bismuth iodide ((CH₃NH₃)₃Bi₂I₉) is reported …

Jme 4110 Phenode Camera Arm Design Project, Kelsey M. Wortmann, Paul Masnica, Matthias Sommer

Washington University / UMSL Mechanical Engineering Design Project JME 4110

The goal of this design project was to create an extendable camera arm capable of attaching to the shell of the PheNode in-field apparatus created by researchers at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. The camera arm extends 36 inches in length, can rotate 180 degrees, and successfully holds a camera for plant imaging with minimal vibrations. We have designed an affordable camera arm that is stable and meets the design parameters given. Our design process is documented in the following report.

Jme 4110 Final Design Report - Plant Growth Chamber, Deontez Myers, Chad Szwargulski

Washington University / UMSL Mechanical Engineering Design Project JME 4110

To facilitate study of resource use efficiency in crop plants, it is necessary to pulse-saturate them with certain stable isotopes. This is done by exposing the shoots to gases and the roots to liquid. We were tasked with designing a system to deliver and control this process.

Jme 4110 Seed Aerodynamics, Kristin Gonzalez, Vladimir Sidorov

Washington University / UMSL Mechanical Engineering Design Project JME 4110

This is a report discussing the analysis and results of a wind tunnel that was created to find the terminal velocity of a variety of seeds.