Chemical Engineering Commons^™

Probing The Effects Of Surface Hydrophobicity And Tether Orientation On Antibody-Antigen Binding, Derek B. Bush, Thomas A. Knotts Iv

Faculty Publications

Antibody microarrays have the potential to revolutionize molecular detection for many applications, but their current use is limited by poor reliability, and efforts to change this have not yielded fruitful results. One difficulty which limits the rational engineering of next-generation devices is that little is known, at the molecular level, about the antibody-antigen binding process near solid surfaces. Atomic-level structural information is scant because typical experimental techniques (X-ray crystallography and NMR) cannot be used to image proteins bound to surfaces. To overcome this limitation, this study uses molecular simulation and an advanced, experimentally validated, coarse-grain, protein-surface model to compare fab-lysozyme …

Safety Analysis Of A Flashing Drum Steam Generation System, Jacob Ladd, Cade Memmott

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The goal of the Integral, Inherently Safe Light Water Reactor (I2S-LWR) Research Project is to design a more inherently safe reactor. This reactor is capable of cooling the core with no external power and no operator action.[1] In the I2S-LWR design, micro-channel heat exchangers (MCHX) facilitate heat transfer from the reactor to the steam generation system (SGS), where steam is used to produce electricity.^{1, 2}

The I2S-LWR design requires the use of a “flashing” drum to produce steam, and the flashing drum and its impact on the SGS must be evaluated for safety before it can be incorporated into …

Decellularization And Recellularization Processes For Whole Porcine Kidneys, Nafiseh Poornejad

Theses and Dissertations

Concern over kidney disease has increased dramatically in recent years within the medical community. It is estimated that approximately one in fifteen Americans, nearly 20 million people, experience chronic kidney disease with most of those diagnosed progressing to kidney failure. The ultimate treatment available for end stage renal failure is whole kidney transplantation. However, there are very few kidneys available for patients to receive and those patients who are fortunate enough to receive an organ must remain on immunosuppressive medication for the remainder of their lives. The United States Department of Health & Human Services have reported that 18 people …

Catalytic Gasification Of A Powder River Basin Coal With Co2 And H2o Mixtures, Zhang Fan, Fan Maohong, Huang Xin, Morris D. Argyle, Zhang Bo, Brian Towler, Zhang Yulong

Faculty Publications

CO₂ capture and utilization caused more and more public attention because of its environmental impact. The objective of this work was to study the catalytic gasification of a sub-bituminous coal from the Powder River Basin (PRB) using a CO₂ and H₂ O mixture as the gasifying agent. Sodium and iron, in the form of inexpensive compounds, were chosen to catalyze the coal gasification. The experiments were conducted between 700 and 900 °C in a fixed-bed laboratory gasifier under the atmospheric pressure. Results show that the added catalysts had an effect on the composition of gas …

A Multi-Fluid Model For Microstructure Formation In Polymer Membranes, Douglas R. Tree, Kris T. Delaney, Hector D. Ceniceros, Tatsuhiro Iwama, Glenn H. Fredrickson

Faculty Publications

We develop a multi-fluid model for a ternary polymer solution using the Rayleighian formalism of Doi and Onuki, and give an efficient pseudo-spectral method for solving both the diffusion and momentum equations that result. Subsequently, we find that the numerical simulation is capable of describing systems at the micron length-scale and easily reaches millisecond time-scales. In addition, we characterize the model thermodynamics and kinetics including the (i) phase behavior, (ii) structure of the interfaces, (iii) mutual diffusion coefficients, (iv) bulk spinodal decomposition kinetics with and without hydrodynamics and (v) spinodal decomposition in the presence of an interface with a non-solvent …

Engineering Cell-Free Protein Synthesis Technology For Codon Reassignment, Biotherapeutics Production Using Just-Add-Water System, And Biosensing Endocrine Disrupting Compounds, Sayed Mohammad Salehi

Theses and Dissertations

Cell-free protein synthesis is an emerging technology that has many applications. The open nature of this system makes it a compelling technology that can be manipulated to answer many needs that are unavailable in other systems. This dissertation reports on engineering this technology for: 1) sense codon emancipation for incorporation of multiple unnatural amino acids; 2) expressing a hard-to-express anticancer biotherapeutic and introducing a just-add-water system; 3) a biosensing ligand that interacts with nuclear hormone receptors. Emancipating sense codons toward a minimized genetic code is of significant interest to science and engineering. A promising approach to sense codon emancipation is …

Application Of The Rotating Cylinder Electrode In Molten Licl-Kcl Eutectic Containing Uranium(Iii)- And Magnesium(Ii)-Chloride, Devin Rappleye, Michael F. Simpson

Faculty Publications

The application of the rotating cylinder electrode (RCE) to molten LiCl-KCl eutectic mixtures for electroanalytical measurements is presented. This enabled the measurement of the limiting current which was observed to follow a linear trend with the rotational rate raised to 0.64–0.65 power on average, which closely agrees with existing RCE mass-transfer correlations. This is the first publication of electroanalytical RCE measurements in LiCl-KCl eutectic based molten salt mixtures, to our knowledge. These measurements were made in mixtures of molten LiCl-KCl eutectic containing UCl₃ and MgCl₂. Kinetic parameters were calculated for Mg²⁺ in LiCl-KCl eutectic. The exchange …

Examination Of The Effect Of Differential Molecular Diffusion In Dns Of Turbulent Non-Premixed Flames, Chao Han, David O. Lignell, Evatt R. Hawkes, Jacqueline H. Chen, Haifeng Wang

Faculty Publications

The effect of differential molecular diffusion (DMD) in turbulent non-premixed flames is studied by examining two previously reported DNS of temporally evolving planar jet flames, one with CO/H2 as the fuel and the other with C2H4 as the fuel. The effect of DMD in the CO/H2 DNS flames in which H2 is part of fuel is found to behave similar to laminar flamelet, while in the C2H4 DNS flames in which H2 is not present in the fuel it is similar to laminar flamelet in early stages but becomes different from laminar flamelet later. The scaling of the effect …

Beating Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes On Porcine Extracellular Matrix, Kaitlyn J. Mcentire, Alonzo Cook, Toph Knutson, Gevan Eldredge, Hunter Behrmann, Clayton Holding, Matthew Hodgson, Dillon Despain, Jacob Preslar, Joseph Rich, Matthew Stephens, Matthew Trone, Michael Neff, Sam Worrall, Joshua Mcclellan, Abbie Kondel, Donnie Pfeifer

Biomedical Engineering Western Regional Conference

Despite modern technology and developments in heart disease treatment and prevention, heart disease remains the number one cause of death in America. With an inability to meet an ever-increasing demand for heart transplants and the dangers of immunosuppressant drugs, any potential alternative to cardiac transplantation must be pursued. The end goal of this research is to engineer biocompatible tissues that are fully functional to repair or replace damaged portions of the heart following the loss of cardiac function. This research investigates the effect of porcine extracellular matrix as the scaffold for beating IPS-differentiated cardiomyocytes.

Design And Evaluation Of 3d Printed Features To Improve Stability Of Plasma-Cell Pack Interface In Bacteria Separating Hollow Spinning Disk, Colin G. Bledsoe, Ryan L. Wood, Daneil S. Mcclellan, Dr. William G. Pitt

Biomedical Engineering Western Regional Conference

PDF submission of abstract.

High-Density Non-Fouling Bioactive Coatings: Development And Characterization, Bonan Yu, Ramya Raman, Karl Schlike

Biomedical Engineering Western Regional Conference

No abstract provided.

Molecular Modeling Of Antibody-Antigen Binding Near Solid Surfaces, Derek Bush, Thomas Knotts

Biomedical Engineering Western Regional Conference

Antibody microarrays are biosensors that have the potential to revolutionize molecular detection in medicine, scientific research, and national defense. However, current microarrays are not widely used due to problems including poor reproducibility and signal quality, unbalanced antibody performance, and cross-reactivity. Prior work in the area focused mainly on the stability of the antibody alone and not its affinity for its antigen. This presentation shows results of using molecular simulation to determine how different types of surfaces affect antigen binding to surface-tethered antibodies. The results offer an unprecedented, molecular-level view into these protein-protein-surface interactions and how to drive binding to occur.

Electroanalytical Measurements Of Binary-Analyte Mixtures In Molten Licl-Kcl Eutectic: Uranium(Iii)- And Magnesium(Ii)-Chloride, Devin Rappleye, Matthew L. Newton, Chao Zhang, Michael F. Simpson

Faculty Publications

The electrochemical behavior of MgCl₂ in molten LiCl-KCl eutectic was investigated to evaluate its suitability as a surrogate for PuCl₃ in studies related to the eletrorefining of used nuclear fuel. The reduction of Mg²⁺ was found to be electrochemically reversible up to 300 mV s−1 at 773 K. The diffusion coefficient for Mg²⁺ was calculated to be 1.74 and 2.17 × 10−5 cm2 s−1 with and without U³⁺ present, respectively, at 773 K using cyclic voltammetry (CV). Upon comparison to literature data, the diffusion coefficient of Mg²⁺ differs by only 8.8% (with U …

Hybrid Concentrated Solar Thermal Power Systems: A Review, Kody M. Powell, Khalid Rashid, Kevin Ellingwood, Jake Tuttle, Brian D. Iverson

Faculty Publications

Concentrated solar power (CSP), or solar thermal power, is an ideal technology to hybridize with other energy technologies for power generation. CSP shares technology with conventional power generation and can be readily integrated with other energy types into a synergistic system, which has many potential benefits including increased dispatchability and reliability, improved efficiency, reduced capital costs through equipment sharing, and the opportunity for flexible operation by alternating between energy sources. Another advantage of CSP technology is the ability to readily store via thermal energy storage (TES), making the intermittent solar resource dispatchable. A review of CSP hybridization strategies with coal, …

Study Potential Of Indigenous Pseudomonas Aeruginosa And Bacillus Subtilis In Bioremediation Of Diesel-Contaminated Water, Mohammad-Saeed Safdari, Hamid-Reza Kariminia, Zahra Ghobadi Nejad, Thomas H. Fletcher

Faculty Publications

Petroleum products which are used in a wide variety of industries as energy sources and raw materials have become a major concern in pollution of terrestrial and marine environments. The purpose of this study was to assess the potential of indigenous microbial isolates for degradation of diesel fuel. Two most proficient bacterial strains among five isolated strains from polluted soil of an industrial refinery were studied. The isolates then were identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus subtilis using biochemical tests and 16S rRNA gene sequence analyses. P. aeruginosa showed higher biodegradation efficiency than B. subtilis in shaking flask containing diesel-contaminated …

Optimal Combined Long-Term Facility Design And Short-Term Operational Strategy For Chp Capacity Investments, Jose Mojica, Damon Petersen, Brigham Hansen, Kody Powell, John Hedengren

Faculty Publications

This work presents a detailed case study for the optimization of the expansion of a district energy system evaluating the investment decision timing, type of capacity expansion, and fine-scale operational modes. The study develops an optimization framework to find the investment schedule over 30 years with options of investing in traditional heating sources (boilers) or a next-generation combined heat and power (CHP) plant that provides heat and electricity. In district energy systems, the selected capacity and type of system is dependent on demand-side requirements, energy prices, and environmental costs. This work formulates capacity planning over a time horizon as a …

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 …

Comprehensive Model Of Single Particle Pulverized Coal Combustion Extended To Oxy-Coal Conditions, Troy Michael Holland, Thomas H. Fletcher

Faculty Publications

Oxy-fired coal combustion is a promising potential carbon capture technology. Predictive CFD simulations are valuable tools in evaluating and deploying oxy-fuel and other carbon capture technologies either as retrofit technologies or for new construction. However, accurate predictive simulations require physically realistic submodels with low computational requirements. In particular, comprehensive char oxidation and gasification models have been developed that describe multiple reaction and diffusion processes. This work extends a comprehensive char conversion code (CCK), which treats surface oxidation and gasification reactions as well as processes such as film diffusion, pore diffusion, ash encapsulation, and annealing. In this work several submodels in …

Semi-Empirical Model For Fire Spread In Shrubs With Spatially-Defined Fuel Elements And Flames, Dallan Prince, Chen Shen, Thomas H. Fletcher

Faculty Publications

A semi-empirical model was developed which forms shrub geometries from distinct fuel elements (e.g. leaves) and describes flame spread from element to element. Ignition, flame growth and flame decay patterns were based on combustion data of single leaves. Extension of the model to various heating conditions was achieved by scaling the flame growth parameters using physics-based heat transfer models. The resulting model offers a novel approach to examine fire spread and to explicitly describe both distinct fuel elements and fire behavior. This approach balances computational speed and modeling detail while providing a unique perspective into fire spread phenomena. Comparisons of …

Modeling Soot Oxidation And Gasification With Bayesian Statistics, Alexander Jon Josephson, Neal D. Gaffin, Sean T. Smith, Thomas H. Fletcher, David Lignell

Faculty Publications

This paper presents a statistical method for model calibration using data collected from literature. The method is used to calibrate parameters for global models of soot consumption in combustion systems. This consumption is broken into two different submodels: first for oxidation where soot particles are attacked by certain oxidizing agents; second for gasification where soot particles are attacked by H2O or CO2 molecules. Rate data were collected from 19 studies in the literature and evaluated using Bayesian statistics to calibrate the model parameters. Bayesian statistics are valued in their ability to quantify uncertainty in modeling. The calibrated consumption model with …

Model For The Evolution Of Pore Structure In A Lignite Particle During Pyrolysis. 2. Influence Of Cross-Linking Reactions, Molten Metaplast, And Molten Ash On Particle Surface Area, He Yang, Thomas H. Fletcher, Sufen Li, Haoquan Hu, Lijun Li

Faculty Publications

A model for the evolution of the pore structure in a lignite particle during pyrolysis was established previously based on the chemical percolation devolatilization (CPD) model, using coal polymer network parameters to calculate the surface area and porosity of the particle. In this paper, to get the accurate surface area of coal particle at high pyrolysis temperature, the previous model was improved by considering the effects of cross-linking reactions, molten Metaplast, and ash. The good agreement of the predicted surface area with experiments at temperature below 1200 K in the previous model is maintained, and model accuracy is improved at …

Evolutionary View Planning For Optimized Uav Terrain Modeling In A Simulated Environment, Ronald A. Martin, Ivan Rojas, Kevin W. Franke, John Hedengren

Faculty Publications

This work demonstrates the use of genetic algorithms in optimized view planning for 3D reconstruction applications using small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The quality of UAV site models is currently highly dependent on manual pilot operations or grid-based automation solutions. When applied to 3D structures, these approaches can result in gaps in the total coverage or inconsistency in final model resolution. Genetic algorithms can effectively explore the search space to locate image positions that produce high quality models in terms of coverage and accuracy. A fitness function is defined, and optimization parameters are selected through semi-exhaustive search. A novel simulation …

Soot Oxidation By Oh: Theory Development, Model, And Experimental Validation, Hossein Ghiassi, David Lignell, Joann S. Lighty

Faculty Publications

Soot oxidation by OH has been represented by an equation developed by Neoh that includes the efficiency of OH radicals to react, the collision efficiency. The focus of this study is the theoretical development of the collision efficiency, enabling a more accurate prediction of soot oxidation where OH is the principle oxidizer. In addition to the traditional parameters, such as OH concentration and temperature, this approach aims to improve the prediction of soot oxidation by considering the fraction of the active area as well as the size of the soot particle and aggregate. The fraction of the active area was …

A Comparison Of Lysophosphatidylcholine And Crush Injury In A Rat Model Of Sciatic Nerve Regeneration, Ryan L. Wood, William G. Pitt, Scott C. Steffensen, Alonzo D. Cook

Faculty Publications

This study examined the effect of using lysophosphatidyl choline (LPC) in combination with a nerve crush injury on the healing rate of damaged left sciatic nerves in female rats. The rats were divided randomly into four groups: Control, LPC, Crush or Crush+ LPC. The Control group was the undamaged right sciatic nerve. The other groups were the damaged left sciatic nerve. The healing of the nerves was measured by monitoring gait, electrophysiological parameters: compound muscle action potential (CMAP) amplitudes and nerve conductance velocities (NCV); and morphological parameters: total fascicular area, total myelinated fiber counts, fiber densities, fiber diameters, and g-ratio. …

Nanoemulsions Within Liposomes For Cytosolic Drug Delivery To Multidrug-Resistant Cancer Cells, Jacob Brian Williams

Theses and Dissertations

Cancer cells that survive chemotherapy treatment often develop resistance to the administered chemotherapeutics, as well as to many other types of drugs, because the cancer cells increase their production of efflux pumps in the cell. This undesired phenomenon of resistance to cancer drugs is known as multidrug resistance. This work uses a novel drug carrier, called an eLiposome, to achieve cytosolic drug delivery to kill multidrug-resistant cancer cells. An eLiposome consists of a perfluoropentane (PFC5) emulsion droplet inside of a liposome. Folate attached to the eLiposome facilitates uptake into the cell. The PFC5 droplet is metastable at body temperature, but …

How A Systematic Approach To Uncertainty Quantification Renders Molecular Simulation A Quantitative Tool In Predicting The Critical Constants For Large N-Alkanes, Richard Alma Messerly

Theses and Dissertations

Accurate thermophysical property data are crucial for designing efficient chemical processes. For this reason, the Design Institute for Physical Properties (DIPPR 801) provides evaluated experimental data and prediction of various thermophysical properties. The critical temperature (T_c), critical density (ρ_c), critical pressure (P_c), critical compressibility factor (Z_c), and normal boiling point (T_b) are important constants to check for thermodynamic consistency and to estimate other properties. The n-alkane family is of primary interest because it is generally assumed that other families of compounds behave similarly to …

Effects Of Tethering Placement And Linker Variations On Antibody Stability On Surfaces, Rebecca Ellen Grawe

Theses and Dissertations

An antibody microarray consists of antibody bound to a surface. Antibody microarrays have great potential in many fields, particularly as a tool to detect antigens. Unfortunately, antibodies suffer from poor performance. A greater understanding of how antibodies interact with surfaces would improve microarray design and performance, but experimental methods fall short of being able to observe these interactions. Therefore molecular simulation has emerged as the primary method to study protein/surface interactions.The simulations here were coarse grain simulations performed using the model of Karanicolas and Brooks. Additionally, an advanced surface model was used that allows for different surface chemistries. PyMBAR analysis …

Evaluation Of Stochastic Particle Dispersion Modeling In Turbulent Round Jets, Guangyuan Sun, John C. Hewson, David O. Lignell

Faculty Publications

ODT (one-dimensional turbulence) simulations of particle-carrier gas interactions are performed in the jet flow configuration. Particles with different diameters are injected onto the centerline of a turbulent air jet. The particles are passive and do not impact the fluid phase. Their radial dispersion and axial velocities are obtained as functions of axial position. The time and length scales of the jet are varied through control of the jet exit velocity and nozzle diameter. Dispersion data at long times of flight for the nozzle diameter (7 mm), particle diameters (60 and 90 µm), and Reynolds numbers (10, 000–30, 000) are …

Investigation Of The Effects Of Uranium(Iii)-Chloride Concentration On Voltammetry In Molten Licl-Kcl Eutectic With A Glass Sealed Tungsten Electrode, Devin Rappleye, Kevin Teaford, Michael F. Simpson

Faculty Publications

One of the major sources of error for electroanalytical measurements in high-temperature molten salts is from the measurement of the working electrode (WE) area. A glass sealed working electrode (GSWE) was developed in order to set the exposed area of tungsten and reduce the error associated with WE area. The insulating property of the glass while in contact with molten salt was verified by observing the independence of electrochemical signals with adjustments in the WE position. The integrity of the glass coating was also confirmed by observing the stability of electrochemical signals (±1.9%) over several hours. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and …

Development And Optimization Of Voltammetry For Real Time Analysis Of Multi-Component Electrorefiner Salt, Chao Zhang, Devin Rappleye, Michael F. Simpson

Faculty Publications

Normal pulse voltammetry was performed on LiCl-KCl-UCl3- MgCl2 molten salt mixtures while varying parameters such as pulse time, relaxation potential, and interval time. Concentrations of UCl3 up to 7 wt% were tested with a fixed 1.5 wt% MgCl2 concentration. The correlation between diffusion limited partial current density to UCl3 concentration exhibited an excellent fit to a 2nd order polynomial. A similar fit was obtained for the correlation between MgCl2 concentration and the diffusion limited partial current density at a fixed UCl3 concentration of 1.0 wt%.