Chemical Engineering Commons^™

Experimental Study Of A Foam Flow In Horizontal Pipes: Two Flow Regimes And Its Implications, Miodrag Bogdanovic

LSU Master's Theses

Although foam has been widely used in many scientific and engineering applications, the current understanding of foam rheology in pipes is still very limited because of its complex nature. This experimental study, for the first time, investigates the flow rheology of foams in pipes by placing a special emphasis on two distinct foam flow regimes. A wide range of experimental conditions are examined in this study, which include five different surfactant formulations (Cedepal FA-406, Petrostep CG-50, Stepanform 1050, Aquet TD-600, and Ultra-Palmolive), three different surfactant concentrations (0.1, 1, and 5 wt %), two different pipe diameters (0.5 and 1 inch …

Model-Based Framework For Alloy Electrodeposition Processes, Miguel Eduardo Estrada

LSU Master's Theses

The electrodeposition of iron-group alloys has been widely studied due to their interest as materials used for their magnetic and thermo-physical properties. Models such as ternary NiCoFe and quaternary NiCoFeCu multilayer alloys have been previously developed to simulate mass transfer and reaction kinetics. The reactions involved in the models contain kinetic parameters such as rate constants and inverse Tafel slopes which are estimated using trial and error techniques. The previous models are limited to a set of kinetic parameters for each change in concentrations of the electrolyte. Although deposition behaviors such as anomalous codeposition are captured, functionalities to use the …

Evaluation Of Sweep Efficiency Of A Mature Co2 Flood In Little Creek Field, Mississippi, Didem Senocak

LSU Master's Theses

CO2 displacement is the most widely used EOR process, but poor sweep efficiency and large CO2 utilization rates are limitations to the economic and technical success of CO2 floods. Developing a methodology to maximize the sweep efficiency and minimize the CO2 utilization rate would greatly improve the economics of these fields. This thesis evaluates the sweep efficiency of a successful, late-in-life, continuous injection CO2 flood at the Little Creek Field, Mississippi. In this work, we evaluate several heterogeneity measures in terms of recovery efficiency and utilization rate. Core studies available from 41% of the wells in the field were used …

Photocatalytic Oxidation Of Ethanol Using Macroporous Titania, Gibert Merle Magpantay

LSU Master's Theses

Photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) using TiO2 is a potential means of remediating poor indoor air quality that is attributed to low levels of volatile organic compounds (VOC). In this work, ethanol is chosen as a simple compound representative of VOC’s. The aim of this research is to establish a baseline for the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 in ethanol PCO as well as the photonic efficiency of the photoreactor. The PCO conversion could then be enhanced by using photocatalyst having a macroporous structure. A flat plate photoreactor, UV light delivery and a flow system was designed in this work to accomplish ethanol …

Fog-Smog Reactor And Photooxidation Of Naphthalene Within The Fog Condensate In A Uv Light Setup, Neha Shrikant Damle

LSU Master's Theses

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) form a major class of air pollutants. Naphthalene is a commonly found PAH in the atmosphere. Atmospheric fog water contains naphthalene absorbed from surrounding air. The partition coefficient of naphthalene is defined as the ratio of total naphthalene concentration in fog water to total naphthalene concentration in air. The purpose of this research was to determine the partition coefficients of naphthalene for varying reactor temperature. Fog was artificially formed in a predesigned reactor. NaCl aerosols were used as condensation nuclei for fog formation. Fog droplets were exposed to naphthalene vapors in the reactor. The reactor provided …

Identification Of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons In The Supercritical Pyrolysis Products Of Synthetic Jet Fuel S-8 And Methylcyclohexane, Jorge Oswaldo Ona Ruales

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Inside the pre-combustor fuel lines of future high-speed aircraft, at supercritical conditions, hydrocarbon fuels react to form polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and eventually solid deposits. These deposits can block fuel lines and lead to undesirable effects for the aircraft operation. To elucidate the pathways that lead to the formation of PAH (and ultimately, solids formation), the identification of the PAH products generated by the reactions is critical. In this context, two fuels have been analyzed: synthetic jet fuel S-8 and methylcyclohexane. Synthetic jet fuel S-8 is important due to its non-petroleum origin. Methylcyclohexane is important due to its endothermic behavior. …

Vibrations For Improving Multiphase Contact, Yogesh G. Waghmare

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Present work demonstrates the use of vibrations to enhance performance of two multi-phase contacting systems: a bubble column for gas-liquid contacting (physical absorption) and a Piston Oscillating Monolith Reactor (POMR) for gas-liquid-solid contacting (catalytic reactions). In a bubble column reactor, enhancements of mass transfer coefficient and gas hold up were experimentally studied for the air-water system. Mass transfer coefficient enhancements up to 500% and gas hold-up improvements up to 200% were achieved under the application of low amplitude (0.5-2.5 mm) vibration at low frequencies (0-25 Hz). A fundamental theory was developed from first principles to explain these enhancements. The theory …

An Experimental Study On The Formation Of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons During The Pyrolysis And Oxidation Of Catechol[Ortho-Dihydroxybenzene]-A Model Compound Representative Of Structural Units In Coal, Wood, And Biomass, Shiju Thomas

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) formed during the pyrolysis and combustion of solid fuels like coal, wood, and biomass are widespread environmental pollutants. Since some PAH are known to exhibit carcinogenic and mutagenic activity, understanding the chemical reactions responsible for PAH formation is of utmost importance. To better understand the reactions leading to the formation of PAH from complex solid fuels, pyrolysis and oxidation experiments have been performed in an isothermal laminar-flow reactor, using the model fuel catechol (ortho-dihydroxybenzene), a phenol-type compound representative of structural entities in coal, wood, and biomass. Catechol pyrolysis experiments have also been performed in the presence …

Catalytic Synthesis Of Ethanol From Biomass-Derived Syngas, Adefemi Adelanwa Egbebi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Syngas produced by gasification of biomass or coal can be converted directly to ethanol and higher alcohols by processes based on heterogeneous catalysts. Ethanol can be used as a neat fuel or fuel additive or as a hydrogen carrier. Rhodium-based catalysts have been found to be most selective for the formation of C₂ oxygenates from the hydrogenation of CO when suitably promoted. Here, we explore the effects of Mn, Fe, and Li promoters on Rh/TiO₂. Rh-TiO₂, Rh-Li/TiO₂, Rh-Mn/TiO₂, Rh-Mn-Li/TiO₂ and Rh-Mn-Li-Fe/TiO₂ catalysts were tested for the hydrogenation of CO …

Heterogeneous Catalyzed Macromolecular Hydrogenations In Oscillating Systems, Alan Bussard

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

An examination of novel oscillatory (alternating gas and liquid phase) reactors and heterogeneous catalysts for multi-phase macromolecular reactions was carried out. A monolith-containing square die with Pd/Al2O3 catalysts was used to successfully hydrogenate poly(styrene) (PS). The inherent pulse behavior of the extruder was found to be sufficient to approach intrinsic kinetics at low polymer concentrations. At higher (10 wt% PS) concentrations, forced pulsing was shown to have a greater impact on observed reaction rates. Selectivity with this extruder-fed reactor was better than with a stirred tank in all cases, due to a more plug-flow-like residence time distribution. While accurate control …

Continuous Reservoir Model Updating By Ensemble Kalman Filter On Grid Computing Architectures, Xin Li

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A reservoir engineering Grid computing toolkit, ResGrid and its extensions, were developed and applied to designed reservoir simulation studies and continuous reservoir model updating. The toolkit provides reservoir engineers with high performance computing capacity to complete their projects without requiring them to delve into Grid resource heterogeneity, security certification, or network protocols.

Continuous and real-time reservoir model updating is an important component of closed-loop model-based reservoir management. The method must rapidly and continuously update reservoir models by assimilating production data, so that the performance predictions and the associated uncertainty are up-to-date for optimization. The ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF), a Bayesian …

Adsorption And Photochemical Transformation Of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons On Atmospheric Water Films, Jing Chen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Atmospheric water films affect the processing of chemicals in the atmosphere and have potential effects on human health and the environment. In this work, adsorption and photochemical transformations of gas-phase PAHs were studied in a flow-tube photo-reactor with a view to understanding the behavior of gas-phase PAHs occurring in thin water films such as those of aerosols and fog. Naphthalene and phenanthrene were chosen as model PAHs for this study. Bulk water-air and air-to-interface partition constants of naphthalene and phenanthrene were estimated from the experiments based on the dependence of the equilibrium uptake on the water film thickness. Theoretical computations …

Reservoir Characterization Using Seismic Inversion Data, Subhash Kalla

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Reservoir architecture may be inferred from analogs and geologic concepts, seismic surveys, and well data. Stochastically inverted seismic data are uninformative about meter-scale features, but aid downscaling by constraining coarse-scale interval properties such as total thickness and average porosity. Well data reveal detailed facies and vertical trends (and may indicate lateral trends), but cannot specify intrawell stratal geometry. Consistent geomodels can be generated for flow simulation by systematically considering the precision and density of different data. Because seismic inversion, conceptual stacking, and lateral variability of the facies are uncertain, stochastic ensembles of geomodels are needed to capture variability.

In this …

Cluster Kinetics Modeling Of Glassforming Materials, Lisa Ann Brenskelle

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this work, a new model relating temperature and pressure to dielectric relaxation or viscosity of a glassformer is developed. The model is based upon cluster kinetics, reaction-like mechanisms describing interactions between glassformer monomers and their clusters. Mathematical solutions of population balance equations for monomer and cluster lead to molar concentrations in terms of rate coefficients of the reaction-like mechanisms. These are then related to viscosity or dielectric relaxation time through free volume theory. The resulting equations are tested against data for a variety of pure glassformers, fragile, non-fragile, large, and small molecules over a wide range of temperatures, pressures, …

Mercury Transport Through A Capped Sediment, Jianrong Liu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Laboratory simulation cells were employed to evaluate the effectiveness of a sand cap for containing highly mercury-contaminated lake sediments and the resultant impacts on the mercury fate beneath the cap. Sand cap can delay and reduce the migration of mercury into the overlying water; however, due to the small partition coefficient of mercury between sand and water, a capping material with higher partition coefficient is better for the long-term containment of mercury. In the following study, efforts were made to identify and investigate an active capping material which works effectively at containing and inhibiting the methylation of mercury. Based on …

Production Data Analysis Of Shale Gas Reservoirs, Adam Michael Lewis

LSU Master's Theses

Hydrocarbon resources from unconventional shale gas reservoirs are becoming very important in the United States in recent years. Understanding the effects of adsorption on production data analysis will increase the effectiveness of reservoir management in these challenging environments. The use of an adjusted system compressibility proposed by Bumb and McKee (1988) is critical in this process. It allows for dimensional and dimensionless type curves to be corrected at a reasonably fundamental level, and it breaks the effects of adsorption into something that is relatively simple to understand. This coupled with a new form of material balance time that was originally …

The Electrodeposition Of Cerium/Copper Prox Catalysts On Metal Foam, James Matthew Faubion

LSU Master's Theses

A cerium/copper (Ce/Cu) preferred carbon monoxide (CO) oxidation (PROX) catalyst has been synthesized via electrodeposition onto a metal foam monolith. The catalyst was characterized using ICP, TPRS, TPR and SEM/EDS. Preliminary PROX TPRS evidence in a reaction mixture of 1% CO, 0.5% O2, 40% H2 (bal. Ar.) indicated that the highest activity was seen in a sequential deposition, in which Cu was deposited first. The highest CO oxidation activity was obtained when the Ce concentration in the second step was 0.1 M (resulting in a bulk wt% loading of 0.24 Ce:Cu). SEM/EDS analysis indicated that an increase in ceria loading …

Characterization Of Polyethylene Glycol Hydrogels For Biomedical Applications, Anushree Datta

LSU Master's Theses

Polyethylene glycol is one of the most widely used synthetic materials for biomedical applications. Its biocompatibility, flexibility, and 'stealth' properties make it ideal for use in drug delivery applications. The main objective of this paper is to characterize the structural and mass transfer properties of polyethylene glycol hydrogels for applications in drug delivery and biological immobilization. Swelling behavior of the gels was studied to determine the mesh size, and other significant structural parameters of the gel. For accurate design of drug delivery device, along with network design, mathematical modeling of release profiles was performed. The study of PEG hydrogels was …

The Catalytic Partial Oxidation Of N-Tetradecane On Rh And Sr Substituted Pyrochlores, Daniel Haynes

LSU Master's Theses

Catalyst deactivation by high levels of sulfur and aromatics limits the catalytic partial oxidation (CPOX) of diesel fuel into a H₂-rich stream for fuel cells. These species poison traditional supported metal catalysts because they adsorb strongly to electron dense metal clusters and promote the formation of carbon on the surface. Therefore, it is logical to spatially distribute an active metal into the lattice of a chemically and thermally stable material to create an active catalyst surface that is less likely to accumulate carbon or be deactivated by sulfur. In this work, Rh metal only and Rh + Sr …

Simulation Study Evaluating Alternative Initial Responses To Formation Fluid Influx During Managed Pressure Drilling, Asis Kumar Das

LSU Master's Theses

Managed pressure drilling is an innovative technique to precisely manage wellbore pressure. It is particularly applicable for reducing the risk of a kick or lost returns when drilling with a narrow window between pore pressure and fracture pressure. The constant bottomhole pressure method of managed pressure drilling uses annular frictional pressure and choke pressure in addition to mud hydrostatic pressure to achieve precise wellbore pressure control. This project investigated alternative initial responses to kicks to determine which would be most effective and reliable under different well scenarios when applying the constant bottomhole pressure method of managed pressure drilling. Three different …

Experimental And Modeling Studies Of Contaminant Transport In Capped Sediments During Gas Bubble Ebullition, Qingzhong Yuan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Fluxes of the three organics and eighteen metals from sediments were measured with diffusion chambers, and the effectiveness of a sand cap ascertained. The influence of sediment consolidation on contaminant flux and the mass transfer coefficient at the sediment-water interface was studied. A two-layer diffusion-advection model and consolidation model were coupled to elucidate the effect of sediment consolidation on chemical transport in the sediment-cap system. The model was tested and verified by the experimental data from microcosms, and then was used to predict phenanthrene flux under field conditions. The simulation results showed that consolidation could accelerate phenanthrene breakthrough and enhance …

Measurement Of Metal Migration In Sediment Caps With X-Ray Fluorescene, Ming Yin

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT Sand is often used as a passive barrier to slow release of metals from the sediment and to separate benthic organisms from the sediment. Materials that effectively adsorb metals have the potential to provide significantly greater effectiveness by further retarding metal release. In this thesis, the effectiveness of apatite and Phosphil®, which contain phosphate in a form that can absorb many metals, is evaluated with a series of sorption and migration column experiments using Cr, Cu, Zn and Pb. Langmuir shape isotherms were observed suggesting that the effectiveness of these materials decreases at high concentration. The sorption isotherm experiments …

Electrodeposition Of Rare Earth-Transition Metal Alloy Thin Films And Nanostructures, Rohit Mishra

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Rare earth-transition metal alloys are of interest in MEMS and magnetic storage industries because of their unique magnetic properties. However, the applications of these alloys have been limited to bulk and thin film architectures because of the limitations of the contemporary vapor deposition technique to fabricate high aspect ratio nanostructures. The objective of this study is to develop an electrochemical process to deposit rare earth-transition metal alloys thus making it possible to deposit high aspect ratio nanostructures such as nanowires and nanotubes, which helps to tune their properties for specific applications. Electrodeposition of rare earth-transition metal alloys was achieved from …

Particle And Dredge-Scale Kinetic Studies Of Hydrophobic Organic Chemical Desorption From Sediment, Justin Edward Birdwell

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The discharge of hydrophobic organic chemicals (HOCs) and other hazardous substances from anthropogenic sources to surface waters and the atmosphere has led to the widespread contamination of bottom sediments throughout the world. HOCs collect in sediments due to their affinity for organic matter and other sorbents present on and within their solid matrices. There is interest in the movement of HOCs from historically contaminated, resuspended sediments to surface waters due to the connection between chemical desorption and bioavailability. Quantitatively accurate predictions of contaminant concentrations in environmental media are needed for reliable risk assessment and to develop strategies for protection of …

Mechanistic Modeling Of An Underbalanced Drilling Operation Utilizing Supercritical Carbon Dioxide, Faisal Abdullah Aladwani

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Mechanistic modeling of an underbalanced drilling operation using carbon dioxide has been developed in this research. The use of carbon dioxide in an underbalanced drilling operation eliminates some of the operational difficulties that arises with gaseous drilling fluids, such as generating enough torque to run a downhole motor. The unique properties of CO₂, both inside the drill pipe and in the annulus are shown in terms of optimizing the drilling operation by achieving a low bottomhole pressure window. Typically CO₂ becomes supercritical inside the drill pipe at this high density; it will generate enough torque to run …

Oil Bypassing By Water Invasion To Wells: Mechanisms And Remediation, Juan Carlos Hernandez

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study addresses oil bypassing caused by water invasion to wells in edge and bottom water-drive oil reservoirs – a significant problem worldwide. It is shown that the amount of by-passed (not recovered) oil is significant and could be predicted analytically and reduced by modifying well’s completion. A large statistical sample from the population of possible reservoir-well systems with edge and bottom-water has been created theoretically using several databases of actual reservoirs properties worldwide. Dimensional analysis allowed converting reservoir properties distributions into dimensionless group distributions. Then, the amount of by-passed oil was correlated with the dimensionless groups using designed experiments …

Feasibility Of Supercritical Carbon Dioxide As A Drilling Fluid For Deep Underbalanced Drilling Operations, Anamika Gupta

LSU Master's Theses

Feasibility of drilling with supercritical carbon dioxide to serve the needs of deep underbalanced drilling operations has been analyzed. A case study involving underbalanced drilling to access a depleted gas reservoir is used to illustrate the need for such a research. For this well, nitrogen was initially considered as the drilling fluid. Dry nitrogen, due to its low density, was unable to generate sufficient torque in the downhole motor. The mixture of nitrogen and water, stabilized as foam generated sufficient torque but made it difficult to maintain underbalanced conditions. This diminished the intended benefit of using nitrogen as the drilling …

Hydrate Dissociation During Drilling Through In-Situ Hydrate Formations, Erdem Catak

LSU Master's Theses

Natural gas hydrates are thought to be the future hydrocarbon source of the energy hungry world. Tremendous amount of research has been done to investigate the feasibility of gas production from the hydrate formations. In this direction, three basic production methods, thermal stimulation, depressurization and thermodynamic inhibitor injection have been proposed to produce hydrocarbons off the hydrates. On the other hand, they present high potential risk of drilling hazards, such as severe gasification of drilling fluid, casing collapse due to increase in pressure after dissociation of hydrate zone, and instability of ocean floor, which may cause a platform failure. Scientists …

Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds In Wood Soot Extracts From Henan, China, Robyn Joy Cabrido Alcanzare

LSU Master's Theses

Polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAC) are organic compounds composed of two or more fused benzene rings. These compounds are ubiquitous in the environment and some are found to be mutagenic and carcinogenic. High rates of esophageal cancer in the Henan Province of China had led to the suspicion that PAC from domestic coal and wood combustion are the main cause. Extraction of PAC from wood soot was done with a Soxhlet apparatus using dichloromethane as the solvent and concentration of the solution using a Kuderna Danish apparatus. Analysis of the different PAC was performed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with …

Demonstration And Performance Characterization Of The Gas Assisted Gravity Drainage (Gagd) Process Using A Visual Method, Thaer N.N. Mahmoud

LSU Master's Theses

The Gas Assisted Gravity Drainage (GAGD) process, currently being developed at LSU, is designed to take advantage of gravity to allow vertical segregation between the injected gas and reservoir crud oil due to their density differences. GAGD is recommended for use with CO2 gas. CO2 dissolves in oil and causes both swelling and viscosity reduction of oil. The GAGD process uses the existing vertical wells for CO2 gas injection, and a horizontal well near the bottom of the payzone for oil production. GAGD, as an EOR process, is not restricted to tertiary oil recovery only. In this research study, a …