Chemical Engineering Commons^™

Design And Analysis Of A Process To Convert Methanol Into Dimethyl Ether, Elisa M. White

Honors Theses

A recent economic downturn led to the loss of a contract for a company that sells methanol. The company has two options to recover some of the profit lost from the contract termination. One option is to sell the excess methanol at the spot market price, and the second option is to implement a process to convert the excess methanol into dimethyl ether. This project investigated the implementation of a process to convert the methanol from the lost contract into dimethyl ether. The process was simulated in AVEVA Process Simulation to estimate the size of equipment needed. A toller provided …

Design Of An Undergraduate Laboratory Experiment Utilizing A Stirred-Tank, Jacketed Bioreactor, Brennen Middleton

Honors Theses

Bioreactors are utilized in many industries, such as the food, alternative fuel, and pharmaceutical industries, to design and manufacture products. Unlike the similar chemical batch reactors utilized in many chemical processing facilities, bioreactor utilization requires engineers to consider a wider range of operating conditions and parameters. This results in a more complex reaction system and controls network. Due to this, it is imperative for chemical and biomedical engineering students to not only understand the theory surrounding these reactor systems, but also understand how to properly design and perform operating procedures with these systems. Thus, it was determined to create an …

Aveva Competition 2021: Dimethyl Ether Production Process, Nicholas Gaouette

Honors Theses

The following study was conducted to assess the economic and process feasibility of a dimethyl ether (DME) production process. A portion of the methanol produced by an existing facility would be used to produce DME through a dehydration reaction. DME production is being considered as a means to compensate for lost methanol revenue, as methanol prices have recently decreased and an excess supply is present on the open market.

The first milestone in the study was the construction of a working process model within AVEVA Process Simulation. This steady-state process model would provide information essential to further design and optimization …

Process Design And Optimization Of A Once-Through Dimethyl Ether Process Using Aveva Process Simulation, Jerrod Scott

Honors Theses

The primary purpose of the project on which I wrote this thesis was to design an optimize a once-through dimethyl ether process utilizing a software called AVEVA Process Simulation. The process was initially modeled and optimized to minimize the EAOC of the distillation column. The result of that effort was an optimized column with six stages with the feed entering the column at stage six. It had a height of 3 m, diameter of 0.44 m, and an EAOC of $65,100. This optimized solution was submitted to a Toller. The Toller provided available equipment to model the plant. From here, …

Design, Analysis, And Optimization Of A Process To Produce Dimethyl Ether From Methanol, Thomas Mathwig

Honors Theses

The company that the engineering team works for is facing a contract loss with one of its customers of methanol. To avoid economic losses, a process has been proposed for converting the unused methanol to dimethyl ether (DME) through a dehydration reaction. After a preliminary simulation of the base case and optimization of the distillation column, an Equivalent Annual Operating Cost (EAOC) of $140,000 was calculated for the column. The EAOC was the sum of the annualized capital investment and the annual operating cost. Determining the process to be worth pursuing, a Toller was brought in to provide rental equipment …

Influence Of Bulk And Surface Interactions From Thick, Porous, Soil-Based Substrates On The Spreading Behavior Of Different Viscosity Oils, Firoz Ahmed, Brenda Hutton-Prager

Faculty and Student Publications

Crude oils and motor oils are commonly identified in oil spills on land. Controlling and understanding their flow both across and into land is of paramount importance to minimize spread and subsequent damage to the ecosystem. Spreading kinetics and surface energy studies were conducted with these oils over several realistic soil-based matrixes, consisting of topsoil (silt-dominant), sand, clay, and moisture. Spreading area through a 1.3 cm deep matrix was reduced with increased moisture content, densely packed matrixes, and higher viscosity oils. Initial contact angle (CA) measurements for all oils was typically lower on clay matrixes due to its sheet-like structure …

“Greener” Chemical Modification Of Cellulose Nanocrystals Via Oxa-Michael Addition With N-Benzylmaleimide, Mohammad Jahid Hasan, Ashley E. Johnson, Esteban E. Ureña-Benavides

Faculty and Student Publications

Surface modification of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) was conducted by an oxa-Michael addition of primary hydroxyl groups on the CNC surface with N-Benzylmaleimide (BnM). Six principles of green chemistry were used to obtain the hydrophobized CNC. Two catalytic approaches were used, a self-catalyzed reaction where alkyl sulfuric acid on the surface of the CNC was the catalyst, and a base-catalyzed approach using triethylamine (TEA). DMSO was chosen as reaction solvent due to its low cost, low toxicity and ability to disperse native CNC compared to other polar diprotic solvents. NMR and FTIR studies confirmed the successful modification of CNCs in both …

Surface And Interfacial Phenomena Between Soil And Oil, Md Firoz Ahmed

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Crude oil and motor oil spills on land have severe environmental consequences that pose threats to both humans and natural resources. It is particularly important to know the flow behavior of oils to protect terrestrial ecosystems from this kind of damage. The spreading kinetics, contact angle (CA), and droplet baseline studies of crude oil and motor oils were investigated over several realistic soil-based matrices composed of topsoil (silt-dominant), sand, clay, and moisture. It was found that with an increase in moisture content (MC), the spreading area decreased, and initial spreading time increased for all given oil. The initial CA generally …

Solubility Measurements Of Hydrophobic Solutes In Supercritical Carbon Dioxide And Subsequent Impregnation Into Paper Substrates For Surface Modifications, Arghavan Beheshtimaal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Supercritical Fluids (SCFs) have received a great deal of attention for their various applications in chemical, biochemical, pharmaceutical, and materials processing. In this study, we investigate surface modification to paper substrates using supercritical impregnation (SCI) techniques, with applications in food packaging. One of the key factors required for this study is understanding the solubility of hydrophobic solutes in supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2). Polar compounds are poorly soluble in scCO2 due to their lack of polarity and frequently co-solvents are also introduced to enhance solubility. In this study, the maximum solubility of alkyl ketene dimer (AKD)/n-heptane and vegetable wax (VW)/n-heptane solutions …

Enzyme-Initiated Admicellar Polymerization, Elaheh Shakeri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Admicellar polymerization was developed in the 1980s as an economical method for modifying various surfaces. In admicellar polymerization, a low monomer to initiator (M/I) ratio was traditionally required to overcome this limitation and achieve high polymer conversion when oxygen was present in the headspace and dissolved in the reaction medium. To develop an environmentally friendly, cost-efficient, and feasible deoxygenation and initiation technique, we studied the use of glucose oxidase (GOx) in admicellar polymerization. In this method, GOx acts as the catalyst in the oxidation of ?-D-glucose, while consuming oxygen and generating hydrogen peroxide and D-glucono-?-lactone. There are many advantages of …

Wetting-Driven Formation Of Present-Day Loess Structure, Yanrong Li, Weiwei Zhang, Shengdi He, Adnan Aydin

Faculty and Student Publications

© 2020 The Authors Present-day loess, especially Malan loess formed in Later Quaternary, has a characteristic structure composed of vertically aligned strong units and weak segments. Hypotheses describing how this structure forms inside original loess deposits commonly relate it to wetting-drying process. We tested this causal relationship by conducting unique experiments on synthetic samples of initial loess deposits fabricated by free-fall of loess particles. These samples were subjected to a wetting-drying cycle, and their structural evolutions were documented by close-up photography and CT scanning. Analysis of these records revealed three key stages of structural evolution: initiation (evenly distributed cracks appear …

A Mathematical Framework For Estimating Risk Of Airborne Transmission Of Covid-19 With Application To Face Mask Use And Social Distancing, Rajat Mittal, Charles Meneveau, Wen Wu

Faculty and Student Publications

© 2020 Author(s). A mathematical model for estimating the risk of airborne transmission of a respiratory infection such as COVID-19 is presented. The model employs basic concepts from fluid dynamics and incorporates the known scope of factors involved in the airborne transmission of such diseases. Simplicity in the mathematical form of the model is by design so that it can serve not only as a common basis for scientific inquiry across disciplinary boundaries but it can also be understandable by a broad audience outside science and academia. The caveats and limitations of the model are discussed in detail. The model …

Comparative Analysis Of Simulation Models Of The Production Of Ethylbenzene, Osariemen Imafidon

Honors Theses

Process Engineering is all about making sure a raw material can become the desired product with as little variation as possible, while achieving the customer's specifications. Many equipment used for chemical processes cannot be physically inspected during operation at steady state, hence, the need for simulation software. The objective of this study was to compare the results of three different simulation packages to evaluate their efficacy within process design.

This study focused on the economic analysis of the production of Ethylbenzene using various models. The base case variables were inputted into each model to simulate the calculations for a fully …

Ultrasound-Assisted Post-Pyrolysis Magnetization Of Microporous Biochar For Effective Removal Of Heavy Metals, Ronish Shrestha

Honors Theses

Low cost and efficient adsorption of heavy metals from wastewater and thorough removal of adsorbent after water treatment have become the two essential needs for the commercial use of any adsorbent. Biochar (BC), the solid byproduct of pyrolysis with microporous carbonaceous structure, has been increasingly recognized as an efficient adsorbent for a vast number of pollutants. Magnetization, though eases the separation and reuse of BC, significantly reduces its adsorption capacity to a comparatively much higher extent. In this study, a hybrid post-pyrolysis magnetization was developed which sustained and even significantly increased the adsorption capacity of biochar. The process included i) …

Comparative Analysis Of The Results From The Ideal Gas Assumptions With More Rigorous Calculations From Pro/Ii Of The Production Of Pharmaceutical Grade Acetone, Soibifaa Frank-Briggs

Honors Theses

The Chemical engineering team was assigned by Landshark Inc to investigate the production of 30,000 tonnes/yr of pharmaceutical-grade acetone with a purity of 99.9 wt.% from the dehydrogenation of isopropanol (IPA). The team was tasked with determining the necessary process and unit operation criteria to ensure the economic feasibility of the proposed plant.

The major goal of this thesis is to provide a data comparison of the reactor in acetone production process when designed in Microsoft Excel and Pro/II. The first part of this thesis will introduce the base case briefly, transition into engineering optimizations and show the results found …

Load-Balancing Rendezvous Approach For Mobility-Enabled Adaptive Energy-Efficient Data Collection In Wsns, Jian Zhang, Jian Tang, Zhonghui Wang, Feng Wang, Gang Yu

Faculty and Student Publications

Copyright © 2020 KSII The tradeoff between energy conservation and traffic balancing is a dilemma problem in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). By analyzing the intrinsic relationship between cluster properties and long distance transmission energy consumption, we characterize three node sets of the cluster as a theoretical foundation to enhance high performance of WSNs, and propose optimal solutions by introducing rendezvous and Mobile Elements (MEs) to optimize energy consumption for prolonging the lifetime of WSNs. First, we exploit an approximate method based on the transmission distance from the different node to an ME to select suboptimal Rendezvous Point (RP) on the …

Revisiting Lightweight Encryption For Iot Applications: Error Performance And Throughput In Wireless Fading Channels With And Without Coding, Yazid M. Khattabi, Mustafa M. Matalgah, Mohammed M. Olama

Faculty and Student Publications

© 2013 IEEE. Employing heavy conventional encryption algorithms in communications suffers from added overhead and processing time delay; and in wireless communications, in particular, suffers from severe performance deterioration (avalanche effect) due to fading. Consequently, a tremendous reduction in data throughput and increase in complexity and time delay may occur especially when information traverse resource-limited devices as in Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications. To overcome these drawbacks, efficient lightweight encryption algorithms have been recently proposed in literature. One of those, that is of particular interest, requires using conventional encryption only for the first block of data in a given frame being transmitted. …

Cooperative Relay Selection For Load Balancing With Mobility In Hierarchical Wsns: A Multi-Armed Bandit Approach, Jian Zhang, Jian Tang, Feng Wang

Faculty and Student Publications

© 2013 IEEE. Energy efficiency is the major concern in hierarchical wireless sensor networks(WSNs), where the major energy consumption originates from radios for communication. Due to notable energy expenditure of long-range transmission for cluster members and data aggregation for Cluster Head (CH), saving and balancing energy consumption is a tricky challenge in WSNs. In this paper, we design a CH selection mechanism with a mobile sink (MS) while proposing relay selection algorithms with multi-user multi-armed bandit (UM-MAB) to solve the problem of energy efficiency. According to the definition of node density and residual energy, we propose a conception referred to …

Timcc: On Data Freshness In Privacy-Preserving Incentive Mechanism Design For Continuous Crowdsensing Using Reverse Auction, Xiaoqiang Ma, Weiwei Deng, Feng Wang, Menglan Hu, Fei Chen, Mohammad Mehedi Hassan

Faculty and Student Publications

© 2013 IEEE. As an emerging paradigm that leverages the wisdom and efforts of the crowd, mobile crowdsensing has shown its great potential to collect distributed data. The crowd may incur such costs and risks as energy consumption, memory consumption, and privacy leakage when performing various tasks, so they may not be willing to participate in crowdsensing tasks unless they are well-paid. Hence, a proper privacy-preserving incentive mechanism is of great significance to motivate users to join, which has attracted a lot of research efforts. Most of the existing works regard tasks as one-shot tasks, which may not work very …

Equivalent Annual Operating Cost Of Reactors In A Discrete Optimized Styrene Process, S Arizona Morgan-Harris

Honors Theses

Beginning in the fall semester, I was a member of a team that simulated and optimized a styrene production process in Microsoft Excel. After the base case was simulated, parametric and topological optimizations were completed. The optimizations had to be completed in a certain order that starts with the reactor section, then move to the separation section, heat recovery section, heating/cooling utilities section, and ends with the water and effluent treatment section. During this project, the first three sections were explored. Optimizing the base case was completed by making these changes to see how they increased the net present value …

How Moisture Content Levels And Packing Density In Soil Affect Crude Oil Spreads, Shaylin N. Williams

Venture: The University of Mississippi Undergraduate Research Journal

Crude oil spills are one of the most destructive disasters that can occur, and they are extremely difficult to recover from. Many studies focus on what can be done to clean these crude oil spills, but more research should be focused on means of prevention. Currently, very little is known about how the moisture content levels and the packing efficiency of soil can affect an oil spill. These two factors alone can offer a variety of information to environmental agencies, manufacturers, and refineries. Through utilization of a chemical engineering lab, a recording mechanism, and ImagePro software, data was collected and …

Investigation Of Fouling Mechanisms On Ion Exchange Membranes During Electrolytic Separations, Matthew James Edwards

Honors Theses

The global water crisis is a major problem in our developing world due to the increasing growth of our global population, the depletion of natural water resources, and the continuing contamination of existing water resources as a result of industrialization. Membrane separation is a potential solution for these issues. Electrodialysis (ED) is a separation process which employs membranes to separate inorganic and organic substances. This study investigated how different fouling agents influenced membrane surface characteristic and separation efficiency within an electrodialysis system. While applicable for waste water, this study focuses on model salt water solutions with various fouling agents added …

Urea Functionalization Of Ultrasound-Treated Biochar: A Feasible Strategy For Enhancing Heavy Metal Adsorption Capacity, Baharak Sajjadi, James William Broome, Wei Yin Chen, Daniell L. Mattern, Nosa O. Egiebor, Nathan Hammer, Cameron L. Smith

Faculty and Student Publications

© 2018 Elsevier B.V. The main objective of a series of our researches is to develop a novel acoustic-based method for activation of biochar. This study investigates the capability of biochar in adsorbing Ni(II) as a hazardous contaminant and aims at enhancing its adsorption capacity by the addition of extra nitrogen and most probably phosphorous and oxygen containing sites using an ultrasono-chemical modification mechanism. To reach this objective, biochar physically modified by low-frequency ultrasound waves (USB) was chemically treated by phosphoric acid (H3PO4) and then functionalized by urea (CO(NH2)2). Cavitation induced by ultrasound waves exfoliates and breaks apart the regular …

Discrete Optimization Of A Styrene Production Process, Seth Gray

Honors Theses

This thesis will outline the two phases of my capstone design project for Chemical Engineering. The first goal was to simulate a styrene production process in Excel alongside my group members in ChE 451. During this phase, we looked at startup of the process and the first 12 years of operation. After the base case which included an isothermal reactor, the decision was made to switch to an adiabatic reactor based on net present value evaluations. Discrete optimization took place on the adiabatic reactor and the subsequent process. The second phase of my capstone project was the portion assigned to …

Ionic Liquid-Based Composite Thin-Films For Selective Ion Separations In Electrodialysis, Saloumeh Kolahchyan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The onset of climate change and rising global population has caused greater water scarcity, a considerable problem which threatens our world. The demand for fresh water is pushing a fast development of water purification technologies. Among these technologies, membrane-based water desalination processes are playing an interesting role in both academia and industry. Electrodialysis (ED) is an electro-membrane separation process aimed at water treatment through ion removal, which is achieved through the selective control and transport of ionic species. ED is a popular water treatment method; however, it is limited by membrane scaling, lack of ion selectivity, and high energy consumption …

Hydrophobization Of Cellulose-Based Fibers For Packaging Applications With Alkyl Ketene Dimers (Akd) And Food-Grade Waxes Via Supercritical Impregnation With Carbon Dioxide – Experimental And Thermodynamic Modeling Approaches, Kolawole Adenekan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This modified material has applications in food packaging, where frequently water-repellant surfaces are required. This method is preferable to traditional coating methods because it sizes across the entire thickness of the substrate rather than just the surface and can be used for non-planar surfaces; uses significantly less material than traditional methods and will be an excellent technique for multilayered and intelligent coating.

Cellulose Nanocrystals As 'Green' Emulsifiers Stabilized Crude Oil In Water Emulsions, Omayma Alazzam

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the ability of CNC to stabilize crude o/w Pickering emulsions. The effects of concentration of CNC, ionic strength of the aqueous phase, volume fraction of crude oil to water, and the presence of divalent ions on the stability of crude o/w emulsions were examined. Emulsions stabilized with different concentrations of CNC vary from 0.1 to 1.0wt% were prepared and examined by visual assessment for creaming analysis and microscopic pictures to analyze droplet size and size distribution. Low concentration of CNC as 0.1wt% didn’t help with forming stable emulsions. As the concentration of CNC stabilized the emulsions increased, …

Studies Related To Chemical Changes In Biochar. I. Polyacrylonitrile Internal Standard To Assess Chemical Changes In Graphene Oxide. Ii. Ultrasonic Effects On Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons As Models For Biochar, Kaci B. Crawford

Honors Theses

Biochar has become an increasing area of research due to its reactive edges from stacks of graphene clusters. One particular area of interest in biochar is because it is a potent soil amendment which reduces soil acidity and can reduce greenhouse gas emissions from plants. Also, chemically-modified biochar is being studied as a carbon storage method to potentially mitigate climate change. In order to understand the chemistry that takes place on biochar’s reactive edges during modification, a standard is essential. This research attempted to identify an internal standard that could be added to biochar samples to quantify chemical changes by …

Magnetic Amphiphiles And Their Potential Applications For Low Energy Separations Processes, Alexander Fortenberry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Predicting the behavior of magnetic surfactants in magnetic fields is critical for designing magnetically driven processes such as chemical separations or the tuning of surface tensions. Our work supports the hypothesis that the ability of magnetic fields to alter the interfacial properties of magnetic surfactant solutions depends on the strength of association between the magnetic and surfactant moieties of the surfactant molecules. Our research shows that the stability of a magnetic surfactant in an aqueous environment is dependent upon the type of complex that contains the paramagnetic element and these findings provide valuable insight for the design of magnetic surfactants …

Optimization And Cost Comparison Of Reactor Types In A Styrene Production Process, Claire Lenore Cozadd

Honors Theses

The focus of this thesis is to use the equivalent annual operating costs of isothermal, adiabatic, and packed bed reactors in order to determine which reactor is most cost effective in a styrene production process. In order to understand the steps leading up to this comparison, background information is first given regarding chemical engineering design, optimization, and process simulation. This information was necessary for completing the ChE 451 design project, which was to analyze the base case styrene process before optimizing it, in fall 2018. The results of this project are briefly outlined in the second section. The third section …