Chemical Engineering Commons^™

History Of Petroleum Engineering At Montana Tech, Leo Heath, Debbie Todd

Petroleum Engineering

In January, 2010, the Petroleum Engineering department at Montana Tech moved into a new building, the Natural Resources Building, to start a new chapter in the history of the program on campus. Occupying a new building is a positive event, and it coincides with a surge of student enrollment which is prompted by industry needs and world energy demand. This time of new facilities and growing student numbers leads to the question of what the future has in store for the department. It also leads to reflection about where the department has been in the past. This history is a …

Analysis Of Conjugated Polymer Nanotubules Formed By Template Wetting Nanofabrication, Steven D. Bearden Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations

Semiconducting and optoelectric conjugated polymers have potential in micro and nano-electronic applications. Their widely tunable physical conformations and orientations make these polymers ideal material for engineering small scale devices. The polymers have been incorporated into several electronic devices including light-emitting diodes, solar cells, and field-effect transistors. Widespread adoption of these materials will not be a reality until the issues of poor device performance, short lifespans, and device degradation are resolved.

Nanostructures have been demonstrated to have improvements in molecular ordering and electronic transport. In the work presented here, tubular nanostructures of conjugated polymers fabricated by the template wetting nanofabrication process …

Ontology-Based Automatic Classification For News Articles In Indonesian Language, Prajna Wira Basnur, Dana Indra Sensuse

Makara Journal of Technology

Ontology-Based Automatic Classification for News Articles in Indonesian Language. Searching specific information will be difficult if relying only on query. Choosing less specific queries will result in a lot of irrelevant information fetched by the system. One of the most successful ways to overcome this problem is to perform document classification based on the topic. There are many methods that can be used to conduct such a classification, such as using statistical and machine learning approaches. However, those document classification methods require training the data or learning the documents. In this study, the authors attempted to classify documents using a …

Preparation Of Styrene Acrylic Copolymer Toner Resin By Solution Polymerization., Neo Su Siang

Student Works (2010-2019)

This project has investigated solution polymerization to produce toner resins. There are three stages: (i) synthesis of low molecular weight styrene acrylic copolymer; (ii) synthesis of high molecular weight styrene acrylic copolymer; (iii) mixing high and low molecular weight copolymers. Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC) was used to study molecular weight distributions, Melt Flow Index (MFI) Instrument to study the flowability of resin, Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) to study the thermal properties of resin, and acid number to quantitate the amount of acidic group in the resin. A comparison of properties between the experimental samples, patent’s claims, and commercial resins had …

Energy Constrained Dominating Set For Clustering In Wireless Sensor Networks, Julia Albath, Mayur Thakur, Sanjay Kumar Madria

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Using partitioning in wireless sensor networks to create clusters for routing, data management, and other protocols has been proven as a way to ensure scalability and to deal with sensor network shortcomings such as limited communication ranges and energy. Choosing a cluster head within each cluster is important because cluster heads use additional energy for their responsibilities and that burden needs to be carefully passed around. Many existing protocols either choose cluster heads randomly or use nodes with the highest remaining energy. We introduce the energy constrained minimum dominating set (ECDS) to model the problem of optimally choosing cluster heads …

A Simple Technique For Surface Area Determination Through Supercritical Co2 Adsorption, Mahmud Sudibandriyo

Makara Journal of Technology

The measurement of specific surface area of porous materials has long been important in physical sciences and is currently growing in importance in applied and environmental science. Numerous systems have been developed for surface area measurement by gas adsorption. Commercial systems are available which can measure a wide range of absolute surface area with relative ease. However, their cost is often prohibitive. In this study, an inexpensive apparatus for surface area measurement has been set up to be used for measuring supercritical adsorption of CO2. The Ono-Kondo Lattice model was used to represent the adsorption isotherm and to determine the …

Fishing Catch And Catch Rate Assesment Of Mini Trawl, Trapnet And Setnet Fisheries, Muhammad Firdaus

Makara Journal of Technology

Fishing Catch and Catch Rate Assesment of Mini Trawl, Trapnet and Setnet Fisheries. This paper is aimed at assessing fishing catch and catch rate of the dragged gear on shrimp, trapnet, and setnet fisheries in Tarakan. The catch and effort data (number and species) and the fishing time of captured units were used in this qualitative analysis of fishing catch and catch rate to describe catch composition and catch rate from three catch fishery units in Tarakan. The result of the research shows that in the catching operation the dragged gear on shrimp has two main catch targets, which are …

Particle Filter With Binary Gaussian Weighting And Support Vector Machine For Human Pose Interpretation, Indah Agustien, Muhammad Rahmat Widyanto, Sukmawati Nur Endah, Tarzan Basaruddin

Makara Journal of Technology

This paper proposes human pose interpretation using particle filter (PF) with Binary Gaussian Weighting and support vector machine (SVM). In the proposed system, particle filter is used to track a human object, then this human object is skeletonized using thinning algorithm and classified using SVM. The classification is to identify human pose, whether it is normal or abnormal behavior. Here particle filter is modified through weight calculation using Gaussian distribution to reduce the computational time. The modified particle filter consists of four main phases. First, particles are generated to predict target’s location. Second, the weight of certain particles is calculated …

Maintenance Activity Planning By Reability Centered Maintenance Ii Method, Rachmad Hidayat, Nachnul Ansori, Ali Imron

Makara Journal of Technology

Maintenance Activity Planning by Reability Centered Maintenance II Method. This research discusses maintenance activity planning using the RCM II method to evaluate failure function risk on compresor screw. The calculation of maintenance time is performed by considering maintenance and repair costs. The risk evaluation result with RPN shows that the critical component that needs to get the main priority in applying maintenance on compresor screw is function disorder on timeworn piston and on the broken outgoing air sponge’s filter that receives RPN 45. The optimum maintenance time calculation is applied on components that undergo scheduled restoration and scheduled discard task …

Software Design Of Mobile Antenna For Auto Satellite Tracking Using Modem Correction And Elevation Azimuth Method, Djamhari Sirat, Muhamad Asvial, Arman Djohan Diponegoro, Himawan Sidharta

Makara Journal of Technology

Software Design of Mobile Antenna for Auto Satellite Tracking Using Modem Correction and Elevation Azimuth Method. Pointing accuracy is important in satellite communication. Because the satellite’s distance to the surface of the earth's satellite is so huge, 1 degree of pointing error will make the antenna unable to send data to satellites. To overcome this, the auto-tracking satellite controller is made. This system uses a microcontroller as the controller, with the GPS as the location indicator of the antenna, a digital compass as the beginning of antenna pointing direction, a rotary encoder as azimuth and elevation censor, and a modem …

Petroleum Degradation In Soil By Thermophilic Bacteria With Biopile Reactor, Astri Nugroho, Edison Effendi, Yulius Karonta

Makara Journal of Technology

Crude oil degradation has been carried out using biopile reactor in total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) concentration of 5%, 10% and 15%. The thermophilic microorganisms used from isolation result and identification are Aeromonas salmonicida, Bacillus pantothenticus, and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia. The biodegradation of biopile reactor is done by various concentrations of TPH, total plate count (TPC), and volatile suspended solid (VSS) per day for 30 days. The biodegradation of kinetic parameter calculated consists of μ, μm, Y, Yt, Yobs, Kd, Ks from TPH concentration decision, and TPC and VSS in every microorganism with t (observation time) of 0 hour to 168 hours. …

Ergonomic Analysis Of Ui’S Bicyclesusing Posture Evaluation Index (Pei) Method In Virtual Environment, Erlinda Muslim, Boy Nurtjahyo, Zulkarnain Zulkarnain, Liza Afrinotha

Makara Journal of Technology

Ergonomic Analysis of UI’s Bicycles Using Posture Evaluation Index (PEI) Method in Virtual Environment. This research was conducted to study the ergonomic aspect of University of Indonesia’s bicycles in virtual environment. Software Jack 6.0 was used to analyze it. PEI was used as an approach that integrated the results of three methods: lower back analysis (LBA), ovako working posture analysis (OWAS), and rapid upper limb assessment (RULA). The research objective is to evaluate the existing design of University of Indonesia’s bicycles and to determine the most ergonomic redesign which concerns handlebar height and saddle height modification. The result showed that …

Mechanical Properties Of Hydroxyapatite-Zirconia Compacts Sintered By Two Different Sintering Methods, Declan J. Curran, Thomas J. Fleming, Mark R. Towler, Stuart Hampshire

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Microwave sintering is traditionally employed to reduce the sintering temperature required to densify powder compacts. The effect of microwave heating on hydroxyapatite (HA)-zirconia (ZrO₂) green bodies has been investigated in order to understand how microwave energy may affect the physical and mechanical properties of the resultant densified composites. Laboratory synthesised nano-sized HA and a commercial nano-sized ZrO₂ powder have been ball milled to create mixtures containing 0-5 wt% ZrO₂ loadings. Compacts were microwave sintered at either 700, 1000 or 1200°C with a 1 h hold time. Comparative firings were also performed in a resistive element furnace …

Morphological Evolution Of Single-Crystal Ultrathin Solid Films, Mikhail Khenner

Mathematics Faculty Publications

An introduction to mathematical modeling of ultrathin solid films and the role of such modeling in nanotechnologies: Educational presentation for senior physics majors

Morphological Evolution Of Single-Crystal Ultrathin Solid Films, Mikhail Khenner

Mathematics Faculty Publications

An introduction to mathematical modeling of ultrathin solid films and the role of such modeling in nanotechnologies: Educational/Research presentation for senior physics majors

Preliminary Results Of Combining Low Frequency Low Intensity Ultrasound And Liposomal Drug Delivery To Treat Tumors In Rats, William G. Pitt, Ghaleb A. Husseini, Beverly L. Roeder, David Dickinson, David Warden, Jonathan Hartley, Peter Jones

Faculty Publications

Ultrasound is a convenient trigger for site-specific drug delivery in cancer therapy. Nanosized liposomes formulated from soy phosphatidyl choline, cholesterol, 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero3-phosphoethanolamine-N-[carboxy(polyethylene glycol)-2000] and alpha-tocopherol were loaded with Doxorubicin (Dox)using a pH gradient. The liposomal suspension was infused through the tail vein of BDIX rats possessing bilateral intradermal DHD/K12 tumors on their hind legs. Then 20-kHz ultrasound was applied to only one of the tumors for 15 minutes. This therapy was repeated weekly for 4 weeks. The results showed that in five of sixrats, the tumors regressed to non-measurable size within 4 weeks. A paired comparison of the normalized size of …

Syngas Fermentation: Quantification Of Assay Techniques, Reaction Kinetics, And Pressure Dependencies Of The Clostridial P11 Hydrogenase, Bradley E. Skidmore

Theses and Dissertations

Ethanol usage as a transportation fuel is rapidly increasing in the United States. Production of ethanol from cellulose feedstocks via gasification followed by syngas fermentation offers an environmentally friendly approach that mitigates many of the adverse effects associated with production from corn. In the syngas fermentation process, the hydrogenase enzyme of the fermentation bacterium, Clostridium P11 for this work, supplies electrons to the metabolic pathway, facilitating ethanol production. In this thesis, an assay for P11 hydrogenase activity was developed. It was determined that 1) less than 4 minutes of sparging with 50 sccm H2 is needed to reduce O2 levels …

Nitrogen And Phosphorus Biomass-Kinetic Model For Chlorella Vulgaris In A Biofuel Production Scheme, William M. Rowley

Theses and Dissertations

Chlorella vulgaris was cultured in microbioreactors using Bold’s Basal medium at varying nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations to define nitrogen and phosphorus utilization standards. Nutrient concentration was varied between 137 mg/L to 7.33 mg/L NO3-N and between 55.2 mg/L to11.0 mg/L PO4-P in five test scenarios. All were grown under a constant photoperiod at 22±2 °C and a mixture of 4 to 10% carbon dioxide/air. Maximum yield and growth rate occurred with the highest initial nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations. A statistically significant difference in biomass was found among all test levels at the end of the eight day growth period. Applying …

Optimization Of Environmental Conditions To Maximize Carbon Dioxide Sequestration Through Algal Growth, Kenneth M. Karcher

Theses and Dissertations

The micro-alga Chlorella vulgaris was cultivated under a variety of environmental conditions in various culture media solutions to assess and optimize growth rate and biomass productivity. Efforts during this work investigated growth parameters at the micro-scale in an air-lift bubble system with the goal of interpreting performance characteristics that can be applied to a larger serpentine tubular Photo-bioreactor. Maximum growth rates and biomass yields were 0.65 d^-1 and 2.003 g biomass/L and achieved in seven days using urea in de-ionized water under a 24:0 Photoperiod (Light:Dark). Additionally, growth rates and biomass yields of 0.65 d^-1 and 1.964 g …

Lipids And Collagen Matrix Restrict The Hydraulic Permeability Within The Porous Compartment Of Adult Cortical Bone, Demin Wen, Caroline Androjna, Amit Vasanji, Joanne M. Belovich, Ronald J. Midura

Chemical & Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications

In vivo the hydraulic permeability of cortical bone influences the transport of nutrients, waste products and signaling molecules, thus influencing the metabolic functions of osteocytes and osteoblasts. In the current study two hypotheses were tested: the presence of (1) lipids and (2) collagen matrix in the porous compartment of cortical bone restricts its permeability. Our approach was to measure the radial permeability of adult canine cortical bone before and after extracting lipids with acetone-methanol, and before and after digesting collagen with bacterial collagenase. Our results showed that the permeability of adult canine cortical bone was below 4.0 × 10 …

The Synthesise Of Electron-Conducting Redox Hydrogel And Its Application In Microbial Fuel Cell, Kai-Peng Wang, Sheng-Li Chen

Journal of Electrochemistry

Efficient electron transfer between the microbe and the anode is key for the electricity generation in Microbial fuel cell(MFC).Through the modification of anode,the rate of electron transfer can be accelerated,therefore the performance of MFC can be enhanced.In this paper,we report the synthesis of a type of electronconducting and bio-compatible redox hydrogel and its application.The hydrogel consists of poly(4-vinylpyridine) as backbone and neutral red as the redox center.By immobiliazing neutral red on the backbone through covalent bond,the secondary contamination due to the soluble redox mediator to external environment can be prevented.MFCs using the hydrogel-modified carbon anode significantly exhibit shorter acclimation period,and …

Investigation Of Ceo2 As Cathode Electrocatalyst For Direct Borohydride Fuel Cell, Xue-Min Ni, Ya-Dong Wang, Mu Pan

Journal of Electrochemistry

The performance of CeO₂ as oxygen reduction electrocatalyst in direct borohydride fuel cell was investigated.The experimental results indicate that CeO₂ shows significant electrocatalytic performance for oxygen reduction and exhibits no observed promotion effect on hydrolysis or electro-oxidation of BH₄^-.The power density of experimental one-compartment fuel cell with CeO₂ as cathode electrocatalyst can reach a 67.8 mW·cm^-2 at room temperature.

Synthesis Of High-Performance Lini1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 Cathode Materials Via Azeotropic Distillation Method, Sheng-An Xia, Li-Xia Yuan, Ze Yang, Zhao-Hui Wang, Yun-Hui Huang, Shuang Li, Wu-Xing Zhang, Ya-Bin Meng, Wei-Gong Zheng

Journal of Electrochemistry

Layered LiNi_1/3Co_1/3Mn_1/3O₂ is one of the most promising alternative materials for LiCoO₂ in lithium ion batteries due to its low cost,large capacity and excellent cyclability.In this paper,LiNi_1/3Co_1/3Mn_1/3O₂ was synthesized via azeotropic distillation method with isobutyl alcohol as an azeotropic agent.The structure and surface morphology were characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD) and scanning electron microscope(SEM),respectively.The as-prepared LiNi_1/3Co_1/3Mn_1/3O₂ shows a layered α-NaFeO₂ structure;the particles are small and uniformly distributed.As compared with the sample prepared by traditional method,the present cathode material …

Fabrication And Characterization Of The Ni-Scsz Composite Anodes With A Lscm-Ceo2 Catalyst Layer In Thin Film Sofc, Yun-Yun Wang, Bo Huang, Xin-Jian Zhu, Wan-Qi Hu, Qing-Chun Yu

Journal of Electrochemistry

Solid oxide full cell(SOFC) running directly on hydrocarbon fuels has attracted much attention in recent years. In this paper, a dual-layer structure anode was fabricated by tape casting and screen printing method. The addition of a LSCM-CeO₂ catalyst layer to the supported anode surface yielded better performance in ethanol fuel. The maximum power density reached 710 and 669 mW/cm² at 850 ℃ running on hydrogen gas steam and ethanol steam,respectively. No significant degradation in performance has been observed after 216 h of cell testing when the Ni-ScSZ13 anode was exposed to the ethanol steam at 700 ℃. Very …

Electrosynthesis Of P-Aminobenzenearsenic Acid, Chun-An Ma, Qin-An Zheng, Qiang Zhou, Ying-Hua Xu

Journal of Electrochemistry

The electrochemical reduction of p-nitrophenyl arsonit acid to p-aminobenzenearsenic acid was studied using controlled-current electrolysis.The results showed that the yield of p-aminobenzenearsenic acid was determinated by the following factors:the concentrations of sulphuric acid,the amount of additive,temperature and the concentrations of p-nitrophenyl arsenic acid.The optimum electrolytic conditions were obtained to be is 10% H₂SO₄,1% NaCl,80 ℃,25 g/350 mL p-nitrophenyl arsenic acid and 10 A·dm^-2.The yield of arsanilic acid could be reached 64.7% under the optimum electrolytic conditions.

Electrocatalytic Reduction Of L-Cystine At Pb/Nanotio2 Film Electrode, Dao-Bao Chu, Feng Wang, Ying Xiao, Xue-Jiao Zhang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The nanoporous Ti-based TiO₂ films electrodes modified with Pb particles(Pb/nanoTiO₂) were prepared by using anodization and potentiostatic electro-deposition.The optimum deposition conditions were determined by comparing with various deposition potentials and time.The SEM analyses indicated that the TiO₂ films were homogeneous nanoporous structure,and the Pb particles well dispersed on the TiO₂ films.The L-cystine electrocatalytic activity reduction on the Pb/nanoTiO₂ film electrodes was investigated by cyclic voltammetry and Chronoamperometric curves.The results showed that this type of the electrode posseses high acticity and stability.

Extracellular Matrix Based Substrates For Propagation Of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells, Sheena Abraham

Theses and Dissertations

In human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) research and applications, the need for a culture system devoid of non-human components is crucial. Such a system should exhibit characteristics observed in conventional culture systems that have used mouse embryonic fibroblast feeders for hPSC self renewal without the requirement of excessive supplementation with growth factors. To achieve this, we focused on the identification and characterization of extracellular matrix (ECM) substrates for hPSC propagation. ECM substrates derived from mouse and human fibroblasts were assessed for their ability to support self-renewal of hPSCs. Characterization of hPSCs on ECM-based substrates demonstrated maintenance of pluripotent characteristics based …

Templated Growth Of Platinum Nanostructures, Robert Garcia

Chemical and Biological Engineering ETDs

Novel platinum nanostructures were synthesized by templating the growth of platinum on treated polymer surfaces and within disk-like aqueous bicellar assemblies. The growth mechanisms of all structures were examined in detail. Platinum hollow nanospheres with uniform shell thickness were prepared by the seeded growth of platinum on the surface of latex beads with an adsorbed porphyrin photocatalyst followed by core removal. Templating bicelles of a high yield were synthesized for the first time and verified by electron microscopy. Dendritic platinum nanowheels were obtained as a result of confined growth within the bicellar interior. Sintering experiments revealed an unusual stability of …

Surface Engineering Of Macrophages With Nanoparticles To Generate A Cell-Nanoparticle Hybrid Vehicle For Hypoxia-Targeted Drug Delivery, Christopher A. Holden, Quan Yuan, W. Andrew Yeudall, Deborah A. Lebman, Hu Yang

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Tumors frequently contain hypoxic regions that result from a shortage of oxygen due to poorly organized tumor vasculature. Cancer cells in these areas are resistant to radiation- and chemotherapy, limiting the treatment efficacy. Macrophages have inherent hypoxia-targeting ability and hold great advantages for targeted delivery of anticancer therapeutics to cancer cells in hypoxic areas. However, most anticancer drugs cannot be directly loaded into macrophages because of their toxicity. In this work, we designed a novel drug delivery vehicle by hybridizing macrophages with nanoparticles through cell surface modification. Nanoparticles immobilized on the cell surface provide numerous new sites for anticancer drug …

Characteristics Of Co₂ Sequestration In Saline Aquifers, Fang Yang, Baojun Bai, Dazhen Tang, Shari Dunn-Norman, David J. Wronkiewicz

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Storage of CO₂ in saline aquifers is a viable option for reducing the amount of CO₂ released to the atmosphere. This paper provides an overall review of CO₂ sequestration in saline aquifers. First, the principles of CO₂ sequestration are presented, including CO₂ phase behavior, CO₂-water-rock interaction, and CO₂ trapping mechanisms. Then storage capacity and CO₂ injectivity are discussed as the main determinants of the storage potential of saline aquifers. Next, a site section process is addressed considering basin characteristics, reservoir characteristics, and economic and social concerns. Three main procedures are then …