Chemical Engineering Commons^™

Quantification Of Factors Governing Drug Release Kinetics From Nanoparticles: A Combined Experimental And Mechanistic Modeling Approach, Kyle Daniel Fugit

Theses and Dissertations--Pharmacy

Advancements in nanoparticle drug delivery of anticancer agents require mathematical models capable of predicting in vivo formulation performance from in vitro characterization studies. Such models must identify and incorporate the physicochemical properties of the therapeutic agent and nanoparticle driving in vivo drug release. This work identifies these factors for two nanoparticle formulations of anticancer agents using an approach which develops mechanistic mathematical models in conjunction with experimental studies.

A non-sink ultrafiltration method was developed to monitor liposomal release kinetics of the anticancer agent topotecan. Mathematical modeling allowed simultaneous determination of drug permeability and interfacial binding to the bilayer from release …

Ultrasound Assisted Hydration Of Navy Beans (Phaseolus Vulgaris), N. Misra

Articles

The use of ultrasound to enhance the transport phenomena in food processes has been well recognised in recent times. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of sonication on hydration rate and pasting profile of navy beans. The hydration kinetics for control and ultrasound assisted soaking was mathematically described using mechanistic (Fickian diffusion) and empirical (Peleg’s equation, Weibull model and First Order equation) models. Ultrasound enhanced the rate of hydration which was evident from the plot of kinetic data and model parameters. The effective diffusivities for water transport without and with ultrasound application were estimated to be …

Sinking Of Hydrocarbon Mixtures Due To Evaporative And/Or Dissolution Weathering On The Surface And Submerged In Water, Christopher Clayton Stevens

LSU Master's Theses

The appearance of on-bottom oil following surface and deep water spills has been well documented. A very likely, yet sparingly studied, cause of this phenomenon is the evaporation and/or dissolution of the light constituents of the mixture, leaving a heavy residual fraction that may sink. A binary mixture of a light, volatile/soluble and a heavy, nonvolatile/insoluble component was used in numerous laboratory experiments, with binary and multi-component mixtures, to confirm this event is possible. A binary-component model was developed based on the law of conservation of mass for “oil” spilled on the surface to predict sinking time requirements based on …

Design Of A Multi-Agent System For Process Monitoring And Supervision, Onur Dogu

LSU Master's Theses

New process monitoring and control strategies are developing every day together with process automation strategies to satisfy the needs of diverse industries. New automation systems are being developed with more capabilities for safety and reliability issues. Fault detection and diagnosis, and process monitoring and supervision are some of the new and promising growth areas in process control. With the help of the development of powerful computer systems, the extensive amount of process data from all over the plant can be put to use in an efficient manner by storing and manipulation. With this development, data-driven process monitoring approaches had the …

Experimental Assessment Of Cement Integrity Under Thermal Cycle Loading Conditions In Geopressured Geothermal Reservoirs, Kolawole Saheed Bello

LSU Master's Theses

The number of well integrity issues increase as wells are exposed to severe downhole conditions and have longer lifetimes. Techniques for heat extraction from geopressured geothermal reservoirs involve production of hot water and injection of cold water which expose downhole materials to harsh cyclic temperature variations. Heating and cooling make the cement expand and contract as a result of thermal expansion. This volumetric change can influence cement sheaths causing them to fail. Failure of annular cement sheaths can introduce well integrity issues and subsequently lead to sustained casing pressure. This study measures the effect of cyclic thermal loading of cement …

G-Box Model For The Fate Of Emerging Contaminants In Soil, Eileen Cranfield

LSU Master's Theses

Pesticides applied to agriculture fields move and react into the soil system. The objective of this research was to develop a model that uses the natural soil processes (diffusion, advection, or reaction type processes in multiple phases) to track pesticides and other emerging contaminants (EMCONs) in the soil over space and time. The model separates the soil into a series of boxes with soil processes passing through and into the boxes. With a system of equations developed from these processes, the model produces a gradient concentration profile, hence the Gradient Box, or G-box Model. The model is first tested against …

Effects Of Drill-Pipe Whirling Motion On Cuttings Transport Performance For Horizontal Drilling, Yasin Demiralp

LSU Master's Theses

Dispersion, deposition, and suspension of particulate materials in the carrier fluid play a significant role in the oil industry. Increasing the cuttings transport performance in deviated wells is difficult due to the rolling/sliding transport, and cuttings settling on the low side of the annulus. Insufficient cuttings transport may lead to some crucial problems such as pipe sticking, increasing in torque and drag, material damage and bed cementing quality. Increasing flow rates and improving mud properties may not be applicable for a proper hole cleaning because of the hydraulic and mechanical limitations. In such cases, additional pressure may be generated, and …

Effect Of Forced Flow Oscillation On Churn And Annular Flow In Vertical Wellbores, Catalina Posada

LSU Master's Theses

Producing oil and gas from marginal hydrocarbon reservoirs and mature fields present particular challenges. One of the challenges for these types of fields is flow instability. Pipeline risers and artificial gas-lift systems experience instabilities, which cause significant reductions in production among others operational drawbacks. Different types of instabilities (static and dynamic) have been identified affecting those systems. However, there is still a lack of systematic investigations associated with the understanding of dynamic instabilities (periodic oscillations) and their impact in production systems. A systematic investigation of the effects of periodic forced oscillations on gas-liquid flows in a 42 m (140-ft) long, …

Plasma Processes And Polymers Special Issue On: Plasma And Cancer, Mounir Laroussi, Michael Keidar

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

During the last two decades, research efforts on the application of low temperature plasmas in biology and medicine have positioned nonequilibrium lowtemperature plasmas as a technology that has the potential of revolutionizing healthcare.[1,2] Low temperature plasmas can be applied in direct contact with living tissues to inactivate bacteria,[3] to disinfect wounds and accelerate wound healing,[4] and to induce damage in some cancer cells.[5–11]

Nonlinear Data Driven Techniques For Process Monitoring, Michael C. Thomas

LSU Master's Theses

The goal of this research is to develop process monitoring technology capable of taking advantage of the large stores of data accumulating in modern chemical plants. There is demand for new techniques for the monitoring of non-linear topology and behavior, and this research presents a topological preservation method for process monitoring using Self Organizing Maps (SOM). The novel architecture presented adapts SOM to a full spectrum of process monitoring tasks including fault detection, fault identification, fault diagnosis, and soft sensing. The key innovation of the new technique is its use of multiple SOM (MSOM) in the data modeling process as …

Analysis Of Microseismic Events Associated With Hydraulic Fracture Propagation, Chennu Fan

LSU Master's Theses

Previous practice to determine the source mechanism of microseismic events associated with hydraulic fracture typically includes only far-field terms in moment tensor inversion. The intermediate-field terms and near-field term are normally ignored because of increased complexity in the calculation. Source-receiver distances in hydraulic fracturing are usually 1000 ft and the effects of near and intermediate-field terms are still unknown. We perform a study to improve the precision of the source mechanism by including the intermediate-field term in moment tensor inversion. We find that the intermediate-field term contributes 1/3 of the signal amplitude when the source-receiver distance is 1000 ft. The …

Total Safety Management: What Are The Main Concerns In The Integration Of Best Available Methods And Tools, Maria Chiara Leva, Nora Balfe, Tom Kontogiannis, Emmanuel Plot, Micaela De Michela

Articles

“BP released findings from its own internal investigation of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, revealed inefficient Organization interfaces among BP management, the rig crew and well site leader. Also according to the investigation, one important contributor to the accident was inadequate guidelines for critical tests and operations”. (Pires and Mosleh 2011) Over the recent past, the accumulation of major mishaps, crises and accidents have made it clear that organisations must still improve their capabilities to address safety “not as a stand-alone activity that is separate from the main activities and processes of the organization” but as an …

Microwave-Assisted Synthesis Of Pd Nanoparticles Supported On Fe 3o4, Co3o4, And Ni(Oh)2 Nanoplates And Catalysis Application For Co Oxidation, Hany A. Elazab, Sherif Moussa, B. Frank Gupton, M. Samy El-Shall

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, we report a simple, versatile, and rapid method for the synthesis of Pd nanoparticle catalysts supported on Fe₃O₄, Co₃O₄, and Ni (OH)2 nanoplates via microwave irradiation. The important advantage of microwave dielectric heating over convective heating is that the reactants can be added at room temperature (or slightly higher temperatures) without the need for high-temperature injection. Furthermore, the method can be used to synthesize metal nanoparticle catalysts supported on metal oxide nanoparticles in one step. We also demonstrate that the catalyst-support interaction plays an important role in the low …

Stereoselective Transformations Of Α-Trifluoromethylated Ketoximes To Optically Active Amines By Enzyme-Nanometal Cocatalysis: Synthesis Of (S)-Inhibitor Of Phenylethanolamine N-Methyltransferase, Guilin Cheng, Qi Wu, Zeyu Shang, Xinhua Liang, Xianfu Lin

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

One-pot cascade synthesis of optically active α-trifluoro methylated amines directly from ketoximes was accomplished with the use of Candida antarctica lipase B and catalysts prepared by atomic layer deposition (ALD). Compared to the commercial palladium catalyst, the ALD-prepared catalysts showed much higher activity and afforded various α-trifluoro methylated amides in good yields and with high enantioselectivity. One of the enantiopure amides was further hydrolyzed into the corresponding amine, which was treated as a crucial starting material for total synthesis of (S)-inhibitor of phenyl ethanolamine N-methyltransferase without loss of chiral information. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Utilizing Reversible Addition Fragmentation Chain Transer For The Synthesis Of Polymeric Gene Delivery Vehicles, Jared Spoons

Honors Theses

There are many techniques used today to make a variety of polymers but this thesis investigates the reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization technique and illustrates the advantages and importance of using RAFT polymerization technique to make the desired polymer. The research focused on two monomer units that were to form the diblock copolymer; the hydrophilic part, oligo(ethylene glycol) methacrylate, and the cationic hydrophobic part 2-diethylaminoethyl methacrylate. The goal was to produce a target diblock copolymer with a Mn value of 44K and a PDI under 1.5 with the block sizes being a 35K Mn OEGMA chain and a 9K …

Removal Of Sustained Casing Pressure By Gravity Displacement Of Annular Fluid, Efecan Demirci

LSU Master's Theses

Sustained Casing Pressure (SCP) is the undesirable casing head pressure of a well annulus that rebuilds when bled-down. As the conventional methods for SCP removal using rigs are expensive, there is a need for improvement. Annular intervention for replacing the fluid above the leaking cement with a heavier fluid to stop gas migration is a solution for SCP removal; however, previous attempts failed due to miscibility of injected fluids. Using hydrophobic heavy fluids for the purpose is a newly proposed technique to the technology. Potential of theoretically selected and produced immiscible heavy fluids are investigated in characterized annular fluids. A …

Investigation Of Dimensionality-Dependent Foam Rheological Properties By Using Mechanistic Foam Model, Woochan Lee

LSU Master's Theses

A numerous laboratory and field tests revealed that foam can effectively control gas mobility, improve sweep efficiency, and increase oil production, if correctly designed. It is believed that there is a significant gap between small laboratory-scale experiments and large field-scale tests because of two main reasons: (i) typical laboratory flow tests are conducted in linear systems, while field-scale foam EOR processes are performed in radial (or spherical partly) systems in general; and (ii) through the complicated in-situ lamella creation and coalescence mechanisms and non-Newtonian behavior, foam rheology is thought to depend on geometry and dimensionality and, as a result, it …

Physico-Chemical Properties Of Green Leaf Volatiles, Harsha Satyanarayana Vempati

LSU Master's Theses

Green Leaf Volatiles (GLVs) is a class of vegetation emissions whose release is greatly enhanced in the event of thermal or mechanical stress. These oxygenated hydrocarbons that have been identified as a potential source of Secondary Organic Aerosols (SOA) via aqueous oxidation. The physico-chemical properties of GLVs are vital to understanding their fate and transport in the atmosphere, but few experimental data are available. We studied the aqueous solubility, 1-Octanol/Water Partition Coefficient, and Henry’s Constant (KH) of five GLVs at 25&176;C: methyl jasmonate, methyl salicylate, 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol, cis-3-hexen-1-ol, and cis-3-hexenyl acetate. Henry’s constant was additionally measured at 30&176;C & 35&176;C, and …

Quantifying Phase Configuration Inside An Intact Core Based On Wettability Using X-Ray Computed Tomography, Dinara Dussenova

LSU Master's Theses

The ability to evaluate rock and fluid properties on the order of a few microns opens new areas in reservoir engineering and reservoir simulation. Multiple studies have been done on the application of x-ray computed tomography (microCT) for the pore-scale evaluation of fluid interfaces and rock-fluid interaction. A majority of the fluid flow governing interactions occur at the pore scale level and is usually overseen on large reservoir scales. Hence, it is important to carefully investigate such interactions. Multi-fluid-phase distribution and interaction of two immiscible fluids such as oil and water is one of the most important and constantly investigated …

Experimental Assessment Of Expandable Casing Technology As A Solution For Microannular Gas Flow, Darko Kupresan

LSU Master's Theses

Microannular gas flow in the wellbore is known to be one of the major reasons for Sustained Casing Pressure (SCP). Low success rate (under 50%) of costly remedial cementing operations and increasing difficulty in sealing off problematic areas motivated the industry to look for more practical remediation solutions. Expandable casing technology is one of those new proposed techniques. A bench-scale physical model tested the potential of expandable casing technology for remediation of microannular gas migration. The composite samples with pipe-inside-pipe cemented annulus were designed to simulate a wellbore system including a pre-manufactured microannulus on the inner pipe/cement interface. Multi-rate flow-through …

Investigating Different Coding Environments For Simplified Reservoir Characterization Models, Atheer Mohammad Al Attar

LSU Master's Theses

Reservoir characterization is one of the most important tasks that determines the recovery plan for a specific reservoir. This process incorporates a significant amount of data acquisition and processing to finally develop an acceptable model that matches the production history and can forecast the future production behavior. The model also should be able to adapt to changes along the way: adding or removing producers or injectors, changing the injection pattern, recompletions and converting wells are all examples of possible changes that are common in the oil and gas industry. Usually these changes are modeled by running field-scale simulations and providing …

Effect Of Process Mixing On The Size Distribution And Mean Diameter Of The Thiol-Triacrylate Microcapsules, Rubaiyet Abedin

LSU Master's Theses

An important limitation in the development of the microparticles is the difficulty to develop a precise size distribution. Microparticles have a wide spread applicability in different fields including medical, pharmaceutical, textile, cosmetics, pesticide, printing industry, etc. The large and growing impact of microencapsulation in different fields of technology has made this process important. Microparticle size is a primary determinant of control release mechanism and the reaction kinetics and also impacts the allowable routes of administration, The main objective of this research work is to evaluate the effect of the process mixing on the size and size distribution of the trithiol-triacrylate …

An Experimental Investigation Of The Effects Of N-Decane On The Supercritical Pyrolysis Of Toluene, Catherine A. Grubb

LSU Master's Theses

Future and current high-speed jet aircraft will require their fuels to act as the primary coolants as well as propellants. Fuels will be exposed to severe temperatures and pressures in hypersonic aircraft, up to 700°C and 130 atm, respectively, conditions that are supercritical for most pure hydrocarbons. Under supercritical conditions, hydrocarbon fuels undergo pyrolytic reactions, which may lead to the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), known precursors to carbonaceous solid deposits. Such deposits may clog fuel lines and injection nozzles, hindering safe engine performance. Hence, it is important to understand the reactions that lead to the formation of PAH. …

Effects Of Different Preparation Methods On Structure And Catalytic Behavior Of Iron-Based Catalyst Via Fischer Trospch Synthesis Of Biomass-Derived Syngas, Khietlethanh Mai

LSU Master's Theses

Lignocellulosic biomass is a promising feedstock for producing liquid fuels via synthetic gas (syngas) and Fischer Tropsch Synthesis (FTS). Syngas produced from biomass has low H2/CO ratio (~0.7/1) and high concentration of CO2. In order to produce liquid hydrocarbons from this syngas, a catalyst must be used to increase the H2/CO ratio to 2 or higher. This catalyst must also have reasonable reverse water-gas-shift (R-WGS) activity in a CO2 rich environment. In this study, two 100Fe/4Cu/4K/6Zn were prepared using coprecipitation (Cat_C) and impregnation (Cat_I) methods. The effects of these preparation methods on the catalyst structure and FTS performance in biomass …

Virus Purification, Detection And Removal, Khrupa Saagar Vijayaragavan

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The biopharmaceutical industry has a growing demand and an increasing need to improve the current virus purification technologies, especially as more and more vaccines are produced from cell-culture derived virus particles. Downstream purification strategies can be expensive and account for 70% of the overall manufacturing costs. The economic pressure and purification processes can be particularly challenging when the virus to be purified is small, as in our model virus, porcine parvovirus (PPV). Our efforts are focused on designing an easy, economical, scalable and efficient system for virus purification, and we focused on aqueous two-phase systems. Industry acceptable standards for virus …

Utilizing Dielectrophoresis To Determine The Physiological Differences Of Eukaryotic Cells, Tayloria Nicole Gail Adams

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Type 1 diabetes affects over 108,000 children, and this number is steadily increasing. Current insulin therapies help manage the disease but are not a cure. Over a child’s lifetime they can develop kidney disease, blindness, cardiovascular disease and many other issues due to the complications of type 1 diabetes. This autoimmune disease destroys beta cells located in the pancreas, which are used to regulate glucose levels in the body. Because there is no cure and many children are affected by the disease there is a need for alternative therapeutic options that can lead to a cure.

Human mesenchymal stem cells …

Design And Synthesis Of Multifunctional Polymeric Micelles For Gene-Directed Enzyme Prodrug Therapy, Alicia J. Sawdon

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapy is a form of cancer therapy in which delivery of a gene that encodes an enzyme is able to convert a prodrug, a pharmacologically inactive molecule, into a potent cytotoxin. Currently delivery of gene and prodrug is a two-step process. Here, we propose a one-step method using polymer nanocarriers to deliver prodrug, gene and cytotoxic drug simultaneously to malignant cells. Prodrugs acyclovir, ganciclovir and 5-doxifluridine were used to directly to initiate ring-opening polymerization of epsilon-caprolactone, forming a hydrophobic prodrug-tagged poly(epsilon-caprolactone) which was further grafted with hydrophilic polymers (methoxy poly(ethylene glycol), chitosan or polyethylenemine) to form amphiphilic …

Electrocatalytic Processing Of Renewable Biomass-Derived Compounds For Production Of Chemicals, Fuels And Electricity, Le Xin

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The dual problems of sustaining the fast growth of human society and preserving the environment for future generations urge us to shift our focus from exploiting fossil oils to researching and developing more affordable, reliable and clean energy sources. Human beings had a long history that depended on meeting our energy demands with plant biomass, and the modern biorefinery technologies realize the effective conversion of biomass to production of transportation fuels, bulk and fine chemicals so to alleviate our reliance on fossil fuel resources of declining supply. With the aim of replacing as much non-renewable carbon from fossil oils with …

Time Lapse Seismic Observations And Effects Of Reservoir Compressibility At Teal South Oil Field, Nayyer Islam

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

One of the original ocean-bottom time-lapse seismic studies was performed at the Teal South oil field in the Gulf of Mexico during the late 1990’s. This work reexamines some aspects of previous work using modern analysis techniques to provide improved quantitative interpretations. Using three-dimensional volume visualization of legacy data and the two phases of post-production time-lapse data, I provide additional insight into the fluid migration pathways and the pressure communication between different reservoirs, separated by faults. This work supports a conclusion from previous studies that production from one reservoir caused regional pressure decline that in turn resulted in liberation of …

Advanced And Novel Modeling Techniques For Simulation, Optimization And Monitoring Chemical Engineering Tasks With Refinery And Petrochemical Unit Applications, Gregory M. Robertson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Engineers predict, optimize, and monitor processes to improve safety and profitability. Models automate these tasks and determine precise solutions. This research studies and applies advanced and novel modeling techniques to automate and aid engineering decision-making. Advancements in computational ability have improved modeling software’s ability to mimic industrial problems. Simulations are increasingly used to explore new operating regimes and design new processes. In this work, we present a methodology for creating structured mathematical models, useful tips to simplify models, and a novel repair method to improve convergence by populating quality initial conditions for the simulation’s solver. A crude oil refinery application …