Chemical Engineering Commons^™

A Versatile Route To Fabricate Single Atom Catalysts With High Chemoselectivity, Xiaohui He, Qian He, Yuchen Deng, Mi Peng, Hongyu Chen, Ying Zhang, Siyu Yao, Mengtao Zhang, Dequan Xiao, Ding Ma, Binghui Ge, Hongbing Ji

Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Faculty Publications

Preparation of single atom catalysts (SACs) is of broad interest to materials scientists and chemists but remains a formidable challenge. Herein, we develop an efficient approach to synthesize SACs via a precursor-dilution strategy, in which metalloporphyrin (MTPP) with target metals are co-polymerized with diluents (tetraphenylporphyrin, TPP), followed by pyrolysis to N-doped porous carbon supported SACs (M₁/N-C). Twenty-four different SACs, including noble metals and non-noble metals, are successfully prepared. In addition, the synthesis of a series of catalysts with different surface atom densities, bi-metallic sites, and metal aggregation states are achieved. This approach shows remarkable adjustability and generality, providing …

Adsorption Induced Solid Phase Transition Of Mil-53(Al), Rushik G. Bandodkar

ETD Archive

Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are nano-porous solids with potential applications in a wide range of fields including gas separation and catalysis. A number of metal organic frameworks show structural transformation and exceptional flexibility on changing the temperature, pressure and adsorption of certain guest molecules. On the contrary, most of the porous solids like zeolites and activated carbon used in applications are rigid. The structural flexibility makes MOF materials very interesting to study and show promise in applications such as sensors, actuators, membrane separation and adsorptive separation. In this study, we examine the chemical potential difference (Δμ) of MIL-53 (Al), a …

Catalytic Waste Gasification: Water-Gas Shift & Selectivity Of Oxidation For Polyethylene, Mason J. Lang

ETD Archive

As landfills approach capacity and take up valuable land space, metropolitan areas have realized the need for waste disposal alternatives. Thus, there has been a widespread use of waste incinerators in Europe and the United States [1]; [2]. Although newer technology has made incinerators more efficient, there is an increasing interest in formulating `greener’ alternatives to incinerators. Gasification converts organic and carbonaceous materials into a combination of gaseous products known as “syngas,” or synthetic gas. This process greatly reduces the amount of hazardous emissions. The syngas produced by gasifiers has a wide range of uses, including their conversion into diesel, …

Measurement Of Red Blood Cell Oxygenation State By Magnetophoresis, Nina A. Smith

ETD Archive

Magnetophoresis of red blood cells (RBCs) at varying partial pressures of oxygen (pO2) is hypothesized to rejuvenate stored blood to be utilized beyond the FDA regulated 42-day storage time. Magnetophoresis is a particle or cells motion induced by an applied magnetic field in a viscous media. The average magnetophoretic mobility of an oxygenated RBC is -0.126x10-6 mm3-s/kg, and a deoxygenated RBC is 3.66x10-6 mm3-s/kg, presenting magnetophoresis as a resource for RBC rejuvenation in hopes of storing it longer than 42 days. The main objective of this paper was to determine if controlling the pO2 within an RBC suspension, can singly- …

Force Field Optimization, Advanced Sampling, And Free Energy Methods With Gpu-Optimized Monte Carlo (Gomc) Software, Mohammad Soroush Barhaghi

Wayne State University Dissertations

In this work, to address the sampling problem for systems at high densities and low temperatures, a generalized identity exchange algorithm is developed for grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations. The algorithm, referred to as Molecular Exchange Monte Carlo (MEMC), is implemented in the GPU-Optimized Monte Carlo (GOMC) software and may be applied to multicomponent systems of arbitrary molecular topology, and provides significant enhancements in the sampling of phase space over a wide range of compositions and temperatures. Three different approaches are presented for the insertion/deletion of the large molecules, and the pros and cons of each method are discussed. Next, …

Self-Delivery Drug Amphiphilies In Chemotherapy And Immunotherapy, Jingchao Xi

Wayne State University Dissertations

Eliminating the need for external delivery systems, self-delivery drug amphiphiles represent a simple yet effective approach designed to overcome the various biological barriers for drug delivery. The ability to program the molecular structures and the physicochemical properties, which control the interactions between the drug amphiphiles and their biological surroundings has attracted significant research interests. In this work, we constructed several amphiphilic drugs including chemotherapeutic and immunotherapeutic agents. These amphiphiles exhibited interesting interactions with their biological surroundings. Amphiphiles self-assemble into spherical micelle structures in aqueous solution. However, in the presence of complexed biological fluids, they also possess a strong affinity toward …

Nimoal Catalysts Derived From Heptamolybdate-Intercalated Layered Double Hydroxides For Hydrodeoxygenation Of Anisole, Chuang Li, Xingzhao Zhang, Xiao Chen, Zhijian Peng, Chi-Wing Tsang, Changhai Liang

Faculty of Science & Technology (THEi)

The catalytic performance of NiMoAl catalysts derived from layered double hydroxide (LDH) precursors with molybdenum species incorporated into the interlayers was investigated for the hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of anisole as a model compound of the lignin. The results showed that high dispersion of small Ni nanoparticles with 2–5 nm due to the pinning effect of Mo from Mo7O246− intercalated the LDHs. Due to presence of the oxygen vacancy sites on the molybdenum oxide, the NiMoAl catalysts exhibit higher conversion of anisole than the corresponding NiAl catalyst. The activity for hydrodeoxygenation was enhanced with the increased content of molybdenum species, which can …

Engineering Of Gold Nanoparticles For Drug Delivery, Fangchao Liu

Wayne State University Dissertations

Due to their ease of synthesis, versatile surface chemistry, ease of imaging, and biocompatibility, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are employed as drug delivery devices in the treatment of respiratory problems associated with spinal cord injury (SCI). We have developed a method for the synthesis of a tripartite nanoconjugate comprised of an AuNP drug carrier chemically conjugated to a transporter protein (wheat germ agglutinin coupled to horseradish peroxidase or WGA-HRP) and to potent SCI drugs. The therapeutic efficacy and biodistribution were studied in a validated animal model. Our results show that a single administration of the nanoconjugate improved diaphragmatic activity at a …

Enhancement Of Macrophage Uptake Via Phosphatidylserine-Coated Acetalated Dextran Nanoparticles, Nishan K. Shah, Sweta K. Gupta, Zimeng Wang, Samantha A. Meenach

Chemical, Biomolecular, and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Although vital to the immune system, macrophages can act as reservoirs for pathogens such as tuberculosis and human immunodeficiency virus. Limitations in the treatment of such diseases include targeting therapeutics directly to macrophages and the large systemic dosages needed. The objective of this study is to develop a nanoparticle (NP)-based drug delivery system that can provide targeted delivery into macrophages. Acetalated dextran (Ac-Dex) NP loaded with the lipophilic model compound curcumin (CUR) were synthesized and coated in 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phospho-l-serine (DPPS), a phospholipid that induces phagocytosis in macrophages. DPPS-CUR NP were found to release 67.8% of encapsulated CUR within 24 …

Beating Clusters Created With Cardiac Extracellular Matrix From Decellularized Pig Hearts And Repopulated With Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes, Isaac Myres, Bryce Allen, Silvia Moncada, Sebastian Valencia, Beverly L. Roeder, Alonzo D. Cook

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2019

Due to the high prevalence of heart disease, scarcity of donors, and high risk of transplant rejection, we aim to engineer patient specific beating cardiac patches and whole hearts for transplant.

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 …

Heating Rate And Temperature Effects On Pyrolysis Products From Live Wildland Fuels, Mohammad-Saeed Safdari, Elham Amini, David R. Weise, Thomas H. Fletcher

Faculty Publications

Wildland fire, which includes both planned (prescribed fire) and unplanned (wildfire) fires, is an important component of many ecosystems. During wildland fires, low heating rate pyrolysis (slow pyrolysis) occurs during preheating and/or smoldering of plant material. High heating rate pyrolysis (fast pyrolysis) exists in the flame region. Pyrolysis temperature and heating rate play important roles on the yields and the compositions of pyrolysis products. In this work, the effects of pyrolysis temperature and heating rate on the yields and the compositions of pyrolysis products from 14 plant species native to the forests of the southern United States are shown. The …

Correlations Of The Elemental Compositions Of Primary Coal Tar And Char, Andrew P. Richards, Colson Johnson, Thomas H. Fletcher

Faculty Publications

Simulations of large-scale coal combustors rely on accurate submodels to describe the chemical and physical changes in coal during reaction. Typically, simplified empirical submodels are tuned to experimental data to reduce the computational complexity. When data are not readily available, simplifying assumptions are used, which can create inaccuracies and biases in a large simulation. One such simplifying assumption in coal research is how to describe the elemental composition of primary pyrolysis products. This paper explores several different empirical model forms to predict the dry, ash-free fractions of C, H, O, N, and S in both the char and tar, using …

Insights Into Well Performance And Completion Optimization Using A Coupled Fracfocus And Drillinginfo Database, Mustafa A. Al-Alwani

Doctoral Dissertations

“The hydraulic fracturing designs, drilling, and completion trends are undergoing continuous change as the oil and gas industry pushing the boundaries of the traditional designs to increase wells productivity and meet the energy demand. The lateral length in addition to the amount of proppant and water used in well stimulation have witnessed a paradigm shift over the past few years. The motivation for this work began with a desire to better understand well performance as a function of the type of fracturing fluid treatment applied. An early objective was to compare whether East Texas Cotton Valley wells stimulated with water …

Development Of Functional Ionic Liquids For Separation And Recovery Of Rare Earth Elements, Mostafa Khodakarami

Doctoral Dissertations

“This research focused on the design and synthesis of task-specific ionic liquids for enhanced extraction and separation of rare earth elements (REEs). Two novel ammonium-based functional ionic liquids (FILs) with oxygen donating groups: trioctyl(2-ethoxy-2-oxoethyl)ammonium dihexyl diglycolamate, [OcGBOEt][DHDGA], and tricaprylmethylammonium dihexyl diglycolamate, [A336][DHDGA] were synthesized and tested for the recovery and separation of selected REEs from aqueous solutions. Functionalities with different denticities were incorporated into both anionic and cationic parts of ionic liquids, which are solely composed of incinerable atoms including C, H, O, and N. The structural, physical, and chemical properties of the synthesized FILs were studied using nuclear magnetic …

Intelligent Data-Driven Decision-Making To Mitigate Or Stop Lost Circulation, Husam Hasan Alkinani

Doctoral Dissertations

”Lost circulation is a challenging problem in the oil and gas industry. Each year, millions of dollars are spent to mitigate or stop this problem. The aim of this work is to utilize machine learning and other intelligent solutions to help to make better decision to mitigate or stop lost circulation. A detailed literature review on the applications of decision tree analysis, expected monetary value, and artificial neural networks in the oil and gas industry was provided. Data for more than 3000 wells were gathered from many sources around the world. Detailed economics and probability analyses for lost circulation treatments’ …

Plenum-To-Plenum Heat Transfer Characteristics Under Natural Circulation In A Scaled-Down Prismatic Modular Reactor, Salman Mohammed Alshehri

Doctoral Dissertations

“Gas-cooled reactor (GCR) is being developed under the Next Generation Nuclear Plant Program (NGNP) in nuclear engineering studies. As the world searches for an energy source with high energy density, clean, abundant, and storable nature to avoid global warming issues, GCR seems to be a promising solution, particularly the possibility of producing hydrogen. Studying and developing the safety analysis and GCR technologies are required for the optimum design and safety of GCR system. Multiphase Reactors Engineering and Applications Laboratory (mReal) at Missouri University of Science and Technology (S&T) has developed a natural convection heat transfer test facility with one riser …

Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling And Comparison Of Advanced Techniques For Heat Transfer Augmentation For Nuclear Applications, Salman Mohammed Alzahrani

Doctoral Dissertations

“Passive safety is the most important feature of NuScale’s reactor designs. Twist tape is one passive heat enhance heat technique. The present research investigated thermo-hydraulic characteristics of natural and forced convection of water under different configurations of twisted tape inserted in tube as well as NuScale rod bundles for uniform wall heat flux using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) using ANSYS Fluent 18.1. Results for twist tape inserted in tube under natural circulation showed that heat transfer enhanced and pressure drop increased to 28% and 102.8% over the plain tube respectively. Regularly spaced tapes, and different widths of the twisted tapes …

Characterization Of Aerosols In An Underground Mine, Arash A. Habibi

Doctoral Dissertations

“Diesel-powered engines are a common source of submicron carbon-rich particles. Characterizing morphological and physical attributes of diesel agglomerates is therefore of great importance to be able to identify the source and improve removal technology. Size-segregated sampling was conducted in two phases of underground experiments. Scanning transmission electron microscopy and fast mobility particle sizers were used to determine the size distribution of agglomerates based on particle mobility and projected area diameter. Controlled zone sampling test results were used to determine the morphological characteristics of agglomerates for specific types of diesel equipment both with and without removal strategies. Changes in fractal dimension, …

Transient Multiphase Flow Simulation For Unloading Of Frac Hit Gas Wells, Miguel Angel Cedeno Moreno

Doctoral Dissertations

"This work seeks to develop a fully step-by-step transient multiphase flow simulation valid for unloading gas wells using nitrogen. It studies the behavior of nitrogen for unloading horizontal gas wells with gas injection in the annulus. The work investigates unloading non-Newtonian fluids such as those which invade offset wells when a frac hit occurs during hydraulic fracturing operations in unconventional wells. The effect of varying tubing depth and injection pressure are included in the study.

Results show that as the plastic viscosity increases, the nitrogen volume and time to unload will be increased. As tubing depth increases, the nitrogen volume …

Modeling And Simulation Of Micro/Nano-Rod Distribution In Micro Channel Flows, Saman Monjezi

Doctoral Dissertations

"The behavior of a typical nanorod particle in microscale flows was theoretically investigated, considering the effect of the wall on the rotational and translation motions of the non-spherical particle. Initially, a systematic method using Brownian dynamics simulation of the rotational motion of nanorod was performed to obtain the average orientation distribution of a nanorod in various range of Peclet number and position from the confining wall. Subsequently, the results of the angle distributions simulation were employed to generate a universal mathematical model for the particle orientation distribution, which our model of concentration distribution of high aspect ratio nanorods in the …

Techno-Economic Optimization And Environmental Life Cycle Assessment Of Microgrids Using Genetic Algorithm And Artificial Neural Networks, Prashant Nagapurkar

Doctoral Dissertations

"This dissertation focuses primarily on techno-economic optimization and environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) of sustainable energy generation technologies. This work is divided into five papers. The first paper discusses the techno-economic optimization and environmental life cycle assessment of microgrids located in the USA using genetic algorithm. In this paper, a methodology was developed that assessed the techno-economic and environmental performance of a small scale microgrid located in US cities of Tucson, Lubbock and Dickinson. Providing uninterrupted power the microgrid was composed of seven components -- solar photovoltaics, wind-turbines, lead acid batteries, biodiesel generators, fuel cells, electrolyzers and H₂ tanks. …

Developing And Evaluating A Partition-Cavity Solar Thermochemical Reactor For Syngas Production Via Computational Fluid Dynamics, Han Zhang

Doctoral Dissertations

"Solar thermochemical processes are attractive since they have the advantages of storing solar energy as chemical fuels. In this dissertation, a partition-cavity solar thermochemical reactor was developed, and the heat and mass transfer of the solar thermochemical processes were numerically analyzed in this directly-irradiated reactor.

The reduction reaction of two-step CeO₂/CeO_2-δ solar redox process was investigated using the coupling of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and discrete element method (DEM). The reduction rate was studied based on the catalyst textual properties and the reaction condition. The results revealed that the increase of catalyst specific surface area and the …

Building Shared Knowledge For Eor Technologies: Screening Guideline Constructions, Dashboards, And Advanced Data Analysis, Na Zhang

Doctoral Dissertations

"Successful implementation of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technology requires comprehensive knowledge and experiences based on existing EOR projects. EOR screening guidelines and EOR reservoir analog are served as such knowledge which are considered as the first step for a reservoir engineer to determine the next step techniques to improve the ultimate oil recovery from their assets. The objective of this research work is to provide better assistance for EOR selection by using fundamental statistics methods and machine learning techniques.

In this dissertation, a total of 977 worldwide EOR projects with the most uniformed, high-quality, and comprehensive information were collected from …

Experimental Investigation Of Liquid Contact In The Developing Post-Dryout Chf Flow Boiling Regime Using Surface Mounted Thermistors, Hiralkumar Harshadbhai Patel

Doctoral Dissertations

"Understanding heat transfer in the post-critical heat flux (CHF) flow boiling regime is important for determining the performance of the heat transfer equipment for various industrial applications requiring high heat transfer rates, e.g., heat exchangers, boilers, chemical and nuclear reactors. Liquid can be present in the core of the flow channel in the form of entrained liquid droplets, especially immediately downstream of film dryout. These droplets are suspected to provide an important heat transfer mechanism as they impinge on the heated wall. The objective of the current study is to investigate liquid contact with the heated wall in this flow …

Multiscale Spatio-Temporal Modeling Of Cell Population In Tissue Architecture And Drug Delivery Nanoparticles, Mohammad Aminul Islam

Doctoral Dissertations

"Multiscale nature of a biological system span at many order of magnitudes in time and space. Molecular interaction at lower scale is connected with the higher scale behavior of tissue or organism. Integrating the dynamics and information at different time and space can give a fundamental physiological understanding of the higher level phenomena. But complex features, functions, interconnectivity between different scales and lack of information on the fundamental physiological property make the model difficult and computationally challenging. The multiscale modeling approach can bridge the gap between different scale by a systemic integration of the complex dynamic behavior.

Here, the focus …

Spatiotemporal Modeling And Model Restructuration Approaches In Studies Of Intracellular Signalling Pathways, Md Shahinuzzaman

Doctoral Dissertations

"The main focus of the research is to understand the complex phenomena of cell transduction pathways and cell biology in a single cell. Mathematical modeling and experimental evaluation are widely used approaches for this kind of research. Firstly, A multiscale framework for protein-protein interaction has been established using Brownian dynamics algorithm. Sit specific feature, steric collision, diffusion, co-localization and complex formation with time and space has been included in this spatial modeling framework. By implementation of the time adaptive feature in this framework, the computation time reduces in an order of magnitude compared with traditional modeling framework. This multiscale Brownian …

Investigating The Use Of Different Types Of Sealant Materials For Cement Remedial Applications, Murad Mohammedahmed Abdulfarraj

Doctoral Dissertations

"The overall objective is to investigate the ability of several material to mitigate cement failures such as channels, fractures, and micro-annuli in oil and gas wells. The sealant material that can also be used in the wells that are used for geologic storage of carbon dioxide CO₂. Evaluating the sealant material is critical to improve the zonal isolation of the wells, which would lead to safer operations. The approach of this dissertation is to utilize particles gel that has been used successfully in conformance control application, and epoxy resin systems, that have superior seal characteristics compared to conventional …

Hydrodynamics Of Trickle Bed Reactors (Tbrs) Packed With Industrial Catalyst Using Advanced Measurement Techniques, Mohammed Jaber Al-Ani

Doctoral Dissertations

"The impacts of the packing characteristics on the hydrodynamics od a trickle bed reactor (TBR) have been investigated using advanced measurements techniques of Gamma-ray densitometry (GRD) and Optical fiber probe and conventional measurement techniques of high-frequency differential pressure transducer and load cell. Two different reactor sizes of bench and pilot plant scale were used. Bench-scale TBR carried out the experiments to assess phase distribution and catalyst utilization with 1.18 cm inside diameter and 72 cm length at ambient pressure and temperature. The mixture of catalyst and fine particles displayed considerable improvements in the phase distribution, liquid holdup profile, and catalyst …

Novel Insights Into Low Salinity Water Flooding Enhanced Oil Recovery In Sandstone Reservoirs, Hasan N. Al-Saedi

Doctoral Dissertations

"Ever growing global energy demand and the natural decline in oil production from mature oil fields have been the main incentives to search for methods to increase recovery efficiency for several decades. Water flooding is extensively applied worldwide to improve oil recovery. The recent drop in oil prices has turned the oil industry to the cheapest improved oil recovery (IOR) techniques, such as low salinity (LS) waterflooding. Also, the reduction in reservoir energy and the friendly environmental aspects of low salinity water flooding (LSWF) provide additional incentives for its use. That LS water requires decreasing only the active divalent cations …