Chemical Engineering Commons^™

Removal Of Fluoride From Mine Water Via Adsorption For Land-Applied Soil Amendment, Michelle Dopp, Kevin Le, Ethan Phan, Mary Johnson, Jacqueline Payne, Adrian Damian, Courtney Golman

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Moo Pig Sooie’s researched, designed, and economically analyzed a full-scale adsorption column system to be applied in mining processes that leave high amounts of fluoride in their effluent. This system was designed to remove fluoride from water saturated with calcium sulfate, as calcium sulfate is present in high amounts in certain mining processes. Currently, high density sludge (HDS) is commonly employed to reduce fluoride concentrations, but due to solubility limits the sludge treatment cannot lower fluoride below 10 mg/L (ppm). The current enforceable EPA standard for discharged water is at 4 mg/L (ppm), although mining companies anticipate that this …

Removal Of Fluoride From Mine Water Via Adsorption For Land-Applied Soil Amendment, Courtney Golman, Kevin Le, Michelle Dopp, Adrian Damian, Mary Johnson, Jacqueline Payne, Ethan Phan

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The process of mining minerals and elements from ores and rocks creates acid rock drainage (ARD). This drainage is water that contains heavy metals and minerals that can be dangerous for human consumption or damaging to the environment. The mining industry has employed various water treatment methods to prevent these metals and minerals from being discharged into water sources such as ponds, lakes, and streams. Currently, the most used treatment process in the mining industry is a cost-effective highdensity sludge (HDS) process. This method reduces the concentration of metals and elements with the use of lime/limestone. However, the concentration of …

Poly(Vinyl Alcohol)/Α-Chitin/Nanocellulose Composites Developed From Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch (Opefb) For Removal Of Cationic Dyes, Chun Fah Mok

Student Works (2020-2029)

In search of an eco-friendly polymeric adsorbent for dye effluent treatment application, poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/chitin/nanocellulose composites were synthesized. The composites were reinforced by oil palm empty fruit bunch fibers (OPEFB)-derived nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC). With addition of 1 wt.% NCC, a maximum improvement of 57.64% and 50.66% in tensile strength and Young’s Modulus were achieved, respectively. However, the PVA-based composites exhibited low resistance in aqueous medium. Hence, maleic acid (MA) was incorporated, in view of modifying PVA-based composites through cross-linking reactions. The effect of varying chitin content (10 wt.%-30 wt.%) and MA content (10%-50% based on total solid content of composite) …

Development Of Amine-Functionalized Mesoporous Alumina For Radioiodine Removal From Water, Mansour Mohammed Alsalbokh

Masters Theses

“Radioactive materials have spread due to careless disposal and nuclear disasters. Some radionuclides can exist in an aqueous media, like radioactive iodine. As a result, in this work amine-functionalized mesoporous alumina was developed to adsorb radioactive iodine from the liquid phase. Bismuth was incorporated, using a wet impregnation method, to test it as a possible silver replacement. Amine grafting was used to functionalize the surface of the mesoporous alumina. All materials prepared in this work were characterized by N₂ physisorption, FTIR and TGA to determine the textural properties, surface functionality, and amine loading. The synthesized materials were tested for …

Selective Adsorption Of Rare Earth Ions From Aqueous Solution On Metal-Organic Framework Hkust-1, Liang Zhao, Xiaoguang Duan, Muhammad R. A. Azhar, Hongqi Sun, Xiangchen Fang, Shaobin Wang

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Recovery of rare earth ions from wastewater holds an important strategy for the use of the precious resources. In this study, we found that a metal-organic framework (MOF), HKUST-1, exhibited a high affinity and selectivity towards adsorptive recovery of rare earth ions (Ce3+ and La3+) in aqueous solutions. The adsorbent showed a remarkable adsorption capacity of 234 mg/g and 203 mg/g for Ce3+ and La3+ at pH = 6, respectively. More importantly, its adsorption selectivity of the rare earth ions was about 87% against other metal ions. The adsorption isotherm, kinetics, and mechanism in the process were also investigated. The …

Polymeric Nanoparticle As A New Platform For High Removal Of Endotoxins From Biopharmaceutical Solutions, Sidharth Razdan

Doctoral Dissertations

"Presently, approximately one-third of all biopharmaceutical drugs are derived from biological sources like gram-negative bacteria. Gram-negative bacteria like E.coli are much cheaper to cultivate and provide higher biotherapeutic yield compared to mammalian cells. On extracting the useful biotherapeutics from the gram-negative bacterial cells (E.coli), endotoxin present in the bacteria is released in the surrounding media thus contaminating the lifesaving biotherapeutics. Application of the endotoxin-contaminated therapeutics to humans or animals can cause serious health issues like septic shock, tissue injury and ultimately death. Hence, thorough purification of biotherapeutics before parenteral application is necessary. Although there are multiple methods for …

Indonesia Natural Mineral For Heavy Metal Adsorption: A Review, Grandprix T. M. Kadja, Moh Mualliful Ilmi

Journal of Environmental Science and Sustainable Development

Indonesia has abundant mineral resources used as natural adsorbent materials for the absorption of heavy metal. Among these are natural zeolites, clay, and ashes. These natural materials showed high performance adsorption capacity with respects to their low cost and high availability. Several research reports had been published for studying the performance of the natural materials as adsorbent of several heavy metals i.e., Hg, Pb, Fe, Cd, Cr, Zn, Ni, and Cu by examining the effect of various factors, including pH, contact time, initial concentration, temperature, and dosage. Furthermore, to determine the adsorption rate, mechanism, and efficiency of natural materials in …

Covalent Organic Frameworks For The Capture, Fixation, Or Reduction Of Co2, John Ozdemir, Imann Mosleh, Mojtaba Abolhassani, Lauren F. Greenlee, Robert T. Beitle Jr., M. Hassan Beyzavi

Chemical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are porous crystalline organic polymers which have been the subject of immense research interest in the past 10 years. COF materials are synthesized by the covalent linkage of organic molecules bonded in a repeating fashion to form a porous crystal that is ideal for gas adsorption and storage. Chemists have strategically designed COFs for the purpose of heterogeneous catalysis of gaseous reactants. Presented in this critical review are efforts toward developing COFs for the sequestration of CO2 from the atmosphere. Researchers have determined the CO2 adsorption capabilities of several COFs is competitive with the highest surface …

Sorption-Based Energy Storage Systems: A Review, Kyaw Thu, Nasruddin Nasruddin, Sourav Mitra, Bidyut Baran Saha

Makara Journal of Technology

Mismatched timing between the supply and demand of energy calls for reliable storage systems. Energy storage systems have become further significant with the widespread implementation of renewable energy. These systems can mitigate problems that are often associated with renewable energy sources such as supply unreliability while meeting the de-mand during peak hours. Energy can be stored in various forms, yet storage systems can be generally grouped based on their output forms, namely (i) electricity and (ii) heat or thermal energy. Electrical energy is the most convenient and effective form since it can power almost all modern devices. However, the electricity …

Effects Of So2 In Air On Performance Of Direct Methanol Fuel Cell, Bin Qin, Fen-Ning Jing, Xue-Jing Sun, Gong-Quan Sun, Hai Sun

Journal of Electrochemistry

Direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) generally use oxygen as an oxidant. Contaminants such as sulfides and nitrides in the air can affect the performance of the DMFC. In this work, the effects of SO₂ on the performance of DMFC were investigated and the mechanism of poisoning was analyzed, by means of constant current discharge curve, polarization performance curve, cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). In the CV scan, the permeated methanol was oxidized at a low potential to eliminate its effect on the SO₂ poisoning behavior test. The results showed that the SO₂ poisoning resulted …

Graphene Oxides In Water: Characterization, Reactivity, And Application, Siyuan An

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Recently discovered, graphene and graphene oxide materials have drawn considerable research attention due to outstanding and novel properties, which underpin wide material potential for a number of advanced applications including supercapacitors, solar cells, sensors, catalysts, semiconductors, sorbents, and membranes, among others. Graphene oxides (GO), which are considered as a family of oxidized graphene materials (derivatives), is a key precursor to the synthesis of free-standing graphene via oxidation-exfoliation-reduction pathways. GO properties depend on the synthesis routes/conditions (i.e. derivatization), including partially maintaining graphene (i.e. sp2) properties. Further, oxygen-containing functionalities (epoxy, hydroxyl, carbonyl, and carboxyl groups) render GO hydrophilic – and correspondingly stability …

Activated Carbon Fixed-Bed Adsorber Design For Treating Chromium Hexavalent Wastewater, Tedi Hudaya, Velicia Rachmat

Makara Journal of Technology

Pollution caused by industrial wastewater containing heavy metals is a major issue, primarily due to its toxic nature. A cheap yet effective method to deal with such wastewater is activated carbon adsorption. The purpose of this research is to evaluate and design a fixed bed adsorber with granular activated carbon as an adsorbent to process wastewater-containing chromium hexavalent (Cr 6+). Experiments show that the Langmuir isotherm fits the equilibrium data as effectively as the Freundlich isotherm. Activated carbon used in this research is Jacobi 2000® derived from bituminous coal. The lab scale inlet volumetric flow is 100 mL/h with different …

Removal Of Carbamazepine From Drinking Water, Adam Johnson, Thomas Krumpolc, Jordan Gadberry, Juan Rodriguez, Paolo Marrero-Rivera, Zachary Wiese

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Due to the increasing prevalence of prescription medication over the past few

decades, pharmaceuticals have accumulated in various water sources. This has become a

public health concern because many pharmaceuticals have limited research on the effects

of chronic low-level exposure. According to the World’s Health Organization (WHO),

traces of pharmaceuticals products have been reported in different water sources such as

surface waters, wastewater, groundwater, and drinking water.[1] One pharmaceutical of

interest that has been detected in water sources is carbamazepine. Carbamazepine is a

common pharmaceutical prescribed for the treatment of seizure disorders, neuropathic

pain, and various psychological disorders. It’s mechanism …

Removal Of Carbamazepine From Drinking Water, Zachary Wiese

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Due to the increasing prevalence of prescription medication over the past few

decades, pharmaceuticals have accumulated in various water sources. This has become a

public health concern because many pharmaceuticals have limited research on the effects

of chronic low-level exposure. According to the World’s Health Organization (WHO),

traces of pharmaceuticals products have been reported in different water sources such as

surface waters, wastewater, groundwater, and drinking water.[1] One pharmaceutical of

interest that has been detected in water sources is carbamazepine. Carbamazepine is a

common pharmaceutical prescribed for the treatment of seizure disorders, neuropathic

pain, and various psychological disorders. It’s mechanism …

Removal Of Carbamazepine From Drinking Water, Paola Marrero-Rivera, Adam Johnson, Jordan Alex Gadberry, Juan Rodriguez, Thomas Krumpolc, Zach Wiese

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Due to the increasing prevalence of prescription medication over the past few decades, pharmaceuticals have accumulated in various water sources. This has become a public health concern because many pharmaceuticals have limited research on the effects of chronic low-level exposure.One pharmaceutical of interest that has been detected in water sources is carbamazepine. Carbamazepine (CBZ) is a common pharmaceutical prescribed for the treatment of seizure disorders, neuropathic pain, and various psychological disorders. It’s mechanism of action is “sodium channel blocking,” which is the impairment of conduction of sodium ions in sodium channels. This, in effect, reduces nervous-system conductivity in key areas …

Treatment Of Dye Wastewater Using Dehydrated Peanut Hull, Nikitha Shamirpet

ETD Archive

The release of dye waste water into environment causes harm to aquatic life when they reach drains or other water sources. They pollute the soil and causes change in cycles of plant and animal life through bio-accumulation and nutrient cycle. Dyes which form residue or precipitate causes mutations or changes in the DNA of living organisms in and around the area of release of the dye into atmosphere. In this thesis, several runs were attempted to treat the synthetically prepared dye waste water using dehydrated peanut hull. The initial dye waste water samples were all collected and checked for absorbance, …

Effect Of History On The Binary Adsorption Equilibria Of Aluminium Terephthalate (Mil-53(Al)), Ufuoma Israel Kara

ETD Archive

Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are highly porous solids with potential applications in a wide range of fields including gas separations and catalysis. Most of porous solids used in these applications such as zeolites and activated carbon usually have rigid structures. In contrast, a number of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) exhibit structural transformation in response to external stimuli. Such materials show promise for applications such as sensors, actuators and adsorptive separations. Several thermodynamic formalisms were proposed in literature to explain this phenomenon, often known as gate-opening or “breathing” of the MOF material. In this study, the adsorptive behavior of MIL-53(Al), a MOF …

Study Of Gas Production From Shale Reservoirs With Multi-Stage Hydraulic Fracturing Horizontal Well Considering Multiple Transport Mechanisms, Chaohua Guo, Mingzhen Wei, Hong Liu

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Development of unconventional shale gas reservoirs (SGRs) has been boosted by the advancements in two key technologies: horizontal drilling and multi-stage hydraulic fracturing. A large number of multi-stage fractured horizontal wells (MsFHW) have been drilled to enhance reservoir production performance. Gas flow in SGRs is a multi-mechanism process, including: desorption, diffusion, and non-Darcy flow. The productivity of the SGRs with MsFHW is influenced by both reservoir conditions and hydraulic fracture properties. However, rare simulation work has been conducted for multi-stage hydraulic fractured SGRs. Most of them use well testing methods, which have too many unrealistic simplifications and assumptions. Also, no …

Synthesis And Comprehensive Studies Of Nanogels For Enhanced Oil Recovery, Jiaming Geng

Doctoral Dissertations

“Nanomaterials have been developed and applied for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in oil industry. Among the developed nanomaterials, nano-sized crosslinked polymeric gel particles (nanogels) have shown the potential in improving both the macro- and micro-displacing efficiency. This dissertation focuses on the synthesis and the potential EOR mechanisms of nanogels. Nanogels with positive, negative, and neutral charges were synthesized through suspension polymerization. The morphology, size distribution, and zeta potential of nanogels were elucidated by corresponding technologies, such as scanning electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering. The ability of nanogels in oil-water interfacial tension (IFT) reduction and oil-in-water (o/w) emulsion stabilization was …

Atomic Layer Deposition Prepared Nanostructured Materials For Various Catalytic Reactions, Xiaofeng Wang

Doctoral Dissertations

"Atomic layer deposition (ALD) has been widely used for thin film coating and metal nanoparticles (NPs) preparation. In this report, the applications of ALD prepared nanostructured materials in catalysis were examined.

Highly dispersed Pt monometallic catalysts with different substrates and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) supported Pt-Co bimetallic catalysts were synthesized by ALD for selective hydrogenation of α, β-unsaturated aldehydes to unsaturated alcohols (UA). Pt/MWCNTs showed the highest selectivity of UA in selective hydrogenation of citral, as compared to Pt/SiO₂, Pt/ALD-Al₂O₃, and Pt/γ-Al₂O₃. After adding Co, the highest selectivity was achieved …

The Control Of Water Contaminants Assisted By Natural Materials, Wen Zhao

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Natural materials can be used to remove water contaminants by applying proper physical, chemical, and biological water treatment processes. This study involves using natural materials, as they are considered to be more environmentally benign and cost-effective than synthetic materials. This dissertation concentrates on monitoring five major water quality parameters—ammonia, fluoride, turbidity, pH, and fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) —in two major applications where clean water is needed. The focus is on meeting the water quality requirements for each contaminant. The overall objective of this study is to control the levels of ammonia in aquaculture wastewater, and adjust fluoride, turbidity, pH, and …

Investigation Of The Effect Of Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Extraction On The Adsorption Capacity Of Date Pits, Haliemeh Imad Sweidan

Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Theses

This thesis aims to develop and investigate an innovative use of date pits, a common and abundant agricultural waste in the UAE. It is suggested that date pits may be used to produce date pit oil, and the powder residue from this extraction process may be used as a low cost adsorbent for removal of lead from water. This thesis aims to investigate the effects of the parameters pressure, temperature, and particle size on the extraction yield when using supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO₂) to extract oil from date pit powder. This oil is a valuable component which has many applications …

Influence Of Activated Carbon Surface Oxygen Functionality On Elemental Mercury Adsorption From Aqueous Solution, Emily K. Faulconer, David W. Mazyck

Publications

Mercury (Hg), though naturally occurring, is a toxic element. Exposure to various forms of mercury can be harmful for humans and ecosystems. Mercury-contaminated wastewater can be treated using activated carbon to adsorb the mercury, allowing for safe discharge. Wet chemical oxidation of activated carbon was performed to enhanced surface oxygen functionality, with the objective of enhancing aqueous ionic (Hg(II)) and elemental (Hg(0)) mercury adsorption. Characterization of the modified carbons included nitrogen adsorption-desorption, elemental analysis, point of zero charge, and total acidity titration. The concentration and identity of the modifying reagent influenced the characteristics of the carbons, including the surface oxygen …

Sorption Of Benzene, Dichloroethane, Chloroform And Dichloromethane By Polyethylene Glycol, Polycaprolactone And Their Copolymers At 298.15 K Using A Quartz Crystal Microbalance, Abhijeet Radhakrishna Iyer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Quartz crystal microbalances (QCM) are acoustic wave sensor systems which are used majorly for vapor and liquid sensing. QCM come under the category of thickness shear mode (TSM) sensors. There are several methods to study organic vapor sensing; the QCM method is the one that offers the highest sensitivity and generates the most data. Solubilities of benzene, dichloroethane, chloroform and dichloromethane in polyethylene glycol (PEG), polycaprolactone (PCL), and several di-block PEG/PCL copolymers at 298.15 K are reported. There are literature data available for most of the solvents in the homopolymers PEG and PCL but no literature data is available for …

Evaluation Of Mass Transfer Rate In Column Of Small Lilsx Particles, Mihikumar S. Patel

ETD Archive

Air separation using zeolite based adsorption processes is a widely-studied topic. Proper process modeling is a key requirement to simulate the process. Conventional process modeling for air separation is designed for large scale adsorption processes using a long cycle time. However, advanced technology now permits to use of a short cycle time using small particles, which significantly reduces the size of the process.
Traditional process models were mostly developed for large particles (dp > 1.5 mm). Typically, it is safely assumed that intra particle diffusion controls the rate of the process while axial dispersion has a much smaller effect. This is …

Pure And Binary Adsorption Equilibrium Of Nitrogen And Oxygen In Lilsx Zeolite, Himabindu Gandra

ETD Archive

Chemical products are made by combination of processes that includes synthesis, separation and purification. Separation processes comprises a large portion in these industries and are considered to be critical as most of the applications in chemical industries involves mixtures. Traditional separation methods such as distillation, evaporation, drying etc., requires high energy. For example, air separation to produce nitrogen and oxygen was previously practiced by cryogenic distillation that involves high pressure units and large energy requirement. On other hand, adsorption processes utilize less energy resources and is unique among separation methods. The phase separation is achieved by the existence of a …

Activated Carbon Preparation And Modification For Adsorption, Yuhe Cao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Butanol is considered a promising, infrastructure-compatible biofuel. Butanol has a higher energy content than ethanol and can be used in conventional gas engines without modifications. Unfortunately, the fermentation pathway for butanol production is restricted by its toxicity to the microbial strains used in the process. Butanol is toxic to the microbes, and this can slow fermentation rates and reduce butanol yields. Gas stripping technology can efficiently remove butanol from the fermentation broth as it is produced, thereby decreasing its inhibitory effects. Traditional butanol separation heavily depends on the energy intensive distillation method. One of the main issues in acetone-butanol-ethanol fermentation …

Advanced Buffer Materials For Indoor Air Co₂ Control In Commercial Buildings, Pavithra Ethi Rajan

Masters Theses

"The following describes a novel passive approach to control the indoor CO₂ levels in enclosed spaces, primarily focusing on commercial buildings. Amine impregnated silica sorbents were identified as suitable candidates and synthesized; the amine loading ratio was varied to create a range of materials. These samples along with other commercial zeolite candidates have been tested over a range of CO₂ concentrations to determine the CO₂ adsorption capacity in laboratory systems and under simulated room conditions. The research work also focuses on the CO₂ desorption capacity of the candidate adsorbents. The desorption is allowed to occur gradually …

Sugarcane Bagasse As A Carrier For The Immobilization Of Saccharomyces Cerevisiaein Bioethanol Production, Sita Heris Anita, Wibowo Mangunwardoyo, Yopi Yopi

Makara Journal of Technology

Sugarcane bagasse was used as a carrier to immobilize Saccharomyces cerevisiae in bioethanol production. This research aims to study the potential use of sugarcane bagasse as an alternative carrier for cell immobilization and improvement in the production process of cell immobilization in bagasse. The results showed that the physical characteristics of sugarcane bagasse as a carrier were water content (7.77 ± 0.35%), water retention (4.80 ± 0.44 g/g), water absorption index (8.58 ± 0.22 g/g), and lignin content (24.40 ± 1.52 %). Determination of cell retention was performed in an inoculum volume of 50 mL yeast suspension with various carrier …

Rambling Between "Zhong Yong" And "Catalysis", Zi-Dong Wei

Journal of Electrochemistry

“Zhong Yong” represents a traditional Chinese wisdom, which was first proposed by Confucius and continuously richened by his followers. “Zhong Yong” pursues the balances among all kinds of contradictions, and insists that neither “too much” nor “not enough” is good. For a successful catalyst, on which the adsorption of reactants must be not so strong and not so weak either. On this point of view, there are the same pursuits for “Zhong Yong” and catalysis. In this paper, the author starts his story with a conversation between Confucius and his student, followed by 3 interesting stories happening in the ancient …