Chemical Engineering Commons^™

From Kernel To Carbon Footprint: Using Life Cycle Analysis To Teach Sustainability In Chemical Engineering, Neal Z. Kinney

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Many chemical engineering departments in the United States are currently lacking developed sustainability coursework, leaving many students without a developed understanding of topics such as life cycle analysis (LCA). [1] Therefore, there is a need for engaging and flexible educational tools that can be easily incorporated into course frameworks. This study develops an interactive learning module, expanding upon the work from Pollution Prevention Through Popcorn, a study developed by Rowan University. [2] The module combines experimental analysis of popcorn popping methods with life cycle assessment using OpenLCA to evaluate the environmental impacts of common types of popcorn packaging. Results of …

Effects Of Hofmeister Ions On Lower Critical Solution Temperatures Of Poly(N-Isopropylacrylamide) And Poly(Vinyl Methyl Ether), Joseph Joaquin

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The goal of this study is to compare how four different Hofmeister anions (Cl-, SCN-, F-, and I-) affect the Lower Critical Solution temperature (LCST) on two thermo-responsive polymers: poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAAM) and poly(vinyl methyl ether) (PVME). pNIPAAm is commonly used in the environmental applications such as monitoring, oil-water separations, or antifouling materials, and in medical industry from drug delivery to tissue engineering. When pNIPAAM or PVME reaches a temperature above their LCST, they become hydrophobic, and the polymer chains coiled, leading to their aqueous solutions turn opaque. PVME exhibits a similar LCST as that of pNIPAAM, so it can be …

Mechanistic Modelling And Parameter Estimation Of Heterogeneous Catalytic Synthesis Of Green Fuel, Rasheed U. Owolabi, Obinna P. Anele, Mohammed A. Usman

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Investigation of the kinetics and mechanistic modelling of biodiesel synthesis through the reaction of castor oil with methanol under catalyzed conditions was carried out in this study. The reaction mechanisms of the Eley-Rideal, Langmuir-Hinshelwood-Hougen-Watson, and Hattori type were employed to identify the rate-determining or controlling step of the reaction. Thirteen rate expressions were developed for reactant adsorption, product desorption, and surface chemical reactions. The experimental data from Sanchez-Cantu et al. were used to validate the models, and the best-fitting model and parameter estimation were evaluated using SAS and MATLAB software. From the results, the Eley-Rideal mechanism with glycerol desorption as …

Optimization Of Bioethanol From Plantain Peel Using Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Akinjide A. Akinola, Olawole O. Olanipekun, Paul A. David

Mansoura Engineering Journal

This research aimed to evaluate the potential of using plantain peels as a raw material for producing bioethanol with the help of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The study utilized a four-factor Box-Behnken design (BBD) and response surface methodology (RSM) to optimize the fermentation conditions. The factors considered for optimization were substrate concentration (1-4 g), pH (5-7), temperature (30-45°C), and fermentation time (24-96 hours). Through this optimization process, the study found that the optimal conditions for bioethanol production were 4 g substrate concentration, pH 6, 45°C temperature, and 60 hours of fermentation time. Utilizing these optimal conditions resulted in a bioethanol yield of …

Novel Nano-Composite Materials (Nncms) With The Designations J1, J2, And J3 For Removal Several Harmful Ions, Mohammed K. Al-Doseri, Safaa. R. Fouda, Mohamed Mossad, Mahmoud H. Mahmoud

Mansoura Engineering Journal

The most toxic material to the environment is heavy metals. remove heavy metals from wastewater is done by adsorption. Many papers have been done using different materials to take off toxic dangerous ions from wastewater. Noval Nano-composites material (NNCM)as designated as J1, J2, and J3 the most used adsorbents in this study. To conduct the experiments, synthetic wastewater was generated in the lab. Batch experiments were conducted to create the best conditions for removing these ions from the wastewater. The optimum conditions obtained were 90 min optimum contact time, and pH equal seven, optimal NNCM dose was 0.5 g/L achieving …

Process Optimization Of An Ethylbenzene Production Facility Through Integrated Process Simulation And Economic Analysis Methods, Veronica Cunitz

Honors Theses

The following thesis consists of an investigation into the optimization of an ethylbenzene production facility. Aspen Plus software was used to model the production facility and Excel was used to price the facility using Aspen simulation data. This integrated technique was used to optimize the facility based on the Net Present Value (NPV) of the project. The NPV was improved from a base case value of -$23.5 million to a final value of $51.5 million. After this optimization based on NPV, the potential of operating the reactors as isothermal packed bed reactors was investigated. The reactor inlet feed pressure, inlet …

Optimizing Diabetes Diagnostics: Electrophoretic Separation And Detection Of Hemoglobin A1c With Boronate, Rixlie Fozilova

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Diabetes affects 537 million people worldwide, while 136 million Americans have diabetes or prediabetes; roughly 22.6% of individuals are undiagnosed. Diabetes is the inability to regulate blood sugar levels. Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) is glycosylated hemoglobin and indicates average blood sugar levels over the past three months.

We adapted the selective boronic acid binding to the HbA1c sugar moieties from boronate affinity chromatography and translated it into a portable microchip paper-based electrophoresis platform. We explored a range of boronate concentrations at a steady voltage and sample volume to determine the optimal HbA1c binding and subsequent electrophoretic separation. A pH above 11 …

Novel Composite Membrane(Pes/Clay/Zeolite) For Ammonium And Sulfide Ions Removal From Sour Water, Marwa Abdel Fattah, Marwa S. Shalaby, Moustapha S. Mansour, Ahmed Badr Eldin, Ibrahim Ismail Ibrahim, Heba Abdallah

Mansoura Engineering Journal

The viability of human life depends heavily on the accessibility of clean water, not only for personal use but also to support various industrial, agricultural, and industrialrelated activities. Composite membranes were prepared using polyethersulfone (PES) with zeolite and clay. The membranes were fully characterized. Membrane performances were tested using sodium sulfide with a concentration of 0.365 g/l and ammonium chloride with a concentration of 0.148 g/l to study the effect of prepared composite membranes on the treatment of sour water. The membrane's mechanical properties were tested and M3 has the greatest tensile strength of 64 MPa with an elongation of …

Addition Of Process Control Experiment To Unit Operations Ii Laboratory., Bradley Esselman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Process control is an essential aspect of manufacturing, contributing to improved process safety, efficiency, product consistency, and energy optimization. Chemical engineers are often responsible for ensuring the safe, efficient, and cost-effective operation of industrial processes, and process control plays a pivotal role in accomplishing this.

Chemical engineering students at the University of Louisville complete the course, Elements of Process Control, during the second semester of their fourth year. This lecture-based course offers limited hands-on, practical experience. To supplement the lack of hands-on experience in the classroom, a new process control experiment was designed and implemented into the Unit Operations …

Liquid Phase Modeling In Metal Catalysis And In Zeolites, Subrata Kumar Kundu

Theses and Dissertations

Liquid phase processing is often desired for selective product formation, such as during catalytic conversion of biomass, and for purification of waste-water streams. Since the liquid phase environment influences the adsorption properties and reactivity of solid catalysts and porous materials, significant performance changes have been observed as a function of solvent properties for various industrial catalytic and separation processes. There is a need to better understand these solvation effects on processes at solid-liquid interfaces and to develop novel multiscale models that permit one to explore solvation effects on surface catalyzed reactions and during adsorption in porous media such as zeolites. …

Economic Feasibility Of A Methanol To Dimethyl Ether Production Process To Avoid Contract Failure Shortfalls From The Covid-19 Pandemic, Jacob Noll, Robert Wasson, Harrison Mckinnis

Honors Theses

Our team entered the 2021 AVEVA Academic Competition, where teams of undergraduate senior chemical engineering students competed across the country. The competition was composed of two parts: the base case design and the optimization of a chemical process. As part of the competition, our team is acting as the Engineering team for a fictional company that has given us this project. Due to COVID-19, our methanol producing company has lost a contract with a customer, leaving 23,000 tonnes/yr of unclaimed methanol. We have two choices with this methanol: either sell the methanol on the market at the spot price for …

Detection Of Nucleotides In Hydrated Ssdna Via 2-D H-Bn Nanopore With Ionic-Liquid/Salt-Water Interface, Jungsoo Lee

Multidisciplinary Studies Theses and Dissertations

Accomplishing slow translocation speed with high sensitivity has been the greatest mission for solid-state nanopore (SSN) to electrically detect nucleobases in single-stranded DNA (ssDNA). In this study, a method to detect nucleobases in ssDNA using a SSN is introduced by considerably slowing down the translocation speed and effectively increasing its sensitivity. The ultra-thin titanium dioxide (TiO₂) coated hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) nanopore was fabricated, along with an ionic-liquid [bmim][PF₆]/2.0 M KCl aqueous (cis/trans) interfacial system, to increase both the spatial and the temporal resolutions. As the ssDNA molecules entered the nanopore, a …

Engineering Dopant Position In Structure-Controlled Ceo2-Zro2 Catalysts, Behnam Safavinia

LSU Master's Theses

CeO₂-ZrO₂ (CZO) nanoparticles (NPs) have application in many catalytic reactions, such as methane reformation, due to their oxygen cycling ability. Ni doping has been shown to improve the catalytic activity and acts as an active site for the decomposition of methane. In this work, Ni:CZO NPs were synthesized via a two-step co-precipitation/molten salt synthesis to compare Ni distribution, oxygen vacancy concentration, and catalytic activity relative to a reference state-of-the-art catalyst. To better understand the effects of Ni position and dispersion, and oxygen vacancy formation in these materials, the Ni concentration, reaction time, and deposition methods were varied. …

Che 472-Hm2: Process And Plant Design Honors, Nellone Reid

Chemical and Materials Engineering Syllabi

No abstract provided.

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- …

Chronoamperometry Analysis Of Sweat Sensor Technology, Evan Fritz

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Due to the demand for in-situ electrolyte sodium sensors, prototype sensors have been produced to create a product for athletes and marathoners to monitor hydration levels. These senors address a desire in the marketplace for athletic monitoring for overall athlete wellness and performance. Sweat sensor samples were created using Multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes functionalized on a Nylon-6 fiber mat using cyclo-oligomeric Calixarene. This production process produces sensors capable of detecting sodium ion concentration present in human sweat in presence of an electric current. Chronoamperometry analysis is used in this manner to determine the functionality of the sensors. Much of the research …

Application Of A Light Switchable System In Redirecting Escherichia Coli Metabolic Fluxes, Xintong Xia

Graduate Theses - Chemical Engineering

Optogenetics has gained increasing attention for enabling reversible and non-invasive control in biochemical engineering. The purpose of this project is to investigate the application of a genetically engineered light-switchable system, Cph8-OmpR, for controlling the accumulation of the useful central metabolite glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) in Escherichia coli. This could be accomplished by linking expression of an adaptor protein, SspB, which increases enzyme phosphofructokinase (Pfk) degradation, with different light intensities. Pfk is the enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of fructose-6-phosphate (F6P), an isomer of G6P from an equilibrium reaction, to fructose 1,6-biphosphate for downstream metabolism. This step is considered the major control point …

Opto-Thermal Characterization Of Plasmon And Coupled Lattice Resonances In 2-D Metamaterial Arrays, Vinith Bejugam

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Growing population and climate change inevitably requires longstanding dependency on sustainable sources of energy that are conducive to ecological balance, economies of scale and reduction of waste heat. Plasmonic-photonic systems are at the forefront of offering a promising path towards efficient light harvesting for enhanced optoelectronics, sensing, and chemical separations. Two-dimensional (2-D) metamaterial arrays of plasmonic nanoparticles arranged in polymer lattices developed herein support thermoplasmonic heating at off-resonances (near infrared, NIR) in addition to regular plasmonic resonances (visible), which extends their applicability compared to random dispersions. Especially, thermal responses of 2-D arrays at coupled lattice resonance (CLR) wavelengths were comparable …

A Proposed Process And Economic Analysis For A Manufacturing Facility For Nylon 6,6, Perry Doles

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The global nylon market is a multi-billion-dollar industry that has been thriving in recent years due to advances in the process technology and its flexibility as a material. Nylon 6,6 is a versatile material with uses in many industries because of its ability manipulated into many forms. It is commonly used in applications that require heat resistance, chemical resistance, and high mechanical strength. It is commonly used in luggage, car parts, carpets, and many other plastic products that require the properties that nylon 6,6 exhibits. The versatility and demand for nylon 6,6 make it an attractive process for many potential …

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, …

Kinetics And Ensemble Dynamics Of Colloidal Ellipsoids Near An Ac Electrode, Jiarui Yan

ETD Archive

The manipulation of colloidal particles via applying electric fields has been studied over the past 30 years due to the unique properties associated with the fabricated colloidal crystals. Most works in this field focused on utilizing an alternating current (AC) electric field with spherical particles. However, utilizing spherical colloidal particles as building blocks for complex microstructures has been challenging. Consequently, more recent work has shifted to employing complex colloids (anisotropic in nature) as building blocks for advanced materials. In our work, the phase diagram and the kinetics of assembling colloidal polystyrene ellipsoids under an AC electric field at low frequencies …

Modeling Liver Diseases Using Hepatic Cell Microarrays, Alexander David Roth

ETD Archive

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is an invasive and aggressive cancer of the liver that arises due to chronic cirrhosis. Research into understanding HCC has focused on two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) technologies to simulate the liver microenvironment and use animal models to model how HCC affects the rest of the body. 3D hydrogel models are desired because they can mimic the transport behavior observed in vivo by structurally mimicking the extracellular matrix (ECM) without the ethical concerns of animal models. However, hydrogels can be toxic to cells and require optimal procedures for appropriate handling. In this study, we created 3D models …

Limits Of Small Scale Pressure Swing Adsorption, Aaron A. Moran

ETD Archive

Portable or small scale pressure swing adsorption (PSA) systems have gained increasing popularity in both industry and literature due to the commercial success of personal oxygen concentrators (POCs). While these processes have much in common with larger PSA systems, significant differences exist that make understanding process limitations difficult. These include faster cycle times, smaller adsorbent particles, and a reduced column size. Macropore diffusion is traditionally assumed to control the mass transfer rate in columns packed with zeolite particles in an oxygen production process. While numerous studies have confirmed this assumption for the particle size used in industrial size PSA processes, …

Influence Of Natural Convection During Dendritic Array Growth Of Metal Alloys (Gradient Freeze Directional Solidification), Suyog N. Mahajan

ETD Archive

Purpose of this study was to examine the microstructural evolution of primary dendrites during Gradient Freeze Directional Solidification process in cylindrical Pb-5.8% Sb alloy samples to generate the ground- based research data to support a future microgravity experiment on the Space Station in a convection free environment. Pb-5.8Sb was selected for this study because of its ease of processing and availability of physical property data which will be required for predicting the dendrite morphology parameters, such as, primary dendrite spacing and dendrite trunk diameter. This alloy is also susceptible to thermosolutal convection caused by density inversion of the met in …

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 …

Determination Of Growth Kinetics, Yield Coefficients And Biodiesel Properties For The Green Microalgae Scenedesmus Dimorphus In Freshwater And Saline Medias, Morgan L. Cohara

ETD Archive

Of the many alternative resources capable of generating biofuel, microalgal oil serves as a promising feedstock. Unfortunately, biodiesel production from microalgae is currently hindered by high operational costs. One primary causes for these high costs is the large quantity of freshwater required for cultivation. This experiment was designed to assess the feasibility of growing the green, freshwater microalgae Scenedesmus dimorphus in an increasingly saline environment. Both average yield coefficients and growth rates were monitored with increasing salt concentration. Determination of average yield coefficients allows for process scale-up and the optimization of production costs by minimizing raw material waste. Salinity was …

High-Throughput Metabolism-Induced Toxicity Assays On A 384-Pillar Plate, Sooyeion Kang

ETD Archive

The U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched the Transform Tox Testing Challenge in 2016 with the goal of developing practical methods that can be integrated into conventional high-throughput screening (HTS) assays to better predict the toxicity of parent compounds and their metabolites in vivo. In response to this need and to retrofit existing HTS assays for assessing metabolism-induced toxicity of compounds, we have developed a 384-pillar plate that is complementary to traditional 384-well plates and ideally suited for culturing human cells in three dimensions (3D) at a microscale. Briefly, human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells in a mixture of alginate …

Current State Of The Assets In The Chemical Engineering Laboratory At Rose-Hulman Institute Of Technology And Their Use In The Undergraduate Laboratory Course Sequence, Matthew Adams

Graduate Theses - Chemical Engineering

The Chemical Engineering Laboratory, also referred to as the Unit Operations (UO) Laboratory, is integral to any undergraduate Chemical Engineering curriculum as it provides students with the opportunity to gain practical and hands-on experience with processes that are commonplace throughout industry. The Chemical Engineering Department at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology prides itself in providing its students with a practical education that will allow for an easy transition into industry as well as continued success throughout the students’ careers; as such, the assets in the Chemical Engineering Laboratory space and their use are paramount to this objective. The Chemical Engineering Department …