Chemical Engineering Commons^™

Scale Up Of A Novel Method To Maximize Malonyl-Coa In Escherichia Coli, Clifford Harris Leblanc Iv

LSU Master's Theses

The instability of oil’s price along with its limited availability and impact on the environment motivate the search for an alternative feedstock that can sustain the profitability of chemical companies. Industrial biotechnology can promote renewable sources of energy and products by using microorganisms to produce a wide range of chemical compounds. The three-carbon metabolite, malonyl-CoA, can serve as a precursor to a variety of industrial chemicals. The major hurdle with using malonyl-CoA in industry is that its intracellular concentration in Escherichia Coli is very low. Previous attempts to increase the intracellular level of malonyl-CoA have ranged from genetic engineering of …

Microkinetic Modeling Of Acetone Hydrogenation Over Different Metal Surfaces With And Without Lateral Interactions In Julia, Emir Hadzic

Theses - ALL

Biomass conversion into near net zero carbon emission fuels as well as intermediates for other products is just one of the technologies that will help reduce the use of fossil fuels. When biomass is being converted to useful products the intermediate steps are often oxygen rich with carbonyl groups. These are further processed using metal catalysts such as platinum and ruthenium. Microkinetic modeling allows for these catalysts to be studied under various operating conditions. Previously hydrogenation of acetone over platinum and ruthenium was studied using algebraic models without lateral interactions with step 3 and 4 being rate determining for Pt …

Effect Of Organic Acids On Co2-Rock And Water-Rock Interfacial Tension: Implications For Co2 Geo-Storage, Ahmed Al-Yaseri, Nurudeen Yekeen, Muhammad Ali, Nilanjan Pal, Amit Verma, Hesham Abdulelah, Hussein Hoteit, Mohammad Sarmadivaleh

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

A small concentration of organic acid in carbon dioxide (CO2) storage formations and caprocks could significantly alter the wettability of such formations into less water-wet conditions, decreasing the CO2-storage potential and containment security. Recent studies have attempted to infer the influence of the organic acid concentration on the wettability of rock–CO2–brine systems by measuring advancing and receding contact angles. However, no studies have investigated the influence of organic acid contamination on CO2-storage capacities from rock-fluid interfacial tension (IFT) data because solid-brine and solid-CO2 IFT values cannot be experimentally measured. Equilibrium contact angles and rock-fluid IFT datasets were used to evaluate …

New Solid Polymer Electrolytes For Lithium, Sodium, And Calcium-Based Batteries, Francielli Silva Genier

Dissertations - ALL

The establishment of sustainable energy sources highly depends on efficient storage devices to guarantee a consistent power supply. The growing demand for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) for this purpose, combined with concerns about lithium availability, has motivated the search for viable storage alternatives, such as sodium and calcium. While several studies have investigated different lithium-free liquid electrolytes, the transport of these alternative ions in their polymer counterparts remains understudied. The advantages of solid polymer electrolytes include the possibility of higher energy density in solid-state devices and the elimination of safety concerns associated with liquid electrolytes, such as flammability, leakage, and dendrite …

Molecular Theoretical Model For Lipid Bilayers: Adsorption Of Lipidated Proteins On Lipid Bilayers As A Function Of Bilayer Composition And Curvature, Shauna Celeste Kennard

Theses and Dissertations

Protein localization on biological membranes is motivated by either highly selective recognition of specific target membrane components or nonspecific attraction to general physical properties of the membrane, such as charge, lipid heterogeneity, and curvature. Here we discuss the interaction between lipidated proteins and lipid bilayer membranes from a comprehensive examination of how features of the membrane and its lipid constituents, including lipid composition, headgroup size, degree of tail saturation, tail length (bilayer thickness), and membrane geometry, affect the adsorption ability of the proteins. Of key importance is the strong interconnection among these compositional and morphological elements of the membrane in …

Metastable Olivine Within Oceanic Lithosphere In The Uppermost Lower Mantle Beneath The Eastern United States, Fansheng Kong, Stephen S. Gao, Kelly H. Liu, Yinxia Fang, Hejun Zhu, Robert J. Stern, Jiabiao Li

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Approximately two-thirds of Earth's outermost shell is composed of oceanic plates that form at spreading ridges and recycle back to Earth's interior in subduction zones. A series of physical and chemical changes occur in the subducting lithospheric slab as the temperature and pressure increase with depth. In particular, olivine, the most abundant mineral in the upper mantle, progressively transforms to its high-pressure polymorphs near the mantle transition zone, which is bounded by the 410 km and 660 km discontinuities. However, whether olivine still exists in the core of slabs once they penetrate the 660 km discontinuity remains debated. Based on …

Experimentation And Correlation Development Of Mass Transfer In A Mimicked Fischer–Tropsch Slurry Bubble Column Reactor, Lu Han, Mahmoud M. Taha, Premkumar Kamalanathan, Nora Y. Selem, Muthanna H. Al-Dahhan

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Gas–liquid volumetric mass transfer coefficient "k_La " for CH₄, CO₂, and Ar were experimentally measured at different conditions in a mimicked Fischer–Tropsch (FT) slurry bubble column reactor by using a non-invasive gaseous tracer technique and the axial dispersion model. Results validate the square root relation, between k_La and diffusivity "D_g", that can be used to predict k_La for different species with k La values available in the literature. Additionally, Higbie's penetration theory was adopted along with bubble dynamics parameters estimation to develop a correlation for predicting k_{L …}

Understanding The Reaction Kinetics Of Polyurethane Flexible Foam, Caitlin Alma Mckinnon

Theses and Dissertations

Polyurethane flexible foam is used throughout daily life predominantly as cushions for chairs and mattresses. Currently new foams are made through extensive research and development via trial and error. There are many reactions interacting with each other during the polyurethane generation process. The numerous reactions create difficulty in modeling and predicting the physical attributes of a foam. This thesis explores the kinetics associated with each reaction to generate a simple model to understand the reaction kinetics with the addition of some additives. This thesis focused on creating the foams in a real-world environment, including allowing ambient water vapor to be …

Electrospun Hydrophobic Interaction Chromatography (Hic) Membranes For Protein Purification, Shu-Ting Chen, Sumith Ranil Wickramasinghe, Xianghong Qian

Chemical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Responsive membranes for hydrophobic interaction chromatography have been fabricated by functionalizing poly(N-vinylcaprolactam) (PVCL) ligands on the substrate of electrospun regenerated cellulose nanofibers. Both static and dynamic binding capacities and product recovery were investigated using bovine serum albumin (BSA) and Immunoglobulin G (IgG) as model proteins. The effects of ligand chain length and chain density on static binding capacity were also studied. A static binding capacity of ~25 mg/mL of membrane volume (MV) can be achieved in optimal ligand grafting conditions. For dynamic binding studies, protein binding capacity increased with protein concentration from 0.1 to 1.0 g/L. Dynamic binding capacity increased …

Effect Of Temperature, Catalyst Concentration And Time, On Polylactic Acid Production From Sisal Boles Juice By Ring Open Polymerization, Neema O. Msuya

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Polylactic acid (PLA) is a biodegradable and renewable alternative to non-biodegradable petrochemical-based polymers that is environmentally friendly and green. PLA can be made from a variety of agricultural wastes that contain sugars, such as sisal boles. This study aimed at analysing the possibility of producing PLA from lactic acid (LA) produced from sisal bole. A 2n factorial design was used to analyse the effects of temperature (160-180ºC), time (1-2 hrs) and tin octoate catalyst concentration (0.025-0.05%) on the PLA yield during polymerization. Minitab Version 20.2.0 was used to design the experiment and analyse the effects on the responses through ANOVA. …

The Effective Strategies For Mitigation The Impact Of Covid-19 On Construction Projects In Egypt, Nora Magdy Essa, Ibrahim Mahdi, Hassan Mohamed Ibrahim

Future Engineering Journal

From the time when the first narrated infections in Wuhan China, in late 2019, COVID-19 has had a substantial peal on human life and health. By the early of 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the eruption of COVID-19, a public health crisis of international concern. On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization officially announced COVID-19 a pandemic. The first case was infected in Egypt of covid-19 on Feb 14, 2020 (Gilbert et al., 2020). On 16 March 2020, the Egyptian Government began issuing decisions as preventative courses as part of the country's inclusive plan to cope with …

Estimating The Weights Of Latticed Power Transmission Towers Using Genetic Programming, Ahmed M. Ebid Dr.

Future Engineering Journal

The recent booming in the power network industry inspired a lot of researchers to develop models to estimate the optimum cost of transmission towers. Unlike previous researches which depended on design the tower from scratch, this research depends on collecting actual database from several projects around the globe and applying the well-known (GP) technique to develop a model to predict the tower weight. The accuracy of the developed formula was about 84%. The developed model could be used in early tender stage or to check design economy.

Effect Of Dispersions Of Al2o3 On The Physical And Mechanical Properties Of Pure Copper And Copper-Nickel Alloy, Samah El-Khatib, A. H. Elsayed, A. Y. Shash, A. El-Habak

Future Engineering Journal

This paper illustrates the mechanical and physical properties of pure Cu and Cu-Ni (50-50 wt. %) alloy mixed with Al₂O₃ (1-4 wt. %) as micro-particles reinforcement materials. The attained composite alloy specimens' characteristics were estimated such as microstructure, relative density, electrical and thermal conductivity, hardness, and compression yield stress properties to adjust the suitable optimum percentage of reinforcing material which has the best physical and mechanical properties with different main matrix materials whether pure Cu powder or Cu-Ni mechanical alloy. The micron-sized Al₂O₃ was added to enhance the mechanical and physical properties of the …

An Integrated Approach For Dynamic Process Modeling And Optimization Of Wastewater Treatment Facilities, Komal Rathore

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The subareas of process systems engineering including process modeling, simulation, and optimization are becoming progressively substantial for understanding processes, making decisions, improving efficiency, and complying with stricter environmental and safety legislation. Additionally, the availability of user-friendly flowsheet simulators and computational resources with the current trend of data collection and analysis has allowed for a more accurate representation of complex processes such as wastewater treatment systems. Despite all the progress in the areas of process modeling and simulation, the first-principle mechanistic models for wastewater treatment processes are at best employed during the design stage, and therefore, not used optimally for day-to-day …

Classification Of Teleseismic Shear Wave Splitting Measurements: A Convolutional Neural Network Approach, Yanwei Zhang, Stephen S. Gao

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Shear wave splitting (SWS) analysis is widely used to provide critical constraints on crustal and mantle structure and dynamic models. In order to obtain reliable splitting measurements, an essential step is to visually verify all the measurements to reject problematic measurements, a task that is increasingly time consuming due to the exponential increase in the amount of data. In this study, we utilized a convolutional neural network (CNN) based method to automatically select reliable SWS measurements. The CNN was trained by human-verified teleseismic SWS measurements and tested using synthetic SWS measurements. Application of the trained CNN to broadband seismic data …

Polymers And Composite Materials, Joshua P. Steimel

Pacific Open Texts

This text serves to cover in more detail polymer physics concepts and specifically how polymers respond from the atomistic to meter length scale. This text spans topics from polymerization chemistry, chain models, Flory-Huggins theory, viscosity, characterization techniques, self assembly, polymer dynamics, viscoelasticity, and mechanics of polymer and composite materials.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Development And Analysis Of Green Pathways For Biphasic Extraction At High Pressure, Kyle L. Cogswell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Technological advancements over the last century have allowed for advancements not only in science and engineering but medicine as well. The use of supercritical fluids for processing continues today after its initial boom in the latter part of the last century; often being paired with co-solvents to extend the range of use for this technique. Supercritical fluid extraction may be paired with pressurized warm water extraction to yield a new intensified process for biphasic extractions that improves efficiency and reduces waste. This combination may be used to replace sequential extraction processes or supercritical extraction processes that make use of organic …

Evaluation Of Aluminum Dissolution, Current Density, And Pitting Patterns During Electrocoagulation, Monica Castro Carias

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Electrocoagulation (EC) is a sustainable water treatment process involving the generation of coagulants on-site through the application of a voltage on metal (usually aluminum or iron alloys). The factors that impact EC system performance have been well researched, however further research is needed on the factors that impact anodic dissolution of aluminum electrodes, especially when the technology is transferred to full-scale applications. Electrode fouling is one of the factors that can impact dissolution of the anode during EC due to the formation of a protective oxide/hydroxide layer on the electrode surface. Previous studies have addressed electrode fouling by reversing polarity, …

Engineering The Lanthanide And Actinide Dopants Effects On The Local Environment Of Luminescent Complex Metal Oxide, Yuming Wang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Rare earth (RE) based phosphor materials are widely used as luminescent probes in high-temperature optical thermometry where standard methods are unsuitable. The current generation of luminescent thermometers lacks stability and energy transport within the operating temperature ranges. The challenge is developing an oxide-based material with high luminescence intensity and thermal sensitivity/stability, suitable for an optical temperature sensor/thermal barrier coating. This work aims to develop a fundamental understanding of the local environment surrounding RE or actinide dopants in metal oxide hosts to engineer their luminescence property. To maximize the luminescence, the local symmetry, doping concentration, and radiative/non-radiative relaxation pathways must be …

Non-Solvent Induced Phase Separation (Nips) For Fabricating High Filtration Efficiency (Fe) Polymeric Membranes For Face Mask And Air Filtration Applications, Ebuka A. Ogbuoji, Lauren Stephens, Amber Haycraft, Eric Woodridge, C. Escobar

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Protection against airborne viruses has become very relevant since the outbreak of SARSCoV-2. Nonwoven face masks along with heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) filters have been used extensively to reduce infection rates; however, some of these filter materials provide inadequate protection due to insufficient initial filtration efficiency (FE) and FE decrease with time. Flat sheet porous membranes, which have been used extensively to filter waterborne microbes and particulate matter due to their high FE have the potential to filter air pollutants without compromising its FE over time. Therefore, in this study, single layer polysulfone (PSf) membranes were fabricated via …

No Formation During Co-Combustion Of Coal With Two Thermally Treated Biomasses, Thomas Allgurén, Klas Andersson, Andrew R. Fry, Eric G. Eddings

Faculty Publications

The combustion behavior of biomass as a fuel varies dependent on source of the raw material, but also on the type of pre-treatment. In this work steam exploded and torrefied woody biomass were studied with respect to NOx formation in co-firing experiments. Most of the reported data is based on small scale experiments and simulations. In this work, however, have three different cases been investigated experimentally in a 1.5MWth combustor supported by reaction simulations. One case corresponds to firing 100% Utah bituminous coal and two cases where 15% of the coal (on a mass basis) has been replaced with either …

Comparative Analysis Of Reactive Power Compensation Devices In A Real Electric Substation, Hannan Tariq, Stanislav Czapp, Sarmad Tariq, Khalid Mehmood Cheema, Aqarib Hussain, Ahmad H. Milyani, Sultan Alghamdi, Z. M. Salem Elbarbary

Faculty Publications

A constant worldwide growing load stress over a power system compelled the practice of a reactive power injection to ensure an efficient power network. For this purpose, multiple technologies exist in the knowledge market out of which this paper emphasizes the usage of the flexible alternating current transmission system (FACTS) and presents a comparative study of the static var compensator (SVC) with the static synchronous compensator (STATCOM), inducted in a real electric substation. The aim is to improve the power factor (PF) and power quality and to encounter reliably extreme conditions. A 220 kV electric substation was opted for the …

Actuator Cyberattack Handling Using Lyapunov-Based Economic Model Predictive Control, Keshav Kasturi Rangan, Henrique Oyama, Helen Durand

Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Faculty Research Publications

Cybersecurity has gained increasing interest as a consequence of the potential impacts of cyberattacks on profits and safety. While attacks can affect various components of a plant, prior work from our group has focused on the impact of cyberattacks on control components such as process sensors and actuators and the development of detection strategies for cybersecurity derived from control theory. In this work, we provide greater focus on actuator attacks; specifically, we extend a detection and control strategy previously applied for sensor attacks and based on an optimization-based control technique called Lyapunov-based economic model predictive control (LEMPC) to detect attacks …

Test Methods For Image-Based Information In Next-Generation Manufacturing, Henrique Oyama, Dominic Messina, Renee O'Neill, Samantha Cherney, Minhazur Rahman, Keshav Kasturi Rangan, Govanni Gjonaj, Helen Durand

Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Faculty Research Publications

Typical control designs in the process systems engineering literature have assumed that the primary sensing methodologies are traditional instruments such as thermocouples. Dig- italization is changing the landscape for manufacturing, and data-based sensing modalities (e.g., image-based sensing) are becoming of greater interest for plant control. These considerations require novel test/evaluation solutions. For example, process systems engineering researchers may wish to test image-based sensors in simulation. In this work, we provide preliminary thoughts on how image-based technologies might be evaluated via simulation for process systems.

Quantum Computing And Resilient Design Perspectives For Cybersecurity Of Feedback Systems, Keshav Kasturi Rangan, Jihan Abou Halloun, Henrique Oyama, Samantha Cherney, Ilham Azali Assoumani, Nazir Jairazbhoy, Helen Durand, Simon Ka Ng

Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Faculty Research Publications

Cybersecurity of control systems is an important issue in next-generation manufac- turing that can impact both operational objectives (safety and performance) as well as process designs (via hazard analysis). Cyberattacks differ from faults in that they can be coordinated efforts to exploit system vulnerabilities to create otherwise unlikely hazard scenarios. Because coordination and targeted process manipulation can be characteristics of attacks, some of the tactics previously analyzed in our group from a control system cybersecurity perspective have incorporated randomness to attempt to thwart attacks. The underlying assumption for the generation of this randomness has been that it can be achieved …

Challenges And Opportunities For Next-Generation Manufacturing In Space, Kip Nieman, A. F. Leonard, Katie Tyrell, Dominic Messina, Rebecca Lopez, Helen Durand

Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Faculty Research Publications

With commercial space travel now a reality, the idea that people might spend time on other planets in the future seems to have greater potential. To make this possible, however, there needs to be flexible means for manufacturing in space to enable tooling or resources to be created when needed to handle unexpected situations. Next-generation manufacturing paradigms offer significant potential for the kind of flexibility that might be needed; however, they can result in increases in computation time compared to traditional control methods that could make many of the computing resources already available on earth attractive for use. Furthermore, resilience …

Exploring The Metabolic Landscape Of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Cells Using Genome-Scale Metabolic Modeling, Mohammad Mazharul Islam, Andrea Goertzen, Pankaj K. Singh, Rajib Saha

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Faculty Publications

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a major research focus because of its poor therapy response and dismal prognosis. PDAC cells adapt their metabolism to the surrounding environment, often relying on diverse nutrient sources. Because traditional experimental techniques appear exhaustive to find a viable therapeutic strategy, a highly curated and omics-informed PDAC genome-scale metabolic model was reconstructed using patient-specific transcriptomics data. From the model-predictions, several new metabolic functions were explored as potential therapeutic targets in addition to the known metabolic hallmarks of PDAC. Significant downregulation in the peroxisomal beta oxidation pathway, flux modulation in the carnitine shuttle system, and upregulation in …

Complex Rupture And Triggered Aseismic Creep During The 14 August 2021 Haiti Earthquake From Satellite Geodesy, Jeremy Maurer, R. Dutta, A. Vernon, S. Vajedian

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The 2021 August 14 MW 7.2 Nippes, Haiti earthquake occurred 75 km west of the epicenter of the 2010 Leogane earthquake (Haiti) on the transpressive Caribbean - North America plate boundary. We present an updated fault map for Hispaniola and model coseismic and early postseismic fault slip using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar and pixel offsets. We find the earthquake ruptured multiple segments of the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault Zone. Slip occurred in two main sub-events on either side of a restraining bend at Pic Macaya, with ∼2.7 m of peak reverse-slip east of the bend. To the west, slip jumps the …

Machine Learning Prediction Of Glass Transition Temperature Of Conjugated Polymers From Chemical Structure, Amirhadi Alesadi, Zhiqiang Cao, Zhaofan Li, Song Zhang, Haoyu Zhao, Xiaodan Gu, Wenjie Xia

Faculty Publications

Predicting the glass transition temperature (T_g) is of critical importance as it governs the thermomechanical performance of conjugated polymers (CPs). Here, we report a predictive modeling framework to predict T_g of CPs through the integration of machine learning (ML), molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, and experiments. With 154 T_g data collected, an ML model is developed by taking simplified “geometry” of six chemical building blocks as molecular features, where side-chain fraction, isolated rings, fused rings, and bridged rings features are identified as the dominant ones for T_g. MD simulations further unravel the fundamental roles …

Physics-Based Proxy Modeling Of Co2 Sequestration In Deep Saline Aquifers, Aaditya Khanal, Md Fahim Shahriar

Jasper Department of Chemical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The geological sequestration of CO2 in deep saline aquifers is one of the most effective strategies to reduce greenhouse emissions from the stationary point sources of CO2. However, it is a complex task to quantify the storage capacity of an aquifer as it is a function of various geological characteristics and operational decisions. This study applies physics-based proxy modeling by using multiple machine learning (ML) models to predict the CO2 trapping scenarios in a deep saline aquifer. A compositional reservoir simulator was used to develop a base case proxy model to simulate the CO2 trapping mechanisms (i.e., residual, solubility, and …