Chemical Engineering Commons^™

Nanoparticle Burst Timing Optimization, Simon Grigoryan

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Microfluidic Generation Of Orthogonal Chemical Gradients To Study Cellular Decision Making During 3d Migration, Joshua M. Campbell

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Hierarchal Control Of Magnetic Metal Oxide Nanoparticles, Hunter Simonson

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

The Use Of Multi-Targeting Natural Products For The Treatment Of Cancer, Wesley Taylor

Theses and Dissertations

The paradigm shift in cancer treatments from traditional chemotherapeutics to targeted therapies has rapidly improved prognoses for patients for whom cancer was once a death sentence. This is especially true in the case of targeted immune therapies which activate the body’s own natural defense system to fight cancer. Despite these advances, however, cancer remains the second leading cause of death in the United States. The promise of targeted therapeutics has faced significant hurdles in providing effective cancer treatments, namely the limited percentage of susceptible cancers for each treatment, high cost burden, high toxicities, and significant risk of treatment induced resistance. …

Electrode Development And Electrocatalysts Design For Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells, Xiong Peng

Theses and Dissertations

Because of environmental issues and national conflicts caused by overuse of fossil fuels, there is a need to seek renewable ways to utilize energy. In the transportation sector, hydrogen-based polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, including proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) and anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs), have been considered as a promising alternative to conventional combustion engines. However, the widespread commercialization of both PEMFCs and AEMFCs has been hindered by several factors, including cost and performance. In this thesis, a series of topics including electrode fabrication, electrocatalyst development for both PEMFCs and AEMFCs, as well as the water …

Heterogeneous Catalysis For The Upgrading Of Biomass Derived Chemicals Via Hydrodeoxygenation, Elizabeth Barrow

Theses and Dissertations

An important step in the upgrading of biomass derived chemicals is the removal of excess oxygen. The works reported here are focused on studying the heterogeneous catalysts that can be utilized for that upgrading through hydrodeoxygenation. This work begins with a discussion of the alkylation of short chain platform chemicals for chain growth and also demonstrates the proof of concept of combining alkylation and hydrodeoxygenation in a single step. Then, because of the promising nature of ReOx- Pd/CeO2 for selective hydrodeoxygenation, a detailed study of ReOx/CeO2 is presented. Finally, a new surface structure interpretation is presented for P/Ni(111) which could …

Development Of Biodegradable -Polylactic Acid - Date Palm Waste Composite As Thermal Insulation Material, Mohamed Saeed Barkhad

Theses

This study aims to develop a green polymer composite from local natural waste, such as date pit powder (DPP) and date palm wood powder (DPWP), as an insulating material. The recycling and reuse of natural waste as filler for green insulation materials has many significant benefits for the environment of the UAE.

Date palm waste was mixed with a polylactic acid (PLA) polymer with various proportions in a melt extruder. The mixtures produced were then shaped differently after testing in a thermal compression machine. These composites were tested to evaluate their physical (water absorption, chemical resistance, and bulk density), thermal …

Generation Of Silver Nanoparticle Pharmacokinetic Profiles In A Lung Model, Rachel Galaska

Honors Theses

Nanomaterial technologies are becoming increasingly prevalent in consumer and industrial applications, including drug delivery, energy harvesting, environmental applications, and medicine due to their unique physiochemical properties. As nanomaterial use increases, so too does human exposure. This has made it progressively more important to understand the toxicological effects of nanomaterials and their interactions with the human body. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are one of the most commonly used nanomaterials due to their antibacterial properties. As inhalation is one of the most common exposure routes, understanding the toxicity of these AgNPs on lung tissue was studied. Using A549 cells for a lung tissue …

Effect Of Activated Carbon On The Performance Of A Solar Thermal Adsorptive Refrigerator (Star) Using Activated Carbon-Ethanol, Joshua Romo

Honors Theses

The Solar Thermal Adsorptive Refrigerator (STAR) project at the University of Dayton seeks to bridge sustainability and the need for reliable refrigeration in developing communities. Cost-effective construction, operation, and maintenance as well as the use of a sustainable adsorption pair, activated carbon-ethanol, give STAR great potential in the realm of humanitarian engineering. This project explores the effect of using two activated carbon brands, 8x16 and CocoPlus, on the cyclic performance of the STAR system. Although both brands have similar specifications given by the manufacturer, one (8x16) inhibited successful performance while the other (CocoPlus) enabled it. This project highlights both the …

Wavelet Transform On Digital Rainbow Hologram Based On Spectral Compression For Quality Enhancement In 3d Display Media, Ucuk Darusalam, Panca Dewi Pamungkasari

Makara Journal of Technology

A digital rainbow hologram (DRH) is a potential next-generation three-dimensional display media for the development of modern and smart electronics devices. It is one of the methods that can support the characteristic whereby a realistic display media occupies the space that the real object would have occupied. Since a rainbow hologram records a large amount of spatial or temporal frequency component from the object that represents the rainbow spectrum, a large amount of information needs to be decoded digitally. In this paper, to reconstruct a DRH, we propose a novel method based on the modulation of red, green, and blue …

Data Fusion Method Based On Adaptive Kalman Filtering, Bernadus Herdi Sirenden

Makara Journal of Technology

This paper discusses data fusion methods to combine the data from a rotary encoder and ultrasonic sensor. Both sensors are used in a micro-flow calibration system developed by the Research Center of Metrology LIPI. The methods studied are hierarchical data fusion and Kalman filtering. Three types of Kalman filters (KFs) are compared: the conventional Kalman filter and two adaptive Kalman filters. Moreover, a method to combine the uncertainty results from KF in hierarchical data fusion is proposed. The aim of this study is to find appropriate methods of data fusion that can be implemented in micro-flow calibration systems. Data from …

Intelligent Machine Learning: Tailor-Making Macromolecules, Yousef Mohammadi, Mohammad Reza Saeb, Alexander Penlidis, Esmaiel Jabbari, Florian J. Stadler, Philippe Zinck, Krzysztof Matyjaszewski

Faculty Publications

Nowadays, polymer reaction engineers seek robust and effective tools to synthesize complex macromolecules with well-defined and desirable microstructural and architectural characteristics. Over the past few decades, several promising approaches, such as controlled living (co)polymerization systems and chain-shuttling reactions have been proposed and widely applied to synthesize rather complex macromolecules with controlled monomer sequences. Despite the unique potential of the newly developed techniques, tailor-making the microstructure of macromolecules by suggesting the most appropriate polymerization recipe still remains a very challenging task. In the current work, two versatile and powerful tools capable of effectively addressing the aforementioned questions have been proposed and …

Process Design: Maleic Anhydride Unit, Valerie Kay, Jacqueline Phillips, Olivia Smithson

Senior Theses

Gamecock Chemical Company has proposed the construction of a maleic anhydride plant at its Houston refinery. The plant is to produce 40,000 metric tons per year of maleic anhydride from a mixture of excess butanes. This design team has been asked to produce a conceptual design, simulation, and profitability analysis for the proposed plant. The simulation software Aspen Plus by AspenTech was the primary software used to design the plant, and the CAPCOST program in Microsoft suite’s Excel was utilized for the economic review of the process.

Maleic anhydride is produced by the thermal oxidation of n-butane at an elevated …

Transformation Of Char Carbon During Bubbling Fluidized Bed Gasification Of Biomass, Kevin Timmer, Robert C. Brown

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

This study focuses on the fate of carbon in the char generated by devolatilization of biomass during fluidized bed gasification. A carbon balance model was developed to distinguish between char transformed to carbon-bearing gases and its comminution and elutriation as fine char during gasification. The model accurately predicts the transient accumulation of char carbon in the reactor. Experiments revealed steady state reactor char carbon loadings were achieved after multiple hours of gasification. The model formed the basis of an experimental methodology that assesses the transformation of char carbon based on collection of elutriated solids from the reactor and assessment of …

Horizontal Flow Loop Design For The Study Of Drill String Rotation Effects On Cuttings Transport, David C. Rathgeber

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Exploration and Production companies are continually focusing more time, energy and resources into Extended Reach Drilling in order to maximize reservoir production while minimizing both environmental impact and development costs. These long laterals (2:1 Measured Depth: True Vertical Depth) are often more difficult to drill and can be severely impacted by inadequate drilling practices. Cuttings transport efficiency is a critical parameter of Extended Reach Drilling operations, and poor wellbore cleaning can lead to excessive torque, drag, and several other serious downhole problems.

Although many studies have been performed that identify the importance of drill string rotation on cuttings movement, there …

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 …

Hazard And Operability Analysis Of An Ethylene Oxide Production Plant, Samantha Ciricillo

Senior Theses

The purpose of this work was to evaluate potential hazards and failures as part of the design and economic analysis for a chemical plant that would produce 150,000 tons of ethylene oxide per year. The Hazard and Operability (HAZOP) method of analysis was used to accomplish this goal. This method of hazard analysis involves brainstorming potential errors in a system by examining each element of each process unit in full detail. This project was focused on the reactor unit because the reactor has several important parameters that could fail, resulting in safety issues within the system. Input for this analysis …

Experimental Investigation Of The Manufacture Of Tunable Graphene Oxide Filter Membranes Using Intense Pulse Light, Joshua H Kotter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Reduced graphene oxide is a thin, strong, and inexpensive material with a channel and pore structure that make it a promising candidate for a filtration material. Reduced graphene oxide has been produced and tested in the laboratory, but a lack of scalable manufacturing techniques have limited its commercial use.

This thesis has shown that graphene oxide can be rapidly manufactured with an industrially scalable flash reduction process. The flash reduction process uses 0.58 millisecond pulses from a xenon lamp to reduce the graphene oxide film in less than a minute. Results for partially reduced graphene oxide membranes tuned by the …

Revisiting The Butler-Mokrys Model For The Vapor-Extraction Process, Vijitha Mohan, Partho Neogi, Baojun Bai

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The dynamics of a process in which a solvent in the form of a vapor or gas is introduced in a heavy-oil reservoir is considered. The process is called the solvent vapor-extraction process (VAPEX). When the vapor dissolves in the oil, it reduces its viscosity, allowing oil to flow under gravity and be collected at the bottom producer well. The conservation-of-species equation is analyzed to obtain a more-appropriate equation that differentiates between the velocity within the oil and the velocity at the interface, which can be solved to obtain a concentration profile of the solvent in oil. We diverge from …

Production Of Anti-Corrosion Materials From Uae Date Palm Waste, Nour Shehadeh Abdelrahman

Theses

Palm tree serves as the main source of biomass in the Gulf countries. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) alone is blessed with more than 40 million date palm trees, which generate a huge amount of waste annually. The main objective of this thesis is to examine the ability to produce a corrosion inhibitor from a date palm tree, waste, starting by extracting lignin from different parts of the date palm tree and characterizing the extracted lignin, converting lignin to sodium lignosulfonate, while selecting the optimum condition for the conversion reaction and characterizing the prepared lignosulfonate. Finally, the corrosion efficiency for …

Investigating Green Inhibitors For Acidic Corrosion Of Carbon Steel, Osama Abu-Alyosr Kamal Ibrahim

Theses

This study is intended to investigate Khalas palm date pits extract as a green corrosion inhibitor alternative to commercial inhibitors. Inhibition efficiency of the obtained extract was investigated on carbon steel grade S355JR immersed in different corrosive mediums of 2 molarity hydrochloric acid (������) solution and seawater solution. Along with other ingredients in palm date pits, Polyphenolic compounds have a significant anti-oxidation property and were found effective in reducing corrosion rate.

Due to its common industrial applications, Carbon steel was used in this investigation as the corroding medium, while 2M ������ and seawater solutions were used separately as the corrosive …

Natural Gas Conversion Into Value Added Chemicals Using Solid Acid Catalysts, Swarom Ravindra Kanitkar

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Direct, non-oxidative conversion of natural gas to value-added chemicals has been identified as one of the grand challenges of the 21^st century. Circumventing indirect and costly reforming steps is highly sought after and solid acids can play an important role in that.

The direct conversion of methane to higher hydrocarbons and hydrogen can be catalyzed using “superacids” at < 450 °C. Reported superacid catalysts in solid, liquid, and gas phase included sulfated zirconia (SZ), HF-SbF₅, FSO₃H-SbF₅, and HBr-AlBr₃. Liquid and gas phase superacids presented difficulties in separation while the solid ones provided low yields. Here, we report a new class of Br-based solid superacids, AlBr_x/H-ZSM-5 (“ABZ-5”, …

Tin Assisted Fully Exposed Platinum Clusters Stabilized On Defect-Rich Graphene For Dehydrogenation Reaction, Jiayun Zhang, Yuchen Deng, Xiangbin Cai, Yunlei Chen, Mi Peng, Zhimin Jia, Zheng Jiang, Pengju Ren, Siyu Yao, Jinglin Xie, Dequan Xiao, Xiao-Dong Wen, Ning Wang, Hongyang Liu, Ding Ma

Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Faculty Publications

Tin assisted fully exposed Pt clusters are fabricated on the core-shell nanodiamond@graphene (ND@G) hybrid support (a-PtSn/ND@G). The obtained atomically dispersed Pt clusters, with an average Pt atom number of 3, were anchored over the ND@Gsupport by the assistance of Sn atoms as a partition agent and through the Pt-C bond between Pt clusters and defect-rich graphene nanoshell. The atomically dispersed Pt clusters guaranteed a full metal availability to the reactants, a high thermal stability, and an optimized adsorption/desorption behavior. It inhibits the side reactions and enhances catalytic performance in direct dehydrogenation of n-butane at a low temperature of 450 °C, …

Design Of A Portable Biogas Purification And Storage System, Anikumar Kosna, Bade Shrestha

Faculty Research and Creative Activities Award (FRACAA)

The objective of this study is to propose and design a commercial portable purification and storage system to commercialize biogas (which mainly consists of 45 - 75 % of methane and 15 - 16% of carbon dioxide), produced from household/non-commercial biogas plants. The selection of purification process is based on the portability of the purification system.

Photocatalytic Degradation Of Profenofos And Triazophos Residues In The Chinese Cabbage, Brassica Chinensis, Using Ce-Doped Tio2, Xiangying Liu, You Zhan, Zhongqin Zhang, Lang Pan, Lifeng Hui, Kailin Liu, Xuguo Zhou, Lianyang Bai

Entomology Faculty Publications

Pesticides have revolutionized the modern day of agriculture and substantially reduced crop losses. Synthetic pesticides pose a potential risk to the ecosystem and to the non-target organisms due to their persistency and bioaccumulation in the environment. In recent years, a light-mediated advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) has been adopted to resolve pesticide residue issues in the field. Among the current available semiconductors, titanium dioxide (TiO₂) is one of the most promising photocatalysts. In this study, we investigated the photocatalytic degradation of profenofos and triazophos residues in Chinese cabbage, Brassica chinensis, using a Cerium-doped nano semiconductor TiO₂ (TiO …

Bio-Based Thiol-Ene Polymer Electrolytes, Elyse Antonia Baroncini

Theses and Dissertations

Industrial and consumer demand for smaller and safer technologies motivates a global research effort to improve electrolytic polymer separators in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). To incorporate the aromatic structural advantages of lignin, an abundant and renewable resource, into polymer electrolytes, molecules that can be derived from lignin are functionalized and UV-polymerized with multifunctional thiol monomers. Monomer aromaticity, thiol molecular weight, and total functionality are varied, allowing for analysis of the relationships between polymer structure and electrochemical properties.

The synthesized polymers display conductivities on the order of 10^-5 S/cm for gel polymer electrolytes and 10^-4 S/cm for solid polymer electrolytes, comparable to …

3d Printed Zeolite Monoliths For Co₂ Removal, Fateme Rezaei, Harshul V. Thakkar

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture materials comprising one or more 3D-printed zeolite monoliths for the capture and or removal of CO₂ from air or gases in enclosed compartments, including gases or mixtures of gases having less than about 5% CO₂. Methods for preparing 3D-printed zeolite monoliths useful as CO₂ capture materials and filters, as well as methods of removing CO₂ from a gas or mixture of gases in an enclosed compartment using 3D-printed zeolite monoliths are provided.

Examination Of Flow Dynamics And Passive Cooling In An Ultra Compact Combustor, Tylor C. Rathsack

Theses and Dissertations

The Ultra Compact Combustor (UCC) promises to greatly reduce the size of a gas turbine engine’s combustor by altering the manner in which fuel is burnt. Differing from the common axial flow combustor, the UCC utilizes a rotating flow, coaxial to the engine’s primary axis, in an outboard circumferential cavity as the primary combustion zone. The present study investigates two key UCC facets required to further this combustor design. The first area of investigation is cooling of the Hybrid Guide Vane (HGV). This UCC specific hardware acts as a combustor center body that alters the exit flow angle and acts …

Tactical Missile Performance For Single And Multi-Wire Embedded Propellant Configurations With Discontinuities, Paul B. Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

This research analyzes the performance of a nominal air-to-air tactical missile with varying configurations of wire-embedded end-burning solid propellant grains. Single and multi-wire models are developed to determine if total impulse and range is improved. Discontinuities in the wires are simulated to determine if gaps in the wire will affect overall performance. Five wire materials, seven wire diameters, and nine different break locations are tested. This research demonstrates wire discontinuities have negligible impact on performance and carbon nanotube fibers can theoretically improve total impulse by up to 25% compared to radially burning boost-phase grains while providing similar thrust outputs.

Scaling Film Cooling Adiabatic Effectiveness With Mass Transfer And Thermal Experimental Techniques, Luke J. Mcnamara

Theses and Dissertations

With increasing engine temperatures, it is becoming more important to design effective film cooling schemes. Low temperature, large scale tests are often implemented in the design process to reduce cost and complexity. A nondimensional adiabatic effectiveness can be used as an indication of the performance of a film cooling scheme. However, the coolant flow rate must be properly scaled between the low temperature tests and engine temperatures to accurately predict film cooling effectiveness. This process is complicated by gas property variation with temperature. Tests are commonly conducted using thermal measurement techniques with infrared thermography (IR), but the use of pressure …