Biochemical and Biomolecular Engineering Commons^™

Lunar In-Situ Aluminum Production Through Molten Salt Electrolysis (Lisap-Mse), Jacob Ortega, Jeffrey D. Smith, Fateme Rezaei, David Bayless, William P. Schonberg, Daniel S. Stutts, Daoru Frank Han

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

The goal of Artemis is to establish a sustained presence on the Moon. To achieve so, numerous resources are necessary. The Moon contains several essential elements needed to sustain human presence. Most of those elements are trapped in the form of minerals. To refine those minerals into useful materials, reduction methods are needed. Most reduction methods on Earth require large amounts of mass and power which is unrealistic for early stages of building a lunar base. To solve this problem, we are developing a concept of Lunar In-Situ Aluminum Production through Molten Salt Electrolysis (LISAP-MSE).

The LISAP-MSE project, if successful, …

Effect Of Class C And Class F Fly Ash On Early-Age And Mature-Age Properties Of Calcium Sulfoaluminate Cement Paste, Sukanta K. Mondal, Carrie Clinton, Hongyan Ma, Aditya Kumar, Monday Uchenna Okoronkwo

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

To Promote the Sustainable Development of Eco-Efficient Calcium Sulfoaluminate (CSA) Cements through the Partial Replacement of the CSA Clinker with Supplementary Cementitious Waste Products, the Effects of Coal Fly Ashes on the Early-Age and Mature-Age Properties of a Calcium Sulfoaluminate (CSA)-Based Cement Paste Were Investigated. the Impacts of Both Class C and Class F Fly Ashes on the Rheological Properties, Hydration Kinetics, and Compressive Strength Development of CSA Cement Paste Were Studied. Rheology-Based Workability Parameters, Representing the Rate of Loss of Flowability, the Rate of Hardening, and the Placement Limit, Were Characterized for the Pastes Prepared with Fixed Water-To-Cement (W/c) …

Quantifying The Workability Of Calcium Sulfoaluminate Cement Paste Using Time-Dependent Rheology, Sukanta K. Mondal, Adam Welz, Carrie Clinton, Kamal Khayat, Aditya Kumar, Monday Uchenna Okoronkwo

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Poor workability is a common feature of calcium sulfoaluminate (CSA) cement paste. Multiple chemical admixtures, such as set retarders and dispersants, are frequently employed to improve the workability and delay the setting of CSA cement paste. A quantitative assessment of the compatibility, efficiency, and the effects of the admixtures on cement paste workability is critical for the design of an appropriate paste formulation and admixture proportioning. Very limited studies are available on the quantitative rheology-based method for evaluating the workability of calcium sulfoaluminate cement pastes. This study presents a novel and robust time-dependent rheological method for quantifying the workability of …

Feasibility Study Of Implementing Gamma-Ray Computed Tomography On Measuring Aggregate Distribution And Radiation Shielding Properties Of Concrete Samples, Omar Farid, Nima Farzadnia, Kamal Khayat, Muthanna H. Al-Dahhan

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Aggregate segregation is one of the key defects that impair the performance of concrete at fresh and hardened stages. This study aims to assess the feasibility of using an advanced technique to identify/scan/determine the aggregate segregation of concrete elements and determine radiation shielding properties of the concrete. The gamma-ray computed tomography (γ-CT) technique was employed to study aggregate distribution/dispersion in self-consolidating concrete (SCC). Accordingly, two SCC mixtures with moderate segregation (MS) and high segregation (HS) levels were cast and compared with highly stable SCC with no segregation (NS). The γ-CT scans were located on three different levels of concrete specimens …

Examining The Effect Of A Chitosan Biopolymer On Alkali-Activated Inorganic Material For Aqueous Pb(Ii) And Zn(Ii) Sorption, Sukanta K. Mondal, Chenglin Wu, Felix C. Nwadire, Ali A. Rownaghi, Aditya Kumar, Yusuf Adewuyi, Monday Uchenna Okoronkwo

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Biopolymers and alkali-activated materials have attracted a great deal of attention as adsorbents for the removal of heavy metal contaminants from aqueous solutions. Both materials are sustainable and feature unique properties, but biopolymers are relatively more expensive or difficult to prepare and exhibit low mechanical and surface properties, a narrow pH range, and thermal stability. In this study, hybrid adsorbents were prepared from both types of material, by alkali activation of low-cost fly ash precursors accompanied by incorporation of 0-2%mass chitosan biopolymer. Two types of alkaline activating solutions, NaOH and Na2SiO3, were employed to generate two sets of hybrid adsorbents …

Recent Advancements In Electrochemical Conversion Of Carbon Dioxide, Nandan Nag, Amit Kumar, Sumit Sharma, Sandeep Kumar, Amit K. Thakur

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide into eco-friendly and clean products is a promising approach to eradicate pollution. Although carbon dioxide emission is inhibited by the advent of renewable sources of energy, it is present in the atmosphere and needs to be cleaned. The reduction of carbon dioxide from atmospheric gases can be accomplished by its adsorption and subsequent transportation to electrolytic chambers, where it is reduced to hydrocarbons, organic acids or carbonates. This review focuses on developing a three compartment electrochemical cell to reduce carbon dioxide used as a catholyte. Various factors affecting the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide and …

Overcoming Technological Challenges For The Commercialization Of The Circulating Fluidized Bed Bioreactor For Municipal Wastewater Treatment, Michael J. Nelson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The fluidized bed bioreactor as an attached growth wastewater treatment process has demonstrated advantages over suspended growth processes for municipal wastewater treatment applications. However, previous studies have also demonstrated potentially serious disadvantages in terms of energy consumption and maximum reactor size of high flow applications.

In this work, a cost analysis using the CapdetWorks, supplemented by calibrated model data taken from GPS-X was performed to determine the cost effectiveness of the circulating fluidized bed bioreactor (CFBBR). This study demonstrated that the CFBBR is most cost competitive at low flow below 5 MGD. A 10%-20% reduction in net present values on …

Exploration Of The Sludge Biodiesel Pathway, Zachary Christman

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Wastewater sludge is an overlooked source of fat, oil, and grease (FOG) that could be converted into biodiesel. The United States produces about 8 million tons of sludge per year. The disposal cost for this amount of sludge is about 2 billion dollars. The widespread availability and low cost of sludge compared to other biodiesel raw materials make it an economical choice for a renewable fuel. Using sludge as a raw material can produce 25 to 30 mg per gram of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME); the main component of biodiesel. Sludge biodiesel has the potential of transforming a portion …

Process Water Recycling, Adrian Barron, Josiah Snider, Kyle Serpe

Scholar Week 2016 - present

The Millipore Sigma-Kankakee Site uses high volumes of water for many operations. One operation utilizes approximately 3600 L of water per batch every couple days and more than 3.8MM liters of water per year. The water is utilized as a component of the buffer washes used in the extraction process for cholesterol that involves various other components such as silica and ions such as sodium, sulfur, and phosphate. The washes that go through the process involve these components and large amounts of water that are then drained out of the facility. This volume is roughly 7% of the site's total …

Systems Analysis For Sustainability Assessment Of Biogas And Bio-Ch4 Production From Food Waste And Dairy Manure Mixtures In The Us, Sharath Kumar Ankathi

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The purpose of the dissertation is to relate systems analysis for bioenergy to identify optimum configurations for improved scenarios and to make better decisions in a systems perspective.

Chapter 1 is a review of the literature to identify the state of the knowledge in terms of systems analysis for anaerobic digestion (AD) bioenergy systems. The key outcomes from this review showed that anaerobic digestion of mixtures of food waste and animal manure has great potential to achieve economic and environmental benefits compared to other treatments of organic waste materials, such as landfilling or conventional manure management.

Chapter 2 focuses on …

Mechanisms Of Pathogen Inactivation In Wastewater And Pharmaceutical Applications, Christa L. Meingast

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Infectious diseases are a significant threat to public health. Though society enacts practices to prevent the spread of these dangerous diseases, challenges remain. Therefore, continual advancements in treatment and prevention are required. Wastewater treatment and viral clearance in pharmaceutical applications are two key health measures that prevent the spread of infections.

A low-cost, low-technology biosolids treatment process was developed to improve wastewater treatment by collecting key information on storage temperature, ammonia, volatile solids, moisture content, pH, and pathogen inactivation in biosolids over long-term storage at two wastewater treatment plants located in northern climates of the United States. Inactivation of pathogens …

Bioremediation Of Refinery Desalter Effluent Using Debaryomyces Hansenii And Parachlorella Kessleri, Leila Azimian

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Crude oil desalting operations produce an effluent stream which is challenging to treat due to its salt, heavy metal and hydrocarbon content. Consequently, desalter effluent (DE) is usually diluted into other effluent streams and sent to conventional wastewater treatment plants which may lead to upsets the plant operation.

In this study, a novel microbial approach was applied which investigated DE treatment using halotolerant yeast Debaryomyces hansenii (LAF-3 10 U) or the environmentally robust micro-algae Parachlorella kessleri strain CPCC 266. The effect of these two different approaches on both synthetic and actual DE was investigated in both batch and/or continuous mode. …

Biomethane Production From Distillery Wastewater, Zachary Christman

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Distillery wastewater treatment is a great ecological problem, for example, India produces 2.7 billion liters of alcohol that results in 40 billion liters of wastewater. However, this material can be seen as a resource since 11 million cubic meters of biogas at 60% methane could be produced in addition to cleaning the water. The distillery has two options of what to do with the biogas. The first is to use the biogas to fuel the distillery making the production plant more energy efficient and removing some of the need to buy natural gas. The other is to upgrade the biogas …

Radical Social Ecology As Deep Pragmatism: A Call To The Abolition Of Systemic Dissonance And The Minimization Of Entropic Chaos, Arielle Brender

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper aims to shed light on the dissonance caused by the superimposition of Dominant Human Systems on Natural Systems. I highlight the synthetic nature of Dominant Human Systems as egoic and linguistic phenomenon manufactured by a mere portion of the human population, which renders them inherently oppressive unto peoples and landscapes whose wisdom were barred from the design process. In pursuing a radical pragmatic approach to mending the simultaneous oppression and destruction of the human being and the earth, I highlight the necessity of minimizing entropic chaos caused by excess energy expenditure, an essential feature of systems that aim …

Maintaining And Controlling An Extrinsic Biofilm For Pathogen Removal In Dental Unit Water Lines, Bilal B. Al-Bataina

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The control of biofilm formation is a major concern for industrial, environmental, and public health. Undesirable biofilms can harbor different disease-causing pathogens and shorten the operational life of different equipment. On the other hand, beneficial biofilms are also used in various applications and managing its growth and activity can be desirable. Killing the biofilm does not usually incorporate the removal of the dead biofilm structure that is adhered to the surface. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to control biofilm formation; to be able to remove, inhibit, and enhance biofilm formation. This thesis investigated the use of norspermidine, D-amino …

Biobutanol Production From Cellulosic And Sugar-Based Feedstock From The Corn Plant, Reyna Gomez-Flores

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In this thesis, biobutanol production by biological fermentation was investigated from the corn plant, integrating two approaches. The first one was to utilize corn cobs, a cellulosic-based material. The second, using a new sugar-based material, sugarcorn juice. Utilizing suitable Clostridia strains for each substrate, these approaches converged into a biorefinery concept to produce renewable biofuels in Ontario, Canada. The corn cob pretreatment was carried out by a dilute acid method resulting in temperature as the variable with most significant effect towards glucose liberation. The enzymatic hydrolysis was performed utilizing a very low concentration of an enzymatic stock solution with approximately …

Sustainable Waste-To-Energy Technologies: Bioelectrochemical Systems, Rami Ziara, Bruce Dvorak, Jeyamkondan Subbiah

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

The food industry produces a large amount of waste and wastewater, of which most of the constituents are carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and organic fibers. Therefore food wastes are highly biodegradable and energy rich. Bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) are systems that use microorganisms to biochemically catalyze complex substrates into useful energy products, in which the catalytic reactions take place on electrodes. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are a type of bioelectrochemical systems that oxidize substrates and generate electric current. Microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) are another type of bioelectrochemical systems that use an external power source to catalyze the substrate into by-products such as …

Molecular Biogeochemistry Of A Poor Fen, Zhimin Song

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Variations in climate may rapidly change the carbon balance of peatlands and increase greenhouse gas emissions through accelerated decomposition of peat and dissolved organic matter (DOM). In this study, porewater samples were collected monthly from May to October in 2017 to study the effects of plant functional groups (PFGs) on DOM, dissolved inorganic and organic nitrogen through the season in a poor fen with replicate plots dominated by different PFGs in Nestoria, Michigan, USA (46.34˚N 88.16˚W). The composition of the peat porewater showed strong statistical significance with plot type and season.The observed PFG and season impact on the composition of …

A Bug’S Life: Integration Of Anaerobic Digestion And Bioelectrochemical Systems For Enhanced Energy Recovery From Wastewater Solids And Other Waste Substrates, Jeff Ryan Beegle

Masters Theses

Organic waste streams, like domestic wastewater and municipal solid waste, have the potential to be used as feedstocks for biotechnology processes to produce high value products and energy. This thesis investigated the technological, economical, and environmental potential for integrated anaerobic digestion (AD) and bioelectrochemical system (BES) platforms as they were theoretically and physically evaluated for energy recovery from domestic wastewater. The first chapter of this thesis compared the theoretical energy efficiencies of converting waste directly into electricity, using AD and BES alone and in various combinations. This chapter reviewed the experimentally demonstrated energy efficiencies reported in the literature with comparisons …

Disinfection By-Products Formation After Coagulation Of Algal Extracellular And Intracellular Organic Matters, Tianyiru Chen

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Algal organic matter (AOM) is found in high concentration during algal bloom season in drinking water systems, which is generally categorized into extracellular organic matter (EOM) and intracellular organic matter (IOM). These compounds are not well removed in traditional water treatment methods such as coagulation, and are the precursors of subsequent disinfection by-products (DBPs) during chlorination of water. In this study, EOM and IOM content of four different algae were quantified measuring dissolved organic carbon (DOC), UV absorbance at 254 nm and turbidity. Coagulation using alum (Al₂(SO₄)₃•16H₂O)was used to remove the algal …

Hydrothermal Liquefaction Of High-Water Content Biomass And Waste Materials For The Production Of Biogas And Bio-Crude Oil, Laleh Nazari

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Growing interest in renewable energies due to shrinking reserves of fossil fuels and climate change concerns have led to extensive research towards gaseous and liquid fuels production from renewable energy resources such as biomass and wastes. Energy generation from municipal and industrial wastes such as wastewater sludge is also environmental friendly way to deal with large volume of waste disposal with the additional advantage of eliminating part of the indirect greenhouse gas emissions from energy crops-derived biofuels.

In this thesis, a novel process for co-production of biogas and bio-crude oil from high-water-content wastewater sludge through hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) treatments is …

Characterization Of Biochars Produced From Peanut Hulls And Pine Wood With Different Pyrolysis Conditions, James W. Lee, Bob Hawkins, Michelle K. Kidder, Barbara R. Evans, A. C. Buchanan, Danny Day

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Background

Application of modern biomass pyrolysis methods for production of biofuels and biochar is potentially a significant approach to enable global carbon capture and sequestration. To realize this potential, it is essential to develop methods that produce biochar with the characteristics needed for effective soil amendment.

Methods

Biochar materials were produced from peanut hulls and pine wood with different pyrolysis conditions, then characterized by cation exchange (CEC) capacity assays, nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherm measurements, micro/nanostructural imaging, infrared spectra and elemental analyses.

Results

Under a standard assay condition of pH 8.5, the CEC values of the peanut hull-derived biochar materials, ranging from …

Production And Harvest Of Microalgae In Wastewater Raceways With Resource Recycling, Alexander Colin Roberts

Master's Theses

Microalgae can be grown on municipal wastewater media to both treat the wastewater and produce feedstock for algae biofuel production. However the reliability of treatment must be demonstrated, as well as high areal algae productivity on recycled wastewater media and efficient sedimentation harvesting. This processes was studied at pilot scale in the present research.

A pilot facility was operated with nine CO₂-supplemented raceway ponds, each with a 33-m² surface area and a 0.3-m depth, continuously from March 6, 2013 through September 24, 2014. The ponds were operated as three sets of triplicates with two sets continuously fed …

Label-Free Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy-Linked Immunosensor Assay (Slisa) For Environmental Surveillance, Vinay Bhardwaj

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The contamination of the environment, accidental or intentional, in particular with chemical toxins such as industrial chemicals and chemical warfare agents has increased public fear. There is a critical requirement for the continuous detection of toxins present at very low levels in the environment. Indeed, some ultra-sensitive analytical techniques already exist, for example chromatography and mass spectroscopy, which are approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency for the detection of toxins. However, these techniques are limited to the detection of known toxins. Cellular expression of genomic and proteomic biomarkers in response to toxins allows monitoring of known as well as …

Application Of 3d Printing Technology In Porous Anode Fabrication For Enhanced Power Output Of Microbial Fuel Cells, Bin Bian

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are widely researched for application in wastewater treatment. However, the current anodes used in MFCs often suffer from high fabrication cost and uncontrollable pore sizes. In this thesis, three-dimensional printing technique was utilized to fabricate anodes with different micro pore sizes for MFCs. Copper coating and carbonization were applied to the printed polymer anodes to increase the conductivity and specific surface area. Voltages of MFCs with various anodes were measured as well as other electrochemical tests such as linear sweep voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. 3D copper porous anode produced higher maximum voltages and power densities …

Evaluation Of Filtration Performance Of A Rotating Belt Filter For Different Primary Wastewater Influents., Tulip Chakraborty

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Human activities around the world are responsible for production of enormous amount of wastewater, which needs to be treated quickly and effectively to avoid environmental concerns and other health implications. As an alternative to primary settlers in treating municipal wastewater, Salsnes, a subsidiary company of Trojan Technologies offers rotating belt filters (RBF) to treat the wastewater. A bench scale filtration unit of the RBF was developed to investigate the effect of varying water qualities from several wastewater plants in London, Ontario on the performance of the filter. The unit can achieve up to 80% reduction in total suspended solids (TSS), …

Process Control For Biological Nutrient Removal Processes In Fluidized Beds Treating Low Carbon To Nitrogen Municipal Wastewater, Joseph Donohue

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Conventional wastewater treatment techniques - utilizing microorganisms to remove organics and nutrients (i.e. nitrogen and phosphorus) from a water stream and partially incorporate them into their cell structure - struggle to adapt with increased urbanization due to land and infrastructure requirements. The circulating fluidized-bed bioreactor (CFBBR) was developed as a way to provide biological treatment in an urbanized area by cultivating high-density bacteria on an inert media. The technology operates as a pre-anoxic nitrification/denitrification wastewater treatment process. The system is initially loaded with media, providing a platform for microbial growth. Internal recycle streams in the system provide the energy to …

Identification And Quantification Of Gaseous Organic Compounds Emitted From Biomass Burning Using Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography–Time-Of-Flight Mass Spectrometry, Lindsay E. Hatch, Wentai Luo, James F. Pankow, Robert J. Yokelson, Chelsea E. Stockwell, Kelley Barsanti

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The current understanding of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation within biomass burning (BB) plumes is limited by the incomplete identification and quantification of the non-methane organic compounds (NMOCs) emitted from such fires. Gaseous organic compounds were collected on sorbent cartridges during laboratory burns as part of the fourth Fire Lab at Missoula Experiment (FLAME- 4) and analyzed by two-dimensional gas chromatography– time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC × GC–ToFMS). The sensitivity and resolving power of GC × GC–ToFMS allowed the acquisition of the most extensive data set of BB NMOCs to date, with measurements for 708 positively or tentatively identified compounds. Estimated …

Photobioreactor Design For Improved Energy Efficiency Of Microalgae Production, Alexander Burns

Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

Photobioreactor Design for Improved Energy Efficiency of Microalgae Production

Alexander Burns

The objective of this research was to investigate a new photobioreactor (PBR) design for microalgae production that retains the typical advantages of existing tubular PBRs while reducing power consumption by providing simultaneous culture circulation and gas exchange with airlift alone and no centrifugal recirculating pump. Traditional tubular PBR designs feature a compressed air supply and a centrifugal pump for culture circulation and gas exchange. Circulation and gas exchange in a closed-system PBR is necessary to keep the algae suspended and to provide sufficient mass transfer (mainly for the …

Solid-Phase Extraction As Sample Preparation For Bioassay-Based Micropollutant Quantification, Chen Feng

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Solid phase extraction (SPE) using chemically bonded silica particles or small particles of an organic polymer resin, is being studied extensively for extraction of polar or non-polar compounds from various water matrices. This study focused on the evaluation of the performance of three commercial cartridges belonging to three different groups: reversed-phase, mixed-mode anion exchanger and mixed-mode cation exchanger. In the first stage of research, the performance of three cartridges was compared by extracting four antibiotics with different physic-chemical properties from water samples. The results obtained from column sorption experiments were plotted into breakthrough curves and batch equilibrium experiments results were …