Thermodynamics Commons^™

Passive Solar Distillation Of Acid Rock Drainage, Stephanie Shreve, Luke Galuska, Anna Stoller, Alex Raney, Agustin Caceres, Caitlyn Chambers, Chris Graham, Devin Hazlett

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Arkansas Razorback Distillers (A.R.D.) has developed a passive solar distillation system for treating acid rock drainage (ARD) from legacy (i.e., abandoned) mines. The solar still addresses the need to reduce both the metal sulfate contaminants as well as the acidity of acid rock drainage. During the design phase, A.R.D. addressed the need for the system to be low cost, simple, and effective for general use as well as a specified location. To demonstrate the applicability of the solar still, A.R.D. used the Freeport McMoRan Inc. Copper Queen legacy mine in Bisbee, Arizona, as a base case scenario. The mine was …

Molecular Modeling Of Antibody-Antigen Binding Near Solid Surfaces, Derek Bush, Thomas Knotts

Biomedical Engineering Western Regional Conference

Antibody microarrays are biosensors that have the potential to revolutionize molecular detection in medicine, scientific research, and national defense. However, current microarrays are not widely used due to problems including poor reproducibility and signal quality, unbalanced antibody performance, and cross-reactivity. Prior work in the area focused mainly on the stability of the antibody alone and not its affinity for its antigen. This presentation shows results of using molecular simulation to determine how different types of surfaces affect antigen binding to surface-tethered antibodies. The results offer an unprecedented, molecular-level view into these protein-protein-surface interactions and how to drive binding to occur.

Surface Chemisty Study Of Monazite Flotation In Coal Refuse Systems, Wencai Zhang

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

Rare earth mineral recovery from alternative resources such as coal and coal byproducts is increasingly important to provide an opportunity for economic recovery from U.S. sources. Currently, China produces the majority of the 149,000 tons of rare earth elements used annually worldwide of which the U.S. imports 11% or around 16,000 tons. There are no significant mining operations producing rare earth elements in the U.S. However, there are many U.S. sources containing rare earth minerals such as monazite including heavy mineral sand and phosphate operations. Monazite mineral particles of a few microns have also been detected in Fire Clay seam …

Method For Carbon Dioxide Splitting, James E. Miller, Richard B. Diver, Nathan P. Siegel

Other Faculty Research and Publications

A method for splitting carbon dioxide via a two-step metal oxide thermochemical cycle by heating a metal oxide compound selected from an iron oxide material of the general formula A_xFe_3-xO₄, where 0≦x≦1 and A is a metal selected from Mg, Cu, Zn, Ni, Co, and Mn, or a ceria oxide compound of the general formula M_aCe_bO_c, where 0

Heat Transfer Analysis In A Paddle Reactor For Biomass Fast Pyrolyis, Ankith Ullal

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Heat transfer analysis was performed on a novel auger reactor for biomass fast pyrolysis. As part of this analysis, correlations for specific heat capacity and heat transfer coefficients for biomass (sawdust) and sand (used as heat transfer medium) were developed. For sand, the heat transfer coefficient followed a power law distribution with reactor fill level and temperature. For raw biomass, the heat transfer coefficient also showed similar dependence on fill level, but was independent of temperature up to 300°C. These correlations were used in a one dimensional heat transfer model developed to calculate the heating time and heating rate of …

Hybrid Metal Oxide Cycle Water Splitting, Richard B. Diver Jr., Robert D. Palumbo, Nathan P. Siegel, James E. Miller

Other Faculty Research and Publications

Hybrid thermochemical water splitting systems are disclosed that thermally reduces metal oxides particles to displace some but not all of the electrical requirements in a water splitting electrolytic cell. In these hybrid systems, the thermal reduction temperature is significantly reduced compared to two-step metal-oxide thermochemical cycles in which only thermal energy is required to produce hydrogen from water. Also, unlike conventional higher temperature systems where the reduction step must be carried out under reduced oxygen pressure, the reduction step in the proposed hybrid systems can be carried out in air, allowing for thermal input by a solar power tower with …

Understanding Glycoside Hydrolase Processivity For Improved Biomass Conversion, Suvamay Jana

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

In nature, organisms secrete synergistic enzyme cocktails to deconstruct crystalline polysaccharides, such as cellulose and chitin, to soluble sugars. The cocktails consist of multiple classes of processive and non-processive glycoside hydrolases (GH) that aid in substrate accessibility and reduce product inhibition. Processive GHs attach to chain ends and hydrolyze many glycosidic linkages in sequence to produce disaccharide units before dissociation, and as such, are responsible for the majority of hydrolytic bond cleavages. Accordingly, processive GHs are targets for activity improvements towards efficient and economical biomass conversion. However, the mechanism and factors responsible for processivity are still not understood completely at …

3d Fe Modelling Of Die Stress And Wear In Non-Isothermal Forging Of Ti–6al–4v Turbine Blade, Shiyuan Luo, Dahu Zhu, Lin Hua, Dongsheng Qian, Sijie Yan

The 8th International Conference on Physical and Numerical Simulation of Materials Processing

No abstract provided.

Modeling Pyrolysis Of Large Coal Particles With Many Species, Jianqing Li

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Coal currently supplies 40% of the world’s electricity needs, and is one of the most important energy sources. As the initial stage of coal combustion, pyrolysis is a thermal decomposition process which converts coal into light gases and tars, which are subsequently consumed in combustion reactions, as well as solid char. Recently there has been interest in using slow pyrolysis as a stand-alone process for the production of chemicals and fuels from large (mm-scale) coal particles. Simulations can be used to efficiently study the impact of pyrolysis conditions on gas, tar and char yields, as well as gas and tar …

Methanol And Dimethyl Ether From Renewable Hydrogen And Carbon Dioxide: Alternative Fuels Production And Life-Cycle Assessment, Michael J. Matzen, Yaşar Demirel

Yaşar Demirel Publications

In this work we investigate two renewably based alternative fuels; methanol and dimethyl ether. The ultimate feedstocks for production are wind-based electrolytic hydrogen and carbon dioxide captured from an ethanol fermentation process. Dimethyl ether production was modeled in ASPEN Plus using a previously simulated methanol production facility. The facilities use 18.6 metric tons (mt) of H₂ and 138.4 mt CO₂ per day. Methanol is produced at a rate 96.7 mt/day (99.5 wt%) and dimethyl ether is produced at a rate of 68.5 mt/day (99.6 wt%). A full comparative life-cycle assessment (cradle-to-grave) of both fuels was conducted to investigate …

Go With The Flow –Thermoelectric Energy, Shawn Bell

Middle School Lesson Plans

In this unit, students will learn how thermal energy be transferred and transformed. They will carry out investigations to gather evidence to support an explanation about direct conversion of heat into electrical energy. They will develop a model that shows the components of the system and changes in the system being investigated, and they will use evidence from the investigation to construct an explanation for how the energy flows.

Fluid Analysis In Solar Heat Pipes, Ben Krumholz, Michael Agavo, William Dundon

Mechanical Engineering

Evacuated tube solar collectors are efficient systems that use heat pipes to facilitate heat transfer. They use incoming solar radiation to heat water. Professor Mason Medizade tasked the team with choosing a component of the system to research and test its influence on system performance. The team investigated the working fluid that runs through the heat pipes. Distilled water, acetone, and ethanol at a range of fill volumes form 1 mL to 11 mL were tested. The team's goal was to find a volume for each fluid to maximize performance of the system. Performance was defined as average temperature rise …

Maximizing Orc Performance With Optimal Match Of Working Fluid With System Design, Kirtipal Barse, Michael Mann

Chemical Engineering Faculty Publications

This article compares constrained system design to non-constrained system design for the basic Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC). The 12 working fluids studied include eight dry-type, three isentropic, and one wet-type fluids. The ORC model was developed using Aspen HYSYS® and validated with data obtained from the literature. The constrained design compared the performance of working fluids for a fixed heat exchanger and turbine configuration. A non-constrained design was studied by altering the design specifications for the heat exchangers and turbine to match the working fluid. An energy and exergy analysis was performed using first and second law efficiency. The exergy …

Thermal Microfluidic Devices; Design, Fabrication And Applications, Benyamin Davaji

Dissertations (1934 -)

This thesis investigates the thermal actuation and temperature measurement methods in microfluidic devices. We designed and fabricated microfluidic devices with various functionalities such as: bio sensing, particle counting, microscale calorimetry, and cellular temperature measurement. All of these functionalities use thermal measurement methods. When quantitative measurements are required, the label-free nature of thermal measurement methods, along with its simple readout, make it a powerful candidate for lab on a chip and bio sensing/detection applications. In this work, thermal measurement methods are used to characterize bio-samples, measure concentrations, study thermal responses, and even perform particle cytometry. However, thermal measurement methods are known …

Thermal Transport Properties Of Dry Spun Carbon Nanotube Sheets, Heath E. Misak, James L. Rutledge, Eric D. Swenson, Shankar Mall

Faculty Publications

The thermal properties of carbon nanotube- (CNT-) sheet were explored and compared to copper in this study. The CNT-sheet was made from dry spinning CNTs into a nonwoven sheet. This nonwoven CNT-sheet has anisotropic properties in in-plane and out-of-plane directions. The in-plane direction has much higher thermal conductivity than the out-of-plane direction. The in-plane thermal conductivity was found by thermal flash analysis, and the out-of-plane thermal conductivity was found by a hot disk method. The thermal irradiative properties were examined and compared to thermal transport theory. The CNT-sheet was heated in the vacuum and the temperature was measured with an …

Effect Of Spalled Particles Thermal Degradation On A Hypersonic Flow Field Environment, Raghava S. C. Davuluri, Huaibao Zhang, Alexandre Martin

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Two-way coupling is performed between a spallation code and a hypersonic aerothermodynamics CFD solver to evaluate the effect of spalled particles on the flow field. Time accurate solutions are computed in argon and air flow fields. A single particle simulations and multiple particles simulations are performed and studied. The results show that the carbon vapor released by spalled particles tend to change the composition of the flow field, particularly the upstream region of the shock.

Hybrid Metal Oxide Cycle Water Splitting, Richard B. Diver Jr, Robert D. Palumbo, Nathan P. Siegel, James E. Miller

Other Faculty Research and Publications

Hybrid thermochemical water splitting cycles are provided in which thermally reduced metal oxides particles are used to displace some but not all of the electrical requirements in a water splitting electrolytic cell. In these hybrid cycles, the thermal reduction temperature is significantly reduced compared to two-step metal-oxide thermochemical cycles in which only thermal energy is required to produce hydrogen from water. Also, unlike the conventional higher temperature cycles where the reduction step must be carried out under reduced oxygen pressure, the reduction step in the proposed hybrid cycles can be carried out in air, allowing for thermal input by a …

High-Temperature, High-Pressure Viscosities And Densities Of Toluene, Aaron J. Rowane

Theses and Dissertations

High-temperature, high-pressure (HTHP) conditions are exemplified in ultra-deep petroleum reservoirs and can be exhibited within diesel engines. Accurate pure component hydrocarbon data is essential in understanding the overall behavior of petroleum and diesel fuel at these conditions. The present study focuses on the HTHP properties of toluene since this hydrocarbon is frequently used to increase the octane rating of gasoline and toluene occurs naturally in crude oil. In this thesis experimental densities and viscosity are presented to 535 K and 300 MPa extending the database of toluene viscosity data to higher temperature than previous studies. The data is correlated to …

Bioluminescent Magnetic Nanoparticles As Potential Imaging Agents For Mammalian Spermatozoa, Erick Salvador Vasquez, Jean M. Feugang, Scott T. Willard, Peter L. Ryan, Keisha B. Walters

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Background: Nanoparticles have emerged as key materials for developing applications in nanomedicine, nanobiotechnology, bioimaging and theranostics. Existing bioimaging technologies include bioluminescent resonance energy transfer-conjugated quantum dots (BRET-QDs). Despite the current use of BRET-QDs for bioimaging, there are strong concerns about QD nanocomposites containing cadmium which exhibits potential cellular toxicity.

Results: In this study, bioluminescent composites comprised of magnetic nanoparticles and firefly luciferase (Photinus pyralis) are examined as potential light-emitting agents for imaging, detection, and tracking mammalian spermatozoa. Characterization was carried out using infrared spectroscopy, TEM and cryo-TEM imaging, and ζ-potential measurements to demonstrate the successful preparation of these nanocomposites. Binding …

Unique Characterization Of Materials With Memory, John Murrough Golden

Articles

In general, materials with linear memory constitutive relations are characterized by a relaxation function. This leads to a situation where the free energy for most materials with memory is not unique. There is a convex set of free energy functionals with a minimum and a maximum element. An alternative procedure is proposed which characterizes a material by the kernel of the rate of dissipation functional. Using some recent results, we find that a unique free energy and relaxation function may then be deduced. An example is given for discrete spectrum materials. Also, the new results are used to show that …

Prediction Of Vapor/Liquid Equilibrium Behavior From Quantum Mechanical Data, Marshall J. Gnap

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

MOSCED (Modified Separation of Cohesive Energy Density) is a particularly attractive model for activity coefficients because it offers intuitive insights into how to tune solvent-solute interactions to achieve optimized formulations. Unfortunately, only 133 compounds have been characterized with the MOSCED method. Furthermore, there is no convenient method for extending MOSCED predictions to new compounds. The hypothesis of the present research is that the surface charge density of a molecule, once normalized over the molecule surface area, provided graphically by a σ-profile from density functional theory (DFT) computations, can be used to estimate the parameters used in the MOSCED model. DFT …

Characterization Of Iron Phthalocyanine As The Cathode Active Material For Lithium-Ion Batteries, Sarwan S. Sandhu, Joseph P. Fellner

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

The developed thermodynamic functions for the determination of Gibbs free energy, enthalpy, and entropy of formation of solid lithium-iron phthalocyanine (LixFePc) from solid lithium and iron phthalocyanine as a function of x, defined as g-moles of the intercalated lithium per g-mole of iron phthalocyanine, at a fixed set of temperature and pressure conditions are presented. In addition, a proposed expression for the evaluation of lithium diffusion coefficient in solid iron phthalocyanine as a function of both x and temperature, and the experimental results from the ongoing research/development work on the lithium/iron phthalocyanine cells are included.

Thermodynamic Analysis Of Phenylpropanoid Pathway In Arabidopsis Thanliana, Patrick J. Ioerger, Rohit Jaini, John A. Morgan

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Biofuels represent a renewable alternative to traditional fossil fuels. As dependence on fossil fuels rise so does the importance of improving the production of alternative fuels. Lignin poses one obstacle in the development of such alternative fuels. Its presence strengthens cell walls and hinders degradation of polysaccharides into monosaccharides, increasing cost and time while decreasing efficiency of the process. Lignin is composed of three monolignols, each of which is produced through the Phenylpropanoid pathway; a series of chemical reactions. This work aims to determine which reactions in the pathway are least thermodynamically favorable and thus most limiting. From metabolic mapping …

Economic And Sustainability Aspects Of Chemical Process Industries By Thermodynamics Analysis, Mahdi H. Alhajji

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Economics and sustainability improvements of some chemical processes are assessed after the retrofits suggested by thermodynamic analysis and energy analyzer. The main objective is to explore the scope of reducing the energy consumption and CO₂ emissions for a more sustainable operation in chemical process industries. Thermodynamic analysis is carried out by applying the thermal analysis capability of ‘Column Targeting Tool’ to address the ‘energy intensity,’ and/or the ‘Energy Analyzer’ to design and improve the performance of the heat exchanger network system for process heat integration. CTT is based on the ‘Practical Near-Minimum Thermodynamic Condition’ representing a close to practical …

Comparison Of Low-Temperature Co-Fired Ceramic And Direct Bonded Copper For Single Ended Primary Inductance Topology, Kristopher Cody Johnson

Electrical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

This work examines the thermal dissipation characteristics of Low-Temperature Co-fired Ceramic (LTCC) and Direct Bonded Copper (DBC) with the implementation of a Single Ended Primary Inductance Converter (SEPIC) topology. The advantages and disadvantages of the two substrates will be explored in addition to a description of the design and control of the SEPIC. It will be shown that the DBC implementation is superior with regards to thermal dissipation, but that LTCC has advantages in high- density packaging, RF applications, and embedded components. These substrates and converters provide many advantages in industrial applications that include automotive and grid level implementations. Additional …

Characterization Of Nano-Porous Si-Cu Composites To Enhance Lubricant Retention Impacting The Tribological Properties Of Sliding Surfaces, Julius Sheldon Morehead

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As the expectations for modern machinery's tribological and thermal performances continue to rise, the retention of lubricant on the contact surfaces of their sliding components becomes an increasingly important issue. Friction and wear cause heat-related failures which lead to catastrophic damage to machinery. Evaporation of a lubricant's volatile constituents as well as lubricant migration leads not only to a reduction in lubricant quantity but also in its quality, thus facilitating component failures. In order to enhance component reliability, the surface should incorporate features that actively retain lubricants. The unique properties of nano-porous topographies such as their high surface area-to-volume ratio …

Thermal Invisibility Based On Scattering Cancellation And Mantle Cloaking, M Farhat, P.-Y. Chen, H Bagci, C. Amra, S Guenneau, A Alù

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research Publications

We theoretically and numerically analyze thermal invisibility based on the concept of scattering cancellation and mantle cloaking. We show that a small object can be made completely invisible to heat diffusion waves, by tailoring the heat conductivity of the spherical shell enclosing the object. This means that the thermal scattering from the object is suppressed, and the heat flow outside the object and the cloak made of these spherical shells behaves as if the object is not present. Thermal invisibility may open new vistas in hiding hot spots in infrared thermography, military furtivity, and electronics heating reduction.

Accidental Poison: Analysis Of 1,4-Butanediol In A Popular Children's Arts And Crafts Toy, Christopher R. Dockery, John H. Shugart, Jonathan D. Parker, William J. Lawson

Faculty Articles

A popular children's arts and crafts toy made international headlines when it was discovered that 1,4-butanediol had been substituted into some of its formulations. The chemical 1,4-butanediol rapidly converts to the date-rape drug g-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) upon ingestion and resulted in the accidental poisoning of some children. In this experiment, students extract 1,4-butanediol from commercially available toy beads (or prepared simulations) using their knowledge of pharmaceutical chemistry, solubility, etc. Using case studies available in the literature, students develop a quantitative analysis experiment for 1,4-butanediol extracted from the toy beads and, through approximation, relate the extractable amount of 1,4-butanediol to dose-response …

Sustainability And Economic Analysis Of Propylene Carbonate And Polypropylene Carbonate Production Processes Using Co2 And Propylene Oxide, Yaşar Demirel

Yaşar Demirel Publications

Currently, the industrially important polycarbonates are synthesized from bisphenol A and diphenyl carbonate, which are highly toxic and hence other feasible alternatives are preferable. Following the considerable advances on the catalyst for the synthesis of carbonates from CO₂ and propylene oxide (PO), industrial scale processes for the productions of propylene carbonate (PC) and polypropylene carbonate (PPC) have been designed and simulated with sustainability and economic analyses. The CO₂ is supplied by a nearby bioethanol plant, while the PO from a petrochemical process. The first part of the study is for the production of 200 million lb/year cyclic PC …

Modeling Of Spallation Phenomenon In An Arc-Jet Environment, Raghava Sai Chaitanya Davuluri

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Space vehicles, while entering the planetary atmosphere, experience high loads of heat. Ablative materials are commonly used for a thermal protection system, which undergo mass removal mechanisms to counter the heat rates. Spallation is one of the ablative processes, which is characterized by the ejection of solid particles from the material into the flow. Numerical codes that are used in designing the heat shields ignore this phenomenon. Hence, to evaluate the effectiveness of spallation phenomenon, a numerical model is developed to compute the dynamics and chemistry of the particles. The code is one-way coupled to a CFD code that models …