Oil, Gas, and Energy Commons^™

Development Of Nanostructured Graphene/Conducting Polymer Composite Materials For Supercapacitor Applications, Punya A. Basnayaka

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The developments in mobile/portable electronics and alternative energy vehicles prompted engineers and researchers to develop electrochemical energy storage devices called supercapacitors, as the third generation type capacitors. Most of the research and development on supercapacitors focus on electrode materials, electrolytes and hybridization. Some attempts have been directed towards increasing the energy density by employing electroactive materials, such as metal oxides and conducting polymers (CPs). However, the high cost and toxicity of applicable metal oxides and poor long term stability of CPs paved the way to alternative electrode materials. The electroactive materials with carbon particles in composites have been used substantially …

Application And Characterization Of Self-Assembled Monolayers In Hybrid Electronic Systems, Michael Enoch Celesin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this study, we explore ultra-thin insulators of organic and inorganic composition and their potential role as high-speed rectifiers. Typical applications for these structures include IR sensing, chemical detection, high speed logic circuits, and MEMS enhancements. While there are many elements in the functional group required to create a rectifying antenna (rectenna), the primary thrust of this work is on the rectifier element itself.

To achieve these research goals, a very good understanding of quantum tunneling was required to model the underlying phenomenon of charge conduction. The development of a multi-variable optimization routine for tunneling prediction was required. MATLAB was …

Synthesis And Investigations Of Type I And Ii Clathrates Of Group 14, Michael Blosser

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Clathrates are a class of new materials that have an open-framework structure that allows guest atoms or molecules to be enclosed inside of their polyhedral framework. Varying the number, weight, and size of the guest species in a particular framework allows one to alter the physical properties of the clathrate. This relationship enables one to further the fundamental understanding of the physics and chemistry of the clathrate structure and use this knowledge to "tune" certain properties. This "tunability" of inorganic clathrates is of great interest as it allows one to optimize their physical properties; making them promising candidates for a …

Hydrogen Storage In Hypercrosslinked Polystyrene And Li-Mg-N-H Complex Hydride, Dervis Emre Demirocak

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, hydrogen storage enhancement in hypercrosslinked polystyrene, effects of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) supported ruthenium (Ru) catalyst on the kinetics and ammonia suppression in the LiNH2-MgH2 complex hydride system and the accuracy of hydrogen storage measurements are investigated in detail.

High surface area physisorption materials are of interest for room temperature hydrogen storage enhancement by spillover. Six different commercially available hypercrosslinked polystyrenes are screened by considering the specific surface area, average pore size, pore volume, and adsorption enthalpy. MN270 is selected mainly due to its high surface area and narrow pores for investigation of the spillover enhancement …

Effect Of Solids Retention Time On The Denitrification Potential Of Anaerobically Digested Swine Waste, Maureen Njoki Kinyua

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Three continuously stirred tank reactors (CSTR) were operated in semi continuous mode treating swine waste using anaerobic digestion. The reactors were used to test the effect of solid retention time (SRT) on CH4 yield, total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) concentrations, % volatile solids (VS), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and volatile fatty acids (VFA) removal, readily biodegradable COD concentration and the denitrification potential for the effluent in a biological nutrient removal (BNR) system. During Phase I of the study, the three reactors were operated at the same 28 day SRT for 16 weeks. SRTs were then changed during the 12 week Phase …

Accurate Prediction Of Spectral Phonon Relaxation Time And Thermal Conductivity Of Intrinsic And Perturbed Materials, Tianli Feng

Open Access Theses

The prediction of spectral phonon relaxation time, mean-free-path, and thermal conductivity can provide significant insights into the thermal conductivity of bulk and nanomaterials, which are important for thermal management and thermoelectric applications. We perform frequency-domain normal mode analysis (NMA) on pure bulk argon and pure bulk germanium. Spectral phonon properties, including the phonon dispersion, relaxation time, mean free path, and thermal conductivity of argon and germanium at different temperatures have been calculated. We find the dependence of phonon relaxation time τ on frequency ω and temperature T vary from ~ω^-1.3 to ~ω^-1.8 and ~T^-0.8 to ~T^{-1.8 …}

Computational Modeling Of Graphene Oxide Exfoliation And Lithium Storage Characteristics, Reza Mortezaee

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Graphene oxide is a two dimensional material obtained by adsorption of oxygen or oxygen-containing groups on graphene. Stacked layers of graphene oxide constitute graphite oxide. These materials have various applications such as a source material for graphene production, transport support for electron microscopy, flexible organic photovoltaic cells and use in Li-ion batteries. Generation of exfoliated graphene oxide from a graphite oxide precursor is achieved relatively easily in solution as compared to graphene exfoliation. In this study we investigate the details of the graphene oxide exfoliation procedure in solution by calculating the Gibb's free energies and reaction rates. We consider two …

Qualitative And Quantitative Analysis Of Lignocellulosic Biomass Using Infrared Techniques: A Mini-Review, Feng Xu, Jianming Yu, Tesfaye Tesso, Floyd Dowell, Donghai Wang

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Current wet chemical methods for biomass composition analysis using two-step sulfuric acid hydrolysis are time-consuming, labor-intensive, and unable to provide structural information about biomass. Infrared techniques provide fast, low-cost analysis, are non-destructive, and have shown promising results. Chemometric analysis has allowed researchers to perform qualitative and quantitative study of biomass with both near-infrared and mid-infrared spectroscopy. This review summarizes the progress and applications of infrared techniques in biomass study, and compares the infrared and the wet chemical methods for composition analysis. In addition to reviewing recent studies of biomass structure and composition, we also discuss the progress and prospects for …

Essays On The Effects Of Oil Price Shocks On The U.S. Stock Returns, Zeina Nashaat Alsalman

Wayne State University Dissertations

This research investigates the effect of changes in oil prices and oil price volatility on the U.S. stock returns. The first essay tests whether the sign and the size of oil price shocks matter for the U.S. stock returns. The results suggest a linear model provides a good approximation to the response of real stock returns to real oil price innovations. However, this is not the case when the model is specified in terms of the nominal price of crude oil.Using a modified structural VAR to accommodate GARCH-in-Mean errors, the second essay studies the direct effects of oil price uncertainty …

Design And Fabrication Of An Eddy Current Brake Dynamometer For Efficiency Determination Of Electric Wheelchair Motors, Wesley Brin

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Electric wheelchairs have a considerable impact on improving the quality of life for the millions of disabled persons around the world. These modern pieces of technology offer freedom and mobility for disabled persons to interact with the world outside of their homes. The goal of this project is to assist in advancements of conventional electric wheelchairs. This includes replacing the heavy, bulky, and inefficient lead acid batteries and worm gear drive systems with lithium-ion batteries and wheel hub motors in order to decrease weight and size, and increase efficiency. This master thesis research is focused on designing, fabricating, and testing …

Computational Fluid Dynamics (Cfd) Modeling Of A Laboratory Scale Coal Gasifier, Kiel S. Schultheiss

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Furthering gasification technology is an essential part of advancing clean coal technologies. In order to seek insight into the appropriate operations for the formation of synthetic gas (syngas) a numerical simulation was performed to predict the phenomena of coal gasification in a laboratory scale entrained-flow coal gasifier. The mesh for the model was developed with ICEM CFD software and the chemical and physical phenomena were modeled using the fluid flow solver ANSYS FLUENT. Mesh independence was verified. The model was validated with experimental data from several studies performed on a laboratory scale gasifier.

Systematic examination of the model was performed …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of The All Power Labs Power Pallet As A Training Tool For Biomass Gasification Education, Christopher Che Frederick

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to provide a better understanding of classroom training with regard to renewable energies. A lecture series and survey were developed by the principle researcher and presented to students in the Alternative and Renewable Energy Systems class and Machine Design class at Eastern Illinois University. The lecture series introduced students to biomass gasification and its application at Eastern Illinois University. The survey analyzed participant's level of knowledge of gasification technologies. The survey's pre and post test scores were used to validate the effectiveness of the training.

The All Power Labs Power Pallet was utilized as …

Investigation Of The Radiative Heat Release Factor Of Premixed Oxy-Syngas Flames, Martin De La Torre

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

A significant part of the United States is being powered by combustion devises relying on coal since it is abundant and is a high emitting source of electricity per unit energy, however; the burning of this fuel is responsible for a significant contribution for the pollutant emissions causing global warming. Because coal is one of the main sources of energy in the U.S. and around the globe, the scientific community has been investigating ways to meet current and future governmental emission requirements. It is now well established that radiating heat from the flame is a major contributor of the heat …

Pressure And Heat Flux Effects On The Heat Transfer Characteristics Of Liquid Methane, Chance Paul Garcia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The heat transfer effects on liquid methane are investigated with the use of a carbo-thermal rig at the Center for Space Exploration Technology Research (cSETR) located at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). The cSETR carbo-thermal rig design approach is presented along with the design of a methane condensing mobile unit (MCMU) to supply the laboratory and rig with liquid methane. The proposed research will generate useful insight in to heat transfer coefficient behavior, non-dimensional correlations, different flow conditions, varied inlet conditions, and varied heat flux for a subscale test article applicable to a regenerative cooled rocket engine …

An Approach To Power Efficiency Determination In The Solar Energy Systems Using Central Composite Design And Box-Behnken Design, Juan Venegas Mendez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

We are living in an industrialized world that relies on fossil fuels. The ways, in which these fossil fuels have damaged the earth, in special the environment is worth of special attention and corrective actions. In our days, the climate change (global warming) it is becoming the number one topic. These changes are affecting our health, comfort and our way of living. Solar systems have been working among us since several years, but the truth is that most of us really don't understand how they work and more important, how they work in time in different conditions. Solar panels are …

Control Of Smart Building Using Advanced Scada, Vivin Thomas Samuel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

For complete control of the building, a proper SCADA implementation and the optimization strategy has to be build. For better communication and efficiency a proper channel between the Communication protocol and SCADA has to be designed.

This paper concentrate mainly between the communication protocol, and the SCADA implementation, for a better optimization and energy savings is derived to large scale industrial buildings. The communication channel used in order to completely control the building remotely from a distant place. For an efficient result we consider the temperature values and the power ratings of the equipment so that while controlling the …

Review Of Us And Eu Initiatives Toward Development, Demonstration, And Commercialization Of Lignocellulosic Biofuels, Venkatesh Balan, David Chiaramonti, Sandeep Kumar

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Advanced biofuels produced from lignocellulosic biomass offer an exciting opportunity to produce renewable liquid transportation fuels, biochemicals, and electricity from locally available agriculture and forest residues. The growing interest in biofuels from lignocellulosic feedstock in the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) can provide a path forward toward replacing petroleum-based fuels with sustainable biofuels which have the potential to lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The selection of biomass conversion technologies along with feedstock development plays a crucial role in the commercialization of next-generation biofuels. There has been synergy and, even with similar basic process routes, diversity in the …

Automatic Memory Management Policies For Low Power, Memory Limited, And Delay Intolerant Devices, Md Abu Jahid

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets are energy and memory limited, and implement graphical user interfaces that are intolerant of computational delays. Mobile device platforms supporting apps implemented in languages that require automatic memory man- agement, such as the Dalvik (Java) virtual machine within Google's Android, have become dominant. It is essential that automatic memory management avoid causing unacceptable interface delays while responsibly managing energy and memory resource usage. Dalvik's automatic memory management policies for heap growth and garbage collection scheduling utilize heuristics tuned to minimize memory footprint. These policies result in only marginally acceptable response times and garbage …

Thermal Barrier Coatings (Tbc's) For High Heat Flux Thrust Chambers, Christopher Michael Bradley

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The last 30 years materials engineers have been under continual pressure to develop materials with a greater temperature potential or to produce configurations that can be effectively cooled or otherwise protected at elevated temperature conditions. Turbines and thrust chambers produce some of the harshest service conditions for materials which lead to the challenges engineers face in order to increase the efficiencies of current technologies due to the energy crisis that the world is facing. The key tasks for the future of gas turbines are to increase overall efficiencies to meet energy demands of a growing world population and reduce the …