Search results for "0204 chemical engineering"
showing 10 items of 273 documents
Hydrothermal liquefaction of waste biomass in stirred reactors: One step forward to the integral valorization of municipal sludge
2020
Abstract Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of municipal sludge (MS) was performed at 350 °C for 30 min (subcritical water) and at 400 °C for 0 min (supercritical water) at fixed kinetic severity (LogR0 = 8.9) in static and stirred batch reactors to study the effect of the flow regime on the energy recovery (ER) of the process and on the quality of the products. With adopted experimental procedures it was possible to reduce to less than 10% the yield of lost organic compounds, termed volatiles (VT), and to collect and quantify a liquid hydrocarbon fraction (HC) separated from the biocrude (BC). The highest value of the HC yield, 25% w/w, was obtained in supercritical conditions. The C content …
Amine N-Oxide Kinetic Hydrate Inhibitor Polymers for High-Salinity Applications
2020
A series of glycidyl amine N-oxide polyethers with cyclic and acyclic amine N-oxide side groups and their block copolymers with poly(propylene) oxide (Mn in the range of 1.8–6.4 kg/mol) have been s...
Understanding the impact of poly(allylamine) plasma grafting on the filtration performances of a commercial polymeric membrane
2019
Abstract Commercial membranes often exhibit difficulties in rejecting specific ionic species, and especially multivalent cations, due to their usual negative charge. To face this drawback, it is proposed here to functionalize the membrane surface by allylamine plasma polymerization. The impact of this modification on both permeation flux and ion rejection is investigated for single salt solutions and ion mixtures. It is shown that the membrane behaves like a positive membrane from the point of view of cation rejection but the negative charge (and the corresponding electrical field) inside pores leads to high rejection of divalent anions like a negative membrane. This allows a high selectivi…
Dynamic optimization of a continuous Lactide ring-opening polymerization process
2019
An increasing attention has been paid to the production of the polylactic acid (PLA) in recent years, owing to its properties as a biodegradable thermoplastic besides the fact that it is derived from renewable resources. PLA is industrially produced by ring opening polymerization of lactide. This reaction is sensitive to deviations in the operating conditions that highly affect the reaction rate and the polymer properties. Therefore, a process monitoring and control policy is crucial in order to restore the nominal conditions in case of drift. In this paper, a continuous PLA process is considered with three cascade reactors, two tubular and one loop reactor, that is described by partial dif…
Processing and Mechanical Properties of Natural Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastic Starch Biocomposites
2007
Natural fiber reinforced starch polymers are processed by compression molding. Potato, sweet potato, and corn starch are used as matrices. Three types of natural fibers, namely sisal, jute, and cabuya, are used in concentrations varying from 2.5 to 12.5% w/w in the composites. Different plasticizers are used for the starch polymers, such as water and glycerol. Mechanical properties are assessed by tensile and impact tests. In both cases, improved mechanical properties are obtained at increasing fiber contents. Tensile strength appears to be markedly improved with the addition of 10% by weight of sisal fibers, while the best results for impact strength are obtained for cabuya fibers.
The effect of ash and compost on the content and bioaccumulation of selected heavy metals
2019
Abstract Therefore the carried out study aimed at determination of the effect of high-calcium brown coal ash and compost being produced from municipal sewage sludge on the content and bioaccumulation of heavy metals in potato tubers, wheat grains and rapeseeds during a three-year period. Rapeseeds contained most Cd whereas wheat rains less. Potato tubers, wheat grains and rapeseeds contained more Mn, Ni and Zn in the fertilization objects with municipal sewage sludge with or without coal ash and compared to those where calcium carbonate or coal ash had been introduced into the soil at a dose corresponding to 1.5 Mg CaO · ha–1 at the beginning of this study. Differences in the Mn, Ni and Zn …
Divided Wall Column Modeling and Simulation in an Open-Source Environment
2020
The divided wall column (DWC) can achieve sharp separations of three or more components in a single shell, substituting conventional sequences of two or more binary distillation columns, with lower expenses. Despite these advantages, DWC models are not available in commercial chemical process simulators. To simulate DWC, users must employ instances of conventional column model and couple them in different configurations. In this paper, a DWC model was developed in EMSO (Environment for Modeling, Simulation and Optimization). DWC model was then used for simulating the separation of an equimolar mixture of three hydrocarbons. Results show that, depending on the number of trays, DWC presented …
Caffeine analysis and extraction from a topical cream intended for UV-skin protection
2020
Made available in DSpace on 2021-06-25T10:16:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2020-01-01 This study aimed to develop and validate a method for the analysis of caffeine in complex cosmetic samples, such as sunscreens. Besides, an extraction method of caffeine from coffee oil and from creams, which contains both lipophilic and hydrophilic components, has been developed. The method to analyze caffeine was developed using an isocratic pump, Waters 1515 and an automatic injector Perkin-Elmer Series 200 and an UV detector Perkin-Elmer. As stationary phase, Kromasil C-18 (150 × 4.6 mm ID with particle size of 5 µm) column was used and a mixture of water (pH 4.00)/acetonitrile (…
Application of Potassium Ion Impregnated Titanium Dioxide as Nanocatalyst for Transesterification of Linseed Oil
2018
The current work comprises the investigation of biodiesel production from linseed oil using TiO2 and a potassium L-tartrate monobasic (C4H5KO6)-modified TiO2 nanocatalyst. Different amounts of C4H5KO6 were considered for TiO2 modification. The nanocatalyst TiO2–0.5C4H5KO6 (1:0.5 molar ratio) showed the best conversion rate for biodiesel production. The nanocatalyst was characterized by FTIR, XRD, TEM, BET, and XPS, and the Hammett indicator–benzenecarboxylic acid titration method was used for basicity measurement. The biodiesel was characterized by GC-MS and 1H and 13C NMR. Furthermore, the optimum reaction parameters for transesterification reaction were analyzed, and the yield was determi…
Management of irrigation water and nutrient demands of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) using urban treated wastewater from a pilot-scale horiz…
2017
The reuse of treated wastewater (TWW) in crop irrigation is an advanced and rational approach to water resource management in agriculture. Results would seem to demonstrate that it could be an extremely important tool in the reduction of freshwater (FW) consumption in agriculture, at the same time helping to increase crop yields through the transfer of nutrients required for crop growth. In arid and semi-arid areas of the Mediterranean, constructed wetlands can play a key role in the treatment and reuse of wastewater due to their multifunctional nature. The aim of this study was to manage water and nutrient requirements of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) using TWW from a pilot-scale …