Day 2 :
Keynote Forum
Richard J. Spontak
NC State University, USA
Keynote: Controlling the Morphological and Property Development in Network-Forming Multiblock Ionomers
Time : 10:00-10:40
Biography:
Richard J Spontak, Alumni Distinguished Professor and prior NTNU Lars Onsager Professor, received his BS and PhD degrees from Penn State (1983) and Cal Berkeley (1988), respectively. He performed his Post-doctoral research at Cambridge University (UK) before joining Procter & Gamble. In 1992, he moved to NC State, where he supervises the Macromolecular Materials and Morphology Group. He has published over 240 peer-reviewed journal articles, and has been elected a fellow of APS, IOM3 and RSC, as well as a member of the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences. He has won several international awards for his research regarding Nanostructured Polymers.
Abstract:
Block copolymers continue to capture the attention of the academic and industrial world due to their ability to self-assemble into a wide variety of "soft" nanostructures that are ideally suited for a broad range of diverse nanotechnologies. Thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs), such as triblock copolymers with glassy endblocks and a rubbery midblock, also possess elastic networks, and selective solvation of the rubbery midblock results in thermoplastic elastomer gels (TPEGs) with remarkable mechanical properties for dielectric elastomers, shape-memory systems, and flextronics. While most block copolymers are inherently nonpolar, functionalization of block copolymers can permit these materials to be used in polar environments. Sulfonation of block copolymers, for example, yields materials that possess amphiphilic properties. Combination of TPEs possessing a sulfonated midblock with a polar midblock-selective solvent produces a unique TPEG capable of forming a physical hydrogel. These materials are competitive candidates for electroactive media and photovoltaic devices. Unfortunately, the inherently high incompatibilities and glass transition temperatures of block ionomers prevent the use of thermal annealing, routinely employed to refine the morphologies of nonionic block copolymers. This presentation explores the morphological characteristics of midblock-sulfonated pentablock ionomers cast from solvents differing in polarity, followed by solvent-vapor annealing (SVA). Transmission electron microscopy confirms that films deposited from different solvent systems form non-equilibrium morphologies due to solvent-template, self-assembly and drying. A series of SVA tests performed with solvents varying in polarity reveals that exposing cast films to the vapor of a polar solvent constitutes the most effective SVA protocol, yielding the anticipated equilibrium morphology.
Keynote Forum
Haresh Manyar
Queen’s University Belfast, UK
Keynote: Process intensification using catalysis for renewable fuels and chemicals
Time : 11:00-11:40
Biography:
Haresh Manyar is a Lecturer in Chemical Engineering at Queen’s University Belfast, UK. His research focuses on the design of heterogeneous catalysts, process intensification and kinetic modeling. He has published 4 patents and 31 papers in peer-reviewed international journals with an h-index of 13 and >545 citations. He has been appointed to the Leadership forum of the IChemE Energy Centre Board. He has chaired the Green Chemistry session at 67th CHEMCON 2014, Chandigarh, India.
Abstract:
Sustainable production of biomass derived renewable fuels and chemicals are a key future technology for constraining global warming and replacing fossil resources. However, for sustainable and economically viable bio-refinery we need higher process efficiencies, better catalysts and new chemical processes. In our research group, we have keen interest in process intensification using catalysis based on rational design criteria for developing high-performance catalysts using density functional theory calculations and in-situ operando spectroscopy techniques. Herein, we presented process intensification of selective hydrogenation of plant oils, fatty acids and amides for production of renewable hydrocarbons, fatty alcohols and amines. In comparison with many carbonyl hydrogenations, the hydrogenation of amides/carboxylic acids is most difficult due to weak polarizability and lower reactivity of carbonyl group. Hence current manufacturing processes are expensive and hazardous requiring high pressures and temperatures (200-400 bar hydrogen, 200-400oC). Herein, we reported selective hydrogenation of amides and carboxylic acids under remarkably low reaction temperatures and pressures (5-20 bar hydrogen, 60-130oC) using Pt/TiO2 and Pt-Re/TiO2 catalysts. The catalyst and reaction conditions were tuned to obtain either alkanes or alcohols with high selectivity. Theoretical gas phase DFT simulation studies over a Pt-Re surface were performed to predict the enhanced hydrogenation activity through synergistic interaction of Pt and Re and compared with the experimental results from the hydrogenation of different amides/carboxylic acids. A two-site Langmuir-Hinshelwood (L-H) kinetic model was developed to describe the reaction kinetics. To further ease the technology transfer, a continuous flow process was also developed.
- Track 5: Chemical Polymer Technology Track 6: Petroleum Refining and Petrochemicals Track 7: Applications of Chemical Technology Track 8: Biomolecular Engineering
Chair
Ravindra Pogaku
University Malaysia Sabah (UMS), Malaysia
Co-Chair
Haresh Manyar
Queens University Belfast, UK
Session Introduction
Anette Larsson
Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
Title: Impact of biopolymer’s chemical heterogeneity on drug release from matrix formulations – an experimental study combined with simulations of the drug release
Time : 11:40-12:10
Biography:
Anette Larsson has completed her PhD from Chalmers University of Technology in the year 1995. She has worked for seven years as an Associate Principal Scientist at AstraZeneca. Since 2003, she is leading a Pharmaceutical Technology group. Since 2012, she is the Director of SuMo BIOMATERIALS, an industry academy research consortium with six industrial partners and one institute. She has published more than 60 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an evaluator regularly for PhD grades and academic promotion committees.
Abstract:
A common way to control the release of drugs is to mix the drug with hydrophilic polymers and compact the mixture to tablets. The water ingresses in the hydrophilic matrix tablets leads to a slow gradual dissolution of the polymer and the dry polymer in the core of the tablet protects the active substance from being dissolved and released. A preferred biopolymer for such formulations is hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose, HPMC, which is available in many pharmaceutical approved grades. The HPMC´s molecular weight (SEC/RI/MALLS), degree of substitution (NMR) and substitution pattern (enzymatic degradation) along the cellulose backbone were characterized and by combining these data with release experiments, magnetic resonance imaging of HPMC tablets and computer simulations, we were able to show that the interactions between HPMC and water depend strongly on HPMC´s substitution pattern and this gave that: 1) the drug and polymer release rates were different with 20 and 100 h to completely eroded tablets for homogeneous and heterogeneous HPMC batches, respectively; 2) the formulations with the heterogeneous HPMC batch swelled almost a factor of two more compared to formulation of the more homogenous HPMC batch; and 3) the distribution of water in the swollen matrix tablets was more flat for water concentration of 60 w/w% water and above for the heterogeneous batch than for the homogenous batch. Based on this one can conclude that the substitution pattern for biopolymers like HPMC, as well as the molecular weight and degree of substitution, have large influences on the functionality of the polymers.
Jehad Abu-Dahrieh
Queen’s University Belfast, UK
Title: Gold based catalyst for Low Temperature Water Gas Shift Reaction
Time : 12:10-12:40
Biography:
Jehad Abu-Dahrieh is a Lecturer of Chemical Engineering at Queen’s University Belfast, UK. She has done her BSc in Chemical Engineering and Technology and obtained her MSc in Chemical Engineering from Jordan University of Science. She received her PhD in Chemical Engineering from Queen’s University Belfast. She also worked as a Post-doctoral Research Associate at Queen’s University Belfast (2010-2014) in the group of CenTACat. Her research interests focuses on the area of heterogeneous catalysis, reaction engineering and energy.
Abstract:
The water-gas shift reaction (WGSR) is a very important reaction in industrial processes in which CO and water in the vapor phase react to produce carbon dioxide and hydrogen. Copper based catalysts are considered to be the standard for methanol synthesis. Also currently, CuO/ZnO/Al2O3 (CZA) is used as the standard low temperature shift catalyst, but catalysts based on copper supported on SiO2, MgO, and Cr2O3 also have been applied. The currently used industrial CZA catalysts for WGSR are usually operated at 493–553 K. The reaction at lower temperature leads to the low reaction activity, while higher temperature results in the sintering of the catalysts. Recently, it has been demonstrated that supported gold catalysts are promising low temperature WGSR. Au/CeZrO4 catalysts are prepared by deposition-precipitation methods which have higher activity for the water-gas shift reaction and by using a model reaction gas mixture with Au supported on CeO2, TiO2 or ZrO2. The main objective of this paper is to investigate and compare the activity of Au/CeZrO4 and CZA catalyst for low temperature WGSR.
Bader Albusairi
Kuwait University, Kuwait
Title: Study of non-Isothermal Crystallization Kinetics of Polypropylene and Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene Blends
Time : 12:40-13:10
Biography:
Bader Albusairi has completed his MSc and PhD from Lehigh University in Chemical Engineering. He is the Director of Guidance and Counseling Office at the College of Engineering and Petroleum at Kuwait University. He had previously served as the Director of the Office of Academic Assessment. He has published many papers in reputed journals especially in the field of Heat and Mass Transfer Modeling.
Abstract:
Polypropylene (PP) is a semi crystalline polymer, has rapid cooling behavior and clogs parts of machinery when used in blow molding applications. Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) is an amorphous polymer. When ABS is used in combination with PP at different concentrations it can alter the crystallizing behavior of PP and improve its impact properties. In this research work different macro kinetic models like Avrami, Tobin and Malkin have been applied to study the non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of the blend formed using PP and ABS. The data analysis was carried out using a direct fitting method and by using the solver optimization technique available in excel 2013. Tobin analysis was found to be effective in describing the non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of neat PP, ABS and blends of PP and ABS. The crystallization rate constants, activation energies and individual model constants are reported in this work. The results in general have indicated that the crystallization rate, crystal nucleation and growth during crystallization could be monitored through temperature and cooling rate control which lays the foundation to industrial manufacture of PP/ABS blends.
Tony Green
Speaking Green Communications Livermore USA
Title: Chemical engineers: Untold contributions to humanity
Time : 13:55:14:30
Biography:
Tony Green is a Clean-Tech and Sustainability Professional, a voice of sustainability and the adoption of alternative energy technologies. Using his more than 15 years of experience in High-Tech and Clean-Tech as Engineer and later in Sales and Marketing allow him to speak “engineer” as well as “people” while explaining complicated topics in easy to understand terminology. He has completed his Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware as well as a MBA with a focus on Technology Management for the University of Phoenix.
Abstract:
Chemical engineers have used their technical expertise to contribute to modern society in many ways. The contributions range from engineering the process to mass produce steel to developing fuel cell technology which made the moon landings possible to growing penicillin in a large enough scale to save millions of lives. However, the places where chemical engineers can contribute the most are outside of the areas governed by phase equilibrium and mass/energy balances. These final contributions are required that's sure the life changing impacts of discoveries made by chemical engineers are fully realized.
Ana Karla Costa de Oliveira
Instituto Federal Do Rn - IFRN, Brazil
Title: Removal Of Sulfides And Oil From Produced Water
Time : 14:30-15:00
Biography:
Ana Karla Costa de Oliveira has completed her PhD from UFRN, Brazil. She is a Teacher of Petroleum and Gas from IFRN. She has several publications in the areas of Oil, Produced Water and Oil Derivatives. She was the Coordinator of the Oil and Gas course in IFRN, Brazil, in the year 2010.
Abstract:
Produced water are complex mixtures which contain a large number of contaminants including finely dispersed oil, metals, and gases such as H2S and CO2, that are originated from oil and natural gas. In this paper we used solvent extraction to recover sulfides. We used three commercial amines belonging to the alkyl amine group as extractants, which were dissolved in aviation kerosene (JET FUEL). In this research real samples of produced water from the oil industry with initial concentration of 0.660 mg/L H2S were used. The parameters studied were: Amine/JET FUEL ratio (0.25 v/v) and organic/aqueous phase ratio (1/3 v/v). After the tests, it was concluded that the highest extraction efficiency occurred with the amine Duomeen which removed 76% of sulfides, followed by Arquad 2C-75, showing 59% removal efficiency and Duommen T which removed 40%.
Ali Taheri
Exaura Artefact Inc., USA
Title: Systematic and Knowledge-Based Invention in Science and Industry - 1; Context, Problematics, and Research Strategy
Time : 15:00-15:30
Biography:
Ali Taheri has completed his Master’s in Innovative Design from INSA Graduate School of Science and Technology of Strasbourg, France. He has done his PhD from University of Strasbourg in the year 2015. He is an Industrial Engineer with an academic and professional experience. He is the Founder and the Director of Exaura Artefact Inc. at Austin, Texas. He is an active researcher for New Product Development and Technology Management.
Abstract:
Nowadays, enhancing the performance of R&D teams is one of the main issue of R&D managers. Since a new product development project looks for proposing science and technology in a creative way, R&D managers are involved in setting up a creative process to enhance inventive problem-solving. But what is the necessity of implementing such a process through the fuzzy front end of innovation projects? What does mean inventive problem-solving, and how does it help engineers and managers? Faced with this questions, I give a brief presentation on the context, problematics, and lessons learned from our research in this field. This report contains a summary information of inventive approaches for managing design teams with introducing the main focus of our strategy and development results achieved.
Mercy Manyuchi
Harare Institute of Technology, Zimbabwe
Title: Potential of Producing Carbon Black from Waste Tyres
Biography:
Mercy Manyuchi is a Chemical Engineer by profession. She is the current Head of the Department for the Chemical and Process Systems Engineering at the Harare Institute of Technology, Zimbabwe. She has more than 15 peer reviewed papers in conference proceedings.
Abstract:
The disposal of used tires generated each year into the environment is unacceptable, in Zimbabwe alone, which was the basis of this study; approximately 2.4 million tires are disposed each year. A better solution from an environmental and economic stand point is to thermally reprocess the tires into valuable products like carbon black which is required. This study focused on the feasibility study on the pyrolysis of waste tires to give carbon black, pyrolytic oil, steel and syngas as waste products. The waste tires were first shredded followed by the removal of metals. Shredded tires were pyrolysed at 450-500°C for 2 hours. Carbon black with a yield of 40% was achieved as well as some oils and volatile gases. The carbon black obtained can be activated and used for various purposes like filling in tiers and other rubber products.
Biography:
Ravindra Pogaku has diverse and intense, yet rewarding experiences in teaching, research, industry, executive and administrative fields spanning over 35 years. He has an expertise in the area of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology. At present, his research group is focused on green economy, green processes and products. He was a Visiting Professor at Pennsylvania State University and Visiting Scientist at Cornell University. He has received Gold and Silver medals for his research contributions in the Green Energy and Green Engineering Fields. He was a UNESCO consultant on sustainable energy projects. He is a consultant for many renewable and green based industries. He has published more than 200 papers in referred journals and proceedings. He has edited and authored books and articles related to green technologies. He has reviewed thousands of journal manuscripts for reputed international journals. He serves as the Editor-in-Chief, Editorial Board Member, guest editor and reviewer for multiple referred journals. He focuses on developing green engineering and technology with different renewable feedstocks for sustainable development of the society.
Abstract:
Fossil energy resources are declining at a rapid rate creating alarming unstable equilibrium between nature and humanity. We must develop and deploy renewable energy systems. An attractive alternative is to convert lignocellulose biomass into transportation fuels. The abundance of energy and its products are a key factor for the status of any nation in the modern world. The amenities (e.g., wealth, education, health care, transportation, etc.) enjoyed by developed nations depend on abundant energy, about 85% of which is derived from fossil resources (i.e., oil, coal, and natural gas). There is a strong correlation between wealth production and energy consumption. The faster we consume energy, the more wealth we produce. In the last few centuries, developed nations have become rich largely by consuming fossil energy. Our lives continue to get better as we consume more energy. The human development index (HDI), a composite metric of health, education, and living standards. At low rates of energy consumption, HDI rises very rapidly, and then levels off above about 4 kW per capita. Our lives do not continue to improve significantly as we consume more energy beyond 4 kW/ person. By approximately 2025, global population will be about 8 billion. If everyone were to consume primary energy at a rate of 4 kW/ person, the global energy consumption rate would be 32 terawatt (TW). Currently, we consume about 16 TW, so if we were to raise the average global living standard to the equivalent of 4 kW/ person, we would need to double primary energy production by 2025. Hence, biofuel technology is the boon to provide sufficient energy for the sustainable world. To address our energy needs, one strategy is to increase bioenergy by using large-scale renewable lignocellulose energy systems as they are essential as fossil energy cannot provide the energy required to enable and underpin long-term prosperity. To ensure sustainable prosperity, we must develop and deploy renewable lignocellulose energy systems at the multi-terawatt scale. In the workshop generation biofuels from various lignocelluloses are highlighted. The biological thermodynamics, biochemical reaction rates, design of bioprocess technology are emphasized for exploiting bio resources for large scale biofuels production.
Tunde Victor Ojumu
Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, South Africa
Title: A systematic approach towards the synthesis of zeolites and geopolymers from South African coal fly ash on a large scale
Biography:
Tunde Victor Ojumu is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), South Africa. He completed his PhD from the prestigious University of Cape Town in 2007 and Post-doctoral studies from the same university in the areas of Biohydrometallurgy and Environmental Science. He is a NRF (National Research Foundation) rated researcher and presently the Head of Chemical Engineering programmes at CPUT. He has published more than 50 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an Editorial Board Member of some reputable journals.
Abstract:
This paper discusses South African coal fly ash characteristics and the suitability of the ash for zeolites synthesis. The chemistry and physics involved in the synthesis and various methods that have been used to synthesize pure phase zeolitic compounds were discussed, drawing examples from published works of researchers from Europe, China, India and those in South Africa. An outline of necessary conditions to consider when considering the synthesis on a large scale is discussed especially with reference to some of the successes and contradictions that have been recorded in the literature. The view is to reveal the limitation(s) of some methods with respect to scale-up opportunity. The results of our recent study on sonochemical treatment of fly ash to achieve pure phase zeolite A was highlighted and it was concluded that although sonochemical techniques may appear to be a good candidate of choice, its scalability is currently not clear. Further results from previous work was used to argue for the exploitation of the hydrodynamic cavitation offered by jet loop reacting system with a view to achieve the objective of design of a scalable process for the synthesis of targeted zeolite.
Levi T. Thompson
University of Michigan, USA
Title: Cascade Catalytic Systems for CO2 Hydrogenation to Liquids
Biography:
Thompson served as Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education in the College of Engineering from 2001 to 2005, and is Director of the Hydrogen Energy Technology Laboratory and Michigan-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation. Professor Thompson is recipient of awards including a 2006 Michiganian of the Year Award for his research, entrepreneurship, and recruitment and mentoring of minority students, NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award, Engineering Society of Detroit Gold Award, Union Carbide Innovation Recognition Award and Dow Chemical Good Teaching Award. He is also co-founder, with his wife, of T/J Technologies, a developer of nanomaterials for advanced batteries; he served as founding CEO and Board Chair. In 2006, the company was acquired by A123Systems, a leading producer of lithium ion batteries. He recently founded Inmatech to commercialize low cost, high energy density supercapacitors. Professor Thompson was Consulting Editor for the AIChE Journal, and presently serves on the DoE Hydrogen Technology Advisory Committee, National Academy's Chemical Sciences Roundtable, External Advisory Committee for the Center of Advanced Materials for Purification of Water with Systems, and AIChE Chemical Engineering Technology Operating Council.
Abstract:
Cascading and tandem catalysis concepts, involving the use of multiple catalytic species to facilitate multi-step reactions in a single pot, have proven to be effective for the design of homogeneous catalytic processes with higher rates and selectivities and are emerging as a useful strategy for the design of high performance heterogeneous catalytic systems. This paper will describe our efforts to design heterogeneous catalysts for CO2 hydrogenation using cascading/tandem catalysis concepts. Nano-structured early transition metal carbides and nitrides have proven to be very useful, serving as catalysts for key steps and supports for nanoscale metal particles that catalyze other steps. The results provide useful insights into the design of more effective catalytic materials and the potential use of early transition metal carbides and nitrides.
Acheampong Maxwell
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana
Title: Petrochemical Production
Biography:
Acheampong Maxwell is pursuing an undergraduate programme in Petrochemical Engineering at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana. He is currently in his 4th year of studies.
Abstract:
Petrochemicals refer to the chemical products obtained as a result of the synthesis of petroleum derivatives. The five (5) principal groups of starting compounds for the synthesis of petrochemicals are: Paraffins, Olefins, Aromatic Hydrocarbons, Acetylene, and Carbon monoxide and Synthesis gas. These principal groups of starting compounds are obtained from petroleum through thermal and catalytic processes such as pyrolysis, thermal cracking, catalytic cracking, reforming and catalytic hydrogenation. These starting compounds are subjected to various processes such as oxidation, alkylation, halogenation, esterification, etc., yielding products which differ widely in structure, properties and areas of application. Examples of such products include: Alcohols, ketones, aldehydes, esters, phenols, etc. Depending on their application, these products can be grouped into two (2): Intermediate products and specialized application products. The economy of raw materials in petrochemical production is of great importance since the raw materials form a major part of production cost. Hence there is a need to develop new trends and technologies for the synthesis of petrochemicals in an economical way without compromising quality.
- Special Workshop Session
Session Introduction
Ravindra Pogaku
University Malaysia Sabah Malaysia
Title: Biofuels 2016
Time : 15:30-16:15
Biography:
Ravindra Pogaku has diverse and intense, yet rewarding experiences in teaching, research, industry, executive and administrative fields spanning over 35 years. He has an expertise in the area of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology. At present, his research group is focused on green economy, green processes and products. He was a Visiting Professor at Pennsylvania State University and Visiting Scientist at Cornell University. He has received Gold and Silver medals for his research contributions in the Green Energy and Green Engineering Fields. He was a UNESCO consultant on sustainable energy projects. He is a consultant for many renewable and green based industries. He has published more than 200 papers in referred journals and proceedings. He has edited and authored books and articles related to green technologies. He has reviewed thousands of journal manuscripts for reputed international journals. He serves as the Editor-in-Chief, Editorial Board Member, guest editor and reviewer for multiple referred journals. He focuses on developing green engineering and technology with different renewable feedstocks for sustainable development of the society
Abstract:
Fossil energy resources are declining at a rapid rate creating alarming unstable equilibrium between nature and humanity. We must develop and deploy renewable energy systems. An attractive alternative is to convert lignocellulose biomass into transportation fuels. The abundance of energy and its products are a key factor for the status of any nation in the modern world. The amenities (e.g., wealth, education, health care, transportation, etc.) enjoyed by developed nations depend on abundant energy, about 85% of which is derived from fossil resources (i.e., oil, coal, and natural gas). There is a strong correlation between wealth production and energy consumption. The faster we consume energy, the more wealth we produce. In the last few centuries, developed nations have become rich largely by consuming fossil energy. Our lives continue to get better as we consume more energy. The human development index (HDI), a composite metric of health, education, and living standards. At low rates of energy consumption, HDI rises very rapidly, and then levels off above about 4 kW per capita. Our lives do not continue to improve significantly as we consume more energy beyond 4 kW/ person. By approximately 2025, global population will be about 8 billion. If everyone were to consume primary energy at a rate of 4 kW/ person, the global energy consumption rate would be 32 terawatt (TW). Currently, we consume about 16 TW, so if we were to raise the average global living standard to the equivalent of 4 kW/person, we would need to double primary energy production by 2025. Hence, biofuel technology is the boon to provide sufficient energy for the sustainable world. To address our energy needs, one strategy is to increase bioenergy by using large-scale renewable lignocellulose energy systems as they are essential as fossil energy cannot provide the energy required to enable and underpin long-term prosperity. To ensure sustainable prosperity, we must develop and deploy renewable lignocellulose energy systems at the multi-terawatt scale. In the workshop generation biofuels from various lignocelluloses are highlighted. The biological thermodynamics, biochemical reaction rates, design of bioprocess technology are emphasized for exploiting bio resources for large scale biofuels production.