International Conference on Chemical Engineering September 12-14, 2016 Phoenix, Arizona , USA

Dragomir Yankov is the Director of Institute of Chemical Engineering, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. He joined the Institute as Research Fellow in 1984, where he received his PhD degree in 1998. Currently, he is a Professor in Chemical Engineering department. He has published more than 50 papers in reputed journals. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Bulgarian Chemical Communications and Journal of Advanced Chemical Engineering.

Lactic acid is a useful chemical with both traditional (as acidulant, neutralizer and preservative) and newer (for environmentally friendly solvents or as precursor of biodegradable polymers) applications. Lactic acid can be manufactured by chemical synthesis or by fermentation of different carbohydrate materials by various microorganisms of Lactobacillaceae family. Lactobacillus plantarum is one of the most wide spread species used in lactic acid production by lactic acid bacteria. In the last years, the immobilization of whole lactobacillus cells attracts the attention of the researchers because of the undoubted advantages in lactic acid production. Various methods, belonging to all types of immobilization techniques, were used for immobilization of cells of the genus Lactobacillus. Spent grains originated from breweries and distilleries are the most abundant agro-industrial waste material and respond to most of the above listed requirements. Currently, spent grains are mainly used as animal feed. Attempts were made for using spent grains for extraction of metals and dyes. Greater attention was paid to the hydrolysis of the grains for producing fermentable sugars, used as substrates in various bioprocesses. A promising alternative for spent grains application is its use as carriers for enzymes and cells immobilization. The purpose of the present work is to investigate the applicability of distillers spent grains for cells immobilization, especially for the production of lactic acid. The immobilization was carried out by simultaneous growth and adhesion, adding spent grains in the beginning, before growth medium seeding at 30ºC for 24 h at gentle stirring. At the end, the concentration of free cells was determined, the support was separated from the broth, washed with sterile saline and kept at 4ºC in saline before further use. Influence of the particle size, pH, temperature and support treatment methods on the lactic acid fermentative production were examined. The immobilized preparation showed high activity (about 70-80% from free cells’ activity) and very good stability in at least two months repeated batch fermentations without pH control. There is no difference in optimal pH value and temperature for free and immobilized cells. The results obtained represent a good base for studying continuous lactic acid production.

Bohan Shan is a PhD student studying in Arizona State University, School for Engineering of Matter, Transport & Energy. He is working on synthesis and characterization of hydrostable MOFs in Dr. Bin Mu’s lab.

Metal-organic framework (MOFs) have attracted intensive attention in the past two decades. The high surface area, organized pore structure, and tailorable chemistry have made MOFs a promising series of candidates in chemical related applications, like gas separation and storage. The exploration of MOFs with desirable properties as well as high stability emerged as a research focus. We present the synthesis and characterization of a photoluminescent Zr-based MOF (ZrPDA) with controllable UV-induced structural variation, which can be potentially used in gas capture and storage. The high valence state Zr4+ and smart molecule, 1,4-phenylenediacrylic acid (H2PDA), which can go through [2+2] cycloaddition reaction under UV irradiation, were employed to form the ZrPDA. The structural variation of ZrPDA under UV exposure and its hydrostability were studied.

Daiki Yokoyama is a 2nd year graduate student at the Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, Prefectural University of Hiroshima. His topic of interest is Wood Chemistry. He attended the 2015 International Chemical Congress of Pacific Basin Societies in Hawaii, USA, and the 96th Annual Meeting of the Chemical Society of Japan in Kyoto, Japan, for poster sessions.

Lignocresol which is obtained using a phase separation system contains rigid structures with rich phenols. Nowadays, many researchers have been investigating an effective reductive method for aromatic rings in lignin derivatives to obtain more useful petroleum-like products. Given these circumstances, we have developed a novel reduction method (Ca-Rh/C methanol) that incorporates metallic calcium (Ca), methanol, and 5% wt. Rh/C at room temperature with no external hydrogen source. This method can reduce aromatic rings in lignocresol to the corresponding aliphatic compounds perfectly by using the combination of catalyst and atomic hydrogen is useful for ring reduction. However, because we applied Ca-Rh/C method for the reduction of 1 mmol of phenol derivatives, it required a longer reaction time, such as 80 hr, to achieve ring-reduction perfectly. As with many investigations, the results clarified that the hydroxyl group of phenol dissociated to the corresponding alkoxide ion, which inhibited adsorption on the catalyst, under an alkaline condition. Therefore, we are striving to develop a new reduction method under acidic conditions without alkoxide ion. In a general experimental procedure, a mixture of 1 mmol of substrate and 7 mmol of Fe with 0.1 g of Rh/C in 9 mL of 0.8 M H2SO4 was stirred for 30 min at room temperature, with no external hydrogen source. Finally, phenol gave cyclohexanol in 100% conversions within 1 hr. This poster describes this novel effective method using a mixture of iron and Rh/C in sulfuric acid for the reduction of phenols as a model.

Mahdi Yousefi has completed his Master’s degree from Tarbiat Modares University, Iran. He is the Director of Petro Rahbar Co., an engineering and consulting company which supplies know-how, engineering services for chemical plants.

In the study, for the first time, we have tried to construct a pilot reactor, for surveying the possibility of creating isothermal condition in the catalytic convertors where SO2 is converted to SO3 in the sulfuric acid plants by heat pipe. The thermodynamic and thermo-kinetic conditions were considered the same as the sulfuric acid plants converters. Also, influence of SO2 gas flow rate on isothermal condition, has been studied. A thermo-siphon type heat pipe contains sulfur and 5% iodine as working fluid, was used for disposing the heat of reaction from catalytic bed. Our results showed that due to very high energy-efficiency, isothermal and passive heat transfer mechanism of heat pipe, it is possible to reach more than 95% conversion in one isothermal catalytic bed. As the results, heat pipe can be used as a certain piece of equipment to create isothermal condition in catalytic convertors of sulfuric acid plants and it can create the good potential to create a major evolution in the design of sulfuric acid plants.

Tae Won Kang has completed his PhD from Oklahoma State University in 1989 and Post-doctoral studies from Western Research Institute. He is the Professor of Chemical Engineering department at Kongju National University in Korea. He has been interested in the area of control system design and chemical reaction with microwave energy. He has published more than 20 papers in reputed journals.

Automatic control systems have been evolving over the past 150 years. These systems began as simple mechanical feedback devices and have evolved into complex electronic and computer controlled systems. The purpose of this study consists of completing an apparatus that demonstrates the automatic flow control of water. Developed flow control system is composed of software and hardware. The flow rate is measured by orifice meter when water supplied from pump flows through pipes. Measured flow rate by orifice meter is converted into digital signals by pressure transmitter, then, sent to personal computer by data acquisition system. Afterwards, manipulated electric signal was calculated by LabVIEW control algorithm is sent to the control valve and converted to pneumatic signal to operate the control valve. Computer program for the data acquisition and control was prepared with LabVIEW of National Instruments. The electric signal and flow rates received from data acquisition board are monitored through two graphic windows. LabVIEW algorithm calculates errors comparing flow rate signals and set point, then, generates the manipulated variable values, which are needed to operate the control valve. For the determination of PID design parameters ultimate gain and ultimate period were investigated by increasing the proportional gain only form low value to high value, then, three control parameters were calculated by Ziegler-Nichols tuning method. When control performances were investigated for not only set point changes but also disturbance changes, the developed system showed good performances for both cases. Developed control system will be used as a tool for the education control theory, and also will be applied to industry.

Roberta Hofman-Caris has a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering and a PhD in Polymer Chemistry, both from Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. For 19 years, she worked at the Central Research Laboratory of Akzo Nobel, in the field of organic and polymer chemistry for coatings, pharmaceuticals and chemicals. In 2009, she joined KWR Watercycle Research Institute, as a Senior Scientist in the field of drinking water technology. Her major research topics are in oxidation and adsorption processes.

In surface water, increasing amounts and concentrations of organic micropollutants, like pesticides, pharmaceuticals, personal care products etc., can be found. This may affect not only the aquatic environment, but also sources for drinking water. Traditional water treatment techniques, will not remove the majority of these, often polar and hydrophilic, compounds. Advanced oxidation based on UV/H2O2 techniques may be used to convert these pollutants into smaller, better biodegradable, compounds or even to mineralize them into CO2 and water. The process combines two reactions: direct photolysis of the compounds, and photolysis of H2O2, which results in the formation of hydroxyl radicals. These are very effective and non-selective oxidants. A major drawback of UV/H2O2 technology is its energy use. By means of modelling we were able to predict the conversion of micropollutants inside the UV reactor, but the model also was applied to optimize both reaction conditions and UV reactor geometry, resulting in a 30-40% decrease in energy use. Pre-treatment of the water, e.g. to remove the natural organic matter can improve the energy use by an additonal 30-70%. This was demonstrated at two different drinking water production plants in the Netherlands. Furthermore, advanced oxidation was applied for wastewater treatment. In order to make the process more effective, pre-treatment of the water by means of e.g., ion exchange was applied, removing a major part of the effluent organic matter. Thus, it was shown that UV/H2O2 processes can be applied to improve the quality of both drinking water and wastewater.