Volume 19, Issue 2

In this paper, we have designed a Koch fractal electroosmotic micromixer (KFEM). A low-voltage electroosmotic micromixer. In order to optimize the electrode position, Koch microchannel is designed according to the Koch fractal principle and the electrode pairs based on the fractal are arranged. Then the effect of electrode voltage, electrode distribution positions, the number of electrode pairs, two kinds of Koch fractal structures, Reynolds (Re) number and the frequency of alternating current (AC) on the mixing performance are studied. The results show that the mixing efficiency can reach 99% in a short time when the AC voltage is 1 V, the AC frequency is 12 Hz and the electroosmotic micromixer has two sets of electrode pairs.

The main goal of this work is the construction of a class of controller, which employs directly a Lagrangian formulation to resolve the classical brachistochrone problem, this allows to obtain an optimal controller which reaches in a minimum time the stabilization of an isothermal continuous stirred tank reactor, whose chemical kinetic model is based on the power law. The proposed methodology is compared with an input/output linearizing which achieve asymptotic and exponential closed-loop convergence, sliding-mode controller with a finite time convergence and an exact gradient optimal control to compare the time convergence performance. Numerical experiments show the satisfactory performance of the proposed controller, despite sustained disturbances in the concentration input feed.

The demethanizer tower of Kavian olefin plant had a problem in more than 77% of the nominal capacity. Its performance was reduced by flooding with considering the inside pressure drop and fluctuation of the bottom liquid level increase. For this reason, a study was performed and the simulation results (with PRO II and SULCOL) were successfully implemented. Finally, troubleshooting and practical solutions were compared with simulation results. In order to tower modifications, an instruction had been issued so that all 40 trays had to be completely discharged and then the tower was refilled with 16 ton packing. According to this solution, the volume of ethylene as final product was increases about 23% and reaches the designed nominal capacity.

A numerical simulation was performed to study the hydrodynamics of micro-bubble swarm in bubble column with polyacrylamide (PAM) aqueous solution by using computational fluid dynamics coupled with population balance models (CFD-PBM). By considering rheological characteristics of fluid, this approach was able to accurately predict the features of bubble swarm, and validated by comparing with the experimental results. The gas holdup, turbulent kinetic energy and liquid velocity of bubble column have been elucidated by considering the influences of superficial gas velocity and gas distributor size respectively. The results show that with the rise of the superficial gas velocity, the gas holdup and its peak width increase significantly. Especially, the curve peak corresponding to high gas velocity tends to drift obviously toward the right side. Except for the occurrence of a smooth holdup peak at the column center under the condition of the moderate distributor size, the gas holdups for the small and large distributor sizes become flat in the radial direction respectively. The distribution of turbulent kinetic energy presents an increasingly asymmetrical feature in the radial direction and also its variation amplitude enhances obviously with the rise of gas velocity. The increase in gas distributor size can enhance markedly turbulent kinetic energy as well as its overall influenced width. At the low and moderate superficial gas velocity, the curves of the liquid velocity in radial direction present the Gaussian distributions, whereas the perfect distribution always is broken in the symmetry for high gas velocity. Both liquid velocities around the bubble column center and the ones near both column walls go up consistently with the gas distributor size, especially near the walls at the large distributor size condition.

In the current scenario of energy requirement and the commercialization aspect of algal biofuel and biomass, it is important that means of predicting the production be available. In this paper, the mathematical models are developed for the tubular, bubble column and airlift photobioreactors to predict the productivity of the algal biomass. A modified Monod kinetic equation, incorporating the effect of nutrient and CO 2 concentrations, light availability and oxygen built-up, is used to the estimate specific growth rate of the biomass. The light availability inside the reactor is defined in terms of the modified Beer–Lambert’s law as a function of distance from the surface where light is incident and the cell mass concentration. This allows a more accurate measurement of the shading effect. The equations are solved for different reactor types and their estimated productivities are successfully validated against values available in published literature. The model predicts comparatively better productivity for the tubular reactor (1.5 g/L day) than the bubble column and airlift reactor (1.42 and 1.35 g/L day respectively) because tubular reactor has shorter light/dark cycles and better light availability. The analysis is also done to identify the effect of nutrient, carbon dioxide, light and hydrodynamics on the overall productivity.

This study investigates the effects of types of impellers and baffles on methane hydrate formation. Induction time, water conversion to hydrates (hydrate yield), hydrate formation rate and hydrate productivity are components that were estimated. The initial hydrate formation rate is generally higher with the use of Ruston turbine (RT) with higher values 28.93 × 10 −8  mol/s in RT/RT with full baffle (FB) experiment, but the decline rate of hydrate formation was also high compared to up-pumping pitched blade turbine (PBTU). Power consumption is higher also in RT/RT and PBT/RT with higher value 392,000 W in PBT/RT with no baffle (NB) experiment compared to PBT/PBT and RT/PBT experiments respectively. Induction time values are higher in RT/RT experiments compared to PBT/PBT ones. Hydrate yield is always smaller when there is no baffle in all four groups of experiments while the higher values exist in experiments with full baffle. It should be noticed that PBT is the same with PBTU, since all experiments with mixed flow have upward trending.

Previous work showed that particle behaviors in ultrasonic atomization pyrolysis (UAP) reactor have a great influence on the transport and collection of particles. In this study, the effects of droplet behaviors (i.e. droplet collision and breakage) and solvent evaporation on the droplet size, flow field and collection efficiency during the preparation of ZnO particles by UAP were investigated. The collision, breakage and solvent evaporation conditions which affect the droplet size distribution and flow pattern were considered in CFD simulation based on Eulerian-Lagrangian method. The results showed that droplet collision and breakage would increase the droplet size, broaden the droplet size distribution and hinder the transport of droplets. Solvent evaporation obviously changed the flow pattern of droplets. In addition, both droplet behaviors and solvent evaporation reduced the collection efficiency. This study could provide detail information for better understanding the effect of droplet behaviors and solvent evaporation on the particle production process via UAP reactor.

In the present study, mono and bi-metallic catalysts containing Cr and Co were prepared by impregnating the hydrothermally prepared mesoporous KIT-6 support with 5–10 wt% total metal content. The well-ordered three-dimensional mesoporous structure of the KIT-6 support was confirmed by small angle X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns. N 2 adsorption-desorption analysis results showed that the mesoporous structure of KIT-6 was preserved after metal loading. Structural bonds of KIT-6 support and prepared catalysts were determined by Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The pyridine adsorbed diffuse reflectance FT-IR (DRIFT) spectroscopy results revealed the presence of Lewis acid sites on the surface of the catalysts. Activity experiments were carried out in a microwave-heated continuous-flow fixed bed reactor system at temperature range of 350–650 °C and feed ratios of Ethane/Argon: 1/2, 1/1, 2/1 with a gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) of 18,000 ml/h.g cat . The 5Cr@KIT-6 catalyst exhibited high ethane conversion (63.5%) while the highest ethylene/hydrogen ratio (0.98) was obtained with the 2.5Cr2.5Co@KIT-6 catalyst at 450 °C. It was concluded that high temperatures (above 450 °C) facilitate the formation of side reactions and the production of aromatic compounds. The high catalytic activities of mesoporous catalysts were thought to be due to hot spots in the microwave reactor system.

An open-source CFD software OpenFOAM ® is used to simulate two multiphase stirred-tank reactors relevant to industrial processes such as slurry polymerization and fuel production. Gas-liquid simulations are first performed in a single-impeller stirred-tank reactor, studied experimentally by Ford, J. J., T. J. Heindel, T. C. Jensen, and J. B. Drake. 2008. “X-Ray Computed Tomography of a Gas-Sparged Stirred-Tank Reactor.” Chemical Engineering Science 63: 2075–85. Three impeller rotation speeds (200, 350 and 700 rpm) with three different bubble diameters (0.5, 1.5 and 2.5 mm) are investigated. Flow patterns compared qualitatively to those from experiments. Compared to the experimental data, the simulations are in relatively good agreement for gas holdup in the reactor. The second multiphase system is a multi-impeller stirred-tank reactor, studied experimentally by Shewale, S. D., and A. B. Pandit. 2006. “Studies in Multiple Impeller Agitated Gas-Liquid Contractors.” Chemical Engineering Science 61: 486–504. Gas-liquid simulations are performed at two impeller rotation speeds (3.75 and 5.08 RPS). The simulated flow patterns agree with published pictures from the experiments. Gas-liquid-solid simulations of the multi-impeller stirred-tank reactor are also carried out at impeller rotation speed 5.08 RPS. The addition of solid particles with a volume fraction characteristic of slurry reactors changes the flow pattern significantly. The bottom Rushton turbine becomes flooded, while the upper pitched-blade downflow turbines present a radial-pumping flow pattern instead of down-pumping. Nonetheless, the solid phase has a similar flow pattern to the liquid phase, indicating that the particles modify the effective density of the fluid.