Volume 20, Issue 5 - Special issue dedicated to the International Conference on Reaction Engineering National Institute of Technology, Raipur, India; Guest Editor: Parmesh K. Chaudhari

Nanomaterials have fascinated the interest of researchers due to their unique electronic, optical, magnetic, and several other properties. Tin sulfide (SnS 2 ) and Zinc oxide (ZnO) have emerged as promising materials for pharmaceutical, textile, environmental remediation, energy conversion, and storage device design. These two compounds were widely used in waste-water treatment for photocatalytic destruction of organic contaminants. However, the degradation of organic sulfur compounds in the liquid fuel desulfurization process has rarely been investigated using such materials. We hereby, present a hydrothermal method for developing the hexagonal lattice structure of SnS 2 and ZnO for the deep desulfurization of model liquid fuel. These materials were further characterized through powder X-ray diffraction for phase purity and crystalline, FTIR analysis to validate functional groups, N 2 adsorption-desorption isotherm to study surface properties, UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy for band gap analysis, scanning and transmission electron microscopy for morphology analysis. The optical behavior reveals that the energy gap for SnS 2 and ZnO is 2.09 and 3.21 eV, respectively which corresponds to the visible light absorption range. The photocatalysis experiment was carried out in direct sunlight to degrade 10 ppm DBT in iso-octane. The obtained results show that 60% of the DBT degrade with SnS 2 and 15% of the DBT degraded with ZnO in 120 min, with a first-order kinetics rate constant of 0.009 and 0.001 min −1 respectively.

Glutaric acid is an attractive chemical compound which can be used for the manufacturing of polyesters, polyamides, and polyols. It can be produced by the synthesis (chemical method) and fermentation (biological method) process. Glutaric acid is presented with the lowest quantity in the fermentation broth and industrial waste streams. The separation methods of glutaric acid are difficult, costly, and non-environment friendly from fermentation broth. Reactive separation is a simple, cheapest, and environment-friendly process for the recovery of carboxylic acid. Which can be employed for the separation of glutaric acid with lower cost and environment-friendly process. In this study, response surface methodology (RSM) was used as a mathematical technique to optimize and experimental design for investigation of the reactive separation of glutaric acid from the aqueous phase. As per RSM study, 20 experiments with different independent variables such as concentration of glutaric acid, % v/v of trioctylamine, and pH for recovery of glutaric acid were performed. The optimum condition with maximum efficiency ( η ) 92.03% for 20% trioctylamine and pH = 3 at 0.08 mol/L of glutaric acid initial concentration were observed. The lower concentration of trioctylamine provides sufficient extraction efficiency of glutaric acid. This method can also be used for the separation from fermentation broth because a lower concentration of trioctylamine which makes this process environment-friendly. The optimization condition-defined quadratic response surface model is significant with R 2 of 0.9873. The independent variables defined the effect on the extraction efficiency of glutaric acid. This data can be used for the separation of glutaric acid from industries waste and fermentation broth.

In order to design an efficient extraction system for the separation of biochemically produced trans -aconitic acid (TAH) from fermentation broth; equilibrium and kinetics of reactive extraction of TAH from aqueous solutions was investigated using tri- n -octylamine (TOA) as an extractant and sunflower oil as a diluent. Through the equilibrium studies stoichiometry (acid, extractant) of complex formations was determined with the help of loading ratio. Formation of (1, 1), (2, 1), & (3, 1) stoichiometry complexes were observed having complexation constants values 179.73 kmol −1  m 3 , 9512.58 kmol −2  m 6 , and 614,407.02 kmol −3  m 9 , respectively. Kinetics experiments were performed in Lewis type stirred cell and results confirmed that reaction between TAH and TOA in sunflower oil fall in regime 1, i.e. slow reaction occurring in bulk organic phase. The overall order of reaction is pseudo first order with rate constant ( K mn ) 1.78 × 10 −5 (kmol m −3 ) −0.71  s −1 and physical mass transfer coefficient ( K l ) 4.22 × 10 −5  m s −1 .

The importance of the axial catalyst holdup on the accurate prediction of reaction yields from Fluidized Catalytic Cracking Unit (FCCU) risers was explored in this study. The Kunii and Levenspiel model was incorporated in the FCCU riser simulations for predicting the solid holdup. Two approaches were compared – the popular one assuming Constant Holdup (CH) and the other incorporating Variable Holdup (VH) in the reaction kinetics models. Simulation predictions using these two approaches were fitted to the yield profiles obtained from industrial plant data reported in the literature. The kinetic parameter estimates, including frequency factors and coking parameters obtained from these two approaches, were quite similar, indicating insensitivity to catalyst holdup. However, the kinetic model incorporating VH expression could predict the plant conversion and yield to within ±10% error throughout the riser. In contrast, the CH model led to predictions that were rather erroneous (>±25%) at the riser bottom as the catalyst particle acceleration zone was neglected. Temperature, gas density, catalyst particle, and gas phase velocity profiles obtained from the VH approach were considerably different from those obtained using the CH approach. The VH approach showed that the slip factor, especially, was quite distinct as it reached a peak value before decaying exponentially. On the other hand, the CH model showed a monotonic increase in slip factor along the riser.

Biogas production can supplement the renewable energy target of the world. For this abundantly available agricultural waste like wheat and rice straw can be used. Biogas generation using this waste will curb the stubble burning incidences, reduce greenhouse gases, enhance farmer’s income, and strengthen the energy security of many countries. The recalcitrant nature of rice straw is a barrier to its hydrolysis, which is a prerequisite of the anaerobic digestion (AD) process. Alkaline, electro-hydrolysis, and a combination of both pretreatment (alkaline electrohydrolysis) methods are undertaken in the present study. Batch reactors at ambient temperature were used for AD of rice straw at different inoculums to substrate ratios (ISR) of 0.5, 0.75, and 1.0 to observe the effect on biogas/methane yield. Among these, a higher amount of biogas was obtained for ISR of 0.5 in all sets of experiments. The combined pretreatment method yielded biogas of 315.9 mL/gVS (equivalent to methane of 167.4 mL/gVS). For pretreat-ed rice straw by electro-hydrolysis, alkaline, and combined (alkaline and electro-hydrolysis) respectively, the methane yields were 7.03, 18.13, and 49.82% higher than untreated rice straw. The biogas had approximately 53% of methane content. The use of rice straw for biogas production may prove a viable alternative for clean and sustainable energy. In the studies, a first-order kinetic model is found to fit better the experimental results.

In this study, acclimatization of microorganisms for the degradation of Acid Red 3BN dye bearing water (AR3BNDW) using activated sludge was performed in a cylindrical aerobic reactor. The initial value of chemical oxygen demand (COD), dye, and mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) of activated sludge were evaluated as 870.5, 80.6 and 1200 mg/L The experiments were performed at ambient temperature (25–35 °C) and the stabilization was achieved at 15 d. Maximum reduction of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and color were observed to be 94.2%, and 91% after 15 d of acclimatization. After completion of acclimatization process, degradation of dye was studied in moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR). In the process, 38, 50, 68 and 76% color reduction were achieved with polymer carrier fill ratio (FR) of 40, 50, 60 and 70%, respectively in 24 h. For effluent flow rate of 180, 240, 300 and 360 mL/h, respectively, the dye reductions of 76, 60, 48 and 36% and COD reductions of 72, 58, 46 and 34% were achieved in 24 h

Coker kero stream is obtained from delayed coking which contains saturates with alpha olefins and PNA compounds which was physicochemical characterised. The fractions present in coker kero may be used further for value added products such as alkyl benzene and naphthalene etc. The study described potential of coker kero via aromatics and non-aromatics separation by using liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) with N-methyl pyrrolidone (NMP), acetonitrile and methanol as solvents of different polarity. Methanol imparts best colour improvement as per ASTM D-1500. Beside this, adsorption study on coker kero was performed using fuller’s earth, chalk powder, red ochre and wood-stick’s ash as adsorbents. The adsorption study suggested that fuller’s earth not only separate aromatics and non-aromatics form coker kero, but also acts as a better adsorbent than graphitic carbon (activated charcoal) and is found suitable for colour improvement comparatively. This study inferred the separation of polar components, improvement in the colour, odour and established the stable fuel. FT-IR study suggested that N-methyl Pyrrolidone gives better results comparatively other solvents. HC22 type analysis of coker kero raffinate and extract phase confirm the sharp extraction of coker kero feed using N-Methyl pyrrolidone as it is a good solvent for extraction of aromatics. GCMS and HRMS compositional analysis successfully performed for the coker kero and it is separated aromatic and non-aromatic fractions.

The use of a voltammetric sensor to measure hazardous elements has gotten a lot of coverage. The electrochemical sensor in this study was modified with cerium dioxide (CeO 2 ) and blast furnace slag (BFS), which opens up new possibilities for improving the electrocatalytic properties of the fabricated sensor. In general chemical kinetics or mass transport can restrict the reactions involved in electrochemical detection. The prepared electrodes were tested against potassium ferricyanide, K 3 Fe(CN) 6 solution by cyclic voltammetry. Cyclic voltammetry was used to investigate the chemical reactions involve during redox process. The electron transfer kinetics, chemical rate constant, and diffusion characteristics of reactions can all be extracted using this method. Further this sensor was applied in the detection of lead and copper ions in aqueous solution. The results show that the redox reaction is a one-electron transfer mechanism with high selectivity and sensitivity. The value of transfer coefficient ( α ) for the electrode reaction was calculated as 0.61. Also the calculated heterogeneous electron transfer rate constant (Ks) of the modified electrode was 2.41.