Early-stage fault detection and diagnosis of distillation has been considered an essential technique in the chemical industry. In this paper, fault diagnosis of a distillation column is formulated as an inverse problem. The nonlinear least squares algorithm is used to evaluate fault parameters embedded in a nonlinear dynamic model of distillation once abnormal symptoms are detected. A partial least squares regression model is built based on fault parameter history to explicitly predict the development of fault parameters. With the stripper of Tennessee Eastman process as example, this novel approach is tested for step- and random-type faults and several factors affecting its efficiency are discussed. The application result shows that the hybrid inverse problem approach gives the correct change of fault parameter at a speed far faster than the base approach with only a nonlinear model.

Unprecedented advances and innovation in technology and short lifespans of electronic devices have resulted in the generation of a considerable amount of electronic waste (e-waste). Polymeric components present in electronic waste contain a wide range of organic materials encompassing a significant portion of carbon (C). This source of carbon can be employed as a reducing agent in the reduction of oxides from another waste stream, i.e., steelmaking slag, which contains ≈20 wt%−40 wt% iron oxide. This waste slag is produced on a very large scale by the steel industry due to the nature of the process. In this research, the polymeric residue leftover from waste printed circuit boards (PCBs) after a physical-chemical recycling process was used as the source of carbon in the reduction of iron oxide from electric arc furnace (EAF) slag. Prior to the recycling tests, the polymer content of e-waste was characterized in terms of composition, morphology, thermal behavior, molecular structure, ha... [more]

Combinations of spherical vessels and pipes are frequently employed in industries. Scholars have primarily studied gas explosions in closed vessels and pipes. However, knowledge of combined spherical vessel and pipe systems is limited. Therefore, a flame acceleration simulator was implemented with computational fluid dynamics software and was employed to conduct natural gas explosions in three structures, including a single spherical vessel, a single spherical vessel with a pipe connected to it, and a big spherical vessel connected to a small spherical vessel with a pipe. These simulations reflected physical experiments conducted by at Nanjing Tech University. By changing the sizes of vessels, lengths of pipes, and ignition positions in linked vessels, we obtained relevant laws for the time, pressure, temperature, and concentrations of combustion products. Moreover, the processes of natural gas explosions in different structures were obtained from simulation results. Simulation results... [more]

Experiments of gas−liquid flow in a circular pipe for horizontal and inclined positions (upward/downward) are reported. The characteristics of two-phase flow in terms of liquid holdup (ε(L)) and induced flow patterns are studied using three experimental techniques; time-averaged ε(L) from permittivity profiles using electrical capacitance tomography (ECT), instantaneous ε(L) using two fast-closing valves (TFCV), and high-speed camera images (HSCI) to capture/identify the formed flow patterns. Thus, this experimental setup enables the development of more well-defined flow patterns in gas−liquid two-phase flow and allows for multi-technique verification of the results. Taken from experimental measurements, a model is proposed to predict ε(L) for high and low situations. The correlations are a function of the hydrodynamic dimensionless quantities which provide hydrodynamic similarity. Regarding different pipe orientations, ε(L) predictions are comparable to ε(L) from experimental measurem... [more]

Active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are highly valuable, highly sensitive products resulting from production processes with strict quality control specifications and regulations that are required for the safety of patients [...]

Bio-resins are bio-based materials derived from vegetable resources, especially from vegetable seed oils. It is widely known that bio-resources are renewable, highly available, and sustainable. Resins and most polymers are largely derived from petroleum-based sources that are known to pose chemical risks. Resins have practical applications in printing inks, plasticisers and diluents, as well as in coating materials. Vegetable oils possess a large number of oxirane groups, which are essential for epoxidation to occur, resulting in the production of bio-resins. This undeniably serves as a promising candidate for competing with fossil-fuel-derived petroleum-based products. Thus, the aim of this review paper is to highlight aspects related to the production of bio-resins, including the chemical route of vegetable oil epoxidation process and its influencing factors, the reaction kinetics, bio-resins and the physico-chemical and mechanical properties of bio-resins, along with their applicati... [more]

SiC fiber-MO2 (M = Ce, Zr) mixtures with various compositions were heated by applying an 80 W microwave electric field, to investigate their heating rate, maximum temperature, and dielectric constant. For the SiC fiber-CeO2 mixture, all three parameters continued to increase as the weight ratio of the SiC fiber increased; in contrast, for the SiC fiber-ZrO2 mixture, these parameters reached a maximum value at a certain composition. A thermal gradient of 500 °C was observed at a microlevel in the SiC fiber-ZrO2 mixture, and hot spots were located in regions with a certain composition. This result not only contributes to designing a novel good microwave absorber but also presents new aspects with regard to high-temperature microwave processing, including the mechanism behind the high-temperature gradients on the order of micrometers as well as engineering applications that utilize these high-temperature gradients.

Innovative nanofibrous membranes based on Pd/Au catalysts immobilized via electrospinning onto different polymers were engineered and tested in the selective oxidation of 5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural in an aqueous phase. The type of polymer and the method used to insert the active phases in the membrane were demonstrated to have a significant effect on catalytic performance. The hydrophilicity and the glass transition temperature of the polymeric component are key factors for producing active and selective materials. Nylon-based membranes loaded with unsupported metal nanoparticles were demonstrated to be more efficient than polyacrylonitrile-based membranes, displaying good stability and leading to high yield in 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid. These results underline the promising potential of large-scale applications of electrospinning for the preparation of catalytic nanofibrous membranes to be used in processes for the conversion of renewable molecules.

To remove antimony (Sb) ions from water, a novel composite adsorbent was fabricated from ferriferous oxide and waste sludge from a chemical polishing process (Fe3O4@HCO) and encapsulated in sodium alginate (SAB). The SAB adsorbent performed well with 80%−96% removal of Sb (III) ions within a concentration range of 5−60 mg/L. The adsorption mechanism of Sb (III) was revealed to be the synergy of chemisorption (ion exchange) and physisorption (diffusion reaction). The adsorption isotherms and kinetics conformed to the Langmuir isotherm and the pesudo-second-order kinetic model. Both initial pH and temperature influenced the adsorption performance with no collapse of microbeads within solution pH range 3−7. Most importantly for practical applications, these microspheres can be separated and recovered from aqueous solution by a magnetic separation technology to facilitate large-scale treatment of antimony-containing wastewater.

The purpose of this study was to attempt the encapsulation of lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) essential oil utilizing spray drying technique. An array of process parameters including concentration of wall (15−30%), type of wall materials (maltodextrin, maltodextrin and gum Arabic mixture), and concentration of essential oil (0.5−2.0%) were thoroughly investigated. The results show that the use of sole maltodextrin as encapsulant gave microcapsules characteristics comparable to that of powder produced using maltodextrin and gum Arabic mixture. The encapsulation process that was performed with maltodextrin at the concentration of 30% as wall material and lemongrass essential oil at the concentration of 1.5% as core material showed highest drying yield (84.49%), microencapsulation yield (89.31%) and microencapsulation efficiency (84.75%). Encapsulated essential oils retained most of their major constituents in comparison with the bare essential oils without any significant compromise in... [more]

Anaerobic digestion has been widely employed in waste treatment for its ability to capture methane gas released as a product during the digestion. Certain wastes, however, cannot be easily digested due to their low nutrient level insufficient for anaerobic digestion, thus co-digestion is a viable option. Numerous studies have shown that using co-substrates in anaerobic digestion systems improve methane yields as positive synergisms are established in the digestion medium, and the supply of missing nutrients are introduced by the co-substrates. Nevertheless, large-scale implementation of co-digestion technology is limited by inherent process limitations and operational concerns. This review summarizes the results from numerous laboratory, pilot, and full-scale anaerobic co-digestion (ACD) studies of wastewater sludge with the co-substrates of organic fraction of municipal solid waste, food waste, crude glycerol, agricultural waste, and fat, oil and grease. The critical factors that infl... [more]

Photoelectrochemical production of hydrogen peroxide was studied by using a cell functioning with a WO3 photoanode and an air breathing cathode made of carbon cloth with a hydrophobic layer of carbon black. The photoanode functioned in the absence of any sacrificial agent by water splitting, but the produced photocurrent was doubled in the presence of glycerol or ethanol. Hydrogen peroxide production was monitored in all cases, mainly in the presence of glycerol. The presence or absence of the organic fuel affected only the obtained photocurrent. The Faradaic efficiency for hydrogen peroxide production was the same in all cases, mounting up to 74%. The duplication of the photocurrent in the presence of biomass derivatives such as glycerol or ethanol and the fact that WO3 absorbed light in a substantial range of the visible spectrum promotes the presently studied system as a sustainable source of hydrogen peroxide production.

The native extractable arabinoxylans (AX) from wheat bran were cross-linked by the commercial laccase C (LccC) and self-produced laccases from Funalia trogii (LccFtr) and Pleurotus pulmonarius (LccPpu) (0.04 U/µg FA, each). Dynamic oscillation measurements of the 6% AX gels demonstrated a storage modulus of 9.4 kPa for LccC, 9.8 kPa for LccFtr, and 10.0 kPa for LccPpu. A loss factor ≤ 0.6 was recorded in the range from 20 to 80 Hz for all three laccases, and remained constant for four weeks of storage, when LccFtr and LccPpu were used. Arabinoxylan gel characteristics, including high water holding capacity, swelling ratio in saliva, and heat resistance indicated a covalently cross-linked network. Neither the mediator compounds caffeic acid and 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS), nor citrus pectin, enhanced the elastic properties of the gels. Using laccases as an oxidant provided gels with a solid and stable texture, comparable in firmness to traditional gelat... [more]

In this study, the novel ternary green polymer composites of poly(l-lactic acid) (PLLA)/poly(ethylene adipate)/hexagonal boron nitride (PLLA/PEA/h-BN) were synthesized and prepared. The crystallization rate of the biodegradable polymer PLLA in the composite was significantly increased with the addition of PEA and functional h-BN. In ternary PLLA/PEA/h-BN composites, PEA can be used as a plasticizer, while h-BN is a functional nucleation agent for PLLA. The analysis of the isothermal crystallization kinetics by the Avrami equation shows that the rate constant k of the ternary PLLA/PEA/h-BN composite represents the highest value, indicating the highest crystallization in the ternary composite. Adding h-BN in the composite can further increase the k value and increase the crystallization rate. Polarized optical microscopy (POM) images reveal that h-BN is an effective nucleation agent that increases the nucleation density of composites. Analysis of wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) furth... [more]

Effective cooling of the internal combustion (I. C.) engines is of utmost importance for their improved performance. Automotive heat exchangers used as radiator with low efficiency in the industry may pose a serious threat to the engines. Thus, thermal scientists and engineers are always looking for modern methods to boost the heat extraction from the engine. A novel idea of using nanofluids for engine cooling has been in the news for some time now, as they have huge potential because of better thermal properties, strength, compactness, etc. Nanofluids are expected to replace the conventional fluids such as ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, water etc. due to performance and environmental concerns. Overall performance of the engine cooling system depends on several input parameters and therefore they need to be optimised to achieve an optimum performance. This study is focussed on developing a nanofluid engine cooling system (NFECS) where Al2O3 nanoparticles mixed with ethylene glycol... [more]

We evaluated the direct release to the environment of a number of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) from various processing nodes at Xikuangshan Antimony Mine in Hunan Province, China. Sampling wastewater, processing dust, and solid waste and characterizing PTE content (major elements Sb, As, Zn, and associated Hg, Pb, and Cd) from processing activities, we extrapolated findings to assess wider environmental significance using the pollution index and the potential ecological risk index. The Sb, As, and Zn in wastewater from the antimony benefication industry and a wider group of PTEs in the fine ore bin were significantly higher than their reference values. The content of Sb, As, and Zn in tailings were relatively high, with the average value being 2674, 1040, and 590 mg·kg−1, respectively. The content of PTEs in the surface soils surrounding the tailings was similar to that in tailings, and much higher than the background values. The results of the pollution index evaluation of the de... [more]

Functionalization of graphite is crucial for efficient and effective exfoliation to graphene. When negative charges are fixed to the edges of natural graphite, the resulting anionic graphite shows negative charging in a polar solvent. This enhanced negative charging is assumed to contribute the exfoliation of graphite during liquid-phase exfoliation (LPE). In this study, we prepared large anionic graphite flakes (~10 μm) by salt-assisted ball milling, as well as natural graphite flakes of the same size for comparison. During the LPE process, centrifugation speed and solvent type have dominant effects on graphene concentration and quality (e.g., size and thickness), so we investigated these factors for anionic graphite flakes in detail. The anionic graphite showed higher exfoliation efficiency in every type of solvent (isopropanol, methyl ethyl ketone, acetone, and water-based cosolvent) compared with the natural graphite. Monolayer graphene, with an average size of 80−200 nm, was obtai... [more]

There is a significant effort in miniaturizing nanodevices, such as semi-conductors, currently underway. However, a major challenge that is a significant bottleneck is dissipating heat generated in these energy-intensive nanodevices. In addition to being a serious operational concern (high temperatures can interfere with their efficient operation), it is a serious safety concern, as has been documented in recent reports of explosions resulting from many such overheated devices. A significant barrier to heat dissipation is the interfacial films present in these nanodevices. These interfacial films generally are not an issue in macro-devices. The research presented in this paper was an attempt to understand these interfacial resistances at the molecular level, and present possibilities for enhancing the heat dissipation rates in interfaces. We demonstrated that the thermal resistances of these interfaces were strongly anisotropic; i.e., the resistance parallel to the interface was signif... [more]

In order to reveal the evolution law of heat transfer during phase change in a corrugated plate flow passage of a plate heat exchanger, a two-dimensional two-channel model was established to simulate the process of heat transfer during phase change in an unsteady flow passage. The results show that when the time was 3/5T, the average Nusselt number and the average heat flux of the heat exchange wall, as well as the outlet average temperature of the cold and hot fluid, reached stability, while the volume fraction of the gas phase increased rapidly. During the whole heat transfer process, the change in Nusselt number and heat flux along the heat transfer wall surface was basically the same, and its value fluctuated along the wall surface, displaying extrema at the exit, entrance, and corrugated corner. The temperature of the heat exchange wall fluctuated and increased along the Y-axis, and began stabilizing after a time >3/5T. As time went on, the temperature gradient of the hot and cold... [more]

Kernel methods are a class of learning machines for the fast recognition of nonlinear patterns in any data set. In this paper, the applications of kernel methods for feature extraction in industrial process monitoring are systematically reviewed. First, we describe the reasons for using kernel methods and contextualize them among other machine learning tools. Second, by reviewing a total of 230 papers, this work has identified 12 major issues surrounding the use of kernel methods for nonlinear feature extraction. Each issue was discussed as to why they are important and how they were addressed through the years by many researchers. We also present a breakdown of the commonly used kernel functions, parameter selection routes, and case studies. Lastly, this review provides an outlook into the future of kernel-based process monitoring, which can hopefully instigate more advanced yet practical solutions in the process industries.

Food flavor quality evaluation is attracting continuous attention, but a suitable evaluation system is severely lacking. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry/olfactometry (GC-MS/O) is widely used to solve the food flavor evaluation problem, but the olfactometry evaluation is unfeasible to be carried out in large batches and is unreliable due to potential issue of an operator or systematic laboratory effect. Thus, a novel fingerprint modeling and profiling process was proposed based on several machine learning models including convolutional neural network (CNN). The fingerprint template was created by the data analysis of existing GC-MS spectrum dataset. Then the fingerprint image generation program was applied for structuring the complex instrumental data. Food olfactometry result was obtained by a machine learning method based on CNN using fingerprint image as the input. The case study on peanut oil samples demonstrated the model accuracy of around 93%. By structure optimization and f... [more]

A titanium nitride (TiN) coating using microwaves can be accomplished in air, and satisfies the required conditions of an on-demand TiN coating process. However, the coating mechanism using microwaves is not completely clear. In this study, to understand the detailed mechanism of microwave titanium nitridation in air, the quantity of nitrogen and oxygen in reacted TiN powder has been investigated by an inert melting method. Titanium powders were irradiated with microwaves by a multi-mode type 2.45 GHz microwave irradiation apparatus, while also being held at various temperatures for two different dwell times. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results revealed that nitridation of the powder progressed with increasing process temperature, and the nitridation corresponds to the powder color after microwave irradiation. The nitrogen contents of the samples increased with increasing processing temperature and dwell time, unlike oxygen. It is postulated that the reaction of convected air with titanium... [more]

Renewed interest in freeze desalination has emerged due to its advantages over other desalination technologies. A major advantage of the freeze desalination process over evaporative methods is its lower energy consumption (latent heat of freezing is 333.5 kJ/kg and latent heat of evaporation is 2256.7 kJ/kg). Cryogenic fluids like LN2/LAir are emerging as an effective energy storage medium to maximise utilisation of intermittent renewable energy sources. The recovery of this stored cold energy has the potential to be used for freeze desalination. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling was developed to simulate the evaporation of liquid nitrogen to simultaneously conduct freeze desalination to investigate the feasibility of using cryogenic energy for freeze desalination. This integrated CFD model was validated using experimental heat exchanger test facility constructed, to evaporate liquid nitrogen to supply the cooling required for freezing. Parametric study on the LN2 flow rate... [more]

High energy demand has led to excessive fuel consumption and high-concentration CO2 production. CO2 release causes serious environmental problems such as the rise in the Earth’s temperature, leading to global warming. Thus, chemical industries are under severe pressure to provide a solution to the problems associated with fuel consumption and to reduce CO2 emission at the source. To this effect, herein, four highly porous aromatic Schiff bases derived from melamine were investigated as potential media for CO2 capture. Since these Schiff bases are highly aromatic, porous, and have a high content of heteroatoms (nitrogen and oxygen), they can serve as CO2 storage media. The surface morphology of the Schiff bases was investigated through field emission scanning electron microscopy, and their physical properties were determined by gas adsorption experiments. The Schiff bases had a pore volume of 0.005−0.036 cm3/g, an average pore diameter of 1.69−3.363 nm, and a small Brunauer−Emmett−Telle... [more]

Sugar beet fibre (fibrex) is an abundant side-stream from the sugar refining industry. A self-produced laccase from Funalia trogii (LccFtr) (0.05 U/µg FA) successfully cross-linked fibrex to an edible gel. Dynamic oscillation measurements of the 10% fibrex gels showed a storage modulus of 5.52 kPa and loss factors ≤ 0.36 in the range from 20 to 80 Hz. Comparing storage stability of sweetened 10% fibrex gels with sweetened commercial 6% gelatin gels (10% and 30% d-sucrose) indicated a constant storage modulus and loss factors ≤ 0.7 during four weeks of storage in fibrex gels. Loss factors of sweetened gelatin gels were ≤0.2, and their storage modulus decreased from 9 to 7 kPa after adding d-sucrose and remained steady for four weeks of storage. Fibrex gel characteristics, including high water holding capacity, swelling ratio in saliva, and heat resistance are attributed to a covalently cross-linked network. Vanillin, as a mediator, and citrus pectin did not enhance covalent cross-links... [more]