To Live in a Safer World

The eighth scientific practical student`s, postgraduate’s and teacher’s LSNC conference

To Live in a Safer World

The eighth scientific practical student`s, postgraduate’s and teacher’s LSNC conference

Book of abstracts of the 10th International Chemical and Biological Engineering Conference: CHEMPOR 2008

This book contains the extended abstracts presented at the 10th International Chemical and Biological Engineering Conference - CHEMPOR 2008, held in Braga, Portugal, over 3 days, from the 4th to the 6th of September, 2008. Previous editions took place in Lisboa (1975, 1889, 1998), Braga (1978), Póvoa de Varzim (1981), Coimbra (1985, 2005), Porto (1993), and Aveiro (2001). The conference was jointly organized by the University of Minho, “Ordem dos Engenheiros”, and the IBB - Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering with the usual support of the “Sociedade Portuguesa de Química” and, by the first time, of the “Sociedade Portuguesa de Biotecnologia”. Thirty years elapsed since CHEMPOR was held at the University of Minho, organized by T.R. Bott, D. Allen, A. Bridgwater, J.J.B. Romero, L.J.S. Soares and J.D.R.S. Pinheiro. We are fortunate to have Profs. Bott, Soares and Pinheiro in the Honor Committee of this 10th edition, under the high Patronage of his Excellency the President of the Portuguese Republic, Prof. Aníbal Cavaco Silva. The opening ceremony will confer Prof. Bott with a “Long Term Achievement” award acknowledging the important contribution Prof. Bott brought along more than 30 years to the development of the Chemical Engineering science, to the launch of CHEMPOR series and specially to the University of Minho. Prof. Bott’s inaugural lecture will address the importance of effective energy management in processing operations, particularly in the effectiveness of heat recovery and the associated reduction in greenhouse gas emission from combustion processes. The CHEMPOR series traditionally brings together both young and established researchers and end users to discuss recent developments in different areas of Chemical Engineering. The scope of this edition is broadening out by including the Biological Engineering research. One of the major core areas of the conference program is life quality, due to the importance that Chemical and Biological Engineering plays in this area. “Integration of Life Sciences & Engineering” and “Sustainable Process-Product Development through Green Chemistry” are two of the leading themes with papers addressing such important issues. This is complemented with additional leading themes including “Advancing the Chemical and Biological Engineering Fundamentals”, “Multi-Scale and/or Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Process-Product Innovation”, “Systematic Methods and Tools for Managing the Complexity”, and “Educating Chemical and Biological Engineers for Coming Challenges” which define the extended abstracts arrangements along this book. A total of 516 extended abstracts are included in the book, consisting of 7 invited lecturers, 15 keynote, 105 short oral presentations given in 5 parallel sessions, along with 6 slots for viewing 389 poster presentations. Full papers are jointly included in the companion Proceedings in CD-ROM. All papers have been reviewed and we are grateful to the members of scientific and organizing committees for their evaluations. It was an intensive task since 610 submitted abstracts from 45 countries were received. It has been an honor for us to contribute to setting up CHEMPOR 2008 during almost two years. We wish to thank the authors who have contributed to yield a high scientific standard to the program. We are thankful to the sponsors who have contributed decisively to this event. We also extend our gratefulness to all those who, through their dedicated efforts, have assisted us in this task. On behalf of the Scientific and Organizing Committees we wish you that together with an interesting reading, the scientific program and the social moments organized will be memorable for all.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Nonlinear Optimization for Managing Occupational Exposure Risks in the Nanomaterial Manufacturing Workplace under Uncertainty

Critical environmental and human health concerns are associated with the rapidly growing fields of nanotechnology and Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs). The main risk arises from occupational exposure via chronic inhalation of nanoparticles. This research presents a fuzzy chance-constrained nonlinear programming (FCCNLP) optimization approach, which is developed to maximize the nanomaterial production and minimize the risks of workplace exposure to ENMs. The FCCNLP method integrates fuzzy mathematical programming (FMP) and chance-constrained programming (CCP) into nonlinear programming (NLP) optimization framework, and could be used to deal with uncertainties expressed as not only probability distributions and fuzzy values associated with components of constraints but ambiguity of the objective function as well. The FCCNLP method was examined through a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) manufacturing process. Solutions of the compromise decision alternatives associated with different risk levels of relaxed constraint violations were obtained. This study confirmed that a high level control strategy through strict occupational exposure limits (OELs) combined with a high enforcement of OELs would lower the nanomaterial exposure risks to workers. The related cost and nanomaterial production have also been optimized for different operational scenarios under multi-layer system uncertainties. The results were helpful for decision makers to identify desirable schemes under uncertainties to maximize the economic benefits and ensure workplace safety through minimizing the nanomaterial-related health risks. The developed technology has technical novelty to help finding cost-effective measures for the sustainable development of nanotechnology

Second Aerospace Environmental Technology Conference

The mandated elimination of CFC'S, Halons, TCA, and other ozone depleting chemicals and specific hazardous materials has required changes and new developments in aerospace materials and processes. The aerospace industry has been involved for several years in providing product substitutions, redesigning entire production processes, and developing new materials that minimize or eliminate damage to the environment. These activities emphasize replacement cleaning solvents and their application, verification, compliant coatings including corrosion protection system and removal techniques, chemical propulsion effects on the environment, and the initiation of modifications to relevant processing and manufacturing specifications and standards

Computational analysis of the colonic transciptome & in vitro biomarker analysis using a novel microfluidic quantum dot linked immunoassay

DNA microarray technology facilitates the high throughput analysis of transcriptional disease regulation by measuring the relative expression levels of transcripts present within a tissue. While such computational approaches have been used to study the genetic regulation of a variety of illnesses, such studies often suffer from inadequate patient sample sizes and statistical power resulting in conflicting results and lab-specific bias. In order to overcome these limitations and fully utilize the wealth of publicly available genomic data, an integrated microarray analysis method was used to analyze and interpret microarray data in the context of colonic diseases including colorectal carcinoma (CRC) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).The results of this work indicate widespread genetic perturbations related to IBD in which a variety of cell types are implicated including resident host enterocytes, innate and adaptive immune cells as well as native luminal microflora. Our work has identified subtle genetic differences between IBD phenotypes for the realization of disease specific therapeutic treatments as well as novel diagnostic biomarkers. Furthermore, our analysis has revealed significant overlap in the genetic regulation and predisposition to IBD, lupus, type 1 diabetes, graves disease and rheumatoid arthritis, providing the first genetic link between the enteropathic disease symptoms associated with IBD. Druggable pathways involved in these diseases as well as known therapeutic drug targets were also analyzed for the potential repositioning of existing therapeutics for the treatment of IBD.IBD patients are known to be at an elevated risk for developing colorectal carcinoma, with risk increasing with the duration of the disease. In order to better understand the phenotype shift from IBD to cancerous phenotypes, integrated microarray analysis was used to identify gene signatures, implicated pathways and novel discriminatory biomarkers for differentiating between IBD and CRC phenotypes. Our diagnostic panels were shown to accurately differentiate between phenotypes using an independent dataset for validation.In order to transition the identified biomarkers to the clinic for diagnostic use, a novel microfluidic quantum dot linked immunosorbent assay platform was developed with enhanced surface chemistry and reaction kinetics. The developed prototype has the capability of multiplexed biomarker detection within clinically relevant samples for the stratification of disease phenotypes. In order to validate our design, human samples spiked with the fecal IBD biomarker lactoferrin were analyzed. Results indicate increased sensitivity and signal to noise ratios over our predicate device, with a reduction of the limit of detection. This proof of concept device shows great promise as a portable bedside diagnostic device for multiplexed biomarker analysis within a clinical setting.Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering -- Drexel University, 201

Development and optimisation of treatment technologies for environmental pollution control

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.A number of sustainable and economically viable treatment methodologies have been developed and optimised to combat environmental pollution problems associated with the diversity and scattered nature of industries in Pakistan. The use of both electro-precipitation and electro-oxidation processes are shown to lead to the removal of dyes from textile effluent streams originating from various operations. The use of the electro-precipitation process, however, leads to a secondary disposal problem because sludge produced has to be disposed of safely. The use of an electrooxidation process does not produce sludge but is unable to remove some of the organic impurities from industrial textile effluent. Both processes do, however, result in colour removal from dye effluents with the degradation of dyes during electro-oxidation proceeding through the formation of different intermediate species before mineralization leading to complete mineralization in 30-40 minutes. Ames tests confirm that the treated effluent streams from both electro-precipitation and electro-oxidation processes are non-mutagenic. The electro-Precipitation process with mild steel anodes is also be used for the treatment of leather effluent streams to remove chromium by producing a mixed Cr(III) / Fe(III) hydroxide sludge. The same treatment process was successfully used for the simultaneous removal of dyes and chromium from mixed textile/leather effluent streams. The electro-precipitation process developed has been successfully tested on pilot scale at a textile mill in Faisalabad, Pakistan. A number of transition metal supported catalysts were shown to be ineffective in the oxidation of volatile organic compounds. For this reason a method of preparing platinum group metal catalysts on inert supports at low temperatures was developed and used to oxidise toluene, as an indicator of volatile organic compounds. The preferred catalyst support is y-A1203 which can be in the form of spheres or washcoated monoliths. In the case of y-A1203 spheres and the y-A1203 washcoated monolith complete oxidation of toluene was achieved at the relatively low temperatures of 236 and 2680C. A number of novel room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) were synthesised, characterised and their potential application for selective extraction of copper from industrial wastes is also reported. The solubility studies of different metal oxides in the RTIL, 1-(2-cyanoethyl)-3-methylimidazolium bromide, show that it can be used for the selective extraction of copper from industrial waste samples containing other metal oxides. This RTIL has the ability to selectively dissolve, copper, copper oxide and copper sulfide when the reaction is carried out in the presence of water

Social, Economic and Environmental Metrics for the Sustainable Optimization of Chemical and Petroleum Processes

This research is focused on adopting a systematic methodology for address sustainability concerns during early stages of engineering design. Traditionally, engineers designed processes to achieve beneficial operations and economic goals. However, given the need to balance the economic benefits of chemical engineering processes, safety, health and environmental impacts, the improved focus on sustainability of production processes has introduced more complex dimensions to consider. When it comes to addressing the three conflicting dimensions of sustainability, there is no well-defined methodology or tool for achieving this. A thorough review was completed to investigate the applications and limitations of existing economic, environmental, health and safety evaluation tools. Therefore, the methodology combines already established approaches, concepts and tools into a novel systematic technique that addresses sustainability concerns during early stages of chemical process design. A methodology that involves the use of the SUSTAINABILITY EVALUATOR and ASPEN PLUS was developed for evaluating processes for sustainability. The SUSTAINABILITY EVALUATOR is a novel impact assessment tool developed for this research. This tool applies selected metrics that address economic, environmental as well as health and safety concerns. The SUSTAINABILITY EVALUATOR is a Microsoft Excel based tool that uses mass and energy balance inputs from ASPEN PLUS to evaluate the sustainability of a process. This impact assessment tool equips the process designer with a framework to design industrial processes for sustainability. The objective is for processes designers to use the results generated from the tool to assess and improve the sustainability of a process. The proposed framework involved the use of ASPEN PLUS to simulate processes, calculate mass and energy balances, complete sensitivity analysis and lastly optimize processes An overall sustainability impact which has been incorporated into the SUSTAINABILITY EVALUATOR was developed to quantify sustainability issues in process design. The methodology was demonstrated on two case studies: the acrylonitrile process and the allyl chloride process. The application of the methodology on the two case studies resulted in a more economic, environmental and socially acceptable processes.School of Chemical Engineerin

Artificial cognitive architecture with self-learning and self-optimization capabilities. Case studies in micromachining processes

Tesis doctoral inédita leída en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Escuela Politécnica Superior, Departamento de Ingeniería Informática. Fecha de lectura : 22-09-201