PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF AN AUTOMOTIVE THERMOELECTRIC GENERATOR

Around 40% of the total fuel energy in typical internal combustion engines (ICEs) is rejected to the environment in the form of exhaust gas waste heat. Efficient recovery of this waste heat in automobiles can promise a fuel economy improvement of 5%. The thermal energy can be harvested through thermoelectric generators (TEGs) utilizing the Seebeck effect

Aerosol measurement and mitigation in CO₂ capture by amine scrubbing

Amine solvent losses are a significant issue for CO₂ capture by amine scrubbing. Solvent lost through aerosol emission represents an environmental hazard with adverse economic implications. This research focuses on developing analytical systems to quantify amine aerosol emissions. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometry quantified amine emissions and Phase Doppler Interferometry determined aerosol size and concentration. Baghouse pretreatment of the flue gas significantly reduced amine emissions through collection of aerosol nuclei. A baghouse at the National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC) reduced monoethanolamine (MEA) emission by over a factor of 10. An SO₃ generator was built to facilitate bench and pilot scale aerosol experiments by reacting SO₂ in air over vanadium pentoxide catalyst at 520 °C. Aerosol generation at UT-SRP produced up to 1.7 grams per minute of SO₃, with conversion exceeding 81 %. Bench scale experiments achieved conversion greater than 97 % and aerosol concentration up to 7E4 cm⁻³. SO₃ increased piperazine (PZ) emission by up to 7.6 mol PZ/ mol SO₃. SO₂ increased PZ emission by 1 mol/ mol SO₂, and increased MEA emissions by 3.9 mol/ mol SO₂. H₂SO₄ increased PZ emission by 3 mol/ mol H₂SO₄. PZ resisted aerosol emissions with lower SO₃ content; this is because a low inlet aerosol nuclei concentration results in rapid aerosol growth and subsequent collection by impaction. Higher process temperatures correlated with decreasing PZ emission, supporting the growth and capture theory. Increasing the solvent PZ content was shown to strongly correlate with increasing PZ emission. In bench scale experiments, PZ emission and aerosol size both increased as the PZ content in the solvent increased. Lowering the temperature bulge stage reduced PZ emission and the aerosol size. Increasing the inlet CO₂ correlated with larger aerosol. Increasing the solvent CO₂ loading and the inlet SO₃ resulted in greater aerosol concentration. Operations with a blower upstream of the absorber increased MEA aerosol emission. The upstream blower resulted in larger aerosol in greater quantities, containing a greater quantity of MEA Reduced MEA emission with an intermediate blower are probably due to collection of aerosol through impaction within the blower.Chemical Engineerin

Automated Bench-Scale Bioreactor

The objective of this project was to design and build an automated bench-scale sequencing batch reactor to demonstrate the treatment of wastewater using an activated sludge process. LabVIEW 8.0 development software was used to build a user interface to control timing sequence, pumping, aeration, and temperature of the physical reactor setup

Implementation of Engine Control and Measurement Strategies for Biofuel Research in Compression-Ignition Engines

The global petroleum fuel supply is a limited resource that is understood to have negative influences on the environment because of its usage. In order address this issue, researchers are investigating sources of sustainable energy to offset this finite energy supply. One promising option for the transportation sector is biodiesel derived from various feedstocks. In order to perform viable research in the area of sustainable biodiesel, a multi-disciplinary effort to study the entire biodiesel spectrum from production to tailpipe emissions is underway at the University of Kansas. A critical aspect of this research includes investigating the effects of biodiesel combustion on engine operation. This includes observing engine power output, fuel consumption, and mechanical wear. In order to detect these characteristics effectively, full instrumentation of a single-cylinder compression-ignition engine is necessary. This engine serves as a test apparatus for experimental fuels and as a student-training tool. Of particular interest is the upgrade of this engine's fuel system to include electronically controlled fuel injection using an engine control unit. To aid in future research and to serve as a training reference, a detailed description of the construction, maintenance, and troubleshooting of the engine, dynamometer, auxiliary systems, and data acquisition equipment is included. Furthermore, this dissertation contains findings from biodiesel studies illustrating how fuel properties, such as fuel viscosity, play a role in injection and combustion behavior. The completed engine testing system provides the opportunity to continue into more sophisticated research venues, such as low temperature combustion and multiple injection events

Design of a Biaxial Test Device for Compliant Tissue

The objective of this project is to design and build a computer controlled testing system for planar biaxial stretching of soft connective tissues. The planar biaxial device designed in this paper has a four-axis control system as well as four components: a temperature-controlled testing chamber, a low friction sample attachment system, a stretching/force system, and a stress/strain measurement system. The device\u27s design is unique due to its low force capability (\u3c 0.5N), low cost (\u3c $15,000), and real-time computer control

A remotely-operated facility for evaluation of post-combustion CO2 capture technologies on industrial sites

ACTTROM (Advanced Capture Testing in a Transportable Remotely-Operated Minilab) is a transportable test facility for bench-scale evaluation of postcombustion CO2 capture technologies using real industrial flue gases. It is designed to be remote-operable, requiring visits only once per month for maintenance and sample collection. ACTTROM is the first facility of its kind, owned and operated by academia for collaborative research in an industrial environment, and this has resulted in a number of unique developments to facilitate remote operation at an industrial host site. Specifically, it has been necessary to design the unit to automatically correct or mitigate the effects of fault conditions, and to be remotely-monitored via a user interface at 24 hour intervals

Accelerated Thermal Aging of Fe-Zeolite SCR Catalysts on an Engine Bench

Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NOx with urea/NH3 is a leading candidate to the impending more stringent emissions regulations for diesel engines. Currently, there is no consensus on the durability and the deactivation mechanisms associated with zeolite-based SCR catalysts, nor is there an established protocol for rapidly aging zeolite-based SCR catalysts that replicates the catalyst deactivation associated with field service. A 517 cc single-cylinder, naturally-aspirated direct injection (NA/DI) diesel engine is used to perform accelerated thermal aging on Fe-zeolite SCR catalysts. The engine is fitted with an exhaust aftertreatment system consisting of a DOC, a SCR catalyst and a DPF. Accelerated aging protocol established for the SCR catalyst utilizes high temperature exhaust gases during the active regeneration of the DPF. Accelerated aging is carried out at exhaust gas temperatures of 650, 750 and 850°C at the SCR inlet and at a gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) of approximately 40,000 h-1. The engine is maintained at 1500 rpm and supplemental fuel is injected upstream of the DOC to alter the temperature of the aftertreatment system. The aged Fe-zeolite SCR catalysts are evaluated for NOx performance in a bench-flow reactor and characterized by multiple surface characterization techniques for materials changes. The NOx performance of the front sections of the engine-aged catalysts is severely degraded. BET surface area measurements of the engine-aged catalyst indicate a severe reduction of catalyst surface area in the front sections of the catalysts aged at 750 and 850°C. However, the catalyst aged at 650°C has a catalyst surface area similar to that of a fresh catalyst; thereby ruling out reduction of catalyst surface area as the sole cause of the catalyst deactivation seen in the front sections of the engine-aged catalysts. The similar shape of the NOx conversion profiles observed with these catalyst sections even at different aging temperatures indicates some type of catalyst poisoning; however, the cause of catalyst degradation in these catalyst sections is not identified in this investigation. There is a good relationship between the NOx performance and catalyst aging temperature for the rear sections of the engine-aged catalysts – NOx performance decreases with increasing aging temperature. XRD patterns and NO oxidation experiments reveal evidence of zeolite dealumination in the engine-aged catalysts. BET surface area measurements show that catalyst surface area decreases with increasing aging temperature, which further supports the suggestion of zeolite dealumination as the cause of catalyst deactivation in the rear sections of the engine-aged catalysts. A comparison between the engine-aged and field-aged catalysts is conducted to assess the validity of the implemented accelerated thermal aging protocol in replicating the aging conditions observed in the field-aged catalyst. Bench-flow reactor evaluation is used to determine the NOx performance of the engine-aged and field-aged catalysts, and in depth surface studies are used to determine the deactivation mechanisms associated with each type of catalyst aging. SEM micrographs and BET surface area measurements of the aged catalysts show that the deactivation mechanism associated with catalyst aging is primarily physical damage to the zeolite washcoat for both the field-aged and engine-aged catalysts. Furthermore, X-ray diffraction and NO oxidation experiments identify zeolite dealumination as the underlying cause of the washcoat degradation. Finally, BFR evaluation shows that the NOx performance of the catalyst aged at 750°C for approximately 50 hours compares very well to that of the field-aged catalyst with a service life of 3 years. It is concluded that accelerated thermal aging on the engine bench is successful in bringing about similar catalyst changes to those seen with the field-aged catalyst