On the Prediction of Gas Hold-up in Ebullated Bed Reactors

Commercial ebullated bed reactors (EBRs) are three-phase fluidized bed systems used for hydroprocessing (upgrading) of bitumen, a major Canadian resource. The objective of this thesis is to improve the understanding of the hydrodynamics of the EBRs through a combination of experimental investigation and CFD modeling. The experiments were conducted in a transparent cold-flow pilot scale reactor (inner diameter of 15.2 cm and total height of 2.2 m and were focused on the most important parameter in the design and operation of fluidized bed systems, i.e., the overall (average) gas hold-up. The pilot scale setup was operated in both two-phase (gas-liquid) and three-phase (gas-liquid-solid) modes in order to investigate the fluid dynamics in the bed and the freeboard regions present in EBRs. In two-phase flow mode, experiments were performed with and without internal gas/liquid separators (recycle cups connected to a recycle line). The recycle cups were fabricated on the basis of designs proposed in the patent literature using a desktop 3-D printer. Different concentrations of ethanol were added to distilled water in order to reproduce the conditions of high gas hold-up and foaming frequently observed in commercial EBRs. The two-phase systems were also simulated with the Euler-Euler model using a finite volume method in the OpenFOAM toolbox. The average bubble size is a key input to this model and must be representative of the physical system. Provided this condition is met, the Euler-Euler model can predict the average gas hold-up under conditions of homogeneous (dispersed) two-phase flow to within 10% of the experimental values, regardless of the mode of operation (co-current vs. bubble column). Predictions of the gas hold-up under conditions of co-current heterogeneous two-phase flow are, however, less accurate (22% average error) - a result likely linked to limitations of the available empirical swarm correction models. Experiments in the systems with recycle cups showed that the performance of the cups in gas/liquid separation deteriorated in foaming systems. Also increasing the inlet liquid flow rate and/or recycle liquid flow increased the amount of entrained gas in the recycle stream. Simulation of these experiments highlighted the strengths and limitations of the Euler-Euler model. As far as three-phase systems are concerned, a meta-analysis of a large body of published data produced a set of empirical correlations for predicting the overall gas hold-up data for systems operating with water and spherical particles. Experiments conducted to investigate the effect of particle wettability on the gas hold-up in a three-phase fluidized bed demonstrated the limitations of such an empirical approach. For the system operating with hydrophilic particles, gas hold-up values of up to 15% were predicted with less than 25% error by the most accurate correlations. For the system of hydrophobic particles, however, the correlations failed in prediction of gas hold-up and the average error was more than 56%. Experiments demonstrated that rendering the particles hydrophobic decreased the gas hold-up by more than 20%. This was found to be the result of larger bubble size distribution in the bed of hydrophobic particles. In these systems, adhesion of bubbles to particles formed bubble-particle agglomerates with less apparent density than bare particles. Such gas-padded particles have less ability to penetrate and break-up the bubbles. Consequently, the average bubble size was larger in the bed of hydrophobic particles and also in the freeboard region above the bed. According to the semi-empirical models on foam height dynamics, steady state foam thickness is inversely proportional to the bubble diameter. Therefore, foam thickness is expected to be smaller for the system of hydrophobic particles. The foam thickness measurements in this study were consistent with the findings of the semi-empirical models

On the use of physical boundary conditions for two-phase flow simulations: Integration of control feedback

The final publication is available at Elsevier via https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compchemeng.2018.08.012 © 2018. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/The sensitivity of two-phase flow simulations using the Euler–Euler model on the inlet boundary conditions (BCs) is studied. Specifically, the physical relevance of Dirichlet uniform inlet velocity BCs is studied which are widely used due their simplicity and the lack of a priori knowledge of the slip velocity between the phases. It is found that flow patterns obtained with the more physically realistic uniform inlet pressure BCs are radically different from the results obtained with Dirichlet inlet velocity BCs, refuting the argument frequently put forward that Dirichlet uniform inlet velocity BCs can be interchangeably used because the terminal slip velocity is reached after a short entrance region. A comparison with experimental data is performed to assess the relevance of the flows obtained numerically. Additionally, a multivariable feedback control method is demonstrated to be ideal for enforcing desired flow rates for simulations using pressure BCs.Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canad

Three-dimensional and two-phase numerical simulation of fractured dry gas reservoirs

Abstract A significant percentage of hydrocarbon reservoirs around the world is fractured. Moreover, the major part of gas reservoirs in Iran is also fractured type, so the existence of an in-house software is necessary. In this study, an efficient, user-friendly, and indigenous simulation of a three-dimensional black oil fractured dry gas reservoir has been developed through IMPES method with the two-phase flow of gas and water. The presented simulator, which was written by C++ language and was known as fracture dry gas reservoir simulator, uses the implicit pressure and explicit saturation method for solving the equations. Also, effect of gravity pressure is neglected and effect of the capillary is considered in equations. By this simulator, we can investigate the dry gas reservoirs behavior with fractures. Darcy or non-Darcy fracture and matrix flow, Cartesian, cylindrical, and combination of Cartesian–cylindrical reservoir gridding, single porosity, dual porosity–single permeability, and dual porosity–dual permeability modeling are abilities of this simulator too. Additionally, this simulator is able to make outputs (such as pressure) at any given specific radius and time interval as numerical and/or graphical output in so little run time. Also, this simulator has PVT box and gridding box for doing the calculation of PVT and gridding. PVT box contains new correlations and EOS in comparison with another reservoir simulator. Gridding box makes us be able to simulate fractured dry gas reservoirs and hydraulically fractured well reservoirs too. Finally, the validity of this simulator was verified by comparing the simulation results with the other reservoir simulator (Eclipse) and showed a good compatibility between the developed software and Eclipse results in each time with different conditions such as various gridding conditions, various fluid data conditions and also various well configuration conditions

A Neurite Outgrowth Assay and Neurotoxicity Assessment with Human Neural Progenitor Cell-Derived Neurons

Neurite outgrowth assay and neurotoxicity assessment are two major studies that can be performed using the presented method herein. This protocol provides reliable analysis of neuronal morphology together with quantitative measurements of modifications on neurite length and synaptic protein localization and abundance upon treatment with small molecule compounds. In addition to the application of the presented method in neurite outgrowth studies, neurotoxicity assessment can be performed to assess, distinguish and rank commercial chemical compounds based on their potential developmental neurotoxicity effect.Even though cell lines are nowadays widely used in compound screening assays in neuroscience, they often differ genetically and phenotypically from their tissue origin. Primary cells, on the other hand, maintain important markers and functions observed in vivo. Therefore, due to the translation potential and physiological relevance that these cells could offer neurite outgrowth assay and neurotoxicity assessment can considerably benefit from using human neural progenitor cells (hNPCs) as the primary human cell model.The presented method herein can be utilized to screen for the ability of compounds to induce neurite outgrowth and neurotoxicity by taking advantage of the human neural progenitor cell-derived neurons, a cell model closely representing human biology.

Association of erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein and clinical findings with HLA-DQ8 allele in Rheumatoid Arthritis patients

Background ― Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory, autoimmune disease induced by certain auto-antigens. HLA-DRB1*0401 allele has a significant relationship with RA incident. Additionally, DQβ1*0301, *302(DQ8), *303, and *304 can increase RA risk especially in DQA1*0301 and *302 coincident. Recent studies suggest that distribution of this allele is different in various populations Material and Methods ― 70 patients and 70 healthy controls were analyzed for human leukocyte antigen (HLA) allele by specific primer-polymerase chain reaction (SSP-PCR) method. Patients were evaluated in terms of ESR and CRP. Data analysis was performed in SPSS V.17. Results ― HLA-DQ8 allele was significantly more frequent in RA patients compared to control (P<0.0001). However, no significant relationship was observed between increased ESR (P=0.527), CRP (P=0.505), and mean counts of arthritic (P=0.691) and tender joints (P=0.669) among the patients who were carriers of HLA-DQ8. Conclusion ― There is a significant association between RA and HLA-DQ8 allele, this allele can increase susceptibility to RA. These findings might relate to the ethnical variations of RA patients but we couldn’t find a significant association between CRP and ESR with HLA-DQ8. We recommend to add specific inflammatory markers to CRP as well as assess ESR in larger sample sizes to obtain accurate results

Overexpression of BMI1, a polycomb group repressor protein, in bladder tumors:a preliminary report

Introduction: A Polycomb group repressor protein named BMI1 represses the genes that induce cellular senescence and cell death, and it can contribute to cancer when improperly expressed. We aimed to evaluate expression of BMI1 gene in bladder tumors.Materials and Methods: Tissue specimens containing bladder tumor were evaluated and compared with intact tissues from tumor margins and normal bladders. There were 40 tumor specimens of patients with transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder, 20 tumor-free tissues taken from the margin of the tumors, and 8 specimens from patients without tumor. Specific primers for BMI1 and B2M (as an internal control) were used for reverse transcript polymerase chain reaction technique. The production and distribution of BMI1 protein was also examined by western blotting and immunohistochemistry techniques.Results: Polymerase chain reaction generated a 683-bp product, corresponding to the expected size of BMI1 amplified region. The identity of the amplified fragment was then confirmed by direct DNA sequencing. The mean of expression of BMI1 detected in tumor tissues was significantly higher than that in intact tissues, and there was also a significant association between the mean of gene expression and the stage of malignancy (P BMI1 at protein level was further confirmed by western blotting and immunohistochemistry. Conclusion: BMI1 is a potent repressor of retinoblastoma and p53 pathways, and hence, elucidating its role in tumorigenesis is very important. We reported for the first time the expression of BMI1 and its correlation with incidence and progress of bladder tumors.</p

HDAC Inhibitors Induce BDNF Expression and Promote Neurite Outgrowth in Human Neural Progenitor Cells-Derived Neurons

Besides its key role in neural development, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is important for long-term potentiation and neurogenesis, which makes it a critical factor in learning and memory. Due to the important role of BDNF in synaptic function and plasticity, an in-house epigenetic library was screened against human neural progenitor cells (HNPCs) and WS1 human skin fibroblast cells using Cell-to-Ct assay kit to identify the small compounds capable of modulating the BDNF expression. In addition to two well-known hydroxamic acid-based histone deacetylase inhibitors (hb-HDACis), SAHA and TSA, several structurally similar HDAC inhibitors including SB-939, PCI-24781 and JNJ-26481585 with even higher impact on BDNF expression, were discovered in this study. Furthermore, by using well-developed immunohistochemistry assays, the selected compounds were also proved to have neurogenic potential improving the neurite outgrowth in HNPCs-derived neurons. In conclusion, we proved the neurogenic potential of several hb-HDACis, alongside their ability to enhance BDNF expression, which by modulating the neurogenesis and/or compensating for neuronal loss, could be propitious for treatment of neurological disorders

Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis associated with SARS-CoV-2; a multinational case series

10.1016/j.jns.2020.117183JOURNAL OF THE NEUROLOGICAL SCIENCES41