A survey of gas-side fouling in industrial heat-transfer equipment

Gas-side fouling and corrosion problems occur in all of the energy intensive industries including the chemical, petroleum, primary metals, pulp and paper, glass, cement, foodstuffs, and textile industries. Topics of major interest include: (1) heat exchanger design procedures for gas-side fouling service; (2) gas-side fouling factors which are presently available; (3) startup and shutdown procedures used to minimize the effects of gas-side fouling; (4) gas-side fouling prevention, mitigation, and accommodation techniques; (5) economic impact of gas-side fouling on capital costs, maintenance costs, loss of production, and energy losses; and (6) miscellaneous considerations related to gas-side fouling. The present state-of-the-art for industrial gas-side fouling is summarized by a list of recommendations for further work in this area

Oxygen production using solid-state zirconia electrolyte technology

High purity oxygen is required for a number of scientific, medical, and industrial applications. Traditionally, these needs have been met by cryogenic distillation or pressure swing adsorption systems designed to separate oxygen from air. Oxygen separation from air via solid-state zirconia electrolyte technology offers an alternative to these methods. The technology has several advantages over the traditional methods, including reliability, compactness, quiet operation, high purity output, and low power consumption

Energy efficient continuous flow ash lockhopper

The invention relates to an energy efficient continuous flow ash lockhopper, or other lockhopper for reactor product or byproduct. The invention includes an ash hopper at the outlet of a high temperature, high pressure reactor vessel containing heated high pressure gas, a fluidics control chamber having an input port connected to the ash hopper's output port and an output port connected to the input port of a pressure letdown means, and a control fluid supply for regulating the pressure in the control chamber to be equal to or greater than the internal gas pressure of the reactor vessel, whereby the reactor gas is contained while ash is permitted to continuously flow from the ash hopper's output port, impelled by gravity. The main novelty resides in the use of a control chamber to so control pressure under the lockhopper that gases will not exit from the reactor vessel, and to also regulate the ash flow rate. There is also novelty in the design of the ash lockhopper shown in two figures. The novelty there is the use of annular passages of progressively greater diameter, and rotating the center parts on a shaft, with the center part of each slightly offset from adjacent ones to better assure ash flow through the opening

Improvement of Tree Crew Deployment Procedure at SavATree - Middleton

This project studied the deployment process of tree care crews at SavATree\u27s branch in Middleton, Massachusettts. Quality management techniques such as the Six Sigma DMAIC framework and Lean Manufacturing analytic diagrams were used to collect information and propose improvements. Crews were found to deploy 35% slower than the company target. The final report provided suggestions for changes to information flow from operations staff to labor, as well as facilities changes, which could result in a 21 - 26% reduction in deployment times

Social Support, Sense of Community, and Psychological Distress Among College Students: Examining the Impact of University Housing Units

Attending college can be a rewarding but stressful time for students. Colleges and universities across the nation are becoming more and more concerned with the mental health of their students. Although past research has explored how social support and sense of community help students make a better transition to college life, less is known about how these factors interact with where students choose to live. This study examines the relationship between social support, psychological sense of community, residence hall capacity, and psychological distress. Participants from three college campuses in the Midwest were administered surveys to assess perceived social support, psychological sense of community, psychological distress, and various identifying variables. Results showed that social support did not vary across differing hall capacities while sense of community did. Furthermore, when social support, sense of community, residence hall capacity, and psychological distress were analyzed together, only social support and sense of community scores showed significant predictive value of psychological distress. Residence hall capacity did not show predictive value related to psychological distress levels

Food Insecurity Among WPI Students

As the cost of living and the cost of education rise, students at colleges and universities may be encountering struggles with food insecurity. The goal of this project was to determine the magnitude of the issue at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), educate the WPI community on the issue, and propose sustainable solutions. The researchers developed a survey to uncover the extent of food insecurity at WPI, followed by interviews, and the project culminated with the presentation of sustainable solutions to be implemented in the WPI community