γ-Ray Pre-Irradiated Grafting of Polytetrafluoroethylene Film Membrane

YesThe changes induced by γ-ray pre-irradiated grafting of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) with alkalo-amines such as Monoethanolamine (MEA), Diethanolamine (DEA) and Methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) solvents were investigated. Samples of the commercially available fluoropolymer, i.e. PTFE film membranes were irradiated with 60Co source γ-radiation with absorbed doses of 30 to 90 kGy. Effects of the grafting conditions of the amines onto the pre-irradiated PTFE, such as grafting time, reaction temperature and pre-irradiation doses on the resulting grafting yield are reported. The grafted PTFE was characterized by the FT-IR spectroscopy and FESEM.The gravimeteric analysis showed that the maximum grafting yield obtained is 2.9% for the 30 kGy irradiated MDEA grafted PTFE (MDEA-g-PTFE) at 10 min grafting time. However, at 60 min grafting time the maximum grafting yield reduced to 1.05% for the same sample. Consequently, therefore, for the low dose γ-ray pre-irradiated samples, the effects of applied dose and grafting time were found to be remarkably insignificant

CFD modelling of a hollow fibre system for CO2 capture by aqueous amine solutions of MEA, DEA and MDEA

YesA mass transfer model was developed for CO2 capture from a binary gas mixture of N2/CO2 in hollow fibre membrane contactors under laminar flow conditions. The axial and radial diffusions through membrane and convection in tube and shell sides with chemical reaction were investigated. COMSOL software was used to numerically solve a system of non-linear equations with boundary conditions by use of the finite element method. Three different amine solutions of monoethanolamine (MEA), diethanolamine (DEA) and n-methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) were chosen as absorbent in lumen to consider the mass transfer rate of CO2 and compare their removal efficiency. The modelling results were compared with experimental data available in the literature and a good agreement was observed. The CFD results revealed that MEA had the best performance for CO2 removal as compared to DEA and MDEA under various operating conditions due to the different CO2 loading factor of absorbents. Furthermore, efficiency of CO2 removal was highly dependent on the absorbent concentration and its flow rate, increasing of the gas flow rate caused a reduction in gas residence time in the shell and consequently declined CO2 mass transfer. The modelling results showed the influence of the absorbent concentration on the CO2 mass transfer has improved due to availability of absorbent reactants at the gas-liquid interface

Methyl lactate synthesis using batch reactive distillation: Operational challenges and strategy for enhanced performance

YesBatch reactive distillation is well known for improved conversion and separation of desired reaction products. However, for a number of reactions, the distillation can separate the reactants depending on their boiling points of them and thus not only reduces the benefit of the reactive distillation but also offers operational challenges for keeping the reactants together. Methyl lactate (ML) synthesis via the esterification of lactic acid (LA) with methanol in a reactive distillation falls into this category and perhaps that is why this process has not been explored in the past. The boiling points of the reactants (LA, methanol) are about 490 K and 337 K while those of the products (ML, water) are 417 K and 373 K respectively. Clearly in a conventional reactive distillation (batch or continuous) methanol will be separated from the LA and will reduce the conversion of LA to ML significantly. Here, first the limitations of the use of conventional batch distillation column (CBD) for the synthesis of ML is investigated in detail and a semi-batch reactive distillation (SBD) configuration is studied in detail where LA is the limiting reactant and methanol is continuously fed in excess in the reboiler allowing the reactants to be together for a longer period. However, this poses an operational challenge that the column has to be carefully controlled to avoid overflow of the reboiler at any time of the operation. In this work, the performance of SBD for the synthesis of ML is evaluated using model based optimization in which operational constraints are embedded. The results clearly demonstrate the viability of the system for the synthesis of ML

A novel split-reflux policy in batch reactive distillation for the optimum synthesis of a number of methyl esters

YesThe production of a number of methyl esters such as methyl decanoate (MeDC), methyl salicylate (MeSC), and methyl benzoate (MeBZ) by esterification reactions of several carboxylic acids such as decanoic acid (DeC), salicylic acid (ScA), and benzoic acid (BeZ) with methanol, respectively, through a reactive distillation system (batch or continuous) is cost-intensive and operationally challenging operation. It is difficult to keep the reaction species together in the reaction section due to wide boiling point differences between the reactants. Methanol (in those esterification processes) having the lowest boiling temperature in the reaction mixture can separate easily from carboxylic acid as the distillation progresses, resulting in a severe drop in the reaction conversion ratio of the acid employing batch/continuous distillation system. In order to overcome this type of challenge and to increase the overall reaction conversion, a novel split-reflux conventional batch reactive distillation configuration (sr-BRD) is proposed/studied in detail in this investigation. The optimal performance of BRD/ sr-BRD column is determined in terms of maximum achievable conversion of acids, and highest concentration of the esters produced for each chemical reaction scheme. The results for given separation tasks are compared with those obtained using conventional batch distillation (BRD) process. The optimization results clearly show that the sr-BRD process significantly improves the process efficiency, the conversion ratio of acid, and the product purity of methyl esters compared to that obtained via the BRD process

Process simulation and assessment of a back-up condensate stabilization unit

YesA simulation was conducted using Aspen HYSYS® software for an industrial scale condensate stabilization unit and the results of the product composition from the simulation were compared with the plant data. The results were also compared to the results obtained using PRO/II software. The results show that the simulation is in good agreement with the plant data, especially for medium range hydrocarbons. For hydrocarbons lighter than C5, the simulation results over predict the plant data while for hydrocarbons heavier than C9 this trend is reversed. The influences of steam temperature and pressure, as well as feed conditions (flow rate, temperature and pressure) for the product specification (RVP and sulphur content) were also investigated. It was reported that the operating conditions gave rise to the production of off-specification condensate and it was also found that the unit could be utilized within 40–110% of its normal throughput without altering equipment sizing and by the operating parameters

Synthesis of methyl decanoate using different types of batch reactive distillation systems

YesMethyl Decanoate (MeDC) is a Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME) and is an important chemical compound with global production of 31 million tons per year. However, synthesis of methyl decanoate (MeDC) via esterification of Decanoic Acid (DeC) with methanol by reactive distillation is operationally challenging due to difficulty of keeping the reactants together in the reaction zone as methanol being the lightest component in the mixture can separate itself easily form the other reactant deteriorating significantly the conversion of DeC using either conventional batch or continuous distillation column. This is probably the main reason for not applying the conventional route for MeDC synthesis. Whether Semi-batch Distillation column (SBD) and the recently developed Integrated Conventional Batch Distillation column (i-CBD) offer the possibility of revisiting such chemical reactions for the synthesis of MeDC is the focus of this paper. The minimum energy consumption (Qtot) as the performance measure is used to evaluate the performances of each of these reactive column configurations for different range of methyl decanoate purity and the amount of product. It is observed that the use of i-CBD column provides much better performance than SBD column in terms of the production time and the maximum energy savings when excess methanol is used in the feed. However, the SBD column is found to perform better than the i-CBD column when both reactants in the feed are in equal amount. Also, the optimization results for a given separation task show that the performance of two-reflux intervals strategy is superior to the single-reflux interval in terms of operating batch time, and energy usage rate in the SBD process at equimolar ratio

Phase equilibrium for hydrate formation in the Methane and Ethane system and effect of inhibitors

Gas hydrates form at various facilities related to the natural gas and process equipment in oil and gas fields, refineries, petrochemical and facilities in the chemical industry, in the presence of both natural gas and water, at high pressure and low temperature. In the present study, the equilibrium conditions of gas hydrate mixture formation including methane and ethane and also pure ethane are investigated. The conditions for binary hydrate formation without the presence of inhibitors have been used and the empirical research available in the field has been used to evaluate the accuracy of the present modeling. Hydoff software was used for modeling and the hydrate formation pressure was calculated. In order to evaluate the accuracy of the modeling, the values related to the calculation error were calculated from the existing experimental research and the results showed that there are 11%, 14% and 0.08% errors with Deaton & Frost, McLeod & Campbell, Holder & Grigoriou research, respectively. Therefore, it can be concluded that the best case for modeling according to the experimental results is Holder & Grigoriou, and therefore a mathematical model is presented to estimate the formation conditions of the binary mixture of methane and ethane, which can be used with very high accuracy. Pure ethane was also tested with potassium chloride, sodium chloride and 5% methanol inhibitors and also without inhibitors and the results showed that the effect of adding methanol is greater than sodium chloride and potassium chloride, respectively, and ethane hydrate is formed at higher pressures

Investigation of the Growth of Particles Produced in a Laval Nozzle

YesThis study focuses on numerical modeling of condensation of water vapor in a Laval nozzle, using the liquid drop nucleation theory. Influence of nozzle geometry, pressure, and temperature on the average drop size is reported. A computer program written in MATLAB was used used to calculate the nucleation and condensation of water vapor in the nozzle. The simulation results are validated with the available experimental data in the literature for steam condensation. The model reveals that the average drop size is reduced by increasing the divergent angle of the nozzle. The results also confirm that increasing the inlet pressure has a direct effect on the average drop size while temperature rise has an inverse effect on the drop size

Investigation of Effect of Aluminium Oxide Nanoparticles on the Thermal Properties of Water-Based Fluids in a Double Tube Heat Exchanger

yesThe thermal behavior of aluminium oxide-water nanofluid in a double pipe carbon steel heat exchanger was investigated in the present study. The overall heat transfer coefficient, Nusselt, and heat transfer coefficient of nanofluid were compared with the base fluid. The volume fraction of the nanoparticles was 1%. By adding nanoparticles to the fluid, the thermal properties of the base fluid improved significantly. The hot and cold fluid flow was considered counter-current, and the nanofluid was pumped into the inner tube and once into the outer tube, and the flow rate of each fluid was 0.05 kg/s. The convective heat transfer and the overall heat transfer coefficient enhanced 94% and 253% for the hot fluid flow in the outer tube and 308 % and 144% for the hot fluid flow in the inner tube, respectively. The pressure drop calculations also showed that the pressure drop would not change significantly when using nanofluid

Process simulation of twin-screw granulation: A review

YesTwin-screw granulation has emerged as a key process in powder processing industries and in the pharmaceutical sector to produce granules with controlled properties. This comprehensive review provides an overview of the simulation techniques and approaches that have been employed in the study of twin-screw granulation processes. This review discusses the major aspects of the twin-screw granulation process which include the fundamental principles of twin-screw granulation, equipment design, process parameters, and simulation methodologies. It highlights the importance of operating conditions and formulation designs in powder flow dynamics, mixing behaviour, and particle interactions within the twin-screw granulator for enhancing product quality and process efficiency. Simulation techniques such as the population balance model (PBM), computational fluid dynamics (CFD), the discrete element method (DEM), process modelling software (PMS), and other coupled techniques are critically discussed with a focus on simulating twin-screw granulation processes. This paper examines the challenges and limitations associated with each simulation approach and provides insights into future research directions. Overall, this article serves as a valuable resource for researchers who intend to develop their understanding of twin-screw granulation and provides insights into the various techniques and approaches available for simulating the twin-screw granulation process