Recent emphasis on the prediction of temperature and concentration fields in the atmosphere has led to the investigation of accurate solution methods of the time-dependent conservation equations for mass, momentum, energy and species. Atmospheric radiation is the key component of this system. Therefore, atmospheric radiation models were developed in isolation from the climate models. The time-dependent multi-dimensional governing equations of atmospheric models must be solved in conjunction with the radiative transfer equation for accurate modeling of the atmosphere. In order to achieve this objective, a 1-D Radiative-Convective Model for Earth-Atmosphere System (RCM4EAS) was developed for clear and cloudy sky atmospheres. The radiative component of the code is Santa Barbara DISORT (Discrete Ordinate Radiative Transfer) Atmospheric Radiative Transfer (SBDART) integrated with exponential sum-fitting method as the radiative property estimation technique. The accuracy of SBDART was tested by comparing its predictions of radiative fluxes with those of Line-by-Line Radiative Transfer Model (LBLRTM) for 1-D longwave (3.33-100 &micro / m) clear sky atmosphere and a good agreement was obtained. A parametric study aiming at finding the optimum parameters to be used as input in SBDART regarding the wavelength increment and order of approximation was also carried out. Variable wavelength and eight streams were selected as optimum parameters for the accuracy and computational efficiency. The code was then coupled with a 1-D Radiative-Convective Model (RCM) to obtain the time dependent code, (RCM4EAS), which was applied to the investigation of the sensitivity of climate to changes in the CO2 concentration for clear and cloudy sky conditions. CO2 sensitivity analyses revealed that doubling the CO2 concentration in the earth&rsquo / s atmosphere from its present value (387 ppm) results in an increase in equilibrium surface temperature of 4.2 K in the clear sky atmosphere as opposed to 2.1 K in cloudy sky atmosphere with typical cloud physical parameters. It is worth noting that times required to reach equilibrium surface temperatures are approximately 2000 and 6000 days for clear and cloudy sky atmospheres, respectively and these temperature increases are calculated assuming that all the other parameters except CO2 concentration remain unchanged within these time periods. Therefore, it should be noted that these temperature increases reflect only the effect of CO2 doubling and excludes the effect of other forcings which might positively or negatively affect these temperature increases. Overall evaluation of the performance of the code developed in this thesis study indicates that it can be used with confidence in 1-D radiative-convective modeling of the earth-atmosphere systems.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of resin and fiber on the abrasion, impact and internal pressure resistances of fiber reinforced plastic composite pipes produced by continuous filament winding method. For this study, pipe samples were produced with different combinations of resin type, fiber type, fiber amount and fiber length. All the samples were tested in accordance with the related ISO (International Organization for Standardization), DIN (German Standardization Institution) and BSI (British Standards Institution) standards. Three types of resins were used as ortophthalic, isophthalic and vinylester / two types of fibers were used as E-glass and ECR-glass and one type of GLASSFLAKES was used as C-glass. It was observed that the type of resin did not have any significant effect on burst pressure. However, the vinylester resin had a considerable positive effect on the abrasion and impact resistances. Moreover, it was observed that the type of fiber did not have any significant effect on impact and internal pressure resistances, but the use of C-glass GLASSFLAKES resulted in a positive effect on the abrasion resistance. Additionally, it was found that the increase in the amount of glass fiber resulted in increase of burst pressure, impact and abrasion resistances. Finally, it was observed that the length of glass fiber did not have any significant effect on abrasion resistance, but the decrease in fiber length resulted in a higher internal pressure and impact resistances.

In 21st century, researchers make great effort of finding a clean transportation fuel to diminish the severe effects of conventional transportation fuel combustion such as global warming and air pollution. Dimethyl ether is considered as a strong fuel alternative due to its good burning characteristics and environmentally friendly properties. In order to produce dimethyl ether, different synthesis routes and solid acid catalysts are being utilized. SAPO-34 is an aluminophosphate based catalyst having moderate acidity. This property makes it a good candidate for the synthesis of dimethyl ether. However, SAPO-34 has microporous structure causing diffusion limitations. The objective of this study is to synthesize, characterize mesoporous SAPO-34 like catalytic materials and test the activity of them in methanol dehydration reaction. The benefit of obtaining mesoporous structure is that the diffusion limitations can be eliminated. Mesoporous SAPO-34 like catalysts were synthesized through hydrothermal synthesis route. BET surface areas of these catalysts were 117-133 m2/g. All methanol dehydration reactions were carried out at a space time of 0.14 s.g/cm3. By using mesoporous SAPO-34 like catalysts, the highest methanol conversion was 48% obtained at 550&deg / C with DME selectivity and yield values of 1 and 0.49, respectively. Since utilizing microporous SAPO-34 catalyst gave higher methanol conversion, 67%, at lower temperature, 250&deg / C, with dimethyl ether selectivity of around 1, mesoporous SAPO-34 like catalysts are not suitable for this reaction.

Due to high consumption rates of petroleum derived fuels and environmental regulations, significant search has been initiated for the development of environmental friendly and efficient fuels, which were derived from more abundant feedstocks. Dimethyl ether (DME), as having a good combustion quality and high cetane number, is an efficient alternative for diesel fuel. With improved combustion quality, the emissions from DME used engines are greatly decreased. DME synthesis can be carried out via two different methods / methanol dehydration on acidic catalysis and syn-gas conversion on bifunctional catalysis. In this study, the aim is to synthesize acidic catalysts using direct hydrothermal synthesis method for DME synthesis as using methanol as feed stock via dehydration and to characterize these materials. The support of the synthesized materials comprises of MCM-41 structure and silicotungstic acid (STA) and metals (Zr / Ni / Cu) were incorporated into the MCM-41 structure during synthesis. Two different techniques were used to extract the surfactant (CTMABr) from catalyst matrix. First one is the conventional calcination technique (at 350&deg / C) and the second is supercritical fluid extraction (at various operating conditions) with methanol modified CO2. The effect of metal loading on extraction performance is analyzed through characterizations of Ni and Cu incorporated materials. In addition, The effect of operation parameters on catalyst properties are also investigated with performing extraction at different pressures for different durations. By changing the type of metal incorporated into the catalyst, the extraction performance is also monitored. The characterization results indicated that, SFE process is also a promising method for surfactant removal. The activities of zirconium added catalysts are tested in methanol dehydration reaction towards DME. It is concluded that the conversion of methanol and selectivity of DME in presence of extracted samples are lower (maximum yield -0.54- obtained at 450&deg / C with sceSZ1) compared to the calcined materials (maximum yield -0.80- obtained at 300&deg / C with cSZ6). This result can also be foreseen by DRIFTS analysis of pyridine adsorbed samples. The acid sites of extracted materials are not as strong as in the calcined catalysts.

The esterification of lactic acid with ethanol over Lewatit S 100, strong cation ion exchange resin catalyst, was studied in counter current vapor-liquid contactor type differential reactor by feeding ethanol and lactic acid solution as vapor and liquid phases, respectively. The ethanol vapor phase was diluted by dry air and the water removal was achieved by the mass transfer of water from liquid to vapor phase. Effect of ethanol to lactic acid feed molar ratio and vapor flow rate on fractional conversion and water removal efficiency were tested at 40-70&deg / C of column temperature range. It was observed that Lewatit S 100 was adequate catalyst for esterification of lactic acid with ethanol. Increase in ethanol to lactic acid feed molar ratio enhanced both lactic acid conversion and water removal by upper product stream. However, lactic acid conversion was suppressed by the increase of inlet vapor flow rate because of the decrease in ethanol concentration in gas phase which affected both esterification reaction rate and mass transfer rate. The reaction temperature is the other important parameter that affects the mass transfer of ethanol from vapor to liquid phase. Although reaction rate and equilibrium conversion values were promoted by temperature, the lower solubility of ethanol in liquid phase limited the fractional conversion while promoted the water mass transfer from liquid to vapor phase. The optimized vapor phase velocity and temperature can yield higher conversions than the equilibrium conversion at the same temperature and initial composition. Therefore, low pressure organic acids such as lactic acid can be successfully esterified by using counter current V-L contactor type reactors and by using integrated reaction and separation units.

Sodium borohydride (NaBH4) offers a simple and safe technology for storage and on demand production of hydrogen being a promising and a feasible method for fuel cell applications. The objectives of the present study are to emphasize the role of sodium borohydride as a part of future hydrogen energy system, to investigate the kinetics of the catalytic hydrolysis reaction of NaBH4 in a batch and flow system with respect to temperature, concentration, catalyst and flow rate for flow reactor by proposing a kinetic model and finally based on kinetic analysis, to design a prototype reactor to meet the hydrogen requirement for a 100W PEM fuel cell and operate it in steady state conditions. To express hydrolysis reaction by a kinetic model, series of batch experiments was performed in a glass flask (30mL) where the following parameters were systematically changed: the solution temperature varied as 20, 30 and 50&deg / C, the NaBH4 concentration changed as 0.17, 0.23 and 0.3M, NaOH concentration varied as 0.27, 1.32 and 2.85M and catalyst amount was changed as 0.048, 0.07 and 0.1g Pt/C (ETEK&reg / ). In the kinetic model catalyst effect proposed within the rate constant. The kinetic model was purposed as: For flow reactor system, in a differential glass reactor (5mL) concentration, catalyst amount, catalyst type and flow rate was systematically analyzed at a constant temperature. For Pt/C catalyst the purposed model was: Also, for intrazeolite Co(0) nanoclusters, as a result of controlled experiments, the rate expression was found as: Based on these data prototype reactor (recycle) with internal volume of 122cm3 and storage volume of 1336 cm3 was designed, manufactured from Delrin&reg / and operated.

In this study binary and ternary ion exchange on Zeolite NaA using silver and cadmium ions were investigated. Ion exchange were conducted at constant temperature (25oC) and normality (0.1N) in a batch system for both binary and ternary experiments. Zeolite weights were varied between 0.1 and 1 g for binary experiments. Thermodynamic analysis of binary ion exchange between Cd2+-Na+ and Ag+-Na+ were examined and thermodynamic equilibrium constant and Gibbs free energy were calculated. Thermodynamic equilibrium constants were found as respectively 28.2 and 300.4 for Cd2+-Na+ and Ag+-Na+ binary system. Standart free energy of Cd2+-Na+ and Ag+-Na+ binary exchange were calculated as -4.1 kJ/mol and -14.1 kJ/mol respectively. In literature Ay (2008) calculated the Gibbs free energy for Ag+-Na+ binary system as -14.4 kJ/mol and Biskup and Subotic (2010) and Gal et al. (1970) calculated the Gibbs free energy for Cd2+-Na+ binary system as -3.7 kJ/mol and -4.4 kJ/mol respectively. It is concluded Zeolite 4A has higher affinity to silver than cadmium and selectivity sequence was found as / Ag+&gt / Cd2+&gt / Na+. Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms were drawn to describe experimental data. As compared the R2 of isotherms, it is clearly seen that Freundlich isotherm provides better fit for Cd2+-Na+ binary ion exchange and Ag+-Na+ binary ion exchange. The ternary ion exchange isotherms were plotted using equivalent fraction of three ions (Ag+,Na+,Cd2+) which participated in ion exchange experiments to determine selectivity of zeolite 4A for cadmium and silver. Selectivity sequence was determined as Ag+ &gt / Cd2+ &gt / Na+ for ternary ion exchange.

Mixing is a crucial process for many large scale and small scale applications from food industry to cosmetics, from drug industry to petrochemical processes, etc. Changes in parameters (temperature, viscosity, velocity distribution, etc.) during the mixing affect the production process and the end product quality and the cost. Thus, these parameters, mostly the hydrodynamic parameters, should be monitored closely during the process. In order to ensure good and efficient mixing in the solution, high degree of turbulence is maintained while dead zones in the tank should be avoided. In chemical industry, the mixing processes generally involve complex solutions that exhibit non-Newtonian flow behavior that merits a study on the agitation hydrodynamics and mixing time. Thus, in this study agitation of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) solution in a laboratory scale mixing tank is investigated. The effects of CMC concentration and agitation speed on the hydrodynamics of the solution and mixing time are studied in detail. CMC concentrations studied are 0.5 wt%, 1 wt% and 2 wt%. Impeller speeds, on the other hand, are set as 150 rpm, 300 rpm and 600 rpm. The hydrodynamics of mixing can be studied easily by Ultrasound Doppler Velocimetry (UDV) which is a fast, non-invasive measuring technique in fluid dynamics. Also, the mixing time measurements were carried out through electrical conductivity of the agitated solution. UDV results show that the flow field has a typical pattern produced by the Rushton turbine. The main characteristics of the flow are that, in the impeller region radial components of the flow dominate. Near the wall flow occurs mainly in the axial direction towards the top and bottom of the tank. Mixing time measurements reveal that mixing time increases with decreasing impeller speed and with increasing solution concentration (i.e. viscosity). Typical mixing time values are in the range of 250-2600 seconds for different impeller speeds and CMC concentrations.

The photocatalytic activity of semiconductor metal oxides can be improved by the addition of sensitizer which enhances the band gap by considerable red shift of the absorption edge of semiconductor. In the present study, the effect of ascorbic acid as sensitizer on the photocatalytic activity of titania-silica binary mixtures was studied. The SiO2-TiO2 mixtures having 50wt%Ti:Si composition were prepared with sol-gel method. The surface area and porosity of the samples were modified by using various amounts of polyethylene glycol (PEG) as template. The thin films of the samples were obtained by dip coating of glass plates to colloidal solutions. The samples were characterized by methylene blue adsorption method and UV-Vis spectrophotometry. The photocatalytic activities of the samples were measured with methylene blue degradation, methyl orange degradation and direct water splitting in the presence and absence of ascorbic acid. Increase in the surface area and reaction rate with increasing PEG addition until a threshold value was observed. Highest methylene blue degradation activity was observed for 27g PEG added sol-gel derived film and surface area of this film is measured as 44m2/m2. Ascorbic acid presence shows a significant increase in the photocatalytic degradation activity of methyl orange. The sensitization effect of ascorbic acid was also compared with the effect of EDTA. It was found that the effect of ascorbic acid on the methyl orange degradation rate is significantly higher than the effect of EDTA. However, the effect of EDTA is more pronounced in water splitting reaction.

There is an increasing trend in the world for using renewable sources of fuels and chemicals due to the continuous depletion of fossil fuel reserves besides the environmental issues related with the exploitation of these resources. Lignocellulosic biomass is seen as the most promising candidate to be used instead of fossil sources because of its availability, relatively low price and less competition with food and feed crops. In this study, corn cobs, a lignocellulosic agricultural waste, were subjected to alkaline pretreatment for the co-production of glucose and hemicellulose based films with a multi-product approach in order to diversify the product range and to increase the revenues of the process. The pretreatment applied to lignocellulosic agricultural waste has a significant impact on the quantities and properties of the products that can be produced from the lignocellulosic feedstock upon pretreatment. Within the context of this study, the parameters utilized during the alkaline pretreatment of corn cobs were investigated in terms of their effect on the amount of glucose obtained through the enzymatic v hydrolysis of the cellulosic portion and on the mechanical properties of the films obtained through the solvent casting of the hemicellulosic portion of corn cob. The pretreatment parameters including the alkaline type and concentration, addition and type of boron compound as well as the duration of pretreatment, were optimized with respect to the amounts and the properties of the products. Following the pretreatments conducted with 24 % KOH and 1% NaBH4, which were the initial pretreatment parameters in the study, a glucose yield of 22 % and a tensile energy to break of 2.1 MJ/m3 were obtained. Upon the optimization of the pretreatment procedure, the optimum pretreatment conditions were determined as 5 % NaOH, 1 % NaBH4 and 3 hours and a glucose yield of approximately 31% and a tensile energy to break of around 1.7 MJ/m3 were obtained.