Adsorption/desorption behaviors of three volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from the optoelectronics industry by Y-type and ZSM-5 zeolites were studied in this work. Target VOCs include acetone, isopropyl alcohol (IPA), and propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate (PGMEA). Adsorption/desorption experiments were conducted in a fixed-bed column using various operating conditions to mimic the commercial ones. Also studied include the adsorption kinetics for single-component, two-component, and three-component cases. Experimental results of the single-adsorbate case by both model zeolites have shown that the amount of VOC adsorbed follows the order of PGMEA > IPA > Acetone. This is ascribed to the greatest molecular weight of PGMEA among three VOCs tested. The adsorption capacity of each zeolite for each target VOC was found to increase with its increasing initial concentration. Freundlich isotherm and Langmuir isotherm were found to be suitable for describing the adsorption behaviors for the single-adsorbate case. Results of the desorption experiments also showed that most of the target VOCs could be desorbed at 180¢J in 100 minutes. The adsorption capacities of the regenerated model zeolites were found to be decreasing as the regeneration times increased. As compared with the fresh ones, the regenerated zeolites had reduced specific surface areas, but increased pore sizes. In addition, the Yoon and Nelson equation was employed to study the kinetic behaviors of adsorbing the target VOCs by the model zeolites. A good agreement of the experimental results and predictions by the Yoon & Nelson model was obtained for the single-adsorbate case. However, the Yoon and Nelson model was found to be incompetent to simulate and predict all the multi-adsorbate cases including two-component adsorption and three-component adsorption in this work. Again, it is speculated that the displacement of lower-molecular-weight adsorbates (i.e., acetone and IPA) by PGMEA (an adsorbate of a much greater molecular weight) would be responsible for this finding. For the two-adsorbate case, nevertheless, the Yoon and Nelson equation was found to be capable of describing the adsorption behavior under the circumstance of C/C0 < 1.

Emission of hazardous gases such as hydrogen sulphide (H2S) by a variety of industrial processes and as a result of agricultural activities has become an issue of great concern over the years. The control of these gases is needed to ensure public safety, to protect the environment, and lastly to comply with occupational and environmental regulations. Several techniques including biological and physicochemical methods have been applied to remove these gases from contaminated air streams. In this work, Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles were used to adsorb H2S gas at ambient temperatures. The effects of H2S concentration (80-1700 mg L-1), nanoparticle size (18, 80-200 nm), gas flow rate (200 and 450 mL min-1), temperature (1-41C) and adsorbent quantity (0.2-1.5 g) were investigated in the laboratory scale. A semi-pilot system was also developed and used to treat H2S emission from stored swine manure. The results show that when H2S concentration was increased the adsorption capacities (both breakthrough and equilibrium) increased and the nanoparticles reached the saturation state faster. When nanoparticles of different sizes were tested, it was observed that 80-200 nm particles got saturated with H2S faster than 18 nm particles. The adsorption capacities were higher with 18 nm particles than those with 80-200 nm. Temperatures did not have an effect on how fast the nanoparticles got saturated and on breakthrough adsorption capacity, but equilibrium adsorption capacity increased due to increase in temperature. The breakthrough and equilibrium adsorption capacities increased with increased quantity of nanoparticles. BET isotherm described the equilibrium data with higher accuracy as compared to other adsorption isotherms which were tested. Semi-pilot scale tests proved the effectiveness of 18 nm ZnO nanoparticles in capture of H2S emitted from stored swine manure. For an experimental period of approximately 100 minutes the level of H2S was reduced from an average initial value of 235.785.2 mg L-1 to a negligible level (an average value of 0.26 mg L-1) corresponding to an H2S removal of at least 99%. Semi pilot tests also showed that 18 nm ZnO nanoparticles were able to capture about 74% of NH3 that passed through the adsorption column.

Orientadores: Aline Carvalho da Costa, José Geraldo da Cruz Pradella / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Química / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-24T06:05:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Machado_DanieleLongo_M.pdf: 2642371 bytes, checksum: 08fe9958b60f1f20bc5bb385ae8820e4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: A hidrólise enzimática de materiais lignocelulósicos compreende uma etapa de adsorção das enzimas celulases a esse material, e as chamadas isotermas de adsorção são curvas extremamente úteis nesse estudo, pois indicam a forma como o soluto (adsorbato) adsorverá no adsorvente; dão uma estimativa da quantidade máxima de soluto que o adsorvente adsorverá, entre outras características importantes. São empregadas também para a obtenção de condições mais favoráveis e eficientes na conversão da biomassa a açúcares fermentescíveis. Assim, para melhor entendimento de como o processo da adsorção enzimática interfere nos rendimentos da hidrólise enzimática da celulose, este trabalho abordou estudos específicos, tais como, a determinação da cinética e dos parâmetros das isotermas de adsorção das enzimas do complexo celulolítico sobre diferentes biomassas. Trabalhou-se com o bagaço de cana-de-açúcar pré-tratado hidrotérmico (BH) que apresentou 31,97% de lignina em sua composição e organossolve (BO), com 4,42% de lignina, e também com Avicel e com um isolado de lignina (IL). Os experimentos de cinética e isoterma de adsorção foram realizados em duplicata com volume reacional de 15 mL contendo tãmpão citrato de sódio 50 mM pH 4.8 complementado com with 0.02% de azida sódica por grrama de substrato onde a biomassa foi adicionada. Nos ensaios de cinética, os fracos foram incubados em um shaker (Marconi AM-832) a 50ºC e 4ºC, onde a agitação variou de 40 a 250 rpm. Foram recolhidas amostras dos frascos em tempos pré-determinados e centrifugadas por 15 min a 4,000 rpm para remoção dos materiais insolúveis. O teor de proteína do sobrenadante foi determinado usando o método de Bradford. As isotermas de adsorção da celulase para as biomassas foram conduzidas pela variação da quantidade proteica da enzima celulase (0,1 ¿ 4,5 mg/mL). Os dados experimentais foram estimados pela isoterma de adsorção de Langmuir usando o software OriginPro8.0. Os parâmetros Emax e Kp obtidos pelo ajuste dos dados experimentais mostraram-se diferentes para os diferentes materiais. Uma maior capacidade de adsorção (36,93 mg celulase/g de substrato) e, consequentemente, uma afinidade maior da enzima celulase pelo bagaço pré-tratado foi observada para o pré-tratamento hidrotérmico, pois a celulase, além de adsorver na celulose, também adsorve na lignina, em menor extensão. Os dados obtidos da isoterma de adsorção da celulase sobre o IL confirmam a adsorção improdutiva da enzima na lignina (Emax= 11,92 mg/g) e mostram como esses estudos da adsorção das enzimas em IL são importantes, porque se torna possível distinguir a adsorção a porções da celulose e frações da lignina. A agitação exerceu influência significativa no fenômeno de adsorção, onde o aumento da agitação até 150 rpm melhorou a mistura entre as enzimas e o substratos, porém, a partir de 200 rpm não foram observadas mudanças significativas nos perfis de enzima adsorvida. Palavras-chaves: Lignocelulose, cinética de adsorção, isoterma de Langmuir, hidrólise enzimática / Abstract: The enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass involves one step of adsorption of cellulase enzymes on this material, and the adsorption isotherms are curves extremely useful for this research, because they show how the solute (adsorbate) will adsorb on the adsorbent; give an estimate of what is highest quantity of solute adsorbed by the adsorbent, among other information. They are also used to attain more favorable and efficient conditions in the conversion of biomass into fermentable sugars. Therefore, for a better understanding of how the enzymatic adsorption process interferes in the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose yields, this study has proposed specific studies, such as the determination of the kinetics and parameters of adsorption isotherms of enzymes from cellulolityc complex on different biomasses. Sugarcane bagasse hydrothermal pretreated (BH), which presented 31.97% (w/w) of lignin in its composition, and the organosolv (BO), with 4.42% (w/w) of lignin, were evaluated, as well as Avicel and an isolated lignin (IL). The adsorption kinetics and isotherm experiments assays were performed in duplicate with reaction volume of 15 mL of sodium citrate buffer 50 mM pH 4.8 supplemented with 0.02% sodium azide per gram of substrate to which biomass was added. The adsorption kinetics assays the flasks were incubated in shaker (Marconi AM-832) at 50ºC and 4ºC where the stirring ranged from 40 to 250 rpm. Flasks were withdrawn at different time intervals and centrifuged repeatedly for 15 min in a centrifuge at 4,000 rpm to remove insoluble materials. The protein content of the supernatant was determined using Bradford method (Bradford, 1976). Cellulase adsorption isotherm on biomasses was conducted by varying the amount of cellulase protein (0.1¿4.5 mg/mL). The experimental data were fit to the Langmuir adsorption isotherm using the software OriginPro 8.0. The parameters Emax and Kp estimated by experimental data adjustment showed different values to the different materials. The highest adsorption capacity (36.93 mg of cellulase/ g of substrate) and, consequently, the highest affinity of the cellulase enzyme for the pretreated bagasse was found for the hydrothermal pretreated bagasse, as cellulase, besides adsorbing on cellulose, also adsorbs on lignin to a lesser extent. The cellulase adsorption on IL data confirms the unproductive adsorption of the enzyme on lignin (Emax = 11.92 mg/g) and shows how these adsorption studies of enzymes in IL are relevant, because it becomes feasible to distinguish the adsorption on portions of cellulose and on lignin fractions. Stirring had significant influence on the adsorption phenomenon, with the increase in stirring up to 150 rpm improving the mixture of enzymes and substrate; however, over 200 rpm stirring influence was not significant. Key-words: Lignocellulose, adsorption kinetics, Langmuir isotherm, enzymatic hydrolysis / Mestrado / Desenvolvimento de Processos Químicos / Mestra em Engenharia Química

Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) provides a considerable increase in throughput compared to HPLC and a reduced solvent consumption. The implementation of UHPLC in pharmaceutical analysis, e.g. quality control, has accelerated in recent years and there is currently a mix of HPLC and UHPLC instrumentation within pharmaceutical companies. There are, however, technical and regulatory challenges converting a HPLC method to UHPLC making it difficult to take full advantage of UHPLC in regulatory-focused applications like quality control in pharmaceutical production. Using chromatographic modelling and fundamental theory, this thesis investigated method conversion between HPLC and UHPLC. It reports on the influence of temperature gradients due to viscous heating, pressure effects and stationary phase properties on the separation performance. It also presents a regulatory concept for less regulatory interaction for minor changes to approved methods to support efficient life cycle management. The higher pressure in UHPLC gave a retention increase of up to 40% as compared to conventional HPLC while viscous heating, instead, reduced retention and the net result was very solute dependent. Selectivity shifts were observed even between solutes with similar structure when switching between HPLC and UHPLC and an experimental method to predict such selectivity shifts was therefore developed. The peak shape was negatively affected by the increase in pressure for some solutes since secondary interactions between the solute and the stationary phase increased with pressure. With the upcoming ICH Q12 guideline, it will be possible for the industry to convert existing methods to UHPLC in a more flexible way using the deeper understanding and the regulatory concept presented here as a case example. / Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) provides a considerable increase in throughput compared to conventional HPLC and a reduced solvent consumption. The implementation of UHPLC in pharmaceutical analysis has accelerated in recent years and currently both instruments are used. There are, however, technical and regulatory challenges converting a HPLC method to UHPLC making it difficult to take full advantage of UHPLC in regulatory-focused applications like quality control in pharmaceutical production. In UHPLC, the column is packed with smaller particles than in HPLC resulting in higher pressure and viscous heating. Both the higher pressure and the higher temperature may cause changes in retention and selectivity making method conversion unpredictable. Using chromatographic modelling and fundamental theory, this thesis investigates method conversion between HPLC and UHPLC. It reports on the influence of temperature gradients due to viscous heating, pressure effects and stationary phase properties on the separation performance. It also presents a regulatory concept for less regulatory interaction for minor changes to approved quality control methods and how predicable method conversion is achieved by improved understanding.

Due to environmental challenges, depleting oil resources, rising cost of oil and instability in oil-producing countries, biofuel production has attracted a lot of attention in recent decades. Biobutanol is one of the biofuels showing the most potential as an alternative for partly replacing petroleum-based fuels. Both researchers and industrialists are currently working at developing an energy-effective process to produce biobutanol at a large scale. Acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation is the biological process of biobutanol production and Clostridia are the most common bacteria used to produce biobutanol. However, there are several challenges in the butanol bioproduction process that should be addressed to make this process economically viable. The main challenge in the biobutanol production process is the low concentration of butanol in the ABE fermentation broth. It is therefore important to develop an efficient separation method. Several separation methods such as distillation, liquid-liquid extraction (LLE), pervaporation, gas stripping and adsorption have been considered to recover butanol from dilute solutions and ABE fermentation broths. Adsorption is considered as one of the most promising methods due to its high performance and energy efficiency for butanol separation. In this study, the focus was on developing an efficient separation method for butanol recovery from dilute model solution and fermentation broth using adsorption. A comprehensive adsorbent screening was first carried out to identify the best commercially available adsorbent among a series of potentially promising adsorbents. Activated carbon (AC) F-400 was selected for further experimentation since it showed high adsorption capacity and adsorption rate in addition to high selectivity toward butanol. AC F-400 was then tested extensively in packed adsorption column experiments for binary and ABE model solutions and fermentation broths to investigate the competitive adsorption between butanol and other components present in ABE broths. The results showed that the butanol adsorption capacity was not affected by the presence of ethanol, glucose and xylose while the presence of acetone led to a slight decrease in adsorption capacity at low butanol concentrations. On the other hand, the presence of acids (acetic acid and butyric acid) in the ABE broth showed a significant effect on the butanol adsorption capacity over a wide ii range of butanol concentration and this effect was more pronounced for butyric acid. At the end, different competitive adsorption isotherm models were also studied to appropriately represent the behaviour of the competitive adsorption. Desorption of butanol was subsequently investigated to evaluate both the desorption capacity of butanol and the capability of the adsorbent particles to be used for multiple adsorption-desorption cycles. The results of this set of experiments showed that AC F-400 can retain its initial adsorption capacity after 6 adsorption/desorption cycles. The recovery of butanol from butanol-water (1.5 wt%) binary and ABE model solutions was 84 and 80% with butanol adsorption capacity of 302 and 171 mg/g, respectively. The combination of adsorption and gas stripping techniques was also studied to investigate the performance of CO2 gas stripping of solvents from the model solutions and fermentation broths followed by adsorption. The results showed that the butanol adsorption capacity of the overall system for binary solutions (260 mg/g for a binary butanol-water solution of 15 g/L with vapour phase concentration of 5.8 mg/L), ABE model solutions (192 mg/g for a corresponding vapour concentration of 5.2 mg/L) and ABE fermentation broths (247 mg/g for a corresponding vapour phase concentration of 2.5 mg/L) was higher than what has been published in the literature. Finally, a model was developed and adequately validated the experimental data to predict the behaviour of the ABE compounds in a packed bed adsorption column for butanol separation from dilute solutions.

No description available.

In this project, the optimization of obtaining adsorption isotherms for the ion pair reagent, tributylamine was tested. The goal was to have a better understanding of the chromatographic process when separating biomolecules, such as oligonucleotides. To do this one ion pair reagent was tested in different buffers with different compositions of acetonitrile. These solutions adsorbed into a C18 column at different temperatures and stripped into fractions of 35 mL. To analyze the results Liquid-liquid extraction was performed on the fractions and the organic phase was then injected into a gas chromatography. The results showed that at a temperature of 24°C the ion pair reagent adsorbed more to the column than at 37°C and 50°C. For the different compositions of acetonitrile buffers which were tested the one that stood out was the 50% acetonitrile buffert. At all temperature it showed to always be able to adsorb more to the column than the other buffers. To calculate the concentrations of the analytes, standard curves for both tributylamine and dibutylamine were made. For dibutylamine, four unknown samples were provided to test out if the methods could be used to determine the concentrations of dibutylamine in the samples. The methods for acquiring adsorption isotherms and analyzing samples with the gas chromatography showed good results and could be used for more studies. However, to validate the results of the 50% acetonitrile buffer, more work in the future is required.

Sediment is a major source of water quality impairment in streams, rivers and lakes in the US. However, sediment fate and transport in small streams is poorly understood. Previous attempts to characterize sediment transport often insufficiently represented the physical and chemical sediment properties and lacked spatial and/or temporal resolution. Therefore, there is a need to develop better sediment tracers, for which rare earth element (REE)-labeled sediment is examined as an alternative. The objectives of this study were to: 1) assess the adsorption of REEs to natural soils and ensure their reliability as a tracer in a fluvial environment; and 2) evaluate the efficacy of utilizing REE-labeled sediment to quantify fate and transport in a second-order stream during a series of storm events. Two natural stream bank soils from Stroubles Creek in Virginia were labeled with the REEs lanthanum and ytterbium. The REEs adsorbed equally to both soils and had minimal desorption after several washes with stream water. This suggests that REEs form a dependable natural sediment tracer and sufficiently label natural soils for use in a sediment tracing study. During two storm events, two unique REE tracers were injected into Stroubles Creek. These tracers were detected at varying discharges and sediment loads in bed and suspended sediment samples up to 875 m downstream. REE tracers proved to be an ideal tracer for detecting sediment fate and transport in a small stream during a series of storm events and hold great potential for evaluating best management practices and sediment transport models. / Master of Science

Poly-γ-glutamic acid (γ-PGA) is a biopolymer made up of repeating units of L-glutamic acid, D-glutamic acid or both. γ-PGA is water soluble, non-toxic and biodegradable, and can be used safely in a variety of applications that are increasing rapidly. This study investigated the production of HMW γ-PGA by five Bacillus species (B. licheniformis 1525, B. licheniformis NCTC 6816, B. licheniformis ATCC 9945a, B. licheniformis ATCC 9945a and B. subtilis (natto) ATCC 15245) in GS, C and E media for the removal of heavy metals in wastewaters. The highest γ-PGA yields of 11.69 g/l and 11.59 g/l were produced by Bacillus subtilis (natto) ATCC 15245 in GS medium and medium C respectively. Upon characterization, γ- PGAs with different properties (crystallinity, acid/salt form and molecular weights ranging from 2.56 × 105 Da to 1.65 × 106 Da) were produced. The water soluble, non-toxic, HMW (Mw 1.65 × 106 Da) γ-PGA produced by B. subtilis (natto) ATCC 15245 in medium C was investigated as a sorbent for the removal of heavy metal ions including Cu2+, Zn2+, Ni2+, Cd2+ and Ag+. The results showed that the removal of metals by γ-PGA was more dependent on the concentration of γ-PGA than the solution pH. The highest metal ions removal of 93.50%, 88.13%, 90.21%, 90.56% and 86.34% by HMW γ-PGA were obtained for Cu2+, Zn2+, Ni2+, Cd2+ and Ag+ respectively. The presence of interfering metal ions could hinder the adsorption of individual metal ions by γ-PGA. The affinities of heavy metal ions for γ-PGA followed the order: Cu2+ > Zn2+ > Ni2+ > Cd2+. The effect of molecular weight of γ-PGA on metal removal was also investigated, and it was found that metal ion adsorption capacity of γ-PGA strongly depended on its molecular weight. The maximum amount (93.50%) of Cu2+ sorbed by HMW γ-PGA was higher compared to that (59.48%) sorbed by LMW γ-PGA. Isotherm models showed that the Redlich-Peterson best described the metal adsorption capacity of γ-PGA. It was also found that a multisite adsorption mechanism occurred via the complexation of metal ions with the free α-carboxyl and possibly the amide functional groups in γ-PGA.

The aim of this study was to determine the adsorption capacity of activated carbon and organo-zeolites for removal of pesticides in water. In order to prepare organo-zeolite, two kinds of cationic surfactants, namely, hexadecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (HTAB) and dodecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (DTAB) were used. Adsorption studies of cationic surfactant on zeolite were investigated in respect to initial concentration of cationic surfactant, time, and temperature. It has been found that the best fitted isotherm equation was Langmuir equation. The observed adsorption rates were found to be equal to the second order kinetic model. The activation energies of cationic surfactant adsorption was determined by using Arrhenius equation.