Salinity is one of the most critical environmental problems for water scarce countries, / Thesis (Ph.D.Eng.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.

In this thesis a fluidized bed containing a draft tube has been studied with the aim of developing the apparatus for coal gasification. The process has the capability of producing synthesis quality gas using air for combustion, and of being able to accomodate poor quality coal feeds containing heavy fines loads. These advantages arise from two special features of a draft tube fluidized bed. In the first place, the bed may be operated as two separate and independent reaction zones, one contained within the draft tube and the other in the annulus region surrounding it. As a result, the gasification reactions may be carried out in one compartment and the combustion reactions in the other, allowing the useful gasification products to be taken off separately and undiluted with the combustion flue gases. Secondly, the fluidized material in the bed may be induced to circulate up the draft tube and down the annulus. These circulating solids provide the heat carrier from the combustion to the gasification zones within the bed. Furthermore, circulation of the bed in this way leads to a much longer residence time of fine particles within the bed and results in a high fine coal utilization efficiency. In order to achieve these benefits in practice, it is necessary to separate the gases supplied to and emitted from the draft tube from those of the annulus, but at the same time allowing free movement of solids between these regions. The thesis deals with how this may be accomplished in three parts: Firstly, the principles underlying division of a fluidized bed with a draft tube into discrete reaction zones are formulated, and strategies for achieving zonal separation, based on these arguments, are experimentally tested. As a result a reactor configuration and operating conditions suitable for coal gasification have been empirically identified. Secondly, a model describing the bulk circulation of solid material in the bed is presented, for the draft tube operating in the slugging mode. This model allows the average solids residence time and the particle velocities in the annulus and draft tube to be predicted, provided that slug velocities and spacings are known. The necessary correlations between hydrodynamic behaviour and the system properties are available in the literature for round nosed and wall slugs, but not for square nosed slugs, which appear to be characteristic in the apparatus used here. The third part consequently examines the square nosed slugging regime, and a theory to describe this behaviour, based on interparticle stress analysis, is presented. This regime is identified as having significant advantage over other bubbling modes because of the high dense phase gas flow rates which are sustained, and the resulting improved gas-solid contacting. The three models together mathematically describe the operation of the draft tube fluidized bed, allowing gas partition between the annulus and the draft tube regions as well as solids circulation to be predicted, for different bed configurations and operating conditions. The predictions compare well with experimental results. The last part of the thesis deals with the application of the system to coal gasification on a one ton coal per day pilot plant. A high quality gas, containing up to 80% CO + H2, (balance CO2), has been produced by steam gasification in the draft tube, using air for the combustion reaction in the annulus. The H2/CO ratio can be varied from about 1 to 3, by changing the operating temperature of the reactor. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1984.

Introduction Radioisotopes of bromine are of special interest for nuclear medical applications. The positron emitting isotopes 75Br (T½ = 1.6 h; β+ = 75.5 %) and 76Br (T½ = 16.2 h; β+ = 57 %) have suitable decay properties for molecular imaging with PET, while the Auger electron emitters 77Br (T½ = 57.0 h) and 80mBr (T½ = 4.4 h) as well as the β−-emitter 82Br (T½ = 35.3 h) are useful for internal radiotherapy. 77Br is additionally suited for SPECT. The isotopes 75Br, 76Br and 77Br are usually produced at a cyclotron either by 3He and α-particle induced reactions on natural arsenic or by proton and deuteron induced reactions on enriched selenium isotopes [1]. As target mate-rials for the latter two reactions, earlier ele-mental selenium [2] and selenides of Cu, Ag, Mn, Mo, Cr, Ti, Pb and Sn were investigated [cf. 3–7]. Besides several wet chemical separation techniques the dry distillation of bromine from the irradiated targets was investigated, too [cf. 2, 4, 5]. However, the method needs further development. Nickel selenide was investigated as a promising target to withstand high beam currents, and the dry distillation technique for the isolation of n.c.a. radiobromine from the target was optimized. Material and Methods Crystalline Nickel-(II) selenide (0.3–0.5 g) was melted into a 0.5 mm deep cavity of a 1 mm thick Ni plate covered with a Ni grid. NiSe has a melting point of 959 °C. For development of targeting and the chemical separation, natural target material was used. Irradiations of NiSe were usually performed with protons of 17 MeV using a slanting water cooled target holder at the cyclotron BC1710 [8]. For radiochemical studies a beam current of 3 µA and a beam time of about 1 h were appropriate. To separate the produced no-carrier-added (n.c.a.) radiobromine from the target material a dry distillation method was chosen. The apparatus was developed on the basis of a dry distillation method for iodine [cf. 9,10] and optimized to obtain the bromine as n.c.a. [*Br]bromide in a small volume of sodium hydroxide solution. Changing different components of the apparatus, the dead volume could be minimized and an almost constant argon flow as carrier medium was realized. Various capillaries of platinum, stainless steel and quartz glass with different diameters and lengths were tested to trap the radiobromine. Results and Conclusion Nickel selenide proved successful as target material for the production of radiobromine by proton irradiation with 17 MeV protons. The target was tested so far only at beam currents up to 10 µA, but further investigations are ongoing. The optimized dry distillation procedure allows trapping of 80–90 % of the produced radiobromine in a capillary. For this purpose quartz glass capillaries proved to be most suitable. After rinsing the capillary with 0.1 M NaOH solution the activity can be nearly completely obtained in less than 100 µL solution as [*Br]bromide immediately useable for radiosynthesis. So, the overall separation yield was estimated to 81 ± 5 %. The radionuclidic composition and activity of the separated radiobromide was measured by γ-ray spectrometry. Due to the use of natural selenium the determination of the isotopic purity was not meaningful, but it could be shown that the radiobromine was free from other radioisotopes co-produced in the target material and the backing. The radiochemical purity as well as the specific activity were determined by radio ionchromatography. Further experiments using NiSe produced from nickel and enriched selenium are to be per-formed. The isotopic purity of the produced respective radiobromide, the production yield at high beam currents and the reusability of the target material have to be studied.

Due to security issues in energy supply and environmental concerns, renewable energy production from biomass becomes an increasingly important area of study. Thus, thermal conversion of biomass via pyrolysis and subsequent upgrading procedures were explored, in an attempt to convert an abundant agricultural residue, corn stover, into potential bio-fuels. Pyrolysis of corn stover was carried out at 400, 500 and 600oC and at moderate pressure. Maximum bio-char yield of 37.3 wt.% and liquid product yield of 31.4 wt.% were obtained at 400oC while the gas yield was maximum at 600oC (21.2 wt.%). Bio-char characteristics (energy content, proximate and ultimate analyses) indicated its potential as alternative solid fuel. The bio-oil mainly consisted of phenolic compounds, with significant proportions of aromatic and aliphatic compounds. The gas product has energy content ranging from 10.1 to 21.7 MJ m-3, attributed to significant quantities of methane, hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Mass and energy conversion efficiencies indicated that majority of the mass and energy contained in the feedstock was transferred to the bio-char. Fractional distillation of the bio-oil at atmospheric and reduced pressure yielded approximately 40-45 wt.% heavy distillate (180-250oC) with significantly reduced moisture and total acid number (TAN) and greater energy content. Aromatic compounds and oxygenated compounds were distributed in the light and middle fractions while phenolic compounds were concentrated in the heavy fraction. Finally, hydrotreatment of the bio-oil and the heavy distillate using noble metal catalysts such as ruthenium and palladium on carbon support at 100 bar pressure, 4 hours reaction time and 200o or 300oC showed that ruthenium performed better at the higher temperature (300oC) and was more effective than palladium, giving about 25-26% deoxygenation. The hydrotreated product from the heavy distillate with ruthenium as catalyst at 300oC had the lowest oxygen content and exhibited better product properties (lower moisture, TAN, and highest heating value), and can be a potential feedstock for co-processing with crude oils in existing refineries. Major reactions involved were conversion of phenolics to aromatics and hydrogenation of ketones to alcohols. Results showed that pyrolysis of corn stover and product upgrading produced potentially valuable sources of fuel and chemical feedstock.

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Thesis (M. A.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2006. / Title from PDF title page screen. Advisor: Russ McDonald; submitted to the Dept. of English. Includes bibliographical references (p. 23-24, p. 46)

O processo de destilação do petróleo bruto é geralmente sujeito à atividade corrosiva dos equipamentos pelos ácidos, naturalmente presentes no petróleo. Este problema da corrosão pode ser atenuado pela adição de misturas de aminas neutralizantes que são inibidores da corrosão. Porém, esta adição significa um custo adicional ao processamento de petróleo. Para reduzir este custo direto da injeção de aminas o presente trabalho tem como objetivo aplicar a minimização do custo de misturas de aminas, utilizando dois diferentes métodos numéricos de otimização. Para isto foi utilizado um software desenvolvido no Laboratório Virtual de Predição de Propriedades (LVPP), onde os seguintes parâmetros operacionais são levados em consideração: temperatura de formação de sal, temperatura de orvalho do vapor d’água e pH do condensado da mistura. Esses parâmetros operacionais foram calculados e utilizados como restrições de desigualdade em otimizações com os métodos de Nelder-Mead (NM) e enxame de partículas (PSO). A escolha desses dois métodos numéricos foi devido a apresentarem características diferentes de busca do ótimo da função objetivo. O método NM apresenta caráter de busca local e o método PSO caráter de busca global. Assim, as duas restrições de desigualdade de otimização aplicadas foram: 1) o pH do condensado da mistura deve ser maior ou igual ao valor ótimo de 6,5; 2) a temperatura de formação de sal deve ser menor que temperatura do ponto de orvalho do vapor d’água. Quatro diferentes casos foram estudados, com estimativas iniciais das misturas escolhidas para satisfazer os itens 1) e 2). Os parâmetros operacionais calculados para as misturas de aminas apresentaram valores de pH abaixo dos valores considerados aceitáveis. Isso exigiu a implementação de uma condição de pH que aumentasse seu valor até a condição satisfatória, conforme restrição 1). A outra condição referente a restrição 2) foi satisfeita no cálculo das misturas para todos os casos estudados, exceto para o caso 2, de modo que a água na fase líquida arraste os sais potencialmente formados. Caso essa condição não fosse cumprida ocorreria a precipitação desses sais incrustando à superfície interna das tubulações e equipamentos, ocasionando um ataque corrosivo. As otimizações dos custos das misturas foram calculadas utilizando-se os próprios dados das misturas, com as condições dos itens 1) e 2) satisfeitas, como estimativa inicial. Para todos casos estudados, o método PSO foi capaz de obter resultados com custos menores que a metade do valor obtido com o método NM. / Crude distillation equipment is usually subject to the corrosive activity of acids. This problem can be mitigated by the addition of amines. With the addition of amines to this process a cost is generated, therefore to reduce this cost of neutralizing the amines the present work applies two different optimization methods, Nelder-Mead (NM) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). This was accomplished using an in house software, developed in the Virtual Laboratory of Property Prediction (LVPP), where the following operating conditions are taken into account: salt formation temperature, condensation temperature of the water and pH of the condensate of the mixture. The operational parameters were calculated and used as inequality constraints in optimizations with both Nelder-Mead (NM) and a particle swarm optimization (PSO) methods. Two inequality constraints were considered: 1) The condensate pH of the mixture should be higher or equal than 6.5; 2) The salt temperature should be less than the dew temperature of water vapor. Four different cases were studied, throught estimates initials of the mixtures to satisfy items 1) and 2). It has been found that the operating parameters calculated for several amine mixtures produced pH values below the one considered optimal. This required the implementation of a pH condition that would increase its value up to the condition satisfactory, in accordance with restriction 1). The other condition concerning restriction 2) was satisfied in the calculation of the mixtures for all studied cases, except to case 2, through which the water in the liquid phase entrains the salts formed. If this condition were not met, the precipitation of salts would occur on the internal surface of pipes and equipments, causing a corrosive attack. The cost optimizations of the amine mixtures were calculated using their own data, with the constraints of items 1) and 2) satisfied by an initial estimate. Of all the cases studied, the PSO method obtained results with costs lower than half values obtained with the NM method.

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