In this study, Smiles?? sorptivity-diffusivity numerical analysis is demonstrated to offer a comprehensive description of dead-end constant-pressure compressible cake filtration for water treatment. In addition to providing an insight on filtration performance and cake behaviour in terms of cake hydraulic permeability and compressibility in good agreement with the results derived using Ruth??s conventional cake filtration theory, the sorptivity-diffusivity model can be used to gain further information on depth-dependent local cake properties and extend our knowledge on the effect of feed suspension conditions (including solution composition, coagulant dosage and mixing) on the characteristics of the particulate assemblages (including size, structure and strength). Feed suspension conditions and primary particle properties exert significant effect on the characteristics of particles in suspensions and the resultant particulate assemblages. In the non-coagulated latex systems, an increase in ionic strength resulted in a suppression of the electric double layer of latex particles as indicated by a significant drop in the zeta potential of the feed suspension which lead to a dramatic reduction in cake hydraulic permeability. In the non-coagulated montmorillonite systems, feed suspensions with high ionic strength (1 M Na+, 50 mM Ca2+ and 50 mM Fe2+) were associated with larger suspended solids which appeared to form assemblages with nematic structures that are denser yet more permeable when compared to those with low ionic strength (0.1 M Na+, 1 mM Ca2+ and 2 mM Fe2+) which appeared to form highly ??cross-linked?? voluminous honeycomb type gel of very low permeability. Pre-coagulation of latex and montmorillonite suspensions with Al-based coagulants (alum and ACH) both resulted in formation of very large flocs which subsequently formed highly permeable solid assemblages. In the latex systems, the ratio of optimal alum to ACH dose was approximately 5:1 on a total coagulant mass basis and 1.3:1 as Al while the ratio of optimal alum to ACH dose was as high as 22:1 on a total coagulant mass basis and 6:1 as Al in the montmorillonite systems. Although both alum and ACH resulted in comparable filtration performances, the distinction in Al concentration and results of local cake properties analysis indicated the presence of different cake structures presumably due to the formation of different Al species.

Typescript (photocopy) / v, 179, viii leaves, [3] leaves of plates : ill. ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Biochemistry, 1983

Les piles à combustibles permettent de convertir l'énergie chimique en énergie électrique. Il existe différents types de piles; les mieux adaptées pour équiper un véhicule électrique étant actuellement les PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane). Elles nécessitent une alimentation en hydrogène pur, pouvant provenir du réformage in situ de carburants. Les produits du réformage sont constitués d'un mélange de gaz dont il faut extraire l'hydrogène pour alimenter la pile. Pour séparer les composants d'un mélange gazeux, un moyen simple consiste à utiliser une membrane de perméation. Le palladium étant perméable sélectivement à l'hydrogène, il est le matériau de choix pour la réalisation de membranes de purification de l'hydrogène. Ce travail a consisté à élaborer cette membrane en déposant un film fin de palladium sur un support mécanique poreux. La technique utilisée est celle de l'électroless: un sel de palladium et un réducteur sont mis en présence et le dépôt se fait sur la surface catalytique du substrat. Le travail bibliographique sur cette technique est suivi d'études expérimentales sur support dense afin de comprendre les différents facteurs gouvernant ce dépôt. Dans un premier temps, des mesures potentiométriques ont été réalisées afin de déterminer l'influence de divers facteurs sur le potentiel électrochimique du bain. Puis, des cinétiques de prise de masse du substrat ont été enregistrées afin de faire le lien entre les conditions opératoires et le rendement de dépôt obtenu ainsi que son adhérence au substrat. Ensuite, le! s dépôts de palladium ont été testés sur des substrats frittés afin de réaliser la membrane en couche mince déposée sur support mécanique poreux. Ces études ont permis de comprendre les mécanismes gouvernant le procédé de dépôt par électroless et de l'appliquer à la réalisation de membranes qui ont ensuite été testées pour leur propriétés de perméation vis à vis de l'hydrogène.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 76-93).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center; full text release delayed at author's request until 2007 Aug 10

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Delaware, 2006. / Principal faculty advisor: Thomas P. Beebe, Jr., Dept. of Chemistry & Biochemistry. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--York University, 2004. Graduate Programme in Kinesiology and Health Science. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL:http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url%5Fver=Z39.88-2004&res%5Fdat=xri:pqdiss&rft%5Fval%5Ffmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft%5Fdat=xri:pqdiss:MQ99349

Produced water is a major waste produced from oil and natural gas wells in the state of Texas. This water could be a possible source of new fresh water to meet the growing demands of the state after treatment and purification. This thesis describes a research project that evaluated the treatment of brine generated in oil fields (produced water) with ultrafiltration membranes. The characteristics of various ultrafiltration membranes for oil and suspended solids removal from produced water were studied to test whether they could be used in a pretreatment method. The research measured the effect of pressure and flow rate on performance of three commercially available membranes for treatment of oily produced water. Oil and suspended solids removal were measured by using turbidity and oil in water measurements taken periodically. The study also analyzed the flux through the membrane and any effect it had on membrane performance. The research showed that an ultrafiltration membrane provided turbidity removal of over 99% and oil removal of 78% for the produced water samples. The results indicated that the ultrafiltration membranes would be useful as one of the first steps in purifying the water. Membrane cleaning of produced water-fouled membranes by micellar solutions was investigated. A neutral pH and ambient temperature micelle solution for effective cleaning of oily water-fouled membranes was developed and studied. The performance of cleaning solutions on ultrafiltration membranes was investigated on laboratory size membrane testing equipment. Different micro emulsion solutions were studied to evaluate the effect of solution properties on cleaning performance. Three types of multiple membranes were studied, each having the same polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) material but with different nominal separation or flux characteristics. The data showed that the use of a micelle solution to clean the produced water-fouled membranes was a feasible and effective method. The study showed with further adjustment of the micelle solution the cleaning effectiveness could be optimized to provide double the effectiveness of current industry methods for membranes fouled by produced water.

This dissertation contains theoretical investigations on the morphology and statistical mechanics of vesicles. The shapes of homogeneous fluid vesicles and inhomogeneous vesicles with fluid and solid membrane domains are calculated. The influence of thermal fluctuations is investigated. The obtained results are valid on mesoscopic length scales and are based on a geometrical membrane model, where the vesicle membrane is described as either a static or a thermal fluctuating surface. The thesis consists of three parts. In the first part, homogeneous vesicles are considered. The focus in this part is on the thermally induced morphological transition between vesicles with prolate and oblate shape. With the help of Monte Carlo simulations, the free energy profile of these vesicles is determined. It can be shown that the shape transformation between prolate and oblate vesicles proceeds continuously and is not hampered by a free energy barrier. The second and third part deal with inhomogeneous vesicles which contain intramembrane domains. These investigations are motivated by experimental results on domain formation in single or multicomponent vesicles, where phase separation occurs and different membrane phases coexist. The resulting domains differ with regard to their membrane structure (solid, fluid). The membrane structure has a distinct effect on the form of the domain and the morphology of the vesicle. In the second part, vesicles with coexisting solid and fluid membrane domains are studied, while the third part addresses vesicles with coexisting fluid domains. The equilibrium morphology of vesicles with simple and complex domain forms, derived through minimisation of the membrane energy, is determined as a function of material parameters. The results are summarised in morphology diagrams. These diagrams show previously unknown morphological transitions between vesicles with different domain shapes. The impact of thermal fluctuations on the vesicle and the form of the domains is investigated by means of Monte Carlo simulations. / Die vorliegende Arbeit enthält theoretische Untersuchungen zur Morphologie und statistischen Mechanik von Vesikeln. Es wird die Gestalt homogener fluider Vesikel und inhomogener Vesikel mit fluiden und festen Membrandomänen berechnet. Der Einfluss thermischer Fluktuationen wird untersucht. Die erzielten Ergebnisse beziehen sich auf mesoskopische Längenskalen und basieren auf einem geometrischen Membranmodell, in welchem die Vesikelmembran als statische, beziehungsweise thermisch fluktuierende Fläche beschrieben wird. Die Arbeit besteht aus drei Teilen. Im ersten Teil werden homogene fluide Vesikel betrachtet. Das Interesse gilt dem thermisch induzierten Morphologieübergang zwischen prolaten und oblaten Vesikelformen. Mit Hilfe von Monte-Carlo-Simulationen wird ein freies Energieprofil für diese Vesikel ermittelt. Es kann gezeigt werden, dass die Formumwandlung zwischen prolaten und oblaten Formen kontinuierlich verläuft und mit keiner freien Energiebarriere verbunden ist. Der zweite und dritte Teil beschäftigt sich mit inhomogenen Vesikeln, die intramembrane Domänen enthalten. Ausgangspunkt und Motivation der Berechnungen sind experimentelle Studien über Domänbildung in ein- oder mehrkomponentigen Vesikelmembranen, bei denen Phasentrennung stattfindet und unterschiedliche Membranphasen koexistieren. Die dabei auftretenden Domänen unterscheiden sich hinsichtlich ihrer Membranstruktur (fest, fluid). Diese beeinflusst die Form der Domäne und des gesamten Vesikels auf entscheidende Weise. Im zweiten Teil werden Vesikel untersucht, bei denen feste und fluide Membrandomänen koexistieren, Teil drei widmet sich Vesikeln mit zwei koexistierenden fluiden Membranphasen. In Abhängigkeit von Materialparametern werden durch Minimierung der Membranenergie die Grundzustandsformen von Vesikeln mit einfachen und komplexen Domänenformen bestimmt. Die Ergebnisse werden in Morphologiediagrammen zusammengefasst. Dabei werden bisher unbekannte Morphologieübergänge zwischen Vesikeln mit unterschiedlichen Domänformen beobachtet. Die Auswirkungen thermischer Fluktuationen auf die Vesikel und die Form ihrer Domänen werden mittels Monte-Carlo-Simulationen untersucht.

Wir untersuchen, welchen Einfluss die Verankerung von langen, hydrophilen Polymeren in Lipidmembranen auf deren elastische Eigenschaften ausübt. Theoretisch werden zwei Grenzbereiche für die spontane Krümmung der Membran erwartet: <br /> i) bei kleinen Oberflächenkonzentrationen des Polymers (Pilzgebiet) sollte die spontane Krümmung linear von der Oberflächendichte des verankerten Polymers abhängen;<br /> ii) bei hoher Bedeckung (Bürstengebiet) sollte die Abhängigkeit quadratisch sein. Wir versuchen, Vorhersagen für das Bürstengebiet zu prüfen, indem wir die morphologischen Veränderungen beobachten, die bei Riesen (Giant)- Vesikeln hervorgerufen werden. <br /> <br /> Als lange Polymere verwenden wir fluoreszenzmarkierte &#955;-Phage DNA Moleküle, die durch eine Biotin-Avidin-Biotin Verbindung an biotinhaltigen Lipidvesikeln befestigt sind. Wir kontrollieren die Oberflächenkonzentration der Anker durch Variation der Menge an biotinhaltigem Lipid in der Membran. Die Menge der an der Membran verankerten DNA wird durch Fluoreszenzmessungen quantifiziert. Änderungen in den elastischen Eigenschaften der Membran bei Anbindung der DNA, werden über eine Analyse der Vesikel-Fluktuationen kontrolliert. Die spontane Krümmung der Membran steigt mit der Oberflächenbeladung. Bei höheren Verankerungen bilden die Vesikel Knospen (budding). Die Größe der Knospen kann ebenfalls zur Bestimmung der Krümmung der Membran verwendet werden. Der Einfluss auf die Biegesteifigkeit ist Thema weiterer Untersuchungen. / We study the effect on the elastic properties of lipid membranes induced by anchoring of long hydrophilic polymers. Theoretically, two limiting regimes for the membrane spontaneous curvature are expected : <br /> i) at low surface polymer concentration (mushroom regime) the spontaneous curvature should scale linearly with the surface density of anchored polymers; <br /> ii) at high coverage (brush regime) the dependence should be quadratic. We attempt to test the predictions for the brush regime by monitoring the morphological changes induced on giant vesicles.<br /> <br /> As long polymers we use fluorescently labeled &#955;-phage DNA molecules which are attached to biotinylated lipid vesicles with a biotin-avidin-biotin linkage. By varying the amount of biotinylated lipid in the membrane we control the surface concentration of the anchors. The amount of anchored DNA to the membrane is quantified with fluorescence measurements. Changes in the elastic properties of the membrane as DNA grafts to it are monitored via analysis of the vesicle fluctuations. The spontaneous curvature of the membrane increases as a function of the surface coverage. At higher grafting concentrations the vesicles bud. The size of the buds can also be used to assess the membrane curvature. The effect on the bending stiffness is a subject of further investigation.