Proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells are an eco-friendly power source that has great potential to reduce our oil dependence for our stationary and transportation applications. In order to make PEM fuel cells an economically viable option, further effort is needed to improve proton conduction under wide operating conditions and reduce the cost of production. Design and synthesis of novel membranes that have superior characteristics require a fundamental molecular-level understanding of the relationship between the polymer chemistry, water content and proton conduction. The performance of a fuel cell is influenced by the electrochemical and molecular/proton transport processes that occur at the catalytic sites in the electrode/electrolyte interface. Therefore, understanding the molecular-level details of proton transport and structure of the multi-phase interfaces is critical. This work is subdivided into two main tasks. The first task is to model membrane/water vapor interfaces and to study their morphology and the transport properties of water and hydronium ions. Classical molecular dynamics simulation is used as the modeling tool for the characterization of the interface. The second task is to model proton transport through the aqueous domains of PEM. Such a model is inherently challenging since proton transport occurs through a combination of structural and vehicular diffusions that are associated with disparate time scales. Toward this end, we have developed and implemented a new reactive molecular dynamics algorithm to model the structural diffusion of proton that involves breaking and forming of covalent bonds. The proton transport through aqueous channels in PEM is governed by acidity and confinement. Therefore, systems in which the acidity and confinement can be independently varied, including bulk water, aqueous hydrochloric acid solutions and water confined in carbon nanotubes are also examined in addition to the application in PEM. We have developed an understanding of how acidity and confinement independently impact proton transport. The correlation between the two components of charge diffusion and their contribution to the total charge diffusion has also been explored for a basic understanding of the proton transport mechanisms. These studies will eventually help us establish the correlation between the morphology of the membrane and proton conduction.

Arsenic (As) poses a significant water quality problem and it is a big challenge for all coal-based power plant industries worldwide. Currently most of the researches on the leaching behavior of arsenic from fly ash are based on the titration experiments. In this study a simulation method is used to study on the pH effect on the arsenic separation of coal-based power plants. Both single point and composition survey simulation of the OLI stream analyzer are used in the study. The simulation results of single point calculation indicates that for the fly ash which has high lime weight percent and equilibrium fly ash solution pH is over 11 and between 7 and 9, that is, Type C fly ash, the simulation results for equilibrium pH in fly ash solutions have great accuracy compared to actual experiment results. Based on the results obtained from single point simulation, both acid and base titrations of composition survey are simulated and the output results suggest that for the same type of fly ash, the simulation results proves the general trend of arsenic solubility in fly ash solutions. The solubility of arsenic decreases with the increase of pH value. It is also noted that at the equilibrium pH fly ash solutions, the maximum solid/liquid ratio of arsenic concentration is observed for type C fly ash. For other fly ashes which have low lime weight percent, the simulation results have discrepancy compared to actual experiment results. This work is important in offering an alternative way of analyze the reasonable output species and relative concentrations for type C fly ash in the waste water storage pond under specific pH conditions, which can be of great importance for the power plants to monitor and minimize the environment pollution in order to meet the future federal regulations.

Wood composites are widely used in construction applications because of their superior dimensional and structural attributes over raw wood products. However, current wood composite manufacturing practices, which rely on thermal-curing of adhesives, are expensive, energy intensive, time consuming and are prone to manufacturing defects. Use of radiation curable adhesives (RCAs) could potentially answer all of these issues. Specifically, use of electron-beam (e-beam) radiation has been increasing in areas of research and industry where rapid, low-temperature polymerization is required and low energy consumption is desired. For e-beams to be used in wood composites, however, it must be determined whether or not the wood is structurally impacted by irradiation, and to what extent. Maple beams irradiated with a range of e-beam dosages were studied in three-point bend tests to assess the changes in bulk properties of the wood, and were further studied with infrared spectroscopy to identify chemical changes resulting from the radiation treatments. Also, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) was performed on maple veneers treated with the same doses of radiation to characterize changes in the viscoelastic properties. Furthermore, while RCAs and their curing have been studied, it is important to understand if the presence of wood will impede the polymerization of these adhesives, and to what extent. Maple veneers impregnated with one of two resins were cured with the same e-beam dosages and investigated by means of DMA and FTIR spectroscopy. Swelling tests were conducted to detect interaction between the resins and the wood, which would indicate good interfacial bonding in the composite matrix. Notable loss of strength was observed in the irradiated wood, especially at 180kGy. Monitoring the glass transition temperature (Tg) and activation energy (Ea) derived from DMA revealed that the most destructive trends in the wood began around 80kGy. Cure of resins in the composites was hindered by the presence of the wood, but both resins did eventually reach complete cure at doses higher than what the neat resins required. Interaction between the resins and the wood was evident. In the end, results indicate that there is a range of radiation dosages in which the resin in a wood composite can be cured without destroying the structural integrity of the wood.

The history of oil well engineering applications has revealed that the frequent operational problems are still common in oil well practice. Well blowouts, stuck pipes, well leakages are examples of the repeated problems in the oil well engineering industry. The main reason why these unwanted problems are unavoidable can be the complexity and uncertainties of the oil well processes. Unforeseen problems happen again and again, because they are not fully predictable, which could be due to lack of sufficient data or improper modelling to simulate the real conditions in the process. Traditional mathematical models have not been able to totally eliminate unwanted oil well problems because of the many involved simplifications, uncertainties, and incomplete information. This research work proposes a new approach and breakthrough for overcoming these challenges. The main objective of this study is merging two scientific fields; artificial intelligence and petroleum engineering in order to implement a new methodology. Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) and Model-Based Reasoning (MBR), two branches of the artificial intelligence science, are applied for solving complex oil well problems. There are many CBR and MBR modelling tools which are generally used for different applications for implementing and demonstrating CBR and MBR methodologies; however, in this study, the Creek system which combines CBR and MBR has been utilized as a framework. One specific challenging task related to oil well engineering has been selected to exemplify and examine the methodology. To select a correct candidate for this application was a challenging step by itself. After testing many different issues in the oil well engineering, a well integrity issue has been chosen for the context. Thus, 18 leaking wells, production and injection wells, from three different oil fields have been analysed in depth. Then, they have been encoded and stored as cases in an ontology model given the name Wellogy. The challenges related to well integrity issues are a growing concern. Many oil wells have been reported with annulus gas leaks (called internal leaks) on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) area. Interventions to repair the leaking wells or closing and abandoning wells have led to: high operating cost, low overall oil recovery, and in some cases unsafe operation. The reasons why leakages occur can be different, and finding the causes is a very complex task. For gas lift and gas injection wells the integrity of the well is often compromised. As the pressure of the hydrocarbon reserves decreases, particularly in mature fields, the need for boosting increases. Gas is injected into the well either to lift the oil in the production well or to maintain pressure in the reservoir from the injection well. The challenge is that this gas can lead to breakdown of the well integrity and cause leakages. However, as there are many types of leakages that can occur and due to their complexity it can be hard to find the cause or causal relationships. For this purpose, a new methodology, the Creek tool, which combines CBR and MBR is applied to investigate the reasons for the leakages. Creek is basically a CBR system, but it also includes MBR methods. In addition to the well integrity cases, two complex cases (knowledge-rich cases) within oil well engineering have also been studied and analysed through the research work which is part of the PhD. The goal here is to show how the knowledge stored in two cases can be extracted for the CBR application. A model comprising general knowledge (well-known rules and theories) and specific knowledge (stored in cases) has been developed. The results of the Wellogy model show that the CBR methodology can automate reasoning in addition to human reasoning through solving complex and repeated oil well problems. Moreover, the methodology showed that the valuable knowledge gained through the solved cases can be sustained and whenever it is needed, it can be retrieved and reused. The model has been verified for unsolved cases by evaluating case-matching results. The model gives elaborated explanations of the unsolved cases through the building of causal relationships. The model also facilitates knowledge acquisition and learning curves through its growing case base. The study showed that building a CBR model is a rather time-consuming process due to four reasons: 1. Finding appropriate cases for the CBR application is not straightforward 2. Challenges related to constructing cases when transforming reported information to symbolic entities 3. Lack of defined criteria for amount of information (number of findings) for cases 4. Incomplete data and information to fully describe problems of the cases at the knowledge level In this study only 12 solved cases (knowledge-rich cases) have been built in the Wellogy model. More cases (typically hundreds for knowledge-lean cases and around 50 for knowledge-rich cases) would be required to have a robust and efficient CBR model. As the CBR methodology is a new approach for solving complex oil well problems (research and development phase), additional research work is necessary for both areas, i.e. developing CBR frameworks (user interfaces) and building CBR models (core of CBR). Feasibility studies should be performed for implemented CBR models in order to use them in real oil field operations. So far, the existing Wellogy model has showed some benefits in terms of; representing the knowledge of leaking well cases in the form of an ontology, retrieving solved cases, and reusing pervious cases.

Arsenic (As) poses a significant water quality problem and it is a big challenge for all coal-based power plant industries worldwide. Currently most of the researches on the leaching behavior of arsenic from fly ash are based on the titration experiments. In this study a simulation method is used to study on the pH effect on the arsenic separation of coal-based power plants. Both single point and composition survey simulation of the OLI stream analyzer are used in the study. The simulation results of single point calculation indicates that for the fly ash which has high lime weight percent and equilibrium fly ash solution pH is over 11 and between 7 and 9, that is, Type C fly ash, the simulation results for equilibrium pH in fly ash solutions have great accuracy compared to actual experiment results. Based on the results obtained from single point simulation, both acid and base titrations of composition survey are simulated and the output results suggest that for the same type of fly ash, the simulation results proves the general trend of arsenic solubility in fly ash solutions. The solubility of arsenic decreases with the increase of pH value. It is also noted that at the equilibrium pH fly ash solutions, the maximum solid/liquid ratio of arsenic concentration is observed for type C fly ash. For other fly ashes which have low lime weight percent, the simulation results have discrepancy compared to actual experiment results. This work is important in offering an alternative way of analyze the reasonable output species and relative concentrations for type C fly ash in the waste water storage pond under specific pH conditions, which can be of great importance for the power plants to monitor and minimize the environment pollution in order to meet the future federal regulations.

To assess strategies aimed at minimizing the release of trace elements and the impact of disposal of coal waste materials on the environment, two long-term leaching experiments of up to five months duration were performed using waste materials from two plants cleaning high and low sulfur bituminous coal. The tests evaluated the mobility of major trace elements under different disposal scenarios: (i) a static leaching test designed to simulate the quiescent conditions encountered by coal waste material stored under water in a stable impoundment, and (ii) a dynamic test to simulate waste materials exposed to the atmosphere, either in variable wet/dry storage conditions, or in unusual circumstances like those resulting from breaching of an impoundment containment wall. The results indicate that different refuse streams have different leaching characteristics due to difference in their mineralogy and the mobility of most elements is enhanced under highly alkaline or acidic conditions with a few being mobilized under both conditions, suggesting that the minimization of element mobility requires the pH value of the medium to be maintained around neutral. In addition, most of heavy metals were associated with the illite and pyrite minerals. Two strategies of treating coal refuse were evaluated: fly ash mixed with coarse refuse and co-disposal of coarse and fine refuse. Both methods were found to neutralize the pH conditions and thus reduce mobility of the trace elements in static leaching tests whereas the opposite was found from dynamic experiments. The results indicate that such controlled storage under water could retard acid generation and the mobility of trace elements.

Recently, considerable attention has been focused on the generation of nano- and micrometer scale multicomponent polymer particles with specifically tailored mechanical, electrical and optical properties. As only a few polymer-polymer pairs are miscible, the set of multicomponent polymer systems achievable by conventional methods, such as melt blending, is severely limited in property ranges. Therefore, researchers have been evaluating synthesis methods that can arbitrarily blend immiscible solvent pairs, thus expanding the range of properties that are practical. The generation of blended microparticles by evaporating a co-solvent from aerosol droplets containing two dissolved immiscible polymers in solution seems likely to exhibit a high degree of phase uniformity. A second important advantage of this technique is the formation of nano- and microscale particulates with very low impurities, which are not attainable through conventional solution techniques. When the timescale of solvent evaporation is lower than that of polymer diffusion and self-organization, phase separation is inhibited within the atto- to femto-liter volume of the droplet, and homogeneous blends of immiscible polymers can be produced. We have studied multicomponent polymer particles generated from highly monodisperse micrordroplets that were produced using a Vibrating Orifice Aerosol Generator (VOAG). The particles are characterized for both external and internal morphology along with homogeneity of the blends. Ultra-thin slices of polymer particles were characterized by a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), and the degree of uniformity was examined using an Electron Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDAX). To further establish the homogeneity of the polymer blend microparticles, differential scanning calorimeter was used to measure the glass transition temperature of the microparticles obtained. A single glass transition temperature was obtained for these microparticles and hence the homogeneity of the blend was concluded. These results have its significance in the field of particulate encapsulation. Also, better control of the phase morphologies can be obtained by simply changing the solvent/solvents in the dilute solutions. Evaporation and drying of a binary droplet containing a solute and a solvent is a complicated phenomenon. Most of the present models do not consider convection in the droplet phase as solvent is usually water which is not very volatile. In considering highly volatile solvents the evaporation is very rapid. The surface of the droplet recedes inwards very fast and there is an inherent convective flow that is established inside the solution droplet. In this dissertation work, a model is developed that incorporates convection inside the droplet. The results obtained are compared to the size obtained from experimental results. The same model when used with an aqueous solution droplet predicted concentration profiles that are comparable to results obtained when convection was not taken into account. These results have significance for more rigorous modeling of binary and multicomponent droplet drying.

Modern coal preparation facilities incorporate a wide array of solid-solid and solid-liquid separation processes for rejecting mineral matter to meet market specifications. The coarse mineral matter is typically placed into engineered refuse piles whereas the fine refuse is either stored in impoundments or co-disposed with the coarse refuse. The discharge water from the refuse material represents an environmental concern due to the potential release of trace elements, and the subsequent elevation of total dissolved solids and conductivity. The research findings reported in this dissertation addresses sustainable coal processing waste disposal through using strategies aimed at minimizing the environmental impacts. To provide an accurate and inexpensive method to assess the potential environmental effects of a given waste material, a conductivity screening-level test was modified to incorporate the impact of particle surface area. The test was used on various waste streams as well as the particle size and density fractions of each waste stream to identify environmentally sensitive components that can be separated from the bulk and isolated to prevent negative environmental impacts. The results were subsequently evaluated for long term mobility of trace elements under different disposal scenarios: (i) static leaching tests designed to simulate the quiescent conditions in a stable impoundment, and (ii) a dynamic test to simulate waste materials exposed to the atmosphere in variable wet/dry storage conditions. The results indicated that liberating, separating and isolating the highest density fractions (>2.68 SG) which represents less than 5% of the coal refuse materials results in significant abatement of total dissolved solids and conductivity. Required modifications of the coal processing plants were suggested to segregate and subsequently isolate the environmentally sensitive fractions from the remaining refuse material.

This project is part of a bigger project where the goal is to be able to create smaller batches of individually designed pills with a high resolution. This could be done by using a powder bed 3D printer, which our job was to find out. This type of machine prints out a thin pattern of binder through a printer head and then sweeps powder over the pattern, making the powder stick to the binder. This process is repeated until the object is formed. The machine necessary was created from scratch using a guide provided by the Internet. The results were unfortunately uncertain. We managed to print with ink and the pattern created had a high level of accuracy but due to time limitations, we never got to print with actual binder in the cartridge. / Tillverkning av individanpassade läkemedel

Different methods to predict barrier failure in packaging board or paper after converting were investigated. The approach was to compare substrates before and after creasing/folding by applying different barrier tests and to propose a methodology to predict failure in the barrier layer.  Different coatings were used to develop and verify the methodology; a hemicellulose based dispersion barrier coating, a dispersion coated PVOH coating and an extrusion coated PE. Creasing was performed according to standard procedure using recommended creasing geometries. Folding of paper was performed by a gentle creasing with a board backing followed by folding the paper between two metal plates with a well defined distance. The first step in the evaluation was to visually inspect creased/folded substrates by light microscopy to search for coating failures in form of cracks. Both good and bad samples were then tested for grease resistance with a standard test, i.e. TAPPI 454. The TAPPI 454 test showed to be effective to expose barrier failure since oil would penetrate quite fast through the creasing line of cracked samples. Even some samples that appeared to have no cracks in the light microscope showed failure with the grease test. The results showed that only the PE coated samples could sustain a barrier after creasing and folding. This was probably due to a high ductility of the PE-coating combined with a high thickness. The water vapour transmission rate, WVTR, of the samples that passed the TAPPI 454 test was then measured on the samples that endured the grease resistance test. Since PE is a good water vapour barrier, WVTR-measurements were proper for detecting barrier defects. The VWTR of the creased/folded samples was slightly higher for the creased samples than the un-creased references despite the absence of cracks. This was probably due to that the barrier layer got thinner as a result of the strains applied on the coating during the creasing/folding operation.  A methodology to predict barrier failure in barrier coated packaging board and paper after creasing and folding was proposed. Well defined creasing and folding geometries were used in combination with screening for cracks in the barrier layer, first by visual inspection in light microscopy and then by a standard grease resistance test. The samples that passed then screening tests could then be analyzed using more exact but also more time consuming methods such as WVTR. / Olika metoder att förutspå skador i barriärskikt på kartong eller papper efter konvertering undersöktes. Tillvägagångssättet var att jämföra substrat före och efter bigning och vikning genom att tillämpa olika barriärtest och att föreslå en metod för att förutspå defekter i barriärlager. Olika barriärmaterial användes för att utveckla och bekräfta metoden: en hemicellulosa baserad dispersionsbestrykning, en dispersionsbestrykt PVOH barriär och en extruderad PE barriär. Bigandet utfördes enligt standard proceduren och rekomenderade biggeometrier användes. Vikningen av papret utfördes genom varsam bigning med kartong som stöd följt av vikning av pappret genom två metallplattor med ett bestämt avstånd. Utvärderingen började med visuell inspektion av bigade/vikta substrat i ljusmikroskop för att finna barriärdefekter i form av sprickor. Både bra och dåliga prover testades sedan för fettbeständighet med hjälp av ett standardtest, dvs TAPPI 454. TAPPI 454 testet visades sig att vara ett effektivt sätt att identifiera barriärdefekter på grund av att penetration av olja vid biglinjen skedde snabbt på de prov som uppvisade sprickor. Även några av de prov som ej uppvisade sprickor i ljusmikroskop klarade inte av fettbeständighetstest. Resultatet visade att det enda material som kunde bibehålla barriäregenskaper efter bigning och vikning var de PE belagda proven. Detta är antagligen tack vare PE-bestrykningens höga duktulitet och tjocklek. Vattenångspermeabiliteten, WVTR, uppmättes på de prov som uthärdade fettbeständighetstestet. Eftersom PE är en utmärkt vattenångbarriär, var WVTR-mätningar lämpliga för att upptäcka barriärfel. WVTR resultaten för de bigade/vikta proven visade ett något högre värde än de obigade referenserna även om de inte hade sprickor. Det något högre WVTR värdet beror antagligen på att barriärskiktet blev tunnare på grund av töjningen i barriärskiktet under big/vikningen. En metod för att förutspå skador i barriärbestrykt kartong och papper efter bigning och vikning föreslogs. Definierade big- och vikgeometrier användes i kombination av screening av sprickor i barriärskikten, först genom visuell inspektion i ljusmikroskop och sedan ett standarderiserat fettbeständighetstest. Proven som passerar screeningen kan sedan bli analyserade för mer exakta och tidskrävande metoder som WVTR.