This work takes a closer look at ceria catalyst synthesis through micelle self-assembly. We compare surfactants, precursors, solvent systems, and doping. The surfactants are the building blocks upon which the ceria can crystallize. The samples are calcinated to test their thermal stability. Characterization is performed using pXRD as well as physisorption. The samples that exhibited a higher thermal stability were characterized to have a high surface area as well as low fluctuations in crystallite size, pore volume, and pore size. Ceria synthesized with cerium (III) nitrate hexahydrate and CTAB in a water:ethanol mixture using sodium hydroxide showed to be the most effective at providing a thermally stable product. Doping the catalyst with titanium increased the thermal stability significantly. Select samples were run in a variety of fuel to oxygen ratios to determine the best conditions in which we could perform partial methane oxidation to recuperate hydrogen gas. Most of the experiments show oxygen depletion with minor changes in other gas levels indicating that there is no oxidation occurring. Curiously the oxygen levels do decrease. There is a possibility that there is a reaction occurring initially at room temperature and being exacerbated with further temperature increase.

This work takes a closer look at ceria catalyst synthesis through micelle self-assembly. We compare surfactants, precursors, solvent systems, and doping. The surfactants are the building blocks upon which the ceria can crystallize. The samples are calcinated to test their thermal stability. Characterization is performed using pXRD as well as physisorption. The samples that exhibited a higher thermal stability were characterized to have a high surface area as well as low fluctuations in crystallite size, pore volume, and pore size. Ceria synthesized with cerium (III) nitrate hexahydrate and CTAB in a water:ethanol mixture using sodium hydroxide showed to be the most effective at providing a thermally stable product. Doping the catalyst with titanium increased the thermal stability significantly. Select samples were run in a variety of fuel to oxygen ratios to determine the best conditions in which we could perform partial methane oxidation to recuperate hydrogen gas. Most of the experiments show oxygen depletion with minor changes in other gas levels indicating that there is no oxidation occurring. Curiously the oxygen levels do decrease. There is a possibility that there is a reaction occurring initially at room temperature and being exacerbated with further temperature increase.

This work takes a closer look at ceria catalyst synthesis through micelle self-assembly. We compare surfactants, precursors, solvent systems, and doping. The surfactants are the building blocks upon which the ceria can crystallize. The samples are calcinated to test their thermal stability. Characterization is performed using pXRD as well as physisorption. The samples that exhibited a higher thermal stability were characterized to have a high surface area as well as low fluctuations in crystallite size, pore volume, and pore size. Ceria synthesized with cerium (III) nitrate hexahydrate and CTAB in a water:ethanol mixture using sodium hydroxide showed to be the most effective at providing a thermally stable product. Doping the catalyst with titanium increased the thermal stability significantly. Select samples were run in a variety of fuel to oxygen ratios to determine the best conditions in which we could perform partial methane oxidation to recuperate hydrogen gas. Most of the experiments show oxygen depletion with minor changes in other gas levels indicating that there is no oxidation occurring. Curiously the oxygen levels do decrease. There is a possibility that there is a reaction occurring initially at room temperature and being exacerbated with further temperature increase.

Water quality models in the Colorado River Basin have been developed for the basin, river, and individual reservoirs. They are used to support water quality programs within the basin. The models are periodically reviewed and updated to improve the accuracy of simulations. Improving the usefulness of the Lake Powell model, one of the key reservoirs in the basin, is the subject of this study. Lake Powell is simulated using a hydrodynamic and water quality model, CE-QUAL-W2. Previously the model has been used at Lake Powell to simulate hydrodynamics, temperature, and total dissolved solids with a reasonable degree of accuracy. An additional parameter, dissolved oxygen, will be added to the simulations and then calibrated with observed data to verify accuracy. Dissolved oxygen distributions in Lake Powell vary seasonally and change under different hydrologic cycles. They are a function of physical, biological, and chemical processes. Few measurements of these processes in Lake Powell exist. To compensate for the lack of data an empirical method of loading oxygen demand to the model is developed and tested. Observed limnological processes in the reservoir guide the development of the empirical methods. The methods are then tested in 16 year model simulations and compared with dissolved oxygen measurements from the 16 year period. By accurately reproducing the dissolved oxygen distributions the Lake Powell model will have improved accuracy and also broaden its usefulness.

In the present doctoral work we have developed and tested a model for dissolved oxygen (DO) transfer from water to underlying flat and cohesive sediment beds populated with DO-absorbing bacteria. The model couples Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) of turbulent transport in the water-column, a biogeochemical model for DO transport and consumption in the sediment, and Darcy’s Law for the pore water-driven solute dispersion and advection. The model’s predictions compare well against experimental data for low friction-Reynolds numbers (Re). The disagreement for higher Re is investigated by progressively increasing the complexity of the model. A sensitivity analysis shows that the sediment-oxygen uptake (or demand, SOD) is approximately proportional to the bacterial content of the sediment layer, and varies with respect to fluid dynamics conditions, in accordance to classic high-Schmidt-number mass-transfer laws. The non- linear transport dynamics responsible for sustaining a statistically steady SOD are investigated by temporal- and-spatial correlations and with the aid of instantaneous visualizations: the near-wall coherent structures modulate the diffusive sublayer, which exhibits complex spatial and temporal filtering behaviours; its slow and quasi-periodic regeneration cycle determines the streaky structure of the DO field at the sediment-water interface (SWI), retained in the deeper layers of the porous medium. Oxygen depletion dynamics are then simulated by preventing surface re-areation with turbulent mixing driven by an oscillating low-speed current — an idealization of hypolimnetic DO depletion in the presence of a non-equilibrium periodic forcing. The oxygen distribution exhibits a self-similar pattern of decay with, during the deceleration phase, oscillations modulated by the periodic ejection of peaks of high turbulent mass flux (pumping oxygen towards the SWI), generated at the edge of the diffusive sublayer at the end of the acceleration phase. These fronts of highly turbulent mixing propagate away from the SWI, at approximately constant speed, in layers of below-average oxygen concentration. Finally, the model has been tested in a real geophysical framework, reproducing published in-situ DO measurements of a transitional flow in the bottom boundary layer of lake Alpnach. A simple model for the SOD is then derived for eventual inclusion in RANSE biogeochemical management-type models for similar applications. / Thesis (Ph.D, Mechanical and Materials Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2012-07-04 11:13:24.936

This study was conducted in Esquimalt lagoon, located southwest of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Physical characteristics of the water column, e.g. circulation and stratification, changed seasonally resulting from variations in tides, temperature, precipitation and wind. Chemical characteristics, e.g. oxygen and dissolved nutrient concentrations, also differed temporally relative to those in the lagoon’s ocean source water (Juan de Fuca Strait) because of variations in local photosynthesis and nutrient use by phytoplankton. Diatom blooms occurred in the spring, and blooms of photosynthetic flagellates (Heterosigma akashiwo (2009) and Akashiwo sanguinea (2009 and 2010)) occurred in the late summer and early fall when nitrate, ammonium, and urea were depleted. Proliferation of these flagellates led to the development of harmful algal blooms (HABs) associated with oxygen depletion in the lagoon bottom waters. Increased oxygen demand from bacterial degradation of algal biomass and exudates was the likely cause for bottom water hypoxia under reduced tidal exchange. / Graduate

Thesis (DTech(Mechanical Engineering))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2013 / The environment is polluted by many gases of which carbon dioxide is one of them and unfortunately during the emission of carbon dioxide, oxygen, which is very important for keeping all species alive, is depleted. Increased industrial activities led to more emission of carbon dioxide and ultimately global warming arose as a result of the greenhouse effect. Global warming has resulted with high temperatures and carbon dioxide production in the atmosphere and it was necessary to come up with mathematical modelling to investigate processes that may try to reduce temperature rise, carbon dioxide emission and oxygen depletion in a stockpile of combustible material. The work done in this thesis considered three differential equations, first for temperature behaviour, second for oxygen depletion and third for carbon dioxide emission. The three equations were solved simultaneously for a reactive slab of combustible material. An exothermic reaction in a stockpile of combustible material results due to the reaction of oxygen with reactive hydrocarbon material and the products are usually heat and carbon dioxide. A detailed discussion on this part is given in chapter 1, and also some definitions of terms applied in this work, together with literature review, statement of problem, aim of the study, objectives of the study and methodology are part of the chapter. In chapter 2, the nonlinear partial differential equations governing the process are derived.

As foodstuffs are being produced, transported and stored in greater quantities than ever before in human history and with an alarming amount of food products being lost to spoilage every year, new, environmentally friendly ways of preserving food products are being actively researched and developed in today’s world. Oxygen is a key pathway towards food decay and destruction, due to its dual roles as a source of respiration for the multitude of microorganisms that can cause food spoilage and through direct destruction through oxidation reactions within food products that cause oxidative deterioration. Fuel cells have the theoretical potential to be an energy efficient and environmentally friendly way of preserving food, such as fish, fruit and vegetables.  Because of their nature to consume oxygen through the electrochemical reactions that produces their electrical power, they have the potential to be used to reduce localised oxygen content for the storage and transportation of foods, minimising their spoilage, as well as potentially providing electrical energy for other components in potential control systems for the fuel cell. The purpose of this project is to design and build a PEM fuel cell and examine its potential for lowering of oxygen concentrations at the gas output at the cathode.  The outcome of these experiments are designed to validate the  theoretical capacity of fuel cells to reduce output oxygen concentrations to levels that are able to aid in the preservation of foodstuffs.  It is hoped that this study, in conjunction with the researched literature, can be used as a guide for future food shipping and storage methods. The experimental stage of this diploma work was unsatisfactory. The fuel cell was unable to produce a voltage and the reactant gases were unable to flow through the fuel cell due to a design flaw. Therefore the effectiveness of a fuel cell for depletion of oxygen to levels able to preserve food is based on the theoretical basis of the internal PEM fuel cell reactions, as well as studying past literature and patents. If the theoretical ability of the fuel cell is proven, it can be asserted that PEM fuel cells have the potential to be a real contender in the field of food preservation in shipping and storage, as well as offering greater levels of control for supplies for how and when they can ship their product. However this will require more independent research development work on the effects of low oxygen concentrations on a fuel cell operation as well as the preservation effects on a greater variety of foodstuffs. Furthermore, more research is required for more efficient and cheaper fuel cell catalysts or innovative designs are required to avoid concentration losses that arise from oxygen reduction at low oxygen levels.