Thesis (B.S.)--University of Missouri, School of Mines and Metallurgy, 1914. / The entire thesis text is included in file. Typescript. Illustrated by authors. Title from title screen of thesis/dissertation PDF file (viewed March 31, 2009)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Lehigh University, 2005. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 140-144).

Thesis (M.E.S.)--Baylor University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 101-106).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--School of Computing and Engineering and Dept. of Geosciences. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2006. / "A dissertation in engineering and geosciences." Advisor: Anil Misra. Typescript. Vita. Title from "catalog record" of the print edition Description based on contents viewed Oct. 30, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 210-220 ). Online version of the print edition.

This study has involved the investigation of the flows in a high efficiency cyclone separator and the performance characteristics of the cyclone when operating under the influence of base suction. It has long been accepted that a bleed taken from the base region of a cyclone could, generally, enhance the overall collection efficiency. However, detail analyses and investigations have been limited. This investigation has involved flow visualisation, laser Doppler anemometry, computational fluid Dynamics, as well as both model particle tests and full scale prototype tests to quantify the effect of base suction and cyclone performance. Flow visualisation has highlighted the extension of the vortices into the solid receiver at the base of the cyclone. The flow patterns in this region have been investigated and quantified using laser Doppler anemometry and this result compared to the predictions from computational fluid dynamics. Agreement between these results tends to be good in the inner vortex but less good in the outer vortex region. Model particle tests have shown that the extension of the vortices into the solid receiver results in the complete destruction of the dust layer in the receiver with the subsequent re-entrainment and carry over of particulate to the vortex finder. These particle tests have shown that this re-entrainment can be suppressed by the application of a suction in the base region and the overall collection efficiency improved. A bleed flow of 10% by volume is shown to give the maximum overall efficiency. Above this percentage the efficiency reduces. This trend in the results was also confirmed by full scale prototype tests.

Le recyclage ou la réutilisation des déchets de démolition de maisons individuelles, de petits collectifs et de sites industriels édifiés en terre cuite, est actuellement limité par la présence de déchets composites, formés par l’assemblage de terre cuite, de mortier et / ou de plâtre principalement. Dans l’optique de valoriser la terre cuite dans la même filière ou dans d’autres secteurs industriels, la présence de plâtre, pouvant générer des ions sulfates au contact de l’eau, est un obstacle. La principal option de fin de vie des déchets de terre cuite en mélange est ainsi l’enfouissement en installation de stockage de classe 3. Le but de cette thèse a été de développer une méthode de séparation des déchets de démolition de terre cuite, plus intéressante d’un point de vue environnemental que l’enfouissement, et permettant de récupérer des matières premières secondaires de terre cuite valorisables dans des filières pertinentes. Une étude du gisement a été réalisée afin d’établir la nature des assemblages en présence dans les déchets de déconstruction et de fournir des échantillons représentatifs. Ces échantillons ont permis la détermination des mécanismes d’adhésion des interfaces. Une méthode de séparation a ainsi été développée et la compatibilité des matières premières secondaires de terre cuite a été comparée vis-à-vis de trois filières de valorisation. / Recycling or reuse of demolition waste from individual houses, small collectives and industrial sites built with fired clay bricks, is currently limited by the presence of mixed waste, which is mainly an assembly of fired clay bricks, mortar and gypsum. In the perspective to valorize fired clay waste from demolition, the presence of gypsum, which may contain sulfates, is a restriction. Currently, the main end-of-life option for non-dissociated fired clay waste is the landfilling in waste storage facilities of class 3. The aim of this PhD thesis is to develop a separation process of mixed fired clay waste, environmentally more friendly than landfilling, in order to recover and valorize secondary raw materials in relevant industrial sectors. A study of the deposit has been done to identify the nature of the mixed demolition waste and to supply representative waste samples. Those samples enable to define the adhesion mechanisms at the interfaces. Then, a separation method has been developed. Finally, three routes have been investigated in order to valorize the recovered clay bricks.

The thesis presents a Sierpinski Carpet fractal antenna array designed at 24 GHz for automotive radar applications. Miniaturized, high performance and low cost antennas are required for this application. To meet these specifications a fractal array has been designed for the first time on Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic (LTCC) based substrate. LTCC provides a suitable platform for the development of these antennas due to its properties of vertical stack up and embedded passives. The complete antenna concept involves integration of this fractal antenna array with a Fresnel lens antenna providing a total gain of 15dB which is appropriate for medium range radar applications. The thesis also presents a comparison between the designed fractal antenna and a conventional patch antenna outlining the advantages of fractal antenna over the later one. The fractal antenna has a bandwidth of 1.8 GHz which is 7.5% of the centre frequency (24GHz) as compared to 1.9% of the conventional patch antenna. Furthermore the fractal design exhibits a size reduction of 53% as compared to the patch antenna. In the end a sensitivity analysis is carried out for the fractal antenna design depicting the robustness of the proposed design against the typical LTCC fabrication tolerances.

Master of Science in Engineering by research: “A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Engineering.” Johannesburg, 05 February 2018 / In most industrial processes, energy is an integral part of the production process; therefore, energy consumption has become an intensified area in chemical engineering research. Extensive work has been done on energy optimisation in continuous operations; unlike in batch operations because it was believed that due to the small scale nature of batch plants, small amounts of energy is consumed. Certain industries such as the brewing and dairy industries have shown to be as energy intensive as continuous processes. It is, therefore, necessary for energy minimisation techniques to be developed specifically for batch processes in which the inherent features of batch operations such as time and scheduling are taken into account accordingly. This can be achieved through process integration techniques where energy consumption can be reduced while economic feasibility is still maintained. Most of the work done on energy minimisation either focuses on direct heat integration, where cold and hot units operating simultaneously are integrated, or indirect heat integration, where units are integrated with heat storage. The schedules used in these models are, in most cases, predetermined which leads to suboptimal results. This work is aimed at minimising energy consumption in multipurpose batch plants by using direct heat integration together with multiple heat storage vessels through mathematical programming. The proposed approach does not use a predetermined scheduling framework. The focus lies on the heat storage vessels and the optimal number of heat storage vessels together with their design parameters, namely size and the temperature at which the vessels are initially maintained, are determined. The formulation developed is in the form of a mixed integer non-linear program (MINLP) due to the presence of both continuous and integer variables, as well as non-linear constraints governing the problem. Two illustrative examples are applied to the formulation in which the optimal number of multiple heat storage vessels is not known beforehand. The results rendered from the model show a decrease in the external utilities, in the form of cooling water and steam, compared to the base case where no integration is considered and the case where only one heat storage vessel is used. / MT 2018

Mercury occurs naturally and as a result of human activities. One such activity is the combustion of mineral-enriched, sub-bituminous coal to produce electricityan industry that has existed for over 100 years. Although coal is absolutely necessary to supply the power that South Africa and its neighbouring countries requires, the emitted gases, especially mercury, impact the environment and present a complex array of health-related problems. Controlling the impact of mercury present in the environment depends on the efforts of governments, scientists, business and industry, agriculture, environmental organizations and individuals. Mercury is emitted from the point sources in different forms. Accurate determination of the emitted forms or species of mercury has become a global interest. Determination of the various mercury species requires several well-understood analytical techniques for the confident assessment of potentially contaminated samples. This study focuses on the development, validation and application of analytical methodologies that are capable of differentiating between the different forms of mercury in environmental samples (air, liquids and solids) from coal-fired power plants. Capillary electrophoresis with amperometric detection, high performance liquid chromatography with amperometric detection, and atomic fluorescence spectrometry methods were developed for mercury speciation. Very low detection limits observed using the methods. For capillary electrophoresis with amperometric detection, the detection limits were 0.005±0.002 μg/l for Hg2+ and 0.4±0.05 μg/l for MeHg+. Detection limits of 2±0.04 ppt and 0.01±0.02 μg/l for Hg2+ were observed for high performance liquid chromatography with amperometric detection and atomic fluorescence spectrometry respectively. These detection limits are attractive for the monitoring of mercury in the environment. Total mercury in solids (coal and ash) was measured by direct mercury measurement using a well-established method, involving the use of the mercury analyzer LECO AMA-254. Total gaseous mercury was measured using the Tekran 2537B system. On application to environmental samples, very good correlations in results were observed between the different methods. Mercury speciation in South African coal after acid extraction showed that only Hg2+ species was detected from the extracts and that 96% of total Hg in acid extracts is in the Hg2+ species form. Different trends in Hg speciation results at the Elandsfontein Air Quality Monitoring (AQM) station were observed over the sampling period. During winter sampling, Hg2+ was the predominant species, while Hg0 was predominant the species during summer sampling. Mercury speciation carried out at Duvha Power Station (units 1 and 2), equipped with fabric filter devices, revealed that the predominant form of Hg after the fabric filter devices was Hg2+, due to oxidation of Hg0 to Hg2+ as the flue gas temperature decreases. Mercury speciation at the Majuba Underground Coal Gasification flare revealed that although mercury is emitted from power plants in the form of different chemical species, with each species have a different fate in the atmosphere, the climate, wind direction and terrain also play roles in the transport of mercury emissions. Therefore, it is difficult to predict the transport patterns of emissions. Nonetheless, with correct measuring equipment and modelling, the patterns of emissions should be able to be predicted. The patterns observed and data recorded at the Elandsfontein AQM station and Duvha Power Station, respectively, were however, insufficient to permit accurate modelling. This study raised a number of other questions which are too comprehensive for this study to address. Therefore, more comprehensive atmospheric and combustion studies should be done.

The optimization of the production of fired clay brick is essential in order to maintain a sustainable industry in Ontario. While there exists areas for improvement of the properties of bricks used in severe climates, concerns including non-renewable resource depletion, increasing energy costs, and waste management have become increasingly important in Canadian and global industries. One method to address these concerns is the use of waste additives as fluxing agents in bricks. While a fluxing agent reduces the firing temperature required for sintering of the brick and improves properties, the use of a waste additive can decrease the dependency of the industry or non-renewable resources such as mined clay or crushed shale. Waste additives can improve strength durability, and absorptive properties, while decreasing firing temperature, and diverting waste from landfills. A testing program was developed to determine the effects of several variables in brick production, including extrusion and firing, and to investigate the effect of the addition of non-recycled waste glass in the properties of fired clay brick. The addition was varied in the particle size of the waste glass and the percentage by mass of additive. The effects of waste glass addition were determined in terms of absorption, strength, and freeze-thaw durability of the individual specimens. Microstructure was also investigated using SEM images and mercury intrusion porosimetry to determine the effect on pore structure and vitrified matrix of the bricks. The results of the testing program determined an optimal addition of waste glass, and the expected effects of the implementation of this addition to the production of fired clay brick in an industrial setting. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)