Engineering and Physical Bases of Development and Creation of Plasmochemical Reactors for Mobile Facilities for Medical Waste Disposal

This paper presents the results of the development and creation of plasma-chemical reactors for mobile and stationary installations for the destruction and disposal of solid, liquid, gaseous and mixed medical waste based on the domestic plasma generator PUN-1, with air as the plasma-forming gas. The design and principle of operation of plasma-chemical reactors installed on mobile experimental and industrial plants “Plazmon-1,2,3”, as well as the main features of the plasma waste disposal process are described.

The Statistical Experimental Design for Chemical Reactors Modeling

The Statistical Experimental Design techniques are the most powerful tools for the chemical reactors experimental modeling. Empirical models can be formulated for representing the chemical behavior of reactors with the minimal effort in the necessary number of experimental runs, hence, minimizing the consumption of chemicals and the consumption of time due to the reduction in the number of experimental runs and increasing the certainty of the results. Four types of nonthermal plasma reactors were assayed seeking for the highest efficiency in obtaining hydrogen and ethylene. Three different geometries for AC high voltage driven reactors, and only a single geometry for a DC high voltage pulse driven reactor were studied. According to the fundamental principles of chemical kinetics and considering an analogy among the reaction rate and the applied power to the plasma reactor, the four reactors are modeled following the classical chemical reactors design to understand if the behavior of the nonthermal plasma reactors can be regarded as the chemical reactors following the flow patterns of PFR (Plug Flow Reactor) or CSTR (Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor). Dehydrogenation is a common elimination reaction that takes place in nonthermal plasmas. Owing to this characteristic, a paraffinic heavy oil with an average molecular weight corresponding to C15 was used to study the production of light olefins and hydrogen.

Treatment of sauce wastewater by sequencing biological -chemical reactor (SBCR)

The concept of SBCR was put forward to treat sauce wastewater. Further study showed that adding appropriate amount of calcium chloride to SBR can improve the quality of effluent. The removal rate of COD and color was 84% and 80%, 36%, 96% higher than those of traditional SBR respectively. The results of continuous experiments and biophase observing showed that calcium chloride accumulation increased the sludge production slightly while the sludge dewatering characteristic was improved.

A Chemical Reactor Network for Oxides of Nitrogen Emission Prediction in Gas Turbine Combustor

This study presents the use of a new chemical reactor network(CRN) model and non-uniform injectors to predict the NOx emission pollutant in gas turbine combustor. The CRN uses information from Computational Fluid Dynamics(CFD) combustion analysis with two injectors of CH4-air mixture. The injectors of CH4-air mixture have different lean equivalence ratio, and they control fuel flow to stabilize combustion and adjust combustor's equivalence ratio. Non-uniform injector is applied to improve the burning process of the turbine combustor. The results of the new CRN for NOx prediction in the gas turbine combustor show very good agreement with the experimental data from Korea Electric Power Research Institute.

New wavelet method for solving boundary value problems arising from an adiabatic tubular chemical reactor theory

This paper displays an efficient numerical technique of realizing mathematical models for an adiabatic tubular chemical reactor which forms an irreversible exothermic chemical reaction.At a steady-state solution for an adiabatic rounded reactor,the model can be diminished to a conventional nonlinear differential equation which converts into a system of the nonlinear equation that can proceed numerically utilizing Newton’s iterative method.An operational matrix of coordination is derived and is utilized to decrease the model for an adiabatic tubular chemical reactor to an arrangement of algebraic equations.Simple execution,basic activities,and precise arrangements are the fundamental highlights of the proposed wavelet technique.The numerical solutions attained by the present technique have been contrasted and compared with other techniques.

Research on process modeling and simulation of spent lead paste desulfurization enhanced reactor

In the reaction process of carbonate desulfurization lead paste,the produced PbCO_(3) is easily wrapped in the outer periphery of PbSO_(4) to form a product layer,hindering the mass transfer process.Therefore,it is necessary to break the PbCO_(3) product layer.In this work,the rotor stator-reinforced reactor was selected as the enhanced desulfurization reactor for the purpose of breaking the PbCO_(3) product layer and promoting mass transfer.The breakage process of the PbCO_(3) product layer generated during the PbSO_(4) desulfurization was modeled.Computational fluid dynamics simulation to the rotation conditions was carried out to theoretically analyze the fluid flow characteristics of PbSO_(4) slurry and the wall shear stress affecting the breakage of PbCO_(3) product layer.By optimizing the rotation conditions,the distribution ratio of effective rotor wall shear stress range achieved 96.1%,and the stator wall shear stress range reached 99.15%under a rotation of 2000 r·min^(-1).The research work provides a reference for analysis of the mechanism of product layer breakage in the PbSO_(4) desulfurization process,and gives a clear and intuitive systematic study on the fluid flow characteristics and wall shear stress of the desulfurization reactor.

Quartz Crystal Microbalances for Evaluating Gas Motion Differences between Dichlorosilane and Trichlorosilane in Ambient Hydrogen in a Slim Vertical Cold Wall Chemical Vapor Deposition Reactor

A dichlorosilane gas and a trichlorosilane gas in ambient hydrogen were evaluated to show their different gas flow motions in a slim vertical cold wall chemical vapor deposition reactor for the Minimal Fab system. This evaluation was performed for improving and controlling the film qualities and the productivities, using two quartz crystal microbalances (QCM) installed at the inlet and exhaust of the chamber by taking into account that the QCM frequency corresponds to the real time changes in the gas properties. Typically, the time period approaching from the inlet to the exhaust was shorter for the trichlorosilane gas than that for the dichlorosilane gas. The trichlorosilane gas was shown to move like plug flow, while the dichlorosilane gas seemed to be well mixed in the entire chamber.

A sensitivity analysis and multi-objective optimization to enhance ethylene production by oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane in a membrane-assisted reactor

Owing to the importance of process intensification in the natural gas associated processes, the present contribution aims to investigate the production of an important natural gas downstream product in an improved system.Accordingly, a membrane-assisted reactor for the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane is presented. The presented system includes a membrane for axial oxygen dosing into the reaction side. Such a strategy would lead to optimum oxygen distribution along the reactor length and prevention of hot spot formation as well. A feasibility study is conducted by developing a validated mathematical model composed of mass and energy balance equations. The effects of various operating variables are investigated by a rigorous sensitivity analysis.Then, by applying the genetic algorithm, a multi-objective optimization procedure is implemented to obtain the optimum operating condition. Considerable increase in the ethane conversion and ethylene yield are the advancements of membrane-assisted oxidative dehydrogenation reactor working under the optimum condition.More than 30% increase in the ethane conversion is obtained. Furthermore, the ethylene yield is enhanced up to 0.45.

Inherently safer reactors and procedures to prevent reaction runaway

Reaction runaway has longtime been an issue in chemical industry as it often leads to severe accidents if not controlled and inhibited properly.Herein we have reviewed several key considerations and procedures to prevent such phenomena,including inherently safer reactor design,thermal risk assessment and early warning detection of runaway,and pointed out that the basic principle underlying is necessary heat management and construction of resilient processes.For inherently safer reactor design,important factors such as heat removal,heat capacitance,flow behaviors and explosive behaviors have been investigated.The survey shows that heat exchanger(HEX) reactor and microreactor outperform traditional reactors.Meanwhile,we have looked into the effect of thermal risk ranking and safety operation region determining for thermal risk assessment,and the influence of runaway criteria and construction methods for early detection of reaction runaway as well.It shows that thermal risk assessment plays a key role on process design,and early warning detection system(EWDS) is preferable on prevention of reaction runaway.In the end,perspectives regarding inherently safer designs with the measures discussed above have been provided.

Robust Nonlinear Control of Continuous Stirred Tank Reactors

This paper deals with the temperature tracking control problem of continuous stirred tank reactors (CSTRs) widely used in chemical engineering. Design of robust tracking controller for a class of CSTRs plant with uncertainties is presented using input output feedback linearization techniques. The control scheme has been applied to a first order irreversible exothermic reaction process carried out in a CSTR, and simulation results show that it is effective.

THREE-DIMENSIONAL MATHEMATICAL MODELING OF TRANSPORT PROCESSES IN CVD REACTORS

A mathematical model to represent the fluid flow, temperature distribution and mass transfer in CVD reactors has been developed. The model is used to predict the velocity, temperature, and molar concentration profiles in the tapered annulus of a reactor for silicon deposition from SiCl_4 in H_2. Results of the investigation contribute to the understanding of the transport pro- cesses involved in such a system. The model can also be used for optimizing the design parameters, such as inlet flow rate, susceptor tilt angle, etc.

Hydrodynamic Instabilities Driven by Acid-base Neutralization Reaction in Immiscible System

The hydrodynamic instabilities driven by an acid-base neutralization reaction, in contact along a plane interface, placed in a Hele-Shaw cell under the gravitational field are reported. The system consists of the heavier aqueous tetramethyle-ammonium hydroxide below the lighter layer of organic phase with propionic acid as reacting specie. The effect of chemical composition on hydrodynamic instabilities during interfacial mass transfer accompanied by a neutralization reaction is investigated. Depending on the initial concentration of the reacting species, Marangoni convection in the form of roll ceils or trains of waves is observed. Mach- Zehnder interferometer is used to measure the change in base concentration at the time of instability formation. The results show that the instabilities resulted from the convection flow are more efficient to the mechanism of mass transfer and can drastically alter pattern formation in the system.

Preparation of Fe-Mn/K/Al2O3 Fischer-Tropsch Catalyst and Its Catalytic Kinetics for the Hydrogenation of Carbon Monoxide

A K promoted iron-manganese catalyst was prepared by sol-gel method,and subsequently was tested for hydrogenation of carbon monoxide to light olefins.The kinetic experiments on a well-characterized Fe-Mn/K/Al2O3 catalyst were performed in a fixed-bed micro-reactor in a temperature range of 280-380 ℃,pressure range of 0.1-1.2 MPa,H2/CO feed molar ratio range of 1-2.1 and a space velocity range of 2000-7200 h-1.Considering the mechanism of the process and Langmuir-Hinshelwood-Hogan-Watson（LHHW） approach,unassisted CO dissociation and H-assisted CO dissociation mechanisms were defined.The best models were obtained using non-linear regression analysis and Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm.Consequently,4 models were considered as the preferred models based on the carbide mechanism.Finally,a model was proposed as a best model that assumed the following kinetically relevant steps in the iron-Fischer-Tropsch（FT） synthesis：（1） CO dissociation occurred without hydrogen interaction and was not a rate-limiting step;（2） the first hydrogen addition to surface carbon was the rate-determining steps.The activation energy and adsorption enthalpy were calculated 40.0 and -30.2 kJ.mol-1,respectively.

High-yield production of 2,5-dimethylfuran from 5-hydroxymethylfurfural over carbon supported Ni–Co bimetallic catalyst

The catalytic conversion of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) to 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF) has attracted extensive research interests because DMF can be used as potential and competitive renewable transportation fuel or additives. Here we report a non-noble bimetallic catalyst with improved activity for hydrogenation and hydrogenolysis by introducing active carbon as support into a nickel–cobalt catalyst. The characterizations of the catalyst indicate that the Ni and Co species are uniformly dispersed on the active carbon through the wetness impregnation method. The influences of reaction temperature and hydrogen pressure are systematically investigated and an excellent yield (up to 95%) of DMF can be obtained at relatively mild conditions, 130 °C and 1 MPa H2, over the carbon supported Ni–Co bimetallic catalyst. The high catalytic activity originates from the synergistic effect between Ni and CoOxspecies, the high BET surface area of the catalyst, and the uniform dispersion of Ni and Co species on the active carbon. The catalyst could be reused for 5 times without loss of activity in a batch reactor. Futhermore, the conversion of HMF to DMF on a fixed-bed reactor was also investigated and the 2%Ni–20%Co/C catalyst exhibited an excellent yield to DMF (>90%) for 71 h time on stream, indicating the high activity and stability of the catalyst. © 2016 Science Press

Nuclear geyser model of the origin of life:Driving force to promote the synthesis of building blocks of life

We propose the nuclear geyser model to elucidate an optimal site to bear the first life.Our model overcomes the difficulties that previously proposed models have encountered.Nuclear geyser is a geyser driven by a natural nuclear reactor,which was likely common in the Hadean Earth,because of a much higher abundance of 235U as nuclear fuel.The nuclear geyser supplies the following：（1）high-density ionizing radiation to promote chemical chain reactions that even tar can be used for intermediate material to restart chemical reactions,（2）a system to maintain the circulation of material and energy,which includes cyclic environmental conditions（warm/cool,dry/wet,etc.）to enable to produce complex organic compounds,（3）a lower temperature than 100℃ as not to break down macromolecular organic compounds,（4）a locally reductive environment depending on rock types exposed along the geyser wall,and（5）a container to confine and accumulate volatile chemicals.These five factors are the necessary conditions that the birth place of life must satisfy.Only the nuclear geyser can meet all five,in contrast to the previously proposed birth sites,such as tidal flat,submarine hydrothermal vent,and outer space.The nuclear reactor and associated geyser,which maintain the circulations of material and energy with its surrounding environment,are regarded as the nuclear geyser system that enables numerous kinds of chemical reactions to synthesize complex organic compounds,and where the most primitive metabolism could be generated.

Modeling and simulation of circulating fluidized bed reactors applied to a carbonation/calcination loop

A fluid dynamic model for a gas-solid circulating fluidized bed （CFB） designed using two coupled riser reactors is developed and implemented numerically with code programmed in Matlab. The fluid dynamic model contains heat and species mass balances to calculate temperatures and compositions for a carbonation/calcination loop process. Because of the high computational costs required to resolve the three-dimensional phenomena, a model representing a trade-offbetween computational time requirements and accuracy is developed. For dynamic processes with a solid flux between the two reactor units that depends on the fluid dynamics of both risers, a dynamic one-dimensional two-fluid model is sufficient. A two-fluid model using the constant particle viscosity closure for the stress term is used for the solid phase, and an algebraic turbulence model is applied to the gas phase. The numerical model implementa- tion is based on the finite volume method with a staggered grid scheme. The exchange of solids between the reactor units constituting the circulating fluidized bed （solid flux） is implemented through additional mass source/sink terms in the continuity equations of the two phases, For model validation, a relevant experimental analysis provided in the literature is reproduced by the numerical simulations, The numerical analysis indicates that sufficient heat integration between the two reactor units is important for the performance of the circulating fluidized bed system, The two-fluid model performs fairly well for this chemical process operated in a CFB designed as two coupled riser reactors. Further analysis and optimization of the solution algorithms and the reactor coupling strategy is warranted.

3D CFD modeling of acetone hydrogenation in fixed bed reactor with spherical particles

Acetone hydrogenation in a fixed bed reactor packed with spherical catalyst particles was simulated to study the effects of inlet gas velocity and particle diameter on hydrogenation reaction. Computational results show that the catalyst particles in the reactor are almost isothermal, and the high isopropanol concentration appears at the lee of the particles. With the increase of inlet velocity, the outlet isopropanol mole fraction decreases, and the total pressure drop increases drastically. Small diameter catalyst particles are favorable for acetone hydrogenation, but result in large pressure drop.

Removal of estrogens by electrochemical oxidation process

Treatments of estrogens such as Estrone （El）, Estradiol （E2） and Ethinylestradiol （EE2） were conducted using an electrolytic reactor equipped with multi-packed granular glassy carbon electrodes. Experimental results showed that El, E2 and EE2 were oxidized in the range of 0.45-0.85 V and were removed through electro-polymerization. Observed data from continuous experiments were in good agreement with calculated results by a mathematical model constructed based on mass transfer limitation. In continuous treatment of trace estrogens （1 μg/L）, 98% of El, E2 and EE2 were stably removed. At high loading rate （100 μg/L）, removal efficiency of E1 was kept around 74%-88% for 21 days, but removal efficiency reduced due to passivation of electrodes. However, removal efficiency was recovered after electrochemical regeneration of electrodes in presence of ozone. Electric energy consumption was observed in the range of 1-2 Wh/m3. From these results, we concluded that the present electrochemical process would be an alternative removal of estrogens.

Effect of Steam Dilution on the MILD Combustion Characteristics of Methane in a Model Combustor

Moderate or Intense Low-oxygen Dilution(MILD)combustion has low emission potential in gas turbines.The present work has investigated the performance of MILD combustion with parallel-jet burner arrangement in dry and steam-diluted conditions.The combustion tests were conducted in atmospheric pressure at various equivalence ratios from LBO(Lean Blow Out)to near-stoichiometric conditions and steam-to-air mass ratios from 0 to 0.2.A simplified chemical reactors network(CRN)model based on MILD combustion concept has been established to study the effect of steam dilution on different pathways of NO production.The experimental results show that under the same adiabatic flame temperature,the reaction zone gradually moves downstream with the increase of steam content.For the high steam content(0.2 kg/kg),the reaction zone is widely distributed,and the distribution of reaction intensity in the reaction zone is more uniform.The average lift-off height of reaction zone is proportional to the steam content.For the steam content of 0.2 kg/kg,the average lift-off height reaches 2.5 times that of the dry conditions,which brings the risk of blowout.For the adiabatic flame temperature of 1650–1900 K,the emissions of NOxare below 3×10–6(at 15%O2,dry)when the steam content varies from 0 to 0.2 kg/kg,which indicates the ultra-low emissions can be obtained under large changes in steam content.For the inlet temperature of 381 K,as the steam content increases,the Prompt NO is dominant in the total NO production.Steam dilution results in a smaller operating range with lower CO emissions.When the steam content reaches 0.2 kg/kg,compared to the dry condition,the carbon monoxide emission increases significantly.In addition,the LBO equivalence ratio of combustion with larger steam content is significantly higher.

Numerical and experimental investigation on emission performance of a fuel staged combustor

The low NOx emission technology has become an important feature of advanced aviation engine.A wide range of applications attempt to take advantage of the fact that staged combustion under lean-premixed-prevaporized(LPP)conditions can significantly cut down emission and improve combustion efficiency.This paper proposes a scheme with fuel centrally staged and multi-point injection.The mixing of fuel and air is improved,and the flame temperature is relative low in combustion zone,minimizing the formation of nitrogen oxides(NOx),especially thermal NOx.In terms of the field distribution of equivalence ratio and temperature obtained from Computational Fluid Dynamics(CFD),a chemical reactor network(CRN),including several different ideal reactor,namely perfectly stirred reactor(PSR)and plug flow reactor(PFR),is constructed to simulate the combustion process and predict pollution emission.The influences of the pilot equivalence ratio and percentage of pilot/main fuel on NOx and carbon monoxide(CO)emission were investigated by CRN model.The effects of the pilot fuel and primary fuel on pollution emission were investigated experimentally.Finally,the effects of pilot equivalence ratio and pilot fuel proportion on NOx emission were discussed in detail by comparing predict of CRN and experimental results.