Sharif Digital Repository

Photocatalytic production of organic materials including Artemisinin has been hampered in the pharmaceutical industry because of low reusability and selectivity of photocatalysts. In this work, reusable photocatalysts were synthesized through novel physical and electrostatic immobilizations. After four reaction cycles of dihydroartemisinic acid (DHAA) photooxygenation using physically supported photosensitizers, the conversion was slightly reduced from 81 to 78%, indicating their high reusability. This occurred while maintaining the selectivity of the desired product above 85%, which was higher than that of the homogeneous photosensitizers. Then, a continuous-flow microreactor functionalized... 

In the present study, due to various advantages of process miniaturization, the integrated design and operation of a mobile power generation system consisting of a microreactor reformer and a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) are investigated. The hydrogen fuel is supplied through autothermal steam-reforming of methanol in a microreactor leading to a safer, as well as more efficient, and economical operation. A high-temperature polymer membrane fuel cell with external accessories is applied for power generation. Then, simulation-optimization programming is applied for simultaneously optimizing the process design and operation at the same level. The result shows that the implemented... 

Catalytic decomposition of the ethyl mercaptan over an H-ZSM-5 zeolite in a newly designed microreactor was undertaken in this study. A numerically developed distributor possessing superior flow distribution was amended to 24 parallel microchannels with 64 mm length, 700 μm width, and 600 μm depth. Ethyl mercaptan complete conversion required 350 °C through the developed microreactor while in a conventional fixed-bed-reactor 400 °C was needed. Higher selectivity towards the main products of this decomposition (hydrogen sulfide and ethylene) were observed in this microreactor in comparison to that of a fixed-bed-reactor. In addition, lower selectivity towards formation of byproducts was... 

Hand in hand with the flourish of the biodiesel industry, glycerol (GLY) as an inconvenient by-product has generated environmental and sustainability concerns. Devising measures for efficient transformation of GLY into value-added products is a promising solution. In this contribution, the transformation of GLY to lactic acid (LA) as a valuable chemical was investigated in a continuous process for industrial applications. In this regard, a catalytic method using heterogeneous Cu nanoparticles in NaOH solution was studied in a microreactor by a CFD simulation. A seven-inlet micromixer comprising an optimized mixing unit was incorporated for uniform distribution of the species. The effects of... 

The aim of this study is to assess the influence of oxygen-to-steam ratio, wall boundary conditions, coal feeding rate, and static bed height on the concentrations, heating values, and efficiencies of the product gas in a tapered fluidized bed reactor. Results show that lower and higher heating values slightly vary with increasing the oxygen-to-steam ratio in the range of 0.25–0.35. It is found that cold gas efficiency and carbon conversion efficiency goes up with increased ratio of oxygen to steam; however, both efficiencies decline as a result of increasing the coal feeding rate. As static bed height rises, lower and higher heating values diminish for tapered angle of 5°. For tapered angle... 

A 1-D heterogeneous model of sorption-enhanced steam methane reforming (SE-SMR) process in a packed bed reactor consisting of nickel catalyst well mixed with CO2 sorbent particles is investigated for three types of common sorbents. The performance of SE-SMR process is studied under low medium pressure conditions (3 – 11 bar) to find the optimum operating conditions. Optimal CaO sorption corresponding to 82% CH4 conversion and 85% H2 purity is found at 900 K, 3 bar, 3.5 kgm−2s−1 and S/C of 3.0. In contrast, lithium zirconate (LZC) and hydrotalcite (HTC) sorbents exhibited best sorptions under the operating conditions of 773 K, 5 bar and S/C of 3 with CH4 conversion of 91.3% and 55.2%, and H2... 

Thanks to a wide range of pore sizes by nano/macro composites of SiOC/Al2O3, such composites can serve as different layers of the structure of Packed Bed Reactor Membranes (PBRM). In the present study, the Polymer-Derived Ceramics method (PDC) has been used to synthesize nano/macro structures. Firstly, the effect of toluene as an extra carbon source on structure and microstructure of SiOC glass-ceramics was evaluated, such that, 4% (Vol) toluene was recognized as the proper amount to facilitate the synthesis of β-SiC at 1300 °C proved by XRD, Raman spectroscopy, and HR-TEM. Moreover, the presence of micro/meso-porosities was assessed by BET and TEM, indicating the capability of SiOC to serve... 

Aqueous-phase reforming (APR) of oxygenated hydrocarbons for hydrogen production presents several advantages as feed molecules might be easily found in a wide range of biomass; there is no need for its vaporization and the process allows thorough exploitation of the environmental benefits of using hydrogen as an energy carrier. In this contribution, catalysts with active phase Ni supported on Al2O3-MgO were synthesized at different loadings (1, 3, 5, 7, and 10 wt%) through the co-precipitation technique and tested for the Glycerol APR reaction. Effects of the Ni loading on physicochemical characteristics of Ni/Al2O3-MgO catalysts were examined. Moreover, catalytic performance was... 

Two-dimensional mesoporous carbon nitride and its highly efficient nanorod framework were prepared via hard-templating method. The obtained materials were fully characterized. The results showed that the samples structural ordering and morphology were similar to those of the parent silica templates; they had large pore volumes as well as high surface area structures. Carbon nitride carbocatalysts were used for H2S selective oxidation. The catalytic tests were carried out at 190, 210 and 230 °C in a fixed bed reactor. The obtained selectivity values for mesoporous carbon nitride rod and mesoporous carbon nitride toward elemental sulfur at 190 °C were 88.8% and 83%, respectively. Both samples... 

This article presents a simulation study of tapered-in and tapered-out fluidized bed reactors to investigate the influences of apex angle on the fractional conversion and the pressure drop of the fluidized beds in the presence of two types of chemical reaction with gas volume increase and reduction. The 2D behavior of tapered-in and -out fluidized beds was also compared with a columnar one from fractional conversion and bed pressure drop point of views. To validate the simulation results, the numerical predictions for the expansion ratio and the pressure drop of a tapered fluidized bed were compared with experimental data and good agreement was observed. The obtained simulation results... 

This article presents a simulation study of tapered-in and tapered-out fluidized bed reactors to investigate the influences of apex angle on the fractional conversion and the pressure drop of the fluidized beds in the presence of two types of chemical reaction with gas volume increase and reduction. The 2D behavior of tapered-in and -out fluidized beds was also compared with a columnar one from fractional conversion and bed pressure drop point of views. To validate the simulation results, the numerical predictions for the expansion ratio and the pressure drop of a tapered fluidized bed were compared with experimental data and good agreement was observed. The obtained simulation results... 

In this research, the activity and selectivity of a platinum-based catalyst for H2 production through aqueous phase reforming (APR) in a fixed-bed reactor (FBR) as well as, a structured catalyst microreactor (MR) were investigated. In this venue, first, an in-house designed MR was fabricated and the catalytic material was deposited on the channel walls of this steel made reactor. After verification of the stability of the coated layer, the prepared reactor was employed to investigate the APR reaction. In this regard, APR of the ethylene glycol and glycerol over Pt/Al2O3 and Pt/CeO2–Al2O3 catalyst were conducted in an MR and FBR. Obtained results demonstrated that employing Pt/CeO2–Al2O3 as a... 

Three-dimensional analysis of combustion chambers in industrial gas turbines suffers from lack of simple and accurate reduced mechanisms for oxidation of hydrocarbon fuels. Here, an integrated procedure is introduced based on a differential evolution optimization technique. The procedure is flexible and modular and allows optimization of many rate parameters of a multistep global mechanism based on many different combustion criteria and inlet or operational conditions. The procedure uses any selected chemical reactor model and any reference combustion mechanism provided. Sample design criteria used here are flame temperature, ignition delay time, and concentration of selected species,... 

This article presents a simulation study of tapered-in and tapered-out fluidized bed reactors to investigate the influences of apex angle on the fractional conversion and the pressure drop of the fluidized beds in the presence of two types of chemical reaction with gas volume increase and reduction. The 2D behavior of tapered-in and -out fluidized beds was also compared with a columnar one from fractional conversion and bed pressure drop point of views. To validate the simulation results, the numerical predictions for the expansion ratio and the pressure drop of a tapered fluidized bed were compared with experimental data and good agreement was observed. The obtained simulation results... 

A new heuristic controller, called Continuous Ant Colony Controller, is proposed for nonlinear stochastic systems. The new controller formulates the states estimation and model predictive control problems as a single stochastic dynamic optimization problem and utilizes a colony of virtual ants to find and track the best state estimation and the best control signal. For this purpose an augmented state space is defined. An integrated cost function is also defined to evaluate the ants within the state space. This function minimizes simultaneously the state estimation error, tracking error, control effort and control smoothness. Ants search the augmented state space dynamically in a similar... 

We perform a 3D numerical modeling of reaction-diffusion dynamics in a Y-shaped microreactor, considering a fully developed combined electroosmotic and pressure-driven flow. The governing equations, based on a second-order irreversible reaction, are solved invoking a finite-volume approach for a non-uniform grid system. We demonstrate that the reaction is highly position dependent: more production is observed adjacent to the horizontal walls for a favorable pressure gradient, whereas both the wall and centerline are the regions of highest production when a back pressure is applied. We further show that, to achieve the maximum production rate, the EDL should be thick enough, the pressure... 

Samples of V2O5 catalysts supported on nanostructures of TiO2 and γ-Al2O3 were synthesized through the hydrothermal method and used for the oxidative dehydrogenation of propane (ODHP) to propylene. The TiO2 support was utilized in both commercial microstructure and synthesized nanostructure forms. Moreover, the γ-Al2O3 support was synthesized through chemical and precipitation methods. The vanadium catalyst was then deposited onto the hybrid of the TiO2 and γ-Al2O3 materials. All prepared catalysts were characterized through the BET, FESEM, FTIR, XRD and TPR techniques. Performances of the synthesized catalysts were subsequently examined in a fixed-bed reactor. The main products were... 

In this paper, oxidation of H2S into elemental sulfur over synthesized aluminabased nanocatalysts was physiochemically investigated and the results were compared with a commercial Claus catalyst. The wet chemical, co-precipitation, and spray pyrolysis techniques were employed to synthesize several alumina nanostructures. Then, the SEM, XRD, and ASAP analysis methods were utilized to characterize in order to choose the best nanocatalyst. The sulfur and H2S contents were determined through the standard UOP techniques. Amongst the synthesized materials, Al2o3-supported sodium oxide prepared through the wet chemical, and Al2o3 nanocatalysts via spray pyrolysis methods were the most active... 

In this article, a standard 2D Two-Fluid Model (TFM) closed by the kinetic theory of granular flow (KTGF) has been applied to simulate the behavior of tapered-in and tapered-out fluidized bed reactors. In this regard, two types of chemical reactions with gas volume reduction and increase were considered to investigate the effects of initial static bed height on the fractional conversion and bed pressure drop. To validate the CFD model predictions, the results of hydrodynamic simulations concerning bed pressure drop and bed expansion ratio were compared against experimental data reported in the literature and excellent agreement was observed. The obtained simulation results clearly indicate... 

Oxidative dehydrogenation of propane (ODHP) in a fixed-bed reactor over synthesized vanadia nanocatalysts was investigated physicochemically. Several vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) nanostructures including rod-, belt-, tube-, needle- and flower-like forms were successfully synthesized via reflux and hydrothermal processes utilizing different templates such as monoamines, diamines, aromatic and alcoholic amines. The morphologies of the obtained products were found to be sensitive to the types of templates used. Nanorods obtained were 1.4 μm in length and about 97 nm in width while the VO2(B) nanotubes were of about 76 nm average diameter and up to 1.2 μm long. The diameters of the V2O5 nanotubes...