Determination of the gas-to-membrane mass transfer coefficient in a catalytic membrane reactor

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Veldsink, J.W.; Versteeg, G.F.; Swaaij, W.P.M. van

1995-01-01

A novel method to determine the external mass transfer coefficient in catalytic membrane reactors (Sloot et al., 1992a, b) was presented in this study. In a catalytically active membrane reactor, in which a very fast reaction occurs, the external transfer coefficient can conveniently be measured by

Use of a Ceramic Membrane to Improve the Performance of Two-Separate-Phase Biocatalytic Membrane Reactor

OpenAIRE

Ranieri, G; Mazzei, R; Wu, Z; Li, K; Giorno, L

2016-01-01

Biocatalytic membrane reactors (BMR) combining reaction and separation within the same unit have many advantages over conventional reactor designs. Ceramic membranes are an attractive alternative to polymeric membranes in membrane biotechnology due to their high chemical, thermal and mechanical resistance. Another important use is their potential application in a biphasic membrane system, where support solvent resistance is highly needed. In this work, the preparation of asymmetric ceramic ho...

Advanced design of fast reactor-membrane reformer (FR-MR)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tashimo, M.; Hori, I.; Yasuda, I.; Shirasaki, Y.; Kobayashi, K.

2004-01-01

A new plant concept of nuclear-produced hydrogen is being studied using a Fast Reactor-Membrane Reformer (FR-MR). The conventional steam methane reforming (SMR) system is a three-stage process. The first stage includes the reforming, the second contains a shift reaction and the third is the separation process. The reforming process requires high temperatures of 800 ∼ 900 deg C. The shift process generates heat and is performed at around 200 deg C. The membrane reforming has only one process stage under a nonequilibrium condition by removing H2 selectively through a membrane tube. The steam reforming temperature can be decreased from 800 deg C to 550 deg C, which is a remarkable benefit offered by the non-equilibrium condition. With this new technology, the reactor type can be changed from a High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR) to a Fast Reactor (FR). A Fast Reactor-Membrane Reformer (FR-MR) is composed of a nuclear plant and a hydrogen plant. The nuclear plant is a sodium-cooled Fast Reactor with mixed oxide fuel and with a power of 240 MWt. The heat transport system contains two circuits, the primary circuit and the secondary circuit. The membrane reformer units are set in the secondary circuit. The heat, supplied by the sodium, can produce 200 000 Nm 3 /h by 2 units. There are two types of membranes. One is made of Pd another one (advanced) is made of, for example V, or Nb. The technology for the Pd membrane is already established in a small scale. The non-Pd type is expected to improve the performance. (author)

Reduced membrane fouling in a novel bio-entrapped membrane reactor for treatment of food and beverage processing wastewater.

Science.gov (United States)

Ng, Kok-Kwang; Lin, Cheng-Fang; Panchangam, Sri Chandana; Andy Hong, Pui-Kwan; Yang, Ping-Yi

2011-08-01

A novel Bio-Entrapped Membrane Reactor (BEMR) packed with bio-ball carriers was constructed and investigated for organics removal and membrane fouling by soluble microbial products (SMP). An objective was to evaluate the stability of the filtration process in membrane bioreactors through backwashing and chemical cleaning. The novel BEMR was compared to a conventional membrane bioreactor (CMBR) on performance, with both treating identical wastewater from a food and beverage processing plant. The new reactor has a longer sludge retention time (SRT) and lower mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) content than does the conventional. Three different hydraulic retention times (HRTs) of 6, 9, and 12 h were studied. The results show faster rise of the transmembrane pressure (TMP) with decreasing hydraulic retention time (HRT) in both reactors, where most significant membrane fouling was associated with high SMP (consisting of carbohydrate and protein) contents that were prevalent at the shortest HRT of 6 h. Membrane fouling was improved in the new reactor, which led to a longer membrane service period with the new reactor. Rapid membrane fouling was attributed to increased production of biomass and SMP, as in the conventional reactor. SMP of 10-100 kDa from both MBRs were predominant with more than 70% of the SMP <100 kDa. Protein was the major component of SMP rather than carbohydrate in both reactors. The new reactor sustained operation at constant permeate flux that required seven times less frequent chemical cleaning than did the conventional reactor. The new BEMR offers effective organics removal while reducing membrane fouling. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Recovery of hydrogen from impurities using a palladium membrane reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Willms, R.S.; Okuno, K.

1993-01-01

One of the important steps in processing the exhaust from a fusion reactor is recovering tritium which is incorporated into molecules such as water and methane. One device which may prove to be very effective for this purpose is a palladium membrane reactor. This is a reactor which incorporates a Pd/Ag membrane in the reactor geometry. Reactions such as water gas shift, steam reforming and methane cracking can be carried out over the reactor catalyst, and the product hydrogen can be simultaneously removed from the reacting mixture. Because product is removed, greater than usual conversions can be obtained. In addition ultrapure hydrogen is produced, eliminating the need for an additional processing step. A palladium membrane reactor has been built and tested with three different catalysts. Initial results with a Ni-based catalyst show that it is very effective at promoting all three reactions listed above. Under the proper conditions, hydrogen recoveries approaching 100% have been observed. This study serves to experimentally validate the palladium membrane reactor as potentially important tool for fusion fuel processing

Steam reforming of heptane in a fluidized bed membrane reactor

Science.gov (United States)

Rakib, Mohammad A.; Grace, John R.; Lim, C. Jim; Elnashaie, Said S. E. H.

n-Heptane served as a model compound to study steam reforming of naphtha as an alternative feedstock to natural gas for production of pure hydrogen in a fluidized bed membrane reactor. Selective removal of hydrogen using Pd 77Ag 23 membrane panels shifted the equilibrium-limited reactions to greater conversion of the hydrocarbons and lower yields of methane, an intermediate product. Experiments were conducted with no membranes, with one membrane panel, and with six panels along the height of the reactor to understand the performance improvement due to hydrogen removal in a reactor where catalyst particles were fluidized. Results indicate that a fluidized bed membrane reactor (FBMR) can provide a compact reformer for pure hydrogen production from a liquid hydrocarbon feedstock at moderate temperatures (475-550 °C). Under the experimental conditions investigated, the maximum achieved yield of pure hydrogen was 14.7 moles of pure hydrogen per mole of heptane fed.

ENHANCEMENT OF EQUILIBRIUMSHIFT IN DEHYDROGENATION REACTIONS USING A NOVEL MEMBRANE REACTOR; FINAL

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shamsuddin Ilias, Ph.d., P.E.; Franklin G. King, D.Sc.

2001-01-01

With the advances in new inorganic materials and processing techniques, there has been renewed interest in exploiting the benefits of membranes in many industrial applications. Inorganic and composite membranes are being considered as potential candidates for use in membrane-reactor configuration for effectively increasing reaction rate, selectivity and yield of equilibrium limited reactions. To investigate the usefulness of a palladium-ceramic composite membrane in a membrane reactor-separator configuration, we investigated the dehydrogenation of cyclohexane by equilibrium shift. A two-dimensional pseudo-homogeneous reactor model was developed to study the dehydrogenation of cyclohexane by equilibrium shift in a tubular membrane reactor. Radial diffusion was considered to account for the concentration gradient in the radial direction due to permeation through the membrane. For a dehydrogenation reaction, the feed stream to the reaction side contained cyclohexane and argon, while the separation side used argon as the sweep gas. Equilibrium conversion for dehydrogenation of cyclohexane is 18.7%. The present study showed that 100% conversion could be achieved by equilibrium shift using Pd-ceramic membrane reactor. For a feed containing cyclohexane and argon of 1.64 x 10(sup -6) and 1.0 x 10(sup -3) mol/s, over 98% conversion could be readily achieved. The dehydrogenation of cyclohexane was also experimentally investigated in a palladium-ceramic membrane reactor. The Pd-ceramic membrane was fabricated by electroless deposition of palladium on ceramic substrate. The performance of Pd-ceramic membrane was compared with a commercially available hydrogen-selective ceramic membrane. From limited experimental data it was observed that by appropriate choice of feed flow rate and sweep gas rate, the conversion of cyclohexane to benzene and hydrogen can increased to 56% at atmospheric pressure and 200 C in a Pd-ceramic membrane reactor. In the commercial ceramic membrane

Performance evaluation and mass transfer study of CO2 absorption in flat sheet membrane contactor using novel porous polysulfone membrane

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nabian, Nima; Ghoreyshi, Ali Asghar; Rahimpour, Ahmad; Shakeri, Mohsen

2015-01-01

The performance of gas-liquid membrane contactor for CO 2 capture was investigated using a novel polysulfone (PSF) flat membrane prepared via non-solvent phase inversion method. Polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) was used as an additive in the dope solution of PSF membranes. Morphological studies by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis revealed that PSF membrane with PVP has a finger-like structure, but the PSF membrane without PVP has a sponge-like structure. Also, characterization results through atomic force microscopy (AFM) and contact angle measurement demonstrated that the porosity, surface roughness and hydrophobicity of the PSF membrane increased with addition of PVP to the dope solution. Mass transfer resistance analysis, based on CO 2 absorption flux, displayed that addition of PVP to the dope solution of PSF membrane decreased membrane mass transfer resistance, and significantly improved CO 2 absorption flux up to 2.7 and 1.8 times of absorption fluxes of PSF membrane without PVP and commercial PVDF, respectively.

Recent Advances on Carbon Molecular Sieve Membranes (CMSMs and Reactors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Margot A. Llosa Tanco

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Carbon molecular sieve membranes (CMSMs are an important alternative for gas separation because of their ease of manufacture, high selectivity due to molecular sieve separation, and high permeance. The integration of separation by membranes and reaction in only one unit lead to a high degree of process integration/intensification, with associated benefits of increased energy, production efficiencies and reduced reactor or catalyst volume. This review focuses on recent advances in carbon molecular sieve membranes and their applications in membrane reactors.

Multienzyme Immobilized Polymeric Membrane Reactor for the Transformation of a Lignin Model Compound

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rupam Sarma

2018-04-01

Full Text Available We have developed an integrated, multienzyme functionalized membrane reactor for bioconversion of a lignin model compound involving enzymatic catalysis. The membrane bioreactors were fabricated through the layer-by-layer assembly approach to immobilize three different enzymes (glucose oxidase, peroxidase and laccase into pH-responsive membranes. This novel membrane reactor couples the in situ generation of hydrogen peroxide (by glucose oxidase to oxidative conversion of a lignin model compound, guaiacylglycerol-β-guaiacyl ether (GGE. Preliminary investigation of the efficacy of these functional membranes towards GGE degradation is demonstrated under convective flow mode. Over 90% of the initial feed could be degraded with the multienzyme immobilized membranes at a residence time of approximately 22 s. GGE conversion product analysis revealed the formation of oligomeric oxidation products upon reaction with peroxidase, which may be a potential hazard to membrane bioreactors. These oxidation products could further be degraded by laccase enzymes in the multienzymatic membranes, explaining the potential of multi enzyme membrane reactors. The multienzyme incorporated membrane reactors were active for more than 30 days of storage time at 4 °C. During this time span, repetitive use of the membrane reactor was demonstrated involving 5–6 h of operation time for each cycle. The membrane reactor displayed encouraging performance, losing only 12% of its initial activity after multiple cycles of operation.

Analysis of hybrid membrane and chemical absorption systems for CO2 capture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Binns, Michael; Oh, Se-Young; Kwak, Dong-Hun; Kim, Jin-Kuk

2015-01-01

Amine-based absorption of CO 2 is currently the industry standard technology for capturing CO 2 emitted from power plants, refineries and other large chemical plants. However, more recently there have been a number of competing technologies under consideration, including the use of membranes for CO 2 separation and purification. We constructed and analyzed two different hybrid configurations combining and connecting chemical absorption with membrane separation. For a particular flue gas which is currently treated with amine-based chemical absorption at a pilot plant we considered and tested how membranes could be integrated to improve the performance of the CO 2 capture. In particular we looked at the CO 2 removal efficiency and the energy requirements. Sensitivity analysis was performed varying the size of the membranes and the solvent flow rate

Simulation of Water Gas Shift Zeolite Membrane Reactor

Science.gov (United States)

Makertiharta, I. G. B. N.; Rizki, Z.; Zunita, Megawati; Dharmawijaya, P. T.

2017-07-01

The search of alternative energy sources keeps growing from time to time. Various alternatives have been introduced to reduce the use of fossil fuel, including hydrogen. Many pathways can be used to produce hydrogen. Among all of those, the Water Gas Shift (WGS) reaction is the most common pathway to produce high purity hydrogen. The WGS technique faces a downstream processing challenge due to the removal hydrogen from the product stream itself since it contains a mixture of hydrogen, carbon dioxide and also the excess reactants. An integrated process using zeolite membrane reactor has been introduced to improve the performance of the process by selectively separate the hydrogen whilst boosting the conversion. Furthermore, the zeolite membrane reactor can be further improved via optimizing the process condition. This paper discusses the simulation of Zeolite Membrane Water Gas Shift Reactor (ZMWGSR) with variation of process condition to achieve an optimum performance. The simulation can be simulated into two consecutive mechanisms, the reaction prior to the permeation of gases through the zeolite membrane. This paper is focused on the optimization of the process parameters (e.g. temperature, initial concentration) and also membrane properties (e.g. pore size) to achieve an optimum product specification (concentration, purity).

Boundary Layer of Photon Absorption Applied to Heterogeneous Photocatalytic Solar Flat Plate Reactor Design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Héctor L. Otálvaro-Marín

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This study provides information to design heterogeneous photocatalytic solar reactors with flat plate geometry used in treatment of effluents and conversion of biomass to hydrogen. The concept of boundary layer of photon absorption taking into account the efficient absorption of radiant energy was introduced; this concept can be understood as the reactor thickness measured from the irradiated surface where 99% of total energy is absorbed. Its thickness and the volumetric rate of photons absorption (VRPA were used as design parameters to determine (i reactor thickness, (ii maximum absorbed radiant energy, and (iii the optimal catalyst concentration. Six different commercial brands of titanium dioxide were studied: Evonik-Degussa P-25, Aldrich, Merck, Hombikat, Fluka, and Fisher. The local volumetric rate of photon absorption (LVRPA inside the reactor was described using six-flux absorption-scattering model (SFM applied to solar radiation. The radiation field and the boundary layer thickness of photon absorption were simulated with absorption and dispersion effects of catalysts in water at different catalyst loadings. The relationship between catalyst loading and reactor thickness that maximizes the absorption of radiant energy was obtained for each catalyst by apparent optical thickness. The optimum concentration of photocatalyst Degussa P-25 was 0.2 g/l in 0.86 cm of thickness, and for photocatalyst Aldrich it was 0.3 g/l in 0.80 cm of thickness.

Comparison of packed bed and fluidized bed membrane reactors for methane reforming

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gallucci, F.; van Sint Annaland, M.; Kuipers, J.A.M.

2009-01-01

In this work the performance of different membrane reactor concepts, both fluidized bed and packed bed membrane reactors, have been compared for the reforming of methane for the production of ultra-pure hydrogen. Using detailed theoretical models, the required membrane area to reach a given

System and method for air temperature control in an oxygen transport membrane based reactor

Science.gov (United States)

Kelly, Sean M

2016-09-27

A system and method for air temperature control in an oxygen transport membrane based reactor is provided. The system and method involves introducing a specific quantity of cooling air or trim air in between stages in a multistage oxygen transport membrane based reactor or furnace to maintain generally consistent surface temperatures of the oxygen transport membrane elements and associated reactors. The associated reactors may include reforming reactors, boilers or process gas heaters.

Comparative analysis of CO2 separation from flue gas by membrane gas absorption technology and chemical absorption technology in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yan, Shuiping; Fang, Mengxiang; Zhang, Weifeng; Zhong, Weilong; Luo, Zhongyang; Cen, Kefa

2008-01-01

This paper firstly evaluated the CO 2 absorption performance of a membrane gas absorption system (MAS) and chemical absorption system (CAS) using the overall mass transfer coefficient (K G a V ) as a basis for comparison. MAS selected microporous polypropylene (PP) hollow fiber membrane contactors to capture CO 2 from the simulated flue gas while CAS used a randomly packed column containing stainless Pall packing. Aqueous monoethanolamine (MEA) solution was adopted in both absorbers. Experimental results show that if the fresh membranes were tested, MAS has the higher K G a V values than that of CAS. However, when all the membrane pores were completely wetted or 50% pores were plugged, CAS inversely performs better than MAS in terms of K G a V values. In addition, the economic performance of MAS and CAS was also estimated. Results indicate that if the real operational time of membrane module is reduced to less than the critical value affected by the membrane price, the CO 2 captured cost of MAS is inversely higher than that of CAS. Therefore, the current well-accepted statement that MAS is superior to CAS in any case may be somewhat arbitrary unless membrane pore-wetting and pore-plugging problems, how to reduce the membrane price and how to prolong the membrane lifetime can be solved perfectly in the future. (author)

A forced-flow membrane reactor for transfructosylation using ceramic membrane.

Science.gov (United States)

Nishizawa, K; Nakajima, M; Nabetani, H

2000-04-05

A forced-flow membrane reactor system for transfructosylation was investigated using several ceramic membranes having different pore sizes. beta-Fructofuranosidase from Aspergillus niger ATCC 20611 was immobilized chemically to the inner surface of a ceramic membrane activated by a silane-coupling reagent. Sucrose solution was forced through the ceramic membrane by crossflow filtration while transfructosylation took place. The saccharide composition of the product, which was a mixture of fructooligosaccharides (FOS), was a function of the permeate flux, which was easily controlled by pressure. Using 0.2 micrometer pore size of symmetric ceramic membrane, the volumetric productivity obtained was 3.87 kg m(-3) s(-1), which was 560 times higher than that in a reported batch system, with a short residence time of 11 s. The half-life of the immobilized enzyme in the membrane was estimated to be 35 days by a long-term operation. Copyright 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Water Gas Shift Reaction with A Single Stage Low Temperature Membrane Reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ciora, Richard J [Media and Process Technology Inc., Pittsburgh, PA (United States); Liu, Paul KT [Media and Process Technology Inc., Pittsburgh, PA (United States)

2013-12-31

Palladium membrane and Palladium membrane reactor were developed under this project for hydrogen separation and purification for fuel cell applications. A full-scale membrane reactor was designed, constructed and evaluated for the reformate produced from a commercial scale methanol reformer. In addition, the Pd membrane and module developed from this project was successfully evaluated in the field for hydrogen purification for commercial fuel cell applications.

Hybrid Membrane/Absorption Process for Post-combustion CO2 Capture

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, Shiguang; Shou, S.; Pyrzynski, Travis; Makkuni, Ajay; Meyer, Howard

2013-12-31

This report summarizes scientific/technical progress made for bench-scale membrane contactor technology for post-combustion CO2 capture from DOE Contract No. DE-FE-0004787. Budget Period 1 (BP1) membrane absorber, Budget Period 2 (BP2) membrane desorber and Budget Period 3 (BP3) integrated system and field testing studies have been completed successfully and met or exceeded the technical targets (≥ 90% CO2 removal and CO2 purity of 97% in one membrane stage). Significant breakthroughs are summarized below: BP1 research: The feasibility of utilizing the poly (ether ether ketone), PEEK, based hollow fiber contractor (HFC) in combination with chemical solvents to separate and capture at least 90% of the CO2 from simulated flue gases has been successfully established. Excellent progress has been made as we have achieved the BP1 goal: ≥ 1,000 membrane intrinsic CO2 permeance, ≥ 90% CO2 removal in one stage, ≤ 2 psi gas side pressure drop, and ≥ 1 (sec)-1 mass transfer coefficient. Initial test results also show that the CO2 capture performance, using activated Methyl Diethanol Amine (aMDEA) solvent, was not affected by flue gas contaminants O2 (~3%), NO2 (66 ppmv), and SO2 (145 ppmv). BP2 research: The feasibility of utilizing the PEEK HFC for CO2-loaded solvent regeneration has been successfully established High CO2 stripping flux, one order of magnitude higher than CO2 absorption flux, have been achieved. Refined economic evaluation based on BP1 membrane absorber and BP2 membrane desorber laboratory test data indicate that the CO2 capture costs are 36% lower than DOE’s benchmark amine absorption technology. BP3 research: A bench-scale system utilizing a membrane absorber and desorber was integrated into a continuous CO2 capture process using contactors containing 10 to 20 ft2 of membrane area. The integrated process operation was stable through a 100-hour laboratory test, utilizing a simulated flue gas stream. Greater than 90% CO2 capture combined with 97

Simulation of a porous ceramic membrane reactor for hydrogen production

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yu, W.; Ohmori, T.; Yamamoto, T.; Endo, A.; Nakaiwa, M.; Hayakawa, T. [National Inst. of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba (Japan); Itoh, N. [National Inst. of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba (Japan); Utsunomiya Univ. (Japan). Dept. of Applied Chemistry

2005-08-01

A systematic simulation study was performed to investigate the performance of a porous ceramic membrane reactor for hydrogen production by means of methane steam reforming. The results show that the methane conversions much higher than the corresponding equilibrium values can be achieved in the membrane reactor due to the selective removal of products from the reaction zone. The comparison of isothermal and non-isothermal model predictions was made. It was found that the isothermal assumption overestimates the reactor performance and the deviation of calculation results between the two models is subject to the operating conditions. The effects of various process parameters such as the reaction temperature, the reaction side pressure, the feed flow rate and the steam to methane molar feed ratio as well as the sweep gas flow rate and the operation modes, on the behavior of membrane reactor were analyzed and discussed. (author)

Ceramic membrane microfilter as an immobilized enzyme reactor.

Science.gov (United States)

Harrington, T J; Gainer, J L; Kirwan, D J

1992-10-01

This study investigated the use of a ceramic microfilter as an immobilized enzyme reactor. In this type of reactor, the substrate solution permeates the ceramic membrane and reacts with an enzyme that has been immobilized within its porous interior. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of permeation rate on the observed kinetic parameters for the immobilized enzyme in order to assess possible mass transfer influences or shear effects. Kinetic parameters were found to be independent of flow rate for immobilized penicillinase and lactate dehydrogenase. Therefore, neither mass transfer nor shear effects were observed for enzymes immobilized within the ceramic membrane. Both the residence time and the conversion in the microfilter reactor could be controlled simply by regulating the transmembrane pressure drop. This study suggests that a ceramic microfilter reactor can be a desirable alternative to a packed bed of porous particles, especially when an immobilized enzyme has high activity and a low Michaelis constant.

Emergency membrane contactor based absorption system for ammonia leaks in water treatment plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Shao, Jiahui; Fang, Xuliang; He, Yiliang; Jin, Qiang

2008-01-01

Abstract Because of the suspected health risks of trihalomethanes (THMs), more and more water treatment plants have replaced traditional chlorine disinfection process with chloramines but often without the proper absorption system installed in the case of ammonia leaks in the storage room. A pilot plant membrane absorption system was developed and installed in a water treatment plant for this purpose. Experimentally determined contact angle, surface tension, and corrosion tests indicated that the sulfuric acid was the proper choice as the absorbent for leaking ammonia using polypropylene hollow fiber membrane contactor. Effects of several operating conditions on the mass transfer coefficient, ammonia absorption, and removal efficiency were examined, including the liquid concentration, liquid velocity, and feed gas concentration. Under the operation conditions investigated, the gas absorption efficiency over 99.9% was achieved. This indicated that the designed pilot plant membrane absorption system was effective to absorb the leaking ammonia in the model storage room. The removal rate of the ammonia in the model storage room was also experimentally and theoretically found to be primarily determined by the ammonia suction flow rate from the ammonia storage room to the membrane contactor. The ammonia removal rate of 99.9% was expected to be achieved within 1.3 h at the ammonia gas flow rate of 500 m3/h. The success of the pilot plant membrane absorption system developed in this study illustrated the potential of this technology for ammonia leaks in water treatment plant, also paved the way towards a larger scale application.

Theoretical comparison of packed bed and fluidized bed membrane reactors for methane reforming

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gallucci, F.; van Sint Annaland, M.; Kuipers, J.A.M.

2010-01-01

In this theoretical work the performance of different membrane reactor concepts, both fluidized bed and packed bed membrane reactors, has been compared for ultra-pure hydrogen production via methane reforming. Using detailed theoretical models, the required membrane area to reach a given conversion

3. International conference on catalysis in membrane reactors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1998-09-01

The 3. International Conference on Catalysis in Membrane Reactors, Copenhagen, Denmark, is a continuation of the previous conferences held in Villeurbanne 1994 and Moscow 1996 and will deal with the rapid developments taking place within membranes with emphasis on membrane catalysis. The approx. 80 contributions in form of plenary lectures and posters discuss hydrogen production, methane reforming into syngas, selectivity and specificity of various membranes etc. The conference is organised by the Danish Catalytic Society under the Danish Society for Chemical Engineering. (EG)

Microbial activity catalyzes oxygen transfer in membrane-aerated nitritating biofilm reactors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pellicer i Nàcher, Carles; Domingo Felez, Carlos; Lackner, Susanne

2013-01-01

The remarkable oxygen transfer efficiencies attainable in membrane-aerated biofilm reactors (MABRs) are expected to favor their prompt industrial implementation. However, tests in clean water, currently used for the estimation of their oxygen transfer potential, lead to wrong estimates once biofilm...... is present, significantly complicating reactor modelling and control. This study shows for the first time the factors affecting oxygen mass transfer across membranes during clean water tests and reactor operation via undisturbed microelectrode inspection and bulk measurements. The mass transfer resistance...... of the liquid boundary layer developed at the membrane-liquid interface during clean water tests accounted for two thirds of the total mass transfer resistance, suggesting a strong underestimation of the oxygen transfer rates when it is absent (e.g. after biofilm growth). Reactor operation to attain partial...

On the study of catalytic membrane reactor for water detritiation: Modeling approach

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liger, Karine, E-mail: karine.liger@cea.fr [CEA, DEN, DTN/SMTA/LIPC Cadarache, Saint Paul-lez-Durance F-13108 (France); Mascarade, Jérémy [CEA, DEN, DTN/SMTA/LIPC Cadarache, Saint Paul-lez-Durance F-13108 (France); Joulia, Xavier; Meyer, Xuan-Mi [Université de Toulouse, INPT, UPS, Laboratoire de Génie Chimique, 4, Allée Emile Monso, Toulouse F-31030 (France); CNRS, Laboratoire de Génie Chimique, Toulouse F-31030 (France); Troulay, Michèle; Perrais, Christophe [CEA, DEN, DTN/SMTA/LIPC Cadarache, Saint Paul-lez-Durance F-13108 (France)

2016-11-01

Highlights: • Experimental results for the conversion of tritiated water (using deuterium as a simulant of tritium) by means of a catalytic membrane reactor in view of tritium recovery. • Phenomenological 2D model to represent catalytic membrane reactor behavior including the determination of the compositions of gaseous effluents. • Good agreement between the simulation results and experimental measurements performed on the dedicated facility. • Explanation of the unexpected behavior of the catalytic membrane reactor by the modeling results and in particular the gas composition estimation. - Abstract: In the framework of tritium recovery from tritiated water, efficiency of packed bed membrane reactors have been successfully demonstrated. Thanks to protium isotope swamping, tritium bonded water can be recovered under the valuable Q{sub 2} form (Q = H, D or T) by means of isotope exchange reactions occurring on catalyst surface. The use of permselective Pd-based membrane allows withdrawal of reactions products all along the reactor, and thus limits reverse reaction rate to the benefit of the direct one (shift effect). The reactions kinetics, which are still little known or unknown, are generally assumed to be largely greater than the permeation ones so that thermodynamic equilibriums of isotope exchange reactions are generally assumed. This paper proposes a new phenomenological 2D model to represent catalytic membrane reactor behavior with the determination of gas effluents compositions. A good agreement was obtained between the simulation results and experimental measurements performed on a dedicated facility. Furthermore, the gas composition estimation permits to interpret unexpected behavior of the catalytic membrane reactor. In the next future, further sensitivity analysis will be performed to determine the limits of the model and a kinetics study will be conducted to assess the thermodynamic equilibrium of reactions.

On the study of catalytic membrane reactor for water detritiation: Modeling approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liger, Karine; Mascarade, Jérémy; Joulia, Xavier; Meyer, Xuan-Mi; Troulay, Michèle; Perrais, Christophe

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Experimental results for the conversion of tritiated water (using deuterium as a simulant of tritium) by means of a catalytic membrane reactor in view of tritium recovery. • Phenomenological 2D model to represent catalytic membrane reactor behavior including the determination of the compositions of gaseous effluents. • Good agreement between the simulation results and experimental measurements performed on the dedicated facility. • Explanation of the unexpected behavior of the catalytic membrane reactor by the modeling results and in particular the gas composition estimation. - Abstract: In the framework of tritium recovery from tritiated water, efficiency of packed bed membrane reactors have been successfully demonstrated. Thanks to protium isotope swamping, tritium bonded water can be recovered under the valuable Q_2 form (Q = H, D or T) by means of isotope exchange reactions occurring on catalyst surface. The use of permselective Pd-based membrane allows withdrawal of reactions products all along the reactor, and thus limits reverse reaction rate to the benefit of the direct one (shift effect). The reactions kinetics, which are still little known or unknown, are generally assumed to be largely greater than the permeation ones so that thermodynamic equilibriums of isotope exchange reactions are generally assumed. This paper proposes a new phenomenological 2D model to represent catalytic membrane reactor behavior with the determination of gas effluents compositions. A good agreement was obtained between the simulation results and experimental measurements performed on a dedicated facility. Furthermore, the gas composition estimation permits to interpret unexpected behavior of the catalytic membrane reactor. In the next future, further sensitivity analysis will be performed to determine the limits of the model and a kinetics study will be conducted to assess the thermodynamic equilibrium of reactions.

Pre-Combustion Carbon Dioxide Capture by a New Dual Phase Ceramic-Carbonate Membrane Reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lin, Jerry Y. S. [Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)

2015-01-31

This report documents synthesis, characterization and carbon dioxide permeation and separation properties of a new group of ceramic-carbonate dual-phase membranes and results of a laboratory study on their application for water gas shift reaction with carbon dioxide separation. A series of ceramic-carbonate dual phase membranes with various oxygen ionic or mixed ionic and electronic conducting metal oxide materials in disk, tube, symmetric, and asymmetric geometric configurations was developed. These membranes, with the thickness of 10 μm to 1.5 mm, show CO₂ permeance in the range of 0.5-5×10^-7 mol·m^-2·s^-1·Pa^-1 in 500-900°C and measured CO₂/N₂ selectivity of up to 3000. CO₂ permeation mechanism and factors that affect CO₂ permeation through the dual-phase membranes have been identified. A reliable CO₂ permeation model was developed. A robust method was established for the optimization of the microstructures of ceramic-carbonate membranes. The ceramic-carbonate membranes exhibit high stability for high temperature CO₂ separations and water gas shift reaction. Water gas shift reaction in the dual-phase membrane reactors was studied by both modeling and experiments. It is found that high temperature syngas water gas shift reaction in tubular ceramic-carbonate dual phase membrane reactor is feasible even without catalyst. The membrane reactor exhibits good CO₂ permeation flux, high thermal and chemical stability and high thermal shock resistance. Reaction and separation conditions in the membrane reactor to produce hydrogen of 93% purity and CO₂ stream of >95% purity, with 90% CO₂ capture have been identified. Integration of the ceramic-carbonate dual-phase membrane reactor with IGCC process for carbon dioxide capture was analyzed. A methodology was developed to identify optimum operation conditions for a

CFD Simulation of an Anaerobic Membrane BioReactor (AnMBR to Treat Industrial Wastewater

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura C. Zuluaga

2015-06-01

Full Text Available A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD simulation has been developed for an Anaerobic Membrane BioReactor (AnMBR to treat industrial wastewater. As the process consists of a side-stream MBR, two separate simulations were created: (i reactor and (ii membrane. Different cases were conducted for each one, so the surrounding temperature and the total suspended solids (TSS concentration were checked. For the reactor, the most important aspects to consider were the dead zones and the mixing, whereas for the ceramic membrane, it was the shear stress over the membrane surface. Results show that the reactor's mixing process was adequate and that the membrane presented higher shear stress in the 'triangular' channel.

Biofilm formation on membranes used for membrane aerated biological reactors, under different stress conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andrade-Molinar, C.; Ballinas-Casarrubias, M. L.; Solis-Martinez, F. J.; Rivera-Chavira, B. E.; Cuevas-Rodirguez, G.; Nevarez-Moorillon, G. V.

2009-01-01

Bacterial biofilm play an important role in wastewater treatment processes, and have been optimized in the membrane aerated biofilm reactors (MABR). In MABR, a hydrophobic membrane is used as support for the formation of biofilm, and supplements enough aeration to assure an aerobic process. (Author)

Carbon Dioxide Absorption in a Membrane Contactor with Color Change

Science.gov (United States)

Pantaleao, Ines; Portugal, Ana F.; Mendes, Adelio; Gabriel, Joaquim

2010-01-01

A pedagogical experiment is described to examine the physical absorption of gases, in this case carbon dioxide, in a hollow fiber membrane contactor (HFMC) where the absorption concentration profile can be followed by a color change. The HFMC is used to teach important concepts and can be used in interesting applications for students, such as…

Investigation of a submerged membrane reactor for continuous biomass hydrolysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Malmali, Mohammadmahdi; Stickel, Jonathan; Wickramasinghe, S. Ranil

2015-10-01

Enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose is one of the most costly steps in the bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass. Use of a submerged membrane reactor has been investigated for continuous enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose thus allowing for greater use of the enzyme compared to a batch process. Moreover, the submerged 0.65 μm polyethersulfone microfiltration membrane avoids the need to pump a cellulose slurry through an external loop. Permeate containing glucose is withdrawn at pressures slightly below atmospheric pressure. The membrane rejects cellulose particles and cellulase enzyme bound to cellulose. Our proof-of-concept experiments have been conducted using a modified, commercially available membrane filtration cell under low fluxes around 75 L/(m2 h). The operating flux is determined by the rate of glucose production. Maximizing the rate of glucose production involves optimizing mixing, reactor holding time, and the time the feed is held in the reactor prior to commencement of membrane filtration and continuous operation. When we maximize glucose production rates it will require that we operate it at low glucose concentration in order to minimize the adverse effects of product inhibition. Consequently practical submerged membrane systems will require a combined sugar concentration step in order to concentrate the product sugar stream prior to fermentation.

Novel Catalytic Membrane Reactors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stuart Nemser, PhD

2010-10-01

There are many industrial catalytic organic reversible reactions with amines or alcohols that have water as one of the products. Many of these reactions are homogeneously catalyzed. In all cases removal of water facilitates the reaction and produces more of the desired chemical product. By shifting the reaction to right we produce more chemical product with little or no additional capital investment. Many of these reactions can also relate to bioprocesses. Given the large number of water-organic compound separations achievable and the ability of the Compact Membrane Systems, Inc. (CMS) perfluoro membranes to withstand these harsh operating conditions, this is an ideal demonstration system for the water-of-reaction removal using a membrane reactor. Enhanced reaction synthesis is consistent with the DOE objective to lower the energy intensity of U.S. industry 25% by 2017 in accord with the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and to improve the United States manufacturing competitiveness. The objective of this program is to develop the platform technology for enhancing homogeneous catalytic chemical syntheses.

Hydrogen enrichment and separation from synthesis gas by the use of a membrane reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sanchez, J.M.; Barreiro, M.M.; Marono, M.

2011-01-01

One of the objectives of the CHRISGAS project was to study innovative gas separation and gas upgrading systems that have not been developed sufficiently yet to be tested at a demonstration scale within the time frame of the project, but which show some attractive merits and features for further development. In this framework CIEMAT studied, at bench scale, hydrogen enrichment and separation from syngas by the use of membranes and membrane catalytic reactors. In this paper results about hydrogen separation from synthesis gas by means of selective membranes are presented. Studies dealt with the evaluation of permeation and selectivity to hydrogen of prepared and pre-commercial Pd-based membranes. Whereas prepared membranes turned out to be non-selective, due to discontinuities of the palladium layer, studies conducted with the pre-commercial membrane showed that by means of a membrane reactor it is possible to completely separate hydrogen from the other gas components and produce pure hydrogen as a permeate stream, even in the case of complex reaction system (H 2 /CO/CO 2 /H 2 O) under WGS conditions gas mixtures. The advantages of using a water-gas shift membrane reactor (MR) over a traditional fixed bed reactor (TR) have also been studied. The experimental device included the pre-commercial Pd-based membrane and a commercial high temperature Fe-Cr-based, WGS catalyst, which was packed in the annulus between the membrane and the reactor outer shell. Results show that in the MR concept, removal of H 2 from the reaction side has a positive effect on WGS reaction, reaching higher CO conversion than in a traditional packed bed reactor at a given temperature. On increasing pressure on the reaction side permeation is enhanced and hence carbon monoxide conversion increases. -- Highlights: → H 2 enrichment and separation using a bench-scale membrane reactor MR is studied. → Permeation and selectivity to H 2 of Pd-based membranes was determined. → Complete separation

Oxygen transport membrane system and method for transferring heat to catalytic/process reactors

Science.gov (United States)

Kelly, Sean M; Kromer, Brian R; Litwin, Michael M; Rosen, Lee J; Christie, Gervase Maxwell; Wilson, Jamie R; Kosowski, Lawrence W; Robinson, Charles

2014-01-07

A method and apparatus for producing heat used in a synthesis gas production is provided. The disclosed method and apparatus include a plurality of tubular oxygen transport membrane elements adapted to separate oxygen from an oxygen containing stream contacting the retentate side of the membrane elements. The permeated oxygen is combusted with a hydrogen containing synthesis gas stream contacting the permeate side of the tubular oxygen transport membrane elements thereby generating a reaction product stream and radiant heat. The present method and apparatus also includes at least one catalytic reactor containing a catalyst to promote the stream reforming reaction wherein the catalytic reactor is surrounded by the plurality of tubular oxygen transport membrane elements. The view factor between the catalytic reactor and the plurality of tubular oxygen transport membrane elements radiating heat to the catalytic reactor is greater than or equal to 0.5.

Oxygen transport membrane system and method for transferring heat to catalytic/process reactors

Science.gov (United States)

Kelly, Sean M.; Kromer, Brian R.; Litwin, Michael M.; Rosen, Lee J.; Christie, Gervase Maxwell; Wilson, Jamie R.; Kosowski, Lawrence W.; Robinson, Charles

2016-01-19

A method and apparatus for producing heat used in a synthesis gas production process is provided. The disclosed method and apparatus include a plurality of tubular oxygen transport membrane elements adapted to separate oxygen from an oxygen containing stream contacting the retentate side of the membrane elements. The permeated oxygen is combusted with a hydrogen containing synthesis gas stream contacting the permeate side of the tubular oxygen transport membrane elements thereby generating a reaction product stream and radiant heat. The present method and apparatus also includes at least one catalytic reactor containing a catalyst to promote the steam reforming reaction wherein the catalytic reactor is surrounded by the plurality of tubular oxygen transport membrane elements. The view factor between the catalytic reactor and the plurality of tubular oxygen transport membrane elements radiating heat to the catalytic reactor is greater than or equal to 0.5

Ozone mass transfer behaviors on physical and chemical absorption for hollow fiber membrane contactors.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yong; Li, Kuiling; Wang, Jun; Hou, Deyin; Liu, Huijuan

2017-09-01

To understand the mass transfer behaviors in hollow fiber membrane contactors, ozone fluxes affected by various conditions and membranes were investigated. For physical absorption, mass transfer rate increased with liquid velocity and the ozone concentration in the gas. Gas flow rate was little affected when the velocity was larger than the critical value, which was 6.1 × 10 -3 m/s in this study. For chemical absorption, the flux was determined by the reaction rate between ozone and the absorbent. Therefore, concentration, species, and pH affected the mass transfer process markedly. For different absorbents, the order of mass transfer rate was the same as the reaction rate constant, which was phenol, sodium nitrite, hydrogen peroxide, and oxalate. Five hydrophobic membranes with various properties were employed and the mass transfer behavior can be described by the Graetz-Lévèque equation for the physical absorption process. The results showed the process was controlled by liquid film and the gas phase conditions, and membrane properties did not affect the ozone flux. For the chemical absorption, gas film, membrane and liquid film affected the mass transfer together, and none of them were negligible.

Oxyfuel combustion using a catalytic ceramic membrane reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tan, Xiaoyao; Li, K. [Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, University of London, South Kensington, London SW7 2AZ (United Kingdom); Thursfield, A.; Metcalfe, I.S. [School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU (United Kingdom)

2008-02-29

Membrane catalytic combustion (MCC) is an environmentally friendly technique for heat and power generation from methane. This work demonstrates the performances of a MCC perovskite hollow fibre membrane reactor for the catalytic combustion of methane. The ionic-electronic La{sub 0.6}Sr{sub 0.4}Co{sub 0.2}Fe{sub 0.8}O{sub 3-{alpha}} (LSCF6428) mixed conductor, in the form of an oxygen-permeable hollow fibre membrane, has been prepared successfully by means of a phase-inversion spinning/sintering technique. For this process polyethersulfone (PESf) was used as a binder, N-methyl-2-pyrrollidone (NMP) as solvent and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP, K16-18) as an additive. With the prepared LSCF6428 hollow fibre membranes packed with catalyst, hollow fibre membrane reactors (HFMRs) have been assembled to perform the catalytic combustion of methane. A simple mathematical model that combines the local oxygen permeation rate with approximate catalytic reaction kinetics has been developed and can be used to predict the performance of the HFMRs for methane combustion. The effects of operating temperature and methane and air feed flow rates on the performance of the HFMR have been investigated both experimentally and theoretically. Both the methane conversion and oxygen permeation rate can be improved by means of coating platinum on the air side of the hollow fibre membranes. (author)

Fouling-induced enzyme immobilization for membrane reactors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Luo, Jianquan; Meyer, Anne S.; Jonsson, Gunnar Eigil

2013-01-01

A simple enzyme immobilization method accomplished by promoting membrane fouling formation is proposed. The immobilization method is based on adsorption and entrapment of the enzymes in/on the membrane. To evaluate the concept, two membrane orientations, skin layer facing feed (normal mode......, but the reverse mode allowed for higher enzyme loading and stability, and irreversible fouling (i.e. pore blocking) developed more readily in the support structure than in the skin layer. Compared with an enzymatic membrane reactor (EMR) with free enzymes, the novel EMR with enzymes immobilized in membrane......) and support layer facing feed (reverse mode), were used to immobilize alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH, EC 1.1.1.1) and glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH, EC 1.4.1.3), respectively. The nature of the fouling in each mode was determined by filtration fouling models. The permeate flux was larger in the normal mode...

Mathematical modeling of methyl ester concentration distribution in a continuous membrane tubular reactor and comparison with conventional tubular reactor

Science.gov (United States)

Talaghat, M. R.; Jokar, S. M.; Modarres, E.

2017-10-01

The reduction of fossil fuel resources and environmental issues made researchers find alternative fuels include biodiesels. One of the most widely used methods for production of biodiesel on a commercial scale is transesterification method. In this work, the biodiesel production by a transesterification method was modeled. Sodium hydroxide was considered as a catalyst to produce biodiesel from canola oil and methanol in a continuous tubular ceramic membranes reactor. As the Biodiesel production reaction from triglycerides is an equilibrium reaction, the reaction rate constants depend on temperature and related linearly to catalyst concentration. By using the mass balance for a membrane tubular reactor and considering the variation of raw materials and products concentration with time, the set of governing equations were solved by numerical methods. The results clearly show the superiority of membrane reactor than conventional tubular reactors. Afterward, the influences of molar ratio of alcohol to oil, weight percentage of the catalyst, and residence time on the performance of biodiesel production reactor were investigated.

Techno-economic prospects of small-scale membrane reactors in a future hydrogen-fuelled transportation sector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sjardin, M.; Damen, K.J.; Faaij, A.P.C.

2006-01-01

The membrane reactor is a novel technology for the production of hydrogen from natural gas. It promises economic small-scale hydrogen production, e.g. at refuelling stations and has the potential of inexpensive CO 2 separation. Four configurations of the membrane reactor have been modelled with Aspen plus to determine its thermodynamic and economic prospects. Overall energy efficiency is 84% HHV without H 2 compression (78% with compression up to 482bar). The modelling results also indicate that by using a sweep gas, the membrane reactor can produce a reformer exit stream consisting mainly of CO 2 and H 2 O (>90% mol ) suited for CO 2 sequestration after water removal with an efficiency loss of only 1% pt . Reforming with a 2MW membrane reactor (250 unit production volume) costs 14$/GJ H 2 including compression, which is more expensive than conventional steam reforming+compression (12$/GJ). It does, however, promise a cheap method of CO 2 separation, 14$/t CO 2 captured, due to the high purity of the exit stream. The well-to-wheel chain of the membrane reactor has been compared to centralised steam reforming to assess the trade-off between production scale and the construction of a hydrogen and a CO 2 distribution infrastructure. If the scale of centralised hydrogen production is below 40MW, the trade-off could be favourable for the membrane reactor with small-scale CO 2 capture (18$/GJ including H 2 storage, dispensing and CO 2 sequestration for 40MW SMR versus 19$/GJ for MR). The membrane reactor might become competitive with conventional steam reforming provided that thin membranes can be combined with high stability and a cheap manufacturing method for the membrane tubes. Thin membranes, industrial utility prices and larger production volumes (i.e. technological learning) might reduce the levelised hydrogen cost of the membrane reactor at the refuelling station to less than 14$/GJ including CO 2 sequestration cost, below that of large-scale H 2 production with

Ceramic oxygen transport membrane array reactor and reforming method

Science.gov (United States)

Kelly, Sean M.; Christie, Gervase Maxwell; Robinson, Charles; Wilson, Jamie R; Gonzalez, Javier E.; Doraswami, Uttam R.

2017-10-03

The invention relates to a commercially viable modular ceramic oxygen transport membrane system for utilizing heat generated in reactively-driven oxygen transport membrane tubes to generate steam, heat process fluid and/or provide energy to carry out endothermic chemical reactions. The system provides for improved thermal coupling of oxygen transport membrane tubes to steam generation tubes or process heater tubes or reactor tubes for efficient and effective radiant heat transfer.

Neutron absorption profile in a reactor moderated by different mixtures of light and heavy waters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nagy, Mohamed E.; Aly, Mohamed N.; Gaber, Fatma A.; Dorrah, Mahmoud E.

2014-01-01

Highlights: • We studied neutron absorption spectra in a mixed water moderated reactor. • Changing D 2 O% in moderator induced neutron energy spectral shift. • Most of the neutrons absorbed in control rods were epithermal. • Control rods worth changes were not proportional to changes of D 2 O% in moderator. • Control rod arrangement influenced the neutronic behavior of the reactor. - Abstract: A Monte-Carlo parametric study was carried out to investigate the neutron absorption profile in a model of LR-0 reactor when it is moderated by different mixtures of heavy/light waters at molecular ratios ranging from 0% up to 100% D 2 O at increments of 10% in D 2 O. The tallies included; neutron absorption profiles in control rods and moderator, and neutron capture profile in 238 U. The work focused on neutron absorption in control rods entailing; total mass of control rods needed to attain criticality, neutron absorption density and total neutron absorption in control rods at each of the studied mixed water moderators. The aim was to explore whether thermal neutron poisons are the most suitable poisons to be used in control rods of nuclear reactors moderated by mixed heavy/light water moderators

A submerged ceramic membrane reactor for the p-nitrophenol hydrogenation over nano-sized nickel catalysts.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, R Z; Sun, H L; Xing, W H; Jin, W Q; Xu, N P

2009-02-01

The catalytic hydrogenation of p-nitrophenol to p-aminophenol over nano-sized nickel catalysts was carried out in a submerged ceramic membrane reactor. It has been demonstrated that the submerged ceramic membrane reactor is more suitable for the p-nitrophenol hydrogenation over nano-sized nickel catalysts compared with the side-stream ceramic membrane reactor, and the membrane module configuration has a great influence on the reaction rate of p-nitrophenol hydrogenation and the membrane treating capacity. The deactivation of nano-sized nickel is mainly caused by the adsorption of impurity on the surface of nickel and the increase of oxidation degree of nickel.

Mesoporous fluorocarbon-modified silica aerogel membranes enabling long-term continuous CO2 capture with large absorption flux enhancements.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Yi-Feng; Chen, Chien-Hua; Tung, Kuo-Lun; Wei, Te-Yu; Lu, Shih-Yuan; Chang, Kai-Shiun

2013-03-01

The use of a membrane contactor combined with a hydrophobic porous membrane and an amine absorbent has attracted considerable attention for the capture of CO2 because of its extensive use, low operational costs, and low energy consumption. The hydrophobic porous membrane interface prevents the passage of the amine absorbent but allows the penetration of CO2 molecules that are captured by the amine absorbent. Herein, highly porous SiO2 aerogels modified with hydrophobic fluorocarbon functional groups (CF3 ) were successfully coated onto a macroporous Al2 O3 membrane; their performance in a membrane contactor for CO2 absorption is discussed. The SiO2 aerogel membrane modified with CF3 functional groups exhibits the highest CO2 absorption flux and can be continuously operated for CO2 absorption for extended periods of time. This study suggests that a SiO2 aerogel membrane modified with CF3 functional groups could potentially be used in a membrane contactor for CO2 absorption. Also, the resulting hydrophobic SiO2 aerogel membrane contactor is a promising technology for large-scale CO2 absorption during the post-combustion process in power plants. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Challege and Opportunities of Membrane Bioelctrochemical Reactors for Wastewater Treatment

OpenAIRE

Li, Jian

2016-01-01

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are potentially advantageous as an energy-efficient approach for wastewater treatment. Integrating membrane filtration with MFCs could be a viable option for advanced wastewater treatment with a low energy input. Such an integration is termed as membrane bioelectrochemical reactors (MBERs). Comparing to the conventional membrane bioreactors or anaerobic membrane bioreactors, MBER could be a competitive technology, due to the its advantages on energy consumption and...

Achievements of European projects on membrane reactor for hydrogen production

NARCIS (Netherlands)

di Marcoberardino, G.; Binotti, M.; Manzolini, G.; Viviente, J.L.; Arratibel Plazaola, A.; Roses, L.; Gallucci, F.

2017-01-01

Membrane reactors for hydrogen production can increase both the hydrogen production efficiency at small scale and the electric efficiency in micro-cogeneration systems when coupled with Polymeric Electrolyte Membrane fuel cells. This paper discusses the achievements of three European projects

A novel auto-thermal reforming membrane reactor for high purity H2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tony Boyd; Grace, J.R.; Lim, C.J.; Adris, A.M.

2006-01-01

A novel hydrogen reactor based on steam reforming of natural gas has been developed and tested. The reactor produces high purity hydrogen using in-situ perm-selective membranes installed in a fluidized catalyst bed, thus shifting the thermodynamic equilibrium of the SMR reaction and eliminating the need for downstream hydrogen purification. The reactor is particularly suited to auto-thermal reforming, where air is added to the reformer to provide the endothermic reaction heat, thus eliminating the need to indirectly heat the reactor. The gas flow pattern within the fluidized bed induces an internal circulation of catalyst particles between the central SMR reaction (permeation) zone and an outer annulus. The circulating hot catalyst particles from the oxidation zone carry the required endothermic heat of reaction for the reforming, while ensuring that the palladium membranes are not exposed to excessive temperatures or to oxygen. Another beneficial characteristic of the reactor is that very little of the nitrogen present in the oxidation air reaches the reaction zone, thus maintaining the hydrogen driving force for the perm-selective membranes. Pilot plant results carried out in a semi-industrial scale reactor will be presented. The reactor was operated up to 650 C and 14 bar. Pure hydrogen (99.999+%) was initially obtained from the reactor and an equilibrium shift was demonstrated. (authors)

Pd-Ag membrane reactor for steam reforming reactions: a comparison between different fuels

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gallucci, F.; Basile, A.

2008-01-01

The simulation of a dense Pd-based membrane reactor for carrying out the methane, the methanol and the ethanol steam reforming (SR) reactions for pure hydrogen production is performed. The same simulation is also performed in a traditional reactor. This modelling work shows that the use of membrane

Continuous hyperpolarization with parahydrogen in a membrane reactor

Science.gov (United States)

Lehmkuhl, Sören; Wiese, Martin; Schubert, Lukas; Held, Mathias; Küppers, Markus; Wessling, Matthias; Blümich, Bernhard

2018-06-01

Hyperpolarization methods entail a high potential to boost the sensitivity of NMR. Even though the "Signal Amplification by Reversible Exchange" (SABRE) approach uses para-enriched hydrogen, p-H2, to repeatedly achieve high polarization levels on target molecules without altering their chemical structure, such studies are often limited to batch experiments in NMR tubes. Alternatively, this work introduces a continuous flow setup including a membrane reactor for the p-H2, supply and consecutive detection in a 1 T NMR spectrometer. Two SABRE substrates pyridine and nicotinamide were hyperpolarized, and more than 1000-fold signal enhancement was found. Our strategy combines low-field NMR spectrometry and a membrane flow reactor. This enables precise control of the experimental conditions such as liquid and gas pressures, and volume flow for ensuring repeatable maximum polarization.

Membrane steam reforming of natural gas for hydrogen production by utilization of medium temperature nuclear reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Djati Hoesen Salimy

2010-01-01

The assessment of steam reforming process with membrane reactor for hydrogen production by utilizing of medium temperature nuclear reactor has been carried out. Difference with the conventional process of natural gas steam reforming that operates at high temperature (800-1000°C), the process with membrane reactor operates at lower temperature (~500°C). This condition is possible because the use of perm-selective membrane that separate product simultaneously in reactor, drive the optimum conversion at the lower temperature. Besides that, membrane reactor also acts the role of separation unit, so the plant will be more compact. From the point of nuclear heat utilization, the low temperature of process opens the chance of medium temperature nuclear reactor utilization as heat source. Couple the medium temperature nuclear reactor with the process give the advantage from the point of saving fossil fuel that give direct implication of decreasing green house gas emission. (author)

Direct determination of selenoproteins in polyvinylidene difluoride membranes by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sidenius, U; Gammelgaard, Bente

2000-01-01

A method for the direct determination of selenoproteins in plastic membranes after protein separation by gel electrophoresis was developed. Quantification was based on the determination of the selenium content of the proteins by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ET-AAS) after manual...... were excised and chemical modifier was added on top of the excised membrane prior to atomic absorption measurement. Acceptable linearity was achieved in the range 2-10 ng Se, corresponding to selenium concentrations close to 1 mg/L, when aqueous solutions of selenomethionine standard as well...

Water absorption in neutralized Nafion membranes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rodmacq, B.; Roche, E.; Pineri, M.; Escoubez, M.; Duplessix, R.; Eisenberg, A.

1979-01-01

In this paper some results are reported about the interactions between water and Nafion neutralized with different cations. The energy of water absorption have been measured in the whole range of relative humidity pressures. Moessbauer spectra permit to get information about the change of environment of the iron atoms during the hydration. Small angle neutron and X ray scattering experiments have then been performed to define a possible phase segregation. From these results a model of clustering in the Nafion membranes is proposed. The neutralized Nafion samples have been obtained by soaking the acid samples in solutions containing the different salts

Ethanol steam reforming kinetics of a Pd-Ag membrane reactor

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tosti, S.; Basile, A.; Borelli, R.; Borgognoni, F.; Castelli, S.; Fabbricino, M.; Gallucci, F.; Licusati, C.

2009-01-01

The ethanol steam reforming reaction carried out in a Pd-based tubular membrane reactor has been modelled via a finite element code. The model considers the membrane tube divided into finite volume elements where the mass balances for both lumen and shell sides are carried out accordingly to the

Sewage disposal using anaerobic membrane reactor. Kenkiseimaku reactor ni yoru gesui shori

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fujita, Y. (Dic-Degremont Co. Ltd., Tokyo (Japan))

1991-11-01

Discussions were given on a small-scale sewage disposal of about bod 200 mg/l, for which no many examples of use have been hitherto available, using a system combining an anaerobic reactor and membrane modules. Experiments had been carried out from 1988 through 1990 as a part of the Aqua-Renaissance Project. The test equipment wza installed in the premises of the Chigasaki Coastal Research Facilities operated by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, which used sewage flowing from the adjoining sewage treatment plant for the southern area of the Fujisawa City. The test facility consisted of a system comprising a pretreatment facility, SS decomposing reactor, fluid-bed reactor, separation membrane modules, nitrogen removing facility and micro-organism activity measurement. The test facility was constucted assuming a treatment of 10 m{sup 3} a day. The system was divided into a composite system, A system and B system to operate the system in simplified flows. As a result of comparing the composite system, A system and B system, it was found that B system can deal with wider range of disposal for a small-scale sewage treatment of about 1000 m{sup 3} a day. 6 refs., 14 figs., 3 tabs.

The Enhancement of the Selectivity of Complex Reactions by a Catalytic Membrane Reactor -Ethylene Oxidation Over a Ag Catalyst Supported in a Ceramic Membrane-

OpenAIRE

馮, 臨; 小林, 正義; Lin, FENG; Masayoshi, KOBAYASHI

1991-01-01

This research demonstrated that, using a membrane reactor consisting of a tubular, microporous, glass-ceramic membrane, it is possible to achieve selective oxidation of ethylene to ethylene oxide with an Ag catalyst. In experiments which a reaction temperature range of 115 to 300℃ and a contact time of 1.5 to 5 seconds, resulting data illustrated the following characteristics of this membrane reactor : 1) compared with a classic tubular reactor, the selectivity of ethylene oxide is increased ...

Syngas upgrading in a membrane reactor with thin Pd-alloy supported membrane

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brunetti, A.; Caravella, A.; Fernandez Gesalaga, E.; Pacheco Tanaka, D. A.; Gallucci, F.; Drioli, E.; Curcio, E.; Viviente, J. L.; Barbieri, G.

2015-01-01

In hydrogen production, the syngas streams produced by reformers and/or coal gasification plants contain a large amount of H2 and CO in need of upgrading. To this purpose, reactors using Pd-based membranes have been widely studied as they allow separation and recovery of a pure hydrogen stream.

Catalytic combustion of propane in a membrane reactor with separate feed of reactants—II. Operation in presence of trans-membrane pressure gradients

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Saracco, Guido; Veldsink, Jan Willem; Versteeg, Geert F.; Swaaij, Wim P.M. van

1995-01-01

This is the second communication of a series dealing with an experimental and modelling study on propane catalytic combustion in a membrane reactor with separate feed of reactants. In paper I the behaviour of the reactor in the absence of trans-membrane pressure gradients was presented and

A novel water perm-selective membrane dual-type reactor concept for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis of GTL (gas to liquid) technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rahimpour, M.R.; Mirvakili, A.; Paymooni, K.

2011-01-01

The present study proposes a novel configuration of Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) reactors in which a fixed-bed water perm-selective membrane reactor is followed by a fluidized-bed hydrogen perm-selective membrane reactor. This novel concept which has been named fixed-bed membrane reactor followed by fluidized-bed membrane reactor (FMFMDR) produces gasoline from synthesis gas. The walls of the tubes of a fixed-bed reactor (water-cooled reactor) of FMFMDR configuration are coated by a high water perm-selective membrane layer. In this new configuration, two membrane reactors instead of one membrane reactor are developed for FTS reactions. In other words, two different membrane layers are used. In order to investigate the performance of FMFMDR, a one-dimensional heterogeneous model is taken into consideration. The simulation results of three schemes named fluidized-bed membrane dual-type reactor (FMDR), FMFMDR and conventional fixed-bed reactor (CR) are presented. They have been compared in terms of temperature, gasoline and CO 2 yields, H 2 and CO conversions and the water permeation rate through the membrane layer. Results show that the gasoline yield in FMFMDR is higher than the one in FMDR. The FMFMDR configuration not only decreases the undesired product such as CO 2 but also produces more gasoline. -- Research highlights: → The application of H-SOD membrane layer in FTS reactors. → Approximate 7.5% and 37% increase in the gasoline yield in terms of [g/g feed x 100] in comparison with FMDR and CR, respectively. → A remarkable decrease in CO 2 emission to the environment. → A good configuration mainly due to reduction in catalysts sintering as a result of in situ water removal.

Catalytic membrane reactor for tritium extraction system from He purge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Santucci, Alessia; Incelli, Marco; Sansovini, Mirko; Tosti, Silvano

2016-01-01

Highlights: • In the HCBB blanket, the produced tritium is recovered by purging with helium; membrane technologies are able to separate tritium from helium. • The paper presents the results of two experimental campaigns. • In the first, a Pd–Ag diffuser for hydrogen separation is tested at several operating conditions. • In the second, the ability of a Pd–Ag membrane reactor for water decontamination is assessed by performing isotopic swamping and water gas shift reactions. - Abstract: In the Helium Cooled Pebble Bed (HCPB) blanket concept, the produced tritium is recovered purging the breeder with helium at low pressure, thus a tritium extraction system (TES) is foreseen to separate the produced tritium (which contains impurities like water) from the helium gas purge. Several R&D activities are running in parallel to experimentally identify most promising TES technologies: particularly, Pd-based membrane reactors (MR) are under investigation because of their large hydrogen selectivity, continuous operation capability, reliability and compactness. The construction and operation under DEMO relevant conditions (that presently foresee a He purge flow rate of about 10,000 Nm 3 /h and a H 2 /He ratio of 0.1%) of a medium scale MR is scheduled for next year, while presently preliminary experiments on a small scale reactor are performed to identify most suitable operative conditions and catalyst materials. This work presents the results of an experimental campaign carried out on a Pd-based membrane aimed at measuring the capability of this device in separating hydrogen from the helium. Many operative conditions have been investigated by considering different He/H 2 feed flow ratios, several lumen pressures and reactor temperatures. Moreover, the performances of a membrane reactor (composed of a Pd–Ag tube having a wall thickness of about 113 μm, length 500 mm and diameter 10 mm) in processing the water contained in the purge gas have been measured by using

Catalytic membrane reactor for tritium extraction system from He purge

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Santucci, Alessia, E-mail: alessia.santucci@enea.it [ENEA for EUROfusion, Via E. Fermi 45, 00044 Frascati, Roma (Italy); Incelli, Marco [ENEA for EUROfusion, Via E. Fermi 45, 00044 Frascati, Roma (Italy); DEIM, University of Tuscia, Via del Paradiso 47, 01100 Viterbo (Italy); Sansovini, Mirko; Tosti, Silvano [ENEA for EUROfusion, Via E. Fermi 45, 00044 Frascati, Roma (Italy)

2016-11-01

Highlights: • In the HCBB blanket, the produced tritium is recovered by purging with helium; membrane technologies are able to separate tritium from helium. • The paper presents the results of two experimental campaigns. • In the first, a Pd–Ag diffuser for hydrogen separation is tested at several operating conditions. • In the second, the ability of a Pd–Ag membrane reactor for water decontamination is assessed by performing isotopic swamping and water gas shift reactions. - Abstract: In the Helium Cooled Pebble Bed (HCPB) blanket concept, the produced tritium is recovered purging the breeder with helium at low pressure, thus a tritium extraction system (TES) is foreseen to separate the produced tritium (which contains impurities like water) from the helium gas purge. Several R&D activities are running in parallel to experimentally identify most promising TES technologies: particularly, Pd-based membrane reactors (MR) are under investigation because of their large hydrogen selectivity, continuous operation capability, reliability and compactness. The construction and operation under DEMO relevant conditions (that presently foresee a He purge flow rate of about 10,000 Nm{sup 3}/h and a H{sub 2}/He ratio of 0.1%) of a medium scale MR is scheduled for next year, while presently preliminary experiments on a small scale reactor are performed to identify most suitable operative conditions and catalyst materials. This work presents the results of an experimental campaign carried out on a Pd-based membrane aimed at measuring the capability of this device in separating hydrogen from the helium. Many operative conditions have been investigated by considering different He/H{sub 2} feed flow ratios, several lumen pressures and reactor temperatures. Moreover, the performances of a membrane reactor (composed of a Pd–Ag tube having a wall thickness of about 113 μm, length 500 mm and diameter 10 mm) in processing the water contained in the purge gas have been

Improvement of Membrane Performances to Enhance the Yield of Vanillin in a Pervaporation Reactor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giovanni Camera-Roda

2014-02-01

Full Text Available In membrane reactors, the interaction of reaction and membrane separation can be exploited to achieve a “process intensification”, a key objective of sustainable development. In the present work, the properties that the membrane must have to obtain this result in a pervaporation reactor are analyzed and discussed. Then, the methods to enhance these properties are investigated for the photocatalytic synthesis of vanillin, which represents a case where the recovery from the reactor of vanillin by means of pervaporation while it is produced allows a substantial improvement of the yield, since its further oxidation is thus prevented. To this end, the phenomena that control the permeation of both vanillin and the reactant (ferulic acid are analyzed, since they ultimately affect the performances of the membrane reactor. The results show that diffusion of the aromatic compounds takes place in the presence of low concentration gradients, so that the process is controlled by other phenomena, in particular by the equilibrium with the vapor at the membrane-permeate interface. On this basis, it is demonstrated that the performances are enhanced by increasing the membrane thickness and/or the temperature, whereas the pH begins to limit the process only at values higher than 6.5.

One Step Biomass Gas Reforming-Shift Separation Membrane Reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roberts, Michael J. [Gas Technology Institute; Souleimanova, Razima [Gas Technology Institute

2012-12-28

GTI developed a plan where efforts were concentrated in 4 major areas: membrane material development, membrane module development, membrane process development, and membrane gasifier scale-up. GTI assembled a team of researchers to work in each area. Task 1.1 Ceramic Membrane Synthesis and Testing was conducted by Arizona State University (ASU), Task 1.2 Metallic Membrane Synthesis and Testing was conducted by the U.S. National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Task 1.3 was conducted by SCHOTT, and GTI was to test all membranes that showed potential. The initial focus of the project was concentrated on membrane material development. Metallic and glass-based membranes were identified as hydrogen selective membranes under the conditions of the biomass gasification, temperatures above 700C and pressures up to 30 atmospheres. Membranes were synthesized by arc-rolling for metallic type membranes and incorporating Pd into a glass matrix for glass membranes. Testing for hydrogen permeability properties were completed and the effects of hydrogen sulfide and carbon monoxide were investigated for perspective membranes. The initial candidate membrane of Pd80Cu20 chosen in 2008 was selected for preliminary reactor design and cost estimates. Although the H2A analysis results indicated a $1.96 cost per gge H2 based on a 5A (micron) thick PdCu membrane, there was not long-term operation at the required flux to satisfy the go/no go decision. Since the future PSA case yielded a $2.00/gge H2, DOE decided that there was insufficient savings compared with the already proven PSA technology to further pursue the membrane reactor design. All ceramic membranes synthesized by ASU during the project showed low hydrogen flux as compared with metallic membranes. The best ceramic membrane showed hydrogen permeation flux of 0.03 SCFH/ft2 at the required process conditions while the metallic membrane, Pd80Cu20 showed a flux of 47.2 SCFH/ft2 (3 orders of magnitude difference). Results from

Feasibility study of a reverse flow catalytic membrane reactor with porous membranes for the production of syngas

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smit, J.; van Sint Annaland, M.; Kuipers, J.A.M.

2005-01-01

In this paper a novel reverse flow catalytic membrane reactor (RFCMR) is proposed for the partial oxidation of CH4 to syngas. The feasibility of the RFCMR concept has been investigated for industrial conditions on basis of a simulation study employing a reactor model, which includes a detailed

SEPARATION OF HYDROGEN AND CARBON DIOXIDE USING A NOVEL MEMBRANE REACTOR IN ADVANCED FOSSIL ENERGY CONVERSION PROCESS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shamsuddin Ilias

2005-02-03

Inorganic membrane reactors offer the possibility of combining reaction and separation in a single operation at high temperatures to overcome the equilibrium limitations experienced in conventional reactor configurations. Such attractive features can be advantageously utilized in a number of potential commercial opportunities, which include dehydrogenation, hydrogenation, oxidative dehydrogenation, oxidation and catalytic decomposition reactions. However, to be cost effective, significant technological advances and improvements will be required to solve several key issues which include: (a) permselective thin solid film, (b) thermal, chemical and mechanical stability of the film at high temperatures, and (c) reactor engineering and module development in relation to the development of effective seals at high temperature and high pressure. In this project, we are working on the development and application of palladium and palladium-silver alloy thin-film composite membranes in membrane reactor-separator configuration for simultaneous production and separation of hydrogen and carbon dioxide at high temperature. From our research on Pd-composite membrane, we have demonstrated that the new membrane has significantly higher hydrogen flux with very high perm-selectivity than any of the membranes commercially available. The steam reforming of methane by equilibrium shift in Pd-composite membrane reactor is being studied to demonstrate the potential application of this new development. A two-dimensional, pseudo-homogeneous membrane-reactor model was developed to investigate the steam-methane reforming (SMR) reactions in a Pd-based membrane reactor. Radial diffusion was taken into consideration to account for the concentration gradient in the radial direction due to hydrogen permeation through the membrane. With appropriate reaction rate expressions, a set of partial differential equations was derived using the continuity equation for the reaction system. The equations were

The degree of collagen crosslinks in medical collagen membranes determined by water absorption

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Braczko, M.; Tederko, A.; Grzybowski, J.

1994-01-01

Collagen membranes were crosslinked by using three agents: glutaraldehyde, hexametylenediisocyanate, and UV irradiation. The increasing concentrations of above chemical agents or longer time of UV exposition resulted in the higher cross-links degree and in the decrease of collagen membranes swelling (measured as water absorption), their elasticity and mechanical resistance. According to American standards, the degree of collagen biomaterial cross-links is determined by measuring of the digestion time by pepsin. However, that method is very time-consuming. In our study, we have that a simple, linear regression between logarithm of digestion time by pepsin exists and it was identical for all three cross-linking agents used. We have concluded that determination of water absorption can be an alternative, simple and fast method for examination of collagen membrane cross-links degree. (author). 16 refs, 7 figs, 1 tab

APPLICATION OF MEMBRANE SORPTION REACTOR TECHNOLOGY FOR LRW MANAGEMENT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Glagolenko, Yuri; Dzekun, Evgeny; Myasoedovg, Boris; Gelis, Vladimir; Kozlitin, Evgeny; Milyutin, Vitaly; Trusov, Lev; Rengel, Mike; Mackay, Stewart M.; Johnson, Michael E.

2003-01-01

A new membrane-sorption technology has been recently developed and industrially implemented in Russia for the treatment of the Liquid (Low-Level) Radioactive Waste (LRW). The first step of the technology is a precipitation of the radionuclides and/or their adsorption onto sorbents of small particle size. The second step is filtration of the precipitate/sorbent through the metal-ceramic membrane, Trumem.. The unique feature of the technology is a Membrane-Sorption Reactor (MSR), in which the precipitation / sorption and the filtration of the radionuclides occur simultaneously, in one stage. This results in high efficiency, high productivity and compactness of the equipment, which are the obvious advantages of the developed technology. Two types of MSR based on Flat Membranes device and Centrifugal Membrane device were developed. The advantages and disadvantages of application of each type of the reactors are discussed. The MSR technology has been extensively tested and efficiently implemented at ''Mayak '' nuclear facility near Chelyabinsk, Russia as well as at other Russian sites. The results of this and other applications of the MSR technology at the different Russian nuclear facilities are discussed. The results of the first industrial applications of the MSR technology for radioactive waste treatment in Russia and analysis of the available information about LRW accumulated in other countries imply that this technology can be successfully used for the Low Level Radioactive Waste treatment in the USA and in other nuclear countries

A new combination of membranes and membrane reactors for improved tritium management in breeder blanket of fusion machines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Demange, D.; Staemmler, S.; Kind, M.

2011-01-01

Tritium used as fuel in future fusion machines will be produced within the breeder blanket. The tritium extraction system recovers the tritium to be routed into the inner-fuel cycle of the machine. Accurate and precise tritium accountancy between both systems is mandatory to ensure a reliable operation. Handling in the blanket huge helium flow rates containing tritium as traces in molecular and oxide forms is challenging both for the process and the accountancy. Alternative tritium processes based on combinations of membranes and membrane reactors are proposed to facilitate the tritium management. The PERMCAT process is based on counter-current isotope swamping in a palladium membrane reactor. It allows recovering tritium efficiently from any chemical species. It produces a pure hydrogen stream enriched in tritium of advantage for integration upstream of the accountancy stage. A pre-separation and pre-concentration stage using new zeolite membranes has been studied to optimize the whole process. Such a combination could improve the tritium processes and facilitate accountancy in DEMO.

Microbial community stratification in Membrane-Aerated Biofilm Reactors for Completely Autotrophic Nitrogen Removal

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pellicer i Nàcher, Carles; Ruscalleda, Maël; Terada, Akihiko

of bacterial granules or biofilms. In this sense, completely autotrophic nitrogen removal from high ammonium strength wastewater was achieved in a Membrane-Aereated Biofilm Reactor (MABR) in a single step. Here, a biofilm containing nitrifiers (Aerobic Ammonium and Nitrite Oxidizing Bacteria, AOB and NOB......, respectively) and Anaerobic Ammonium Oxidizing Bacteria (AnAOB) is grown on bubbleless aeration membranes to remove ammonium. Since oxygen permeates through the membrane-biofilm interface while ammonium diffuses into the biofilm from the biofilm-liquid interface, oxygen gradients can be established across...... the biofilm, allowing nitrogen removal in a single reactor by simultaneous activity of the mentioned biocatalysts. This work consists on the analysis of the microbial community existing in two laboratory-scale reactors operated for more than 300 days, which removed up to 5.5 g-N/m2/day. The system contained...

Application of vacuum membrane distillation to lithium bromide absorption refrigeration system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Zanshe; Feng, Shiyu; Li, Yun [School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi' an Jiaotong University, Xi' an 710049 (China); Gu, Zhaolin [School of Human Settlement and Civil Engineering, Xi' an Jiaotong University, Xi' an 710049 (China)

2009-11-15

Conventional generator in lithium bromide absorption refrigeration system is too bulky and heavy to be fitted into small scale device, and the temperature of the driving heater in the generator seems much higher than low grade energy such as regenerative energy or waste heat energy. In this paper, desorption of aqueous lithium bromide solution by vacuum membrane distillation process was presented. Hollow fiber membrane module made by polyvinylidene fluoride was used as desorption device of aqueous lithium bromide solution. Influencing factors of feed flux, feed temperature in lumen side and vacuum pressure in shell side were tested and analyzed with orthogonal test. The results showed that permeation flux of water vapor increased with the feed temperature increasing and the feed flux increasing in lumen side, and the permeation flux also went up along with absolute pressure drop in shell side. Feasibility and potential application analysis shows that the temperature of the driving heat was low and the volume and weight of the desorption device was light. In this study, vacuum membrane distillation to the lithium bromide absorption refrigeration system has proved to be an efficient and cheap desorption mode. (author)

Tunable integration of absorption-membrane-adsorption for efficiently separating low boiling gas mixtures near normal temperature

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Huang; Pan, Yong; Liu, Bei; Sun, Changyu; Guo, Ping; Gao, Xueteng; Yang, Lanying; Ma, Qinglan; Chen, Guangjin

2016-01-01

Separation of low boiling gas mixtures is widely concerned in process industries. Now their separations heavily rely upon energy-intensive cryogenic processes. Here, we report a pseudo-absorption process for separating low boiling gas mixtures near normal temperature. In this process, absorption-membrane-adsorption is integrated by suspending suitable porous ZIF material in suitable solvent and forming selectively permeable liquid membrane around ZIF particles. Green solvents like water and glycol were used to form ZIF-8 slurry and tune the permeability of liquid membrane surrounding ZIF-8 particles. We found glycol molecules form tighter membrane while water molecules form looser membrane because of the hydrophobicity of ZIF-8. When using mixing solvents composed of glycol and water, the permeability of liquid membrane becomes tunable. It is shown that ZIF-8/water slurry always manifests remarkable higher separation selectivity than solid ZIF-8 and it could be tuned to further enhance the capture of light hydrocarbons by adding suitable quantity of glycol to water. Because of its lower viscosity and higher sorption/desorption rate, tunable ZIF-8/water-glycol slurry could be readily used as liquid absorbent to separate different kinds of low boiling gas mixtures by applying a multistage separation process in one traditional absorption tower, especially for the capture of light hydrocarbons. PMID:26892255

Ceramic membrane reactor with two reactant gases at different pressures

Science.gov (United States)

Balachandran, Uthamalingam; Mieville, Rodney L.

2001-01-01

The invention is a ceramic membrane reactor for syngas production having a reaction chamber, an inlet in the reactor for natural gas intake, a plurality of oxygen permeating ceramic slabs inside the reaction chamber with each slab having a plurality of passages paralleling the gas flow for transporting air through the reaction chamber, a manifold affixed to one end of the reaction chamber for intake of air connected to the slabs, a second manifold affixed to the reactor for removing the oxygen depleted air, and an outlet in the reaction chamber for removing syngas.

Palladium based membranes and membrane reactors for hydrogen production and purification : An overview of research activities at Tecnalia and TU/e

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fernandez, E.; Helmi Siasi Farimani, A.; Medrano Jimenez, J.A.; Coenen, K.T.; Arratibel Plazaola, A.; Melendez Rey, J.; de Nooijer, N.C.A.; Viviente, J.L.; Zuniga, J.; van Sint Annaland, M.; Gallucci, F.; Pacheco Tanaka, D.A.

2017-01-01

In this paper, the main achievements of several European research projects on Pd based membranes and Pd membrane reactors for hydrogen production are reported. Pd-based membranes have received an increasing interest for separation and purification of hydrogen. In addition, the integration of such

In-line quantification and characterization of membrane fouling

KAUST Repository

Bucs, Szilard

2016-06-16

Methods of detecting, quantifying and/or characterizing the fouling of a device from a combination of pressure and spectroscopic data are provided. The device can be any device containing components susceptible to fouling. Components can include membranes, pipes, or reactors. Suitable devices include membrane devices, heat exchangers, and chemical or bio-reactors. Membrane devices can include, for example, microfiltration devices, ultrafiltration devices, nanofiltration devices, reverse osmosis, forward osmosis, osmosis, reverse electrodialysis, electro- deionisation or membrane distillation devices. The methods can be applied to any type of membrane, including tubular, spiral, hollow fiber, flat sheet, and capillary membranes. The spectroscopic characterization can include measuring one or more of the absorption, fluorescence, or raman spectroscopic data of one or more foulants. The methods can allow for the early detection and/or characterization of fouling. The characterization can include determining the specific foulant(s) or type of foulant(s) present. The characterization of fouling can allow for the selection of an appropriate de-fouling method and timing.

On the potential of nickel catalysts for steam reforming in membrane reactors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pieterse, J.A.Z.; Boon, J.; Van Delft, Y.C.; Dijkstra, J.W.; Van den Brink, R.W. [Energy research Center of the Netherlands, P.O. Box 1, 1755 ZG Petten (Netherlands)

2010-10-15

Hydrogen membrane reactors have been identified as a promising option for hydrogen production for power generation from natural gas with pre-combustion decarbonisation. While Pd or Pd-alloy membranes already provide good hydrogen permeances the most suitable catalyst design for steam reforming in membrane reactors (SRMR) is yet to be identified. This contribution aims to provide insight in the suitability of nickel based catalysts in SRMR. The use of nickel (Ni) catalysts would benefit the cost-effectiveness of membrane reactors and therefore its feasibility. For this, the activity of nickel catalysts in SRMR was assessed with kinetics reported in literature. A 1D model was composed in order to compare the hydrogen production rates derived from the kinetics with the rate of hydrogen withdrawal by permeation. Catalyst stability was studied by exposing the catalysts to reformate gas with two different H/C ratios to mimic the hydrogen lean reformate gas in the membrane reactor. For both the activity (modeling) and stability study the Ni-based catalysts were compared to relevant catalyst compositions based on rhodium (Rh). Using the high pressure kinetics reported for Al2O3 supported Rh and MgAl2O4 and Al2O3 supported Ni catalyst it showed that Ni and Rh catalysts may very well provide similar hydrogen production rates. Interestingly, the stability of Ni-based catalysts proved to be superior to precious metal based catalysts under exposure to simulated reformate feed gas with low H/C molar ratio. A commercial (pre-)reforming Ni-based catalyst was selected for further testing in an experimental membrane reactor for steam reforming at high pressure. During the test period 98% conversion at 873 K could be achieved. The conversion was adjusted to approximately 90% and stable conversion was obtained during the test period of another 3 weeks. Nonetheless, carbon quantification tests of the Ni catalyst indicated that a small amount of carbon had deposited onto the catalyst

Coupling of separation and reaction in zeolite membrane reactor for hydroisomerization of hydrocarbons

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gora, L.; Jansen, J.C. [Ceramic Membrane Centre, The Pore, DelftChemTech, Delft Univ. of Technology, Delft (Netherlands)

2005-03-01

A zeolite membrane reactor has been developed for the hydroisomerization of hydrocarbons, in which the linear molecules are separated from branched ones on the silicalite-1 membrane prior to conversion of the permeated linear hydrocarbons to equilibrium levels on the catalyst bed. Model studies using C{sub 6} components are conducted. n-C{sub 6} separated from 2MP (selectivity 24) is converted for 72% with 36% selectivity towards di-branched isomers (at 393 K). The results indicate that platinum containing chlorinated alumina/silicalite-1 membrane reactor has a potential in upgrading octane values and offers advantages such as higher efficiency, better process control and lower consumption of energy. (orig.)

Coupling of separation and reaction in zeolite membrane reactor for hydroisomerization of hydrocarbons

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gora, L.; Maloncy, M.L.; Jansen, J.C. [Ceramic Membrane Centre, The Pore, DelftChemTech, Delft Univ. of Technology (Netherlands)

2004-07-01

A zeolite membrane reactor has been developed for the hydroisomerization of hydrocarbons, in which the linear molecules are separated from branch ones on the silicalite-1 membrane prior to conversion of the permeated linear hydrocarbons to equilibrium levels on the catalyst bed. A model studies using C6 components are conduct. Separated n-C6 from 2MP (selectivity 24) is converted for 72% with 36% selectivity towards di-branched isomers (at 393 K). The results indicate that platinum containing chlorinated alumina/silicalite-1 membrane reactor has a potential in upgrading octane values and offers advantages such as higher efficiency, better process control and lower consumption of energy. (orig.)

Novel Composite Hydrogen-Permeable Membranes for Non-Thermal Plasma Reactors for the Decomposition of Hydrogen Sulfide

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Morris D. Argyle; John F. Ackerman; Suresh Muknahallipatna; Jerry C. Hamann; Stanislaw Legowski; Guibing Zhao; Sanil John

2006-09-30

The goal of this experimental project is to design and fabricate a reactor and membrane test cell to dissociate hydrogen sulfide (H{sub 2}S) in a non-thermal plasma and recover hydrogen (H{sub 2}) through a superpermeable multi-layer membrane. Superpermeability of hydrogen atoms (H) has been reported by some researchers using membranes made of Group V transition metals (niobium, tantalum, vanadium, and their alloys), although it has yet to be confirmed in this study. Several pulsed corona discharge (PCD) reactors have been fabricated and used to dissociate H{sub 2}S into hydrogen and sulfur. Visual observation shows that the corona is not uniform throughout the reactor. The corona is stronger near the top of the reactor in argon, while nitrogen and mixtures of argon or nitrogen with H{sub 2}S produce stronger coronas near the bottom of the reactor. Both of these effects appear to be explainable base on the different electron collision interactions with monatomic versus polyatomic gases. A series of experiments varying reactor operating parameters, including discharge capacitance, pulse frequency, and discharge voltage were performed while maintaining constant power input to the reactor. At constant reactor power input, low capacitance, high pulse frequency, and high voltage operation appear to provide the highest conversion and the highest energy efficiency for H{sub 2}S decomposition. Reaction rates and energy efficiency per H{sub 2}S molecule increase with increasing flow rate, although overall H{sub 2}S conversion decreases at constant power input. Voltage and current waveform analysis is ongoing to determine the fundamental operating characteristics of the reactors. A metal infiltrated porous ceramic membrane was prepared using vanadium as the metal and an alumina tube. Experiments with this type of membrane are continuing, but the results thus far have been consistent with those obtained in previous project years: plasma driven permeation or superpermeability

Simultaneous hydrogen and methanol enhancement through a recuperative two-zone thermally coupled membrane reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bayat, M. [Shiraz University, Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Shiraz (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Rahimpour, M.R. [Shiraz University, Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Shiraz (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Shiraz University, Gas Center of Excellence, Shiraz (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2012-12-15

In this work, a novel configuration with two zones instead of one single integrated catalytic bed in thermally coupled membrane reactor (TCMR) is developed for enhancement of simultaneous methanol, benzene and hydrogen production. In the first zone, the synthesis gas is partly converted to methanol in a conventional water-cooled reactor. In the second zone, the reaction heat is used to drive the endothermic dehydrogenation of cyclohexane reaction in second tube side. Selective permeation of hydrogen through the Pd-Ag membrane is achieved by co-current flow of sweep gas through the permeation side. The length of first zone is chosen equal 35 cm which the optimization procedure obtained this value. The proposed model has been used to compare the performance of a two-zone thermally coupled membrane reactor (TZTCMR) with conventional reactor (CR) and TCMR at identical process conditions. The simulation results represent 13.14 % enhancement in the production of pure hydrogen in comparison with TCMR. Moreover, 2.96 and 4.54 % enhancement of the methanol productivity relative to TCMR and CR were seen, respectively, owing to utilizing higher temperature at the first parts of reactor for higher reaction rate and then reducing temperature gradually at the end parts of reactor for increasing thermodynamics equilibrium conversion in TZTCMR. (orig.)

A dense Pd/Ag membrane reactor for methanol steam reforming: Experimental study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Basile, A.; Gallucci, F.; Paturzo, L.

2005-01-01

This paper focuses on an experimental study of the methanol steam reforming (MSR) reaction. A dense Pd/Ag membrane reactor (MR) has been used, and its behaviour has been compared to the performance of a traditional reactor (TR) packed with the same catalyst type and amount. The parameters

Dry Reforming of Methane Using a Nickel Membrane Reactor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jonas M. Leimert

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Dry reforming is a very interesting process for synthesis gas generation from CH 4 and CO 2 but suffers from low hydrogen yields due to the reverse water–gas shift reaction (WGS. For this reason, membranes are often used for hydrogen separation, which in turn leads to coke formation at the process temperatures suitable for the membranes. To avoid these problems, this work shows the possibility of using nickel self-supported membranes for hydrogen separation at a temperature of 800 ∘ C. The higher temperature effectively suppresses coke formation. The paper features the analysis of the dry reforming reaction in a nickel membrane reactor without additional catalyst. The measurement campaign targeted coke formation and conversion of the methane feedstock. The nickel approximately 50% without hydrogen separation. The hydrogen removal led to an increase in methane conversion to 60–90%.

Membrane bio-reactor for textile wastewater treatment plant upgrading.

Science.gov (United States)

Lubello, C; Gori, R

2005-01-01

Textile industries carry out several fiber treatments using variable quantities of water, from five to forty times the fiber weight, and consequently generate large volumes of wastewater to be disposed of. Membrane Bio-reactors (MBRs) combine membrane technology with biological reactors for the treatment of wastewater: micro or ultrafiltration membranes are used for solid-liquid separation replacing the secondary settling of the traditional activated sludge system. This paper deals with the possibility of realizing a new section of one existing WWTP (activated sludge + clariflocculation + ozonation) for the treatment of treating textile wastewater to be recycled, equipped with an MBR (76 l/s as design capacity) and running in parallel with the existing one. During a 4-month experimental period, a pilot-scale MBR proved to be very effective for wastewater reclamation. On average, removal efficiency of the pilot plant (93% for COD, and over 99% for total suspended solids) was higher than the WWTP ones. Color was removed as in the WWTP. Anionic surfactants removal of pilot plant was lower than that of the WWTP (90.5 and 93.2% respectively), while the BiAS removal was higher in the pilot plant (98.2 vs. 97.1). At the end cost analysis of the proposed upgrade is reported.

Membrane support of accelerated fuel capsules for inertial fusion energy reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Petzoldt, R.W.; Moir, R.W.

1993-01-01

The use of a thin membrane to suspend an (inertial fusion energy) fuel capsule in a holder for injection into a reactor chamber is investigated. Capsule displacement and membrane deformation angle are calculated for an axisymmetric geometry for a range of membrane strain and capsule size. This information is used to calculate maximum target accelerations. Membranes must be thin (perhaps of order one micron) to minimize their effect on capsule implosion symmetry. For example, a 5 μm thick cryogenic mylar membrane is calculated to allow 1,000 m/s 2 acceleration of a 3 mm radius, 100 mg capsule. Vibration analysis (for a single membrane support) shows that if membrane vibration is not deliberately minimized, allowed acceleration may be reduced by a factor of four. A two membrane alternative geometry would allow several times greater acceleration. Therefore, alternative membrane geometry's should be used to provide greater target acceleration potential and reduce capsule displacement within the holder (for a given membrane thickness)

Anaerobic membrane bio-reactors for severe industrial effluents and urban spill waters : The AMBROSIUS project

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van Lier, J.B.; Ozgun, H.; Ersahin, M.E.; Dereli, R.K.

2013-01-01

With growing application experiences from aerobic membrane bioreactors, combination of membrane and anaerobic processes become more and more attractive and feasible. In anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBRs), biomass and particulate organic matter are physically retained inside the reactor,

Membrane assisted fluidized bed reactor: experimental demonstration for partial oxidation of methanol

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Deshmukh, S.A.R.K.

2004-01-01

In this thesis the reactor concept has been developed on the basis of an experimental study on the effect of fluidization conditions on the membrane permeation rate in a MAFBR, the extent of gas back mixing and the tube-to-bed heat transfer rates in the presence of membrane bundles with and without

Co-current and counter-current configurations for ethanol steam reforming in a dense Pd-Ag membrane reactor

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gallucci, F.; de Falco, M.; Tosti, S.; Marrelli, L; Basile, A.

2008-01-01

The ethanol steam-reforming reaction to produce pure hydrogen has been studied theoretically. A mathematical model has been formulated for a traditional system and a palladium membrane reactor packed with a Co-based catalyst and the simulation results related to the membrane reactor for both

Role of membranes and membrane reactors in the hydrogen supply of fuel cells for transports

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Julbe, A.; Guizard, Ch. [Institut Europeen des Membranes, UMII, Lab. des Materiaux et des Procedes Membranaires, CNRS UMR 5635, 34 - Montpellier (France)

2000-07-01

Production, storage and supply of high-purity hydrogen as a clean and efficient fuel is central to fuel cells technology, in particular in vehicle traction. Actually, technologies for handling liquefied or gaseous hydrogen in transports are not available so that a number of alternative fuels are considered with the aim of in-situ generation of hydrogen through catalytic processes. The integrated concept of membrane reactors (MRs) can greatly benefit to these technologies. Particular emphasis is put on inorganic membranes and their role in MRs performance for H{sub 2} production.

Coupling membrane pervaporation with a fixed-bed reactor for enhanced esterification of oleic acid with ethanol

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Han, Ying; Lv, Enmin; Ma, Lingling; Lu, Jie; Chen, Kexun; Ding, Jincheng

2015-01-01

Highlights: • The reactor coupling membrane pervaporation with a fixed-bed reactor was studied. • The factors effecting the esterification of oleic acid were investigated. • NaA zeolite membrane was used for dehydration in the coupled reactor. - Abstract: Process intensification through membrane pervaporation (PV) integrated with a fixed-bed reactor could be successfully applied to the esterification of oleic acid and ethanol, which is a crucial step in the biodiesel synthesis using waste oil and grease as resource. The properties of the NaA zeolite membrane such as structure, formulation and separation were investigated by scanning electronic microscopy–energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM–EDS), X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and PV dehydration. Results showed that the NaA zeolite membrane had good separating property for removing water from the organics mixture. The operating conditions were optimized as the ethanol to oleic acid molar ratio of 15:1, feedstock flow rate of 1.0 ml/min, reaction temperature of 80.0 °C and catalyst bed height of 132 mm. The final conversion of oleic acid increased from 84.23% to 87.18% by PV using the NaA zeolite membrane at 24.0 h of operation. The membrane showed good PV performance after used for eight successive runs in the PV-assisted esterification. The resin exhibited a much high catalytic activity and operation stability after used for 100 h in the consecutive single pass fixed-bed esterification.

Ion transport membrane reactor systems and methods for producing synthesis gas

Science.gov (United States)

Repasky, John Michael

2015-05-12

Embodiments of the present invention provide cost-effective systems and methods for producing a synthesis gas product using a steam reformer system and an ion transport membrane (ITM) reactor having multiple stages, without requiring inter-stage reactant injections. Embodiments of the present invention also provide techniques for compensating for membrane performance degradation and other changes in system operating conditions that negatively affect synthesis gas production.

Study of a dense metal membrane reactor for hydrogen separation from hydroiodic acid decomposition

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tosti, Silvano; Borelli, Rodolfo; Borgognoni, Fabio [ENEA, Dipartimento FPN, C.R. ENEA Frascati, Via E. Fermi 45, Frascati, Roma I-00044 (Italy); Favuzza, Paolo; Tarquini, Pietro [ENEA, Dipartimento TER, C.R. ENEA Casaccia, Via Anguillarese 301, Roma (Italy); Rizzello, Claudio [Tesi Sas, Via Bolzano 28, Roma (Italy)

2008-10-15

A membrane reactor has been studied for separating the hydrogen produced by the dissociation of hydroiodic acid in the thermochemical-sulfur iodine process. A dense metal membrane tube of wall thickness 0.250 mm has been considered in this analysis for hosting a fixed-bed catalyst: the selective separation of hydrogen from an azeotropic H{sub 2}O-HI mixture has been studied in the temperature range of 700-800 K. The materials being considered for the construction of the membrane tube are niobium and tantalum; as a matter of fact, the most commonly used Pd-Ag membranes cannot withstand the corrosive environment generated by the hydroiodic acid. The Damkohler-Peclet analysis has been used for designing the membrane reactor, while a finite element method has simulated its behaviour: the effect of the temperature and pressure on the HI conversion and hydrogen yield has been evaluated. (author)

Application of CO{sub 2} selective membrane reactors in pre-combustion decarbonisation systems for power production

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Steven C.A. Kluiters; Virginie C. Feuillade; Jan Wilco Dijkstra; Daniel Jansen; Wim G. Haije [Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN), Petten (Netherlands)

2006-07-01

For pre-combustion decarbonisation of fuels for large-scale power production or H{sub 2} generation both CO{sub 2} and H{sub 2} selective membranes are viable candidates for use in steam reforming and water gas shift membrane reactors. It will be shown that the choice between either option is not a matter of taste, but dictated by the fuel used and, to a lesser extent, the total system layout. Hydrotalcites, clay-like materials, are shown to be promising candidates as membrane material for low temperature, below 400{sup o}C, membrane shift reactors. 7 refs., 6 figs., 1 tab.

A study of the isobutane dehydrogenation in a porous membrane catalytic reactor: design, use and modelling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Casanave, D

1996-01-26

The aim of this study was to set up and model a catalytic fixed-bed membrane reactor for the isobutane dehydrogenation. The catalyst, developed at Catalysis Research Institute (IRC), was a silicalite-supported Pt-based catalyst. Their catalytic performances (activity, selectivity, stability) where found better adapted to the membrane reactor, when compared with commercial Pt or Cr based catalysts. The kinetic study of the reaction has been performed in a differential reactor and led to the determination of a kinetic law, suitable when the catalyst is used near thermodynamic equilibrium. The mass transfer mechanisms were determined in meso-porous and microporous membranes through both permeability and gas mixtures (iC{sub 4}/H{sub 2}/N{sub 2}) separation measurements. For the meso-porous {gamma}-alumina, the mass transfer is ensured by a Knudsen diffusion mechanism which can compete with surface diffusion for condensable gas like isobutane. The resulting permselectivity H{sub 2}/iC4 of this membrane is low ({approx} 4). For the microporous zeolite membrane, molecular sieving occurs due to steric hindrance, leading to higher permselectivity {approx}14. Catalyst/membrane associations were compared in terms of isobutane dehydrogenation performances, for both types of membranes (meso-porous and microporous) and for two different reactor configurations (co-current and counter-current sweep gas flow). The best experimental results were obtained with the zeolite membrane, when sweeping the outer compartment in a co-current flow. The equilibrium displacement observed with the {gamma}-alumina membrane was lower and mainly due to a dilution effect of the reaction mixture by the sweep gas. A mathematical model was developed, which correctly describes all the experimental results obtained with the zeolite membrane, when the co-current mode is used. (Abstract Truncated)

Carbon dioxide (hydrogen sulfide) membrane separations and WGS membrane reactor modeling for fuel cells

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Jin

Acid-gas removal is of great importance in many environmental or energy-related processes. Compared to current commercial technologies, membrane-based CO2 and H2S capture has the advantages of low energy consumption, low weight and space requirement, simplicity of installation/operation, and high process flexibility. However, the large-scale application of the membrane separation technology is limited by the relatively low transport properties. In this study, CO2 (H2S)-selective polymeric membranes with high permeability and high selectivity have been studied based on the facilitated transport mechanism. The membrane showed facilitated effect for both CO2 and H2S. A CO2 permeability of above 2000 Barrers, a CO2/H2 selectivity of greater than 40, and a CO2/N2 selectivity of greater than 200 at 100--150°C were observed. As a result of higher reaction rate and smaller diffusing compound, the H2S permeability and H2S/H2 selectivity were about three times higher than those properties for CO2. The novel CO2-selective membrane has been applied to capture CO 2 from flue gas and natural gas. In the CO2 capture experiments from a gas mixture with N2 and H2, a permeate CO 2 dry concentration of greater than 98% was obtained by using steam as the sweep gas. In CO2/CH4 separation, decent CO 2 transport properties were obtained with a feed pressure up to 500 psia. With the thin-film composite membrane structure, significant increase on the CO2 flux was achieved with the decrease of the selective layer thickness. With the continuous removal of CO2, CO2-selective water-gas-shift (WGS) membrane reactor is a promising approach to enhance CO conversion and increase the purity of H2 at process pressure under relatively low temperature. The simultaneous reaction and transport process in the countercurrent WGS membrane reactor was simulated by using a one-dimensional non-isothermal model. The modeling results show that a CO concentration of less than 10 ppm and a H2 recovery of greater

Mussel-inspired co-deposition to enhance bisphenol A removal in a bifacial enzymatic membrane reactor

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cao, Xiaotong; Luo, Jianquan; Woodley, John M.

2018-01-01

were used as the matrix to further exploit the potential of the biocatalytic membranes. such prepared biocatalytic membranes were enzymatically active on both sides, making it possible to construct a bifacial enzymatic membrane reactor (EMR) for highly efficient micro-pollutants removal (taking...

Balancing Near-Field Enhancement, Absorption, and Scattering for Effective Antenna-Reactor Plasmonic Photocatalysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Kun; Hogan, Nathaniel J; Kale, Matthew J; Halas, Naomi J; Nordlander, Peter; Christopher, Phillip

2017-06-14

Efficient photocatalysis requires multifunctional materials that absorb photons and generate energetic charge carriers at catalytic active sites to facilitate a desired chemical reaction. Antenna-reactor complexes are an emerging multifunctional photocatalytic structure where the strong, localized near field of the plasmonic metal nanoparticle (e.g., Ag) is coupled to the catalytic properties of the nonplasmonic metal nanoparticle (e.g., Pt) to enable chemical transformations. With an eye toward sustainable solar driven photocatalysis, we investigate how the structure of antenna-reactor complexes governs their photocatalytic activity in the light-limited regime, where all photons need to be effectively utilized. By synthesizing core@shell/satellite (Ag@SiO 2 /Pt) antenna-reactor complexes with varying Ag nanoparticle diameters and performing photocatalytic CO oxidation, we observed plasmon-enhanced photocatalysis only for antenna-reactor complexes with antenna components of intermediate sizes (25 and 50 nm). Optimal photocatalytic performance was shown to be determined by a balance between maximized local field enhancements at the catalytically active Pt surface, minimized collective scattering of photons out of the catalyst bed by the complexes, and minimal light absorption in the Ag nanoparticle antenna. These results elucidate the critical aspects of local field enhancement, light scattering, and absorption in plasmonic photocatalyst design, especially under light-limited illumination conditions.

Performance and membrane fouling of a step-fed submerged membrane sequencing batch reactor treating swine biogas digestion slurry.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Zhiying; Chen, Shixia; Lin, Xiaochang; Yu, Hongjun; Duan, Li'an; Ye, Zhangying; Jia, Yanbo; Zhu, Songming; Liu, Dezhao

2018-01-02

To identify the performance of step-fed submerged membrane sequencing batch reactor (SMSBR) treating swine biogas digestion slurry and to explore the correlation between microbial metabolites and membrane fouling within this novel reactor, a lab-scale step-fed SMSBR was operated under nitrogen loading rate of 0.026, 0.052 and 0.062 g NH 4 + -N (gVSS·d) -1 . Results show that the total removal efficiencies for NH 4 + -N, total nitrogen and chemical oxygen demand in the reactor (>94%, >89% and >97%, respectively) were high during the whole experiment. However, the cycle removal efficiency of NH 4 + -N decreased significantly when the nitrogen loading rate was increased to 0.062 g NH 4 + -N (gVSS·d) -1 . The total removal efficiency of total phosphorus in the step-fed SMSBR was generally higher than 75%, though large fluctuations were observed during the experiments. In addition, the concentrations of microbial metabolites, i.e., soluble microbial products (SMP) and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) from activated sludge increased as nitrogen loading rate increased, both showing quadratic equation correlations with viscosity of the mixed liquid in the step-fed SMSBR (both R 2 > 0.90). EPS content was higher than SMP content, while protein (PN) was detected as the main component in both SMP and EPS. EPS PN was found to be well correlated with transmembrane pressure, membrane flux and the total membrane fouling resistance. Furthermore, the three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy results suggested the tryptophan-like protein as one of the main contributors to the membrane fouling. Overall, this study showed that the step-fed SMSBR could be used to treat swine digestion slurry at nitrogen loading rate of 0.052 g NH 4 + -N (gVSS·d) -1 , and the control strategy of membrane fouling should be developed based on reducing the tryptophan-like PN in EPS.

Modeling and simulation of ammonia removal from purge gases of ammonia plants using a catalytic Pd-Ag membrane reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rahimpour, M.R.; Asgari, A.

2008-01-01

In this work, the removal of ammonia from synthesis purge gas of an ammonia plant has been investigated. Since the ammonia decomposition is thermodynamically limited, a membrane reactor is used for complete decomposition. A double pipe catalytic membrane reactor is used to remove ammonia from purge gas. The purge gas is flowing in the reaction side and is converted to hydrogen and nitrogen over nickel-alumina catalyst. The hydrogen is transferred through the Pd-Ag membrane of tube side to the shell side. A mathematical model including conservation of mass in the tube and shell side of reactor is proposed. The proposed model was solved numerically and the effects of different parameters on the rector performance were investigated. The effects of pressure, temperature, flow rate (sweep ratio), membrane thickness and reactor diameter have been investigated in the present study. Increasing ammonia conversion was observed by raising the temperature, sweep ratio and reducing membrane thickness. When the pressure increases, the decomposition is gone toward completion but, at low pressure the ammonia conversion in the outset of reactor is higher than other pressures, but complete destruction of the ammonia cannot be achieved. The proposed model can be used for design of an industrial catalytic membrane reactor for removal of ammonia from ammonia plant and reducing NO x emissions

Evaluation of in vitro absorption, decontamination and desorption of organophosphorous compounds from skin and synthetic membranes.

Science.gov (United States)

Mircioiu, Constantin; Voicu, Victor A; Ionescu, Mihaela; Miron, Dalia S; Radulescu, Flavian S; Nicolescu, Adrian C

2013-05-23

Chemical warfare agents, such as soman, and pesticides, such as chlorpyrifos, dichlorvos or malathion, are toxic organophosphorous compounds (OPCs) that are readily absorbed by the skin. Decontamination using solvents or surfactants may modify the cornified layer - the skin's main barrier against xenobiotic penetration. Thus, effective skin decontamination with fewer side effects is desired. We determined the membrane absorption, decontamination and desorption of toxic OPCs using human skin and synthetic membrane (cuprophane, cellulose acetate, methyl ethyl cellulose, acetophane and nylon) models, and estimated the efficacy of adsorptive powders (bentonite and magnesium trisilicate) at inhibiting this transfer. Using validated flow-through and static diffusion cell and HPLC methods, we found that the transfer of OPCs depends on their membrane affinity. The chlorpyrifos transfer decreased with a decrease in the membrane hydrophilicity, and that of malathion across hydrophilic membranes was less than half of that across hydrophobic membranes. We reliably modeled the toxicant transfer through the skin and synthetic membranes as first-order kinetic and/or square root law transfer processes, suggesting a potential application of synthetic membranes for predicting percutaneous absorption of OPCs. All tested adsorptive powders, applied either alone or as mixtures, significantly reduced the toxicant amount transferred across all membrane models, suggesting a potential therapeutic application with fewer later undesired effects on intact skin. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

THE INFLUENCE OF MIEX® RESIN FOR WATER TREATMENT EFFICIENCYIN A HYBRID MEMBRANE REACTOR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mariola Rajca

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The paper presents the results of studies related to the effectiveness of removal of natural organic matter (NOM from water using hybrid membrane reactor in which ion exchange and ultrafiltration processes were performed. MIEX® resin by Orica Watercare and immersed ultrafiltration polyvinylidene fluoride capillary module ZeeWeed 1 (ZW 1 by GE Power&Water operated at negative pressure were used. The application of multifunctional reactor had a positive effect on the removal of contaminants and enabled the production of high quality water. Additionally, in refer to single stage ultrafiltration it minimalized the occurrence of membrane fouling.

Micro-scale H2-CO2 dynamics in a hydrogenotrophic methanogenic membrane reactor

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Garcia-Robledo, Emilio; Ottosen, Lars Ditlev Mørck; Voigt, Niels Vinther

2016-01-01

Biogas production is a key factor in a sustainable energy supply. It is possible to get biogas with very high methane content if the biogas reactors are supplied with exogenous hydrogen, and one of the technologies for supplying hydrogen is through gas permeable membranes. In this study the activ......Biogas production is a key factor in a sustainable energy supply. It is possible to get biogas with very high methane content if the biogas reactors are supplied with exogenous hydrogen, and one of the technologies for supplying hydrogen is through gas permeable membranes. In this study...

Integrated gasification gas combined cycle plant with membrane reactors: Technological and economical analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Amelio, Mario; Morrone, Pietropaolo; Gallucci, Fausto; Basile, Angelo

2007-01-01

In the present work, the capture and storage of carbon dioxide from the fossil fuel power plant have been considered. The main objective was to analyze the thermodynamic performances and the technological aspects of two integrated gasification gas combined cycle plants (IGCC), as well as to give a forecast of the investment costs for the plants and the resulting energy consumptions. The first plant considered is an IGCC* plant (integrated gasification gas combined cycle plant with traditional shift reactors) characterized by the traditional water gas shift reactors and a CO 2 physical adsorption system followed by the power section. The second one is an IGCC M plant (integrated gasification gas combined cycle plant with membrane reactor) where the coal thermal input is the same as the first one, but the traditional shift reactors and the physical adsorption unit are replaced by catalytic palladium membrane reactors (CMR). In the present work, a mono-dimensional computational model of the membrane reactor was proposed to simulate and evaluate the capability of the IGCC M plant to capture carbon dioxide. The energetic performances, efficiency and net power of the IGCC* and IGCC M plants were, thus, compared, assuming as standard a traditional IGCC plant without carbon dioxide capture. The economical aspects of the three plants were compared through an economical analysis. Since the IGCC* and IGCC M plants have additional costs related to the capture and disposal of the carbon dioxide, a Carbon Tax (adopted in some countries like Sweden) proportional to the number of kilograms of carbon dioxide released in the environment was assumed. According to the economical analysis, the IGCC M plant proved to be more convenient than the IGCC* one

Absorption of Ethylene on Membranes Containing Potassium Permanganate Loaded into Alumina-Nanoparticle-Incorporated Alumina/Carbon Nanofibers.

Science.gov (United States)

Tirgar, Ashkan; Han, Daewoo; Steckl, Andrew J

2018-06-06

Ethylene is a natural aging hormone in plants, and controlling its concentration has long been a subject of research aimed at reducing wastage during packaging, transport, and storage. We report on packaging membranes, produced by electrospinning, that act as efficient carriers for potassium permanganate (PPM), a widely used ethylene oxidant. PPM salt loaded on membranes composed of alumina nanofibers incorporating alumina nanoparticles outperform other absorber systems and oxidize up to 73% of ethylene within 25 min. Membrane absorption of ethylene generated by avocados was totally quenched in 21 h, and a nearly zero ethylene concentration was observed for more than 5 days. By comparison, the control experiments exhibited a concentration of 53% of the initial value after 21 h and 31% on day 5. A high surface area of the alumina nanofiber membranes provides high capacity for ethylene absorption over a long period of time. In combination with other properties, such as planar form, flexibility, ease of handling, and lightweight, these membranes are a highly desirable component of packaging materials engineered to enhance product lifetime.

Ethanol steam reforming kinetics of a Pd-Ag membrane reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tosti, Silvano; Borelli, Rodolfo; Borgognoni, Fabio [ENEA, Dipartimento FPN, C.R. ENEA Frascati, Via E. Fermi 45, Frascati (RM) I-00044 (Italy); Basile, Angelo [Institute on Membrane Technology, ITM-CNR, c/o Univ. of Calabria, via P. Bucci, Cubo 17/C, 87030 Rende (CS) (Italy); Castelli, Stefano [ENEA, Dipartimento ACS, C.R. ENEA Casaccia, Via Anguillarese 301, Roma I-00123 (Italy); Fabbricino, Massimiliano; Licusati, Celeste [Dept. of Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering, Univ. of Naples Federico II, Via Claudio 21, Naples 80125 (Italy); Gallucci, Fausto [Fundamentals of Chemical Reaction Engineering Group, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Twente, Enschede (Netherlands)

2009-06-15

The ethanol steam reforming reaction carried out in a Pd-based tubular membrane reactor has been modelled via a finite element code. The model considers the membrane tube divided into finite volume elements where the mass balances for both lumen and shell sides are carried out accordingly to the reaction and permeation kinetics. Especially, a simplified ''power law'' has been applied for the reaction kinetics: the comparison with experimental data obtained by using three different kinds of catalyst (Ru, Pt and Ni based) permitted defining the coefficients of the kinetics expression as well as to validate the model. Based on the Damkohler-Peclet analysis, the optimization of the membrane reformer has been also approached. (author)

Degradation of Reactive Black 5 dye using anaerobic/aerobic membrane bioreactor (MBR) and photochemical membrane reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

You, Sheng-Jie; Damodar, Rahul A.; Hou, Sheng-Chon

2010-01-01

Three different types of advance treatment methods were evaluated for the degradation of Reactive Black 5 (RB5). The performance of two stage anaerobic SBR-aerobic MBR, anaerobic MBR with immobilized and suspended biocells and an integrated membrane photocatalytic reactor (MPR) using slurry UV/TiO 2 system were investigated. The results suggest that, nearly 99.9% color removal and 80-95% organic COD and TOC removal can be achieved using different reactor systems. Considering the Taiwan EPA effluent standard discharge criteria for COD/TOC, the degree of treatment achieved by combining the anaerobic-aerobic system was found to be acceptable. Anew, Bacilluscereus, high color removal bacterium was isolated from Anaerobic SBR. Furthermore, when this immobilized into PVA-calcium alginate pellets, and suspended in the anaerobic MBR was able to achieve high removal efficiencies, similar to the suspended biocells system. However, the immobilized cell Anaerobic MBR was found to be more advantageous, due to lower fouling rates in the membrane unit. Results from slurry type MPR system showed that this system was capable of mineralizing RB5 dyes with faster degradation rate as compared to other systems. The reactor was also able to separate the catalyst effectively and perform efficiently without much loss of catalyst activity.

Theoretical Study of Palladium Membrane Reactor Performance During Propane Dehydrogenation Using CFD Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kamran Ghasemzadeh

2017-04-01

Full Text Available This study presents a 2D-axisymmetric computational fluid dynamic (CFD model to investigate the performance Pd membrane reactor (MR during propane dehydrogenation process for hydrogen production. The proposed CFD model provided the local information of temperature and component concentration for the driving force analysis. After investigation of mesh independency of CFD model, the validation of CFD model results was carried out by other modeling data and a good agreement between CFD model results and theoretical data was achieved. Indeed, in the present model, a tubular reactor with length of 150 mm was considered, in which the Pt-Sn-K/Al2O3 as catalyst were filled in reaction zone. Hence, the effects of the important operating parameter (reaction temperature on the performances of membrane reactor (MR were studied in terms of propane conversion and hydrogen yield. The CFD results showed that the suggested MR system during propane dehydrogenation reaction presents higher performance with respect to once obtained in the conventional reactor (CR. In particular, by applying Pd membrane, was found that propane conversion can be increased from 41% to 49%. Moreover, the highest value of propane conversion (X = 91% was reached in case of Pd-Ag MR. It was also established that the feed flow rate of the MR is to be the one of the most important factors defining efficiency of the propane dehydrogenation process.

Oxygen transport membrane reactor based method and system for generating electric power

Science.gov (United States)

Kelly, Sean M.; Chakravarti, Shrikar; Li, Juan

2017-02-07

A carbon capture enabled system and method for generating electric power and/or fuel from methane containing sources using oxygen transport membranes by first converting the methane containing feed gas into a high pressure synthesis gas. Then, in one configuration the synthesis gas is combusted in oxy-combustion mode in oxygen transport membranes based boiler reactor operating at a pressure at least twice that of ambient pressure and the heat generated heats steam in thermally coupled steam generation tubes within the boiler reactor; the steam is expanded in steam turbine to generate power; and the carbon dioxide rich effluent leaving the boiler reactor is processed to isolate carbon. In another configuration the synthesis gas is further treated in a gas conditioning system configured for carbon capture in a pre-combustion mode using water gas shift reactors and acid gas removal units to produce hydrogen or hydrogen-rich fuel gas that fuels an integrated gas turbine and steam turbine system to generate power. The disclosed method and system can also be adapted to integrate with coal gasification systems to produce power from both coal and methane containing sources with greater than 90% carbon isolation.

Modelling and sequential simulation of multi-tubular metallic membrane and techno-economics of a hydrogen production process employing thin-layer membrane reactor

KAUST Repository

Shafiee, Alireza

2016-09-24

A theoretical model for multi-tubular palladium-based membrane is proposed in this paper and validated against experimental data for two different sized membrane modules that operate at high temperatures. The model is used in a sequential simulation format to describe and analyse pure hydrogen and hydrogen binary mixture separations, and then extended to simulate an industrial scale membrane unit. This model is used as a sub-routine within an ASPEN Plus model to simulate a membrane reactor in a steam reforming hydrogen production plant. A techno-economic analysis is then conducted using the validated model for a plant producing 300 TPD of hydrogen. The plant utilises a thin (2.5 μm) defect-free and selective layer (Pd75Ag25 alloy) membrane reactor. The economic sensitivity analysis results show usefulness in finding the optimum operating condition that achieves minimum hydrogen production cost at break-even point. A hydrogen production cost of 1.98 $/kg is estimated while the cost of the thin-layer selective membrane is found to constitute 29% of total process capital cost. These results indicate the competiveness of this thin-layer membrane process against conventional methods of hydrogen production. © 2016 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC

A reverse flow catalytic membrane reactor for the production of syngas: an experimental study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smit, J.; Bekink, G.J.; van Sint Annaland, M.; Kuipers, J.A.M.

2005-01-01

In this paper experimental results are presented for a demonstration unit of a recently proposed novel integrated reactor concept (Smit et. al., 2005) for the partial oxidation of natural gas to syngas (POM), namely a Reverse Flow Catalytic Membrane Reactor (RFCMR). Natural gas has great potential

Novel Composite Hydrogen-Permeable Membranes for Nonthermal Plasma Reactors for the Decomposition of Hydrogen Sulfide

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Morris Argyle; John Ackerman; Suresh Muknahallipatna; Jerry Hamann; Stanislaw Legowski; Gui-Bing Zhao; Sanil John; Ji-Jun Zhang; Linna Wang

2007-09-30

The goal of this experimental project was to design and fabricate a reactor and membrane test cell to dissociate hydrogen sulfide (H{sub 2}S) in a nonthermal plasma and to recover hydrogen (H{sub 2}) through a superpermeable multi-layer membrane. Superpermeability of hydrogen atoms (H) has been reported by some researchers using membranes made of Group V transition metals (niobium, tantalum, vanadium, and their alloys), but it was not achieved at the moderate pressure conditions used in this study. However, H{sub 2}S was successfully decomposed at energy efficiencies higher than any other reports for the high H{sub 2}S concentration and moderate pressures (corresponding to high reactor throughputs) used in this study.

Approaching total absorption of graphene strips using a c-Si subwavelength periodic membrane

Science.gov (United States)

Sang, Tian; Wang, Rui; Li, Junlang; Zhou, Jianyu; Wang, Yueke

2018-04-01

Approaching total absorption of graphene strips at near infrared using a crystalline-silicon (c-Si) subwavelength periodic membrane (SPM) is presented. The absorption in graphene strips in a c-Si SPM is enhanced by a resonant tip, which is resulted from the coupling between the guided mode and the radiation mode through symmetry breaking of the structure at near-normal incidence. The enhancement of the electric field intensity is increased 1939 times and the group velocity of light is decreased to 3.55 ×10-4c at resonance, and 99.3% absorption in graphene strips can be achieved by critical coupling at the incident angle of 2°. High absorption of the graphene strips can be maintained as the etching thickness, the strip width, and the period are altered. When this type of c-Si SPM with graphene strips is used in refractive index sensors, it shows excellent sensing properties due to its stable near-unity absorption.

A catalytically membrane reactor for fast, highly exothermic, heterogeneous gas reactions : a pilot plant study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Veldsink, J.W.; Veldsink, J.W.; Versteeg, Geert; van Swaaij, Willibrordus Petrus Maria

1995-01-01

Membrane reactors have been frequently studied because of their ability to combine chemical activity and separation properties into one device. Due to their thermal stability and mechanical strength, ceramic membranes are preferred over polymeric ones, but small transmembrane fluxes obstruct a

Use of a parallel artificial membrane system to evaluate passive absorption and elimination in small fish.

Science.gov (United States)

Kwon, Jung-Hwan; Katz, Lynn E; Liljestrand, Howard M

2006-12-01

A parallel artificial lipid membrane system was developed to mimic passive mass transfer of hydrophobic organic chemicals in fish. In this physical model system, a membrane filter-supported lipid bilayer separates two aqueous phases that represent the external and internal aqueous environments of fish. To predict bioconcentration kinetics in small fish with this system, literature absorption and elimination rates were analyzed with an allometric diffusion model to quantify the mass transfer resistances in the aqueous and lipid phases of fish. The effect of the aqueous phase mass transfer resistance was controlled by adjusting stirring intensity to mimic bioconcentration rates in small fish. Twenty-three simple aromatic hydrocarbons were chosen as model compounds for purposes of evaluation. For most of the selected chemicals, literature absorption/elimination rates fall into the range predicted from measured membrane permeabilities and elimination rates of the selected chemicals determined by the diffusion model system.

Catalytic combustion of propane in a membrane reactor with separate feed of reactants—I. Operation in absence of trans-membrane pressure gradients

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Saracco, Guido; Veldsink, Jan Willem; Versteeg, Geert F.; Swaaij, Wim P.M. van

1995-01-01

A pilot plant study on propane catalytic combustion in a membrane reactor with separate reactant feeds is presented. The membrane consisted of a porous alumina tube activated by insertion into its pores of a Pt/γ-Al2O3 catalyst. The role of reactants concentration and of the feed flow rates were

Experimental evaluation of methane dry reforming process on a membrane reactor to hydrogen production

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Silva, Fabiano S.A.; Benachour, Mohand; Abreu, Cesar A.M. [Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE), Recife, PE (Brazil). Dept. of Chemical Engineering], Email: f.aruda@yahoo.com.br

2010-07-01

In a fixed bed membrane reactor evaluations of methane-carbon dioxide reforming over a Ni/{gamma}- Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} catalyst were performed at 773 K, 823 K and 873 K. A to convert natural gas into syngas a fixed-bed reactor associate with a selective membrane was employed, where the operating procedures allowed to shift the chemical equilibrium of the reaction in the direction of the products of the process. Operations under hydrogen permeation, at 873 K, promoted the increase of methane conversion, circa 83%, and doubled the yield of hydrogen production, when compared with operations where no hydrogen permeation occurred. (author)

Oxygen distribution in packed-bed membrane reactors for partial oxidations: effect of the radial porosity profiles on the product selectivity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kurten, U.; van Sint Annaland, M.; Kuipers, J.A.M.

2004-01-01

A two-dimensional, pseudohomogeneous reactor model was presented to describe the radial and axial concentration profiles in a packed-bed membrane reactor and the local velocity field while accounting for the influences due to the distributive membrane flow and the radial porosity profile. The effect

The effect of gas permeation through vertical membranes on chemical switching reforming (CSR) reactor performance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wassie, S.A.; Gallucci, F.; Cloete, S.; Zaabout, A.; van Sint Annaland, M.; Amini, S.

2016-01-01

A novel membrane assisted fluidized bed reactor concept has been proposed for ultra-pure hydrogen production with integrated CO2 capture from steam methane reforming. The so-called Chemical Switching Reactor (CSR) concept combines the use of an oxygen carrier for supplying heat and catalysing the

Enhancing the production of hydrogen via water-gas shift reaction using Pd-based membrane reactors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mendes, Diogo; Chibante, Vania; Mendes, Adelio; Madeira, Luis M. [LEPAE, Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto (Portugal); Zheng, Ju-Meng [Dutch Separation Technology Institute (DSTI), 3800 AE Amersfoort (Netherlands); Tosti, Silvano; Borgognoni, Fabio [ENEA, Unita Tecnica Fusione, C.R. ENEA Frascati, Via E. Fermi 45, Frascati (RM) I-00044 (Italy)

2010-11-15

In this work, it is described an experimental study regarding the performance of a Pd-Ag membrane reactor recently proposed and suitable for the production of ultra-pure hydrogen. A dense metallic permeator tube was assembled by an innovative annealing and diffusion welding technique from a commercial flat sheet membrane of Pd-Ag. A ''finger-like'' configuration of the self-supported membrane has been designed and used as a packed-bed membrane reactor (MR) for producing ultra-pure hydrogen via water-gas shift reaction (WGS). A CuO/ZnO/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} catalyst, from REB Research and Consulting, was used for packing the WGS membrane reactor. The performance of the reactor was evaluated in terms of CO conversion and H{sub 2} recovery in a wide range of conditions: temperature from 200 C to 300 C, feed pressure from 1.0 bar to 4.0 bar, vacuum and sweep-gas modes and with a simulated reformate feed (4.70% CO, 34.78% H{sub 2}O, 28.70% H{sub 2}, 10.16% CO{sub 2} balanced in N{sub 2}). Also, the effect of the reactants feed composition was investigated and discussed. CO conversions remained in most conditions above the thermodynamic equilibrium based on feed conditions. In particular, it is worth mentioning that around 100% of CO conversion and almost complete H{sub 2} recovery was achieved when operating the MR at 300 C with a GSHV = 1200 L{sub N} kg{sub cat}{sup -1} h{sup -1}, P{sub feed} = 4 bar, P{sub perm} = 3 bar and using 1000 mL{sub N} min{sup -1} of sweep-gas. (author)

Les réacteurs à membranes : possibilités d'application dans l'industrie pétrolière et pétrochimique Membrane Reactors: Possibilities of Application in the Petroleum and Petrochemical Industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guy C.

2006-11-01

Full Text Available Cet article fait le point sur l'état de la recherche dans le domaine des réacteurs chimiques avec séparation par membrane intégrée et de leur applications dans le domaine du raffinage et de la pétrochimie. Trois applications potentiellement intéressantes sont identifiées et, pour chacune, les avantages de l'utilisation d'un réacteur à membrane sont discutés. Ce sont : la déshydrogénation du propane en propylène, la déshydrogénation d'un naphtène cyclohexanique et le vaporéformage du gaz naturel. Pour ces réactions, les membranes à base de palladium apparaissent les plus performantes compte tenu de leur tenue en température, de leur sélectivité et de leur perméabilité à l'hydrogène. Quelques éléments relatifs à leur développement sont présentés en conclusion. Recently, the use of membrane in reaction engineering has been more and more advocated. The selective separation of the products from the reaction mixture allows to achieve higher conversion or better selectivity or to operate under less severe conditions or with smaller units. This paper presents an update on the recent advances in the field of chemical membrane reactors and on their applications in refining and petrochemistry. Previous work. Most of the possible applications of membrane reactors in petroleum and petrochemical industry concern gaseous catalytic reactions. For this reason, gas permeation membranes are the primary component of membrane reactors. Gas permeation membranes present different types of physical structure : dense, microporous or asymmetric which is a combination of the two. Separating properties of dense membranes are function of the solubility and diffusivity of each gaseous component in the membrane material. For microporous membranes, they follow four mechanisms : Knudsen diffusion, surface diffusion, capillary condensation or molecular sieving. Although organic polymers are the common constituent of gas permeation membrane, their

A novel ion transport membrane reactor for fundamental investigations of oxygen permeation and oxy-combustion under reactive flow conditions

KAUST Repository

Kirchen, Patrick

2013-01-01

Ion transport membrane (ITM) reactors present an attractive technology for combined air separation and fuel conversion in applications such as syngas production, oxidative coupling or oxy-combustion, with the promise of lower capital and operating costs, as well higher product selectivities than traditional technologies. The oxygen permeation rate through a given ITM is defined by the membrane temperature and oxygen chemical potential difference across it. Both of these parameters can be strongly influenced by thermochemical reactions occurring in the vicinity of the membrane, though in the literature they are often characterized in terms of the well mixed product stream at the reactor exit. This work presents the development of a novel ITM reactor for the fundamental investigation of the coupling between fuel conversion and oxygen permeation under well defined fluid dynamic and thermodynamic conditions, including provisions for spatially resolved, in-situ investigations. A planar, finite gap stagnation flow reactor with optical and probe access to the reaction zone is used to facilitate in-situ measurements and cross-validation with detailed numerical simulations. Using this novel reactor, baseline measurements are presented to elucidate the impact of the sweep gas fuel (CH4) fraction on the oxygen permeation and fuel conversion. In addition, the difference between well-mixed gas compositions measured at the reactor outlet and those measured in the vicinity of the membrane surface are discussed, demonstrating the unique utility of the reactor. © 2012 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Different Structures of PVA Nanofibrous Membrane for Sound Absorption Application

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jana Mohrova

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The thin nanofibrous layer has different properties in the field of sound absorption in comparison with porous fibrous material which works on a principle of friction of air particles in contact with walls of pores. In case of the thin nanofibrous layer, which represents a sound absorber here, the energy of sonic waves is absorbed by the principle of membrane resonance. The structure of the membrane can play an important role in the process of converting the sonic energy to a different energy type. The vibration system acts differently depending on the presence of smooth fibers in the structure, amount of partly merged fibers, or structure of polymer foil as extreme. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA was used as a polymer because of its good water solubility. It is possible to influence the structure of nanofibrous layer during the production process thanks to this property of polyvinyl alcohol.

Carbon-coated ceramic membrane reactor for the production of hydrogen by aqueous-phase reforming of sorbitol.

Science.gov (United States)

Neira D'Angelo, M F; Ordomsky, V; Schouten, J C; van der Schaaf, J; Nijhuis, T A

2014-07-01

Hydrogen was produced by aqueous-phase reforming (APR) of sorbitol in a carbon-on-alumina tubular membrane reactor (4 nm pore size, 7 cm long, 3 mm internal diameter) that allows the hydrogen gas to permeate to the shell side, whereas the liquid remains in the tube side. The hydrophobic nature of the membrane serves to avoid water loss and to minimize the interaction between the ceramic support and water, thus reducing the risks of membrane degradation upon operation. The permeation of hydrogen is dominated by the diffusivity of the hydrogen in water. Thus, higher operation temperatures result in an increase of the flux of hydrogen. The differential pressure has a negative effect on the flux of hydrogen due to the presence of liquid in the larger pores. The membrane was suitable for use in APR, and yielded 2.5 times more hydrogen than a reference reactor (with no membrane). Removal of hydrogen through the membrane assists in the reaction by preventing its consumption in undesired reactions. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Process for extracting residual heat and device for the ultimate absorption of heat for nuclear reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bernard, Lawrence Jr.

1980-01-01

This invention concerns a 'heat sink' or device for the ultimate absorption of heat for electric power stations using the most widespread thermal neutron nuclear reactors, namely 'light water' reactors such as boiling or pressurized water reactors. The residual heat given off by these reactors can be safely extracted with this method by using dry cooling. However, the invention does not concern the problems arising from the cooling of the steam used for actuating the steam turbine nor the cooling of the steam exhausted by the turbine or coming from it, but it does concern the 'safety' part of the nuclear power station in which the residual heat discharged in the reactor is controlled and dissipated [fr

The production of hydrogen through the use of a 77 wt% Pd 23 wt% Ag membrane water gas shift reactor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liberty N. Baloyi

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Hydrogen as an energy carrier has the potential to decarbonize the energy sector. This work presents the application of a palladium-silver (Pd–Ag membrane-based reactor. The membrane reactor which is made from Pd–Ag film supported by porous stainless steel (PSS is evaluated for the production of hydrogen and the potential replacement of the current two-stage Water-Gas Shift (WGS reaction by a single stage reaction. The permeability of a 20 μm Pd–Ag membrane reactor was examined at 320 °C, 380 °C and 430 °C. The effect of continuous hydrogen exposure on the Pd–Ag membrane at high temperature and low temperature was examined to investigate the thermal stability and durability of the membrane. During continuous operation to determine thermal stability, the membrane reactor exhibited stable hydrogen permeation at 320 °C for 120 h and unstable hydrogen permeation at 430 °C was observed. For the WGS reaction, the reactor was loaded with Ferrochrome catalyst. The membrane showed the ability to produce high purity hydrogen, with a CO conversion and an H2 recovery of 84% and 88%, respectively. The membrane suffered from hydrogen embrittlement due to desorption and adsorption of hydrogen on the membrane surface. SEM analysis revealed cracks that occurred on the surface of the membrane after hydrogen exposure. XRD analysis revealed lattice expansion after hydrogen loading which suggests the occurrence of phase change from α-phase to the more brittle β-phase.

Definition of validated membrane reactor model for 5 kW power output CHP system for different natural gas compositions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Di Marcoberardino, Gioele; Gallucci, Fausto; Manzolini, Giampaolo; van Sint Annaland, Martin

2016-01-01

Over the last years, many studies focused on the development of membrane reactors for micro-cogeneration systems based on PEM fuel cells, thanks to its unique feature of separating pure hydrogen. This work deals with (i) the design of a fluidized bed membrane reactor flexible towards different

Food industrial wastewater reuse by membrane bio-reactor

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Patthanant Natpinit

2007-11-01

Full Text Available The objective of this investigation was to study the possibility and performance of treating food industrial wastewater by Membrane BioReactor (MBR. In addition, the effluent of MBR was treated by Reverse Osmosis system (RO to reuse in boiler or cooling tower. The membranes of hollow fiber type were filled in the aerobic tank with aerobe bacteria. The total area of membrane 6 units was 630 m2 so the flux of the operation was 0.25 m/d or 150 m3/d. The spiral wound RO was operated at 100 m3/d of influent and received 72 m3/d of permeate. The sludge volume (MLSS of MBR was maintained at 8,000-10,000 mg/l. The average COD and SS of MBR influent were 600 mg/l and 300 mg/l respectively. After treating by MBR, COD and SS of effluent were maintained at less than 100 mg/l and less than 10 mg/l respectively. In the same way, COD and SS of RO permeate were less than 10 mg/l and less than 5 mg/l respectively.

A Catalytically Active Membrane Reactor for Fast, Highly Exothermic, Heterogeneous Gas Reactions. A Pilot Plant Study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Veldsink, Jan W.; Versteeg, Geert F.; Swaaij, Wim P.M. van

1995-01-01

Membrane reactors have been frequently studied because of their ability to combine chemical activity and separation properties into one device. Due to their thermal stability and mechanical strength, ceramic membranes are preferred over polymeric ones, but small transmembrane fluxes obstruct a

Phospholipase C-catalyzed sphingomyelin hydrolysis in a membrane reactor for ceramide production

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhang, Long; Liang, Shanshan; Hellgren, Lars

2008-01-01

A membrane reactor for the production of ceramide through sphingomyelin hydrolysis with phospholipase C from Clostridium perfringens was studied for the first time. Ceramide has raised a large interest as an active component in both pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry. The enzymatic hydrolysis...

Nuclear Track-Etched Pore Membrane Production Using OAEP's Research Reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chittrakarn, Thawat; Bhongsuwan, Tripob; Wanichapichart, Pikul; Nuanuin, Paiboon; Chongkum, Somporn; Khonduangkaew, Areerat; Bordeepong, Sunaree

2003-10-01

Result of this study shows that the OAEP's nuclear research reactor is a good source of both fast and thermal neutrons for pore piercing process on polycarbonate thin film. With our experimental design, the fast neutron provides better results in pore piercing comparing with thermal neutron bombardment. This can be explained that most of the latent tracks that occur by thermal neutron bombardment do not piercing through the thin film. Chemical etching process using NaOH solution with an appropriated time, concentration and temperature was employed to enlarge the latent tracks in the bombarded film by fast neutrons. Fast neutron bombardment with 5, 10 and 20 minutes bombarding time successfully produces the nuclear track membrane. Pore size and pore density of the produced membranes examined by SEM were 0.24-1.01 μm and 4.67 - 245 x 10 6 pore/cm 2 , respectively. Bubble point test showed the maximum pore diameter of the produced membrane ranged between 1.18 - 3.25 μm. Water permeability was studied and compared between the produced and commercial membranes

Catalytic membrane reactors for tritium recovery from tritiated water in the ITER fuel cycle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tosti, S.; Violante, V.; Basile, A.; Chiappetta, G.; Castelli, S.; De Francesco, M.; Scaglione, S.; Sarto, F.

2000-01-01

Palladium and palladium-silver permeators have been obtained by coating porous ceramic tubes with a thin metal layer. Three coating techniques have been studied and characterized: chemical electroless deposition (PdAg film thickness of 10 μm), ion sputtering (about 1 μm) and rolling of thin metal sheets (50 μm). The Pd-ceramic membranes have been used for manufacturing catalytic membrane reactors (CMR) for hydrogen and its isotopes recovering and purifying. These composite membranes and the CMR have been studied and developed for a closed-loop process with reference to the design requirements of the international thermonuclear experimental reactor (ITER) blanket tritium recovery system in the enhanced performance phase of operation. The membranes and CMR have been tested in a pilot plant equipped with temperature, pressure and flow-rate on-line measuring and controlling devices. The conversion value for the water gas shift reaction in the CMR has been measured close to 100% (always above the equilibrium one, 80% at 350 deg. C): the effect of the membrane is very clear since the reaction is moved towards the products because of the continuous hydrogen separation. The rolled thin film membranes have separated the hydrogen from other gases with a complete selectivity and exhibited a slightly larger mass transfer resistance with respect to the electroless membranes. Preliminary tests on the sputtered membranes have also been carried out with a promising performance. Considerations on the use of different palladium alloy in order to improve the performances of the membranes in terms of permeation flux and mechanical strength, such as palladium/yttrium, are also reported

Techno-economic assessment of membrane assisted fluidized bed reactors for pure H_2 production with CO_2 capture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Spallina, V.; Pandolfo, D.; Battistella, A.; Romano, M.C.; Van Sint Annaland, M.; Gallucci, F.

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Membrane reactors improve the overall efficiency of H_2 production up to 20%. • Respect to conventional reforming, the H_2 yield increases from 12% to 20%. • The COH is reduced of at least 220% using membrane reactors. • FBMR capture 72% of CO_2 with a specific cost of 8 eur/tonn_C_O_2_. • MA-CLR can reach 90% of CO_2 avoided with same cost of FTR. - Abstract: This paper addresses the techno-economic assessment of two membrane-based technologies for H_2 production from natural gas, fully integrated with CO_2 capture. In the first configuration, a fluidized bed membrane reactor (FBMR) is integrated in the H_2 plant: the natural gas reacts with steam in the catalytic bed and H_2 is simultaneously separated using Pd-based membranes, and the heat of reaction is provided to the system by feeding air as reactive sweep gas in part of the membranes and by burning part of the permeated H_2 (in order to avoid CO_2 emissions for heat supply). In the second system, named membrane assisted chemical looping reforming (MA-CLR), natural gas is converted in the fuel rector by reaction with steam and an oxygen carrier (chemical looping reforming), and the produced H_2 permeates through the membranes. The oxygen carrier is re-oxidized in a separate air reactor with air, which also provides the heat required for the endothermic reactions in the fuel reactor. The plants are optimized by varying the operating conditions of the reactors such as temperature, pressures (both at feed and permeate side), steam-to-carbon ratio and the heat recovery configuration. The plant design is carried out using Aspen Simulation, while the novel reactor concepts have been designed and their performance have been studied with a dedicated phenomenological model in Matlab. Both configurations have been designed and compared with reference technologies for H_2 production based on conventional fired tubular reforming (FTR) with and without CO_2 capture. The results of the analysis show

Effect of Feed Gas Flow Rate on CO2 Absorption through Super Hydrophobic Hollow Fiber membrane Contactor

Science.gov (United States)

Kartohardjono, Sutrasno; Alexander, Kevin; Larasati, Annisa; Sihombing, Ivander Christian

2018-03-01

Carbon dioxide is pollutant in natural gas that could reduce the heating value of the natural gas and cause problem in transportation due to corrosive to the pipeline. This study aims to evaluate the effects of feed gas flow rate on CO2 absorption through super hydrophobic hollow fiber contactor. Polyethyleneglycol-300 (PEG-300) solution was used as absorbent in this study, whilst the feed gas used in the experiment was a mixture of 30% CO2 and 70% CH4. There are three super hydrophobic hollow fiber contactors sized 6 cm and 25 cm in diameter and length used in this study, which consists of 1000, 3000 and 5000 fibers, respectively. The super hydrophobic fiber membrane used is polypropylene-based with outer and inner diameter of about 525 and 235 μm, respectively. In the experiments, the feed gas was sent through the shell side of the membrane contactor, whilst the absorbent solution was pumped through the lumen fibers. The experimental results showed that the mass transfer coefficient, flux, absorption efficiency for CO2-N2 system and CO2 loading increased with the feed gas flow rate, but the absorption efficiency for CO2-N2 system decreased. The mass transfer coefficient and the flux, at the same feed gas flow rate, decreased with the number of fibers in the membrane contactor, but the CO2 absorption efficiency and the CO2 loading increased.

Methane-steam reforming by molten salt - membrane reactor using concentrated solar thermal energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Watanuki, K.; Nakajima, H.; Hasegawa, N.; Kaneko, H.; Tamaura, Y.

2006-01-01

By utilization of concentrated solar thermal energy for steam reforming of natural gas, which is an endothermic reaction, the chemical energy of natural gas can be up-graded. The chemical system for steam reforming of natural gas with concentrated solar thermal energy was studied to produce hydrogen by using the thermal storage with molten salt and the membrane reactor. The original steam reforming module with hydrogen permeable palladium membrane was developed and fabricated. Steam reforming of methane proceeded with the original module with palladium membrane below the decomposition temperature of molten salt (around 870 K). (authors)

Catalysts with Cerium in a Membrane Reactor for the Removal of Formaldehyde Pollutant from Water Effluents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mirella Gutiérrez-Arzaluz

2016-05-01

Full Text Available We report the synthesis of cerium oxide, cobalt oxide, mixed cerium, and cobalt oxides and a Ce–Co/Al2O3 membrane, which are employed as catalysts for the catalytic wet oxidation (CWO reaction process and the removal of formaldehyde from industrial effluents. Formaldehyde is present in numerous waste streams from the chemical industry in a concentration low enough to make its recovery not economically justified but high enough to create an environmental hazard. Common biological degradation methods do not work for formaldehyde, a highly toxic but refractory, low biodegradability substance. The CWO reaction is a recent, promising alternative that also permits much lower temperature and pressure conditions than other oxidation processes, resulting in economic benefits. The CWO reaction employing Ce- and Co-containing catalysts was carried out inside a slurry batch reactor and a membrane reactor. Experimental results are reported. Next, a mixed Ce–Co oxide film was supported on an γ-alumina membrane used in a catalytic membrane reactor to compare formaldehyde removal between both types of systems. Catalytic materials with cerium and with a relatively large amount of cerium favored the transformation of formaldehyde. Cerium was present as cerianite in the catalytic materials, as indicated by X-ray diffraction patterns.

A dense cell retention culture system using stirred ceramic membrane reactor.

Science.gov (United States)

Suzuki, T; Sato, T; Kominami, M

1994-11-20

A novel reactor design incorporating porous ceramic tubes into a stirred jar fermentor was developed. The stirred ceramic membrane reactor has two ceramic tubular membrane units inside the vessel and maintains high filtration flux by alternating use for filtering and recovering from clogging. Each filter unit was linked for both extraction of culture broth and gas sparging. High permeability was maintained for long periods by applying the periodical control between filtering and air sparging during the stirred retention culture of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The ceramic filter aeration system increased the k(L)a to about five times that of ordinary gas sparing. Using the automatic feeding and filtering system, cell mass concentration reached 207 g/L in a short time, while it was 64 g/L in a fed-batch culture. More than 99% of the growing cells were retained in the fermentor by the filtering culture. Both yield and productivity of cells were also increased by controlling the feeding of fresh medium and filtering the supernatant of the dense cells culture. (c) 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Development and process optimization of an enzyme membrane reactor for lactose hydrolysis. Entwicklung und verfahrenstechnische Optimierung eines Enzym-Membranreaktors fuer die Hydrolyse von Laktose

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Czermak, P

1990-01-01

The development and process optimization up to the production stage of a vapour sterilizable hollow-fiber membrane reactor for dialysis is illustrated by the example of enzymatic hydrolysis of lactose. The expected conversion efficiency of the membrane reactor is a function of the mass transfer resistance and by the deviations from the defined hydrodynamic status. The transport/reaction behaviour of membrane reactors is therefore described by a model for real reactors which takes account of the non-linear kinetics of the native enzyme, the real mixing conditions inside the reactor, and the mass transfer through the membrane. A coupled numerical solution is used for the calculations. The reaction kinetics, the mass transfer inside the membrane, the hydrodynamics and the conversion rate are determined experimentally. The model can calculate important design data from selected data of the reaction system. Measurements of conversion rates show that the results obtained with real substances, e.g. milk, are well compatible with the model calculations. (orig.) With 85 figs., 25 tabs.

Potentiality of a ceramic membrane reactor for the laccase-catalyzed removal of bisphenol A from secondary effluents.

Science.gov (United States)

Arca-Ramos, A; Eibes, G; Feijoo, G; Lema, J M; Moreira, M T

2015-11-01

In this study, the removal of bisphenol A (BPA) by laccase in a continuous enzymatic membrane reactor (EMR) was investigated. The effects of key parameters, namely, type of laccase, pH, and enzyme activity, were initially evaluated. Once optimal conditions were determined, the continuous removal of the pollutant in an EMR was assessed in synthetic and real biologically treated wastewaters. The reactor configuration consisted of a stirred tank reactor coupled to a ceramic membrane, which prevented the sorption of the pollutant and allowed the recovery and recycling of laccase. Nearly complete removal of BPA was attained under both operation regimes with removal yields above 94.5 %. In experiments with real wastewater, the removal of BPA remained high while the presence of colloids and certain ions and the formation of precipitates on the membrane potentially affected enzyme stability and made necessary the periodic addition of laccase. Polymerization and degradation were observed as probable mechanisms of BPA transformation by laccase.

The characteristics of extracellular polymeric substances and soluble microbial products in moving bed biofilm reactor-membrane bioreactor.

Science.gov (United States)

Duan, Liang; Jiang, Wei; Song, Yonghui; Xia, Siqing; Hermanowicz, Slawomir W

2013-11-01

The characteristics of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and soluble microbial products (SMP) in conventional membrane bioreactor (MBR) and in moving bed biofilm reactor-membrane bioreactors (MBBR-MBR) were investigated in long-term (170 days) experiments. The results showed that all reactors had high removal efficiency of ammonium and COD, despite very different fouling conditions. The MBBR-MBR with media fill ratio of 26.7% had much lower total membrane resistance and no obvious fouling were detected during the whole operation. In contrast, MBR and MBBR-MBR with lower and higher media fill experienced more significant fouling. Low fouling at optimum fill ratio may be due to the higher percentage of small molecular size (100 kDa) of EPS and SMP in the reactor. The composition of EPS and SMP affected fouling due to different O-H bonds in hydroxyl functional groups, and less polysaccharides and lipids. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Application of carbon-coated TiO2 for decomposition of methylene blue in a photocatalytic membrane reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mozia, Sylwia; Toyoda, Masahiro; Inagaki, Michio; Tryba, Beata; Morawski, Antoni W.

2007-01-01

An application of carbon-coated TiO 2 for decomposition of methylene blue (MB) in a photocatalytic membrane reactor (PMR), coupling photocatalysis and direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) was investigated. Moreover, photodegradation of a model pollutant in a batch reactor without membrane distillation (MD) was also examined. Carbon-modified TiO 2 catalysts containing different amount of carbon and commercially available TiO 2 (ST-01) were used in this study. The carbon-coated catalyst prepared from a mixture of ST-01 and polyvinyl alcohol in the mass ratio of 70/30 was the most effective in degradation of MB from all of the photocatalysts applied. Photodecomposition of MB on the recovered photocatalysts was lower than on the fresh ones. The photodegradation of MB in the PMR was slower than in the batch reactor, what probably resulted from shorter time of exposure of the catalyst particles to UV irradiation. The MD process could be successfully applied for separation of photocatalyst and by-products from the feed solution

Performance of integrated bioelectrochemical membrane reactor: Energy recovery, pollutant removal and membrane fouling alleviation

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, Yue; He, Weihua; Li, Chao; Liang, Dandan; Qu, Youpeng; Han, Xiaoyu; Feng, Yujie

2018-04-01

A novel hybrid bioelectrochemical membrane reactor with integrated microfiltration membrane as the separator between electrodes is developed for domestic wastewater treatment. After accumulation of biofilm, the organic pollutants are mainly degraded in anodic compartment, and microfiltration membrane blocks the adverse leakage of dissolved oxygen from aerated cathodic compartment. The maximum system power output is restricted by gas-water ratio following a Monod-like relationship. Within the tested gas-water ratios ranging from 0.6 to 42.9, the half-saturation constant (KQ) is 5.9 ± 0.9 with a theoretic maximum power density of 20.4 ± 1.0 W m-3. Energy balance analysis indicates an appropriate gas-water ratio regulation (from 2.3 to 28.6) for cathodic compartment is necessary to obtain positive energy output for the system. A maximum net electricity output is 9.09 × 10-3 kWh m-3 with gas-water ratio of 17.1. Notably, the system achieves the chemical oxygen demand removal of 98.3 ± 0.3%, ammonia nitrogen removal of 99.6 ± 0.1%, and total nitrogen removal of 80.0 ± 0.9%. This work verifies an effective integration of microfiltration membrane into bioelectrochemical system as separator for high-quality effluent and provides an insight into the operation and regulation of biocathode system for effective electrical energy output.

Effect of Mass-Transport Limitations on the Performance of a Packed Bed Membrane Reactor for Partial Oxidations. Transport from the Membrane to the Packed Bed

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Sint Annaland, M.; Kurten, U.; Kuipers, J.A.M.

2007-01-01

With a packed bed membrane reactor, the product yield can be significantly enhanced for partial oxidation systems, via distributive addition of oxygen to the reaction mixture along the axial coordinate of the reactor, provided that the reaction order in oxygen of the formation rate of the target

Effect of mass-transport limitations on the performance of a packed bed membrane reactor for partial oxidations. Transport from the membrane to the packed bed

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sint Annaland, van M.; Kurten, U.; Kuipers, J.A.M.

2007-01-01

With a packed bed membrane reactor, the product yield can be significantly enhanced for partial oxidation systems, via distributive addition of oxygen to the reaction mixture along the axial coordinate of the reactor, provided that the reaction order in oxygen of the formation rate of the target

Reverse-Bumpy-Ball-Type-Nanoreactor-Loaded Nylon Membranes as Peroxidase-Mimic Membrane Reactors for a Colorimetric Assay for H₂O₂.

Science.gov (United States)

Tong, Ying; Jiao, Xiangyu; Yang, Hankun; Wen, Yongqiang; Su, Lei; Zhang, Xueji

2016-04-01

Herein we report for the first time fabrication of reverse bumpy ball (RBB)-type-nanoreactor-based flexible peroxidase-mimic membrane reactors (MRs). The RBB-type nanoreactors with gold nanoparticles embedded in the inner walls of carbon shells were loaded on nylon membranes through a facile filtration approach. The as-prepared flexible catalytic membrane was studied as a peroxidase-mimic MR. It was found that the obtained peroxidase-mimic MR could exhibit several advantages over natural enzymes, such as facile and good recyclability, long-term stability and easy storage. Moreover, the RBB NS-modified nylon MRs as a peroxidase mimic provide a useful colorimetric assay for H₂O₂.

Directing filtration to narrow molecular weight distribution of oligodextran in an enzymatic membrane reactor

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Su, Ziran; Luo, Jianquan; Pinelo, Manuel

2018-01-01

) should be minimized to reduce accumulation of large oligodextran molecules on the membrane surface, which might diffuse through the membrane and thus broaden the Mw distribution of the products in the permeate. Both dextranase and dextran caused membrane irreversible fouling. The fouling caused...... product, hypersaline wastewater discharge and potential safety hazards. In this work, a novel enzymatic membrane reactor (EMR) system to produce oligodextran is proposed, whereby in-situ product recovery can be manipulated to control the Mw distribution of the resulting products. Results showed...... that the membrane material played an important role in the permeate flux and transmission of oligodextran. Among the tested membranes, a 20kDa polyethersulfone (PES) membrane was found to be optimal for building up the EMR, as it successfully controlled the oligodextran Mw within the desired range with a relatively...

Total Absorption Spectroscopy of Fission Fragments Relevant for Reactor Antineutrino Spectra and Decay Heat Calculations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Porta A.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Beta decay of fission products is at the origin of decay heat and antineutrino emission in nuclear reactors. Decay heat represents about 7% of the reactor power during operation and strongly impacts reactor safety. Reactor antineutrino detection is used in several fundamental neutrino physics experiments and it can also be used for reactor monitoring and non-proliferation purposes. 92,93Rb are two fission products of importance in reactor antineutrino spectra and decay heat, but their β-decay properties are not well known. New measurements of 92,93Rb β-decay properties have been performed at the IGISOL facility (Jyväskylä, Finland using Total Absorption Spectroscopy (TAS. TAS is complementary to techniques based on Germanium detectors. It implies the use of a calorimeter to measure the total gamma intensity de-exciting each level in the daughter nucleus providing a direct measurement of the beta feeding. In these proceedings we present preliminary results for 93Rb, our measured beta feedings for 92Rb and we show the impact of these results on reactor antineutrino spectra and decay heat calculations.

Potentialities of a Membrane Reactor with Laccase Grafted Membranes for the Enzymatic Degradation of Phenolic Compounds in Water

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vorleak Chea

2014-10-01

Full Text Available This paper describes the degradation of phenolic compounds by laccases from Trametes versicolor in an enzymatic membrane reactor (EMR. The enzymatic membranes were prepared by grafting laccase on a gelatine layer previously deposited onto α-alumina tubular membranes. The 2,6-dimethoxyphenol (DMP was selected  from among the three different phenolic compounds tested (guaiacol, 4-chlorophenol and DMP to study the performance of the EMR in dead end configuration. At the lowest feed substrate concentration tested (100 mg·L−1, consumption increased with flux (up to 7.9 × 103 mg·h−1·m−2 at 128 L·h−1·m−2, whereas at the highest substrate concentration (500 mg·L−1, it was shown that the reaction was limited by the oxygen content.

WATER-GAS SHIFT KINETICS OVER IRON OXIDE CATALYSTS AT MEMBRANE REACTOR CONDITIONS; A

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carl R.F. Lund

2001-01-01

This report covers the second year of a project investigating water-gas shift catalysts for use in membrane reactors. It has been established that a simple iron high temperature shift catalyst becomes ineffective in a membrane reactor because the reaction rate is severely inhibited by the build-up of the product CO(sub 2). During the past year, an improved microkinetic model for water-gas shift over iron oxide was developed. Its principal advantage over prior models is that it displays the correct asymptotic behavior at all temperatures and pressures as the composition approaches equilibrium. This model has been used to explore whether it might be possible to improve the performance of iron high temperature shift catalysts under conditions of high CO(sub 2) partial pressure. The model predicts that weakening the surface oxygen bond strength by less than 5% should lead to higher catalytic activity as well as resistance to rate inhibition at higher CO(sub 2) partial pressures. Two promoted iron high temperature shift catalysts were studied. Ceria and copper were each studied as promoters since there were indications in the literature that they might weaken the surface oxygen bond strength. Ceria was found to be ineffective as a promoter, but preliminary results with copper promoted FeCr high temperature shift catalyst show it to be much more resistant to rate inhibition by high levels of CO(sub 2). Finally, the performance of sulfided CoMo/Al(sub 2)O(sub 3) catalysts under conditions of high CO(sub 2) partial pressure was simulated using an available microkinetic model for water-gas shift over this catalyst. The model suggests that this catalyst might be quite effective in a medium temperature water-gas shift membrane reactor, provided that the membrane was resistant to the H(sub 2)S that is required in the feed

The role of promoters for Ni catalysts in low temperature (membrane) steam methane reforming

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ligthart, D.A.J.M.; Pieterse, J.A.Z.; Hensen, E.J.M.

2011-01-01

In the search for active and stable Ni-based catalysts for steam methane reforming in membrane reactors, the effect of three different promoters La, B and Rh was compared. Promoted and unpromoted Ni catalysts were characterized by TEM, TPR and X-ray absorption spectroscopy. The average Ni particle

Adlayers of palladium particles and their aggregates on porous polypropylene hollow fiber membranes as hydrogenization contractors/reactors

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Volkov, V.V.; Lebedeva, V.I.; Petrova, I.V.; Bobyl, A.V.; Konnikov, S.G.; Roldughin, V.I.; Erkel, J. van; Tereshchenko, G.F.

2011-01-01

Principal approaches for the preparation of catalytic membrane reactors based on polymer membranes containing palladium nanoparticles and for the description of their characteristics are presented. The method for the development of adlayers composed of palladium nanoparticles and their aggregates on

Lipase kinetics: hydrolysis of triacetin by lipase from Candida cylindracea in a hollow-fiber membrane reactor

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Guit, R.P.M.; Kloosterman, M.; Meindersma, G.W.; Mayer, M.; Meijer, E.M.

1991-01-01

The aptitude of a hollow-fiber membrane reactor to det. lipase kinetics was investigated using the hydrolysis of triacetin catalyzed by lipase from C. cylindracea as a model system. The binding of the lipase to the membrane appears not to be very specific (surface adsorption), and probably its

Production of hydrogen from bio-ethanol in catalytic membrane reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gernot, E.; Aupretre, F.; Deschamps, A.; Etievant, C.; Epron, F.; Marecot, P.; Duprez, D.

2006-01-01

Production of hydrogen from renewable energy sources offers a great potential for CO 2 emission reduction, responsible for global warming. Among renewable energies, liquid biofuels are very convenient hydrogen carriers for decentralized applications such as micro-cogeneration and transports. Ethanol, produced from sugar plants and cereals, allows a reduction of more than 60% of CO 2 emissions in comparison to gasoline. BIOSTAR is an R and D project, co-funded by the French Agency for Environment and Energy Management (ADEME) which aims at developing an efficient source of hydrogen from bio-ethanol, suitable for proton exchange membrane fuel cell systems. The objectives are to obtain, through catalytic process at medium temperature range, an efficient conversion of bio-ethanol into pure hydrogen directly usable for PEMFC. CETH has developed a catalytic membrane reformer (CMR), based on a patented technology, integrating a steam reforming catalyst as well as a combustion catalyst. Both catalysts have been developed and optimized for membrane reactor in partnership with the University of Poitiers. The composite metallic membrane developed by CETH allows hydrogen extraction near the hydrogen production sites, which enhances both efficiency and compactness. (authors)

Numerical simulation of ion transport membrane reactors: Oxygen permeation and transport and fuel conversion

KAUST Repository

Hong, Jongsup; Kirchen, Patrick; Ghoniem, Ahmed F.

2012-01-01

Ion transport membrane (ITM) based reactors have been suggested as a novel technology for several applications including fuel reforming and oxy-fuel combustion, which integrates air separation and fuel conversion while reducing complexity

Testing of a 7-tube palladium membrane reactor for potential use in TEP

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carlson, Bryan J.; Trujillo, Stephen; Willms, R. Scott

2010-01-01

A Palladium Membrane Reactor (PMR) consists of a palladium/silver membrane permeator filled with catalyst (catalyst may be inside or outside the membrane tubes). The PMR is designed to recover tritium from the methane, water, and other impurities present in fusion reactor effluent. A key feature of a PMR is that the total hydrogen isotope content of a stream is significantly reduced as (1) methane-steam reforming and/or water-gas shift reactions proceed on the catalyst bed and (2) hydrogen isotopes are removed via permeation through the membrane. With a PMR design matched to processing requirements, nearly complete hydrogen isotope removals can be achieved. A 3-tube PMR study was recently completed. From the results presented in this study, it was possible to conclude that a PMR is appropriate for TEP, perforated metal tube protectors function well, platinum on aluminum (PtA) catalyst performs the best, conditioning with air is probably required to properly condition the Pd/Ag tubes, and that CO/CO 2 ratios maybe an indicator of coking. The 3-tube PMR had a permeator membrane area of 0.0247 m 2 and a catalyst volume to membrane area ratio of 4.63 cc/cm 2 (with the catalyst on the outside of the membrane tubes and the catalyst only covering the membrane tube length). A PMR for TEP will require a larger membrane area (perhaps 0.35 m 2 ). With this in mind, an intermediate sized PMR was constructed. This PMR has 7 permeator tubes and a total membrane area of 0.0851 m 2 . The catalyst volume to membrane area ratio for the 7-tube PMR was 5.18 cc/cm 2 . The total membrane area of the 7-tube PMR (0.0851 m 2 ) is 3.45 times larger than total membrane area of the 3-tube PMR (0.0247 m 2 ). The following objectives were identified for the 7-tube PMR tests: (1) Refine test measurements, especially humidity and flow; (2) Refine maintenance procedures for Pd/Ag tube conditioning; (3) Evaluate baseline PMR operating conditions; (4) Determine PMR scaling method; (5) Evaluate PMR

Different Structures of PVA Nano fibrous Membrane for Sound Absorption Application

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mohrova, J.; Kalinova, K.

2012-01-01

The thin nano fibrous layer has different properties in the field of sound absorption in comparison with porous fibrous material which works on a principle of friction of air particles in contact with walls of pores. In case of the thin nano fibrous layer, which represents a sound absorber here, the energy of sonic waves is absorbed by the principle of membrane resonance. The structure of the membrane can play an important role in the process of converting the sonic energy to a different energy type. The vibration system acts differently depending on the presence of smooth fibers in the structure, amount of partly merged fibers, or structure of polymer foil as extreme. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) was used as a polymer because of its good water solubility. It is possible to influence the structure of nano fibrous layer during the production process thanks to this property of polyvinyl alcohol.

Integrated Water Gas Shift Membrane Reactors Utilizing Novel, Non Precious Metal Mixed Matrix Membrane

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ferraris, John P. [Univ. of Texas-Dallas, Richardson, TX (United States). Dept. of Chemistry

2013-09-30

Nanoparticles of zeolitic imidazolate frameworks and other related hybrid materials were prepared by modifying published synthesis procedures by introducing bases, changing stoichiometric ratios, or adjusting reaction conditions. These materials were stable at temperatures >300 °C and were compatible with the polymer matrices used to prepare mixed- matrix membranes (MMMs). MMMs tested at 300 °C exhibited a >30 fold increase in permeability, compared to those measured at 35 °C, while maintaining H₂/CO₂ selectivity. Measurements at high pressure (up to 30 atm) and high temperature (up to 300 °C) resulted in an increase in gas flux across the membrane with retention of selectivity. No variations in permeability were observed at high pressures at either 35 or 300 °C. CO₂-induced plasticization was not observed for Matrimid®, VTEC, and PBI polymers or their MMMs at 30 atm and 300 °C. Membrane surface modification by cross-linking with ethanol diamine resulted in an increase in H₂/CO₂ selectivity at 35 °C. Spectrometric analysis showed that the cross-linking was effective to temperatures <150 °C. At higher temperatures, the cross-linked membranes exhibit a H₂/CO₂ selectivity similar to the uncross-linked polymer. Performance of the polybenzimidazole (PBI) hollow fibers prepared at Santa Fe Science and Technology (SFST, Inc.) showed increased flux and selectivity at 300 °C, which is comparable to a flat PBI membrane. A water-gas shift reactor has been built and currently being optimized for testing under DOE conditions.

Autotrophic Nitrogen Removal in a Membrane-Aerated Biofilm Reactor Under Continuous Aeration: A Demonstration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gilmore, Kevin R.; Terada, Akihiko; Smets, Barth F.

2013-01-01

This work describes the successful coupling of partial nitrification (nitritation) and anaerobic ammonium oxidation in a membrane-aerated biofilm reactor (MABR) with continuous aeration. Controlling the relative surface loadings of oxygen versus ammonium prevented complete nitrite oxidation and a...

A theoretical analysis of methanol synthesis from CO2 and H2 in a ceramic membrane reactor

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gallucci, F.; Basile, A.

2007-01-01

In this theoretical work the CO2 conversion into methanol in both a traditional reactor (TR) and a membrane reactor (MR) is considered. The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility of increasing CO2 conversion into methanol with respect to a TR. A zeolite MR, able to combine

Influence of geometrical and operational parameters on the performance of porous catalytic membrane reactors

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Aran, H.C.; Klooster, H.J.G.; Jani, J.M.; Wessling, Matthias; Lefferts, Leonardus; Lammertink, Rob G.H.

2012-01-01

In this study, porous membrane reactors with various characteristic length (inner diameter), controllable catalyst support thickness, active catalyst surface area and tunable wetting properties are described for heterogeneously catalyzed gas¿liquid¿solid (G¿L¿S) reactions. We developed porous

Sequentially aerated membrane biofilm reactors for autotrophic nitrogen removal: microbial community composition and dynamics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pellicer i Nàcher, Carles; Franck, Stephanie; Gülay, Arda

2014-01-01

Membrane-aerated biofilm reactors performing autotrophic nitrogen removal can be successfully applied to treat concentrated nitrogen streams. However, their process performance is seriously hampered by the growth of nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB). In this work we document how sequential aeration...

High-purity fatty acid methyl ester production from canola, soybean, palm, and yellow grease lipids by means of a membrane reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cao Peigang; Dube, Marc A.; Tremblay, Andre Y.

2008-01-01

High-purity fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) was produced from different lipids, such as soybean oil, canola oil, a hydrogenated palm oil/palm oil blend, yellow grease, and brown grease, combined with methanol using a continuous membrane reactor. The membrane reactor combines reaction and separation in a single unit, provides continuous mixing of raw materials, and maintains a high molar ratio of methanol to lipid in the reaction loop while maintaining two phases during the reaction. It was demonstrated that the membrane reactor can be operated using a very broad range of feedstocks at highly similar operating conditions to produce FAME. The total glycerine and free glycerine contents of the FAME produced were below the ASTM D6751 standard after a single reaction step. Under essentially the same reaction conditions, a conventional batch reaction was not able to achieve the same degree of FAME purity. The effect of the fatty acid composition of the lipid feedstocks on the FAME purity was also shown. It was demonstrated that, due to the fatty acid composition, FAME from virgin soybean oil and virgin canola oil was produced in the membrane reactor within ASTM specifications even without a water washing step

CFD modelling of a membrane reactor for hydrogen production from ammonia

Science.gov (United States)

Shwe Hla, San; Dolan, Michael D.

2018-01-01

Despite the growing use of hydrogen (H2) as a transport fuel, one of the major barriers still remaining is efficient and inexpensive fuel distribution and storage. Current approaches, such as compression, liquefaction or metal hydride formation, incur a significant energy penalty. Ammonia (NH3) has long been considered a prospective H2 medium, exhibiting a higher volumetric H2 density than liquid H2, through liquid-phase storage at mild pressure. Decomposition of NH3 into H2 and N2 can be achieved via use of catalytic reactors and fuel-cell-grade H2 can be produced using metal membranes at H2 distribution sites.In this study, a 3-Dimensional (3D) Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model has been developed to understand the performance of the H2 separation process in gas mixtures derived from an NH3-cracking reaction. The reactor consists of 19 tubular membrane tubes, each 470 mm long, inside a tubular shell with an inner diameter of 130 mm. Standard transport and energy equations governing a 3D, pressure-based, steady-state model were derived from the laws of conservation of mass, momentum and energy. The governing equations were solved using commercial CFD software ANSYS Fluent 18.0. Gas flow and mixing were modelled by the two-equation standard k-epsilon model for closure. Coupled solver was used for pressure-velocity coupling, enabling a pseudo-transient option with pseudo time steps of 0.01 s. To estimate H2 permeation through the metal membrane, a constant H2 permeability of 3.0E-07 mol.m-1 s-1 Pa-0.5 derived from series of experiments tested under a range of industrial conditions, was used. Model simulations were conducted for an adiabatic temperature of 300 °C, a feed-side pressure of 7.8 bara and a permeate side pressure of 0.1 bara. A parametric analysis was carried out to explore the effects of variation in total feed-gas flow and effects of changes in NH3-cracking efficiency on H2 production rates and H2 yields. The model estimated that 4.6-11.6 kg H2

Azo dye removal in a membrane-free up-flow biocatalyzed electrolysis reactor coupled with an aerobic bio-contact oxidation reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cui, Dan; Guo, Yu-Qi; Cheng, Hao-Yi; Liang, Bin; Kong, Fan-Ying; Lee, Hyung-Sool; Wang, Ai-Jie

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► A membrane-free up-flow biocatalyzed electrolysis reactor coupled with an aerobic bio-contact oxidation reactor was developed. ► Alizarin Yellow R as the mode of azo dyes was efficiently converted to p-phenylenediamine (PPD) and 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA). ► PPD and 5-ASA were further oxidized in a bio-contact oxidation reactor. ► The mechanism of UBER for azo dye removal was discussed. - Abstract: Azo dyes that consist of a large quantity of dye wastewater are toxic and persistent to biodegradation, while they should be removed before being discharged to water body. In this study, Alizarin Yellow R (AYR) as a model azo dye was decolorized in a combined bio-system of membrane-free, continuous up-flow bio-catalyzed electrolysis reactor (UBER) and subsequent aerobic bio-contact oxidation reactor (ABOR). With the supply of external power source 0.5 V in the UBER, AYR decolorization efficiency increased up to 94.8 ± 1.5%. Products formation efficiencies of p-phenylenediamine (PPD) and 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) were above 90% and 60%, respectively. Electron recovery efficiency based on AYR removal in cathode zone was nearly 100% at HRTs longer than 6 h. Relatively high concentration of AYR accumulated at higher AYR loading rates (>780 g m −3 d −1 ) likely inhibited acetate oxidation of anode-respiring bacteria on the anode, which decreased current density in the UBER; optimal AYR loading rate for the UBER was 680 g m −3 d −1 (HRT 2.5 h). The subsequent ABOR further improved effluent quality. Overall the Chroma decreased from 320 times to 80 times in the combined bio-system to meet the textile wastewater discharge standard II in China.

Azo dye removal in a membrane-free up-flow biocatalyzed electrolysis reactor coupled with an aerobic bio-contact oxidation reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cui, Dan; Guo, Yu-Qi; Cheng, Hao-Yi; Liang, Bin; Kong, Fan-Ying [State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, No. 202 Haihe Road, Harbin 150090 (China); Lee, Hyung-Sool [Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1 (Canada); Wang, Ai-Jie, E-mail: waj0578@hit.edu.cn [State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, No. 202 Haihe Road, Harbin 150090 (China)

2012-11-15

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer A membrane-free up-flow biocatalyzed electrolysis reactor coupled with an aerobic bio-contact oxidation reactor was developed. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Alizarin Yellow R as the mode of azo dyes was efficiently converted to p-phenylenediamine (PPD) and 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA). Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer PPD and 5-ASA were further oxidized in a bio-contact oxidation reactor. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The mechanism of UBER for azo dye removal was discussed. - Abstract: Azo dyes that consist of a large quantity of dye wastewater are toxic and persistent to biodegradation, while they should be removed before being discharged to water body. In this study, Alizarin Yellow R (AYR) as a model azo dye was decolorized in a combined bio-system of membrane-free, continuous up-flow bio-catalyzed electrolysis reactor (UBER) and subsequent aerobic bio-contact oxidation reactor (ABOR). With the supply of external power source 0.5 V in the UBER, AYR decolorization efficiency increased up to 94.8 {+-} 1.5%. Products formation efficiencies of p-phenylenediamine (PPD) and 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) were above 90% and 60%, respectively. Electron recovery efficiency based on AYR removal in cathode zone was nearly 100% at HRTs longer than 6 h. Relatively high concentration of AYR accumulated at higher AYR loading rates (>780 g m{sup -3} d{sup -1}) likely inhibited acetate oxidation of anode-respiring bacteria on the anode, which decreased current density in the UBER; optimal AYR loading rate for the UBER was 680 g m{sup -3} d{sup -1} (HRT 2.5 h). The subsequent ABOR further improved effluent quality. Overall the Chroma decreased from 320 times to 80 times in the combined bio-system to meet the textile wastewater discharge standard II in China.

Hydrogenation of Maltose in Catalytic Membrane Reactor for Maltitol Production

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Makertihartha I.G.B.N.

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Maltitol is one of the low-calorie sweeteners which has a major role in food industries. Due to its characteristics of comparable sweetness level to sucrose, maltitol can be a suitable sugar replacement. In this work, catalytic membrane reactor (CMR was examined in maltitol production through hydrogenation of maltose. Commercial ceramic membrane impregnated with Kalcat 8030 Nickel was used as the CMR. The reaction was conducted at a batch mode operation, 95 to 110°C of temperature, and 5 to 8 bar of pressure. In the range of working conditions used in this study, up to 47% conversion was achieved. The reaction conversion was significantly affected by temperature and pressure. Results of this preliminary study indicated that CMR can be used for hydrogenation of maltose with good performance under a relatively low operating pressure.

Electrochemical membrane reactor: In situ separation and recovery of chromic acid and metal ions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khan, Jeeshan; Tripathi, Bijay P.; Saxena, Arunima; Shahi, Vinod K.

2007-01-01

An electrochemical membrane reactor with three compartments (anolyte, catholyte and central compartment) based on in-house-prepared cation- and anion-exchange membrane was developed to achieve in situ separation and recovery of chromic acid and metal ions. The physicochemical and electrochemical properties of the ion-exchange membrane under standard operating conditions reveal its suitability for the proposed reactor. Experiments using synthetic solutions of chromate and dichromate of different concentrations were carried out to study the feasibility of the process. Electrochemical reactions occurring at the cathode and anode under operating conditions are proposed. It was observed that metal ion migrated through the cation-exchange membrane from central compartment to catholyte and OH - formation at the cathode leads to the formation of metal hydroxide. Simultaneously, chromate ion migrated through the anion-exchange membrane from central compartment to the anolyte and formed chromic acid by combining H + produced their by oxidative water splitting. Thus a continuous decay in the concentration of chromate and metal ion was observed in the central compartment, which was recovered separately in the anolyte and catholyte, respectively, from their mixed solution. This process was completely optimized in terms of operating conditions such as initial concentration of chromate and metal ions in the central compartment, the applied cell voltage, chromate and metal ion flux, recovery percentage, energy consumption, and current efficiency. It was concluded that chromic acid and metal ions can be recovered efficiently from their mixed solution leaving behind the uncharged organics and can be reused as their corresponding acid and base apart from the purifying water for further applications

System design study of a membrane reforming hydrogen production plant using a small sized sodium cooled reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chikazawa, Y.; Konomura, M.; Hori, T.; Sato, H.; Uchida, S.

2004-01-01

In this study, a membrane reforming hydrogen production plant using a small sized sodium cooled reactor was designed as one of promising concepts. In the membrane reformer, methane and steam are reformed into carbon dioxide and hydrogen with sodium heat at a temperature 500 deg-C. In the equilibrium condition, steam reforming proceeds with catalyst at a temperature more than 800 deg-C. Using membrane reformers, the steam reforming temperature can be decreased from 800 to 500 deg-C because the hydrogen separation membrane removes hydrogen selectively from catalyst area and the partial pressure of hydrogen is kept much lower than equilibrium condition. In this study, a hydrogen and electric co-production plant has been designed. The reactor thermal output is 375 MW and 25% of the thermal output is used for hydrogen production (70000 Nm 3 /h). The hydrogen production cost is estimated to 21 yen/Nm 3 but it is still higher than the economical goal (17 yen/Nm 3 ). The major reason of the high cost comes from the large size of hydrogen separation reformers because of the limit of hydrogen separation efficiency of palladium membrane. A new highly efficient hydrogen separation membrane is needed to reduce the cost of hydrogen production using membrane reformers. There is possibility of multi-tube failure in the membrane reformers. In future study, a design of measures against tube failure and elemental experiments of reaction between sodium and reforming gas will be needed. (authors)

Development of a membrane-assisted fluidized bed reactor - 2 - Experimental demonstration and modeling for the partial oxidation of methanol

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Deshmukh, S.A.R.K.; Laverman, J.A.; van Sint Annaland, M.; Kuipers, J.A.M.

2005-01-01

A small laboratory-scale membrane-assisted fluidized bed reactor (MAFBR) was constructed in order to experimentally demonstrate the reactor concept for the partial oxidation of methanol to formaldehyde. Methanol conversion and product selectivities were measured at various overall fluidization

Membrane-aerated biofilm reactor for the removal of 1,2-dichloroethane by Pseudomonas sp strain DCA1

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hage, J.C.; Houten, R.T.; Tramper, J.; Hartmans, S.

2004-01-01

A membrane-aerated biofilm reactor (MBR) with a biofilm of Pseudomonas sp. strain DCA1 was studied for the removal of 1,2-dichloroethane (DCA) from water. A hydrophobic membrane was used to create a barrier between the liquid and the gas phase. Inoculation of the MBR with cells of strain DCA1 grown

Modelling and sequential simulation of multi-tubular metallic membrane and techno-economics of a hydrogen production process employing thin-layer membrane reactor

KAUST Repository

Shafiee, Alireza; Arab, Mobin; Lai, Zhiping; Liu, Zongwen; Abbas, Ali

2016-01-01

reforming hydrogen production plant. A techno-economic analysis is then conducted using the validated model for a plant producing 300 TPD of hydrogen. The plant utilises a thin (2.5 μm) defect-free and selective layer (Pd75Ag25 alloy) membrane reactor

Production of Biodiesel Using a Membrane Reactor to Minimize Separation Cost

Science.gov (United States)

Olagunju, O. A.; Musonge, P.

2017-07-01

This study investigates the performance of a packed bed membrane reactor in the transesterification process of triglycerides to methyl ester using soyabean oil as feedstock. A TiO2/Al2O3 ceramic microporous membrane was selected due to its chemical inert nature and thermal stability to selectively remove the product from the reaction medium. CaO impregnated on the surface of activated carbon was packed into the membrane and acted as catalyst. The synthesized catalyst had a total loading of 40.50 % and was characterized by XRD and temperature-programmed desorption of CO2 (CO2-TPD). The crude biodiesel produced was micro-filtered by the ceramic membrane with a pore size of 0.02 μm to retain the unreacted oil and free glycerol, at the transmembrane pressure of 100 KPa. The best condition was achieved with a temperature of 65 °C, methanol/oil molar ratio of 6:1 for 150 minutes, which resulted in the highest FAME yield of 94 %. Methyl ester produced met the ASTM D6751 and SANS 1935 specifications. The product obtained was mainly composed of methyl esters. Glycerol was not detected in the product stream due to the ability of the membrane to retain the glycerol and the unreacted oil in the medium, which solved the issue of glycerol separation from biodiesel.

Experimental, kinetic and numerical modeling of hydrogen production by catalytic reforming of crude ethanol over a commercial catalyst in packed bed tubular reactor and packed bed membrane reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aboudheir, Ahmed; Akande, Abayomi; Idem, Raphael

2006-01-01

The demand for hydrogen energy has increased tremendously in recent years essentially because of the increase in the word energy consumption as well as recent developments in fuel cell technologies. The energy information administration has projected that world energy consumption will increase by 59% over the next two decades, from 1999 to 2020, in which the largest share is still dominated by fossil fuels (oil, natural gas and coal). Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions resulting from the combustion of these fossil fuels currently are estimated to account for three-fourth of human-caused CO 2 emissions worldwide. Greenhouse gas emission, including CO 2 , should be limited, as recommended at the Kyoto Conference, Japan, in December 1997. In this regard, hydrogen (H 2 ) has a significant future potential as an alternative fuel that can solve the problems of CO 2 emissions as well as the emissions of other air contaminants. One of the techniques to produce hydrogen is by reforming of hydrocarbons or biomass. Crude ethanol (a form of biomass, which essentially is fermentation broth) is easy to produce, is free of sulphur, has low toxicity, and is also safe to handle, transport and store. In addition, crude ethanol consists of oxygenated hydrocarbons, such as ethanol, lactic acid, glycerol, and maltose. These oxygenated hydrocarbons can be reformed completely to H 2 and CO 2 , the latter of which could be separated from H 2 by membrane technology. This provides for CO 2 capture for eventual storage or destruction. In the case of using crude ethanol, this will result in negative CO 2 , emissions. In this paper, we conducted experimental work on production of hydrogen by the catalytic reforming of crude ethanol over a commercial promoted Ni-based catalyst in a packed bed tubular reactor as well as a packed bed membrane reactor. As well, a rigorous numerical model was developed to simulate this process in both the catalytic packed bed tubular reactor and packed bed membrane

Effect of CO2 absorption on ion and water mobility in an anion exchange membrane

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Jing; Roy, Asa L.; Greenbaum, Steve G.; Zawodzinski, Thomas A.

2018-03-01

We report the measured water uptake, density, ionic conductivity and water transport properties in Tokuyama A201 membrane in OH-, HCO3- and Cl- forms. The water uptake of the AEM varies with anion type in the order λ(OH-) > λ(HCO3-) > λ(Cl-) for samples equilibrated with the same water vapor activity (aw). The conductivity of the AEM is reduced by absorption of CO2. Pulsed-field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance (PFG-NMR) measurements were utilized to characterize the diffusivity of water and HCO3- ion. The anion diffusion coefficient and membrane conductivity are used to probe the applicability of the Nernst-Einstein equation in these AEMs.

Experimental demonstration of the reverse flow catalytic membrane reactor concept for energy efficient syngas production. Part 2: Model development

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smit, J.; Bekink, G.J.; Sint Annaland, van M.; Kuipers, J.A.M.

2007-01-01

In this contribution the technical feasibility of the reverse flow catalytic membrane reactor (RFCMR) concept with porous membranes for energy efficient syngas production is investigated. In earlier work an experimental proof of principle was already provided [Smit, J., Bekink, G.J., van Sint

Lactose hydrolysis in an enzymatic membrane reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mertens, B; Huyghebaert, A

1987-10-01

The enzymatic hydrolysis of lactose in whey permeate with subsequent recuperation of Saccharomyces lactis lactase by means of ultrafiltration was investigated. In whey permeate, S. lactis lactase shows maximal activity at pH 6.5; the optimal temperature was found to be 45/sup 0/C and is limited by strong thermal inactivation beyond this temperature. High activity combined with acceptable thermal inactivation (< 10% after 5 h incubation) was established at 30/sup 0/C. S. lactis lactase also displays considerable activity at low temperature (5/sup 0/C). Enzyme stability is reduced drastically by demineralisation: addition of low concentrations of manganese ions (10/sup -3/ M) considerably enhances stability. Using a DDS Lab-Unit 35 fitted with GR61PP polysulphon membranes (cut-off: 20.000), pilot scale experiments were carried out (pH 6.5; 30/sup 0/C) in which whey permeate was hydrolyzed to a degree of hydrolysis of 82% minimum. Enzyme recuperation amounted to 96.5% per batch, all enzyme activity loss being due to thermal inactivation. Microbiological examination of the enzymatic membrane reactor showed that growth of mcicroorganisms can largely be suppressed by working at lower temperature (5/sup 0/C). Eventually, 50 ppm H/sub 2/O/sub 2/ or sterile filtration will adequately solve microbiological problems without affecting enzyme activity.

Hydrogen production by methanol steam reforming carried out in membrane reactor on Cu/Zn/Mg-based catalyst

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Basile, A.; Parmaliana, A.; Tosti, S.; Iulianelli, A.; Gallucci, F.; Espro, C.; Spooren, J.

2008-01-01

The methanol steam reforming (MSR) reaction was studied by using both a dense Pd-Ag membrane reactor (MR) and a fixed bed reactor (FBR). Both the FBR and the MR were packed with a new catalyst based on CuOAl2O3ZnOMgO, having an upper temperature limit of around 350 °C. A constant sweep gas flow rate

Application of Forward Osmosis Membrane in a Sequential Batch Reactor for Water Reuse

KAUST Repository

Li, Qingyu

2011-07-01

Forward osmosis (FO) is a novel membrane process that potentially can be used as an energy-saving alternative to conventional membrane processes. The objective of this study is to investigate the performance of a FO membrane to draw water from wastewater using seawater as draw solution. A study on a novel osmotic sequential batch reactor (OsSBR) was explored. In this system, a plate and frame FO cell including two flat-sheet FO membranes was submerged in a bioreactor treating the wastewater. We found it feasible to treat the wastewater by the OsSBR process. The DOC removal rate was 98.55%. Total nitrogen removal was 62.4% with nitrate, nitrite and ammonium removals of 58.4%, 96.2% and 88.4% respectively. Phosphate removal was almost 100%. In this OsSBR system, the 15-hour average flux for a virgin membrane with air scouring is 3.103 LMH. After operation of 3 months, the average flux of a fouled membrane is 2.390 LMH with air scouring (23% flux decline). Air scouring can help to remove the loose foulants on the active layer, thus helping to maintain the flux. Cleaning of the FO membrane fouled in the active layer was probably not effective under the conditions of immersing the membrane in the bioreactor. LC-OCD results show that the FO membrane has a very good performance in rejecting biopolymers, humics and building blocks, but a limited ability in rejecting low molecular weight neutrals.

Superwetting nanowire membranes for selective absorption.

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Jikang; Liu, Xiaogang; Akbulut, Ozge; Hu, Junqing; Suib, Steven L; Kong, Jing; Stellacci, Francesco

2008-06-01

The construction of nanoporous membranes is of great technological importance for various applications, including catalyst supports, filters for biomolecule purification, environmental remediation and seawater desalination. A major challenge is the scalable fabrication of membranes with the desirable combination of good thermal stability, high selectivity and excellent recyclability. Here we present a self-assembly method for constructing thermally stable, free-standing nanowire membranes that exhibit controlled wetting behaviour ranging from superhydrophilic to superhydrophobic. These membranes can selectively absorb oils up to 20 times the material's weight in preference to water, through a combination of superhydrophobicity and capillary action. Moreover, the nanowires that form the membrane structure can be re-suspended in solutions and subsequently re-form the original paper-like morphology over many cycles. Our results suggest an innovative material that should find practical applications in the removal of organics, particularly in the field of oil spill cleanup.

Computer-aided modeling framework – a generic modeling template for catalytic membrane fixed bed reactors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fedorova, Marina; Sin, Gürkan; Gani, Rafiqul

2013-01-01

and users to generate and test models systematically, efficiently and reliably. In this way, development of products and processes can be faster, cheaper and very efficient. In this contribution, as part of the framework a generic modeling template for the systematic derivation of problem specific catalytic...... membrane fixed bed models is developed. The application of the modeling template is highlighted with a case study related to the modeling of a catalytic membrane reactor coupling dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene with hydrogenation of nitrobenzene....

Performance and economics of a Pd-based planar WGS membrane reactor for coal gasification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dolan, M.D.; Donelson, R.; Dave, N.C.

2010-01-01

Conceptual 300 tonne per day (tpd) H 2 -from-coal plants have been the subject of several major costing exercises in the past decade. Incorporating conventional high- and low-temperature water-gas-shift (WGS) reactors, amine-based CO 2 removal and PSA-based H 2 purification systems, these studies provide a benchmark against which alternative H 2 -from-coal technologies can be compared. The catalytic membrane reactor (CMR), combining a WGS catalyst and hydrogen-selective metal membrane, can potentially replace the multiple shift and separation stages of a plant based on conventional technology. CMR-based shift and separation offers several major advantages over the conventional approach, including greater-than-equilibrium WGS conversion, the containment of the CO 2 at high-pressure and a reduction in the number of unit processes. To determine capital costs of a WGS CMR-based H 2 -from-coal plant, a prototype planar CMR was constructed and tested with varying catalyst bed depth, residence time and membrane type (commercially-sourced 50 μm Pd or 40 μm Pd-25Ag wt%). Experiments to measure CO conversion, and H 2 flux and yield were conducted at 400 C with a feed pressure of 20 bar H 2 O:C ratio of 3 and a H 2 product pressure of 1 bar. Under the optimum conditions examined (with a 40 μm-thick Pd-25Ag membrane and 2 would be required to provide a throughput of 300 tpd with 85% H 2 yield. The capital cost of the CMR component of the plant would be around $US 180 million (based on current metal prices), of which 73% can be attributed to the cost of the Pd-Ag alloy membranes. Incorporation of a membrane that meets the 2015 US DOE cost and flux targets would offer cost parity, with a plant cost of $US 44 million and a total membrane area of ∝13,000 m 2 . Meeting these performance and cost targets would likely require a shift to very thin Pd-alloy membranes or highly-permeable Group IV, V body-centred-cubic alloys. (author)

Spontaneous Absorption of Extensive Subinternal Limiting Membrane Hemorrhage in Shaken Baby Syndrome

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tatiana Tarules Azzi

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS is characterized by subdural hematomas (SH, retinal hemorrhages (RH, and multiple fractures of long bones without external evidence of head trauma. Subinternal limiting membrane (ILM hemorrhage, also known as macular schisis, is a characteristic finding of this entity. There is no guideline on the right time to indicate surgical treatment. This report describes an abused child with massive sub-ILM hemorrhage, which showed spontaneous absorption after less than two months of follow-up. Due to the possible spontaneous resolution, we suggest an initial conservative treatment in cases of sub-ILM hemorrhage related to SBS.

Reactor for tracking catalyst nanoparticles in liquid at high temperature under a high-pressure gas phase with X-ray absorption spectroscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Luan; Tao, Franklin Feng

2018-02-01

Structure of catalyst nanoparticles dispersed in liquid phase at high temperature under gas phase of reactant(s) at higher pressure (≥5 bars) is important for fundamental understanding of catalytic reactions performed on these catalyst nanoparticles. Most structural characterizations of a catalyst performing catalysis in liquid at high temperature under gas phase at high pressure were performed in an ex situ condition in terms of characterizations before or after catalysis since, from technical point of view, access to the catalyst nanoparticles during catalysis in liquid phase at high temperature under high pressure reactant gas is challenging. Here we designed a reactor which allows us to perform structural characterization using X-ray absorption spectroscopy including X-ray absorption near edge structure spectroscopy and extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy to study catalyst nanoparticles under harsh catalysis conditions in terms of liquid up to 350 °C under gas phase with a pressure up to 50 bars. This reactor remains nanoparticles of a catalyst homogeneously dispersed in liquid during catalysis and X-ray absorption spectroscopy characterization.

Elaboration by tape-casting and co-sintering of multilayer catalytic membrane reactor- performances

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Julian, A.

2008-12-01

This research deals with the increasing interest of the conversion of natural gas into liquid fuels (diesel, kerosene) using the Gas To Liquid (GTL) process. Within this context, Catalytic Membrane-based Reactors (CMR) would allow an improvement of the process efficiency and a reduction of investment and production costs with respect to the present technologies. They allow performing the separation of oxygen from air, and the conversion of natural gas into synthesis gas within a single step. After having highlighted the economical and technological advantages of using a ceramic membrane for the production of syngas (H 2 + CO 2 ), the author describes the protocols of synthesis of powders selected for the dense membrane and the porous support, and their physical characteristics. The obtained powders are then adapted to the tape-casting forming process. Graded-composition multilayer structures and microstructure are then elaborated by co-sintering. Performances in terms of membrane oxygen flows are presented. Mechanisms limiting the oxygen flow are discussed in order to propose ways of improving membrane performances. The limits of the studied system are defined in terms of elastic properties, and optimization ways are proposed for the dense membrane material composition in terms of mechanical properties and performance in oxygen semi-permeation

Double-side active TiO{sub 2}-modified nanofiltration membranes in continuous flow photocatalytic reactors for effective water purification

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Romanos, G.Em., E-mail: groman@chem.demokritos.gr [Institute of Physical Chemistry, NCSR Demokritos, 153 10 Agia Paraskevi Attikis, Athens (Greece); Athanasekou, C.P.; Katsaros, F.K.; Kanellopoulos, N.K. [Institute of Physical Chemistry, NCSR Demokritos, 153 10 Agia Paraskevi Attikis, Athens (Greece); Dionysiou, D.D. [Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0071 (United States); Likodimos, V.; Falaras, P. [Institute of Physical Chemistry, NCSR Demokritos, 153 10 Agia Paraskevi Attikis, Athens (Greece)

2012-04-15

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer A novel CVD reactor for the developments of double side active TiO{sub 2} membranes. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Double side active TiO{sub 2} membranes efficiently photodegrade organic pollutants. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer A photocatalytic membrane purification device for continuous flow water treatment. - Abstract: A chemical vapour deposition (CVD) based innovative approach was applied with the purpose to develop composite TiO{sub 2} photocatalytic nanofiltration (NF) membranes. The method involved pyrolytic decomposition of titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) vapor and formation of TiO{sub 2} nanoparticles through homogeneous gas phase reactions and aggregation of the produced intermediate species. The grown nanoparticles diffused and deposited on the surface of {gamma}-alumina NF membrane tubes. The CVD reactor allowed for online monitoring of the carrier gas permeability during the treatment, providing a first insight on the pore efficiency and thickness of the formed photocatalytic layers. In addition, the thin TiO{sub 2} deposits were developed on both membrane sides without sacrificing the high yield rates. Important innovation was also introduced in what concerns the photocatalytic performance evaluation. The membrane efficiency to photo degrade typical water pollutants, was evaluated in a continuous flow water purification device, applying UV irradiation on both membrane sides. The developed composite NF membranes were highly efficient in the decomposition of methyl orange exhibiting low adsorption-fouling tendency and high water permeability.

Waste Water treatment by membrane bioreactors; Tratamiento de aguas residuales urbanas mediante reactores biologicos de membranas

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Malfeito, J. J.; Palacios, E.

2001-07-01

Wastewater reuse plants can be simplified to a single step process with a membrane bioreactor developed by PRIDESA. The process consists on a biological reactor integrated with immersed membranes that combines clarification and filtration of an activated sludge process into a simplified single step process. Because of the design of the membranes and plate and frame module, the hydrostatic pressure difference is enough to ensure the design permeate flowrate. That means low energy requirements and reduced fouling, as contaminants are not forced into the membrane pores. A 90-days pilot scale operation for reclamation of urban wastewater was studied and the performance of the system was investigated with a sludge retention time (SRT) of 25 days and membrane flux between 50.90 l/h. with different membranes. Averaged 98% of BODS, a 95% of COD and a 99.49% of SS were removed. (Author) 5 refs.

Modelling of infrared multiphoton absorption and dissociation for design of reactors for isotope separation by lasers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takeuchi, Kazuo; Nakane, Ryohei; Inoue, Cihiro

1981-01-01

A series of experiments were performed on infrared laser beam absorption (multiphoton absorption) and subsequent dissociation (multiphoton dissociation) of CF 3 Cl to propose models for the design of reactors for isotope separation by lasers. A parallel beam geometry was utilized in batch irradiation experiments to make direct compilation of lumped-parameter data possible. Multiphoton absorption is found to be expressed by a power-law extension of the law of Lambert and by an addition of a new term for buffer gas effect to the law of Beer. For reaction analysis, a method to evaluate the effect of incomplete mixing on apparent reaction rates is first presented. Secondly, multiphoton dissociation of Cf 3 Cl is found to occur in pseudo-first order fashion and the specific reaction rates for different beam fluence are shown to be correlated to the absorbed energy. (author)

Development of whole energy absorption spectrometer for decay heat measurement on fusion reactor materials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Maekawa, Fujio; Ikeda, Yujiro [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan). Tokai Research Establishment

1997-03-01

To measure decay heat on fusion reactor materials irradiated by D-T neutrons, a Whole Energy Absorption Spectrometer (WEAS) consisting of a pair of large BGO (bismuth-germanate) scintillators was developed. Feasibility of decay heat measurement with WEAS for various materials and for a wide range of half-lives (seconds - years) was demonstrated by experiments at FNS. Features of WEAS, such as high sensitivity, radioactivity identification, and reasonably low experimental uncertainty of {approx} 10 %, were found. (author)

Hydrogen amplification of coke oven gas by reforming of methane in a ceramic membrane reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, Yuwen; Li, Qian; Shen, Peijun; Liu, Yong; Yang, Zhibin; Ding, Weizhong; Lu, Xionggang [School of Material Science and Engineering, Shanghai University, No. 275 Mail Box, 149 Yanchang Road, Shanghai 200072 (China)

2008-07-15

To maximize hydrogen production from coke oven gas (COG), partial oxidation of methane in COG was studied thermodynamically and experimentally. Thermodynamic analysis indicates that an optimal hydrogen yield of 1.04-1.10 mole per mole of the consumed COG can be achieved when the initial ratio of O{sub 2} and CH{sub 4} is 0.57-0.46 in a temperature range of 800-900 C, and the corresponding amplification of original hydrogen in COG reaches 1.8-1.9 times. The amplification of original hydrogen was carried out in a BaCo{sub 0.7}Fe{sub 0.2}Nb{sub 0.1}O{sub 3-{delta}} (BCFNO) membrane reactor, and the hydrogen yield in the lab scale was about 80% more than that of original H{sub 2} in model COG. In a large hydrogen content in COG, the ceramic membrane reactors made from perovskite mixed-conducting oxygen-permeable materials must have higher stability to withstand the harsh reduction condition. (author)

Study on treating of low-level radioactive reactor wastewater by combined membrane process (UF-RO)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu Yunyun; Cao Qiru; Chen Yunming; Huang Lijuan; Bai Xiaofeng; Li Bing; Feng Liang

2013-01-01

According to the characteristics of radionuclide exists in the low-level radioactive reactor waste water from HFETR, we use a new combined membrane process separation technology to study the efficient treating of low-lever radioactive reactor wastewater. First, the prepared the simulated wastewater contained Cs + , Sr 2+ , CO 2+ , Ni 2+ , and Fe 3+ . Then, we sequentially investigated the pressure, ion concentration, pH value and EDTA, which have effects on the desalination rate of membrane processing metal ions in wastewater. The results show that: in the condition of pH = 7, and added 0.15 mol/L EDTA, the simulated wastewater separated by UF-RO, desalination rates of Cs + , Sr 2+ , CO 2+ , Ni 2+ and Fe 3+ are all above 95%; In the subsequent trials, adding 0.15 mol/L EDTA into the radioactive residuary solution, and then treating by UF-RO-RO, the decontamination efficiency can reach 95.7%. (authors)

Membrane chemical reactor (MCR) combining photocatalysis and microfiltration for grey water treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Rivero, M J; Parsons, S A; Jeffrey, P; Pidou, M; Jefferson, B

2006-01-01

Urban water recycling is now becoming an important issue where water resources are becoming scarce. This paper looks at reusing grey water; the preference is treatment processes based on biological systems to remove the dissolved organic content. Here, an alternative process, photocatalysis is discussed as it is an attractive technology that could be well-suited for treating the recalcitrant organic compounds found in grey water. The photocatalytic process oxidises organic reactants at a catalyst surface in the presence of ultraviolet light. Given enough exposure time, organic compounds will be oxidized into CO2 and water. The best contact is achieved in a slurry reactor but a second step to separate and recover the catalyst is need. This paper discusses a new membrane chemical reactor (MCR) combining photocatalysis and microfiltration for grey water treatment.

The resonance absorption controlled reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Caro, R

1977-07-01

In this report a new method of reactor control based on tho isotopic moderator composition variation is studied, taking as a reference a D{sub 2}O/H{sub 2}O system. With this method an spectacular increment in the burn-up degree and a sensible reduction of the conventional control system is obtained. An important part of this work has been the detailed analysis of the parameters affecting the neutron spectrum in a heterogeneous reactor. (Author) 50 refs.

The resonance absorption controlled reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Caro, R.

1977-01-01

In this report a new method of reactor control based on tho isotopic moderator composition variation is studied, taking as a reference a D 2 O/H 2 O system. With this method an spectacular increment in the burn-up degree and a sensible reduction of the conventional control system is obtained. An important part of this work has been the detailed analysis of the parameters affecting the neutron spectrum in a heterogeneous reactor. (Author) 50 refs

Pretreated Landfill Gas Conversion Process via a Catalytic Membrane Reactor for Renewable Combined Fuel Cell-Power Generation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zoe Ziaka

2013-01-01

Full Text Available A new landfill gas-based reforming catalytic processing system for the conversion of gaseous hydrocarbons, such as incoming methane to hydrogen and carbon oxide mixtures, is described and analyzed. The exit synthesis gas (syn-gas is fed to power effectively high-temperature fuel cells such as SOFC types for combined efficient electricity generation. The current research work is also referred on the description and design aspects of permreactors (permeable reformers carrying the same type of landfill gas-reforming reactions. Membrane reactors is a new technology that can be applied efficiently in such systems. Membrane reactors seem to perform better than the nonmembrane traditional reactors. The aim of this research includes turnkey system and process development for the landfill-based power generation and fuel cell industries. Also, a discussion of the efficient utilization of landfill and waste type resources for combined green-type/renewable power generation with increased processing capacity and efficiency via fuel cell systems is taking place. Moreover, pollution reduction is an additional design consideration in the current catalytic processors fuel cell cycles.

Solar reforming of methane in a direct absorption catalytic reactor on a parabolic dish. 2: Modeling and analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Skocypec, Russell D.; Hogan, Roy E., Jr.; Muir, James F.

1991-01-01

The catalytically enhanced solar absorption receiver (CAESAR) experiment was conducted to determine the thermal, chemical, and mechanical performance of a commercial-scale, dish-mounted, direct catalytic absorption receiver (DCAR) reactor over a range of steady state and transient (cloud) operating conditions. The focus of the experiment is on global performance such as receiver efficiencies and overall methane conversion; it was not intended to provide data for code validation. A numerical model was previously developed to provide guidance in the design of the absorber. The one-dimensional, planar and steady-state model incorporates, the following energy transfer mechanisms: solar and infrared radiation, heterogeneous chemical reaction, conduction in the solid phase, and convection between the fluid and solid phases. A number of upgrades to the model and improved property values are presented here. Model predictions are shown to bound the experimental axial thermocouple data when experimental uncertainties are included. Global predictions are made using a technique in which the incident solar flux distribution is subdivided into flux contour bands. Model predictions for each band are then spatially integrated to provide global predictions such as reactor efficiencies and methane conversions. Global predictions are shown to compare well with experimental data. Reactor predictions for anticipated operating conditions suggest a further decrease in optical density at the front of the absorber inner disk may be beneficial. The need to conduct code-validation experiments is identified as being essential in improving the confidence in the capability to predict large-scale reactor operation.

Parametric analysis of an irreversible proton exchange membrane fuel cell/absorption refrigerator hybrid system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, Puqing; Zhang, Houcheng

2015-01-01

A hybrid system mainly consisting of a PEMFC (proton exchange membrane fuel cell) and an absorption refrigerator is proposed, where the PEMFC directly converts the chemical energy contained in the hydrogen into electrical and thermal energies, and the thermal energy is transferred to drive the bottoming absorption refrigerator for cooling purpose. By considering the existing irreversible losses in the hybrid system, the operating current density region of the PEMFC permits the absorption refrigerator to exert its function is determined and the analytical expressions for the equivalent power output and efficiency of the hybrid system under different operating conditions are specified. Numerical calculations show that the equivalent maximum power density and the corresponding efficiency of the hybrid system can be respectively increased by 5.3% and 6.8% compared to that of the stand-alone PEMFC. Comprehensive parametric analyses are conducted to reveal the effects of the internal irreversibility of the absorption refrigerator, operating current density, operating temperature and operating pressure of the PEMFC, and some integrated parameters related to the thermodynamic losses on the performance of the hybrid system. The model presented in the paper is more general than previous study, and the results for some special cases can be directly derived from this paper. - Highlights: • A CHP system composed of a PEMFC and an absorption refrigerator is proposed. • Current density region enables the absorption refrigerator to work is determined. • Multiple irreversible losses in the system are analytically characterized. • Maximum power density and corresponding efficiency can be increased by 5.3% and 6.8%. • Effects of some designing and operating parameters on the performance are discussed

Preliminary study on application of Pd composite membrane in helium purification system of high-temperature gas-cooled reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cai Jianhua; Yang Xiaoyong; Wang Jie; Yu Suyuan

2008-01-01

Helium purification system (HPS) is the main part of the helium auxiliary system of high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGR), also in fusion reactors. Some exploratory work was carried out on the application of Pd composite membrane in the separation of He and H 2 . A typical single stripper permeator with recycle (SSP) system was designed, based on the design parameters of a small scale He purification test system CIGNE in CADARACHE, CEA, France, and finite element analysis method was used to solve the model. The total length of membrane module is fixed to 0.5 m. The results show that the concentration of H 2 is found to reduce from 1 000 μL/L in feed gas to 5 μL/L in the product He (the upper limitation of HPS in HTGR). And the molar ratio of product He to feed gas is 96.18% with the optimized ratio of sweep gas to retentive gas 0. 3970. It's an exponential distribution of H 2 concentration along the membrane module. The results were also compared with the other two popular designs, two stripper in series permeator (TSSP) and continuous membrane column (CMC). (authors)

Experimental demonstration of the reverse flow catalytic membrane reactor concept for energy efficient syngas production. Part 1: Influence of operating conditions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smit, J.; Bekink, G.J.; Sint Annaland, van M.; Kuipers, J.A.M.

2007-01-01

In this contribution the technical feasibility of the reverse flow catalytic membrane reactor (RFCMR) concept with porous membranes for energy efficient syngas production is investigated. In earlier work an experimental proof of principle was already provided [Smit, J., Bekink, G.J., van Sint

A comparison of co-current and counter-current modes of operation for a novel hydrogen-permselective membrane dual-type FTS reactor in GTL technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rahimpour, M.R.; Forghani, A.A.; Mostafazadeh, A. Khosravanipour; Shariati, A. [Chemical Engineering Department, School of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz 71345 (Iran)

2010-01-15

In this work, a comparison of co-current and counter-current modes of operation for a novel hydrogen-permselective membrane reactor for Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis (FTS) has been carried out. In both modes of operations, a system with two-catalyst bed instead of one single catalyst bed is developed for FTS reactions. In the first catalytic reactor, the synthesis gas is partly converted to products in a conventional water-cooled fixed-bed reactor, while in the second reactor which is a membrane fixed-bed reactor, the FTS reactions are completed and heat of reaction is used to preheat the feed synthesis gas to the first reactor. In the co-current mode, feed gas is entered into the tubes of the second reactor in the same direction with the reacting gas stream in shell side while in the counter-current mode the gas streams are in the opposite direction. Simulation results for both co-current and counter-current modes have been compared in terms of temperature, gasoline and CO{sub 2} yields, H{sub 2} and CO conversion, selectivity of components as well as permeation rate of hydrogen through the membrane. The results showed that the reactor in the co-current configuration operates with lower conversion and lower permeation rate of hydrogen, but it has more favorable profile of temperature. The counter-current mode of operation decreases undesired products such as CO{sub 2} and CH{sub 4} and also produces more gasoline. (author)

Determination of the Neutron Flux in the Reactor Zones with the Strong Neutron Absorption and Leakage

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ljubenov, V.; Milosevic, M.

2004-11-01

The procedures for the numerical and experimental determination of the neutron flux in the zones with the strong neutron absorption and leakage are described in this paper. Numerical procedure is based on the application of the SCALE-4.4a code system where the Dancoff factors are determined by the VEGA2DAN code. Two main parts of the experimental methodology are measurement of the activity of irradiated foils and determination of the averaged neutron absorption cross-section in the foils by the SCALE-4.4a calculation procedure. The proposed procedures have been applied for the determination of the neutron flux in the internal neutron converter used with the RB reactor core configuration number 114. (author)

Effect of colchicine on rat small intestinal absorptive cells. II. Distribution of label after incorporation of [3H]fucose into plasma membrane glycoproteins

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ellinger, A.; Pavelka, M.; Gangl, A.

1983-01-01

By means of radioautography the influence was tested of various periods (5, 15, 30, 40 min, 2 hr) of pretreatment with colchicine, administered intraperitoneally to rats at a dosage of 0.5 mg/100 g of body weight, on the intracellular pathway of [ 3 H]fucose in absorptive cells of the small intestine. Administration of colchicine for 30 min and longer time intervals causes delay in the insertion of [ 3 H]fucose into the oligosaccharide chains of glycoconjugates in the Golgi apparatus, and results in redistribution of the label apparent over the different portions of the plasma membrane. In controls, at 2 and 4 hr after administration of [ 3 H]fucose the apical plasma membrane is strongly labeled. Colchicine causes equalization of the reaction of apical and basolateral regions of the plasma membrane: the number of silver grains attributable to the apical plasma membrane is reduced; following treatment with colchicine, apical portions of the plasma membrane comprise 31.6 +/- 1.8% of the silver grains, 38.6 +/- 3.8% are attributable to basolateral membrane regions. The colchicine-induced equalization of the density of label of apical and basolateral regions of the plasma membrane, in addition to the occurrence of basolateral microvillus borders, suggests microtubules to be important in the maintenance of the polar organization of small intestinal absorptive cells

CO-free hydrogen production by ethanol steam reforming in a Pd-Ag membrane reactor

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Basile, A.; Gallucci, F.; Iulianelli, A.; Tosti, S.

2008-01-01

In this work, the ethanol steam reforming (ESR) reaction has been studied by using a dense Pd-Ag membrane reactor (MR) by varying the water/ethanol molar ratio between 3:1 and 9:1 in a temperature range of 300-400°C and at 1.3 bar as reaction pressure. The MR was packed with a commercial Ru-based

Performance and economics of a Pd-based planar WGS membrane reactor for coal gasification

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dolan, M.D. [CSIRO Energy Technology, Pullenvale QLD 4069 (Australia); Donelson, R. [CSIRO Process Science and Engineering, Clayton VIC 3168 (Australia); Dave, N.C. [CSIRO Energy Technology, North Ryde NSW 2113 (Australia)

2010-10-15

Conceptual 300 tonne per day (tpd) H{sub 2}-from-coal plants have been the subject of several major costing exercises in the past decade. Incorporating conventional high- and low-temperature water-gas-shift (WGS) reactors, amine-based CO{sub 2} removal and PSA-based H{sub 2} purification systems, these studies provide a benchmark against which alternative H{sub 2}-from-coal technologies can be compared. The catalytic membrane reactor (CMR), combining a WGS catalyst and hydrogen-selective metal membrane, can potentially replace the multiple shift and separation stages of a plant based on conventional technology. CMR-based shift and separation offers several major advantages over the conventional approach, including greater-than-equilibrium WGS conversion, the containment of the CO{sub 2} at high-pressure and a reduction in the number of unit processes. To determine capital costs of a WGS CMR-based H{sub 2}-from-coal plant, a prototype planar CMR was constructed and tested with varying catalyst bed depth, residence time and membrane type (commercially-sourced 50 {mu}m Pd or 40 {mu}m Pd-25Ag wt%). Experiments to measure CO conversion, and H{sub 2} flux and yield were conducted at 400 C with a feed pressure of 20 bar H{sub 2}O:C ratio of 3 and a H{sub 2} product pressure of 1 bar. Under the optimum conditions examined (with a 40 {mu}m-thick Pd-25Ag membrane and <3 mm-thick catalyst bed), a membrane surface area of {proportional_to}25,000 m{sup 2} would be required to provide a throughput of 300 tpd with 85% H{sub 2} yield. The capital cost of the CMR component of the plant would be around $US 180 million (based on current metal prices), of which 73% can be attributed to the cost of the Pd-Ag alloy membranes. Incorporation of a membrane that meets the 2015 US DOE cost and flux targets would offer

Carbon-coated ceramic membrane reactor for production of hydrogen via aqueous phase reforming of sorbitol

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Neira d'Angelo, M.F.; Ordomskiy, V.; Schouten, J.C.; Schaaf, van der J.; Nijhuis, T.A.

2014-01-01

Hydrogen was produced by aqueous-phase reforming (APR) of sorbitol in a carbon-on-alumina tubular membrane reactor (4 nm pore size, 7 cm long, 3 mm internal diameter) that allows the hydrogen gas to permeate to the shell side, whereas the liquid remains in the tube side. The hydrophobic nature of

Membrane reactor for water detritiation: a parametric study on operating parameters

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mascarade, J.; Liger, K.; Troulay, M.; Perrais, C. [CEA, DEN, DTN/STPA/LIPC, Centre de Cadarache, Saint-Paul-lez-Durance (France); Joulia, X.; Meyer, X.M. [Universite de Toulouse, INPT, UPS, Laboratoire de Genie Chimique, Toulouse (France); CNRS, Laboratoire de Genie Chimique, Toulouse (France)

2015-03-15

This paper presents the results of a parametric study done on a single stage finger-type packed-bed membrane reactor (PBMR) used for heavy water vapor de-deuteration. Parametric studies have been done on 3 operating parameters which are: the membrane temperature, the total feed flow rate and the feed composition through D{sub 2}O content variations. Thanks to mass spectrometer analysis of streams leaving the PBMR, speciation of deuterated species was achieved. Measurement of the amounts of each molecular component allowed the calculation of reaction quotient at the packed-bed outlet. While temperature variation mainly influences permeation efficiency, feed flow rate perturbation reveals dependence of conversion and permeation properties to contact time between catalyst and reacting mixture. The study shows that isotopic exchange reactions occurring on the catalyst particles surface are not thermodynamically balanced. Moreover, the variation of the heavy water content in the feed exhibits competition between permeation and conversion kinetics.

A fluidized bed membrane bioelectrochemical reactor for energy-efficient wastewater treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jian; Ge, Zheng; He, Zhen

2014-09-01

A fluidized bed membrane bioelectrochemical reactor (MBER) was investigated using fluidized granular activated carbon (GAC) as a mean of membrane fouling control. During the 150-day operation, the MBER generated electricity with contaminant removal from either synthetic solution or actual wastewater, as a standalone or a coupled system. It was found that fluidized GAC could significantly reduce transmembrane pressure (TMP), although its function as a part of the anode electrode was minor. When the MBER was linked to a regular microbial fuel cell (MFC) for treating a wastewater from a cheese factory, the MFC acted as a major process for energy recovery and contaminant removal, and the coupled system removed more than 90% of chemical oxygen demand and >80% of suspended solids. The analysis showed that the ratio of energy recovery and consumption was slightly larger than one, indicating that the coupled system could be theoretically energy neutral. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A comparison of mass transfer coefficients between trickle-bed, hollow fiber membrane and stirred tank reactors.

Science.gov (United States)

Orgill, James J; Atiyeh, Hasan K; Devarapalli, Mamatha; Phillips, John R; Lewis, Randy S; Huhnke, Raymond L

2013-04-01

Trickle-bed reactor (TBR), hollow fiber membrane reactor (HFR) and stirred tank reactor (STR) can be used in fermentation of sparingly soluble gasses such as CO and H2 to produce biofuels and bio-based chemicals. Gas fermenting reactors must provide high mass transfer capabilities that match the kinetic requirements of the microorganisms used. The present study compared the volumetric mass transfer coefficient (K(tot)A/V(L)) of three reactor types; the TBR with 3 mm and 6 mm beads, five different modules of HFRs, and the STR. The analysis was performed using O2 as the gaseous mass transfer agent. The non-porous polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) HFR provided the highest K(tot)A/V(L) (1062 h(-1)), followed by the TBR with 6mm beads (421 h(-1)), and then the STR (114 h(-1)). The mass transfer characteristics in each reactor were affected by agitation speed, and gas and liquid flow rates. Furthermore, issues regarding the comparison of mass transfer coefficients are discussed. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Staged membrane oxidation reactor system

Science.gov (United States)

Repasky, John Michael; Carolan, Michael Francis; Stein, VanEric Edward; Chen, Christopher Ming-Poh

2012-09-11

Ion transport membrane oxidation system comprising (a) two or more membrane oxidation stages, each stage comprising a reactant zone, an oxidant zone, one or more ion transport membranes separating the reactant zone from the oxidant zone, a reactant gas inlet region, a reactant gas outlet region, an oxidant gas inlet region, and an oxidant gas outlet region; (b) an interstage reactant gas flow path disposed between each pair of membrane oxidation stages and adapted to place the reactant gas outlet region of a first stage of the pair in flow communication with the reactant gas inlet region of a second stage of the pair; and (c) one or more reactant interstage feed gas lines, each line being in flow communication with any interstage reactant gas flow path or with the reactant zone of any membrane oxidation stage receiving interstage reactant gas.

Guanidine hydrochloride embedded polyurethanes as antimicrobial and absorptive wound dressing membranes with promising cytocompatibility

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sahraro, Maryam; Yeganeh, Hamid, E-mail: h.yeganeh@ippi.ac.ir; Sorayya, Marziyeh

2016-02-01

Preparation and assessments of novel absorptive wound dressing materials with efficient antimicrobial activity as well as very good cytocompatibility were described in this work. An amine terminated poly(hexamethylene guanidine hydrochloride) was prepared and used as curing agent of different epoxy-terminated polyurethane prepolymers. The structures of prepared materials were elucidated by evaluation of their {sup 1}H NMR and FTIR spectra. The recorded tensile strength of membranes confirmed the excellent dimensional stability of the film type dressings even at fully hydrated conditions. Therefore, these dressings could protect the wound bed from external forces during the healing period. The structurally optimized dressing membranes could preserve the desired moist environment over the wounded area, as a result of their balanced equilibrium, water absorption and water vapor transmission rate. Therefore, a very good condition for stimulation of self-healing of wound bed was attained. Also, owing to the presence of guanidine hydrochloride moieties embedded into the structure of dressings, efficient antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans were detected. In vitro cytotoxicity assay of the prepared dressings revealed cytocompatibility of these materials against fibroblast cells. Therefore, they could support cell growth and proliferation at the wounded area. - Highlights: • New polyurethane wound dressings with guanidine hydrochloride based antimicrobials • Maintaining moist and warm wound environment for accelerating healing • Proper tensile strength of dressings even at fully hydrated state • Excellent biocompatibility index due to proper selection of starting materials.

Membrane bio-reactor - Research, pilot installation and measurement campaign; Membranbioreaktor (MBR) - Forschung, Pilotanlage und Messkampagne - Schlussbericht

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hersener, J -L [Ingenieurbuero Hersener, Wiesendangen (Switzerland); Meier, U [Meritec GmbH, Guntershausen (Switzerland)

2007-07-01

This report for the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE), takes a look at a project involving a fermenter installation in Eastern Switzerland. Research work is noted, the pilot installation is described and the results of a measurement campaign are presented and commented on. The plant is able to handle about 20,000-25,000 tonnes of slurry and organic waste. The plant is built as a membrane bio-reactor and allows the separation of the digested biomass into fractions of solid and liquid fertilisers and useful water. Furthermore, a part of the separated and digested liquid is returned to the fermenter in order to improve the digestion process. For the production of electricity a 1.1 MW generator is installed. The adaptations made during the measurement period are noted and commented on. According to the authors, the results - although difficult to interpret - show that the concept of a membrane bio-reactor can work successfully.

Performance of a palladium membrane reactor using a Ni catalyst for fusion fuel impurities processing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Willms, R.S.; Wilhelm, R.; Okuno, K.

1994-01-01

The palladium membrane reactor (PNM) provides a means to recover hydrogen isotopes from impurities expected to be present in fusion reactor exhaust. This recovery is based on reactions such as water-gas shift and steam reforming for which conversion is equilibrium limited. By including a selectively permeable membrane such as Pd/Ag in the catalyst bed, hydrogen isotopes can be removed from the reacting environment, thus promoting the reaction to complete conversion. Such a device has been built and operated at the Tritium Systems Test Assembly (TSTA) at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). For the reactions listed above, earlier study with this unit has shown that hydrogen single-pass recoveries approaching 100% can be achieved. It was also determined that a nickel catalyst is a feasible choice for use with a PMR appropriate for fusion fuel impurities processing. The purpose of this study was to systematically assess the performance of the PMR using a nickel catalyst over a range of temperatures, feed compositions and flowrates. Reactions which were studied are the water-gas shift reaction and steam reforming

Contribution to analytical theory of neutron resonance absorption in heterogeneous reactor systems with cylindrical geometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Slipicevic, K.

1968-12-01

Following a review of the existing theories od resonance absorption this thesis includes a new approach for calculating the effective resonance integral of absorbed neutrons, new approximate formula for the penetration factor, an analysis of the effective resonance integral and the correction of the resonance integral taking into account the interference of potential and resonance dissipation. A separate chapter is devoted to calculation of the effective resonance integral for the regular reactor lattice with cylindrical fuel elements

Noncatalytic hydrogenation of decene-1 with hydrogen accumulated in a hybrid carbon nanostructure in nanosized membrane reactors

Science.gov (United States)

Soldatov, A. P.

2014-08-01

Studies on the creation of nanosized membrane reactors (NMRs) of a new generation with accumulated hydrogen and a regulated volume of reaction zone were continued at the next stage. Hydrogenation was performed in the pores of ceramic membranes with hydrogen preliminarily adsorbed in mono- and multilayered orientated carbon nanotubes with graphene walls (OCNTGs)—a new hybrid carbon nanostructure formed on the inner pore surface. Quantitative determination of hydrogen adsorption in OCNTGs was performed using TRUMEM ultrafiltration membranes with D av = 50 and 90 nm and showed that hydrogen adsorption was up to ˜1.5% of the mass of OCNTG. The instrumentation and procedure for noncatalytic hydrogenation of decene-1 at 250-350°C using hydrogen accumulated and stored in OCNTG were developed. The conversion of decene-1 into decane was ˜0.2-1.8% at hydrogenation temperatures of 250 and 350°C, respectively. The rate constants and activation energy of hydrogenation were determined. The latter was found to be 94.5 kJ/mol, which is much smaller than the values typical for noncatalytic hydrogenations and very close to the values characteristic for catalytic reactions. The quantitative distribution of the reacting compounds in each pore regarded as a nanosized membrane reactor was determined. The activity of hydrogen adsorbed in a 2D carbon nanostructure was evaluated. Possible mechanisms of noncatalytic hydrogenation were discussed.

Processing Tritiated Water at the Savannah River Site: A Production-Scale Demonstration of a palladium membrane reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sessions, K

2004-01-01

The Palladium Membrane Reactor (PMR) process was installed in the Tritium Facilities at the Savannah River Site to perform a production-scale demonstration for the recovery of tritium from tritiated water adsorbed on molecular sieve (zeolite). Unlike the current recovery process that utilizes magnesium, the PMR offers a means to process tritiated water in a more cost effective and environmentally friendly manner. The design and installation of the large-scale PMR process was part of a collaborative effort between the Savannah River Site and Los Alamos National Laboratory. The PMR process operated at the Savannah River Site between May 2001 and April 2003. During the initial phase of operation the PMR processed thirty-four kilograms of tritiated water from the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. The water was processed in fifteen separate batches to yield approximately 34,400 liters (STP) of hydrogen isotopes. Each batch consisted of round-the-clock operations for approximately nine days. In April 2003 the reactor's palladium-silver membrane ruptured resulting in the shutdown of the PMR process. Reactor performance, process performance and operating experiences have been evaluated and documented. A performance comparison between PMR and current magnesium process is also documented

Engineering a self-driven PVDF/PDA hybrid membranes based on membrane micro-reactor effect to achieve super-hydrophilicity, excellent antifouling properties and hemocompatibility

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jian-Hua; Ni, Xing-Xing; Zhang, De-Bin; Zheng, Hui; Wang, Jia-Bin; Zhang, Qi-Qing

2018-06-01

A facile and versatile approach for the preparation of super-hydrophilic, excellent antifouling and hemocompatibility membranes had been developed through the generation in situ of bio-inspired polydopamine (PDA) microspheres on PVDF membranes. SEM images showed that the PDA microspheres were uniformly dispersed on the upper surface and the lower surface of the modified membranes. And there were a great number of PDA microspheres immobilized on the cross-section, but the interconnected pores structure was not destroyed. These facts indicated the existence of membrane micro-reactor effect for the whole membrane structure. Considering the remarkable improvement of hydrophilicity, antifouling properties, and permeation fluxes, we also proposed the cluster phenolic hydroxyl effect for the PVDF/PDA hybrid membranes. And the cluster phenolic hydroxyl effect can be ascribed to the all directions distributed phenolic hydroxyl groups on the whole membrane structure. Besides, the self-driven filtration experiments showed the great wetting ability and permeability of the PVDF/PDA hybrid membranes in filtration process without any external pressure. This implied the existence of accelerating self-driven force after the water flow flowed into the internal of membranes, which contributed to the increase of water flow velocity. All the three aspects were in favor of the enhancement of hydrophilicity, antifouling properties and permeability of the modified membranes. Moreover, the conventional filtration tests, oil/water emulsion filtration tests and protein adsorption tests were also carried out to discuss the practical applications of PVDF/PDA hybrid membranes. And the hemocompatibility of the modified membranes was also proved to enhance greatly through the hemolysis tests and platelet adhesion tests, indicating that the membranes were greatly promising in biomedical applications. The strategy of material modification reported here is substrate-independent and can be extended

Comparison and analysis of membrane fouling between flocculent sludge membrane bioreactor and granular sludge membrane bioreactor.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wang Jing-Feng

Full Text Available The goal of this study is to investigate the effect of inoculating granules on reducing membrane fouling. In order to evaluate the differences in performance between flocculent sludge and aerobic granular sludge in membrane reactors (MBRs, two reactors were run in parallel and various parameters related to membrane fouling were measured. The results indicated that specific resistance to the fouling layer was five times greater than that of mixed liquor sludge in the granular MBR. The floc sludge more easily formed a compact layer on the membrane surface, and increased membrane resistance. Specifically, the floc sludge had a higher moisture content, extracellular polymeric substances concentration, and negative surface charge. In contrast, aerobic granules could improve structural integrity and strength, which contributed to the preferable permeate performance. Therefore, inoculating aerobic granules in a MBR presents an effective method of reducing the membrane fouling associated with floc sludge the perspective of from the morphological characteristics of microbial aggregates.

Evaluating the parameters of reactor structure materials absorption by means of a new kind integral experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bemer, B.; Dittse, K.; Fehrrann, K.; Khyuttet', G.; Kumpf, G.; Lemann, E.

1984-01-01

Integral experiment of a new type is conducted for determination of the effective cross sections of structural material absorption in fast reactors. Its essence is that absorption cross sections are determined directly from the measured central coefficients of reactivities in the special fast inserting lattice SEG-4 with energy-independent neutron importance function. Parameters of the system, method of measurements, advantages of the method as compared with Ksub(infinity)=I method are described. The results of measurements for Fe, Cr, Ni, Mn, Mo and W are presented. Problems of mass dependence of the sample are discussed. Conclusion on universality of the suggested method is made on the basis of comparing the obtained results with data of calculations conducted by using different libraries of nuclear data

Reactor core structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Higashinakagawa, Emiko; Sato, Kanemitsu.

1992-01-01

Taking notice on the fact that Fe based alloys and Ni based alloys are corrosion resistant in a special atmosphere of a nuclear reactor, Fe or Ni based alloys are applied to reactor core structural components such as fuel cladding tubes, fuel channels, spacers, etc. On the other hand, the neutron absorption cross section of zirconium is 0.18 barn while that of iron is 2.52 barn and that of nickel is 4.6 barn, which amounts to 14 to 25 times compared with that of zirconium. Accordingly, if the reactor core structural components are constituted by the Fe or Ni based alloys, neutron economy is lowered. Since it is desirable that neutrons contribute to uranium fission with least absorption to the reactor core structural components, the reactor core structural components are constituted with the Fe or Ni based alloys of good corrosion resistance only at a portion in contact with reactor water, that is, at a surface portion, while the main body is constituted with zircalloy in the present invention. Accordingly, corrosion resistnace can be kept while keeping small neutron absorption cross section. (T.M.)

Effect of UV on De-NOx performance and microbial community of a hybrid catalytic membrane biofilm reactor

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Zhouyang; Huang, Zhensha; He, Yiming; Xiao, Xiaoliang; Wei, Zaishan

2018-02-01

The hybrid membrane catalytic biofilm reactor provides a new way of flue gas denitration. However, the effects of UV on denitrification performance, microbial community and microbial nitrogen metabolism are still unknown. In this study, the effects of UV on deNO x performance, nitrification and denitrification, microbial community and microbial nitrogen metabolism of a bench scale N-TiO2/PSF hybrid catalytic membrane biofilm reactor (HCMBR) were evaluated. The change from nature light to UV in the HCMBR leads to the fall of NO removal efficiency of HCMBR from 92.8% to 81.8%. UV affected the microbial community structure, but did not change microbial nitrogen metabolism, as shown by metagenomics sequencing method. Some dominant phyla, such as Gammaproteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, and Alphaproteobacteria, increased in abundance, whereas others, such as Proteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria, decreased. There were nitrification, denitrification, nitrogen fixation, and organic nitrogen metabolism in the HCMBR.

Mass transfer of ammonia escape and CO2 absorption in CO2 capture using ammonia solution in bubbling reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ma, Shuangchen; Chen, Gongda; Zhu, Sijie; Han, Tingting; Yu, Weijing

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Mass transfer coefficient models of ammonia escape were built. • Influences of temperature, inlet CO 2 and ammonia concentration were studied. • Mass transfer coefficients of ammonia escape and CO 2 absorption were obtained. • Studies can provide the basic data as a reference guideline for process application. - Abstract: The mass transfer of CO 2 capture using ammonia solution in the bubbling reactor was studied; according to double film theory, the mass transfer coefficient models and interface area model were built. Through our experiments, the overall volumetric mass transfer coefficients were obtained, while the interface areas in unit volume were estimated. The volumetric mass transfer coefficients of ammonia escaping during the experiment were 1.39 × 10 −5 –4.34 × 10 −5 mol/(m 3 s Pa), and the volumetric mass transfer coefficients of CO 2 absorption were 2.86 × 10 −5 –17.9 × 10 −5 mol/(m 3 s Pa). The estimated interface area of unit volume in the bubbling reactor ranged from 75.19 to 256.41 m 2 /m 3 , making the bubbling reactor a viable choice to obtain higher mass transfer performance than the packed tower or spraying tower.

Circumvention of the tumor membrane barrier to WR-2721 absorption by reduction of drug hydrophilicity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yuhas, J.M.; Davis, M.E.; Glover, D.; Brown, D.Q.; Ritter, M.

1982-01-01

In attempting to account for the ability of most solid tumors to restrict the absorption of WR-2721, aminopropyl-aminoethylphosphorothioate, we examined a number of drug characteristics which might allow for this restriction, and observed that drug hypdrophilicity was a major contributing factor. When the highly hydrophilic WR-2721 was dephosphorylated, the drug became less hydrophilic and could readily cross tumor cell membranes. In addition, conventional radioprotectants, such as cysteine and mercaptoethylamine, were shown to be less hydrophilic than WR-2721 and also to cross tumor membranes readily. Therefore, drug hydrophilicity would appear to be the factor underlying the ability of WR-2721 to selectively protect normal tissues while most other protectors alter the radiation resistance of normal and tumor tissue alike. A red blood cell model for studying this problem in greater detail is described

Measurement of graphite and aluminium absorption cross sections via reactor period by danger coefficient method; Merenje apsorpcionih preseka grafita i aluminijuma preko periode reaktora metodom koeficijenta opasnosti

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Petrovic, M; Markovic, V; Velickovic, Lj [Boris Kidric Institute of nuclear sciences, Vinca, Belgrade (Yugoslavia)

1963-07-01

Full text: This activity is a logical continuation of the experiment at the RA reactor during 1962 which was based on compensating the effect by means of control rod. Since results are given with significant errors, new method for measuring the absorption cross sections via reactor period. Experiment was done at the RB reactor which was particularly prepared for this type of experiments. Reactor power was from 50 mW to 2 W. Absorption cross sections were measured for two types of material: domestic graphite No.3 and French graphite 'Pachiney', and two types of aluminium. Total errors in applying this method are {+-} 5%, where the source of major part of error comes from uncertainty of the standard absorption power (previous method gave {+-} 10 do 55% ). Comparison of French graphite absorption cross section obtained via reactor period and via control rod showed approximate agreement with discrepancy of 5.4% which is considered within the precision of this method. Considering the accuracy of measurement results and reactor economy it is concluded that measuring absorption cross sections of samples via period of RB reactor is more favourable than measurements by control rod at the RA reactor. Pun tekst: Ovaj rad predstavlja logican nastavak eksperimenta na reaktoru RA u toku 1962. godine, koji je bazirao na kompenzaciji efekta pomocu kontrolne sipke. Kako su rezultati dati sa velikim greskama, to se prislo novom nacinu merenja apsorpsionih preseka preko periode reaktora. Eksperiment je radjen na reaktoru RB koji je specijalno pripremljen za ovu vrstu eksperimenta. Snaga reaktora se kretala od 50 mW do 2 W. Preko periode reaktora RB odredjeni su apsorpcioni preseci za dve vrste materijala i to: domaci grafit No.3 i francuski 'Pachiney', i dve vrste aluminijuma. Ukupne greske pri ovom nacimu merenja iznose oko {+-} 5%, gde glavni deo greske nosi neodredjenost apsorpcione moci standarda (ranija metoda je dala {+-} 10 do 55% ). Poredjenjem vrednosti apsorpcionih preseka

Neutron transport. Physics and calculation of nuclear reactors with applications to pressurized water reactors and fast neutron reactors. 2 ed.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bussac, J.; Reuss, P.

1985-01-01

This book presents the main physical bases of neutron theory and nuclear reactor calculation. 1) Interactions of neutrons with matter and basic principles of neutron transport; 2) Neutron transport in homogeneous medium and the neutron field: kinetic behaviour, slowing-down, resonance absorption, diffusion equation, processing methods; 3) Theory of a reactor constituted with homogeneous zones: critical condition, kinetics, separation of variables, calculation and neutron balance of the fundamental mode, one-group and multigroup theories; 4) Study of heterogeneous cell lattices: fast fission factor, resonance absorption, thermal output factor, diffusion coefficient, computer codes; 5) Operation and control of reactors: perturbation theory, reactivity, fuel properties evolution, poisoning by fission products, calculation of a reactor and fuel management; 6) Study of some types of reactors: PWR and fast breeder reactors, the main reactor types of the present French program [fr

Neutron behavior, reactor control, and reactor heat transfer. Volume four

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1986-01-01

Volume four covers neutron behavior (neutron absorption, how big are nuclei, neutron slowing down, neutron losses, the self-sustaining reactor), reactor control (what is controlled in a reactor, controlling neutron population, is it easy to control a reactor, range of reactor control, what happens when the fuel burns up, controlling a PWR, controlling a BWR, inherent safety of reactors), and reactor heat transfer (heat generation in a nuclear reactor, how is heat removed from a reactor core, heat transfer rate, heat transfer properties of the reactor coolant)

Phenomenological modeling and study of a catalytic membrane reactor for water detritiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mascarade, Jeremy

2015-01-01

Tritium is produced in light and heavy water reactor fuel by ternary fission or neutron activation. This by-product is used as fuel in fusion fuel reactors such as JET in Culham or ITER in Cadarache (France). The growing interest of this research area will make the tritium fluxes increase; it is then worth addressing the question of its future whether it will be used or flushed out from liquid and gaseous effluents or waste. This thesis studies the recovery of tritium as fuel for fusion machines by means of packed bed membrane reactor (PBMR). Such a reactor combines catalytic conversion of tritiated water thanks to isotope exchange with hydrogen according to the reversible reaction Q 2 O+H 2 ↔H 2 O+Q 2 (Q=H,D or T) and selective permeation of Q 2 through Pd-based membrane. In fact, palladium has the ability to bond with hydrogen isotopes, creating a selective permeation barrier. In the PBMR, thanks to the reaction products withdrawal, these permeation fluxes drive the heavy water conversion rate, to higher values than those reached in conventional fixed bed reactors (Le Chatelier's law). In order to study PBMRs, the CEA has built a test bench, using deuterium instead of tritium, allowing the analysis of their conversion and separation performances at the laboratory scale. An in-house method has been developed to determine simultaneously hydrogen and water isotopologues content by mass spectrometer analysis. It was experimentally shown that the activity of Ni-based catalyst used in this study was sufficient to allow the isotope exchange reactions to reach their thermodynamic equilibrium in a very short time. In addition, hydrogen permeation flux was shown to follow a Richardson's law. Sensitivity studies performed on the PBMR's main operating parameters revealed that its global performance (i.e. de-deuteration factor) increases with the temperature, the transmembrane pressure difference, the sweep gas flow rate and the residence time in the catalyst

Operation of staged membrane oxidation reactor systems

Science.gov (United States)

Repasky, John Michael

2012-10-16

A method of operating a multi-stage ion transport membrane oxidation system. The method comprises providing a multi-stage ion transport membrane oxidation system with at least a first membrane oxidation stage and a second membrane oxidation stage, operating the ion transport membrane oxidation system at operating conditions including a characteristic temperature of the first membrane oxidation stage and a characteristic temperature of the second membrane oxidation stage; and controlling the production capacity and/or the product quality by changing the characteristic temperature of the first membrane oxidation stage and/or changing the characteristic temperature of the second membrane oxidation stage.

Numerical simulation of ion transport membrane reactors: Oxygen permeation and transport and fuel conversion

KAUST Repository

Hong, Jongsup

2012-07-01

Ion transport membrane (ITM) based reactors have been suggested as a novel technology for several applications including fuel reforming and oxy-fuel combustion, which integrates air separation and fuel conversion while reducing complexity and the associated energy penalty. To utilize this technology more effectively, it is necessary to develop a better understanding of the fundamental processes of oxygen transport and fuel conversion in the immediate vicinity of the membrane. In this paper, a numerical model that spatially resolves the gas flow, transport and reactions is presented. The model incorporates detailed gas phase chemistry and transport. The model is used to express the oxygen permeation flux in terms of the oxygen concentrations at the membrane surface given data on the bulk concentration, which is necessary for cases when mass transfer limitations on the permeate side are important and for reactive flow modeling. The simulation results show the dependence of oxygen transport and fuel conversion on the geometry and flow parameters including the membrane temperature, feed and sweep gas flow, oxygen concentration in the feed and fuel concentration in the sweep gas. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.

Effect of inlet conditions on the performance of a palladium membrane reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Birdsell, S.A.; Willms, R.S.; Arzu, P.; Costello, A.

1997-10-01

Palladium membrane reactors (PMR) will be used to remove tritium and other hydrogen isotopes from impurities, such as tritiated methane and tritiated water, in the exhaust of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. In addition to fusion-fuel processing, the PMR system can be used to recover tritium from tritiated waste water. This paper investigates the effect of inlet conditions on the performance of a PMR. A set of experiments were run to determine, independently, the effect of inlet compositions and residence time on performance. Also, the experiments were designed to determine if the injected form of hydrogen (CH 4 or H 2 O) effects performance. Results show that the PMR operates at optimal hydrogen recovery with a broad range of inlet compositions and performance is shown to increase with increased residence time. PMR performance is shown to be independent of whether hydrogen is injected in the form of CH 4 or H 2 O

Open absorption system for cooling and air conditioning using membrane contactors - Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Conde-Petit, M. [M. Conde Engineering, Zuerich (Switzerland); Weber, R.; Dorer, V. [Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (EMPA), Duebendorf (Switzerland)

2008-07-01

Air conditioning systems based upon the open absorption principle, essentially an absorption device operating at atmospheric pressure, have been proposed and investigated at many instances in the past eighty years. Their potential for improving energy efficiency is clearly recognized in the earliest research reports. By the mid 1950ies, solar thermal energy was being applied to drive open absorption-based air conditioning systems. For several reasons, however, the open absorption technology was not mature enough to take place in the mainstream. In the past two decades, vigorous efforts have been undertaken to reverse this situation, but success continued to elude, despite the fact that the main problems, such as corrosion, aerosols in the supply air, etc., have been identified. This report details the work and the main results from the MemProDEC Project. In this project innovative solutions were proposed, and successfully investigated, for the corrosion problem and the improvement of efficiency of the absorption process, in particular a new method to cool a very compact absorber. The practically uniform flow distribution for all three streams in the absorber (air, water and desiccant) warrants the contact of the air to be dehumidified with the desiccant over the whole surface of exchange (across a porous membrane). This, together with the cooling with water in counter flow to the air, are the key factors for the excellent effectiveness of the absorber. As the results show, the dehydration effectiveness of the prototype absorber is up to 150 % higher than that previously obtained by others. The solutions developed for compactness and modularity represent an important step in the way to flexible manufacturing, i.e. using a single element size to assemble autonomous air handling units of various nominal capacities. And although the manufacturing methods of the individual elements require improvement, namely by avoiding adhesive bonding, the choice of materials and the

Mixed reforming of simulated gasoline to hydrogen in a BSCFO membrane reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhu, Wenliang; Han, Wei; Xiong, Guoxing; Yang, Weishen [State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 110, Dalian 116023 (China)

2006-10-30

Currently, fuel cells are receiving more and more attention as the most promising new power generation technology, and fuel processing by the mixed reforming of liquid hydrocarbons (MRL) with water and oxygen is regarded as a desirable way for fuel cells. In this paper, we developed a new mixed reforming method for hydrogen production by combining a dense ceramic membrane Ba{sub 0.5}Sr{sub 0.5}Co{sub 0.8}Fe{sub 0.2}O{sub 3-{delta}}(BSCFO) with a catalyst LiLaNiO/{gamma}-Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} in a membrane reactor and reforming a simulated gasoline. During a 500-h long-term test at optimized reaction conditions, all the components in the simulated gasoline converted completely, and around 90% selectivity of CO, around 95% selectivity of H{sub 2} and around 8.0mLcm{sup -2}min{sup -1} oxygen permeation flux were achieved. This provides a new optional way of hydrogen production for fuel cells. (author)

A novel ion transport membrane reactor for fundamental investigations of oxygen permeation and oxy-combustion under reactive flow conditions

KAUST Repository

Kirchen, Patrick; Apo, Daniel J.; Hunt, Anton; Ghoniem, Ahmed F.

2013-01-01

Ion transport membrane (ITM) reactors present an attractive technology for combined air separation and fuel conversion in applications such as syngas production, oxidative coupling or oxy-combustion, with the promise of lower capital and operating

The recovery of zinc from hot galvanizing slag in an anion-exchange membrane electrolysis reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ren Xiulian; Wei Qifeng; Hu Surong; Wei Sijie

2010-01-01

This paper reports the optimization of the process parameters for recovery of zinc from hot galvanizing slag in an anion-exchange membrane electrolysis reactor. The experiments were carried out in an ammoniacal ammonium chloride system. The influence of composition of electrolytes, pH, stirring rate, current density and temperature, on cathodic current efficiency, specific power consumption and anodic dissolution of Zn were investigated. The results indicate that the cathode current efficiency increases and the hydrogen evolution decreased with increasing the cathode current density. The partial current for electrodeposition of Zn has liner relationship with ω 1/2 (ω: rotation rate). The highest current efficiency for dissolving zinc was obtained when NH 4 Cl concentration was 53.46 g L -1 and the anodic dissolution of zinc was determined by mass transfer rate at stirring rate 0-300 r min -1 . Increase in temperature benefits to improve CE and dissolution of Zn, and reduce cell voltage. Initial pH of electrolytes plays an important role in the deposition and anodic dissolution of Zn. The results of single factor experiment show that about 50% energy consumption was saved for electrodeposition of Zn in the anion-exchange membrane electrolysis reactor.

Hydrogen Selective Exfoliated Zeolite Membranes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tsapatsis, Michael [Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States). Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science; Daoutidis, Prodromos [Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States). Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science; Elyassi, Bahman [Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States). Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science; Lima, Fernando [Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States). Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science; Iyer, Aparna [Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States). Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science; Agrawal, Kumar [Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States). Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science; Sabnis, Sanket [Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States). Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

2015-04-06

The objective of this project was to develop and evaluate an innovative membrane technology at process conditions that would be representative of Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) advanced power generation with pre-combustion capture of carbon dioxide (CO₂). This research focused on hydrogen (H₂)-selective zeolite membranes that could be utilized to separate conditioned syngas into H₂-rich and CO₂-rich components. Both experiments and process design and optimization calculations were performed to evaluate the concept of ultra-thin membranes made from zeolites nanosheets. In this work, efforts in the laboratory were made to tackle two fundamental challenges in application of zeolite membranes in harsh industrial environments, namely, membrane thickness and membrane stability. Conventional zeolite membranes have thicknesses in the micron range, limiting their performance. In this research, we developed a method for fabrication of ultimately thin zeolite membranes based on zeolite nanosheets. A range of layered zeolites (MWW, RWR, NSI structure types) suitable for hydrogen separation was successfully exfoliated to their constituent nanosheets. Further, membranes were made from one of these zeolites, MWW, to demonstrate the potential of this group of materials. Moreover, long-term steam stability of these zeolites (up to 6 months) was investigated in high concentrations of steam (35 mol% and 95 mole%), high pressure (10 barg), and high temperatures (350 °C and 600 °C) relevant to conditions of water-gas-shift and steam methane reforming reactions. It was found that certain nanosheets are stable, and that stability depends on the concentration of structural defects. Additionally, models that represent a water-gas-shift (WGS) membrane reactor equipped with the zeolite membrane were developed for systems studies. These studies had the aim of analyzing the effect of the membrane reactor integration into IGCC plants

The potential of immobilized artificial membrane chromatography to predict human oral absorption.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsopelas, Fotios; Vallianatou, Theodosia; Tsantili-Kakoulidou, Anna

2016-01-01

The potential of immobilized artificial membrane (IAM) chromatography to estimate human oral absorption (%HOA) was investigated. For this purpose, retention indices on IAM stationary phases reported previously by our group or measured by other authors under similar conditions were used to model %HOA data, compiled from literature sources. Considering the pH gradient in gastrointestinal tract, the highest logkw(IAM) values were considered, obtained either at pH7.4 or 5.5, defined as logkw(IAM)(best). Non linear models were established upon introduction of additional parameters and after exclusion of drugs which are substrates either to efflux or uptake transporters. The best model included Abraham's hydrogen-bond acidity parameter, molecular weight as well as the positively and negatively charged molecular fractions. For reasons of comparison between IAM chromatography and traditional lipophilicity, corresponding models were derived by replacing IAM retention factors with octanol-water distribution coefficients (logD). An overexpression of electrostatic interactions with phosphate anions was observed in the case of IAM retention as expressed by the negative contribution of the positively charged fraction F(+). The same parameter is statistically significant also in the logD model, but with a positive sign, indicating the attraction of basic drugs in the negatively charged inner membrane. To validate the obtained models a blind test set of 22 structurally diverse drugs was used, whose logkw(IAM)(best) values were determined and analyzed in the present study under similar conditions. IAM retention factors were further compared with MDCK cell lines permeability data taken from literature for a set of validation drugs. The overexpression of electrostatic interactions with phosphate anions on IAM surface was also evident in respect to MDCK permeability. In contrast to the clear classification between drugs with high and poor (or intermediate) absorption provided by MDCK

Treatment of poultry slaughterhouse wastewater using a static granular bed reactor (SGBR) coupled with ultrafiltration (UF) membrane system.

Science.gov (United States)

Basitere, M; Rinquest, Z; Njoya, M; Sheldon, M S; Ntwampe, S K O

2017-07-01

The South African poultry industry has grown exponentially in recent years due to an increased demand for their products. As a result, poultry plants consume large volumes of high quality water to ensure that hygienically safe poultry products are produced. Furthermore, poultry industries generate high strength wastewater, which can be treated successfully at low cost using anaerobic digesters. In this study, the performance of a bench-scale mesophilic static granular bed reactor (SGBR) containing fully anaerobic granules coupled with an ultrafiltration (UF) membrane system, as a post-treatment system, was investigated. The poultry slaughterhouse wastewater was characterized by a chemical oxygen demand (COD) range between 1,223 and 9,695mg/L, average biological oxygen demand of 2,375mg/L and average fats, oil and grease (FOG) of 554mg/L. The SGBR anaerobic reactor was operated for 9 weeks at different hydraulic retention times (HRTs), i.e. 55 and 40 h, with an average organic loading rate (OLR) of 1.01 and 3.14g COD/L.day. The SGBR results showed an average COD, total suspended solids (TSS) and FOG removal of 93%, 95% and 90% respectively, for both OLR. The UF post-treatment results showed an average of COD, TSS and FOG removal of 64%, 88% and 48%, respectively. The overall COD, TSS and FOG removal of the system (SGBR and UF membrane) was 98%, 99.8%, and 92.4%, respectively. The results of the combined SGBR reactor coupled with the UF membrane showed a potential to ensure environmentally friendly treatment of poultry slaughterhouse wastewater.

Hydrogen safety risk assessment methodology applied to a fluidized bed membrane reactor for autothermal reforming of natural gas

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Psara, N.; Van Sint Annaland, M.; Gallucci, F.

2015-01-01

The scope of this paper is the development and implementation of a safety risk assessment methodology to highlight hazards potentially prevailing during autothermal reforming of natural gas for hydrogen production in a membrane reactor, as well as to reveal potential accidents related to hydrogen

Optimization of a Pd-based membrane reactor for hydrogen production from methane steam reforming

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Assis, A.J.; Hori, C.E.; Silva, L.C.; Murata, V.V. [Universidade Federal de Uberlandia (UFU), MG (Brazil). School of Chemical Engineering]. E-mail: adilsonjassis@gmail.com

2008-07-01

In this work, it is proposed a phenomenological model in steady state to describe the performance of a membrane reactor for hydrogen production through methane steam reform as well as it is performed an optimization of operating conditions. The model is composed by a set of ordinary differential equations from mass, energy and momentum balances and constitutive relations. They were used two different intrinsic kinetic expressions from literature. The results predicted by the model were validated using experimental data. They were investigated the effect of five important process parameters, inlet reactor pressure (PR0), methane feed flow rate (FCH40), sweep gas flow rate (FI), external reactor temperature (TW) and steam to methane feed flow ratio (M), both on methane conversion (XCH{sub 4} ) and hydrogen recovery (YH{sub 2}). The best operating conditions were obtained through simple parametric optimization and by a method based on gradient, which uses the computer code DIRCOL in FORTRAN. It is shown that high methane conversion (96%) as well as hydrogen recovery (91%) can be obtained, using the optimized conditions. (author)

Micro-scale H2-CO2 dynamics in a hydrogenotrophic methanogenic membrane reactor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emilio Garcia-Robledo

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Biogas production is a key factor in a sustainable energy supply. It is possible to get biogas with very high methane content if the biogas reactors are supplied with exogenous hydrogen, and one of the technologies for supplying hydrogen is through gas permeable membranes. In this study the activity and stratification of hydrogen consumption above such a membrane was investigated by use of microsensors for hydrogen and pH. A hydrogenotrophic methanogenic community that was able to consume the hydrogen flux within 0.5 mm of the membrane with specific rates of up to 30 m3 H2 m-3 day-1 developed within 3 days in fresh manure and was already established at time zero when analyzing slurry from a biogas plant. The hydrogen consumption was dependent on a simultaneous carbon dioxide supply and was inhibited when carbon dioxide depletion elevated the pH to 9.2. The activity was only partially restored when the carbon dioxide supply was resumed. Bioreactors supplied with hydrogen gas should thus be carefully monitored and either have the hydrogen supply disrupted or be supplemented with carbon dioxide when the pH rises to values about 9.

Influence of air scouring on the performance of a Self Forming Dynamic Membrane BioReactor (SFD MBR) for municipal wastewater treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Salerno, Carlo; Vergine, Pompilio; Berardi, Giovanni; Pollice, Alfieri

2017-01-01

The Membrane BioReactor (MBR) is a well-established filtration-based technology for wastewater treatment. Despite the high quality of the effluent produced, one of the main drawbacks of the MBR is membrane fouling. In this context, a possible evolution towards systems having potentially lower installation and operating costs is the Self Forming Dynamic Membrane BioReactor (SFD MBR). Key of this technology is the self-formation of a biological filtering layer on a support of inert material. In this work, a lab-scale aerobic SFD MBR equipped with a nylon mesh was operated at approximately 95Lm -2 h -1 . Two mesh pore sizes (20 and 50μm) and three air scouring flow rates (150, 250, and 500mL air min -1 ) were tested at steady state. Under all the tested conditions, the SFD MBR effectively treated real municipal wastewater. The quality of the produced effluent increased for lower mesh size and lower air scouring intensity. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

ITER TASK T26/28 (1995): Solubility, diffusion and absorption of hydrogen isotopes in potential fusion reactor ceramics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thompson, D.A.; Macauley-Newcombe, R.G.

1996-04-01

Ceramic insulators are integral parts of numerous components essential for the heating control and diagnostic measurement of fusion plasmas. For safe and reliable reactor operations it is necessary to be able to predict the resultant tritium inventories and permeation fluxes through these materials. Some materials being considered are Al 2 O 3 (both as single crystal sapphire and polycrystalline alumina) and BeO. This report contains results of ion-implantation, thermal absorption (diffusion loading) and ion-beam analysis experiments performed in 1994 and 1995 for ITER task T26/28. The combination of implantation and thermal absorption capabilities enable us to load samples with hydrogen isotopes under differing conditions. 13 figs., 1 tab., 11 refs

Hydrodynamic effects of air sparging on hollow fiber membranes in a bubble column reactor.

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, Lijun; Law, Adrian Wing-Keung; Fane, Anthony G

2013-07-01

Air sparging is now a standard approach to reduce concentration polarization and fouling of membrane modules in membrane bioreactors (MBRs). The hydrodynamic shear stresses, bubble-induced turbulence and cross flows scour the membrane surfaces and help reduce the deposit of foulants onto the membrane surface. However, the detailed quantitative knowledge on the effect of air sparging remains lacking in the literature due to the complex hydrodynamics generated by the gas-liquid flows. To date, there is no valid model that describes the relationship between the membrane fouling performance and the flow hydrodynamics. The present study aims to examine the impact of hydrodynamics induced by air sparging on the membrane fouling mitigation in a quantitative manner. A modelled hollow fiber module was placed in a cylindrical bubble column reactor at different axial heights with the trans-membrane pressure (TMP) monitored under constant flux conditions. The configuration of bubble column without the membrane module immersed was identical to that studied by Gan et al. (2011) using Phase Doppler Anemometry (PDA), to ensure a good quantitative understanding of turbulent flow conditions along the column height. The experimental results showed that the meandering flow regime which exhibits high flow instability at the 0.3 m is more beneficial to fouling alleviation compared with the steady flow circulation regime at the 0.6 m. The filtration tests also confirmed the existence of an optimal superficial air velocity beyond which a further increase is of no significant benefit on the membrane fouling reduction. In addition, the alternate aeration provided by two air stones mounted at the opposite end of the diameter of the bubble column was also studied to investigate the associated flow dynamics and its influence on the membrane filtration performance. It was found that with a proper switching interval and membrane module orientation, the membrane fouling can be effectively

Preparation and characterization of a nickel/alumina composite membrane for high temperature hydrogen separation. Application in a membrane reactor for the dry reforming of methane; De la synthese d'une membrane composite nikel/ceramique permselective a l'hydrogene au reacteur membranaire. Application au reformage du methane

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Haag, St.

2003-11-01

The objective of this work was to develop composite inorganic membranes based on nickel or palladium supported on a porous ceramic for high temperature hydrogen separation. These membranes were used in a membrane reactor for the dry reforming of methane in order to shift the chemical equilibrium towards the production of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The metal layers were deposited on a tubular alumina support by electroless plating. The Ni and the Pd layers are 1 micron thick. The hydrogen permeation tests were done for high temperatures. The Pd/ceramic membrane is permselective to hydrogen and the H{sub 2}/N{sub 2} separation factor (single gas) is 60 at 400 deg C with a transmembrane pressure difference of 1 bar. With a gas mixture, the H{sub 2}/N{sub 2} separation factor is 13. This membrane is not completely dense and the transport mechanism of hydrogen through the Pd layer is mixed: solution-diffusion through the metal bulk and surface diffusion through the defects of the film. However, an embrittlement of the palladium layer under hydrogen atmosphere was observed at 500 deg C. The Ni/ceramic membrane is stable until 600 deg C, its permselectivity to hydrogen increases with the temperature. The use of a sweep gas can provide a H{sub 2}/N{sub 2} separation factor (mixture) of about 25. The main diffusion mechanism is surface diffusion through the pores. Both membranes are not catalytic. Thus, some catalysts composed of nickel and cobalt supported on MgO, SiO{sub 2} or Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} were prepared. These systems allow to reach theoretical limits of conversion calculated for a conventional fixed bed reactor. In the membrane reactor, an enhancement of the methane conversion (15-20%) is observed with both membranes due the selective removal of hydrogen during the reaction. The Ni/ceramic membrane more stable, more permeable and as selective as the palladium one is a brand new material for high temperature hydrogen separation. (author)

Synthesis of a catalytic reactor membrane for synthesis gas production; Elaboration d'une membrane de reacteur catalytique pour la production de gaz de synthese

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Juste, E.; Julian, A.; Chartier, T. [Limoges Univ., Lab. Science des Procedes Ceramiques et de Traitements de Surface (SPCTS, UMR 6638 CNRS), 87 (France); Juste, E.; Julian, A.; Del Gallo, P.; Richet, N. [Centre de Recherche Claude-Delorme, Air Liquide, 78 - Jouy en Josas (France)

2007-07-01

The conversion of natural gas to synthesis gas (mixture of H{sub 2} and CO) is a main challenge for the hydrogen and clean fuels production. Mixed (ionic O{sup 2-} and electronic) conducing ceramics membrane reactors seem particularly promising. The design considered for the membrane is a tri-layer system integrating a reforming catalyst and a dense membrane laying on a porous support. Among the materials considered for the dense membrane, perovskites La{sub 1-x}Sr{sub x}Fe{sub 1-y}Ga{sub y}O{sub 3-{delta}} seem to be interesting for their performances and stability. The oxygen flux through the membrane is measured in terms of temperature under different oxygen partial pressure gradients. In the industrial experimental conditions, the membrane is submitted to a strong oxygen (air/methane) partial pressure gradient of about 900 C which induces mechanical stresses, on account of the material expansion difference, in terms of p{sub O2}. In this framework, the evolutions of the performances and of the expansion coefficient have been followed in terms of the substitutions rates in La{sub (1-x)}Sr{sub x}Fe{sub (1-y)}Ga{sub y}O{sub 3-{delta}} with x{<=}0.5 and y{<=}0.5. (O.M.)

Modeling of the fluid dynamics and SO{sub 2} absorption in a gas-liquid reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Marocco, L. [Alstom Power Italy, Milan (Italy)

2010-08-01

This paper illustrates a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model of a counter-current Open Spray Tower desulphurisation reactor and its application in the simulation of a full-scale industrial equipment. The raw flue gas flows upward while a suspension of water and limestone is sprayed downward from different heights. Thereby sulfur dioxide is washed out of the gas. The two-phase gas-liquid flow inside the equipment has been simulated with an Euler-Lagrange approach using a commercial CFD code, while a model for the SO{sub 2} absorption has been developed and implemented in the software through dedicated modules. Physical absorption is modeled using dual-film theory and appropriate empirical and semi-empirical correlations. The aqueous phase chemistry accounts for the instantaneous equilibrium reactions of eight dissolved species into a slurry droplet. The model is used to simulate an industrial plant at different operating conditions. The numerical results are in good agreement with the measured values of pressure drop and sulphur removal efficiency.

X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yano, Junko; Yachandra, Vittal K.

2009-07-09

This review gives a brief description of the theory and application of X-ray absorption spectroscopy, both X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS), especially, pertaining to photosynthesis. The advantages and limitations of the methods are discussed. Recent advances in extended EXAFS and polarized EXAFS using oriented membranes and single crystals are explained. Developments in theory in understanding the XANES spectra are described. The application of X-ray absorption spectroscopy to the study of the Mn4Ca cluster in Photosystem II is presented.

Redshift of the purple membrane absorption band and the deprotonation of tyrosine residues at high pH: Origin of the parallel photocycles of trans-bacteriorhodopsin

OpenAIRE

Balashov, S. P.; Govindjee, R.; Ebrey, T. G.

1991-01-01

At high pH (> 8) the 570 nm absorption band of all-trans bacteriorhodopsin (bR) in purple membrane undergoes a small (1.5 nm) shift to longer wavelengths, which causes a maximal increase in absorption at 615 nm. The pK of the shift is 9.0 in the presence of 167 mM KCl, and its intrinsic pK is ∼8.3. The red shift of the trans-bR absorption spectrum correlates with the appearance of the fast component in the light-induced L to M transition, and absorption increases at 238 and 297 nm which are a...

Graphene-coated hollow fiber membrane as the cathode in anaerobic electrochemical membrane bioreactors – Effect of configuration and applied voltage on performance and membrane fouling

KAUST Repository

Werner, Craig M.

2015-12-22

Electrically conductive, graphene-coated hollow-fiber porous membranes were used as cathodes in anaerobic electrochemical membrane bioreactors (AnEMBRs) operated at different applied voltages (0.7 V and 0.9 V) using a new rectangular reactor configuration, compared to a previous tubular design (0.7 V). The onset of biofouling was delayed and minimized in rectangular reactors operated at 0.9 V, compared to those at 0.7 V due to higher rates of hydrogen production. Maximum transmembrane pressures for the rectangular reactor were only 0.10 bar (0.7 V) or 0.05 bar (0.9 V) after 56 days of operation, compared to 0.46 bar (0.7 V) for the tubular reactor after 52 days. The thickness of the membrane biofouling layer was approximately 0.4 µm for rectangular reactors and 4 µm for the tubular reactor. Higher permeate quality (TSS = 0.05 mg/L) was achieved in the rectangular AnEMBR than the tubular AnEMBR (TSS = 17 mg/L), likely due to higher current densities that minimized the accumulation of cells in suspension. These results show that the new rectangular reactor design, which had increased rates of hydrogen production, successfully delayed the onset of cathode biofouling and improved reactor performance.

Graphene-coated hollow fiber membrane as the cathode in anaerobic electrochemical membrane bioreactors – Effect of configuration and applied voltage on performance and membrane fouling

KAUST Repository

Werner, Craig M.; Katuri, Krishna; Rao, Hari Ananda; Chen, Wei; Lai, Zhiping; Logan, Bruce E.; Amy, Gary L.; Saikaly, Pascal

2015-01-01

Electrically conductive, graphene-coated hollow-fiber porous membranes were used as cathodes in anaerobic electrochemical membrane bioreactors (AnEMBRs) operated at different applied voltages (0.7 V and 0.9 V) using a new rectangular reactor configuration, compared to a previous tubular design (0.7 V). The onset of biofouling was delayed and minimized in rectangular reactors operated at 0.9 V, compared to those at 0.7 V due to higher rates of hydrogen production. Maximum transmembrane pressures for the rectangular reactor were only 0.10 bar (0.7 V) or 0.05 bar (0.9 V) after 56 days of operation, compared to 0.46 bar (0.7 V) for the tubular reactor after 52 days. The thickness of the membrane biofouling layer was approximately 0.4 µm for rectangular reactors and 4 µm for the tubular reactor. Higher permeate quality (TSS = 0.05 mg/L) was achieved in the rectangular AnEMBR than the tubular AnEMBR (TSS = 17 mg/L), likely due to higher current densities that minimized the accumulation of cells in suspension. These results show that the new rectangular reactor design, which had increased rates of hydrogen production, successfully delayed the onset of cathode biofouling and improved reactor performance.

Bio-diatomite dynamic membrane reactor for micro-polluted surface water treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Chu, Huaqiang; Cao, Dawen; Dong, Bingzhi; Qiang, Zhimin

2010-03-01

This work investigated the feasibility of treating micro-polluted surface water for drinking water production with a bio-diatomite dynamic membrane reactor (BDDMR) at lab-scale in continuous-flow mode. Results indicate that the BDDMR was effective in removing COD(Mn), DOC, UV(254), NH(3)-N and trihalomethanes' formation potential (THMFP) at a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 3.5h due to its high concentrations of mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) and mixed liquor volatile suspended solids (MLVSS). The removal of pollutants was mainly ascribed to microbial degradation in BDDMR because the dynamic membrane alone was much less effective in pollutant removal. Though the diatomite particles (5-20microm) were much smaller in size than the aperture of the stainless steel support mesh (74microm), microorganisms and their extracellular polymer substances could bind these particles tightly to form bio-diatomite particles which were completely retained by the support mesh. The analysis of molecular weight (MW) distribution by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) shows that the BDDMR could effectively remove the hydrophilic fraction of dissolved organic materials present in the raw water. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mechanical design of a PERMCAT reactor module

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tosti, S. [Associazione ENEA Euratom sulla Fusione, C.R. ENEA Frascati, Via E. Fermi 45, Frascati, Roma I-00044 (Italy)], E-mail: tosti@frascati.enea.it; Bettinali, L. [Associazione ENEA Euratom sulla Fusione, C.R. ENEA Frascati, Via E. Fermi 45, Frascati, Roma I-00044 (Italy); Borgognoni, F. [Tesi Sas, Via Bolzano 28, Rome (Italy); Murdoch, D.K. [EFDA CSU, Boltzmannstr. 2, D-85748 Garching bei Munchen (Germany)

2007-02-15

The PERMCAT is a membrane reactor proposed for processing fusion reactor plasma exhaust gas: tritium removal is obtained by isotopic swamping operating in counter-current mode. In this work, a membrane reactor using a permeator tube of length about 500 mm produced via diffusion welding of Pd-Ag thin foils is described. An appropriate mechanical design of the membrane module has been developed in order to avoid any significant compressive and bending stresses on the very long and thin wall permeator tube: two expanded bellows have been applied to the Pd-Ag tube, so that it has been pre-tensioned before operating. The elongation of the metal permeator under hydrogenation has been theoretically estimated and experimentally verified for properly designing the membrane reactor.

Tritium recovery from tritiated water with a two-stage palladium membrane reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Birdsell, S.A.; Willms, R.S.

1997-01-01

A process to recover tritium from tritiated water has been successfully demonstrated at TSTA. The 2-stage palladium membrane reactor (PMR) is capable of recovering tritium from water without generating additional waste. This device can be used to recover tritium from the substantial amount of tritiated water that is expected to be generated in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor both from torus exhaust and auxiliary operations. A large quantity of tritiated waste water exists world wide because the predominant method of cleaning up tritiated streams is to oxidize tritium to tritiated water. The latter can be collected with high efficiency for subsequent disposal. The PMR is a combined catalytic reactor/permeator. Cold (non-tritium) water processing experiments were run in preparation for the tritiated water processing tests. Tritium was recovered from a container of molecular sieve loaded with 2,050 g (2,550 std. L) of water and 4.5 g of tritium. During this experiment, 27% (694 std. L) of the water was processed resulting in recovery of 1.2 g of tritium. The maximum water processing rate for the PMR system used was determined to be 0.5 slpm. This correlates well with the maximum processing rate determined from the smaller PMR system on the cold test bench and has resulted in valuable scale-up and design information

Tritium recovery from tritiated water with a two-stage palladium membrane reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Birdsell, S.A.; Willms, R.S.

1997-04-01

A process to recover tritium from tritiated water has been successfully demonstrated at TSTA. The 2-stage palladium membrane reactor (PMR) is capable of recovering tritium from water without generating additional waste. This device can be used to recover tritium from the substantial amount of tritiated water that is expected to be generated in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor both from torus exhaust and auxiliary operations. A large quantity of tritiated waste water exists world wide because the predominant method of cleaning up tritiated streams is to oxidize tritium to tritiated water. The latter can be collected with high efficiency for subsequent disposal. The PMR is a combined catalytic reactor/permeator. Cold (non-tritium) water processing experiments were run in preparation for the tritiated water processing tests. Tritium was recovered from a container of molecular sieve loaded with 2,050 g (2,550 std. L) of water and 4.5 g of tritium. During this experiment, 27% (694 std. L) of the water was processed resulting in recovery of 1.2 g of tritium. The maximum water processing rate for the PMR system used was determined to be 0.5 slpm. This correlates well with the maximum processing rate determined from the smaller PMR system on the cold test bench and has resulted in valuable scale-up and design information.

The recovery of zinc from hot galvanizing slag in an anion-exchange membrane electrolysis reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ren Xiulian [College of Ocean, Harbin Institute of Technology at Weihai, Weihai 264209 (China); Wei Qifeng, E-mail: weiqifeng163@163.com [College of Ocean, Harbin Institute of Technology at Weihai, Weihai 264209 (China); Hu Surong; Wei Sijie [College of Ocean, Harbin Institute of Technology at Weihai, Weihai 264209 (China)

2010-09-15

This paper reports the optimization of the process parameters for recovery of zinc from hot galvanizing slag in an anion-exchange membrane electrolysis reactor. The experiments were carried out in an ammoniacal ammonium chloride system. The influence of composition of electrolytes, pH, stirring rate, current density and temperature, on cathodic current efficiency, specific power consumption and anodic dissolution of Zn were investigated. The results indicate that the cathode current efficiency increases and the hydrogen evolution decreased with increasing the cathode current density. The partial current for electrodeposition of Zn has liner relationship with {omega}{sup 1/2} ({omega}: rotation rate). The highest current efficiency for dissolving zinc was obtained when NH{sub 4}Cl concentration was 53.46 g L{sup -1} and the anodic dissolution of zinc was determined by mass transfer rate at stirring rate 0-300 r min{sup -1}. Increase in temperature benefits to improve CE and dissolution of Zn, and reduce cell voltage. Initial pH of electrolytes plays an important role in the deposition and anodic dissolution of Zn. The results of single factor experiment show that about 50% energy consumption was saved for electrodeposition of Zn in the anion-exchange membrane electrolysis reactor.

The recovery of zinc from hot galvanizing slag in an anion-exchange membrane electrolysis reactor.

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, Xiulian; Wei, Qifeng; Hu, Surong; Wei, Sijie

2010-09-15

This paper reports the optimization of the process parameters for recovery of zinc from hot galvanizing slag in an anion-exchange membrane electrolysis reactor. The experiments were carried out in an ammoniacal ammonium chloride system. The influence of composition of electrolytes, pH, stirring rate, current density and temperature, on cathodic current efficiency, specific power consumption and anodic dissolution of Zn were investigated. The results indicate that the cathode current efficiency increases and the hydrogen evolution decreased with increasing the cathode current density. The partial current for electrodeposition of Zn has liner relationship with omega(1/2) (omega: rotation rate). The highest current efficiency for dissolving zinc was obtained when NH(4)Cl concentration was 53.46 g L(-1) and the anodic dissolution of zinc was determined by mass transfer rate at stirring rate 0-300 r min(-1). Increase in temperature benefits to improve CE and dissolution of Zn, and reduce cell voltage. Initial pH of electrolytes plays an important role in the deposition and anodic dissolution of Zn. The results of single factor experiment show that about 50% energy consumption was saved for electrodeposition of Zn in the anion-exchange membrane electrolysis reactor. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A green approach to ethyl acetate: Quantitative conversion of ethanol through direct dehydrogenation in a Pd-Ag membrane reactor

KAUST Repository

Zeng, Gaofeng; Chen, Tao; He, Lipeng; Pinnau, Ingo; Lai, Zhiping; Huang, Kuo-Wei

2012-01-01

Pincers do the trick: The conversion of ethanol to ethyl acetate and hydrogen was achieved using a pincer-Ru catalyst in a Pd-Ag membrane reactor. Near quantitative conversions and yields could be achieved without the need for acid or base promoters

Hollow fiber membrane based H-2 diffusion for efficient in situ biogas upgrading in an anaerobic reactor

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Luo, Gang; Angelidaki, Irini

2013-01-01

Bubbleless gas transfer through a hollow fiber membrane (HFM) module was used to supply H2 to an anaerobic reactor for in situ biogas upgrading, and it creates a novel system that could achieve a CH4 content higher than 90 % in the biogas. The increase of CH4 content and pH, and the decrease...

Novel Catalytic Membrane Reactors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

2009-02-01

This factsheet describes a research project that will focus on the development and application of nonporous high gas flux perfluoro membranes with high temperature rating and excellent chemical resistance.

Novel Composite Hydrogen-Permeable Membranes for Non-Thermal Plasma Reactors for the Decomposition of Hydrogen Sulfide

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Morris D. Argyle; John F. Ackerman; Suresh Muknahallipatna; Jerry C. Hamann; Stanislaw Legowski; Guibling Zhao; Ji-Jun Zhang; Sanil John

2005-10-01

The goal of this experimental project is to design and fabricate a reactor and membrane test cell to dissociate hydrogen sulfide (H{sub 2}S) in a non-thermal plasma and recover hydrogen (H{sub 2}) through a superpermeable multi-layer membrane. Superpermeability of hydrogen atoms (H) has been reported by some researchers using membranes made of Group V transition metals (niobium, tantalum, vanadium, and their alloys), although it has yet to be confirmed in this study. A pulsed corona discharge (PCD) reactor has been fabricated and used to dissociate H{sub 2}S into hydrogen and sulfur. A nonthermal plasma cannot be produced in pure H{sub 2}S with our reactor geometry, even at discharge voltages of up to 30 kV, because of the high dielectric strength of pure H{sub 2}S ({approx}2.9 times higher than air). Therefore, H{sub 2}S was diluted in another gas with lower breakdown voltage (or dielectric strength). Breakdown voltages of H{sub 2}S in four balance gases (Ar, He, N{sub 2} and H{sub 2}) have been measured at different H{sub 2}S concentrations and pressures. Breakdown voltages are proportional to the partial pressure of H{sub 2}S and the balance gas. H{sub 2}S conversion and the reaction energy efficiency depend on the balance gas and H{sub 2}S inlet concentrations. With increasing H{sub 2}S concentrations, H{sub 2}S conversion initially increases, reaches a maximum, and then decreases. H{sub 2}S conversion in atomic balance gases, such as Ar and He, is more efficient than that in diatomic balance gases, such as N{sub 2} and H{sub 2}. These observations can be explained by the proposed reaction mechanism of H{sub 2}S dissociation in different balance gases. The results show that nonthermal plasmas are effective for dissociating H{sub 2}S into hydrogen and sulfur.

A comparison of neutron resonance absorption in thermal reactor lattices in the AUS neutronics code system with Monte Carlo calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Robinson, G.S.

1985-08-01

The calculation of resonance shielding by the subgroup method, as incorporated in the MIRANDA module of the AUS neutronics code system, is compared with Monte Carlo calculatons for a number of thermal reactor lattices. For the large range of single rod and rod cluster lattices considered, AUS results for resonance absorption were high by up to two per cent

Bioreduction of para-chloronitrobenzene in drinking water using a continuous stirred hydrogen-based hollow fiber membrane biofilm reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Xia Siqing, E-mail: siqingxia@gmail.com [State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092 (China); Li Haixiang; Zhang Zhiqiang [State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092 (China); Zhang Yanhao [College of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Shandong Jianzhu University, Jinan 250101 (China); Yang Xin; Jia Renyong; Xie Kang; Xu Xiaotian [State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092 (China)

2011-08-30

Highlights: {yields} We designed a novel hollow fiber membrane biofilm reactor for p-CNB removal. {yields} Biotransformation pathway of p-CNB in the reactor was investigated in this study. {yields} Nitrate and sulfate competed more strongly for hydrogen than p-CNB. {yields} This reactor achieved high removal efficiency and hydrogen utilization efficiency. - Abstract: para-Chloronitrobenzene (p-CNB) is particularly harmful and persistent in the environment and is one of the priority pollutants. A feasible degradation pathway for p-CNB is bioreduction under anaerobic conditions. Bioreduction of p-CNB using a hydrogen-based hollow fiber membrane biofilm reactor (HFMBfR) was investigated in the present study. The experiment results revealed that p-CNB was firstly reduced to para-chloraniline (p-CAN) as an intermediate and then reduced to aniline that involves nitro reduction and reductive dechlorination with H{sub 2} as the electron donor. The HFMBfR had reduced p-CNB to a major extent with a maximum removal percentage of 99.3% at an influent p-CNB concentration of 2 mg/L and a hydraulic residence time of 4.8 h, which corresponded to a p-CNB flux of 0.058 g/m{sup 2} d. The H{sub 2} availability, p-CNB loading, and the presence of competing electron acceptors affected the p-CNB reduction. Flux analysis indicated that the reduction of p-CNB and p-CAN could consume fewer electrons than that of nitrate and sulfate. The HFMBfR had high average hydrogen utilization efficiencies at different steady states in this experiment, with a maximum efficiency at 98.2%.

Recent palladium membrane reactor development at the tritium systems test assembly

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scott, W.R.; Birdsell, S.A.; Wilhelm, R.C.

1995-01-01

The palladium membrane reactor (PMR) is being investigated as a means for recovering hydrogen isotopes (including tritium) from compounds such as water and methane. Previous work with protiated water and methane showed that this device can be used to obtain high hydrogen recovery efficiencies using a single processing pass and with essentially no waste production. With these successful proof-of-principle results completed, recent work has focused on PMR development. This included studies of various geometries and testing with tritium. The results, which are reported here, have led to a better understanding of the PMR and will lead to the ultimate goal of building a production PMR and putting it into practical tritium processing service. 3 refs., 5 figs., 1 tab

Nuclear power plant laundry drain treatment using membrane bio reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsukamoto, Masaaki; Kohanawa, Osamu; Kinugasa, Atsushi; Ogawa, Naoki; Murogaki, Kenta

2012-01-01

In nuclear power plant, the radioactive effluent generated by washing the clothes worn in controlled area and the hand and shower water used at the controlled area are treated in laundry drain treatment system. Although various systems which treat such liquid waste preexist, the traditional treatment system has disadvantages such as high running cost and a large amount of secondary waste generation. To solve these matters, we have considered application of an activated sludge system, membrane bio reactor, which has been practically used in general industry. For nuclear power plant, the activated sludge system has been developed, tested in its adaptability and the adequacy has been proved. Some preexisting treatment systems have been replaced with this activated sludge system for the first time in a domestic nuclear power plant, and the renewal system is now in operation. The result is reported. (author)

Membrane filtration of nickel(II) on cellulose acetate filters for its preconcentration, separation, and flame atomic absorption spectrometric determination

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Soylak, Mustafa [Chemistry Dept., Faculty of Science Arts, University of Erciyes, Kayseri (Turkey); Unsal, Yunus Emre; Aydin, Ayse [Fen Bilimleri Enstitusu, University of Erciyes, Kayseri (Turkey); Kizil, Nebiye [Saglik Bilimleri Enstitusu, University of Erciyes, Kayseri (Turkey)

2010-01-15

An enrichment method for trace amounts of Ni(II), as 8-hydroxyquinoline chelates, has been established on a cellulose acetate membrane filter. Ni(II)-8-hydroxyquinoline chelates adsorbed on a membrane filter were eluted using 5 mL of 1 M HNO{sub 3}. The eluent nickel concentration was determined by a flame atomic absorption spectrometer. The influence of some analytical parameters, including pH, amount of reagent, sample volume, etc., on recovery was investigated. The interference of co-existent ions was studied. The nickel detection limit was 4.87 {mu}g/L. The method was applied to real samples for the determination of nickel(II) ions. (Abstract Copyright [2010], Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Dynamic simulation of pure hydrogen production via ethanol steam reforming in a catalytic membrane reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hedayati, Ali; Le Corre, Olivier; Lacarrière, Bruno; Llorca, Jordi

2016-01-01

Ethanol steam reforming (ESR) was performed over Pd-Rh/CeO 2 catalyst in a catalytic membrane reactor (CMR) as a reformer unit for production of fuel cell grade pure hydrogen. Experiments were performed at 923 K, 6–10 bar, and fuel flow rates of 50–200 μl/min using a mixture of ethanol and distilled water with steam to carbon ratio of 3. A static model for the catalytic zone was derived from the Arrhenius law to calculate the total molar production rates of ESR products, i.e. CO, CO 2 , CH 4 , H 2 , and H 2 O in the catalytic zone of the CMR (coefficient of determination R 2  = 0.993). The pure hydrogen production rate at steady state conditions was modeled by means of a static model based on the Sieverts' law. Finally, a dynamic model was developed under ideal gas law assumptions to simulate the dynamics of pure hydrogen production rate in the case of the fuel flow rate or the operating pressure set point adjustment (transient state) at isothermal conditions. The simulation of fuel flow rate change dynamics was more essential compared to the pressure change one, as the system responded much faster to such an adjustment. The results of the dynamic simulation fitted very well to the experimental values at P = 7–10 bar, which proved the robustness of the simulation based on the Sieverts' law. The simulation presented in this work is similar to the hydrogen flow rate adjustments needed to set the electrical load of a fuel cell, when fed online by the pure hydrogen generating reformer studied. - Highlights: • Ethanol steam reforming (ESR) experiments were performed in a Pd-Ag membrane reactor. • The model of the catalytic zone of the reactor was derived from the Arrhenius law. • The permeation zone (membrane) was modeled based on the Sieverts' law. • The Sieverts' law model showed good results for the range of P = 7–10 bar. • Pressure and fuel flow rate adjustments were considered for dynamic simulation.

RB Research nuclear reactor RB reactor, Annual report for 2000

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Milosevic, M.

2000-12-01

Report on RB reactor operation during 2000 contains 3 parts. Part one contains a brief description of reactor operation and reactor components, relevant dosimetry data and radiation protection issues, personnel and financial data. Part two is devoted to maintenance of the reactor components, namely, fuel, heavy water, reactor vessel, heavy water circulation system, absorption rods and heavy water level-meters, maintenance of electronic, mechanical, electrical and auxiliary equipment. Part three contains data concerned with reactor operation and utilization with a comprehensive list of publications resulting from experiments done at the RB reactor. It contains data about reactor operation during previous 14 years, i.e. from 1986 - 2000

Analysis of Microbial Communities in Biofilms from CSTR-Type Hollow Fiber Membrane Biofilm Reactors for Autotrophic Nitrification and Hydrogenotrophic Denitrification.

Science.gov (United States)

Shin, Jung-Hun; Kim, Byung-Chun; Choi, Okkyoung; Kim, Hyunook; Sang, Byoung-In

2015-10-01

Two hollow fiber membrane biofilm reactors (HF-MBfRs) were operated for autotrophic nitrification and hydrogenotrophic denitrification for over 300 days. Oxygen and hydrogen were supplied through the hollow fiber membrane for nitrification and denitrification, respectively. During the period, the nitrogen was removed with the efficiency of 82-97% for ammonium and 87-97% for nitrate and with the nitrogen removal load of 0.09-0.26 kg NH4(+)-N/m(3)/d and 0.10-0.21 kg NO3(-)-N/m(3)/d, depending on hydraulic retention time variation by the two HF-MBfRs for autotrophic nitrification and hydrogenotrophic denitrification, respectively. Biofilms were collected from diverse topological positions in the reactors, each at different nitrogen loading rates, and the microbial communities were analyzed with partial 16S rRNA gene sequences in denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). Detected DGGE band sequences in the reactors were correlated with nitrification or denitrification. The profile of the DGGE bands depended on the NH4(+) or NO3(-) loading rate, but it was hard to find a major strain affecting the nitrogen removal efficiency. Nitrospira-related phylum was detected in all biofilm samples from the nitrification reactors. Paracoccus sp. and Aquaspirillum sp., which are an autohydrogenotrophic bacterium and an oligotrophic denitrifier, respectively, were observed in the denitrification reactors. The distribution of microbial communities was relatively stable at different nitrogen loading rates, and DGGE analysis based on 16S rRNA (341f /534r) could successfully detect nitrate-oxidizing and hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria but not ammonium-oxidizing bacteria in the HF-MBfRs.

Drinking water treatment using a submerged internal-circulation membrane coagulation reactor coupled with permanganate oxidation.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Zhongguo; Liu, Dan; Qian, Yu; Wu, Yue; He, Peiran; Liang, Shuang; Fu, Xiaozheng; Li, Jiding; Ye, Changqing

2017-06-01

A submerged internal circulating membrane coagulation reactor (MCR) was used to treat surface water to produce drinking water. Polyaluminum chloride (PACl) was used as coagulant, and a hydrophilic polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) submerged hollow fiber microfiltration membrane was employed. The influences of trans-membrane pressure (TMP), zeta potential (ZP) of the suspended particles in raw water, and KMnO 4 dosing on water flux and the removal of turbidity and organic matter were systematically investigated. Continuous bench-scale experiments showed that the permeate quality of the MCR satisfied the requirement for a centralized water supply, according to the Standards for Drinking Water Quality of China (GB 5749-2006), as evaluated by turbidity (<1 NTU) and total organic carbon (TOC) (<5mg/L) measurements. Besides water flux, the removal of turbidity, TOC and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the raw water also increased with increasing TMP in the range of 0.01-0.05MPa. High ZP induced by PACl, such as 5-9mV, led to an increase in the number of fine and total particles in the MCR, and consequently caused serious membrane fouling and high permeate turbidity. However, the removal of TOC and DOC increased with increasing ZP. A slightly positive ZP, such as 1-2mV, corresponding to charge neutralization coagulation, was favorable for membrane fouling control. Moreover, dosing with KMnO 4 could further improve the removal of turbidity and DOC, thereby mitigating membrane fouling. The results are helpful for the application of the MCR in producing drinking water and also beneficial to the research and application of other coagulation and membrane separation hybrid processes. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Impact of the fouling mechanism on enzymatic depolymerization of xylan in different configurations of membrane reactors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mohd Sueb, Mohd Shafiq Bin; Luo, Jianquan; Meyer, Anne S.

2017-01-01

In order to maximize enzymatic xylan depolymerization while simultaneously purifying the resulting monosaccharide (xylose), different ultrafiltration (UF) membrane reactor configurations were evaluated. Initial results showed that the two hydrolytic enzymes required for complete depolymerization...... which hindered enzymatic attack in addition to fouling. Reaction with both enzymes followed by UF was found to be the optimal configuration, providing at least 40% higher xylan hydrolysis than the cascade configuration (involving sequential reaction with each of the enzymes separately......) and the simultaneous reaction-filtration with both enzymes, respectively. This study thus confirmed that the reactor configuration has a crucial impact on the performance of both the reaction and the separation process of xylose during enzymatic xylan degradation, and that the type of fouling mechanism varies...

Rheology and Microbiology of Sludge from a Thermophilic Aerobic Membrane Reactor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alessandro Abbà

2017-01-01

Full Text Available A thermophilic aerobic membrane reactor (TAMR treating high-strength COD liquid wastes was submitted to an integrated investigation, with the aim of characterizing the biomass and its rheological behaviour. These processes are still scarcely adopted, also because the knowledge of their biology as well as of the physical-chemical properties of the sludge needs to be improved. In this paper, samples of mixed liquor were taken from a TAMR and submitted to fluorescent in situ hybridization for the identification and quantification of main bacterial groups. Measurements were also targeted at flocs features, filamentous bacteria, and microfauna, in order to characterize the sludge. The studied rheological properties were selected as they influence significantly the performances of membrane bioreactors (MBR and, in particular, of the TAMR systems that operate under thermophilic conditions (i.e., around 50°C with high MLSS concentrations (up to 200 gTS L−1. The proper description of the rheological behaviour of sludge represents a useful and fundamental aspect that allows characterizing the hydrodynamics of sludge suspension devoted to the optimization of the related processes. Therefore, in this study, the effects on the sludge rheology produced by the biomass concentration, pH, temperature, and aeration were analysed.

Membrane-aerated biofilm reactor for the removal of 1,2-dichloroethane by Pseudomonas sp. strain DCA1.

Science.gov (United States)

Hage, J C; Van Houten, R T; Tramper, J; Hartmans, S

2004-06-01

A membrane-aerated biofilm reactor (MBR) with a biofilm of Pseudomonas sp. strain DCA1 was studied for the removal of 1,2-dichloroethane (DCA) from water. A hydrophobic membrane was used to create a barrier between the liquid and the gas phase. Inoculation of the MBR with cells of strain DCA1 grown in a continuous culture resulted in the formation of a stable and active DCA-degrading biofilm on the membrane. The maximum removal rate of the MBR was reached at a DCA concentration of approximately 80 micro M. Simulation of the DCA fluxes into the biofilm showed that the MBR performance at lower concentrations was limited by the DCA diffusion rate rather than by kinetic constraints of strain DCA1. Aerobic biodegradation of DCA present in anoxic water could be achieved by supplying oxygen solely from the gas phase to the biofilm grown on the liquid side of the membrane. As a result, direct aeration of the water, which leads to undesired coagulation of iron oxides, could be avoided.

EVALUATING HYDROGEN PRODUCTION IN BIOGAS REFORMING IN A MEMBRANE REACTOR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. S. A. Silva

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Syngas and hydrogen production by methane reforming of a biogas (CH4/CO2 = 2.85 using carbon dioxide was evaluated in a fixed bed reactor with a Pd-Ag membrane in the presence of a nickel catalyst (Ni 3.31% weight/γ-Al2O3 at 773 K, 823 K, and 873 K and 1.01×105 Pa. Operation with hydrogen permeation at 873 K increased the methane conversion to approximately 83% and doubled the hydrogen yield relative to operation without hydrogen permeation. A mathematical model was formulated to predict the evolution of the effluent concentrations. Predictions based on the model showed similar evolutions for yields of hydrogen and carbon monoxide at temperatures below 823 K for operations with and without the hydrogen permeation. The hydrogen yield reached approximately 21% at 823 K and 47% at 873 K under hydrogen permeation conditions.

Removal of gaseous trichloroethylene (TCE) in a composite membrane biofilm reactor.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Amit; Vercruyssen, Aline; Dewulf, Jo; Lens, Piet; Van Langenhove, Herman

2012-01-01

A membrane biofilm reactor (MBfR) was investigated for the degradation of trichloroethylene (TCE) vapors inoculated by Burkholderia vietnamiensis G4. Toluene (TOL) was used as the primary substrate. The MBfR was loaded sequentially with TOL, TCE (or both) during 110 days. In this study, a maximum steady-state TCE removal efficiency of 23% and a maximum volumetric elimination capacity (EC) of 2.1 g m(-3) h(-1) was achieved. A surface area based maximum elimination capacity (EC(m)) of 4.2 × 10(-3) g m(-2) h(-1) was observed, which is 2-10 times higher than reported in other gas phase biological treatment studies. However, further research is needed to optimize the TCE feeding cycle and to evaluate the inhibiting effects of TCE and its intermediates on TOL biodegradation.

Preliminary design of fusion reactor fuel cleanup system by palladium alloy membrane method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoshida, Hiroshi; Konishi, Satoshi; Naruse, Yuji

1981-10-01

A design of palladium diffuser and Fuel Cleanup System (FCU) for D-T fusion reactor is proposed. Feasibility of palladium alloy membrane method is discussed based on the early studies by the authors. Operating conditions of the palladium diffuser are determined experimentally. Dimensions of the diffuser are estimated from computer simulation. FCU system is designed under the feed conditions of Tritium Systems Test Assembly (TSTA) at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. The system is composed of Pd-diffusers, catalytic oxidizer, freezer and zink beds, and has some advantages in system layout and operation. This design can readily be extended to other conditions of plasma exhaust gases. (author)

Hydrogen production by steam reforming of bio-alcohols. The use of conventional and membrane-assisted catalytic reactors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Seelam, P. K.

2013-11-01

The energy consumption around the globe is on the rise due to the exponential population growth and urbanization. There is a need for alternative and non-conventional energy sources, which are CO{sub 2}-neutral, and a need to produce less or no environmental pollutants and to have high energy efficiency. One of the alternative approaches is hydrogen economy with the fuel cell (FC) technology which is forecasted to lead to a sustainable society. Hydrogen (H{sub 2}) is recognized as a potential fuel and clean energy carrier being at the same time a carbon-free element. Moreover, H{sub 2} is utilized in many processes in chemical, food, metallurgical, and pharmaceutical industry and it is also a valuable chemical in many reactions (e.g. refineries). Non-renewable resources have been the major feedstock for H{sub 2} production for many years. At present, {approx}50% of H{sub 2} is produced via catalytic steam reforming of natural gas followed by various down-stream purification steps to produce {approx}99.99% H{sub 2}, the process being highly energy intensive. Henceforth, bio-fuels like biomass derived alcohols (e.g. bio-ethanol and bio-glycerol), can be viable raw materials for the H{sub 2} production. In a membrane based reactor, the reaction and selective separation of H{sub 2} occur simultaneously in one unit, thus improving the overall reactor efficiency. The main motivation of this work is to produce H{sub 2} more efficiently and in an environmentally friendly way from bio-alcohols with a high H{sub 2} selectivity, purity and yield. In this thesis, the work was divided into two research areas, the first being the catalytic studies using metal decorated carbon nanotube (CNT) based catalysts in steam reforming of ethanol (SRE) at low temperatures (<450 deg C). The second part was the study of steam reforming (SR) and the water-gas-shift (WGS) reactions in a membrane reactor (MR) using dense and composite Pd-based membranes to produce high purity H{sub 2}. CNTs

Simultaneous removal of selected oxidized contaminants in groundwater using a continuously stirred hydrogen-based membrane biofilm reactor.

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, Siqing; Liang, Jun; Xu, Xiaoyin; Shen, Shuang

2013-01-01

A laboratory trial was conducted for evaluating the capability of a continuously stirred hydrogen-based membrane biofilm reactor to simultaneously reduce nitrate (NO(3-)-N), sulfate (SO4(2-)), bromate (BrO3-), hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) and parachloronitrobenzene (p-CNB). The reactor contained two bundles of hollow fiber membranes functioning as an autotrophic biofilm carrier and hydrogen pipe as well. On the condition that hydrogen was supplied as electron donor and diffused into water through membrane pores, autohydrogenotrophic bacteria were capable of reducing contaminants to forms with lower toxicity. Reduction occurred within 1 day and removal fluxes for NO(3-)-N, SO4(2-), BrO3-, Cr(VI), and p-CNB reached 0.641, 2.396, 0.008, 0.016 and 0.031 g/(day x m2), respectively after 112 days of continuous operation. Except for the fact that sulfate was 37% removed under high surface loading, the other four contaminants were reduced by over 95%. The removal flux comparison between phases varying in surface loading and H2 pressure showed that decreasing surface loading or increasing H2 pressure would promote removal flux. Competition for electrons occurred among the five contaminants. Electron-equivalent flux analysis showed that the amount of utilized hydrogen was mainly controlled by NO(3-)-N and SO4(2-) reduction, which accounted for over 99% of the electron flux altogether. It also indicated the electron acceptor order, showing that nitrate was the most prior electron acceptor while suIfate was the second of the five contaminants.

Binding of the GTPase Sar1 to a Lipid Membrane Monolayer: Insertion and Orientation Studied by Infrared Reflection–Absorption Spectroscopy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christian Schwieger

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Membrane-interacting proteins are polyphilic polymers that engage in dynamic protein–protein and protein–lipid interactions while undergoing changes in conformation, orientation and binding interfaces. Predicting the sites of interactions between such polypeptides and phospholipid membranes is still a challenge. One example is the small eukaryotic GTPase Sar1, which functions in phospholipid bilayer remodeling and vesicle formation as part of the multimeric coat protein complex (COPII. The membrane interaction of Sar1 is strongly dependent on its N-terminal 23 amino acids. By monolayer adsorption experiments and infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy (IRRAS, we elucidate the role of lipids in inducing the amphipathicity of this N-terminal stretch, which inserts into the monolayer as an amphipathic helix (AH. The AH inserting angle is determined and is consistent with the philicities and spatial distribution of the amino acid monomers. Using an advanced method of IRRAS data evaluation, the orientation of Sar1 with respect to the lipid layer prior to the recruitment of further COPII proteins is determined. The result indicates that only a slight reorientation of the membrane-bound Sar1 is needed to allow coat assembly. The time-course of the IRRAS analysis corroborates a role of slow GTP hydrolysis in Sar1 desorption from the membrane.

Control for nuclear reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ash, E.B.; Bernath, L.; Facha, J.V.

1980-01-01

A nuclear reactor is provided with several hydraulically-supported spherical bodies having a high neutron absorption cross section, which fall by gravity into the core region of the reactor when the flow of supporting fluid is shut off. (auth)

The production of hydrogen through the use of a 77 wt% Pd 23 wt% Ag membrane water gas shift reactor

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Baloyi, Liberty N

2016-12-01

Full Text Available stainless steel (PSS) is evaluated for the production of hydrogen and the potential replacement of the current two-stage Water-Gas Shift (WGS) reaction by a single stage reaction. The permeability of a 20 µm Pd–Ag membrane reactor was examined at 320 °C, 380...

Effect of mass-transport limitations on the performance of a packed bed membrane reactor for partial oxidations. Intraparticle mass transport

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sint Annaland, van M.; Kurten, U.; Kuipers, J.A.M.

2007-01-01

For partial oxidation systems, where the reaction order in oxygen of the formation rate of the target product is smaller than the reaction order in oxygen of the consecutive reaction rate toward the waste product, a packed bed membrane reactor can be applied to distributively dose oxygen along the

Effect of Mass-Transport Limitations on the Performance of a Packed Bed Membrane Reactor for Partial Oxidations. Intraparticle Mass Transport

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Sint Annaland, M.; Kurten, U.; Kuipers, J.A.M.

2007-01-01

For partial oxidation systems, where the reaction order in oxygen of the formation rate of the target product is smaller than the reaction order in oxygen of the consecutive reaction rate toward the waste product, a packed bed membrane reactor can be applied to distributively dose oxygen along the

Neutronic reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wende, C.W.J.

1976-01-01

A safety rod for a nuclear reactor has an inner end portion having a gamma absorption coefficient and neutron capture cross section approximately equal to those of the adjacent shield, a central portion containing materials of high neutron capture cross section and an outer end portion having a gamma absorption coefficient at least equal to that of the adjacent shield

Open absorption system for cooling and air conditioning using membrane contactors. 2006 annual report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Conde-Petit, M. [M. Conde Engineering, Zuerich (Switzerland); Weber, R. [Materials Science and Technology (EMPA), Abteilung Bautechnologien, Duebendorf (Switzerland)

2006-11-15

This illustrated annual report for 2006 for the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) reports on work being done on the development of an open absorption system for cooling and air-conditioning. The report reviews the construction of a first prototype and the manufacture of its components. The conceptual design of this new type of air handling unit (AHU), operating with a liquid desiccant, is discussed. The AHU is to be autonomous and the system will not require additional mechanical refrigeration. It is to be thermally driven at temperatures below 80 {sup o}C. Waste heat sources, solar collectors, district heating plants and co-generation systems are targeted as providers of thermal energy at this temperature level. Work carried out is reported on, including that on two-stream membrane contactors.

Environmentally benign synthesis of amides and ureas via catalytic dehydrogenation coupling of volatile alcohols and amines in a Pd-Ag membrane reactor

KAUST Repository

Chen, Tao

2016-05-31

In this study, we report the direct synthesis of amides and ureas via the catalytic dehydrogenation of volatile alcohols and amines using the Milstein catalyst in a Pd-Ag/ceramic membrane reactor. A series of amides and ureas, which could not be synthesized in an open system by catalytic dehydrogenation coupling, were obtained in moderate to high yields via catalytic dehydrogenation of volatile alcohols and amines. This process could be monitored by the hydrogen produced. Compared to the traditional method of condensation, this catalytic system avoids the stoichiometric pre-activation or in situ activation of reagents, and is a much cleaner process with high atom economy. This methodology, only possible by employing the Pd-Ag/ceramic membrane reactor, not only provides a new environmentally benign synthetic approach of amides and ureas, but is also a potential method for hydrogen storage.

Environmentally benign synthesis of amides and ureas via catalytic dehydrogenation coupling of volatile alcohols and amines in a Pd-Ag membrane reactor

KAUST Repository

Chen, Tao; Zeng, Gaofeng; Lai, Zhiping; Huang, Kuo-Wei

2016-01-01

In this study, we report the direct synthesis of amides and ureas via the catalytic dehydrogenation of volatile alcohols and amines using the Milstein catalyst in a Pd-Ag/ceramic membrane reactor. A series of amides and ureas, which could not be synthesized in an open system by catalytic dehydrogenation coupling, were obtained in moderate to high yields via catalytic dehydrogenation of volatile alcohols and amines. This process could be monitored by the hydrogen produced. Compared to the traditional method of condensation, this catalytic system avoids the stoichiometric pre-activation or in situ activation of reagents, and is a much cleaner process with high atom economy. This methodology, only possible by employing the Pd-Ag/ceramic membrane reactor, not only provides a new environmentally benign synthetic approach of amides and ureas, but is also a potential method for hydrogen storage.

Enabling liquid solvent structure analysis using hard x-ray absorption spectroscopy with a transferrable microfluidic reactor

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Jian; Zhang, Wei; Wang, Feng; Yu, Xiao-Ying

2018-05-01

In this paper, a vacuum compatible microfluidic device, system for analysis at the liquid vacuum interface, is integrated to hard x-ray absorption spectroscopy to obtain the local structure of K3[Fe(CN)6] in aqueous solutions with three concentrations of 0.5 M, 0.05 M, and 0.005 M. The solutions were sealed in a microchannel 500 µm wide and 300 µm deep in a portable microfluidic device. The Fe K-edge x-ray absorption spectra indicate a presence of Fe(III) in the complex in water, with an octahedral geometry coordinated with 6 C atoms in the first shell with a distance of ~1.92 Å and 6 N atoms in the second shell with a distance of ~3.10 Å. Varying the concentration has no observable influence on the structure of K3[Fe(CN)6]. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of using microfluidic based liquid cells in large synchrotron facilities. Using portable microfludic reactors provides a viable approach to enable multifaceted measurements of liquids in the future.

A green approach to ethyl acetate: Quantitative conversion of ethanol through direct dehydrogenation in a Pd-Ag membrane reactor

KAUST Repository

Zeng, Gaofeng

2012-11-07

Pincers do the trick: The conversion of ethanol to ethyl acetate and hydrogen was achieved using a pincer-Ru catalyst in a Pd-Ag membrane reactor. Near quantitative conversions and yields could be achieved without the need for acid or base promoters or hydrogen acceptors (see scheme). © 2012 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Membrane bioreactors for waste gas treatment.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Reij, M.W.; Keurentjes, J.T.F.; Hartmans, S.

1998-01-01

This review describes the recent development of membrane reactors for biological treatment of waste gases. In this type of bioreactor gaseous pollutants are transferred through a membrane to the liquid phase, where micro-organisms degrade the pollutants. The membrane bioreactor combines the

Membrane bioreactors for waste gas treatment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Reij, M.W.; Keurentjes, J.T.F.; Hartmans, S.

1998-01-01

This review describes the recent development of membrane reactors for biological treatment of waste gases. In this type of bioreactor gaseous pollutants are transferred through a membrane to the liquid phase, where micro-organisms degrade the pollutants. The membrane bioreactor combines the

Reactor container spray device

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yanai, Ryoichi.

1980-01-01

Purpose: To enable decrease in the heat and the concentration of radioactive iodine released from the reactor vessel into the reactor container in the spray device of BWR type reactors. Constitution: A plurality of water receiving trays are disposed below the spray nozzle in the dry well and communicated to a pressure suppression chamber by way of drain pipeways passing through a diaphragm floor. When the recycling system is ruptured and coolants in the reactor vessel and radioactive iodine in the reactor core are released into the dry well, spray water is discharged from the spray nozzle to eliminate the heat and the radioactive iodine in the dry well. In this case, the receiving trays collect the portions of spray water whose absorption power for the heat and radioactive iodine is nearly saturated and falls them into the pool water of the pressure suppression chamber. Consequently, other portions of the spray water that still possess absorption power can be jetted with no hindrance, to increase the efficiency for the removal of the heat and iodine of the spray droplets. (Horiuchi, T.)

Optimization of the biological process using flat membrane bioreactors. Maximum treatment performance with minimum reactor volume; Optimizacion del proceso biologico con BRM de membrana plana. Maximo rendimiento de depuracion con minimo volumen de reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lluch Vallmithana, S.; Lopez Gavin, A.

2006-07-01

In a conventional activated sludge process, the membranes are inside the biological reactor where they drain the water through suction or a water column. This system can be operated with heavy loads and sludge of 12-14 g/l or more, and is not affected by problems of bulking or foaming. This makes it suitable for treating difficult industrial waste waters, providing treated water that is free of bacteria and viruses. Micro filtration membranes are flat without any rubbing between them. The membranes require infrequent chemical cleaning and do not need back washing. As no final sedimented is needed, the waste water treatment plant occupies less space. (Author)

Reactor vessel using metal oxide ceramic membranes

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Marc A.; Zeltner, Walter A.

1992-08-11

A reaction vessel for use in photoelectrochemical reactions includes as its reactive surface a metal oxide porous ceramic membrane of a catalytic metal such as titanium. The reaction vessel includes a light source and a counter electrode. A provision for applying an electrical bias between the membrane and the counter electrode permits the Fermi levels of potential reaction to be favored so that certain reactions may be favored in the vessel. The electrical biasing is also useful for the cleaning of the catalytic membrane.

Continuous Membrane-Based Screening System for Biocatalysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthias Kraume

2011-02-01

Full Text Available The use of membrane reactors for enzymatic and co-factor regenerating reactions offers versatile advantages such as higher conversion rates and space-time-yields and is therefore often applied in industry. However, currently available screening and kinetics characterization systems are based on batch and fed-batch operated reactors and were developed for whole cell biotransformations rather than for enzymatic catalysis. Therefore, the data obtained from such systems has only limited transferability for continuous membrane reactors. The aim of this study is to evaluate and to improve a novel screening and characterization system based on the membrane reactor concept using the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose as a model reaction. Important aspects for the applicability of the developed system such as long-term stability and reproducibility of continuous experiments were very high. The concept used for flow control and fouling suppression allowed control of the residence time with a high degree of precision (±1% accuracy in a long-term study (>100 h.

Control rod for nuclear reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tada, Kaoru; Kawano, Shohei

1998-01-01

A guide roller is prepared by forming an oxide membrane on the surface of a molded roller product comprising, as a material, a deposition-reinforced type nickel-based alloy reinforced by deposition of fine particles by applying a heat treatment to a nickel-based alloy. When the guide roller is used in reactor water, since the roller has an oxide membrane on the surface, leaching of nickel to reactor water is reduced, and radioactive corrosive products including cobalt 58 are reduced to decrease an operator's exposure dose upon periodical inspections of a plant. The oxide membrane is formed by applying heat treatment under an oxidative atmosphere. Then, the amount of abrasion of pins and rollers in association with start-up or shut down of a reactor and control of the power can be reduced thereby enabling to suppress increase of radiation dose due to cobalt 60 and cobalt 58. (N.H.)

Polymer nanocomposite membranes with hierarchically structured catalysts for high throughput dehalogenation

Science.gov (United States)

Crock, Christopher A.

Halogenated organics are categorized as primary pollutants by the Environmental Protection Agency. Trichloroethylene (TCE), which had broad industrial use in the past, shows persistence in the environment because of its chemical stability. The large scale use and poor control of TCE resulted in its prolonged release into the environment before the carcinogenic risk associated with TCE was fully understood. TCE pollution stemmed from industrial effluents and improper disposal of solvent waste. Membrane reactors are promising technology for treating TCE polluted groundwater because of the high throughput, relatively low cost of membrane fabrication and facile retrofitting of existing membrane based water treatment facilities with catalytic membrane reactors. Compared to catalytic fluidized or fixed bed reactors, catalytic membrane reactors feature minimal diffusional limitation. Additionally, embedding catalyst within the membrane avoids the need for catalyst recovery and can prevent aggregation of catalytic nanoparticles. In this work, Pd/xGnP, Pd-Au/xGnP, and commercial Pd/Al2O3 nanoparticles were employed in batch and flow-through membrane reactors to catalyze the dehalogenation of TCE in the presence of dissolved H2. Bimetallic Pd-Au/xGnP catalysts were shown to be more active than monometallic Pd/xGnP or commercial Pd/Al 2O3 catalysts. In addition to synthesizing nanocomposite membranes for high-throughput TCE dehalogenation, the membrane based dehalogenation process was designed to minimize the detrimental impact of common catalyst poisons (S2-, HS-, and H2S -) by concurrent oxidation of sulfide species to gypsum in the presence of Ca2+ and removal of gypsum through membrane filtration. The engineered membrane dehalogenation process demonstrated that bimetallic Pd-Au/xGnP catalysts resisted deactivation by residual sulfide species after oxidation, and showed complete removal of gypsum during membrane filtration.

Exergy analysis of a hydrogen fired combined cycle with natural gas reforming and membrane assisted shift reactors for CO2 capture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Atsonios, K.; Panopoulos, K.D.; Doukelis, A.; Koumanakos, A.; Kakaras, Em.

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► Exergy analysis of NGCC with CCS. ► WGS-MR: exergetically efficient technology for CCS, less than 2% total exergy losses. ► 10% of total exergy dissipation in the ATR. ► Optimization of ATR operation and CO 2 stream treatment. - Abstract: Hydrogen production from fossil fuels together with carbon capture has been suggested as a means of providing a carbon free power. The paper presents a comparative exergetic analysis performed on the hydrogen production from natural gas with several combinations of reactor systems: (a) oxy or air fired autothermal reforming with subsequent water gas shift reactor and (b) membrane reactor assisted with shift catalysts. The influence of reactor temperature and pressure as well as operating parameter steam-to-carbon ratio, is also studied exergetically. The results indicate optimal power plant configurations with CO 2 capture, or hydrogen delivery for industrial applications.

Insight into effects of antibiotics on reactor performance and evolutions of antibiotic resistance genes and microbial community in a membrane reactor.

Science.gov (United States)

Wen, Qinxue; Yang, Lian; Zhao, Yaqi; Huang, Long; Chen, Zhiqiang

2018-04-01

A lab-scale anoxic/oxic-membrane bioreactor was designed to treat antibiotics containing wastewater at different antibiotics concentrations (0.5 mg/L, 1 mg/L and 3 mg/L of each antibiotic). Overall COD and NH 4 + N removal (more than 90%) were not affected during the exposure to antibiotics and good TN removal was also achieved, while TP removal was significantly affected. The maximum removal efficiency of penicillin and chlorotetracycline reached 97.15% and 96.10% respectively due to strong hydrolysis, and sulfamethoxazole reached 90.07% by biodegradation. However, 63.87% of norfloxacin maximum removal efficiency was achieved mainly by sorption. The system had good ability to reduce ARGs, peaking to more than 4 orders of magnitude, which mainly depended on the biomass retaining of the membrane module. Antibiotics concentration influenced the evolution of ARGs and bacterial communities in the reactor. This research provides great implication to reduce ARGs and antibiotics in antibiotics containing wastewater using A/O-MBR. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Advances of zeolite based membrane for hydrogen production via water gas shift reaction

Science.gov (United States)

Makertihartha, I. G. B. N.; Zunita, M.; Rizki, Z.; Dharmawijaya, P. T.

2017-07-01

Hydrogen is considered as a promising energy vector which can be obtained from various renewable sources. However, an efficient hydrogen production technology is still challenging. One technology to produce hydrogen with very high capacity with low cost is through water gas shift (WGS) reaction. Water gas shift reaction is an equilibrium reaction that produces hydrogen from syngas mixture by the introduction of steam. Conventional WGS reaction employs two or more reactors in series with inter-cooling to maximize conversion for a given volume of catalyst. Membrane reactor as new technology can cope several drawbacks of conventional reactor by removing reaction product and the reaction will favour towards product formation. Zeolite has properties namely high temperature, chemical resistant, and low price makes it suitable for membrane reactor applications. Moreover, it has been employed for years as hydrogen selective layer. This review paper is focusing on the development of membrane reactor for efficient water gas shift reaction to produce high purity hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Development of membrane reactor is discussed further related to its modification towards efficient reaction and separation from WGS reaction mixture. Moreover, zeolite framework suitable for WGS membrane reactor will be discussed more deeply.

Oxygen Transport Membrane Reactors for Oxy-Fuel Combustion and Carbon Capture Purposes

Science.gov (United States)

Falkenstein-Smith, Ryan L.

This thesis investigates oxygen transport membrane reactors (OTMs) for the application of oxy-fuel combustion. This is done by evaluating the material properties and oxygen permeability of different OTM compositions subjected to a variety of operating conditions. The scope of this work consists of three components: (1) evaluate the oxygen permeation capabilities of perovskite-type materials for the application of oxy-fuel combustion; (2) determine the effects of dual-phase membrane compositions on the oxygen permeation performance and membrane characteristics; and (3) develop a new method for estimating the oxygen permeation performance of OTMs utilized for the application of oxy-fuel combustion. SrSc0.1Co0.9O3-delta (SSC) is selected as the primary perovskite-type material used in this research due to its reported high ionic and electronic conductive properties and chemical stability. SSC's oxygen ion diffusivity is investigated using a conductivity relaxation technique and thermogravimetric analysis. Material properties such as chemical structure, morphology, and ionic and electronic conductivity are examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), and conductivity testing using a four-probe method, respectively. Oxygen permeation tests study the oxygen permeability OTMs under modified membrane temperatures, sweeping gas flow rates, sweeping gas compositions, membrane configurations, and membrane compositions. When utilizing a pure CO2 sweeping gas, the membrane composition was modified with the addition of Sm0.2Ce0.8O1.9-delta (SDC) at varying wt.% to improve the membranes mechanical stability. A newly developed method to evaluate the oxygen permeation performance of OTMs is also presented by fitting OTM's oxygen permeability to the methane fraction in the sweeping gas composition. The fitted data is used to estimate the overall performance and size of OTMs utilized for the application of oxy-fuel combustion. The findings from this

Reforming of Liquid Hydrocarbons in a Novel Hydrogen-Selective Membrane-Based Fuel Processor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shamsuddin Ilias

2006-03-10

In this work, asymmetric dense Pd/porous stainless steel composite membranes were fabricated by depositing palladium on the outer surface of the tubular support. The electroless plating method combined with an osmotic pressure field was used to deposit the palladium film. Surface morphology and microstructure of the composite membranes were characterized by SEM and EDX. The SEM and EDX analyses revealed strong adhesion of the plated pure palladium film on the substrate and dense coalescence of the Pd film. Membranes were further characterized by conducting permeability experiments with pure hydrogen, nitrogen, and helium gases at temperatures from 325 to 450 C and transmembrane pressure differences from 5 to 45 psi. The permeation results showed that the fabricated membranes have both high hydrogen permeability and selectivity. For example, the hydrogen permeability for a composite membrane with a 20 {micro}m Pd film was 3.02 x 10{sup -5} moles/m{sup 2}.s.Pa{sup 0.765} at 450 C. Hydrogen/nitrogen selectivity for this composite membrane was 1000 at 450 C with a transmembrane pressure difference of 14.7 psi. Steam reforming of methane is one of the most important chemical processes in hydrogen and syngas production. To investigate the usefulness of palladium-based composite membranes in membrane-reactor configuration for simultaneous production and separation of hydrogen, steam reforming of methane by equilibrium shift was studied. The steam reforming of methane using a packed-bed inert membrane tubular reactor (PBIMTR) was simulated. A two-dimensional pseudo-homogeneous reactor model with parallel flow configuration was developed for steam reforming of methane. The shell volume was taken as the feed and sweep gas was fed to the inside of the membrane tube. Radial diffusion was taken into account for concentration gradient in the radial direction due to hydrogen permeation through the membrane. With appropriate reaction rate expressions, a set of partial differential

The Membrane Gradostat Reactor: Secondary metabolite production ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This manuscript focuses on the aspect of a membrane gradostat as an entirely different concept compared to submerged hollow fibre modules. The use of membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology is rapidly advancing in the wastewater treatment industries. However, this is not the case in the biopharmaceutical ...

A review of investigations on wastewater treatment with MSOBR (membrane supported and oxygenated biofilm reactors); Una revision de las investigaciones sobre el tratamiento de aguas residuales con RBSOM (reactores de biopelicula que emplean membranas con material soporte y medio de oxigenacion)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Esteban Garcia, A. L.; Tejero Monzon, I.

2007-07-01

MSOBR (membrane supported and oxygenated biofilm reactors) are biological reactors for wastewater treatment in which biofilm support and oxygenation functions are carried out by gas permeable membranes. In these conditions, with oxygen and substratum (carbonaceous, nitroge neous) diffusing into the biofilm from opposite sides, different environments are developed inside the biofilm, allowing simultaneous nitrification, denitrification and carbon removal. Other added advantages, such us the possibility of a high oxygen transfer efficiency or those derived from the absence of bubbles in aeration (minimizing foaming and VOC emissions), have lead numerous research groups to work in the development of different MSOBR systems, with promising results that make possible to consider their practical applicability in the near future. (Author) 69 refs.

A Miniature Membrane Reactor for Evaluation of Process Design Options on the Enzymatic Degradation of Pectin

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zainal Alam, Muhd Nazrul Hisham; Pinelo, Manuel; Arnous, Anis

2011-01-01

was fabricated from poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) and poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) with a working volume of ∼190 μL. The prototype also contained the necessary sensors and actuators, i.e., pressure transducer, mixing via magnetic stirrer bar and a temperature controller. The functionality of the prototype...... was demonstrated by performing a continuous enzymatic degradation of pectin experiment for a range of reactor conditions: different membrane molecular weight cutoff (MWCO) values, enzyme-to-substrate ratios (E/S), and substrate feeding rates (F) were assessed. Based on the experimental data, it was found...

Processing test of an upgraded mechanical design for PERMCAT reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Borgognoni, Fabio; Demange, David; Doerr, Lothar; Tosti, Silvano; Welte, Stefan

2010-01-01

The PERMCAT membrane reactor is a coaxial combination of a Pd/Ag permeator membrane and a catalyst bed. This device has been proposed for processing fusion reactor plasma exhaust gas. A stream containing tritium (up to 1% of tritium in different chemical forms such as water, methane or molecular hydrogen) is decontaminated in the PERMCAT by counter-current isotopic swamping with protium. Different mechanical designs of the membrane reactor have been proposed to improve robustness and lifetime. The ENEA membrane reactor uses a permeator tube with a length of about 500 mm produced via cold-rolling and diffusion welding of Pd/Ag thin foils: two stainless steel pre-tensioned bellows have been applied to the Pd/Ag tube in order to avoid any significant compressive and bending stresses due to the permeator tube elongation consequent to the hydrogen uptake. An experimental test campaign has been performed using this reactor in order to assess the influence of different operating parameters and to evaluate the overall performance (decontamination factor). Tests have been carried out on two reactor prototypes: a defect-free membrane with complete (infinite) hydrogen selectivity and not perm-selective membrane. In this last case, the study has been aimed at verifying the behaviour of the PERMCAT devices under non-normal (accidental) conditions in the view of providing information for future safety analysis. The paper will present the specific mechanical design and the experimental results of tests based on isotopic exchange between H 2 O and D 2 .

Hydrogen Production by Catalytic Partial Oxidation of Coke Oven Gas in BaCo0.7Fe0.3-xZrxO3-δ Ceramic Membrane Reactors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yao Weilin

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The BaCo0.7Fe0.3-xZrxO3-δ (BCFZ, x = 0.04–0.12 mixed ionic–electronic conducting (MIEC membranes were synthesized with a sol–gel method and evaluated as potential membrane reactor materials for the partial oxidation of coke oven gas (COG. The effect of zirconium content on the phase structure, microstructure and performance of the BCFZ membrane under He or COG atmosphere were systemically investigated. The BaCo0.7Fe0.24Zr0.06O3-δ membrane exhibited the best oxygen permeability and good operation stability, which could be a potential candidate of the membrane materials for hydrogen production through the partial oxidation of COG.

Membrane modification to avoid wettability changes due to protein adsorption in an emulsion/membrane bioreactor.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schroen, C.G.P.H.; Wijers, M.C.; Cohen Stuart, M.A.; Padt, van der A.; Riet, van 't K.

1993-01-01

This study addresses problems encountered with an emulsion/membrane bioreactor. In this reactor, enzyme- (lipase) catalyzed hydrolysis in an emulsion was combined with two in-line separation steps. One is carried out with a hydrophilic membrane, to separate the water phase, the other with a

Hydrogen concentration control utilizing a hydrogen permeable membrane

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Keating, S.J. Jr.

1976-01-01

The concentration of hydrogen in a fluid mixture is controlled to a desired concentration by flowing the fluid through one chamber of a diffusion cell separated into two chambers by a hydrogen permeable membrane. A gradient of hydrogen partial pressure is maintained across the membrane to cause diffusion of hydrogen through the membrane to maintain the concentration of hydrogen in the fluid mixture at the predetermined level. The invention has particular utility for the purpose of injecting into and/or separating hydrogen from the reactor coolant of a nuclear reactor system

Sequentially aerated membrane biofilm reactors for autotrophic nitrogen removal: microbial community composition and dynamics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pellicer i Nàcher, Carles; Franck, Stephanie; Gülay, Arda

2014-01-01

Membrane-aerated biofilm reactors performing autotrophic nitrogen removal can be successfully applied to treat concentrated nitrogen streams. However, their process performance is seriously hampered by the growth of nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB). In this work we document how sequential aeration...... (rich in oxygen) and AnAOB in regions neighbouring the liquid phase. Both communities were separated by a transition region potentially populated by denitrifying heterotrophic bacteria. AOB and AnAOB bacterial groups were more abundant and diverse than NOB, and dominated by the r......-strategists Nitrosomonas europaea and Ca. Brocadia anammoxidans, respectively. Taken together, the present work presents tools to better engineer, monitor and control the microbial communities that support robust, sustainable and efficient nitrogen removal....

Heavy nucleus resonance absorption in heterogeneous lattices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coste, M.; Tellier, H.; Brienne-Raepsaet, C.; Van Der Gucht, C.

1992-01-01

To compute easily the neutron reaction rates in the resonance energy range, the reactor physicists use the self-shielding formalism and the effective cross-section concept. Usually, for these calculations, and equivalence process is used, in such a way that the absorption rate is correctly computed for the whole fuel pin. This procedure does not allow to preserve the spatial absorption rate distribution inside the pin. It is an important handicap if we want to reproduce the plutonium distribution in a spent fuel. To avoid this inconvenience, new improvements of the self-shielding formalism have been recently introduced in the new assembly calculation code of the French Atomic Energy Commission, APOLLO 2. With this improved formalism, it is now possible to represent the spatial and energetic dependence of the heavy nucleus absorption inside the fuel pin and to use a fine energy dependent equivalence process. As it does not exist clean experimental results for the spatial and energetic dependence of the absorption, the authors used reference calculations to qualify the self-shielding formalism. For the strongly self-shielded nuclei of interest in reactor physics, U238, Pu240 and Th232, the agreement between the self-shielding calculation and the reference ones is fairly good for the spatial and energetic dependence of the absorption rate

SACCHARIFICATION OF NATIVE CASSAVA STARCH AT HIGH DRY SOLIDS IN AN ENZYMATIC MEMBRANE REACTOR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I Nyoman Widiasa

2012-02-01

Full Text Available This study is aimed to develop a novel process scheme for hydrolysis of native cassava starch at high dry solids using an enzymatic membrane reactor (EMR. Firstly, liquefied cassava starch having solids content up to 50% by weight was prepared by three stage liquefactions in a conventional equipment using a commercially available heat stable a-amylase (Termamyl 120L. The liquefied cassava starch was further saccharified in an EMR using glucoamylase (AMG E. By using the developed process scheme, a highly clear hydrolysate with dextrose equivalent (DE approximately 97 could be produced, provided the increase of solution viscosity during the liquefaction was precisely controlled. The excessive space time could result in reduction in conversion degree of starch. Moreover, a residence time distribution study confirmed that the EMR could be modelled as a simple continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR. Using Lineweaver-Burk analysis, the apparent Michaelis-Menten constant (Km and glucose production rate constant (k2 were 552 (g/l and 4.04 (min-1, respectively. Application of simple CSTR model with those kinetic parameters was quietly appropriate to predict the reactor’s performance at low space time.

A new degassing membrane coupled upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor to achieve in-situ biogas upgrading and recovery of dissolved CH4 from the anaerobic effluent

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Luo, Gang; Wang, Wen; Angelidaki, Irini

2014-01-01

A new technology for in-situ biogas upgrading and recovery of CH4 from the effluent of biogas reactors was proposed and demonstrated in this study. A vacuum degassing membrane module was used to desorb CO2 from the liquid phase of a biogas reactor. The degassing membrane was submerged...... into a degassing unit (DU). The results from batch experiments showed that mixing intensity, transmembrane pressure, pH and inorganic carbon concentration affected the CO2 desorption rate in the DU. Then, the DU was directly connected to an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor. The results showed the CH4...... content was only 51.7% without desorption of CO2, while it increased when the liquid of UASB was recycled through the DU. The CH4 content increased to 71.6%, 90%, and 94% with liquid recirculation rate through the DU of 0.21, 0.42 and 0.63L/h, respectively. The loss of methane due to dissolution...

OZONE ABSORPTION IN RAW WATERS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

LJILJANA TAKIĆ

2008-03-01

Full Text Available The ozone absorption in raw water entering the main ozonization step at the Belgrade drinking water supply plant was investigated in a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR. A slow chemical reaction rate of dissolved ozone and pollutants present in raw water have been experimentally determined. The modified Hatta number was defined and calculated as a criterion which determines whether and to which extent the reactions of ozone and pollutants influence the rate of the pure physical ozone absorption.

Compression-absorption (resorption) refrigerating machinery. Modeling of reactors; Machine frigorifique a compression-absorption (resorption). Modelisation des reacteurs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lottin, O; Feidt, M; Benelmir, R [LEMTA-UHP Nancy-1, 54 - Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy (France)

1998-12-31

This paper is a series of transparencies presenting a comparative study of the thermal performances of different types of refrigerating machineries: di-thermal with vapor compression, tri-thermal with moto-compressor, with ejector, with free piston, adsorption-type, resorption-type, absorption-type, compression-absorption-type. A prototype of ammonia-water compression-absorption heat pump is presented and modeled. (J.S.)

Compression-absorption (resorption) refrigerating machinery. Modeling of reactors; Machine frigorifique a compression-absorption (resorption). Modelisation des reacteurs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lottin, O.; Feidt, M.; Benelmir, R. [LEMTA-UHP Nancy-1, 54 - Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy (France)

1997-12-31

This paper is a series of transparencies presenting a comparative study of the thermal performances of different types of refrigerating machineries: di-thermal with vapor compression, tri-thermal with moto-compressor, with ejector, with free piston, adsorption-type, resorption-type, absorption-type, compression-absorption-type. A prototype of ammonia-water compression-absorption heat pump is presented and modeled. (J.S.)

Processing test of an upgraded mechanical design for PERMCAT reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Borgognoni, Fabio, E-mail: fabio.borgognoni@enea.i [Associazione ENEA-Euratom sulla Fusione, C.R. ENEA Frascati, Via E. Fermi 45, Frascati, Roma I-00044 (Italy); Demange, David; Doerr, Lothar [Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH, Institute for Technical Physics, Tritium Laboratory Karlsruhe, Postfach 3640, D-76021 Karlsruhe (Germany); Tosti, Silvano [Associazione ENEA-Euratom sulla Fusione, C.R. ENEA Frascati, Via E. Fermi 45, Frascati, Roma I-00044 (Italy); Welte, Stefan [Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH, Institute for Technical Physics, Tritium Laboratory Karlsruhe, Postfach 3640, D-76021 Karlsruhe (Germany)

2010-12-15

The PERMCAT membrane reactor is a coaxial combination of a Pd/Ag permeator membrane and a catalyst bed. This device has been proposed for processing fusion reactor plasma exhaust gas. A stream containing tritium (up to 1% of tritium in different chemical forms such as water, methane or molecular hydrogen) is decontaminated in the PERMCAT by counter-current isotopic swamping with protium. Different mechanical designs of the membrane reactor have been proposed to improve robustness and lifetime. The ENEA membrane reactor uses a permeator tube with a length of about 500 mm produced via cold-rolling and diffusion welding of Pd/Ag thin foils: two stainless steel pre-tensioned bellows have been applied to the Pd/Ag tube in order to avoid any significant compressive and bending stresses due to the permeator tube elongation consequent to the hydrogen uptake. An experimental test campaign has been performed using this reactor in order to assess the influence of different operating parameters and to evaluate the overall performance (decontamination factor). Tests have been carried out on two reactor prototypes: a defect-free membrane with complete (infinite) hydrogen selectivity and not perm-selective membrane. In this last case, the study has been aimed at verifying the behaviour of the PERMCAT devices under non-normal (accidental) conditions in the view of providing information for future safety analysis. The paper will present the specific mechanical design and the experimental results of tests based on isotopic exchange between H{sub 2}O and D{sub 2}.

Integration of Methane Steam Reforming and Water Gas Shift Reaction in a Pd/Au/Pd-Based Catalytic Membrane Reactor for Process Intensification.

Science.gov (United States)

Castro-Dominguez, Bernardo; Mardilovich, Ivan P; Ma, Liang-Chih; Ma, Rui; Dixon, Anthony G; Kazantzis, Nikolaos K; Ma, Yi Hua

2016-09-19

Palladium-based catalytic membrane reactors (CMRs) effectively remove H₂ to induce higher conversions in methane steam reforming (MSR) and water-gas-shift reactions (WGS). Within such a context, this work evaluates the technical performance of a novel CMR, which utilizes two catalysts in series, rather than one. In the process system under consideration, the first catalyst, confined within the shell side of the reactor, reforms methane with water yielding H₂, CO and CO₂. After reforming is completed, a second catalyst, positioned in series, reacts with CO and water through the WGS reaction yielding pure H₂O, CO₂ and H₂. A tubular composite asymmetric Pd/Au/Pd membrane is situated throughout the reactor to continuously remove the produced H₂ and induce higher methane and CO conversions while yielding ultrapure H₂ and compressed CO₂ ready for dehydration. Experimental results involving (i) a conventional packed bed reactor packed (PBR) for MSR, (ii) a PBR with five layers of two catalysts in series and (iii) a CMR with two layers of two catalysts in series are comparatively assessed and thoroughly characterized. Furthermore, a comprehensive 2D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was developed to explore further the features of the proposed configuration. The reaction was studied at different process intensification-relevant conditions, such as space velocities, temperatures, pressures and initial feed gas composition. Finally, it is demonstrated that the above CMR module, which was operated for 600 h, displays quite high H₂ permeance and purity, high CH₄ conversion levels and reduced CO yields.

Integration of Methane Steam Reforming and Water Gas Shift Reaction in a Pd/Au/Pd-Based Catalytic Membrane Reactor for Process Intensification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bernardo Castro-Dominguez

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Palladium-based catalytic membrane reactors (CMRs effectively remove H2 to induce higher conversions in methane steam reforming (MSR and water-gas-shift reactions (WGS. Within such a context, this work evaluates the technical performance of a novel CMR, which utilizes two catalysts in series, rather than one. In the process system under consideration, the first catalyst, confined within the shell side of the reactor, reforms methane with water yielding H2, CO and CO2. After reforming is completed, a second catalyst, positioned in series, reacts with CO and water through the WGS reaction yielding pure H2O, CO2 and H2. A tubular composite asymmetric Pd/Au/Pd membrane is situated throughout the reactor to continuously remove the produced H2 and induce higher methane and CO conversions while yielding ultrapure H2 and compressed CO2 ready for dehydration. Experimental results involving (i a conventional packed bed reactor packed (PBR for MSR, (ii a PBR with five layers of two catalysts in series and (iii a CMR with two layers of two catalysts in series are comparatively assessed and thoroughly characterized. Furthermore, a comprehensive 2D computational fluid dynamics (CFD model was developed to explore further the features of the proposed configuration. The reaction was studied at different process intensification-relevant conditions, such as space velocities, temperatures, pressures and initial feed gas composition. Finally, it is demonstrated that the above CMR module, which was operated for 600 h, displays quite high H2 permeance and purity, high CH4 conversion levels and reduced CO yields.

Surface modification of polysulfone membranes applied for a membrane reactor with immobilized alcohol dehydrogenase

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hoffmann, Christian; Silau, Harald; Pinelo, Manuel

2018-01-01

activated by lithiation followed by functionalization with acid chlorides at 0 °C, permitting modification of commercial PSf membranes without compromising the mechanical integrity of the membrane. Post-functionalization polymer grafting was illustrated through both, a “grafting from” approach by surface...... initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) and by a “grafting to” approach exploiting Cu(I) catalyzed 1,3-cycloadditions of alkynes with azides (CuAAC) introducing hydrophilic polymers onto the membrane surface. Poly(1-vinyl imidazole) (pVim) grafted membranes were exploited as support...

Permeabilization of enterocytes induced by absorption of dietary fat

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Danielsen, Erik Michael; Hansen, Gert H; Rasmussen, Karina

2013-01-01

the physiological process of dietary fat absorption, and short exposures to the fat mixture caused fat droplet accumulation within villus enterocytes. Lucifer yellow (LY), a fluorescent membrane-impermeable polar tracer was included to monitor epithelial integrity. Both in controls and during fat absorption LY...

Degradation of organic pollutants by an integrated photo-Fenton-like catalysis/immersed membrane separation system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, Yuanyuan, E-mail: jiedeng05@sina.com [School of Environment, Guang Xi University, Nanning 530004 (China); School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275 (China); Xiong, Ya [School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275 (China); Tang, Yankui; Wang, Yinghui [School of Environment, Guang Xi University, Nanning 530004 (China)

2013-01-15

Highlights: ► The photo-Fenton-like reaction and membrane separation was coupled. ► FeVO{sub 4} was used as catalyst in the PFM reactor. ► Dynamics simulation would direct the actual application of the reactor. -- Abstract: To resolve the continuously reuse problem of fine catalysts, a new reactor was investigated by coupling the heterogeneous photo-Fenton-like oxidation with membrane separation. The reactor consisted of a Xe lamp, a submerged membrane module and FeVO{sub 4} as catalyst with high activity. Results showed that the catalyst was successfully left in the reactor. It was proved by the kinetics study of membrane fouling that the avoidless membrane fouling was brought mainly by surface cake, at catalyst concentration of 4 g/L, it accounted for more than 90% of the total resistance. The kinetics study of catalytic degradation of AO II under sub-critical flux showed the optimal concentration of catalyst was 0.5 g/L and under this concentration the membrane fouling was negligible. For a residence time of 60 min, the degradation efficiency of AO II reached more than 99% and the chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency was as high as 91%. The model of continuous stirred tank reactor could predict well for the degradation which was consistent with hydrodynamics study. Moreover, the PFM reactor shows a long-term behavior with both membrane and catalyst in it and merits consideration for scaled-up trials.

Functionalization of a Membrane Sublayer Using Reverse Filtration of Enzymes and Dopamine Coating

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Luo, Jianquan; Meyer, Anne S.; Mateiu, Ramona Valentina

2014-01-01

High permeability, high enzyme loading, and strong antifouling ability are the desired features for a biocatalytic membrane to be used in an enzymatic membrane reactor (EMR). To achieve these goals, the membrane sublayer was enriched with laccase by reverse filtration in this case, and the result......High permeability, high enzyme loading, and strong antifouling ability are the desired features for a biocatalytic membrane to be used in an enzymatic membrane reactor (EMR). To achieve these goals, the membrane sublayer was enriched with laccase by reverse filtration in this case...

Intestinal fluid absorption in anadromous salmonids: importance of tight junctions and aquaporins

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kristina eSundell

2012-09-01

Full Text Available The anadromous salmonid life cycle includes both fresh water (FW and seawater (SW stages. The parr-smolt transformation (smoltification pre–adapt the fish to SW while still in FW. The osmoregulatory organs change their mode of action from a role of preventing water inflow in FW, to absorb ions to replace water lost by osmosis in SW. During smoltification, the drinking rate increases, in the intestine the ion and fluid transport increases and is further elevated after SW entry. In SW, the intestine absorbs ions to create an inwardly directed water flow which is accomplished by increased Na+,K+-ATPase (NKA activity in the basolateral membrane, driving ion absorption via ion channels and/or co-transporters. This review will aim at discussing the expression patterns of the ion transporting proteins involved in intestinal fluid absorption in the FW stage, during smoltification and after SW entry. Of equal importance for intestinal fluid absorption as the active absorption of ions, is the permeability of the epithelium to ions and water. During the smoltification the increase in NKA activity and water uptake in SW is accompanied by decreased paracellular permeability suggesting a redirection of the fluid movement from a paracellular route in FW, to a transcellular route in SW. Increased transcellular fluid absorption could be achieved by incorporation of aquaporins (AQPs into the enterocyte membranes and/or by a change in fatty acid profile of the enterocyte lipid bilayer. An increased incorporation of unsaturated fatty acids into the membrane phospholipids will increase water permeability by enhancing the fluidity of the membrane. A second aim of the present review is therefore to discuss the presence and regulation of expression of AQPs in the enterocyte membrane as well as to discuss the profile of fatty acids present in the membrane phospholipids during different stages of the salmonid lifecycle.

Azo dye removal in a membrane-free up-flow biocatalyzed electrolysis reactor coupled with an aerobic bio-contact oxidation reactor.

Science.gov (United States)

Cui, Dan; Guo, Yu-Qi; Cheng, Hao-Yi; Liang, Bin; Kong, Fan-Ying; Lee, Hyung-Sool; Wang, Ai-Jie

2012-11-15

Azo dyes that consist of a large quantity of dye wastewater are toxic and persistent to biodegradation, while they should be removed before being discharged to water body. In this study, Alizarin Yellow R (AYR) as a model azo dye was decolorized in a combined bio-system of membrane-free, continuous up-flow bio-catalyzed electrolysis reactor (UBER) and subsequent aerobic bio-contact oxidation reactor (ABOR). With the supply of external power source 0.5 V in the UBER, AYR decolorization efficiency increased up to 94.8±1.5%. Products formation efficiencies of p-phenylenediamine (PPD) and 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) were above 90% and 60%, respectively. Electron recovery efficiency based on AYR removal in cathode zone was nearly 100% at HRTs longer than 6 h. Relatively high concentration of AYR accumulated at higher AYR loading rates (>780 gm(-3) d(-1)) likely inhibited acetate oxidation of anode-respiring bacteria on the anode, which decreased current density in the UBER; optimal AYR loading rate for the UBER was 680 gm(-3) d(-1) (HRT 2.5 h). The subsequent ABOR further improved effluent quality. Overall the Chroma decreased from 320 times to 80 times in the combined bio-system to meet the textile wastewater discharge standard II in China. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Absorption of CO2 and H2S in Aqueous Alkanolamine Solutions using a Fixed-Bed Reactor with Cocurrent Downflow Operation in the Pulsing Flow Regime

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Versteeg, G.F.; Swaaij, W.P.M. van

1988-01-01

Absorption rates of H2S and CO2 in several aqueous alkanolamines in a cocurrent downflow fixed-bed reactor operated in the pulse flow regime have been measured in order to obtain information on the potential selectivity and on the mass transfer parameters. From these experiments it can be concluded

Neutron resonance absorption theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reuss, P.

1991-11-01

After some recalls on the physics of neutron resonance absorption during their slowing down, this paper presents the main features of the theoretical developments performed by the french school of reactor physics: the effective reaction rate method so called Livolant-Jeanpierre theory, the generalizations carried out by the author, and the probability table method [fr

measurements of the absorption resonance integrals by reactor oscillator method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Markovic, V.; Kocic, A.

1965-12-01

Experimental values of resonance integrals for silver vary significantly dependent on authors. That is why we have chosen this sample to measure RI. On the other hand, nuclear fuel (for example natural uranium) still represents an interesting objective for research in reactor physics. Measurements of natural uranium are done as a function of S/M. Measurements were done by amplitude reactor oscillator ROB-1/5 with precision from 0.5% - 2% dependent on the conditions of the oscillator. Measurements were completed at the heavy water reactor RB with 2% enriched uranium fuel [fr

Hydrogen production in membrane reactors using Rh catalysts on binary supports

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carrara, Carlos; Roa, Alejandro; Cornaglia, Laura; Lombardo, Eduardo A. [Instituto de Investigaciones en Catalisis y Petroquimica (FIQ, UNL-CONICET), Sgo del Estero 2829-3000 Santa Fe (Argentina); Mateos-Pedrero, Cecilia; Ruiz, Patricio [Unite de Catalyse et Chimie des Materiaux Divises, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Place Croix du Sud 2/17, 1348 Louvain-la Neuve (Belgium)

2008-04-15

The binary supports employed in this work were prepared by different methods. The Ti(7%)-MgO and the Ti(13%)-SiO{sub 2} were obtained using the grafting technique. The La(27%)-SiO{sub 2} was obtained through the incipient wetness impregnation with La(NO{sub 3}){sub 3} of Aerosil 300, previously calcined at 1173 K. The Rh was incorporated to these supports by wet impregnation. The catalysts were first evaluated for the CH{sub 4} + CO{sub 2} reaction in a fixed-bed reactor. They were found to be active and stable as to justify their use in the membrane reactor, which was operated at 823 K achieving methane conversions up to twice as much as the equilibrium values. In all cases, the activity of the Rh solids remained constant after 120 h on stream with very little formation of carbonaceous residues only detected through LRS. The catalysts were characterized through either hydrogen or carbon monoxide chemisorption, TPR, XRD, LRS and XPS. The Rh(0.6)/La-SiO{sub 2} catalyst showed a high metal dispersion that remained constant after use and the highest capacity to restore the CH{sub 4} + CO{sub 2} equilibrium when H{sub 2} was permeated out of the reaction section. The Rh(0.8)/Ti-MgO showed the highest Rh/oxide interaction associated with the lowest capacity to restore the reaction equilibrium. The Rh(0.8)/Ti-SiO{sub 2} exhibited an intermediate activity due in part to the partial segregation of the TiO{sub 2} upon calcinations and the subsequent appearance of small Rh crystallites in the used catalysts. (author)

A membrane-free, continuously feeding, single chamber up-flow biocatalyzed electrolysis reactor for nitrobenzene reduction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Ai-Jie; Cui, Dan; Cheng, Hao-Yi; Guo, Yu-Qi; Kong, Fan-Ying; Ren, Nan-Qi; Wu, Wei-Min

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► A novel membrane-free up-flow biocatalyzed electrolysis reactor (UBER) was developed. ► Nitrobenzene as the mode of nitroaromatics was efficiently converted to aniline. ► The impact of phosphate buffer and acetate concentrations and power supplied were investigated. ► The prospects of UBER for the recalcitrant compound removal were discussed. - Abstract: A new bioelectrochemical system (BES), a membrane-free, continuous feeding up-flow biocatalyzed electrolysis reactor (UBER) was developed to reduce oxidative toxic chemicals to less- or non-toxic reduced form in cathode zone with oxidation of electron donor in anode zone. Influent was fed from the bottom of UBER and passed through cathode zone and then anode zone. External power source (0.5 V) was provided between anode and cathode to enhance electrochemical reactions. Granular graphite and carbon brush were used as cathode and anode, respectively. This system was tested for the reduction of nitrobenzene (NB) using acetate as electron donor and carbon source. The influent contained NB (50–200 mg L −1 ) and acetate (1000 mg L −1 ). NB was removed by up to 98% mainly in cathode zone. The anode potential maintained under −480 mV. The maximum NB removal rate was up to 3.5 mol m −3 TV d −1 (TV = total empty volume) and the maximum aniline (AN) formation rate was 3.06 mol m −3 TV d −1 . Additional energy required was less than 0.075 kWh mol −1 NB. The molar ratio of NB removed vs acetate consumed varied from 4.3 ± 0.4 to 2.3 ± 0.1 mol mol −1 . Higher influent phosphate or acetate concentration helped NB removal rate. NB could be efficiently reduced to AN as the power supplied of 0.3 V.

Virtual nuclear reactor for education of nuclear reactor physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsuji, Masashi; Narabayashi, Takashi; Shimazu, Youichiro

2008-01-01

As one of projects that were programmed in the cultivation program for human resources in nuclear engineering sponsored by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the development of a virtual reactor for education of nuclear reactor physics started in 2007. The purpose of the virtual nuclear reactor is to make nuclear reactor physics easily understood with aid of visualization. In the first year of this project, the neutron slowing down process was visualized. The data needed for visualization are provided by Monte Carlo calculations; The flights of the respective neutrons generated by nuclear fissions are traced through a reactor core until they disappear by neutron absorption or slow down to a thermal energy. With this visualization and an attached supplement textbook, it is expected that the learners can learn more clearly the physical implication of neutron slowing process that is mathematically described by the Boltzmann neutron transport equation. (author)

Composite hollow fiber gas-liquid membrane contactors for olefin/paraffin separation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nijmeijer, Dorothea C.; Visser, Tymen; Assen, R.; Wessling, Matthias

2004-01-01

Gas¿liquid membrane contactors frequently suffer from undesired wetting of the microporous membrane by the absorption liquid. Stabilization layers at the liquid-side of the microporous membrane potentially prevent this wetting. We apply such stabilized membranes in a membrane contactor using AgNO3

Ceramic membranes with mixed conductivity and their application

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kozhevnikov, V L; Leonidov, I A; Patrakeev, M V

2013-01-01

Data on the catalytic reactors with ceramic membranes possessing mixed oxygen ion and electronic conductivity that make it possible to integrate the processes of oxygen separation and oxidation are analyzed and generalized. The development of this approach is of interest for the design of energy efficient and environmentally friendly processes for processing natural gas and other raw materials. The general issues concerning the primary processing of light alkanes in reactors with oxygen separating membranes are expounded and general demands to the membrane materials are discussed. Particular attention is paid to the process of oxidative conversion of methane to synthesis gas. The bibliography includes 110 references

A new degassing membrane coupled upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor to achieve in-situ biogas upgrading and recovery of dissolved CH4 from the anaerobic effluent

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Luo, Gang; Wang, Wen; Angelidaki, Irini

2014-01-01

Highlights: • A new UASB configuration was developed by coupling with degassing membrane. • In-situ biogas upgrading was achieved with high methane content (>90%). • Decrease of dissolved methane in the anaerobic effluent was achieved. - Abstract: A new technology for in-situ biogas upgrading and recovery of CH 4 from the effluent of biogas reactors was proposed and demonstrated in this study. A vacuum degassing membrane module was used to desorb CO 2 from the liquid phase of a biogas reactor. The degassing membrane was submerged into a degassing unit (DU). The results from batch experiments showed that mixing intensity, transmembrane pressure, pH and inorganic carbon concentration affected the CO 2 desorption rate in the DU. Then, the DU was directly connected to an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor. The results showed the CH 4 content was only 51.7% without desorption of CO 2 , while it increased when the liquid of UASB was recycled through the DU. The CH 4 content increased to 71.6%, 90%, and 94% with liquid recirculation rate through the DU of 0.21, 0.42 and 0.63 L/h, respectively. The loss of methane due to dissolution in the effluent was reduced by directly pumping the reactor effluent through the DU. In this way, the dissolved CH 4 concentration in the effluent decreased from higher than 0.94 mM to around 0.13 mM, and thus efficient recovery of CH 4 from the anaerobic effluent was achieved. In the whole operational period, the COD removal efficiency and CH 4 yield were not obviously affected by the gas desorption

Photocatalytic Oxidation of Azo Dyes and Oxalic Acid in Batch Reactors and CSTR: Introduction of Photon Absorption by Dyes to Kinetic Models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. Grčić

2018-04-01

Full Text Available The possibilities of treating industrial effluents and water purification by advanced oxidation processes have been extensively studied; photocatalysis has emerged as a feasible alternative solution. In order to apply the photocatalytic treatment on a larger scale, relevant modeling approaches are necessary. The scope of this work was to investigate the applicability of recently published kinetic models in different reactor systems (batch and CSTR under UVA or UVC irradiation and in combination with two types of TiO2 catalyst, AEROXIDE® P25 and PC-500 for degradation of azo dyes (C.I. Reactive Violet 2, and C.I. Mordant Yellow 10, oxalic acid and their mixtures. The influences of reactor geometry and irradiation intensities on pollutant oxidation efficiency were examined. The effect of photon absorption by dyes in water matrix was thoroughly studied. Relevant kinetic models were introduced to the mass balance for particular reactor system. Resulting models were sufficient for description of pollutant degradation in batch reactors and CSTR. Experimental results showed 1.15 times higher mineralization extents achieved after 7 cycles in CSTR than in batch photoreactor of similar geometry within the equivalent time-span. The application of CSTR in-series could simplify the photocatalytic water treatment on a larger scale.

RB Research nuclear reactor, Annual report for 2005

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Milosevic, M.; Dasic, N.; Ljubenov, V.; Pesic, M.; Nikolic, D; Jevremovic, M.; Minic, D.

2006-01-01

Report on RB reactor operation during 2005 contains 3 parts. Part one contains a brief description of the reactor, reactor operation and operational capabilities, reactor components, relevant dosimetry and radiation protection issues, personnel and financial data. Part two is devoted to maintenance of the reactor components, namely, fuel, heavy water, reactor vessel, heavy water circulation system, absorption rods and heavy water level meters, maintenance of electronic, mechanical, electrical and auxiliary equipment. Part three contains data concerned with reactor operation during 2005

Quantum cascade laser absorption spectroscopy with the amplitude-to-time conversion technique for atmospheric-pressure plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yumii, Takayoshi; Kimura, Noriaki; Hamaguchi, Satoshi

2013-01-01

The NO 2 concentration, i.e., density, in a small plasma of a nitrogen oxide (NOx) treatment reactor has been measured by highly sensitive laser absorption spectroscopy. The absorption spectroscopy uses a single path of a quantum cascade laser beam passing through a plasma whose dimension is about 1 cm. The high sensitivity of spectroscopy is achieved by the amplitude-to-time conversion technique. Although the plasma reactor is designed to convert NO in the input gas to NO 2 , it has been demonstrated by this highly sensitive absorption spectroscopy that NO 2 in a simulated exhaust gas that enters the reactor is decomposed by the plasma first and then NO 2 is formed again, possibly more than it was decomposed, through a series of gas-phase reactions by the time the gas exits the reactor. The observation is consistent with that of an earlier study on NO decomposition by the same type of a plasma reactor [T. Yumii et al., J. Phys. D 46, 135202 (2013)], in which a high concentration of NO 2 was observed at the exit of the reactor.

The energy-saving anaerobic baffled reactor membrane bioreactor (EABR-MBR) system for recycling wastewater from a high-rise building.

Science.gov (United States)

Ratanatamskul, Chavalit; Charoenphol, Chakraphan

2015-01-01

A novel energy-saving anaerobic baffled reactor-membrane bioreactor (EABR-MBR) system has been developed as a compact biological treatment system for reuse of water from a high-rise building. The anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR) compartment had five baffles and served as the anaerobic degradation zone, followed by the aerobic MBR compartment. The total operating hydraulic retention time (HRT) of the EABR-MBR system was 3 hours (2 hours for ABR compartment and very short HRT of 1 hour for aerobic MBR compartment). The wastewater came from the Charoen Wisawakam building. The results showed that treated effluent quality was quite good and highly promising for water reuse purposes. The average flux of the membrane was kept at 30 l/(m2h). The EABR-MBR system could remove chemical oxygen demand, total nitrogen and total phosphorus from building wastewater by more than 90%. Moreover, it was found that phosphorus concentration was rising in the ABR compartment due to the phosphorus release phenomenon, and then the concentration decreased rapidly in the aerobic MBR compartment due to the phosphorus uptake phenomenon. This implies that phosphorus-accumulating organisms inside the EABR-MBR system are responsible for biological phosphorus removal. The research suggests that the EABR-MBR system can be a promising system for water reuse and reclamation for high-rise building application in the near future.

Experimental broadband absorption enhancement in silicon nanohole structures with optimized complex unit cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Chenxi; Martínez, Luis Javier; Povinelli, Michelle L

2013-09-09

We design silicon membranes with nanohole structures with optimized complex unit cells that maximize broadband absorption. We fabricate the optimized design and measure the optical absorption. We demonstrate an experimental broadband absorption about 3.5 times higher than an equally-thick thin film.

Solar fuel production at high temperatures using ceria as a dense membrane

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhu, Liya; Lu, Youjun; Shen, Shaohua

2016-01-01

In this paper, ceria was proposed as a candidate material of membrane reactor for solar fuel production. A thermodynamic model of the membrane reactor system based on ceria with heat recovery was established and solar-to-fuel efficiency of both inert gas-assisted and pump-assisted CO_2 splitting was calculated under a broad range of conditions. For system using inert gas, gas heat recovery is the determining factor for energy conversion efficiency. The energy efficiency is calculated to be >10% at 1800 K when the oxygen pressure at the inlet of reduction zone is lower than 10"−"6MPa. Increase of total pressure of the oxidation zone could improve the energy efficiency due to decrease of gas heat loss. Significant promotion in efficiency could be expected when a pump is applied to avoid using inert gas. Solar-to-fuel efficiency could be above 40% assuming good heat recovery. For the membrane reactor with a pump applied to maintain a vacuum atmosphere of the reduction zone, a simplified steady state model was put forward to predict the converting process and estimate the productivity. The diffusion rate of oxygen ions in the membrane is fast enough for conversion of considerable amount of CO_2 in the reactor with a limited geometry. - Highlights: • Ceria membrane reactor was proposed for solar fuel production. • A thermodynamic model of the ceria membrane reactor system was established. • Inert gas-assisted and pump-assisted systems were evaluated. • High efficiency >40% could be expected when using a pump instead of inert gas. • A steady state model concerning oxygen diffusion rate was established.

Study of enzymatic reactors with microencapsulated lipase. Doctoral thesis. Estudo de reactores enzimaticos com lipase microencapsulada

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

de Franca Teixeira dos Prazeres, D.M.

1992-10-01

The work reports the development of a membrane reactor for the hydrolysis of triglycerides catalyzed by lipase B from Chromobacterium viscosum in AOT/isooctane reversed miceller system. In a preliminary phase the potential of the organic system was evaluated with comparative studies on the activity and stability of lipase B in aqueous media (emulsion) and in the alternative miceller media. A tubular ceramic membrane reactor with recirculation was selected for the olive oil hydrolysis in a reversed miceller system. The influence of the hydration degree, recirculation rate, AOT, olive oil and lipase concentration in the operation of the reactor were investigated in a batch mode. The hydration degree was identified as a critical parameter due to its influence in the separation process and in the kinetics of the reaction.

Improvement of anaerobic digestion performance by continuous nitrogen removal with a membrane contactor treating a substrate rich in ammonia and sulfide.

Science.gov (United States)

Lauterböck, B; Nikolausz, M; Lv, Z; Baumgartner, M; Liebhard, G; Fuchs, W

2014-04-01

The effect of reduced ammonia levels on anaerobic digestion was investigated. Two reactors were fed with slaughterhouse waste, one with a hollow fiber membrane contractor for ammonia removal and one without. Different organic loading rates (OLR) and free ammonia and sulfide concentrations were investigated. In the reactor with the membrane contactor, the NH4-N concentration was reduced threefold. At a moderate OLR (3.1 kg chemical oxygen demand - COD/m(3)/d), this reactor performed significantly better than the reference reactor. At high OLR (4.2 kg COD/m(3)/d), the reference reactor almost stopped producing methane (0.01 Nl/gCOD). The membrane reactor also showed a stable process with a methane yield of 0.23 Nl/g COD was achieved. Both reactors had predominantly a hydrogenotrophic microbial consortium, however in the membrane reactor the genus Methanosaeta (acetoclastic) was also detected. In general, all relevant parameters and the methanogenic consortium indicated improved anaerobic digestion of the reactor with the membrane. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Application of dual membrane contactor for simultaneous CO2 removal using continues diethanolamine (DEA)

Science.gov (United States)

Rahmawati, Yeni; Nurkhamidah, Siti; Susianto, Listiyana, Nidia Intan; Putricahyani, Widyawati

2017-05-01

Technology of membrane contactor is an improvemet of acid gas (CO2) removal technology that combining gas absorption process with solvent and membrane technology. The objective of the experiment are study the effect of feed gas flow rate and solvent to flux CO2 and efficiency of CO2 removal, and also study the performance of membrane contactor. The experiment is conducted by circulating DEA in certain flow rate and arranging hollow fiber membrane in double-crossed section with the amount of desorption membrane three times more than absorption membrane. Feed gas streamed in the tube of membrane absorption and solvent on the shell. At the same time and condition, the process of desorption is done by streamed N2 gas as the stripping gas in desorption membrane. Performance test is conducted by running optimum variable for 8 hours. The result showed that flux of absorption gain the highest at 24,747 × 10-4 mol/m2.s, while flux of desorption gain the highest at 1,761 × 10-4 mol/m2.s. Increasing of absorption flux correspond to increasing of flow rate of feed gas and CO2 gas concentration but decreasing in flow rate of solvent. Increasing of desorption flux correspond to increasing of flow rate of feed gas and solvent but concentration of CO2 does not have impact. Efficiency increase while flow rate of mix gas and solvent decreasing, but CO2 concentration increase. The highest efficiency is 61,64%. Efficiency performance for CO2 removal of module membrane has the highest value at first 2 hours and stay constant at next running for 8 hours.

Counteracting ammonia inhibition in anaerobic digestion by removal with a hollow fiber membrane contactor.

Science.gov (United States)

Lauterböck, B; Ortner, M; Haider, R; Fuchs, W

2012-10-01

The aim of the current study was to investigate the feasibility of membrane contactors for continuous ammonia (NH₃-N) removal in an anaerobic digestion process and to counteract ammonia inhibition. Two laboratory anaerobic digesters were fed slaughterhouse wastes with ammonium (NH₄⁺) concentrations ranging from 6 to 7.4 g/L. One reactor was used as reference reactor without any ammonia removal. In the second reactor, a hollow fiber membrane contactor module was used for continuous ammonia removal. The hollow fiber membranes were directly submerged into the digestate of the anaerobic reactor. Sulfuric acid was circulated in the lumen as an adsorbent solution. Using this set up, the NH₄⁺-N concentration in the membrane reactor was significantly reduced. Moreover the extraction of ammonia lowered the pH by 0.2 units. In combination that led to a lowering of the free NH₃-N concentration by about 70%. Ammonia inhibition in the reference reactor was observed when the concentration exceeded 6 g/L NH₄⁺-N or 1-1.2 g/L NH₃-N. In contrast, in the membrane reactor the volatile fatty acid concentration, an indicator for process stability, was much lower and a higher gas yield and better degradation was observed. The chosen approach offers an appealing technology to remove ammonia directly from media having high concentrations of solids and it can help to improve process efficiency in anaerobic digestion of ammonia rich substrates. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

New insights into the molecular mechanism of intestinal fatty acid absorption.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Tony Y; Liu, Min; Portincasa, Piero; Wang, David Q-H

2013-11-01

Dietary fat is one of the most important energy sources of all the nutrients. Fatty acids, stored as triacylglycerols (also called triglycerides) in the body, are an important reservoir of stored energy and derived primarily from animal fats and vegetable oils. Although the molecular mechanisms for the transport of water-insoluble amphipathic fatty acids across cell membranes have been debated for many years, it is now believed that the dominant means for intestinal fatty acid uptake is via membrane-associated fatty acid-binding proteins, that is, fatty acid transporters on the apical membrane of enterocytes. These findings indicate that intestinal fatty acid absorption is a multistep process that is regulated by multiple genes at the enterocyte level, and intestinal fatty acid absorption efficiency could be determined by factors influencing intraluminal fatty acid molecules across the brush border membrane of enterocytes. To facilitate research on intestinal, hepatic and plasma triacylglycerol metabolism, it is imperative to establish standard protocols for precisely and accurately measuring the efficiency of intestinal fatty acid absorption in humans and animal models. In this review, we will discuss the chemical structure and nomenclature of fatty acids and summarize recent progress in investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying the intestinal absorption of fatty acids, with a particular emphasis on the physical chemistry of intestinal lipids and the molecular physiology of intestinal fatty acid transporters. A better understanding of the molecular mechanism of intestinal fatty acid absorption should lead to novel approaches to the treatment and the prevention of fatty acid-related metabolic diseases that are prevalent worldwide. © 2013 Stichting European Society for Clinical Investigation Journal Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Physics of high-temperature reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Massimo, L.

1976-01-01

The subject is covered in chapters entitled: general description of the HTR core; general considerations about reactor physics; neutron cross-sections; basic aspects of transport and diffusion theory; methods for the solution of the diffusion equation; slowing-down and thermalization in graphite; resonance absorption; spectrum calculations and cross-section averaging; burn-up; core design; fuel management and cost calculations; temperature coefficient; core dynamics and accident analysis; reactor control; peculiarities of HTR physics; analysis of calculational accuracy; sequence of reactor design calculations. (U.K.)

RB Research nuclear reactor, Annual report for 2006

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Milosevic, M.; Ljubenov, V.; Pesic, M.; Jevremovic, M.; Minic, D.

2007-01-01

Report on RB reactor operation during 2006 contains 3 parts. Part one contains a brief description of the reactor, reactor operation and operational capabilities, reactor components, relevant dosimetry and radiation protection issues, personnel and financial data. Part two is devoted to maintenance of the reactor components, namely, fuel, heavy water, reactor vessel, heavy water circulation system, absorption rods and heavy water level meters, maintenance of electronic, mechanical, electrical and auxiliary equipment. Part three contains detailed data concerned with measurements performed at the RB reactor and a number of significant results obtained

Sodium selectivity of Reissner's membrane epithelial cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kim Kyunghee X

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Sodium absorption by Reissner's membrane is thought to contribute to the homeostasis of the volume of cochlear endolymph. It was previously shown that the absorptive transepithelial current was blocked by amiloride and benzamil. The most commonly-observed target of these drugs is the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC, which is composed of the three subunits α-,β- and γ-ENaC. However, other less-selective cation channels have also been observed to be sensitive to benzamil and amiloride. The aim of this study was to determine whether Reissner's membrane epithelial cells could support parasensory K+ absorption via amiloride- and benzamil-sensitive electrogenic pathways. Results We determined the molecular and functional expression of candidate cation channels with gene array (GEO GSE6196, RT-PCR, and whole-cell patch clamp. Transcript expression analysis of Reissner's membrane detected no amiloride-sensitive acid-sensing ion channels (ASIC1a, ASIC2a, ASIC2b nor amiloride-sensitive cyclic-nucleotide gated channels (CNGA1, CNGA2, CNGA4, CNGB3. By contrast, α-,β- and γ-ENaC were all previously reported as present in Reissner's membrane. The selectivity of the benzamil-sensitive cation currents was observed in whole-cell patch clamp recordings under Cl--free conditions where cations were the only permeant species. The currents were carried by Na+ but not K+, and the permeability of Li+ was greater than that of Na+ in Reissner's membrane. Complete replacement of bath Na+ with the inpermeable cation NMDG+ led to the same inward current as with benzamil in a Na+ bath. Conclusions These results are consistent with the amiloride/benzamil-sensitive absorptive flux of Reissner's membrane mediated by a highly Na+-selective channel that has several key characteristics in common with αβγ-ENaC. The amiloride-sensitive pathway therefore absorbs only Na+ in this epithelium and does not provide a parasensory K+ efflux route from scala

A polygeneration from a dual-gas partial catalytic oxidation coupling with an oxygen-permeable membrane reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hao, Yanhong; Huang, Yi; Gong, Minhui; Li, Wenying; Feng, Jie; Yi, Qun

2015-01-01

Highlights: • A new polygeneration system (PL-PCO-OPMR) to DME/methanol/power is proposed. • Exergeo-economic analysis is adopted to disclose the performance of systems. • Key technological conditions and parameters for PL-PCO-OPMR are optimized. • PL-PCO-OPMR shows high energy efficiency and low CO_2 emission. • PL-PCO-OPMR is an attractive way for high efficient and clean use of COG and CGG. - Abstract: Polygeneration system, typically involving chemicals/fuels and electricity co-production, is a promising technology for the sustainable development of energy and environment. In this study, a new polygeneration system based on coal and coke oven gas (COG) inputs for co-production of dimethyl ether (DME)/methanol and electricity is proposed. In the new system, an appropriate syngas for the synthesis of DME is from coal gasified gas (CGG) reforming of COG coupled with an oxygen-permeable membrane reactor, in which both COG and CGG reforming process and fuel combustion process are incorporated, which reduces exergy destruction in the whole reforming process. In order to obtain the best performance of CO_2 reduction, energy saving and economic benefit, the key operation parameters of the proposed process are analyzed and optimized. The new system is compared with the process based on CH_4/CO_2 dry reforming, in terms of exergy efficiency, exergy cost and CO_2 emissions. Through the new system, the exergy efficiency can be increased by 7.8%, the exergy cost can be reduced by 0.88 USD/GJ and the CO_2 emission can be reduced by 0.023 kg/MJ. These results suggest that the polygeneration system from CGG and COG partial catalytic oxidation coupling with an oxygen-permeable membrane reactor (PL-PCO-OPMR) would be a more attractive way for highly efficient and clean use of CGG and COG.

Tritium monitoring within the reactor hall of a DT fusion reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jalbert, R.A.

1983-01-01

Monitoring the reactor hall atmosphere of DT-fueled fusion reactors will probably be performed with conventional ion chamber and proportional counter instruments modified as necessry to deal with the background radiation. Background includes external neutron and gamma radiation and internal beta-gamma radiation from the activated atmosphere. Although locating instruments in remote areas of the reactor hall and adding local shielding and electronic compensation may be feasible, placing the instruments in accessible low-background areas outside of the reactor hall and doing remote sampling is preferable and solves most of the radiation problems. The remaining problem of the activated atmosphere may be solved by recently developed instruments in conjunction with the use of semi-permeable membranes currently under development and evaluation

Recent palladium membrane reactor development at the tritium systems test assembly

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Willms, R.S.; Birdsell, S.A.; Wilhelm, R.C.

1995-01-01

The palladium membrane reactor (PMR) is proving to be a simple and effective means for recovering hydrogen isotopes from fusion fuel impurities such as methane and water. This device directly combines two techniques which have long been utilized for hydrogen processing, namely catalytic shift reactions and palladium/silver permeators. A proof-of-principle (PMR) has been constructed and tested at the Tritium Systems Test Assembly of Los Alamos National Laboratory. The first tests with this device showed that is was effective for the proposed purpose. Initial work concluded that a nickel catalyst was an appropriate choice for use in a PMR. More detailed testing of the PMR with such a catalyst was performed and reported in other works. It was shown that a nickel catalyst-packed PMR did, indeed, recover hydrogen from water and methane with efficiencies approaching 100% in a single processing pass. These experiments were conducted over an extended period of time and no failure or need for regeneration was encountered. These positive results have prompted further PMR development. Topics addressed include alternate PMR geometries and initial testing of the PMR with tritium. These are the subjects of this paper

RB Research nuclear reactor, Annual report for 2007

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Milosevic, M.; Ljubenov, V.; Pesic, M.; Jevremovic, M.; Minic, D.; Sipka, Dj.

2008-01-01

Report on RB reactor operation during 2007 contains 3 parts. Part one contains a brief description of the reactor, reactor operation and operational capabilities, reactor components, relevant dosimetry and radiation protection issues, personnel and financial data. Part two is devoted to maintenance of the reactor components, namely, fuel, heavy water, reactor vessel, heavy water circulation system, absorption rods and heavy water level meters, maintenance of electronic, mechanical, electrical and auxiliary equipment. Part three contains data concerned with reactor operation during 2007. Majority of measurement were related to spent fuel from the RA reactor, safety of transportation containers and verification of relevant computer codes

Changes in intestinal absorption of nutrients and brush border glycoproteins after total parenteral nutrition in rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Miura, S; Tanaka, S; Yoshioka, M; Serizawa, H; Tashiro, H; Shiozaki, H; Imaeda, H; Tsuchiya, M

1992-01-01

The effect of total parenteral nutrition on nutrients absorption and glycoprotein changes of brush border membrane was examined in rat small intestine. In total parenteral nutrition rats, a marked decrease in activity of brush border enzymes was observed mainly in the proximal and middle segments of the intestine. Galactose perfusion of jejunal segment showed that hexose absorption was significantly inhibited, while intestinal absorption of glycine or dipeptide, glycylglycine was not significantly affected by total parenteral nutrition treatment. When brush border membrane glycoprotein profile was examined by [3H]-glucosamine or [3H]-fucose incorporation into jejunal loops, significant changes were observed in the glycoprotein pattern of brush border membrane especially in the high molecular weight range over 120 kDa after total parenteral nutrition treatment, suggesting strong dependency of glycoprotein synthesis on luminal substances. Molecular weight of sucrase isomaltase in brush border membrane detected by specific antibody showed no significant difference, however, in total parenteral nutrition and control rats. Also, molecular weight of specific sodium glucose cotransporter of intestinal brush border membrane detected by selective photoaffinity labelling was not altered in total parenteral nutrition rats. It may be that prolonged absence of oral food intake may produce significant biochemical changes in brush border membrane glycoprotein and absorptive capacity of small intestine, but these changes were not observed in all brush border membrane glycoproteins. Images Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 PMID:1582592

Forced-flow bioreactor for sucrose inversion using ceramic membrane activated by silanization.

Science.gov (United States)

Nakajima, M; Watanabe, A; Jimbo, N; Nishizawa, K; Nakao, S

1989-02-20

A forced-flow enzyme membrane reactor system for sucrose inversion was investigated using three ceramic membranes having different pore sizes. Invertase was immobilized chemically to the inner surface of a ceramic membrane activated by a silane-glutaraldehyde technique. With the cross-flow filtration of sucrose solution, the reaction rate was a function of the permeate flux, easily controlled by pressure. Using 0.5 microm support pore size of membrane, the volumetric productivity obtained was 10 times higher than that in a reported immobilized enzyme column reactor, with a short residence time of 5 s and 100% conversion of the sucrose inversion.

Kinetics of absorption of carbon dioxide in aqueous ammonia solutions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Derks, P. W. J.; Versteeg, G. F.

2009-01-01

In the present work the absorption of carbon dioxide into aqueous ammonia solutions has been studied in a stirred cell reactor, at low temperatures and ammonia concentrations ranging from 0.1 to about 7 kmol m-3. The absorption experiments were carried out at conditions where the so-called pseudo

Bipolar membranes in forward bias region for fuel cell reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lobyntseva, Elena; Kallio, Tanja; Kontturi, Kyoesti

2006-01-01

Three bipolar membranes, two home-made composed of commercial cation (DuPont) and anion (FuMA-Tech) exchange membranes (called Nafion/FT-FAA and Nafion/FT-FAS) and a commercial one, BP-1 from FuMA-Tech, were investigated in order to characterize their suitability to use in a H 2 /O 2 fuel cell intended to produce hydrogen peroxide on the cathode instead of water. The Nafion/FT-FAA and Nafion/FT-FAS membranes were prepared using a hot-pressing method. The optimal hot-pressing conditions were determined by measuring the ionic conductivity of the membranes. The latter was observed to depend on the relative humidity of the bipolar membrane. Of the studied bipolar membranes, Nafion/FT-FAA showed the best performance. The transport number of protons measured in a concentration cell was observed to depend on the direction of the proton diffusion flux through these membranes so that transport numbers of ca. unity were obtained when the cation exchange side faced the solution with higher proton concentration. In the opposite case, when the higher concentration faced anion exchange side, the transport number of proton was clearly lower, indicating the usefulness of the bipolar membranes for hydrogen peroxide production in the fuel cell

Quantum of optical absorption in two-dimensional semiconductors.

Science.gov (United States)

Fang, Hui; Bechtel, Hans A; Plis, Elena; Martin, Michael C; Krishna, Sanjay; Yablonovitch, Eli; Javey, Ali

2013-07-16

The optical absorption properties of free-standing InAs nanomembranes of thicknesses ranging from 3 nm to 19 nm are investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Stepwise absorption at room temperature is observed, arising from the interband transitions between the subbands of 2D InAs nanomembranes. Interestingly, the absorptance associated with each step is measured to be ∼1.6%, independent of thickness of the membranes. The experimental results are consistent with the theoretically predicted absorptance quantum, AQ = πα/nc for each set of interband transitions in a 2D semiconductor, where α is the fine structure constant and nc is an optical local field correction factor. Absorptance quantization appears to be universal in 2D systems including III-V quantum wells and graphene.

RB Research nuclear reactor, Annual report for 2004

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dasic, N.; Pesic, M.; Nikolic, D; Jevremovic, M.; Eskirovic, B.

2005-02-01

Report on RB reactor operation during 2004 contains 3 parts. Part one contains a brief description of the reactor, reactor operation and operational capabilities, reactor components, relevant dosimetry and radiation protection issues, personnel and financial data. It contains data about reactor operation during previous 8 years. Part two is devoted to maintenance of the reactor components, namely, fuel, heavy water, reactor vessel, heavy water circulation system, absorption rods and heavy water level meters, maintenance of electronic, mechanical, electrical and auxiliary equipment. Part three contains data concerned with reactor operation, Annex 1. contains data about heavy water degradation, and Annex 2 is the certificate about the crane bridge in the reactor hall

Characteristics of membrane fouling in submerged membrane bioreactor under sub-critical flux operation.

Science.gov (United States)

Su, Y C; Huang, C P; Pan, Jill R; Lee, H C

2008-01-01

Recently, the membrane bioreactor (MBR) process has become one of the novel technologies to enhance the performance of biological treatment of wastewater. Membrane bioreactor process uses the membrane unit to replace a sediment tank, and this can greatly enhance treatment performance. However, membrane fouling in MBR restricts its widespread application because it leads to permeate flux decline, making more frequent membrane cleaning and replacement necessary, which then increases operating and maintenance costs. This study investigated the sludge characteristics in membrane fouling under sub-critical flux operation and also assessed the effect of shear stress on membrane fouling. Membrane fouling was slow under sub-critical flux operation. However, as filamentous microbes became dominant in the reactor, membrane fouling increased dramatically due to the increased viscosity and polysaccharides. A close link was found between membrane fouling and the amount of polysaccharides in soluble EPS. The predominant resistance was the cake resistance which could be minimized by increasing the shear stress. However, the resistance of colloids and solutes was not apparently reduced by increasing shear stress. Therefore, smaller particles such as macromolecules (e.g. polysaccharides) may play an important role in membrane fouling under sub-critical flux operation.

Potential Applications of Zeolite Membranes in Reaction Coupling Separation Processes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tunde V. Ojumu

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Future production of chemicals (e.g., fine and specialty chemicals in industry is faced with the challenge of limited material and energy resources. However, process intensification might play a significant role in alleviating this problem. A vision of process intensification through multifunctional reactors has stimulated research on membrane-based reactive separation processes, in which membrane separation and catalytic reaction occur simultaneously in one unit. These processes are rather attractive applications because they are potentially compact, less capital intensive, and have lower processing costs than traditional processes. Therefore this review discusses the progress and potential applications that have occurred in the field of zeolite membrane reactors during the last few years. The aim of this article is to update researchers in the field of process intensification and also provoke their thoughts on further research efforts to explore and exploit the potential applications of zeolite membrane reactors in industry. Further evaluation of this technology for industrial acceptability is essential in this regard. Therefore, studies such as techno-economical feasibility, optimization and scale-up are of the utmost importance.

Mercury absorption in aqueous hypochlorite

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao, L.L.; Rochelle, G.T.

1999-01-01

The absorption of elemental Hg vapor into aqueous hypochlorite was measured in a stirred tank reactor at 25 and 55C. NaOCl strongly absorbs Hg even at high pH. Low pH, high Cl - and high-temperature favor mercury absorption. Aqueous free Cl 2 was the active species that reacted with mercury. However, chlorine desorption was evident at high Cl - and pH 15 M -1 s -1 at 25C and 1.4x10 17 M -1 s -1 at 55C. Gas-phase reaction was observed between Hg and Cl 2 on apparatus surfaces. Strong mercury absorption in water was also detected with Cl 2 present. Results indicate that the chlorine concentration, moisture, and surface area contribute positively to mercury removal. (Copyright (c) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam. All rights reserved.)

Flow injection analysis-flame atomic absorption spectrometry system for indirect determination of sulfite after on-line reduction of solid-phase manganese (IV) dioxide reactor.

Science.gov (United States)

Zare-Dorabei, Rouholah; Boroun, Shokoufeh; Noroozifar, Meissam

2018-02-01

A new and simple flow injection method followed by atomic absorption spectrometry was developed for indirect determination of sulfite. The proposed method is based on the oxidation of sulfite to sulphate ion using solid-phase manganese dioxide (30% W/W suspended on silica gel beads) reactor. MnO 2 will be reduced to Mn(II) by sample injection in to the column under acidic carrier stream of HNO 3 (pH 2) with flow rate of 3.5mLmin -1 at room temperature. Absorption measurement of Mn(II) which is proportional to the concentration of sulfite in the sample was carried out by atomic absorption spectrometry. The calibration curve was linear up to 25mgL -1 with a detection limit (DL) of 0.08mgL -1 for 400µL injection sample volume. The presented method is efficient toward sulfite determination in sugar and water samples with a relative standard deviation (RSD) less than 1.2% and a sampling rate of about 60h -1 . Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Modeling of simultaneous anaerobic methane and ammonium oxidation in a membrane biofilm reactor.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Xueming; Guo, Jianhua; Shi, Ying; Hu, Shihu; Yuan, Zhiguo; Ni, Bing-Jie

2014-08-19

Nitrogen removal by using the synergy of denitrifying anaerobic methane oxidation (DAMO) and anaerobic ammonium oxidation (Anammox) microorganisms in a membrane biofilm reactor (MBfR) has previously been demonstrated experimentally. In this work, a mathematical model is developed to describe the simultaneous anaerobic methane and ammonium oxidation by DAMO and Anammox microorganisms in an MBfR for the first time. In this model, DAMO archaea convert nitrate, both externally fed and/or produced by Anammox, to nitrite, with methane as the electron donor. Anammox and DAMO bacteria jointly remove the nitrite fed/produced, with ammonium and methane as the electron donor, respectively. The model is successfully calibrated and validated using the long-term (over 400 days) dynamic experimental data from the MBfR, as well as two independent batch tests at different operational stages of the MBfR. The model satisfactorily describes the methane oxidation and nitrogen conversion data from the system. Modeling results show the concentration gradients of methane and nitrogen would cause stratification of the biofilm, where Anammox bacteria mainly grow in the biofilm layer close to the bulk liquid and DAMO organisms attach close to the membrane surface. The low surface methane loadings result in a low fraction of DAMO microorganisms, but the high surface methane loadings would lead to overgrowth of DAMO bacteria, which would compete with Anammox for nitrite and decrease the fraction of Anammox bacteria. The results suggest an optimal methane supply under the given condition should be applied not only to benefit the nitrogen removal but also to avoid potential methane emissions.

Precursors-Derived Ceramic Membranes for High-Temperature Separation of Hydrogen

OpenAIRE

Yuji, Iwamoto

2007-01-01

This review describes recent progress in the development of hydrogen-permselective ceramic membranes derived from organometallic precursors. Microstructure and gas transport property of microporous amorphous silica-based membranes are briefly described. Then, high-temperature hydrogen permselectivity, hydrothermal stability as well as hydrogen/steam selectivity of the amorphous silica-based membranes are discussed from a viewpoint of application to membrane reactors for conversion enhancement...

Control rod for the operation of nuclear reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ishida, Hiromi

1987-01-01

Purpose: To conduct spectrum shift operation without complicating the reactor core structures, reducing the probability of failures. Constitution: An operation control rod which is driven while passed vertically in the reactor core comprises a strong absorption portion, moderation portion and weak moderation portion defined orderly from above to below and the length for each of the portions is greater than the effective reactor core height. If the operation control rod is lifted to the maximum limit in the upward direction of the reactor core, the weak moderation portion is corresponded over the effective length of the reactor core. Since the weak moderation portion is filled with zirconium and moderators are not present in the operation control rod, water draining gap is formed, neutron spectral shift is formed, excess reactivity is suppressed, absorption of neutrons to fuel fertile material is increased and the formation of nuclear fission material is increased. From the middle to the final stage of the cycle, the control rod is lowered, by which the moderator/fuel effective volume ratio is increased to increase the reactivity. (Kamimura, M.)

Brush border membrane vesicle and Caco-2 cell line: Two experimental models for evaluation of absorption enhancing effects of saponins, bile salts, and some synthetic surfactants

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eskandar Moghimipour

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of absorption enhancers in the uptake of hydrophilic compounds. The permeation of the two hydrophilic drug models gentamicin and 5 (6-carboxyfluorescein (CF across the brush border membrane vesicles and Caco-2 cell lines were evaluated using total saponins of Acanthophyllum squarrosum, Quillaja saponaria, sodium lauryl sulfate, sodium glycocholate, sodium taurodeoxycholate , and Tween 20 as absorption enhancers. Transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER measurement was utilized to assess the paracellular permeability of cell lines. Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM was performed to obtain images of the distribution of CF in Caco-2 cells. These compounds were able to loosen tight junctions, thus increasing paracellular permeability. CLSM confirmed the effect of these absorption enhancers on CF transport across Caco-2 lines and increased the Caco-2 permeability via transcellular route. It was also confirmed that the decrease in TEER was transient and reversible after removal of permeation enhancers.

Characterization of hydrotalcite materials for CO2 selective membranes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Feuillade, V.C.; Haije, W.G. [ECN Hydrogen and Clean Fossil Fuels, Petten (Netherlands)

2006-07-15

The present concern about climate change has urged researchers and engineers all over the world to go and look for ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Largescale CO2 emissions occur at power plants burning fossil fuels or e.g. the production of hydrogen from carbonaceous feed. In these cases pre- or post-combustion CO2 capture techniques followed by CO2 storage seems a promising route for reducing emissions. Prerequisite in these processes is the effective separation of CO2 from mixed gaseous process streams. The purpose of this work is to develop CO2 membranes to allow for the combination of natural gas reforming with separation of H2 and CO2 in separation enhanced reactors, i.e. membrane reactors, for carbon-free hydrogen production or electricity generation. This paper describes the materials' properties of hydrotalcites, a promising class of compounds for CO2 membranes. They have already proven their applicability as CO2 sorbent in sorption enhanced reaction processes. It is of fundamental importance to know the structural stability of this compound in the operational window of a chosen membrane reactor prior to any membrane fabrication. To this end, in-situ XRPD and DRIFTS as well as TGA-MS and SEM-EDX measurements have been performed on commercial (Pural) and hydrothermally synthesized homemade samples.

Architecture for Absorption Based Heaters

Science.gov (United States)

Moghaddam, Saeed; Chugh, Devesh

2018-04-24

An absorption based heater is constructed on a fluid barrier heat exchanging plate such that it requires little space in a structure. The absorption based heater has a desorber, heat exchanger, and absorber sequentially placed on the fluid barrier heat exchanging plate. The vapor exchange faces of the desorber and the absorber are covered by a vapor permeable membrane that is permeable to a refrigerant vapor but impermeable to an absorbent. A process fluid flows on the side of the fluid barrier heat exchanging plate opposite the vapor exchange face through the absorber and subsequently through the heat exchanger. The absorption based heater can include a second plate with a condenser situated parallel to the fluid barrier heat exchanging plate and opposing the desorber for condensation of the refrigerant for additional heating of the process fluid.

Nuclear Reactor RA Safety Report, Vol. 4, Reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1986-11-01

RA research reactor is thermal heavy water moderated and cooled reactor. Metal uranium 2% enriched fuel elements were used at the beginning of its operation. Since 1976, 80% enriched uranium oxide dispersed in aluminium fuel elements were gradually introduced into the core and are the only ones presently used. Reactor core is cylindrical, having diameter 40 cm and 123 cm high. Reaktor core is made up of 82 fuel elements in aluminium channels, lattice is square, lattice pitch 13 cm. Reactor vessel is cylindrical made of 8 mm thick aluminium, inside diameter 140 cm and 5.5 m high surrounded with neutron reflector and biological shield. There is no containment, the reactor building is playing the shielding role. Three pumps enable circulation of heavy water in the primary cooling circuit. Degradation of heavy water is prevented by helium cover gas. Control rods with cadmium regulate the reactor operation. There are eleven absorption rods, seven are used for long term reactivity compensation, two for automatic power regulation and two for safety shutdown. Total anti reactivity of the rods amounts to 24%. RA reactor is equipped with a number of experimental channels, 45 vertical (9 in the core), 34 in the graphite reflector and two in the water biological shield; and six horizontal channels regularly distributed in the core. This volume include detailed description of systems and components of the RA reactor, reactor core parameters, thermal hydraulics of the core, fuel elements, fuel elements handling equipment, fuel management, and experimental devices [sr

Transporters for the Intestinal Absorption of Cholesterol, Vitamin E, and Vitamin K.

Science.gov (United States)

Yamanashi, Yoshihide; Takada, Tappei; Kurauchi, Ryoya; Tanaka, Yusuke; Komine, Toko; Suzuki, Hiroshi

2017-04-03

Humans cannot synthesize fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamin E and vitamin K. For this reason, they must be obtained from the diet via intestinal absorption. As the deficiency or excess of these vitamins has been reported to cause several types of diseases and disorders in humans, the intestinal absorption of these nutrients must be properly regulated to ensure good health. However, the mechanism of their intestinal absorption remains poorly understood. Recent studies on cholesterol using genome-edited mice, genome-wide association approaches, gene mutation analyses, and the development of cholesterol absorption inhibitors have revealed that several membrane proteins play crucial roles in the intestinal absorption of cholesterol. Surprisingly, detailed analyses of these cholesterol transporters have revealed that they can also transport vitamin E and vitamin K, providing clues to uncover the molecular mechanisms underlying the intestinal absorption of these fat-soluble vitamins. In this review, we focus on the membrane proteins (Niemann-Pick C1 like 1, scavenger receptor class B type I, cluster of differentiation 36, and ATP-binding cassette transporter A1) that are (potentially) involved in the intestinal absorption of cholesterol, vitamin E, and vitamin K and discuss their physiological and pharmacological importance. We also discuss the related uncertainties that need to be explored in future studies.

Development of a novel microemulsion for oral absorption enhancement of all-trans retinoic acid.

Science.gov (United States)

Subongkot, Thirapit; Ngawhirunpat, Tanasait

2017-01-01

This study was aimed to develop a novel microemulsion that contained oleth-5 as a surfactant to enhance the oral absorption of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA). The prepared microemulsion was evaluated for its particle size, shape, zeta potential, in vitro release, in vitro intestinal absorption, intestinal membrane cytotoxicity and stability. The obtained microemulsion was spherical in shape with a particle size of microemulsion was best fit with the zero-order model. This microemulsion significantly improved the intestinal absorption of ATRA. Confocal laser scanning microscopy analysis using a fluorescent dye-loaded microemulsion also confirmed the intestinal absorption result. The intestinal membrane cytotoxicity of the ATRA-loaded microemulsion did not differ from an edible oil (fish oil). Stability testing showed that the ATRA-loaded microemulsion was more stable at 25°C than 40°C.

Vapor compression distiller and membrane technology for water revitalization

Science.gov (United States)

Ashida, A.; Mitani, K.; Ebara, K.; Kurokawa, H.; Sawada, I.; Kashiwagi, H.; Tsuji, T.; Hayashi, S.; Otsubo, K.; Nitta, K.

1987-01-01

Water revitalization for a space station can consist of membrane filtration processes and a distillation process. Water recycling equipment using membrane filtration processes was manufactured for ground testing. It was assembled using commercially available components. Two systems for the distillation are studied: one is absorption type thermopervaporation cell and the other is a vapor compression distiller. Absorption type thermopervaporation, able to easily produce condensed water under zero gravity, was investigated experimentally and through simulated calculation. The vapor compression distiller was studied experimentally and it offers significant energy savings for evaporation of water.

Surface modification of poly(vinylidene fluoride) hollow fibre membranes for biogas purification in a gas-liquid membrane contactor system.

Science.gov (United States)

Jin, Pengrui; Huang, Chuan; Li, Jiaxiang; Shen, Yadong; Wang, Liao

2017-11-01

The wetting of hollow fibre membranes decreases the performance of the liquid-gas membrane contactor for CO 2 capture in biogas upgrading. To solve this problem, in this work, a poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) hollow fibre membrane for a liquid-gas membrane contactor was coated with a superhydrophobic layer composed of a combination of hydrophobic SiO 2 nanoparticles and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) by the method of spray deposition. A rough layer of SiO 2 deposited on the PVDF membrane resulted in an enhanced surface hydrophobicity. The surface structure of the pristine PVDF significantly affected the homogeneity of the generated SiO 2 layer. A uniform surface coating on the PVDF upper layer resulted from the presence of micrometre and nanometre-sized roughness on the surface of the PVDF membrane, which was achieved with a SiO 2 concentration of 4.44 mg ml -1 (0.2 g/45 ml) in the coating solution. As a result, the water contact angle of the modified surface was recorded as 155 ± 3°, which is higher than that of the pristine surface. The high contact angle is advantageous for reducing the wetting of the membrane. Additional mass transfer resistance was introduced by the superhydrophobic layer. In addition, continuous CO 2 absorption tests were carried out in original and modified PVDF hollow fibre membrane contactors, using monoethanolamine (MEA) solution as the absorbent. A long-term stability test revealed that the modified PVDF hollow fibre membrane contactor was able to outperform the original membrane contactor and demonstrated outstanding long-term stability, suggesting that spray deposition is a promising approach to obtain superhydrophobic PVDF membranes for liquid-gas membrane absorption.

Selective purge for hydrogenation reactor recycle loop

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, Richard W.; Lokhandwala, Kaaeid A.

2001-01-01

Processes and apparatus for providing improved contaminant removal and hydrogen recovery in hydrogenation reactors, particularly in refineries and petrochemical plants. The improved contaminant removal is achieved by selective purging, by passing gases in the hydrogenation reactor recycle loop or purge stream across membranes selective in favor of the contaminant over hydrogen.

Predicting enhanced absorption of light gases in polyethylene using simplified PC-SAFT and SAFT-VR

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Haslam, Andrew J.; von Solms, Nicolas; Adjiman, Claire S.

2006-01-01

. For the case of ternary mixtures of two gases with PE, it is predicted that the less-volatile of the two gases acts to enhance the absorption of the more-volatile gas, while the more-volatile gas inhibits the absorption of the less-volatile gas. This general behaviour is also predicted in mixtures containing...... present during ethylene polymerisation in the gas-phase reactor (GPR) process. The two approaches are validated using experimental binary-mixture data for gas absorbed in PE, and predictions are made for mixtures of more components. For most cases studied both SAFT versions perform equally well...... more gases, such as typical reactor mixtures. The magnitude of the effect may vary considerably, depending on the relative proximity of the gas-mixture saturation pressure to the reactor pressure; for example it is predicted that the absorption of ethylene may be approximately doubled if diluent gases...

RB research nuclear reactor, Annual report for 1981

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Markovic, H.; Sotic, O.; Pesic, M.; Vranic, S.; Zivkovic, B.; Bogdanovic, M.; Petronijevic, M.

1981-01-01

The annual report for 1981 includes the following: utilization of the RB reactor; accident and incidents analysis; description of the reactor equipment status; dosimetry and radiation protection; RB reactor staff; financial data. Seven Annexes to this report are concerned with: maintenance of the reactor components and equipment, including nuclear fuel, heavy water, reactor vessel, heavy water coolant circuit, experimental platforms, absorption rods; maintenance of the electric power supply system, neutron source equipment, crane; control and maintenance of ventilation and heating systems, gas and comprised gas systems, fire protection system; plan for renewal of the reactor components; contents of the RB reactor safety report; reactor staff; review of measured radiation doses; experimental methods; training of the staff; and financial report

Development of robust fluorinated TiO2/PVDF composite hollow fiber membrane for CO2 capture in gas-liquid membrane contactor

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Yuqing; Xu, Yilin; Loh, Chun Heng; Wang, Rong

2018-04-01

Gas-liquid membrane contactor (GLMC) is a promising method to attain high efficiency for CO2 capture from flue gas, biogas and natural gas. However, membranes used in GLMC are prone to pore wetting due to insufficient hydrophobicity and low chemical resistance, resulting in significant increase in mass transfer resistance. To mitigate this issue, inorganic-organic fluorinated titania/polyvinylidene fluoride (fTiO2/PVDF) composite hollow fiber (HF) membranes was prepared via facile in-situ vapor induced hydrolyzation method, followed by hydrophobic modification. The proposed composite membranes were expected to couple the superb chemical stability of inorganic and high permeability/low cost of organic materials. The continuous fTiO2 layer deposited on top of PVDF substrate was found to possess a tighter microstructure and better hydrophobicity, which effectively prevented the membrane from wetting and lead to a high CO2 absorption flux (12.7 × 10-3 mol m-2 s-1). In a stability test with 21-day operation of GLMC using 1M monoethanolamine (MEA) as the absorbent, the fTiO2/PVDF membrane remained to be intact with a CO2 absorption flux decline of ∼16%, while the pristine PVDF membrane suffered from a flux decline of ∼80% due to membrane damage. Overall, this work provides an insight into the preparation of high-quality inorganic/organic composite HF membranes for CO2 capture in GLMC application.

Effect of Promoter Concentration on CO2 Separation Using K2CO3 With Reactive Absorption Method in Reactor Packed Column

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Monde Junety

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The presence of carbon dioxide (CO2 in the gas is not expected because CO2 can reduce heating value and CO2 is the major emission contributor into the atmosphere. Various separation technologies can be used to reduce CO2 content and improve quality of gas. Chemical or reactive absorption is most widely used because it provides higher removal rate. This paper will study the effect of the addition di ethanolamine (DEA concentration into aqueous 30wt.% potassium carbonate(K2CO3 with reactive absorption method in a reactor packed column at temperature from 40°C to 80°C, DEA concentration range of (1% - 3% and absorbent flow rate (0.5, 0.75 and 1 L. min1. Contacting the gas and absorbent are countercurrent flow in packed column with 1.5 m high and 50 mm in diameter. The absorption column was randomly packed with a packing material raschig rings 5 mm in diameter. The CO2 loading in the liquid samples was determined by titration. It is found that the best result of CO2 loading is 0.065594 mole/mole K2CO3 and CO2 removal 28%. The result show that the loading capacity (mole CO2/mole K2CO3 and CO2 removal increased with the increase of DEA concentration.

Dense ceramic membranes for methane conversion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bouwmeester, Henny J.M. [Laboratory for Inorganic Materials Science, Department of Science and Technology and MESA Research Institute, University of Twente, 7500 AE Enschede (Netherlands)

2003-07-30

Dense ceramic membranes made from mixed oxygen-ionic and electronic conducting perovskite-related oxides allow separation of oxygen from an air supply at elevated temperatures (>700C). By combining air separation and catalytic partial oxidation of methane to syngas into a ceramic membrane reactor, this technology is expected to significantly reduce the capital costs of conversion of natural gas to liquid added-value products. The present survey is mainly concerned with the material properties that govern the performance of the mixed-conducting membranes in real operating conditions and highlights significant developments in the field.

Neutron source for a reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kobayashi, Hiromasa.

1975-01-01

Object: To easily increase a start-up power of a reactor without irradiation in other reactors. Structure: A neutron source comprises Cf 252 , a natural antimony rod, a layer of beryllium, and a vessel of neutron source. On upper and lower portion of Cf 252 are arranged natural antimony rods, which are surrounded by the Be layer, the entirety being charged into the vessel. The Cf 252 may emit neutron, has a half life more than a period of operating cycle of the reactor and is less deteriorated even irradiated by radioactive rays while being left within the reactor. The natural antimony rod is radioactivated by neutron from Cf 252 and neutron as reactor power increases to emit γ rays. The Be absorbs γ rays to emit the neutron. The antimony rod is irradiated within the reactor. Further, since the Cf 252 is small in neutron absorption cross section, it is hard to be deteriorated even while being inserted within the reactor. (Kamimura, M.)

Reactor building 3D-model for evaluating the pressures on concrete regularization and foundation waterproofing membrane

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mello Junior, Glauco J.T.; Cardoso, Tarcisio de F.; Prates, Carlos L.M. [Eletrobras Termonuclear S.A. - ELETRONUCLEAR, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Gerencia de Analise de Tensoes GAN.T], e-mail: glauco@eletronuclear.gov.br, e-mail: tarci@eletronuclear.gov.br, e-mail: prates@eletronuclear.gov.br

2009-07-01

Angra dos Reis site in Brazil has already 2 operating PWR NPPs. Unit 3, with identical design to Unit 2, also a 1350 MW PWR, is expected to have its construction started in 2009. This new plant shall be founded directly on sound rock. The first step is to prepare this rock surface with a concrete regularization and a foundation waterproofing membrane. This study presents a 3D model approach of the corresponding reactor building to verify the maximum pressure acting on this surface. The 3D model permits to show a more realistic pressure distribution at every foundation specific detail. A static analysis is performed using ANSYS Mechanical Release 11.1. Dead weight, permanent and live loads, Safe Shutdown Earthquake (SSE) combined with Burst Pressure Wave (BPW) from the Feedwater Tank (SSB=SSE+BPW) and differences of temperature are taken into account. Considering all foundation nodes , the pressure distribution on the waterproofing membrane for each load case is obtained for vertical and horizontal directions, which corresponds to compression and tangential reaction loads. The maximum values occur in distinct positions for each load case. The maximum results are obtained according to DIN 25449 (2008) load combination criteria. The results are compared to a simplified analysis performed before, showing a good agreement in global values. (author)

Reactor building 3D-model for evaluating the pressures on concrete regularization and foundation waterproofing membrane

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mello Junior, Glauco J.T.; Cardoso, Tarcisio de F.; Prates, Carlos L.M.

2009-01-01

Angra dos Reis site in Brazil has already 2 operating PWR NPPs. Unit 3, with identical design to Unit 2, also a 1350 MW PWR, is expected to have its construction started in 2009. This new plant shall be founded directly on sound rock. The first step is to prepare this rock surface with a concrete regularization and a foundation waterproofing membrane. This study presents a 3D model approach of the corresponding reactor building to verify the maximum pressure acting on this surface. The 3D model permits to show a more realistic pressure distribution at every foundation specific detail. A static analysis is performed using ANSYS Mechanical Release 11.1. Dead weight, permanent and live loads, Safe Shutdown Earthquake (SSE) combined with Burst Pressure Wave (BPW) from the Feedwater Tank (SSB=SSE+BPW) and differences of temperature are taken into account. Considering all foundation nodes , the pressure distribution on the waterproofing membrane for each load case is obtained for vertical and horizontal directions, which corresponds to compression and tangential reaction loads. The maximum values occur in distinct positions for each load case. The maximum results are obtained according to DIN 25449 (2008) load combination criteria. The results are compared to a simplified analysis performed before, showing a good agreement in global values. (author)

Neutronics and mass transport in a chemical reactor associated with controlled thermonuclear fusion reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dang, V.D.; Steinberg, M.; Lazareth, O.W.; Powell, J.R.

1976-05-01

The formation of ozone from oxygen and the dissociation carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide and oxygen is studied in a gamma-neutron chemical process blanket associated with a controlled thermonuclear reactor. Materials used for reactor tube wall will affect the efficiency of the energy absorption by the reactants and consequently the yield of reaction products. Three kinds of materials, aluminum, stainless steel and fiber (Al 2 O 3 )-aluminium are investigated for the tube wall material in the study

Laccase/mediator assisted degradation of triarylmethane dyes in a continuous membrane reactor.

Science.gov (United States)

Chhabra, Meenu; Mishra, Saroj; Sreekrishnan, Trichur Ramaswamy

2009-08-10

Laccase/mediator systems are important bioremediation agents as the rates of reactions can be enhanced in the presence of the mediators. The decolorization mechanism of two triarylmethane dyes, namely, Basic Green 4 and Acid Violet 17 is reported using Cyathus bulleri laccase. Basic Green 4 was decolorized through N-demethylation by laccase alone, while in mediator assisted reactions, dye breakdown was initiated from oxidation of carbinol form of the dye. Benzaldehyde and N,N-dimethyl aniline were the major end products. With Acid Violet 17, laccase carried out N-deethylation and in mediator assisted reactions, oxidation of the carbinol form of the dye occurred resulting in formation of formyl benzene sulfonic acid, carboxy benzene sulfonic acid and benzene sulfonic acid. Toxicity analysis revealed that Basic Green 4 was toxic and treatment with laccase/mediators resulted in 80-100% detoxification. The treatment of the textile dye solution using laccase and 2,2'-azino-di-(-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) was demonstrated in an enzyme membrane reactor. At a hydraulic retention time of 6h, the process was operated for a period of 15 days with nearly 95% decolorization, 10% reduction in flux and 70% recovery of active ABTS.

RB Research nuclear reactor, Annual report for 1996, I-IV

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stefanovic, D.; Milosevic, M.; Pesic, M.; Marinkovic, P.; Ilic, R.; Dasic, N.; Milovanovic, S.; Ljubenov, V.; Petronijevic, M.; Jevremovic, M.

1996-12-01

Report on RB reactor operation during 1996 contains 3 parts. Part one contains a brief description of reactor operation and reactor components, relevant dosimetry data and radiation protection issues, personnel and financial data. Part two is devoted to maintenance of the reactor components, namely, fuel, heavy water, reactor vessel, heavy water circulation system, absorption rods and heavy water level-meters, maintenance of electronic, mechanical, electrical and auxiliary equipment. Part three contains data concerned with reactor operation and utilization with a list of publications resulting from experiments done at the RB reactor

RB Research nuclear reactor, Annual report for 1995, I-IV

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stefanovic, D.; Milosevic, M.; Pesic, M.; Marinkovic, P.; Ilic, R.; Dasic, N.; Milovanovic, S.; Ljubenov, V.; Petronijevic, M.; Jevremovic, M.

1995-12-01

Report on RB reactor operation during 1995 contains 3 parts. Part one contains a brief description of reactor operation and reactor components, relevant dosimetry data and radiation protection issues, personnel and financial data. Part two is devoted to maintenance of the reactor components, namely, fuel, heavy water, reactor vessel, heavy water circulation system, absorption rods and heavy water level-meters, maintenance of electronic, mechanical, electrical and auxiliary equipment. Part three contains data concerned with reactor operation and utilization with a comprehensive list of publications resulting from experiments done at the RB reactor

Quasi-linear absorption of lower hybrid waves by fusion generated alpha particles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barbato, E.; Santini, F.

1991-01-01

Lower hybrid waves are expected to be used in a steady state reactor to produce current and to control the current profile and the stability of internal modes. In the ignition phase, however, the presence of energetic alpha particles may prevent wave-electron interaction, thus reducing the current drive efficiency. This is due to the very high birth energy of the alpha particles that may absorb much of the lower hybrid wave power. This unfavourable effect is absent at high frequencies (∼ 8 GHz for typical reactor parameters). Nevertheless, because of the technical difficulties involved in using such high frequencies, it is very important to investigate whether power absorption by alpha particles would be negligible also at relatively low frequencies. Such a study has been carried out on the basis of the quasi-linear theory of wave-alpha particle interaction, since the distortion of the alpha distribution function may enhance the radiofrequency absorption above the linear level. New effects have been found, such as local alpha concentration and acceleration. The model for alpha particles is coupled with a 1-D deposition code for lower hybrid waves to calculate the competition in the power absorption between alphas and electrons as the waves propagate into the plasma core for typical reactor (ITER) parameters. It is shown that at a frequency as low as 5 GHz, power absorption by alpha particles is negligible for conventional plasma conditions and realistic alpha particle concentrations. In more ''pessimistic'' and severe conditions, negligible absorption occurs at 6 GHz. (author). 19 refs, 11 figs, 2 tabs

Membrane reactor technology for ultrapure hydrogen production

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Patil, Charudatta Subhash

2005-01-01

The suitability of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) for stationary and vehicular applications because of its low operating temperatures, compactness, higher power density, cleaner exhausts and higher efficiencies compared to conventional internal combustion engines and gas turbines

The effects of mediator and granular activated carbon addition on degradation of trace organic contaminants by an enzymatic membrane reactor.

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Luong N; Hai, Faisal I; Price, William E; Leusch, Frederic D L; Roddick, Felicity; Ngo, Hao H; Guo, Wenshan; Magram, Saleh F; Nghiem, Long D

2014-09-01

The removal of four recalcitrant trace organic contaminants (TrOCs), namely carbamazepine, diclofenac, sulfamethoxazole and atrazine by laccase in an enzymatic membrane reactor (EMR) was studied. Laccases are not effective for degrading non-phenolic compounds; nevertheless, 22-55% removal of these four TrOCs was achieved by the laccase EMR. Addition of the redox-mediator syringaldehyde (SA) to the EMR resulted in a notable dose-dependent improvement (15-45%) of TrOC removal affected by inherent TrOC properties and loading rates. However, SA addition resulted in a concomitant increase in the toxicity of the treated effluent. A further 14-25% improvement in aqueous phase removal of the TrOCs was consistently observed following a one-off dosing of 3g/L granular activated carbon (GAC). Mass balance analysis reveals that this improvement was not due solely to adsorption but also enhanced biodegradation. GAC addition also reduced membrane fouling and the SA-induced toxicity of the effluent. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Light absorption and scattering mechanisms in laser fusion plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barnes, C.; Estabrook, K.G.; Kruer, W.L.; Langdon, A.B.; Lasinski, B.F.; Max, C.E.; Randall, C.; Thomson, J.J.

1977-01-01

The picture of laser light absorption and scattering which is emerging from theory and computer simulation studies of laser-plasma interactions is described. On the subject of absorption, we discuss theoretical and experimental evidence that resonance absorption in a steepened density profile is a dominant absorption mechanism. Recent work also indicates the presence of critical surface ripples, which we study using two and three dimensional computer simulations. Predictions of hot electron spectra due to resonance absorption are described, as are effects of plasma outflow. We then discuss two regimes where stimulated scattering may occur. Brillouin scattering is expected in the underdense target blow-off, for long laser pulses, and is limited by ion heating. Raman scattering in the background gas of a reactor target chamber is predicted to be at most a 10 percent effect for 1 μm lasers

Integral Design Methodology of Photocatalytic Reactors for Air Pollution Remediation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claudio Passalía

2017-06-01

Full Text Available An integral reactor design methodology was developed to address the optimal design of photocatalytic wall reactors to be used in air pollution control. For a target pollutant to be eliminated from an air stream, the proposed methodology is initiated with a mechanistic derived reaction rate. The determination of intrinsic kinetic parameters is associated with the use of a simple geometry laboratory scale reactor, operation under kinetic control and a uniform incident radiation flux, which allows computing the local superficial rate of photon absorption. Thus, a simple model can describe the mass balance and a solution may be obtained. The kinetic parameters may be estimated by the combination of the mathematical model and the experimental results. The validated intrinsic kinetics obtained may be directly used in the scaling-up of any reactor configuration and size. The bench scale reactor may require the use of complex computational software to obtain the fields of velocity, radiation absorption and species concentration. The complete methodology was successfully applied to the elimination of airborne formaldehyde. The kinetic parameters were determined in a flat plate reactor, whilst a bench scale corrugated wall reactor was used to illustrate the scaling-up methodology. In addition, an optimal folding angle of the corrugated reactor was found using computational fluid dynamics tools.

Neutron Resonance Theory for Nuclear Reactor Applications: Modern Theory and Practices.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hwang, Richard N. [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Blomquist, Roger N. [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Leal, Luiz C. [Inst. de Radioprotection et de Sûrete Nucleaire (ISRN), Fontenay-aux-Roses (France); Yang, Won Sik [Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)

2016-09-24

The neutron resonance phenomena constitute one of the most fundamental subjects in nuclear physics as well as in reactor physics. It is the area where the concepts of nuclear interaction and the treatment of the neutronic balance in reactor fuel lattices become intertwined. The latter requires the detailed knowledge of resonance structures of many nuclides of practical interest to the development of nuclear energy. The most essential element in reactor physics is to provide an accurate account of the intricate balance between the neutrons produced by the fission process and neutrons lost due to the absorption process as well as those leaking out of the reactor system. The presence of resonance structures in many major nuclides obviously plays an important role in such processes. There has been a great deal of theoretical and practical interest in resonance reactions since Fermi’s discovery of resonance absorption of neutrons as they were slowed down in water. The resonance absorption became the center of attention when the question was raised as to the feasibility of the self-sustaining chain reaction in a natural uranium-fueled system. The threshold of the nuclear era was crossed almost eighty years ago when Fermi and Szilard observed that a substantial reduction in resonance absorption is possible if the uranium was made into the form of lumps instead of a homogeneous mixture with water. In the West, the first practical method for estimating the resonance escape probability in a reactor cell was pioneered by Wigner et al in early forties.

Performance of EVA-Based Membranes for SCL in Hard Rock

Science.gov (United States)

Holter, Karl Gunnar

2016-04-01

The bonded property of multi-layered sprayed concrete tunnel linings (SCL) waterproofed with sprayed membranes means that the constituent materials will be exposed to the groundwater without any draining or mechanically separating measures. Moisture properties of the sprayed concrete and membrane materials are therefore important in order to establish the system properties of such linings. Ethyl-vinyl-acetate based sprayed membranes exhibit high water absorption potential under direct exposure to water, but are found to be significantly less hygroscopic and exhibit lower sorptivity (water absorption rate) than sprayed concrete. This material behavior explains the relatively dry in situ condition of the membrane that was observed. Measured in situ moisture content levels of the membrane material in tunnel linings have been found to vary within the range of 30-40 % of the maximum water absorption potential, and show a decreasing trend over the first 4 years after construction has been completed. A model for the mechanical loading, moisture condition and thermal exposure of the membrane and the resulting realistic parameters to be tested is presented. Laboratory testing methods for the membrane materials are evaluated considering possible loads, moisture and freezing exposure. Material testing of membrane materials was conducted with preconditioning to realistic moisture contents and under different temperature conditions including relevant freezing temperatures for tunnel linings. The main effects of the in situ moisture condition of the tested membrane materials are favorable tensile strengths in the range of 1.1-1.5 MPa and low risk of freeze-thaw damage. The crack bridging capacity of the tested membranes is found to be sensitive to temperature. With membrane thicknesses in the range of 3-4 mm, crack bridging capacity up to 4-6 mm opening of the crack width at 23 °C and approximately 1 mm opening at -3 °C was measured for the tested membranes. No significant

Comparative study between chemostat and batch reactors to quantify membrane permeability changes on bacteria exposed to silver nanoparticles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anaya, Nelson M.; Faghihzadeh, Fatemeh [Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Rhode Island, 1 Lippitt Rd., Bliss Hall 203, Kingston, RI 02881 (United States); Ganji, Nasim; Bothun, Geoff [Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Rhode Island, 16 Greenhouse Rd., Crawford Hall, Kingston, RI 02881 (United States); Oyanedel-Craver, Vinka, E-mail: craver@uri.edu [Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Rhode Island, 1 Lippitt Rd., Bliss Hall 203, Kingston, RI 02881 (United States)

2016-09-15

Continuous and batch reactors were used to assess the effect of the exposure of casein-coated silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) on Escherichia coli (E. coli). Additionally, E. coli membrane extracts, membrane permeability and Langmuir film balance assays were used to determine integrity and changes in lipid composition in response to AgNPs exposure. Results showed that batch conditions were not appropriate for the tests due to the production of exopolymeric substances (EPS) during the growth phase. After 5 h of contact between AgNPs and the used growth media containing EPS, the nanoparticles increased in size from 86 nm to 282 nm reducing the stability and thus limiting cell-nanoparticle interactions. AgNPs reduced E. coli growth by 20% at 1 mg/L, in terms of Optical Density 670 (OD670), while no effect was detected at 15 mg/L. At 50 mg/L of AgNPs was not possible to perform the test due to aggregation and sedimentation of the nanoparticles. Membrane extract assays showed that at 1 mg/L AgNPs had a greater change in area (− 4.4cm{sup 2}) on bacteria compared to 15 mg/L (− 4.0cm{sup 2}). This area increment suggested that membrane disruption caused by AgNPs had a stabilizing/rigidifying effect where the cells responded by shifting their lipid composition to more unsaturated lipids to counteract membrane rigidification. In chemostats, the constant inflow of fresh media and aeration resulted in less AgNPs aggregation, thus increased the AgNPs-bacteria interactions, in comparison to batch conditions. AgNPs at 1 mg/L, 15 mg/L, and 50 mg/L inhibited the growth (OD670 reduction) by 0%, 11% and 16.3%, respectively. Membrane extracts exposed to 1 mg/L, 15 mg/L, and 50 mg/L of AgNPs required greater changes in area by − 0.5 cm{sup 2}, 2.7 cm{sup 2} and 3.6 cm{sup 2}, respectively, indicating that the bacterial membranes were disrupted and bacteria responded by synthesizing lipids that stabilize or strengthen membranes. This study showed that the chemostat is more

Sequential Aeration of Membrane-Aerated Biofilm Reactors for High-Rate Autotrophic Nitrogen Removal: Experimental Demonstration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pellicer i Nàcher, Carles; Sun, Sheng-Peng; Lackner, Susanne