9^th International Conference and Expo on Separation Techniques September 13-14, 2018 Zurich, Switzerland

Biography:

Hiroya Muramatsu is a PhD student at Shizuoka University. His three papers were published in high-quality journals. His research interests are multiphase flows, chemical engineering and development of optical-based measurement science and technology.

Abstract:

Aiming at industrial processes, some ultrasound separation techniques have been proposed due to their advantages of non-contact. These previous techniques used MHz-band ultrasound because of its high directionality. An ultrasound separation technique using kHz-band proposed by us is very rare. We found out an intriguing phenomenon: by irradiating 20-kHz-band ultrasound into water, dispersed particles were flocculated into a suspended spherical particle swarm (SFPS). We have revealed this unique flocculation mechanisms. The acoustic cavitation oriented bubbles (ACOBs) play an essential role in the SFPS formation. Our newly developed technique is able to be applied to liquid/solid separation. Precisely controlling the ultrasound irradiation and manipulating the SFPS through a simple apparatus, we succeeded in classifying the particles by their diameter. The flocculated particles were repeatedly discharged and captured from/by the SFPS. This fluctuation has to be elucidated and restrained for industrial application. In the present study, we aim at the relationship between the ACOBs and this SFPS’s fluctuation. Since directly visualizing the ACOBs behavior inside the SFPS is impossible, we focused on the sonoluminescence which is fast and feeble light emission from the ACOBs. First, we measured the sonoluminescence, as an index of the ACOBs’ activity, inside/outside of the SFPS via optical fiber probing. We quantified the periodical fluctuation of the intensity of the sonoluminescence. Second, we visualized the SFPS, and analyzed the SFPS’s characteristics via image processing. By the comparison of these results, we discuss the influence of the ACOBs’ activity on the SFPS.

Biography:

Martin Topiar has completed his Master of Science in Synthesis and Production of Drugs at the University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague. This year he obtained PhD at UTC Prague in cooperation with the Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals of CAS, v.v.i. He is focusing on the SFE from plants with particular interest in a study of several types of fractionation techniques. He has published five papers in reputed journals and presented his work in many international conferences dealing with extraction techniques and supercritical fluids utilization

Abstract:

Czech Republic belongs among countries with long winemaking tradition. Unfortunately, wine-processing industry produces large amounts of waste, which is usually burnt or it is used in compost. However, grape marc, stems or wood contains wide variety of biologically active substances which can be used as by-products in food suplementation or in a pharma industry. This work was focused on combination of several extraction techniques suitable for the isolation of polyphenols (resveratrol, viniferins) from wine marc, stems and wood with South Moravia origin. We have observed variations in chemical compositions of isolates obtained by the combination of pressing, maceration, soxhlet and ultrasonic extraction, based on a different process parameters (time, solvent to feed ratio, temperature, solvent, ultrasonic amplitude). Chemical composition of isolated samples were determined by LC-MS. Moreover, we have designed batch laboratory equipment which allows us to combine all of the mentioned isolation techniques. Using the combination of soxhlet and ultrasionic extraction resulted into substantial decrease in processing time with no influence on the yield of polyphenols in the isolate.

Biography:

Jinpeng Qiao is a PhD candidate from China University of Mining and Technology (CUMT), and his major is Mineral Processing Engineering. His supervisior is Professor Duan Chenlong, an expert of Clean Coal Technology and Dry Separation Theory and Technology.

Abstract:

Screening is the key unit in coal processing and utilization. Recently, equal-thickness screens characterized by a large capacity and high efficiency have been extensively used. Conventionally, equal-thickness screening is achieved by changing the inclinations of each stage or adjusting the exciting force. In this paper, a single-deck equal-thickness vibrating screen (ETVS) driven externally by an unbalanced two-axle excitation with a large span is proposed, and a set of dynamic equations governing the motion of the screen are also presented. The vibration data was obtained using a vibration test and analysis unit, and the bed stratification and particle behavior on the screen were obtained by image acquisition using a high-speed camera and data analysis unit. Screening experiments were conducted to evaluate the classification performance of the ETVS with a variable amplitude. The results showed that the amplitude of the vibrating screen driven by an unbalanced excitation with a large span showed a decreasing trend, and a constant bed thickness was obtained throughout the deck. The ETVS has advantages of a high screen deck utilization and an efficient classification. Compared to the normal vibrating screen (NVS), the screening efficiency of the ETVS increased by 3.05%–8.76%. The screening performance of the ETVS is obviously better than that of the NVS, especially when dealing with a large amount of materials and those with high moisture.

Biography:

Xuchen Fan is a PhD candidate from China University of Mining and Technology. His Major is Mineral Processing Engineering. His supervisors are Prof. Zhao Yuemin and Prof. Dong Liang. His research interests include fine coal dry beneficiation. He has published papers in Fuel, Particulate Science & Technology and Coal Technology, respectively.

Abstract:

High efficiency dry coal separation technology is beneficial to improve the efficient utilization of coal energy. While with the increasing content of fine coal, there is a lack of mature and efficient dry separation technology. In this study, a novel pulsed dense-phase fluidized bed was introduced into fine coal separation. Due to the action of the vibration energy of pulsing air flow, the fluidization quality of the fluidized bed was improved; the homogeneous stability of the bed density was strengthened. Due to the effect of gas pulsation frequency on the bed density, the frequency was divided into three regions: low-frequency region, middle-frequency region and high-frequency region. In the middle-frequency region, the bed density was uniform in the cross section of the fluidized bed, which was suitable for fine coal separation. At the same time, the circulating current and back mixing of heavy-medium particles were restrained. Based on basic theory and experimental research, the experimental study on separation of fine coal with -6+1 mm size fraction in pulsed dense-phase fluidized bed system was conducted. The separation results showed that the probable error (E) of -6+3 mm and -3+1 mm were 0.19 g/cm3 and 0.10 g/cm3 respectively. Comparing with raw coal, the ash content of the clean coal is -6+3 mm and -3+1 mm decreased by 18.66% and 12.07% respectively. It indicated that using pulsed dense-phase fluidized bed could achieve high efficiency separation of fine coal.

Biography:

Abstract:

Palm oil fronds were used to prepare activated carbon using physiochemical activation method, which consisted of potassium hydroxide (KOH) treatment and carbon dioxide CO2 gasification. The effects of variable parameters activation temperature, activation time and chemical impregnation ratios (KOH: char by weight) on the preparation of activated carbon and for removal of pesticides: bentazon, carbofuran and 2, 4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2, 4-D) were investigated. Based on the central composite design (CCD), two factor interaction (2FI) and quadratic models were respectively employed to correlate the effect of variable parameters on the preparation of activated carbon used for removal of pesticides with carbon yield. From the analysis of variance (ANOVA), the most influential factor on each experimental design response was identified. The optimum conditions for preparing activated carbon from oil palm fronds were found as follows: activation temperature of 750°C, activation time of 2H and chemical impregnation ratio of 2.38. The percentage error between predicted and experimental results for removal of bentazon, carbofuran and 2, 4-D was 8.2, 1.3 and 9.2%, respectively and for the yield of palm oil fronds activated carbon was 5.6.

Biography:

A Saccà is a Chemist. She completed her PhD in Materials for Environment and Energy from TorVergata University, Rome, Italy in 2006, 2nd level Master’s degree in Hydrogen production systems and means of transport with fuel cells from Messina University, Italy in 2008. She is actually a Researcher at National Research Council of Italy, Institute for Advanced Energy Technologies Nicola Giordano, Messina, Italy. Her activity regards: developement of components (electrodes, ionomers, MEAs, membranes) for H2/Air-PEFC, particularly solid polymer membranes for electrochemical devices (PEFC, EHC, VRFB) and, recently, for separation processes, synthesis of inorganic compounds as fillers for membranes (oxides, proton conductors). She has published 34 papers on international journals, 79 on conference books, 55 technical reports.

Abstract:

In the last years, ultrafiltration (UF) membranes for wastewaters treatment have been increasingly investigated due their ability to work in low-pressure conditions. Membranes based on polysulphone (PSF) are among the most commonly used materials thanks to PSF properties, but their hydrophobicity and poor fouling resistance reduce the water permeability, molecular selectivity, process duration representing an obstacle for application. An investigation on development of asymmetric solid PSF membranes is here presented. Four parameters for membrane formation were investigated: polymer concentration, nonsolvent, de-mixing time (Dt), surfactant concentration. Eleven membranes were synthesised tuning the above-mentioned parameters that were characterised in terms of XRD, TGA-DSC, IR, contact-angle, DMA, N2 adsorption−desorption isotherm, water retention, SEM, water permeability tests. SEM results highlight a good finger-like macrovoids morphology for membranes with and without surfactant. Its introduction enhances the membranes hydrophilic properties as evidenced by water retention measurements, but it has to be better dispersed. The permeability tests point out only the samples without surfactant were able to overcome the under pressure operation. In any case, the most performing membranes were obtained when lower Dt and water as a non-solvent are used; mesoporous and more mechanically stiff membranes with higher hydrophilic character were obtained without surfactant; asymmetry with finger-like morphology was obtained determining the main generating parameters; surface porosity (500 nm-2 μm) with channels of about 1-2 μ was obtained for some samples; a good permeability was obtained for PSF2-3 and PSF2-4 samples. PSF2-3 and PSF 2-11 samples were identified as the most promising prototypes to be further optimized for final UF application.

Biography:

Maryam Sayah has completed her Master's degree in 2016 from the Department of Chemistry, North Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. She is interested in chromatography (GC and HPLC), separation and chemometric methods.

Abstract:

Tartrazine as an anionic azo dye is widely used in several industries and is considered as highly toxic to humans. Therefore, it is necessary to treat the dye-contaminated wastewater prior to its discharge to the environment. This work presents the application of bat inspired algorithm with the aid of artificial neural networks (ANN-BA) as a novel metaheuristic algorithm in chemistry for optimization of tartrazine dye adsorption onto the novel polypyrrole/SrFe12O19/graphene oxide (GO) nanocomposite from aqueous solutions. The polypyrrole/SrFe12O19/GO nanocomposite was fabricated by an in situ polymerization process and its structural and magnetic properties were studied by means of several instrumental techniques. Four factors affecting adsorption process including initial concentration, adsorbent dosage, pH and shaking rate were optimized in a batch system using response surface methodology (RSM) and bat inspired algorithm (ANN-BA). In comparison to the RSM, the ANN- BA model obtained through Levenberg Marquardt back propagation methodology, gave higher percentage removal (94%) about 6%. Under optimal conditions obtained by ANN-BA, the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model with monolayer maximum capacity(qmax) of 123.5 mgg-1 and pseudo-second-order kinetic model fitted the experimental results with determination coefficients (R2) of 0.9986 and 0.9989, respectively. Thermodynamic studies revealed that tartrazine adsorption was endothermic, spontaneous, and feasible process. Moreover, the adsorbent application in wastewater and its regeneration studies depicted that the nanocomposite can be applied as an effective, magnetic separable and reusable adsorbent in environmental clean-up.

Biography:

Amarjit Bakshi has PhD and undergraduate degree both in Chemical Engineering from University of Surrey, Guildford, UK. He has over 40 years of experience in Engineering/Consulting Management at senior level in Process Engineering Technology, Business Development, Licensing, Acquisitions, Alliances and Project Management and Engineering, Operations Management and Process Engineering. He has worked in all EU countries including UK, Germany, and The Netherland. Major developments in oil and gas business, downstream and petrochemicals technology, catalysts, international alliance, licensing and contract negotiation, technology marketing, new technology commercial launch and partner relations.

Abstract:

Advances in biofuel technology: RHT- ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE) and RHT- tert-amyl ethyl ether (TAEE) are the smart configuration technologies to enhance the conversion to over 97 to 90 percent respectively by having multiple side draws from the columns, and one can much better quality also than competitive technologies. The major advantage in these processes is that it allows wet ethanol to be use in the process and still meeting tert-butanol (TBA) and tert-amyl alcohol (TAA) specifications in the product. Essentially process is rejecting the water from wet ethanol and makes high quality Ethers at low Capex and Opex to the competitive processes. RHT- Biodiesel process is optimized to produce biodiesel from palm oil, rapeseed oil, vegetable and animal product that are all fatty acids with even number of carbon atom typically 12 to 22 atoms. This biodiesel is comparable to hydrocarbon diesel. The triglycerides are reacted with methanol/ethanol or higher alcohol which all produces biodiesel in the acceptable boiling range. Methanol is most commonly used for the biodiesel production as being the cheapest alcohol, hence provides better economics. After the transesterification reaction the product, methyl esters of those oils /fats as product and glycerine is produced as a byproduct. Glycerine is separated from the methyl esters of vegetable oils that are the biodiesel by phase separation by gravity settling due to density differences. The methyl esters and glycerine are purified to meet the product specifications. The technology is able to provide that reaction also to meet high overall conversions and selectivity at low Capex and Opex without producing any liquid waste.

Biography:

Takayuki Saito has completed Doctor of Engineering from Tohoku University. He researched multiphase flows at National Institute for Resources and Environment, and moved from the institute to Shizuoka University as a Full Professor in 2000. He involved himself in investigation of multiphase flows, laser-based measurement technologies and ultrasound technologies. He has published more than 100 papers in international journals. He received outstanding paper award from Vessel bottom Vessel wall 30 mm Mixed particles Small particles Small particles Large particles Large particles Institute of Physics in 2010 and his paper was published in Measurement Science and Technology.

Abstract:

His research group found out a fascinating phenomenon that particles with sub-millimeter or millimeter diameter dispersed in water are flocculated into a spherical swarm by irradiating kHz band ultrasound, and developed a new process for particle separation and classification process. In this flocculation process, acoustic cavitation-oriented bubbles (ACOBs) play an essential role, which is absolutely different from conventional ultrasound particle manipulation techniques. The ACOBs’ dynamical characteristics in the ultrasound pressure field vary with the gas components and concentration in water; thus the particle flocculation patterns are influenced by the gas conditions. A pattern of spherical particle flocculation appears in air-dissolution water, and a pattern of chain-like flocculation appears in CO2 concentration-controlled water. Furthermore, the ACOBs’ dynamical characteristics vary with the ultrasound irradiation conditions such as amplitude, frequency and their change rate. First, on the basis of the forces acting on the ACOBs and the particles, the mechanisms of these flocculation patterns are discussed. Second, highly utilizing the revealed mechanisms, a new particle separation and classification process by diameter will be proposed. Finally, the performance of this new process is demonstrated. Particle classification by diameter by controlling ultrasound amplitude.

Biography:

Terry Chilcott has specialized in Biophysics at the School of Physics, University of New South Wales and latter in industrial membranes at the UNESCO CMST at UNSW and presently in Membrane Science at the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Sydney. He is also a co-inventor of a unique impedance spectrometer commercialized by Inphaze Pty Ltd. He has some 50 publications in top international journals and some 50 peer reviewed papers delivered at international conferences.

Abstract:

A bench-size flatbed module replicating specifications of industrial spiral wound modules incorporates electrodes for electrical impedance measurements of an in situ membrane and channeling system. The operation of the module in parallel with desalination plants generates data that after deconvolution yield indicators pre-empting rapid-flux-decline as the usual indicator of irreversible fouling. So the module affords life-saving warnings for plants as did canaries for miners in past centuries. The deconvolution further facilitates modelling of membranes and those nanostructures within effecting separation, such as a negative carboxyl-rich outer-layer and a juxtaposed positive amine-dominated inter-layer comprising the polyamide active region of the thin-film-composite polyamide reverse osmosis membrane. During the compaction phase salt in the feed neutralized the bipolar structure except at the junction where a nanometer-thick layer depleted of ionized salts electrochemically generated in concert with verifiable changes in the transmembrane electrical potential (TMEP). The modelling additionally verified presences of the active, substrate and support layers as well as manifestations of flux-dependent inductive and generative phenomena. Studies of calcium carbonate fouling correlated deteriorations in the ionic-barrier properties with the expected declines in salt-rejection and flux. The correlations and increases in TMEP were consistent with Ca2+ binding to paired -COO- groups in the carboxyl-rich outer-layer which diminished ionic-barrier properties of the depletion layer thereby explaining the decline in salt-rejection. More generally -COO-Ca-OOC- bonds can displace intermolecular hydrogen bonding and reduce sites that can bind the hydrogens of water. Such diminishes water-selective properties of the layer thereby explaining flux decline.