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Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Carbon dioxide

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    Inhibiting carbon dioxide hydrate formation using deep eutectic solvents
    (2024-05) Ngcobo, Themba Luyanda; Ramsuroop, Suresh; Tumba, Kaniki; Lasich, Madison M.
    The formation of gas hydrates in pipelines during gas and petroleum extraction processes can result in multiphase systems including gas hydrates. These will form as solids in the presence of water and gas under thermodynamically favourable temperature and pressure conditions. Gas hydrates raise safety concerns, hinder process performance, and impact on financial resources as they block pipelines. The formation of gas hydrates can be efficiently prevented by using certain substances referred to as inhibitors. However, most inhibitors are expensive, potentially dangerous, and damaging to the environment. Hence, there is need to investigate environmentally friendly alternatives to mitigate gas hydrates. The objective of this study was to examine the efficiency of green additives referred to as deep eutectic solvents (DES) in inhibiting carbon dioxide gas hydrate formation. Deep eutectic solvents consisting of Tetrapropylammonium bromide + glycerol (DES-1), Tetramethylammonium chloride + glycerol (DES-2), and Tetramethylammonium chloride + ethylene glycol (DES-3) on carbon dioxide hydrates is investigated. These solvents are worth studying because their synthesis, purification, and environmental friendliness offer economic advantages. Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations were used to theoretically determine the conditions that promote or inhibit the formation and stability of cardon dioxide hydrates in the presence of the selected inhibitors. The conditions investigated include temperature, pressure, and inhibitor concentration. The use of rigorous computational methods for preliminary screening significantly reduces the cost and the duration of experiments. MD simulation results were further validated using experimental gas hydrate equilibrium data. Results obtained in the present study indicated that the various DES solutions have both inhibiting and promoting effects. It was also found that low concentrations promoted hydrate dissociation, whereas high concentration greater than 0,20 stabilised hydrate formation. Pressure and temperature also impacted on the concentration of the DES solutions that inhibited or promoted hydrate formation. The concentration of the DES solutions shifted the hydrate curve to inhibit or promote hydrate formation.
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    Wastewater treatment and photo-reduction of CO2 using an integrated magnetized TiO2 anaerobic- photocatalytic system
    (2022-09-29) Tetteh, Kweinor Emmanuel; Rathilal, Sudesh
    Conventionally, the treatment of municipal wastewater involves a sequence of treatment units aimed at reducing pollutants to acceptable discharge levels. Herein wastewater treatment plants in South Africa’s municipalities are being challenged recently due to emerging contaminants (nanomaterials, pesticides, antibiotics, COVID-19 RNA, etc.) that impede their efficiency. This calls for robust technological water solution systems targeted at promoting sustainable water supply and mitigating anthropogenic gas (CO2) emission via biogas production. Against this background, the novel of this study is aimed to develop an integrated AD-AOP (anaerobic digestion – advanced oxidation process) magnetized system to improve wastewater for reuse with biogas production and nanoparticles recoverability benefits. To obtain an optimal balance between robustness and cost-effectiveness of the integrated system, a series of feasibility and engineering works were explored. The first phase involved the synthesis via a co-precipitation technique, characterization, and applicability of the magnetized-photocatalysts (MPCs) for wastewater treatment. Analytically, the scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray (SEM/EDX), Fourier transforms infrared spectra, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Brunauer- Emmett-Teller (BET) techniques showed the tailored MPCs were successfully magnetized. Among the MPCs studied, Fe-TiO2 (with a BET surface area of 62.73 m2 /g) was found as the best with greater potential for above 75% decontamination of the wastewater and methane yield. In the technological design and evaluation, Fe-TiO2 was examined using biochemical methane potential (BMP), biophotocatalytic (BP), biomagnetic (BM), and biophotomagnetic (BPM) systems. Due to the external magnetic field influence on the BPMs, it was found very promising for future adventures. Above all, the novel integrated AD-AOP magnetized system proof of concept showed great potential for recoverability of the MPCs for reuse, reducing the toxicological effects of trace metals (27 elements considered), and improving water and biogas quality. The bioenergy economy of the integrated AD-AOP magnetized system demonstrated net energy being able to subsidize the energy required by the UV-lamp of the AOP system. Conclusively, this finding provides an insight into synthesizing novel MPCs and their applicability for wastewater remediation and biogas production. Also kinetics modeling and response surface methodology (RSM) optimization coupled with artificial neural network (ANN) predictability showed the potential to develop an optimized integrated AD-AOP magnetised system towards the treatment of industrial wastewater, biogas production , and CO2 emission reduction. The prospects necessitate a techno-scientific revolution to upscale the current integrated system into a pilot scale with smart-online monitoring towards improving the wastewater circular economy.
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    Evaluation of Kaolinite and activated carbon performance for CO2 capture
    (2021-03) Akpasi, Stephen Okiemute; Isa, Yusuf Makarfi
    Global climate change is one of the major threats facing the world today and can be due to increased atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs), such as carbon dioxide (CO2). There is also an immediate need to reduce CO2 emissions, and one of the potential solutions for reducing CO2 emissions is carbon capture and storage (CCS). This work investigated the performance assessment of kaolinite and activated carbon (AC) adsorbent for CO2 capture. In particular, the effect of operating parameters such as temperature, bed height, inlet gas flow rate etc. on CO2 adsorption behaviour of the adsorbents was also investigated. Extensive research on the development of adsorbents that can adsorb large amounts of CO2 with low energy consumption has recently been carried out. In CO2 adsorption technology, the challenge is to develop an adsorbent that is not only non-toxic, eco-friendly, and cost-effective, but also has the potential to extract CO2 gas from a mixed gas stream selectively and effectively. Due to the possibility of a potential adsorbent due to its low cost, rich natural abundance and high mechanical and chemical stability, this study proposes kaolinite. As the presence of clay minerals in soils serves as a pollutant collector to enhance the atmosphere, kaolinite has the potential to be an efficient adsorbent for CO2 capture. Kaolinite was investigated as an adsorbent in this research to confirm if it is suitable for CO2 capture. Kaolinite/activated carbon composite adsorbents were synthesized. Sugarcane bagasse was used in preparing the activated carbon (AC). ZnCl2 was impregnated onto sugarcane bagasse during the preparation of activated carbon (AC) to improve the physical properties (surface area, pore size and pore volume) and the CO2 adsorption capacity of the activated carbon (AC) adsorbent developed. The materials were characterized and tested for CO2 adsorption (activated carbon and kaolinite). BET, FTIR and SEM studies were used to classify the adsorbents for their surface area and pore properties, functional groups, and surface morphology, respectively. BET analysis was conducted and the pore volume, pore size and surface area of the adsorbent materials were reported. Functional groups were actively present in the adsorption process. This was verified using FTIR spectroscopy. The kaolinite adsorbent was not feasible for CO2 capture. BET, SEM, and custom-built CO2 adsorption equipment have confirmed this. In contrast to literature, the CO2 adsorption capacity of kaolinite was low. This is due to the fact that kaolinite used in this study is not suitable as adsorbent for CO2 capture as they exhibited a low CO2 adsorption capacity. The results obtained in this study show that temperature, bed height and inlet gas flow rate influenced the adsorption behaviour of activated carbon (AC), kaolinite and kaolinite/activated carbon composite adsorbent during CO2 capture. At 30 0C, activated carbon (AC) exhibited an adsorption capacity of 28.97 mg CO2/g, the highest capacity among all the adsorbents tested. Kaolinite-activated carbon composite adsorbent offered CO2 adsorption capacities of 18.54 mg CO2/g. Kaolinite provides the lowest capacity of 12.98 mg CO2/g. In conclusion, this research verified that CO2 adsorption with kaolinite and activated carbon is favoured at low temperatures, low operating CO2 flowrates and high column bed height.