Processes, Volume 6, Issue 2 (February 2018) – 10 articles

Centrifugal pumps are widely used in the industry, especially in the oil and gas sector for fluids transport. Classically, these are designed to transfer single phase fluids (e.g., water) at high flow rates and relatively low pressures when compared with other pump types. As part of their constructive feature, centrifugal pumps rely on seals to prevent air entrapment into the rotor during its normal operation. Although this is a constructive feature, water should pass through the pump inlet even when the inlet manifold is damaged. Modern pumps are integrated in pumping units which consist of a drive (normally electric motor), a transmission (when needed), an electronic package (for monitoring and control), and the pump itself. The unit also has intake and outlet manifolds equipped with valves. Modern systems also include electronic components to measure and monitor pump working parameters such as pressure, temperature, etc. Equipment monitoring devices (vibration sensors, microphones) are installed on modern pumping units to help users evaluate the state of the machinery and detect deviations from the normal working condition. This paper addresses the influence of air-water two-phase mixture on the characteristic curve of a centrifugal pump; pump vibration in operation at various flow rates under these conditions; the possibilities of using the results of experimental investigations in the numerical simulations for design and training purposes, and the possibility of using vibration and sound analysis to detect changes in the equipment working condition. Conclusions show that vibration analysis provides accurate information about the pump’s functional state and the pumping process. Moreover, the acoustic emission also enables the evaluation of the pump status, but needs further improvements to better capture and isolate the usable sounds from the environment. Full article

Grinding circuits typically contribute disproportionately to the overall cost of ore beneficiation and their optimal operation is therefore of critical importance in the cost-effective operation of mineral processing plants. This can be challenging, as these circuits can also exhibit complex, nonlinear behavior that can be difficult to model. In this paper, it is shown that key time series variables of grinding circuits can be recast into sets of descriptor variables that can be used in advanced modelling and control of the mill. Two real-world case studies are considered. In the first, it is shown that the controller states of an autogenous mill can be identified from the load measurements of the mill by using a support vector machine and the abovementioned descriptor variables as predictors. In the second case study, it is shown that power and temperature measurements in a horizontally stirred mill can be used for online estimation of the particle size of the mill product. Full article

Equipment throughput is one of the most critical parameters for production planning and scheduling, which is often derived by optimization techniques to achieve business goals. However, in semiconductor manufacturing, up-to-date and reliable equipment throughput is not easy to estimate and maintain because of the high complexity and extreme amount of data in the production systems. This article concerns the development and implementation of a throughput management system tailored for a semiconductor wafer fabrication plant (Fab). A brief overview of the semiconductor manufacturing and an introduction of the case Fab are presented first. Then, we focus on the system architecture and some concepts of crucial modules. This study also describes the project timescales and difficulties and discusses both tangible and intangible benefits from this project. Full article

A process improvement in a tablet manufacturing process within a pharmaceutical industry was carried out based on an eco-efficiency approach. As it is one of the most energy consuming processes in the production line, the tablet manufacturing process was considered. It has the highest production volume with a complicated and long manufacturing product life cycle. Data were collected on energy inputs and emissions data for the stages of powder direct mixing, particle size reduction, and tableting. A straightforward approach was then used to analyze environmental impacts in terms of GHG emissions. Non- added value steps were removed from the product life cycle process, which has led to significant time and cost savings, as well as to a reduction in the emission. Annual economic savings have been achieved, a time reduction of approximately 71% was attained, and the reduction in GHG emissions and energy cost were 73.2%. The g CO₂eq per tablet reduction has been calculated within the process improvement to be 2.06 g CO₂eq per tablet instead of 7.71 g CO₂eq per tablet. Full article

Emulsion polymerization process provides a unique polymerization locus that has a confined tiny space with a higher polymer concentration, compared with the corresponding bulk polymerization, especially for the ab initio emulsion polymerization. Assuming the ideal polymerization kinetics and a constant polymer/monomer ratio, the effect of such a unique reaction environment is explored for both conventional and living free-radical polymerization (FRP), which involves chain transfer to the polymer, forming polymers with long-chain branches. Monte Carlo simulation is applied to investigate detailed branched polymer architecture, including the mean-square radius of gyration of each polymer molecule, <s²>₀. The conventional FRP shows a very broad molecular weight distribution (MWD), with the high molecular weight region conforming to the power law distribution. The MWD is much broader than the random branched polymers, having the same primary chain length distribution. The expected <s²>₀ for a given MW is much smaller than the random branched polymers. On the other hand, the living FRP shows a much narrower MWD compared with the corresponding random branched polymers. Interestingly, the expected <s²>₀ for a given MW is essentially the same as that for the random branched polymers. Emulsion polymerization process affects branched polymer architecture quite differently for the conventional and living FRP. Full article

The separation of small molecule gases by membrane technologies can help performance enhancement and process intensification for emerging advanced fossil energy systems with CO₂ capture capacity. This paper reports the demonstration of controlled modification of zeolitic channel size for the MFI-type zeolite membranes to enhance the separation of small molecule gases such as O₂ and N₂. Pure-silica MFI-type zeolite membranes were synthesized on porous α-alumina disc substrates with and without an aluminum-containing thin skin on the outer surface of zeolite membrane. The membranes were subsequently modified by on-stream catalytic cracking deposition (CCD) of molecular silica to reduce the effective openings of the zeolitic channels. Such a pore modification caused the transition of gas permeation from the N₂-selective gaseous diffusion mechanism in the pristine membrane to the O₂-selective activated diffusion mechanism in the modified membrane. The experimental results indicated that the pore modification could be effectively limited within the aluminum-containing surface of the MFI zeolite membrane to minimize the mass transport resistance for O₂ permeation while maintaining its selectivity. The implications of pore modification on the size-exclusion-enabled gas selectivity were discussed based on the kinetic molecular theory. In light of the theoretical analysis, experimental investigation was performed to further enhance the membrane separation selectivity by chemical liquid deposition of silica into the undesirable intercrystalline spaces. Full article

The application of a multivariable predictive controller to the mixing process for the production of a non-Newtonian fluid is discussed in this work. A data-driven model has been developed to describe the dynamic behaviour of the rheological properties of the fluid as a function of the operating conditions using experimental data collected in a pilot plant. The developed model provides a realistic process representation and it is used to test and verify the multivariable controller, which has been designed to maintain viscosity curves of the non-Newtonian fluid within a given region of the viscosity-vs-shear rate plane in presence of process disturbances occurring in the mixing process. Full article

Urban lakes mitigate the negative impacts on the hydrological cycle and improve the quality of life in cities. Worldwide, the concern increases for the protection and management of urban water bodies. Since the physical-chemical and biological conditions of a small aquatic ecosystem can vary rapidly over time, traditional low frequency measurement approaches (weekly or monthly sampling) limits the knowledge and the transfer of research outcomes to management decision-making. In this context, this paper presents an automatic monitoring system including a full-scale experimental site and a data transfer platform for high-frequency observations (every 5 min) in a small and shallow urban lake (Lake Champs-sur-Marne, Paris, France, 10.3 ha). Lake stratification and mixing periods can be clearly observed, these periods are compared with the dynamic patterns of chlorophyll-a, phycocyanin, dissolved oxygen and pH. The results indicate that the phytoplankton growth corresponds with dissolved oxygen cycles. However, thermal stratification cannot totally explain the entire dynamic patterns of different physical-chemical and ecological variables. Besides, the cyanobacteria is one of the dominating groups of phytoplankton blooms during the lake stratification periods (8 August–29 September 2016). During the cooling mixed period (29 September–19 October 2016), the high concentration of chlorophyll-a is mainly caused by the other phytoplankton species, such as diatoms. Perspectives are discussed in order to apply this observation system for real-time management of water bodies and lakes. Full article

Density Functional Theory (DFT) studies were conducted to evaluate the sensing mechanism between benzene and a polymeric sensing material, referred to as SXFA, which contains trifluoro-groups and OH-groups. These studies were undertaken to improve the understanding of how benzene and SXFA mechanistically interact based on their chemistry, information which can be used to more efficiently design polymeric sensing materials. We find that benzene adsorbed onto the OH-groups in SXFA rather than the trifluoro-groups as previously proposed. Specifically, we find that sorption results from electrostatic attraction between the negative benzene ring and the positive hydrogens of the OH-groups of SXFA. Full article

Studies performed at single-cell resolution have demonstrated the physiological significance of cell-to-cell variability. Various types of mathematical models and systems analyses of biological networks have further been used to gain a better understanding of the sources and regulatory mechanisms of such variability. In this work, we present a novel sensitivity analysis method, called molecular density function perturbation (MDFP), for the dynamical analysis of cellular heterogeneity. The proposed analysis is based on introducing perturbations to the density or distribution function of the cellular state variables at specific time points, and quantifying how such perturbations affect the state distribution at later time points. We applied the MDFP analysis to a model of a signal transduction pathway involving TRAIL (tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand)-induced apoptosis in HeLa cells. The MDFP analysis shows that caspase-8 activation regulates the timing of the switch-like increase of cPARP (cleaved poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase), an indicator of apoptosis. Meanwhile, the cell-to-cell variability in the commitment to apoptosis depends on mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization (MOMP) and events following MOMP, including the release of Smac (second mitochondria-derived activator of caspases) and cytochrome c from mitochondria, the inhibition of XIAP (X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis) by Smac, and the formation of the apoptosome. Full article