Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Links/Abstracts

Jamie Hemstock, Kendra Valerius, Franziska Trautmann, Mark Young

Project Link: https://tulane.app.box.com/s/akcwxv34cuqeikc68wnf3ih01c92dsau/file/7881…

Rain Carbon Inc. (RCI) is a company that uses calcination and distillation processes to convert carbon by-products (green petroleum coke and coal tar) into calcined petroleum coke, coal tar pitch and distillates, and advanced materials for worldwide distribution. RCI is devoted to minimizing their carbon footprint and providing environmentally responsible innovations. The main goal of this project included determining net carbon emissions for three of RCI’s Louisiana plants—Chalmette, Norco, and Lake Charles. To do this, the team modeled each plant’s calcining process, and generated carbon balances using Excel. The team then compared the calculated emissions values to the emissions data from Continuous Emission Monitoring Systems (CEMS) to validate the model. Lastly, the team analyzed data from energy recovery plants (plants with a HRSG—Heat Recovery Steam Generator) to that from normal (non-energy recovery) plants, and determined whether there is an emissions advantage to using a HRSG system.

Sponsor: Rain Carbon Inc.

Mentors: Dr. Julie Albert (Tulane University); Maia Hunt (Director of Technical Services – Calcination, Rain Carbon Inc.)

Chloe Henninger, Dalton Graham, Lauren Ritz

Project Link: https://tulane.app.box.com/s/akcwxv34cuqeikc68wnf3ih01c92dsau/file/7881…

Sponsor: USDA/American Biocarbon

Mentors: Dr. Isabel Lima (USDA); Dammon Frecker (American Biocarbon); Erwin Bogner (American Biocarbon)

Nick Salvadore,  Griffin Gayne, William Wilson, Nam Tran

Project Link: https://tulane.app.box.com/s/akcwxv34cuqeikc68wnf3ih01c92dsau/file/7881…

Within the last decade, the push for a circular economy to prevent plastic pollution has become much more prevalent worldwide. Single use plastics are banned in certain countries and cities across the U.S.To help INEOS achieve this circular economy, a treatment unit has been designed to get polymer oils that were attained via pyrolysis to match feed specifications for an existing steam cracker. The HYSYS simulation of the treatment unit aims to address thethree goals posed by INEOS: 1) to lower the olefin content and increase the paraffin content, 2) to reduce the content of large hydrocarbons, and 3) to reduce metal impurities in the feedstock.

Sponsors: INEOS Olefins and Polymers USA

Mentor: Kevin Herndon, Pilot Plant Engineer

Erick Burgess Jr., Caitlyn Heisser, Songkun Viriyavaree

Project Link: https://tulane.app.box.com/s/akcwxv34cuqeikc68wnf3ih01c92dsau/file/7881…

In 2018, Reactwell licensed a novel catalyst that uses a single-step reaction to turn carbon dioxide and water into ethanol. Since then, Reactwell has focused on refining the process and increasing efficiency as a predicate to commercialization. To aid in the development of the process, the Reactwell team was asked to build a process controller to control the inlet flow rates of water and carbon dioxide to the electrochemical reactor based on feedback from mass flow rate sensors. To accomplish this task, the team wired a liquid pump and a Coriolis flow meter containing a control valve to an Arduino microcontroller. The process control codebase was coded in Python programming language and uploaded to the Arduino microcontroller for real-time control of the flow rates into the reactor. The implementation of this controller will allow the Reactwell team to run the electrochemical reactor without making manual adjustments to the reactor feed.

Sponsor: Reactwell Inc.

Mentor: Brandon Iglesias

Aastha Gupta, Madison McCall, Jere Williams, Grant Witherspoon

Project Link: https://tulane.app.box.com/s/akcwxv34cuqeikc68wnf3ih01c92dsau/file/7881…

The overall goal of the project is to build a hydraulic model of the produced water treatment system on Stones and to use this model to identify where and why restrictions in the water treatment process flow rate are occurring. These restrictions limit the amount of oil that can be processed per day. By comparing theoretical data from the hydraulic model with the historical data provided by Shell, we found that there is a large pressure drop around the level control valves and around tie in points of many lines throughout the system. We were able to recommend a pressure gauge survey throughout the system to identify locations with high pressure drops, therefore understanding the reason for restrictions of the produced water systems flow rate.

Sponsor: Shell Offshore, Inc.

Mentor: Dr. Amy Goodson, Chemical Engineer, Shell Offshore, Inc.