Repository logo
 

Chemical and Biological

Permanent URI for this collection

Browse

Recent Submissions

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Item
    Low adsorption affinity of athabasca oil sands naphthenic acid fraction compounds to a peat-mineral mixture
    (Elsevier, 2024-04-24) Meulen, Ian J. Vander; Steiger, Bernd G.K.; Asadi, Mohsen; Peru, Kerry M.; Degenhardt, Dani; McMartin, Dena W.; McPhedran, Kerry M.; Wilson, Lee D.; Headley, John V.
    Much of the toxicity in oil sands process-affected water in Athabasca oil sands tailings has been attributed to naphthenic acids (NAs) and associated naphthenic acid fraction compounds (NAFCs). Previous work has characterized the environmental behaviour and fate of these compounds, particularly in the context of constructed treatment wetlands. There is evidence that wetlands can attenuate NAFCs in natural and engineered contexts, but relative contributions of chemical, biotic, and physical adsorption with sequestration require deconvolution. In this work, the objective was to evaluate the extent to which prospective wetland substrate material may adsorb NAFCs using a peat-mineral mix (PMM) sourced from the Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR). The PMM and NAFCs were first mixed and then equilibrated across a range of NAFC concentrations (5–500 mg/L) with moderate ionic strength and hardness (∼200 ppm combined Ca2+ and Mg2+) that approximate wetland water chemistry. Under these experimental conditions, low sorption of NAFCs to PMM was observed, where sorbed concentrations of NAFCs were approximately zero mg/kg at equilibrium. When NAFCs and PMM were mixed and equilibrated together at environmentally relevant concentrations, formula diversity increased more than could be explained by combining constituent spectra. The TOC present in this PMM was largely cellulose-derived, with low levels of thermally recalcitrant carbon (e.g., lignin, black carbon). The apparent enhancement of the concentration and diversity of components in PMM/NAFCs mixtures are likely related to aqueous solubility of some PMM-derived organic materials, as post-hoc combination of dissolved components from PMM and NAFCs cannot replicate enhanced complexity observed when the two components are agitated and equilibrated together.
  • Item
    Experimental and Modeling Studies of Torrefaction of Spent Coffee Grounds and Coffee Husk: Effects on Surface Chemistry and Carbon Dioxide Capture Performance
    (ACS Publications, 2022) Mukherjee, Alivia; OKOLIE, JUDE; Niu, Catherine; Dalai, Ajay K.
    Torrefaction of biomass is a promising thermochemical pretreatment technique used to upgrade the properties of biomass to produce solid fuel with improved fuel properties. A comparative study of the effects of torrefaction temperatures (200, 250, and 300 °C) and residence times (0.5 and 1 h) on the quality of torrefied biomass samples derived from spent coffee grounds (SCG) and coffee husk (CH) were conducted. An increase in torrefaction temperature (200–300 °C) and residence time (0.5–1 h) for CH led to an improvement in the fixed carbon content (17.9–31.8 wt %), calorific value (18.3–25 MJ/kg), and carbon content (48.5–61.2 wt %). Similarly, the fixed carbon content, calorific value, and carbon content of SCG rose by 14.6–29 wt %, 22.3–30.3 MJ/kg, and 50–69.5 wt %, respectively, with increasing temperature and residence time. Moreover, torrefaction led to an improvement in the hydrophobicity and specific surface area of CH and SCG. The H/C and O/C atomic ratios for both CH- and SCG-derived torrefied biomass samples were in the range of 0.93–1.0 and 0.19–0.20, respectively. Moreover, a significant increase in volatile compound yield was observed at temperatures between 250 and 300 °C. Maximum volatile compound yields of 11.9 and 6.2 wt % were obtained for CH and SCG, respectively. A comprehensive torrefaction model for CH and SCG developed in Aspen Plus provided information on the mass and energy flows and the overall process energy efficiency. Based on the modeling results, it was observed that with increasing torrefaction temperature to 300 °C, the mass and energy yield values of the torrefied biomass samples declined remarkably (97.3% at 250 °C to 67.5% at 300 °C for CH and 96.7% at 250 °C to 75.1% at 300 °C for SCG). The SCG-derived torrefied biomass tested for CO2 adsorption at 25 °C had a comparatively higher adsorption capacity of 0.38 mmol/g owing to its better textural characteristics. SCG would need further thermal treatment or functionalization to tailor the surface properties to attract more CO2 molecules under a typical post-combustion scenario.
  • Item
    Techno – Economic analysis of activated carbon production from spent coffee grounds: Comparative evaluation of different production routes
    (Elsevier, 2022) Mukherjee, Alivia; OKOLIE, JUDE; Niu, Catherine; Dalai, Ajay K.
    Activated carbon (AC) has gained immense popularity owing to its excellent physicochemical properties and its ability to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from flue gas stream. This study examines the potential of spent coffee grounds (SCG) as a precursor for activated carbon (AC) production via prominent thermochemical conversion technologies. Different production routes, such as slow pyrolysis, activation, and deep eutectic solvent (DES) functionalization were compared in terms of their economic viability. Three scenarios (Scenario 1–3) involving combinations of the technologies and production routes were evaluated. Scenario 1 comprises of slow pyrolysis, CO2 activation and flue gas recycling for activation. Scenario 2 includes flue gas combustion while the third scenario comprise of flue gas combustion and DES impregnation. All processes were simulated with Aspen plus, while a detailed cash flow analysis was used to estimate the profitability parameters. The price of AC was found to be the most crucial determinant of an AC production plant’s viability and feasibility. The minimum selling price (MSP) of AC samples produced from scenarios 1,2 and 3 are U.S $0.15/kg, $0.21/kg, $0.28/kg respectively. The price of pristine AC and DES treated AC were lower than the commercially available activated carbon (U.S $0.45/kg).
  • Item
    A New Dataset of Leaf Optical Traits to Include Biophysical Parameters in Addition to Spectral and Biochemical Assessment
    (2022) Peters, Reisha; Noble, Scott
    To enable future improvement on current leaf optical property models, more data incorporating a larger range of measured properties is needed. To this end, a dataset was collected to associate spectral measurements (ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared) with biochemical and biophysical properties of leaves. The leaves represented in this dataset were selected to provide representation of agricultural species and of leaves with a wide variety of color (pigment) expression, surface characteristics, and age. Data collected for 290 leaf samples studied in this project included multiple spectral measurement geometries and ranges, biochemical assessment of chlorophyll a and b, carotenoids, and anthocyanins, and biophysical assessment of leaf thickness and surface characteristics that has not previously been a focus in other leaf datasets. The methods and results associated with this dataset are described in this work.