In this study, a novel continuous reactor has been developed to produce high quality methyl esters (biodiesel) from palm oil. A microporous TiO2/Al2O3 membrane was packed with potassium hydroxide catalyst supported on palm shell activated carbon. The central composite design (CCD) of response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to investigate the effects of reaction temperature, catalyst amo...

SuperCritical Water Oxidation (SCWO) process is investigated at the Institut of Technical Chemistry, ITC-CPV. The objectives were to determine destruction efficiencies of model compounds and industrial waste effluents and to study the feasability of the SCWO process. Two continuous SCWO bench scale plants are operated: a pipe reactor and a transpiring wall reactor system (design data: T = 630 °...

A dynamic model has been adapted to a pilot anaerobic reactor fed diary manure. Both steady-state data from online sensors and laboratory analysis and dynamic operational data from online sensors are used in the model adaptation. The model is based on material balances, and comprises four state variables, namely biodegradable volatile solids, volatile fatty acids, acid generating microbes (acid...

A bench scale experimental system was developed for the analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) degradation by mixed microbial cultures in PAH contaminated Manufactured Gas Plant (MGP) soils and on sand. The reactor system was chosen in order to provide a fundamental protocol capable for evaluating the performance of specific mixed microbial cultures on specific soil systems by elucid...

Control of complex nonlinear systems brings challenges in the controller design. One of methods how to cope with this challenge is the usage of advanced optimization methods. This work presents application of self-organizing migrating algorithm (SOMA) in control of the semi-batch reactor. The reactor is used in chromium recycling process in leather industry. Because of the complexity of this se...

This contribution deals with the behaviour of a SHARON reactor for nitrogen removal from wastewater streams with high ammonium concentrations. A system analysis is performed on a two-step nitrification model, describing the behaviour of such a reactor. Steady states are identified through direct calculation using a canonical state space model representation. Practical operation of a SHARON reac...

After the first life cycle of plastics various recycling processes are available for further utilization of these valuable materials. For an ecologically and economically satisfying solution the most suitable process has to be chosen. In chemical recycling polymers are degraded to basic chemical substances which can be reused in the petrochemical industry. For soiled waste plastics or waste pla...

Alkaline hydrolysis of ethyl acetate is essentially an irreversible and second order reaction. Industrial importance of the reaction product, sodium acetate, necessitate for process improvement in terms of maximum conversion and economical usage of raw materials. Statistical design of experiments was utilized to enhance conversion in both batch and plug flow reactors.A full two level factor...

Reactive distillation is an excellent example of recent advances in process intensification. It combines reaction and separation operations in one piece of equipment. This paper studies the steady-state economic optimum design of a chemical process with a generic exothermic reversible reaction A+B↔C+D for two different process flowsheets: a conventional multi-unit reactor/separator/recycle stru...

The emergence of magnetic divertors as an impurity control and ash removal mechanism for future tokamak reactors brings on the need for further experimental verification of the divertor merits and their ability to operate at reactor relevant conditions, such as with auxiliary heating. This paper presents preliminary designs of a bundle and a poloidal divertor for Versator II, which can operate ...