Grantee Research Project Results

Reduction of Environmental Impact and Improvement of Intrinsic Security in Unsteady-state

EPA Grant Number: R831276C013
Subproject: this is subproject number 013 , established and managed by the Center Director under grant CR831276
(EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
Center: Gulf Coast HSRC (Lamar)
Center Director: Ho, Tho C.
Title: Reduction of Environmental Impact and Improvement of Intrinsic Security in Unsteady-state
Investigators: Lou, Helen , Hopper, Jack R. , Gossage, John
Institution: Lamar University
EPA Project Officer: Aja, Hayley
Project Period: December 1, 2003 through November 30, 2004
Project Amount: Refer to main center abstract for funding details.
RFA: Gulf Coast Hazardous Substance Research Center (Lamar University) (1996) RFA Text |  Recipients Lists
Research Category: Hazardous Waste/Remediation , Targeted Research

Objective:

Reaction systems are the core of chemical and petrochemical plants. Exothermic reactions involving toxic and/or hazardous chemicals and operated at high temperature are always of special concern in environmental protection, process safety, and now plant security. Accurate system characterization is a key step for environmentally benign manufacturing and safe production. Today, Aspen Plus and HYSYS are among the most popular simulators in industries, academic research and education. Nevertheless, they are not suitable for studying abnormal operations that are the preconditions for environment or security hazard. Under abnormal conditions, it is critical to examine the system operational details in three dimensions, and to identify effective strategies for preventing harmful emission, toxic discharge, reactor rupture and explosion.

The research objective is to develop a fundamental-based technology that can ensure the environmental, safety and security performance of exothermic reaction systems where toxic or hazardous chemicals are present.

Approach:

In this endeavor, the PIs will use computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques to analyze and enhance these systems from the design and operation point of view. The main focus will be on the reaction system behavior (both temporal and spatial) under abnormal conditions. The PIs will direct their efforts to thermal runaway scenarios in both continuous and batch systems. For each type of system, the profiles of environmental and security critical system parameters, such as temperature, conversion rate, and pressure, will be revealed and analyzed. After that, complicated interactions among reaction, mass transfer, and heat transfer will be identified. The design and operation methods for deterring, delaying, mitigating and/or eliminating harmful or adverse events will be developed. The PIs will study when, where, and how to mitigate reaction runaway by injecting inhibitors and how to strengthen the regular control maneuvers. The CFD-based technology will be implemented as a computer-aided tool, which will contain a family of MatLab modules with different functions. The modules will be connected to a powerful, general-purpose CFD simulator, Fluent. The tool will be eventually capable of graphically displaying 3D profiles of both environmental and security critical parameters in a dynamic fashion under both normal and abnormal conditions, and will serve as a test bed for the design and operation strategies development.

Expected Results:

This research will be fundamentally significant in knowledge generation and also practically attractive in solving real world problems. The new knowledge will help improve the environmental performance, process safety and security in chemical processing. To the best of the PIs' knowledge, the proposed research using advanced CFD techniques should be among the earliest nationwide. The project requests the fund of' $49,999 per year for three years.

This project will be carried out through close collaboration with local industry. The computer-aided tool should be ideal both for process engineers to evaluate the performance of their units and for undergraduate education, particularly for the core courses, such as kinetics, heat transfer, and process control. The technology will be disseminated through lectures to students, seminars to engineers, presentations in national and international conferences, and journal publications.

Publications and Presentations:

Publications have been submitted on this subproject: View all 5 publications for this subproject | View all 64 publications for this center

Supplemental Keywords:

RFA, Scientific Discipline, INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION, Waste, Chemical Engineering, Environmental Chemistry, Hazardous Waste, Environmental Engineering, Hazardous, environmentally benign manufacturing, hazardous waste management, computational fluid dynamics, preventing hazardous emissions, security hazard, reaction systems, environmentally acceptable endpoints

Progress and Final Reports:

Final

Main Center Abstract and Reports:

CR831276    Gulf Coast HSRC (Lamar)

Subprojects under this Center: (EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
R831276C001 DNAPL Source Control by Reductive Dechlorination with Fe(II)
R831276C002 Arsenic Removal and Stabilization with Synthesized Pyrite
R831276C003 A Large-Scale Experimental Investigation of the Impact of Ethanol on Groundwater Contamination
R831276C004 Visible-Light-Responsive Titania Modified with Aerogel/Ferroelectric Optical Materials for VOC Oxidation
R831276C005 Development of a Microwave-Induced On-Site Regeneration Technology for Advancing the Control of Mercury and VOC Emissions Employing Activated Carbon
R831276C006 Pollution Prevention through Functionality Tracking and Property Integration
R831276C007 Compact Nephelometer System for On-Line Monitoring of Particulate Matter Emissions
R831276C008 Effect of Pitting Corrosion Promoters on the Treatment of Waters Contaminated with a Nitroaromatic Compounds Using Integrated Reductive/Oxidative Processes
R831276C009 Linear Polymer Chain and Bioengineered Chelators for Metals Remediation
R831276C010 Treatment of Perchlorate Contaminated Water Using a Combined Biotic/Abiotic Process
R831276C011 Rapid Determination of Microbial Pathways for Pollutant Degradation
R831276C012 Simulations of the Emission, Transport, Chemistry and Deposition of Atmospheric Mercury in the Upper Gulf Coast Region
R831276C013 Reduction of Environmental Impact and Improvement of Intrinsic Security in Unsteady-state
R831276C014 Integrated Chemical Complex and Cogeneration Analysis System: Greenhouse Gas Management and Pollution Prevention Solutions
R831276C015 Improved Combustion Catalysts for NOx Emission Reduction
R831276C016 A Large-Scale Experimental Investigation of the Impact of Ethanol on Groundwater Contamination
R831276C017 Minimization of Hazardous Ion-Exchange Brine Waste by Biological Treatment of Perchlorate and Nitrate to Allow Brine Recycle
R831276C018 Integrated Chemical Complex and Cogeneration Analysis System: Greenhouse Gas Management and Pollution Prevention Solutions