Hisham S. Bamufleh

Multi-objective optimization of process cogeneration systems with economic, environmental, and social tradeoffs

Process cogeneration is an effective strategy for exploiting the positive aspects of combined heat and power in the process industry. Traditionally, decisions for process cogeneration have been based mostly on economic criteria. With the growing interest in sustainability issues, there is need to consider economic, environmental, and social aspects of cogeneration. The objective of this article is to develop an optimization framework for the design of process cogeneration systems with economic, environmental, and social aspects. Process integration is used as the coordinating framework for the optimization formulation. First, heat integration is carried out to identify the heating utility requirements. Then, a multi-header steam system is designed and optimized for inlet steam characteristics and their impact on power, fixed and operating costs, greenhouse gas emissions, and jobs. A genetic algorithm is developed to solve the optimization problem. Multi-objective tradeoffs between the economic, environmental, and social aspects are studied through Pareto tradeoffs. A case study is solved to illustrate the applicability of the proposed procedure.

Formulation of synthesized zinc oxide nanopowder into hybrid beads for dye separation

The sol-gel prepared zinc oxide nanopowder was immobilized onto alginate-polyvinyl alcohol polymer blend to fabricate novel biocomposite beads. Various physicochemical characterization techniques have been utilized to identify the crystalline, morphological, and chemical structures of both the fabricated zinc oxide hybrid beads and their corresponding zinc oxide nanopowder. The thermal stability investigations demonstrate that ZnO nanopowder stability dramatically decreased with its immobilization into the polymeric alginate and PVA matrix. The formulated beads had very strong mechanical strength and they are difficult to be broken up to 1500 rpm. Moreover, these hybrid beads are chemically stable at the acidic media (pH < 7) especially within the pH range of 2–7. Finally, the applicability of the formulated ZnO hybrid beads for C.I. basic blue 41 (BB41) decolorization from aqueous solution was examined.

Industrial waste heat recovery and cogeneration involving organic Rankine cycles

This paper proposes a systematic approach for energy integration involving waste heat recovery through an organic Rankine cycle (ORC). The proposed approach is based on a two-stage procedure. In the first stage, heating and cooling targets are determined through heat integration. This enables the identification of the excess process heat available for use in the ORC. The optimization of the operating conditions and design of the cogeneration system are carried out in the second stage using genetic algorithms. A modular sequential simulation approach is proposed including several correlations to determine the properties for the streams in the ORC. The proposed approach is applied to a case study which addresses the tradeoffs among the different forms of energy and associated costs. The results show that the optimal selection of the operating conditions and working fluid is very important to reduce the costs associated to the process.

Optimization of crude oil refining products to valuable fuel blends

ABSTRACT Crude oils are composed of hundreds of different hydrocarbon molecules, which are separated through the process of refining and small quantities of oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen, vanadium, nickel, and chromium. An oil refinery is a group of manufacturing plants that are used to separate petroleum into valuable fractions. Oil refining is one of the most complex chemical industries, which includes many different and complex processes with several possible connections. In the process of distillation, crude oil is heated in a furnace so that hydrocarbons can be separated via their boiling point. The main purposes of crude oil blending are to optimize commercial value, to upgrade or reduce oil consumption to meet specifications and to facilitate oil movement. Simulation software, such as linear programming modeling, is often used to estimate the rate components that provide a low cost mix. The aim of blending of crude oils and refinery products is to increase the refined margins without affecting the required physical properties of the blends. The optimization of in crude oil blends and maximization of low-cost refinery intermediates in final blends are the basic processes for achieving this goal of using cheap crude oils. The highest degree of blending optimization requires continuous updating of the simulation model by adapting to real-time analytical trends.

Optimizing the Synthesis of Ethyl tert-Butyl Ether in Continuous Catalytic Distillation Column Using New Ion Exchange Resin Catalyst

Abstract Liquid phase synthesis of one of the important fuel oxygenate, ethyl tert -butyl ether (ETBE), from ethanol and tert -butyl alcohol (TBA) has been studied in catalytic distillation column (CDC) using ion exchange resin catalyst CT-145H. A packed CDC of 1.2 m height and 50 mm diameter with indigenously developed reactive section packing was used to generate experimental data. Effect of different key variables on product purity in distillate, was investigated to find the optimum operating conditions for ETBE synthesis. The optimum conditions for 0.2 kg·s −1 of ethanol feed were found: reboiler duty of 375 W, molar feed ratio of 1 : 1.3 of reactants, and reflux ratio of 7. Concentration profiles for each component along each column section at optimum conditions were also drawn. Neither output nor input multiplicity was observed at experimental conditions.

Treatment of contaminated wastewater

ABSTRACT The environmental impacts of petroleum are often negative because they are toxic to almost all lifestyles, and there is a possibility of causing climate change. Oil pollution in the air and in the water can be toxic and dangerous to the human body. Preliminary researchers have thoroughly studied and discussed the methods of treatment of oily wastewater. Removing oily wastewater from the oil without damaging the environment is an important problem for the oil industry. The three-phase solid, water, and oil blends can be separated from each other when a continuous oil–water separator system is used. Oil contaminated wastewater is generally treated by gravity sedimentation, coagulation, flotation, coagulation composite flotation, demulsification, membrane separation, flocculation treatment, chemical precipitation, and biological treatment and filtration.

Biodiesel production from lipids of municipal sewage sludge by direct methanol transesterification

ABSTRACT Municipal sewage sludge (MSS) is a biowaste formed during wastewater treatment and the sewage sludge can be obtained from industrial wastewater treatment system. The sewage sludge contains a variety of organic and inorganic compounds, mainly lipids, proteins, sugars, detergents, and phenols. The MSS contains a significant amount of lipid fraction characterized as oils, greases, fats, and long-chain fatty acids. The average yield of methyl esters from the MSS lipids is 24%. The total average of saturated fatty acids reaches as high as 55.0%. Palmitic acid (37.5%) was the major saturated fatty acid, followed by stearic acid (12.0%). Oleic acid (29.0%) was the major unsaturated fatty acid, followed by linoleic acid (6.2%). The optimum production of biodiesel is faced with huge challenges. The main challenges are collecting and drying the sludge, separating lipids, microbial processing, optimum production of biodiesel and product separation, soap formation, maintaining product quality, bioreactor design, economics of biodiesel production, and regulatory concerns. Wet MSS samples were used in the experiments. Drying cost is 41.5% of the total cost of biodiesel from the sludge. The increase in water content does not affect methyl ester (biodiesel) efficiency in supercritical methanol transesterification (SCMT). The increase in free fatty acid content does not affect methyl ester efficiency in SCMT.