7^th World Congress on Petrochemistry and Chemical Engineering November 13-14, 2017 Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Fasiu A Oluwole is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria. His research interest is on renewable energy with special interest in biofuels. He has built up this career after years of experience in research, evaluation, teaching and administration both in education institutions and development/fabrication of processing equipment. He has published more than 27 papers in reputed journals.

Statement of the Problem: The environmental effects (global warming) caused by the usage of fossil fuel and the environmental benefits of using renewable and environmental friendly energy resource has made biodiesel more attractive in recent times. Studies have been conducted on the transformation of castor oil into biodiesel. However, the varieties of castor oil used were not specified and little effort has been made to address the effects of oilseed pre-treatment methods on biodiesel yield and properties. This study therefore, investigates the production and characterization of biodiesel using oil expressed from four varieties of pre-treated castor seeds.

Methodology: Oil was expressed from each of the pre-treated castor seeds varieties using hydraulic press. The extracted oils were transesterified by reacting them with anhydrous methanol, using potassium hydroxide (KOH) as catalyst. The process parameters used were three levels of catalyst concentration, three levels of reaction temperature, three levels of reaction time, three heating methods and two seeds conditions. In all the experiments, a methanol/castor oil molar ratio of 6:1 was used. Biodiesel yield was calculated and the fuels obtained were characterized to determine the fuel properties.

Findings: A regression model was developed for biodiesel yield and response surface method (RSM) was used to confirm the polynomial equation solved using the Design-Expert 7.0 Software.

Conclusions: Highest biodiesel yield of 98.20% was obtained from raw dehulled GMS. Biodiesel yield varied with seed variety and was influenced by heating method, catalyst concentration, seed condition and their interactions. Biodiesel from oil of GMS variety possessed the best set of fuel properties and is therefore recommended for use in biodiesel production. The developed mathematical models adequately simulated the biodiesel production process and can be applied to the process involving oils of different origin.

Ifeyinwa Orakwe is currently undertaking her PhD programme at the Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, United Kingdom. She is also a Research Assistant working on a project related to CO₂ reforming of methane. She has a Bachelor degree in Chemistry and Masters in Environmental Science. In her research career, she has published in professional journal papers and made oral presentations at international conferences. Her research interests are in the areas of oil and gas, waste water and designing inorganic hybrid ceramic membrane for the purpose of water treatment and syngas production.

The greenhouse gases which are majorly CH₄ and CO₂ have raised concerns throughout the world due to their link to global warming and climate change. Research is ongoing to develop methods that can be applied commercially for the utilization of flue gases into useful products such as syngas. There are methods currently in use commercially such as the steam reforming and partial oxidation reforming for syngas production, but due to the requirement of very high operating temperatures, these methods are not usually economical for commercial syngas production. Recently, the use of membrane technology has drawn so much interest. In this study, a CO₂ reforming method employing a catalytic membrane reactor process was built to study the CO₂ reforming of methane. The membrane used was a tubular mesoporous tube consisting of Al₂O₃, with the rhodium catalyst impregnated into its pores by the wet impregnation method. The impregnation method allows for the catalyst to be deposited into the pores on the outer surface of the membrane. A flue gas stream comprising of CO₂-12.5%, CH₄-2.5%, CO-50ppm, N₂-80.595%, O₂-4.4% was feed into the reactor system as soon in figure 1 under various operating conditions: temperature range 700^oC-900^oC and flowrates of 0.45 and 1.50 Lmin-1. The exit stream was connected to a GCMS which was used to interpret the results. At 700^oC, no conversions were realized but at 900^oC, CO₂ and CH₄ conversions reached above 94%. Our catalytic membrane process is therefore a viable and effective technological breakthrough which converts the two most important greenhouse gases CH₄ and CO₂ into valuable syngas without the need for CO₂ pre-separation from flue gas.

Yeshitila Asteraye Tsigie has PhD in Applied Chemistry from National Taiwan University of Science and technology. He has his expertise in biofuels research. Biodiesel and bioethanol research have has been the focus of his research thematic area. He has conducted works on Biodiesel from yeasts and algae. Chlorella vulgaris was one of these microorganisms wherein the biodiesel research was undertaken.

The conventional base catalyzed biodiesel production process uses refined vegetable oil as feedstock oil and is not environmentally friendly. The supercritical methanol technology does not require the use of catalyst but it is energy intensive due to the high temperature and pressure required in the process. In this work, a process was developed for producing biodiesel directly from wet Chlorella vulgaris biomass (80% moisture content) using subcritical water as catalyst. Under the following conditions: The ratio of wet biomass to methanol is 1/4 (g/mL), the reaction temperature is 175 °C and after 4 h, the reaction product contained 89.71% fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs). The yield is 0.29 g FAME per g dry biomass. This is considerably higher than the yield of 0.20g FAME per g dry biomass obtained when the neutral lipid of C. vulgaris biomass was extracted and converted into FAME.

In the search for eco-friendly carbon neutral and minimal pollutant emission generating fuels to combat global climate change in addition to issues of the energy security, biodiesel is at the front among the options available for potential bio-renewable fuels. The increasing interest in biodiesel and blends amongst production systems opens up new vistas of research from selection of appropriate raw materials and feed stocks to the desired end product quality and quantity. Biodiesel primarily obtained from the trans-esterification of the fatty acids or by pyrolysis/thermal cracking, however, to achieve the higher quality of biodiesel with higher conversion efficiency from the fatty acids demands exclusive optimum operational and solvent/reagents conditions in terms of their affordability and physico-chemical conditions. There are extensive efforts taken up on the optimization of feedstock oils but yet paradigm shift in the research can be visualized through the use of alternative efficient green solvents/ reagents/enzymes/catalysts and viable advanced low cost technologies. The measure of these qualities and performances after conversion are determined by prominent biodiesel parameters which may be chemo-physical, thermal, gaseous emissions, gravimetric/instrumental and engine performance. The utmost scope to work on the alternative green and sustainable energy is the addition to the use of modern nanotechnologies to biotechnologies for achieving the efficient process as well as optimum production parameters of biodiesel which complies with the US, European, South African and Indian biodiesel standards which are of essence. This paper explores these and their relationships in the biodiesel production systems and highlights their overall significance.

Venko Beschkov has got his PhD in 1978 and his DSC degree in 1996 in the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. His present interests are chemical and biochemical processes for environment protection and for utilization of renewable energy sources. He participates in 30 scientific projects, supported by different sources, as well as in 18 applied projects. The last project he was working on is hydrogen production from black sea water by sulfide-driven fuel cell, financed by the FP7, BS-ERA.NET Pilot Joint Call. He published over 190 scientific papers, 2 monographs and 6 chapters in selected issues. Over 1200 citations of his papers have been noted (h-index=20 G-index=32). He has been Head of the Institute of Chemical Engineering at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences for 21 years (1993/2014) and deputy-minister of environment (1991/92).

The global economic growth has led to high energy consumption, mainly from fossil fuels. The extensive use of fossil fuels has made impossible to treat the emitted carbon dioxide in a natural way. One of the ways to cope with this global problem is to close the carbon cycle in nature by the use of renewable biofuels and consumption the resulting carbon by photosynthesis. The use of ethanol produced from natural and renewable resources is a good alternative but its feasibility depends on the raw materials, their availability, price and environmental safety. Therefore, the so-called second generation raw materials (i.e. cellulose, food and agricultural waste) are currently tested. In the present work experimental data for the use of some waste (food waste, processed cereals) for fermentative ethanol production are presented. Some practical applications for ethanol production and ethanol dehydration process are demonstrated.

Dalim Paul from Calcutta has obtained PhD from the University of Leeds, U K in 1970 on a Commonwealth Scholarship and DSc from the University of Calcutta in 1992.He specializes in Petrology, Geochemistry and Geochronology of volcanic and ultramafic rocks. As a post-doctoral fellow, he did research in McMaster University, Canada and at the University of Western Australia. He worked with the Geological Survey of India and was the Director of Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad. He has published over 50 scientific papers in refereed journals and authored many professional reports. He is a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy and the Academy of Third World Sciences.

Tholeiites and alkali basalts occurring in the southern coastal belt of Kutch rift basin, Gujarat are the northernmost on-land exposure of Deccan Traps. The Deccan Traps are of global interest for their possible links to Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) mass extinction event and global climate change. Further north, mafic dykes, sill and a differentiated alkaline plutonic complex occur along deep-seated rift-related faults. Volumetrically Phonolite is small compared to the tholeiitic and alkali basalts of Kutch but is highly magnesian and evolved in nature. The geochemical characters of the Phonolite suggest an alkaline magnesian source. The pericratonic Kutch basin has undergone repeated rifting during the Mesozoic. The magma formation was possibly controlled by rifting in a continent-ocean marginal setting. Radiogenic Isotopic similarity between Deccan and Reunion lavas has been used as an evidence to suggest that Deccan magmas were supplied by the Deccan-Reunion plume-head. Platinum group element abundances in the western Ghat samples of the Western Ghats and Kutch and the Eastern Deccan volcanic provinces are broadly similar in a chondrite normalized plot. Nickel-Ir-Ru in the western province exceeds those of the eastern province by approximately two times. There is however, consistency in Pd, Au and Cu in both eastern and western provinces. Radiometric dating of Deccan Trap lavas and intrusions have shown that bulk of the magmatic activities occurred 65 (±1) Ma. ago. Earliest rift-related magmatism occurred at 75 Ma, rest of the igneous activities occurred in two episodes – the most voluminous episode coincided with Deccan age (65-67 Ma) whereas a small volume igneous activity took place at ca. 61 Ma. We suggest that the 75 Ma pre-Deccan rifting-magmatic events is a relict of magmatism that occurred during separation of Madagascar from India, which was caused by the Marion plume.

Shank Roxanne A obtained her BSc in Biochemistry in 2010 from the University of Lethbridge (UofL). She went on to do her M.Sc. in Biochemistry specializing in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy through the UofL. Her background in chemical instrumentation expanded when she joined the Clean Harbors Research and Development team in 2011 where she began researching fouling deposits and formulating chemical blends for use in industrial chemical cleaning applications. She was granted the designation of Professional Chemist in 2016 from the Association of the Chemical Profession of Alberta (ACPA). Among her scholarly endeavors, she acts as Chair for the Specific Task Group (STG 06) Chemical and Mechanical Cleaning through NACE International and runs a biennial symposium on the advancements in Chemical Cleaning of Industrial Equipment. She is currently pursuing a Higher National Certificate (HNC) in Process Engineering through Teesside University.

The build-up of undesirable materials on the surfaces of process units and heat exchangers, known as fouling, involves the deposition of solid or semi-solid chemical species present in the fluid that passes through the equipment, or the formation of chemical reaction products on the equipment surface. Coke fouling, a combination of these two fouling processes occurs in much of the equipment utilized throughout the industrial energy sector. Coke deposit composition is a complex element. Though, in general, coke is defined as carbonaceous material, this definition falls short in terms of the fouling process. The chemical and physical properties of the coke are highly dependent of the degree of hydrogen and oxygen inclusion, as well as the presence of heavy metals such as iron, vanadium, nickel and manganese. Over 60 different coke fouling samples, collected from various different refineries, upgraders and pipelines, were analyzed and found to have rather large variations in chemical composition and physical properties. Utilizing this information, a picture of coke fouling as a chemical spectrum begins to emerge, providing avenues for new and more effective methods for removing what continues to remain one of the largest fouling problems within the industry.

Adango Miadonye, Professor of Chemical Engineering and Industrial Chemistry in the School of Science & Technology has received global recognition in the field of petroleum engineering and petroleum chemistry. His impressive publication record includes 80 peer-reviewed articles, numerous book chapters, and a number of presentations at important international conferences. An accomplished and respected student supervisor, Prof. Miadonye is extensively cited and has also formed the basis for a number of industrial collaborations. Well-respected by his colleagues nationally and internationally, Prof. Miadonye has been a leader and contributor to his professional academic community holding offices and serving on committees with numerous academic and professional societies.

Microwave energy is slowly becoming the most diverse form of energy transfer and has been used in the petroleum industry for inspecting coiled tubing and line pipe, measuring multiphase flow and the mobilization of asphaltic crude oil. It is now being used to synthesize pharmaceuticals and biological samples, along with its widespread use in the materials, metals and glass industries to inorganic synthesis, sinter and cure countless parts and powders. Though its implications in petroleum applications are yet to be fully understood, the non-thermal aspects of energy transfer between microwaves and other forms of matter are always visible in processes where microwave energy is used to cause a chemical or physical change in the irradiated material. Nearly every time that this form of energy transfer is employed in the chemical or physical transformations of a sample there is a noticeable reduction in the kinetic and thermodynamic requirements of the specific process as compared to conventional processes, thus making it attractive to the petroleum industry. Global dependence on oil from regions where conflicts have raged for decades is a major contributory factor in deepening the economic crisis. Oil companies are taking measures to make sure that the economic crisis does not deepen to a point of disparity, which have included huge investments in the bitumen and heavy oil industry. In Canada, efforts have been intensified to develop microwave irradiation technology for in-situ enhanced oil recovery of the country’s large deposits of bitumen and heavy oil. Of the estimated 30 billion barrels of heavy oil in place, about 26 billion barrels are considered unrecoverable using the current technology. The microwave technology improved recovery by 20 percent with no discharge of greenhouse gas (GHS) into the environment. The new technology employs specific frequency microwaves targeted into the formation containing heavy hydrocarbons to initiate conversion of the hydrocarbon into synthetic crude. The results of work done so far showed strong indications for the microwave technology to be employed not only for hydrocarbon extractions but also for in-situ upgrading and field upgrading of heavy oil and bitumen (to drastically reduce oil viscosity for pipeline transportation without the use of diluents), desulphurization of crude oil and future upgrading of coal and oil shale. As much as 80 percent reduction in sulphur content of heavy oil has been obtained with microwave irradiation. Overall, the microwave technology presents the best alternative, economically and environmentally,to the existing technologies for enhanced oil recovery operations and processing.

The high demand for clean energy source has in recent past created a great interest in biofuels. Among the biofuels that are highly investigated include; bioethanol, biohydrogen, biodiesel and biomethane. Biohydrogen has a special advantage in that no greenhouse gas is emitted during its combustion. It can be produced from organic wastewater but the yields remain low. The survey of the published data shows that the most promising production method is the dark hydrogen fermentation. Some of the strategies for improving biohydrogen production from organic effluents include: bioreactor modifications, microbial culture immobilization, culture selection and enrichments, substrate choice and the optimization of process conditions (temperature, pH, organic loading rates (OLR) and hydraulic retention time (HRT). The recommended biohydrogen production method is a sequential combination of biohydrogen and biomethanation production phases which has the potential for producing the highest bioenergy recovery from organic wastewater. The biorefinery production concept where biohydrogen is produced together with other biofuels and bio products is the ultimate cost effective production process. Due to very short optimal HRT for biohydrogen production, the choice of reactor configuration that helps retain biomass like Upward Sludge Bed Reactor (UASB) and immobilization of biomass should be considered to improve the productivity. The use of appropriate biohydrogen specialists and biomass recirculation will also improve the process effectiveness.

Dalim Paul from Calcutta has obtained PhD from the University of Leeds, U K in 1970 on a Commonwealth Scholarship and DSc from the University of Calcutta in 1992.He specializes in Petrology, Geochemistry and Geochronology of volcanic and ultramafic rocks. As a post-doctoral fellow, he did research in McMaster University, Canada and at the University of Western Australia. He worked with the Geological Survey of India and was the Director of Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad. He has published over 50 scientific papers in refereed journals and authored many professional reports. He is a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy and the Academy of Third World Sciences.

Tholeiites and alkali basalts occurring in the southern coastal belt of Kutch rift basin, Gujarat are the northernmost on-land exposure of Deccan Traps. The Deccan Traps are of global interest for their possible links to Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) mass extinction event and global climate change. Further north, mafic dykes, sill and a differentiated alkaline plutonic complex occur along deep-seated rift-related faults. Volumetrically Phonolite is small compared to the tholeiitic and alkali basalts of Kutch but is highly magnesian and evolved in nature. The geochemical characters of the Phonolite suggest an alkaline magnesian source. The pericratonic Kutch basin has undergone repeated rifting during the Mesozoic. The magma formation was possibly controlled by rifting in a continent-ocean marginal setting. Radiogenic Isotopic similarity between Deccan and Reunion lavas has been used as an evidence to suggest that Deccan magmas were supplied by the Deccan-Reunion plume-head. Platinum group element abundances in the western Ghat samples of the Western Ghats and Kutch and the Eastern Deccan volcanic provinces are broadly similar in a chondrite normalized plot. Nickel-Ir-Ru in the western province exceeds those of the eastern province by approximately two times. There is however, consistency in Pd, Au and Cu in both eastern and western provinces. Radiometric dating of Deccan Trap lavas and intrusions have shown that bulk of the magmatic activities occurred 65 (±1) Ma. ago. Earliest rift-related magmatism occurred at 75

Ma, rest of the igneous activities occurred in two episodes – the most voluminous episode coincided with Deccan age (65-67 Ma) whereas a small volume igneous activity took place at ca. 61 Ma. We suggest that the 75 Ma pre-Deccan rifting-magmatic events is a relict of magmatism that occurred during separation of Madagascar from India, which was caused by the Marion plume.