publications
2025
- USPTOMicrowave-heated fluidized bed reactorUnited States Patent and Trademark Office, Apr 2025US Patent App. 19/179,692, Filed Apr. 15th., 2025, Published Oct. 16th., 2025
A reactor including a vertically oriented vessel with a gas inlet port, a distributor, a feedstock port, and a microwave generator. The reactor is designed to process a carbon feedstock to produce hydrogen gas and a hydrogen deficient carbon product, utilizing a fluidized bed provided with microwave energy. Also disclosed are methods of converting a carbon feedstock, particularly a solid carbon feedstock, into hydrogen gas and a hydrogen deficient carbon product, preferably including carbon nanotubes.
@misc{Weiss_2025, year = {2025}, month = apr, day = {15}, howpublished = {United States Patent and Trademark Office}, author = {Weiss, Robert and Welsh, Alex and Barnum, Robert and Cheng, Yu-Ting and Carpenter, Kathryn and Megala, Anthony}, title = {Microwave-heated fluidized bed reactor}, note = {US Patent App. 19/179,692, Filed Apr. 15th., 2025, Published Oct. 16th., 2025} }
2023
- Experimental and Pilot Investigation of The Impact of Drag Reducing Agents on Filter PerformanceCase Studies in Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Dec 2023
Drag reducing agents (DRA) are commonly used chemicals in the process and pipeline industry. The unique properties of DRA allow for the reduction in friction and turbulence at the pipe wall, which reduces pumping and transportation costs for both raw crude and refined products. Most of the DRA that is injected into product pipelines is assumed to be sheared into small molecules via turbulence induced polymer chain scission by the time it reaches its destination which eventually renders it ineffective for drag reduction. Although this may sometimes be the case, often unsheared or partially sheared DRA persists in hydrocarbon products which may cause problems for end-users. DRA has been cited as the culprit for issues with clogging of fuel injectors and fuel filters. Problems of this nature have been reported by end-users of diesel and aviation fuel products. As a result, it is often in the best interest of refiners and fuel wholesalers to ensure that their products have minimal to no persisting DRA contamination prior to sale. Filtration is one viable method of lowering the DRA concentrations in fuel products, however the impacts of macro-molecular DRA on filter life and performance is not well understood. To this end, a study was conducted to investigate the impact of hydrocarbon-based DRA on the filtration systems. A method to characterize the level of DRA contamination in product fuel, the polymer filtration index (PFI), is presented and utilized to benchmark the performance of a media filter. Impacts of DRA on filter life and removal efficiency are discussed from an industrial perspective. In light of the findings, a discussion on filtration as a method for the removal of DRA from diesel fuels is presented.
@article{Lowry_2023, year = {2023}, month = dec, journal = {Case Studies in Chemical and Environmental Engineering}, publisher = {Elsevier}, author = {Lowry, Evan and Yuan, Yanxiao and Rodano, Eric and Barnum, Robert D. and Lusk, Jared}, title = {Experimental and Pilot Investigation of The Impact of Drag Reducing Agents on Filter Performance}, doi = {10.1016/j.cscee.2023.100411}, }
2019
- Use of Extractive Separation Technology for Removal of Acid Contaminants from LPG to Meet Product SpecificationsIn Proceedings of AIChE 2019 Spring Meeting, Apr 2019
Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is a typical hydrocarbon product produced by refineries and gas plants with a wide range of commercial and industrial uses. LPG streams are usually sour with contaminants that can lead to pipeline corrosion and cause the product to be off specification. Contaminants commonly found in LPG streams are hydrogen sulfide (H2S), carbon dioxide (CO2), and other sulfur compounds such as mercaptans, carbonyl sulfide (COS), carbon disulfide (CS2) and elemental sulfur. The removal of contaminant species from LPG and other fluids is required in order to significantly reduce corrosion potential from LPG products and make the product suitable for transportation or use in downstream processes.
This study investigated the ability of Pentair’s extractive separation technology to remove acid contaminants from an LPG stream that routinely failed the copper strip test. The goal of this study was to determine the root cause of the copper strip test failures and understand the impact of factors such as contact stages and variable contact time on the removal efficiency of each individual contaminant species.@inproceedings{Yuan_2019, year = {2019}, month = apr, booktitle = {Proceedings of AIChE 2019 Spring Meeting}, publisher = {American Institute of Chemical Engineers}, author = {Yuan, Yanxio and Barnum, Robert D. and Rodano, Eric N. and Gonzales, Jonathan N. and Thomas, David M.}, title = {Use of Extractive Separation Technology for Removal of Acid Contaminants from LPG to Meet Product Specifications}, doi = {10.6084/m9.figshare.14212040}, url = {https://www.aiche.org/conferences/aiche-spring-meeting-and-global-congress-on-process-safety/2019/proceeding/paper/136b-use-extractive-separation-technology-removal-acid-contaminants-lpg-meet-product-specifications} }