Engineering educator focused on advancing a new type of engineer professional: Innovative, social impactful, and with an entrepreneurship mindset. Scholarship focus: Engineering Education, Environmental catalysis, hydrogels in medicine and mathematics assisted medicine approaches.
We are pleased to announce the 2009 annual AES meeting will be held in Nashville, TN in conjuncti... more We are pleased to announce the 2009 annual AES meeting will be held in Nashville, TN in conjunction with the annual meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). The AES meeting is designated Topical 3 and consists of 11 sessions running Monday, November 9 through Thursday, November 12. The detailed program is presented as an insert in this newsletter and is also available at http://aiche.confex.com/aiche/2009/webprogram/T3.html. The early registration deadline is September 28 and the registration form can be found at the AIChE website http://www.aiche.org/Conferences/AnnualMeeting/index.aspx. Remember that membership in AES qualifies for the discounted membership rate and can be checked on the PDF version of the registration form. AES will accept abstracts for submissions to the Topical 3 Poster Session with late-breaking results until October 19. This year’s poster session will include awards for the best student posters, based on judging by 3 members of the AES...
Hydrogels are porous water-filled networks of polymer chains that are currently being investigate... more Hydrogels are porous water-filled networks of polymer chains that are currently being investigated for a wide range of applications in biotechnology. They inherently display desirable mechanical and transport characteristics, and there is a large body of experimental work being done to optimize these properties. The cross-linked structure of hydrogels creates a porous network that could be tuned to fit many specific characteristics for a given function of the material. Researchers have attempted to use nano-templating agents to control porosity through the incorporation and subsequent removal of a “filler” with the desired size and shape. Micelles are spherical aggregates of detergent molecules that have the potential of modifying the nanostructure of the porous gel media. The objective of this study is to establish a set of procedures for a full characterization of the size and stability of SDS micelles. The research focuses on development of experimental techniques and improved ma...
The collaborative effects between an applied orthogonal electrical field and the internal structu... more The collaborative effects between an applied orthogonal electrical field and the internal structure of polymer gels in gel electrophoresis is studied by using microscopic-based electrophoretic transport models that then are upscaled via the format of electro kinetics-hydrodynamics (EKHD). The interplay of the electrical field and internal gel morphology could impact the separation of biomolecules that, because of similar chemical properties, are usually difficult to separate. In this study, we focus on an irregular pore geometry of the polymer-gel structure by using an axially varying pore (i.e., an axially divergent section) and an orthogonal (to the main flow of solutes) applied electrical field. The microscopic-based conservation of species equation is formulated for the standard case of electrophoresis of charged particles within a geometrical domain, i.e., a pore, and upscaled to obtain macroscopic-based diffusion and mobility coefficients. These coefficients are then used in t...
Electrokinetic remediation is a process in which a low-voltage direct-current electric field is a... more Electrokinetic remediation is a process in which a low-voltage direct-current electric field is applied across a section of contaminated soil to remove contaminants. In this work, the effect of Joule heating on the heat transfer and hydrodynamics aspects in a non-uniform environment is simulated. The proposed model is based on a rectangular capillary with non-symmetrical heat transfer conditions similar to those found in non-uniform soil environments. The mathematical and microscopic model described here uses two key parameters in addition to the Nusselt number: the ratio between the Nusselt numbers calculated at both walls of the capillary, named R, and a function of this variable and the Nusselt number, indicated by F(R, Nu). Illustrations describing the five key regimens for the system behavior are presented in terms of ranges for R and F(R, Nu) values, which indicate the key role of the parameter R in controlling the behaviors of the temperature and velocity profiles. Prediction...
ABSTRACT An analysis of tubular reactors with laminar flow regime is presented. The problem is ca... more ABSTRACT An analysis of tubular reactors with laminar flow regime is presented. The problem is cast in terms of integral equations by generating the appropriate Green functions. This allows a flexible modular programming which separates features that are common to all reactors of this type from those aspects which vary from one application to another. Green functions are expanded in terms of a complete set of orthonormal functions obtained from an associated eigenvalue problem. An application is made to a reactor with a homogeneous chemical reaction and a kinetics of order p, where p can be any real positive number.
The problem of the effect of Joule heating generation on the hydrodynamic profile and the solute ... more The problem of the effect of Joule heating generation on the hydrodynamic profile and the solute transport found in electrophoretic devices is addressed in this article. The research is focused on the following two problems: The first one is centered around the effect of Joule heating on the hydrodynamic velocity profile and it is referred to as "the carrier fluid problem." The other one is related to the effect of Joule heating on the solute transport inside electrophoretic cells and it is referred to as "the solute problem". The hydrodynamic aspects were studied first to yield the velocity profiles required for analysis of the solute transport problem. The velocity profile obtained in this study is analytical and the results are valid for non-Newtonian fluids carriers. To this end, the power-law model was used to study the effect of the rheology of the material in conjunction with the effect of Joule heating generation inside batch electrophoretic devices. This aspect of the research was then effectively used to study the effect of Joule heating generation on the motion of solutes (such as macromolecules) under the influence of non-Newtonian carriers. This aspect of the study was performed using an area-averaging approach that yielded analytical results for the effective diffusivity of the device.
The Joule heating effects on hydrodynamics are examined for the case of a non-Newtonian fluid flo... more The Joule heating effects on hydrodynamics are examined for the case of a non-Newtonian fluid flowing in a batch electrophoretic cell. The potential benefits of using non-Newtonian fluids in electrophoretic separations could lead, for example, to an increase in the efficiency of separations and to a better scale-up of the operation for the processing of large quantities on a pilot or even an industrial scale. The analysis conducted in this research is based on the formulation of simplified mathematical models that can capture the most relevant aspects of the physics of the free convection that takes place in a batch electrophoretic cell. The first aspect is associated with the carrier fluid when no solute sample (of particles or macromolecules) is added to the device. This is, indeed, a carrier fluid completely free of solute problem. This aspect of the research is referred to as the carrier fluid problem. The second aspect involved in the investigation is the analysis of the mass transport (i.e., convective-diffusive) process associated with the motion of a solute sample added to the carrier fluid. This particular aspect of the research is referred to as the solute problem of the free-convection electrophoretic cell. The two problems are sequentially coupled and the solution of the carrier fluid problem must be performed first in order to have the velocity profile to study the solute problem. Details about hydrodynamic considerations and the solution approach are discussed in this contribution.
We are pleased to announce the 2009 annual AES meeting will be held in Nashville, TN in conjuncti... more We are pleased to announce the 2009 annual AES meeting will be held in Nashville, TN in conjunction with the annual meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). The AES meeting is designated Topical 3 and consists of 11 sessions running Monday, November 9 through Thursday, November 12. The detailed program is presented as an insert in this newsletter and is also available at http://aiche.confex.com/aiche/2009/webprogram/T3.html. The early registration deadline is September 28 and the registration form can be found at the AIChE website http://www.aiche.org/Conferences/AnnualMeeting/index.aspx. Remember that membership in AES qualifies for the discounted membership rate and can be checked on the PDF version of the registration form. AES will accept abstracts for submissions to the Topical 3 Poster Session with late-breaking results until October 19. This year’s poster session will include awards for the best student posters, based on judging by 3 members of the AES...
Hydrogels are porous water-filled networks of polymer chains that are currently being investigate... more Hydrogels are porous water-filled networks of polymer chains that are currently being investigated for a wide range of applications in biotechnology. They inherently display desirable mechanical and transport characteristics, and there is a large body of experimental work being done to optimize these properties. The cross-linked structure of hydrogels creates a porous network that could be tuned to fit many specific characteristics for a given function of the material. Researchers have attempted to use nano-templating agents to control porosity through the incorporation and subsequent removal of a “filler” with the desired size and shape. Micelles are spherical aggregates of detergent molecules that have the potential of modifying the nanostructure of the porous gel media. The objective of this study is to establish a set of procedures for a full characterization of the size and stability of SDS micelles. The research focuses on development of experimental techniques and improved ma...
The collaborative effects between an applied orthogonal electrical field and the internal structu... more The collaborative effects between an applied orthogonal electrical field and the internal structure of polymer gels in gel electrophoresis is studied by using microscopic-based electrophoretic transport models that then are upscaled via the format of electro kinetics-hydrodynamics (EKHD). The interplay of the electrical field and internal gel morphology could impact the separation of biomolecules that, because of similar chemical properties, are usually difficult to separate. In this study, we focus on an irregular pore geometry of the polymer-gel structure by using an axially varying pore (i.e., an axially divergent section) and an orthogonal (to the main flow of solutes) applied electrical field. The microscopic-based conservation of species equation is formulated for the standard case of electrophoresis of charged particles within a geometrical domain, i.e., a pore, and upscaled to obtain macroscopic-based diffusion and mobility coefficients. These coefficients are then used in t...
Electrokinetic remediation is a process in which a low-voltage direct-current electric field is a... more Electrokinetic remediation is a process in which a low-voltage direct-current electric field is applied across a section of contaminated soil to remove contaminants. In this work, the effect of Joule heating on the heat transfer and hydrodynamics aspects in a non-uniform environment is simulated. The proposed model is based on a rectangular capillary with non-symmetrical heat transfer conditions similar to those found in non-uniform soil environments. The mathematical and microscopic model described here uses two key parameters in addition to the Nusselt number: the ratio between the Nusselt numbers calculated at both walls of the capillary, named R, and a function of this variable and the Nusselt number, indicated by F(R, Nu). Illustrations describing the five key regimens for the system behavior are presented in terms of ranges for R and F(R, Nu) values, which indicate the key role of the parameter R in controlling the behaviors of the temperature and velocity profiles. Prediction...
ABSTRACT An analysis of tubular reactors with laminar flow regime is presented. The problem is ca... more ABSTRACT An analysis of tubular reactors with laminar flow regime is presented. The problem is cast in terms of integral equations by generating the appropriate Green functions. This allows a flexible modular programming which separates features that are common to all reactors of this type from those aspects which vary from one application to another. Green functions are expanded in terms of a complete set of orthonormal functions obtained from an associated eigenvalue problem. An application is made to a reactor with a homogeneous chemical reaction and a kinetics of order p, where p can be any real positive number.
The problem of the effect of Joule heating generation on the hydrodynamic profile and the solute ... more The problem of the effect of Joule heating generation on the hydrodynamic profile and the solute transport found in electrophoretic devices is addressed in this article. The research is focused on the following two problems: The first one is centered around the effect of Joule heating on the hydrodynamic velocity profile and it is referred to as "the carrier fluid problem." The other one is related to the effect of Joule heating on the solute transport inside electrophoretic cells and it is referred to as "the solute problem". The hydrodynamic aspects were studied first to yield the velocity profiles required for analysis of the solute transport problem. The velocity profile obtained in this study is analytical and the results are valid for non-Newtonian fluids carriers. To this end, the power-law model was used to study the effect of the rheology of the material in conjunction with the effect of Joule heating generation inside batch electrophoretic devices. This aspect of the research was then effectively used to study the effect of Joule heating generation on the motion of solutes (such as macromolecules) under the influence of non-Newtonian carriers. This aspect of the study was performed using an area-averaging approach that yielded analytical results for the effective diffusivity of the device.
The Joule heating effects on hydrodynamics are examined for the case of a non-Newtonian fluid flo... more The Joule heating effects on hydrodynamics are examined for the case of a non-Newtonian fluid flowing in a batch electrophoretic cell. The potential benefits of using non-Newtonian fluids in electrophoretic separations could lead, for example, to an increase in the efficiency of separations and to a better scale-up of the operation for the processing of large quantities on a pilot or even an industrial scale. The analysis conducted in this research is based on the formulation of simplified mathematical models that can capture the most relevant aspects of the physics of the free convection that takes place in a batch electrophoretic cell. The first aspect is associated with the carrier fluid when no solute sample (of particles or macromolecules) is added to the device. This is, indeed, a carrier fluid completely free of solute problem. This aspect of the research is referred to as the carrier fluid problem. The second aspect involved in the investigation is the analysis of the mass transport (i.e., convective-diffusive) process associated with the motion of a solute sample added to the carrier fluid. This particular aspect of the research is referred to as the solute problem of the free-convection electrophoretic cell. The two problems are sequentially coupled and the solution of the carrier fluid problem must be performed first in order to have the velocity profile to study the solute problem. Details about hydrodynamic considerations and the solution approach are discussed in this contribution.
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