Joe Shangraw
Pronouns: He/Him/His
UROP Fellowship: University of Michigan Energy Institute
Research Mentor(s): Anish Tuteja, PhD
Materials Science and Engineering
Presentation Date: Wednesday, July 29, 2020 | Session 2 | Presenter: 8
Authors: Joe Shangraw, David Speer, Anish Tuteja
Abstract
Wastewater treatment is a highly energy-intensive process that burdens many municipal governments, both economically and environmentally. Our team at Michigan is part of a larger, Department of Energy sponsored project to find energy efficient methods of converting waste into valuable by-products. One important step in the process is the extraction of carboxylic acids, such as acetic acid, which can be sold and reused as a chemical precursor. Previous research at our lab has prepared a method for a membrane-assisted liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) of acids from the treated waste. The purpose of this remote research was to review literature relating to the LLE of acetic acid and to attempt to model these reactions with different organic solvents using Aspen Plus, a chemical process simulator. The findings could potentially assist the future lab research at the University of Michigan through the screening of solvents and extractants, as well as optimizing flows and concentrations. The software was used to simulate the complexation that occurs between acetic acid and an extractant, trioctylamine. The resulting complex of the molecules allows for the transfer of acetic acid into the organic phase, where it can be separated from the aqueous stream. However, the results of this research were inconsistent with published literature using the same chemicals and ratios. An attempt to simulate research done by Wardell and King [1] using an active solvent, chloroform, was unsuccessful at replicating their experimental results. Additionally, Aspen was unable to replicate the results of Sprakel and Schuur [2], using a simpler, inactive solvent, toluene. Neither simulation could not accurately predict the distribution coefficient (Kd) of acetic acid between the aqueous phase and the organic extractant phase. Potential sources of error in the simulation include the inability of Aspen to predict the effect of the solvent on the reaction or estimate all of the properties of the products after the complexation between acetic acid and trioctylamine. Further research with different software or lab experimentation will be required to optimize the extraction process to meet the larger goals in reducing energy consumption and cost in wastewater systems.
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Research Disciplines
Engineering
