BRIGE: The Production of Biodiesel Using Liquid-Phase Electrical Discharge Plasmas

PI: Mededovic， selma在过去的十年中，PI已经证明，在二甲基亚砜中放电产生类金刚石碳，在甲醇和蔗糖溶液中放电分别产生氢气和乙醇。最近，她发现在等离子体处理30分钟内，植物油的粘度降低了大约60%。因此，本提案的主要目标是研究和评估放电作为一种生产生物柴油的新技术，并研究油中等离子体的基本化学成分。第一个目标将通过在不同的植物油（葵花籽油、棕榈油和椰子油）中进行有或没有添加剂（甲醇、甘油和蔗糖）的放电来实现，确定反应副产物并表征放电后液体的物理性质。为了阐明和分类等离子体内部的化学过程，从而实现第二个目标，检验化学反应的性质是至关重要的。一直以来，人们都怀疑等离子体中的化学反应并不是纯粹由电子撞击解离驱动的，而且由于等离子体的高温，还会发生热解。因此，预测等离子体温度的数学模型的发展将有助于回答关于等离子体中化学反应类型的基本问题，并促进对植物油转化为生物柴油的反应途径的理解。在目前的提案中，PI有两个可行的假设；1)在没有添加剂（即甲醇）的情况下，在植物油放电过程中，等离子体中的高能电子将解离甘油三酯分子并产生短链和长链自由基，这些自由基将重新组合形成烷基酯等许多副产物；添加剂的存在会增加烷基酯的产率：在甲醇/植物油混合物中，会发生电子驱动的酯交换反应。在甘油中放电会产生甲醇。相反，在蔗糖溶液中排放会产生乙醇。因此，通过在植物油中加入甘油或蔗糖，我们可以同时生产甲醇或乙醇并形成烷基酯。更广泛的影响PI的主要工作一直是为了阐明等离子体和等离子体-液体边界的化学反应，从而推进液相放电的基础知识。期望本文的实验结果能够澄清等离子体中的化学降解途径。利用数学模型来区分电子冲击与热解离反应的作用，将有助于理解等离子体中化学反应的本质。对于更实际的应用，我们期望这项提议的结果证实放电是一种廉价而有效的技术，可以将分子解离成有用的副产品，即生物柴油。此外，未来的实验将包括藻类油和动物脂肪的放电，这对公众来说是非常有益的。在教育和多样性影响方面，PI已开始与当地一所高中的校长合作，目的是鼓励年轻女性从事工程事业。PI将她的实验室提供给一群女高中生，让她们进行与这个项目相关的几个简单实验。我们的目标是鼓励这些学生加入克拉克森大学的工程项目。PI还与克拉克森大学（Clarkson University）的机构多样性倡议办公室（IDI）合作，该办公室积极招募代表性不足的人从事科学和工程方面的职业。通过IDI，在这个项目中，PI将在夏季招收两名学生，从而最大程度地促进化学工程的多样化。该项目还鼓励她所在实验室的女本科生作为研究生继续她的研究。上述来自代表性不足群体的学生将获得bridge基金的支持。此外，这个项目的成果将被整合到PI教授的课程中。一个例子包括研究复杂化学系统的动力学。

PI: Mededovic, SelmaProposal Number: 1125592Intellectual Merit Over the past ten years, the PI has demonstrated that an electrical discharge in dimethyl sulfoxide yields diamond-like carbon and that discharges in methanol and sucrose solutions yield hydrogen gas and ethanol, respectively. More recently, she discovered that within thirty minutes of plasma treatment, the viscosity of vegetable oil is reduced by about sixty percent. Thus, the main goal of this proposal is to investigate and assess electrical discharges as a novel technology for the production of biodiesel and to study the fundamental chemistry of plasmas in oils. The first objective will be achieved by conducting electrical discharges in different vegetable oils (sunflower oil, palm oil and coconut oil) with or without additives (methanol, glycerol and sucrose), identifying reaction by-products and characterizing physical properties of the liquids after the discharge. In order to elucidate and categorize chemical processes inside the plasma and thus achieve the second objective, it is critical to examine the nature of chemical reactions. There has always been a suspicion that chemical reactions in plasmas are not driven purely by the electron impact dissociation but also, because of the high plasma temperatures, the pyrolysis. Thus, the development of a mathematical model to predict the plasma temperature will assist in answering fundamental questions regarding the types of chemical reactions in plasma and facilitate the understanding of the reaction pathways for the conversion of vegetable oil into biodiesel. The PI has two working hypotheses in the current proposal; 1) In the absence of additives (i.e. methanol), during an electrical discharge in vegetable oil high-energy electrons in plasma will dissociate triglyceride molecules and yield short- and long-chained radicals which will recombine to form, among many other by-products, alkyl esters; and 2) The presence of additives will increase the yield of alkyl esters: In methanol/vegetable oil mixture, an electron-driven transesterification will take place. Electrical discharge in glycerol will yield methanol. To the contrary, the discharge in sucrose solution will yield ethanol. Thus, by adding either glycerol or sucrose to the vegetable oil, we can simultaneously produce methanol or ethanol and form alkyl esters. Broader Impacts The PI's primary efforts have always been directed towards elucidating chemical reactions in plasma and at the plasma-liquid boundary, thus advancing the fundamental knowledge of liquid-phase electrical discharges. It is expected that the experimental results of the proposed work will clarify the chemical degradation pathways in plasmas. The specific focus placed on distinguishing the role of electron impact vs. thermal dissociation reactions using mathematical modeling will assist in understanding the nature of chemical reactions in plasmas. For more practical applications, we expect for the results of this proposal to confirm electrical discharge as an inexpensive and effective technology for dissociating molecules into useful by-products, i.e. biodiesel. Additionally, the future experiments which will include electrical discharges in algae oil and animal fat could be greatly beneficial to the general public. On educational and diversity impact, the PI has begun collaboration with the principal of a local high-school with the purpose of encouraging young women to pursue a career in engineering. The PI has offered her laboratory to the group of female high-school students to conduct several simple experiments related to this project. The goal is to encourage some of these students to join the engineering program at Clarkson University. The PI is also collaborating with the Office of Institutional Diversity Initiatives (IDI) at Clarkson University, which actively recruits under-represented people to pursue careers in science and engineering. Through the IDI, for this project, the PI will recruit two students during summer and thus promote diversifying chemical engineering to the greatest extent possible. The PI also encourages current female undergraduate from her laboratory to continue her research as the graduate student. The afore-mentioned students from the under-represented groups will be supported by BRIGE funding. In addition, the results from this project will be integrated into the courses that the PI teaches. One example includes studying the kinetics of complex chemical systems.