Gas Purification with Recovery and Reuse to Achieve More Sustainable and Competitive Manufacturing

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1236203 (Rood). There is a wide range of manufacturing processes (e.g., chemical manufacturing, coating operations, and production of packaging materials, solvents, degreasers, and coatings) that use volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in gas streams with single-pass gas-usage systems and then exhaust these gas streams to the atmosphere after disposal of the VOCs by thermal oxidation. Such approach also generates additional pollutants such as CO2 and nitrogen oxides. This research will develop a system utilizing activated carbon fiber cloth (ACFC)-electrothermal swing adsorption (ESA) that will efficiently (based on mass, energy and cost) capture, recover, and reuse a wide range of these VOCs and allow for recycling of the resulting clean carrier gas stream to the process that generated the gas stream. This research will provide a sustainable alternative to exhausting manufacturing gases into the atmosphere because it will: 1) provide recycling of purified carrier gas streams and concentrated VOCs for manufacturing processes that originally used single-pass gas-usage systems that treated such streams as wastes instead of valuable resources; 2) allow for conservation of natural resources and reduce energy consumption for manufacturing processes; 3) provide additional safety and environmental protection by reducing emissions from manufacturing processes; and 4) provide for more economically competitive manufacturing than currently possible. Such approach is consistent with US Department of Commerce?s definition of sustainable manufacturing (USDoC, 2011). The intellectual merit of this research provides: 1) a novel system that can be readily integrated to existing manufacturing processes that will transform manufacturing from single-pass gas-usage systems to systems that produce purified carrier gas streams and high purity VOCs that are reused in the manufacturing processes to conserve resources, reduce energy consumption, reduce costs, and make US manufacturing more sustainable and more competitive; 2) real-time detection and control of mass transfer within the ACFC during adsorption and regeneration cycles with remote electrical resistance/power measurements to increase VOC capture and recovery efficiency; 3) real-time detection of temperature within the ACFC during electrothermal heating and cooling with remote electrical resistance measurements to control adsorbent temperature and therefore more effectively control regeneration and cooling cycle times; and 4) elimination of the need for hydrocarbon sensors and direct contact temperature sensors, which simplifies the system, improves run-time by eliminating the corresponding sensor failures, increases safety, and reduces the costs to purchase and maintain the sensors. The broader impacts of this research are: 1) development and evaluation of a novel ACFC-ESA system with improved detection and control of mass transfer and temperature with less sensors that can be integrated into a wide range of manufacturing systems to make US manufacturing sustainable; 2) the development of project-based modules that will be included in the classes taught by the PI and used to develop undergraduate research projects that will consider broad environmental engineering issues with corresponding societal and economic impacts; and 3) the recruitment of undergraduate students through the Morrill Engineering Program and presentation of projects conducted by undergraduate and graduate students at professional conferences and to K-12 students who participate in the ?Gains in the Education of Mathematics and Sciences? program through the Engineer Research and Development Center-Construction Engineering Research Laboratory as well as UI?s Engineering Open House.