Biography:

Vjeran Gomzi has graduated at Faculty of Science in Zagreb in the field of Medical physics. In2007 he obtined his PhD from the same Faculty in the field of Biophysics. He is the author of 27scientific papers in the fields of Computational Physics, Biophysics, and Theoretical chemistry.Since 2018 he holds the position of Assistant professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing in Zagreb.

Abstract:

Removal of reactive organic species from the environment is often done using catalytic centers. Apart from the activity of the catalyst, the material availability and the cost of production of the catalyst are important. Here, several inexpensive materials are investigated as potential catalysts for toluene degradation. Toluene adsorption on MnO2, Mn2O3, Fe2O3, NiO and CuO was theoretically investigated. Unit cell has been formed from crystal slab of approximately 1000 atoms surrounded by vacuum layer to which toluene and oxygen molecules were added. The reactive force-field (ReaxFF) method was used. Temperature controlled Berendsen thermostat (NVT) is applied for 2.5fs molecular dynamics (MD) calculation on energy minimized crystal structure. Toluene is added and additional 25ns MD calculation is performed at 500K. Calculations involving temperature rise from 500K to 700K, followed by 6.25fs calculation at 700K and temperature drop back to 500K were performed to model much longer time available under experimental conditions. The catalyst potential for toluene adsorption and catalytic activity is evaluated by the amount of free toluene molecules as function of time. It is found that the structures investigated showed behavior which is related to the O2 and toluene binding energies. The largest catalytic activity is observed for Fe2O3 and MnO2, while CuO did not show any toluene adsorption or degradation. While Fe2O3 activity seems to be the result of large toluene adsorption energy, MnO2 structure additionally offers crystal surface oxygen and show the contribution to the activity from surface dynamics and structure (including oxygen diffusion, defects, etc.).

Biography:

Sunday Iji, has completed his B.Eng in Chemical Engineering from Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State and is about to round up his Masters Studies in University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. His Masters study is still in the field of Chemical Engineering. He is 32years and presently the Director of Entrepreneurship Development Centre at Federal Polytechnic Ukana, Akwa Ibom State, which is a reputable tertiary institution in Nigeria. He is writing papers which are yet to published in reputed journals

Abstract:

The shelf life of materials is an important property to be investigated; this is due to the fact that exposure to certain process and environmental conditions could lead to the deterioration of their physicochemical properties. As a result, the sorption isotherm and physicochemical properties of solid cocoyam (Size: 95microns) were studied to reveal its suitability in food systems and storage stability. The static gravimetric method was adopted for varied temperatures and relative humidities. The equilibrium moisture content showed differences in the amounts of moisture adsorbed while the sorption isotherm curves obtained revealed typical type II isotherm. Chemical properties determined were moisture content, crude protein, fiber, fat, lipid and ash as well as the carbohydrate content. Also, the physical properties investigated were the water absorption capacity, viscosity and gelatinization temperature. The GAB and BET models were found to describe the data reasonably after their experimental data were fitted with the application of nonlinear regression. The sorption isotherms study revealed that the relative humidity in the neighborhood of 65-97% would be ideal for the storage of the dried solid in moisture tight packaged materials.  Monolayer moisture content of dried cocoyam ranged from 0.018192-0.028366g/g dry solid and 0.02156-0.028922g/g dry solid for BET and GAB models respectively. These values suggest better storage stability at lower ambient temperatures. The results obtained from this study shows that cocoyam will store longer at lower temperature and relative humidity.

Biography:

Dr. Bleta has completed her PhD from Nancy University and postdoctoral studies from University Paul Sabatier at the CIRIMAT-Carnot Institute in Toulouse. In 2012, she joined the Professor Monflier’s team at the UCCS-Artois as a lecturer. Her research expertise consists in developing new synthesis approaches, especially from soft chemistry routes, to design novel nanostructured porous materials, with a specific focus on the development of heterogeneous catalysts for environmental and sustainable energy applications.

Abstract:

Supramolecular hydrogels have attracted increasing interest in recent years because of their ability to incorporate high levels of proteins, cells, antibodies, peptides and genes [1-2]. In this work, we propose a new approach to confinement of Candida Antarctica lipase B (CALB) within a supramolecular silicified hydrogel based on Pluronic F127 and α-cyclodextrin (α-CD) [3]. After functionalization of the matrix, the catalytic performance of the supported biocatalyst was evaluated in the oxidation of 2,5-diformylfuran (DFF) to 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), a fully biosourced alternative to terephthalic acid used in the production of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) [4]. Our results revealed that while CALB immobilized in conventional sol-gel silica yielded exclusively 5-formylfuran-2-carboxylic acid (FFCA), confinement of the enzyme in the silicified hydrogel imparted a 5-fold increase in DFF conversion and afforded 67% FDCA yield in 7 h and almost quantitative yields in less than 24 h. The hierarchically interconnected pore structure of the host matrix was found to provide a readily accessible diffusion path for reactants and products, while its flexible hydrophilic-hydrophobic interface was extremely beneficial for the interfacial activation of the immobilized lipase

Biography:

E. Pájaro is studying Master of Chemical Engineering

Abstract:

Design a chemical reactor is a complex process since it must allow flexible operation in the ranges of temperature and pressure required by the chemical process that is to be developed. Nature of the substances involved, the phases present, the kinetics and thermodynamics of the process are considered. Especially when it comes to photocatalytic reactors since radiation plays a leading role in the reaction process these are aspects of high relevance for the selection of materials, type of operation, fluid dynamics and geometry1,2.

Commercially, we can find reactors built in different materials such as steels, sapphire, borosilicate, PVC, some of these designed to withstand high pressures, others allow lighting inside the reactor, and another group operates in heterogeneous systems with suspended catalysts. However, having these three characteristics in a single device requires a rigorous mechanical analysis and some modifications in the commercial designs of high-pressure reactors3. Due to the expansion that heterogeneous photocatalysis has had in recent decades due to the variety of chemical processes that can be performed. Such as selective oxidation reactions using atmospheric oxygen4,5, where there is a great interest in replacing organic solvents with supercritical fluids, especially CO2. These high pressure photoreactors are required4. Since the reactors for heterogeneous photocatalysis using scCO2 as a solvent are few and often use immobilized acid catalysts. In this work, a photoreactor was designed to allow processes of transfer of oxygen atoms to olefins using scCO2 as a solvent and a dioxo-molybdenum complex supported on TiO2 as a catalyst, activated by UV-Vis radiation6. the primary considerations for the selection of materials, geometry and couplings for the design of the batch photoreactor are shown. The nature of the substances, the reactions and the operating conditions to which this equipment is subjected. The design rules for high pressure vessels presented in ASME VIII code were used to establish the mechanical requirements for the construction of the high-pressure reactor. These data were simulated and adjusted using the finite element method using the CAD-type software, SolidWork, the main equations used are shown

Biography:

Anakaren is an MSc. Student that will graduate in May 2020. Her research is focused on the removal of nitrogen and sulfur from gas oil feeds to improve the quality of final products and meet environmental regulations

Abstract:

A novel adsorbent based on a support + linker + π-acceptor formulation has been developed and applied for the direct selective removal of refractory heteroatoms (sulfur and nitrogen species) present in various oil feeds. Pristine mesoporous Al2O3 and 10wt.% TiO2-Al2O3 were synthesized and used as supports for immobilizing ethylenediamine (EDA) linker followed by the π-acceptor, 2, 7- Dinitro-9-fluorenone (DNF). The materials were characterized using BET, FTIR, TGA techniques to ascertain their physicochemical properties. From the adsorption studies using model compounds (thiophene and pyridine) in ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) feedstock, the Al2O3-EDA-DNF (adsorbent A) showed 41.5% sulfur removal efficiency, whiles its 10 wt.% Al2O3-EDA-DNF (adsorbent B) counterpart gave 51.0% removal efficiency. For these adsorbents, no significant removal of nitrogen species was observed with the model feed; however, when the adsorbents A and B were used for adsorption of a pre-treated oil feed, different results were obtained. Adsorbent A successfully removed 85.7 % and 24.3% of the sulfur and nitrogen impurities, respectively, whereas adsorbent B removed 74.8% of the sulfur but negligible amounts of nitrogen species.  This successful removal can be attributed to the textural properties of the supports used for the synthesized adsorbents..  

Biography:

Dylan Scheibelhoffer will be completeing her Masters of Science in Engineering in the fall of 2020 from the University of Saskatchewan in Chemical and Biological Engineering

Abstract:

Microbial lipases have numerous potential applications in the bioprocessing industry due to their variety and versatility. Canada, in particular Saskatchewan is one of the worldwide leaders in the production of flaxseed crops accounting for 40% of crop production. Flaxseed oil is a viable source of plant based α-linoleic and linolenic acids (omega-6 and omega-3). Flaxseed oil contains high amounts of linolenic acid and moderate amounts of linoleic acid. The concentration of these essential free fatty acids in flaxseed oil can be increased via the process of enzymatic hydrolysis. Alpha-linoleic and linolenic acid are high value nutritional supplements in great demand to the pharmaceutical and health industries. Humans cannot synthesize these fatty acids within the body and must consume them in their diets or in the form of supplements thus, increasing the desired free fatty acid content within flaxseed oil is a viable solution to this need. The focus of the present work is to produce α- linoleic and linolenic free fatty acids catalyzed by microbial lipases. In addition, the optimization of the enzymatic hydrolysis reaction conditions and use of flax seed oil as feedstock and growth medium will be studied in the present work. Initial experiments showed an increase of 78 wt. % of free fatty acid yield following optimized hydrolysis using lipase from Aspergillus niger and 96% wt. % increase using lipase from Candia rugosa.  

Biography:

Dr. María del Mar Mesa graduated in Chemistry and completed her doctorate in ChemicalEngineering at the University of Cádiz (Spain) in 1998. She then applied for a posdoctoral positionat the University of Geneva. Having lectured in the Department of Chemical Engineering and FoodTechnologies at the University of Cádiz for several years, Dr. Mesa took the position of assistantprofessor in 2004. Her research activity has primarily focused on bioprocess engineering, and iscurrently working on the design and preparation of polymeric scaffolds with potential applicationsin tissue engineering using sol-gel techniques.

Abstract:

Cellulose-silica aerogels are fascinating materials featuring high porosity, low density andbiocompatible properties that can be useful in many biomedical applications. However, their lack ofsufficient mechanical stability makes them inappropriate for some purposes. In our effort to producemore durable and stronger aerogels and to improve their absorption capacity, hydrolysed collagenwas used as a reinforcing agent. Collagen and cellulose were integrated into silica networks bymeans of the sol-gel process and then dried in supercritical conditions using CO2. Different amountsof cellulose and collagen were employed, and Ca(NO3)2ꞏ4H2O and KH2PO4 were added to inducethe production of hydroxyapatite. Structural characterization tests (uniaxial compression, BETmethod, TGA curves, FTIR analyses, and SEM) conducted on the collagen-cellulose-silica aerogelsshowed that their compressive properties greatly exceed those of plain cellulose aerogels, and that,unlike the latter, the former exhibited elastomeric behaviour. Their absorption capacity propertieswere also measured by immersing them in simulated body fluid (SBF). Results proved that thestable structure and effective swelling of cellulose aerogels improved significantly by the use ofcollagen (swelling ratio from 80 to 96 %). Finally, the bioactivity of scaffolds was evaluated byexamining the formation of a biologically active carbonate apatite layer on its surface afterimmersion in SBF. These promising results led us to carry out cell adhesion/attachment tests, whichrevealed the presence of osteoblast cells on the scaffolds’ surface. We can conclude that theprepared cellulose/silica aerogels may be used as tissue engineering scaffolds

Biography:

Moussa Camara is a PHD graduate from china university of petroleum-school of Engineering Petroleum

Abstract:

Acid catalyzed reaction of 1-(1H-indol-3-yl)-3,3-dimercaptoprop-2-en-1-one (1) with anthranilic acid (2) was achieved to produce 2-(1H-indol-3-yl)-4-oxo-1,4-dihydroquinoline-3-carbodithioic acid (3). Reactions of (1) with some amines e.g. p-chloroaniline (4) and o-aminophenol (5) in equimolar ratios and different reaction conditions were explored to produce (E)-3-((4-chlorophenyl)imino)-3-(1H-indol-3-yl)prop-1-ene-1,1-dithiol (6) and (E)-2-(benzo[d]oxazol-2(3H)-ylidene)-1-(1H-indol-3-yl)ethan-1-one  (7) respectively. While reaction of (1) with 3,5- dibromosalicyldehyde (8) or glucose (9), (6,8-dibromo-4-hydroxy-2-mercaptochroman-3-yl)(1H-indol-3-yl)methanone  (10) and 2-(dimercaptomethylene)-3,4,5,6,7,8-hexahydroxy-1-(1H-indol-3-yl)octan-1-one  (11) were obtained respectively. Also 5-(1H-indol-3-yl)-3H-1,2-dithiole-3-thione (12) was obtained from the reaction of (1) with P₂S₅. On treatment (12) with different reagents as 3,5-dibromosalicyldehyde (8) and anthranilic acid (2) gave the adducts  6,8-dibromo-3-(1H-indol-3-yl)-9a-mercapto-3H,9aH-[1,2]dithiolo[3,4-b]chromen-4-ol (13) and 3-(1H-indol-3-yl)-9a-mercapto-9,9a-dihydro-4H-[1,2]dithiolo[3,4-b]quinolin-4-one (14) respectively