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Citrus Waste Biorefinery: Effects of Temperature, Particle Size Reduction and Lime Pretreatments on Grapefruit Processing Waste (GPW) Biomass

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Conference

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

San Antonio, Texas

Publication Date

June 10, 2012

Start Date

June 10, 2012

End Date

June 13, 2012

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

NSF Grantees' Poster Session

Tagged Topic

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Page Count

14

Page Numbers

25.308.1 - 25.308.14

DOI

10.18260/1-2--21066

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/21066

Download Count

457

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Paper Authors

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Nicole Lynn Sears

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Jeffrey L. Beynon Flour Bluff ISD

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Jeff Beynon is a teacher at Flour Bluff High School in the Flour Bluff ISD. He has been teaching Physics AP and Physics Pre AP-B and C for the last five years at this school. He has been teaching for nine years in the science field and has taught biology, chemistry, integrated physics and chemistry (IPC), principles of technology, physics, Physics Pre AP, Physics AP-B, and Physics AP-C. He has an A.S. in biology, B.S. in marine biology, B.S in marine geology, and more than 30 hours in graduate studies in environmental sciences and environmental engineering. He has retired from the city of Corpus Christi, Texas, where he was the Director of Animal Control as part of the City/County Health Department. His professional career has also included being a Golf Course Superintendent, as well as performing marine biology research, environmental science research, mariculture research, and consulting in environmental concerns. He is also a published author of original scientific research involving bird predation on shrimp mariculture ponds with a resulting grant to present the paper in Venice, Italy. He is married and has three adult children.

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Raul C. Rivas Texas A&M University, Kingsville

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Raul Rivas is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Environmental Engineering at the Texas A&M University, Kingsville.

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Mohamed Abdelrahman Texas A&M University, Kingsville

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Mohamed Abdelrahman received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering and engineering physics from Cairo University, Egypt in 1988 and 1992, respectively. He received an M.S. and a Ph.D. in measurement and control and nuclear engineering from Idaho State University in 1994 and 1996, respectively. He is currently the Associate Dean of Engineering at Texas A&M University, Kingsville. Abdelrahman's research focus is industrial applications of sensing and control with major research funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, and industry. He has also focused on collaborative and innovative educational research. Abdelrahman is passionate about outreach activities for popularizing engineering research and education. His activities in that arena included NSF funded sites for research experience for undergraduates and research experience for teachers. He has published his research results in more than 90 papers in refereed journals and conference proceedings and 30+ technical reports.

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Patrick L. Mills Texas A&M University, Kingsville

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Patrick Mills is the Frank H. Dotterweich Chair and Professor in the Department of Chemical and Natural Gas Engineering at Texas A&M University, Kingsville. He is also President of Catalytic Reaction Engineering Consulting Services, LLC, where he provides consulting in catalytic kinetics, reaction engineering, experimental reaction systems engineering, and process development. Before being appointed to his academic position in Jan. 2006, he was a Senior Research Associate in the DuPont Company's Central Research and Development Department in Wilmington, Del. During his 15+ years at DuPont, he used his expertise in reaction kinetics, multiphase reaction engineering, transport phenomena, and experimental systems engineering to impact many technology areas in various DuPont businesses, such as Dacron, Nylon, Lycra, White Pigments, Fluoroproducts, and Nonwovens. He was awarded an Engineering Excellence Award from DuPont in 1996 for development of the MARS system, which is an automated catalyst-testing productivity device. Prior to joining DuPont, Mills worked for nearly 10 years at the Monsanto Corporate Research Center in St. Louis and the GE Corporate R&D Center in Schenectady, N.Y. His research utilized reaction engineering principles for the discovery and development of new molecules and processes in various technologies, such as agricultural and rubber chemicals, detergent hydrophobes, aromatic polycarbonates, and functionalized olefinic polymers. He also served as a Research Associate Professor at Washington University in St. Louis from 1988 to 1990 and was a member of the technology and business team with Dr. John T. Gleaves that commercialized the TAP (Temporal Analysis of Products) reactor system. He also held appointments as Adjunct Professor of chemical engineering at the University of Delaware and Washington University in St. Louis where he taught graduate courses in reaction engineering, multiphase reaction engineering, and applied mathematics. Mills is the author or co-author of more than 150 publications in chemical engineering and applied mathematics, has presented more than 150 papers at professional society meetings, and is named co-inventor on several patents. He is a member of the AIChE, Sigma Xi, and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. He has chaired or co-chaired numerous sessions in reaction engineering at the AIChE annual meetings, served as guest editor for special journal issues and edited volumes, and was elected to serve as Chair of the AIChE Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division from 2005 to 2006. Mills was also a lecturer for the AIChE Continuing Education series in multiphase reaction engineering. He also serves on the editorial board for Reviews in Chemical Engineering and Applied Petrochemical Research, and is a member of the AIChE Books Publication Committee.

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Abstract

Citrus Waste Biorefinery: Effects of temperature, particle size reduction and lime pretreatments on Grapefruit processing waste (GPW) biomassCitrus waste bio-refinery has the potential to make the disposal process economically andenvironmentally beneficial. This potential can be achieved by developing a process that is quick,cheap, and lucrative. The pretreatment process is the focus of research because it makes up “18%of the projected cost… more than any other single step” in the bio-refinery of citrus waste (Yanget al. 2008). This step occurs in preparation for the enzymatic hydrolysis. Temperature, particlesize reduction and addition of lime (calcium hydroxide) during the pretreatment can increasesurface area and therefore increase the rate of enzymatic hydrolysis. Three teachers participatedin various aspects of this research project over the summer. Results from their research ispresented in this poster.Although the three teachers worked on the same research project, each had his/her own researchquestion. Each of the three teachers developed a different learning module based on theirresearch experience. The learning modules focused on AP and Pre-AP Physics, Chemistry andAlgebra. This is very interesting since it shows the versatility of using the legacy cycle based ona similar research experience, but different perspectives, in introducing K-12 concepts. Theposter will discuss results from introducing the legacy cycles in the different classrooms.

Sears, N. L., & Beynon, J. L., & Rivas, R. C., & Abdelrahman, M., & Mills, P. L. (2012, June), Citrus Waste Biorefinery: Effects of Temperature, Particle Size Reduction and Lime Pretreatments on Grapefruit Processing Waste (GPW) Biomass Paper presented at 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, San Antonio, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--21066

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