Problem statement: We have recently introduced several important improvements in the measurement of distillation curves for complex fluids. The modifications include a compositionexplicit data channel for each distillate fraction and temperature measurements that are true thermodynamic state points that can be modeled with an equation of state. The composition-explicit information is achieved w...

Vapor transfer is an important phenomenon in various thermally driven membrane processes such as membrane distillation (MD), membrane evaporation and membrane condensation. In this study, we explore the mass transfer phenomena in sweeping gas membrane distillation (SGMD) by systematically investigating the effects of operational parameters on the process performance. It is found that mass trans...

The total volume of water on Earth is circa 300 million cubic miles, with close to 98.0% being salt water and the remaining 2.0% fresh water. It has been increasingly more challenging to harvest fresh water from surface water, seawater and even from wastewater due to the combination of factors, viz. burgeoning population growth, rapid industrialization and climate change. Recently, membrane dis...

In this paper we address the topic of energy and water optimization in the production of bioethanol from corn and switchgrass. We show that in order for these manufacturing processes to be attractive, there is a need to go beyond traditional heat integration and water recycling techniques. Thus, we propose a strategy based on mathematical programming techniques to model and optimize the structu...

Qatar’s primary source of fresh water is through seawater desalination. Amongst the major processes that are commercially available on the market, the most common large scale techniques are Multi-Stage Flash distillation (MSF), Multi Effect distillation (MED), and Reverse Osmosis (RO). Although commonly used, these three processes are highly expensive down to high energy input requirements and ...

The simulation of batch distillation columns during start-up operations is a very challenging modelling problem because of the complex dynamic behaviour. Only few rigorous models for distillation columns start-up are available in literature and generally required a lot of parameters related to tray or pack geometry. On an industrial viewpoint, such a complexity penalizes the achievement of a fa...

BACKGROUND The effect of commonly ingested alcoholic beverages on gastric acid output and release of gastrin in humans is unknown. AIM AND METHODS In 16 healthy humans the effect of some commonly ingested alcoholic beverages produced by fermentation plus distillation (for example, whisky, cognac, calvados, armagnac, and rum) or by alcoholic fermentation (beer, wine, champagne, martini, and sh...