Department of Chemical Engineering Graduate Theses
Recent Submissions
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Effect of Terminal Electron Acceptors on Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Oil Sands Tailings
Surface mining of Alberta's oil sands produces large volumes of water and solid wastes stored in oil sands tailings ponds. Tailings ponds contain numerous contaminants that have negative effects on the environment (air, ... -
Electrical Double Layer in Polar and Nonpolar Media in the Presence of Surfactants
The objective of this thesis is to improve our understanding of the concept of electrical double layer (EDL). The EDL is the basis of all electrokinetic phenomena. Despite numerous studies in the span of over a century, ... -
Towards Improved Process Development for Biolubricant Production from Vegetable Oils
Biolubricants are lubricants with a base oil produced from biological feedstock. Ester-based biolubricants enjoy the most widespread commercial use, even though complex chemical modifications are required to improve their ... -
An Investigation of Antimicrobial Properties of Grafoid Inc. Graphene Coatings
Graphene materials have been the center of attention due to their physicochemical properties. Moreover, in the past decade, these materials have attracted increasing attention because of their antimicrobial properties. A ... -
Molecular Orientation in Large-Amplitude Oscillatory Shear (LAOS) of Complex Fluids
Polymer rheological properties are important to modern manufacturing, and though polymers have been studied for decades, we still do not fully understand how polymers flow. Subjecting a polymeric liquid to oscillatory shear ... -
Model-Based Optimal Design of Experiments with Noninvertible Fisher Information Matrix
In this thesis, different approaches are developed and compared to deal with a noninvertible Fisher Information Matrix (FIM) when designing sequential model-based (e.g., A, D, and V-optimal) experiments. Proposed approaches ... -
Using Microfluidics to Study Magnetotactic Bacteria
The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the swimming behavior of magnetotactic bacteria 1) in flow conditions and 2) in porous media; and further 3) to exploit their unique characteristics towards bio-actuation of ... -
Neutrophil NETosis, viability, and gene or protein expression in response to surface chemistry using isodecyl acrylate copolymer coatings
Undesirable host responses to implants commonly lead to impaired device function. Biomaterial-based strategies focused on neutrophil behavior to improve host responses to implants have not been significantly researched. ... -
Functional Nitroxyls for Polypropylene Modification
Chemistry for introducing a long-chain branch (LCB) architecture to linear, isotactic polypropylene (PP) is described, wherein degradation of the polymer matrix through β-scission of macroradicals is inhibited by an additive ... -
Polymeric Liquid Behavior in Oscillatory Shear Flow
One of the great challenges in chemical engineering is to predict physical properties from molecular structure. Predicting transport properties presents special challenges, especially for macromolecular structures. This ... -
Improved recipes for leuco-crystal violet micelle gel dosimeters
An optimized recipe for a radiochromic micelle (RM) leuco-crystal violet (LCV) gel dosimeter was proposed using full-factorial designed experiments and model-based optimization. Linear regression models were used to optimize ... -
Development of a solid-phase extraction method for the separation of algal lipid classes
Algal oils have been extensively used as feedstocks for the production of biodiesel. These can be obtained using one of several extraction techniques, such as Soxhlet extraction. A critical issue is the presence of compounds ... -
Electrokinetic Assembly of Nanoparticles for Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering-Based (Bio)Chemical Sensing
Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) enables sensitive detection of (bio)chemical analytes. However, the need for nanostructured noble metal substrates poses a major obstacle to its application. In this thesis, we ... -
Exploiting the Unique Plasmonic Phenomenon of Metallic Nanostructures for Sensing and Biosensing Applications
Real-time, accurate sensing promoted by analytical sensors is extremely important for advances in drug discovery, disease diagnosis and for studying biological systems. In particular, label-free surface plasmon resonance ... -
Modulating the Inflammatory Response of Macrophages on Biomaterial Surfaces
The foreign body response is an inflammatory response to implanted materials and poses significant challenges for biomaterials-based medical applications, often leading to the degradation or fibrous encapsulation of an ... -
An Efficient Process for the Cu(0)-Catalyzed Controlled Radical Synthesis and Subsequent Chain Extension of Poly(Methyl Acrylate) Macroinitiator
Copper mediated polymerization is used to produce poly(methyl acrylate) with an average degree of polymerization of 10 (P(MA)10) and narrow distribution in both batch and continuous tubular reactors at ambient temperature. ... -
Degradation and Crystallization Studies of Branched PLA Prepared by Reactive Extrusion
This thesis proposes strategies to improve the crystallinity and mechanical properties of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and investigates the effects of these modifications on hydrolytic degradation. The effect of long-chain ... -
Polymeric Ionic Liquid Compositions for In-Situ Product Removal Bioreactor Applications
Although the biosynthesis of n-butanol and succinic acid can afford renewable fuels, solvents, and chemical intermediates, these bioprocesses suffer from the cytotoxicity of their end products, leading to reduced production ... -
An evaluation of hyaluronic acid and poly-L-lysine polyelectrolyte layers on alginate microspheres for use in protein-triggered drug release
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of vision loss in developed countries in those 50 years of age and older. Increased expression of the protein vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays a ... -
Investigation of Hydroisomerization Catalysts and Reaction Conditions to produce Branched-Chain Fatty Acids
Fatty acids (FAs) from vegetable oils can be used as feed to produce renewable hydrocarbons and bio-lubricants. Naturally occurring FAs are, however, susceptible to oxidative attack and have operating temperature limitations ...
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