Department of Chemical Engineering Graduate Theses
Recent Submissions
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Printing of Electrochemical Energy Storage Device Components
Materials printing is a versatile technology used in a wide range of industrial-scale manufacturing processes that require high-precision transfer of materials on different substrates. Despite the numerous studies available ... -
Energy Recovery from High Salinity Biomass
Phytoremediation is a biological remediation technique where plants take contaminants from the soil into their biological structure. This technique removes pollutants from the ground leaving the grown biomass requiring ... -
Toll-like receptor mediated responses to adsorbed damage-associated molecular patterns on biomaterial surfaces
The foreign body reaction is a chronic inflammatory response to an implanted biomaterial that ultimately leads to fibrous encapsulation of the implant. It is widely accepted that the host response to implanted biomaterials ... -
Electrodeposited Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Substrates for Point-of-Care Drug Checking
Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is an analytical technique that can provide ultra-sensitive chemical detection on a mobile platform when implemented on handheld Raman spectrometers. However, the large laser spot ... -
Evaluation of a Novel Polymeric Flocculant for Enhanced Water Recovery of Mature Fine Tailings
This thesis explores the feasibility of using a novel degradable cationic flocculant, poly(PLA4ChMA), for enhanced dewatering of mature fine tailings (MFT). Previous research indicated that this material provided improved ... -
Accelerated Monte-Carlo Techniques for Modeling of Chain Architecture and Semi-Batch Radical Polymerization Process Optimization
This thesis introduces a new strategy to develop a comprehensive stochastic polymerization simulation with the capacity of considering the secondary reactions attributed to the radical acrylate/methacrylate/styrene ... -
Fabrication of novel power sources for portable and wearable devices
Practical applications of portable and wearable electronics is linked with the development of power sources that address the physical requirements of these electronic devices, such as flexibility and a small footprint. In ... -
Development and characterization of thermoplastic biopolyester compounds and their processing by 3D bioplotting
The objective of this thesis is to improve the properties of thermoplastic biopolyesters by reactive modification and blending, and to develop thermoplastic biopolyester compounds with suitable rheological, thermal and ... -
Kinetics and Modeling of Radical Copolymerization of Water-Soluble Cationic Monomers
Polyelectrolytes (PELs) are a special class of charged water-soluble polymers utilized in both consumer and industrial applications such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, waste-water treatment, flocculating agents, oil drilling ... -
Development of a Screening Platform for Angiogenic Drug Delivery Systems Using Zebrafish Embryos
The development of an angiogenic drug delivery system requires in vitro and in vivo testing before the system can used to treat a disease or condition. The zebrafish embryo is a promising animal model for screening potential ... -
A New Approach to Preparing Bio-Synthetic Hybrid Materials Using Starch Nanoparticles
Starch nanoparticles (SNP) are a new class of innovative biopolymers that can be obtained from native starch using different methods. Interest in bio-synthetic hybrid materials based on polysaccharides has been increasing ... -
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 ...
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