Theodore J. Heindel - US grants

ABSTRACT

Proposal Number: CTS-0209928
Principal Investigator: Heindel, Theodore
Affiliation: Iowa State University
Title: GOALI - Gas Holdup in Flocculating Slurries

The effect of fiber geometry and mass fraction on gas holdup in gas-liquid-fiber slurries will be investigated by the PI at Iowa State University and the PI at Kimberly-Clark Corporation. The most direct application of the results is to fiber de-inking and fiber bleaching in fiber floatation columns used in many pulp and paper producing companies. Previous results from independent investigation of the PIs have shown interesting behavior when fiber is added to a gas-liquid column. The gas holdup in the slurry can be significantly different with the presence of fiber. The proposal study will investigate the various aspects of this problem including the effect of fiber entanglement on gas holdup.

This grant will be used to develop an x-ray system to perform noninvasive three-dimensional imaging of large-scale multiphase flows. This new instrument will allow for the study, characterization, and modeling of numerous multiphase flow processes found in many industries including fuel production, commodity and specialty chemical production, mineral processing, pulp and paper production, wastewater treatment, food processing, and biological organism and pharmaceutical production.

Multiphase flows involve gas-liquid, gas-solid, liquid-solid, and gas-liquid-solid mixtures. The principle difficulty in characterizing and quantifying multiphase flows is the fact that the systems are typically opaque; even an air-water system becomes opaque at fairly low volumetric gas fractions. This necessitates either the use of invasive measurement probes when determining internal flow and transport characteristics or nondestructive (noninvasive) methods. The difficulty with invasive probes is that they can alter the internal flow of the multiphase system interfering with realistic process measurements. X-ray imaging methods provide one family of noninvasive measurement techniques used extensively for product testing and evaluation of static objects with complex structures. The project will develop an instrument that utilizes x-ray radioscopy, x-ray stereography, and x-ray computed tomography imaging techniques to characterize properties of multiphase flow processes, including those properties that are dynamic and time dependent.

The project will develop the x-ray hardware, software, and facilities to complete x-ray computed tomography (i.e., CT scans) of multiphase flows in large vertical columns, providing time-averaged local phase distributions with a typical resolution of 500 microns. The system to be developed in this project will allow for vertical columns up to 4 m high and 32 cm in diameter to be studied. These dimensions will allow for the first time, without significant interference of either wall effects or mechanical interference
from invasive probes, investigation of these industrially important systems. Various letters of support, from a variety of industries, have stressed this is a critical need. The explosion of computer power in the last three years allows for the first time the ability to acquire, process, and display the data volumes needed to adequately characterize these complex systems.

The instrumentation that will be developed will include a novel application of x-ray stereography and stereographic reconstructions to visualize time-resolved flow structures in three dimensions. This new and unique capability will allow for the measurement of currently unavailable phase characteristics found in complex multiphase flows, such as phase rise/settling velocities, phase trajectories, phase coalescence and breakup rates, and phase growth and shrinkage rates. With this instrument, data acquisition will be possible of internal characteristics of multiphase flow at a sufficient resolution to be used for model validation of these complex flows, and, to our knowledge, will provide a leading edge research capability currently unavailable at any institution.

Once this instrument is developed, many other ISU researchers, as well as industrial collaborators (e.g., Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., Cargill, Inc., DOW Chemical Company, Fluent, Inc., Foster Wheeler Development Corporation, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Potlatch, Proctor & Gamble Company, and Schlumberger Oilfield Services), have identified many potential uses of this instrument in studying gas-liquid, gas-solid, liquid-solid, and gas-liquid-solid flows. Even traditional computed tomography and stereography of industrial components requiring a large field of view can be done with this instrument. This instrument will also provide a unique opportunity to form various multidisciplinary collaborations between faculty, academic and industrial researchers, and students, and provide a one-of-a-kind instrument at a public university to which many different researchers will have access.

Proposal Number: EPS-1101284

Proposal Title: Iowa EPSCoR: Harnessing Energy Flows in the Biosphere to Build Sustainable Energy Systems

Institution: Iowa State University

This Research Infrastructure Improvement project seeks to expand the research capacity within the state to support a transition in energy supply from subsurface fossil energy stores to renewable energy flows at or near the earth?s surface. The research program is organized into four platforms in renewable energy, each of which consists of several research foci (or planks) which are detailed below. The project seeks to examine energy flows and processes from a holistic systems perspective that considers technical, economic, social, and environmental constraints and impacts. This comprehensive program will enable innovative research, strengthen energy-related education, train a ?clean-tech? workforce, and engage diverse communities in implementing environmentally and economically sustainable solutions to the growing energy challenges facing Iowa and the U.S. The project brings together research universities, 2- and 4-year colleges, the private sector, and local government agencies (Iowa Power Fund, Iowa Office of Energy Independence), to address key issues related to renewable energy research, education, and workforce development in the state.

Intellectual Merit
This proposal seeks to significantly enhance the research competitiveness of Iowa through a comprehensive, multi-faceted research program in renewable energy and energy efficiency. The program builds upon existing strengths of Iowa in the areas of bioenergy and wind energy while including highly complementary components in the areas of energy efficiency and energy policy. The program seeks to change the energy landscape across Iowa by improving the energy balance while mitigating environmental concerns and positioning citizens to compete more effectively in a global economy.

Broader Impacts
An overarching goal of this project is to translate the knowledge gained in the research platforms into specific actions that can increase the participation of under-represented minorities in STEM fields. IA EPSCoR proposes the creation of the Future Leaders in Advancing Renewable Energy (FLARE) Institute to lead the implementation of strategic broader impacts activities. Modeled after the Iowa?s NSF I3 program, Strengthening the Professoriate at ISU, the FLARE Institute will be a state-wide organization supporting the human infrastructure development needed to accelerate Iowa?s transition to a green economy. Critical to this goal are strategies to broaden the participation of women, underrepresented minorities, and first-generation college students in the STEM fields, prepare a workforce that can meet the demands of Iowa?s emerging green economy, and create a community of scholars who integrate broader impacts into their research efforts in all fields. Accordingly, the FLARE Institute will address key deficiencies in state-wide infrastructure by integrating broader impacts through all elements of activities leveraged by IA EPSCoR, thereby having a far greater state-wide impact than any individual program could achieve on its own.

Iowa State University (ISU) is organizing a workshop focused on the knowledge, technology, and education needed to engineer agricultural products that are robust under changing climate. The ultimate goal is to develop a research and educational roadmap for engineered crops, of interest to the EPSCoR community because many jurisdictions are rural and have a strong agricultural heritage. The workshop is bringing together plant scientists, with expertise in improving crop performance, and engineers with knowledge of transport phenomena, thermodynamics, and modeling, to unlock the underlying structural and physiological properties of superior plant varieties. Engineering- and physics-based modeling of transport phenomena in plants is still in its infancy, but approximate models have been made and verified experimentally to describe the transport of water and sugar in plants. This workshop provides opportunities for plant scientists and engineers to develop a common language for engineered crops, share ongoing research, form new partnerships, and design the discipline of "plant engineering" - a cyber-enabled framework that will support accelerated crop design with desired optimal performance.

Intellectual Merit

Food security is among the top challenges facing humanity. Environmental stresses due to climate change are accelerating the need for plant modifications, either naturally or through genetic engineering. As a step towards addressing these challenges, ISU's workshop focuses on the emergence of engineering design methods rooted in plant physiology and transport phenomena, to develop improved crops with increased yield and/or better tolerance to abiotic stresses caused by climate change. These technologies have reached a stage where fundamental questions about optimal crop phenotypes can be answered, and the answers efficiently translated into crop improvement. The goal of tailoring crops using engineering know-how coupled with genetic engineering is novel, promising, and challenging. Workshop products include a written roadmap summarizing the necessary education, research and development to advance engineered crops, as well as publications, and a website for displaying outcomes.

Broader Impacts

There is a constant need to improve the efficiency and yield of global agricultural crop production in order to increase food supply. This workshop at ISU will offer opportunities to scientists and engineers from EPSCoR jurisdictions to develop an interdisciplinary approach towards the design and study of engineered crops. Activities in the workshop will highlight the contributions of agricultural businesses and researchers in EPSCoR jurisdictions to the development of engineered plants, and the education of future researchers able to work in this field. Workshop recruitment efforts focus on junior faculty and students from EPSCoR jurisdictions, including from community colleges and schools in the nearby locale that have high underrepresented minority science, technology, engineering, and mathematics enrollments.

NRT- DESE: Predictive Phenomics of Plants (P3)

New methods to increase crop productivity are required to meet anticipated demands for food, feed, fiber, and fuel. Using modern sensors and data analysis techniques, it is now feasible to develop methods to predict plant growth and productivity based on information about their genome and environment. However, doing so requires expertise in plant sciences as well as computational sciences and engineering. This National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) award to Iowa State University will bring together students with diverse backgrounds, including plant sciences, statistics, and engineering, and provide them with data-enabled science and engineering training. The collaborative spirit required for students to thrive in this unique intellectual environment will be strengthened through the establishment of a community of practice to support collective learning. This traineeship anticipates preparing forty-eight (48) master's and doctoral students, including twenty-eight (28) funded doctoral students, with the understanding and tools to design and construct crops with desired traits that can thrive in a changing environment.

Understanding how particular genetic traits result in given plant characteristics under specific environmental conditions is a core goal of modern biology that will facilitate the efficient development of crops with commercially useful characteristics. Plant characteristics are influenced by genetics and a wide range of environmental factors, including, for example, rainfall, temperature and soil types. Developing methods to effectively integrate these diverse inputs that take advantage of existing biological, statistical, and engineering knowledge will be a key area in this research and training program that will bring together faculty from eight departments. Trainees will engage in cutting-edge research and development areas involving direct data collection and analysis from living plants, including sensor development, high throughput robotic technology, and biological feature extraction through image analysis. This traineeship will use the T-training model to provide students with training across a broad range of disciplines while developing a deep technical expertise in one area. This expertise, in combination with soft skills development, will enable the trainees to work across organizational and cultural boundaries as well as scientific disciplines. To develop understanding of how to share knowledge with diverse groups, the program will provide students with training beyond traditional coursework and research through activities that will develop advanced communication and entrepreneurship skills. Additionally, internship opportunities in industry, national labs, and other settings will equip trainees to choose among the diverse career paths available to scientists and engineers.

The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new, potentially transformative, and scalable models for STEM graduate education training. The Traineeship Track is dedicated to effective training of STEM graduate students in high priority interdisciplinary research areas, through the comprehensive traineeship model that is innovative, evidence-based, and aligned with changing workforce and research needs.