Page 54 - Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program Proceedings 2017-18

School of Engineering
Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering

Supervisor: LUO Zhengtang / CBE
Student: POYYAMOZHI Sricharan / SENG Course: UROP1000, Summer

This paper presents an innovative way to reuse lithium-ion car batteries at the end of their life-spans to power
motorized bicycles, which would benefit rural communities by upgrading their current bicycle and limiting the need to
recharge owing to the batteries large capacity. Looking at this plans’ market viability shows that a good marketplace is
China as it would outstrip its closest competitor electric bikes, in terms of functionality and pricing but lack in peak
performance level. Presenting a base design and prototype confirms this device as functional but there is room for
improvement to make it market-ready while the key component, degraded car batteries will not be readily available for
a few years making this a long-term sustainability project.

Blood Purification Devices

Supervisor: LUO Zhengtang / CBE
Student: CHOI Eun Seo / CBME Course: UROP1000, Summer
OKTAVIUS, Andreas Kenney / CBME UROP1000, Summer

We constructed a blood purification system with a column packed with graphene oxide (GO) – cellulose acetate (CA)
beads as the main component. Compared to most hydrophobic carbon based macrostructures, GO-CA beads with a
core/shell structure are particularly promising for adsorption of various substances due to their amphipathic nature. To
ensure acceptable hemocompatibility and adsorption kinetics, we prepared neutral GO dispersion manually via a
modified Hummers method, extruded the beads individually with extra care in their porosity, and designed and
fabricated the column via a 3D Printer. To test for adsorption capacity of the GO-CA beads directly, we pumped a
solution of methyl blue and water through the column and analysed the effluent using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy.
Then, to compare the advantages of GO-CA beads to other adsorbents, we repeated the experiment with activated
carbon (AC) as an adsorptive material.

The Effect of Particle Size on Solids Suspension in a Stirred Tank Reactor
Supervisor: MAK Andrew Tsz Chung / CBE
Student: YOO Seungbin / CEGBM Course: UROP1000, Summer

This report attempts to summarize the latest studies and findings on the effect of solid particles on solid suspension
speed in a stirred tank. The purpose is to improve the Zwietering Correlation (1958) on the effect of particle size which
was established through dimensional analysis. This has been the most popular design equation for solid suspension
while the variation on the predicted particle size exponent of particle size is relatively large (Kresta, 2016). This analysis
compares the past literature comparison qualitatively and found that the relationship between the ratio of particle size
to impeller size, dp/D and the exponent of particle size has correlation with less deviation from Zwietering Correlation.

Fuel Production from Carbon Dioxide

Supervisor: SHAO Minhua / CBE
Student: POON Lok Nga / CHEM Course: UROP1100, Fall

Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide, while being a promising way of controlling atmospheric CO2 content and
producing fuel, remained challenging due to low selectivity, high kinetic barrier and low stability of catalysts. Metal
nanoparticles with controlled morphologies are desired to solve the problem. Herein, we describe the synthesis of Pd
and Pd-Au alloy nanowires by template free methods and evaluate the catalysts performance against commercial Pd/C

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