The physical and chemical characteristics of a substance provide valuable insight into the effectiveness that various separation processes will have in isolating it from a mixture. Determining properties like the magnetic susceptibility, density and solubility of a substance is the basis for developing a process that effectively purifies the desired products.

The team conducted experiments to establish the feasibility of separating and purifying the components of a waste aggregate using various physical and acid-conscious separation techniques. Physical separation processes can be highly effective methods for recovering valuable resources from discarded aggregate and are dependent on the physical properties of each component. Magnetic susceptibility, density separation, froth flotation and solubility were investigated as possible separation processes for the desirable components of the waste aggregate.

The date pit is an economic waste product generated as a byproduct of date fruit production. These seeds contain antioxidants such as carotenoids, polyphenols and tannins, along with unsaturated fatty acids such as oleic and linoleic acids, that keep hair, skin and nails healthy.

The team developed a process to extract about 95% of the available seed oil using supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2). Gaseous carbon dioxide is heated and compressed to supercritical conditions, then pumped to an extracting vessel containing ground date pits. The SC-CO2 extracts the oil from the pits and is then separated from the oil with a pressure reduction valve. A flash drum pressure drop removes the remaining carbon dioxide from the oil. The carbon dioxide is recycled back into the process after separation. The resulting date seed oil is more than 95% pure due to the efficiency of the separation process.

Per-/polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) are a family of contaminants causing growing concern. They are used in many industries and consumer goods because of their compound stability and hydrophobic, oleophobic and hydrophilic functionalities. But research suggests that exposure to PFAS can be harmful to health. This project uses a tertiary wastewater unit process to remove PFAS via adsorption to granular activated carbon (GAC).

The design consists of GAC adsorption columns, placed in parallel and lead-lag configuration to reduce the flow rate and increase the wastewater’s contact time without drastically increasing the overall retention time. The team conducted an experiment to determine the breakthrough properties of GAC with the PFAS in order to improve modeling of the process. The improved model allowed for a more accurate prediction of compound removal and GAC replacement requirements. The design effectively adsorbs the PFAS compounds and produces clean effluent water with a concentration safely below the recommended EPA standard of 70 ppt.

Soil vapor extraction is a useful remediation technique for soil that has been contaminated with dangerous, volatile organics. The process applies a vacuum to the soil that creates an airflow to remove the unwanted elements. The team designed a lab to demonstrate this transport phenomenon on a smaller, controlled scale to students.

In the lab, soil is purposefully contaminated with small amounts of toluene. The soil is then deposited into several extraction vessels. These vessels are attached to a vacuum system that creates airflow through them, removing the contamination. The toluene is then delivered to an activated carbon filter for disposal. Individual extraction vessels are taken out of the system on set time intervals for analysis. The remediated soil then goes through a liquid extraction process where a small amount of hexane is added to extract the remaining toluene. Finally, the concentration of toluene is measured via gas chromatography/flame ionization detector analysis. This gives the students data to model the extraction process.

The Bard Valley Natural Delight date company produces around 30 million pounds of dates each year. However, date production also generates excess biomass that gets thrown away. The company wanted an economical use of these dates that would otherwise go to waste.

Fruit wine has been made since the beginning of civilization, and today it is a growing market. The team designed a process for fruit wine that starts with both pureed and whole dates. Tartaric acid and ICV Okay yeast were added to a fermentation keg to begin the alcohol production. The chemical process uses the yeast to break down sugar, producing ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide. After the fermentation has ended with the desired alcohol by volume (ABV), the wine is strained and cooled with a chilling coil. The final product is a dessert wine with 15% to 20% ABV.

Lithium-ion batteries are rapidly becoming the primary form of commercial energy storage, but the United States contains less than 0.5% of the Earth’s known lithium supply. Recycling of these products is vital to provide a dependable and sustainable source of lithium for the growing renewable energy economy.

The design employs a lithium-ion battery recycling process that recovers more than 95% of valuable materials, resulting in lower emissions and energy usage than competing methods. The team developed a breakdown method through controlled-atmosphere shredding under carbon dioxide and separating to increase throughput. Metal ions from the batteries’ cathodes are removed through chemical leaching. From the ionic solution, cobalt, lithium, nickel and manganese are isolated and ready for reuse in battery manufacturing.

Six mining engineering students participated in an international collegiate competition requiring teams to create a mine plan and evaluate its feasibility using real-world data. The contest was administered by the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration.

In Phase 1 of the competition, the team designed a metal mine based on a given resource model, processing data and equipment restrictions. The final design considered multiple economic, environmental, equipment, processing and risk tradeoffs to determine the best plan. The results were compiled into a report and presented to the judges.

Phase 2 consisted of updating the mine design under additional constraints. Finally, the plan was reported at the MINEXCHANGE 2022 conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Ultimately, the team placed second in the worldwide competition.

The High Purity Rare Earth Separation project focuses on recycling materials that are a byproduct of aerospace industry manufacturing processes, reducing the industry’s dependence on foreign sources. The most important materials in this project are zirconia, a transition metal oxide, and yttria, a rare earth oxide.

Many aerospace companies create their parts using molds. Yttria composes the innermost layers, and zirconia makes up the remaining layers of the shell. The team’s primary goal was to separate the zirconia and yttria from each other using physical processes rather than chemical processes and prevent the materials from being sent to landfills.

Using a physical process as opposed to a chemical process is beneficial because it doesn’t rely on damaging and dangerous chemicals that can pollute water and soil and harm animals by increasing acidity and other toxins in an environment. This team researched and designed novel physical processes that use existing technology to separate the materials for future reuse. Using these processes will allow foundries to run more independently, without relying on imports and without constantly purchasing expensive elements such as zirconium and yttrium.

People living near airports are constantly exposed to high levels of noise. Currently, noise contour maps are computed by airport facilities using the Aviation Environmental Design Tool (AEDT). This project presents a tool that calculates noise contours using manually collected noise data, beginning with Tucson International Airport.

The design of the project includes three major modules:
• the creation of a tool – in this case, a website;
• the collection of data at Tucson International Airport;
• a methodology for the creation of noise contours.

The website is for people who reside near airport facilities and are affected by the high noise levels created by airplanes. The website provides the public with deeper insight, knowledge and material regarding noise levels within their area. It further allows them to submit noise complaints as well as the ability to view descriptions regarding the noise levels around the area they wish to observe. The data collected with the noise monitor is interpolated in order to create noise contour lines.

Growing crops in space is imperative to the advancement of space travel. A promising technique for this is aeroponics, which optimizes space and water compared to traditional cultivation techniques. This system will allow astronauts to control which solutions are interacting with the plants while in turn providing key nutrients and calories.

The I-AMEND System consists of a combination of mechanical components, electronics and biosystem techniques to emit water, nutrients and air along a crop row. The team developed an autonomous, controllable system that supports onboard sensors, cameras and moving emitters which can gently flow horizontally through the system. A Raspberry Pi allows the user to adjust the emitters’ positions via a mounted touch screen. Sensor data and camera footage are collected and accessible for informed environmental control and crop growth optimization. Designed to work in varying gravity environments, this system will help make long-term missions to the moon and Mars more feasible.