Methane is a product of biogeochemical processes which respond to changes in climate. The history of atmospheric methane is recorded by ice cores providing insight into past changes in these biogeochemical processes. This dissertation is comprised of three studies which focus on centennial- and millenial-scale variability of methane from ice...
The spectrophone method for the study of vibrational relaxation
has been claimed to possess a distinct advantage over the more commonly
used ultrasonic techniques in that it permits the relaxation of
the various infrared-active vibrational modes in a polyatomic molecule
to be studied separately. A discussion of the rate equations...
Steam-methane reforming is a well understood industrial process used for generating hydrogen and synthesis gas. The reaction is generally carried out with residence times on the order of one second. By performing this reaction at microscales it is possible to take advantage of increased heat transfer rates and low diffusion...
Numerical modeling of methane-steam reforming is performed in a micro/mini-channel with heat input through catalytic channel walls. The low-Mach number, variable density Navier-Stokes equations together with multicomponent reactions are solved using a parallel numerical framework. Methane-steam reforming is modeled by three reduced-order reactions occurring on the reactor walls. The surface...
Methane flux was measured from northern Alaska Arctic Coastal Plain wetlands to assess the spatial and temporal variability of Arctic tundra emissions during the summers of 1987 through 1990. Initially, the role of vegetation in the release of methane from substrate to atmosphere was assessed. Methane emissions were shown to...
Two methanotrophs, M. trichosporium OB3b and M. buryatense 5GB1, were encapsulated using two methods to investigate the potential of methane conversion for biofuel production. Ca-alginate and low melt agarose were used to immobilize the methanotrophs for batch and continuous flow column testing. Varying protein concentrations, residence times, and immobilization methods...