Publications
Characterization and beneficiation of Ethiopian kaolin for use in fabrication of ceramic membrane KU Leuven
Kaolin (china clay) is a rock material that is very rich in kaolinite. A kaolin ore from Debre Tabor, Ethiopia containing 59.2 wt% SiO2, 24.9 wt% Al2O3, 2.4 wt% Fe2O3, and 8.22 wt% loss on ignition (LOI) was physically beneficiated, chemically leached, and thermally treated for possible industrial use, especially for ceramic membrane fabrication. The leaching experiments were carried out using oxalic acid solutions as leaching reagents for the ...
Numerical modelling assisted design of a compact Ultrafiltration (UF) flat sheet membrane module KU Leuven
The increasing adoption of ultra-low pressure (ULP) membrane systems for drinking water treatment in small rural communities is currently hindered by a limited number of studies on module design. Detailed knowledge on both intrinsic membrane transport properties and fluid hydrodynamics within the module is essential in understanding ULP performance prediction, mass transfer analysis for scaling-up between lab-scale and industrial scale research. ...
Co(II) and Ni(II) transport from model and real sulfate solutions by extraction with bis(2,4,4-trimethylpentyl)phosphinic acid (Cyanex 272) KU Leuven
This paper presents the results of Co(II) and Ni(II) extraction from model and real solutions using bis(2,4,4-trimethylpentyl)phosphinic acid (i.e. Cyanex 272) that are in agreement with waste-to-resources approach, i.e. the recovery of valuable components from wastes. The results from this study shows that, extraction using Cyanex 272 is an efficient method to recover Co(II) selectively from sulfate electrolytes obtained from the leaching of ...
Post-combustion artificial neural network modeling of nickel-producing multiple hearth furnace KU Leuven
In a nickel-producing multiple hearth furnace, there is a problem associated to the automatic operation of the temperature control loops in two of the hearths, since the same flow of air is split into two branches. A neural model of the post-combustion sub-process is built and served to increase the process efficiency of the industrial furnace. Data was taken for a three-months operating time period to identify the main variables characterizing ...