Project goal: To design a high-efficiency brewery-distillery hybrid that produces 10,000 barrels of beer and 3,000 cases of whiskey annually. The advantages of this hybrid are reduced energy and water consumption. The plant uses novel mash-filtration techniques to achieve nearly 100 percent yield of fermentable sugars from grains, which reduces raw material demand. Water is recycled through a reverse osmosis unit for alcohol production,ensuring quality of product and minimizing equipment downtime. The heat exchanger network is optimized to reduce heat duty requirements. The distillation column is designed to achieve maximum alcohol output while automatically separating the volatiles, products and waste. The hybrid brewery-distillery process maximizes use of equipment, water and raw ingredients to increase the combined output of beer and whiskey while minimizing environmental impact.

Project goal: To design an alkylation unit that produces 5,000 barrels of alkylate per day from a common olefin feedstock found in oil-processing plants. This process converts light hydrocarbons (four-carbon chains)to a heavier hydrocarbon (eight-carbon chain), which is a preferred stock for blending high-octane gasoline to be used in airplanes and automobiles. The reactor and auxiliary units are to be placed in an existing refinery, so footprint and safety requirements are considered in the design. Sulfuric acid is used as a catalyst to run the process at reasonable operating conditions for a large-scale plant. Hydrofluoric acid can also be used, so a cost and safety comparison between the two was conducted. The first reactant for this process, butylene, is commonly created in the separation of crude oil. Typically, lighter hydrocarbons are unusable in fuel blending due to their low boiling point, so heavier molecules are created to output a higher quantity of valuable product from the refinery. By reacting butylene with isobutane via a sulfuric acid catalyst, the two molecules combine to form an eight-carbon hydrocarbon generally referred to as octane, which is sent to a different area of the plant for blending into a variety of fuels. Most of this process was simulated in Aspen Plus software and checked against best industry practices. The project also analyzed and accounted for economics, safety,and environmental impact.

Project goal: To design a distributed generation fuel cell system to replace the fraction of energy that the University of Arizona currently purchases from Tucson Electric Power. The design reacts methane and hydrogen in a reformer to produce hydrogen for the fuel cells’ feedstock and carbon dioxide as a byproduct. The hydrogen and carbon dioxide are fed to a pressure-swing adsorption column, which removes carbon dioxide, and the pure hydrogen is fed to the fuel cells. The process uses a solid-oxide fuel cell that reacts oxygen and hydrogen across a cadmium cathode to produce water and electricity, which is then fed to the University of Arizona’s power grid. Heat from the carbon dioxide is recovered by heating up the air feed to the fuel cell using a heat exchanger. The addition of fuel cells around campus allows the University to be powered by green energy while reducing its electricity bill. The water produced as waste is reused in the heating and cooling system for the fuel cells.

Project goal: To create temporary disaster-relief housing from re-purposed post-consumer cardboard. The design of the shelter includes water-and fireproofing features that can withstand inclement weather and environmental hazards. The construction material is formed via pulping of recycled cardboard, which incorporates the removal of particulates, adhesives and pulp fibers that do not meet strength requirements. After cleaning and refining, the pulp is dried, rolled and formed into new paperboard, which is chemically treated to improve its resistance to water and fire. The paperboard sheets are then laminated into corrugated building blocks for the final shelter design. The engineered product is lightweight and allows rapid and cost-effective transportation to wherever it is needed. The use of post-consumer waste as a building material creates an inexpensive and environmentally benign means of providing shelter to those displaced by natural disasters and conflict.

Project goal: To design an expansion of the Greenfield Water Reclamation Plant that doubles processing capacity, increases efficiency, and minimizes expansion cost while maintaining the quality of the discharged water. The facility is rated at an average daily flow of 16 million gallons per day, or MGD, with a maximum hourly flow of 48 MGD. The expansion designed will handle an average daily flow of 30 MGD and a maximum hourly flow of 90 MGD. The plant’s current design allows it to meet current water quality standards, but its efficiency was improved during this expansion by making the facility more user-friendly, and by reducing the maintenance costs. The team used a decision matrix to find an optimum design for each of the three objective areas, and suggested additional water-treatment technologies that could make the facility easier to operate.

Project goal: To design an expansion to an existing production line that increases production of the flu vaccine by 50 million doses. A shortage of vaccines with the correct strand predictions has made the 2017-2018 flu season more severe than usual. The vaccine is mass produced by pharmaceutical companies throughout the world using the strains predicted by the World Health Organization. The new expansion sought to cut the production period in half. The new design allows the quadrivalent vaccines to be produced on eight lines,each including a virus injector, egg incubator, and egg harvester to create the initial vaccine serum,with two lines per strain. The process after the egg harvester involves several filtration techniques, including tangential flow filtration, ion exchange chromatography and size exclusion chromatography, which yield serum standards pure enough to be mixed with an excipient in order to be absorbed fully by a human body. The final 50 million doses will be sent to distributors, clinics and hospitals nationwide to solve the vaccine shortage.

Project goal: To design a process for removing arsenic from groundwater in the Black Canyon City area to meet maximum EPA contaminant limit standards. Arsenic occurs naturally in groundwater but is especially prevalent in areas near mining operations. Long-term arsenic exposure has been linked to severe medical conditions,including cancer. This project creates potable water by removing arsenic from groundwater via four major processes: chlorination, adsorption, desorption and precipitation. Chlorination oxidizes arsenic, disinfects water, and lowers pH for optimal arsenic removal. Adsorption uses granulated ferric hydroxide to remove arsenic from the water, leaving an arsenic content that is below the maximum containment level and safe for human consumption. Desorption is performed when the adsorbent is saturated with arsenic so that the granulated ferric hydroxide can be regenerated and reused. Desorption produces a concentrated arsenic brine that can be further treated to precipitate out the arsenic as a solid to be disposed of as hazardous waste.

Project goal: To almost double the capacity of the Greenfield Water Reclamation Plant to 30 million gallons of reclaimed water per day, and 16 million gallons of bio-solids per day. The aim of the project is to expand the current capacity of the Greenfield Water Reclamation Plant from 16 to 30 million gallons of Class A+ reclaimed water per day annual average day flow, or MGD AADF. At the same time,the project investigated an increase in Class B bio-solids from 8 to 16 MGD AADF. The expansion maintains the plant’s current Arizona Department of Environmental Quality standards, and does not disrupt existing operations. Historic flow and wastewater characteristic data were analyzed, as were the processes in the plant to reduce energy and chemical usage. The designed process treats the influent wastewater using a combination of screens, grit removal, hydrocyclone separators, clarifiers, aeration basins, disk filters, and ultraviolet disinfection to remove microbes from the effluent. The sludge is treated using centrifuges and anaerobic digesters, then the Class B bio-solids are sent to the landfill. The methane produced during this process is used to heat the boilers,which generate steam to heat the sludge. The excess methane is burnt off in flares. Chemicals used in the process include sodium hydroxide and sodium hypochlorite.

Project goal: To design and construct three sets of 35-degree swept wings with varying flexibility that are compatible with the X-56A MUTT fuselage. Although wings with high aspect ratios increase aerodynamic efficiency, the resulting large wingspans amplify the magnitudes of torsional and bending moments. The Dynamic Scaled Research Testbed is a one-third dynamically scaled fuselage modeled after the Lockheed Martin X-56A MUTT used to test these dynamic interactions. Analytical methods are used to determine the required geometric and material properties of three different sets of spars, which dictate the stiffness of the corresponding wing. These analytical methods are then verified using numerical finite element analysis and ground testing. Sensors and additional avionics were designed and installed to record telemetry and flow conditions over the wing during flight-testing. Following extensive structural and electronic ground testing, flight tests were performed to validate the design and gather data for research. The upgraded testbed will allow researchers to gather flight data and contribute to the safe and effective use of flexible wings with high aspect ratios.

Project goal: To design a large-scale unmanned aircraft system to support flight-testing of newly designed parachute-recovery system. To help mitigate the costs arising from failure of large-scale unmanned aircraft systems, the team designed the testbed to flight-test the autonomous parachute system designed by Team 17078.A four-foot-diameter hexacopter was designed and built using mostly existing hardware. The structure was designed to protect essential, and costly,components from damage while allowing the inexpensive and easily replaceable frame to absorb the impact. Structural integrity was analyzed using finite element analysis. Motor testing was performed to validate the thrust outputs of all six motors to ensure accurate performance capabilities. Control configuration and system integration were finalized before flight-testing.The hexacopter design satisfied the requirements for parachute flight-testing.