Selected Papers from the International Electronic Conference on Processes

A project collection of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717).

Papers displayed on this page all arise from the same project. Editorial decisions were made independently of project staff and handled by the Editor-in-Chief or qualified Editorial Board members.

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Guest Editor
Department of Drug Science and Technology, University of Turin, Via P. Giuria 9, 10125 Turin, Italy
Interests: green chemistry; process intensification; green extraction; enabling technologies (ultrasound, microwaves, hydrodynamic cavitation, ball milling, flow chemistry); sustainable chemical processes
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Project Overview

Dear Colleagues,

This Collection contains selected papers from the proceedings of the 3rd and 4th International Electronic Conference on Processes (ECP 2024 and ECP 2025), an online platform for hosting scholarly e-conferences and discussion groups (https://sciforum.net/event/ecp2024; https://sciforum.net/event/ECP2025).

The International Electronic Conference presents the latest studies on process and system-related research in the fields of chemistry, biology, materials, energy, environment, food, pharmaceutical processing, particle processes, and engineering. The aim is to highlight the current status, challenges, opportunities, and future trends in process systems engineering.

All processes/system-related scientists or researchers are welcome to join this Collection and share their insights into general and related themes, including the following:

  • Green chemistry engineering and environment-related processes;
  • Experimental, theoretical, and computational research on process development and engineering;
  • Process modeling, simulation, optimization, and control;
  • Food-relevant processing and improvement of food quality;
  • Sustainable and renewable systems engineering;
  • Energy system and current demand and electricity market;
  • Eco-friendly processes and methods;
  • Materials manufacturing and sustainable packaging;
  • Pharmaceutical processing;
  • Particle processes.

Prof. Dr. Giancarlo Cravotto
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the collection website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Processes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (4 papers)

2025

10 pages, 1143 KiB  
Article
A Numerical Model for Inelastic Buckling in Cold Upset Forging: Stress Analysis and Optimal Billet Geometry
by Dan Lagat, Huzeifa Munawar, Alfayo Alugongo and Hilary Rutto
Processes 2025, 13(7), 2078; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr13072078 - 1 Jul 2025
Abstract
The forging industry has increasingly emphasised quality and reproducibility, making computer simulations essential for predicting and improving the process. A major challenge in cold upset forging is billet buckling, which leads to defective products. Existing numerical models, such as the Euler and Rankine-Gordon [...] Read more.
The forging industry has increasingly emphasised quality and reproducibility, making computer simulations essential for predicting and improving the process. A major challenge in cold upset forging is billet buckling, which leads to defective products. Existing numerical models, such as the Euler and Rankine-Gordon formulas, mainly focus on elastic buckling. This study aimed to develop a numerical model that defined inelastic buckling during forging, particularly in cold upset forging, which could be used to determine the buckled billets and their stresses, identify the deflection point for different billet geometries, and specify the optimum billet geometry for aluminium. A numerical approach was used to model the forging operation and obtain simulation data for stress variation against die strokes. Seven billet geometries (10–40 mm in diameter, each with a length of 120 mm) and three frictional conditions (µ = 0.12, 0.16, and 0.35) were applied. The simulation results showed that the billet geometry and the strain hardening exponent had a crucial impact on the buckling behaviour, while friction seemed to alter the overall billet stresses. Rigorous non-linear regression and iterations showed that the numerical model successfully estimated the buckling stresses but failed to identify the buckling points through stress differences. Full article
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18 pages, 1794 KiB  
Article
Biodegradability of Heavy Oil Using Soil and Water Microbial Consortia Under Aerobic and Anaerobic Conditions
by Shakir Ali, Isha and Young-Cheol Chang
Processes 2025, 13(7), 2057; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr13072057 - 28 Jun 2025
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Abstract
Heavy oil, due to its complex hydrocarbon structure and resistance to degradation, poses significant environmental challenges. There is a lack of knowledge about the biodegradability of heavy oil in the natural environment under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. In this study, we used microbial [...] Read more.
Heavy oil, due to its complex hydrocarbon structure and resistance to degradation, poses significant environmental challenges. There is a lack of knowledge about the biodegradability of heavy oil in the natural environment under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. In this study, we used microbial communities of water and soil samples to investigate the biodegradation of heavy oil. Gas chromatography (GC) analysis was used to measure residual oil. Under aerobic conditions, soil-derived microorganisms demonstrated significantly higher degradation efficiency—achieving up to 80.3% removal—compared to water-derived samples, which showed a maximum degradation of 52.1%. Anaerobic conditions, on the other hand, clearly slowed down degradation; the maximum degradation rates in water and soil samples were 43.7% and 11.1%, respectively. Although no clear linear relationship was found, the correlation between initial microbial populations and degradation performance revealed that higher counts of heterotrophic and oil-degrading bacteria generally enhanced biodegradation. Under anaerobic conditions, especially, persistent hydrocarbon peaks in both environments suggest the presence of recalcitrant heavy oil fractions such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. In conclusion, this study emphasizes the crucial roles microbial sources and oxygen availability play in maximizing bioremediation techniques for environments contaminated with heavy oil. Full article
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12 pages, 719 KiB  
Article
Techno-Economic Analysis of Mineralization and Utilization of CO2 in Recycled Concrete Aggregates
by Wayne Goh, Suming Ye, Roy Ou Yong, Kit Huan Tham, Cun Wang, Longgang Tao and Shuying Cheng
Processes 2025, 13(2), 410; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr13020410 - 4 Feb 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1303
Abstract
Considering the dangers and risks posed by climate change, many countries and organizations have pledged to achieve “net-zero emissions” by 2050. The present work introduces a new approach that addresses the growing global carbon emissions issue by integrating CO2 capture and sequestration [...] Read more.
Considering the dangers and risks posed by climate change, many countries and organizations have pledged to achieve “net-zero emissions” by 2050. The present work introduces a new approach that addresses the growing global carbon emissions issue by integrating CO2 capture and sequestration through the carbonation of recycled concrete aggregates (RCAs), producing an alternative sand (AS) product. This study explores the capture of low-concentration CO2 and its suitability for sequestration into RCA. The integration of RCA in the process allows concrete manufacturers to reduce their reliance on mined sand, thereby minimizing its impact on the environment. A techno-economic analysis (TEA) was conducted on the CO2 absorption and mineralization process to assess its economic viability across various processing scales, from 150 kt CO2 per year to 1 Mt CO2 per year. Initial bench-scale experiments show that RCA samples have a carbonation capacity of 10% by mass—these experimental results were used to conduct a TEA using Aspen Plus and an Aspen Process Economic Analyzer (APEA). The TEA results reveal a cost of 11.02 USD/t AS at the smallest scale and 8.02 USD/t AS at the largest scale. Full article
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19 pages, 3853 KiB  
Article
Sustainable Production of Porous Activated Carbon from Hydrothermally Carbonized Jamoya Fruit Seeds and Its Potential for Adsorbing the Azo Dye Carmoisine B
by Shubham Chaudhary, Monika Chaudhary, Vaishali Tyagi, Shivangi Chaubey, Suhas, Vikas Gupta, Isabel Pestana da Paixão Cansado and Jahangeer Ahmed
Processes 2025, 13(2), 385; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr13020385 - 31 Jan 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1081
Abstract
Porous carbon materials can serve as effective and versatile adsorbents in water pollution management. This study presents a cost-effective and environmentally friendly method to produce porous carbon materials (JFS-PC) by exploiting Jamoya fruit seeds (JFS) as a precursor using a hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) [...] Read more.
Porous carbon materials can serve as effective and versatile adsorbents in water pollution management. This study presents a cost-effective and environmentally friendly method to produce porous carbon materials (JFS-PC) by exploiting Jamoya fruit seeds (JFS) as a precursor using a hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) process. HTC is a thermochemical process for the conversion of high moisture content biomass into carbon-rich materials. The process is performed in a temperature range of 180–250 °C during which the biomass is submerged in water and heated in a sealed environment under autogenous pressure. The adsorbents obtained were explored using different techniques viz. XRD, FTIR, FE-SEM, and surface area analyses to evaluate their characteristics that are beneficial for the adsorption process. Surface area analysis revealed that the developed activated carbon exhibits appreciable surface area (440.8 m2g−1), with a mean pore diameter of 3.97 nm. Activated carbon was successfully tested on the removal of an azo dye, Carmoisine B (CB), from water systems. Isothermal and kinetic evaluation demonstrated that the dye adsorption agrees well with the Langmuir (R2 = 0.993) and pseudo-second-order (R2 = 0.998) kinetics models. The experiments were designed to investigate the influence of adsorbate concentration (1 × 10−4 and 2 × 10−4 mol L−1), collision time (5–300 min), pH (2–12) of the solution, and temperature (25–45 °C) on the adsorption of the selected dye. The results revealed that pH influences the adsorption capacity of CB and showed maximum adsorption between pH 2 and 5. Experimentally, the CB isotherms showed maximum adsorption capacities of 169.0 mg g−1, at 45 °C. Mechanisms indicate that the surface charge of the adsorbent, and structures of the adsorbate play key roles in adsorption. Thermodynamic parameters revealed an endothermic and a physisorption process supported by Van’t Hoff calculations. The study indicates that the developed porous carbon (JFS-PC) can be successfully used for the removal of CB from water systems. It also highlights the use of an inexpensive and renewable precursor for the development of porous carbon materials. Full article
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