Editor-in-Chief
Takao Tsukada (Tohoku University)

Associate (Editor-in-Cheifs)
Manabu Shimada (Hiroshima University)
Masahiro Shishido (Yamagata University)

Editors
Ryuichi Egashira (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
Jun Fukai (Kyushu University)
Choji Fukuhara (Shizuoka University)
Toshitaka Funazukuri (Chuo University)
Takayuki Hirai (Osaka University)
Jun-ichi Horiuchi (Kitami Institute of Technology)
Eiji Iritani (Nagoya University)
Yoshinori Itaya (Gifu University)
Noriho Kamiya (Kyushu University)
In-Beum Lee (Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTEC))
Kouji Maeda (University of Hyogo)
Hideyuki Matsumoto (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
Nobuyoshi Nakagawa (Gunma University)
Masaru Noda (Fukuoka University)
Hiroyasu Ogino (Osaka Prefecture University)
Mitsuhiro Ohta (The University of Tokushima)
Eika (W. Qian Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology)
Yuji Sakai (Kogakuin University)
Noriaki Sano (Kyoto University)
Naomi Shibasaki-Kitakawa (Tohoku University)
Ken-Ichiro Sotowa (The University of Tokushima)
Hiroshi Suzuki (Kobe University)
Nobuhide Takahashi (Shinshu University)
Shigeki Takishima (Hiroshima University)
Yoshifumi Tsuge (Kyushu University)
Tomoya Tsuji (Nihon University)
Da-Ming Wang (National Taiwan University)
Takuji Yamamoto (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST))
Yoshiyuki Yamashita (Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology)
Miki Yoshimune (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST))

Editorial office:
The Society of Chemical Engineers, Japan
Kyoritsu Building, 4-6-19, Kohinata, Bunkyo-ku
Tokyo 112-0006, Japan
journal@scej.org

AIMS AND SCOPE:

Journal of Chemical Engineering of Japan, an official publication of the Society of Chemical Engineers, Japan, is dedicated to providing timely original research results in the broad field of chemical engineering ranging from fundamental principles to practical applications. Subject areas of this journal are listed below. Research works presented in the journal are considered to have significant and lasting value in chemical engineering.

Physical Properties and Physical Chemistry
Transport Phenomena and Fluid Engineering
Particle Engineering
Separation Engineering
Thermal Engineering
Chemical Reaction Engineering
Process Systems Engineering and Safety
Biochemical Food and Medical Engineering
Micro and Nano Systems
Materials Engineering and Interfacial Phenomena
Energy
Environment
Engineering Education

View full abstract

In this research, the influence of channel size on co-current downward Taylor flow in a square channel is studied numerically by a volume-of-fluid method. Three different hydraulic diameters are considered, namely 0.5 mm, 1 mm and 2 mm. The physical properties of the two-phase system correspond to squalane (liquid) and nitrogen (gas). The simulations employ the unit cell concept where the ratio between unit cell length and hydraulic diameter is fixed to four and the gas holdup is 40%. For these conditions and each hydraulic diameter, a series of simulations with different flow rates is performed. The resulting values of the capillary and Reynolds number are in the ranges 0.15–0.5 and 2–17, respectively. The numerical results show that the appropriately non-dimensionalized bubble velocity, bubble diameter and volumetric interfacial area all scale with the capillary number, while the influence of inertia and buoyancy is small, though tiny effects can be recognized.

View full abstract

In this article, manganese and zinc compound formation via reactive crystallization has been summarized. In this process, the metal sulfate solution was reacted with the sodium carbonate solution according to the double-jet method. Some particle properties such as crystal size, shape, agglomeration rate, and metal ion concentration in the effluent have been examined by controlling the pH in the initial reaction field, the concentration of the metal ions in the stock solution, or the flow rate of the solution. The size of formed manganese carbonate particles increases with an increase in the feeding speed and the metal ion concentration in stock solution. This is due to the fact that particle growth is strongly affected by the metal ion supersaturation in the reaction solution. Meanwhile, the manganese carbonate particle recovery rate increases with an increase in the feeding rate and a decrease in the metal ion concentration. The size of zinc oxide particles formed continuously changes with the initial pH. The above experiments indicate that the recovered crystal size and surface roughness, as well as the metal ion recovery rate and monodispersion, are controlled, to some extent, by regulating the reaction conditions.

View full abstract

In this study, a computational study has been performed to separate over 99.9 mol% of acetonitrile from binary azeotropic mixture of acetonitrile and water using a Pressure Swing Distillation process (PSD). The PSD process is used to separate azeotropic mixtures using the difference between the relative volatilities and azeotropic compositions by changing the system pressure. Non-Random Two Liquid (NRTL) model for liquid phase and the Peng–Robinson equation for vapor phase are used. An optimization study for the reflux ratio and feed stage locations which minimize the total reboiler heat duties are studied. Since the PSD process consists of two columns, i.e. high pressure (HP) and low pressure (LP), the effect of column sequences on the optimum process conditions is also reported.

View full abstract

Nine novel formaldehyde-resistant fungi were isolated from 170 soils and wastewater samples from Aichi prefecture. When these fungi were cultured in medium containing various concentrations of formaldehyde after being cultured in a plate of basal medium containing 1.5% agar and 0.2% formaldehyde, 0.30–0.50% formaldehyde was almost completely consumed in the medium containing glucose as the carbon source. The highest degradation activity of the 9 strains was obtained for, strain IRI017; the fungi could grow in medium containing 0.5% formaldehyde and almost all of the formaldehyde was degraded in 100 h. This was the highest formaldehyde concentration for biological direct degradation as far as we know. Strain IRI017 was identified as Paecilomyces variotii from sequence analysis of 18S rDNA. When cell-free extracts of strain IRI017 were prepared from cell suspension using medium supplemented with formaldehyde and glucose as the carbon source, high nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)-linked, glutathione (GSH)-dependent formaldehyde dehydrogenase activity 1.68 µmol/(min·mg-protein) was detected. When strain IRI017 was suspended in buffer solution at an initial formaldehyde concentration of 0.26%, the cells degraded the formaldehyde completely in 150 h.

View full abstract

The emission of hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) near the estuary of a regional river (Tokyo, Japan), which is thought to be caused by biological reduction of sulfate in seawater mixing with overflow wastewater, poses a severe environmental problem. In order to investigate vertically the biochemical alteration of the river under the long-time treatment for the sulfide problem, we set up a vertical column simulator composed of artificial sewage-filled columns and packed-bed columns. During operation, we carried out chemical and biological analyses to elucidate vertical distributions of sulfide concentration, dissolved oxygen concentration, oxidation/reduction potential and microbial consortia. H₂S was not detected in the top section, which was supplied with continuous aerated artificial wastewater, whereas H₂S was formed at high concentrations under anaerobic conditions. After 1 year, we changed the supply position for aerated sewage from the top to the middle of the simulator; subsequently, the sulfide concentrations in all sections, especially in the sediment region, dropped to negligible levels. Furthermore, under each of these 2 conditions, pyrosequencing revealed that the microbial consortia differed significantly following the change of the aerated sewage supply position. On the basic of these results, purging oxygen at the border of the water column and the sediment could help to solve the sulfide problem more effectively and might enhance the growth of bacteria involved in the sulfide oxidation process.

View full abstract

Herein, we describe the behavior of a water droplet on a UV-curable liquid sublayer coating. The surface deformation of the droplet promotes the spontaneous rupture of the sublayer, leading to the wetting-induced inversion of the liquid–liquid bilayer under particular drying conditions. Optical microscopy of the dried films revealed three distinct topographical patterns (i) a trapped droplet immersed in the sublayer, (ii) a cylindrical open column, and (iii) a transition mode between (i) and (ii), depending on time scales for the solvent evaporation and the film solidification. A dimensionless drying map is presented to identify the morphology transition by different regions in parameter space. Such a one-step patterning route in a wet-on-wet configuration is promising for the fabrication of multilayer devices.

View full abstract