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Lecture Notes on Multidisciplinary Industrial Engineering

Marek Ochowiak
Szymon Woziwodzki
Michał Doligalski
Piotr Tomasz Mitkowski Editors

Practical Aspects
of Chemical
Engineering
Selected Contributions from PAIC 2017
Lecture Notes on Multidisciplinary Industrial
Engineering

Series editor
J. Paulo Davim, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Aveiro,
Aveiro, Portugal
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15734
Marek Ochowiak Szymon Woziwodzki
•

Michał Doligalski Piotr Tomasz Mitkowski

•

Editors

Practical Aspects
of Chemical Engineering
Selected Contributions from PAIC 2017

123
Editors
Marek Ochowiak Michał Doligalski
Institute of Chemical Technology Institute of Metrology, Electronics
and Engineering and Computer Science
Poznan University of Technology University of Zielona Góra
Poznań Zielona Góra
Poland Poland

Szymon Woziwodzki Piotr Tomasz Mitkowski

Institute of Chemical Technology Institute of Chemical Technology
and Engineering and Engineering
Poznan University of Technology Poznan University of Technology
Poznań Poznań
Poland Poland

ISSN 2522-5022 ISSN 2522-5030 (electronic)

Lecture Notes on Multidisciplinary Industrial Engineering
ISBN 978-3-319-73977-9 ISBN 978-3-319-73978-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73978-6
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017963523

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part
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Preface

Chemical and process engineering is a field of knowledge that deals with processes
in which the composition and properties of substances change. Despite the fact that
it emerged a long time ago, it has continued to develop and embrace new areas of
interest such as biotechnology and nanotechnology. The aim of chemical and
process engineering is to manufacture products of the chemical industry or the
wider range of products of the whole processing industries. Its most important task
is to describe these processes, which is the basis for design, proper exploitation,
optimization and control of production installations, and to solve technical prob-
lems of process execution. Therefore, it is extremely important to transfer the
results of scientific experiments to industrial practice and production of finished
goods.
The book aims at presenting the reader a combination of scientific research with
process practice and product development, as well as the practical aspects of
chemical and process engineering. It contains selected issues with a detailed
description of the use of research results, i.e.:
• Rheological properties of liquids and complex systems,
• Mixing,
• Distribution of mixtures,
• Single- and multiphase flows,
• Reactors,
• Momentum transfer processes,
• Heat and mass and their intensification,
• Design and modeling of chemical processes and devices,
• Measurement and process control,
• Environmental protection engineering, and
• Other issues of chemical and process engineering.
The editors of this book hope that it will be a valuable piece of reading for both
researchers and students of chemical and process engineering, and engineers

v
vi Preface

working in the area of design of chemical processes and equipment. The reader is
presumed to have a basic knowledge of chemical equipment design and the theory
of chemical and process engineering.

Poznań, Poland Marek Ochowiak

September 2017
Contents

Silage of Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) as a Bioenergy

Feedstock in Poland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Mariusz Adamski, Waldemar Szaferski, Piotr Gulewicz
and Włodzimierz Majtkowski
Process Intensification in Practice: Ethylene Glycol Case Study . . . . . . . 17
Magda H. Barecka, Mirko Skiborowski and Andrzej Górak
Problems of Heat Transfer in Agitated Vessels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Magdalena Cudak, Marta Major-Godlewska and Joanna Karcz
Non-invasive Measurement of Interfacial Surface States . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Krystian Czernek and Małgorzata Płaczek
The Influence of Rotating Magnetic Field
on Biochemical Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Radosław Drozd, Agata Wasak, Maciej Konopacki,
Marian Kordas and Rafał Rakoczy
Chemical Processing of Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum)
and Grass Mixtures in Terms of Biogas Yield in Poland . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Karol Durczak, Mariusz Adamski, Piotr Tomasz Mitkowski,
Waldemar Szaferski, Piotr Gulewicz and Włodzimierz Majtkowski
Analysis of Flow Through the Entry Region of a Channel
with Metal Foam Packing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Roman Dyga, Małgorzata Płaczek, Stanisław Witczak
and Krystian Czernek
CFD Modelling of Liquid-Liquid Multiphase Slug
Flow with Reaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Jakub Dzierla, Maciej Staszak and Krzysztof Alejski

vii
viii Contents

Effect of Blade Shape on Unsteady Mixing

of Gas-Liquid Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Sebastian Frankiewicz and Szymon Woziwodzki
Supercritical Fluids in Green Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Marek Henczka, Małgorzata Djas and Jan Krzysztoforski
The Application of CFD Methods for Modeling
of a Three-Phase Fixed-Bed Reactor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Daniel Janecki, Grażyna Bartelmus and Andrzej Burghardt
The Use of Spray Drying in the Production of Inorganic-Organic
Hybrid Materials with Defined Porous Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Teofil Jesionowski, Beata Michalska, Marcin Wysokowski
and Łukasz Klapiszewski
Applications and Properties of Physical Gels Obtained
on the Basis of Cellulose Derivatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Patrycja Komorowska and Jacek Różański
The Characterization of the Residence Time Distribution
in a Fluid Mixer by Means of the Information Entropy . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Marian Kordas, Daniel Pluskota and Rafał Rakoczy
Selected Aspects of Dust Removal from Gas Stream
for Chamber Separators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Andżelika Krupińska, Marek Ochowiak and Sylwia Włodarczak
Cleaning Porous Materials Using Supercritical Fluids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Jan Krzysztoforski and Marek Henczka
Large Eddy Simulations on Selected Problems
in Chemical Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Łukasz Makowski and Krzysztof Wojtas
Practical Aspects of Settling Tanks Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Małgorzata Markowska, Szymon Woziwodzki,
Magdalena Matuszak and Marek Ochowiak
Aerosol Therapy Development and Methods of Increasing
Nebulization Effectiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Magdalena Matuszak, Marek Ochowiak and Michał Doligalski
Hydraulic Mixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Piotr Tomasz Mitkowski, Waldemar Szaferski and Mariusz Adamski
Chemical Engineering in Biomedical
Problems—Selected Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Arkadiusz Moskal and Tomasz R. Sosnowski
Contents ix

Hybrid and Non-stationary Drying—Process Effectiveness

and Products Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Grzegorz Musielak, Dominik Mierzwa, Andrzej Pawłowski,
Kinga Rajewska and Justyna Szadzińska
The Use of Pressure Membrane Separation
for Heavy Metal Removal or Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
Arkadiusz Nędzarek
Prospective Application of High Energy Mixing for Powder
Flow Enhancement and Better Performance of Hydrogen
and Energy Storage Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
Ireneusz Opaliński, Karolina Leś, Sylwia Kozdra, Mateusz Przywara,
Jerome Chauveau and Anthony Bonnet
Superheated Steam Drying of Solid Fuels:
Wood Biomass and Lignite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
Zdzisław Pakowski and Robert Adamski
Extensional Flow of Polymer Solutions Through
the Porous Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
Sylwia Różańska
Measuring Techniques and Potential Applications
of Interface Rheology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
Jacek Różański and Joanna Kmiecik-Palczewska
An Effective Production of Bacterial Biosurfactant
in the Bioreactor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
Wojciech Smułek, Agata Zdarta and Ewa Kaczorek
Reduction of Energy Consumption in Gas-Liquid Mixture
Production Using a Membrane Diffuser and HE-3X Stirrer . . . . . . . . . . 423
Waldemar Szaferski
Atomizers with the Swirl Motion Phenomenon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
Sylwia Włodarczak, Marek Ochowiak and Magdalena Matuszak
Process Data Modeling—New Challenges for Education
of Chemical Engineers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
Szymon Woziwodzki and Igor Ośkiewicz
Silage of Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum)
as a Bioenergy Feedstock in Poland

Mariusz Adamski, Waldemar Szaferski, Piotr Gulewicz

and Włodzimierz Majtkowski

1 Introduction

Poland lies within the moderate climatic zone with influence of the continental
climate from the east and the ocean climate from the west. The large variability and
the variety of the weather types remain the characteristic features of this climate.
Nowadays one can observe the increase in the insolation level, which influences the
changes of agronomic conditions, particularly with regards to the temperature and
the deficit of water. This circumstances influence significantly the vegetations of
plants. Many species of cultivated plants are not adapted to such conditions within a
period of the vegetation. Grasses belonging to C4 plants, in comparison to native
grasses of C-3 carbon fixation pathway, are better adapted to such conditions and
can be the nutritious fodder and the substratum for the biogas production
(Majtkowski et al. 2004).
By implementing Farming Common Policy, European Union funds the
in-creasing participation of the energy gained from renewable sources as biomass
(Pisarek et al. 2000; Majtkowski and Majtkowska 2000). The utilization of the
biomass for the purpose of energy production causes independence from traditional

M. Adamski (&)
Faculty of Agriculture and Bioengineering, Institute of Biosystems
Engineering, Poznan University of Life Sciences, Poznań, Poland
e-mail: mariusz.adamski@up.poznan.pl
W. Szaferski
Institute of Chemical Technology and Engineering, Faculty of Chemical
Technology, Poznan University of Technology, Poznań, Poland
P. Gulewicz
Department of Animal Nutrition and Feed Management,
Bydgoszcz University of Technology and Life Sciences, Bydgoszcz, Poland
W. Majtkowski
Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute, Botanical Garden, Bydgoszcz, Poland

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018 1

M. Ochowiak et al. (eds.), Practical Aspects of Chemical Engineering,
Lecture Notes on Multidisciplinary Industrial Engineering,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73978-6_1
2 M. Adamski et al.

sources of energy, positive influence on carbon balance in the environment and the
state of it, creates additional workplaces (Pisarek et al. 2000). It was estimated that
until the year 2013 the production of the biogas in Poland would have reached the
level of 1,000,000,000 m3 and until 2020 it will have duplicated. Thus, it is nec-
essary to cultivate plants with the purpose of energy production in mind.
Most frequently waste material after the animal production, i.e. excrements,
by-products of farming and alimentary industry as well as energy plants cultivated
are used for this purpose. It is recommended to use the plants that achieve high
biomass crop between April and October and remain possessory of high content of
easily fermenting components. The gathered green forage ought to be in silage and
kept being utilized till the production of the biogas. In Polish agronomic conditions
recommended plants cultivated for energy production are: corn, cereals in the pure
sowing, cereal mixtures, mixtures cereal-leguminous, sunflower, Jerusalem arti-
choke, grasses, lucerne and clover. Energy-plants utilised for biogas production
should fulfil the same requirements that the plants in-tended for ruminant nour-
ishment. This results from the fact that methane fermentation process is similar to
the processes in the gastrointestinal tract of ruminants. The cultivation of these
plants for energy purposes demands the usage of the same agrotechnical endeavours
as in the production of the fodder.
The millet belongs to C4 plants and is one of oldest cultivated plants. It appears
on considerable areas of Northern America mainly in the flora of the prairie. It can
be grown on sandy, light soils. Within a period of summer American cultivars of
switchgrass deliver valuable fodder for ruminants, while other fodder-grasses are
rather into the standstill.
The significance of millet has decreased along with the development of the
agriculture. Nowadays the greatest millet producers in the world are: India, China,
countries of Africa and Russia. In Europe the switchgrass tillage has unique sig-
nificance because of low repeatability of yield stability and the reduction of mil-let
consumption.
Specific climatic and soil requirements cause that the millet tilled in Poland give
abundant yields in eastern, south eastern, southwest and in central regions of
Poland. The growing season of millet lengthens out in cooler regions of Poland
having weaker insolation. Switchgrass has also poor conditions for growing and its
growing season is longer in the mountain-foot regions with high precipitations and
low temperatures at night. In the last decade one observes a growing interest with
this plant due to its large potential for energy production (Parish and Fike 2005;
Sanderson et al. 1996). Mainstreams of the investigations with regards to the uti-
lization as energy source are: the combustion, the thermochemical conversion, the
production of the ethanol or the production of the biogas (McLaughlin and Kszos
2005; Ahn et al. 2001).
Silage of Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) … 3

2 Materials and Methods

2.1 Plant Material

Switchgrass Panicum virgatum was cultivated Botanic Garden of the Plant

Breeding and Acclimatization Institute in Bydgoszcz.

2.2 Silage Production

The harvested switchgrass was cut up into pieces of 10 cm in length and exactly
pressed with the pneumatic press in polythene microsiloes with 8.65 dm3 of volume
(the diameter 15 cm, the height 49 cm). The difference of the press level be-tween
containers was under 4%. The microsiloes were closed and gasketed with gum
covers with installed fermentative tubes filled with glycerine to eliminate the excess
of gases. The silaging process proceeded at a room temperature. After 8 weeks
microsiloes were opened. The silages were subjected to the Weende analysis, i.e.
the content of short-chain of fatty acids (AOAC 1995; Van Soest et al. 1991).

2.3 The Methane Fermentation

Research into the production of biogas was performed on the test stand, using
eudiometric tanks (Fig. 1). The biogas yield tests were carried out in accordance to
DIN 38 414-S8 in a multi-chamber fermentation station (Fig. 2), based on an
eu-genic system that stores the biogas generated on a 1 dm3 fermentation tank
(KTBL-Heft-84 2009; Eder and Schulz 2007). A measurement station for methane,
carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, oxygen, ammonia, nitric oxide and nitrogen
dioxide was used for the biogas gas concentration tests. For the preparation of
inoculum was used methanogenic thermostatic biostat with a capacity of 1650 ml.
The fermentation station was equipped with a thermostatic tank, keeping the set
thermal parameters of the process, fermentation tanks of 1 dm3 and tanks for the
storage of biogas with a capacity of 1200 ml. Biogas tanks are equipped with valves
and connectors, which allow the removal of stored gas and the injection into the gas
route equipped with biogas gas concentration analysers (DIN 38414 S.8).
Measurements of concentration and volume of secreted gas were carried out at
24-hour intervals. A mixture of identical composition was in two biofermentors to
improve the correctness of the results. MG-72 and MG-73 series measuring heads
have been used for the measurement of the composition of the biogas produced
with measuring ranges 0–100% of volume and measuring resolution in the order of
0.1 ppm to 1% volume.
4 M. Adamski et al.

8
7
6

5 5 5 5 5

11
9
1 3 10
4

2 12

Fig. 1 Diagram of a eudiometric system for the research of biogas productivity of substrates: 1
water heater with temperature regulator, 2 insulated tubes for heating fluid, 3 water jacket with
temperature control, 4 biofermentor with a capacity of 1 or 2 dm3, 5 biogas tank, 6 shut-off valves,
7 gas flowmeters, 8 gas analysers (CH4, CO2, NH3, H2S, O2, NOX), 9 pH sensors, 10 temperature
sensor, 11 registration control unit, 12 magnetic stirrers of contents

Based on our own research and literature analysis (Jędrczak 2007; Myczko et al.
2011; Steppa 1988), these factors have been identified that characterize the fer-
mentation pulp. Factors that may have a significant impact on the biogas
pro-duction process include, but are not limited to, the dry substance content,
organic matter content, batch weight, reaction rate, percentage of ingredients in the
fermenting mix, and time from the start of the experiment (Görisch and Helm
2006). The following standards were used: PN-74/C-04540/00, PN-75/C-04616/
01–04 and PN-90 C-04540/01. The parameters that are also evaluated are the
volume of generated biogas and the cumulative value (Dach et al. 2009). During the
study the process temperature was set to 6°C.
The object of the study was a mixture of solid and liquid substrates, subjected to
anaerobic degradation. Cattle slurry and inoculum were also used for the study. The
content of dry matter was set between 6 and 8% m/m for introduction into the
process of increased dose of substrate representing the lignocellulose complex
(Fugol and Szlachta 2010).
Silage of Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) … 5

Fig. 2 Research stand for the study of biogas productivity of substrates according to DIN
38414 s.8 (left), inoculum station for quasi continuous fermentation work (right)

Mixture (approximately 10% of the dry matter) of loose bovine slurry and
switchgrass were the substrates for methane fermentation. Before preparing the
mixture, silage of the switchgrass was chopped into 3 cm pieces. Fresh switchgrass
silage and switchgrass silage exposed to air were used. The mixture was inoculated
with postfermentative pulp from biogas plant in Liszkowo (Amon 2007). Content
of mixtures used for fermentation is presented in Tables 1 and 2.
The methane fermentation was carried out in water jacked biofermentor with
thermostat in temperature 36 °C with 1 min mixing every 2 h. Biogas was collected
in polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) containers filled with neutral liquid. The level
of the liquid decreased with increasing volume of collected biogas. Each container
was connected gas analysers set (methane, ammonia, carbon dioxide and hydrogen
sulphide detectors). Experiments were made in three replications.

2.4 Statistical Analysis

Data were expressed as the mean ± standard deviation of three independent

replicates. Data were subjected to multifactor analysis of variance (ANOVA) using
last-squares differences (LSD) test with the Statistica 8.0.
 6

Table 1 Parameters of mixture with switchgrass fresh silage (N = 3)

Constituent Dry mass of constituent Contribution in mixture [%] Contribution in Contribution pH Cond [mS]
mixture fresh mass in mixture dry
[g] mass [g]
Mixture 7.40 100.00 1969.95 2.22 145.72 0.34 7.63 0.10 14.85 0.73
Slurry 2.9 69 1366.4 0.9341 39.62 0.02
Inoculate 5.8 18 351.5 1.1623 20.38 0.06
Switchgrass silage 34 13 252.1 0.7848 85.70 0.26
M. Adamski et al.
Table 2 Parameters of mixture with switchgrass silage exposed on air operation (N = 3)
Constituent Dry mass of constituent Contribution in mixture [%] Contribution in Contribution in pH Cond [mS]
mixture fresh mixture dry
Silage of Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) …

mass [g] mass [g]

Mixture 8.00 100.00 1961.50 0.71 156.88 0.02 7.65 0.24 12.84 0.38
Slurry 2.90 69.35 1360.88 0.66 39.48 0.02
Inoculate 5.80 17.85 350.38 0.18 20.33 0.01
Switchgrass silage 38.80 12.80 250.18 0.10 97.08 0.03
7
8 M. Adamski et al.

3 Results

Nutritional content of switchgrass fresh forage and silage is presented in Table 3.

The fatty acid content is shown in Table 4. This parameter did not differ signifi-
cantly for fresh and exposed samples for atmospheric air. Cumulative biogas pro-
duction is presented on Fig. 3. In both cases the production of biogas was
increasing fast to 16–17th day and subsequently dropped.
Average daily production of biogas is depicted in Fig. 4. The production of
biogas from test mixture with switchgrass fresh silage strongly increase since the
beginning of the experiments. On the third and fourth day production was on the
same level and in the fifth day it achieved the peak of 2.83 dm3. Afterwards, the
biogas production dramatically decreased to 0.82 dm3 on sixth day later increased
to 2.39 dm3. Next, the gas production day by day went out irregularly achieving the
value of 0.05 dm3 on 99th day. The curve of average daily gas production form
mixture with switchgrass silage exposed to air, shows that in this case the pro-
duction of biogas was increased even higher. The production achieved its peak at
the level of 3.5 dm3 in fifth and sixth day and decreased irregularly but more
steadily achieving the value of 0.06 dm3 in the 99th day.
Methane concentration in biogases produced in both cases is depicted in Fig. 5.
Concentration of methane in biogas from mixture with silage exposed to air rapidly
exceeded 60% on the 3rd day of experiment and maintained above this value to the
end of the experiment. 60% content of methane in SS biogas was achieved on the

Table 3 Chemical composition of switchgrass roughage, silage and silage exposed on air
operation
Material Dry Crude Organic Crude Ether Crude Nitrogen
matter ash matter protein extract fibber free
extract
Switchgrass Mean 29.00 4.98 95.02 6.09 2.08 38.76 48.63
roughage SD* – 0.05 0.06 0.29 0.15 0.58 1.32
Switchgrass Mean 34.00 6.81 92.99 5.93 2.57 46.95 37.54
silage SD – 0.21 0.19 0.47 0.08 1.37 0.23
Switchgrass Mean 38.80 8.31 91.69 – – – –
silage exposed SD – 1.50 1.50 – – – –
to air
*The same superscript in the same column row means no significant difference p < 0.05

Table 4 Short chain fatty acid content in fresh silage and silage exposed on air exposed
Material Lactic acid Acetic acid Butyric acid
[mg/g f.m.]* [mg/g f.m.] [mg/g f.m.]
Switchgrass silage 0.39 ± 0.02* 1.19 ± 0.14 0.91 ± 0.11
*The same superscript in the same column row means no significant difference p < 0.05
Silage of Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) … 9

Fig. 3 Cumulative biogas production on the sample mass of mixture [dm3] (SS silage switchgrass,
SSEA silage switchgrass exposed air)

Fig. 4 Average daily production of biogas [dm3] (SS silage switchgrass, SSEA silage switchgrass
exposed air)

6th day and maintained above this value till the end of experiment. The concen-
trations of methane reached their peaks in the days 16, 17, 18 and 14, 15, 16, 17, 18,
19 respectively for SS and SSEA biogas. The average concentration of methane in
biogas was 69.40 and 70.15%.
Cumulative methane production is presented in Fig. 6. There can be observed a
correlation between cumulative biogas production and cumulative methane pro-
duction—correlation coefficients 0.98 and 0.99 for SS and SSEA. Total methane
volume produced during fermentation was 38.6 and 46.6 dm3 respectively for SS
and SSEA biogas.
Concentration of carbon dioxide in biogases is depicted in Fig. 7. In SS biogas
the concentration of carbon dioxide ranged from 18.67 to 47% and from 17.67 to
31.61% in SS biogas and SSEA, respectively. The highest concentration in SS
10 M. Adamski et al.

Fig. 5 Methane concentration in biogases [%] (SS silage switchgrass, SSEA silage switchgrass
exposed air)

Fig. 6 Cumulative methane production [dm3] (SS silage switchgrass, SSEA silage switchgrass
exposed air)

biogas carbon dioxide (47%) was reached on 2nd and 3rd day of fermentation. In
case of SSEA a peak (31.67%) of carbon dioxide was reached in 34th day.
Figure 8 presents the concentrations of hydrogen sulphide. The highest con-
centrations of H2S were observed in the first two weeks of fermentation. In SS
biogas, the concentration achieved the highest value on the 7th day (475.67 ppm)
and in SSEA on the 4th day (642.33 ppm). Total cumulative production of
hydrogen sulphide in case of SSEA (0.79 cm3) was over twice as high as in SS
(0.37 cm3).
Oxygen concentration in biogases (Fig. 9) were the highest on the first day—
1.17% and 1.87% respectively for SS and SSEA biogases. Afterwards, the con-
centration dropped reaching the minimal value between 80th and 88th day for SS
(0.27%) and two minima for SSEA(%): between 67th to 75th and 80th to 86th day.
Silage of Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) … 11

Fig. 7 Concentration of carbon dioxide in biogases [%]

Fig. 8 Concentration of hydrogen sulphide [ppm] (SS silage switchgrass, SSEA silage switchgrass
exposed air)

At the end of the fermentation, the concentrations of oxygen maintained at the level
of 0.3 and 0.4% for SS and SSEA biogases.
Figure 10 shows the ammonia concentration in biogases. At the beginning of the
fermentation ammonia reached the highest concentration—19.67 and 29.67 ppm.
Afterwards, the concentration dropped to 0 on the last days of the process.
Cumulatively ammonia amount in SS biogas was lower almost two times than in
SSEA biogas.
NO and NO2 concentrations in biogases produced in both cases is shown in
Fig. 11. Content of NO in both biogases increased to 19 ppm and 33.33 ppm and
steadily decreased to reach the level 0–1 at the end of the concentration.
Concentration of NO2 increased from the beginning of the fermentation till the
values 2.8 and 4.67 ppm for SS and SSEA biogas and dropped to 0.
12 M. Adamski et al.

Fig. 9 Concentration of oxygen [%] (SS silage switchgrass, SSEA silage switchgrass exposed air)

Fig. 10 Concentration of ammonia [ppm] (SS silage switchgrass, SSEA silage switchgrass
exposed air)

4 Discussion

Chemical composition of the switchgrass silage is similar to roughage except of the

concentrations of nitrogen free compounds, which is due to silage process. In this
process bacteria utilize carbohydrates to produce short chain fatty acids which play
main role in preserving silage (Bolsen et al. 1996). Switchgrass exposed to air was
used as component in mixture to produce biogas in one variant of experiments.
Exposing silages brings about losses in nutritional value. On the other hand,
qualitative and quantitative composition of organic acids changes. Switchgrass is
not commonly cultivated plant in Poland. High values of cumulative biogas pro-
duction and average daily production in the first days of fermentation can be
explained by preferential digestion of readily fermented chemical compounds like
Silage of Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) … 13

Fig. 11 NO and NO2 concentration in biogases [ppm] (SS NO2 silage switchgrass nitrogen
dioxide concentration, SSEA NO2 silage switchgrass exposed air nitrogen dioxide concentration,
SS NO silage switchgrass nitric oxide concentration, SSEA NO silage switchgrass exposed air nitric
oxide concentration)

carbohydrates. This corresponds to earlier observations from other scientists

(Demirer and Chen 2008; Lu et al. 2007; Ahn et al. 2001).
Biogas is defined as mixture of gases. The content of methane decides about the
caloric value of biogas. Literature data indicate the lowest, useful limit of methane
between 45 and 55%. Stable emission of nitrogen oxides proved the steady process
of methane fermentation with regards to biology. Primary higher emission of NO
and NO2 is caused by higher initial concentration of oxygen in fermenting mixture.
This can suggest that in initial phase the fermentation can have oxygen character.
Presence of NOx is undesired because of its harmful influence on the natural
environment. The after mentioned carbon dioxide concentrations are within the
standards of content in biogas. High concentration of CO2 dilutes biogas and
decreases its caloric value. High emission of ammonia, which is the result of protein
compounds degradation, also proves the oxygenic character of reactions at the
initial stage.
Decreasing emission of ammonia and steady emission of nitrogen oxides
improved biogas content and point out that oxygen compounds were hydrolysed.
Concentration of oxygen at the level of 0.1% in produced biogas is prospective in
small scale agricultural systems of biogas production. Defined amount of oxygen is
supplied to filters in some methods of decreasing sulphide hydrogen concentration
at desulphurization installations located outside the fermentation chamber. The
permissible concentration of sulphide hydrogen in biogas ranged between 18 and
20 ppm. Producers of current generators indicate that the concentration above this
value may cause corrosion of engines. Ammonia and hydrogen sulphide are
compounds with strong, unpleasant smell. Their emission negatively influences on
the natural environment. There is a great interest in reducing odour pollution in
rural areas. One a par with animal production, development of biogas production
14 M. Adamski et al.

may be limited by emission of odour compounds and its insufficient controlling. On

the other hand, anaerobic digestion helps to convert volatile organic compounds to
less arduous compounds for environment (Mackie et al. 1998; McLaughlin and
Walsh 1998).

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Bolsen KK, Ashbell G, Weinberg Z (1996) Silage fermentation and silage additives—review.
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digestion (S 8). DIN Deutches Institut fur Normung e.V., Berlin
Döhler H (red.)/KTBL (2009) Faustzahlen Biogas. 2. Auflage. Kuratorium für Technik und
Bauwesen in der Landwirtschaft e.V. (KTBL), Darmstadt, Schauermanndruck GmbH,
Gernsheim
Eder B, Schulz H (2007) Biogas Praxis. Okobuch Verlag und Versand GmbH, Staufen bei
Freiburg
Fugol M, Szlachta J (2010) Zasadność używania kiszonki z kukurydzy i gnojowicy świńskiej do
produkcji biogazu. Inżynieria Rolnicza 1(119):169–174
Görisch U, Helm M (2006) Biogasanlagen. Eugen Ulmer KG, Stuttgard (Hohenheim)
Jędrczak A (2007) Biologiczne przetwarzanie odpadów. Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warsaw
KTBL-Heft 84 (2009) Schwachstellen an Biogasanlagen verstehen und vermeiden. Kuratorium für
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Myczko A, Myczko R, Kołodziejczyk T et al (2011) Budowa i eksploatacja biogazowni
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Process Intensification in Practice:
Ethylene Glycol Case Study

Magda H. Barecka, Mirko Skiborowski and Andrzej Górak

1 Process Intensification (PI): Potential for Innovation

The concept of PI as the development of breakthrough technologies in chemical

engineering began to appear in the 1970s (Stankiewicz and Moulijn 2004).
Numerous definitions for PI have been proposed, focusing on its potential to:
• “reduce the size of chemical plants” (Cross and Ramshaw 1986) and “combine
multiple operation into fewer devices” (Tsouris and Porcelli 2003)
• “produce in a cleaner, more energy efficient and cheaper way” (Stankiewicz and
Moulijn 2000; Gourdon et al. 2015)
• “target enhancement of involved phenomena at different scales to achieve a
targeted benefit” (Lutze et al. 2010)
• use “alternative forms of energy supply” (Freund and Sundmacher 2010)
• “give each molecule the same processing experience” (Górak and Stankiewicz
2011).
Based on these proposed definitions, every novel process concept or equipment
enabling targeted and drastic improvement can be categorized as PI. Hence, PI is
often considered a “toolbox” that gathers examples of novel chemical engineering
technologies. To provide a more systematic understanding of PI, van Gerven and
Stankiewicz (2009) proposed the definition of fundamentals of intensification
related to four domains: structure, energy, synergy and time.

M. H. Barecka (&)
M. Skiborowski
A. Górak

Laboratory of Fluid Separations, TU Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany
e-mail: magda.barecka@tu-dortmund.de
M. H. Barecka
A. Górak
Faculty of Process and Environmental Engineering,
Lodz University of Technology, Lodz, Poland

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018 17

M. Ochowiak et al. (eds.), Practical Aspects of Chemical Engineering,
Lecture Notes on Multidisciplinary Industrial Engineering,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73978-6_2
18 M. H. Barecka et al.

1.1 Barriers to Industrial Implementation of PI

The potential of PI technologies to improve chemical production processes has been

widely demonstrated, but few PI examples can be found in industry. One of the
main reasons for this reluctance is industrial trust in mature technologies. An
equipment or method that has not proven its reliability over an extended period of
time is always considered risky (Becht et al. 2009). Objections to the application of
intensified technologies can also be attributed to high investment costs, usually
related to PI. With few (or for some technologies even none) industrial examples of
PI, it is difficult to prove that the technology will give a good return on investment.
There are also concerns about the safety and control of a new process. As a result,
the general risk associated with PI is high. Consequently, companies are not eager
to take such an elevated risk, leading to a vicious circle that obstructs innovations
(Adler 1998).
Another key aspect limiting PI application is the lack of general knowledge of
how and where to apply such technologies. It is difficult to identify suitable PI
technologies that will enhance the physical and chemical phenomena limiting the
process of interest. Determination of most the promising equipment should be
based on verified PI metrics, enabling benchmarking of various technologies
(Curcio 2013). Such metrics would also serve as a basis to compare intensified
versus classical equipment performance and systematically verify the benefit of PI
for the considered technology. A lack of such metrics and approaches for deter-
mination of the most suitable PI technology results in the need for numerous
experiments, adding to already high costs of technology implementation.
Reassuming, numerous barriers for PI industrial implementation exist on the level
of available knowledge, experience and costs related to intensified technologies
(Fig. 1).

Fig. 1 Summary of barriers

in industrial implementation
of PI (Lutze et al. 2010; Becht
et al. 2009; Stankiewicz and
Moulijn 2000)
Process Intensification in Practice … 19

1.2 Retrofitting Approaches Supporting PI Implementation

Retrofitting targets the improvement of plant design by determination of main

process limitations (bottlenecks) and subsequent changing or replacing of some unit
operations to overcome this limitation (Lutze et al. 2010). Hence, process retro-
fitting can reduce the operational costs, waste generation or plant footprint. PI
technologies have great potential for retrofitting, but it is complex to determine the
right intensified technology for a given process. Systematic methodologies sup-
porting process retrofitting by means of PI are consequently required. However, so
far only a few approaches that consider PI technologies in the retrofit portfolio have
been reported. Niu and Rangaiah (2016) proposed a heuristic-based methodology
that enables base-case analysis and the generation of retrofit options, first without
and next with additional investment. Proposed variants were evaluated by con-
sidering their potential to reduce overall manufacturing costs. The methodology
was applied to a case study of isopropyl alcohol production. This approach enabled
the generation of integrated process options, but only reactive and hybrid separa-
tions, which were achieved by combining existing operations in the process, could
be determined. As a result, intensified equipment or the use of new driving forces or
energy sources could not be systematically considered. Furthermore, due to a lack
of quantitative metrics for the evaluation of different PI options, the possible pro-
cess improvements had to be assessed by means of rigorous simulations.
The PI database-driven approach of Lutze (2011) was originally proposed for
process synthesis problems. However, contrary to other methods dedicated to
process synthesis, this approach also considered a set of indicators for determining
the dominant process bottlenecks and can thus also be applied to retrofitting cases.
This methodology undergoes a hierarchical procedure that first generates a signif-
icant number of intensified options from a knowledge-based tool and subsequently
limits the number of options by considering various knock-out criteria. All options
remaining after preselection must be evaluated by using derived models. Therefore,
in the case of numerous options determined from the database screening, applica-
tion of the method was time- and resource-consuming, which is undesirable in an
industrial context. Recently, an extension of this method was reported, with addi-
tional integrated heuristics and general knowledge of process engineering for
screening purposes (Benneker et al. 2016). However, the authors again addressed
the difficulties in evaluating each retrofit option using tedious simulations.
Hence, all of the described methodologies face a major limitation: the proposed
analyses are too complex to find successful implementation in terms of time- and
cost-limited retrofitting projects. Due to the availability of a wide range of PI
equipment, strategies enabling the systematic limitation of the number of options to
the most promising ones are necessary. Moreover, such approaches should be
capable of operating using only limited process data since detailed data are often
not available during retrofit projects (ten Kate 2015). To overcome the limitations
of existing methodologies, an alternative approach is presented that aims to
determine the most promising retrofit options by obtaining insight into the
20 M. H. Barecka et al.

phenomena limitation, resulting in the observed process bottleneck. By means of

such an analysis, the options to be considered are drastically reduced at the very
beginning of the analysis.

2 Proposed Methodology for Process Retrofitting

To support the industrial implementation of PI for process retrofitting, the proposed

methodology targets the determination of the most promising retrofit options by
using a simplified analysis. At first, the incentive for retrofitting is defined as, e.g., a
minimization of operational costs. Next, the major process limitations (bottlenecks)
are identified with respect to the defined goal of retrofitting. To this end, the process
data are collected from either plant measurements or a flowsheet simulation.
Further, bottlenecks are determined based on a sensitivity analysis of mass and
energy efficiency factors calculated for each unit operation. Once the key bottle-
necks are identified, retrofit options are generated from an extensive database of PI
technologies. This knowledge-based tool is similar to the database of Lutze (2011)
and contains over 150 technologies, characterized by unit operation, available
phases, a range of operating parameters, bottlenecks that can be tackled and phe-
nomena that are intensified in the given equipment. The PI database is screened
stepwise. First, the unfeasible technologies are rejected by considering simple
criteria, such as stream phases and process operating conditions. During the second
step, a set of additional methods and tools (listed in Fig. 2) is used to determine the
specific physical/chemical phenomena limitation responsible for the observed
bottleneck. The space for improvement via the intensification of these phenomena is
additionally quantified. Hence, metrics are available for benchmarking various PI
options. The used methods are linked to the PI database and selected specifically to
operate with the limited data and enable fast process analysis.
The preliminary design of the most promising intensified operations is per-
formed in the third screening step. Since the database also contains reactive or
hybrid separations, the determined options may require study of feasible separation
processes that can be coupled to reactions or separations. The thermodynamic
insight approach (Jaksland et al. 1995) is used for this purpose. Furthermore, if a
solvent is required for the determined separation, computer-aided molecular design
(CAMD) (Harper and Gani 2000) implemented in the ProCAMD tool is used to
generate promising mass transfer agents. After the application of the set of addi-
tional tools, the most promising intensification options are determined. Finally,
short-cut models are used to roughly estimate the equipment performance (fourth
screening step). The most promising option is selected and integrated into the
flowsheet, which is optimized with respect to the new operating conditions. The
overall effect of retrofitting is evaluated based on simulation of the intensified
process. Hence, the decision can be made if the improvement is significant enough
to validate this option experimentally and introduce it in the chemical plant.
Another random document with
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 CHAPTER XIV

T HERE had been a complete change in the officials of the oasis

since we had last been there. The new doctor—Wissa by name
—came round to call the day after my arrival. He was a Copt.
He belonged to a rich family, owning large landed estates in the
neighbourhood of Assiut.
He spoke English almost perfectly, for like so many Egyptians he
was a born linguist. He was, I believe, almost equally at home with
French and German. His people being very well-to-do had given him
an excellent education, part of which he had received in England and
other European countries.
Like all the Egyptians who have been educated in Europe, he was
an interesting mixture of East and West—and a very curious
compound it was. He talked most learnedly on the subject of
medicine, and appeared to have especially studied such local
diseases as “dengue” and “bilharsia.” Whenever I allowed him to do
so, he gave me most racy accounts of his life as a medical student in
Europe.
But he was an ardent treasure seeker, and his favourite topic of
conversation was occultism and magic, in all of which he had the
native Egyptian’s profound belief. He, the Senussi sheykh, Ahmed el
Mawhub, and the ’omda of Rashida, had formed a sort of partnership
to search for treasure, agreeing to divide equally between them
anything that they found.
He told me a good deal about the Mawhub family of the Senussi
zawia at Qasr Dakhl. He said they were entirely neglecting their
religious work in order to make money, and had then only got five
pupils left in the zawia at Qasr Dakhl, where formerly they had had
great numbers. Old Sheykh Mohammed el Mawhub, who was well
over seventy, had just started, he said, for Kufara with one servant
and three men, who had been sent from that oasis to fetch him.
Wissa professed to have collected information from some
unknown source of treasure that was hidden in many places in or
near the oasis. One place in which he said it was to be found was in
a stone temple eighteen hours’ journey to the west of the village of
Gedida. I afterwards met a native who said he had ridden out and
found this place, so probably it exists—the temple, not the treasure.
He was clearly badly bitten with the treasure-seeking mania.
He was, of course, the possessor of a “book of treasure.” In the
triangle between Mut, Masara and Ezbet Sheykh Mufta there is, he
said, an old brick building on a white stone foundation covered by a
dome, known as the Der el Arais—I saw this place afterwards. In it,
under the dome, the book said, is a staircase with seven flights of
steps, at the bottom of which is a passage seven cubits long. At the
end of the passage is a monk—painted, Wissa thought, on the wall.
The book said that there is an iron ring let into the floor near his feet,
and that by pulling the ring a door would be caused to appear—this
Wissa concluded to be a trap-door. Below is a flight of steps, which
the book said must be descended without fear. At the bottom of the
stair is a small chamber in which a king is buried.
The king has a gold ring with a stone in it on his finger. This is a
magic ring, and if it is immersed in water, which is then given to a
sick person, he will at once be cured, no matter what the nature of
his malady may be. In the chamber there is also a clock that goes for
ever, and in addition a sagia (wheel for raising water) that contains
the secret of Zerzura.
After I had got to know him better, he one day suggested that “as I
was looking for Zerzura,” we should join together to search for the
Der el Arais. He offered to let me keep the wonderful clock and
sagia, and any treasure we might find, if I would only let him have
the ring. With the help of that magic ring he felt certain that he would
become the greatest doctor in the world—yet this was a man who
had taken a diploma at the Qasr el ’Aini Hospital, spent a year at St.
Thomas’s, six months at the Rotunda, and another six studying
medicine between Paris and Geneva—and he wanted to cure his
patients with a magic ring!
On leaving Dakhla, as he was an unusually capable native doctor,
he was appointed to Luxor. Here he got into trouble. His sister
contracted plague, and Wissa, without notifying the authorities, as he
should have done, took her into his house, where he seems to have
neglected the most elementary sanitary precautions. The last I heard
of him he was, perhaps naturally, again in disgrace, and was on his
way to take up an appointment at Sollum, where delinquents of his
kind are sent when there is no room for them in the oases.
All this just shows what inestimable benefits an unusually
intelligent native will reap from a highly expensive European
education!
I had several times noticed in Mut a man dressed like a Tripolitan
Arab in a long woollen blanket, but had never been able to get a
good look at him, as he always avoided meeting me. On one
occasion, when he saw me approaching, he even turned back and
slunk round a corner to get out of my way.
Meeting Wissa one day, I asked him if he knew this Maghrabi
Arab. He replied that he was not really an Arab at all, but a native of
Smint, in Dakhla, and that he was a local magician he had often
spoken to me about, who only wore the Tripolitan dress for effect, as
the Western Arabs are noted as being the best sorcerers.
This man was a member of the Senussi—or as it was usually
expressed “he followed the Sheykh.” I found that he was staying with
Shekyh Senussi, the Clerk in Mut, and by a curious coincidence
Qway also happened to be living in the same house.
I gathered that Qway was in the position of an honoured guest, for
nearly every time I saw him he dilated upon Sheykh Senussi’s
kindness to him. At times he became almost sentimental on the
subject, declaring that he was like a brother to him. The reason for
Qway’s affection evidently being that his camel, of which he was so
proud, was being fed on the fat of the land and that he apparently
was getting unlimited tea. This rapprochement between Qway and
the Senussi, added to the rather secretive manner in which it was
going on, made me suspect that this lavish hospitality had some
ulterior object, though it was difficult to see what they were planning.
There were signs, too, that the Senussi were endeavouring to get
round my other men, for when I went one morning to look at the
camels, I saw an unpleasant-looking, pock-marked Arab skulking
about in the yard to which Abd er Rahman had moved them to
protect them from the wind—or the afrit. He kept dodging about
behind the beasts and making for the entrance to the yard, evidently
trying to avoid being seen. When I called him up and spoke to him,
he told me he had come from “the north,” and tried to give the
impression that he had recently left Assiut.
But on questioning Abd er Rahman about him afterwards I found
that he was one of Sheykh Ahmed’s men, who had come down from
his ezba in charge of two camels on some mysterious errand, the
nature of which was not quite clear. Abd er Rahman, when I told him
that he looked a disreputable scoundrel, was loud in his praise.
I managed to elicit one useful piece of information from him, as he
told me that, owing to most of the camels belonging to the Senussi
having gone with old Mawhub, on his journey to Kufara, they only
had three left in the oasis. This was rather welcome news, as I was
afraid that they might go out and tamper with the depots I was
intending to make in the desert.
 CHAPTER XV

A S soon as the camels had been got into good condition I sent
Qway, Abd er Rahman and Ibrahim off with the caravan loaded
with grain, which the two Sudanese were to deposit at Jebel el
Bayed, the hill we had reached at the end of our last journey the
season before.
Ibrahim had not been with me at all the previous season and, as
Abd er Rahman had never even been within sight of the hill, as I had
sent him back to Mut to bring out more water on the journey on
which I reached it, I arranged that Qway should ride with them as far
as the edge of the plateau, where he was to give Abd er Rahman
directions to take him to Jebel el Bayed. Here, however, he was to
leave the caravan and to ride west along the tableland and come
back and report what he had seen.
Abd er Rahman, following the directions given him by Qway,
easily found Jebel el Bayed, and left the grain to form the depot in
the neighbourhood. Qway himself rejoined the caravan on their way
back just before reaching Mut, so they all returned together.
Qway, of course, had done practically nothing. It was difficult to
see the best way of dealing with him. I could, of course, have
discharged him, but drastic remedies are seldom the best, and to
have done so would only have had the effect of playing straight into
the hands of the Senussi, as he was a magnificent guide and they
would have at once gained him as a wholehearted recruit. As he
unfortunately knew the whole of my plans, the better scheme
seemed to be to keep him with me and to tie him up in such a way
that he could do no harm. In the circumstances I thought it best to
send Sheykh Suleyman a letter, asking him to let me have Abdulla
and the best hagin he could find. This, at any rate, would ensure my
having a guide if Qway went wrong; and I hoped by stirring up a little
friction between him and Abdulla to make the latter keep an eye
upon his actions.
Soon after the return of the caravan the mamur left and I went
round to see him off. On the way I looked into the enclosure where
the camels were housed, and again caught Sheykh Ahmed’s pock-
marked camel-man hobnobbing with my men, and saw that he was
stabling his two camels in the neighbouring yard.
On reaching the mamur’s house I found him in a great state of
excitement. The post hagan, with whom he was going to travel, had
omitted, or forgotten, to bring any camels for his baggage. The
mamur was in a terrible state about this, saying that he might have to
send in to the Nile Valley for beasts before he could leave, and that
he was due there himself in six days.
This was an opportunity too good to be lost. I told him there were
two unusually fine camels in the yard next to my caravan, and
suggested that as a Government official going back to the Nile on
duty, he had the power to commandeer them and their drivers, and
suggested that he should do so. No petty native official can resist the
temptation to commandeer anything he has a right to in his district—
it is a relic of the old corrupt Turkish rule. The mamur jumped at the
idea and departed shortly after with a very sulky camel driver and
two of the finest camels owned by the Senussi. It was with great
relief that I saw the last of that pock-marked brute and his beasts, for
their departure left the Senussi with only one camel until in about a
month’s time, when old Mawhub was due to return from Kufara. I
went back to my rooms feeling I had done a good morning’s work,
and effectually prevented the Senussi from getting at the depot I was
making near Jebel el Bayed.
Abdulla, whom I had asked Sheykh Suleyman to send, did not
turn up on the day I had expected; but a day or two afterwards Nimr,
Sheykh Suleyman’s brother, arrived in Mut on some business and
came round to see me. Gorgeously arrayed with a revolver and
silver-mounted sword, he looked a typical bedawi—he certainly
behaved as one. He drank about a gallon of tea, ate half a pound of
Turkish Delight and the best part of a cake that Dahab had made,
and topped up, when I handed him a cigarette box for him to take
one, by taking a handful. He then left, declaring that he was very
mabsut (pleased) with me and promising to send Abdulla along as
soon as he could, and to see that he had a good hagin. As he went
downstairs he turned round, looking much amused, and asked how I
was getting on with Qway!
While dressing one morning I heard Qway below greeting some
old friend of his in the most cordial and affectionate manner; then I
heard him bring him upstairs and, looking through the window, saw
that Abdulla had arrived at last. Qway tapped at the door and, hardly
waiting for me to answer, entered, beaming with satisfaction and
apparently highly delighted at the new arrival—he was an admirable
actor.
Abdulla looked taller and more “feathery” than ever. With a native-
made straw hat on the back of his head and his slender waist tightly
girthed up with a leather strap, he looked almost girlish in his
slimness. But there was nothing very feminine about Abdulla—he
was wiry to the last degree.
He carried an excellent double-barrelled hammer, ejector gun,
broken in the small of the stock it is true, but with the fracture bound
round and round with tin plates and strongly lashed with wire. His
saddlery was irreproachable and hung round with the usual
earthenware jars and leather bags for his food supply.
His hagin was a powerful old male and looked up to any amount
of hard work. I told him to get up on his camel and show me his
paces. Abdulla swung one of his legs, which looked about four feet
long, over the cantle of his saddle and seated himself at once
straight in the seat. He kicked his camel in the ribs and at once got
him into a trot. The pace at which he made that beast move was
something of a revelation and augured well for his capacity as a
scout. He was certainly a very fine rider.
But when I made him take off the saddle I found, as is so often the
case with bedawin camels, the beast had a sore back. There was a
raw, festering place under the saddle on either side of the spine.
 As Abdulla had a hard job before him, I had to see his camel put
right before he started, so we went off to a new doctor, who had
come to take Wissa’s place, to buy some iodoform and cotton-wool,
and proceeded to doctor the hagin. But it was clear that it would take
some days to heal.
It made, however, no difference as it turned out. For the caravan
was unable to start as four ardebs[3] of barley that I had ordered
from Belat, never turned up. The barley question was becoming a
serious one; but by dint of sending the men round Mut from house to
house I managed to buy in small quantities, of a few pounds at a
time, an amount that when put together came to about three ardebs,
with which I had for the moment to be content.
The sores on Abdulla’s hagin having sufficiently healed, I packed
the whole caravan off again into the desert. Abd er Rahman and
Ibrahim as before were to carry stores out to the depot at Jebel el
Bayed. Abdulla’s work was to go on ahead of the caravan, following
directions to be given him by Abd er Rahman, as I was afraid Qway
might mislead him, till he reached Jebel el Bayed. There he was to
climb to the top of the hill, whence he could see the one I had
sighted in the distance the season before. This lay in practically the
same line from Mut as Jebel el Bayed itself. Having in this way got
its bearing, he was to go on to the farther hill, which he was also to
climb and make a note of anything that was to be seen from the
summit. He was then—provided the country ahead of him was not
inhabited—to go on again as far as he could along the same bearing
before returning to Dakhla.
I asked Abdulla how far out he thought he would be able to get. In
a matter-of-fact tone he said he thought he could go four, or perhaps
four and a half, days’ journey beyond Jebel el Bayed before he
turned back. As he would be alone in a strange desert, I doubted
somewhat if he would even reach Jebel el Bayed. But I did not know
Abdulla then.
There really was nothing much for Qway to do, but, as I thought it
better to send him off into the desert to keep him out of mischief, I
told him to ride west again along the plateau.
 Qway was rather subdued. Abdulla’s arrival had considerably
upset him, in spite of his efforts to disguise the fact. He objected
strongly to his going on ahead of the caravan to scout, but I declined
to alter the arrangement. So to keep Abdulla in his place, Qway, with
the usual high-handed manner of the Arabs, when dealing with
Sudanese, collared a water tin of his for his own use. On hearing of
this I went round to the camel-yard and gave Abdulla back his tin,
and pitched into Qway before all the men. Having thus sown a little
discord in the caravan, I told them they had to start in the morning.
I went round again later in the day and found all the Sudanese
having their heads shaved by the village barber and being cupped
on the back of their necks, preparatory for their journey. The cupping
they declared kept the blood from their heads and made them
strong!
This operation was performed by the barber, who made three or
four cuts at the base of the skull on either side of the spine, to which
he applied the wide end of a hollow cow’s horn, pressed this into the
flesh and then sucked hard at a small hole in the point of the horn,
afterwards spitting out the blood he had thus extracted. It seemed an
insanitary method.
The Sudanese were all extremely dark. Abd er Rahman and
Ibrahim even having black, or rather dark brown, patches on their
gums. Their tongues and the palms of their hands, however, showed
pink. Abdulla was even darker. He came up to my room the evening
after his cupping and declared that he was ill. There was nothing
whatever the matter with him, except that he wanted pills and eye-
drops because they were to be had for nothing. But I made a
pretence of examining him, took his temperature, felt his pulse, and
then told him to show me his tongue.
The result of my modest request was rather staggering. He shot
out about six inches of black leather, and I saw that not only his
tongue was almost black, but also his gums and the palms of his
hands as well. He was the most pronounced case of human
melanism I ever saw.
 Sofut.
Sand erosion producing sharp blades of rock very damaging to the soft feet of a
camel. (p. 87).

The Descent into Dakhla Oasis.

This cliff was several hundred feet in height, but the sand drifted against it and made
the descent easy. (p. 36).
 A Made Road.
Made roads are practically unknown in the desert. This one was notched out of the
side of the slope and led to the site of an unknown oasis, where treasure was said to
be hidden. (p. 205).
 CHAPTER XVI

T HE caravan, with Abd er Rahman and Ibrahim, returned, dead

beat, but safe. No less than four of the tanks they had taken out
filled with water had leaked and had had to be brought back. They
had had to race home by day and night marches all the way. But
they had got in all right—we had extraordinary luck in this way.
As Abdulla did not come in till two days later, I began to fear that
something had happened to him. He arrived with his camel in an
awful state. The sores on his back, which appeared to have healed
when he started, had broken out again and were very much worse
than when he first reached Mut.
His camel had gone so badly, he said, that he had not been able
to do half as much as he would have done if his mount had been in
good condition, and he was very vexed about it indeed. He had
followed Abd er Rahman’s directions and had found Jebel el Bayed
without difficulty. He had climbed to the top and seen the second hill
beyond. He had then gone on towards it—his camel going very badly
indeed—for a day and a half over easy desert, after which he had
crossed a belt of dunes that took about an hour to negotiate. Then
after another half-day he managed to reach the second hill and had
climbed to the top of it. To the south and south-west lay open desert
with no dunes, falling towards the west, dotted with hills and
stretching away as far as he could see. To the north he had been
able to see the cliff on the south of the plateau—the pass down
which we had descended into the “Valley of the Mist” being distinctly
visible, though it must have been a good hundred and twenty miles
away. After this he said he could do no more with such a wretched
camel, so he had been obliged to return. He was very apologetic
indeed for having done so little.
 It never seemed to occur to this simple Sudani that he had made
a most remarkable journey. Acting only on directions given him by
Abd er Rahman, he had gone off entirely alone, into an absolutely
waterless and barren desert, with which he was totally unacquainted,
with a very sore-backed camel and riding only on a baggage saddle
—his riding saddle had got broken before the start—but he had
covered in thirteen days a distance, as the crow flies, of nearly four
hundred miles, and more remarkable still had apologised for not
having been able to do more! He got some bakhshish that surprised
him—and greatly disgusted Qway who got none.
The fact that Abdulla saw the pass into the “Valley of the Mist”
from the top of the hill he reached—Jebel Abdulla as the men called
it—shows that the hill was of considerable height, for it, Jebel el
Bayed and the pass, lay in practically a straight line, and the desert
there was very level. The summit of the pass was about 1700 feet
high—the cliff itself being about 250 feet. But it could not be seen
from the top of Jebel el Bayed, which was 2150 feet, owing to a low
intervening rise in the ground. A simple diagram will show that, as it
was visible over this ridge from the top of Jebel Abdulla, the latter
must have been at least 2700 feet high.
Qway, of course, though excellently mounted, had done
practically nothing. There could be little doubt that he and the
Senussi were hand in glove. He was always asking leave to go to
places like Hindaw, Smint and Qalamun, where I knew the Senussi
had zawias, and the Sheykh el Afrit at Smint and Sheykh Senussi,
the poet in Mut, were his two intimate friends, and both of them
members of the Senussia.
The Senussi had always been a nuisance to travellers wanting to
go into their country. It was, however, difficult to see what they could
do. They would not, I thought, dare to do anything openly in the
oasis and, by getting rid of two out of their three camels I had rather
tied them up for the time being, so far as the desert was concerned.
So I went on with my preparations for our final journey with a fairly
easy mind, making the fatal mistake of underestimating my
opponents.
 First I engaged the local tinsmith to patch up six tanks that had
developed leaks. Then I sent Ibrahim round the town to see if he
could not find some more weapons. He returned with a neat little
battle axe, a spear and a six-foot gas-pipe gun with a flint-lock. All of
which I bought as curiosities.
We then went out and tried the gun. It shot, it is true, a few feet to
one side; but little trifles like that are nothing to a bedawi. The
general opinion of the men was that it was a very good gun indeed.
Abdulla said he had been in the camel corps and understood guns,
and undertook to put it right. He shut one eye and looked along the
barrel, then he rested the muzzle on the ground and stamped about
half-way down the barrel to bend it. He repeated this process several
times, then handed the gun back to Ibrahim, saying that he thought
he had got it straight.
I got up a shooting match between the three Sudanese to test it.
The target was a tin of bad meat at eighty yards, and Ibrahim with
the flint-lock gun, with his second shot, hit the tin and won the ten
piastres that I offered as a prize, beating Abd er Rahman and
Abdulla armed with Martini’s.
Then I set to work to buy some more barley for our journey and
difficulties at once arose. I sent Abd er Rahman and Abdulla with
some camels to Belat, but the ’omda told them he had sold the
whole of his grain; though they learnt in the oasis that he had not
been able to sell any and still had huge stores of it left.
Abd er Rahman began dropping ponderous hints about Qway, the
Senussi, “arrangements” and “intrigue”; but, as usual, declined to be
more definite. Qway, when I told him of the difficulty of procuring
grain, was sympathetic, but piously resigned. It was the will of Allah.
Certainly the ’omda of Belat had none left—he knew this as a fact. It
would be quite impossible, he said, to carry out my fifteen days’
journey with such a small quantity of grain and he thought the only
thing for me to do was to abandon the idea of it altogether.
I told him I had no intention of giving the journey up in any
circumstances. The only other plan he could think of was to buy the
grain from the Senussi at Qasr Dakhl. They had plenty—excellent
barley. I mentioned this to Dahab, who was extremely scornful,
declaring that they would not sell me any, or if they did, that it would
be poisoned, for he said it was well known that the Mawhubs
thoroughly understood medicine.
The new mamur arrived in due course. The previous one, ’Omar
Wahaby, had endeavoured to ayb me by not calling till I threatened
him. The new one went one better—he sent for me—and had to be
badly snubbed in consequence.
The natives of Egypt attach great importance to this kind of thing,
and I was glad to see that my treatment of the mamur caused a
great improvement in the attitude of the inhabitants of Mut towards
me, which had been anything but friendly before.
The mamur himself must have been considerably impressed. He
called and enquired about my men, and asked if I had any
complaints to make against them. I told him Qway was working very
badly and had got very lazy; so he said he thought, before I started,
that he had better speak to them privately. I knew I should hear from
my men what happened, so thinking it might have a good effect upon
Qway, I sent them round in the afternoon to the merkaz.
They returned looking very serious—Abd er Rahman in particular
seemed almost awed. I asked him what the mamur had said. He told
me he had taken down all their names and addresses, and then had
told them they must work their best for me, because, though he did
not quite know exactly who I was, I was clearly a very important
person indeed—all of which shows how very easily a fellah is
impressed by a little side!—il faut se faire valoir in dealing with a
native.
The mamur afterwards gave me his opinion of my men. His views
on Dahab were worth repeating. He told me he had questioned him
and come to the conclusion that he was honest, very honest—“In
fact,” he said, “he is almost stupid!”
The barley boycott began to assume rather alarming proportions.
The men could hear of no grain anywhere in the oasis, except at
Belat, Tenida and the Mawhubs, and it really looked as though I
should have to abandon my journey.
I could, of course, have tried to get some grain from Kharga, but it
would have taken over a week to fetch. It was doubtful, too, whether
I could have got as much as I wanted without going to the Nile Valley
for it, and that would have wasted a fortnight at least. I was at my
wits’ end to know what to do.
The Deus ex machina arrived in the form of the police officer—a
rather unusual shape for it to take in the oases. He came round one
afternoon to call. I was getting very bored with his conversation,
when he aroused my interest by saying he was sending some men
to get barley for the Government from the Senussi at Qasr Dakhl.
From the way in which he was always talking about money and
abusing the “avaricious” ’omdas, I felt pretty sure that he lost no
chance of turning an honest piastre; so finding that the price he was
going to pay was only seventy piastres the ardeb, I told him that I
was paying hundred and twenty, and that, if he bought an extra four
ardebs, I would take them off him at that price—and I omitted to
make any suggestion as to what should be done with the balance of
the purchase money.
As trading in Government stores is a criminal offence, I felt fairly
sure that he would not tell the Senussi for what purpose that extra
four ardebs was being bought.
The result of this transaction was that, in spite of the barley
boycott that the Senussi had engineered against me, I was
eventually able to start off again to explore the desert, whose secrets
they were so jealously guarding, with my camels literally staggering
under the weight of some really magnificent grain, bought, if they
had only known it, from the Senussi themselves!
The plan for the journey was as follows: we were to leave Dakhla
with every camel in the caravan, including the hagins, loaded to their
maximum carrying capacity with water-tanks and grain. At the end of
every day’s march a small depot was to be left, consisting of a pair of
the small tanks I had had made for the journey, and sufficient barley
for the camels and food for the men for a day’s supply. The reduction
in the weight of the baggage entailed by the making of these depots,
added to that of the water and grain consumed by the caravan on
the journey, I calculated would leave two camels free by the time that
we reached the five bushes.
Qway and Abdulla, who were to accompany the caravan up to this
point, were then to go on ahead of the caravan with their hagins
loaded with only enough water and grain to take them out to the
main depot at Jebel el Bayed. Here they were to renew their
supplies, go on for another day together and then separate. Qway
was to follow Abdulla’s tracks out to the second hill—Jebel Abdulla
as the men called it—that the Sudani had reached alone on his
scouting journey, and was to go on as much farther as he felt was
safe in the same direction, after which he was to retrace his steps
until he met the caravan coming out along the same route, bringing
out water and supplies for his relief. Abdulla’s instructions were to go
due south when he parted from Qway for two or, if possible, three
days. Then he was to strike off west till he cut Qway’s track, which
we should be following, and return upon it till he met the caravan,
which would then go on along the line of the old road we had found
to complete our fifteen days’ journey, and, if possible, push on till we
had got right across the desert into the French Sudan.
I was not expecting great results from Qway’s journey, but he
knew too much about our plans and was too useful a man in the
desert to make it advisable to leave him behind us in Dakhla, where
the Senussi might have made great use of him. Abdulla was well
armed, an experienced desert fighter, and, in spite of his “feathery”
appearance, was a man with whom it would not be safe to trifle. As
there was a considerable amount of friction between him and Qway,
owing to the Arab’s overbearing attitude towards the Sudanese in
general, I had little fear of their combining.
Abdulla, too, had special instructions to keep an eye on Qway,
and, as there was not much love lost between them, I felt sure he
would do so. While Abdulla was with him on the journey out to the
depot, and for a day beyond, Qway, I felt, would be powerless; while
if, after parting from him, he turned back to Jebel el Bayed to try and
get at the depot, he would have us on top of him, as we should get
there before him. When once the caravan had reached the depot we
should pick up all the water and grain it contained and take it along
with us following his tracks.
I had made him dependent on the caravan, by only giving him
about five days’ water for his own use, and none at all for his camel.
So long as he adhered to his programme he was quite safe, as we
could water his camel as soon as he rejoined us. But if he tried to
follow some plan of his own, he would at once run short of water and
find himself in trouble.
I felt that the precautions I had taken would effectually prevent
any attempt at foul play on his part. My whole scheme had been
thought out very carefully, and had provided, I thought, for every
possible contingency, but “the best laid plans o’ mice and men gang
aft agley”—especially when dealing with a Senussi guide.
 CHAPTER XVII

A T the start everything went well. Qway, it is true, though he did

his best to disguise the fact, was evidently greatly put out by my
having been able to produce so much barley. But the rest of the men
were in excellent spirits. Ibrahim, in particular, with the flint-lock gun
slung over his back, was as pleased with himself as any boy would
be when carrying his first gun. The camels, in spite of their heavy
loads, went so well that on the evening of the second day we
reached the bushes.
I found that a well which, without finding a trace of water, I had
dug the year before to a depth of thirty feet had silted up to more
than half its depth with sand. Here we cut what firewood we wanted,
and on the following morning Abdulla and Qway left the caravan and
went on ahead towards Jebel el Bayed.
I walked with them for a short distance as they left, to give them
final instructions. I told them that we should closely follow their
tracks. Having some experience of Qway’s sauntering ways when
scouting by himself, I told him that he must make his camel put her
best leg forward, and that if he did I would give him a big bakhshish
at the end of the journey.
He at once lost his temper. The camel was his, he said, and he
was not going to override her, and he should go at whatever pace he
choose. He was not working for me at all, but he was working for
Allah. My obvious retort, that in that case there was no necessity for
me to pay his wages, did not mend matters in the least, and he went
off in a towering rage. The Senussi teach their followers that every
moment of a man’s life should be devoted to the service of his
Creator; consequently, though he may be working for an earthly
master, he must first consider his duty towards Allah, as having the
first claim upon his services—a Jesuitical argument that obviously
puts great power into the hands of the Senussi sheykhs, who claim
to be the interpreters of the will of Allah.
Abd er Rahman, who had been watching this little scene from a
distance, looked very perturbed when I got back to the caravan.
Qway, he said, was feeling marbut (tied) and that was very bad,
because he was very cunning, and he prophesied that we should
have a very difficult journey.
The Arabs are naturally a most undisciplined race, who kick at
once at any kind of restraint. They are apt to get quite highfalutin on
the subject of their independence, and will tell you that they want to
be like the gazelle, at liberty to wander wherever they like, and to be
as free as the wind that blows across their desert wastes, and all that
kind of thing, and it makes them rather kittle cattle to handle.
Abd er Rahman was right; things began to go wrong almost at
once. The first two days after leaving Mut had been cool, but a
simum sprang up after we left the bushes and the day became
stiflingly hot. Towards midday the internal pressure, caused by the
expansion of the water and air in one of the tanks, restarted a leak
that had been mended, and the water began to trickle out of the
hole. We unloaded the camel and turned the tank round, so that the
leak was uppermost and the dripping stopped. But soon a leak
started in another of the mended tanks, and by the evening the water
in most of those I had with me was oozing out from at least one
point, and several of them leaked from two or more places.
When a tank had only sprung one leak, we were able to stop the
wastage by hanging it with the crack uppermost; but when more than
one was present, this was seldom possible. One of the tanks leaked
so badly that we took it in turns to hold a tin underneath it, and, in
that way, managed to save a considerable amount of water that we
poured into a gurba.
On arriving in camp, I took the leaks in hand and stopped them
with sealing-wax. This loss of water was a serious matter. Every
morning I measured out the day’s allowance for each man by means
of a small tin; in face of the leakage from the tanks, I thought it
advisable to cut down the allowance considerably.