ABSTRACT Azo dyes have become an immerging and difficult pollutant to the environment. Industrial activities have resulted in disposal of these toxic dyes in effluent and among them is methyl orange (MO) dye. Proper effluent treatment schemes have become a necessity so as to be able to reduce the potential toxicity issues regarding plant and animal life due to the rise in demand for clean and safe water. Several methods have been applied for the removal and degradation of MO dye but have prov...
ABSTRACT Carbon nanodots (CNDs), nitrogen doped carbon nanodots (n-CNDs) and their composites with cobalt tetra aminophenoxy phthalocyanine nanoparticles (CoTAPhPcNPs) were employed towards the simultaneous detection of aspirin (ASA), ibuprofen (IBU) and indomethacin (INDO). The nanomaterials were characterized by FTIR, UV-Vis, TEM, cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, linear sweep voltammetry, chronoamperometry and differential pulse voltammetry. CoTAPhPcNPs/n-CNDs-GCE...
ABSTRACT The quest for effective forecasting models to meet the ever growing electricity demand around the globe has heightened and taken a much challenging dimension that cuts across rural and urban communities in under-developed, developing and developed economies. Electric Load Forecasting which is the accurate prediction of both the magnitude and geographical distributions of electrical energy demand over the different periods of planning horizon has become a vital process in the planning...
ABSTRACT A novel maize tassel-ethyl acrylate biopolymer embedded magneticnanohybrid(MTEA-MN)was designed for the adsorption of Cd (II) in batch experiments.Copolymerization parameters such as solvent amount, initiator concentration, monomer concentration, temperature and reaction time on grafting percentage were optimized.Characterization of the adsorbent was byFourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The effect of pH, contact time, initial concentration and adsorbent dosage and their ...
ABSTRACT A novel low-temperature glycerolysis process for lowering free fatty acid (FFA) in crude jatropha oil for alkali catalyzed transesterification has been developed. The response surface methodology (RSM) based on the central composite design was used to model and optimize the glycerolysis efficiency under three reaction variables namely; reaction time, temperature and glycerol to oil mass ratio. The optimum conditions for the highest glycerolysis efficiency of 98.67% were found to be ...
ABSTRACT Hydrolysis of a complex medium (whole-wheat flour) using a mixed culture of Aspergillus. awamori and Aspergillus. oryzae was carried out for the purpose of producing a fermentation medium that can be used to produce industrial chemicals.. The experimentation was carried out in shake flasks as well as in a 10-litre fermenter and the results obtained in all cases indicated that the two microorganisms could cooperate together to hydrolyse both the starch and the protein in wheat flour c...
ABSTRACT In this study, the potential effects of animal derived organic manure (cow dung, poultry droppings), saw dust and NPK fertilizer on the bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated soil was investigated. The rate of biodegradation was studied for the period of 10 weeks under laboratory conditions. The biodegradation data were fitted to eight models, four of which are based on microbial growth rate and the other four based on order of reaction. Results obtained show that biore...
ABSTRACT Remediation of hydrocarbon polluted soil applying all existing techniques can be slow, expensive and requires close monitoring. Bioremediation and phytoremediation augmented bioremediation have been used to treat petroleum contaminated soil and even the difficult poly aromatic hydrocarbon polluted soil which takes longer time. What has not been studied was the effect of heavy metals present in petroleum which slows down the substrate degradation by microorganisms. After the prima...
Abstract Detailed characterization of relevant cell components modelling and model validation of the electrical power utilization and productivity estimation of a locally fabricated
ABSTRACT Biodiesel, defined as the monoalkyl esters of vegetable oils and animal fats, is becoming prominent among alternatives to conventional petro-diesel due to economic, environmental and social factors. Transesterification is the most preferred method of biodiesel production. Knowledge of transesterification reaction kinetic enables prediction of the extent of the chemical reaction (or the conversion) at any time under particular conditions. It is also essential in the optimization of op...
ABSTRACT Non edible oil sources have the potential to lower the cost of biodiesel. However, they usually contain significant high amounts of free fatty acids (FFA) that make them inadequate for direct base catalyzed transesterification reaction (where the FFA content should be lower than 3%). The present work reviews chemical re-esterification as a possible method for the pre-treatment of high FFA feedstock for biodiesel production. The effects of temperature, amount of glycerol, type and amo...
ABSTRACT Clean modern energy and improved waste management are two well-recognised challenges in the global transition to sustainable development. There exist synergistic opportunities in simultaneously tackling the two issues via the generation of bioenergy from suitable waste streams. This potential has been successfully exploited elsewhere in the world; however, South Africa, despite having significant potential, lags behind in the implementation of these technologies and the respective ...