HCME: An Environment-Friendly I.C. Engine Fuel

The study revealed that Hura crepitans oil is a good candidate for Hura crepitans methyl ester (HCME) production. Two steps (esterification and transesterification) production stages influenced the high yield of HCME. Three possible experimental runs were performed in each step, the best of the three conditions were 1.45 (% v/v) for H2SO4 conc., 5:1 for methanol/oil molar ratio, 40 min for reaction time which gave 1.06 % for FFA in the first step, in the second step, 92.70 %(w/w) of HCME was obtained at 0.55% KOH, 5:1 methanol/oil molar ratio, 60 oC temperature and 30 min reaction time. The produced HCME had fuel properties which satisfied both ASTME D6751 and EN 1424 standards. The fatty acid profile of the HCME revealed the dominant fatty acids were linoleic (64.50%), oleic (17.54%) and palmitic (12.70%). Exhaust emissions from an internal combustion (I.C.) engine revealed that there is 60% decreased in CO, 58% decreased in NOx, 60% decreased in HC, 39% decrease in smoke opacity and 42% decreased in BSFC at B20, respectively. Flue gas temperature increased by 12% at B20, 45% increased in BTE at B50 when compared to pure diesel (AGO). Hence, it can be concluded that B20 (20% HCME + 80% AGO) will provides the best emission reduction at the lowest cost

Assessing the Flexibility of the Exponentiated Generalized Exponential Distribution

A three parameter probability model which serves as a generalization of the Exponential distribution was studied. The new model is named Exponentiated Generalized Exponential (EGE) distribution. The shape of the model could be increasing, decreasing or unimodal (depending on the value of the parameters). Explicit expressions are provided for the moments and generating functions, reliability function and failure rate. The method of maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) was proposed for the estimation of the parameters. An application to two real data sets was provided in order to assess the flexibility of the proposed model over some models in the literature

Statistical approach to optimization of the transesterification reaction from sorrel (hibiscus sabdariffa) oil

In an effort to optimize the reaction conditions of biodiesel production from Sorrel seed oil, Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was applied and the effects of reaction temperature, catalyst amount, reaction time and methanol/oil molar ratio, and their reciprocal interactions were ascertained. A total of 30 experimental runs were designed by Central Composite Rotatable Design (CCRD) and carried out. A quadratic polynomial was obtained for predicting the Transesterification process and the ANOVA test showed the model to be significant (p<0.05). The validity of the predicted model was confirmed by carrying out three independent replicates experiments. The actual maximum biodiesel yield obtained was 99.23% (w/w) at methanol/oil molar ratio 6.21, catalyst amount 1.03 (% wt.), reaction temperature 51 oC, and reaction time 63 min. The fuel properties of Hibiscus sabdariffa methylester (HSME) produced were found to be within the ASTM D6751 and DIN EN 14214 biodiesel standards. The fatty acid profile of the HSME revealed that the dominant fatty acids were oleic (58.34%), arachidic (1.55%), palmitic (18.28%) and linoleic (21.19%). Emission assessment revealed 70% reduction of CO at B80, 80% reduction of NO concentration at B40

The Impacts of Online Education on the Educational Advancement in Nigeria: A Study of National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN).

Online education in Nigeria is a recent phenomenon that is embraced by the populace. Some Two decades ago, online education was unthinkable but with the present realities such as internet and enhanced technology, Nigerians are experiencing transformation in learning and new fields of educational research. The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), identified with the Federal Government of Nigeria, is a distance learning higher institution aimed at awarding all levels of degrees to the populace especially the working class people due to tight schedules and other factors. The study reviews extant literature on online education such as Collins (2002) whose definition of Online education focuses on the “ the creation and proliferation of the personal computer, the globalization of ideas and other human acts, and the use of technology in exchanging ideas and providing access to more people”. It is a form of education that has to do with distance learning. It involves the use of internet for learning purposes. Greenberg (1998) defines contemporary distance learning as “a planned teaching/learning experience that uses a wide spectrum of technologies to reach learners at a distance and is designed to encourage learner interaction and certification of learning”. In other words, it involves the use of internet to receive lectures, write examinations and get degrees without having any face to face discussion with any teacher or lecturer and also without having any physical classroom. In addition, the critically evaluates the impact of online education on the standard of education in Nigeria, using the case of NOUN. This study uses both primary and secondary data in order to elicit information on the impacts of online education on the educational system and the how it affects the standard of education in Nigeria, whether positively or negatively. This study also gathered information about the performances of the products from distance learning institutions in the labour marke

Optimization, kinetic degradation and quality characterization of oil extracted from Nigeria hibiscus sabdariffa oilseeds

This work focused on optimization of oil extraction from Sorrel oilseeds using Response Surface Methodology (RSM), it also to investigate the physicochemical properties and kinetics of degradation of the oil during heating. Based on Box-Behnken design, 17 experimental runs were conducted to investigate the effects of extraction time, solvent volume sample weight and their reciprocal interactions on the oil yield. A quadratic polynomial was obtained to predict the oil yield and the ANOVA test showed the model to be significant (p &lt; 0.05). A statistical model predicted the maximum seed oil yield to be 18.25% at the optimal condition of sample weight: 22 g, solvent volume: 157 ml and time: 2 h. The optimized condition was validated with the actual oil yield of 17.85%, which was within the range predicted. The physicochemical properties oil extracted showed the oil to be yellowish green liquid at room temperature, the refractive index was found to be, 1.4603; the moisture content, 0.065%; specific gravity, 0.886; viscosity, 15.40 Cp; mean molecular mass, 283.30; p anisidine value, 6.31; totox number, 16.31; FFA, 0.40; acid value, 0.80; saponification value, 197.75 (mg KOH/g oil); peroxide value, 5.00 (meq O2/kg oil); higher heating value, 39.86 (MJ/kg) and cetane no, 51.90.  The physicochemical analysis of oil suggested the oil could have important food and industrial applications. The fatty acid profile of the oil using GC technique revealed that the oil was highly unsaturated (74.45%) with (44.39%) linoleic acid which was the highest. The kinetics data for the degradation of Sorrel oil showed that the rate of degradation of peroxide value in Sorrel (H. sabdariffa) seed oil increases as the temperature increases. However, the impact of reaction time on the rate constant k and the nature of graph obtained was linear with the optimum activation energy of the reaction was determined as 70.67 kJ/mol at 250 oC. The reaction was of first order with R2 &gt; 0.5, t1/2 of 5975 s and k1 of 0.00116 s-1. Keywords: Optimization, response surface methodology, Kinetics, fatty acid, physicochemical properties

The Effect of Social Media on Reading and Listening Habits of Polytechnic Students: A Case Study of The Polytechnic, Ibadan

Nowadays due to the advancement of technology students waste much of their study time inusing social media rather than dealing with academic issues. As a result of this, the mainobjective of this study was to examine the effect of social media on reading and listening habitsof polytechnic students, a case study of The Polytechnic, Ibadan. The descriptive researchmethod was adopted for this study and five departments were sampled with the use of simplerandom sampling technique. A total number of 150 pupils were drawn from the total populationof the sampled department. A total number of 150 copies of questionnaire were duly filled,retrieved and used for the study analysis. Descriptive statistics of simple percentage wasadopted in the analysis of data of the study. Furthermore, the data output revealed that studentsspent an average of 6.10 hours and 7.24 hours per day in using different social media accountsthan dealing with studying their academic subject matters

The Impact of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises on Economic Development of Ekiti State, Nigeria

Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) has proved to be a major intervention in resolving the problems of poverty and unemployment in most developing countries. This study examines the impact of SMEs on Economic Development of Ekiti State (2006-2013). A survey research design was adopted to obtain data from 150 respondents comprising of traders, artisans, production factories and other small and medium enterprises which were selected using multi stage sampling method across 16 local government areas in Ekiti State. Three Null hypotheses were tested to identify the significant effects of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises on poverty reduction, employment generation and improvement in the standard of living in Ekiti State. Data for this study was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Chi-square at 0.05 level of significance was used to test the hypotheses. The findings revealed that there is a positive and significant relationship between SMEs and poverty reduction, employment generation and improvement in standard of living of people in Ekiti State. Furthermore, the result revealed that there was a 57% increase in the number of SMEs in the State between the years 2009-2013. The study concludes that access to capital funding by reduction in the interest rate on loan offered by banks can boost the performance of SMEs in Ekiti State and Nigeria at large. Keywords: SMEs, Poverty Alleviation, Unemployment Bank, Economic developmen

Acid-Catalyzed Esterification of Waste Cooking Oil with High FFA for Biodiesel Production

In this work, Biodiesel was produced from waste cooking oil (WCO) obtained from Mr. Biggs.  Since WCO usually comes with a high content of FFA and thus requires an additional acid pre-treatment process to convert the FFA to ester. Two steps (esterification and transesterification) approach was employed to convert the WCO to biodiesel. In the first step, six experimental run was carried out until the % FFA was constant. Meanwhile, the second step required five experimental runs, and the average WCO biodiesel yield (95.06 % w/w) was computed at the following variable conditions, 0.55% KOH, 5:1 Methanol/oil molar ratio, 60 oC reaction temperature and 30 min reaction time. Meanwhile, the produced WCO biodiesel possess some fuel properties which satisfied both ASTME D6751 and EN 1424 standards. The fatty acid profiles of both the WCO and WCO biodiesel revealed that both profiles contained unsaturated fatty acids. Hence, it can be concluded that WCO is a potential raw material for biodiesel production which are biodegradable, economical, environmental friendly and always available. Keywords: Waste cooking oil (WCO), esterification, transesterification, biodiesel, fatty acids profile, physicochemical analysis