Influence of Thermal Treatment on Kankara Kaolinite

In this work, the influence of thermal treatment on the structure of Kankara kaolinite was studied for the first time, using X-ray diffractogram (XRD), EDX, NanoSEM, FTIR-Attenuated Total Reflectance, DTA/TGA and BET surface area measurements. The treatment temperatures applied represents the peak of the transformation stages. The results show that surface area decreases with increase in temperature of treatment, while its crystal structure was transformed from the native kaolinite structure via the amorphous metakaolin to the typical mullite/crystobalite structure though with some unidentifiable peaks. The morphological studies showed that Kankara kaolinite is composed of nano-platelets of about 30nm thickness and in bundles of between 1 – 3 µm thicknesses with some marked variations/reductions as the treatment temperatures increases. The DTA/TGA result shows that the kaolinite undergoes dehydroxylation at 528.560C while been converted to metakaolin with a weight loss of about 14.4%. The presence of the characteristic OH, Al-OH, Si-OH and Si-O-Al bands were confirmed with the ATR studies which also showed the disappearance and subsequent appearance of new bands as the treatment temperature increased, this also affected the surface area and pore sizes of the transformation products

Modelling and Simulation of Coking in the Riser of an Industrial Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) Unit

Under normal Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) conditions, coke is the most important factor that affects catalyst activity. A pseudo homogeneous two - dimensional (2D) model of an industrial FCC riser is here presented. The FCC riser models of previous researchers were mostly based on the assumption of negligible mass transfer resistance and 1D plug flow. These assumptions undermine the accuracy of the models by over-predicting the riser residence time while under-predicting the reaction time. Mass transfer resistance was incorporated in the reactor model to enhance the accuracy of the results. Finite difference was used to discretise the model equation. This investigation has advanced research into the modeling of FCC riser by predicting catalyst coke content as a function of reaction temperature. The yields of LCO, gasoline, gas and coke that were predicted by the model for industrial risers were 15.54wt%, 49.70wt%, 18.01wt% and 4.90wt% respectively. A feed stock (VGO) conversion of 79.28% was predicted by the model. An optimal operating temperature range of 786K<T<788K was predicted for the riser.http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/njt.v34i2.1

EFFECTS OF NaOH MODIFICATION ON THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF BAOBAB POD FIBER REINFORCED LDPE COMPOSITES

In order to improve properties of natural fibers as reinforcement, different treatment methods have being adopted by researchers. However, the use of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) for the treatment of baobab pod fiber as reinforcement in low density polyethylene is sparsely reported. Therefore, this study, investigated the effect of 2 wt%, 4 wt% 6 wt%, 8 wt% and 10 wt%  concentration of NaOH on baobab pod fibers as reinforcement for low density polyethylene (LDPE). Two roll mill machine and hydraulic press at a pressure of 10 kN and temperature of 120oC aided the production of the composite. FT-IR was used to analyze the functional groups of the treated and un-treated fibers. The result showed the disappearance of the peak 1550 cm-1 corresponding to lignin after modification. Further, the composites were characterized for the following tensile strength (TS), modulus of elasticity (MOE), elongation at break, impact strength and water absorption. Preliminary studies on the effect of loading of the unmodified baobab fiber in the LDPE matrix showed desirable properties at 10 wt%, where fiber content was in the range of 5 wt% to 30 wt% at interval of 5 wt%. The composite produced from the 8 wt% NaOH modified fiber had the highest tensile strength, MOE, elongation at break. At this modification level, the tensile strength, MOE and elongation at break were about 75.48%, 92.18% and 28% respectively higher than the composite produced from unmodified fiber. Composite produced with 10 wt% NaOH modified fiber exhibited least water absorption of 1.80%, which was 50% lower than unmodified. These showed that the modification of the fiber improved the composite properties. These properties compared favorably with some reported properties for natural fiber reinforced polymer composites. http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/njt.v36i1.1

Socio-Economic Importance of Honey among Traditional Healers and Orthodox Practitioners in Iwo Local Government Area of Osun State, Nigeria

The necessity for people’s adequate and quality as well as good health and standard of living for overall National development informed the main reason for the study on Socio-economic importance of honey among traditional healers and orthodox medical practitioners in Iwo Local Government Area, Osun State. A total of 105questionnaires wereadministered, while 91 were retrieved from the respondents. Various uses of honey were investigated both for personal consumption and medicinal purpose. The result shows that 41.8 % of the respondent use honey for multiple purpose, while 35.2% use honey mainly for medicinal purpose, 16.5% use it mainly as beverages, while the remaining 6.6% for use in treatments. The Chi Square Test showed a higher calculated value of 385.71 than the tabulated value of 21.026. This confirms a strong relationship between the use of honey and social life of Iwo people. The major constraints discovered was that Traditional healers do not exercise strict control on the quantity doses of honey used for different ailments. It is therefore recommended that both rural and urban dwellers should be sensitized about the use of honey, in order to encourage sustainable consumption for improvement of health status. Keywords: Medicinal, orthodox, traditional, hone

Socio-Economic Importance of Honey among Traditional Healers and Orthodox Practitioners in Iwo Local Government Area of Osun State, Nigeria

The necessity for people\u2019s adequate and quality as well as good health and standard of living for overall National development informed the main reason for the study on Socio-economic importance of honey among traditional healers and orthodox medical practitioners in Iwo Local Government Area, Osun State. A total of 105questionnaires were administered, while 91 were retrieved from the respondents. Various uses of honey were investigated both for personal consumption and medicinal purpose. The result shows that 41.8 % of the respondent use honey for multiple purpose, while 35.2% use honey mainly for medicinal purpose, 16.5% use it mainly as beverages, while the remaining 6.6% for use in treatments. The Chi Square Test showed a higher calculated value of 385.71 than the tabulated value of 21.026. This confirms a strong relationship between the use of honey and social life of Iwo people. The major constraints discovered was that Traditional healers do not exercise strict control on the quantity doses of honey used for different ailments. It is therefore recommended that both rural and urban dwellers should be sensitized about the use of honey, in order to encourage sustainable consumption for improvement of health status

The kinetics of glucose production from rice straw by Aspergillus niger

In this investigation, glucose was produced from rice straw using cells of Aspergillus niger, isolated from maize grain. Glucose yield was found to increase from 43 to 87% as the rice straw particle size decreased from 425 to 75 ìm, while the optimal temperature and pH were found within the range of 45 - 50°C and 4.5 - 5 respectively. The concentration and rate of glucose production was observed to depend on pretreatment of rice straw, substrate concentration and cell loading. A kinetic model rateexpression has been developed for such a process based on the Michaelis – Mentens and Lineweaver – Burk approach. Comparison between the experimental data and those predicted from the rate model indicate good agreement with a mean absolute deviation of about 0.2