Formulation of Synthesized Zinc Oxide Nanopowder into Hybrid Beads for Dye Separation

The sol-gel prepared zinc oxide nanopowder was immobilized onto alginate-polyvinyl alcohol polymer blend to fabricate novel biocomposite beads. Various physicochemical characterization techniques have been utilized to identify the crystalline, morphological, and chemical structures of both the fabricated zinc oxide hybrid beads and their corresponding zinc oxide nanopowder. The thermal stability investigations demonstrate that ZnO nanopowder stability dramatically decreased with its immobilization into the polymeric alginate and PVA matrix. The formulated beads had very strong mechanical strength and they are difficult to be broken up to 1500 rpm. Moreover, these hybrid beads are chemically stable at the acidic media (pH < 7) especially within the pH range of 2–7. Finally, the applicability of the formulated ZnO hybrid beads for C.I. basic blue 41 (BB41) decolorization from aqueous solution was examined

Characterization of date palm fronds as a fuel for energy production

This study investigated the characteristics of date palm fronds (DPF) for their use as a feedstock for fuel and energy production. The calorific values and elemental contents of the DPF samples were measured through proximate analysis, ultimate analysis and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. For proximate analysis, thermo-gravimetric analysis technique was used to identify the moisture content, volatile matter, fixed carbon and ash content. Ultimate analysis was used to determine the weight percentage of carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen. In line with this, X-ray fluorescence was used to determine the percentage of sulfur in the tested samples. The results of the conducted study were compared with other biomass reported in the past literature. The fixed carbon content of DPF was found lower than the other biomass except rice husk. Ajwah DPF exhibited the highest carbon content of 14.1%, while Jeddah DPF showed lowest carbon content of 5.2% among all the tested samples. However, presence of the metallic elements in the samples, such as Mg and Na can cause problems in the thermo-chemical processing systems