Production of Clay-Based Water Filter Using Biomass of Bacillus Subtillis, Sawdust, Activated Charcoal, Periwinkle and Snail Shell as Additives

A Significant proportion of rural households lacked access to improved and safe drinking water due to chemical and microbial contamination. Point-of-use (POU) water filters made from cheap, locally available ceramic materials and additives can achieve quality water parameters. Ceramic water filters were prepared by combining clay minerals with additives. Sawdust was used as a burnout material to achieve porosity and enhance the filtration rate. Silver nitrate, charcoal, periwinkle shell, snail shell, and biomass of Bacillus Subtilis were added in different ratios. The filter was formulated with charcoal, sawdust, snail shell, and periwinkle shell to remove microbes and treat heavy metals through the adsorption process. The filters were molded and fired in a temperature range of (700oC - 900oC). Characterization of the clay mineral, physiochemical and Microbial tests were conducted on the ceramic and water. Antimicrobial test was carried out on the biomass of Bacillus subtilis. Mineralogical (XRD) and elemental analysis of the clay, snail, and periwinkle shells showed high percentage composition of serpentine (a clay crystal), plagioclase, a mixture of feldspar minerals albite (sodium aluminosilicate - NaAlSi3O8), anorthite calcium aluminosilicate- CaAl2Si2O8) and Calcium (70-97 %composition) respectively. The results showed a greater proportion of silica in the clay, suggesting the material is silicate. Filtration rate was estimated at 1.125 L/hr. The result showed the filter has 96.72%, 99.26%, and 66.67% colony removal efficiency for heterotrophic bacteria, coliform, and fungi respectively. The filter showed about 70% - 96% efficiency for the treatment of physiochemical parameters in wastewater

Heat Energy Potential of Value Added Agro-Waste Biomass Fuel

In this work, the use palm oil mill effluent (POME) as a binder in briquetting saw dust was evaluated. The POME is considered a harmful waste for the environment if discharged untreated, because stinks and releases green house gases. The effluent is a thick brownish liquid slush that contains high solids, oil and grease. Saw dusts from wood cutting in wood mills are considered biomass wastes that can be fully utilized as a renewable energy sources. This experiment established the optimum proportion of palm oil sludge as saw dust binder, and determines its calorific value. The palm oil sludge was collected from a palm oil processing cottage industry at Ago Iwoye, Ado-Ekiti. Saw dust sample was collected from Ogo-Oluwa wood mill in Ado-Ekiti. Saw dust and POME were mixed together in varying proportions. The biomass mixture was compacted into annular disc with hydraulic press machine. The properties of the resulting briquette of varying POME weight percent were assessed using standard testing methods. Briquette with appropriate binding and compaction at 80 percent weight POME has 90.21 percentage volatile matter, 6.29% lowest fixed carbon, 3.5% ash content and high heating value at 32948.94 kcal/kg. The burning characteristics indicated that all briquettes had excellent burning characteristics except of course briquette with low POME

Experimental investigation on microstructure characteristics and mechanical behavior of a developed bi-treated soda-lime glass

This work aims at developing an ideal glass that can harness the properties of both chemically tempered glass (CTG) and fully tempered glass (FTG) by combining chemical and thermal tempering process. Glass samples with dimension 120 × 50 × 4 mm were prepared and first immersed in potassium nitrate salt (KNO3) inside a salt bath and subjected to heating at temperatures of 450 °C and 500 °C with immersion time of 4 h and 5 h for each temperature respectively in a muffle furnace to produce CTGs. The CTGs were then later subjected to thermal tempering at a fixed temperature of 450 °C to produced bi-treated glasses (BTGs). Scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to investigate the microstructure of the glasses while tests such as hardness, flexural strength and impact strength were used to evaluate the mechanical behavior of all the glasses. The results showed that the BTGs displayed high flexural strength which increases as temperature and time increases over the CTGs and FTG respectively while the hardness values of the BTGs also improved considerably as temperature and time increases over the CTGs and FTG respectively. However, the BTGs displayed decrease in impact strength as compared to CTGs and FTG. In term of microstructure, the BTGs displayed a compacted nodule-like structure evenly distributed throughout the glass matrix which accounts for the good mechanical behavior of the developed BTGs. Resumen: El objetivo de este trabajo es desarrollar un vidrio ideal que pueda aprovechar las propiedades del vidrio templado químicamente (VTQ) y del vidrio totalmente templado (VTT) al combinar el proceso de templado químico y térmico. Se prepararon muestras de vidrio con una dimensión de 120 × 50 × 4 mm y se sumergieron por primera vez en sal de nitrato de potasio (KNO3) dentro de un baño de sal y se sometieron a calentamiento a temperaturas de 4.500 y 5.000 °C con un tiempo de inmersión de 4 horas y 5 horas en cada temperatura, respectivamente, en un horno de mufla para producir VTQ. Posteriormente, los VTQ se sometieron a templado térmico a una temperatura fija de 4.500 °C a los vidrios bitratados producidos (VBP). El microscopio electrónico de barrido (MEB) se utilizó para investigar la microestructura de los vidrios mientras que pruebas como la dureza, la resistencia a la flexión y la resistencia al impacto se utilizaron para evaluar el comportamiento mecánico de todos los vidrios. Los resultados mostraron que los VBP contaban con una elevada resistencia a la flexión que aumentaba a medida que aumentaban la temperatura y el tiempo en los VTQ y VTT mientras que los valores de dureza de los VBP también mejoraron considerablemente a medida que aumentaron la temperatura y el tiempo en los VTQ y VTT, respectivamente. Sin embargo, los VBP mostrados disminuyen la resistencia al impacto en comparación con los VTQ y VTT. En términos de microestructura, los VBP mostraron una estructura compacta similar a un nódulo, distribuida uniformemente a través de la matriz de vidrio, lo que explica el buen comportamiento mecánico de los VBP desarrollados. Keywords: Bi-treated glass, Microstructure, Mechanical behavior, Palabras clave: Vidrio bitratado, Microestructura, Comportamiento mecánic