Biodiesel with Fuel Additive: An Analysis of Engine Performance, Combustion and Emission Characteristics

Threats to the environment from exhaust emissions and global warming continue to generate more calls by most governments to end the use of fossil fuels and switch to green fuels. This study aims to examine one of the green fuels that is seeing rapid expansion, namely the biofuel known as biodiesel. Biodiesel is non-toxic, biodegradable, made from renewable sources and can reduce diesel engine exhaust emissions. Even though one of the technical benefits of biodiesel is its ability to be oxygenated in diesel engines without much hardware modifications; however, it has been unable to reduce exhaust tail emissions from diesel engines on its own. In this research, the impact of biodiesel mixed with oxygenated additive, diethyl ether, when subjected to performance, combustion, and emission tests in unmodified diesel engine at different speeds has been studied. Waste cooking oil was transesterified using methanol as a reagent and NaOH as catalyst. The biodiesel was blended manually at room temperature with diesel fuel and diethyl ether in different proportions while keeping the volume of diethyl ether constant at 10 %. The fuel blends (B10D90, B20D80, B30D70, B10A10D80, B20A10D70, and B30A10D60) were subjected to performance, combustion, and emission tests in a single-cylinder, four-stroke diesel engine coupled to a water-cooled Eddy current dynamometer and results obtained compared with diesel fuel. The results showed that all performance characteristics (brake power (BP), brake torque (BT), brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC)) improved with B10A10, which was found to closely resemble diesel. The peak cylinder pressures were higher for the blends, while the cylinder temperatures were comparable to those of diesel. The carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), hydrocarbon (HC) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions decreased more for all tested blends than for those of diesel at all engine speeds. Adding diethyl ether additives improved the physicochemical properties of biodiesel, making it a viable method for using biodiesel efficiently in diesel engines without modifying the engine. The study found that using green diesel fuel with a diethyl ether additive is a potential step toward improving air quality by lowering emissions from stationary, and transportation engines while maintaining optimal engine performance. As a result, using biodiesel-diesel fuels with the appropriate proportions of diethyl either additive has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and ensure benign environment

Protracted cholera outbreak in the Central Region, Ghana, 2016

Objective: On 24th October 2016, the Central Regional Health Directorate received report of a suspected cholera outbreak in the Cape Coast Metropolis (CCM). We investigated to confirm the diagnosis, identify risk factors and implement control measures.Design: We used a descriptive study followed by 1:2 unmatched case-control study.Data source: We reviewed medical records, conducted active case search and contact tracing, interviewed case-patients and their contacts and conducted environmental assessment. Case-patients' stool samples were tested with point of care test kits (SD Bioline Cholera Ag 01/0139) and sent to the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital Laboratory for confirmation.Main outcomes: Cause of outbreak, risk factors associated with spread of outbreakResults: Vibrio cholerae serotype Ogawa caused the outbreak. There was no mortality. Of 704 case-patients, 371(52.7%) were males and 55(7.8%) were aged under-five years. The median age was 23 years (interquartile range: 16-32 years). About a third 248(35.2%) of the case patients were aged 15-24 years. The University of Cape Coast subdistrict was the epicenter with 341(48.44%) cases. Compared to controls, cholera case-patients were more likely to have visited Cholera Treatment Centers (CTC) (aOR=12.1, 95%CI: 1.5-101.3), drank pipe-borne water (aOR=11.7, 95%CI: 3.3-41.8), or drank street-vended sachet water (aOR=11.0, 95%CI: 3.7-32.9). Open defecation and broken sewage pipes were observed in the epicenter.Conclusion: Vibrio cholerae serotype Ogawa caused the CCM cholera outbreak mostly affecting the youth. Visiting CTC was a major risk factor. Prompt case-management, contact tracing, health education, restricting access to CTC and implementing water sanitation and hygiene activities helped in the control.Keywords: Cholera outbreak, Vibrio cholerae serotype Ogawa, Cholera treatment center, Water sanitation and hygiene, Cape Coast MetropolisFunding: This work was supported by Ghana Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program (GFELTP), University of Ghan

Characterization of bacterial isolates cultured from the nasopharynx of children with sickle cell disease (SCD)

Background: We characterized bacterial isolates from the nasopharynx of 84 Sickle cell disease patients 78 of whom were HbSS and 6 HbSC aged 4 four months to 15 years at Wesley Guild Hospital, Ilesa, southwestern Nigeria between February – September, 2014.Method:  Sterile cotton-tipped initially dipped into sterile saline thereafter was  introduced into nasopharynx of each patient and  thereafter  applied onto sterile thioglycolate medium and  incubated at 370 C for 24 hr, When growth was noticed,  samples were inoculated onto  enriched, selective and differential bacteriologic media. Bacterial colonies that grew on such media were picked and characterized by gram reaction, cultural, morphologic and biochemical methods.  Antibiotic sensitivity tests were determined by the disc diffusion method. Demographic data relating to severity of SCD were provided.Results: Altogether, 119 isolates were cultured from the nasopharynx. Gram positive bacteria predominated (65.54%)   and Corynebacterium spp (44.53%) dominated comprising of 19 (35.84%)  Corynebacterium xerosis 11 (20.75%) Corynebacterium diphtheriae, 10(18.86) Corynebacterium pseudodiphtheriticum, 8(15.09%) Corynebacterium ulcerans, 3(6.66%) Corynebacterium spp and 2(3.77%) Corynebacterium jeikeium. Other Gram positive rods cultured were Arcanobacterium haemolyticum 6(5%).  Bacillus subtilis was   3 (2.5%), Actinomyces isrealli 3 (2.5%) and Norcadia asteroids 1 (0.84%).  Low frequency of nasopharyngeal colonization recorded for Haemophilus influenzae 4.2%, and S. pneumoniae 2.5% and S. aureus 4(3.36%) and multiresistance was widespread for most isolates.Conclusion:  Indigenous microflora Corynebacterium spp predominated and low rate of nasopharyngeal colonization with H. influenzae, and S. pneumoniae recorded attributable to prophylactic use of penicillin and vaccines administration probably suppressed growth of organisms   and inevitably increased resistance to many antibiotics

Trade openness, foreign direct investment and industrialisation in Ghana

AbstractThe industrialisation of the Ghanaian economy has seen less light despite the high levels of trade and being one of the highest receivers of foreign direct investment (FDI) in West Africa. This low performance in the industrial sector may be due to the frequent shocks the country suffers in her trade engagements and FDI inflows. Therefore, this study sought to examine the asymmetric effect of trade openness and FDI on industrialisation in Ghana. In achieving this, contemporary time series approaches, involving Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) and Non-Linear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) approaches to cointegration, were used to analyse the time series data from 1983 to 2019. The results revealed that in both the long- and short-run, the positive shocks in trade openness have no effect on industrialisation, and the negative shocks in trade openness cause industrialisation to fall. Regarding FDI, the positive shocks in FDI exert positive effect on industrialisation in both the long- and short-run, but the negative shocks exert no effect on industrialisation in the long-run, however, a positive effect on industrialisation in the short-run. Findings from the study imply that trade openness in both the long- and short-run is detrimental to industrial progress in Ghana. Also, FDI is much needed for Ghana to industrialise her country. It is recommended that government policies should be channelled to reducing external shocks faced by traders, mostly exporters, while focusing on creating an enabling environment to attract the needed FDI to the industrial sector, and increasing infrastructural base of the country

Conceptual Design of E-Voting System for Academic Institution

Voting or casting of lots has become the main method of selecting individuals for a vacant position. There have been several methods of voting practiced over the years, ranging from raising of hand, using ballot papers, and even using pebbles as in the typical case of the Republic of Gambia. It is on this premise that this study was embarked upon to design and implement an effective Online Voting System for Academic Institutions. The concept has been implemented for the Regent University College of Science and Technology in Ghana. The results showed that the online system was outstanding with real-time results of the voting process and easy administrative management. The users of the system which involved students as well as some electoral supervisors realized the online voting system was a better, effective and more efficient way of voting in the school as compared to the paper balloting method of voting. The concept could be extended to all Institutions or organization’s election once the electorates can be identified with unique Identification Numbers. It is recommended that further research and implementation should be conducted to include functionalities or features to enable the visually impaired individuals vote