Water Quality Impact of Flow Station Effluent in a Receiving Creek

The physicochemical quality of a crude oil flow station effluent and water of an effluent receiving creek were investigated. Samples were characterized by laboratory analysis. High concentrations of some toxicants exceeding environmental standards were observed in the effluent and water samples, which include BOD5 (544mg/L), COD (650mg/L), salinity (3162mg/L), copper (2.3mg/L), TDS (18900 mg/L), lead (0.51mg/L), and cadmium (0.04mg/L). The study underscored the need for proper treatment and monitoring of effluent to ensure compliance with statutory standard, before discharge into the environment to safeguard the ecosystem, as continued discharge of improperly treated effluent may compound the ecological problem of the receiving water environmen

Kinetic Modelling of Vitamin C Degradation in Selected Fruits under Market Storage Conditions

The degradation kinetics of vitamin C in three fruits namely; orange, banana and apple under different market storage conditions prevalent in Nigeria were investigated. Orange and banana samples were stored in sacks and open air at ambient conditions, while open air and refrigerator were used for apple samples. Storage was for 6 days duration. .Iodometric titration was used to determine vitamin C content of the fruits on a daily basis. Regression analysis was employed to fit the variations in vitamin C concentration in the different samples with time, to three kinetic models, to determine which model best describes the degradation trend. Results showed that vitamin C concentration in all the fruit samples reduced over time following zero order kinetics. Kinetic studies obtained the following degradation rate constants: orange 0.44g.L-1.s-1 and 0.29 g.L-1.s-1, for sack and open air storage respectively, banana 0.316 g.L-1.s-1 and 0.264 g.L-1.s-1, for sack and open air, and apple 0.122 g.L-1.s-1 and 0.188 g.L-1.s-1, for refrigerated and open air respectively. The study indicated that with respect to vitamin C retention, open air storage is preferable to sack for oranges and bananas while apples are preferably stored in refrigerator

Separation of cashew nut shell liquid by column chromatography

Cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) a natural product that consists of a mixture of phenolic compounds was separated into cardanol, cardol, and 2 - methylcardol using column chromatography. The separation was aimed at recovering cardanol that can be used in the synthesis of cation-exchange resin. The separation was effected using a mixture of equal portions of benzene and chloroform as the mobile phase in a column packed with silica gel adsorbent of particle size 60–120 mesh as the stationary phase. The mean RF-values determined from the study were cardanol (0.516), cardol (0.173) and 2-methylcardol (0.148). The corresponding RM-values calculated were cardanol (-0.040), cardol (0.673), 2-methylcardol (0.753). The RF-value is a measure of the affinity of the component for the mobile phase. The results show that the component that eluted first from the column which was cardanol had the highest affinity for the mobile phase, followed by cardol while the 2-methylcardol had the least affinity. The RM-value is a measure of the polarity of the component and its affinity for the stationary phase. The results of this study show that the component that eluted last from the column which was 2-methylcardol was the most polar. The molecular structures of these three components also show that 2-methylcardol is the most polar followed by cardol and the least polar was cardanol. The RF-value of cardanol obtained in this study could be used in the design of an industrial chromatographic column for its separation from CNSL.African Journal of Science and Technology Vol. 5(2) 2004: 92-9