Effect of the Selective Removal of Non-basic Nitrogen Compounds on the Hydrotreatment of Light Gas Oil

Nitrogen compounds are strong inhibitors of catalyst activity in downstream chemical processes. Two distinct types of nitrogen compounds are present in light gas oils: basic and non-basic. Basic nitrogen compounds are generally considered to have stronger inhibitory effects on hydrotreating; however, non-basic nitrogen compounds are known to undergo inhibition reactions that can be generated during the hydrogenation process. This can cause the formation of basic nitrogen compounds, which are challenging to hydrotreat. Non-basic nitrogen compounds have also been proven to hinder further hydrodesulfurization due to competitive adsorption on the catalyst active sites during hydrotreating. With more stringent environmental laws regarding allowable sulfur limits, it is important to find ways to decrease the amount of sulfur, nitrogen and aromatics contents even further, in hydrotreating products. In this thesis, the effect of the selective removal of non-basic nitrogen compounds on hydrotreating was studied. An absorbent material consisting of three basic components, namely, a polymer support, poly (glycidyl methacrylate-co-ethylene glycol methacrylate) (PGMA-co-EDGMA), a π-acceptor moiety (2, 4, 5, 7-tetranitroflorenone, TENF) and a linker, three- (diaminopropane, DAP (3)), was synthesized to create a PGMA-DAP(3)-TENF polymer. The polymer was used to selectively target non-basic nitrogen compounds from light gas oil through a mechanism known as charge transfer complex. The resulting light gas oil was referred to as the pretreated feed. To measure the effect of selective removal of non-basic nitrogen compounds on hydrotreating, the pretreated feed was further hydrotreated and the extent of hydrodesulfurization, hydrodenitrogenation and hydrodearomatization was measured. Hydrotreating experiments were executed in a trickle-bed reactor using a NiMo/γAl2O3 commercial catalyst. These measurements were compared with results from the untreated feed. Any improvement before and after the hydrotreatment of the pretreated feed was associated with the removal of non-basic nitrogen compounds. The first phase of this thesis involved the synthesis, adsorption and regeneration studies of the PGMA-DAP(3)-TENF polymer. Adsorption studies were carried out using a bulk mass quantity of the polymer. The effectiveness of the polymer on a bulk scale was measured and compared to a batch scale. Regeneration studies were carried out to determine if the polymer was reusable. Characterization techniques including BET and FTIR analysis were performed on each polymer, before and after adsorption and regeneration studies to determine any physical and/or chemical changes to the polymer. The second phase of this thesis focused on the hydrotreatment of the pretreated and untreated feeds to measure the effectiveness of the polymer. Statistical significance of selectively removing non-basic nitrogen compounds was also examined after hydrotreatment studies. Results from this thesis show that there was an overall improvement in nitrogen, sulfur and aromatics removal after pretreatment. The PGMA-DAP(3)-TENF polymer selectively removed 24.9% of non-basic nitrogen compounds in the untreated feed, which led to a 18.7%, 8.3% and 9.4% decrease in the total nitrogen, sulfur and aromatics content respectively, after hydrotreatment. Based on this result, pretreatment of light gas oil can serve as a useful industrial application in reducing impurities in petroleum product streams

Analysis of Fiscal Decentralization and Public Service Delivery in Nigeria

The study assessed the effects of fiscal decentralization on public service delivery in Nigeria. This was with a view to analyzing the influence of fiscal decentralization on health and educational service delivery in Nigeria between 1999 and 2012. Cross sectional (secondary) sources of data was utilized which covered the period of 1999 to 2012. Data on transfer from federal government (tr), internally generated revenue (igr), loans and grants (or), states’ GDP (Y), human development index (hdi), access to health (hel), access to education (edu), fully vaccinated children (fvc) and rate of enrolment for primary education (pne) were obtained from the annual statistical bulletin published by the Central Bank of Nigeria and Core Welfare Indicators published by the National Bureau of Statistics. Two core components of public services (Health and Education) were analyzed, and a total of thirty six states in Nigeria including Federal Capital Territory were used. Stata 10.0 Software were used for the estimation; data were analyzed using descriptive and econometric technique.  The results showed that fiscal decentralization had significant positive effects on educational service delivery (t=2.3, p<0.05); conversely, fiscal decentralization had insignificant and negative effects on health service delivery in Nigeria (t=1.18, p>0.05). Also, internally generated revenue was statistically equal to zero and contributed negatively to public service delivery in Nigeria (t=1.44, p>0.05). The study concluded that there is need to increase states government revenue autonomy in order to meet their expenditure responsibility functions of providing qualitative public services. Keywords: Fiscal Decentralization, Public Service Delivery, Health, Education, States Government and Nigeria

Clinical Legal Education and Cultural Relativism – The Realities in the 21st Century

‘Ubi jus ibi remedium’ is a Latin maxim that means ‘where there is a wrong, there is a remedy’. Human rights are expected to be universal and applicable to every human being. In reality not all rights guaranteed in the International Instruments are applicable in some African societies with different culture, religion and norms. Culture shapes the identity of people generally in Africa and elsewhere thus the issue of Cultural Relativism is germane to the very existence of people of African descent. International Convention and Instruments provide for Women’ Rights generally and particularly the Right to life.The experience in the Women’s Law Clinic (the clinic) of the University of Ibaden has shown the imbalance between Clinical Legal Education (CLE) and the realities in practice. This paper considers the cultural practices in some societies in Nigeria, the techniques of CLE adopted in the clinic and the challenges of the 21st Century

Environmental degradation, energy consumption, population growth and economic growth: Does Environmental Kuznets curve matter for Nigeria?

This paper investigates the relationship between CO2 emissions, energy consumption, population growth and economic growth in Nigeria during the period 1980-2012. The paper adopts autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach for cointegration with structural breaks and Toda-Yamamoto non-granger causality approach. Based on the result, there is no evidence of unidirectional causality running from CO2 emissions and energy consumption to economic growth and strong unidirectional causality running from CO2 emissions, energy consumption and economic growth to population growth was found. The long run and short run estimates show that energy consumption and population growth have strong and positive impact on CO2 emissions in the long-run and short run whereas economic growth impact weakly and negatively on CO2 emissions in the short-run. The inverted U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis is supported graphically and analytically in the long run with a turning point of 4.87. This means Nigeria has reached the required level of per capita real GDP to get an inverted U-shaped EKC. The main policy prescriptions among others is that Nigeria government should increase environmental taxation in order to reduce the rate of fossil fuel used by individuals which may lead to a reduction in per capital CO2 emissions

The Determinants of International Reserves in West-African States

This study examined the relationship between international reserve and its determinants in west African States for the period of 2005 to 2014 The study was based on buffer stock model and was estimated using Panel ARDL approach In the short run All the variables except imports and NEER have a positive impact on international reserve In the long-run IMP export EXA and nominal effective exchange NEER does not have a statistical relationship with international reserves accumulatio

Seed germination and seedling growth of Ceiba Pentandra (L) as influenced by different soil types in Ibadan, Southwest Nigeria

Ceiba pentandra is a fast growing multipurpose tree with great socio-economic potentials. It is known to be used majorly for timber and its fibre. Lately, it has been documented to have medicinal properties as it has been used to treat leprosy, conjunctivitis, fever, trypanosomiasis among others. Its high value in plywood manufacturing has caused its increased rate harvesting. Natural regeneration efforts have been found to be insufficient and minimal information is available on its nursery requirements. This study was conducted to evaluate the effort of sowing media on its germination and early seedling development. Viable C. Pentandra seeds were sown in polythene bags filled with 5kg each of topsoil (TS), Clay soil, Humus Soil (HS) and Sterilized river sand (RS). The sterilized river sand (RS) served as control. Four weeks after sowing (4WAS), thinning was done and data taken up to a period of 6 months. Pots filled with sterilized River Sand (RS) showed the first radical emergence 3 days after sowing (DAS) followed by the topsoil (TS) which emerged on the 4th day. The first 1radical emergence occurred in clay soil (CS) 7 days after sowing (DAS) while it occurred in humus soil (HS) on the eighth day. All the sowing media gave 100% germination at the end of 14 days. This study showed that both humus and top soils are the best media to use in the nursery establishment of C. pentandra. Keywords: seed germination, sowing media, effect, nurser

Protocol development for in-vitro propagation of Anthocephalus cadamba

The objective of this study is to establish the most suitable protocol for the micro propagation of Anthocephalus catamba. The seeds of the species were collected from the wild and stored in the Seed bank until time of use. These were subjected to surface-sterilization using systemic fungicide and other disinfectants. Different media strengths of Murashige and Skoog (MS) were used to determine the most efficient nutritional requirement. The media strengths employed in this experiment were ¼, ½ and full. The culture media were supplemented with 6-Benzylamino purine (BAP), Giberrellic acid (GA3) and N-acetic acid (NAA). The generated plantlets had no contamination in the growth room due to the methods employed in the disinfection. In almost all the results obtained, both the ¼ and ½ strength media produced better result than plantlets growing on full strength media. Treatment D (¼ strength, 0.1mg/L BAP, 0.2mg/L GA3 & 0.1mg/L produced the best results in all. From the results obtained from this study, it is recommended that lower basal salts will be required for the in-vitro propagation of A.cadamba.Keywords: Anthocephalus cadamba, growth hormone, media strength, micro-propagation, plantlet

Globalization and Income Inequality in Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey: A Dynamic GMM Approach

This study examines the effect of globalisation on income inequality in Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey between 1980 and 2018, using economic, social, political, and overall globalisation as proposed by Dreher., Gaston, and Martens (2008). The study employs a dynamic Generalised Method of Moments. Results show that economic globalisation significantly increases income inequality in Mexico and Turkey, but insignificantly reduces inequality in Indonesia and Nigeria. For social globalisation, inequality responds positively to it in all the MINT countries, except in Turkey. Political globalisation adds to income inequality in Mexico, but reduces inequality in Nigeria and Turkey. In Indonesia, political globalisation exerts insignificant positive effect on inequality. Overall globalisation increases income inequality in all the MINT countries, except in Indonesia. The study, therefore, concludes that the various dimensions of globalisation and overall globalisation are key drivers of income inequality in each of the MINT countries, except in some few cases

Public Interest Litigation (PIL) as Strategic Legal Mechanism on Women’s Socio-Economic Rights in Nigeria: Making a Case for Girl Child Education

The percentage of girl child illiteracy is higher in girls than boys in Africa. This is particularly so in Nigeria. It is trite that Girl-child issues are generally confined within women’sright in Nigeria. As important as education isto life and humanity, it however falls under socio economic rights in Nigeria, which by virtue of the interpretation of constitutional provisions are argued as non-justiciable. Hence, accessing education for the girl child as a justice system or mechanism has been a challenge in the country. In recent times, some countries have directed public Interest litigation into fighting some socio-economic issues. This is a development which has not been practiced earlier and success is being recorded. It can be said that Public Interest litigation has been able to deal particularly with the challenge of locus standi which hasto do with the opportunity of accessing justice on some rights issues. Focusing on girl-child education in Nigeria, as a socio-economic rights issue to which access to justice is a challenge and to which legal strategic mechanism can bring a change is a positive one. The paper looks at the impact of African girl child illiteracy at this time in the global environment for sustainable development, the legal impediments to accessing justice on socio economic rights; recent legal mechanisms as best practices of getting socioeconomic rights enforced in some developed countries; innovative and emerging ways of its realization and enforcement in Nigeria. It proffers suggestions on legal and strategic litigation introduction or enhancement mechanism, the challenges if any and the gains more importantly of the public litigation procedure. The paper attempts a desktop and library-based approach in a comparative analysis of legal framework, policies on education, literature review of existing scholarship, case study on strategic litigation in some jurisdictions on socio economic rights and applies it to suggest Public Interest Litigation PIL for girl child education in Nigeria. The paper is germane for women’s right advancement, law and or policy reform and citizen empowerment in Nigeria and Africa at large