A Look into Households Water Use Behaviour in Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, Nigeria

Water is a vital resource, and the importance of its management, use and allocation cannot be overemphasized. Water is either use for domestic, industrial or agricultural purposes to satisfy human needs and development in a society. This study attempts to look into household water use behaviour in Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, Nigeria with a view to determine who sources, allocates and uses most indoor water in the households, and for what purpose. A tool known as water diary was modified and incorporated into this study to be able to gather the necessary information that would serve the purpose of the study. Irepodun LGA has eleven wards, 30 households were sampled at random in each of these wards to give a total of 330 households. Percentages and charts were used in the analysis which revealed that 53.25% and 47.65% of the surveyed households were female and male respectively. The result shows that female sources 76.67%, allocates 91.82% and uses 78.07% of the total indoor household’s water resource. It is therefore concluded that female are the principal actors in household water use/management and should be at the center of regional domestic water resource management. Keywords: Water Use, Water Diary, Households, Behavior, Allocation, Resourc

Shear Wall Provision Influence on Medium Rise Multi-Storey Framed Building in Maiduguri

This study compares the aerodynamic behaviour of medium rise multi-storey frame structures with and without shear walls using the local wind gust of Maiduguri (47m/s) as primary data. The wind assessment was carried out in accordance with recommendations of British Standard and other relevant specifications. Analysis of the structural system was carried out using Extended Three-dimensional Analysis of Building System (ETABS) software; where the forces, maximum floor drifts and stresses are obtained and compared. The result shows that, the displacement fora 15 storey building with shear wall was 91.44% less than same without shear walls while with increasing storey height, the differences reduce; for example, the displacement for 20 storey building with shear wall showed 81.5% lesser than same building without shear wall. This signifies that building with shear wall resist aerodynamic load more efficiently principally due to the influences of the rigidity and strategic locations of the shear wall in the building. The shear walls are usually effective in stabilizing displacements on medium rise multi-storey buildings subjected to lateral forces from wind, seismic and explosive to satisfy serviceability criteria of H/500 stipulated by most conventional standard

Adsorption of lead from aqueous solution by a novel carbon based adsorbent

Lead (Pb), due to its bioaccumulation ability, has been noted to have detrimental effects on the human body affecting the metabolism, blood and kidneys (Bansal and Goyal, 2005; Bowen, 1996). It is, therefore, imperative that lead be removed from water and wastewater to protect public health and aquatic lives. Multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) were reported by Li et al. (2003) to have metal sorption capacity of 3–4 times higher than those of powder and granular activated carbon. However, membrane clogging and separation of the nanomaterials from the filtrate pose a challenge. In this work, a novel composite material consisting of carbon nanotubes (CNT) and granular activated carbon (GAC) was synthesised to solve the filtration problem in a static filter. Various percentages of nickel (1%, 3%, 5 and 7%) were used as substrate catalyst during production of the adsorbent and these were linked to the morphology and adsorption capacity of the novel material in lead adsorption. Analyses showed that increased nickel content in the substrate from 1% to 7%, during adsorbent production, resulted in a rough surface of the CNT and increased lead removal from 24% to 89%. Equilibrium concentrations of lead for the adsorbents were achieved at about 60 minutes of contact time. The novel composite material has the potential to remove toxic materials from water and bring benefit to the society

Comparing metals adsorption by carbon adsorbents: evaluating absorption properties of different carbon adsorbents

Pollution of the aquatic environment by heavy metals has detrimental effect on living species. In this work, novel carbon nano-materials (CNM) and commercial granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorbents were evaluated for removal of heavy metal matrix (Cu, Ni and Pb) from aqueous solution to meet Department of Environment (DOE) Malaysia's guideline. Results from the characterization of GAC and CNM showed that GAC had higher surface area and more functional groups. Optimum adsorption capacity of GAC and CNM were observed at pH 5 and 1 g/L dosage, while equilibrium adsorption conditions were generally noticed by 60 minutes of agitation at 100 rpm. The initial metal concentrations and functional groups on adsorbents were the major factors affecting the affinity of metals by both GAC and CNM

Detoxification of oil refining effluents by oxidation of naphthenic acids using TAML catalysts

The environmental problem stemming from toxic and recalcitrant naphthenic acids (NAs) present in effluents from the oil industry is well characterized. However, despite the numerous technologies evaluated for their destruction, their up-scaling potential remains low due to high implementation and running costs. Catalysts can help cutting costs by achieving more efficient reactions with shorter operating times and lower reagent requirements. Therefore, we have performed a laboratory investigation to assess iron-TAML (tetra-amido macrocyclic ligand) activators to catalyze the oxidation of NAs by activating hydrogen peroxide — considered environmentally friendly because it releases only water as by-product — under ultra-dilute conditions. We tested Fe-TAML/H2O2 systems on (i) model NAs and (ii) a complex mixture of NAs in oil refining wastewater (RWW) obtained from a refining site in Colombia. Given the need for cost-effective solutions, this preliminary study explores sub-stoichiometric H2O2 concentrations for NA mineralization in batch mode and, remarkably, delivers substantial removal of the starting NAs. Additionally, a 72-h semi-batch process in which Fe-TAML activators and hydrogen peroxide were added every 8 h achieved 90–95% removal when applied to model NAs (50 mg L−1) and a 4-fold reduction in toxicity towards Aliivibrio fischeri when applied to RWW. Chemical characterization of treated RWW showed that Fe-TAML/H2O2 treatment (i) reduced the concentration of the highly toxic O2 NAs, (ii) decreased cyclized constituents in the mixture, and (iii) preferentially degraded higher molecular weight species that are typically resistant to biodegradation. The experimental findings, together with the recent development of new TAML catalysts that are far more effective than the TAML catalysts deployed herein, constitute a foundation for cost-effective treatment of NA-contaminated wastewater.COLCIENCIAS (National Department of Science, Technology, and Innovation of Colombia)

Adsorption of copper, nickel and lead ions from synthetic semiconductor industrial wastewater by palm shell activated carbon

Granular activated carbon produced from palm kernel shell was used as adsorbent to remove copper, nickel and lead ions from a synthesized industrial wastewater.Laboratory experimental investigation was carried out to identify the effect of pH and contact time on adsorption of lead, copper and nickel from the mixed metals solution. Equilibrium adsorption experiments at ambient room temperature were carried out and fitted to Langmuir and Freundlich models. Results showed that pH 5 was the most suitable, while the maximum adsorbent capacity was at a dosage of 1 g/L, recording a sorption capacity of 1.337 mg/g for lead, 1.581 mg/g for copper and 0.130 mg/g for nickel. The percentage metal removal approached equilibrium within 30 min for lead, 75 min for copper and nickel, with lead recording 100 %, copper 97 % and nickel 55 % removal, having a trend of Pb2+ > Cu2+ > Ni2+ . Langmuir model had higher R2 values of 0.977, 0.817 and 0.978 for copper, nickel and lead respectively, which fitted the equilibrium adsorption process more than Freundlich model for the three metals

Heavy metals removal from synthetic wastewater by a novel nano-size composite adsorbent

The effects of varying operating conditions on metals removal from aqueous solution using a novel nano-size composite adsorbent are reported in this paper. Characterization of the composite adsorbent material showed successful production of carbon nanotubes on granular activated carbon using 1% nickel as catalyst. In the laboratory adsorption experiment, initial mixed metals concentration of 2.0 mg/L Cu2+, 1.5 mg/L Pb2+ and 0.8 mg/L Ni2+ were synthesized based on metals concentration from samples collected from a semiconductor industry effluent. The effects of operation conditions on metals removal using composite adsorbent were investigated. Experimental conditions resulting in optimal metals adsorption were observed at pH 5, 1 g/L dosage and 60 min contact time. It was noted that the percentage of metals removal at the equilibrium condition varied for each metal, with lead recording 99%, copper 61% and nickel 20% , giving metal affinity trend of Pb2+ > Cu2+ > Ni2+ on the adsorbent. Langmuir's adsorption isotherm model gave a higher R2 value of 0.93, 0.89 and 0.986 for copper, nickel and lead, respectively, over that of Freundlich model during the adsorption process of the three metals in matrix solution

Growth of carbon nanomaterial on granular activated carbon

Since the discovery of carbon nanotubes (CNT) and subsequent Carbon Nanomaterials (CNMs), there has been an ever increased academic and industrial interest on there various fields of application due to their exceptional mechanical and electrical properties. In this work, granular activated carbon (GAC) made from palm Kernel shell (PKS) of mesh size 8x12 was impregnated with nickel as substrate catalyst for the growth of Carbon Nanomaterials (CNMs) in a chemical decomposition (CVD) reactor. Various percentage by weight of the nickel (1%, 3%, 5% and 7%) were impregnated on the GAC surface for CNM growth. The CNM growth took place at a fixed reaction temperature and gas flow rates for both the hydrogen gas and carbon source. Characterization of the novel composite material was carried out by using SEM, FESEM and TEM. The results show that growth was successful as at 1% nickel impregnation, while a denser network distribution and rougher surface of CNM was observed at 7% nickel. The growth of CNMs on a larger substrate GAC should make handling of the CNMs easier and it is expected to also open new doors of application in water treatment and oil refining