A study of biodiesel production from waste vegetable oil using eggshell ash as a heterogeneous catalyst

Thesis (MTech (Chemical Engineering))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology.While biodiesel has the potential to resolve the energy crisis, its production is hampered by both feedstock and catalyst availability. The aim of this current study is to investigate the production of biodiesel from waste vegetable oil (WVO) as feedstock under heterogeneous catalysis, mediated by calcined eggshell ash. WVO, characterised by 9% free fatty acid (FFA) and 0.17wt% water content, was employed as feedstock in the biodiesel production via transesterification reaction. The composition of WVO was determined using Gas chromatography (GC) analysis. The eggshell was washed with distilled water to remove impurities, dried in an oven at 105°C, and then crushed into fine particle of 75μm, and finally, calcined in a muffle furnace at 800°C. The chemical properties of the catalyst were assessed as follows: 1) using X-ray diffraction (XRD) to determine the major component phase of the element; 2) using X-ray fluorescent (XRF) to determine the elemental composition of the eggshell ash; 3) using Brunauer Emmet Teller (BET) to define the structure, the surface area, pore volume and pore diameter of the eggshell ash; and 4) using SEM to show the morphology structure of the element. The XRD analysis performed on eggshell ash showed 86% CaO as a major component in the catalyst; the remaining 14% was composed of MgO, SiO2, SO3, P2O5, Na2O, Al2O3, K2O and Fe2O3, as obtained from XRF. The BET result of the catalyst prepared was characterised by large pore diameter (91.2 Å) and high surface area (30.7m2/g), allowing reactants to diffuse easily into the interior of the catalyst use

The labour law protection of non-standard workers in South Africa

This study concentrates on non-standard work and it takes into consideration current law associated to non-standard workers. Defining a worker constitutes a way of benefiting from legal security and entitlements imparted by employment law. Defining workers is crucial in order to clarify the bewilderment that generally happens because of the misunderstanding of the description of the worker. The study will analyse different laws to ensure protection, promotion of non-standard workers as well as accomplishment of employment entitlements in the Constitution. The interpretation and application of legislations must be consistent with the Constitution. The labour laws should guarantee equal security to workers in the various types of informal and it should ascertain that enterprises do not alter the contractual agreements to divest nonstandard workers from the labour law security. The amendments to the LRA could be a first step to the incorporation of the atypical employees into the structure. Nevertheless, the amendments cannot happen with no effective structure of workers using an inclusive strategy, which will address workers’ needs. The Labour legislations are passed to give element to the Constitution. They guarantee impartial employment customs, freedom to associate and become a member of a trade union; to partake in unions’ meetings and events; and the entitlement to strike. The focus on fair labour practices should be to show how to organize and to represent atypical employees, since without an organization that represent non-standard workers, and forums where theycan be heard, there is no way any attempt to regulate non-standard employment can be effective.Mercantile LawLL. M. (Labour Law

Dégénérescence quantique d'un système de bosons chargés identiques de spin zéro dans un piège de Paul

The One- and Two- components Bose charged gas are obtained in a large box. They constitute the neutral bosonic plasma. One obtains the non neutral bosonic plasma by confining identical charged particles of integer spin in Penning or Paul traps. By laser cooling one obtains ultracold plasma in the Paul trap. We studied the quantum degeneracy of non neutral plasma of spin zero identical particles, at high density and lows temperatures in harmonic Paul trap. We used the microscopic theory. The charged meson field was considered to construct the bosons operators, the space of quantum states, the fields operators of creation or annihilation of bosons of impulsion at the point . From these fields operators, we constructed the Hamiltonian operator of second quantization of the plasma and we determined the density matrix, the equation of motion, the Hartree-Fock equation, the elementary excitation specter, the ground state energy ...The density matrix leads to the macroscopic occupation of one quantum state of particle (BEC) in the trap.Les bosons chargés identiques confinés dans une grande boite dont les parois portent une charge de signe contraire mais de même densité assurant la neutralité du système, constituent un plasma neutre à une composante. On obtient un plasma neutre à deux composantes lorsque les bosons identiques de charge positive et ceux de charge négative de même densité sont contenus dans la même boite. Le plasma non-neutre des bosons s'obtient en confinant l'assemblée des bosons identiques chargés dans un piège des particules chargées de Penning ou de Paul. Nous avons fait l'étude théorique de la dégénérescence quantique du plasma non-neutre des bosons de spin zéro confinés dans un piège de Paul à haute densité et à très basse température. Cette étude a porté d'abord sur un système sans transition de phase dans le piège, et ensuite sur le régime gazeux (de Mathieu) et sur le régime intermédiaire (liquide). Nous avons utilisé la théorie microscopique en considérant le champ scalaire complexe ou champ des mésons chargés pour construire les opérateurs bosons chargés de spin zéro, définir l'espace des états quantiques du système, construire les opérateurs champs de création et d'annihilation des bosons d'impulsion p au point r . Ces derniers nous ont permis de construire l'opérateur Hamiltonien de la seconde quantification du plasma et la matrice densité à une particule. La matrice densité du plasma non neutre de bosons de spin zéro et la prescription de Bogoliubov révèlent l'occupation macroscopique d'un état quantique dans le piège harmonique radiofréquence de Paul. Nous avons déterminé pour ce plasma l'énergie de l'état fondamental, le spectre des excitations élémentaires, l'équation de Hartree-Fock etc. Nos résultats sont comparés dans un tableau aux résultats de l'application de la théorie microscopique aux assemblées des bosons neutres confinés dans un piège magnétique et au gaz électronique

Dégénérescence quantique d'un système de bosons chargés identiques de spin zéro dans un piège de Paul

The One- and Two- components Bose charged gas are obtained in a large box. They constitute the neutral bosonic plasma. One obtains the non neutral bosonic plasma by confining identical charged particles of integer spin in Penning or Paul traps. By laser cooling one obtains ultracold plasma in the Paul trap. We studied the quantum degeneracy of non neutral plasma of spin zero identical particles, at high density and lows temperatures in harmonic Paul trap. We used the microscopic theory. The charged meson field was considered to construct the bosons operators, the space of quantum states, the fields operators of creation or annihilation of bosons of impulsion at the point . From these fields operators, we constructed the Hamiltonian operator of second quantization of the plasma and we determined the density matrix, the equation of motion, the Hartree-Fock equation, the elementary excitation specter, the ground state energy ...The density matrix leads to the macroscopic occupation of one quantum state of particle (BEC) in the trap.Les bosons chargés identiques confinés dans une grande boite dont les parois portent une charge de signe contraire mais de même densité assurant la neutralité du système, constituent un plasma neutre à une composante. On obtient un plasma neutre à deux composantes lorsque les bosons identiques de charge positive et ceux de charge négative de même densité sont contenus dans la même boite. Le plasma non-neutre des bosons s'obtient en confinant l'assemblée des bosons identiques chargés dans un piège des particules chargées de Penning ou de Paul. Nous avons fait l'étude théorique de la dégénérescence quantique du plasma non-neutre des bosons de spin zéro confinés dans un piège de Paul à haute densité et à très basse température. Cette étude a porté d'abord sur un système sans transition de phase dans le piège, et ensuite sur le régime gazeux (de Mathieu) et sur le régime intermédiaire (liquide). Nous avons utilisé la théorie microscopique en considérant le champ scalaire complexe ou champ des mésons chargés pour construire les opérateurs bosons chargés de spin zéro, définir l'espace des états quantiques du système, construire les opérateurs champs de création et d'annihilation des bosons d'impulsion p au point r . Ces derniers nous ont permis de construire l'opérateur Hamiltonien de la seconde quantification du plasma et la matrice densité à une particule. La matrice densité du plasma non neutre de bosons de spin zéro et la prescription de Bogoliubov révèlent l'occupation macroscopique d'un état quantique dans le piège harmonique radiofréquence de Paul. Nous avons déterminé pour ce plasma l'énergie de l'état fondamental, le spectre des excitations élémentaires, l'équation de Hartree-Fock etc. Nos résultats sont comparés dans un tableau aux résultats de l'application de la théorie microscopique aux assemblées des bosons neutres confinés dans un piège magnétique et au gaz électronique

Optimisation of biodiesel production from waste vegetable oil and eggshell ash

While biodiesel has potential in resolving current energy crisis, its production is hampered by both feedstock and catalyst availability. The aim of this study is to investigate the production of biodiesel from waste vegetable oil (WVO) characterised by high free fatty acid (FFA) as feedstock with heterogeneous catalysis via transesterification reaction. The catalyst used was obtained from eggshell calcined at 800 °C. The properties of the catalyst were assessed using XRD, XRF, BET and SEM. The catalyst prepared was characterised to have large pore diameter of 91.2 Å and high surface area of 30.7 m2 g−1. The optimisation study was carried out by using a central composite response surface methodology with reaction conditions of methanol to oil ratio, catalyst loading and reaction temperature. The result showed at 95% confidence level that all the three factors affected the methyl ester yield. Significant yield of 91% was obtained at optimal operating conditions of temperature (65 ± 5 °C), methanol to oil molar ratio (22.5:1) reaction time (5 h 30 min) and catalyst loading (3.5 wt%). The catalyst showed sustained activity after being recycled and reused for 10 times. The properties of the biodiesel produced were within the biodiesel standard specifications