Comparative Studies on Some Physicochemical Properties of Baobab, Vegetable, Peanut and Palm Oils

Industrial and nutritional processes have increased the demands for oil and this in turn has led to the search for oils from different types of seeds. It is in this vein that baobab seed oil was extracted, analyzed and some of it physicochemical properties compared with those of vegetable, peanut and palm oils. The percentage yield, iodine value, acid value, peroxide value, moisture, free fatty acids and gossypol content of the oils were determined. The results show that baobab seed oil has quality comparable with those of commercial oil and it has great nutritional and industrial potentials. It is therefore recommended that more research be undertaken for this abundant source of natural nutritious oil

Analysis of Some Clay Samples from Yauri (Kebbi State), Goronyo, Munwadata and Atokonyo (Sokoto State), Nigeria

Analysis of some clay samples presumed to be kaolin obtained from different deposits in Yauri (kebbi state), Goronyo, Munwadata, Atokonyo (Sokoto state), Nigeria was carried out. The samples were subjected to quantitative analysis to determine major and trace constituents using gravimetric, colorimetric, titrimetric and spectroscopic methods of analysis. Results of the analysis revealed that two of the clay samples i.e Yauri and Goronyo were found to contained reasonable percentages of major and trace constituents of high-grade kaolin. The percentages were in the ranges: SiO2(45.00-45.50%); Al2O3(37.00-37.20%); Fe2O3(0.29-0.30%); CaO (0.17-0.18%0); Na2O(0.96-0.97%); K2O (0.50-0.60%); MgO (0.95-0.99%); TiO2(0.36-0.37%); P2O5(0.22-0.33%). Loss on ignition (16.01-17.01%) and density range (2.54-2.55g/cm3). The two kaolin are of certain purity and can be used for industrial purposes. However, the result indicates that the remaining two samples does not agree with the standard specifications for high quality kaolin and as such are not found to be kaolin. Atokonyo has shown complete absence of one of the major constituents of kaolin i.e Al2O3.Keywords: Kaolin, Yauri, Goronyo, Munwatada, Atokonyo, Industries

Heavy metal levels in Sokoto metropolis as a result of local production of aluminium utensils

Assessment of the levels of heavy metal pollution due to production of local aluminum articles have been carried out. Atomic absorption spectrophotometric method of analysis was used for the determination of Cu, Cd, Cr, Fe, Mn and Pb, while ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) back titration with ZnSO4 was used for Al. Results show that the various concentration obtained follows the order, Al > Cu > Fe> Mn > Ni > Cr > Pd. Although, the concentrations of the metals were found to be generally low and fall below the threshold limit, continued discharge without regulation could cause future problem.Key words: Heavy metal, aluminium utensils, pollution, Sokoto

Assessment of Pollution Potentialities of some Portland Cement

Chemical analysis of some Portland cement commonly used in Nigeria was carried out. All the cement studies were found to be good for concrete work especially where no special property is required. The concentration levels of heavy metals in all the cement samples were above the tolerance limit and therefore need to be regulated

Biogas Production Potential of Calatropis Procera (Sodom Apple)

The leaves and stems of Calatropis procera was digested under anaerobic condition to generate biogas. Cow dung was used as reference sample. Three digesters Calatropis procera leaves (CPL), Calatropis procera stem (CPS) and Cow Dung (CWD) respectively were used. Each contained 40g sample and 800 ml of water (i.e. 0.05 gcm-3 slurry concentrations). Physicochemical characterization of the digesters for percentage moisture content (%MC) ash content (%AC), volatile matter (%VM), Total Solid (%TS), and Carbon contents (%CC) were also carried out The pH varied from 6.8 to 7.1, the temperature fluctuated from 270C to 330C. The length of time taken was 84 days (12 weeks). The total volumes of biogas produced were 7,919, 5,490 and 4,384 cm3 for CWD, CPL and CPS respectively. The biogas production capacity order for the three samples during the 12 weeks period is cow dung > Calotrpis procera leaves > Calotropis procera stems. Physicochemical analysis on some parameters that affect the bioconversion process was also carried out. Keywords: Calatropis procera, Bio-energy, cow dung, biogas, volatile matte

Determination of the Biogas Yielding Potentials of Cattle Dung and Cattle Egret Dropping

Anaerobic fermentation of cattle dung and cattle egret droppings was carried out to determine their biogas yielding capacities. Two digesters labeled A and B were used. Digester A contained 50 g cattle dung and 500 ml of water and digester B contained 50 g cattle egret dropping and 500 ml of water (i.e. 0.1 gcm-3 slurry concentration). The retention time was 10 weeks (70 days). The fermentation temperature varied from 27 to 330C. The pH also varied from 6.8 to 8.2. The total biogas yield (TBY) over the 70 days was 6.779 liters for digester A and 4.494 liters for digester B. Analyses of physicochemical properties that had bearing on the digesters biogas production capacity was also carried out. The N., P and K analysis on the samples showed greater contents in undigested sample of A and contrarily, greater contents in digested sample of B

Development of a multi-species mass transport model for concrete with account to thermodynamic phase equilibriums

In this study, a coupled multi-species transport and chemical equilibrium model has been established. The model is capable of predicting time dependent variation of pore solution and solid-phase composition in concrete. Multi-species transport approaches, based on the Poisson–Nernst–Planck (PNP) theory alone, not involving chemical processes, have no real practical interest since the chemical action is very dominant for cement based materials. Coupled mass transport and chemical equilibrium models can be used to calculate the variation in pore solution and solid-phase composition when using different types of cements. For example, the physicochemical evaluation of steel corrosion initiation can be studied by calculating the molar ratio of chloride ion to hydroxide ion in the pore solution. The model can, further, for example, calculate changes of solid-phase composition caused by the penetration of seawater into the concrete cover. The mass transport part of the model is solved using a non-linear finite element approach adopting a modified Newton–Raphson technique for minimizing the residual error at each time step of the calculation. The chemical equilibrium part of the problem is solved by using the PHREEQC program. The coupling between the transport part and chemical part of the problem is tackled by using a sequential operator splitting technique and the calculation results are verified by comparing the elemental spacial distribution in concrete measured by the electron probe microanalysis (EPMA)