Chemical Kinetics of Alkaline Pretreatment of Napier Grass (Pennisetum purpureum) Prior Enzymatic Hydrolysis

Background: Napier grass is a naturally abundant waste material that can be cultivated over a vast area of land which makes it a viable source for sugar and bioethanol production. Introduction: The presence of lignin in the biomass makes cellulose inaccessible for conversion to useful products, however, in order to provide for efficient utilization of the waste material, reagent and energy, a study on the kinetics of lignin removal from Napier grass was carried out in this work using 1 and 3 w/w % NaOH at temperatures between 80 and 120°C. Materials & Methods: Based on the investigation, there was increased lignin removal for increased NaOH concentration. Kinetic parameters were also determined and it was observed that, the reaction of lignin in Napier grass with NaOH obeys a pseudo-zero or pseudo-fractional order kinetics. Furthermore, the orders of the reaction for the pretreatment conditions of 3 w/w% NaOH at 100°C and those of 3 and 1 w/w NaOH at 120°C gave close reaction orders of 0.2, 0.22 and 0.24 respectively after 110 minutes, which implies that, for the three cases, the residual lignin in the extract was almost the same at the pretreatment conditions while slight differences are evident in their pseudo rate constants. Also, it was observed that, the activation energy of the reaction reduced significantly as the concentration of NaOH increased from 1w/w - 3 w/w%. Conclusion: Based on the AIL and the total lignin (i.e. AIL + ASL) in the Napier grass, the recorded delignification efficiencies at the optimum pretreatment time of 17.5 h are 90 and 76% respectively. In addition, the adopted Differential Technique (DT) combined with the Ostwald Method of Isolation (OMI) can be accurately used to study the kinetics of lignin removal from Napier grass

Optimization of natural gas treatment for the removal of CO2 and H2S in a novel alkaline-DEA hybrid scrubber

Contaminated natural gas when carelessly handled, often poses human and equipment related problems ranging from lung and skin infections to corrosion, equipment fouling/failure and reduction in gas quality owing to the presence of acid gases. In this work, four natural gas (NG) samples were treated to remove CO2 and H2S using 10–50% Di-Ethanolamine (DEA) solutions mixed with 5% w/w 0.1 M calcium hydroxide. The treatment process gave increased acid gas removal at increased DEA concentrations. Based on the simulation results, cost effective treatment of the gas samples, require 0.1 M Ca(OH)2 and DEA mixed solutions in the range of 27.4–30%. The optimum mixture concentration for the gas treatment was found to be 30% Ca(OH)2-DEA hybrid solution with feed gas flow rate of 830 kscf/h. In terms of pressure energy consumption, pumping the hybrid mix at 830 kscf/h will save pressure energy as compared to pumping the feed gas at 1024.58 kscf/h since the lower and upper limit feed gas flow rates gave similar results. The optimum pressure for NG treatment was found to be in the range of 2–2.7 bar (2–2.7*105 kgm�1 s�2).Contaminated natural gas when carelessly handled, often poses human and equipment related problems ranging from lung and skin infections to corrosion, equipment fouling/failure and reduction in gas quality owing to the presence of acid gases. In this work, four natural gas (NG) samples were treated to remove CO2 and H2S using 10–50% Di-Ethanolamine (DEA) solutions mixed with 5% w/w 0.1 M calcium hydroxide. The treatment process gave increased acid gas removal at increased DEA concentrations. Based on the simulation results, cost effective treatment of the gas samples, require 0.1 M Ca(OH)2 and DEA mixed solutions in the range of 27.4–30%. The optimum mixture concentration for the gas treatment was found to be 30% Ca(OH)2-DEA hybrid solution with feed gas flow rate of 830 kscf/h. In terms of pressure energy consumption, pumping the hybrid mix at 830 kscf/h will save pressure energy as compared to pumping the feed gas at 1024.58 kscf/h since the lower and upper limit feed gas flow rates gave similar results. The optimum pressure for NG treatment was found to be in the range of 2–2.7 bar (2–2.7*105 kgm�1 s�2)

Dataset on the beneficiation of a Nigerian bentoniteclay mineral for drilling mud formulation

This paperpresentsdatasetonthebeneficiation ofaNigerianclay mineral fordrillingmudapplication.Theexperimentaldesign applied usedaResponseSurfaceDesign(RSM),whichinvolved24 (2-Level, 4-Factors)togeneratestatisticalmodels,andanalyzethe dataset. Theindependentvariableswere(Bentonite; X1), (Polymer; X2), (SodiumCarbonate, X3) and(AgingTime; X4). Therheological properties ofinterest,whichformstheresponsevariables,were selected basedontheAPIspecification 13-Afordrillinggrade bentonite.Theoutcomesshowthatthesecond-orderstatistical models derivedfromresponses fitted wellwiththeexperimental results. Predictivemodelsobtainedfromthestatisticalcharacter- ization ofthebeneficiation processwouldallowforthedesignand cost-effectiveplanningoftheprocedure.Thebeneficiation ofthe clay usingsodiumcarbonateandKelzans XCDpolymerensuedin an improvementintherheologicalpropertiesoftheformulated drilling mud.ThesepropertieswerecomparablewiththeAPI specification 13-Afordrilling fluid material

Soybean Oil Biodiesel Production using Renewable Catalyst Synthesized from Guinea Fowl Eggshells.

The need for a sustainable energy has given rise to the search for a renewable source of energy. This research study presents the production of soybean oil biodiesel using synthesized guinea fowl eggshell catalyst (renewable catalyst). The catalyst preparation involves calcination at 850 0C for 3 hours in a muffle furnace. It was characterized using X-Ray Flourescence (XRF) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Biodiesel was produced using 3-8 wt % of calcined catalyst within a time range of 1-2 hour, methanol/oil ratio of 0.25-0.5 w/w%. The highest biodiesel yield was 87.6% at optimum conditions of 8 wt%, 1.5 hours and 0.25 w/w% for catalyst amount, reaction time and methanol/oil ratio respectively. The biodiesel produced validates the successful synthesis of the guinea fowl eggshell into CaO. Biodiesel was then characterized to determine the acid value, flash point, cetane number, specific gravity, density, iodine value and kinematic viscosity. The characterization result of the biodiesel synthesized by using the guinea fowl eggshell catalyst produced showed that the biodiesel produced compares favorably with ASTMD standard

Preparation and characterization of activated carbon from plantain peel and coconut shell using biological activators

A concern over the toxicity of chemicals used during the activation stage in the preparation of activated carbon is beginning to gain attention. The study therefore looked into the possibility of using bio-activators (lemon juice and potash leached from the peel of unripe plantain) as activating chemicals, for environmentally friendly activated carbon. Coconut shell and the peel from unripe plantain were used as feedstock and pyrolyzed at 400 and 450 0c. An impregnation ratio of 0.25:1 was used while laboratory grade potassium hydroxide was used as a base activating agent as a control setup. Characterization of the activated carbon was carried out using parameters like bulk density and yield which were obtained using standard procedures. Results showed that activating carbon using bio-activators as activating agents had very good characteristics when compared with the control. Bio-activators are therefore recommended for the production of bio based activated carbon especially in the fields of medicine, food and pharmaceuticals. The effect of carbonization temperature on adsorption efficiency and pore structure were investigated using methylene blue as adsorbate and SEM respectively

Bioenergy technologies adoption in Africa: A review of past and current status

One of the major indicators of social and economic development of a nation is energy. The globaldevelopment in energy production has so grown that there are currently less than a billion peoplewithout access to electricity. However, Africa has again been left out of this mundane progress while Asiawith about the same energy dilemma was able to provide electric energy to 375 million of its citizenrybetween 2011 and 2017. Meanwhile, India, Bangladesh, and Indonesia were all able to provide over 80%electrification rates to their teeming population. Though some levels of improvement have been wit-nessed in Africa’s electrification projects up to about 43%, the slow pace of development in comparisonwith other parts of the globe is very worrisome especially due to the ever-increasing human populationbeing witnessed across the African continent. This explains why yet over 600 million African are stillliving without access to electricity. Therefore, this paper examines the past and current status of bio-energy development across Africa while advocating for the inclusion of bioenergy in the African futureenergy projection due to their immense potentials to transform the continent. Africa stands a chance ofbecoming a major player in the global energy market