Performance evaluation of formulated de-emulsifier samples and a commercially available sample in the de-emulsification of a Nigerian crude oil emulsion

The de-emulsification of water-in-oil emulsion of Ogharefe crude oil sample was studied by using formulated polyester based de-emulsifier sample A and a commercially available de-emulsifier sample C. The bottle test method was used to screen the de-emulsifier samples using the crude oil emulsion. The performance of the de-emulsifiers was expressed in terms of percentage of water separated from 100 ml samples of emulsions. For both the formulated and commercial deemulsifiers, the performance increased with increased concentration of the de-emulsifiers, separation time and operating temperature. The effect of the operating temperature was much higher and there was a linear relationship (R2 ranging from 0.96 to 0.99) between performance and temperature.The performance of the best of the formulated de-emulsifiers, sample A, was better than that of the commercial de-emulsifier under all the conditions of this study- the volume of water expelled by sample A was 5 times that of the commercial one at 30oC. At 70oC, this ratio increased to 14

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF FORMULATED AND COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE DE-EMULSIFIERS

The de-emulsification of water-in-oil emulsion of Ogharefe crude oil samples was studied by using formulated polyester based de-emulsifier sample A and a commercially available de-emulsifier sample C. The bottle test method was used to screen the de-emulsifier samples. The performance of the de-emulsifiers was expressed in terms of percentage of water separated from 100 ml samples of emulsions. For both the formulated and commercial de-emulsifiers, the performance increased with increased concentration of the de-emulsifiers, separation time and operating temperature. The effect of the operating temperature was much higher and there was a linear between performance and temperature. The performance of the best of the formulated de-emulsifiers, sample A, was better than that of the commercial de-emulsifier under all the conditions of this study- the volume of water expelled by sample A was 5 times that of the commercial one at 30oC. At 70oC, this ratio increased to 14

Investigating Bio-Diesel Production using Potash from Agricultural Wastes

The application of potassium hydroxide (KOH) extracts from four different biomass materials: Water hyacinth, Coconut husk, ripe plantain peels and palm frond in the trans-esterification of two vegetable oils; refined rapeseed and crude jatropha oils has been carried out. Potassium hydroxide obtained from the ash of ripe plantain peels recorded the highest biodiesel conversion with both vegetable oils. The highest percentage conversion obtained with rapeseed oil was 71.01% using 1g of KOH extract from ripe plantain ash at reaction temperature and time of 75oC and 4 hours respectively. Under the same reaction conditions, 1g of commercial caustic potash recorded 70.06% conversion of the rapeseed oil at the same reaction conditions. From the optimized batch process, 97.15% conversion was achieved with crude jatropha oil using 1g caustic potash extract from ripe plantain peels ash; at reaction temperature and time of 83oC and 4 hours respectively. Under the same condition, the conversions of the oils to biodiesel using KOH from coconut husk, palm fronds and water hyacinth recorded low values of; 53.11%, 46.88% and 33.31% respectively. Generally, the percentage conversion increased with both time and temperature of trans-esterification of the vegetable oils using potassium hydroxide extracted from the ash of the agricultural waste materials. Using KOH from ripe plantain peels, the conversion increased from 75.20% at 83oC and 1 hour to 97.15% at 83oC and 4 hours while the conversion increased from 35.18% at 75oC and 1 hour to 95.73% at 75oC and 4 hours. The Potash content recorded per g of the biomass materials investigated was: palm fronds (13.9%), coconut husk (17.5%) water hyacinth (18.9%), and ripe plantain peels (40.1%). These respective amounts represent the total recoverable KOH from the optimized extraction process of the ashes of the four biomass materials, at well defined extraction temperatures of 30 - 50oC and varied times of 1-6 hours as against 100oC (boiling water) and 24 hours employed in the traditional extraction method. The cumulative weights of KOH obtained per g of ash at the different temperatures and times, increased progressively with water volume for the 1st and 2nd stages of extraction (100ml/200ml, 150ml/300ml and 200ml/400ml). The effectiveness in using 400ml water viii in two equal portions in the two stages of KOH extraction was about 9.3% better on the average than using the least volume of 200ml under the same conditions. To attain optimized extraction; 5-10 times the weight of ash is required in water for a given biomass ash extraction on a two- stage basis

Comparison of the cooling effects of a locally formulated car radiator coolant with water and a commercial coolant

The cooling properties of a locally formulated coolant (sample C) vis-a-vis, its boiling characteristics and specific heat capacity were investigated along side with a common coolant-water (as sample A) and a commercial coolant (sample B). The results of the investigation showed that sample C gave the best performance compared to the other two samples A and B: the boiling points of sample C was 1100C, sample A 1000C, and sample B 1010C. This means that the possibility of a boil-out of sample C from the radiator is little compared to samples A and B. Also, for the same quantity of coolant more heat would be required to raise sample C to its boiling point than for samples A and B. In other word, better cooling would be achieved using sample C. The specific heat capacity for sample C was 4238 Jkg-1K-1, which was also a good compromise against samples Abut better than sample B having 4266 Jkg-1K-1 and 4208Jkg-1K-1 respectively

Enhanced Biodegradation of Hydrocarbon Sludge Using Consortium of Microorganisms

In this work, the effects of consortium of Microorganisms, Pseudomonas purida, Pseudomonas aeuniguma, Pseudomonas florescence, and Bacillus megaterium, in degrading hydrocarbon sludge from refinery wastes, in Niger Delta area of Nigeria, have been studied. Focus is particularly on reduction of BOD, COD, TOC and ROC of the hydrocarbon sludge to comply with standard requirement for disposal. The organisms were maintained in nutrient agar plants and subculture on weekly basis throughout the period of investigation. Lab-assay method was used to carry out the experiment, i.e, Ex-Situ treatment. The sludge was inoculated with the consortium of Microorganisms and samples were taken for analysis at two week interval for a period of eight weeks. Result shows that, for the duration of investigation, there was 71.3% reduction of the initial BOD, 60.0% reduction of the initial COD, 78.4% reduction of the initial TOC and 78.1 % reduction of the initial ROC. It was noted that given enough time the consortium of Microorganisms has the potential to biodegrade the hydrocarbon sludge to an acceptable level of the Environmental Regulatory Body's standard. The sludge however requires more than eight weeks for the toxic level to be reduced to Regulatory Body's standard. It was also observed that the rate of biodegradation of the sludge by the Microorganisms declined with time

Extraction and Use of Potassium Hydroxide from Ripe Plantain Peels Ash for Biodiesel Production

The extraction of the ash of ripe plantain peels to obtain potassium hydroxide (KOH) and its application in the trans-esterification of refined rapeseed and crude jatropha oils have been investigated. At 30 �C, extraction time 1 hr and volume of 5, 7.5 and 10 ml/g ash, the percentage recovery of KOH progressively increased in the first stage, from 26.05 to 26.20 and then to 30.75% respectively, but decreased in the second stage (extraction of the spent ash from stage 1), from 2.20 to 2.10 and to 1.90% respectively. Same trend was also observed at 40 and 50 �C but cumulatively, KOH values recovered increased relatively with increasing extraction time and temperature. The percentage cumulative recovery of KOH was 40.10% at extracting temperature of 50 �C, extracting volumes 10 ml/g ash and extraction time of 3 hrs while it was 40.00% at 50 �C, 10 ml/g ash and 2 hrs extraction time. The least percentage cumulative recovery of KOH was 28.25% at 30 �C with 5 ml extracting volume/g ash and 1 hr extraction time. The percentage purity of the extracted KOH gave 80.0%. The trans-esterification of the two vegetable oils showed the percentage conversion obtained with rapeseed oil was 71.01% using 1 g of KOH extract from ripe plantain peels ash at reaction temperature and time of 75 �C and 4 hours respectively. Under the same reaction conditions, 1 g of commercial caustic potash recorded 70.06% conversion of the rapeseed oil. From the optimized batch process, 97.15% conversion was achieved with crude jatropha oil using 1 g caustic potash extract from ripe plantain peels ash; at reaction temperature and time of 83 �C and 4 hours respectively

Performance evaluation of formulated de-emulsifier samples and a commercially available sample in the de-emulsification of a Nigerian crude oil emulsion

ABSTRACT The de-emulsification of water-in-oil emulsion of Ogharefe crude oil sample was studied by using formulated polyester based de-emulsifier sample A and a commercially available de-emulsifier sample C. The bottle test method was used to screen the de-emulsifier samples using the crude oil emulsion. The performance of the de-emulsifiers was expressed in terms of percentage of water separated from 100 ml samples of emulsions. For both the formulated and commercial deemulsifiers, the performance increased with increased concentration of the de-emulsifiers, separation time and operating temperature. The effect of the operating temperature was much higher and there was a linear relationship (R 2 ranging from 0.96 to 0.99) between performance and temperature.The performance of the best of the formulated de-emulsifiers, sample A, was better than that of the commercial de-emulsifier under all the conditions of this study-the volume of water expelled by sample A was 5 times that of the commercial one at 30

Comparison of the efficiency of sodium nitrate and superphosphate as nutrients in the bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbon polluted water

The effect of Aspergillus Niger stimulated with 0.2M sodium nitrate and 0.2M single superphosphate fertilizer (nutrients) was investigated in this study. The ambient temperature averaged 29oC all through the 25 days of the research. The comparison was done using three setups- two samples of the hydrocarbon polluted water were amended with the nutrients and with Aspergillus Niger. The third sample served as control. After twenty five days, it was observed that the sample amended with 0.2M sodium nitrate went through the highest amount of bioremediation: For the total hydrocarbon content, the sample with 0.2M sodium nitrate in it dropped by 78.62% (393 – 84mg/L), the sample with 0.2M superphosphate in it - 72.5% (393 – 108mg/L) and the control sample with the lowest drop of 52.16% (393 – 188mg/L). For the biological oxygen demand, the sample with 0.2M sodium nitrate in it dropped by 71.60% (1832.6 – 520.47), the sample with 0.2M superphosphate in it dropped by 63.37% (1832.6 – 671.3mg/L) and the control sample had the lowest drop of 50.27% (1832.6 – 911.29mg/L). The pH of the samples with nutrients in them were initially acidic but became less acidic with time while the control sample which was initially neutral became more acidic

Extraction and Use of Potassium Hydroxide from Ripe Plantain Peels Ash for Biodiesel Production

The extraction of the ash of ripe plantain peels to obtain potassium hydroxide (KOH) and its application in the trans-esterification of refined rapeseed and crude jatropha oils have been investigated. At 30 _C, extraction time 1 hr and volume of 5, 7.5 and 10 ml/g ash, the percentage recovery of KOH progressively increased in the first stage, from 26.05 to 26.20 and then to 30.75% respectively, but decreased in the second stage (extraction of the spent ash from stage 1), from 2.20 to 2.10 and to 1.90% respectively. Same trend was also observed at 40 and 50 _C but cumulatively, KOH values recovered increased relatively with increasing extraction time and temperature. The percentage cumulative recovery of KOH was 40.10% at extracting temperature of 50 _C, extracting volumes 10 ml/g ash and extraction time of 3 hrs while it was 40.00% at 50 _C, 10 ml/g ash and 2 hrs extraction time. The least percentage cumulative recovery of KOH was 28.25% at 30 _C with 5 ml extracting volume/g ash and 1 hr extraction time. The percentage purity of the extracted KOH gave 80.0%. The trans-esterification of the two vegetable oils showed the percentage conversion obtained with rapeseed oil was 71.01% using 1 g of KOH extract from ripe plantain peels ash at reaction temperature and time of 75 _C and 4 hours respectively. Under the same reaction conditions, 1 g of commercial caustic potash recorded 70.06% conversion of the rapeseed oil. From the optimized batch process, 97.15% conversion was achieved with crude jatropha oil using 1 g caustic potash extract from ripe plantain peels ash; at reaction temperature and time of 83 _C and 4 hours respectively

Comparative Study of the Chemical Compositions of Liquid Fuel from Thermal Cracking of Low and High-Density Polyethylene Plastic Waste.

The increase in the rate of accumulation of plastic waste (PW) has been of great concern to the world especially in the developing countries due to its non-biodegradable nature and improper waste management practices. Hence, efforts towards the conversion of this waste (PW) to resourceful materials have led us to the exploration of pyrolysis (anaerobic thermal cracking) of plastic waste under a controlled condition to produce liquid fuel. A stainless steel batch reactor was used in the cracking of the low and high-density polyethylene (LDPE and HDPE) plastic wastes into liquid fuel components at a temperature of 230OC. The liquid fuel obtained from the pyrolyzed LDPE and HDPE was analyzed using GC-MS. Fifty (50) compounds each was identified for both LDPE and HDPE which revealed the presence of mostly alkenes and aromatics in the hydrocarbon ranges of C8 – C24. This is made up of 36% of gasoline fractions range from C6 - C12, 32% of diesel fractions range C13 - C20 , and 14% oil of residual fuel range of C20 – C28 and 18% of non-hydrocarbons was discovered for the HDPE while 36% of gasoline fractions range of C6 - C12, 34% of diesel fractions range C13 - C20, oil and 12% residual fuel range of C20 – C28 and 18 % of non-hydrocarbons was discovered for the LDPE . There is little or no difference in the products of pyrolysis of light and heavy polyethylene plastic waste