Fabrication of porous clay refractory insulating specimens from Iraqi kaolin with different percentage of Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) waste crumbs additions were investigated. After mixing and forming by hand molding, the specimens was dried and fired at 1300 oC. The structural, physical, mechanical and thermal properties of the refractory insulating products were measured. Maximum addition of EPS (1.25 wt%) lead to reduce the linear shrinkage to less than 1.7% and increased apparent porosity up to 50 %. As well as, the density, Modulus of rupture and thermal conductivity were reduced to 1.39 g/cm3, 4.1 MPa and 0.21 W/m.K, respectively. The final outcome, addition of EPS showed good results in the formation of pores without distorting the

      Several studies have shown that certain microbes, mainly bacteria may have the ability to digest plastic wastes. The goal of this study was to see how well Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus lentus, Aeromonas hydrophila, Sphingomonas paucimobilis and Kocuria paedia degrade three kinds of oil-based plastics: low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polystyrene (PS) and polyvinylchloride (PVC) polymer sheets. The experiment was conducted for 30 days under laboratory conditions with occasional shaking at 180 rpm and 32°C. Biodegradation was measured in terms of weight loss.. Accordingto IR Spectroscopy, the C-H stretch band at 2920cm-1 improved as a result of bacterial degradation of polyethyl

The fractional free volume (Fh) in polystyrene (PS) as a function of neutron -irradiation dose has been measured, using positron annihilation lifetime (PAL) method. The results show that Fh values decreased with increasing n-irradiation dose up to a total dose of 501.03× 10-2 Gy.
A percentage reduction of 2.14 in Fh values is noticed after the initial n-dose corresponding to a percentage reduction in the free volume equal to 42.14/Gy.
The total n-dose induces a percentage reduction of 7.26, corresponding to a percentage reduction of 1.45/Gy. These results indicate that cross -linking is the predominant process induced by n-irradiation.
The results suggest that n-irradiation induces structure changes in PS, causing cross-linking

This study was conducted to determining the variable effects on water quality of Greater Zab River in Erbil province, Iraq, using multivariate statistical analysis. Seventeen variables were monitored in four sampling sites during one year (from May 2012 to April 2013). The dataset were treated using principal component analysis (PCA)/ factor analysis (FA), cluster analysis (CA) to the most important factors affecting water quality, sources of pollution and suitability of water for drinking consumption and irrigation. Six factors were identified as responsible for the data structure explaining 73.5% of the total variance in the dataset and are conditionally named, hydrochemical from weathering, mineral salts and domestic wastes. CA showed

During this research accomplish some chemical modifications on the Poly for new modified polymers with Kimaaaúah qualities, physical and unexpected new applications that the first of these chemical modifications that was completed is the introduction of a poly styrene butadiene swash and then this group

Due to the deliberate disposal of industrial waste, a great amount of petroleum hydrocarbons pollute the soil and aquatic environments. Bioremediation that depends on the microorganisms in the removal of pollutants is more efficient and cost-effective technology. In this study, five rhizobacteria were isolated from Phragmites australis roots and exposed to real wastewater from Al-Daura refinery with 70 mg/L total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) concentration. The five selected rhizobacteria were examined in a biodegradation test for seven days to remove TPH. The results showed that 80% TPH degradation as the maximum value by Sphingomonas Paucimobilis as identified with Vitek® 2 Compact (France).

This paper study the ability of Enterobacter cloacae for degrading crude oil in contaminated water. Six isolates of E. cloacae were isolated from hydrocarbon contaminated soil and water of different sites. The isolate E. cloacae E1 showed the highest emulsification index (E24%) reached 62% thus it was chosen for further study. Biosurfactant produced by E. cloacae E1 reduced the surface tension of the medium from 64 to 36 mN/m. pH range 6.5 – 7 and temperature range 30˚C - 35˚C were the optimal conditions for maximum degradation. After 30 days of incubation, E. cloacae E1 degraded 70.00 ± 0.40% of the crude oil. GC-MS analysis revealed that E. cloacae E1 was able to degrade aromatic compounds. This study proved that E. cloacae E1 con

Aspergillus flavus was tested for its ability to degrade naphthalene by using solid mineral salts medium (SMS) with different concentrations 100, 300, 500 ppm of naphthalene. Results showed that 100ppm was the best concentration consumed by the fungal test then 300ppm and 500ppm the results for secondary test by using Liquid Mineral Salts Medium (LMSM) 95% of degradation for 100ppm then75% for 300ppm and 30% of degradation for 500ppm then the fungal test was tested for its ability to produce lignolytic enzymes results revealed that lignin peroxidase enzyme was only produced .then fungal test exposed to U.V light and the result showed after 10 minutes of U.V light exposure the degradation ratio were 91% for 100ppm then 79% for 300ppm and

This study investigated the potential of bacterial culture in bioremediation of gasoline pollutant soils. Klebsiella pneumoniae has shown a tremendous ability in bioremediation of gasoline. K.pneumoniae was isolated from three electrical generator pollutant soils with gasoline in different regions from Baghdad (Abu-Graib, Al-Khadra quarter and Al-Seleikh region. Bacteria was isolated and identified according to biochemical tests, with optimum temperature at 35°C and pH=5.
FTIR spectrum was tested the ability of the K.pneumoniae to biodegrade the gasoline according to the peak areas, which appeared and referred to degrade amino compounds at wave number 3000 cm-1 (2955.23, 2923.47) which refer to the C-H with amines compounds and decre

Biotreatment using immobilized cells (IC) technology has proved to be the most promising and most economical approach for the removal of many toxic organic pollutants found in petroleum-refinery wastewater (PRW) such as phenol. This study was undertaken to evaluate the degradation of phenol by Pseudomonas cells individually immobilized in two different bio-carrier matrices including polyvinyl alcohol-guar gum (PVA-GG) and polyvinyl alcohol-agar agar (PVA-AA). Results of batch experiments revealed that complete removal of phenol was attained in the first cycle after 150 min using immobilized cells (IC) in both PVA-GG and PVA-AA. Additional cycles were confirmed to evaluate the validity of recycling beads of immob