In this study, a new type of circulating three-phase fluidized bed reactor was conducted by adding a spiral path and was named as spiral three-phase fluidized bed reactor (TPFB-S) to investigate the possibility for removing engine oil (virgin and waste form) from synthetic wastewater by using Ricinus communis (RC) leaves natural and activated by KOH. The biosorption process was conducted by changing particle diameter in the range 150–300 and 300–600 µm, liquid flow rate in the range 2.5–4.5 L/min and gas flow rate in range of 0–1 L/min, while other parameters initial oil emulsion concentration, pH, adsorbent concentration, agitation speed and contact time were kept constant at 2000 mg/L, 2,400 mg/L, 200 rpm and 90 min, respectively. Both FTIR and SEM tests showed that the Ricinus communis surface contains of active and strong groups; therefore, it shows a morphological characteristic of interest. The tests of FTIR and SEM explained that the adsorbent solid texture consists of negative valences that related to strong and active groups like carboxyl and hydroxyl groups. Furthermore, the results showed that the removal efficiency reaches about 91 and 98% for both virgin and waste oil at 150–300 µm particle size, 3.5 l/min liquid phase flow rate and 1 L/min air flow rate and for 90 min by using natural and activated form of RC leaves, respectively. In addition, results revealed that 95% of oil was recovered from the adsorbent by using 150mL/L of hexane. Finally the results concluded that TPFB-S has a better performance than the traditional fluidized bed, where the removal efficiency was enhanced by about 23% and 17% for removing virgin oil emulsion from aqueous solution by natural and activated form of adsorbent, respectively.
The kinetics of nickel removal from aqueous solutions using a bio-electrochemical reactor with a packed bed rotating cylinder cathode was investigated. The effects of applied voltage, initial nickel concentration, the rotation speed of the cathode, and pH on the reaction rate constant (k) were studied. The results showed that the cathodic deposition occurred under mass transfer control for all values of the applied voltage used in this research. Accordingly, the relationship between concentration and time can be represented by a first-order equation. The rate constant was found to be dependent on the applied voltage, initial nickel concentration, pH, and rotation speed. It was increased as the applied voltage increased and decreased as t
... Show MoreThe present study devoted to determine the ultimate lateral carrying capacity of piles foundation in contaminated clayey soils and subjected to lateral cyclical loading. Two methods have been used to calculate the lateral carrying capacity of piles foundation; the first one is two-line slopes intersection method (TLSI) and the second method is a modified model of soil degradation. The model proposed by Heerama and then developed by Smith has been modified to take into consideration the effects of heavy loads and soil contamination. The ultimate lateral carrying capacity of single pile and piles group (2×2) driven into samples of contaminated clayey soils have been calculated by using the two methods. Clayey soil samples are contami
... Show MoreTrickle bed reactor was used to study the hydrogenation of nitrobenzene over Ni/SiO2 catalyst. The catalyst was prepared using the Highly Dispersed Catalyst (HDC) technique. Porous silica particles (capped cylinders, 6x5.5 mm) were used as catalyst support. The catalyst was characterized by TPR, BET surface area and pore volume, X-ray diffraction, and Raman Spectra. The trickle bed reactor was packed with catalyst and diluted with fine glass beads in order to decrease the external effects such as mass transfer, heat transfer and wall effect. The catalyst bed dilution was found to double the liquid holdup, which increased the catalyst wetting and hence, the gas-liquid mass transfer rate. The main product of the hydrogenation reaction of n
... Show MoreCatalytic wet air oxidation of aqueous phenol solution was studied in a pilot plant trickle bed reactor using copper
oxide catalyst supported on alumina and silica. Catalysts were prepared by impregnating method. Effect of feed solution
pH (5.9, 7.3, and 9.2), gas flow rate (20%, 50%, 80%, and 100%), WHSV (1, 2, and 3 h-1), temperature (120°C, 140°C,
and 160°C), oxygen partial pressure (6, 9, 12 bar), and initial phenol concentration (1, 2, and 4 g/l).Generally, the
performance of the catalysts was better when the pH of feed solution was increased. The catalysts deactivation is related
to the dissolution of the metal oxides from the catalyst surface due to the acidic conditions. Phenol oxidation reaction
was strongly
Particulate matter (PM) emitted from diesel engine exhaust have been measured in terms of mass, using
99.98 % pure ethanol blended directly, without additives, with conventional diesel fuel (gas – oil),to
get 10 % , 15 %, 20 % ethanol emulsions . The resulting PM collected has been compared with those
from straight diesel. The engine used is a stationary single cylinder, variable compression ratio Ricardo
E6/US. This engine is fully instrumented and could run as a compression or spark ignition.
Observations showed that particulate matter (PM) emissions decrease with increasing oxygenate
content in the fuel, with some increase of fuel consumption, which is due to the lower heating value of
ethanol. The reduction in
This study assessed the advantage of using earthworms in combination with punch waste and nutrients in remediating drill cuttings contaminated with hydrocarbons. Analyses were performed on day 0, 7, 14, 21, and 28 of the experiment. Two hydrocarbon concentrations were used (20000 mg/kg and 40000 mg/kg) for three groups of earthworms number which were five, ten and twenty earthworms. After 28 days, the total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) concentration (20000 mg/kg) was reduced to 13200 mg/kg, 9800 mg/kg, and 6300 mg/kg in treatments with five, ten and twenty earthworms respectively. Also, TPH concentration (40000 mg/kg) was reduced to 22000 mg/kg, 10100 mg/kg, and 4200 mg/kg in treatments with the above number of earthworms respectively. The p
... Show MoreAn agricultural waste (walnut shell) was undertaken to remove Cu(II) from aqueous solutions in batch and continuous fluidized bed processes. Walnut shell was found to be effective in batch reaching 75.55% at 20 and 200 rpm, when pH of the solution adjusted to 7. The equilibrium was achieved after 6 h of contacting time. The maximum uptake was 11.94mg/g. The isotherm models indicated that the highest determination coefficient belongs to Langmuir model. Cu (II) uptake process in kinetic rate model followed the pseudo-second-order with determination coefficient of 0.9972. More than 95% of the Cu(II) were adsorbed on the walnut shells within 6 h at optimum agitation speed of 800 rpm. The main functional groups responsible for biosorption of
... Show MoreFluidization process is widely used by a great assortment of industries worldwide and represents a trillion dollar industry [6]. They are currently used in separation, classification, drying and mixing of particles, chemical reactions and regeneration processes; one of these processes is the mass transfer from an immersed surface to a gas fluidized bed
The catalytic wet air oxidation (CWAO) of phenol has been studied in a trickle bed reactor
using active carbon prepared from date stones as catalyst by ferric and zinc chloride activation (FAC and ZAC). The activated carbons were characterized by measuring their surface area and adsorption capacity besides conventional properties, and then checked for CWAO using a trickle bed reactor operating at different conditions (i.e. pH, gas flow rate, LHSV, temperature and oxygen partial pressure). The results showed that the active carbon (FAC and ZAC), without any active metal supported, gives the highest phenol conversion. The reaction network proposed account
... Show MoreEquilibrium and rate of mixing of free flowing solid materials are found using gas fluidized bed. The solid materials were sand (size 0.7 mm), sugar (size0.7 mm) and 15% cast iron used as a tracer. The fluidizing gas was air with velocity ranged from 0.45-0.65 m/s while the mixing time was up to 10 minutes. The mixing index for each experiment was calculated by averaging the results of 10 samples taken from different radial and axial positions in fluidized QVF column 150 mm ID and 900 mm height.
The experimental results were used in solving a mathematical model of mixing rate and mixing index at an equilibrium proposed by Rose. The results show that mixing index increases with inc
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