Corncob is an agricultural biomass waste that was widely investigated as an adsorbent of contaminants after transforming it into activated carbon. In this research carbonization and chemical activation processes were achieved to synthesize corncob-activated carbon (CAC). Many pretreatment steps including crushing, grinding, and drying to obtain corncob powder were performed before the carbonization step. The carbonization of corncob powder has occurred in the absence of air at a temperature of 500 °C. The chemical activation was accomplished by using HCl as an acidic activation agent. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) facilitated the characterization of (CAC). The results showed the CAC has non-uniform morphological features with different shapes of its active sites. The prepared CAC was utilized in adsorption of sulfur in its highly complex form of dibenzothiophene (DBT). Particular adsorption parameters of contacting time, temperature, and adsorbent dose were optimized to select the best conditions. These certain conditions are then applied in the adsorption of different DBT concentrations. The maximum removal of DBT reached around 83% at optimal conditions of contacting time (30 min), temperature (60 °C), and adsorbent dose (3 g L-1). The removal efficiency was significantly increased by decreasing the initial concentration of DBT. The experimental data fitted well with the Freundlich isotherm model compared with the Langmuir one. The maximum capacity of CAC for adsorption of DBT at equilibrium was 833.3 mg g-1 at 60 °C. The findings of this research introduce the CAC as a feasible adsorbent for removal DBT from simulated liquid petroleum fuels.
This work investigates the structural, optical, and surface properties of ZnO thin films prepared by sol-gel method. The effect on waveguide sensor was examined at different irradiation durations of alpha particles. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements revealed that the crystalline phase of ZnO thin films does not change after irradiation and showed a hexagonal structure of wurtzite type with an orientation toward (002). Moreover, ZnO thin films absorbance was increased with increasing irradiation time, whereas the transmittance was decreased. Additionally, increasing the irradiation time of alpha particles caused an increase in the extinction coefficient and the imaginary part, while the optical energy gap of the ZnO samples w
... Show MoreThis research includes the use of CdTe in the design of a solar cell. The SCAPS-1D computer program was used to simulate thin cell capacity of CdTe/CdS by numerical analysis with the addition of a buffer layer (Zn2SnO4) to enhance cell efficiency. The thickness of the window layer (n-CdS) was reduced to 25nm with the inclusion of an insulating layer of 50 nm thickness to prevent leakage towards the forward bias with respect to the lower charge carriers. As for the absorber layer thickness (p-CdTe), it varied between 0.5µm and 6µm. The preferable thickness in the absorbent layer was 1.5µm. Different operating temperatures (298K-388K) were used, while the highest conversion efficiency (η=18.43%) was obtain
... Show MoreThe study entitled (Anthropometric Treatments of the Study Seat Units Used in Elementary stages) highlighted the relations between the sizes of dimensions of the study seats and the different anthropometric sizes of the students. The study problem is manifested in the following question: what are the anthropometric treatments used in the design of the study seats in the elementary stages? The research aims at finding design treatments for the anthropometric variables of the study seats used in the elementary stages, because the study seats have to do with preserving students health and safety through providing an ideal seating mechanism compatible with the anthropometric variables which enhances comfort, safety and focus in the mo
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Abstract
Due to the lack of previous statistical study of the behavior of payments, specifically health insurance, which represents the largest proportion of payments in the general insurance companies in Iraq, this study was selected and applied in the Iraqi insurance company.
In order to find the convenient model representing the health insurance payments, we initially detected two probability models by using (Easy Fit) software:
First, a single Lognormal for the whole sample and the other is a Compound Weibull for the two Sub samples (small payments and large payments), and we focused on the compoun
... Show MoreWater quality planning relies on Biochemical Oxygen Demand BOD. BOD testing takes five days. The Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is increasingly used for water resource forecasting. This work designed a PSO technique for estimating everyday BOD at Al-Rustumiya wastewater treatment facility inlet. Al-Rustumiya wastewater treatment plant provided 702 plant-scale data sets during 2012-2022. The PSO model uses the daily data of the water quality parameters, including chemical oxygen demand (COD), chloride (Cl-), suspended solid (SS), total dissolved solids (TDS), and pH, to determine how each variable affects the daily incoming BOD. PSO and multiple linear regression (MLR) findings are compared, and their perfor
... Show MoreA numerical investigation was performed for the radiative magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) viscous nanofluid due to convective stretching sheet. Heat and mass transfer were investigated in terms of viscous dissipations, thermal radiation and chemical reaction. The governing Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) were transformed into an arrangement of non-linear Ordinary Differential Equations (ODEs) by using the similarity transformation. The resulting system of ODEs is solved numerically by using shooting method along with Adams-Moulton Method of order four with the help of the computational software FORTAN. Furthermore, we compared our results with the existing results for especial cases. which are in an excellent agreement. The
numerical
In this paper, an inexpensive, simple and well-accurate process of the generation of bimetallic silver Ag//gold Au core//shell is colloidal metal nanoparticles (MNPs). This is achieved via an atmospheric pressure non-thermal plasma glow discharge between two electrodes. One of these electrodes is a capillary tube placing over solution about (1 cm) that acts as the cathode, while the other electrode is a metal disk immersed in the solution and acts as an anode. Glow discharge process carried out at room temperature using a home-made cell with (6 KV) applied voltage and direct current (DC) about (1.8 mA) for different discharge periods. A wide range of bimetallic Ag//Au colloidal MNPs was rapidly synthesized as a result of non-thermal plas
... Show MoreExtract from cell culture of medicinal plant like Nigella sativa have been assessed for its cytotoxic properties. Thymol is likely responsible for the theraputic effects of Nigella sativa leaf callus extract. In this short study the inhibitory effect of Nigella sativa leaf callus extract (Thymol) has been studied on Human Lorgnx Epidrmoid Carcinoma (Hep-2) cell line during different exposure period of time (24, 48 and 72 hrs.) using different concentration of the extract (1000, 500, 400, 300, 200 and 100 µg/ml). The optical density of the Hep-2 cells has been readed on 492 nm wave length. Thymol –induced cytotoxicity was (500 µg/ml) which inhibit cell growing compared to the control and this
... Show MoreConcrete columns with hollow-core sections find widespread application owing to their excellent structural efficiency and efficient material utilization. However, corrosion poses a challenge in concrete buildings with steel reinforcement. This paper explores the possibility of using glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) reinforcement as a non-corrosive and economically viable substitute for steel reinforcement in short square hollow concrete columns. Twelve hollow short columns were meticulously prepared in the laboratory experiments and subjected to pure axial compressive loads until failure. All columns featured a hollow square section with exterior dimensions of (180 × 180) mm and 900 mm height. The columns were categorized into
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