Animal fats are a good, promising and ethical alternative source for biodiesel production, but they need more complex treatments than vegetable oils. Iraqi butchery plants waste fats (sheep fat) which are suggested as feedstock to produce biodiesel. This type of fat contains a large quantity of free fatty acids (FFAs) (acid number 49.13 mg KOH/g of fat). The direct transesterification of such fats produce high amount of soap instead of desired biodiesel, so a pre-treatment step (to reduce FFAs) is necessary before transesterification. This step was done by esterification of the free fatty acids in the fat by adding ethanol and using 1% acid catalyst (H2SO4) for 30 minutes. The results showed that the acid number of sheep fat after pre-treatment step reduced to 0.97 mg KOH/g of fat at esterification step. Transesterification of treated fats (produce from esterification) used to convert biodiesel. The maximum yield of biodiesel was about 85 vol. % for treated fats obtained with 25/100 ethanol/fat wt. ratio, 70° C reaction temperature and 50 minutes total treatment period (pre-treatment step and transesterification reaction). The suggested model of the production rate kinetic of transesterification reaction, found that the production rate is inversely proportional with the volume of biodiesel produced with activation energy of 25320 J/mole.
The Gram-negative bacillus Serratia marcescens (S. marcescens) belongs to the Enterobacteriaceae family. S. marcescens was once thought to be a nonpathogenic saprophytic organism that appeared on decomposing organic matter, animals, plants, and foods, water, and soil. However, it has evolved into an opportunist pathogen that causes nosocomial infections, where it is linked to a variety of hospital-acquired infections, including conjunctivitis, septicemia, wound, and eye infections, pneumonia, meningitis, osteomyelitis, and endocarditis, in addition to respiratory tract and urinary tract infections (UTI). Chitinase, protease, nuclease, lipase, and hemolysin are among the products released by S. marcescens strains, and many of these c
... Show MoreThe aim of this research is to determine the uranium concentration and its distribution in many sheep organs that live in different region of Iraq. The uranium concentration in tissue samples is measured by using fission tracks registration in CR-39 detector that caused by the bombardment of U235 with thermal neutrons from (241Am-Be) neutron source of thermal flux (5x 103 n.cm-2. s-1). The results show that the maximum uranium concentration in bronchiole tissues of the animals was found in Karbala city (3.706ppm) while the minimum concentration (0.127 ppm) was found in Al-Faluja city, also the same result in lung tissue the maximum value was found in Karbala city (2.313ppm) and the minimum concentration in Al Fluja (0.082). Otherwise,
... Show MoreAnaerobic digestion is a technology widely used for treatment of organic waste for biogas production as a source for clean energy. In this study, poultry house wastes (PHW) material was examined as a source for biogas production. The effects of inoculum addition, pretreatment of the substrate, and temperature on the biogas production were taken into full consideration. Results revealed that the effect of inoculum addition was more significant than the alkaline pretreatment of raw waste materials. The biogas recovery from inoculated waste materials exceeds its production from wastes without inoculation by approximately 70% at mesophilic conditions. Whereby, the increase of biogas recovery from pretreated wastes was by 20% higher than its
... Show MoreOne of the most effective ways of managing solid waste is microwave-assisted pyrolysis. This research used MW-assisted catalytic co-pyrolysis to extract essential oils from algae powder (AP) and date seed (DS). Graphite and a CaO nanocatalyst were utilized. As for the feedstock, it was a 1:1 mixture of AP and DS. The char content, oil production, and gas generation of co-pyrolysis yields varied between 18.8 wt% and 24.31 wt%, 43.08 wt%, and 55.295 wt%, and 25.905% to 32.60 wt%, respectively. The effect of the CaO nanocatalyst on product yields, feedstock conversion, and heating rates was analyzed. Product yields, average heating rates, and conversion factors were among the metrics studied to determine the synergistic effects and pyr
... Show MoreWater-based drilling fluids (WBDFs) are the industry-preferred medium for drilling reactive shale formations, yet they remain susceptible to shale swelling, fluid invasion, and cuttings dispersion—all of which compromise wellbore stability. Although oil-based fluids (OBFs) provide effective shale inhibition, their high cost and adverse environmental profile limit their use. Nanoparticles (NPs) derived from waste feedstocks offer a low-cost, environmentally responsible alternative for enhancing WBDF performance, but no prior study has simultaneously evaluated both waste-derived SiO2 and Al2O2 NPs within a single WBDF system. This study synthesised SiO2 NPs from Halfaya bentonite clay waste and Al2O2 NPs from recycled aluminium scrap, char
... Show MoreProduction and characterization of methionine γ- lyase from Pseudomonas putida and its effect on cancer cell lines
Background: Pumpkin seeds are a valuable source of high-quality protein and can be utilized as functional food ingredients due to their properties, such as solubility, foam formation, and stability. This study aims to produce protein isolate and its enzymatic hydrolysates from local pumpkin seeds to study their properties. Methodology: Preparing defatted pumpkin seeds for protein extraction, followed by the enzymes’ hydrolysis using Trypsin and Pepsin enzymes separately and together in two methods. The determination of amino acids and the degree of hydrolysis was conducted; moreover, protein properties were studied, including solubility, emulsifying activity, stability index, foaming capacity, and stability. Results: A protein sample was
... Show MoreThe potential application of granules of brick waste (GBW) as a low-cost sorbent for removal of Ni+2ions from aqueous solutions has been studied. The properties of GBW were determined through several tests such as X-Ray diffraction (XRD), Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and BET surface area. In batch tests, the influence of several operating parameters including contact time, initial concentration, agitation speed, and the dose of GBW was investigated. The best values of these parameters that provided maximum removal efficiency of nickel (39.4%) were 1.5 hr, 50 mg/L, 250 rpm, and 1.8 g/100mL, respectively. The adsorption data obtained by batch experiments subjected to the Three i
... Show MoreIndustrial machining workshops generate substantial quantities of aluminum wire offcuts and filings that cannot be re-entered into bulk metal recycling circuits, posing both a resource management challenge and a potential environmental burden. This study demonstrates a closed-loop valorization route in which this low-grade aluminum waste is converted into nanostructured aluminum oxide (Al2O3) nanoparticles (NPs) by two scalable synthesis pathways (i) chemo-thermal calcination of precipitated Al(OH)₃ at 1000 °C and 1200 °C for 1 and 4 h, and (ii) direct chemical precipitation via AlCl3/Na2CO3 reaction, and then deployed as a functional additive in water-based drilling fluids (WBDFs) used by the oil and gas industry. Comprehensive chara
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