Biodiesel is an environmentally friendly fuel and a good substitution for the fossil fuel. However, the purity of this fuel is a major concern that challenges researchers. In this study, a calcium oxide based catalyst has been prepared from local waste eggshells by the calcination method and tested in production biodiesel. The eggshells were powdered and calcined at different temperatures (700, 750, 800, 850 and 900 °C) and periods of time (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 hr.). The effect of calcination temperature and calcination time on the structure and activity of the solid catalyst were examined by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Brunaure-Emmett-Teller (BET). The optimum catalyst performance was obtained at 900 °C

Steel–concrete–steel (SCS) structural systems have economic and structural advantages over traditional reinforced concrete; thus, they have been widely used. The performance of concrete made from recycled rubber aggregate from scrap tires has been evaluated since the early 1990s. The use of rubberized concrete in structural construction remains necessary because of its high impact resistance, increases ductility, and produces a lightweight concrete; therefore, it adds such important properties to SCS members. In this research, the use of different concrete core materials in SCS was examined. Twelve SCS specimens were subjected to push-out monotonic loading for inspecting their mechanical performance. One specimen was constructed from co

There is an interesting potential for the use of GFRP-pultruded profiles in hybrid GFRP-concrete structural elements, either for new constructions or for the rehabilitation of existing structures. This paper provides experimental and numerical investigations on the flexural performance of reinforced concrete (RC) specimens composite with encased pultruded GFRP I-sections. Five simply supported composite beams were tested in this experimental program to investigate the static flexural behavior of encased GFRP beams with high-strength concrete. Besides, the effect of using shear studs to improve the composite interaction between the GFRP beam and concrete as well as the effect of web stiffeners of GFRP were explored. Encasing the GFRP

Catalytic reduction is considered an effective approach for the reduction of toxic organic pollutants from the environment, but finding an active catalyst is still a big challenge. Herein, Ag decorated CeO2 catalyst was synthesized through polyol reduction method and applied for catalytic reduction (conversion) of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol (4-AP). The Ag decorated CeO2 catalyst displayed an outstanding reduction activity with 99% conversion of 4-NP in 5 min with a 0.61 min−1 reaction rate (k). A number of structural characterization techniques were executed to investigate the influence of Ag on CeO2 and its effect on the catalytic conversion of 4-NP. The outstanding catalytic performances of the Ag-CeO2 catalyst can be assigne

New series of 4,4'-((2-(Aryl)-1H-benzo[d]imidazole1,3(2H)-diyl)bis(methylene))Diphenol(3a-g) was successfully synthesized from cyclization of the reduction product of bis Schiff bases (2) with aryl aldehydes bearing phenolic hydroxyl in the presence of acetic acid. The structure of these compounds was identified from FT-IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR and EIMs. The Antioxidant capability was screened by DPPH and FRAP assays. Both assays showed antioxidant capability more than BHT as well. Compounds 3b and 3c showed antioxidant capacity slightly less than ascorbic acid. The docking study for theses compound was carried out as III DNA polymerase inhibitor. The results of docking demonstrated that the increase in hinderances around phenolic hy

New series of 4, 4'-((2-(Aryl)-1H-benzo [d] imidazole-1, 3 (2H)-diyl) bis (methylene)) Diphenol (3a-g) was successfully synthesized from cyclization of the reduction product of bis Schiff bases (2) with aryl aldehydes bearing phenolic hydroxyl in the presence of acetic acid. The structure of these compounds was identified from FT-IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR and EIMs. The Antioxidant capability was screened by DPPH and FRAP assays. Both assays showed antioxidant capability more than BHT as well. Compounds 3b and 3c showed antioxidant capacity slightly less than ascorbic acid. The docking study for theses compound was carried out as III DNA polymerase inhibitor. The results of docking demonstrated that the increase in hinderances around phenolic hydr

Time-domain spectral matching commonly used to define seismic inputs to dynamic analysis in terms of acceleration time history compatible with a specific target response spectrum is used in this study to investigate the second-order geometric effect of P-delta on the seismic response of base-isolated high-rise buildings. A synthetic time series is generated by adjusting reference time series that consist of available readings from a past earthquake of the 1940 El Centro earthquake adopted as an initial time series. The superstructure of a 20-story base isolated building is represented by a 3-D finite element model using ETABS software. The results of the base isolated building show that base isolation technique significantly reduces inter-s