The world is confronted with the twin crisis of fossil fuel depletion and environmental degradation caused by fossil fuel usage. Biodiesel produced from renewable feedstocks such as Jatropha seed oil or animal fats by transesterification offers a solution. Although biodiesel has been produced from various vegetable oils such as Jatropha seed oil, the reaction kinetics studies are very few in literature, hence the need for this study. Jatropha curcas seed oil was extracted and analyzed to determine its free fatty acid and fatty acid composition. The oil was transesterified with methanol at a molar ratio of methanol to oil 8:1, using 1% sodium hydroxide catalyst, at different temperatures ranging from 32oC to 65oC, at atmospheric pressure. The order of the reactions with respect to the triglyceride's disappearance in the forward reaction at the chosen temperatures was found to be pseudo-first-order and found to be first-order for the reaction at 32oC. The rate constants of the three consecutive reaction steps at 65oC, namely, triglyceride to diglyceride, diglyceride to monoglyceride, and monoglyceride to glycerol, were found to be 0.422 min-1 0.117 min-1, and 0.037min-1, respectively. Their corresponding activation energies in J/mol were 22.165, 3.136, and 19.770, respectively.
The general health of palm trees, encompassing the roots, stems, and leaves, significantly impacts palm oil production, therefore, meticulous attention is needed to achieve optimal yield. One of the challenges encountered in sustaining productive crops is the prevalence of pests and diseases afflicting oil palm plants. These diseases can detrimentally influence growth and development, leading to decreased productivity. Oil palm productivity is closely related to the conditions of its leaves, which play a vital role in photosynthesis. This research employed a comprehensive dataset of 1,230 images, consisting of 410 showing leaves, another 410 depicting bagworm infestations, and an additional 410 displaying caterpillar infestations. Furthe
... Show MoreIn the theoretical part, removal of direct yellow 8 (DY8) from water solution was accomplished using Bentonite Clay as an adsorbent. Under batch adsorption, the adsorption was observed as a function of contact time, adsorbent dosage, pH, and temperature. The equilibrium data were fitted with the Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption models, and the linear regression coefficient R2 was used to determine the best fitting isotherm model. thermodynamic parameters of the ongoing adsorption mechanism, such as Gibb's free energy, enthalpy, and entropy, have also been measured. The batch method was also used for the kinetic calculations, and the day's adsorption assumes first-order rate kinetics. The kinetic studies also show that the intrapar
... Show MoreThe present study addresses adopting the organic and nutritious materials in dairy wastewater as media for cultivation of microalgae, which represent an important source of renewable energy. This study was carried out through cultivation of three types of microalgae; Chlorella sp., Synechococcus, and Anabaena. The results shows the success the cultivation of the Synechococcus and Chlorella Sp, while the Anabaena microalgae were in low-growth level. The highest growth was in the Synechococcus farm, followed by Chlorella and Anabaena. However, the growth of Synechococcus required 10 days to achieve this increase that re
... Show MoreAirlift reactors are widely used in the chemical and biochemical applications as effective contactors for mass and heat transfer. The main advantages of airlift contactor compared with simple bubble column are ease of construction, low shear rate, high capacity, good mixing and liquid circulation without mechanical agitators and circulating pumps.
In this work, growth characteristics of Chlorella vulgaris microalgae were studied in an internal loop airlift photobioreactor for biomass production. The bioreactor operated under batch and semi-continuous culture mode using commercially available 20:20:20+TE NPK fertilizer as nutrients. The experiments were conducted to evaluate the growth rate and biomass productivity of
... Show MoreMR Younus, 1998
Visceral leishmaniasis is a neglected tropical disease on the rise in different regions of Iraq, especially in areas with poor hygiene and among refugee populations. The effectiveness of existing chemotherapy for leishmaniasis is constrained by its high toxicity, cost, and the development of drug resistance. The current research examined various concentrations (ranging from 125 to 1000 μM) of lupeol to evaluate its ability to boost the generation of nitric oxide, which has anti-leishmanial properties, in an ex-vivo macrophage model. Griess assay was used to detect the nitric oxide (NO) production in Leishmania donovani infected U937 cell-line macrophages along 24 and 48 hours post treated. The nitric oxide concentration was signifi
... Show MoreErbil city is located in the northern Iraq with a population of over one million people. Due to water crises farmers usually use wastewater and well water for the agricultural production. In this study six stations were designed to sample waste water and three from well water to define waste water and ground water characteristics. In this study, Residual Na+ Carbonate, Mg++ hazard, salinity hazard, Kelley index, %sodium, total hardness, permeability index, potential salinity, sodium adsorption ratio, and Irrigation Water Quality Index (IWQI) were determined. The order of average cation concentrations in water was Mg2+> Ca2+ > Na+ > K+. While the proportion of main
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