Low grade crude palm oil (LGCPO) presents as an attractive option as feedstock for biodiesel production due to its low cost and non-competition with food resources. Typically, LGCPO contains high contents of free fatty acids (FFA), rendering it impossible in direct trans-esterification processes due to the saponification reaction. Esterification is the typical pre-treatment process to reduce the FFA content and to produce fatty acid methyl ester (FAME). The pre-treatment of LGCPO using two different acid catalysts, such as titanium oxysulphate sulphuric acid complex hydrate (TiOSH) and 5-sulfosalicylic acid dihydrate (5-SOCAH) was investigated for the first time in this study. The optimum conditions for the homogenous catalyst (5-SOCAH) were determined as: 1.5 wt% of acid catalyst dosage, 60 °C reaction temperature, 8:1 methanol molar ratio at 60 min. For the heterogeneous TiOSH, higher catalyst dosages such as 7 wt% is required with a methanol loading of 10:1 (molar ratio) at 120 min to reduce the initial FFA to less than 3%. Under these optimum conditions for both types of catalysts; the FFA levels were reduced from 11.3 % to less than 3 %, individually. This study introduces for the first time two types of acidic catalysts with high catalytic activity for the esterification of FFA content in low grade oils for biodiesel production which could be used for the treatment of wide range of low quality oils.
Software-Defined Networking (SDN) has evolved network management by detaching the control plane from the data forwarding plane, resulting in unparalleled flexibility and efficiency in network administration. However, the heterogeneity of traffic in SDN presents issues in achieving Quality of Service (QoS) demands and efficiently managing network resources. SDN traffic flows are often divided into elephant flows (EFs) and mice flows (MFs). EFs, which are distinguished by their huge packet sizes and long durations, account for a small amount of total traffic but require disproportionate network resources, thus causing congestion and delays for smaller MFs. MFs, on the other hand, have a short lifetime and are latency-sensitive, but they accou
... Show MoreAn experiment was conducted to study how SAE 50 engine oil contaminated with diesel fuel affects engine performance. The engine oil was contaminated with diesel fuel at concentrations of 0%, 1%, and 3%. The following performance characteristics were studied: brake-specific fuel consumption, brake thermal efficiency, friction power, and exhaust gas temperature. Each treatment was tested three times. The three treatments (0%, 1%, and 3%) were analyzed statistically with a one-way ANOVA model at the 5% probability level to determine if the three treatments produced significant differences in engine performance. The statistical results showed that there were significant differences in engine performance metrics among the three treatments. The 3
... Show MoreLow-intensity laser irradiation has been explored as an alternative, non-invasive method to encourage chronic wounds to heal. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of low level laser therapy (biostimulation) using semiconductor diode laser with wavelength (785 nm) on the enhancement of chronic wound healing. Fifty patients with chronic wounds were selected to be treated with Low Level Laser Therapy. Their ages ranged between 1 to 76 years. The wound sites were distributed in the lower limb, upper limb, trunk , perineum and head (70%,14%,12%,2%,2%, respectively). Application of laser therapy by noncontact method few millimeters from the skin for 15 minutes per one session twice weekly for two months ; ie,16 sessions for each patient. R
... Show MoreThe electrospun nanofibers membranes have gained considerable interest in water filtration applications. In this work, the fabrication and characterization of the electrospun polyacrylonitrile-based nonwoven nanofibers membrane are reported. Then, the membrane's performance and antifouling properties were evaluated in removing emulsified oil using a cross flow filtration system. The membranes were fabricated with different polyacrylonitrile (PAN) concentrations (8, 11, and 14 wt. %) in N, N-Dimethylformamide (DMF) solvent resulted in various average fiber sizes, porosity, contact angle, permeability, oil rejection, and antifouling properties. Analyses of surface morphology of the fabricated membranes before and after oil removal revealed
... Show MorePrediction of penetration rate (ROP) is important process in optimization of drilling due to its crucial role in lowering drilling operation costs. This process has complex nature due to too many interrelated factors that affected the rate of penetration, which make difficult predicting process. This paper shows a new technique of rate of penetration prediction by using artificial neural network technique. A three layers model composed of two hidden layers and output layer has built by using drilling parameters data extracted from mud logging and wire line log for Alhalfaya oil field. These drilling parameters includes mechanical (WOB, RPM), hydraulic (HIS), and travel transit time (DT). Five data set represented five formations gathered
... Show MoreThe organic compound imidazole has the chemical formula C3N2H4. Numerous significant biological compounds contain imidazole. The amino acid histidine is the most prevalent. The substituted imidazole derivatives have great potential for treating a variety of systemic fungi infections. Thiourea is an organosulfur compound with the formula SC(NH2)2. It is a reagent in organic synthesis. In this paper, some new imidazole and thiourea derivatives are synthesized, characterized, and studied for their biological activity. These new compounds were synthesized from the starting material terephthalic acid, which was transformed to corresponding ester [I] by the refluxing of diacid with methanol in the presence of H2SO4 as a catalyst, compound [I] con
... Show MoreThe traditional method adopted in the preparation of the general budget in Iraq is not consistent with developments in the size specification response and spending and the associated weakness in the size of the amounts earmarked for investment projects which could adversely affect future generations and not to enable them to continue the development, which requires talking to estimate the adoption of style public expenditure in the state budget and reduce waste and extravagant where and invest public revenues of the state in investment projects and preservation of the environment and natural resources in order to ensure the benefit of future generations system, according to the system serves to achieve the overwhelming majority of member
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