h i g h l i g h t s • Biodegradation of crude and processed oils using indigenous isolates was evaluated. • Four major bacteria strains were able to utilize petroleum as energy source. • Both aliphatic and aromatic components of crude petroleum were reduced differently. • There is evidence that petroleum degradation capabilities could be plasmid encoded.
Renewable energy plays a very important role in the improvement and promotion of environmental sustainability in agricultural-related activities.
This paper evaluates the techno-economic and environmental benefits of deploying photovoltaic (PV)- battery systems in a livestock farmhouse.
For the energy requirements of the farm to be determined, a walkthrough energy audit is conducted on the farmhouse. The farm selected for this study is located in southern Nigeria. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Hybrid Optimization Modeling for Electric Renewable (HOMER) software was adapted for the purpose of the techno-economic analysis. It is found that a standalone PV/battery-powered system in farmhouse applications has higher economic viability when compared to its diesel-powered counterparts in terms of total net present cost (TNPC). A saving of 48% is achievable over the TNPC and Cost of Energy with zero emissions. The results obtained show
the numerous benefits of replacing diesel generators with renewable energy sources such as PV-battery systems in farming applications.
The bleaching process is a crucial process in palm oil refining in which an adsorbent is majorly used to adsorb the unwanted colour pigments and a wide range of other impurities. Groundnut hull was collected and processed into powder form as Groundnut hull powder [GHP], the powder was used to remove the colour pigments and other minor impurities from crude palm oil. Free fatty acid (FFA) analysis was carried out on the palm oil before and after bleaching. The effects of three factors: temperatures, mass and time were investigated on the response. Central Composite Design [CCD] employed resulted in 20 runs. The conducted analysis has shown that groundnut hull was able to reduce FFA composition as well as reduce the colour of the palm oil to a desired colour.
Studies on the epoxidation of rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) seed oil, a renewable source with formic acid was performed in the presence of 30% hydrogen peroxide at a of temperature 40, 50, 60, 70 °C. The process is favoured by an increase in temperature forming a product with high oxirane content which is as a result of mole ratios of formic acid and hydrogen peroxide. Products of high oxirane content are commercialy viable in the production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Natural rubber and other products can be obtained from this in- situ technique. Studies in this research shows that the rate of epoxidation increases with an increase in temperature.Oxirane values of 2.30, 3.62 and 4.73 for the various temperature. However high oxirane content of 6.22 was obtained at 70 °C which is in line with literature. FTIR analysis was also carried out on the epoxidized rubber seed oil which shows the peaks of oxirane cleavage.
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