Researchers have found out several ways by which environmental pollution can be of positive relevance by recycling the waste to ensure a cleaner and healthier environment. 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. This study aims to modify three different adsorbents; Groundnut hull, Snail shell, and rice husk and processed them into powder form as Groundnut hull powder [GHP], Snail shell powder [SSP] and Rice husk powder [RHP] respectively. The effects of three factors: temperature, mass and time were investigated on the response. MINITAB 19 software was employed which resulted in 20 runs. The optimization of the bleaching effects imposed by the adsorbents on palm oil using Central Composite Design (CCD) was evaluated. The free fatty acid and peroxide value decrease with bleaching while the saponification value increased with bleaching. The analysis conducted shows that groundnut hull was able to adsorb the most significant value of FFA and peroxide value in the palm oil. The lowest value of FFA obtained indicates that bleaching increases the shelf life of the oil and makes it more suitable for soap making.

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@@@In recent times, repellents and synthetic drugs have been identified as having negative toxicity effects on humans and the environment. Apart from the unfavourable effects on man and livestock caused by these chemicals-based (synthetic) repellents, they are also expensive, non-biodegradable, and no more effective because mosquitoes are getting adapted. With these drawbacks, an eco-friendly plant-based insecticide as a substitute is needed urgently. This paper reviews the extraction and use of essential oil from the leaves of Mentha spicata, Ocimum gratissimum, and Moringa oleifera as mosquito repellent. Carvone, Eugenol, and 9-Octadecenoic acid were discovered to be the most active components in the M. spicata, O. gratissimum, and M. oleifera extracts, respectively, using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Highlights In recent times, repellents and synthetic drugs have been identified as having negative toxicity effects on humans and the environment. Apart from the unfavorable effects on man and livestock caused by these chemical-based (synthetic) repellents, they are also expensive, non-biodegradable, and no more effective because mosquitoes are getting adapted. An eco-friendly plant-based insecticide as a substitute is needed urgently. Diseases transmitted by mosquitoes are still a significant reason for the global mortality rate, with over 700 million individuals experiencing such diseases every year. With the proper formulation of other repellent forms using their oils, they can replace non-degradable synthetic mosquito repellents since they are eco-friendly. In general, the mosquitocidal activity and percentage protection of plant extract increase with increasing concentration of the extracts in different formulations. This paper is our original work. We certify that this manuscript has not been published in part or whole elsewhere in any language, and it has not been submitted to any other journal for reviews.

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.

The concern on how food and livestock waste should be managed and recycled has greatly increased in the world. This research investigated the anaerobic decomposition (digestion) process for biogas production on dairy cattle manure (CM) and food waste (FW) using a bacteria as inoculum - Pseudomonas aeruginosa. CM and FW were co-digested with bacteria (P. aeruginosa) as the substrate. FW was allowed to decompose separately without inoculum for 30 days. Digesters (Bioreactor) were prepared in five places to monitor the maximum biogas production, generation rate of methane and number of days for the production of biogas. 1 to ratio 5ml and 10ml of FW were codigested with P. aeruginosa (bacteria) in 2 proportion and also Cow manure with 1 to ratio 1 and 0.5ml in 2 proportions [ 1:5ml; 1:10ml and 1:1; 1:5ml]. Batch process operation was used under mesophilic condition (35⁰C) for the digesters/bioreactor. Production of biogas was notices on the third and fourth day after commencement for the digesters with cattle manure, fourth to fifth day for the digester (bioreactor) with bacteria and third day for the digester with only FW. FW and CM generated highest cumulative biogas with volume of 88.5g/kg.

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.

The inhibitive behaviour of aloe vera as an eco-friendly inhibitor was studied in the corrosion of mild and stainless steel in 0.5 M H2SO4 medium. The varied aloe vera inhibitor concentrations were studied using weight loss (gravimetric) and linear polarization methods. The methods showed that the inhibition efficiency increased with an increase in the concentration of the inhibitor (up to 10 vol/vol%) for both the mild and stainless steels. Stainless steel was found to exhibit a lower corrosion rate compared to mild steel. The results showed that Langmuir adsorption isotherm was obeyed by the inhibition of mild and stainless steel using aloe vera in 0.5 M H2SO4 with the values of the regression coefficients near unity. The negative values of ∆Gads show the spontaneous adsorption of inhibitor on the mild and stainless steel surfaces and a physisorption adsorption mechanism of the aloe vera inhibitor since the values of ∆Gads obtained are more than − 20 kJ/mol, that is, aloe vera is an efficient corrosion inhibitor with mixed-type inhibition property.

The research work investigated the production of adhesive from cassava starch. Cassava tubers were processed into starch-based adhesives, using two different gelatinization enhancers (that is HCl and NaOH) which were introduced separately. The adhesives were produced by considering two varied process parameters, namely percentage weight of borax in starch solution (8 – 20%) and reaction temperature (65 – 85°C). Comparative analysis of the adhesive obtained (using HCl and NaOH as gelatinization enhancers) include the determination of its bond strength, viscosity, drying time, pH and density. As the borax weight percent increases up to 14 % and reaction temperature reduces (using NaOH) the drying time increases, while the drying time reduces as both the borax weight percent and temperature reduce (using HCl). The results of the adhesive physical properties fall within the standard range for each of the properties and this implied that the adhesive produced was of high quality.