ABSTRACT: The discharge of oil and grease (O&G) containing effluent without treatment may contaminate the aquatic environs and freshwater. The removal of O&G from simulated refinery desalter effluent (SRDE) by activated carbon (AC) originated from chemical activation/carbonization of corn cobs (CCs) was investigated through fixed-bed column studies. The corn cobs activated carbon (CCAC) was characterized to determine its physicochemical properties, and the functional groups presently active on it partaking in the column adsorption process. The CCAC size (150, 300 and 600 µm), initial adsorbate concentration (200, 300 and 400 mg/L), and bed height (100, 200 and 300 mm) were varied to observe their influence on the adsorption of O&G and breakthrough time (τ) at a constant flow rate of 10.5 mL/min in a 10 mm diameter column of length: 60 mm. The removal of O&G from SRDE was inspected using the Bohart-Adams (B-A) and Yoon-and-Nelson (Y-N) kinetic models. Breakthrough time and %O&G removal decreased with increasing CCAC particle size and feed concentration and improved with rising bed height (BH). The void fractions (ε) at BHs of 100, 200 and 300 mm were 0.0247, 0.0124 and 0.0082, respectively. The ideal residence time (tR ) was 4.49 min. The B-A model yielded the highest degree of fit to the data than the Y-N model with R² within 0.8217 and 0.9771. This means that the B-A model can be used to predict the breakthrough curve of any desired values for the present study. This work also revealed that CCs could be packed in a fixed-bed column for O&G reduction from refinery desalter effluent.

ABSTRACT: Waste oil was extracted from lollipop effluent stream using a mixture of organic solvents viz. n-hexane and ethyl acetate. Lollipop effluent samples found to contain ~ 10-18 wt.% oil. Subsequently, the oil was subjected to biodiesel synthesis under solvent free condition using chemical and enzymatic catalysts. Among the base catalysts used, KOH catalyzed reaction gave highest biodiesel yield (99 %) in 20 minutes. Furthermore, nine different lipases were screened as catalysts for biodiesel preparation from lollipop effluent oil. The screening experiments revealed that Novozyme-435 was best among the lipases which gave 94 % biodiesel in 18 h at 40 ⁰C.

ABSTRACT: Nuclear energy is often viewed as linked exclusively to electrical power generation. However, the applications for nuclear energy are significantly greater than only electricity, and include cogeneration, district heating and cooling, high-temperature process heating, hydrogen and alternative fuel production, transportation and desalination. These additional applications expand the prospects for nuclear energy notably, and enhance the benefits that can be derived from it, such as reduced environmental impact and climate change mitigation. Interest in non-electric applications of nuclear energy is growing for environmental, economic, security and other reasons. In this paper, non-electric applications of nuclear energy are reviewed, including technological, environmental and economic issues of such applications as well as future prospects and benefits of non-electric applications of nuclear energy.

ABSTRACT: Sustainability development, as a concept, is becoming an important topic for discussion within the maritime industry due to its environmental impact and intensification of the compliance framework. Achieving sustainable development will require involvement from the industry diverse stakeholders. Yet the ongoing discussions and research studies on promoting sustainability within the maritime industry gave no attention to engaging the various stakeholders existing and/or operating within the industrial or professional cluster, whose absence from the decision-making processes may fail to address sustainability issues within the industry. This study argues in support of actively engaging the maritime industry diverse stakeholders to foster the implementation of sustainable development. Based on desk research and validation from subject experts, we propose a conceptual engagement framework that may be adopted by shipping entities to correctly identify and engage the industry key stakeholders towards promoting sustainable development.

ABSTRACT: The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) reported in Wuhan is continuing to impress the world by its fast spread and the number of affected persons attracting an unprecedented attention.
In this article, the classical SEIR model and a generalized SEIR model called SEIRDP were applied to predict the evolution of COVID-19 in Algeria for a future period of 100 days using official reported data from early April to early August, 2020. Initial evaluation showed that the two models had a net correspondence with the reported data during this period for cumulative infected cases but the number of cumulative deaths was underestimated with the classical SEIR model. Model prediction with the SEIRDP concluded that the number of cumulative infected cases will increase in the next days reaching a number of about 60 k in middle November with a median of about 300 daily cases. Also, the number of estimated deaths will be around 2k. These results suggest that the COVID-19 is ongoing to infect more persons which may push national authorities to carefully act in the probable leaving of containment.

ABSTRACT: This study aims to determine the extent to which the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) can fulfill the Expost conditions for achieving convergence. This study, therefore, evaluates the pattern of shock symmetry and convergence in connection to WAMZ’s Pillar III policy strategy. Time series data sourced from the World Bank for the period covering 1970 to 2017 were utilized for this study. Two basic econometric tools such as Impulse Response Function (IRF) and the ADF convergence test were employed to determine whether WAMZ can achieve selected Macroeconomic Convergence Criteria (MCC) in the long-run. From the study, we found that WAMZ is not a full potential candidate for ECO Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) due to the inability of the available results to show overall shock asymmetry in the entire models studied. Also, the study found that WAMZ could attain convergence in its inflation targets, but could not attain convergence in its GDP targets. Thus the results imply that in the long-run, WAMZ does not practically possess the attribute to achieve its MCC. Hence, it is imperative that for the adoption of the ECO currency, WAMZ should design and implement a short-run adjustment method to manage country-wise shocks and implement structural buffers to guard the WAMZ economies against structural shocks. Hence, we recommend that ECO currency be a reserve currency managed by the West African Currency Board (WACB) while the EMU member maintains its domestic currency. WAMZ is basically a quasi EMU.

ABSTRACT: Parts of the Nigerian Niger Delta which also accommodates huge number of oil facilities has swamps in some parts with non – turbulent water bodies. These water bodies are negatively impacted from oil pollution but lack the capacities to self-clean like high flowing waters. The calm nature of these swamps result in higher than normal retention, partitioning and diffusion of hydrocarbon components. This study investigated aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbon concentrations at different depths for a period of ten months by simulating an oil spill site (8m by 5m and 1.5m deep) typical of a non-turbulent mangrove swamp with suspended sediments and vegetation polluted with 60 litres of crude oil. Impacted water samples were collected at depths of 0.25m, 0.5m, 0.75m and 1.0m. They were filtered and the petroleum aliphatic and aromatic contents analyzed using a GC-FID. The results obtained showed that petroleum hydrocarbons can dissolve and diffuse to different depths at concentrations above safe limits, thus posing great danger to aquatic life and its entire value chain.