Phase change materials (PCMs) such as paraffin wax can be used to store or release large amount of energy at certain temperature at which their solid-liquid phase changes occurs. Paraffin wax that used in latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) has low thermal conductivity. In this study, the thermal conductivity of paraffin wax has been enhanced by adding different mass concentration (1wt.%, 3wt.%, 5wt.%) of (TiO₂) nano-particles with about (10nm) diameter. It is found that the phase change temperature varies with adding (TiO₂) nanoparticles in to the paraffin wax. The thermal conductivity of the composites is found to decrease with increasing temperature. The increase in thermal conductivity ha

Pathological blood clot in blood vessels, which often leads to cardiovascular diseases, are one of the most common causes of death in humans. Therefore, enzymatic therapy to degrade blood clots is vital. To achieve this goal, bromelain was immobilized and used for the biodegradation of blood clots. Bromelain was extracted from the pineapple fruit pulp (Ananas comosus) and purified by ion exchange chromatography after precipitation with ammonium sulphate (0-80 %), resulting in a yield of 70%, purification fold of 1.42, and a specific activity of 1175 U/mg. Bromelain was covalently immobilized on functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), with an enzyme loading of 71.35%. The results of the characterization of free and immobilized

The ability of four local fungal isolates for extracellular laccase production has been tested with five grams 1:1(w/v) humidified sawdust as substrate in mineral salt medium. After 21 day of incubation at 25±1 ? C and using one mycelial plug (5mm), higher level of laccase activity (0.15U/ml) and specific activity (15U/mg) were observed by Pleurotus ostreatus in comparison with other fungal isolates. The results of optimum conditions for laccase production from selected isolate showed that, the maximum laccase activity (0.55U/ml) and specific activity (55U/mg) were obtained at moisture ratio 1:3 (w/v), using 3 mycelial plugs (5 mm), after 15 days incubation period at 25±1 ? C. The results of phenol degradation by crud laccase revealed th

      In this research, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is prepared  through the Hummers method with a slight change in some of the work steps, thus, a new method has been created for preparing carbon nanotubes which is similar to the original Hummers method that is used to prepare graphene oxide. Then, the suspension carbon nanotubes is transferred to a simple electrode position platform consisting of two electrodes and the cell body for the coating and reduction of the carbon nanotubes on ITO glass which represents the cathode electrode while platinum represents the anode electrode. The deposited layer of carbon nanotubes is examined through the scanning electron microscope technique (SEM), and the images throughout the research show the

This work describes the enhancement of phenol red decolorization through immobilizing of laccase in chitosan and enzyme recycling. Commercial laccase from white rot fungus, Trametesversicolor (Tvlac), was immobilizedin to freshly prepared chitosan beads by using glutaraldehyde as a cross linker. Characterization of prepared chitosan was confirmed by FTIR and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Tvlac (46.2 U/mL) immobilized into chitosan beads at 0.8 % glutaraldehyde (v/v) within 24 hrs. Synthetic (HBT) and natural (vanillin) mediators were used to enhance dye decolorizoation. It was found that 89 % of phenol red was decolorized by chitosan beads within 180 min. in the absence of enzyme and mediator, while decolorization percenta

Modified bentonite has been used as effective sorbent material for the removal of acidic dye (methyl orange) from aqueous solution in batch system. The natural bentonite has been modified using cationic surfactant (cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide) in order to obtain an efficient sorbent through converting the properties of bentonite from hydrophilic to organophilic. The characteristics of the natural and modified bentonite were examined through several analyses such as Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and Surface area. The batch study was provided the maximum dye removal efficiency of 88.75 % with a sorption capacity of 555.56 mg/g at specified conditions (150 min, pH= 2, 250 rpm, and 0.

This paper presents experimental investigations on buried Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) pipes with a diameter of 1400 mm. The tested pipes were buried in dense, gravelly sand and subjected to traffic loads to study the effects of backfill cover on pipe deflection. The experimental program included tests on three GRP pipes with backfill covers of 100 cm, 75 cm, and 50 cm. The maximum traffic loads applied to the pipe–soil system corresponded to Iraqi Truck Type 3 (AASHTO H type). Vertical deflections of the pipes were monitored during the application of these loads. The experimental results showed that, as the backfill cover increased, the maximum vertical deflection of the pipe decreased. Deflection reductions were 38.0% and 33.3

Direct contact membrane distillation is an effective method for production of fresh water from saline water. In this study two samples were used as feed solutions; the first one was RO waste from Al-Hilla Coca-Cola Factory (TDS= 2382 mg/l) and the other was Haji Ali drainage water (TDS= 4127 mg/l). Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) hydrophobic membrane supported with polypropylene (PP) was used as flat sheet form with plate and frame cell. Results proved that membrane distillation is an effective technique to produce fresh water with high quality from brine with low salinity content. With membrane area of 8x8 cm², the volume of treated water decreased from 34.97 ml at first half hour to 33.02 ml after 180 min of