The cost of microalgae harvesting constitutes a heavy burden on the commercialization of biofuel production. The present study addressed this problem through economic and parametric comparison of electrochemical harvesting using a sacrificial electrode (aluminum) and a nonsacrificial electrode (graphite). The harvesting efficiency, power consumption, and operation cost were collected as objective variables as a function of applied current and initial pH of the solution. The results indicated that high harvesting efficiency obtained by using aluminum anode is achieved in short electrolysis time. That harvesting efficiency can be enhanced by increasing the applied current or the electrolysis time for both electrode materials, where 98
... Show MorePorous silicon (PS) layers are prepared by anodization for
different etching current densities. The samples are then
characterized the nanocrystalline porous silicon layer by X-Ray
Diffraction (XRD), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Fourier
Transform Infrared (FTIR). PS layers were formed on n-type Si
wafer. Anodized electrically with a 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 mA/cm2
current density for fixed 10 min etching times. XRD confirms the
formation of porous silicon, the crystal size is reduced toward
nanometric scale of the face centered cubic structure, and peak
becomes a broader with increasing the current density. The AFM
investigation shows the sponge like structure of PS at the lower
current density porous begi
Two modes of electrochemical harvesting for microalgae were investigated in the current work. A sacrificial anode (aluminum) was used to study the electrocoagulation-flotation process, and a nonsacrificial anode (graphite) was used to investigate the electroflotation process. The study inspected the effect of chloride ions concentration and the interelectrode distance on the performance of the electrochemical harvesting processes. The results demonstrated that both electrodes achieved maximum harvesting efficiency with a 2 g/L NaCl concentration. Interestingly, by increasing the NaCl concentration to 5 g/L, the harvesting efficiency reduced dramatically to its lowest value. Generally, the energy consumption decreased with increasing
... Show MoreIn this work, metal oxides nanostructures, mainly, copper oxide (CuO), nickel oxide (NiO), titanium dioxide (TiO2), and multilayer structure were synthesized by dc reactive magnetron sputtering technique. The structural purity and nanoparticle size of the prepared nanostructures were determined. The individual metal oxide samples (CuO, NiO and TiO2) showed high structural purity and minimum particle sizes of 34, 44, 61 nm, respectively. As well, the multilayer structure showed high structural purity as no elements or compounds other than the three oxides were founds in the final sample while the minimum particle size was 18 nm. This reduction in nanoparticle size can be considered as an advantage for the dc reactive magnetron sputtering tec
... Show MoreCarbon dioxide (CO2) capture and storage is a critical issue for mitigating climate change. Porous aromatic Schiff base complexes have emerged as a promising class of materials for CO2 capture due to their high surface area, porosity, and stability. In this study, we investigate the potential of Schiff base complexes as an effective media for CO2 storage. We review the synthesis and characterization of porous aromatic Schiff bases materials complexes and examine their CO2 sorption properties. We find that Schiff base complexes exhibit high CO2 adsorption capacity and selectivity, making them a promising candidate for use in carbon capture applications. Moreover, we investigate the effect of various parameters such as temperature, and pressu
... Show MoreActivated carbon (AC) is a highly important adsorbent material, as it is a solid form of pure carbon that boasts a porous structure and a large surface area, making it effective for capturing pollutants. Thanks to its exceptional features, AC is widely used for purifying water that is contaminated with odors and removing dyes in a cost-effective manner. A variety of carbonic materials have been employed to prepare AC, and this study aimed to evaluate the suitability of utilizing waste mango and avocado seeds for this purpose, followed by testing their efficacy in removing dye from aqueous solutions. The results indicate that using waste mango and avocado as AC is technically feasible, achieving dye removal percentages of 98% and 93%,
... Show MoreIn this work, a novel design for the NiO/TiO2 heterojunction solar cells is presented. Highly-pure nanopowders prepared by dc reactive magnetron sputtering technique were used to form the heterojunctions. The electrical characteristics of the proposed design were compared to those of a conventional thin film heterojunction design prepared by the same technique. A higher efficiency of 300% was achieved by the proposed design. This attempt can be considered as the first to fabricate solar cells from highly-pure nanopowders of two different semiconductors.