One of the most severe problems with flexible asphalt pavements is permanent deformation in the form of rutting. Accordingly, the practice of adding fiber elements to asphalt mix to improve performance under dynamic loading has grown significantly in order to prevent rutting distress and ensure a safe and long-lasting road surface. This paper explores the effects of a combination of ceramic fiber (CF), a low-cost, easily available mineral fiber, and thermal insulator fiber reinforced to enhance the Marshall properties and increase the rutting resistance of asphalt mixes at high temperatures. Asphalt mixtures with 0%, 0.75%, 1.5%, and 2.25% CF content were prepared, and Marshall stability and wheel tracking tests were employed to stu

The removal of COD from wastewater generated by petroleum refinery has been investigated by adopting electrocoagulation (EC) combined with adsorption using activated carbon (AC) derived from avocado seeds. The process variables influencing COD removal were studied: current density (2–10 mA/cm2), pH (4–9), and AC dosage (0.2–1 g/L). Response surface methodology (RSM) based on Box–Behnken design (BBD) was used to construct a mathematical model of the EC/AC process. Results showed that current density has the major effect on the COD removal with a percent of contribution 32.78% followed by pH while AC dosage has not a remarkable effect due to the good characteristics of AC derived from avocado seeds. Increasing current density gives be

   The removal of Anit-Inflammatory drugs, namely; Acetaminophen (ACTP), from wastewater by bulk liquid membrane (BLM) process using Aliquat 336 (QCl) as a carrier was investigated. The effects of several parameters on the extraction efficiency were studied in this research, such as the initial feed phase concentration (10-50) ppm of ACTP, stripping phase (NaCl) concentration (0.3,0.5,0.7 M), temperature (30-50^oC), the volume ratio of feed phase to membrane phase (200-400ml/80ml), agitation speed of the feed phase (75-125 rpm), membrane stirring speed (0, 100, 150 rpm), carrier concentration (1, 5, 9 wt%), the pH of feed (2, 4, 6, 8, 10), and solvent type (CCl₄ and n-Heptane). The study shows that high ext

The density functional B3LYP is used to investigate the effect of decorating the silver (Ag) atom on the sensing capability of an AlN nanotube (AlN-NT) in detecting thiophosgene (TP). There is a weak interaction between the pristine AlN-NT and TP with the sensing response (SR) of approximately 9.4. Decoration of the Ag atom into the structure of AlN-NT causes the adsorption energy of TP to decrease from − 6.2 to − 22.5 kcal/mol. Also, the corresponding SR increases significantly to 100.5. Moreover, the recovery time when TP is desorbed from the surface of the Ag-decorated AlN-NT (Ag@AlN-NT) is short, i.e., 24.9 s. The results show that Ag@AlN-NT can selectively detect TP among other gases, such as N2, O2, CO2, CO, and H2O.

Water Quality Index (WQI) as a tool to assess the water quality status provides advice related to the use of water quality monitoring data and it is a way for combining the complex water quality data into a single value or single statement.The present study was conducted on Al- Hilla river in the middle of Iraq from August 2012 to July 2013 at five selected stations in the river, from Al- Musaib city to Al- Hashimya at the south of Hilla to determine its suitability for aquatic environment (GWQI), drinking water (PWSI) and irrigation (IWQI).This index offers a useful representation of the overall quality of water for public or any intended use as well as indicating pollution, water quality management, and decision making. According to th

Chlorinated volatile organic compounds (CVOCs) are toxic chemical entities emitted invariably from stationary thermal operations when a trace of chlorine is present. Replacing the high-temperature destruction operations of these compounds with catalytic oxidation has led to the formulation of various potent metal oxides catalysts; among them are ceria-based materials. Guided by recent experimental measurements, this study theoretically investigates the initial steps operating in the interactions of ceria surface CeO2(111) with three CVOC model compounds, namely chloroethene (CE), chloroethane (CA) and chlorobenzene (CB). We find that, the CeO2(111) surface mediates fission of the carbon–chlorine bonds in the CE, CA and CB molecules via mo