In recent years, the search for economic and environmentally friendly alternatives has become a global necessity to achieve sustainability and preserve raw materials. From this concept, natural bitumen (NB) derived from sulphur springs is now one of the most promising alternative energy resources for many applications, especially in asphalt pavement construction. Its low price and abundance characterise NB since sulphur springs produce thousands of tonnes of NB annually and are used in very limited fields. Two main objectives were adopted for this work. The first objective is to examine the virgin NB properties from five sulphur springs and compare them with petroleum asphalt. The second objective is to enhance NB properties by applying heat treatment. The experimental results reveal that heat treatment is highly effective in improving the NB properties. This was confirmed by conducting many tests, such as asphalt, Marshall, SEM-EDX, and indirect tensile strength tests. Based on the experimental test outcomes, virgin NB properties do not conform to asphalt specification limits and are unsuitable for flexible roads. Also, MS-NB significantly affected the mechanical properties of the asphalt mixture, as Marshall's stability increased by 41.3% compared to the conventional mixture. In addition, SS-NB was more effective in moisture damage resistance due to increasing the tensile strength ratio by 5.72 % and provided a higher stiffness index than the conventional mixture by 40.36%. In conclusion, the treated NB can successfully be used as a binder material in hot asphalt mixtures. ABSTRAK: Beberapa tahun kebelakangan, pencarian alternatif baharu ekonomi dan mesra alam telah menjadi satu keperluan global bagi mencapai kemampanan dan memelihara bahan mentah. Melalui konsep ini, bitumen asli (NB) yang diperoleh daripada mata air sulfur kini merupakan satu sumber tenaga alternatif yang berguna bagi digunakan dalam pelbagai aplikasi, terutamanya dalam pembinaan turapan asfalt. NB dicirikan oleh harga yang rendah dan kelimpahannya kerana mata air sulfur menghasilkan beribu-ribu tan NB setiap tahun dan digunakan dalam bidang terhad. Dua objektif utama telah dipakai untuk kajian ini. Objektif pertama adalah memeriksa sifat NB dara daripada lima mata air sulfur dan membandingkannya dengan asfalt petroleum. Objektif kedua adalah meningkatkan sifat NB dengan menggunakan rawatan haba. Dapatan eksperimen mendedahkan bahawa rawatan haba sangat berkesan dalam meningkatkan sifat NB. Ini disahkan dengan menjalankan pelbagai ujian, seperti ujian asfalt, ujian Marshall, ujian SEM-EDX, dan ujian kekuatan tegangan tidak langsung. Berdasarkan dapatan eksperimen, sifat NB dara tidak mematuhi had spesifikasi asfalt dan tidak sesuai untuk jalan fleksibel. Selain itu, MS-NB mempunyai kesan ketara pada sifat mekanikal campuran asfalt kerana kestabilan Marshalls meningkat sebanyak 41.3% berbanding campuran konvensional. Tambahan, SS-NB lebih berkesan dalam rintangan kerosakan lembapan kerana meningkatkan nisbah kekuatan tegangan sebanyak 5.72 % dan memberikan indeks kekukuhan yang lebih tinggi daripada campuran konvensional sebanyak 40.36%. Kesimpulannya, NB yang dirawat boleh berjaya digunakan sebagai bahan pengikat dalam campuran asfalt panas.
In this work, fluid catalytic cracking of vacuum gas oil to produce gasoline over prepared faujasite type Y zeolite was investigated using experimental laboratory plant scale of fluidized bed reactor.
The catalytic activity of prepared faujasite type NaY, NaNH4Y and NaHY zeolites was investigated. The cracking process was carried out in the temperature range 440 to 500 oC, weight hourly space velocity (WHSV) range 10 to 25 h-1 ,and atmospheric pressure . The catalytic activities of the prepared faujasite type NaY , NaNH4Y and NaHY zeolites were determined in terms of vacuum gas oil (VGO) conversion, and gasoline yield . The conversion at 500oC and WHSV10 hr-1 by using faujasite type NaY, NaNH4Y and NaHY zeolite were 50.2%, 64.1% and 6
This study investigates the elimination of chemical oxygen demand (COD) from an Iraqi petroleum refinery effluent through a combined electro‐Fenton and adsorption process (EF+AC). Response surface methodology (RSM) with a Box–Behnken design (BBD) was employed to investigate the effects of FeSO 4 concentration, current density, and electrolysis time on the reduction of COD using the EF technique. According to the results of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) for the EF technique, FeSO 4 concentrations, with a contribution of 40.06%, and cur
Mixed convection heat transfer to air inside an enclosure is investigated experimentally. The bottom wall of the enclosure is maintained at higher temperature than that of the top wall which keeps in oscillation motion, whereas the left and right walls are well insulated. The differential temperature of the bottom and top walls changed several times in order to accurately characterize the temperature distribution over a considerable range of Richardson number. Adjustable aspect ratio box was built as a test rig to determine the effects of Richardson number and aspect ratio on the flow behavior of the air inside the enclosure. The flow fields and the average Nusselt number profiles were presented in this wo
... Show MoreThe Boltzmann transport equation is solved by using two- terms approximation for pure gases and mixtures. This method of solution is used to calculate the electron energy distribution function and electric transport parameters were evaluated in the range of E/N varying from . 172152110./510.VcmENVcm
The electron energy distribution function of CF4 gas is nearly Maxwellian at (1,2)Td, and when E/N increase the distribution function is non Maxwellian. Also, the mixtures are have different energy values depending on transport energy between electron and molecule through the collisions. Behavior of electrons transport parameters is nearly from the experimental results in references. The drift velocity of electron in carbon tetraflouride i
A simple analytical method was used in the present work for the simultaneous quantification of Ciprofloxacin and Isoniazid in pharmaceutical preparations. UV-Visible spectrophotometry has been applied to quantify these compounds in pure and mixture solutions using the first-order derivative method. The method depends on the first derivative spectrophotometry using zero-cross, peak to baseline, peak to peak and peak area measurements. Good linearity was shown in the concentration range of 2 to 24 µg∙mL-1 for Ciprofloxacin and 2 to 22 µg∙mL-1 for Isoniazid in the mixture, and the correlation coefficients were 0.9990 and 0.9989 respectively using peak area mode. The limits of detection (LOD) and limits of quantification (LOQ) were
... Show MoreHot-wire cutting is one of the important, non-traditional thermomechanical way to cut polymer, usually expanded foam and extruded foam, in low volume manufacturing. The study and analysis of Hot-Wire cutting parameters play an important role to enhance the quality and accuracy of the process and products. The effects on the surface have been investigated by using experimental tests designed according to the Taguchi orthogonal array (OA). In this study, four parameters with five levels for each parameter have been used: [temperature of wire (A) (100, 120, 130, 150, 160) °C], [diameter of wire (B) (0.3,0.4,0.5,0.7,0.8) mm], [velocity of cutting (C) (200, 300,400,500,600) mm/min], [and density of foam (D) (0.01,0.0
... Show MoreIn the present study, the effects of brake pad particles of lung and liver histological sections were evaluated for (60) adult male mice. The animals were divided into three groups ( A,B,C) according to the periods of exposure (4, 8, and 12) weeks respectively exposed to brake pad particles in addition to the control groups (F) exposed to fresh air only. A special inhalation chamber designed locally has been used to expose the animals. The exposure to brake pad particles was (2.228) µg/m³ for 30 min/day, 5 days/week for (4,8and12) weeks respectively.
The examination in group (A) of the histological sections of the lung showed the thickness of interalveolar septa. Also, a congestion of alveolar capillary was marked indicat
... Show Moreraqi species of (Euphorbia lathyris F. Euphorbiaceae) have been used in the present study to evaluate genotoxicity of petroleum ether fraction in two doses (100mg/kg and 200mg/kg) on bone marrow cells in mice for seven successive days, comparing their effects with a positive control (methotrexate at a dose 20 mg/kg). Both doses of petroleum ether fraction of Euphorbia Lathyris significantly decrease mitotic index (P<0.05) compared to dimethylsulfoxide (negative control) group. For total chromosomal aberration, the petroleum ether fraction of Euphorbia lathyris (in both doses) produced significant increase (P<0.05) compared to dimethyl sulfoxide (negative control) group .at the same time, 20mg/kg methotrexate significantly increases (P<0.05)
... Show MoreA mixture model is used to model data that come from more than one component. In recent years, it became an effective tool in drawing inferences about the complex data that we might come across in real life. Moreover, it can represent a tremendous confirmatory tool in classification observations based on similarities amongst them. In this paper, several mixture regression-based methods were conducted under the assumption that the data come from a finite number of components. A comparison of these methods has been made according to their results in estimating component parameters. Also, observation membership has been inferred and assessed for these methods. The results showed that the flexible mixture model outperformed the
... Show MoreMethods of estimating statistical distribution have attracted many researchers when it comes to fitting a specific distribution to data. However, when the data belong to more than one component, a popular distribution cannot be fitted to such data. To tackle this issue, mixture models are fitted by choosing the correct number of components that represent the data. This can be obvious in lifetime processes that are involved in a wide range of engineering applications as well as biological systems. In this paper, we introduce an application of estimating a finite mixture of Inverse Rayleigh distribution by the use of the Bayesian framework when considering the model as Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC). We employed the Gibbs sampler and
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