The present work concerns with simulating unsteady state equilibrium model for production of methyl oleate (biodiesel) from reaction of oleic acid with methanol using sulfuric acid as a catalyst in batch reactive distillation. MESHR equations of equilibrium model were solved using MATLAB (R2010a). The validity of simulation model was tested by comparing the simulation results with a data available in literature. UNIQUAC liquid phase activity coefficient model is the most appropriate model to describe the non-ideality of OLAC-MEOH-MEOL-H2O system. The chemical reactions rates results from EQ model indicating the rates are controlled by chemical kinetics. Several variables was studied such as molar ratio of methanol to oleic acid 4:1, 6:1 and 8:1, amount of catalyst 0.6, 1.2 and 1.8 g sulfuric acid/g oleic acid, reaction time 36, 57 and 75 minutes, and reaction temperature 100, 120 and 130oC. Taguchi method based on signal to noise ratio was used to determine the best operating conditions for biodiesel production.
The present study investigated the impact of fuel kind on the emitted emissions at the idling period. Three types of available fuels in Iraq were tested. The tests conducted on ordinary gasoline with an octane number of 82, premium gasoline with an octane number of 92, and M20 (consist of 20% methanol and 80% regular gasoline). The 2 liters Mercedes-Benz engine was used in the experiments.
The results showed that engine operation at idle speed emits high levels of CO, CO2, HC, NOx and noise. The produced emission levels depend highly on fuel type. The premium gasoline (ON=92) represents the lower emissions level except for noise at all idling speed. Adding methanol to ordinary gasoline (ON=82) showed high levels of emi
... Show MoreThis study focused on treatment of real wastewater rejected from leather industry in Al-Nahrawan city in Iraq by Electrocoagulation (EC) process followed by Reverse Osmosis (RO) process. The successive treatment was applied due to high concentration of Cr3+ ions (about 1600 ppm) rejected in wastewater of this industry and for applying EC with moderate power consumption and better results of produced water. In Electrocoagulation process (EC), the effect of NaCl concentration (1.5, 3 g/l), current density (C.D.) (15-25 mA/cm2), electrolysis time (1-2 h), and distance between electrodes (E.D.) (1-2 cm) were examined in a batch cell by implementing Taguchi experimental design. According to the results obtained from multiple regression and signa
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In developing countries, conventional physico-chemical methods are commonly used for removing contaminants. These methods are not efficient and very costly. However, new in site strategy with high treatment efficiency and low operation cost named constructed wetland (CW) has been set. In this study, Phragmites australis was used with free surface batch system to estimate its ability to remediate total
petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) from Al-Daura refinery wastewater. The system operated in semi-batch, thus, new wastewater was weekly added to the plant for 42 days. The results showed high removal percentages (98%) of TPH and (62.3%) for COD. Additionally, Phragmites australis biomass increased significant
Antibiotics must be fully eliminated before they are released into the environment. In most cases, conventional wastewater treatment systems are not built to handle polar microcontaminants such as antibiotics. Oxytetracycline (OTC) is one of these antibiotics, an environmental hazard contaminant in aqueous solutions. Therefore, an advanced treatment method is needed for wastewater contaminated with antibiotics. In this study, we employed zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO), and the catalytic ozonation procedure was employed to increase the ozonation efficiency. A continuous experiment was carried out to compare the effectiveness of catalytic and single ozonation in degrading OTC in a continuous reactor. The flow rate of OTC solution, the initial
... Show MoreSalmonella infections are a major cause of foodborne infection in both humans and animals. Some serotypes are capable of inducing severe clinical manifestations, including gastroenteritis, septicemia, and abortion. The present study aimed to identify, isolate, and detect Salmonella Agona in cats with diarrhea in Al-Anbar Governorate, Iraq, and to evaluate the antimicrobial resistance profiles of the recovered isolates. Between November 2024 and May 2025, 100 fecal samples were collected from cats of different breeds presenting with diarrhea at veterinary clinics in Iraq. These samples were processed using established culture methods, including pre-enrichment in buffered peptone water followed by selective enrichment in tetrathionate
... Show MoreBackground and aim: Pseudomonas putida is a non-capsulated, rod-shaped, oxidative, gram-negative Bacterium. The aim of the study was to isolate the pathogenic P. putida from a cow with respiratory infection and to evaluate pharmacodynamics indices of cinnamon oil against isolated bacteria in order to determine its the in vitro antibacterial efficacy for the first time in Iraq. Materials and methods: divided into two parts: first part involved the isolation and identification of pathogenic P. putida from cow with respiratory infection, swab samples were cultured on different media and examined microscopically. Results: The isolates were identified based on the production of pyoverdine dye on nutrient agar, beta-hemolysis on blood aga
... Show More The study is conducted to investigate the effect of volatile oil extracted from the yellow peel of C. grandis fruits (Sindi) on growth of three bacterial species isolated from food samples , as well as A. flavus , and to check the possibility of using the volatile oils of this plant as a food preservative . Results showed a variation in the sensitivity of the bacterial isolates against the volatile oil which showed inhibitory effect on the growth of S. enteritidis and S. aureus with the increasing concentration of the volatile oils used in this studys , MIC for both bacteria was (0.12 , 1)% (v:v) respectively. Whereas , P. aerugino
... Show MoreA study conducted a laboratory experiment to measure the release of potassium and the dissolution of feldspar minerals in soils from different locations in Karbala Province (Ain Al-tamur, Qasr Al-Akhyar, Fadak Farm). The study involved the addition of organic acids (fulvic and humic) and mineral acids (sulfuric and phosphoric) at concentrations of 5% and 10% to sand-separated soil samples obtained through wet sieving. Feldspar minerals were identified using a polarized light microscope, and the percentage of each type of feldspar mineral was calculated. The results demonstrated that organic acids outperformed mineral acids in releasing potassium at both concentrations. Among the organ