One of the most important environmental issues is the responsible effective and economic treatment of drilling waste especially oily waste.
In this research two fungal isolates named Pleurotus ostreatus and Trichoderma harzianum were chosen for the first time to treat biologically the oily drilled cuttings contaminated with diesel which resulted from drilling oil wells use oil based muds (OBMs).
The results showed that the fungi under study utilized the hydrocarbon of contaminated soil as a source of nutrient and growth and that both fungi can be considered hydrocarbon degrading microorganisms. The used biotreatment is cost effective process since most of the materials used in the cultivation and growth of the present fungi were available and cheap agricultural waste.
The best hydrocarbon degradation was observed in case of using both fungi together with 8 % by weight microorganisms concentration ratio and with the same ratio of nutrients components expressed as carbon/nitrogen/phosphorus equal to 100/60/10 with 10/1 carbon/potassium which gave average total petroleum hydrocarbon degradation of about 395 ppm per day. Good results were obtained using the new nutrients components ratio(C/N/P=100/60/10 with C/K=10) compared to other studies applied different nutrients ratios for the same type of diesel contamination.
The shear strength of soil is one of the most important soil properties that should be identified before any foundation design. The presence of gypseous soil exacerbates foundation problems. In this research, an approach to forecasting shear strength parameters of gypseous soils based on basic soil properties was created using Artificial Neural Networks. Two models were built to forecast the cohesion and the angle of internal friction. Nine basic soil properties were used as inputs to both models for they were considered to have the most significant impact on soil shear strength, namely: depth, gypsum content, passing sieve no.200, liquid limit, plastic limit, plasticity index, water content, dry unit weight, and initial
... Show MoreA high settlement may take place in shallow footing when resting on liquefiable soil if subjected to earthquake loading. In this study, a series of shaking table tests were carried out for shallow footing resting on sand soil. The input motion is three earthquake loadings (0.05g, 0.1g, and 0.2g). The study includes a reviewing of theoretical equations (available in literatures), which estimating settlement of footings due to earthquake loading, calibration, and verification of these equations with data from the shaking table test for improved soil by grouting and unimproved soil. It is worthy to note that the grouting materials considered in this study are the Bentonite and CKD slurries. A modification to the seismic set
... Show MoreExpansive soils are recognized by their swelling potential upon wetting due to the existence of some clay minerals such as montmorillonite. An effective solution was found to avoid the danger of such soils by using piles. A single pile embedded in an elasto-plastic expansive soil has been analyzed by using one of the available software which is ABAQUS to investigate the effect of applied loads on pile’s top and investigate the effect of swelling soils on load carrying capacity of the pile. The result shows that as the pile is axially loaded at its top, the axial force along the pile gradually changes from (tension) to (compression) and the pile tends to move downward. The applied load needed to initiate pile’s settlement depend
... Show MoreAsphaltenes are a solubility class described as a component of crude oil with undesired characteristics. In this study, Sharqy Baghdad heavy oil upgrading was achieved utilizing the solvent deasphalting approach as asphaltenes are insoluble in paraffinic solvents; they may be removed from heavy crude oil by adding N-Hexane as a solvent to create deasphalted oil (DAO)of higher quality. This method is known as Solvent De-asphalting (SDA). Different effects have been assessed for the SDA process, such as solvent to oil ratio (4-16/1 ml/g), the extraction temperature (23 ºC) room temperature and (68 ºC) reflux temperature at (0.5 h mixing time with 400 rpm mixing speed). The best solvent deasphalting results were obtained at room temp
... Show MoreConcentrations of radon were measured in this study for twenty-four samples of soil distributed in six locations on the north part of Iraq. The radon concentrations in soil samples measured by using alpha-emitters registration that emits from Radon (222Rn) in (CR-39) track detector. The concentrations values were calculated by a comparison with standard samples. The results shows that the radon gas concentrations in Darbandikhan City varies from (16.60-34.04 Bq/m3), Halabja City (16.51-23.32 Bq/m3), Al Sulaimaniya City (17.61-32.25 Bq/m3), Koisnjaq City (22.04-35.65 Bq/m3), Shaqlaua City (21.10-29.10 Bq/m3) and Erbil City (22.30-34.63 Bq/m3). The average radon gas concentration in Al Sulaimaniya and Erbil governorate are (22.30 Bq/m3)
... Show MoreThis work was conducted to study the extraction of eucalyptus oil from natural plants (Eucalyptus camadulensis leaves) by organic solvents. the effects of the main operating parameters were studied; type of solvent (n-hexane and ethanol), time to reach equilibrium, the temperature (45°C to 65°C) for n-hexane and (45°C to 75°C) for ethanol, solvent to solid ratio (5:1 to 8:1 (v/w)), agitation speed (0 to 900 rpm) and the particle size (0.5 to 2.5 cm) of fresh leaves to find the best processing conditions for the achieving maximum oil yield. The concentration of eucalyptus oil in solvent was measured by using UV-spectrophotometer. The results (for n-hexane) showed that the agitation speed of 900 rpm, temperature 65°C with solvent to soli
... Show MoreThis research aims to create lightweight concrete mixtures containing waste from local sources, such as expanded polystyrene (EPS) beads and waste plastic fibers (WPFs), all are cheap or free in the Republic of Iraq and without charge. The modern, rigid, and mechanical properties of LWC were investigated, and the results were evaluated. Three mixtures were made, each with different proportions of plastic fibers (0.4%, 0.8%, 1.2%), in addition to a lightweight concrete mixture containing steak fibers (0.4%, 0.8%, 1.2%), in addition to a lightweight concrete mixture. It contains 20% EPS. The study found that the LWC caused by the addition of WPFs reduced the density (lightweight) of the concrete mixtures because EPS tends
... Show MoreThe present research deals with the spatial variance analysis in Jwartadistrict and conducting a comparison on the spatial and seasonal changes of the vegetation cover between (2007-2013) in order to deduce the relationship between the vegetation density and the areas which are exposed to the risk of water erosion by using Plant Variation Index NDVI) C (coefficient and by using Satellite images of Landsat satellite which are taken in 2/7/2007 and Satellite images of Landsat satellite taken in 11/1/ 2013, the programs of remote sensitivity and the Geographic Information Systems.
The study reveals that there is a variance in the density of vegetation cover of the area under study betwee 2007 and 2013. Howev
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