Health and environmental factors as well as operational difficulties are major challenges facing the development of an anaerobic digestion process. Some of these problems relate to the use of sludge collected from primary and secondary clarifier units in wastewater treatment plants for laboratory purposes.

The present study addresses the preparation of sludge for laboratory purposes by using a mixture that consists of the digested sludge, which is less pathogenic, compared to the collected sludge from the primary or secondary clarifier, and food wastes. The sludge has been tested experimentally for 19 and 32 days under mesophilic conditions. The results show a steady methane production rate from the anaerobic dig

This study uses an environmentally friendly and low-cost synthesis method to manufacture zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) by using zinc sulfate. Eucalyptus leaf extract is an effective chelating and capping agent for synthesizing ZnO NPs. The structure, morphology, thermal behavior, chemical composition, and optical properties of ZnO nanoparticles were studied utilizing FT-IR, FE-SEM, EDAX, AFM, and Zeta potential analysis. The FE-SEM pictures confirmed that the ZnO NPs with a size range of (22-37) nm were crystalline and spherical. Two methods were used to prepare ZnO NPs. The first method involved calcining the resulting ZnO NPs, while the second method did not. The prepared ZnO NPs were used as adsorbents for removing acid black 210

Nanocrystalline copper sulphide (Cu2-xS) powders were synthesized by chemical precipitation from their aqueous solutions composed of different molar ratio of copper sulfate dehydrate (CuSO4.5H2O) and thiorea (NH2)2CS as source of Cu+2, S-2 ions respectively, and sodium ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid dehydrate (EDTA) as a complex agent. The compositions, morphological and structural properties of the nanopowders were characterized by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. The compositional results showed that the copper content was high and the Sulfur content was low for both CuS and Cu2S nanopowders. SEM images shows that all products consist of aggregate o

The optical transmission and absorption spectra in UV-VIS were recorded in the wavelength range 350-800 nm for different glass compositions in the system: (CuO)x (PbO)50-x (Bi2O3)50 (x=2.5, 5.0, 7.5, 10.0, 12.5, 15.0, 20.0). Absorption coefficient {α (λ)}, optical energy gap (Eopt), refractive index (n), optical dielectric constant (ε`), Urbach energy (Ee), constant B and ratio of carrier concentration to the effective mass (N/m) have been reported. The effects of compositions of glasses on these parameters have been discussed. It has been indicated that a small compositional modification of the glasses lead to an important change in all the optical properties including non-linear behavior. The optical parameters were found to b

Nanoparticles of humic acid and iron oxide were impregnated on the inert sand to produce sorbent for treating groundwater contained of cadmium and copper ions by technology of permeable reactive barrier (PRB). Sewage sludge was the source of the humic acid to prepare the coated sand by humic acid—iron oxide (CSHAIO) sorbent; so, this work is consistent with sustainable development. For 10 mg/L metal concentration, batch tests at speed of 200 rpm signified that the removal efficiencies are greater than 90% at sorbent dosage 0.25 g/ 50 mL, pH 6 and contact time 1 h. The kinetic data was well described by the Pseudo first-order model indicating that physicosorption is the predominant mechanism. The maximum adsorption capacities (qmax) were c

The goal of this investigation is to prepare zinc oxide (ZnO) nano-thin films by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique through Q-switching double frequency Nd:YAG laser (532 nm) wavelength, pulse frequency 6 Hz, and 300 mJ energy under vacuum conditions (10-3 torr) at room temperature. (ZnO) nano-thin films were deposited on glass substrates with different thickness of 300, 600 and 900 nm. ZnO films, were then annealed in air at a temperature of 500 °C for one hour. The results were compared with the researchers' previous theoretical study. The XRD analysis of ZnO nano-thin films indicated a hexagonal multi-crystalline wurtzite structure with preferential growth lines (100), (002), (101) for ZnO nano-thin films with different thi

In this work, the effect of preparing a composite of copper oxide nanoparticles with carbon on some of its optical properties was studied. The composite preparing process was carried out by exploding graphite electrodes in an aqueous suspension of copper oxide. The properties of the plasma which is formed during the explosion were studied using emission spectroscopy in order to determine the most important elements that are present in the media. The electron’s density and their energy, which is the main factor in the composite process, were determined. The particle properties were studied before and after the exploding process. The XRD showed an additional peak in the copper oxides pattern corresponding to the hexagonal graphite struct

The preparation and characterization of innovative nanocomposites based on zinc oxide nanorods (ZNR) encapsulated by graphene (Gr) nanosheets and decorated with silver (Ag), and cupper (Cu) nanoparticles (NP) were studied. The prepared nanocomposites (ZNR@Gr/Cu-Ag) were examined by different techniques including Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Atomic force microscopy (AFM), UV-Vis spectrophotometer and fluorescence spectroscopy. The results showed that the ZNR has been good cover by five layers of graphene and decorated with Ag and Cu NPs with particles size of about 10-15 nm. The ZNR@Gr/Cu-Ag nanocomposites exhibit high absorption behavior in ultraviolet (UV) region of sp