Evaluation of adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system-genetic algorithm in the prediction and optimization of NOx emission in cement precalcining kiln.

The increasing demand for cement due to urbanization growth in Africa countries may result in an upsurge of pollutants associated with its production. One major air pollutant in cement production is nitrogen oxides (NOx) and reported to cause serious damage to human health and the ecosystem. The operation of a cement rotary kiln NOx emission was studied with plant data using the ASPEN Plus software. It is essential to understand the effects of calciner temperature, tertiary air pressure, fuel gas, raw feed material, and fan damper on NOx emissions from a precalcining kiln. In addition, the performance capability of adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference systems and genetic algorithms (ANFIS-GA) to predict and optimize NOx emissions from a precalcining cement kiln is evaluated. The simulation results were in good agreement with the experimental results, with root mean square error of 2.05, variance account (VAF) of 96.0%, average absolute deviation (AAE) of 0.4097, and correlation coefficient of 0.963. Further, the optimal NOx emission was 273.0 mg/m3, with the parameters as determined by the algorithm were calciner temperature at 845 °C, tertiary air pressure - 4.50 mbar, fuel gas of 8550 m3/h, raw feed material 200 t/h, and damper opening of 60%. Consequently, it is recommended that ANFIS should be combined with GA for effective prediction, and optimization of NOx emission in cement plants.

Synthesis of thermal insulator using chicken feather fibre in starch-clay nanocomposites.

Incorporating chicken feather fibre (CFF) into natural based-nanocomposite comprising of glycerine plasticized-cassava starch binder with bentonite (BNT) as nanofiller, a thermal insulator (TIN) was synthesized. Central Composite Design (CCD) Response Surface Methodology was employed to carry out the experimental design using two factors (CFF and BNT) along with one response (thermal conductivity) to produce nine materials as insulators, comprising of 0%, 5%, and 10% BNT based on 8 g initial weight of CFF. A sample without CFF was used as the control. Developed thermal insulators were subjected to thermal conductivity tests using Lee's disc method at a steady state. The best insulator is TIN-4 with the lowest thermal conductivity of 0.0313 W/(mK) and the highest insulation property of 114.63 m2k/W, while TIN-10 with no CFF has the highest thermal conductivity of 0.0549 W/(mk) and lowest insulation property of 48.1603 m2k/W. Proportionate use of chicken feather fibre in starch-clay nanocomposite will help synthesize an effective thermal insulator with minimum cost.

Experimental dataset investigating the effect of temperature in the presence or absence of catalysts on the pyrolysis of plantain and yam peels for bio-oil production.

More than 1.3 billion tons, a third of the total food produced, is wasted annually, and it has been predicted to increase in the coming years. Food waste significantly contributes to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resulting in the release of about 3.3 billion tonnes of CO2 into the environment yearly. Hence this large amount of wastes, with adverse environmental effects, needs to be appropriately managed. New technologies such as Anaerobic digestion, fermentation, and gasification are being used to produce renewable energy, which in turn reduces the increasing level of food wastes in the environment. Pyrolysis of biomass materials or food wastes produces high-value energy products or bio-oil that can possibly replace non-renewable fossil fuels when it is upgraded. In this study, pyrolysis (thermal treatment in the absence of oxygen) of plantain and yam peels to produce bio-oil, was investigated. The pyrolysis conditions, wide temperature ranges at an interval of 100 °C (200-700 °C), absence of a catalyst (AOC), the use of zeolite -Y catalyst using two separate heterogeneous catalysis procedures were imposed and used to produced bio-oil. In the first procedure, the pyrolysis gases were allowed to rise through a zeolite-Y catalyst bed (HTC). And in the second procedure, the plantain or yam peel feedstock was first mixed uniformly with the zeolite-Y catalyst before pyrolysis (HMC). The GC-MS machine was used to analyze or characterize the obtained bio-oil while proximate analysis and XRF machine were used to characterize the plantain and yam peels feed. The residue, biochar, from the pyrolysis process, was also characterized using the XRF machine.

Effect of particle sizes on the kinetics of demineralization of snail shell for chitin synthesis using acetic acid.

This study considers the kinetics of snail shells demineralization process using acetic acid. It was washed, sundried then ground into four different particle sizes. The ranges of particle sizes are 6.3-4.75 mm, 4.75-2 mm, 2 - 1 mm, and 600 -300 µm. The shells were first deproteinized with sodium hydroxide solution thereafter they were demineralized using 1.2 M acetic acid solution. Kinetics of demineralization of the snail shells was performed by XRF analysis of the chitin produced at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35 min. The kinetic results show that mechanism of chitin formation from snail shell occurs through the chemical reaction controlled (CRC) model of the shrinking core model for particle sizes between 6.3 - 4.75 mm, 4.75-2 mm, and 2-1 mm particle sizes while Fluid Film Diffusion (FFD) model was observed for the smaller range of 600-300 µm particle sizes. The surface morphology and the FTIR analysis of the synthesized chitin were typical of those obtained for earlier studies.

Data on the treatment of used lubricating oil from two different sources using solvent extraction and adsorption.

The data in this article were obtained from a research designed to investigate the effects of choice of solvent, mixing speed, temperature and solvent to oil ratio on the treatment process of used lubricating oils using solvent extraction and adsorption method. Various data on the performance of the three solvents chosen were studied and compared based on certain parameters are presented and discussed. From the results obtained, it was observed that MEK (Methyl Ethyl Ketone) had the best performance because it gave the highest sludge removal and closest properties to the fresh lubricating base stock. Furthermore, it was also determined that increase in temperature improved the quality of oil obtained up till 50 °C above this temperature poorer quality of oil was observed. But above all the factors investigated, it was concluded that solvent to oil ratio has a greater effect on the quality of oil produced after treatment.