A parametric study on the factors affecting the froth floatation of Jordanian tar sand utilizing a fluidized bed floatator

Different parameters affecting the behavior of froth flotation of Jordanian tar sand, obtained from the Dead Sea area, were studied. This study was performed in a modified fluidized bed floatator. The effects of the addition of a flotation agent, NaOH, temperature and flotation time on the beneficiation of bitumen in the froth were investigated. It was found that the beneficiation factor in the froth increased with the increase of temperature and flotation time. However, the amount of base (NaOH) and the flotation agent were found to have a negative effect on that factor. A regression model based on a full factorial experimental design results was obtained with a significant correlation coefficient. The optimum beneficiation factor was found to be 7.2 and the bitumen content in the froth was found to be 79% in the froth, which was obtained at 0.2 gNaOH/L, zero agent, 80 °C, and 30 min.     

Kinetic studies on radio-selenium uptake by ion exchange resin

Kinetic studies on the sorption of radioactive Se (IV) ion on Amberlite MB9L have been carried out under a wide range of temperature, pH, initial concentration, and resin weight. Analyses of the experimental data by two theoretical models commonly used to explain the ion exchange kinetics and shrinking core model (SCM), and homogeneous diffusion model (HDM) against exponential diffusion decay model (EDM) show a greater preference of EDM over HDM and SCM at all reaction conditions. The obtained regression coefficient values in case of HDM and SCM are in general not high enough to give a satisfactory fit for the experimental data. The estimated values for EDM parameters provides a good satisfactory fit for the yielded adsorption results as the corresponding linear regression values are high. The sorption process is found to be accompanied with fast film diffusion and slow diffusion between the reacted layer and the shrinking un-reacted core within the ion exchange resin. It also shows that ion exchange as the controlling step offers the lowest probability due to the highest obtained diffusion parameters over the normal tested reaction conditions.     

Treatment of seafood industrial wastewater coupled with electricity production using air cathode microbial fuel cell under saline condition

The present study investigated seafood industrial wastewater treatment with corresponding power generation in air cathode microbial fuel cell under saline condition (40 g/L). The results recorded total chemical oxygen demand) removal of 52 ± 1.8%, 64 ± 1.1%, 85 ± 1.2%, 89 ± 1.4%, and 76 ± 1.2% to the corresponding organic load (OL) of 0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.25, and 1.5 gCOD/L under saline condition. Soluble chemical oxygen demand reduction was in the range of 46% to 78% at OL of 0.5 to 1.5 gCOD/L. The maximum power density (530 ± 15 mW/m²) and coulombic efficiency (52 ± 2.4%) was procured at the OL of 1.25 and 0.5 gCOD/L, respectively. Total suspended solids removal was 74 ± 1.5% at OL of 1.25 gCOD/L and 64 ± 1.3% at OL 1.5 gCOD/L. Bacterial community analysis for anode region samples for OL 0.5 and 1 gCOD/L was extensively dominated by Bacillus (MN880233) with 75.8% and 55.8%, respectively. Interestingly at 1.25 gCOD/L OL, Rhodococcus (MN880237) was predominant (42.3%) strain in the anode region and recorded high power production under saline condition. Sludge samples subjected to phylogenetic analysis explored the dominance of Clostridium, Turicibacter, and Marinobacter at different OL from 0.5 to 1.5 gCOD/L. Bacterial community results at 1.25 gCOD/L of OL sludge samples revealed completely different strains of dominancy in the community. Marinobacter (53.3%), Ochrobactrum (19.3%), and Bacillus (8.1%). Thus, the phylogenetic analysis of the anodic and sludge samples clearly detailed the presence of halophilic bacterial strains with high potential to treat seafood processing industrial wastewater and excellent exoelectrogenic activity for power production.     

Bitumen recovery from Jordanian oil sand by froth flotation using petroleum cycles oil cuts

Jordan has huge reserves of energy sources such as oil sand, oil shale, and olive cake. This work presents a part of an ongoing project to develop an appropriate low cost beneficiation technology for Jordanian oil sand. This study presents the utilization of a modified fluidized froth flotation process for beneficiation and bitumen recovery from Jordanian oil sand. This modification includes fluidization technology to replace the agitation process found in a typical flotation technology. Results of this research show that the recovery of bitumen from Jordanian oil sand reaches its maximum of 86% during the addition of 0.35 wt% of a special cut of light cycle oil as a collector. The results show that the amount of hydrocarbon content (H.C) in oil sand has a minimal impact on floatability of oil sand. In addition, the results show that increasing the temperature enhances the bitumen recovery from Jordanian oil sand. The addition of NaOH is found to have a similar effect of increasing bitumen recovery. The results show that a special cut of cycle oil increases the bitumen recovery more than the normal cut of cycle oil.     

Effect of demineralization of El-lajjun Jordanian oil shale on oil yield

The effect of demineralization on oil yield and mineral composition of Jordanian oil shale was investigated. A standard digestion procedure using a range of inorganic and organic acids including HCl, HNO₃, HF, and CH₃COOH was used to enhance the oil recovery of oil shale samples collected from the El-lajjun area. The total yield of the digested samples, as determined by Fischer Assay, has shown a maximum value (two folds the untreated sample) obtained when using CH₃COOH. The kaolin in the treated oil shale with a high concentration of CH₃COOH is believed to have transformed to illite as found in the XRD analysis. The treatment of oil shale using HCl has shown an increased ratio of oil to gas as a result of the digestion of calcite in the oil shale. At higher concentrations of HNO₃, the acid is believed to react with the kerogen in the oil shale resulting in high levels of low molecular weight compounds. Therefore, the amount of non-condensable gases produced by Fischer assay after treatment with a high concentration of HNO₃ is relatively high. HF is believed to drive off water from the oil shale by dissolving the clay minerals leading to increased oil to gas ratio.     

Adsorption of Phenol from Aqueous Solutions on Jojoba Nuts Residue

Equilibrium isotherms for the adsorption of phenol from aqueous solutions of three types of Jojoba nuts residue were determined at 30, 40 and 55 °C. Types I and II were the residue after extracting the oil by leaching or by a pressing process, respectively. The third type was obtained by thermally treating the residue remaining after pressing. The phenol concentration ranged from 0–100 ppm in the aqueous solutions. A low adsorption capacity relative to activated carbon was obtained on types I and II, while the adsorption capacity of type III was much higher than types I and II. The results show that Jojoba nuts residue show good potential for adsorption of phenolic compounds if subjected to some type of treatment (activation). As the temperature increased from 30 to 55 °C, the adsorption capacity of types I and II decreased, but the increase had a negligible effect on type III. The experimental data were fitted to the appropriate adsorption models. The models used were Langmuir, Freundlich, Koble‐Corrigan and Redlich‐Peterson.     

Physicochemical characteristics and thermal stability of Jordanian jojoba oil

Viscosity, flash point, refractive index, viscosity index, specific gravity, aniline point, foam testing, color stability, ash content, water content, saponification value, iodine value, and other properties were investigated for Jordanian jojoba oil. Results showed that jojoba oil has low ash and water contents and high flash point and viscosity index. Viscosity and specific gravity changed only slightly with temperatures. As an additive, jojoba oil improved the viscosity index of lubricants from 100 to 130. When subjected to heating and cooling from 40 to 200°C, the chemical structure, kinematic viscosity, and refractive index remained almost constant. Thus, jojoba oil was highly stable in this temperature range.     

Performance enhancement of photovoltaic panels using two types of nanofluids

One of the main problems that limit the extensive use of photovoltaic (PV) systems is the increase in the temperature of PV panels. Overheating of a PV module decreases the performance of the output power by 0.4% to 0.5% per 1°C over its rated temperature that in most cases is 25°C. An effective way of improving electrical performance (power output and efficiency) and reducing the rate of thermal degradation of a PV module is to reduce the operating temperature of the PV surface by a cooling medium. To achieve this, nanofluids can be considered as a potentially effective solution for cooling. In this study, two types of nanofluids, namely Al₂O₃ and TiO₂ water‐based mixture of different volume flow rates and concentrations (0.01%, 0.05%, and 0.1%) by weight, were used. Also, three PV panels were cooled simultaneously using nanofluids, water, and natural air, respectively. Results showed that nanofluids for cooling enhanced heat transfer rate much better than water and natural air. Best results were achieved for TiO₂ nanofluids at the considered concentration (0.1 wt%). Nanofluid cooling of turbulent flows for such an application has not been investigated before. These results represent the first application of nanofluid cooling in the turbulent flow regimes and in outdoor conditions including real solar irradiation.     

CO2 supercritical fluid extraction of Jordanian oil shale utilizing different co-solvents

In this study, extracting shale oil from Jordanian oil shale using supercritical fluid extraction has been investigated. Experimental data indicates that by using supercritical extraction with carbon dioxide, using co-solvents can be viable. A relatively high yield can be obtained at relatively moderate pressure. At the highest temperature and pressure of 450 °C and 3200 psi, respectively, and with hexane as a co-solvent, the highest yield obtained was 100 kg/ton of oil shale, which was at the highest temperature and pressure of 450 °C and 3200 psi, respectively, and with hexane as a co-solvent. Increasing both the operating pressure and temperature increases the oil yield. In the supercritical state, carbon dioxide along with other co-solvents, such as hexane and acetone, interact with the kerogen leading to the dissolution of fragments due to an increase in solubility and mass transfer.Increasing the particle size of oil shale for extraction decreases the oil yield. Most of the extracted oil obtained is saturated hydrocarbons, olefinic and a portion of aromatic hydrocarbons. As the extraction temperature increases, the production of low-molecular weight compounds increases.     

Parametric study of biodiesel production from used soybean oil

Biodiesel, an alternative diesel fuel derived from vegetable oil, animal fat, or waste vegetable oil (WVO), is obtained by reacting the oil or fat with an alcohol (transesterification) in the presence of a basic catalyst to produce the corresponding mono‐alkyl esters. In this work, the effect of the catalyst KOH‐to‐WVO ratio, ethanol concentration, and time of reaction on the biodiesel yield were investigated. The transesterification reaction was performed at a constant temperature (35 °C) in order to minimize the cost of heating and ethanol evaporation. A 2³ complete factorial design on biodiesel yield (Y) was performed using low and high levels of operating variables: KOH concentration (9–14 g/L), ethanol concentration (30–40 vol‐%) and time (30–40 min). The complete factorial model that can be used to fit the data was determined. The model shows that interactions exist among the parameters and that the parameters, or factors, do not operate independently on the response (biodiesel yield). The highest yield was obtained in the first 30 min of reaction time. The results indicate that the highest yield was 78.5 vol‐% using a KOH‐to‐WVO ratio of 12 g/L and 30 vol‐% ethanol. The ASTM tests indicate that the biodiesel properties are within the biodiesel standard limits.