Enhancement of wheat straw pellet quality for bioenergy through additive blending.

Densification of biomass through pelletizing offers a promising approach to producing clean biofuels from renewable resources. This study, which investigates the impact of additive blends on wheat straw pellet making and upgrading the physiochemical properties, has revealed exciting possibilities. Five additives, including sawdust (SD), bentonite clay (BC), corn starch (S), crude glycerol (CG), and biochar (BioC), were chosen for this study.

Kinetic mechanism of wheat straw pellets combustion process with a thermogravimetric analyser.

In this study, the combustion characteristics of two wheat straw pellets (WSP) (T: 100% wheat straw and T: 70% wheat straw; 10% sawdust, 10% biochar; 10% bentonite clay) were performed at a heating rate 20 °C/min under a temperature from 25 to 1200 °C in air atmosphere. A thermogravimetric analyser (TGA) was used to investigate the activation energy (), pre-exponential factor (), and thermodynamic parameters. The DTG/TG profile of WSP was evaluated by model-free and model-based methods and found the model-based method was suitable for WSP thermal characterisation.

Inorganic arsenic species removal from water using bone char: A detailed study on adsorption kinetic and isotherm models using error functions analysis.

The removal of inorganic arsenic (As) species from water using bone char pyrolyzed at 900 °C was investigated. Results revealed that the Sips model resulted in the best As(III) experimental data fit, while As(V) data were best represented by the Langmuir model. The adsorption rate and mechanisms of both As species were investigated using kinetic and diffusional models, respectively.

Effect of pyrolysis conditions on bone char characterization and its ability for arsenic and fluoride removal.

This study examined arsenite [As(III)], arsenate [As(V)] and fluoride (F) removal potential of bone char produced from sheep (Ovis aries) bone waste. Pyrolysis conditions tested were in the 500 °C-900 °C range, for a holding time of 1 or 2 h, with or without N gas purging. Previous bone char studies mainly focused on either low or high temperature range with limited information provided on As(III) removal.

Direct contact ultrasound for fouling control and flux enhancement in air-gap membrane distillation.

Air Gap Membrane distillation (AGMD) is a thermally driven separation process capable of treating challenging water types, but its low productivity is a major drawback. Membrane fouling is a common problem in many membrane treatment systems, which exacerbates AGMD's low overall productivity. In this study, we investigated the direct application of low-power ultrasound (8-23 W), as an in-line cleaning and performance boosting technique for AGMD.

Face-to-face instruction combined with online resources improves retention of clinical skills among undergraduate nursing students.

Background: There is growing evidence that online resources used to develop clinical skills among students in the healthcare professions can produce equivalent learning outcomes to traditional face-to-face training methods. Whether clinical competence is retained equally well for online and face-to-face training methods is not yet established.

Objectives: The objective of the study was to compare retention of competence in using an IV infusion pump among nursing students trained in its use using three different protocols.