Diesel is commonly used as fuel for engines and is distilled from petroleum. Diesel has toxic potential and can affect multiple organs. Exposure can occur after ingestion, inhalation or through the dermal route. The practice of siphoning diesel using a rubber tubing and the mouth is common in rural communities. This can lead to accidental ingestion and aspiration. Here we report a case of a patient who accidentally ingested diesel during siphoning, which caused extensive erosion of the oral cavity and oesophagus leading to pneumomediastinum and severe chemical lung injury. The patient responded well initially to steroids and supportive care but required prolonged hospitalisation. He developed complications of nosocomial infection and succumbed 23 days after admission.
Employment of edible oils as alternative green fuel for vehicles had raised debates on the sustainability of food supply especially in the third-world countries. The non-edible oil obtained from the abundantly available rubber seeds could mitigate this issue and at the same time reduce the environmental impact. Therefore, this paper investigates the catalytic cracking reaction of a model compound named linoleic acid that is enormously present in the rubber seed oil. Batch-scale experiments were conducted using 8.8 mL Inconel batch reactor having a cyclic horizontal swing span of 2 cm with a frequency of 60 cycles per minute at 450 °C under atmospheric condition for 90 min. The performance of HZSM-5, HBeta, HFerrierite, HMordenite and HY catalysts was tested for their efficiency in favouring gasoline range hydrocarbons. The compounds present in the organic liquid product were then analysed using GC-MS and classified based on PIONA which stands for paraffin, isoparaffin, olefin, naphthenes and aromatics respectively. The results obtained show that HZSM-5 catalyst favoured gasoline range hydrocarbons that were rich in aromatics compounds and promoted the production of desired isoparaffin. It also gave a higher cracking activity; however, large gaseous as by-products were produced at the same time.
Non-surfactant water-in-diesel emulsion fuel (NWD) is an alternative fuel that has the potential to reduce major exhaust emissions while simultaneously improving the combustion performance of a diesel engine. NWD comprises of diesel fuel and water (about 5% in volume) without any additional surfactants. This emulsion fuel is produced through an in-line mixing system that is installed very close to the diesel engine. This study focuses mainly on the performance and emission of diesel engine fuelled with NWD made from different water sources. The engine used in this study is a direct injection diesel engine with loads varying from 1 to 4 kW. The result shows that NWD made from tap water helps the engine to reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) by 32%. Rainwater reduced it by 29% and seawater by 19%. In addition, all NWDs show significant improvements in engine performance as compared to diesel fuel, especially in the specific fuel consumption that indicates an average reduction of 6%. It is observed that all NWDs show compelling positive effects on engine performance, which is caused by the optimum water droplet size inside NWD.
The focus of this work is to investigate the emission characteristics of a stationary diesel engine while utilizing an emulsion fuel from a novel preparation process. The emulsion preparation was performed in real time without using any surfactant. Instead of mechanically breaking the water down into droplets, the water is delivered thermally, by changing its phase from gas to liquid. Steam is used in this proposed process, where it will be converted into suspended water droplets once it meets colder diesel. The product is called steam-generated water-in-diesel emulsion fuel (S/D). The method is expected to reduce the moving components of a previous surfactant-less system; therefore, reducing costs and increasing the system reliability. The emission characteristics of S/D were compared with EURO 2 diesel (D2), and a conventional emulsion denoted as E10. E10 was prepared using 10% water (volumetric) and SPAN80 as a surfactant. The emission characterizations were carried out based on the exhaust gas of a single cylinder naturally aspirated CI engine fueled with D2, S/D, and E10. Compared to D2, both emulsions significantly reduced the emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) (E10 max ↓58.0%, S/D max ↓40.0%) and particulate matter (PM) (E10 max ↓20.0%, S/D max ↓57.0%).
The present work analyzes the effect of antioxidants on engine combustion performance of a multi-cylinder diesel engine fueled with PB30 and PB50 (30 and 50 vol.% palm biodiesel (PB)). Four antioxidants namely N,N'-diphenyl-1,4-phenylenediamine (DPPD), N-phenyl-1,4-phenylenediamine (NPPD), 2(3)-tert-Butyl-4-methoxyphenol (BHA), and 2-tert-butylbenzene-1,4-diol (TBHQ) were added at concentrations of 1000 and 2000 ppm to PB30 and PB50. TBHQ showed the highest activity in increasing oxidation stability in both PB30 and PB50 followed by BHA, DPPD, and NPPD respectively, without any negative effect on physical properties. Compared to diesel fuel, PB blends showed 4.61-6.45% lower brake power (BP), 5.90-8.69% higher brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC), 9.64-11.43% higher maximum in cylinder pressure, and 7.76-12.51% higher NO emissions. Carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbon (HC), and smoke opacity were reduced by 36.78-43.56%, 44.12-58.21%, and 42.59-63.94%, respectively, than diesel fuel. The start of combustion angles (SOC) of PB blends was - 13.2 to - 15.6 °CA BTDC, but the combustion delays were 5.4-7.8 °CA short compared to diesel fuel which were - 10 °CA BTDC and 11°CA respectively. Antioxidant fuels of PB showed higher BP (1.81-5.32%), CO (8.41-24.60%), and HC (13.51-37.35%) with lower BSFC (1.67-7.68%), NO (4.32-11.53%), maximum in cylinder pressure (2.33-4.91%) and peak heat release rates (HRR) (3.25-11.41%) than baseline fuel of PB. Similar SOC of - 13 to - 14 °CA BTDC was observed for PB blended fuels and antioxidants. It can be concluded that antioxidants' addition is effective in increasing the oxidation stability and in controlling the NOx emissions of palm biodiesel fuelled diesel engine.
The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of the polymethyl acrylate (PMA) additive on the formation of particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxide (NOX) emission from a diesel coconut and/or Calophyllum inophyllum biodiesel-fueled engine. The physicochemical properties of 20% of coconut and/or C. inophyllum biodiesel-diesel blend (B20), 0.03 wt% of PMA with B20 (B20P), and diesel fuel were measured and compared to ASTM D6751, D7467, and EN 14214 standard. The test results showed that the addition of PMA additive with B20 significantly improves the cold-flow properties such as pour point (PP), cloud point (CP), and cold filter plugging point (CFPP). The addition of PMA additives reduced the engine's brake-specific energy consumption of all tested fuels. Engine emission results showed that the additive-added fuel reduce PM concentration than B20 and diesel, whereas the PM size and NOX emission both increased than B20 fuel and baseline diesel fuel. Also, the effect of adding PMA into B20 reduced Carbon (C), Aluminum (Al), Potassium (K), and volatile materials in the soot, whereas it increased Oxygen (O), Fluorine (F), Zinc (Zn), Barium (Ba), Chlorine (Cl), Sodium (Na), and fixed carbon. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) results for B20P showed the lower agglomeration than B20 and diesel fuel. Therefore, B20P fuel can be used as an alternative to diesel fuel in diesel engines to lower the harmful emissions without compromising the fuel quality.
Mycobacterium cosmeticum is a nontuberculous Mycobacterium recovered from different water sources including household potable water and water collected at nail salon. Individual cases of this bacterium have been reported to be associated with gastrointestinal tract infections. Here we present the first whole-genome study and comparative analysis of two new clinically-derived Mycobacterium sp. UM_RHS (referred as UM_RHS after this) and Mycobacterium sp. UM_NYF (referred as UM_NYF after this) isolated from patients in Indonesia and Malaysia respectively to have a better understanding of the biological characteristic of these isolates. Both strains are likely Mycobacterium cosmeticum as supported by the evidence from molecular phylogenetic, comparative genomic and Average Nucleotide Identity (ANI) analyses. We found the presence of a considerably large number of putative virulence genes in the genomes of UM_RHS and UM_NYF. Interestingly, we also found a horizontally transferred genomic island carrying a putative dsz operon proposing that they may have potential to perform biodesulfization of dibenzothiophene (DBT) that may be effective in cost reduction and air pollution during fuel combustion. This comparative study may provide new insights into M. cosmeticum and serve as an important reference for future functional studies of this bacterial species.
Catalytic cracking of crude palm oil (CPO) and used palm oil (UPO) were studied in a transport riser reactor for the production of biofuels at a reaction temperature of 450 degrees C, with residence time of 20s and catalyst-to-oil ratio (CTO) of 5 gg(-1). The effect of HZSM-5 (different Si/Al ratios), beta zeolite, SBA-15 and AlSBA-15 were studied as physically mixed additives with cracking catalyst Rare earth-Y (REY). REY catalyst alone gave 75.8 wt% conversion with 34.5 wt% of gasoline fraction yield using CPO, whereas with UPO, the conversion was 70.9 wt% with gasoline fraction yield of 33.0 wt%. HZSM-5, beta zeolite, SBA-15 and AlSBA-15 as additives with REY increased the conversion and the yield of organic liquid product. The transport riser reactor can be used for the continuous production of biofuels from cracking of CPO and UPO over REY catalyst.
Oil palm is widely grown in Malaysia. Palm oil has attracted the attention of researchers to develop an 'environmentally friendly' and high quality fuel, free of nitrogen and sulfur. In the present study, the catalytic cracking of palm oil to biofuel was studied over REY catalyst in a transport riser reactor at atmospheric pressure. The effect of reaction temperature (400-500 degrees C), catalyst/palm oil ratio (5-10) and residence time (10-30s) was studied over the yield of bio-gasoline and gas as fuel. Design of experiments was used to study the effect of operating variables over conversion of palm oil and yield of hydrocarbon fuel. The response surface methodology was used to determine the optimum value of the operating variables for maximum yield of bio-gasoline fraction in the liquid product obtained.
The study of lead exposure among workers in Selangor and the Federal Territory was carried out based on the delta-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) level in urine. Occupations which are expected to have higher lead exposure were chosen in this research. The ALA level in the workers' urine was linked to a few variables which may contribute to the lead level in the body. The result of this study showed that the ALA level of the urine of university students (0.352 +/- 0.038 mg/100 ml) < clerical staff (0.560 +/- 0.043 mg/100 ml) < traffic police (0.612 +/- 0.064 mg/100 ml) < vehicle workshop workers (0.673 +/- 0.099 mg/100 ml) < petrol kiosk workers (0.717 +/- 0.069 mg/100 ml) < bus drivers/conductors (0.850 +/- 0.055 mg/100 ml) which was similar to workers in the printing industry (0.852 +/- 0.110 mg/100 ml). The ALA levels in the urine of the exposed workers were significantly different from the control group (university students). However, results obtained from clerical staff revealed that they were also in the exposed group category. Analysis of variance showed that the exposed groups are in a population which is different from the control population. Correlation tests suggest that there is no significant connection between the ALA level in the urine and the variables tested. Furthermore, Duncan's Multiple Range Test showed no significant differences between the smoking/non smoking group, alcoholic/non-alcoholic group, race and sex (p > 0.05).
Introduction: Accelerants and fabrics are commonly used to spread fire attributable to their highly flammable prop- erties. Hence, having the ability to discriminate the different types of accelerants on various types of fabrics after fire and/or arson using the non-destructive Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spec- troscopy coupled with chemometric techniques appears forensically relevant. Methods: Six types of fabrics viz. cotton, wool, silk, rayon, satin, and polyester, were burnt completely with RON95 and RON97 gasoline as well as diesel. Subsequently, the samples were analyzed by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy followed by Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) for discriminating the different types of accelerants on such burned fabrics. Results: RON95 showed the fastest rate of burning on all fabric types. Results also revealed that while wool had the slowest burning rate for all the three different accelerants, polyester, cotton, and satin demon- strated the highest rate of burning in RON95, RON97, and diesel, respectively. FTIR spectra revealed the presence of alkane, alcohol, alkene, alkyne, aromatic, and amine compounds for all fabrics. The two dimensional PCA (PC1 versus PC2) demonstrated 71% of variance and it was improved by cross-validation through the three dimensional LDA technique with correct classification of 77.8%. Conclusion: ATR-FTIR spectroscopy coupled with chemometric techniques had enabled identification of the functional groups, as well as statistically supported discrimination of the different accelerants, a matter of relevance in forensic fire and arson investigations.
A diesel engine has been a desirable machine due to its better fuel efficiency, reliability, and higher power output. It is widely used in transportations, locomotives, power generation, and industrial applications. The combustion of diesel fuel emits harmful emissions such as unburned hydrocarbons (HC), particulate matter (PM), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and carbon monoxides (CO). This article presents data on the efficiency, combustion, and emission of a 4-stroke diesel engine. The engine is a 6.8 L turbocharged 6-cylinder Tier II diesel engine fitted with a common rail injection system. The test was carried out at the Powerhouse Energy Campus, Colorado State University Engines and Energy Conversion facility. The ISO Standard 8178:4 Cycle D2 cycle was adopted for this study consists of five test runs at 1800 rpm. During the testing, CO, carbon dioxide (CO2), oxygen (O2), NOx, PM, unburned HC as a total HC (THC), methane (CH4), formaldehyde (CH2O), and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions were measured. At the same time, the data acquisition system recorded the combustion data. The engine's performance is characterized by the brake specific fuel combustion (BSFC) and thermal efficiency. A dataset of correlations among the parameters was also presented in this article.
Third generation biofuels, also known as microalgal biofuels, are promising alternatives to fossil fuels. One attractive option is microalgal biodiesel as a replacement for diesel fuel. Chlamydomonas sp. Tai-03 was previously optimized for maximal lipid production for biodiesel generation, achieving biomass growth and productivity of 3.48 ± 0.04 g/L and 0.43 ± 0.01 g/L/d, with lipid content and productivity of 28.6 ± 1.41% and 124.1 ± 7.57 mg/L/d. In this study, further optimization using 5% CO2 concentration and semi-batch operation with 25% medium replacement ratio, enhanced the biomass growth and productivity to 4.15 ± 0.12 g/L and 1.23 ± 0.02 g/L/d, with lipid content and productivity of 19.4 ± 2.0% and 239.6 ± 24.8 mg/L/d. The major fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) were palmitic acid (C16:0), oleic acid (C18:1), and linoleic acid (C18:2). These short-chain FAMEs combined with high growth make Chlamydomonas sp. Tai-03 a suitable candidate for biodiesel synthesis.
A fed-batch strategy was established based on the maximum substrate uptake rate (MSUR) of Pseudomonas aeruginosa USM-AR2 grown in diesel to produce rhamnolipid. This strategy matches the substrate feed rates with the substrate demand based on the real-time measurements of dissolved oxygen (DO). The MSUR was estimated by determining the time required for consumption of a known amount of diesel. The MSUR trend paralleled the biomass profile of Ps. aeruginosa USM-AR2, where the MSUR increased throughout the exponential phase indicating active substrate utilization and then decreased when cells entered stationary phase. Rhamnolipid yield on diesel was enhanced from 0·047 (g/g) in batch to 0·110 (g/g) in pulse-pause fed-batch and 0·123 (g/g) in MSUR fed-batch. Rhamnolipid yield on biomass was also improved from 0·421 (g/g) in batch, 3·098 (g/g) in pulse-pause fed-batch to 3·471 (g/g) using MSUR-based strategy. Volumetric productivity increased from 0·029 g l(-1) h(-1) in batch, 0·054 g l(-1) h(-1) in pulse-pause fed-batch to 0·076 g l(-1) h(-1) in MSUR fed-batch.
This study investigated the engine performance and emission characteristics of biodiesel blends with combined Graphene oxide nanoplatelets (GNPs) and 10% v/v dimethyl carbonate (DMC) as fuel additives as well as analysed the tribological characteristics of those blends. 10% by volume DMC was mixed with 30% palm oil biodiesel blends with diesel. Three different concentrations (40, 80 and 120 ppm) of GNPs were added to these blends via the ultrasonication process to prepare the nanofuels. Sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) surfactant was added to improve the stability of these blends. GNPs were characterised using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), while the viscosity of nanofuels was investigated by rheometer. UV-spectrometry was used to determine the stability of these nanoplatelets. A ratio of 1:4 GNP: SDS was found to produce maximum stability in biodiesel. Performance and emissions characteristics of these nanofuels have been investigated in a four-stroke compression ignition engine. The maximum reduction in BSFC of 5.05% and the maximum BTE of 22.80% was for B30GNP40DMC10 compared to all other tested blends. A reduction in HC (25%) and CO (4.41%) were observed for B30DMC10, while a reduction in NOx of 3.65% was observed for B30GNP40DMC10. The diesel-biodiesel fuel blends with the addition of GNP exhibited a promising reduction in the average coefficient of friction 15.05%, 8.68% and 3.61% for 120, 80 and 40 ppm concentrations compared to B30. Thus, combined GNP and DMC showed excellent potential for utilisation in diesel engine operation.
Recently, the graphite based materials have gained interest as excellent platforms to remove aqueous pollutants via adsorption routes. This is given that such materials possess large specific surface area and low density. In the present work, a comparative study of two facile and effective approaches is conventional thermal heating and microwave irradiation methods to fabricate expanded graphite from available flake graphite sources of Vietnam for oil-contaminated water purification. The as-prepared expanded graphite was characterized by using FT-IR, SEM, XRD and BET analysis. The results exhibited that expanded graphite has multilevel pore structures and the surface area of expanded graphite obtained from microwave irradiation and conventional heating was 147.5 (m²/g) and 100.97 (m²/g) under optimal processing conditions. The as-synthesized expanded graphite from the microwave irradiation method was found to have higher adsorption capacities for diesel oil, crude oil, and fuel oil compared to conventional heating method.
Research on the use of Jatropha curcas triglycerides as biodiesel feedstock has received worldwide attention due to its inherent characteristics. Unlike palm oil, J. curcas oil is not edible, and thus, it will not disturb the food supply. However, to the researchers' experiences with the synthesis of J. curcas, oil-based biodiesel has shown that the fuel characteristics depend largely on the type of alcohol used as the excess reactants. Transesterification reaction is chosen for this process with sodium methoxide as the catalyst. Comparison studies on the yield of esters using methanol and ethanol, as well as the impacts on the reaction rate are discussed. The effects of reaction time and molar ratio on the reaction conversion are also examined. The determination of reaction yield is based on the conversion of triglycerides into alkyl esters as the main product. The findings are described as follows: the highest percentage yield of product is attained at 96% for methanol as an excess reactant, and this is 90% when ethanol is used. The optimum conditions of parameters are achieved at 6:1 molar ratio of alcohol to triglycerides, 50 min of reaction time and reaction temperature of 65°C for methanol and 75°C for ethanol. The biodiesel properties of both ester fuels were determined according to the existing standards for biodiesel and compared to the characteristics of diesel fuel.
Energy has a significant influence on Malaysia's industry. It is used in electricity generation, refineries, gas processing plants and end-user applications such as transportation, residential, agriculture and fishing. These burning fossil fuel activities produce greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. This article presents the emissions data of fuel used in power plants in Malaysia during the year of 1990 until 2017. The fuel used in power plants is coal and coke, natural gas, diesel oil and residual fuel oil. The energy data used in power plants were gathered from the Malaysia Energy Information Hub, published by the Malaysian Energy Commission. The GHG emissions data were calculated using the emission factors method. The climate impact of different GHGs in terms of CO2-equivalent (CO2-e) was also calculated using global warming potentials. The article also presents population data in Malaysia during the year. A correlation between the fuels, GHG emission and the population is also investigated using statistical analysis. The data presented here may facilitate the Malaysian government to identify the source of the pollutants and undertake a climate change mitigation plan.
Background: Benzene is primarily routed by inhalation which highly sensitive to blood parameters as bone marrow is their target organ. The ability of benzene even in low exposure levels may induce human bone marrow suppression resulting in blood diseases such as leukopenia, anemia, thrombocytopenia, aplastic anemia, and pancytopenia. In the occupational setting, the most common benzene-exposed workers are from the petrochemical industries and petrol distribution such as gasoline pumps. Benzene also generated primarily by mobile exhaust and some from various of anthropogenic sources at environmental atmosphere and occupationally exposed in the policemen traffic, taxi and bus drivers, and street vendors in long-length time with low concentration exposure. Methodology: This paper reviewed published articles on biomarkers exposure, effects and susceptibility as the useful tools for benzene exposure assessment in the occupational and environmental setting. Data from previous epidemiological studies relevant to benzene exposure in various occupational and environmental setting is also summarized. Results: Based on these analyses, the findings agreed that these biomarkers are could suggest in linking the benzene exposure with possible adverse health effects. The biological monitoring used in epidemiological studies is useful in providing an understanding of activation and detoxification of benzene in both the occupational and general population as they are exposed to wide range of benzene concentration. Conclusion. The biomarkers of exposure, effects, and susceptibility utilized for benzene exposure assessment are valid tools in determining the greatest potential risk as well as an early biological effect which then caused a related specific disease.
Flexible plastic packaging waste causes serious environmental issues due to challenges in recycling. This study investigated the conversion of flexible plastic packaging waste with 11.8 and 27.5 wt.% polyethylene terephthalate (PET) (denoted as PET-12 and PET-28, respectively) into oil and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). The mixtures were initially pyrolyzed and the produced volatiles were processed over 9.0 wt.% Fe2O3 supported on ZSM-5 (400 °C) to remove oxygenated hydrocarbons (catalytic cracking of terephthalic and benzoic acids) that deteriorate oil quality. The contents of oxygenated hydrocarbons were decreased in oil from 4.6 and 9.4 wt.% per mass of PET-12 and PET-28, respectively, to undetectable levels. After catalytic cracking, the oil samples had similar contents of gasoline, diesel and heavy oil/wax fractions. The non-condensable gas was converted into MWCNTs over 0.9 wt.% Ni supported on CaCO3 (700 °C). The type of plastic packaging influenced the yields (2.4 and 1.5 wt.% per mass of PET-12 and PET-28, respectively) and the properties of MWCNTs due to the differences in gas composition. Regarding the electrocatalytic application, both MWCNTs from PET-12 and PET-28 outperformed commercial MWCNTs and Pt-based electrodes during oxygen evolution reaction, suggesting that MWCNTs from flexible plastic packaging can potentially replace conventional electrode materials.