Botswana Institute for Technology Research and Innovation

Biosorbents are materials of biological origin (microbial, biomass-derived waste, or industrial by-products) used to adsorb or absorb pollutants. They have been used to remove various contaminants, including heavy metals, dyes, and pharmaceuticals. Their effectiveness is due to the different functional groups that interact with pollutants, including hydroxyl, amino, carboxyl, and phosphate groups. This review explores the various kinds of biosorbents (classification), mechanisms, and factors influencing biosorption, such as biomass content, time, temperature, pH, and concentration of pollutants, synthesis methods of biosorbents, and the current state of research on biosorbents. The review highlights the advantages of biosorbents, along with the challenges encountered, such as difficulty in regeneration and variability in performance. Finally, the review identifies research gaps and future directions, including exploration of modified/synthetic biosorbents for the removal of multi-component pollutants.

Developing effective catalysts that can selectively hydrogenate C=C bonds in biodiesel samples is vital as it tackles the major problem of oxidative stability, which greatly limits the utilization of biodiesel as an alternative fuel. In this work, Co, Ni, and Pd catalysts stabilized with the bidentate nitrogen ligands N-(3-(triethoxysilyl)propyl)pyridin-2-ylmethylimine and N-(3-(triethoxysilyl)propyl)picolinamide were synthesized, characterized, and used as pre-catalysts in the transfer hydrogenation of C=C bonds in fatty acid methyl esters. The active catalysts from the Co, Ni, and Pd complexes sequentially hydrogenate the C18:2 chains to C18:1, which is further converted to C18:0 in the FAMEs of both methyl linoleate and jatropha biodiesel. The hydrogenation process was kinetically controlled, and after 3 h it yielded a biodiesel sample that contained 25.83% C16:0, 12.52% C18:2, 41.54% C18:1, 14.47% C18:0 and 3.0% C18:2 isomers. The un-hydrogenated jatropha diesel, hydrogenated jatropha diesel, and a B20 blend of jatropha were tested for susceptibility to oxidation reactions using the Rancimat method and FTIR spectroscopy, and the partial hydrogenation had improved the induction period by 3 h.

Moringa oleifera leaves are widely used in traditional medicine as a food supplement because they are high in essential and nutritious content. Pressurized hot water extraction (PHWE), which is a green approach, was used for the recovery of the macro-nutrient and micro-nutrient elements from dried leaf powder of Moringa oleifera. In this study, response surface methodology was applied to assess the influence of temperature (50-200°C) and time (5-60min) on the extractability pattern of macro-nutrient and micro-nutrient elements from the leaves of Moringa oleifera when processed by PHWE. The quantification of macro-nutrient elements such as Ca, K and Mg and micro-nutrient elements like Al, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni and Zn from the leaves was determined using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES). Obtained results revealed that the extraction of macro-nutrient elements from the Moringa oleifera leaves was enhanced by increasing the extraction time more than the extraction temperature. On the contrary, the amounts of extractable micro-nutrient elements were increased by increasing the extraction temperature. Hence, the recovery for macro-nutrient elements ranged from 88 to 98% while for micro-nutrients it ranged from 21 to 46%. This implies that macro-nutrient elements are extracted with relatively high selectivity in relation to micro-nutrient elements in Moringa dried leaf powder using the PHWE technique.

Abstract Uncertainty inherent in the operations of water distribution systems (WDSs) poses risks to public health due to the likely insufficient or excessive disinfectants caused by inevitable chang...

Late transition metal complexes in the presence of an EtAlCl2 co-catalyst promote in situ Friedel–Crafts alkylation of preformed olefin oligomers.

Glassy beads were found in the sand cover associated with known and suspected kimberlites on the Kalahari plateau, Botswana. Morphology and chemistry were examined by ESEM and EDAX. The polymetallic and quartzose “beads”, here described for the first time and termed fulguroids, formed at very high temperatures, well in excess of those reached by the kimberlites. They solidified in free fall. We propose that they were melted in the atmosphere by lightning strikes on Kalahari overburden entrained when the kimberlites erupted.

Internet of Things is usually characterized by complex temporal and spatial interactions. The complexity is characterized by mobility, device diversity, heterogeneity of platforms and system architectures. There is exponential increase in the number of devices and applications in the Internet of things. This growth and perceived economic gains offers motivation to malware authors. Lack of formal models and specifications for Internet of things malware makes it hard to study the interactions and underlying behavior. In this paper, we present formal specification based on ambient calculus that characterizes the salient features of Internet of things environments.