Browsing by Author "Kigozi, Moses"

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    Characterization and Hydrocarbon Identification of Liquid Fuel from Mixed Waste Plastics at Different Heating Time Intervals
    (International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, 2016) Kigozi, Moses; Wasswa, John; Ntale, Muhammad; Nkedi-Kizza, Peter
    Mixed waste plastics which included High Density Polyethylene ((HDPE), Low Density Polyethyline (LDPE),Polystyrene (PS), Polypropylene (PP), Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) were investigated for production, characterization and hydrocarbon identification of fuel obtained from the plastics by catalytic pyrolysis. Silica-alumina was used as the catalyst. The mixed waste plastics were heatedfor one hour and two hours of contact time. The operation temperatures ranged between 250oC to 370oC giving a yellowish liquid after condensing the vapors with a chiller at 5oC. The reactor was connected to a fractionating column of one meter long and then to the condenser. The production ranged between 58 to 73% liquid, 18 to 34% cake and the rest was estimated as gas. The samples were investigated with different parameters based on diesel standards due to the wide range of hydrocarbon content. The parameters showed acceptable average ranges; cloud point 4oC, flash point 79.4 oC, kinematic viscosity 2.18 mm2/s, sulfated ash 4.7x10-5%, copper strip corrosion 1a, cetane number 63, acid number 72.9 μg and densities of 0.785 g/cm3. The identification of the hydrocarbons showed that the fuel falls into four classes of fuel which include diesel, aviation, naphtha and oil due to the range of hydrocarbons from C8 to C28 when analyzed with GC/MS and named from GC library
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    Modified Activation Process for Supercapacitor Electrode Materials from African Maize Cob
    (Materials, 2020) Kigozi, Moses; Kali, Ravi; Bello, Abdulhakeem; Padya, Balaji; Kalu-Uka, Godwin Mong; Wasswa, John; Kumar Jain, Pawan; Azikiwe Onwualu, Peter; Dzade, Nelson Yaw
    In this work, African maize cobs (AMC) were used as a rich biomass precursor to synthesize carbon material through a chemical activation process for application in electrochemical energy storage devices. The carbonization and activation were carried out with concentrated Sulphuric acid at three di erent temperatures of 600, 700 and 800 C, respectively. The activated carbon exhibited excellent microporous and mesoporous structure with a specific surface area that ranges between 30 and 254m2 g􀀀1 as measured by BET analysis. The morphology and structure of the produced materials are analyzed through Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-Ray Di raction (XRD), Boehm titration, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Raman Spectroscopy. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy indicates that a considerable amount of oxygen is present in the materials. The functional groups in the activated carbon enhanced the electrochemical performance and improved the material’s double-layer capacitance. The carbonized composite activated at 700 C exhibited excellent capacitance of 456 F g􀀀1 at a specific current of 0.25 A g􀀀1 in 6MKOH electrolyte and showed excellent stability after 10,000 cycles. Besides being a low cost, the produced materials o er good stability and electrochemical properties, making them suitable for supercapacitor applications.