Chemical Science International Journal

This paper aimed at improving the water-based drilling mud using Moringa oleifera (M. Oleifera) plant leaves. The rheological properties (plastic viscosity (PV), yield point (YP), and gel strength) of the mud were measured using standard procedures. The mud weight was not affected by M. oleifera concentration (10.03-10.63 pounds per gallon (ppg)). pH of the formulated mud decreased by 28% with increasing concentration of the M. oleifera leaves. The highest PV (33cP) was recorded by mud with 1% M. oleifera leaves at 50ºC while the least value (22cP) was given by control mud at 70ºC temperature. Highest YP (57 1b/100ft²) was recorded by mud sample with 4% concentration of M. oleifera leaves while 1% gave the lowest YP value of 91b/100ft2 at 30ºC and 49ºC respectively.  Gel strength at 10 seconds showed improvement with 2% concentration of leaves by recording maximum of 5 1 b/100 ft² at 70ºC while the lowest gel strength was recorded by 1% leaves concentration at 49ºC. A good gel strength (30.21 b/100 ft²) at 10 minutes was recorded by mud sample with 3% leaves of M. oleifera at temperature of 30ºC. The results indicated that the M. oleifera leaves significantly improved the rheological properties of the mud. It was also observed that the mud weight of formulated muds with M. oleifera leaves were not affected which leads to stability of the wellbore if the formulation is used.  These great result calls for the need to use M. oleifera leaves to improve rheological properties of the drilling mud. An investigation of M. oleifera as fluid loss control should be done as well as need to carry out isolation and characterization of the active ingredients from M. oleifera leaves so as to establish the compound (s) associated with its activity in drilling mud.

Though composting is a practical method of recycling plant macronutrients in organic matter, it is impractical with biomass like sisal leaf wastes, horns, hooves and feathers that take long to decompose. This biomass is therefore ignored; causing waste disposal hitches and yet are rich in plant macronutrients (nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and calcium). This study set out to use them to formulate a supplementary fertilizer (SF). Samples of maize cobs and stalks, sugarcane bagasse, cattle hooves/horns and sisal leaf biomass were, taken through wet digestion before laboratory analysis for levels of nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and calcium using standard procedures. Different formulations were obtained by mixing solvent digested hooves/horns (HD) with lye pre-treated sisal leaf biomass (CASD) giving ratios HD:CASD 0:1 (SF₀), 1:1 (SF₁), 2:1 (SF₂), 3:1 (SF₃), 1:2 (SF₄) and 1:0 (SF₅) that had varying pH values. Formulation SF₁ (ratio 1:1 and pH 8.0) was used during fieldwork to evaluate the formulation's efficacy on the rate of growth, pest control and crop (maize) yield. Four sets of maize plots under varying fertilizer treatments or schedules (SF₁/SF₁, SF₁/CAN, NIL/CAN and DAP/CAN) were replicated three times within the study area (Lugari Kakamega county, Kenya). There was no significant difference (p = 0.273) noted in the yields between the use of the formulation, SF₁ and the commercial fertilizers DAP/CAN schedule. The stalk borer attack on the stems, fruits and tassels of the maize in plots that had nil fertilizer schedule (control) was in the range 60-75% compared to 10-15% and 4-7% in those where the supplementary fertilizer (SF₁) and  DAP/CAN were respectively applied. The findings of this study showed that the agricultural biomass can be blend into an effective and efficient supplementary fertilizer with sufficient levels of plant macronutrients (N, P, K and Ca). The approaches used in material pretreatment shorten the period of decomposition compared to the traditional composting methods.

Prunus africana belongs to the Rosaceae family. It is a geographically wide spread tree to forest habitats of the African continent. P. africana is one of the most popular plants in traditional medicine for treating various ailments. It is mainly used to treat benign prostate hyperplasia (BHP). The study was aimed to evaluate the anti-bacterial and anti-oxidant activities of bark of root extract from P. africana. The air dried and powdered plant material (200 g) was first soaked with 500 mL of n-hexane for 72 hours and yielded 2.5 g of n-hexane extract. Residue was soaked with 500 mL of ethyl acetate for 72 hours and afforded 3.7 g of ethyl acetate extract. Finally, residue was soaked with 400 mL of methanol and yielded 14.3 g of methanol extract. The methanol extract showed inhibition zones of 18 and 14 mm against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, respectively. The extracts also showed encourage results of DPPH radical scavenging activity at various concentrations. The methanol extract of P. africana of root showed promising activity against E. coli, ATCC25922 and S.aureus, ATCC25922. Anti-oxidant activities also were shown prospective result, selectively at lowest concentration and lowest absorbance. This means the result of the study was confirmed that the lowest concentration of 4 mg/mL and absorbance of 0.112 the scavenging activity was 87.9%, while at the highest concentration of 128 mg/mL and absorbance of 0.172 the scavenging activity was 81.5%. 

Aims: This study was aimed to investigate the physicochemical properties and fatty acids composition of Mangifera indica L. seed kernel oil; in addition to investigating the effect of solvent type and extraction duration on extracts properties.

Study Design: Extraction of Mangifera indica L. seed kernel oil in different trials under the same conditions using two different solvents for different time of extraction, and determining their physicochemical properties and fatty acids constituents.

Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at the Department of Applied and Industrial chemistry International University of Africa (IUA), Khartoum, Sudan, between July and November 2019.

Methodology: The oil from Mangifera indica L. seed kernel was extracted using n-hexane and petroleum ether in a soxhlet apparatus for 4 and 7 h. the physicochemical properties of the extracted oils were determined using standard official methods. Fatty acid profile of n-hexane extract was identified by gas chromatography/mass spectrometer (GC/MS) after methylation.  

Results: n-Hexane exhibits better extraction efficiency (11.40±0.66% for 7 h) than petroleum ether (10.80±0.44% for 7 h). The density and refractive index of the oil were 0.89±0.01 g/cm³ and 1.46 ± 0.01 at 28ºC respectively. The physicochemical properties of n-Hexane and petroleum ether extracts were acid value (3.35±0.54 and 2.52±0.13 mg KOH/g oil), peroxide value (4.32±0.65 and 5.11±1.03 meq O₂/kg), saponification value (201.05±0.95 and 198.66±1.04 mg KOH/g oil), ester value (197.59±0.67 and 192.54±0.20 mg KOH/g oil) respectively. The statistical analysis of obtained data revealed no significant difference, at 95% confidence interval, between the standard deviation and the mean of two data sets of physicochemical properties of Mangifera indica L. seed kernel oils extracted with the two solvents used. GC/MS analysis revealed a total of 18 fatty acids were identified in which the majors are stearic acid (39.79%), oleic acid (36.77%), palmitic acid (10.34%), linoleic acid (6.02%) and eicosanoic acid (3.83%).

Conclusion: The results suggest that mango seed kernel contains stable oil which can be potentially extracted by n-hexane; however, the solvent type has no significant effect on the physicochemical properties of the extracted oil and has the potential usefulness to be used in soap industry.

Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL), a natural phenolic liquid extracted from locally sourced raw materials, and Phasetreat-4633 (a commercial demulsifier) were diluted with xylene and butanol and used as demulsifiers in the treatment of crude oil emulsions. Laboratory simulated crude oil emulsions dosed with different concentrations of CNSL and PT-4633 were the basis for comparison of demulsifier performance via the bottle test method.

Different factors affecting demulsification efficiency such as; water content, demulsifier concentration, and solvent type were investigated at 10%, 30%, and 50% water content. The data obtained showed that the rate of water separation increases with increasing concentration and water content of the demulsifiers and emulsion respectively. Among the demulsifier-solvent combination employed in this study, Phasetreat-4633 in butanol recorded the most efficient water separation with optimal (100%) separation recorded after 5 minutes at 40 ppm and 50 ppm concentration, 50% water content and 60℃.

From the obtained results, the investigated demulsifiers have great potential with butanol as a solvent in the resolution of crude oil emulsions in shorter times. This behavior can be attributed to the synergetic effect of butanol as a solvent. Hence, butanol can be regarded as a better solvent substitute to xylene, due to its attributive synergetic effect, low cost and toxicity levels, unlike xylene which is more toxic and expensive.

Natural products from medicinal plants either as pure compounds or standardized extracts, provide unlimited opportunities for new drug leads, because of the unmatched availability of chemical diversity. Due to an increasing demand for therapeutic drugs from natural products, interest particularly in edible plants has grown throughout the world. The phytochemical screening was carried out via standard procedures while the isolation and characterization was done using different solvents via thin layer and column chromatography. The bioactivity studies of the purely active compound isolated was achieved using different clinical bacterial isolates, gram negative (E. coli and Salmonella typhi) and positive (Staphylococcus aureus); the radical scavenging power of the purely active compound was assayed using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl(DPPH) and characterization using GCMS, ¹HNMR, ¹³CNMR and FTIR was carried out to facilitate structure elucidation. The focus of this paper is on the analytical and biological methodologies, which includes the extraction, isolation, bioactivity studies, and characterization of the purely active ingredients in the stem bark of Adenanthera pavonina.

The local vegetable oils (Coconut and Palm Kernel Oils) are usually faced with short shelf-life which has been associated with the presence of some unwanted materials present in them. This study explores the potential of using locally manufactures Zeolites in removing these impurities to improve the shelf life of these oils. The Zeolite used in this study was synthesized using locally available raw materials such as bauxite and kaolin through the hydrothermal process X-ray diffraction studies of the synthesized Zeolite were found to be part of the ZSM-11 Zeolite type group. FTIR analysis of the sample showed a weak vibrational peak at 1642cm^-1 and a strong band at 987cm^-1. Batch process for the removal of these unwanted materials was performed. Percentage reduction of 85.71%, 89.22%, 89.36% and 83.81% was recorded for impurities, moisture content, free fatty acid and peroxide value reduction in Palm Kernel Oil and 85.71%, 83.33%, 93.26%, 90.57% for Coconut Oil. Kinetic studies showed the process favored the Pseudo-first order with R² of 0.956 and 0.971 for Coconut and Palm Kernel Oil respectively for impurities The plot of (t / q_e) vs. t exhibits a very high linearity and can be concluded that the adsorption rate of the moisture content, impurities, FFA and peroxide value is dependent on the adsorbate used and contact time. The final oils had very good physicochemical parameters with improved qualities. It can be concluded that the synthesized Zeolite was effective for the refining of locally produced Coconut and Palm Kernel Oils and can be accessed for commercial applications.

Garcinia kola (bitter kola) plays an important role in Africa ethnomedicine and traditional hospitality. Proximate and phytochemical composition of G. kola seeds as well as the effects of ethanolic and n-hexane extracts on the serum electrolytes of albino rats were studied using standard methods. Thirty-six albino rats of both sexes were used for the experiment. The animals were divided into nine groups of four rats per group. The groups were designated 1-9. Group 1 served as the control which was treated with normal saline. Groups 2-5 served as the groups treated with ethanolic extract of G. kola seeds and received 50, 125, 250 and 500 mg/kg body weight, while groups 6-9 served as the groups treated with n-hexane extract. After three weeks of treatment, the animals were sacrificed, and blood samples analyzed. Result of the proximate analysis showed that carbohydrate content was the highest (78.06%) while ash was the lowest (0.70%). Phytochemical result of G. kola seeds showed that tannins (0.342%) was the highest in terms of percent composition, followed by flavonoids (0.00764%); while alkaloids (0.00075%) was the lowest. Also, biochemical analysis revealed that the n-hexane extract of G. kola seeds was found to have slightly increased the activities of the serum electrolytes than the ethanolic extract. Conclusively, the results of this study showed that both extracts had effect on serum electrolytes of the albino rats, but the n-hexane extract had more toxic effect.

The study focuses on the evaluation of the impact of acid rain on some common roofing sheets, including; Stone Coated, Galvanized, 0.55 m and 0.45 mm Long Span , Aluminum/Zinc sheet  using simulated acid rain. The simulated acid rain was from four different molar concentrated H₂SO₄ and HNO₃. The parameter used for the evaluation was a weight loss of the roofing sheet over the study period. Gravimetric analysis technique was adopted for the study. At the end of the study, the result obtained showed that for 1 mole solution H₂SO₄, 0.45 mm long Span recorded the lowest weight loss of 0.43 g, followed by Cameroon zinc with loss of 0.46 g while 0.55 mm long Span recorded 0.63 g. Stone-coated and galvanized sheet melted up before the end of the experiment. 1 mole solution of HNO₃ recorded a similar trend with 0.46 g, 0.36 g, 0.47 g and 3.95 g weight loss for 0.55 mm long Span, Cameroon Zinc, 0.45 mm Long Span and stone Coated sheet respectively while Galvanized sheet melted up before the experiment ends. Stone Coated and Galvanized sheet melted up before the end of the experiment in 0.5 mole H₂SO₄ while 0.45 mm Long Span, 0.55 mm long span and Cameroon Zinc recorded 0.47 g, 0.5 g and 0.35 g weight loss respectively. Only Galvanized sheet melted up in 0.5 mole of HNO₃, 3.5 g, 0.28 g, 0.38 g and 0.3 g weight loss was recorded for stone coated sheet, 0.45 mm long Span, 0.55 mm long Span and Cameroon Zinc respectively. Polynomial model of the fourth order show the best fit for the data. The models obtained for the weight loss and rate of corrosion showed a good fit with R²'s ranging from 0.9 and above except for stone coated and galvanized sheets in 1 mole solution of H₂SO₄ with R² of 0.782 and 0.8142. It is worthy to note from all the results obtained from the research that high percentage Aluminum base roofing sheet is the best for H₂SO₄ and HNO₃ polluted environment.