Globally, environmental challenges have been recognised as a matter of concern. Among these challenges are the reduced availability and quality of drinking water, and greenhouse gases that give rise to change in climate by entrapping heat, which result in respirational illness from smog and air pollution. Globally, the rate of demand for the use of freshwater has outgrown the rate of population increase; as the rapid growth in town and cities place a huge pressure on neighbouring water resources. Besides, the rapid growth in anthropogenic activities, such as the generation of energy and its conveyance, release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, warming the planet. Polymer nanocomposite has played a significant role in finding solutions to current environmental problems. It has found interest due to its high potential for the reduction of gas emission, and elimination of pollutants, heavy metals, dyes, and oil in wastewater. The revolution of integrating developed novel nanomaterials such as nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, nanofibers and activated carbon, in polymers, have instigated revitalizing and favourable inventive nanotechnologies for the treatment of wastewater and gas separation. This review discusses the effective employment of polymer nanocomposites for environmental utilizations. Polymer nanocomposite membranes for wastewater treatment and gas separation were reviewed together with their mechanisms. The use of polymer nanocomposites as an adsorbent for toxic metals ions removal and an adsorbent for dye removal were also discussed, together with the mechanism of the adsorption process. Patents in the utilization of innovative polymeric nanocomposite membranes for environmental utilizations were discussed.

Aims: In this work, the effect of drying temperature on the available carbohydrate is investigated.Background: Nigerian climate favours the cultivation of banana and it is a ready fruit delight in almost all homes. Hybrids and polypoids of the species musa acuminata and musa balbisiana are very common. Unfortunately, post-harvest losses of 40 – 60%, of this energy rich fruit are encountered yearly. Drying is an age long method of preservation which has stood the test of time. Bananas are known to possess high carbohydrates with low glycaemic index which makes it a healthy fruit or snack.Objective: To determine the optimum drying temperature for the drying of Banana fruit.Methods: The banana fruit was peeled and sliced to about 5 mm thick and dried in a tray dryer at varying temperatures of 40 °C, 50 °C, 60 °C and 70 °C. The control sample was air dried at the average prevailing temperature of 30 °C.Results: Results obtained showed that increased drying temperature favoured more loss of moisture from the samples and in turn, favoured an increase in the available carbohydrate in the dried fruit. The ash, fat and crude fibre content marginally changed with drying temperature.Conclusion: The optimum temperature for treated and untreated samples, from the results obtained, were 60 °C and 70 °C respectively.Drying impacts positively on the available sugar in the Banana fruit.

The rise in global energy demand has encouraged exploring into other innovative methods of generating renewable fuels from different forms of waste. Due to its accessibility, culinary used vegetable oil is regarded as a potential source for profitable production of biodiesel. In the present study, the viability of producing biodiesel from used vegetable oil (UVO) by utilizing CaO catalyst (derived from the calcination of chicken eggshell and impregnated with KNO₃ and NaNO₃) was studied. Higher yield of biodiesel was obtained at methanol/oil mole ratio of (9–10) and CaO catalyst concentration of (2.0–3.0) wt/wt% Oil, for the three forms of catalyst used. Also, higher yield of biodiesel was obtained when CaO with impregnated KNO₃ was used, followed by the operation involving CaO with impregnated NaNO₃. At optimum conditions of methanol/oil mole ratio of 9 and catalyst concentration of 2.4 wt/wt% Oil, the yields of biodiesel obtained were 90% (for unimpregnated catalyst), 92% (using CaO impregnated with NaNO₃) and 95% (using CaO impregnated with KNO₃). The higher biodiesel yield obtained for CaO impregnated with KNO₃ (compared to the yield from CaO impregnated with NaNO₃) could be traced to a more reactive nature of potassium and arrangement of electrons of both potassium and sodium. The results of the tests and analysis on biodiesel properties reveal that quality biodiesel were produced from the three forms of catalyst used. This is because, each of the values of the properties considered falls within the ASTM standard.

The red kidney beans found in the Esanland of Edo State, Nigeria, popularly known as Ikpakpa, are a variety of Phaseolus vulgaris. However, a lack of awareness about this indigenous legume and a lack of easy culinary applications are factors that lead to its low use. The very long hours of cooking, coupled with frequent changing of the cooking water, makes it very unattractive to the present generation. In this work, a novel attempt is made to have a culinary product from ikpakpa via spontaneous and controlled fermentation of the beans (Ikpakpa) and investigate their impact on the product’s nutritional value. Endogeneous microorganisms were used for spontaneous fermentation, while Bacillus subtilis was used for the control fermentation. Two routes of Ikpakpa preparation were followed: viz; beans were boiled for 8 hours to be soft, dehulled, and fermented; and the raw beans soaked overnight and dehulled, boiled for 4 hours fermented. After 5 days of fermentation, the proximate analysis results showed better results for the spontaneous fermentation via route 1, increasing protein and carbohydrate content by 18% and 36%, respectively. Both spontaneous and controlled fermentation were not favoured via route 2 as a decrease in protein and carbohydrate content by 13.5%/77.4% and 54.2%/66,4%, respectively. The duration for fermentation may have been too long to sustain the protein and carbohydrate content. It is, therefore, recommended that more research on the optimal fermentation duration be investigated and shelf-life studies conducted on the products.

Introduction: Cardiovascular diseases are a known health threat with no respect for age. The need to understand the initiation and progress of the disease is expedient in proper diagnosis and management of the disease. Objective: The work is targeted at simulating the effect of elevated blood pressure on the initiation and development of plaque over time concerning wall shear stress, WSS and plaque wall stress, and PWS. Methods: Conditions such as blood velocity, pressure, and arterial wall conditions associated with blood flow in arteries, as well as patient-specific characterization related to these variables and conditions, were plugged into modified models in the COMSOL multiphysics software. The artery was modeled as an idealized 2-D carotid artery model. Results: Results showed that the WSS distribution with respect to changes with a blood pressure of 500 Pa gave the highest WSS value at the plaque neck and 1500 Pa gave the highest WSS value in the regions close to the plaque root. It was also observed that as the plaque size increased, the region experiencing severely high values for WSS also expanded. Conclusion: It can be recommended that blood pressure monitoring is necessary to curb the attendant cardiovascular diseases associated with high blood pressure.