Baah Sefa-Ntiri

Rice husk was used to synthesize zeolite (ZSM-11). FTIR and X-ray diffraction methods were used to characterize the product. The synthesized zeolite was used to treat underground water from some communities in Cape Coast considering parameters such as total dissolved solids, total hardness, conductivity, nitrate, and phosphate. The percentage reduction in was 96.1% in Ebubonko and 92.5% in Apewosika. Similarly, the levels also decreased significantly in Kwaprow. The adsorption capability was also determined by using it to remove Pb²⁺ and Zn²⁺ from laboratory prepared solutions with varying masses. The percentage reduction recorded 90.57% and 86.61% for the 1.0 g whilst the 1.5 g showed 93.26% and 89.36%, respectively. It was also realized that the adsorption process followed a pseudo-first-order rather than the pseudo-second-order process with their R² values of 0.9929 and 0.8503 for the pseudo-first-order and 0.9662 and 0.6912 for the second-order for Pb²⁺ and Zn²⁺, respectively. The adsorption capacity also favored the Freundlich isotherm with R² values of 0.7578 and 0.642 rather than Langmuir isotherm with R² values of 0.1742 and 0.3856 for Pb²⁺ and Zn²⁺, respectively. The photodegradation ability of the synthesized zeolite was analyzed using rhodamine blue (RhB) and methyl orange (MO). The process was realized to favor the pseudo-second-order with R² values of 0.9986 and 0.0007 and a constant K₂ of 0.035 and 0.021 for RhB and MO, respectively, whereas the pseudo-first-order showed an R² value of 0.9376 and 0.9757 with K₁ values of 0.03 and 0.02.

This study investigated the pore characterization of polyurethane (PU) foam as a necessary step in water filtration membrane fabrication. Porous material characterization is essential for predicting membrane performance, strength, durability, surface feel, and to understand the transport mechanisms using modeling and simulations. Most existing pore characterization techniques are relatively costly, time-consuming, subjective, and have cumbersome sample preparations. This study focused on using three relatively inexpensive imaging systems: a black box, Canon camera (EOS760D), and LaserJet scanner (M1132 MFP). Two standard, state-of-the-art imaging systems were used for comparison: a stereomicroscope and a scanning electron microscope. Digital images produced by the imaging systems were used with a MATLAB algorithm to determine the surface porosity, pore area, and shape factor of the polyurethane foam in an efficient manner. The results obtained established the compatibility of the image analysis algorithm with the imaging systems. The black box results were found to be more comparable to both the stereomicroscope and SEM systems than those of the Canon camera and scanner imaging systems. Indeed, the current research effort demonstrates the possibility of substrate characterization with inexpensive imaging systems.