Browsing by Author "Mosonik, Bornes C."

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  • Publication
    Publication
    A Review of the Current Trends in the Production and Consumption of Bioenergy
    (Sami Publishing Company, 2021-02-01) Korir, Benjamin K.; Kibet, Joshua; Mosonik, Bornes C.
    With the current traditional fossil fuels depleting at an alarming rate coupled with environmental degradation because of toxic emissions, there is a mounting desire in search of renewable and sustainable energy resources. In this regard, bioenergy is considered one of the greatest potential to address the global energy demands in order to foster confidence in energy security, economic sustainability, and environmental protection. Global use of biomass to generate electricity and enhanced green energy transport is expected to increase in the near future. Accordingly, the demand for renewable energy is aimed at minimizing energy poverty and mitigation against climate change. Bioenergy despite bioconversion challenges is one of the key solutions to the world’s current energy demands. Model bioenergy plant sources – Croton megalocarpus, palm oil, Jatropha, and soybeans are briefly discussed in this review as major sources of bioenergy. The increased focus on bioenergy has been necessitated by high oil and gas prices, and the desire for sustainable energy resources. Nonetheless, corrupt practices and lack of political goodwill has hampered efforts towards achieving the full utilization of bioenergy. Corruption has been widely cited as a major setback to bioenergy development in a range of global jurisdictions. In order to minimize environmental damage, carbon trade has been projected as a necessary action by developing countries to reduce carbon emissions. Generally, the analysis of the use of fossil fuels across the world shows a strong interrelationship involving energy utilization, degradation of air quality, and environmental health concerns.
  • Publication
    Publication
    A Review of the Current Trends in the Production and Consumption of Bioenergy
    (Sami Publishing Company(SPC), 2021) Korir, Benjamin K.; Kibet, Joshua; Mosonik, Bornes C.
    With the current traditional fossil fuels depleting at an alarming rate coupled with environmental degradation because of toxic emissions, there is a mounting desire in search of renewable and sustainable energy resources. In this regard, bioenergy is considered one of the greatest potential to address the global energy demands in order to foster confidence in energy security, economic sustainability, and environmental protection. Global use of biomass to generate electricity and enhanced green energy transport is expected to increase in the near future. Accordingly, the demand for renewable energy is aimed at minimizing energy poverty and mitigation against climate change. Bioenergy despite bioconversion challenges is one of the key solutions to the world’s current energy demands. Model bioenergy plant sources – Croton megalocarpus, palm oil, Jatropha, and soybeans are briefly discussed in this review as major sources of bioenergy. The increased focus on bioenergy has been necessitated by high oil and gas prices, and the desire for sustainable energy resources. Nonetheless, corrupt practices and lack of political goodwill has hampered efforts towards achieving the full utilization of bioenergy. Corruption has been widely cited as a major setback to bioenergy development in a range of global jurisdictions. In order to minimize environmental damage, carbon trade has been projected as a necessary action by developing countries to reduce carbon emissions. Generally, the analysis of the use of fossil fuels across the world shows a strong interrelationship involving energy utilization, degradation of air quality, and environmental health concerns.
  • Publication
    Publication
    Free radicals and ultrafine particulate emissions from the co-pyrolysis of Croton megalocarpus biodiesel and fossil diesel
    (Springer Nature, 2018-08-07) Kibet, Joshua K.; Mosonik, Bornes C.; Nyamori, Vincent O.; Ngari, Silas M.
    BackgroundThe atmosphere has become a major transport corridor for free radicals and particulate matter from combustion events. The motivation behind this study was to determine the nature of particulate emissions and surface bound radicals formed during the thermal degradation of diesel blends in order to assess the health and environmental hazards of binary transport fuels.MethodologyAccordingly, this contribution explored the interactions that occur when Croton megalocarpus biodiesel and fossil diesel in the ratio of 1:1 by weight were co-pyrolyzed in a quartz reactor at a residence time of 0.5 s under an inert flow of nitrogen at 600 °C. The surface morphology of the thermal char formed were imaged using a Feld emission gun scanning electron microscope (FEG SEM) while Electron paramagnetic resonance spectrometer (EPR) was used to explore the presence of free radicals on the surface of thermal char. Molecular functional groups adsorbed on the surface of thermal char were explored using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR).ResultsFTIR spectrum showed that the major functional groups on the surface of the char were basically aromatic and some methylene groups. The particulate emissions detected in this work were ultrafine (~ 32 nm). The particulates are consistent with the SEM images observed in this study. Electron paramagnetic resonance results gave a g-value of 2.0027 characteristic of carbon-based radicals of aromatic nature. Spectral peak-to-peak width (∆Hp-p) obtained was narrow (4.42 G).ConclusionsThe free radicals identified as carbon-based are medically notorious and may be transported by various sizes of particulate matter on to the surface of the human lung which may trigger cancer and pulmonary diseases. The nanoparticulates determined in this work can precipitate severe biological health problems among humans and other natural ecosystems.
  • Publication
    Publication
    Optimization of Binary Mixtures of Biodiesel and Fossil Diesel for Clean Energy Combustion
    (Springer Nature, 2019-05-31) Mosonik, Bornes C.; Kibet, Joshua K.; Ngari, Silas M.
    There is an urgent interest initiated to develop clean energy resources with the aim of reducing exposure to environmental pollutants and explore model fuels that can hasten the achievement of clean energy combustion. This work investigates various ratios of biodiesel and commercial diesel in order to propose model binary fuels for clean energy combustion. Accordingly, diesel blends of ratios 1:1, 3:2 and 2:3 were each pyrolyzed at a contact time of 5 s in a quartz reactor at 1 atmosphere pressure. A model temperature of 500 °C was explored in these experiments. The charcoal content for pure fossil diesel was compared with the binary diesel residue. Gas-phase molecular components were determined using Gas chromatography (GC) coupled to a mass selective detector (MSD). Elemental composition of thermal char was determined using Smart Elemental Analyzer. Radical intensities for the three types of char (biochar, bio-fossil char, and fossil char) were measured using an X-band electron paramagnetic resonance spectrometer. It was noted that at a ratio of 2:3 (Biodiesel: Fossil diesel), harmful molecular products reduced significantly, 76–99%. Elemental analysis data indicated that the carbon content from commercial diesel was very high (≈ 70.61%) as compared to approximately 53% for biodiesel-fossil diesel mixture in the same ratio 2:3. Interestingly, the free radical content was reduced by nearly 50% in favour of the biodiesel/fossil diesel mixture. These results are encouraging and suggest that a better optimized fuel mixture has been found for better clean energy combustion.