Pretreatment of rice husk by the Alkaline Peroxide Assisted Wet Air Oxidation (APAWAO) approach enhanced the enzymatic convertibility of cellulose in APAWAO-pretreated rice husk. The present work describes the structural changes in rice husk brought about by APAWAO pretreatment by means of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The SEM images illustrate the extensive loss of biomass integrity foll...

In this work, the thermal behavior of rice husk, sewage sludge, and their blends during combustion processes was investigated by means of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and the slagging characteristics were studied through X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and melting temperature. The effects of the proportion of rice husk and sewage sludge blends on the combustion process, ignition and burnout chara...

Preparation porous bio-char and activated carbon from rice husk char study has been conducted in this study. Rice husk char contains high amount silica that retards the porousness of bio-char. Porousness of rice husk char could be enhanced by removing the silica from char and applying heat at high temperature. Furthermore, the char is activated by using chemical activation under high temperatur...

UNLABELLED BACKGROUND In the present study, three ionic liquids, namely 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([BMIM]Cl), 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([EMIM]OAc), and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium diethyl phosphate ([EMIM]DEP), were used to partially dissolve rice husk, after which the cellulose were regenerated by the addition of water. The aim of the investigation is to examine the im...

The performance of alkalis (NaOH and Ca(OH)2) and acids (H2SO4, HCl, H3PO4, CH3COOH, and HNO3) in the pretreatment of rice husk was screened, and a suitable reagent was assessed for subsequent optimization using response surface methodology. From the assessment, HCl that hydrolysed rice husk well was optimized with three parameters (HCl loading, pretreatment duration, and temperature) using Box...

A biomass waste, rice husk, was inspected by thermoanalytical investigation to evaluate its capability as an adsorbent medium for tar removal. The pyrolysis process has been applied to the rice husk material at different temperatures 600, 800 and 1000 °C with 20 °C/min heating rate, to investigate two topics: (1) influence of temperature on characterization of rice husk char and; (2) adsorption...

The soils in Ebonyi State agro-ecological zones of southeastern Nigeria are plagued with characteristics that impede optimal crop production. Failures in agricultural development in this part of southeastern Nigeria may have been caused by the inability of the farmers to develop the abundant inland valleys for such crops like rice using appropriate water management systems. In order to arrest t...

In sustainable agricultural systems, recycling of nutrients is a major component of nutrient management. We conducted an experiment in Abakaliki South Eastern Nigeria in 2007 to investigate the effects of organic amendments (poultry droppings (PD), burnt rice husk dust, (BRHD), Unburnt rice husk dust (UBRHD) and inorganic fertilizer (NPK) on soil properties and their residual effect tested in 2...

Selenium, an essential micronutrient for humans, is insufficient in dietary intake for millions of people worldwide. Rice as the most popular staple food in the world is one of the dominant selenium (Se) sources for people. The distribution and translocation of Se from soil to grain were investigated in a Se-rich environment in this study. The Se levels in soils ranged widely from 0.5 to 47.7 m...

The importance of removal of heavy metals from drinking water has received significant attention of researchers and decision makers across the globe. Bio-adsorbents have emerged as potential remediation materials for the removal of heavy metals and metalloids from both groundwater and surface water. Plants, algae, fungi are some of the biomass derived adsorbents which are capable of removing he...