Journal of Engineering and Sustainable Development (JEASD)

Anaerobic digestion of pineapple waste appears to be an effective method for non-renewable energy substitution through biogas production. The potential power generation from the exploitation of pineapple waste as fuel is estimated to be roughly 20.8 MW. Nevertheless, the intricate composition of pineapple waste, characterized by the complex arrangement of its structure, poses a significant challenge in attaining a substantial amount of biogas production. This study pretreated pineapple waste with subcritical water to increase biogas production. Two temperature settings (120⁰C and 200⁰C) were used for pretreatment. Combined pre-treatment at low temperatures and short time (120⁰C, 5 minutes, 10 water to solid ratio) resulted in 31.6% higher biogas production than untreated. However, pretreatment at high temperatures and longer reaction time (200⁰C,25 min) reduced the biogas production by 9% as compared to untreated. Using the Modified Gompertz kinetic model, pretreatment improved the lag phase and increased biogas production to 14.41 mL/day. The lignocellulosic composition of pre-treated pineapple waste decreased, while process parameters such as total ammonia nitrogen removal and pH improved after the pretreatment. Subcritical water pretreatment, particularly when conducted at high temperatures, did not yield any enhancements in the anaerobic digestion of pineapple waste. As a result, it is not advisable to employ this method for these purposes.

The Open Ground Story (OGS) building is a functional need of all urban areas so cannot be eliminated. According to studies from previous earthquakes, when there is severe earthquake shaking, Reinforced Concrete (RC) frame buildings with open ground levels function badly. In this work, four models of G+14 RC frame buildings with and without a shear wall, coupled sheal wall, and diagonal strut were modeled and analyzed using ETABS-2018 software's static and dynamic response spectrum method. Model 1 open ground story RC building without strut and the shear wall was compared to the other three models that included a shear wall, coupled shear wall, and diagonal strut. As a result of the findings, it has been determined that shear wall, coupled shear wall, and diagonal strut not only increased the stiffness but also reduced displacement. A model with a combination of shear wall and coupled shear wall showed a minimum base shear and overturning moment than all other models.

Over the world, signalized intersections and road networks with heavy traffic have posed severe issues. So, it is crucial to employ cutting-edge software tools to ensure the current system can be managed and assessed. Therefore; this paper aims to analyze and evaluate the traffic flow performance at AL-Masbah signalized intersections in Baghdad city during peak hours by utilizing SIDRA INTERSECTION 5. For purposes of evaluation, the Level of Service LOS, average delay time, capacity, degree of saturation, queue for Intersection, fuel consumption, and carbon dioxide emission have been considered. In this study, video count was used to collect data. The main input data included peak hour factor (PHF), numbers and width of lanes, percent of heavy vehicles for each direction and movement, median, phasing, and timing. The results of the analysis indicated that the intersection is operated at LOS ( F) with a backlog queue of 166.1 which is the queue for any lane used by movement (vehicles)and a 1262m queue for any lane used by movement (meters) m, while fuel consumption was at a rate of 849.9 liters per hour. Furthermore, the results revealed that carbon dioxide (CO2) emission was increased by 2124.8 Kg per hour. So, It can be concluded that the intersection needs to improve its level of service by changing its geometry or by implementing an Intelligent Transportation System (ITS).

Concepts of evolution theory (by Herbert Spencer) were analyzed using a Geographic Information System according to living notions in the context of an urban city. The idea of the theory was applied to the society within the context of Balad city to find out whether the concepts of contrast, integration, specialization, and exclusivity on which the theory is based have an impact on the services in the city and an effect on the structure of the social elements and the stages of its development. The research problem centered on the shortcomings of the theory in predicting and explaining the morphological and functional structure of the city, while the main objective is to analyze the concepts of biological theory according to the requirements of the context of the study area. The analysis results of the living context notions present in the city were compared with the urban housing standards using GIS to determine the extent to which the context conforms to the concept of Spencer's theory. The research found the inability of the biological side of the theory to explain the population concentration in residential neighborhoods, as well as the lack of reliance on the concepts of contrast and integration in predicting the reasons for the growth and expansion of the city, and that the city neighborhoods showed a variance in their services without showing integration and exclusivity in these services, that is, the lack of integration organic between the biological parts of the city.

Concrete is utilized in a wide range of civil engineering applications specifically in infrastructure projects. In general, as with any construction material, it may be subjected to deterioration over time because of various reasons such as excessive loading and so on. In this research, two reinforced concrete beams on a large scale (length 2400 mm, depth 350 mm, and width 250 mm) are cast and tested under static load using the ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) technique consisting of three pairs of transducers (54 kHz, 150 kHz, and 250 kHz). During the loading, the signals are sent and captured through the used transducers at selected loading steps. Two new proposed procedures based on signal peaks in time and frequency domains are used to monitor the crack progress induced in concrete beams under concentrated load. The findings of this study revealed the suitability of the proposed two approaches to detect the propagation of cracks to evaluate damage induced in concrete beams.

This study examined the feasibility of producing colored geopolymer concrete using slag as the binder and investigated the effects of pigment on various properties of geopolymer concrete. The geopolymer concrete was supplemented with two varieties of pigment, namely iron oxide hydroxide in the shades of "red" and "yellow", then the following tests of compressive strength, rebound number, density, and ultrasonic pulse velocity were carried out on it. The highest compressive strength value was achieved when adding 1% of pigments, which increased the red and yellow values from the reference value by 2.7 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively. The best rebound number values can be obtained by adding 1% yellow and 3% red, which increased the red and yellow values from the reference value by 8% and 15%, respectively. The density increases as the proportion of the additional pigment rises. The maximum density values were achieved by incorporating 1% of red and yellow pigment, with a respective increase of 1% and 3% for red and yellow. The highest values of ultrasonic pulse velocity when adding 1% of yellow and red color pigments increased by 1.7% for yellow and 2% for red. The optimal addition is 1.2% as it enhances properties and reduces expenses when utilizing smaller pigments.

The importance of this research lies in keeping pace with the global trend to diversify energy sources and reduce climate change and air pollution by shedding light on how to benefit from agricultural waste by using it as a raw material for the production of bioethanol, which is one of the most important types of renewable fuels. This review highlighted the; ways of converting agricultural and fruit waste into bioethanol and its environmental and economic benefits-including adding it to gasoline used as car fuel in different proportions, as it works to raise the octane number of gasoline and improve its quality, thus reducing its production costs and reducing gas emissions from vehicle exhaust. In addition, the global production of bio-ethanol was reviewed and is expected to reach it by the end of 2023. It also highlighted the results of several studies that dealt with the properties and uses of ethanol and the best agricultural wastes used for this purpose. It is suggested to focus on the agricultural waste in Iraq, such as rice husks, in terms of cost and conditions for improvement to increase bio-ethanol production using fermentation processes.

There are severe ecological imbalances from both carbon emissions and sand mining. Steel slag can be used as an aggregate in concrete to enhance the environment and conserve natural resources because of the impact of depleting resources. The paper's main aim is to investigate the appropriateness of steel slag as an aggregate substitute and determine its impact on the behavior and durability properties of columns subjected to various circumstances and loads. After discussing slag and its properties, its effects on plain concrete were reviewed, followed by its effects on concrete columns. Previous studies indicate that columns made with steel slag aggregate concrete have comparable initial stiffness, strength, and flexibility as regular concrete. For columns with fine steel slag aggregates, the conventional section design approach can be used as an option for the design method. The European standard for stub columns filled with steel slag aggregate concrete under compression is more accurate than the American standard, which is circumspect.

Due to partial shading effects on the productivity of solar panels which in turn negatively impacts the performance characteristics of photovoltaic systems, researchers work on different studies to overcome this phenomenon and improve solar system productivity. Therefore, this study aims to investigate different techniques to enhance the output power, fill factor, and efficiency of the PV system by reducing the number of local maximum power peaks, power losses, and mismatch losses. The configurations include a novel static reconfiguration technique, called a Screw Horizontal photovoltaic array, and a recently developed technique known as a Bridge Linkage array. Both of these are modeled using MATLAB/Simulink software and examined during six shading patterns. The novelty of this study is that we combined the above static reconfiguration technique with another modern technique called blocking and bypass diode technology to prevent the effect of reverse current and hotspot phenomena respectively. According to the results, the Bridge Linkage configuration performs the most efficiently under partial shading conditions compared to the Screw horizontal PV array configuration.

A new proposed antenna is presented in this article for 5G applications. The dimensions of this antenna are (32×32×0.8) mm³. The antenna that is suggested is built upon FR-4 epoxy dielectric substrate, with a loss tangent of 0.025 and relative permittivity of dielectric is 4.3 and, on the top layer of this substrate a polygon patch is etched with specific dimensions, also a ground plane on the bottom layer of the substrate is built. The patch of the antenna is fed from a microstrip feed line with a 50Ω characteristic impedance. The proposed antenna operates at 3.6 GHz as a resonance frequency with a bandwidth of (3.15 - 4.3) GHz, and gain (3.3) dBi at the operating frequency, these characteristics are suitable for 5G applications. To attain the targeted bandwidth and gain, distinct slots are carved onto both the patch and ground plane. The simulation outcomes are gathered using CST-MW 2020.