Iraqi Journal of Industrial Research

This paper addresses the chronic underperformance of a manual liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinder filling line at an industrial plant (Plant X). We present the complete design of a novel, fully automatic filling system specifically engineered for LPG cylinders equipped with a tap-type safety valve, a prevalent standard in the regional market for which existing automation solutions are inadequate. Our methodological contribution is a structured engineering approach that begins with a root-cause analysis using functional analysis tools (Ishikawa, Octopus, and FAST diagrams) to diagnose systemic failures. This analysis directly informs the technical design phase, where we provide detailed sizing calculations for the core subsystems: a double-drive chain conveyor (capacity: 7500 m3/h) and a 12-station rotating carousel framework (throughput: ≥500 cylinders/hour). The system’s automation logic, formalized using GRAFCETs and implemented for a Schneider M340 PLC, ensures sequential control for filling, weight verification, leak testing, and sealing without manual intervention. The proposed design offers a fivefold increase in hourly production rate (from ~300 to 500-1500 cylinders/hour) and reduces the required operators from sixteen to five. Projected performance indicates the system would enable the plant to meet its daily target of 5,000 cylinders, generating a return on investment within 2 years and 7 months.

This study aims to evaluate whether freely available Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8 satellite imagery—when orthorectified using a local ground control point (GCP) network—can meet the positioning accuracy requirements of civil surveying for construction projects in Baghdad, Iraq, where economic sanctions and budgetary constraints preclude routine deployment of high-cost LiDAR systems. While satellite data offer broad coverage and low acquisition costs, their meter-scale geolocation errors often fall short of the centimeter-level precision required for legal boundary demarcation and structural design. To address this gap, we established a 25-point GCP network at the Corporation of Research and Industrial Development (CRID) site (59,600 m²) using TOPCON GR-5/GRS-1 GNSS and ES-105 total station, achieving a planimetric RMSE of 2.1 cm and vertical RMSE of 3.4 cm. These points were used to orthorectify Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8 imagery in ENVI 5.6 (FLAASH atmospheric correction, 2nd-order polynomial). Results show that GCP-constrained Sentinel-2 attained a horizontal RMSE of 6.8 m—an 85% improvement over raw data—while Landsat-8 stabilized at 12.4 m. Critically, this hybrid workflow reduced surveying costs by ~70% (from ~520 to 45 IQD/m²), without compromising boundary fidelity: the field-derived area (59,599.59 m²) matched official records (59,600 m²) within 0.4 m², whereas uncorrected satellite data overestimated the area by 499 m²,a discrepancy consistent with prior studies of urban cadastral applications. We conclude that while centimeter-grade field data remain essential for final design and legal documentation, GCP-enhanced Sentinel-2 offers a pragmatic, cost-efficient solution for preliminary planning, corridor mapping, and rapid cadastral updates in Iraqi urban settings.

The aim of this study is the assessment of Iraqi local bentonite clay (Be) as an adsorbent for the removal of phenol from laboratory wastewater, where activated carbon (AC) was used for the same target as a conventional adsorbent under different experimental variables. Moisture content, loss of ignition (%), and FTIR tests were done to characterize bentonite clay. The batch adsorption process was carried out using AC and Be under experimental conditions with adsorbent dosage (0.1–1) g at an initial phenol concentration of 100 mg/L to study the dosage effect, while the initial concentration effect at constant adsorbent dosage was (20–100) mg/L with a dosage of 1 g of Be and (100–1000) mg/L with a dosage of 0.1 g of AC and 240 min contact time. A kinetic study of the contact time effect (15–240) min was conducted at an initial phenol concentration of 50 mg/L for Be and 250 mg/L for AC, for a constant volume of 500 mL. The results show removal percentages of 45.58% and 100% of phenol at 1 g Be and 0.4 g AC, and adsorption capacities at variable initial phenol concentrations were 1.282 mg/g and 138.31 mg/g using Be and AC, respectively. Adsorption isotherm models show good fitting with the Langmuir model for the AC/phenol system, with an R2 value of 0.987 and a theoretical maximum adsorption capacity of 142.857 mg/g, while the Be/phenol system shows slightly better fitting with the Freundlich model, with an R² value of 0.981. The kinetic study shows good fitting with the pseudo-second-order model, with R² values of 0.994 for both Be and AC, which refers to chemical adsorption.

Wireless power transfer (WPT) and energy harvesting (EH) is a fundamental technology for supplying energy wireless powered devices which operate continuously without battery assistance. This survey summarizes RF-based WPT and ambient energy harvesting (EH) methods in the field of IoT sensor network. This paper reviews recent advances in hardware, including small antennas, low-power rectifiers, and metamaterial-analogous concepts that improve the reception and conversion of power. Near-field methods, including inductive and capacitive coupling will be compared to far-field RF and microwave techniques, where the former are limited to short distances whereas radiative techniques may allow for long-distance metrics at the expense of higher attenuation losses. Moreover, the paper sheds light on network-level approaches like Simultaneous Wireless Information and Power Transfer (SWIPT) and efficient scheduling. Despite these advancements, ambient RF power densities are quite low, and system integrations are still complex, which limits the maximum power that can be realized using this technology. This work reviews the trends in the background, their associated challenges, and the roadmap to achieve real self-powered IoT systems.

Allyl chloride production via high temperature propylene chlorination (HTPC) is a strongly exothermic process operating at 420–510 °C and generating substantial recoverable thermal energy in the reactor effluent. In conventional configurations, a significant portion of this high-grade heat is dissipated, while external fuel combustion and steam utilities are required to maintain reactor inlet temperature and downstream heating. This study proposes a systematic heat integration strategy that simultaneously utilizes reactor effluent heat for feed preheating and internal steam generation, providing a more effective approach to reduce overall energy demand. Process simulations were performed using Aspen HYSYS based on rigorous mass and energy balances to evaluate both base and modified configurations, employing the Cubic-Plus-Association (CPA) equation of state due to its improved accuracy in representing non-ideal mixtures containing polar and associating components commonly found in chlorination systems. In the integrated design, reactor effluent heat was utilized to preheat the propylene feed to 200 °C and to generate 6 bar saturated steam for internal process heating. The results show a furnace duty reduction of 5.38 × 10⁶ kJ/h (≈26.3%), corresponding to fuel savings of 228.27 kg/h (≈26.3%) and a carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission reduction of 626.20 kg/h (≈26.3%). Additionally, 1.3943 × 10⁷ kJ/h of thermal energy was recovered. The economic evaluation, based on reduced natural gas consumption and elimination of external steam requirements, indicates significant operational cost savings and practical feasibility for industrial implementation.

In general, the humans are seeking for safety and protection from the harmful radiations which are fundamental characteristics of their behaviors. Radiation has useful applications but it is important to protect from ionizing radiation. This protection is limited by the shielding material, distance, time, and radiation dose. In the case of neutron, these parameters varied in their effects in comparison to radiation nature. The current study explores the attenuation nature of seven naturally occurred platinum materials against neutron and photon exposure via two models at (0.015-15) MeV. These materials are Isoferroplatinum (Pt3Fe), Tetra -ferroplatinum (PtFe), Tulameenite (Pt2CuFe), Geversite (PtSb2), Sperrylite (PtAs2), Braggite (PdPt3S4), and Cooperite (PtS). The web based MATXCOM and NGCal were applied to calculate LAC, MAC, and TVL factors of these materials then compared with Pt, Fe, Cu, Sb, As, Pd, and S. Furthermore, this first Iraqi attempt calculates the protection efficiency (P%) of all the tested materials and their basic elements and defines the best shielding materials against neutron or photon exposure. Between all the tested naturally occurred materials, the Pt3Fe was found to be the superior photon or thermal neutron shielding protector due to its higher LAC and MAC and lower TVL at the applied photon energy whereas Pt2CuFe was superior fast neutron shielding material. This conclusion is based on the obtained P% data in addition to the LAC, MAC, and TVL. Moreover, density, mean atomic number, and crystal system are essential factors that influence the interactions between each material and the incident photons or the neutrons.

In this study, the linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) of ten refractory alloys with different percentages of elements: 90W-7Ni-3Fe, 90W-6Ni-4Fe, 91W-6Ni-3Fe, 93W-4Ni-3Fe, 93W-5Ni-2Fe, 90W-6Ni-4Cu, 90W-5Ni-5Cu, 90W-7Ni-3Cu, 93W-4Ni-3Cu, and 95W-3Ni-2Cu were evaluated. These alloys contain a high tungsten with high density, and show minimal variations in tensile strength, elongation, and hardness. The LAC calculations were performed using Phy-X software for x-ray and radioisotopes with energy ranges of (0.00804 -15) MeV and (0.00589 -15) MeV, respectively, whereas MATXCOM software was used for the photon energy range (0.015-15) MeV. LAC for fast and thermal neutrons were explored via the NGCal platform with energy (4 MeV, 25.4 meV) respectively. The LAC was very high at low energies, then a subsequent gradual decrease as energy increased for all alloys. The difference of error (Δ %) depending on LAC data was calculated and compared between all tested software, where the (Δ %) results were within acceptable limits. Furthermore, the protection efficiency (PE %) was calculated at different thicknesses for all the tested alloys. According to LAC and PE% data, the 95W-3Ni-2Cu alloy appears as the best absorber of X-rays and Gamma rays, which contains the highest percentage of tungsten, density, and mean atomic number, whereas the 90W-7Ni-3Cu alloy shows the highest (PE %) of the fast and thermal neutrons. In conclusion, these alloys are suitable for mitigating the harmful effects of exposure to photons and neutrons, and for providing a safe working environment for radiation workers.

Salinity significantly reduce maize growth at seedling and germination stage which impact negatively its agro-industrial growth. This study evaluates the salinity response of eight maize cultivars across four salinity gradients (0.5.10.15 Dsm-1 of NaCl) to identify robust genotypes for saline-prone agricultural zones.Statistical analysis reveals that critical productivity indicators including germination percentage (GP), germination rate (GR), vigor index (VI), and shoot/root biomass vary significantly based on four salinity levels. In high-input hybrid systems, BHM 9 demonstrated superior performance with the highest GP (92.78%) and RG (92.40%), followed by BHM 7 and BHM 6. Conversely, within inbred lines, Khoibhutta maintained the highest vigor and coefficient of germination (CG) under control and low-stress conditions, while Mohor and BHM 5 exhibited the highest susceptibility to saline stress. These findings provide a data-driven foundation for cultivar selection in salt-affected regions. For industrial-scale farming, the deployment of BHM 9 (hybrid) and Khoibhutta (inbred) is recommended to ensure high germination rates and seedling uniformity, thereby mitigating the financial risks associated with crop failure in saline soils. Identifying these tolerant genotypes allows for more precise land-use planning and targeted breeding programs, ensuring stable yields in increasingly marginalized agricultural environments.

Soil productivity in semi-arid agroecosystems is constrained by prolonged organic matter depletion and nutrient limitation, yet residue-quality–driven fertility pathways remain poorly resolved under field conditions. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of different plant residue types on soil fertility and nutrient dynamics in a semi-arid agroecosystem in Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq. We evaluated nine biochemically distinct plant residues (fruit-, woody-, and mixed-derived) applied at 2% (w/w) in a field experiment and quantified short-term shifts in soil physicochemical properties over 60 days. Residue incorporation significantly enhanced soil fertility compared to the control (p < 0.05), with responses strongly influenced by residue biochemical quality. Fruit and mixed residues, particularly Vitis vinifera and Punica granatum, increased soil organic carbon (2.10%), total nitrogen (0.19%), available phosphorus (27%), micronutrient availability, and soil moisture, while slightly reducing pH (6.95–6.70), improving nutrient solubility. Principal Component Analysis explained more than 90% of total variance, indicating a strong residue-quality fertility gradient. These findings demonstrate that residue biochemical characteristics play a key role in regulating early soil fertility processes and provide a practical strategy for improving soil quality in semi-arid environments.

This study sought to assess bacterial contamination in three frequently consumed rice varieties (Kurdish, Mahmood, and Local) under various processing and storage circumstances. Methods: A total of 75 samples were obtained from three rice kinds, including five batches with five repetitions each. Samples were analyzed under three conditions: uncooked, cooked at ambient temperature (30 ± 2 °C), and chilled (5–7 °C). Bacterial isolation was conducted utilizing standard culture media, succeeded by identification through colony morphology, Gram staining, and biochemical assays. The data were subjected to descriptive analysis. Results: Most raw and refrigerated samples exhibited no bacterial growth, with the exception of Kurdish rice, which contained Bacillus spp. and Staphylococcus spp. Conversely, rice maintained at ambient temperature displayed heightened bacterial diversity. Kurdish rice exhibited the greatest levels of contamination, including Bacillus spp., Streptococcus spp., and Staphylococcus spp. Mahmood rice was found to include Staphylococcus spp. and Klebsiella spp., whereas Local rice exhibited Streptococcus spp. and Staphylococcus spp.Conclusion: Storage temperature markedly affects bacterial proliferation in cooked rice. Refrigeration significantly mitigates contamination, while room temperature storage encourages bacterial growth, underscoring the necessity of appropriate storage methods to diminish food safety hazards.