Butene-1 is an essential compound or co-monomer typically used to regulate and control the density of both high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE). The production of Butene-1 has become a significant area of interest to the industrial and educational-research sectors. Alphabutol technology is one of the Butene-1 production processes. This paper attempts to find a problem that has not been addressed by previous research on production of Butene-1 by using ethylene demineralization route focussing on Alphabutol Technology. The first part of this paper is on the ethylene dimerization techniques available in the literature. Most research on the ethylene dimerization technique emphasized on how to enhance the selectivity of Butene-1 from ethylene using different types of catalyst. The second part of this paper reviews the operational processes used to minimise fouling reported in the literature review. Most of the literatures focused ethylene dimerization and not on the operational issues to be overcome during chemical reactions to enhance the selectivity of Butene-1. Fouling problem in Alphabutol process is still an area that is not adequately addressed in the literature. There is also no literature on operating or maintenance procedure to address these problems of the technology. Therefore, there is still room for improvement on the ethylene dimerization research technology, particularly in the operational process and conditions where the improvement in the reaction parameters of the Alphabutol reactor can improve selectivity of butene-1, extend the run time of the heat exchanger and reduce the time required to clean the heat exchanger fouling.

In this study, the microwave‐assisted processing of Sesamum indicum leaves was intensified to predict the total alkaloid content via Taguchi orthogonal design and neural network model. Under the optimum microwave condition, the maximized alkaloid content was estimated to be 15.40 (mg/g) % using irradiation time (A) of 60 sec, microwave power (B) of 300 W, oven temperature (C) of 60°C, the mass ratio (D) of 12.5 g/ml, and solvent concentration (E) of 80%. The significant effects of each microwave extraction parameter declined in the order listed: C > B > A > D > E which indicated a 31 and 29% contribution of microwave power and oven temperature, respectively. Moreover, higher coefficients of determination (R2 = 0.9999), and a decreased mean square error (MSE) of 2.69E‐07 suggest good accuracy in predicting total bioactive alkaloid recovery, as proven by cross‐validation trials. Under these microwave conditions, a total of 115 alkaloids were tentatively identified with lindelofine (m/z = 308.18) and supinin (m/z = 306.17) being the most abundant pyrrolizidine alkaloids. Novelty impact statement Although many researchers reported the total alkaloids recoveries from different parts of Sesame plant; the process intensification of microwave processing from leafy parts using Taguchi design and ANN approach have not been investigated. This study established an optimum condition for the total recovery of alkaloid content from S. indicum using orthogonal optimization methodology and artificial neural network

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Taguchi orthogonal design was used in this study to investigate the effects of three operational parameters (i.e., reactor temperature, reactor pressure, and catalyst ratio on per-pass conversion (PPC)). The optimal PPC was calculated from the predicted response function at 48°C of reactor temperature, 21 kg/cm2g of reactor pressure, and catalyst mole ratio of 2.50. Under these conditions, the PPC was estimated to be 87.1 per cent, with a maximum SNR of 38.95. In line with the delta ranking, the decreasing order of significance of each process parameter on the average per-pass conversion (PPC) was x1 > x2 > x3, with percentage contributions of 50.6%, 26.1%, and 23.3% for reactor temperature, temperature, and catalyst mole ratio, respectively. The optimal production condition can therefore be attained at a larger scale with the higher per-pass conversion of butene-1.

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