Oil extraction operations as well as equipment failure and infrastructure vandalism have caused serious environmental pollution with crude oil spills world-wide. The remediation of the polluted sites is an environmental problem beckoning for solution. In this study, the possibility of pig droppings and pig bone char mixture (biostimulant) to stimulate and optimize crude oil biodegradation in soil was investigated. Exactly 500g of loamy soil was spiked with 3% (w/w) of crude oil. The spiked soil was amended with varying percentage mixtures of the biostimulant and labelled A – E. The spiked soil without biostimulant served as the Control. Each experiment was setup in six (6) replicates, carried out for six weeks, and destructively sampled and analysed on a weekly basis. The removal efficiencies of the biostimulated and unbiostimulated soils were observed to range from 66.70 to 86.70% and 3.69%, respectively. The biodegradation first-order rate constants ranged from 0.1978 to 0.3391wk-1 and 0.0050wk-1 for the biostimulated and unbiostimulated soils, respectively. Optimum removal of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) was observed for biostimulated soil C comprising 50% bone char and 50% pig droppings. Results from biostimulated soils A, B, D and E indicated that pig droppings is a more effective biostimulant than pig bone char. A first-order kinetic model adequately predicted the removal of TPH with the optimum biostimulant. It is concluded that using agro-organic waste materials such as pig droppings and pig bone char in a ratio of 1:1 can offer a simple, effective, inexpensive and environmentally friendly solution to the problem of soil contamination with crude oil.

The effect of pressure, solids concentration and volume of slurry on total and two-phase filtrate volumes was investigated to establish optimum conditions for routine laboratory filtration. Full factorial design with three levels was utilized to obtain 27 unique experiments. The slurry used was prepared by mixing crushed and sieved bentonite clay of 75 microns with distilled water at different concentrations as obtained from the design of experiment. A filter press was utilized and the results were used to calibrate a two-phase exponential equation for sludge filtration to extract the first and second stage filtrate volumes. The total filtrate volume improved with increasing applied pressure and decreasing solids concentration. A slurry volume of 0.22 litres was found to be ideal. Similar effects were noticed on the first and second stage filtrate volume except that an optimum was discovered at 0.18 litres of slurry. The second stage filtration produced an upward curve with a point of inflection at a range of 0.18 to 0.22 litres of slurry. The second stage filtrate volume is also discovered to be directly proportional to the total filtrate volume. This connection may be considered for use to assess the filterability of other slurries.

Analysis of particulate matter (PM) PM2.5 and PM10 was done around a cement company in Rivers State, Nigeria. Measurements were taken for the concentration of PM2.5 and PM10 and other atmospheric parameters at intervals of 100 m up to 1000 m and field observation was carried out for two days. The temperature of the area varied between 26.6 degrees and 33.3 degrees, relative humidity was between 70.2 and 98.2% and the wind speed ranged from 0.2 to 3.6 m/s. The minimum PM10 and PM2.5 values were 38 and 18 µg/m3 respectively and the maximum PM10 and PM2.5 values were 616 and 298 µg/m3 respectively. A two way analysis of variance was done at 5 % level of significance to determine the influence the time the measurement was taken and the distance from the stack have on the particulate matter concentration. P values were lower than P = .05 therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected. The pollution index for PM10 was determined and about 86% of the pollution index are above 100, 80% are above 150 and about 21% is above 400. About 96% of the pollution index for PM2.5 is above 100, 87% are above 150 and about 21% are above 300. As shown on Air quality index charts, values between 100 and 150 are unhealthy for sensitive groups, values above 150 are unhealthy, and values above 300 are hazardous while values above 400 are very hazardous. It is concluded that the ground level concentration of PM10 and PM2.5 up to 1200 m from the stack is generally unhealthy for the receptors.

Every day, large quantities of chicken feathers are disposed of as waste at markets where birds are slaughtered and sold for meat. The possibility of using Chicken feather ash (CFA) as a partial replacement of cement in the concrete making was investigated. Water-cement ratio and percentage CFA used for replacement were chosen as variables in the design of the experiment. Compressive strength and workability were chosen as the required responses to observe and analyzed using response surface methodology. Full factorial design was used for the design of experiment, with CFA replacement and water-cement ratio ranging from 2 – 11% and 0.3 – 0.7 % by mass respectively. There were 27 trial mixes and the freshly made concrete mix was tested for workability. Concrete cubes were molded and cured for 7 and 14 days and were crushed to determine the compressive strength. It was found that as the CFA percentage increases, the workability of the concrete increases making it more fluid. The optimum water-cement ratio was observed to range from 0.49 to 0.51 % as the curing age increases. The optimum compressive strength was observed to range from 15.6 to 18.6 N/mm2 as the curing age increased. However, the allowable range of CFA to be used for concrete making is 3.8 to 6.34 % beyond which compressive strength reduces.

Traffic noise at two locations which are Rumuokoro and Rumuola in Port Harcourt city, Rivers state Nigeria was studied. The study was done for 3 days at each location. Variables such as atmospheric parameters and traffic density were measured along with the noise measurement. The atmospheric parameters measured were temperature, relative humidity and wind speed. Traffic density includes number of small cars and trucks per 20m radius. Three empirical model concepts were proposed, calibrated using multiple regression analysis and validated by cross validation and coefficient of determination (R2). The models are a linear model, a polynomial model and an exponential model. The coefficient of determination for the linear model ranged from 0.25 to 0.94 at Rumuokoro and 0.29 to 0.86 at Rumuola. The coefficient of correlation for the polynomial model ranged from 0.062 to 0.998 at Rumuokoro and 0.05 to 0.998 at Rumuola. The coefficient of correlation for the exponential model ranged from 0.28 to 0.92 at Rumuokoro and 0.45 to 0.89 at Rumuola. The exponential model was concluded to be the best model concept because of its performance in predicting noise levels using data from other days with moderately high and consistent coefficient of determination at both locations. However, if extrapolation is not to be considered, the polynomial model concept is very useful.