Ayoup Ghrair - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Ayoup Ghrair
Jordan Journal of Agricultural Sciences, Dec 29, 2013
THE EFFECT OF ZEOLITIC TUFF NANOPARTICLES ON Cd, Pb AND Zn FRACTIONATION AND UPTAKE BY BARLEY FRO... more THE EFFECT OF ZEOLITIC TUFF NANOPARTICLES ON Cd, Pb AND Zn FRACTIONATION AND UPTAKE BY BARLEY FROM A SEWAGE SLUDGE TREATED SOIL Ayoup M. Ghrair1, Joachim Ingwersen2 and Thilo Streck2 1Royal Scientific Society, Knowledge, Research and Development Devesion, Amman - al Jubaiha, Jordan 2Biogeophysics Section, Institute of Soil Science and Land Evaluation, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany ABSTRACT Nanoparticles obtained from natural materials provide new opportunities in many environmental fields. To investigate the metal-immobilizing potential of the Na-zeolitic tuff nanoparticles we carried out a pot experiment with summer barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). A heavy metal contaminated soil was mixed with zeolitic nano tuff at three different concentrations (0.5, 2 and 5% by weight). Barley showed no significant differences in biomass between the treatments. Addition of zeolitic nano tuff did not adversely affect the uptake of essential elements such as Ca, Mg, K, or Mn. The additi...
ECONOMIC AND ROBUST MACROPOROUS MEMBRANES FROM NATURAL KAOLIN CLAYS Dr. Hatem M. Alsyouri *, The ... more ECONOMIC AND ROBUST MACROPOROUS MEMBRANES FROM NATURAL KAOLIN CLAYS Dr. Hatem M. Alsyouri *, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan Dr. Ayoup M. Ghrair, Royal Scientific Society, Amman, Jordan Dr. Malyuba A. Abu Daabes, German-Jordanian University, Amman, Jordan * Corresponding author: Tel: +962-79-989 9199, Email: alsyouri@ju.eu.jo Abstract Successful utilization of natural clays for fabricating membranes and membrane supports can lead to considerable savings in material cost and energy. The focus of this work is to assess the quality of macroporous supports prepared from naturally-occurring kaolin clays in Jordan without any pretreatment or modification. The starting kaolin clays mined from three locations in Jordan are composed of kaolin, quartz and calcite minerals. Experiments show that dry pressing and firing at 1100C give macroporous supports with high mechanical strength (>200 MPa) enhanced by quartz and iron oxide. The higher the kaolin content, the lower the strength....
Environmental stresses such as low soil moisture and soil nutrient deficiency are the main causes... more Environmental stresses such as low soil moisture and soil nutrient deficiency are the main causes for low productivity in arid and semi-arid regions. Soil amendments are one solution to minimize soil moisture evaporation and to improve plant nutrients uptake. The current study was carried out to examine the effect of different weathered and fresh volcanic tuff (WVT and FVT, respectively) application rates available in Jordanian market on growth, irrigation water saving and leaves mineral content of salvia (Salvia officinalis). Plant growth was significantly (P ≤ 0.01) decreased by increasing WVT/FVT application, where the maximum reductions were detected in pure WVT and FVT treatments. Leaves sodium concentration were significantly (P ≤ 0.05) increased by 2 to 3 folds by VT application, however, other essential elements such as nitrogen, iron and manganese were decreased. The water consumption in VT amended soils was reduced from 46.5 to 67.8% and to the same extent as the total pla...
Desalination and Water Treatment, 2015
Process Safety and Environmental Protection, 2015
Raw Cyperus laevigatus shoots Pseudo-second order kinetic model Constructed wetlands a b s t r a ... more Raw Cyperus laevigatus shoots Pseudo-second order kinetic model Constructed wetlands a b s t r a c t Cyperus laevigatus grows in natural and constructed wetland ecosystems built for domestic effluents treatment. The use of unmodified shoots of C. laevigatus as a wetland bio-waste for cadmium (Cd) removal from aqueous solutions was assessed. Batch adsorption experiments were conducted to investigate effects of pH, contact time, adsorbent dose, and Cd concentration at an ionic strength of 0.01 mol l −1 NaNO 3 on adsorption efficiency and capacity.
Unlike coal fly ash, fly ash of heavy fuel oil has received much less attention in the literature... more Unlike coal fly ash, fly ash of heavy fuel oil has received much less attention in the literature. In this work, detailed physicochemical characterization of heavy fuel oil fly ash (FA) is provided. The ash has a carbonaceous matrix and contains V, Ni, Zn, Cr, Cu, and Pb with variable amounts. V was the most abundant heavy metal with enrichment factor of 277 in the FA. The presence of V in the FA is attributed to the formation of Mg 3 V 2 O 8 oxides at high combustion temperature as confirmed by XRD. Particle size distribution showed that the mean particle diameter of the FA was 70.5 μm. Extraction recovery up to 85% of metals was achieved using 1.0 M HNO 3 and at room temperature. Standard metal-leaching tests confirmed that the elution of the toxic metals and the level of eluted Zn were much higher than the regulated value for the solid residues. Five stable geopolymers GPs containing 41.7 wt.% FA were prepared. All GPs showed high compressive strength and low water absorption which support their application as lightweight construction composites. Most importantly, adding FA to GP had significantly reduced metal migration into the environment as confirmed by the synthetic precipitation leaching procedure.
ABSTRACT In Jordan, large amounts of fly ash (FA) are produced as a result of burning heavy fuel ... more ABSTRACT In Jordan, large amounts of fly ash (FA) are produced as a result of burning heavy fuel in power plants. The brackish granular flash ash was systematically analysed by different analytical techniques including scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), lazier diffractometer (LD), Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and acoustic and electroacoustic spectrometer in order to investigate geometrical structure, morphology, surface chemistry and composition of the resulted FA. The FA was sampled form the places where heavy fuel is burned to produce electricity. This study revealed that about 50% of FA particles diameters were less than 530 nm. FA particles were predominantly appeared as smooth of mineral spheres. The FA was rich in C, S, Mg, V, Ni and Fe indicating the carbonaceous nature of this material. The Al and Si contents were insignificant. The size distribution, chemical and morphological properties of the FA particles were found to be log-normal. The FA contains high heavy metals content, particularly vanadium oxide (V2O5: 8.07 %wt) and nickel oxide (NiO: 0.91 %wt). Discussion on the physical and chemical characteristics of carbonaceous FA produced in power plants is addressed in this work.
Water, 2012
Installation of decentralized grey water treatment systems in small rural communities contributes... more Installation of decentralized grey water treatment systems in small rural communities contributes to a more sustainable water supply. In order to gauge community attitudes about collection and use of grey water, a door-to-door survey in the farming community of Deir Alla, Jordan was conducted by Royal Scientific Society interviewers. Outcomes of a detailed survey, designed specifically for this project, offer insights on people's views on general water and wastewater issues, as well as their motivation, practices and concerns related to using grey water treatment for a portion of their household wastewater and reuse of the treated grey water for irrigation. A total of 47 respondents from different socio-economic background, aged over 18 years, from this community in the Jordan valley took part in the survey. The level of formal education of the respondents was low, and most of households' incomes were below the poverty line in Jordan. Most of the respondents reported that the quality of water supplied by public network is acceptable, but the quantity is insufficient to meet their demand, with supplies being delivered to the household once a week. Respondents relied on the public water network as a first-most important resource (85.1%), and 57.4% of the respondent relied on private water tankers as a second-most important resource in addition to the public network. However, 6% of the respondents relied only on private water tankers with no access to the public network. Storage tanks are common practice in all the houses in order to store enough water for at least one week. The survey responses provide evidence that rural communities are willing
Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, 2009
Nanoparticles derived from natural materials are promising compounds in the field of environmenta... more Nanoparticles derived from natural materials are promising compounds in the field of environmental remediation. The present study produces and characterizes Na-zeolitic tuff in the nanorange, stabilizes the nanotuff in suspension, and investigates the effect of Na-zeolitic nanotuff on sorption of Cd. Breakdown of raw zeolitic tuff with a mean particle size of 109 μm to the nanorange was achieved by attrition milling. In the first stage of grinding, a mixture of Al-oxide beads of 1 to 2.6 mm diameter was used. The milling process lasted 4 h. In the second stage, the dried powder was milled again using a mixture of a fine zirconia beads (0.1 mm) and Al-oxide beads (1.0 mm). The powder was treated with 1 M NaCl solution. Finally, the powder was sonicated in water. After this procedure, the mean and median particle diameters were 47.6 and 41.8 nm, respectively. The nanoparticulate zeolitic tuff had a surface area of 82 m 2 g −1 . The estimated zero charge point of the nanoparticle suspension was 3.2. The surface zeta potential was pH dependent. The Nazeolitic nanotuff increased Cd sorption by a factor of up to 3 compared to the raw zeolitic tuff. Our results indicate that zeolitic nanoparticles can be produced by grinding using a mixture of fine beads in an attrition mill and that this procedure increases their metal immobilizing potential.
Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, 2010
... Accepted January 17, 2010 1 Introduction Pollution of soil by heavy metals such as cadmium (C... more ... Accepted January 17, 2010 1 Introduction Pollution of soil by heavy metals such as cadmium (Cd) has received considerable attention during the last decades. Heavy metals are generally immutable, not degradable, and persistent in soil (Adriano et al., 2004). ...
CLEAN - Soil, Air, Water, 2014
A pilot grey water treatment system and collection network were designed, installed, and operated... more A pilot grey water treatment system and collection network were designed, installed, and operated in Jordan Valley using natural filtration materials. Grey water from showers and washing sinks was collected from four houses. In order to evaluate the performance of multilayer filter (MLF) ability to remove the pollutants from the collected grey water, the quality of treated and untreated grey water was examined and the suitability of treated grey water for irrigation was assessed. The results revealed that the efficiency removal of organic material before UV disinfection stage for BOD 5 , COD, and TSS was about 88.6, 83, and 92.2%, respectively. The efficiency removal rates for nutrients by MLF were a bit low as 32.5% of total phosphorous and 19.8% of total nitrogen were removed, whereas the removal efficiency of heavy metals Zn, Fe, and Ba were 94.8, 81.2, and 15.7%, respectively. The results showed that the pilot plant has efficiently reduced the coliform organisms, thermo-tolerance coli count, and Escherichia coli by more than 99.9% removal efficiency by the double-filter stage and 100% after disinfection stage. The current MLF system has the transferability potential to other locations of the developing world.
Chemical Engineering Journal, 2010
In order to remove the limitations originating from inefficient heat and mass transfer in adsorpt... more In order to remove the limitations originating from inefficient heat and mass transfer in adsorption refrigeration/heat pump, an innovative arrangement design was proposed. It was equipped with meshed multi-tubular involving activated carbon in a sealed cylindrical adsorber. Related aspects of adsorption refrigeration key parameters were addressed. Working pair, activated carbon-diethyl ether, is used in the above system in order to determine the optimum adsorption refrigeration parameters.
Chemical Engineering Journal, 2011
In Jordan, large amounts of fly ash (FA) are produced as a result of burning heavy fuel in power ... more In Jordan, large amounts of fly ash (FA) are produced as a result of burning heavy fuel in power plants. Extraction of metals from FA is an important industrial/environmental issue to assess metals' mobility and applications. Large amounts of metals (V, Ni, Fe, Ca, Mg, Na, and K) were easily leached from FA under acidic, basic, and neutral conditions and this makes disposal of this material an important environmental issue. Extraction and separation of vanadium (V) and nickel (Ni) from FA is achieved using Akita's procedure with some modifications. In the first step, Ni is selectively eluted from FA using NH 4 OH solution and then precipitated using Na 2 S. The Ni/V ratio in final precipitate was 27. On the other hand, V is extracted from Ni-free-FA using Na 2 CO 3 solution, recovered by 0.1 M tri-ethylamine/toluene, and precipitated by NH 4 Cl. The V/Ni ratio in the final precipitate was 55. The adopted method showed a reasonable recovery for both metals from FA, 56 and 45% from Ni and V, respectively. The earlier attempts indicated that separation of V/Ni by precipitation using OH − or CO 3 2− was not successful where both the metals did not precipitate from solution in the presence of other elements.
Jordan Journal of Agricultural Sciences, Dec 29, 2013
THE EFFECT OF ZEOLITIC TUFF NANOPARTICLES ON Cd, Pb AND Zn FRACTIONATION AND UPTAKE BY BARLEY FRO... more THE EFFECT OF ZEOLITIC TUFF NANOPARTICLES ON Cd, Pb AND Zn FRACTIONATION AND UPTAKE BY BARLEY FROM A SEWAGE SLUDGE TREATED SOIL Ayoup M. Ghrair1, Joachim Ingwersen2 and Thilo Streck2 1Royal Scientific Society, Knowledge, Research and Development Devesion, Amman - al Jubaiha, Jordan 2Biogeophysics Section, Institute of Soil Science and Land Evaluation, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany ABSTRACT Nanoparticles obtained from natural materials provide new opportunities in many environmental fields. To investigate the metal-immobilizing potential of the Na-zeolitic tuff nanoparticles we carried out a pot experiment with summer barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). A heavy metal contaminated soil was mixed with zeolitic nano tuff at three different concentrations (0.5, 2 and 5% by weight). Barley showed no significant differences in biomass between the treatments. Addition of zeolitic nano tuff did not adversely affect the uptake of essential elements such as Ca, Mg, K, or Mn. The additi...
ECONOMIC AND ROBUST MACROPOROUS MEMBRANES FROM NATURAL KAOLIN CLAYS Dr. Hatem M. Alsyouri *, The ... more ECONOMIC AND ROBUST MACROPOROUS MEMBRANES FROM NATURAL KAOLIN CLAYS Dr. Hatem M. Alsyouri *, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan Dr. Ayoup M. Ghrair, Royal Scientific Society, Amman, Jordan Dr. Malyuba A. Abu Daabes, German-Jordanian University, Amman, Jordan * Corresponding author: Tel: +962-79-989 9199, Email: alsyouri@ju.eu.jo Abstract Successful utilization of natural clays for fabricating membranes and membrane supports can lead to considerable savings in material cost and energy. The focus of this work is to assess the quality of macroporous supports prepared from naturally-occurring kaolin clays in Jordan without any pretreatment or modification. The starting kaolin clays mined from three locations in Jordan are composed of kaolin, quartz and calcite minerals. Experiments show that dry pressing and firing at 1100C give macroporous supports with high mechanical strength (>200 MPa) enhanced by quartz and iron oxide. The higher the kaolin content, the lower the strength....
Environmental stresses such as low soil moisture and soil nutrient deficiency are the main causes... more Environmental stresses such as low soil moisture and soil nutrient deficiency are the main causes for low productivity in arid and semi-arid regions. Soil amendments are one solution to minimize soil moisture evaporation and to improve plant nutrients uptake. The current study was carried out to examine the effect of different weathered and fresh volcanic tuff (WVT and FVT, respectively) application rates available in Jordanian market on growth, irrigation water saving and leaves mineral content of salvia (Salvia officinalis). Plant growth was significantly (P ≤ 0.01) decreased by increasing WVT/FVT application, where the maximum reductions were detected in pure WVT and FVT treatments. Leaves sodium concentration were significantly (P ≤ 0.05) increased by 2 to 3 folds by VT application, however, other essential elements such as nitrogen, iron and manganese were decreased. The water consumption in VT amended soils was reduced from 46.5 to 67.8% and to the same extent as the total pla...
Desalination and Water Treatment, 2015
Process Safety and Environmental Protection, 2015
Raw Cyperus laevigatus shoots Pseudo-second order kinetic model Constructed wetlands a b s t r a ... more Raw Cyperus laevigatus shoots Pseudo-second order kinetic model Constructed wetlands a b s t r a c t Cyperus laevigatus grows in natural and constructed wetland ecosystems built for domestic effluents treatment. The use of unmodified shoots of C. laevigatus as a wetland bio-waste for cadmium (Cd) removal from aqueous solutions was assessed. Batch adsorption experiments were conducted to investigate effects of pH, contact time, adsorbent dose, and Cd concentration at an ionic strength of 0.01 mol l −1 NaNO 3 on adsorption efficiency and capacity.
Unlike coal fly ash, fly ash of heavy fuel oil has received much less attention in the literature... more Unlike coal fly ash, fly ash of heavy fuel oil has received much less attention in the literature. In this work, detailed physicochemical characterization of heavy fuel oil fly ash (FA) is provided. The ash has a carbonaceous matrix and contains V, Ni, Zn, Cr, Cu, and Pb with variable amounts. V was the most abundant heavy metal with enrichment factor of 277 in the FA. The presence of V in the FA is attributed to the formation of Mg 3 V 2 O 8 oxides at high combustion temperature as confirmed by XRD. Particle size distribution showed that the mean particle diameter of the FA was 70.5 μm. Extraction recovery up to 85% of metals was achieved using 1.0 M HNO 3 and at room temperature. Standard metal-leaching tests confirmed that the elution of the toxic metals and the level of eluted Zn were much higher than the regulated value for the solid residues. Five stable geopolymers GPs containing 41.7 wt.% FA were prepared. All GPs showed high compressive strength and low water absorption which support their application as lightweight construction composites. Most importantly, adding FA to GP had significantly reduced metal migration into the environment as confirmed by the synthetic precipitation leaching procedure.
ABSTRACT In Jordan, large amounts of fly ash (FA) are produced as a result of burning heavy fuel ... more ABSTRACT In Jordan, large amounts of fly ash (FA) are produced as a result of burning heavy fuel in power plants. The brackish granular flash ash was systematically analysed by different analytical techniques including scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), lazier diffractometer (LD), Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and acoustic and electroacoustic spectrometer in order to investigate geometrical structure, morphology, surface chemistry and composition of the resulted FA. The FA was sampled form the places where heavy fuel is burned to produce electricity. This study revealed that about 50% of FA particles diameters were less than 530 nm. FA particles were predominantly appeared as smooth of mineral spheres. The FA was rich in C, S, Mg, V, Ni and Fe indicating the carbonaceous nature of this material. The Al and Si contents were insignificant. The size distribution, chemical and morphological properties of the FA particles were found to be log-normal. The FA contains high heavy metals content, particularly vanadium oxide (V2O5: 8.07 %wt) and nickel oxide (NiO: 0.91 %wt). Discussion on the physical and chemical characteristics of carbonaceous FA produced in power plants is addressed in this work.
Water, 2012
Installation of decentralized grey water treatment systems in small rural communities contributes... more Installation of decentralized grey water treatment systems in small rural communities contributes to a more sustainable water supply. In order to gauge community attitudes about collection and use of grey water, a door-to-door survey in the farming community of Deir Alla, Jordan was conducted by Royal Scientific Society interviewers. Outcomes of a detailed survey, designed specifically for this project, offer insights on people's views on general water and wastewater issues, as well as their motivation, practices and concerns related to using grey water treatment for a portion of their household wastewater and reuse of the treated grey water for irrigation. A total of 47 respondents from different socio-economic background, aged over 18 years, from this community in the Jordan valley took part in the survey. The level of formal education of the respondents was low, and most of households' incomes were below the poverty line in Jordan. Most of the respondents reported that the quality of water supplied by public network is acceptable, but the quantity is insufficient to meet their demand, with supplies being delivered to the household once a week. Respondents relied on the public water network as a first-most important resource (85.1%), and 57.4% of the respondent relied on private water tankers as a second-most important resource in addition to the public network. However, 6% of the respondents relied only on private water tankers with no access to the public network. Storage tanks are common practice in all the houses in order to store enough water for at least one week. The survey responses provide evidence that rural communities are willing
Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, 2009
Nanoparticles derived from natural materials are promising compounds in the field of environmenta... more Nanoparticles derived from natural materials are promising compounds in the field of environmental remediation. The present study produces and characterizes Na-zeolitic tuff in the nanorange, stabilizes the nanotuff in suspension, and investigates the effect of Na-zeolitic nanotuff on sorption of Cd. Breakdown of raw zeolitic tuff with a mean particle size of 109 μm to the nanorange was achieved by attrition milling. In the first stage of grinding, a mixture of Al-oxide beads of 1 to 2.6 mm diameter was used. The milling process lasted 4 h. In the second stage, the dried powder was milled again using a mixture of a fine zirconia beads (0.1 mm) and Al-oxide beads (1.0 mm). The powder was treated with 1 M NaCl solution. Finally, the powder was sonicated in water. After this procedure, the mean and median particle diameters were 47.6 and 41.8 nm, respectively. The nanoparticulate zeolitic tuff had a surface area of 82 m 2 g −1 . The estimated zero charge point of the nanoparticle suspension was 3.2. The surface zeta potential was pH dependent. The Nazeolitic nanotuff increased Cd sorption by a factor of up to 3 compared to the raw zeolitic tuff. Our results indicate that zeolitic nanoparticles can be produced by grinding using a mixture of fine beads in an attrition mill and that this procedure increases their metal immobilizing potential.
Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, 2010
... Accepted January 17, 2010 1 Introduction Pollution of soil by heavy metals such as cadmium (C... more ... Accepted January 17, 2010 1 Introduction Pollution of soil by heavy metals such as cadmium (Cd) has received considerable attention during the last decades. Heavy metals are generally immutable, not degradable, and persistent in soil (Adriano et al., 2004). ...
CLEAN - Soil, Air, Water, 2014
A pilot grey water treatment system and collection network were designed, installed, and operated... more A pilot grey water treatment system and collection network were designed, installed, and operated in Jordan Valley using natural filtration materials. Grey water from showers and washing sinks was collected from four houses. In order to evaluate the performance of multilayer filter (MLF) ability to remove the pollutants from the collected grey water, the quality of treated and untreated grey water was examined and the suitability of treated grey water for irrigation was assessed. The results revealed that the efficiency removal of organic material before UV disinfection stage for BOD 5 , COD, and TSS was about 88.6, 83, and 92.2%, respectively. The efficiency removal rates for nutrients by MLF were a bit low as 32.5% of total phosphorous and 19.8% of total nitrogen were removed, whereas the removal efficiency of heavy metals Zn, Fe, and Ba were 94.8, 81.2, and 15.7%, respectively. The results showed that the pilot plant has efficiently reduced the coliform organisms, thermo-tolerance coli count, and Escherichia coli by more than 99.9% removal efficiency by the double-filter stage and 100% after disinfection stage. The current MLF system has the transferability potential to other locations of the developing world.
Chemical Engineering Journal, 2010
In order to remove the limitations originating from inefficient heat and mass transfer in adsorpt... more In order to remove the limitations originating from inefficient heat and mass transfer in adsorption refrigeration/heat pump, an innovative arrangement design was proposed. It was equipped with meshed multi-tubular involving activated carbon in a sealed cylindrical adsorber. Related aspects of adsorption refrigeration key parameters were addressed. Working pair, activated carbon-diethyl ether, is used in the above system in order to determine the optimum adsorption refrigeration parameters.
Chemical Engineering Journal, 2011
In Jordan, large amounts of fly ash (FA) are produced as a result of burning heavy fuel in power ... more In Jordan, large amounts of fly ash (FA) are produced as a result of burning heavy fuel in power plants. Extraction of metals from FA is an important industrial/environmental issue to assess metals' mobility and applications. Large amounts of metals (V, Ni, Fe, Ca, Mg, Na, and K) were easily leached from FA under acidic, basic, and neutral conditions and this makes disposal of this material an important environmental issue. Extraction and separation of vanadium (V) and nickel (Ni) from FA is achieved using Akita's procedure with some modifications. In the first step, Ni is selectively eluted from FA using NH 4 OH solution and then precipitated using Na 2 S. The Ni/V ratio in final precipitate was 27. On the other hand, V is extracted from Ni-free-FA using Na 2 CO 3 solution, recovered by 0.1 M tri-ethylamine/toluene, and precipitated by NH 4 Cl. The V/Ni ratio in the final precipitate was 55. The adopted method showed a reasonable recovery for both metals from FA, 56 and 45% from Ni and V, respectively. The earlier attempts indicated that separation of V/Ni by precipitation using OH − or CO 3 2− was not successful where both the metals did not precipitate from solution in the presence of other elements.