Research Article
Hydrogeochemical Characteristics of Groundwater in the Prefecture of Bassar, Togo
Issue:
Volume 13, Issue 1, February 2025
Pages:
1-13
Received:
26 December 2024
Accepted:
27 January 2025
Published:
31 January 2025
DOI:
10.11648/j.ajche.20251301.11
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Abstract: This study aims to assess the factors and geochemical processes controlling groundwater quality in the prefecture of Bassar. It is a major yam tubers and pre-colonial West African iron production center in Togo but with limited investigations on groundwater chemistry. Conventional hydrochemical techniques with geochemical mass balance calculations, intervariables correlation, and factor analysis with principal component methods were applied to a chemical database of major ions and heavy metals concentrations of twenty borehole water samples. These groundwater samples were collected during the dry season and analyzed following AFNOR standard methods for the examination of water. The results showed fresh and circumneutral groundwater types with pH values between 6.7 and 7.5 with an average of 7.1 and EC between 280 and 1148 µS/cm and an average of 691 µS/cm. All the hydrochemical parameters comply with the WHO drinking water guideline value except Arsenic content for 5 % of the samples, suggesting potential health risks for residents relying on raw groundwater for drinking purposes. Anions and cations' contributions to groundwater mineralization are in the order of HCO3-> Cl- > SO42- > NO3- and Ca2+ > Mg2+ > Na+ > K+, respectively. The main hydrochemical facies were mixed cations-HCO3 water types, followed by accessory Ca-HCO3, Mg-HCO3, Ca-Mg-Cl, and Mg-Na-HCO3, under the control of water-rock interaction mechanisms and human activities influence from agriculture practices. The geochemical processes are silicate minerals hydrolysis, carbonate, and soil salts dissolution, sorption, and cations exchange with the thermodynamic equilibrium of groundwater with kaolinite, muscovite, K-feldspar, and smectites such as Mg-montmorillonite solid phases. Fe/Mn-(hydr)oxide phases in the aquifer matrix exert significant control on the mobility of As and Sb originating from geogenic sources in the study area. This study provides insight into the factors and geochemical processes controlling the groundwater quality, as a baseline tool for water security concerning major and trace constituents in the Bassar prefecture.
Abstract: This study aims to assess the factors and geochemical processes controlling groundwater quality in the prefecture of Bassar. It is a major yam tubers and pre-colonial West African iron production center in Togo but with limited investigations on groundwater chemistry. Conventional hydrochemical techniques with geochemical mass balance calculations,...
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Research Article
Study of the Adsorption of Difenoconazole on Char in Aqueous Medium
Melvin-Freedman Massesse-Loudi
,
Ange Brel Boukongou*,
Dieu-Mercy Bevelh Gallo Mongo,
Timoléon Andzi Barhé
Issue:
Volume 13, Issue 1, February 2025
Pages:
14-19
Received:
5 August 2024
Accepted:
17 December 2024
Published:
7 February 2025
DOI:
10.11648/j.ajche.20251301.12
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Abstract: This study focuses on the use of a new plastic waste polythene terephthalate (PET) adsorbent in a physico-chemical process for liquid effluent treatment. First, the char was characterized by determining the iodine and methylene blue indices as well as the zero charge point. The experimental conditions were optimized by evaluating the influences of pH, adsorption kinetics, char mass and initial concentration of difenoconazole. The results of the characterization revealed that the zero charge point was less than 7 (6.66), the iodine and methylene blue indices were equal to 689 mg/g and 315 mg/g respectively. Adsorption studies showed a better elimination of difenoconazole under acidic conditions, with a rate of 55.29% at pH 2. Kinetics are rapid and equilibrium is reached after 60 minutes. Experimental results indicate that a mass of 0.01 g removes 53.26% of the pesticide and that the adsorption capacity increases with the concentration of the pesticide. The study of isotherms showed that the Freundlich model better describes the process of adsorption of difenoconazole on the PET char. The adsorption of difenoconazole on the char is therefore physical type. It is dominated by π-π, dipole-dipole and H bond interactions.
Abstract: This study focuses on the use of a new plastic waste polythene terephthalate (PET) adsorbent in a physico-chemical process for liquid effluent treatment. First, the char was characterized by determining the iodine and methylene blue indices as well as the zero charge point. The experimental conditions were optimized by evaluating the influences of ...
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Research Article
Optimization of Raw Material, Decolourizing Earth and Temperature Use in the Decolourization of Palm Oil
Issue:
Volume 13, Issue 1, February 2025
Pages:
20-35
Received:
30 December 2024
Accepted:
20 January 2025
Published:
10 February 2025
DOI:
10.11648/j.ajche.20251301.13
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Abstract: The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of raw material, decolourizing earth and temperature on the colour of bleached palm oil. Two types of decolourizing earth (American and Indian) were used. A four-factor centered composite response surface design was used to determine the effects of the different mentioned factors on the colour response of bleached palm oil at two DOBIs (2.3 and 1.3). The results obtained indicate that Indian earth with DOBI 2.3 oil has the colour variation contour lines at the high level of 16.0 red and at low level of 15.3 red. The decrease in colour around 15.4 is influenced by the effect of opposite temperature levels. The increase in color depends on the bleaching earth used. The temperature influences the colour of the bleached oil depending on the raw material. The bleaching temperature with American earth and a DOBI 1.3 oil, when it is at its high level (120°C) and at its low level (110°C), gives a colour of 15.8 red and 17.6 red, respectively. The optimal discoloration conditions (18.57 red) of CPO palm oil (P ≤ 0.05) are for American earth (with DOBI 1.3 oil): 92°C and 0.035% for temperature and percentage of phosphoric acid; 105°C and 0.6% for temperature and percentage of decolourizing earth. For Indian earth (with DOBI 2.3 oil), we have the optimum (18.66 red): 105°C and 0.035% for temperature and percentage of phosphoric acid; 118.5°C and 0.88% for temperature and percentage of decolourizing earth.
Abstract: The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of raw material, decolourizing earth and temperature on the colour of bleached palm oil. Two types of decolourizing earth (American and Indian) were used. A four-factor centered composite response surface design was used to determine the effects of the different mentioned factors on the colo...
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