The biggest challenge for jatropha breeding is to identify superior genotypes that present high seed yield and seed oil content with reduced toxicity levels. Therefore, the objective of this study was to estimate genetic parameters for three important traits (weight of 100 seed, oil seed content, and phorbol ester concentration), and to select superior genotypes to be used as progenitors in jat...

Heavy crude oil can be upgraded to lighter oil using several techniques. However, current methods usually require high temperatures, long reaction duration, and cause serious environmental pollution. This study shows that by using carbon nanocatalysts, heavy crude oil can be efficiently upgraded to lighter oil at a relatively low temperature of about 150 °C. The temperature of crude oil was inc...

the acute toxicity of a malaysian crude oil to red snapper, lutjanus argentimaculatus, blacktiger shrimp and penaeus monodon were investigated. the animals were exposed to water solublefractions (wsf) of crude oil in a flow-through bioassay system and the toxicants were analyzed by gaschromatography (gc) and gas chromatography and mass spectrometer (gc-ms). the 96 h lc50 valuesof the wsf of cru...

Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery (MEOR) is a potential technology for residual heavy oil recovery. Many heavy oil fields in Oman and elsewhere have difficulty in crude oil recovery because it is expensive due to its high viscosity. Indigenous microbes are capable of improving the fluidity of heavy oil, by changing its high viscosity and producing lighter oil fractions. Many spore-forming bacteri...

We report here the draft genome sequence of Arthrobacter sp. MWB30 strain, isolated from a crude oil-contaminated seashore in Tae-an, South Korea, which is able to degrade the crude oil and its derivatives. The draft genome sequence of 4,647,008 bp provides a resource for the identification of crude oil-degrading mechanisms in strain MWB30.

In this work we propose an MILP multiperiod formulation for the optimal design and planning of the Argentinean biodiesel supply chain, considering soybean, sunflower and jatropha as raw materials. The country has been divided into twenty three regions, corresponding to its provinces, each one including existing crops, oil and biodiesel plants and potential ones, associated to binary variables. ...

After the launch of Brazilian program of biodiesel use and production (PNPB) in 2004, the oil seed production became an economic alternative for family farmers since they might have the chance to improve their income and supply the biodiesel enterprises with raw material. Theoretically speaking this picture is easy to draw, but until recently little scientific research was carried out aiming at...

The main purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effect of crude oil price on global fertilizer prices in both the mean and volatility. The endogenous structural breakpoint unit root test, ARDL model, and alternative volatility models, including GARCH, EGARCH, and GJR models, are used to investigate the relationship between crude oil price and six global fertilizer prices. The empirical result...

Crude oil pricing is commonly expressed as a formula referenced to Brent or WTI crude oil. The final price of these two qualities and the spread between WTI and Brent can drive the decision when the purchase of a crude oil cargo is evaluated. A crude oil price-forecasting model is presented. It is based on past data, inventory level and volatility index and it is derived with a neuro fuzzy infe...

Emulsion of waxy crude oil is one of the common states in the subsea pipeline. At low temperatures in offshore environment, waxy crude oils with water could form the crude oil emulsion gel of oil-in-water emulsion. Thus, the waxy crude oil emulsion viscoelastic behavior for deep sea transportation and restarting pipeline safety is particularly important. By means of MASIII HAAKE rheometer which...