Goal 9: Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure

The university is advancing plans to establish a Science and Technology Park that aims to promote innovative ideas, attract global talents and foster partnership among academia, industry and government.  The Park will integrate elements of reverse engineering and SME-focused industrial growth, startup incubation and talent development strategies, sustainability-centred development frameworks, supply chain integration and infrastructure, and an efficient model of university-industry collaboration. The proposed STIP will encompass Techno-Parks, Science Parks, and Incubation Parks, each serving as a foundation for fostering creativity, competitiveness, and technological advancement. These facilities will nurture start ups, promote innovation-based companies through spin-offs and incubators, and offer high-quality space and services needed for cutting-edge research and development.

GIRIGISU, SADISU (06/55EE148)
April 2023
PREPARATION, CHARACTERIZATION AND APPLICATION OF TUNGSTEN-BASED COMPOUNDS FROM WOLFRAMITE ORE FOR IMPROVED RUBBER PROPERTIES AND DYE DEGRADATIONS

April 2023

The need to harness the abundant deposit of wolframite ore for industrial value additions and to boost the country’s economic diversification from oil-dependent cannot be over-emphasized. Thus, the under-exploited wolframite ore can be used in solving the problem of processing tungsten-oxide as industrial catalysts often obtained through importation requires considerable attention. Therefore, this study was aimed at the preparation and characterization of tungsten-based compounds from wolframite ore for improved rubber properties and dye degradations. The objectives of the study were toː

(i) determine the ore’s elemental and mineralogical compositions; (ii) purify the raw ore; (iii) investigate the leaching kinetics of the ore in acidic and basic media; (iv) upgrade the tungsten leached liquors by solvent extraction, precipitation, and crystallization techniques; and (v) prepare the tungsten-based compounds at optimal conditions for defined industrial applications.
The initially floated wolframite ore was treated by leaching in hydrochloric (HCl), sulphuric (H2SO4), nitric (HNO3) acids, and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solutions. At a set of optimal conditions, a combination of phosphoric acid (H3PO4) oxidant at varying leachant concentrations, reaction temperature, particle size, and contact time on the extent of the ore dissolution was examined. The characterizations of the selected leached products were carried out using X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Scanning Electron Micrograph-Energy Dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX) techniques. The extraction process was investigated using Tributyl phosphate (TBP) and Tricarpyl amine (Aliquat-336®) in kerosene. Purification of the tungsten solution was carried out at pH 3 and further beneficiated to obtain high-grade industrial tungsten-based compounds.
The findings of the study were that:
i. Anka wolframite ore consists of 51.45 wt% W, 25.23 wt% Si, 5.36 wt% Fe, 1.43 wt% Pb with traces of Cu, Al, and Mn (≤ 1.02 wt%). The XRD analysis showed the ore to contain Ferberite, Stolzite, Quartz, Slvite, Helvine, and Wulfenite;
ii. the purified ore now consists of Hurbenite (Manganese tungstate ː MnWO4) and Quartz (SiO2) after floatation;
iii. at optimal leaching conditions, the ore dissolution reached 93.7,95.1, 94.9, and 98.7% using H2SO4/H3PO4, HCl/H3PO4, HNO3/H3PO4, and NaOH/H3PO4 leachants respectively. The calculated activation energies of 14.9, 33.71, 8.11, and 12.32 kJ/mol in each of the above-named media followed the internal diffusion-reaction mechanisms;
iv. the purified leached liquor by solvent extraction at pH 3 using Aliquat-336® and TBP extractants yielded 95.1% and 93.4% of total tungsten extraction respectively; and
v. the beneficiated and well-characterized products derived from (iv) resulted in high-grade industrial tungsten compounds with comparable properties.
The study concluded that the prepared high-grade tungsten-based compounds with 98% purity consisted of ammonium metatungstate (AMT), sodium tungstate, and tungsten oxide. Therefore, the prepared high-grade tungsten-based compounds are recommended for use to improve rubber epoxidation properties and catalytic dye degradations.
NEW RESULTS ON SOME CLASSES OF ANALYTIC FUNCTIONS DEFINED BY MEANS OF SUBORDINATION AND q-DIFFERENTIAL OPERATORS
LASODE, AYOTUNDE OLAJIDE (95/040820)
MARCH, 2023
A branch of Complex Analysis known as Geometric Function Theory is the study of geometric properties of analytic and univalent functions in the unit disk U = z C : z < 1 . Geometric Function Theory has essential applications in confor- mal mappings, engineering designs and constructions, Mathematical Physics and solutions to Dirichlet, Neumann, frequency analysis and orthogonal polynomial problems. In spite of these applications, there is need to generalise some of the classes of functions to broaden the scope of their applications. This was achieved by introducing q-differential and q-integral operators in the definitions of the classes that are studied. In this research, three new classes of analytic-univalent func- tions are defined and investigated. The aim of this research is to obtain geometric properties for the three new classes Λq(δ, γ), Λq(δ, ϕ) and ٨(n, b, t, u; λ; A, B) of analytic and univalent functions in the unit disk U. The objectives are to: (i) define three new classes of analytic and univalent functions in U; (ii) prove the characterisation properties for classes Λq(δ, ϕ) and S٨(n, b, t, u; λ; A, B); (iii) estab- lish the growth, distortion and covering properties for functions in classes Λq(δ, ϕ) and ٨(n, b, t, u; λ; A, B); (iv) determine some closure properties for functions in classes Λq(δ, γ) and ٨(n, b, t, u; λ; A, B); (v) determine some inclusion properties for classes Λq(δ, γ) and ٨(n, b, t, u; λ; A, B); (vi) solve the radii problems of convex- ity, starlikeness and close-to-convexity for class ٨(n, b, t, u; λ; A, B); (vii) determine the upper estimates for the coefficients, Fekete-Szeg¨o functional and Hankel deter- minants of functions in the classes Λq(δ, γ) and Λq(δ, ϕ); and (viii) affirm some subordination properties for functions in Λq(δ, ϕ) and S٨(n, b, t, u; λ; A, B).
The analytical tools used are the q-calculus and q-analysis; the intimate relation- ship between starlike functions and Janowski’s functions such that their real parts are greater than a particular positive real value γ < 1; the notions of sets the- ory; bounds and inequalities; and the adoption of convolution and subordination principles.
The findings of the study were that:

(i) the three new classes Λq(δ, γ), Λq(δ, ϕ) and S٨(n, b, t, u; λ; A, B) consist of
analytic and univalent functions in U;
(ii) the characterisation properties show the conditions for an analytic function
f to be in the classes Λq(δ, ϕ) and S٨(n, b, t, u; λ; A, B);
(iii) the analytic structure and geometric behaviour of the growth property m ≤
|f (z)| ≤ M , distortion property mJ ≤ |f J(z)| ≤ M J and covering property
|f (z)| ≤ m (m ≤ M and m, M ∈ R+) for functions f in classes Λq(δ, ϕ) and
S٨(n, b, t, u; λ; A, B) were obtained;
(iv) four closure properties were established for functions belonging to classes
Λq(δ, γ) and S٨(n, b, t, u; λ; A, B);

(v) based on some conditions, some known subclasses A˜1, A˜2 ⊂ A of analytic
functions satisfied the inclusion relations A1 ⊂ Λq(δ, γ) and
A˜2 ⊂ S٨(n, b, t, u; λ; A, B);

(vi) the radii of convexity, starlikeness and close-to-convexity problems were solved for functions in class S٨(n, b, t, u; λ; A, B);
(vii) the upper estimates of coefficients bounds |ak|, Fekete-Szeg¨o functional |a3 − ηa2| (η ∈ C) and Hankel determinants |H2,2(f )| and |H3,1(f )| for functions in the classes Λq(δ, γ) and Λq(δ, ϕ) were established; and
(viii) the subordination properties were established for functions in Λq(δ, ϕ) and
S٨(n, b, t, u; λ; A, B).
The study concluded that, the three new classes of analytic-univalent functions are generalisations of some well-known existing classes of analytic-univalent func- tions. Also, the results in this study generally reduce to some well-known and new results with appropriate variations of the involving parameters. Therefore, this study recommends that the results from the three new classes of analytic-univalent functions should be applied in solving various physical problems in engineering de- signs and constructions, heat flow, aerodynamics, hydrodynamics, fluid flows and in the solution to analytical problems of polynomials, determinants and frequency analysis.