In recent time, interest in energy generation from biological materials has been on the increase because of its environmental benefits. The use of these waste materials as feedstock in energy generation plants has been used in many industrial processes. The availability of these wastes is key to the sustainability of such a process. Resource assessment is an important step for planning and implementation of any energy workflow. This research studied the quantity of crop residues generated from farming of some crops in Kwara State and the potential energy contents inherent in them which when properly harnessed can help to alleviate the energy challenge in the state. The crops investigated were rice, maize, sorghum, soybean, and sugar cane. Relevant data were collected by visiting major farm establishments in the state and also the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources (MANR). Obtained production outputs for two farming seasons were analysed using the corresponding residue-to-crop ratios (RPR) to obtain the quantity of wastes generated and the corresponding unit conversion ratio for biomass energy content to obtain the inherent energy potentials. A total crop output of 2531.46 ton was obtained from the study with an estimated residue of 6047.02 tons, and inherent energy potential of 109201 GJ.
The use of agricultural wastes as additives for other valuable products has been the focus of many research efforts because of their availability, inherent properties, and environmental friendliness. Palm kernel shells (PKS) and coconut shells (CNS) are agricultural solid end products obtainable from the cracking of their fruit nuts. In this study, PKS and CNS were used to produce abrasive sandpaper following established procedures. The mechanical properties of the sandpaper produced were established. Material for application in abrasive operations must exhibit maximum hardness and compressive strength, minimal wear rate, water absorption, and density. Results showed a 20% and 25% increment in specimen hardness values for PKS and CNS respectively in samples with polyester resin content weight composition range of 7.8–22.2% based on sieve size of 250 μm. Similarly, 29.23% and 32.44% increment for PKS and CNS respectively was recorded for a sieve size of 420 μm. Samples with a high percentage of binder exhibit better wear characteristics for both PKS and CNS for the investigated parameters. As the percentage weight composition of PKS and CNS samples increases in the abrasive sandpaper composites, the water absorption properties decrease for both 250 μm and 420 μm sieve sizes. Samples compressive strength increases as the percentage weight composition of binder increases over a range of 7.8 to 22.2% for both 250 μm and 420 μm sieve sizes studied. Similarly, as the percentage weight composition of PSK and CNS increases, the sample exhibit high density for both sieve sizes. These characteristics affirmed the suitability of the abrasive composites made with PKS and CNS for frictional applications.
The design and construction of a motorized rice grader were undertaken to classify rice grains into the head rice and broken rice. Three (3) screens of decreasing diameters were used inclined at angles ranging from 6, 8, and 16 0 and driven by a 5 hp motor to cause agitation and a pneumatic mechanism for blowing light chaff material. The performance efficiency of the developed machine was evaluated with milled rice at 15% moisture content (wet basis) at different feed gate levels (FGL) (5 to 20 mm). The result indicated decreased grading efficiency (GE) and product purity (PP) with increased FGL, increased throughput capacity (TPC) and tray loss (TL) with increased FGL. The highest GE and PP were 91.67 and 90.97% at 5 mm FGO, while the highest TPC and TL were achieved at 20 mm FGL as 0.08 kg/s and 1.06%, respectively. The feed gate levels (5 to 20 mm) had a significant effect on the performance efficiencies investigated.
Practical applicationsAfter rice milling, there are usually broken rice grains in mixture with head rice. The developed motorized rice grader is useful in separating broken rice grains from the milled rice. This machine would help increase the quality of rice produced by the local or commercial processors. In addition, the time and drudgery associated with manual sorting are reduced.
This experiment investigated the mechanical properties of mild steel, galvanized iron and stainless steel when subjected to tensile and flexural loading. Work pieces of 54 samples were prepared having a gage length of 30 mm for material thicknesses of 1, 1.5 and 2 mm which was replicated three times. Properties such as peak force at break, elongation at break, stress, and strain of the materials were studied using a testometric M500-100AT Universal Testing Machine (UTM). The peak force obtained for mild steel was 2495.43, 4643.33 and 6215.67 N for 1, 1.5 and 2 mm respectively. The elongations of mild steel were 48.88, 54.77 and 56.11 mm for 1, 1.5, and 2 mm respectively. For stainless steel tensile strength analysis, the peak forces obtained are 9486.66, 9558.00 and 9522.33 N for 1, 1.5 and 2 mm respectively. The deformation of the material occurred at similar loads having stresses of 535.20, 583.51 and 486.88 N/mm2 for the thicknesses investigated. Similarly, the stress-strain relationship of the material ranged from 10131.20 N/mm2 to 12757.33 N/mm2 while the elongation amount of strain it can withstand before failure are 30.54, 38.64 and 47.74 mm. The bending strength for mild steel both at peak and at break increased as the thickness increases. Bending strength at peak are 364.50, 378.33 and 381.87 N/mm2 for 1, 1.5 and 2 mm respectively with 2 mm expectedly showing the greatest bending strength. Also, for stainless steel, the deflection of the different length of stainless steel at peak increased as the length increased unlike for mild steel with a reverse case. The deflection at break decreased as the length of the materials increases. The bending strength at peak and the bending modulus increased as the length of the material was increased, while at break the reverse was the output. From this investigation, it can be observed that stainless followed by mild steel have higher tensile and yield strength than galvanized iron. This explain the wide applications of stainless steel and mild steel in various crop processing machines constructions and other engineering uses that require high strength.
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