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A novel cassava peeling machine that operates on the principle of the lathe was designed, fabricated and tested. The unique peeling principle uses a self-loading, self-adjusting single point cutting tool that can follow the contour of the cut cassava tuber sections or sized lots. The single point cutting tool allows the peeler to peel both freshly harvested cassava tubers and cassava tubers that are up to four days old effectively and efficiently. Test results show a peeling efficiency of over 70% for all categories of tubers and a minimal loss of flesh.

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Energy and exergy analyses were carried out on an active 42MW open cycle gas turbine power plant. Data from the power plant record book were employed in the investigation. The First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics were applied to each component of the gas power plant at ambient air temperature range of 21 - 330C. Results obtained from the analyses show that the energy and exergy efficiencies decrease with increase in ambient air temperature entering the compressor. It was also shown that 66.98% of fuel input and 54.53% of chemical exergy are both lost to the environment as heat from the combustion chamber in the energy and exergy analysis respectively. The energy analysis quantified the efficiency of the plant arising from energy losses , while exergy analysis revealed the magnitude of losses in various components of the plant. Therefore a complete thermodynamic evaluation of gas turbine power plants requires the use of both analytical methods.

Gas turbines have gained popularity in power generation application because of its ease in operation, fuel flexibility and low emission of greenhouse gases. When in use as a simple gas turbine (SGT), it has the challenge of low thermal efficiency, which needs improvement to enhance its thermal efficiency and other thermal performances. This paper presents the energy analysis of incorporating a retrofitted combined regenerative gas turbine organic Rankine cycle (CRGTORC) to utilize the exhaust heat from the existing Ihovbor Power plant in Nigeria. The working fluid used in the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) section was cyclopentane and the analysis was carried out with the aid of ASPEN HYSYS and REFPROP. The performance of the proposed CRGTORC was compared with the existing SGT. The results obtained revealed that the CRGTORC model increases the net power output, thermal efficiency, overall cycle efficiency and work ratio of the system by 23.53%, 62.24%, 54.60%, and 10.21% respectively. Also, the flue gas losses, specific fuel consumption, and heat rate were reduced by 89.21%, 36.26%, and 36.26% respectively. Furthermore, it was observed that rise in compressor inlet air temperature lead to increase in specific fuel consumption and heat rate and decrease with net power out, thermal efficiency, cycle efficiency, flue gas losses, and work ratio. Thus, from the simulation results, the existing Ihovbor Power plant performance will be improved by integrating the CRGTORC system and its performance is significantly affected by the ambient inlet air temperature.

This paper evaluated the performance of a locally fabricated sawdust fired oven for drying process. The principles of energy conservation and heat recovery were applied in analyzing the data obtained from the pilot Oven. Results obtained revealed that the maximum oven temperature in the drying chamber was 130 0 C after 105 minutes of the heating process. Furthermore, the maximum energy gained and efficiency computed were 3.78kW and 56.65% respectively. Thus, using the sawdust fired Oven for domestic drying purpose will reduce dependence on fossil fuel; therefore, minimizing the effect of global warming and climate change. The used of the sawdust oven can serve as an alternative device for burning sawdust for drying purpose.

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