Large quantities of bagasse are regularly accumulated on open spaces around sugar factory thereby endangering fragile ecosystem. The sugar cane bagasse carbonization process can be put into effect as an environmentally friendly, energy self-providing continuous flow technology. Therefore, the objective of this study was to use bagasse for the production of high caloric value briquette to safeguard the environment from pollution. Bagasse sample was collected from Wonje sugar factory and carbonized in an oxygen deficient environment at Ethiopian Rural Energy Development and Dissemination Center Laboratory, Addis Ababa. The carbonized materials were mixed with clay and molasses as a binder in different ratio to make a briquette using briquette extruder machine. Caloric value of the briquettes produced from bagasse using clay and molasses as a binder in different ratio ranged between 3,529-4,064 and 3,964-4,442 cal/g, respectively. The highest caloric value using clay as a binder was in the ratio 20:80 and the lowest caloric value using molasses as a binder was in the ration 25:75. Further analysis showed that through conversion of bagasse from Wonji sugar factory into briquette, annually the factory could generate 3.1×10-10 cal of energy and substitutes 13.01 m 3 of firewood or save 0.13 to 0.16 ha of tropical forests from deforestation and have the potential to sequestrate 17.90 to 22.03 tons of carbon annually. Further, the study concluded that briquettes produced from bagasse could be used as a quality source of energy and bagasse waste management option around sugar industry.
The quality of drinking water has always been a major public health concern, especially in developing countries where access to improved water supply and sanitation is very low. This study aimed to assess the bacteriological and physicochemical quality of rural community drinking water sources in the Guto Gida district. A cross-sectional study was conducted in selected rural areas of the district from January to June 2016. Water samples were collected from four types of sources (protected dug well, open dug well, protected spring, and open spring) found in 8 locations of the study area. The membrane filtration technique was employed to determine the total coliform and faecal coliform load of the samples. The physicochemical characteristics such as total dissolved solid (TDS), pH, electrical conductivity (EC), turbidity, temperature, color, iron, manganese, lead, fluoride, zinc, sulphate, nitrate, and phosphate were analyzed following the American Public Health Association and WHO standard protocols. Our results revealed that 90.6% and 87.5% of water samples were positive for total coliform and faecal coliform, respectively. Thus, the majority of the studied water sources could be classified as polluted with respect to coliform load. Our results also have shown that most of the water sources showed marginally tolerable quality with respect to color, EC, TDS, turbidity, nitrate, sulphate, and phosphate. However, the protected sources had poor quality in zinc, lead, iron, manganese, and pH with values above the permissible levels. Thus, the drinking water source quality of the study areas requires appropriate interventions such as improving the existing water source infrastructure and access to sanitation services.
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