Tanzanian forests are excessively threatened by increased charcoal production fuelled by increased demand crucially in Dar es Salaam city which consumes nearly 70% of all the charcoal produced in the country. Through use of ecological modeling software STELLA® the environmental burden of charcoal production and use in Tanzania has been established. The study has revealed that the country losses 150,433 ha of forest per year. Due to increase in population by year 2030 almost 2.8 million ha of forests will have been lost. This is equivalent to 8.5% of the total forest cover the country had in 2009. The environmental burden includes air pollution characterized by a total emission of 49, 1.0, and 9.0, 12 million tonnes of CO<sub>2</sub>, SO<sub>2</sub>, NO<sub>x</sub>, and CH<sub>4</sub>, respectively by 2030. Other adverse impacts include loss of forest cover which ultimately causes degradation of soil quality by increased soil erosion, degradation of water sources and disruption of rainfall pattern including inducing draught. Taking into account that the agriculture in Tanzania is primarily rain fed, this has an adverse impact in agricultural production. In the current exploitation of this important natural resource, its sustainability is severely challenged and the whole concept of the forest being renewable is put into question. From these findings, it is recommended that concrete and deliberate efforts be made to reduce and eventually prohibit the use of charcoal in cities and towns
Combined biological and Physicochemical treatment method was used to treat vinasse using microorganisms (Aspergillus niger (fungi) and Bacillus subtilis (bacteria)), coagulants (aluminium sulphate (Al2(SO4)3) and iron III chlorides (FeCl3)) and followed by filtration. Three factors; coagulant type, type of microorganism and coagulant concentration was analysed using full factorial design (2 n ) with replication, on their percentage removal of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Total Suspended Solids (TSS) and turbidity. Pareto chart and regression analysis with a 95% confidence interval (5% significant level) were used to analyse the results using MINITAB 22 (current version). Initially, the vinasse had (COD), (BOD), (TSS), and turbidity of 10240 mg/ℓ, 5340 mg/ℓ, 400 mg/ℓ, and 1980 NTU, respectively, and a pH of 5.68. COD, BOD, TSS, and turbidity were reduced by 99.5%, 99.7%, 99.7%, and 93.7%, respectively, after the treatment, while pH was raised to 7.5, which is neutral. Using Bacillus subtilis and aluminium sulphate, the combined biological and physicochemical process produced good results for the treatment of vinasse.
Polylactic acid (PLA) is a biodegradable and renewable alternative to non-biodegradable petrochemical-based polymers that is environmentally friendly and green. PLA can be made from a variety of agricultural wastes that contain sugars, such as sisal boles. This study aimed at analysing the possibility of producing PLA from lactic acid (LA) produced from sisal bole. A 2n factorial design was used to analyse the effects of temperature (160-180ºC), time (1-2 hrs) and tin octoate catalyst concentration (0.025-0.05%) on the PLA yield during polymerization. Minitab Version 20.2.0 was used to design the experiment and analyse the effects on the responses through ANOVA. It was possible to produce 0.73±0.05 g of lactide per g of sisal bole LA used. More than 99% conversion of lactide into PLA was done for 2 hrs when the system temperature was 180ºC regardless of the catalyst ratio used. Temperature and time significantly affected the yield with p-values of less than 0.05 at 95% confidence level. The current findings support sisal bole juice as an alternative feedstock for LA production, a precursor for PLA. The use of sisal bole (SB) waste will protect environment by using waste biomass as an opportunity to participate in a global move to produce biobased plastics and promote the ban on the use of petrochemical-based plastics in packaging.
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