ABSTRACT An evaporative cooling system was designed, fabricated and tested for the storage of fresh fruits and vegetables. The system's working principles is based on the principle of evaporation which causes a cooling effect to its surrounding. The system is an enclosed system and air is allowed to pass only through the pad, also a suction fan centrally located which draws in air through the pad. Water drips into the foam at a constant rate through a water distribution system. As the water d...
ABSTRACT A solar dryer integrated with a simple bed rock was designed and constructed with locally available materials to dry tomatoes and pepper. The dryer was composed of solar collector, drying chamber, back up heater and airflow system all integrated together. The back-up heater provided alternative heating during cloudy weather conditions or at night when solar radiations were low. The dryer was designed based on climatic conditions of Ikale summit located in Ikale, Ekiti Nigeria. The ...
ABSTRACT The amount of soil organic carbon (SOC) stored in a particular soil is influenced by several factors including climate, vegetation type and age, land management, soil properties and current and past land use. The impacts of land use types on soil organic carbon were assessed. Four land use types were used in the study. Sampled soils were taken at depth of 0-45 cm and at intervals of 15 cm. The soil samples were examined in accordance with the standard methods. The data were analy...
ABSTRACT Many grasses have played prominent roles in forage research and livestock production in Nigeria. Grasses possess two main photosynthetic pathways: the C3 pathway that is typical of most plants and a specialized C4 pathway that minimizes photorespiration and thus increases photosynthetic performance in high-temperature and/ or low- CO2 environments. Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana) is a perennial grass of tropical and subtropical Africa where it remained one of the main C4 forage grass...
ABSTRACT Water conservation and food security are some of the problems facing developing countries. The challenges of water conservation could be tackled by adopting the drip irrigation method. The drip irrigation system is an irrigation system that involves the artificial application of water to the base or root zone of plants in a controlled slow frequent and steady manner. This study was developed drip irrigation system for rural farmer on a small sale plot of an area of 7m X 5m with a wa...
ABSTRACT Food extrusion is one of the earliest methods adopted by most industries to convert their paste raw material to a finished and desire shape based on their of an extrusion machine. Extrusion technique is a process in food processing technology that combines several unit operations including cooking. kneading. shearing. shaping and forming. The machine that forces the mix through the die is an extruder and the mix is known as extrudate. The extruder consists of large, rotating screw ...
ABSTRACT Weed control is one of the most difficult tasks on an agricultural farm. Three methods of weed control are commonly known in agriculture. These are mechanical, chemical and biological control. Mechanical weed control is easily adopted by farmers once they get convinced of its advantages. Mechanical weed control not only uproots the weed between the crop rows but also keeps the soil surface loose, ensuring better soil aeration and water intake capacity. Weeding by mechanical devices...
ABSTRACT Drying is the oldest method of preserving agricultural products and it is an energy intensive process. High prices ·and shortages of fossil fuels have increased the emphasis on using alternative renewable energy resources. Drying of agricultural products using renewable energy such as solar energy is environmental friendly and has little environmental impact. Development of solar drying has brought a techniques and equipment for fast drying of various agricultural product foods...
ABSTRACT Concrete made from ordinary Portland cement continues to be used as the main construction materials because of its durability and strength characteristics in service life. But the contrary becomes the case when such concrete is exposed to aggressive environment created by the prevalence of chloride ions that are common in marine/coastal environment characterized by temperature extremes, that is peculiar to Nigeria. Hot marine and coastal environment, constitute an aggressive environm...
Abstract Disposal of wastes resulting from myriads of human activities continues to be a problem especially in developing nations, where effective and efficient wastes disposal system is lacking. This paper presents the result of the study conducted to investigate the environmental benefits of using pulverized bone - obtained from bones generated as waste from abattoirs and slaughter slabs - in the production of structural foamed aerated concrete. Some of the properties investigated into are ...
Abstract Provision of affordable housing especially for low-income earners, which forms the majority of the population, continues to be elusive in the nations of world. The major reason given for this is the high cost of building and construction materials. Concrete and concrete products constitute the major building construction materials. However, cement which is the main binder in concrete production has been identified as the major contributor to increasing high cost of construction. This...
Abstract: This paper presents the results of a mathematical model developed for predicting the 28-day compressive strength of foamed aerated concrete containing pulverised bone as partial replacement of cement for the purpose of quality controls. Strength-porosity relation was used as a basis for the development of the model, and the Bisection Methods of Numerical analysis was used to evaluate the inherent constants. For all the percentages of cement replacement with pulverised bone, the exp...
ABSTRACT The transfer of stress from a deformed bar to the concrete is achieved by mechanical locking of the steel into the surrounding concrete. This interfacial bond strength between steel and the surrounding concrete is an important factor influencing the strength and durability of reinforced concrete structure. This paper presents the result of investigation conducted to find out the bond performance of reinforcement from different manufacturer. 12 mm and 16 mm diameter steel specimens fr...
ABSTRACT This work presents the results of investigation conducted to assess the suitability of polyvinyl waste powder (PWP) as partial replacement of cement in the production of concrete. Up to 50% by weight of cement was replaced with PWP at interval of 10%. The parameters investigated are: the chemical composition of polyvinyl waste powder (PWP) and the setting times of cement-polyvinyl paste. Also investigated in concrete containing polyvinyl powder were: workability, density, compressive...
AbstractThe results of investigation conducted to evaluate the flexural performance of foamed aerated concrete beams with bamboo splints as tensile reinforcement, but with and without shear links are reported in this paper. The properties assessed are: density, compressive strength, crack pattern, deflection, and failure and moments. Foamed aerated concrete, having a cement-sand ratio of 1:3 was prepared. For foam generation, foaming agent and water in the ratio of 1:33 was prepared. A total ...