Abstract: Due to human influence and its negative impacts on the world’s environment, the world ischanging into a cleaner and more sustainable energy system. In both private and public buildings, there isa desire to reduce electricity usage, automate appliances, and optimize the electricity usage of a building.This paper presents the design and implementation of a secured smart home switching system based onwireless communications and self-energy harvesting. The proposed secured smart home...
Abstract: In this study distillery wastewater was treated using the vermifiltration technology in a bid to reduce downstream contamination by the effluent. 10 kg of Eisenia fetida earthworms were used as the vermifiltration media in a 0.5m 0.5m x 0.3m vermifiltration bed over a 40 h period cycle. The distillery effluent physicochemical parameters which included pH, total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), biological oxygen demand (BOD), total dissolved solids (TDS), total suspended solids (TSS) and th...
Abstract: In this study, the co-briquetting of coal fines saw dust and molasses as a binder is explored as an option for value addition of the wastes generated in the various industries. The effect of the saw dust concentration and the molasses concentration was investigated through measuring the briquette's calorific value, fixed carbon, compressive strength and shatter index. Addition of Ca(OH)2 was done to effect removal of sulphur from the briquette. Measurements of the briquettes physio...
Abstract: This study describes a DC to DC voltage multiplier using the 555 Integrated Circuit (IC) timer in an astable state. The major motivation of the design is to be able to produce an inexpensive and light form of generating high DC voltage to power devises that would normal need a really large and heavy battery to be operated. The study also briefly touch on the negative aspects of large DC voltage, heat dissipation and general battery life. With the help of the astable state of the mu...
Abstract: This paper presents the design and simulation of an Automatic Room Heater Control system. This system allows the user to set a desired temperature which is then compared to the room temperature measured by a temperature sensor.With the help of a micro controller, the system responds by turning ON any of the two (2) loads (Fan or a heater) automatically depending on the temperature difference. The Fan is triggered ON when the room temperature is higher than the set temperature and t...
Abstract: This study investigates the potentially of biologically treating opaque beer wastewater using the bio augmentation technology at the same time harnessing biogas and bio solids as value added products. Wastewater sample were collected in 5L containers and the sludge was separated from the liquid. The liquid and sludge were bio augmented with Acti-zyme with loadings of 5 g/L, 10 g/L and 15 g/L and were left to settle over a period of 30 days under anaerobic conditions. The wastewater...
Abstract: In this study, the potential to fully exploit sewage sludge as a raw material for bio ethanol a source of bio fuel is investigated. Sewage sludge hydrolysate was first made by introducing Bacillus flexus in order for saccharification to take place before fermenting to bio ethanol using yeast. The hydrolysate was then prepared for fermentation by introducing 10 g/L of peptone, 2 g/L of KH2PO4 and 1 g/L of MgSO4. Afterwards, fermentation was allowed to take place at varying pH (4.0e7...
Abstract: In this article, we investigate the use of an environmental waste (coal fly ash) in the manufacture of an ammonium nitrate corrosion resistant brick. Ammonium nitrate (AN) fertilizer spillages and vapors continuously corrode the civil structures in a fertilizer manufacturing plant situated in Zimbabwe. This situation is a safety hazard to more than a hundred plant personnel and hence a priority area for research. Our experimental results show that addition of sodium silicate improv...
Abstract: In this work, the property of physically deposited thin WC films with respect to deposition parameters and conditions reported by previous researchers is being reviewed. The study provides deeper insight to the effect of deposition parameters as well as preliminary selection of parameters for optimization of the WC film preparation for improved tribological properties for industrial applications. Not much studies of WC thin films deposited though PVD methods have been reviewed henc...
Abstract: In this paper, previous studies in powered exoskeleton and their contributions in the field of robotics technology are presented, together with their corresponding control system. Specific problems and issues that were encountered and the solutions made to resolve the problems will be discussed. Gait cycle analysis and human body dynamic model will also be covered in the study to understand the biomechanics and the dynamics behind human walking.
Abstract: A green prospective based on the reuse of waste materials such as beef tallow and waste cooking vegetable oils to manufacture soap is presented. Beef tallow and waste cooking oils that is discarded as waste from households and restaurants after frying is reviewed for the production of toilet (bath) soap. The discarded oil is purified with a brine solution and bleached with Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2.) Purified waste cooking oils and beef tallow is mixed with coconut oil commonly used ...
Abstract: The need to reduce carbon emissions has encouraged more research into use of biomass energy in place of coal. Biomass is carbon neutral; its use can therefore lower net emissions. Biomass can be upgraded to a fuel similar to coal by torrefaction. Different biomass have been torrefied but there is limited research in possible use of lignocellulose biomass from animal waste. This study aims to compare extent of energy densification of torrefied cow dung, corn cob and pine wood. They ...
Abstract: Pyrolysis is one of the prospective processes that can be utilized to obtain high value chemicals and energy from coal and biomass. Coal-biomass co-pyrolysis presents a green, low-risk, cheap, sustainable, renewable energy source with low carbon emissions. Co-pyrolysis offers the highest yield of liquid fuels and gas compared to the individual feedstocks. It has been illustrated that the production yields experimentally usually exceed the calculated and this can be explained by the...
Abstract: The batch grinding equation and the Attainable region technique tools were used in evaluating data obtained from the breakage of quartz ore in a laboratory batch ball mill. Using the same milling conditions and grinding equipment, test results were evaluated through the breakage distributions of different size fractions. Results prove that mixing different grinding media increases volume of grinding zones and that translates to an improvement in grinding kinetics and amount of requ...
Abstract: This study investigated the application of the attainable region optimization technique to establish the optimum hybrid hydrometallurgical and pyro-metallurgical process conditions required to treat the electric arc furnace dust. The analysis of the results obtained showed that a combination of an agitation speed of 800 rpm, sodium hydroxide concentration of 8.0 mol/L and a leaching temperature of 80 °C were the optimum conditions for the hydrometallurgical process, while a ...