Abstract Records of climatic variables (Solar radiation, Maximum and Minimum Temperature, Maximum and Minimum Relative Humidity and Wind speed) were collected from three International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Stations namely Ibadan, Kano and Onne in Nigeria. For Ibadan, a 36-year (1973 – 2008) record was obtained, for Kano, a 29-year (1980 - 2008) record was obtained and for Onne, a 31-year (1977 - 2006) record was obtained. Evapotranspiration rates for each of the stations ...
AbstractRheological properties of food are very important indicators of the quality and texture of food products. In this study, the relative viscosity and pasting characteristics (cold and hot paste viscosity) of extrudates from a locally developed extruder (L/D 12:1, CR 4.4:1, 4 KW) were determined. The extrudates were processed from the flour and starch of cassava and maize and wheat flour. Stepwise regression and other follow up tests were employed to a factorial experiment in completely ...
Abstract The substantial amount of energy consumed during food processing and energy consumption is a very significant factor of operational costs. Also, consumption of products of starchy crops like cassava, maize and wheat is the common feature of low income dwellers of Africa. Improvement of these diets by fortifications with essential components of food including proteins, vitamins and minerals is desirable. Extrusion cooking has been proven to be a very efficient food processing technolo...
ABSTRACT In this study, the effect of extrusion process parameters of a locally developed extruder on the moisture loss of extrudates of the flour and starch of maize and cassava which are grown in Nigeria in large quantity were characterized. These were compared with those of wheat flour which is commonly used for the production of alimentary paste. The parameters considered include feed moisture (30, 40, 50 %), extruder temperature (40, 70, 100oC) built up by varying the duration of samplin...
Abstract: In this study, the effect of extrusion process parameters of a locally developed extruder on the expansion of extrudates of the flour and starch of maize and cassava which are grown in Nigeria in large quantity was characterised. These were compared with those of wheat flour which is commonly used for the production of alimentary paste. The parameters considered include feed moisture (30, 40, 50 % d.b.), extruder temperature (40, 70, 100oC) varied by continuous running of the machin...
AbstractA two-dimensional transient heat conduction equation was solved by finite- difference method to predict temperature variations within the maize (Zea mays) bin. The mathematical model comprises the center, interior and exterior heat transfer equations. Variables used include bin diameter, bin-wall material, grain temperatures, grain thermal and air properties. Software was developed for the model in Visual Basic. Temperatures within the silo were predicted at radii 0.0m (silo center), ...
In this paper, rocks with existing cracks and the effects on concrete structures it supports is discussed. Based on this paper, rock cracks may occur naturally when the rock gets closer to the earth surface due to erosion, through weathering processes (particularly frost wedging in mountainous areas and the diurnal heating and cooling of a rock outer layer in hot arid environments) and through tree roots. Artificially, cracks in rock may be caused by shock waves during rock blasting. The effe...
This paper attempts to study the mechanicalbehaviour of coconut shell aggregate (CSA) concretesubjected to elevated temperatures when coconut shell (CS)is used to replace coarse aggregate at 0, 10, 20 and 40% inconcrete. The coconut shell used was obtained by breakingthe shells into smaller sizes of less than 20mm after thefibres were removed. In order to produce control concretesamples with a minimum compressive strength of 15N/mm2at 28 days curing age, mix ratio of 1:2:4 and water-cementrat...
This paper presents the findings of an investigation into the use of mahogany leaves particles for the production of gumArabic bonded particleboards. Fresh mahogany leaves, air-dried to a target moisture content of 10% were crushed to anaverage particle size of 2mm. Mix ratios of 2:1, 2.5:1, 3:1, and 3.5:1 of gum Arabic to the crushed mahogany leaves byweight of the mahogany leaves were produced respectively. Twenty four (24) particleboards of sizes 200mm length,50mm width, and 6mm thick were...
This paper presents the findings of an investigation on the use of coconut shell ash (CSA) as admixture in concrete and its effect on durability performance. The CSA used was obtained by controlled burning of coconut shell in an incinerator to a temperature of 600–650ºC for 3 hours, air cooled, sieved through 75μm sieve and characterized by using X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) analytical method. The compressive and splitting tensile strengths of concrete were investigated at varying CSA additio...
This paper presents the findings of an investigation on coconut shell ash (CSA) as admixture in cement paste and concrete. The CSA used was obtained by controlled burning of coconut shell in an incinerator to a temperature of between 600–650ºC for 3 hours, air cooled, sieved through 75μm sieve and characterized based on its oxides composition determined using X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) analytical method. The effects of CSA on cement paste were investigated with addition of 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and...
Correlation and regression in this paper were employed as analytical tools to study the degree of relationship as well asthe nature and strength of the relationship between green concrete properties and percentage replacement of cementwith civil engineering materials. Pearson product-moment method and Spearman’s correlation coefficient wereextensively used to show how correlation analysis can be practically applied in green concrete research. Least squareregression line method for both line...
One of the most critical inputs to vegetable (fruits) production in semi-arid areas, dry season farming and nursery establishment is water. During the dry season or off season, the source of water for vegetable growing is from irrigation while in the wet season, rainfall is the source of water. Young vegetable seedlings in the nursery or in the field should be watered in the early morning or in the evening. Watering should be done before transplanting particularly in the evening. Over-wa...
In low oil price regimes, oil and gas companies explores several options to remain profitable in the short run. The traditional response has been to shelf all projects until the price of oil rebound or carryout workover operations, but this might not be the best option for these companies. This study discussed how Shell Petroleum Development Company significantly reduced the cost of its workover operations using effective planning and project management. This study then showed how the GE/McKi...
The goals of this research are to determine how the Nigeria oil and gas industry has impacted the actualization of the sustainable development goals and how the Nigeria oil and gas industry overcome its present challenges to achieve sustainability. This paper found out that Nigeria oil and gas industry has not significantly contributed to the actualization of the sustainable development goals and Nigeria is at danger of not meeting the 2030 deadline for their actualization. In fact, the oil a...