Development and Performance Evaluation of a Low Cost Waste-Water Treatment Plant

The design, development and performance evaluation of a low cost waste-water treatment plant had been carried out. The aim was to harness the usefulness of waste-waters from residential, institutional andcommercial sources. The facultative lagoon method of waste-water treatment was adopted. Biological analysis of treated effluents showed a decrease in coliform count from 18 x 102 to 16 x 102 per 100 ml after the first 28 days of treatment. There was a drastic reduction in viable plate count from 6.4 x 104 to 2.1 x 103 cfu ml-1 after filtration through activated carbon, fine sand and coarse sand medium. A decrease in chemical constituents (Zinc, Manganese and Copper) of treated waste-water was observed. However, no significant reduction in Ironand Nickel concentration was observed during the treatment period. Also, the pH of collected effluent samples which were found to be in the range of alkalinity before treatment become acidic to neutral after the 49 days oftreatment in the development treatment plant. This research is useful in the management of scarce water resource especially in areas where water poverty is significantly felt during dry seasons.Keywords: Waste-water; Toxicity; Micro-organisms; Filtration tank; Low-cost; Colony forming Unit (CFU

The Sequence of Wet and Dry Days at Ibadan and Onne (Sub-Humid Zone of Nigeria)

Twenty-three years daily rainfall data were collected for Ibadan while twenty years data were collected for Onne. These data were analysed and modelled for the dependence of wet days following dry days; dry days following wet days; dry days following dry days and wet days following wet days using the first order Markov chain rule. The results were produced as monthly and decadal transition probability of dry days, wet days and their dependence, and this was used to model the dependence of wet and dry days in the study area. This model was tested using Ten years daily rainfall record each of Akure and Calabar for the sub-humid and humid areas and was found to perform well in its predictability. The study shows that, for the purpose of water resources planning as well as agriculture operations in the two area under study and for most humid and sub-humid stations, there is need to take into consideration the state (i.e. wetness or dryness) of the previous 2 day especially in the rainy months

Characteristics of Different Systems for the Solar Drying of Crops

Solar dryers are used to enable the preservation of agricultural crops, food processing industries for dehydration of fruits and vegetables, fish and meat drying, dairy industries for production of milk powder, seasoning of wood and timber, textile industries for drying of textile materials. The fundamental concepts and contexts of their use to dry crops is discussed in the chapter. It is shown that solar drying is the outcome of complex interactions particular between the intensity and duration of solar energy, the prevailing ambient relative humidity and temperature, the characteristics of the particular crop and its pre-preparation and the design and operation of the solar dryer

In-Situ Determination Of Actual Evapotranspiration Using Zero Flux Method

This paper presents a method of determining in-situ actual evapotranspiration using water balance method in the case of maize crop grown for two seasons at the Experimental Farm of the Department of Agricultural Engineering, Federal University of Technology, Akure in a non-saturated soil condition. The crop was subjected to differential irrigation water application using line source sprinkler arrangement. Tensiometers were installed at interval of 10 cm up to 90 cm soil depth. Moisture content was monitored weekly by gravimetric method at an interval of 10 cm up to a depth of 90 cm soil depth. Physical expression and analytical approach of the plane of zero flux method was demonstrated in determining the values of actual evapotranspiration of the maize crop grown in the field. The method was simple to use and did not require the values of hydraulic conductivity, which are often very laborious to determine in the field. The pattern of actual evapotranspiration obtained was parabolic with the peak values at the reproductive stage. Key words: actual evapotranspiration, differential irrigation, zero flux method, maize crop. Nig. J. of Pure & Appl. Physics Vol.3 2004: 68-7