Evaluating the Effectiveness of Maintenance Practice: Case Study of a University Power Generating Plant Unit

The study was conducted in one of the Federal universities in Nigeria. The aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of the maintenance practicesin a power generating plant usinganavailability ratio method. The plant was placed under studyfor a period of six months.The operation records were obtained from which the availability ratio was obtained. Questionnaires were also distributed to the 21staff members in the unit and oral interviews were conducted to ascertain the maintenance strategy practiced by the unit. The study revealed that the unit has an availability of 61%,which is low compared to the standard availability ratio of power generating plants(99.9%). The maintenance practices of the unit weredeterminedineffective. Thisineffectiveness was attributed to poor documentation, low-skilled manpower, lack of a spare parts stock, and deficient operating maintenance strategy,as well aspoor maintenance funding and management policy. The study recommended autonomy of the maintenance unit, a betterinventory system for work materials and spare parts, practice of a predictive or condition monitoring maintenance strategy, training and retraining of the workforce and acquisition of relevant equipment,such as vehicles and computers,as measures that will, in part, improve the effectiveness of maintenance of the plant. The recommendationsof this study can be applied to the power sector in Nigeria,which is consideredby many to be grossly ineffective

Ash analyses of bio‑coal briquettes produced using blended binder

The behaviour of ash of fuel affects its thermal efficiency when in use. The ash analyses of bio-coal briquettes developed from lean grade coal and torrefied woody biomass have received limited intensive study. Therefore, the present study aims at analysing the ashes of briquette made from lean grade coal and torrefied woody biomass using blended coal tar pitch and molasses as the binder. Bio-coal briquettes were produced from coal and torrefied biomass in various hybrid ratios. Ashing of various briquettes was done in a muffle furnace at 850 °C for 3 h. Mineral phases of the ash were identified using an X-ray Diffractometer (XRD), while the mineral oxides were obtained using an X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometer. The AFT700 Furnace was used with its AFT700 software to evaluate the ash fusion temperatures of the ashes. The XRD patterns look similar, and quartz was found to be the dominant mineral phase present in the raw coal and bio-coal briquettes. The SiO2 (57–58%), Al2O3 (19–21%), and Fe2O3 (8–9%) were the major oxides observed in the ashes. The final fusion temperatures of the ashes range from 1300–1350 °C. The compositions of the ashes of the bio-coal briquettes are classifed as detrital minerals. It was concluded that the addition of torrefied biomass (≤10%)and blended binder (≤ 15%) to coal gave a negligible impact on the ashes of the resultant biocoal briquettes

Sustainability of multifaceted usage of biomass: A review

The paper focuses on collection of information on recent multifaceted usage of biomass materials with critical examination on its sustainability. The use of biomass is becoming popular, with wide global acceptance as it is considered as green technology. The use of biomass products across industrial parallels, the material combination and production processes were elucidated in this paper. Biomass materials are seen as affordable alternative to conventional materials for domestic and industrial applications. The multifaceted use of biomass, which includes, energy generation, metallurgical applications, construction purposes, reinforcement in metal matrix composite, microelectromechanical system, biochemical and traditional medicine were discussed. This underscores the need to develop a sustainable plan to meet with its diverse usage to be beyond laboratory efforts. This paper examined whether the availability of biomass can sustain its multifaceted usage or not. It also examined the modalities to ensure sustainable use of biomass. Different policies were highlighted and discussed in line with continuous multifaceted use of biomas