Effect of Retention Time on Biogas Production from Poultry Droppings and Cassava Peels

A study was carried out on different retention times in the anaerobic  fermentation of slurry from poultry droppings and cassava peels. The system adopted in this work was batch-type. Daily gas production fell slightly from 130 to 32 litres as retention time was increased from 10 to 40 days for poultry droppings. For cassava peels the daily gas production fell slightly from 30 to  15 litres as retention time was increased from 5 to 75 days. The amount of gas produced per unit of volatile substrate charged into a polyethylene  digester showed a linear increase with retention time. The total biogas  produced from poultry and cassava wastes was 1.508m3 and 1.179m3 for 42 days and 79 days respectively. The ambient and slurry temperature for poultry and cassava were (33.6oC, 33.0oC) and (29.4oC, 35.6oC) which are under mesophilic temperature.Key word: Batch-type, Anaerobic, Substrate, Volatile, Polyethylene

Synthesis, structural and surface morphological characterizations of sulfated zirconia Nanoparticles via chemical route

Sulfated zirconia (SZ) nanoparticles (NPs) were successfully synthesized and deposited via chemical route called sol-gel technique. The structural, morphological, and optical properties the samples were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometry (EDX), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and UV-visible spectrophotometer. Results show that the transmittance of the samples increased from visible region (VIS) to infrared (UV) region. It also showed that the transmittance of the samples changed with the precursor's concentrations. Furthermore, the samples showed very low absorbance which decreased toward the infrared region. The nanoparticles have wide energy bandgap that varied from 3.80 to 4.00±0.05 eV and is therefore good candidate for solar cell and solar thermal applications. It also presents an attractive alternative material for biomedical implants due to its biocompatibility and mechanical strength.Keywords: Sulfated zirconia, sol-gel, nanoparticles, X-ray diffraction, wide-bandga