A palm kernel processing (Cracking and Separating) unit was developed to crack effectively various sizes/diameters of palm kernel as well as to separate the palm kernel from the shell with the aim of reducing the challenges encountered during the production of palm kernel Oil. This machine was fabricated and designed with locally available materials for the ease of maintenance and it was designed the the aims of easing the pain, stress involved, intensive labour, time consuming, unduly cost and cumbersome operation encountered in the traditional/existing process of manually cracking and separating palm kernel from the nut. After the fabrication of this machine, the machine was tested to ascertain its performance and efficiency. The efficiency of the machine was discovered to be 98% with a processing rate of 95 nuts per second. This is an improvement over existing ordinary palm kernel machine that has an efficiency of 90% with a processing rate of 87 nuts per second wiithout separation. A 5 hp Prime mover was selcted based on the power that was needed to effectively operate the machine. This project has catered for the various challenges encountered in the manual process of shelling palm kernel and separating the kernel from the shell.

The influence of organic waste as an additive to concrete formulation has been studied by replacing up to 10% of cement ratio with locally sourced organic additive. The reference cement used was Portland cement; three different organic wastes were used in the mixture: periwinkle shell, extracted silica from corn hob ash and coconut shell ash. Uniform distribution of the additive was ensured by thorough mixing prior to water addition. Casting and curing of the concrete were done in line with established standard. The compressive strength test was carried out using the Instron universal testing machine and the oxides of elemental composition of the cement and the additives were determined using EDXRF Spectrometer (EDX 3600B) while the crystallography studies were carried out using EMMA) X-ray diffractometer. The result obtained indicated that there was a significant difference between the value of density, packing efficiency and compressive strength of each reinforced concrete with that of the reference cement which was attributable to the presence of additives. The cement formulation with silica as admixture was found to have the highest compressive strength of 217.94 MPa, while the reference cement had the lowest compressive strength of 81.45 MPa. This study has established that locally sourced organic additives (emerging additives), influence the mechanical properties of concretes.

Three major parameters for efficient liquid-fuel-fired melting-furnaces include fuel-economy, thermal efficiency and environmental friendliness of operation. These key parameters form the basis for the adoption of recuperator in the waste gas recycling released during many melting operations in furnaces. This work analysed the thermal performance of both cold and hot fluids across the length of a double-pipe recuperator coupled to a ferrous-melting furnace. The thermal analysis carried out was anchored on some basic assumptions including taking the radiant and temperature characteristics of the exiting waste gases from the exhaust of the furnace as being constant over the volume of the furnace while the temperature at various positions on metal surface is equally taken as being constant. In addition, the heat flow transferred from the waste gases to the lining of the furnace is taken to be by convection and it is equal to the heat flow that the lining gives up to the adjourning surrounding. The derived equations were thereafter analysed and subsequently solved. The obtained results were thereafter used to graphically illustrate the variation of temperature of the agents of heat transfer over the entire length of the recuperator at different instances for parallel flow of the constituent working fluids. The analysis was observed to have conformed to a very great extent to the theoretical pattern expected for similar flows.

Spherical shapes are known to be the ideal theoretical profile for a vessel that resists internal pressure mainly because the tensile stresses developed at the wall of a pressurized spherical vessel is uniform in all directions. This makes a sphere very strong structure and the preferred shape for storing high pressure fluids since it is the only known shape that has no weak points. The major reason why spherical tanks are not commonly used is because of the complexity of the procedure for their development and the associated high cost of production. This work has successfully developed a relatively simplified framework for the design of the constituent sections of a spherical storage tank thereby providing a way out of the difficulty normally associated with its development. The framework developed was validated by using it to design and develop a 225 liter capacity spherical tank. Two models of same capacity were developed and evaluated. The first model was developed through 10section members while the second model used 30-section members.

The effects of mineral admixture on the internal morphology of concrete were studied and evaluated in this work. Portland cement with five different additives was used in the complex admixture. These includes: extracted silica from corn hob ash, synthetic calcium carbonate, synthetic calcium hydrogen carbonate, white and dark kaolin, each replacing 10% of cement in the concrete formulation. The additives and the pure cements were subjected to intensive mixing to ensure homogeneity prior to water addition, after which each undergoes casting and curing. Elemental characterizations of the additives indicated the presence of some elemental oxides and crystallography studies were carried out on the pure and reinforced concrete. The obtained result indicated crystallographic adjustments of the indigenous concrete which will definitely contribute to modifying its mechanical properties.