No abstract

In order to add value to potato peels and also curb their environmental pollution problems, this study investigated the protein enrichment of potato peels with Saccharomyces cerevisiae via Solid-State Fermentation (SSF). SSF is a fermentation process which involves solid matrix and is carried out in absence or near absence of free water. SSF of potato peel mashed was carried out with S. cerevisiae at 30˚C, pH of 5.5, moisture adjustment between 40 and 90%, addition of ammonium sulphate and urea salts as nitrogen supplements for the microorganisms for 3 days. The results showed that the percentage crude protein content of all the fermented samples increased significantly when compared with the unfermented sample. 40% moisture content adjustment and ammonium sulphate as nitrogen source gave the best result. The crude protein increased from 12.5% to 21.86%, which is 74.88% increment for ammonium sulphate supplementation, and 12.5% to 18.42%, which is 47% increment for urea supplementation. Therefore, the fermented peels could serve as good source of cheap protein enriched feed for livestock.

No abstract

The comparative adsorption of crude oil from water surface using sawdust and rice husk absorbents was carried out. The sawdust and rice husk were carbonized and further modified with stearic acid. The prepared adsorbents were characterized using Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform Infra-red (FTIR) Spectroscopy, proximate and physiochemical analysis. Batch experiments were carried out to investigate the effects of the initial oil concentration, the dosage of the adsorbents, temperature, pH and contact time on the adsorption capacities of the adsorbents and percentage sorption of the crude oil. The characterization results obtained showed that the surface modification through carbonization and stearic acid activation improved the physiochemical properties of sawdust and rice husk respectively. The FTIR results revealed that the biomass samples have numerous functional groups and the major functional groups present are O-H, N-H, N-CH3, C=C-C, C-Cl, Si-O-Si. The SEM results also showed that carbonization and stearic acid activation of the saw dust and rice husk were able to effect surface modification of the prepared adsorbents by the removal of volatile matters; improvement of porosity hence the improvement of their surface areas respectively. The process parameters investigated were found to influence the adsorption capacity of the absorbents respectively and subsequently the percentage sorption of the crude oil. Meanwhile, the results of the percentage sorption of sawdust and rice husk samples, based on the average weight of oil adsorbed; show 96.577% and 67.327% as their respective adsorption efficiency. Hence, the comparative adsorption efficiency of the carbonized and esterified saw dust and rice husk absorbents, showed that esterified saw dust adsorbent performed better than the esterified rice husk adsorbent.

The aim of this work is to study the acid and enzymatic hydrolysis of cocoyam peels using HCl, H2S04 acids and cellulase enzyme. The cellulase was secreted from Aspergillus Niger (A. niger) fungi. The proximate analysis of the substrate showed that cocoyam peel is a lignocellulosic biomass with a cellulose composition of 48%. The effect of the process parameters (time, temperature, acid concentration and pH) on the yield of glucose in acid and enzymatic hydrolysis of the cocoyam peel was respectively investigated. Maximum glucose yield of 44.5% was obtained after 3 days of enzymatic hydrolysis at 30°C and pH 5. The HCl acid hydrolysis showed a maximum glucose yield of 27.3% at 70°C, 5% HCl after 180 minutes. The glucose yield in H2S04 hydrolysis was relatively lower than that of the HCl with a maximum yield of 26.5% at 70°C, 5% H2SO4 after 180 minutes. In addition to, the functional groups present in the glucose synthesized from cocoyam ground peels and the standard glucose were evaluated using Fourier Transformed Infrared (FTIR). The FTIR results showed similarities in the functional groups present in both sugars. Cocoyam peel can be used for the production of glucose and further fermentative process to produce ethanol.