Browsing by Author "Asiedu, Nana Yaw"

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    Experimental simulation and kinetic modeling of bioenergy potential of Eichornia crassipes biomass from the Volta River basin of Ghana under mesophilic conditions
    (Scientific African, 2023-12-21) Asante, Enoch; Arthur, Richard; Agyemang, Emmanuel Okoh; Baidoo, Martina Francisca; Asiedu, Nana Yaw
    The study presents the results of the laboratory experiment performed on the anaerobic digestion of water hyacinth biomass harvested from the Volta River basin of Ghana and Fruit waste sludge as the inoculum. Batch mode of experiment was performed under mesophilic conditions (29 ± 3 C) with a hydraulic retention time of 61 days. The experimental setup was made up of three (3) fermenter bottles of 5.0 L capacity namely F1, F2 and F3. F1 served as the control whiles F2 and F3 served as the test fermenter bottles. Each of the fermenter bottles was fitted with BlueSens methane sensor and BlueVcount flowmeter for the measurement of methane composition and biogas volumes, respectively. The Theoretical Biomethane Potential (BMP) of the water hyacinth biomass was estimated to be 422.23 ml/gVS. The experimental BMP was determined to be 402.62 ml CH 4 /gVS and 356.03 ml CH 4 /gVS for F2 and F3, respectively. Consequently, a biodegradability value of 95.36 and 84.32 % was obtained from F2 and F3, respectively. Moreover, the F2 fermenter bottle recorded a cumulative net methane and biogas volumes of 5576.3 ml and 12,014 ml, respectively. Likewise, a total net cumulative methane and biogas volumes of 4931.0 ml and 11,384 ml were produced from the F3 fermenter bottle. Using the First order kinetic model, an average value of hydrolysis constant for water hyacinth biomass was determined as 0.051 day 1 . Furthermore, the modified Gompertz model, the logistic function model and Transference function models were used to fit the experimental cumulative biogas and methane production data. The outcome of the study shows that, the production of biogas from water hyacinth biomass harvested the Volta River basin of Ghana could offer sustainable control solutions to its invasion on water bodies whiles providing a cheap and reliable means of biofuel to the riparian communities.
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    Microbial disposal of waste petroleum oils
    (1999-02-14) Asiedu, Nana Yaw
    Micro -organisms, which are believed to metabolize, waste petroleum oils from soaked soils were isolated and characterized using available equipment and information into the appropriate genera. Further studies classed the isolates in the aerobic and micro-aerophilic category. Isolate metabolic activity of the various petroleum fractions gave the following percentage fractions for profuse growth; 0.1-1.0% (petrol), 0.1-3.8% (Kerosene), 0.1 -2.3% (Engine oil) and 0.1-3.8% (Diesel). Morphological characteristics of the isolates were identical with average dimension of colonies ranging between 3.0mm and 4.9mm, and cell size between 0.7μm and l.6μm. The isolates showed gram-negative reactions. Cultured for the same period and using equal amounts of suspension, petrol gave 4.213 x l05 cells, Engine oil 3.78lx 105 cells, Kerosene 2.641 x l05 cells, Diesel 1.499 x l05 cells per milliliter by the total microbial count technique. This means that the petrol metabolic organisms were the most efficient metabolizers in the study. The maximum growth period, which occurred at the end of the log phase, was 5 days for Petrol, Kerosene, Diesel isolates and 6 days for Engine oil isolates. Growth rates determination for the isolates showed that the isolates from Diesel gave the highest growth rate per day followed by Petrol, Engine oil and Kerosene isolates, with their cell mass concentration doubling times per hour in the decendind order of Kerosene, Engine oil, Petrol and Diesel isolates.The organisms are mesophilic. The variation of PH with time of the isolates was very small with optimum PH ranges between 6.2-7.5 for petrol, 7.1-8.4 for Kerosene, 6.0-7.4 for Diesel and 7.1-7.5 for Engine oil isolates. Metabolic products analysis showed that all the isolates converts waste petroleum oils into compounds with the following functional groups; hydroxyl, carbonyl and carboxylic groups. The isolates belong to members of the following families; Pseudomonadaceae, Azotobacteraceae, Rhizobium, Methylomonodaceae and Halobacteraceae.