Browsing by Author "Omulo, Godfrey"

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    Characterization of Banana Peels Wastes as Potential Slow Pyrolysis Feedstock
    (Journal of Sustainable Development, 2018) Kabenge, Isa; Omulo, Godfrey; Banadda, Noble; Seay, Jeffrey; Zziwa, Ahamada; Kiggundu, Nicholas
    Uganda is the world’s second largest producer and consumer of banana after India. This has resulted into vast quantities of banana wastes, including the leaves, pseudostem, stalks, rejected and rotten fruits and the fruit peels. This study focuses on the characterization of banana peels to yield banana peels vinegar (BPV), tar and biochar as value added products that can be useful to farmers. Dried banana peels were characterized via proximate, ultimate, lignocellulosic, thermogravimetric (TG), and calorific value analyses. The obtained results showed that the volatile matter and fixed carbon contents were 88.02% and 2.70% while carbon, nitrogen and sulphur were 35.65%, 1.94% and 20.75 ppm respectively. The hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin contents were 41.38%, 9.90% and 8.90% while the higher and lower heating values were 16.15 MJ/kg and 14.80 MJ/kg. The maximum devolatilization rate in the banana peel biomass occurred in the temperatures range of 450–550oC which was taken as the slow pyrolysis regime temperature. The high levels of fixed carbon, volatile matter and ash contents were strong indicators that banana wastes are adequate feedstock for pyrolysis work to yield bio-infrastructure products. Similarly, the lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose fractions had significant correlation between the biomass heating values and the eventual chemical compounds present BPV and biochar. The characterization properties of the banana peels are akin to the leaves and pseudostem and thus are suitable for pyrolysis process.
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    Characterization of Slow Pyrolysis Wood Vinegar and Tar from Banana Wastes Biomass as Potential Organic Pesticides
    (Journal of Sustainable development, 2017) Omulo, Godfrey; Willett, Sarah; Seay, Jeffrey; Banadda, Noble; Kabenge, Isa; Zziwa, Ahamada; Kiggundu, Nicholas
    Slow pyrolysis process has been used in the recent past to yield wood vinegar from various biomass wastes with a quest to investigate their chemical composition and possible uses. This study utilizes the abundant banana wastes in Uganda including leaves, pseudostem and peels (mpologoma, kisansa and kibuzi species) in the slow pyrolysis process to yield vinegar, tar and biochar. Characterization of these banana wastes’ vinegar and tar fractions were investigated via chromatographic and physicochemical analysis. The principle compounds present in the banana wastes vinegar and tar as per percentage peak areas were acids (68.6%), alcohols (62.5%), ketones (27.6%), phenols (25.7%) and furans (21.8%). The products characterization indicate that vinegar and tar contain compounds that can be used as pesticides, termiticide, fungicides, insect repellants, anti-leaching and soil degradation agents. Thus wood vinegar and tar can have sustainable impacts on agricultural sectors and chemical industries especially for developing countries.
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    Harnessing of Banana Ripening Process for Banana Juice Extraction in Uganda
    (Afr. J. Food Sci. Technol, 2015) Omulo, Godfrey; Banadda, Noble; Kiggundu, Nicholas
    Banana is a very important staple food crop in Uganda. It is grown in every part of the country with the largest production recorded in western and central regions. Uganda is ranked the second largest producer of banana after India in the world. Bananas produced in Uganda are largely consumed locally as matookewith small amounts being exported as green banana or ripened to make juice, wine, beer or chips. There are variousmanual techniques of making banana juices in Uganda ranging from hands, foot and small scale mechanical machines which are not economical and hygienic. However, banana ripening poses a very big challenge to farmers and small scale processors. This has resulted in large quantities of banana loss, reduced shelf life and low economic returns to small scale farmers. In this review, different methods of natural, controlled banana ripening and ripening delay techniques are outlined. Controlled ripening of bananas is a key facet to good economic return in banana production as well as a stable and feasible strategy to ensure constant supply of ripe banana for banana juice processing.
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    Optimizing slow pyrolysis of banana peels wastes using response surface methodology
    (Environmental Engineering Research, 2019) Omulo, Godfrey; Banadda, Noble; Kabenge, Isa; Seay, Jeffrey
    Renewable energy from biomass and biodegradable wastes can significantly supplement the global energy demand if properly harnessed. Pyrolysis is the most profound modern technique that has proved effective and efficient in the energy conversion of biomass to yield various products like bio-oil, biochar, and syngas. This study focuses on optimization of slow pyrolysis of banana peels waste to yield banana peels vinegar, tar and biochar as bio-infrastructure products. Response surface methodology using central composite design was used to determine the optimum conditions for the banana wastes using a batch reactor pyrolysis system. Three factors namely heating temperature (350-550oC), sample mass (200-800 g) and residence time (45-90 min) were varied with a total of 20 individual experiments. The optimal conditions for wood vinegar yield (48.01%) were 362.6oC, 989.9 g and 104.2 min for peels and biochar yield (30.10%) were 585.9oC, 989.9 g and 104.2 min. The slow pyrolysis showed significant energy conversion efficiencies of about 90% at p-value ≤ 0.05. These research findings are of primary importance to Uganda considering the abundant banana wastes amounting to 17.5 million tonnes generated annually, thus using them as pyrolysis feedstock can boost the country’s energy status.