Journal of Energy Research and Reviews

Aim: This research aims to carry out a comparative assessment on the use of pig manure and poultry manure as a carbon substrate for the degradation of diesel.

Study Design: Fifteen experimental pots were used in this analysis and this was carried out for a duration of 44 days. This experiment was done in stages and each stage was for 2 weeks. Experimental pots were labelled appropriately with the right concentrations of soil, diesel oil and manure to avoid cross-contamination. This experiment involved one pollution level of 0.275% of the weight of soil. Two (2) treatment concentrations of 20% and 40% of the weight of soil for pig manure and poultry manure respectively, three temperature levels of 25ºC, 30ºC, 37ºC.

Place and Duration of Study: Microbiological laboratory and Environmental Science laboratory of Coventry University/two months.

Methodology: Bioremediation of the diesel contaminated soil involved two concentration levels of 40 g and 80 g. These concentrations (40 g and 80 g) were used for both pig manure and poultry manure. These manures were measured in the fume cupboard using an electronic balance to avoid pollution to air. The right manure concentrations of 40 g and 80 g were transferred into the appropriately labelled pots containing 200 g of soil each. The mixture (soil+ diesel+ pig/poultry manure) was properly homogenised and allowed for biodegradation.

Results: Results of TPH analysis showed high percent removal of 84.71%, 90%, 82.35%, 85.29% for soil treated with pig manure at 40 g and 80 g, and soil treated with 40 g, 80 g of poultry manure at 37ºC. This study showed that the microbial consortium, nutrient concentration and temperatures played great roles in enhancing bioremediation process.

Conclusion: Nutrient addition enhanced the degradation of diesel contaminated soil. It is evident from the results that at 37ºC diesel degradation occurred more in all soil samples than at 30^oC and 25ºC. Therefore, it can be concluded that 37ºC is most suitable for diesel degradation with the highest efficiency in soil treated with 80 g of pig manure. However, at 25^oC, high percent degradation also occurred in all treated samples with spi-40 g having the highest percent degradation.

Aims: Residential sector is the largest electricity consumer in Nigeria. But they also contribute heavily to the climate change through their choice of energy. Mostly prefer source is the fossil fuel for electricity generation despite the growing awareness of the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by embracing renewable energy technologies across the globe. Hence, this study investigated the factors influencing solar PV utilization in Akure.

Study Design: The study employed a survey research design.

Place and Duration of Study: Three residential estates in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria formed the study areas. The study was conducted between June 2019 and July 2019.

Methodology: The study surveyed 292 households located in the three residential estates in Akure, Ondo State and 219 retrieved questionnaire were found usable for the analysis. Data was analysed using the mean ranking of the influencing factors.

Results: The results revealed that the highest ranking factor influencing utilization of Solar PV for energy services is that Solar PV is a good backup against power failure. This is as a result of the erratic power supply in Nigeria which has not only failed to meet the need of household but also hampered economic growth. However, the least ranking factor influencing solar PV utilization for energy services is Ability to sell electricity to the national grid.

Conclusion: Cooperation between private enterprises and relevant government agencies supported by ‘political will’ is required to promote the aforementioned factors influencing the solar PV utilization for energy services in Nigeria. Utilization of solar PV as an energy source for energy service ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. The research recommended that government support for solar PV intervention should be further encouraged.

The objective of this paper is to analyse the effect of financial development on energy diversification in 20 sub-Saharan African countries between 2000 and 2015. Our specificity is the calculation of the energy diversification index using the Shannon Wiener index (Stirling 1998-2000) and the estimation using the generalized moments method (GMM) on a dynamic panel. The results show that financial development positively and significantly affects the diversification of energy sources. Thus, these countries need to improve their financial systems to promote energy sources diversification to improve access to energy and improve the process of financing energy projects as a response to poverty reduction.

One of the challenges faced in the United Kingdom energy market is the need to supply clean energy at affordable prices. Hydrogen can be used as an energy carrier and has been applied as fuel for automotive engines. Several technologies exist for the production of hydrogen fuel but their acceptance is dependent on the cost and impact on the environment. Steam methane reforming is an established hydrogen production process in the UK. Currently there are 8 fuel cell buses that run on hydrogen fuel but the hydrogen used is produced via steam methane reforming. Production of hydrogen through solar powered electrolysis is a cleaner option but at what economic cost? In this paper, cost analysis is conducted to compare the cost of producing the amount of hydrogen needed to run the RV1 fuel cell buses at Lea Interchange bus garage through steam methane reforming of natural gas to solar powered water electrolysis. From the analysis it was discovered that levelised energy cost of solar powered electrolysis system is 15 times the levelised energy cost of steam methane reforming of natural gas. Thus, the production of hydrogen is not economically feasible through solar powered water electrolysis system.

Biochar has been proved to be effective in soil amelioration applications, carbon sequestration and also reduce GHG emissions which causes global warming. Biomass stands a greater chance of prevailing as a good source for the production of biochar, which in turn can be a solution for waste management. However, pyrolysis conditions for biochar production, together with feedstock characteristics largely control the physical and chemical properties of the yield biochar product. In this study, investigation on thermal degradation conditions effects on biochar production is carried out. Bio-char was produced using 35.3 litres fixed bed reactor from pyrolysis of Corn Cob (CC), Palm Kernel Shell (PKS) and Sugarcane Bagasse (SB) at temperatures ranging from 100°C to 500°C. The feedstock was also blended in ratio to each other and pyrolyzed to 250°C and 400°C. The analyzed results showed that higher pyrolysis temperatures resulted in lower bio-char mass recovery, higher ash contents, decreased fixed carbon and moisture content. Product characterization also showed that the produced biochar, independent of biomass waste type contained negligible amount of Sulphur (S) and Nitrogen which resulted in lower emission of SO₂ and NO₂ during the combustion process, this behaviour is observed to be more pronounced with the blended biochar samples investigated in this study as a result, the obtained bio-char product can be used directly for heating purposes. ANOVA test results for both volatile matter and Ash content of the produced biochar revealed that the P-value is greater than 0.01 independent of the biochar samples considered whereas for the fixed carbon of the same bio-char samples, P-value less than 0.01 is attained. These results show how control of biomass pyrolysis conditions can improve biochar chemical properties consequently biochar produced from biomass wastes could be a suitable candidate for alternative energy fuels in terms of quality and environment concern.