Browsing by Author "Busari R. A"

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    CHARACTERIZATION AND DETERMINATION OF OPTIMUM BLENDING RATIO OF BLENDED WATERMELON SEED OIL METHYL ESTER
    (Published by School of Infrastructure, Process Engineering and Technology (SIPET) and the School of Electrical Engineering and Technology (SEET) of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria, 2024) Busari R. A; Adebayo K. R; Alabi K. P
    Watermelon fruit contains large amounts of seeds, which are underutilized in Nigeria. The seeds contain about 22% oil, which can be used as vegetable oil or as feedstock for biodiesel to power agricultural machineries. This study explored the physicochemical properties of watermelon biodiesel, crucial for understanding its suitability for various applications. The research demonstrated that watermelon biodiesel meets specified standards such as ASTM D-6751 and EN-14214, ensuring its viability for widespread use. Post-transesterification, the viscosity of raw watermelon oil decreases, though it remains notably higher than that of conventional diesel fuel. Moreover, watermelon biodiesel blends ranging from B5 to B25 comply with diverse specification standards, further validating its utility. Despite reductions in density, specific gravity, and flash point after transesterification, these values remain higher compared to diesel fuel. The study developed regression equations to forecast properties at varying blending ratios, indicating strong correlations between biodiesel properties and blending percentages. Notably, the derived equations exhibited high coefficient of regression values (0.8389 for density, 0.9317 for kinematic viscosity, 0.9669 for flash point, 0.9702 for specific gravity, and 0.9025 for calorific value), highlighting the reliability of predictions. Based on standard compliance considerations, a blending ratio of up to 25% was recommended as optimal for achieving desired properties in watermelon biodiesel blends.
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    SELECTED PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF AFRICAN PEAR SEED FOR CONSIDERING IN DESIGN OF MECHANICAL EXPELLER
    (Published by Asian Research Publishing Network (ARPN), 2016) Busari R. A; Olaoye J. O
    The study was conducted to investigate the physical properties of African pear seeds, the flesh African pear seed was purchased from Ojo market in Ibadan and mesocarps of the fruits were removed to obtain the nuts. The nuts were dried under ambient conditions for several days, the actual moisture content of the nuts at the time of experimentation was determined, using KT100S Moisture Meter with measuring range of 5-35% to be 21.50%. The nuts were sorted into three grades: small, medium and large, based on the visual physical assessment of their sizes. The three principal axial dimensions of 250 nuts from each grade were measured using a vernier caliper. In this study some selected physical properties of African pear seeds were determined which are essential for designing engineering processes, material handling, storage, equipment design and fabrication. The physical properties, namely, arithmetic mean diameter, geometric mean diameter, surface area, sphericity, aspect ratio, true density and bulk density were determined. Also, angle of repose and coefficient of friction were tested on mild steel, plywood and PVC plastic which are probable engineering materials for construction of food processing equipment. The results revealed that average geometric mean diameters of the nuts are 25.22, 30.74 and 35.26 mm for the small, medium and large size grades respectively. The nuts are fairly ellipse with average sphericity of 0.54, 0.54 and 0.59 for the small, medium and large size grades respectively while true and bulk density0.96 g/cm3 and 1.14 g/cm3 respectively. The angles of repose were 40.99, 47.92 and 47.53 small, medium and large size respectively. These findings can provide the information that could be helpful for development of mechanical expeller or processing machines.