A final year student of the Department of Chemistry, Federal University Dutse, Zainab Bilyamin has converted sachet (pure water) leather waste to hybrid fuel (kerosene and diesel) as her final year project.
Radio Nigeria reports that, her research project titled” Conversion of low-density polyethylene and mixed low-density polyethylene with polyethylene terephthalate into fuel.
It was gathered that the final result shows that the hybrid fuel produced from the pure water leather waste products has similar properties as normal kerosene and diesel as it was used to light a kerosene lamp and power a pumping machine successfully.
Zainab Bilyamin said she was motivated to carryout the research after reading about possibility of converting polymeric (leather)waste into fuel because in Nigeria polytmeric waste keep pilling up the street without recycling which poses enviromental hazard whereas this waste can be converted to wealth.
Her Research Supervisor, Mallam Aminu Dauda said he quickly keyed into the project when Zainab brought the idea because we all know that combating the menace of this polymeric waste pollution had become a global challenge.
He further explained that, despite the fact that recycling rates were comparatively low, this had lead polymeric waste pollution more than ever.
The Supervisor said the research method used in the research was a normal process of Thermal cracking method where the waste was subjected to high temperature of about 450-500 °C which causes the breakage of the molecular bonds and breaking down long chained, higher boiling hydrocarbons into shorter chained, lower boiling hydrocarbons in the absence of oxygen.
In the course of the research, Mallam Dauda said they had to design and fabricate a machine (reactor) at the Kano Technology Incubation Centre which was used for the pyrolysis, the method used to convert the polymeric waste into fuel.
Zainab who is a native of Jigawa said she is interested in academics and wants to carry the research further in her Masters and PhD program by the grace of God, adding that the research gulped more than N100,000.
Zainab and her Supervisor called on the governmnt to invest in this area of research as it will ease the blockage cause by polymeric waste and at the same time serve asis a source of revenue to the government and also means of reducing youth restiveness.
USMAN MZ