Browsing by Author "Solomon, Mahider"

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    Preparation of Prosopis juliflora Charcoal and the study of its use as energy mix in cement industries
    (Addis Ababa University, 2016-06) Solomon, Mahider; Kiflie, Zebene(PhD)
    Cement manufacturing is a high energy consuming and heavy polluting process. To reduce the energy and environmental costs cement producers are currently using a blend of alternative fuels with conventional fossil fuels. The research was conducted to investigate the potential of Prosopis juliflora charcoal as energy mix in cement industries. Proximate analysis and calorific value of Prosopis juliflora wood and laboratory scale carbonized Prosopis juliflora were done by standard procedure and compared with traditionally produced Prosopis juliflora charcoal. The results showed that ash chemistry for Prosopis juliflora wood and laboratory scale carbonized Prosopis juliflora were performed in order to determine the amount of different oxides present such as SiO2, Fe2O3, Al2O3, CaO & MgO and sulfur were 4.14%, 1.21%, 0.79%, 43.64%, 6.27%, 0.18% and 4.43%, 2.41%, 0.93%, 43.39%, 7.31% & 0.11% respectively. The pyrolysis process of Prosopis juliflora was investigated using a thermogravimetric analyzer. Thermo-chemical decomposition behavior of Prosopis juliflora was carried out over a temperature range of 25 -700°C at the heating rate of 20°C /min under nitrogen. Two response variables; charcoal yield and calorific values were analyzed by varying carbonization temperature (350, 450, 550 and 600°C) and holding time (60, 120, 180, 240 minutes). The maximum charcoal yield was found to be 75.83% at 350°C and 60 minutes of holding time while the minimum charcoal yield was 31.13% at 600°C for 240 minutes of carbonization time. On the other hand, the maximum calorific value 6620 kcal/kg was obtained at 600°C and 240 minutes of holding time and the minimum calorific value was 4196 kcal/kg at 350°C and 60 minutes. All experimental data were analyzed and modeled using Design-Expert version 6.0.8 software and significance was accepted at 0.05 level of probability (p<0.05