CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
In recent years, agricultural, industrial, and economic growth has been on a rise which is contributing to an improved quality and well-being of citizens.Due to the increase in the world‘s population and most of it moving to urban cities, there is increased demand for food, and this has resulted in the production of large amounts of agricultural wastes (Sabiti, 2011). However, wastes and by-products are created by the production systems which inevitably affect the environment. Some agricultural wastes emit methane and leachate when rotten, while some open burning by farmers to clear the lands, generates CO2 and other local pollutants (UNEP, 2009).These wastes can be generated at any point in the production cycle, whether during obtaining the raw materials, transformation and production, or when the end user disposes the products which are no longer needed. The enormous amount of waste generated is still far from being used in its totality, making technological alternatives imperative to reduce its possible environmental impact such as leaching of potentially toxic substances into soils and groundwater, reductions in plant establishment and growth due primarily to adverse chemical characteristics of the waste. Other effects are, changes in elemental composition of vegetation growing on the waste and an increased mobility as well as accumulation of potentially toxic elements throughout food chain. According to Garkida (2002),waste prevention has economic benefits and reduces pollution. Generation of new products from recycled waste is thus an irreplaceable alternative.
The evaluation of the possible uses of agricultural waste is important not only from a scientific point of view but as a resource that can be extracted and used in the production of new materials. In addition to helping protect the environment, there are many reasons to increase the amount of waste being utilized. These include disposal costs are minimized, less area is reserved for disposal, thus enabling other uses of the land. There may be financial returns from the sale of the by-product or at least an offset of the processing and disposal costs. The use of such waste offers a series of advantages such as a reduction in the use of other raw materials, contributing to an economy of natural resources.A major advantage of agricultural residues is that they are widely distributed in the country; in parts of thecountry that cannot support abundant growth of trees, agricultural produce are cultivated (Ogunwusi, 2014). The high cost associated with raw materials extraction, as well as the damage that the extraction causes to the environment are important reasons to motivate the use of industrial / agricultural process waste. Potassium salts were commonly used as flux in the melting of glass in the fifteenth century at which time the glass industry was well established in Bohemia. The Bohemian factories were generally located in the forests where wood fuel was cheap and a crude potassium carbonate was obtained by lixiviation of the wood ashes. But as the industry grew, potash was replaced to some extent by soda ash from Spain(Finn, 1938). Soda ash has been commonly used as a fluxing material in glass making.
Groundnut is an important cash crop produced in large quantity in Nigeria. The productions of ground nut reached its peak in Nigeria during the period of 1969 to 1971when approximately 1.7 million tonnes of the pods were produced from an area of 1.8million hectares (Elinwa and
Awari, 2001).According to the global food security index Nigeria is rated the 80th and among the top countries that produce protein food crops and the third in the production of groundnut after India and China (Baraka, 2014). Groundnuthusk or hull is the shell of groundnut (peanut)left after the removal of the seed from the pod.The husk is used in most crop farms as residuewhere they decay and add nitrogen to the soil Okorie et al. (2013).Majority ofgroundnut husk are either burnt or allow to degrade naturally and advised that anumber of these agricultural residues can beutilized after a proper appraisal of theirchemical and physical properties(Faugdar& Diwaka, 1993).
1.0 INTRODUCTION
In recent years, agricultural, industrial, and economic growth has been on a rise which is contributing to an improved quality and well-being of citizens.Due to the increase in the world‘s population and most of it moving to urban cities, there is increased demand for food, and this has resulted in the production of large amounts of agricultural wastes (Sabiti, 2011). However, wastes and by-products are created by the production systems which inevitably affect the environment. Some agricultural wastes emit methane and leachate when rotten, while some open burning by farmers to clear the lands, generates CO2 and other local pollutants (UNEP, 2009).These wastes can be generated at any point in the production cycle, whether during obtaining the raw materials, transformation and production, or when the end user disposes the products which are no longer needed. The enormous amount of waste generated is still far from being used in its totality, making technological alternatives imperative to reduce its possible environmental impact such as leaching of potentially toxic substances into soils and groundwater, reductions in plant establishment and growth due primarily to adverse chemical characteristics of the waste. Other effects are, changes in elemental composition of vegetation growing on the waste and an increased mobility as well as accumulation of potentially toxic elements throughout food chain. According to Garkida (2002),waste prevention has economic benefits and reduces pollution. Generation of new products from recycled waste is thus an irreplaceable alternative.
The evaluation of the possible uses of agricultural waste is important not only from a scientific point of view but as a resource that can be extracted and used in the production of new materials. In addition to helping protect the environment, there are many reasons to increase the amount of waste being utilized. These include disposal costs are minimized, less area is reserved for disposal, thus enabling other uses of the land. There may be financial returns from the sale of the by-product or at least an offset of the processing and disposal costs. The use of such waste offers a series of advantages such as a reduction in the use of other raw materials, contributing to an economy of natural resources.A major advantage of agricultural residues is that they are widely distributed in the country; in parts of thecountry that cannot support abundant growth of trees, agricultural produce are cultivated (Ogunwusi, 2014). The high cost associated with raw materials extraction, as well as the damage that the extraction causes to the environment are important reasons to motivate the use of industrial / agricultural process waste. Potassium salts were commonly used as flux in the melting of glass in the fifteenth century at which time the glass industry was well established in Bohemia. The Bohemian factories were generally located in the forests where wood fuel was cheap and a crude potassium carbonate was obtained by lixiviation of the wood ashes. But as the industry grew, potash was replaced to some extent by soda ash from Spain(Finn, 1938). Soda ash has been commonly used as a fluxing material in glass making.
Groundnut is an important cash crop produced in large quantity in Nigeria. The productions of ground nut reached its peak in Nigeria during the period of 1969 to 1971when approximately 1.7 million tonnes of the pods were produced from an area of 1.8million hectares (Elinwa and
Awari, 2001).According to the global food security index Nigeria is rated the 80th and among the top countries that produce protein food crops and the third in the production of groundnut after India and China (Baraka, 2014). Groundnuthusk or hull is the shell of groundnut (peanut)left after the removal of the seed from the pod.The husk is used in most crop farms as residuewhere they decay and add nitrogen to the soil Okorie et al. (2013).Majority ofgroundnut husk are either burnt or allow to degrade naturally and advised that anumber of these agricultural residues can beutilized after a proper appraisal of theirchemical and physical properties(Faugdar& Diwaka, 1993).
