Oludaisi Adekomaya

A review on the sustainability of natural fiber in matrix reinforcement – A practical perspective:

Fiber reinforced composites have been used in several applications for several years and the market is continuously growing. It is known that the addition of fibers for reinforcing of matrix has advantages, especially the mechanical properties of the composites. Environmental and economic concerns are stimulating new research in the development of sustainable fiber for reinforcing polymer matrix. Particularly attractive are new materials in which a good part is based on natural and renewable resources, hence aggravating the environmental concerns that may result in the depletion and dwindling of wood resources from forest. This assessment report provides detailed world production of natural fiber and the inherent looming danger envisaged if attention is not shifted from its continuous usage. It has been stated that natural fibers are renewable and sustainable, but they are in fact, neither i.e. living plants are renewable and sustainable, from which natural fibers are taken, but not the fibers themselves. The US market reports that the composite market was 2.7 billion pounds sterling in 2006 and it is estimated to reach 3.3 billion pound sterling by 2012 with a 3.3% annual growth. Natural fiber market in the US experienced a 13% growth rate (275 million kilograms) between 1994 and 2004 and the demand for the natural fibers continues to rise. The average global annual market growth for natural fibers between 2003 and 2007 was 38%, while Europe saw the highest annual growth rate of 48%. This market was estimated at 0.36 million metric ton in 2007 and it is expected to reach 3.45 million metric ton in 2020. Fiber reinforced market is a multibillion dollar business and the natural fiber composites take a fair part of it.

Development of Lightweight Insulation Body for Refrigerated Vehicles by Using Composite Materials

Energy demand in refrigerated vehicles account for about 5% of fossil fuel consumption globally and this percentage is expected to rise as perishable raw food continue to enjoy significant patronage of refrigerated vehicles which provide low temperature condition for its sustenance. Sustaining the shelf life of fresh food remains a herculean task to most farmers as cold chain must remain unbroken in order to maintain the quality of fresh food. The concept of this research is to reduce energy consumption in refrigerated vehicles through lightweight insulated panel as this medium could effectively reduce the payload of the entire vehicle. Part of the progress made in this work, is to develop five different composite cover sheet for insulated panel using fibre loading and orientation as manufacturing parameters and results show that the oriented reinforced composite materials offer significant weight reduction compared to unoriented composite cover sheet. The panel weight of these new materials were estimated using all the conceptual parameters of a refrigerated vehicle and the results indicate that composite reinforced with 10%wt. of fibre at 30o orientation in the matrix, offers the best panel weight reduction with 5.2380kg/m2 and 6.7380kg/m2 for 50mm and 100mm insulation thicknesses, respectively.

EXPLORING THE THERMAL PROPERTIES OF FLY ASHED-BASED GEOPOLYMER MATERIALS FOR COOLING APPLICATION IN BUILDINGS

Fly ash materials are the by-products of coal combustion process and the volume of this waste alone, accounts for about 80% of the total waste volume from a coal power plant. Part of the reclamation strategy of fly ash material is highly noticeable in the additives for cement production and this approach has recorded significant progress in view of its negative impact on the environment and also the process is generally cleaner due to the significantly low CO2 emission. In light of the above, a comprehensive and detailed study is therefore needed to explore some of inherent properties of fly ash material for passive cooling in buildings and its adjoining area. Energy consumption in buildings is projected to account for ~50% of world energy demand by 2050 and the underlying point of this research is to x-ray the low thermal conductivity of fly ash geopolymer materials for possible application in passive cooling of buildings and the conclusion drawn from this work may be explored by researchers for further study.

Energy Conservation in Refrigerated Vehicles through Prospective Light Weight Insulated Panel

Sustaining the shelf life of fresh food remains a herculean task to most farmers as cold chain must remain unbroken in order to maintain the quality of fresh food. The concept of this research is to reduce energy consumption in refrigerated vehicles through light weight insulated panel as this medium could effectively reduce the payload of the entire vehicle. Part of the progress made in this work, is to develop five different composite cover sheet for insulated panel using fibre loading and orientation as manufacturing parameters and results show that oriented reinforced composite materials offer significant weight reduction compared to un-oriented composite cover sheet. The panel weight of these new materials were estimated using all the conceptual parameters of a refrigerated vehicle and the results indicate that composite reinforced with 10%wt. of fibre at 30o orientation in the matrix, offers the best panel weight reduction with 5.2380Kg/m2 and 6.7380Kg/m2 for 50mm and 100mm insulation thicknesses, respectively.

Analysis of Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient of Composite Panels for Thermal Insulation

Heat infiltration through the external wall of refrigerated vehicles has been a concern to food industries considering high thermal load required to sustain unbroken cold chain. In this research, experiments were carried out with known fibres contents laid out at various orientations and the effect on the heat transfer measured. The results indicate that the estimated overall heat transfer coefficient of the composite reinforced with 10%wt. of fibre at 0o orientation (G10E) offers the lowest U value of 0.386950 W/m2K and 0.196680 W/m2K for 50 mm and 100 mm insulation thicknesses respectively. The effect of fiber orientation in the composite panel in energy saving was to a large extent minimal when compared to the un-oriented composite panel