School of Infrastructure Process Engineering and Technology (SIPET)
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School of Infrastructure Process Engineering and Technology (SIPET)
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Item Electrochemical Characterization of Stainless-Steel Mesh and carbon-felt Electrodes for Enhanced Power Generation in Terrestrial Microbial Fuel Cells.(School of Physical Sciences, FUTMINNA, 2024-04-24) Simeon, Meshack Imologie; Alaka, Amarachi C.; Daniela, P.; Olalekan, D. AdeniyiTerrestrial Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) represent a promising avenue for sustainable energy production, leveraging microbial metabolism to convert organic matter in the soil into electricity. Crucial to MFC performance is selecting electrode materials, which directly interface with electroactive microbes for electron transfer. This study conducts a comparative analysis of surface-modified stainless-steel mesh (SMS) and carbon felt (CF) electrodes in terrestrial MFCs, evaluating their performance metrics and impedance spectroscopy. The SMS electrode, fabricated using the pasting and reinforcement process, demonstrated superior performance with a maximum power of 859 µW compared to the 234 µW power of the commercially available CF electrode. This better performance of the SMS electrode was attributed to its pseudocapacitive behavior, enhancing internal charge storage capacity and overall MFC efficiency. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy revealed a substantially higher charge transfer resistance (Rct) in the CF electrode, impeding electron transfer processes. Conversely, the SMS electrode exhibited lower Rct and improved diffusion characteristics, facilitating efficient electron transfer and mass transport. Notably, the Rct of the CF electrode was over 40 times higher, while its diffusion coefficient was approximately six times greater compared to the SMS electrode. These findings underscore the significance of tailored electrode materials in optimizing MFC performance and emphasize the utility of impedance spectroscopy in elucidating complex electrochemical processes within MFC systems, thus guiding future advancements in sustainable power production in terrestrial MFCs.Item Comparison of Drying Shrinkage Models of IOT Concrete(Conference: 2nd International Engineering Conference (IEC 2017) Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria, 2017) Oritola, S. F.; Abd Latif, Saleh; Abdul Rahman, Mohd.Sam; Abubakar, Mahmud; Alhaji, B.Problems associated with drying shrinkage of concrete is still a major source of concern in the construction industry. Due to the hygral nature of concrete, particularly the instability of the volume as a result of drying shrinkage, concrete will crack at any stage during its service life. The depletion of the environment due to huge consumption of sand for construction is another major problem. Iron ore tailings (IOT), an industrial waste, generated during the production of iron ore is utilized in concrete to lessen the environmental problems. The iron ore tailings was sourced from a local iron ore producing mine and the material was used as partial replacement for sand to produce normal weight concrete. The drying shrinkage of this concrete was compared with that of the control normal weight concrete. The ultimate drying shrinkage of the concrete samples were further studied, using three prediction models. The inclusion of iron ore tailings as fine aggregate in concrete contributed to reduction of the drying shrinkage recorded at 28, 56 and 90 days as well as the ultimate drying shrinkage. The drying shrinkage of concrete and the predicted ultimate drying shrinkage recorded by the B3 and GL2000 models agreed more closely, as compared with the recorded values obtained using ACI209R model.Item Partial Replacement of Fine Aggregate With Waste Glass in Concrete Made From Bida Natural Aggregate(3rd International Engineering Conference (IEC 2019) Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria, 2019) Alhaji, B.; Kolo, D. N.; Abubakar, Mahmud; Yusuf, A.; Abdullahi, A.; Shehu, M.This study reports the experimental investigation on the suitability of waste glass as partial replacement for fine aggregate in concrete made using Bida natural aggregates (BNA). Glass is widely used in our daily lives through manufactured products such as sheet glass, bottles, glassware, and vacuum tubing. It is an ideal material for recycling. The increasing awareness of glass recycling speeds up inspections on the use of waste glass with different forms in various fields. Mix ratio of 1:2:4 batched by weight with water - cement ratio of 0.55 was used. The percentage replacement varied from 0% to 40% at 5% intervals. Slump test was conducted to assess the workability of the fresh concrete. The compressive strengths and densities of cured concrete cubes of sizes 150mm x 150mm x 150mm were evaluated at 7, 21 and 28days. A total of 81 concrete cubes were cast and tested. It was observed that an increase in the percentage replacement of fine aggregate with waste glass reduces workability, density and compressive strength. The compressive strength and density vary with days of curing. The findings of this study indicated that the optimum replacement percentage of waste glass with conventional fine aggregate was 20%. However, waste glass can effectively be used as fine aggregate replacement (up to40%) without substantial change in concrete strength.Item Effect Of Water Cement Ratio On The Compressive Strength Of Revibrated Concrete(Environmental Technology and Science Journal, 2015) Auta, S. M.; Abubakar, Mahmud; Yusuf, A.Effect of water cement-ratio on compressive strength of re-vibrated concrete is presented. The mix proportion of 1:2:4 aggregates were considered to cast 39 cubes each as laboratory specimen with 0.65, 0.70 and 0.75 water-cement ratios. Each of these categories were revibrated at time lag intervals of 10minutes for 120 minutes period of revibration process and cured for 7, 21 and 28 days. When tested for their respective compressive strength, the result obtained shows that there is a gradual increase in compressive strength of the concrete specimen with increase in time and in water-cement ratio. The maximum compressive strength at 120th minute for ages of 28 days are 25.42, 26.67 and 40.44N/mm2 for concrete with water-cement ratio of 0.65, 0.70 and 0.75 respectively. The maximum attained compressive strength for 28 days curing is 40.44N/mm2 (for 0.75w/c) appears to be higher than 25.42N/mm2 (for 0.65 w/c). Water-cement ratio has adversely enhanced the compressive strength of concrete when re-vibrated.Item Design of A Composite Traffic Control System at Kpakungu Roundabout Minna, Niger State(Nigeria Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences (NJEAS), 2016) Kolo, S.S.; Adeleke, O. O.; Ayeni, S. J.; Akinmade, T.; Abubakar, Mahmud; Yusuf, A.A composite traffic control method is proposed to control traffic and ease congestion especially during peak periods at Kpakungu roundabout in Minna, Niger state. Reconnaissance survey of the roundabout was carried out to note predominant directions of traffic flow from each approach to the roundabout; manual counting of traffic for five working days was done between 7:00 am to 12 noon and 3:00 - 7:00 pm daily. The result of the survey shows that congestion occurs at the roundabout between 7:45 - 9:30 am and between 5:00-6:30 pm every day. Results also show that the peak hourly traffic flow rate occurs between 8:00 and 9:00 am, and 5:00 to 6:00 pm daily. The result of the traffic count was then forecasted for 2-years using data on annual vehicle registration in Minna for 2011 to 2015 obtained from the Niger State Board of Internal Revenue Service. The Webster method of signal timing was used to design traffic signals that will optimally allocate right of way time to conflicting traffic streams. A 5-phase signalization of 90- and 97-seconds cycle lengths were proposed for morning and evening peak periods, respectively.Item Estimation of Pavement Temperature in Nigeria’s Climatological Zones(Proceedings of the Third International Civil Engineering Conference (ICEC, 2024), 2025) Ibrahim, A. I.; Abdulrahman, H. S.; Abubakar, MahmudItem Influence Of Roadcem Content on Mechanical Properties of Lateritic Soil for Pavement Applications(Proceedings of the Third International Civil Engineering Conference (ICEC, 2024), 2025) Illo, N. A.; Abubakar, Mahmud; Abdulrahman, H. S.; Kolo, D. N.Studies on lateritic soil had been carried by numerous researchers across the globe with a view of improving it for the purposes of road pavement and other civil engineering constructions. The main aim of this paper is to examine the impact of varying Roadcem (RC) content on the mechanical properties of lateritic soil for pavement applications which was found to be an A-7-5 soil according to AASHTO. The soil sample was treated with RC at 0, 1,2,3,4, and 5%. Laboratory test such as particles size distribution, unconfined compressive strength (UCS) test for the treated and untreated samples was carried out. Three samples on each dosage were compacted and molded in cylindrical molds and cured two of each sample for 7 days, one each for 28 days. X-ray Diffraction Analysis (XRD), was also carried out on the two samples to reveals their crystalline phases and shows high intensity of CaO and Quartz on the two samples respectively. The UCS results shows insignificant variations in the dosage of RC even at 28 days. The study concluded that A-7-5 soils does not respond to treatment with RC beyond 1% due to its high plasticity and poorly graded and therefore recommend the use of the RC as an additive, at lesser percentage, or on cohesionless soils like sand for road pavement applications.Item The applicability of the Maximum Power-point of Microbial Fuel Cells: Influence of Potential Scan rate and real-time external Load(international Society for microbial Electrochemistry amd Technology-ISMET, 2021-09-15) Simeon, Meshack Imologie; Freitag, RuthPerformance evaluation of a microbial fuel cell (MFC) is usually done with linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) [1] at a given potential scan rate (PSR) [2]. This evaluation does not often reflect the long-term performance of the MFC under real-time external loads [1]. In this study, the performance of a single-chamber MFC was evaluated with three external loads (1206, 470, and 270 Ohms) calculated from LSV maximum power point (MPP) with three PSRs (0.1, 0.5, and 1 mV/s). The estimated power from the MPP in ascending order of PSR was 61.96, 87.88, and 166.68 mW/m2 at 116.5, 229.6, and 403 mA/m2, respectively. The average power obtained with 1206, 470, and 270 Ohms in the first two hours of operation was 73 + 16.7, 36.3 + 42, and 88.5 + 120.1 mW/m2 at current densities of 124.6 + 14.3, 121.2 + 73.4, and 232.6 + 176.2 mA/m2, respectively. The result showed that overestimation was more pronounced at higher PSRs. Although the MFC was initially underestimated at 0.1 mV/s, this PSR more accurately reflects the true and applicable estimate of the long-term performance of the MF vC. These results are explicitly beneficial for ethe lectrochemical estimation of the actual performance of MFCs under real-time external loadsItem Bio-electrochemical response to selected experimental treatments of a soil-type microbial fuel cell for sustainable bioelectricity generation(International conference on sustainable development and technology-Elsevier, 2021-11-02) Simeon, Meshack Imologie; Alfons, R. Weig; Freitag RuthThe need to protect the environment has triggered a search for alternative and sustainable energies to replace or drastically reduce the world's dependence on fossil fuels. Bio-electrochemical systems (BES) are among the leading research topics in alternative energy sources due to their multi-functional potential. However, their low energy production rate limits their application in the real world. Therefore, architectural and biological optimization is required to take BES beyond laboratory-scale experiments. In this study, we investigated the interactive influence of electrode materials, electrode spacing, and frequent substrate feeding on microbial community diversity and electrochemical behavior of a soil BES for sustainable power generation. Two electrode materials (carbon felt (CF) and stainless steel/epoxy/carbon black composite (SEC) were tested in a soil microbial fuel cell (S-MFC) under three levels of electrode spacings (2, 5, and 8 cm) and treatment frequencies (4, 6, and 8 days). After 30 days of operation, all MFCs achieved an Open-circuit voltage of 782+12.2 mV regardless of the treatment. However, the maximum power of the CF-MFCs was 12.19 + 1.6 mW/m2 at a current of 15.8 mA/m2, while the SEC-MFCs produced 125.69 + 9.3 mW/m2 at a current of 277.4 + 19.3 mA/m2 under the same experimental conditions. The overall best and sustainable performance (145.3 + 8.03 mW/m2) during the 66-day operating period was obtained with SEC-MFC at 5 cm electrode spacing and treatment frequency of 8 days. 16S rDNA gene amplicon sequencing of DNA samples from the anode, cathode, and point of maximum power (MPP) revealed complex microbial diversity that showed significant compositional changes at the electrodes and MPP. The results showed that too small or too large electrode spacing and frequent substrate loading were not suitable for the MFC configuration in this study, and the electrode material had the greatest impact on S-MFC performance.Item Experimental Utilization of Urine to Recharge Soil Microbial Fuel Cell for Constant Power Generation(2017-02-20) Simeon, Meshack Imologie; Raji O. AThe simplicity of the soil-based microbial fuel cells (MFCs) makes them very attractive, as perhaps the only natural components they need to run are nutrient-rich soil combined with water to form mud. However, the MFC will cease to produce electricity when the soil runs out of its nutrient-rich characteristics and bacteria. It is against this background that this study was designed to investigate the possible utilization of urine to recharge soil MFCs that have run out of their nutrient-rich characteristics. The mud-watt MFC was utilized for this study. It was run continuously for forty days until the power output was nearly zero. Fresh urine was then introduced into the soil, and the power output was determined. The initial (24 hours after set-up) open circuit voltage (OCV) was 219 mV. A maximum OCV of 731 mV was obtained on day 14 of the study. The OCV of the MFC was 7.31 mV on day 40 before the injection of urine into the soil. Twenty-four hours after the ejection of urine, the OCV was 360 mV and rose to 407 mV forty-eight hours later. The OCV remained constant at this value for fifteen days, after which urine was reinjected. The voltage drop across seven external loads also showed a similar trend. This study has demonstrated that fresh urine can be successfully utilized to recharge a soil-based MFC that has run out of its nutrient-rich characteristics.