Abstract:
The samples of the municipal solid waste (MSW) were collected twice a week over a period of twelve weeks (3 months) (22 /12/ 2012 - 29 /03/ 2013). It was manually sorted, sun-dried, pulverized and sieved. The average waste compositions were 3.73% of bones, 9.76% of food, 3.71% of rubber and leather, 12.62% of polythene products, 8.14% of paper and card boards, 4.36% of textiles, 3.90% metals and cans, 8.39% of leaves and vegetable, 5.83% of animal dung and excreta, 9.71% of glass and ceramics, 5.20% of wood ,1.35% of charcoal, fruit of 12.53%, coconut and palm kernel of 1.13%, tuberous peels waste of 7.66% and miscellaneous 3.90%. The coconut and palm kernel of 3,390 kg/day and polythene products of 37,860 kg/day were the range of the components out of the 300 Tonnes of the average waste generated in Ado-Ekiti. Per capita waste generation in Ado- Ekiti metropolis is 0.67 kg/day. The energy content of the combustibles MSW were evaluated using Cal 2k-Eco Calorimeter (Electronic bomb calorimeter) and the result revealed that the calorific values were : bones 6,994.39 kJ/kg, food waste 14,176.14 kJ/kg, rubber and leather 20,946.52 kJ/kg, polythene products waste 35,959.00 kJ/kg, paper and cardboards 11,210.00 kJ/kg, textiles 17,800.48 kJ/kg, leaves and vegetables 14,069.37 kJ/kg, animal dungs and excreta 13,848.16 kJ/kg, wood waste 16,795.96 kJ/kg, charcoal 18,711.70 kJ/kg, fruit,328.96 kJ/kg, coconut and palm kernel waste 13,944.80 kJ/kg and tuberous peels waste 14,574.95 kJ/kg. The proximate and ultimate analyses showed that moisture content of the components of the solid waste varied from 0.82 % in polythene products to 12.79 % in leaves and vegetables, volatile matter ranged from 6.70 % in textiles to 67.12 % in bones ,the fixed carbon varied from 13.89 % in rubber and leather to 81.62 % in textiles, ash content ranged from 4.78 % in coconut and palm kernel to 76.48 % in charcoal, the total carbon ranged from 57.85 % in paper and cardboards to 88.37% in textiles. The nitrogen content ranged from 0.36 % in polythene products to 5.88 % in fruits. Sulphur content also varied from 0.03% in coconut and palm kernel to 0.26% in leaves and vegetable. The energy content varied from 47,272.87 MJ/day to 1,361,407.74 MJ/day while the total energy content is 4,449,426.14 MJ/day. The mean specific energy content is 17.57 MJ/kg. 15.76 MW of electricity can be generated from the polythene products waste while the combustible components of the MSW can be used to produce steam to generate 51.5 MW of electricity in Ado-Ekiti metropolis.
