Abstract:
The viability of alkali extracted from agricultural wastes for industrial processes was examined. Nine agricultural wastes were screened for metallic content, alkali concentration and ash density. Alkali was extracted and purified from three selected agricultural wastes (coconut fibre, unripe plantain peel and palm bunch waste) with high alkali contents. The purified alkali was applied in titrimetry, soap making and fabric dyeing.
For the soap making; the selected extracted alkali samples were used separately in saponification reaction with three different oil samples- Palm kernel oil, Mango seed oil and Palm oil. Conventional saponification process was modified to improve on the quality of the soaps and nine neat soap samples were produced. The moisture content, insoluble matter in ethanol, insoluble matter in water, free caustic alkali, total fatty matter, foam capacity, cleansing power, density and colour were performed on the soap samples The nine soap samples have their moisture contents within the range of 11.91 to19.31%, free caustic alkali ranges from 0.07 to 0.42%, insoluble matter in water was recorded within the range of 0.14 to 0.90%, insoluble matter in ethanol ranged between 1.00 to 1.85%, total fatty matter was between 50.74 to 81.88%, foam capacity was noted between 20 to 96%, and density ranged between 0.90 to 2.54g/cm3. The ash derived alkali and the agro-alkali soaps showed some qualities that are satisfactory as much as their conventional counterparts when compared with standard values. The visual property of the dyed fabric also showed that the ash derived alkalis are suitable in fabric dyeing as the conventional alkali.
Alkali derived from agro-waste show efficient application in industrial processes, the materials needed are easily available, could be sourced locally at little or no cost. Therefore, agro-wastes could be used as gainful source of alkali for cash-strapped developing nation such as Nigeria.
