UTILIZATION OF USED TYRES AS ROOFING MATERIALS FOR GRAIN STORAGE

Abstract

Environmental pollution caused by solid wastes is increasing in 21st century; one of these is automobile used tyres, it constitutes health hazard to human and are non-biodegradable. Grain storage loss is a major contributor to post-harvest losses and is one of the main causes of the food insecurity in developing countries. Thus, the objective of this research is to design and develop a grain storage structure utilizing used tyres as a roofing material and examines its performance for grains storage. A 27 𝑚3 sliced used tyre-roofed grains storage structure with capacity to store 20.0 tonnes of grains was developed. The body is made of sandcrete hallow blocks, while the roof is made of sliced used tyres, inside was painted with white for thermal heat conservation while the outside was painted with black to increase thermal absorption through the wall. Solar energy is the heat source, 300 g of grains each of maize and bean seeds were stored in the structure for 35 days (1st November 2018 – 5th December 2018). LM35-precision centigrade temperature sensor, Differential Air-Pressure Transducer Sensor, SHT 75 digital relative humidity sensors, Digital top loading balances, mettle PE 12 instruments were used to measure temperature, pressure, relative humidity and weight respectively. Temperature sensors were placed on the three point locations namely, outside wall of the structure, inside wall of the structure and room air suspension, while pressure sensor and relative humidity sensor were suspended at room air. Records were taken for temperature, pressure, and relative humidity respectively for interval of 10 minutes throughout the period. Grain weigh was taken daily using Digital balance mettle PE 12. Data logger was used to store the values. Grain quality performance was examined by physical conditions and biological conditions. At the end of the experiment, the results of the biological conditions examination shows that maize grains has become harder and has a significant numbers of holes due to mold infestation, bean grains become harder but insignificant number of holes. Maize and bean seeds viabilities are 81% and 87% respectively within the recommend limit of 60%. The silo show significant good performance, easy to built and easy to manage. The results of the physical conditions examination shows that the room temperature fluctuates between 35⁰C and 29⁰C, pressure fluctuates between 896.2 mbar to 893.6 mbar and relative humidity fall from 97% to 66%. Maize and bean moisture content reduces from 30% to 4.57% and 30% to 13.69% respectively. The mean temperature different within the wall is 0.25⁰C.