ANKO SENAMI OLUWAFUNMILOLA

Chemistry

At the Chemistry department office

Appointment on Visitation important

Topic: Production Of Organic Fertilizer From The Mixture Of Blended Plantain Peels And Fish Scales, Using Corn Cob As A Binder

Description: There exists the problem of waste management, especially food waste. Most domestic waste are disposed indiscriminately, thus, they end up in the streets, in the drainages, etc., which cause contamination and pollution of soils and ultimately, water systems. This project aims to utilise technology to solve the problem of food waste in Africa, through the manufacture of organic fertilizer in form of waste valorization. Plantains add potassium and phosphorus to the soil which are key components of fertilizers. The solid fertilizers are produced by drying the plantain peels in a vacuum oven/air-drying space. After drying, the peels are blended in an electric grinder machine. Then, blended fish scales, which are a good source of nitrogen, are added to the blended peels. The blended fish scales add sufficient amounts of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus to the soil. Milled corn cobs when added to the mixture of plantain peels and fish scales, act as a binder, and aid firmness of the soil during planting. This project addresses Goals 2, 3, and 12, as food waste, while decomposing, gives off methane gas and CO2, known as Greenhouse Gases GHG which affect the Ozone layer and environment adversely. Therefore, the conversion of these plantain peels considered as waste, into fertilizer, helps to reduce the emission of these greenhouse gases, which in turn influence climate change.

#	Certificate	School	Year
1.	M.Sc (Chemistry)	Lagos State University	2023

Using Young of the Year Fish to Bio-monitor Pollution in Selected Aquatic Environments in Lagos State

Heavy metals remain a serious environmental pollutant due to its toxicity and persistence in the environment. Aquatic organisms fish , have been reportedly used as a bio-indicator in many studies, but there is scarcity of data on the use of very young fish in the capacity to indicate pollution in the environment. Therefore, this study is designed to use young of the year fish to bio-indicate heavy metals in aquatic environments in Lagos, Nigeria. Fish samples, water and sediments were collected from Langbasa, Tumaro Liverpool market , and Badagry, and digested using mineral acid digestion. The digested samples were analysed for six heavy metals Cu, Fe, Zn, Pb, Ni, and Cd , with the use of a Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometer. The trace metal values in water samples ranged between 0.02-0.12, Cu; 0.36-16.21, Fe; 0.28-3.12, Zn; 0.05-1.97, Pb; 0.52-3.01, Ni; and 0.02-0.09, Cd mg/l . The mean concentrations for trace metals in fish ranged between 0.23-0.57, Cu; 0.16-4.79, Fe; 8.15-12.30, Zn; 0.00-0.64, Pb; 1.07-1.19, Ni; and 0.00-0.04, Cd mg/l . The results revealed that young fish can be appropriately used as bio-monitors of heavy metals in water, as they show early signs of contamination in their systems.

ANKO SENAMI is a Graduate Assistant at the Department of Chemistry

ANKO has a M.Sc in Chemistry from Lagos State University