Calorific Value and Moisture Content Of Selected Solid Wastes at Chuka University

Abstract

Solid waste, which typically consists of metals, plastics, glasses, paper, wood, and organics, is generated and accumulated due to human day to day activities. The waste often leads to ecological pollution unless an appropriate solid waste management system is applied. Remarkably, solid waste can be channeled into a very useful form to generate energy leading to the reduction of the use of fossils fuels which are rapidly becoming limited, reduction of wastes in dumping sites and also be an additional source of energy. For such ventures though, the amount of energy that can be recovered from burning solid waste needs to be determined. In this work, solid waste samples were collected, classified, sundried, powdered and sieved using a sieve of size 500µm. The percentage moisture content of fruits waste, animal dung, and yard trimming & vegetables were found to be 33, 48, and 55 % respectively. The fruits waste had the highest calorific value of 104,130.91J/g, followed by the animal dung with 95,804.13 J/g and the least was yard trimming and vegetables with 95,100.39 J/g. The average specific energy content is 98345.14 J/g.