Small Scale Investigation of the Potential of Solar Drying of Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia Crassipes) as A Control Measure in Makurdi

A O Edeoja,A O Owolabi

doi:10.46912/napas.18

Abstract

Water hyacinth is the world's worst water weed that is responsible for many environmental and economical problems. Nigerian fresh waters have been infested with this aquatic weed. In this work, a Natural Convection Mixed Mode Solar Dryer for drying water hyacinth to about 10% of its moisture content was constructed and tested as a component of controlling its infestation of the River Benue. The performance of the dryer was compared with the traditional open–air sun drying as the control for drying water hyacinth in Makurdi, Benue State Nigeria. The water hyacinth was dried for 8 hours each day for 4 days. 500g of water hyacinth on wet basis was dehydrated by about 437g on dry basis in 20 hours in the dryer while the control required 32 hours. The dryer was found to be technically more suitable for drying water hyacinth both in terms of the drying rate and quality of the dried product.

Highlights

Many towns and villages in Nigeria have a variety of freshwater bodies which play an important role in the cultural heritage and economic status of the people
The specific objective of this work is to evaluate the amount of moisture content that will be left within a period of time by the use of mixed-mode solar dryer equipment compared to the conventional air drying technique
The air exiting the drying chamber is at a lower temperature especially for passive systems in which the heated air from the collector has a longer resident time within the drying chamber

Summary

Introduction

Many towns and villages in Nigeria have a variety of freshwater bodies which play an important role in the cultural heritage and economic status of the people. Most of them are infested with one kind of aquatic weed or the other, the most common one being water hyacinth(Eichhorniacrassipes). Plate 1 shows a water hyacinth infested water body. The plant originated from the Amazon Basin and was introduced into many parts of the world as an ornamental garden pond plant. It has proliferated waterways on all continents apart from Europe. The rapid spread of the plant in many parts of Africa and in Nigeria has caused great concern recently (UNEP, 2013; Fessehaie, 2012; Mujingni, 2012)

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