KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL
ENGINEERING
REPORT TITLE: IMPROPER WASTE MANAGEMENT IN GAUSU
NAME:
MONTH: JULY
YEAR: 2013
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I wish to acknowledge with sincere
thanks and appreciation the assistance and inputs given, during my undertaking
of this project.
My thanks go to the entire office of
Obuasi zoomlion, especially to Mr. Amonoo Abeka Michael the District Operations
Supervisor, Miss Lydia Dapaah the Administrative Assistance and Mr. Philip
Asare the photographer for their immense assistance.
I also wish to thank the entire office
of the Town and Country Planning Department of the Obuasi Municipal Assembly, especially
to Mr. Manu the Municipal Director of the Town and Country Planning, Mr. J. K.
Awuah and Miss Vida Mensah for their help in obtaining the map. Also, to Elder
Mr. Boakye Yiadom of the Statistical Service Office of the Obuasi Municipal
Assembly for his help in obtaining data of the community.
Many made invaluable contributions to
the successful completion of this project for which I am most grateful.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
1.0
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................1
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE
COURSE………………………………………………………………..1
1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE
STUDY……….………………………………………………………………1
1.3 THE
REPORT…………………………………….….……………………………………………………2
CHAPTER TWO
2.0
METHODOLOGY.......................................................................................2
2.1
IDENTIFICATION OF PROBLEM………………………………………………………….…………2
2.2
PREPARATION OF MAP………….……………………….…………………………………………..3
2.3
COLLECTION OF DATA…..................................................................................3
CHAPTER THREE
3.0
DISCUSSION OF RESULTS…………………………………………………………………………………4
3.1
DESCRIPTION OF THE COMMUNITY………………………………………………………………………4
3.2
DESCRIPTION OF POOR
WASTE MANAGEMENT…………………………………………………..5
3.2.1 DEFINITION OF
WASTE…………………………………………………………………………………………5
3.2.2
CLASSIFICATION OF WASTE……………………………………………………………………………….6
3.3
DESCRIPTION OF PETROCHEMICAL ENGINEERING………………………………………………6
CHAPTER FOUR
4.0 SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM………………………………………………………………..13
4.1 HOW THE PROBLEM MAY BE SOLVED…………………………………………………………….13
4.2 SANITARY LAND FILLING…………………………………………………………………………………13
4.2.1
DEFINITION…………………………………………………………………………………………………….13
4.2.2
DESCRIPTION………………………………………………………………………………………………….13
4.2.3
PREPARATIONS……………………………………………………………………………………………….14
4.2.4
BUILDING THE LANDFILL………………………………………………………………………………….15
4.2.5
CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………………………….…….17
4.3 RECYCLING…………………………………………………………………………………………………………184.3.1 INTRODUCTION
4.3.2 FACTORS THAT CAN COMPLICATE
RECYCLING……………………………………………..
4.3.3 ADVANTAGES OF
RECYCLING……………………………………………………………………………….
4.3.4 HOW
THE RECYCLING IS DONE……………………………………………………………………………..19
4.3.5
CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………………………………………………19
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………….…………….……………………….20
RECOMMENDATION…………………………………………………………………………………………………20
REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………………..………………………….21
APPENDIX….……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
LIST OF
FIGURES
Figure2.1- Picture of the refuse dump
Figure
2.1 A map of Gausu
LIST OF
TABLES
PAGE
Table 3.1 Projected age and sex structure of Gausu for
the year 2010...................... 10
LIST OF PLATES PAGE
Plate 3. 1 Showing were some inhabitants dump their
refuse.....................................
12
LIST OF
FIGURES
PAGE
Fig. 3.1 A map of
Gausu................................................................................................. 11
Fig. 5. 1 A map of Obuasi .............................................................................................
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the
Course
This is a course that
came about as a result of several conference observations that the African
University graduate appears to be becoming increasingly separated from the
realities of life in Africa. The curricula do not appear to address the day to
day challenges that Africans face. Students most of the time do not know how to apply what they
study in the university in their working field.
Society expects education in general and University education in particular to
equip Africans to solve Africa problems. Thus this course is an attempt to
respond to this need. This course, engineering in society, aims at helping
students to acknowledge and appreciate the importance of engineering and how to
apply their knowledge in solving societal problems.
A two day seminar was organised to brief students on this project. Students
were briefed on the strategic mandate, vision mission and core values of the
university. They were also told the history of KNUST, before narrowing it to
the history of the College of Engineering. They were spoken to on the subject,
Economic Indicators, as well as challenges of development in the world and the
eight millennium development goals. Students were taken through poverty trends,
climate change and the various engineering challenges. They were finally briefed
on how to go about the project during the vacation bringing the two day seminar
to an end.
1.2Objectives
·
To inculcate in
engineering students an appreciation of the fact that the purpose of
engineering is to solve societal problems.
·
To encourage students
early in their programmes of study to draw a link between their chosen field of
engineering and the application of this field to the issues that confront the
day to day lives of people.
·
To help students to
apply the knowledge obtained in their field of study to help solve problems in
their community so as to develop the community and the nation as a whole.
·
To help students to
think critically so as to produce innovative engineers of the country.
·
To help students know
where and how their programme of study in the university can be applied to
solve societal problems.
·
To ensure students do
not idle about during vacation but rather research for a better understanding
of their programme.
1.3The Report
This report
consists of a brief background to the course, an objective of carrying out this
assignment, description of the problem of poor management of waste, a map of
Gausu (the study community)in Obuasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana,
description of Gausu and description of how the map was prepared. It also
consists of a description of petrochemical engineering and its different
branches andhow poor management of waste can be solved using knowledge from
petrochemical engineering.
CHAPTER TWO
2.0 METHOLOGY
2.1 Identification of the Problem
Gausu like every
other community in Obuasi and beyond produces a lot of waste, rangingfrom those
which decay quickly to those which will take as long as 400 years to decay like
plastics. A few houses have access to bins provided by zoomlion and so they are
emptied for them when it gets full. But the collection is not the best as
rubbish is always left overflowing for a long time before they are finally
collected. Majority of the inhabitants however dump their refuse at the
communities’ refuse dump. The collection of this mass refuse is also very
similar to that of the small bins in front of the houses if not worse. To make
it worse a few households have resorted to dumping their refuse on an open land
due to the fact that the main refuse dump is very far from where they live.Itis
very sad to know that a few walking distance from the refuse dump is where
people live. This will definitely affect the health of the people. No wonder
there is an upsurge of diseases such as cholera, typhoid fever, dysentery and
malaria in Gausu.The huge heaps of waste when finally collected are sent to
open dumps very far awayfrom the town.How very far these dumps are away from
the town itself contributes to the delay in collecting the refuse. The refuse
is sent to the dump site and they are poured on the bear ground and also in
patterns. Whenever the place is full, a bulldozer is used to compact and level
the sides for dumping of refuse to be done again. Despite this huge problem the
community is already facing as to their rubbish not being taking to the refuse
dump early,rubbish is also littered by the inhabitants anyhow as they walk
through the community. Those that are able to decay do so with time but those
that take long years to decay are left lying there for ages until a communal
labour is organised, which is rarely done.This generally makes the community
look unkempt.The plastic parts of the litter apart from not being able to
decompose early and leaving the community dirty also poses harm to children.
Children playing with plastics littered out in the community can get choked.
This can even lead to death if help is not gotten early enough. Each day, more
and more plastics in the form of plastic bottles, water sachets, polyethene
bags etc. are ending up littering the environment. Once they become litter,
plastics find their way into our waterways, parkand streets. And, if they are
burned, they infuse the air with toxic fumes.When we throw these plastics away
they often build up and cause some harmful effects. Most negative effects
associated with plastic waste come from chemicals that leach from the plastic
into the environment.
2.2 Preparation of the Map
In preparing this map, I went to
the town and country planning office of the Obuasi Municipal Assembly and
collected an area council map of Obuasi, of which the study community, Gausu
is part. I also got a map of Gausu from Google earth which I downloaded.
2.3 Collection of Data
Data
for this project was gotten from institutions like Zoomlion (Obuasi) and the
Obuasi municipal Assembly. Individuals in Gausu also contributed in their own
small way. Zoomlion provided data on how waste generally produced at Gausu
and beyond is collected and the processes it goes through before getting to
the appropriate destination. It also helped in taking an image of Gausu’s
rubbish dump. The statistics department of the municipal assembly provided
data on the population, number of households and number of houses for all the
sixty three communities in the Obuasi municipal. From that data,the
population of Gausu, the number of houses as well as households in Gausu was
determined. The growth rate of the people of Gausu was also given by the
statistics office. It also provided information on the ratio of males to
females in the locality. While the town and country planning department of
the Municipal Assembly provided the map of Obuasi from which Gausu was
accurately located. Individuals in the community also provided data on how
their day to day waste creation is like, when and how they get rid of their
waste and the waste that is most often produced by them. The people who live
around were the rubbish dump is also talked about how the situation greatly
affects them. The place is always stinking, a lot of noise is generated when
tractors come to finally take the waste and a lot of mosquitoes breed at the
area too even extending to their rooms.
CHAPTER THREE
3.0 DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
3.1 Description of the Community
Gausu
is a small but popular community found around the central part of Obuasi in
the Ashanti region of Ghana. It is located in the Adansi west district. Gausu
has a projected population of 10604of which 5260 are males and 5344 are
females as at the year 2010.It is the seventh most populous community in the
Obuasi municipality out of the overall 63 communities. According to the 2010
estimated number of households, Gausu had 2269 households. In that same year,
Gausu’s estimated number of houses was 1151.Gausu has an approximated growth
rate of between 3 – 4%.Table 3. shows a projected age and sex structure for
the year 2010
The community is popular for having the best
senior High School in Obuasi, which is Obuasi Secondary Technical School.
Gausu has two senior high schools in all, five basic schools and a nursery
school. The community has two hospitals. One is the government hospital of
the Obuasi municipal and the other is a private hospital, Ridge Hospital. The
community has quite good roads leading one place to another. Gausu has a nice
park for football and a market big enough for the inhabitants. The inhabitants
are into jobs like teaching, mining, nursing and the like and most of them
own shops. Due to the large population of Gausu, it produces a lot of waste
as well. The waste produced at the market alone is unimaginable. The place
where rubbish is dumped too is not a sight to behold.
Figure
3.1 A map of Gausu
Reference
: Google
3.2Description
of Poor Waste Management
3.2.1Definition of
Waste
Waste
is any material that is of no use to a particular person at a specific place
and at a particular time.The world health organisation(WHO) Expert Committee
on solid waste disposal and control defined solid waste as being useless,
unwanted or discarded materials that arise from man’s activities and are not
free flowing. In the view of the World Bank, however, solid waste is anything
or materials for which the primary generator or user abandoning the material
within the urban area requires no compensation upon abandonment.
3.2.2 Classification
of Waste
Solid wastes are classified as domestic,
commercial, institutional and industrial. This work concentrates on domestic
and commercial wastes which are considered to be garbage materials which
results from food preparation both in the home and in restaurants which
decompose rapidly as well as plastics which do not decompose and also rubbish
produced on the streets and in commercial establishments which slowly
decompose.
Plate 3.1 Shows the place where some of the inhabitants
dump their refuse
|
3.3 Description of
Petrochemical Engineering
Petrochemical
engineering is a sub-branch of the wide discipline of chemical engineering. It
is the application of science, in particular chemistry, physics and
mathematics, to the process of converting raw materials of petroleum or other
hydrocarbon origin into more useful or valuable products. It deals with the
development and production of a diverse range of products, commodities and
specialty chemicals. These products lead to a sustainable and improved quality
of life. This programme covers the engineering principles required to develop,
design, operate and control the processes and plants that involve molecular
changes. It aims to produce graduates with the ability to apply the knowledge of
science and engineering fundamentals in petrochemical industries. Petrochemical
engineers are very much at the forefront to improve the quality of life. There
are extensive opportunities in the designing of process equipment/plants,
identifying chemical and physical properties of substances, researching new
products and ensuring equipment/plant operates optimally. They work in a wide
range of fields such as the oil and gas industry, petrochemicals,
pharmaceuticals, pulp and paper, food processing, healthcare, specialty
chemicals, electronic and advanced materials, microelectronics, biotechnology,
environmental health and safety industries. It is much similar to chemical
engineering in the way it specializes in production of petrochemicals.
3.4 Branches of Petrochemical
Engineering
The branches of
petrochemical engineering include:
1.Polymer Technology:
It can be described in brief as the manufacture, processing, analysis and
application of long chain molecules. Materials that are typically classified as
polymers include: plastics, paints, rubber, foams, adhesives, sealants,
varnishes and many more. These materials, today, fully control the high
technology era we live in to such an extent that it has become impossible to
live life as we know now, without these products. Industries that are totally
dependent on polymers include petrochemical industries, information technology,
aerospace, music, clothing, medical, motor manufacturing, building, packaging,
and many more. As a study field, Polymer Technology is not well known among
prospective students, but has vast employment potential. It therefore often happens
that students enter the polymer field from areas such as Analytical Chemistry
or Engineering and have to undergo retraining to function effectively in the
polymer environment. Chemistry forms the basis and starting point of Polymer
Technology but it also leans on other scientific study-areas such as
engineering and manufacturing.
2. Fertilizer Technology:Fertilizer is any organic or inorganic
material of natural or synthetic origin (other than liming materials) that is
added to a soil to supply one or more plant nutrients essential to the growth
of plants. Conservative estimates report
30 to 50% of crop yields are attributed to natural or synthetic commercial
fertilizer. Mined inorganic fertilizers have been used for many centuries,
whereas chemically synthesized inorganic fertilizers were only widely developed
during the industrial revolution. Fertilizers typically provide, in varying
proportions: six macronutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium,
magnesium, and sulphur; eight micronutrients: boron, chlorine, copper, iron,
manganese, molybdenum, zinc and nickel. The macronutrients are consumed in
larger quantities and are present in plant tissue in quantities from 0.15% to
6.0% on a dry matter (DM) basis. Micronutrients are consumed in smaller
quantities and are present in plant tissue on the order of parts per million
(ppm), ranging from 0.15 to 400 ppm DM, or less than 0.04% DM. Only three other
macronutrients are required by all plants: carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. These
nutrients are supplied by water (through rainfall or irrigation) and carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere.
3. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA):It is an assessment of the possible
positive or negative impacts that a proposed project may have on the
environment, consisting of the environmental, social and economic aspects. The
purpose of the assessment is to ensure that decision makers consider the
ensuing environmental impacts when deciding whether or not to proceed with a
project. The International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) defines an
environmental impact assessment as "the process of identifying,
predicting, evaluating and mitigating the biophysical, social, and other
relevant effects of development proposals prior to major decisions being taken
and commitments made. EIAs are unique in that they do not require adherence to
a predetermined environmental outcome, but rather they require decision makers
to account for environmental values in their decisions and to justify those
decisions in light of detailed environmental studies and public comments on the
potential environmental impacts of the proposal.
4. Risk Management and Environment:Risk
management is the identification, assessment, and prioritization of risks
followed by coordinated and economical application of resources to minimize,
monitor, and control the probability and/or impact of unfortunate events or to
maximize the realization of opportunities. Risks can come from threats from
project failures, accidents, natural causes and disasters as well as deliberate
attack from an adversary, or events of uncertain or unpredictable root-cause.
An example of a risk management standard is the National Institute of Standards
and Technology. Methods, definitions and goals vary widely according to whether
the risk management method is in the context of project management, security,
engineering, industrial processes or public health and safety. The strategies
to manage threats (uncertainties with negative consequences) typically include
transferring the threat to another party, avoiding the threat, reducing the
negative effect or probability of the threat, or even accepting some or all of
the potential or actual consequences of a particular threat, and the opposites
for opportunities (uncertain future states with benefits). Certain aspects of
many of the risk management standards have come under criticism for having no
measurable improvement on risk.
5. Computer Optimisation Method:Computer
optimization is a number of processes to which a system (whether is a MAC OS, Microsoft
Windows, or Linux/Unix based computer) undergoes in order to maintain its
normal usability and performance. Here's a general list of the basic procedures
(some might not apply to all operating systems):
a.Full disk(s)
clean-up
b. Registry integrity check and clean-up
c.Virus,
malware, and adware check and removal
d. Disk(s) defragmentation &
error-checking test
The good news is
that this is not everything you can do for your computer. Other advanced options
such as firewall configuration, hardware driver updates, operating system core
stability and integrity check, motherboard BIOS and RAM upgrade, etc., can also
be performed to make of your system a super system. We need these computer
optimization methods because believe it or not, even the dust accumulated
inside your case can affect the performance of your computer.
6. Electrochemical Technology:This
covers the whole range of technologies that involve chemical processes that are
driven by the application of an electric current, or which produce an
electrical potential as a result of a chemical reaction. Some of these are
familiar processes, such as the electrolytic production of aluminium,
electroplating of metals, and the development of advanced batteries. Other
applications include the deposition of thin films of semiconductors on metals
surfaces, useful in the production of solar energy devices and photocopying
materials, and the development of sensors based on molecules that are
engineered at the molecular scale:
so-called
nanotechnologies. Many familiar
analytical devices such as pH meters and oxygen sensors already employ
electrochemical principles. Among other developments is the destruction of
wastes by electrolysis, an application that finds a niche when conventional
treatment methods fail. Electrochemical synthesis is an area with tremendous
possibilities in the context of “green chemistry”, offering the prospect of
carrying out oxidations and reductions with just electrons as reagents.
7.Adsorption Separation Processes:Separation, is any mass transfer process
that breaks a mixture of substances into two or more distinct product mixtures,
at least one of which is enriched in one or more of the mixture's constituents.
Almost every element or compound is naturally found in an impure state. In some
cases these separations require total purification, as in the electrolysis
refining of bauxite ore for aluminium metal, but a good example of an
incomplete separation process is oil refining. The refining process splits this
mixture into other, more valuable mixtures such as natural gas, gasoline and
chemical feed stocks, none of which are pure substances, but each of which must
be separated from the raw crude. In the case of oilrefining, crude is subjected
to a long series of individual distillation steps, each of which produces a different
product or intermediate. Adsorption separation can be simply defined as the
concentration of a solute, which may be molecules in a gas stream or a
dissolved or suspended substance in a liquid stream, on the surface of a solid.
In an adsorption process, molecules or atoms or ions in a gas or liquid diffuse
to the surface of a solid, where they bond with the solid surface or are held
there by weak inter-molecular forces. The adsorbed solute is called the
adsorbate, and the solid material is the adsorbent.Adsorption processes can be
divided into 2 groups: bulk separation, which involves the separation of up to
half of the components from a process stream, and purification, a process in
which a small amount of impurity is removed from the gas stream.
8. Pinch Technology:The term "Pinch Technology" was introduced
by Linnhoff and Vredeveld to represent a new set of thermodynamically based
methods that guarantee minimum energy levels in design of heat exchanger
networks. Over the last two decades it has emerged as an unconventional
development in process design and energy conservation. The term ‘Pinch Analysis’
is often used to represent the application of the tools and algorithms of pinch
technology for studying industrial processes. Developments of rigorous software
programs like PinchExpressTM, SuperTargetTM and AspenPinchTM have proved to be
very useful in pinch analysis of complex industrial processes with speed and
efficiency. Pinch technology presents a simple methodology for systematically
analysing chemical processes and the surrounding utility systems with the help
of the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics. The First Law of Thermodynamics
provides the energy equation for calculating the enthalpy changes in the
streams passing through a heat exchanger. The Second Law determines the
direction of heat flow. That is, heat energy may only flow in the direction of
hot to cold. Pinch technology is a methodology for minimising energy
consumption of chemical processes by calculating minimum energy consumption and
by optimising heat recovery systems etc. It is also known as process
integration, heat integration, energy integration or pinch analysis.
Pinchtechnology is a multitouch gesture to control touch screen.
9. Fuel and Combustion Technology:This
branch includes:Combustion fundamentals properties of fuels, chemical kinetics
and combustion thermodynamics, environmental and operational performance such
as emissions, flame stabilization techniques, reduction of emissions and calculation
methods in combustion.
10. Natural Gas Liquefaction and Handling:Liquefaction of gases is the process of
refrigerating a gas to a temperature below its critical temperature so that
liquid can be formed at some suitable pressure, also below the critical
pressure. Gas liquefaction is a special case of gas refrigeration. An important
distinction between refrigerators and liquefiers is that in a continuous
refrigeration process, there is no accumulation of refrigerant in any part of
the system. This contrasts with a gas-liquefying system, where liquid
accumulates and is withdrawn. Thus, in a liquefying system, the total mass of
gas that is warmed in the countercurrent heat exchanger is less than the gas to
be cooled by the amount that is liquefied, creating an unbalanced flow in the
heat exchanger. In a refrigerator, the warm and cool gas flows are equal in the
heat exchanger. This results in balanced flow condition. The thermodynamic
principles of refrigeration and liquefaction are identical. However, the
analysis and design of the two systems are quite different due to the condition
of balanced flow in the refrigerator and unbalanced flow in liquefier systems.
11. Refining Processes Technology:
The refining technology process uses the
following steps:First, fraction distillation is used. A very old and common way
of separating things into different components by making use of their different
boiling temperatures. This entails heating the crude oil first, allowing it to
vaporize and then condensing the vapour. The second step is known as
conversion, i.e. applying a chemical process on some of the fractions to come
up with others. This process breaks down long chemical chains into short ones
which will make it easier for the refinery to turn it into usable form,
depending on its demand. The fractions are then treated carefully by applying
different refining technology methods to get rid of all impurities. The various
fractions i.e. both the processed and unprocessed are combined into mixtures or
left in their unique purest forms as desired. All products in their natural form
contain some sort of impurities hence have to be refined through the above
mentioned ways. The final part is blending. Many things originate from oil or
natural gas- medicine, synthetic fibre, fertilizers, among many others. By
utilizing technology, refining is done to get the most pure forms of components.
12.Renewable energy
resources:Renewable energy
is energy that comes from resources which are continually replenished such as
sunlight, wind, rain, biomass, tides, waves and geothermal heat. While many
renewable energy projects are large-scale, renewable technologies are also
suited to rural and remote areas, where energy is often crucial in human
development.Carbon-neutral and negative fuels can store and transport renewable
energy through existing natural gas pipelines and be used with existing
transportation infrastructure, displacing fossil fuels, and reducing greenhouse
gases.Climate change and global warming concerns, coupled with high oil prices,
peak oil, and increasing government support, are increasing renewable energy
legislation, incentives and commercialization. According to a 2011 projection
by the International Energy Agency, solar power generators may produce most of
the world’s electricity within 50 years, dramatically reducing the emissions of
greenhouse gases that harm the environment.Renewable energy sources, that
derive their energy from the sun, either directly or indirectly, such as Hydro
and wind, are expected to be capable of supplying humanity energy for almost
another 1 billion years, at which point the predicted increase in heat from the
sun is expected tomake the surface of the Earth too hot for liquid water to
exist.
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