ABSTRACT-Luke Zvinei The wide range of achievable properties of polyurethane products makes it an indispensable component in the construction, furniture

and bedding, footwear, packaging and transport, apparel and consumer products and automotive industrial sectors. However, since polyurethane manufacturing rely significantly on fossil fuels and petroleum oil as the feedstock for its major components, the depletion of the world oil pool, rising prices of petroleum crude oil and increased environmental concerns are pressurizing research into biobased polyurethane. This project focuses on the design of a 2 tonnes per day bio-based polyurethane plant. Comprehensive examination of technological advances and vegetable oil modification methods was done and the production process involving oil hydrolysis using rigosa lipase at 55% followed by polymerization reaction was designed. From series of experiments conducted through titration method, acid index and hydroxyl number of polyol were found to be 211 and 2.5mgNaOH/g respectively which agreed with those found from spectrometric polyol characterization method. For reactor design, chemical kinetics of the reactions was also titrimetrically determined and results were 76.8% polyol yield, chemical conversion of 80%, rate constant of 4.610-4L/mol.min and order of reaction 2 was within the literature range of 1 to 2. Aspects of temperature, flow control and HAZOP analysis of the polymerization batch reactor and shell and tube heat exchanger were also covered. Economic analysis of the project gave a payback period of 3yrs, return of investment of 34% and internal rate of return of 23.4%. Hence the researcher recommends the setting up of this polyurethane plant. Key words: Polyurethane, hydrolysis, titration, acid index, hydroxyl number, polymerization, conversion.

Abstract- Tendai Gweshe Polychem Private Limited runs a laundry powder detergent plant which has a capacity of 300kg per day. The process uses the hot air blower method for slurry drying which is now obsolete and has more draw backs which impact negatively on product quality, workers health and production efficiency. The current and the anticipated future demand of washing powder in the next 4 years stands at 700 and 1500kg per day respectively which is far too high than the current plant capacity. Hence the project focuses on the design of a 1.5 tonnes per day semi-batch washing powder processing plant to upgrade and replace the old process with a new technologically advanced process. Experiments were done to determine the slurry drying temperature, atomization pressure, conversion and thermal efficiency of the spray dryer which led to the design of a combined spray dryer and agglomeration process. A detailed process and equipment design of the spray dryer and the air-to-air waste heat recuparator was carried out. An economic analysis was done to assess the economic feasibility of the project. It was concluded that it is possible to design an economically viable and environmentally friendly 1.5 tonnes per day semi-batch washing powder processing plant. The project has a payback period of 3.3 years and a return on investment of 36.5% which are acceptable financial indicators. For future developments, it is recommended that a full automation of the process and an employment of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) softwares should be employed in the spray dryer experimental analysis so as to come up with correct results of the slurry drying phases thus maximizing the production cycle time all year round.

ABSTRACT-Penelope Malunga

An experimental approach was taken in the design of a process for the dry beneficiation of gold ore which can be used as an alternative process to the cyanidation process. Experimental work was undertaken to determine the moisture content, recovery and enrichment ratio of gold ore. Maximum recovery was found to be 90% and maximum enrichment ratio was 1.81 for the oxide ore sample. The vertical turbo dryer and fluidized bed separator was designed to help achieve the desired gold concentrate and the control of this equipment was automated using micro-controllers. The dry beneficiation process gave the company a net present worth of US$26 million with a payback of 3.2 years and a breakeven at 9 500 units (ounces). It is further recommended that optimization approaches be in-cooperated in further study and a prototype be developed.

ABSTRACT-Lavinia Chikomo

Sugar manufacturing processes produce sugar and by-products which are bagasse and molasses. Approximately 60% of the produced bagasse is being used for the generation of heat and 40% of bagasse is left unused. This bagasse is a valuable raw material in furfural production which is currently being imported into the country. The project focuses on the local production of 2 tonnes per day of furfural which bring financial benefits to the nation through reduction of furfural products importation and thereby improving the local chemical industry. Experiments were done to determine the mineral acid catalyst for the cyclodehydration, reacting temperature and pressure, order of reaction and conversion factor of the cyclo dehydration reaction of bagasse to furfural. The results obtained led to the design of a cyclo-dehydration batch reactor and distillation column. Process instrumentation and control diagrams (PID) and hazard operability studies (HAZOP) were done on the designed equipment to ensure safe operations. A detailed economic analysis was done to assess the economic feasibility of the project. The project has a payback period of 2.5 years and a return on investment of 31.9% which are acceptable financial indicators. It was concluded that it is possible to design an economically viable and environmentally friendly furfural manufacturing plant. Further optimization of the process to incorporate energy integration techniques in the plant to ensure efficient and more economical energy use by consuming the bagasse pulp residue produced as a source of fuel to the boilers is recommended.

Abstract-Abraham Botoro The project intends to carter for the high glucose demand in the county since there is a growing population of starch derivatives industry, present demand which is estimated at 1000 tonnes per annum. This capstone project has designed a plant that produces 3 tonnes of glucose per day from cassava. The project has an impact in the value addition of the cassava crop which has an annual output of 50 000 tonnes country wide. Acid and Enzyme Hydrolysis experiments were carried out to determine maximum conversion and to determine the one with the least cost of production. Concentration of 1.5g/L of alpha amylase enzyme hydrolyzed 100cm3 of starch in 7 minutes. The quantitative information obtained from the experiments showed the conversion of starch to glucose to be 97% and the rate of reaction showed an in increase with increase in enzyme concentration. The obtained results were scaled up to design the bioreactor. Environmental impact assessment was carried out for the plant from inception, construction and operation and was found to be safe. The total capital investment was calculated to be $3.2million. A return on investment of 34 % and a payback period of 3.2 years showed high returns. It was concluded that it is possible to design the plant. Zimbabwe being an agro-based economy would benefit immensely from beneficiation of cassava raw materials.

ABSTRACT- Ngoni Masukusa

Jatropha cake is a highly nutritious and economic protein source for animals. At Finealt Engineering Company 450tonnes of the press milled cake is produced per day and 380tonnes goes into the production of organic fertilizers and biogas and 70tonnes is left unutilized at the company warehouse. It is in this light that this project was carried out to design a 53tonnes/day jatropha cake detoxifying process to produce animal stock feed using an economical and is environmentally friendly process. Jatropha cake was detoxified from the experiments using solvents methanol and NaOCL of mass 2.769tonnes and 1.5275tonnes respectively, which extracted the phorbol esters (toxins) by applying chemical and process system engineering principles and techniques in this process. The level of phorbol esters which must be 11ppm in accordance to ISO standards were reduced to 6ppm from 18ppm making the jatropha cake edible and suitable to be used as animal stock feed A 2hour batch system was designed in which 13tonnes /batch of cake is first milled to a particle size of 10mm the mixed in a reactor with a10tonnes of petroleum ether and 20tonnes water then extracted and lastly dried by a rotary drier to remain with cake of 4% moisture. A PLC control system was used for the overall process control and instrumentation. A total of $216 300, 00 was calculated as the total capital to be invested in this project with a rate of return of 18.85%( 5,3yrs) and a break even after producing 7.6units (130.72tonnes).In conclusion the project was technically and economically viable and also the raffinatewas recommended to be used to produce pesticides and an honest look to be made on the risks to human health associated with all means of interaction with the seed cake.

ABSTRACT-Bernard Ganzwa Several thousand tonnes of water treatment sludge are produced annually at Longlands water treatment plant. The management of this sludge has been of increasing concern due to the detrimental impacts caused by the sludge to the environment..The Longlands water treatment plant has a production capacity of 42Mega litres a day. 7% (2.94Mega litres) of the raw water received at the plant per day is lost during downstream processes (backwashing and de-sludge process). From experimental work carried out at The Institute of Mining Research Zimbabwe, it was ascertained that 0.34% of the lost water are total solids such that 1069.45Mega litres of water are lost per annum and 3648.54 tonnes of dry solids are generated per annum. The total solids in the sludge contain 28.6% aluminium (aluminium hydroxide and aluminium oxide), 88% of the aluminium is recoverable by leaching using sulphuric acid. This project is aimed at reclaiming and reusing aluminium sulphate. The proposed aluminium sulphate reclamation plant has a maximum production capacity of 10751kg/day of aluminium coagulant which is equivalent to 10665.75Liters/day. Operating under optimal conditions, the plant has three production shifts scheduled for the day. Mechanical design of the designed plant is based on the batch capacity, detailed designs of the sludge dewater unit with a capacity 700m3 and leaching reactor with a capacity of 5.4m3 is highlighted in this project. The aluminium reclamation plant is about 80% automated incorporating 2 mode of control algorithm, PID control and cascade control. The aluminium reclamation plant is to be situated next to the Longlands water treatment plant. A preliminary environmental impact assessment of the plant highlighted that the potential negative impacts can be easily mitigated. The economic feasibility of aluminium coagulant recovery was done using the process design parameters. The plant has a payback period of 4.2 years, rate of return 23.97% and Internal rate of return of 18%. An OPEX reduction of 36% was obtained using the acid leaching and ion exchange processes which shows a quite significant economic viability.

ABSTRACT- Stephany Teuro The purpose of this project was to come up with an alternative process for the production of phosphoric acid which does not produce gypsum as biproduct. The project was also done to reduce the production time of mono-calcium phosphate from four days to at most two days. The raw materials used were phosphate rock, sodium sulphate and sulphuric acid. The project was carried out as case study of Varitech Industries situated in Ruwa Industrial park. Laboratory experiments were carried out at using different conditions. The temperatures used were 100 0 C, 1500 C and room temperature. All the experiments were carried out at atmospheric pressure. The Calcining temperature was 12000 C. The concentration of sodium carbonate used was 2.72 moles per litre. The purpose was to determine the effect of changing temperature on the rate of reaction and yield. The experiments showed that an increase in temperature will result in the increase in the rate of reaction but there is a decrease in the amount of sodium phosphate produced. The major process equipment were also designed. On completion of the project it was proved that it is possible to produce phosphoric acid using this process without having gypsum as the bi-product. The economic analysis carried out showed that the project is a viable project with a payback period of three years and return on investment of 22.8%.