Page 250 - ISES SWC50

Isaac Itodo
Country: Nigeria
Year Started Research: 1990
Title of Research: The effects of media materials, temperature and total
solids concentration of poultry waste on biogas yield
University: University of Ibadan, Nigeria/Agricultural Engineering
Laboratory
Still Active in Research: Yes
Prof Itodo research has always been about anaerobic bio-digestion an area important in the filed of biomass.
Here Prof Itodo describes the research he undertook. The anaerobic bio-digestion of fresh poultry waste was
investigated under three situations. In the first, the effect of suspended obeche media materials occupying 0%,
5% and 10% of the digester volume on biogas yield was determined during a 15-day detention period at ambient
temperature. In the second, waste was biodegraded and compared at the mesophilic and thermophilic temperatures.
The thermophilic temperature was achieved by putting a digester in a solar house that was designed and built. In
the third, the effect of temperature fluctuations on biogas production was investigated. The results showed that the
use of Obeche as media materials improved the initiation of biogas production even in slurries of high TS. Biogas
production commenced 18h after the introduction of waste into the digester as against 48h in the digester without
media materials. The gas yield increased as the TS of the slurry reduced from 28% to 5%. It was found that even
minimal temperature fluctuation from the thermophilic into the mesophilic range results in substantial reduction
in biogas yield. Thirty colonies of bacteria cells, two fungi species and thirty two yeast cells were observed on
samples of media materials which remained reasonably intact after 9 months’ use. The highest gas yield was from
107 L/KgTS from a slurry of 5% TS in a digester of 0% media fill ratio at the mesophilic temperature range. The lowest
gas yield of 7.62 L/kgTS from a slurry of 28% TS in a digester of 0% media fill ratio at the mesophilic temperature.
The efficiency of bioconversion varied from 18% to 49%. This study showed the advantage of using media materials
in the rapid start-up of the anaerobic digestion process and the adverse influence of temperature fluctuation on
gas yield.

Soteris Kalogirou

Country: Cyprus
Year Started Research: 1992
Title of Research: Use of Solar Parabolic Trough Collectors for Hot
Water Production in Cyprus - A Feasibility Study
University: Higher Technical Institute (HTI) - Cyprus University of
Technology (CUT)
Still Active in Research: Yes

Professor Soteris Kalogirou is at the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Sciences of the Cyprus
University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus. He is currently the Dean of the School of Engineering and Technology.
He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 1995 and the D.Sc. title in 2011. He is a Fellow of the European
Academy of Sciences and Founding Member of the Cyprus Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts. Since the early
90’s, he is actively involved in research in the area of solar energy and particularly in the design of improved flat
plate and concentrating collectors for solar water heating and solar steam generating systems and he was one of
the first who designed hybrid PV/T collectors. Other areas include solar desalination, photovoltaics, geothermal
heat exchangers and absorption cooling. He was also involved in solar meteorology and he developed the TMY for
Cyprus. Additionally, he was involved in a pioneering research dealing with the use of artificial intelligence methods,
like artificial neural networks, genetic algorithms and fuzzy logic, mainly for the modelling and performance
prediction of energy and solar energy systems. Another pioneering research area is on building integration of solar
thermal systems (BISTS), for which he chaired also COST Action TU1205.He has a large number of publications
as books, book chapters, international scientific journals and refereed conference proceedings. His current h-index
in Scopus is 64. He is Editor-in-Chief of Renewable Energy and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Energy, and Editorial
Board Member of another twenty journals. Among other books he is the editor of the book McEvoy’s Handbook
of Photovoltaics, and author of the books Solar Energy Engineering: Processes and Systems, and Thermal Solar
Desalination: Methods and Systems, all published by Academic Press of Elsevier.
He is a member of International Solar Energy Society (ISES) since 1992.

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