Zebib Yenus Nuru
Country (Nationality)
South Africa
Grantee Title
Project Title: Cost effective nicr-ni2o3 solar absorber coatings by green synthesis for milk pasteurization in low income rural farming
Grantee Description
Host Organisation: Adigrat University, Ethiopia
Summary
The world in general and Africa in particular uses its energy from fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil, which are non-renewable. However these fossil fuels generate green house gas, which is the major factor responsible for global warming. This environmental problem and the ever increasing demand of energy motivated researchers to look for an alternative energy, which is renewable. The sun, one of the renewable sources, is the vast majority of energy used by people on earth. Africa in general and the southern Africa in particular have sunshine all year round. The annual 24-hour global solar radiation average is about 220 W/m2 for South Africa compared with about 150 W/m2 for USA, and about 100 W/m2 for Europe and the United Kingdom. This makes South Africa's local resource one of the highest in the world. However, the conversion of solar energy to heat or electricity is insignificant. To harness this inexhaustible energy, solar thermal systems are the most important candidates. The critical part of these systems is the absorber surface. To increase the photo-thermal conversion efficiency, the solar absorber surface should capture maximum solar radiation in the solar region and should emit low in the infrared region. Hence the proposed research focuses on the synthesis, optimization, characterization and prototyping of solar absorber surface to heat water, cook and pasteurize milk in rural areas. This application has the potential to alleviate many of the problems facing Africans every day especially in remote areas where installation of electricity is difficult.