Nigeria invents motor part from palm kernel shells

Palm kernel shells, which an average Nigerian farmer considers as waste and ‘throws into the fire’ as fuel, may soon be an expensive commodity, as the country has successfully turned it into raw materials for brake pads, a motor part.

Director General of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Professor Peter Onwualu, made the revelation at the weekend.

He said: “A young man from Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, under our national design competition, received a grant to produce brake pad, using palm kernel shells as a raw material.

“Today, the material is now a good subpart. And the young man came up with a design and produced the material.

“We moved it to a company in Lagos that manufactures brake pads. And it produced a good brake pad from it.

“That brake pad is ready for the market. The only thing holding us is someone who can go into the business.

“If I receive a guarantee now, that someone is ready to buy one million copies, it is going to be something else. This is a joint project between the council and the automotive council.”

When our reporter asked him why industries are not buying into research products from the academia, he said the culture was changing.

He said his agency was leaving no stone unturned to make sure industries increased their enthusiasm for research products from the country.

“What we are doing,” he said, “is to make sure the industries are part of the research from the beginning. And as I told you with this example, the company in Lagos is part of this research.

“By the time we finished, it was able to produce it. So we are still discussing. It’s not like industries are not involved.”

ABSTRACT

An interim report on the development of asbestos-free automotive brake pad using palm kernel shell (PKS) as frictional filler material is presented. This was with a view to exploiting the characteristics of the PKS, which are largely deposited as waste from palm oil production, in replacing asbestos which has been found to be carcinogenic. Two sets
of brake pads with identical ingredients but using either PKS or asbestos as base material were produced, following standard procedures employed by commercial manufacturers.

The physical, thermal, mechanical and tribological properties of the PKS-based brake pads were evaluated, compared with the values for the asbestos-based brake pads, and weighted against established recommendations of the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON). It was observed that the properties of the PKS-based brake pad wholly satisfied the recommendations of SON. It was better than the asbestos-based brake-pad in terms of lower specific gravity; lower percentage swelling, when wet; higher heat resistance, heat dissipation and coefficient of friction. It, also, exhibited lower wear rate, but similar trend with the asbestos-based brake-pad. It was, however, characterized by lower bonding to
back-plate, hardness and shear strength; albeit, within the required standards. The PKS is therefore suitable for use as friction material in automotive brake-pads. Current investigation is on field testing and reformulation of the composite for enhanced performance.

Callme_JKLUE: SHOCKING........A must read https://www.nairaland.com/1296443/not-hiv-positive-cossy-orjiakor

Callme_JKLUE: SHOCKING........A must read https://www.nairaland.com/1296443/not-hiv-positive-cossy-orjiakor

REMMEI: you should have at least post a pics along with it..that's a good alternate though..we sure will get it right someday..

i wanna ask please,who invented the black soap we commonly use in Africa..mind you,google no know the answer o.

eGuerrilla:
“If I receive a guarantee now, that someone is ready to buy one million copies, it is going to be something else. Professor Peter Onwualu"
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Kx:

Why dont you demo the brake pad by using it in your cars and your parastatal cars for all to see the efficiency first and foremost bfore talking about guarantee for sales of 1million copies?

ebamma: Gej is working firstly
He brought facebook into nigeria
He brought twitter into nigeria
He brought nairaland into our consciousness
He brought 2go into nigeria and lastly
this
If u don't vote for a man who did all this you are an enemy of progress
Vote for gej
Vote for progress

konn: the minister should remove the brake pad in his vehicle and replace it with the one made with palm kernel shells to test run this will go a long way in convincing people to buy it

ebamma: Gej is working firstly
He brought facebook into nigeria
He brought twitter into nigeria
He brought nairaland into our consciousness
He brought 2go into nigeria and lastly
this
If u don't vote for a man who did all this you are an enemy of progress
Vote for gej
Vote for progress

Kx:

Why dont you demo the brake pad by using it in your cars and your parastatal cars for all to see the efficiency first and foremost bfore talking about guarantee for sales of 1million copies?