A six-man team of the Department of Civil Engineering, Covenant University, performed excellently as the institution emerged National Champions at the 2021 Committee of Deans of Engineering and Technology of Nigerian Universities (CODET) Competition.
The students, led by their Project Supervisor, Professor David Olukanni, came out tops in the group category with their entry, 'Energy Recovery from Cassava Peel for Replacement of Firewood in Local Communities (Biogas production from cassava peels)'. Covenant's representatives were Iyiola David Olamide, Adeoti Kimberly Oluwatosin, Adegbemi Francis Ayodeji, Amoo Ruth Oluwatomilola, Iyengunmwena Osazuwa Benjamin, and Suulola Joshua Olaoluwa.
COREN, the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, presented the Covenant team's project with an award certificate and cash prizes given to the victorious students at its 29th Assembly. The Civil Engineering team qualified for the national championship by coming out tops at the South-West Zonal competition held earlier this year.
In the individual category, Daniel Ezeuduji of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, who graduated with a CGPA of 4.91, earned the second position in Best Graduating Engineering Student Award.
Speaking on the feat, the Project Supervisor, Professor David Olukanni, said that the focus of the Covenant Project was to design and build a cost-efficient community scale biogas plant capable of meeting the cooking needs of a cassava processing communities with specific objectives of designing a biogas system that is simple to use, deploy, and maintain; and at the same time estimate the yield of the biogas system and perform a cost estimation of generating biogas from cassava peels.
Professor Olukanni said that the social economic benefits of the projects were targeted at reducing solid organic waste volumes, generating renewable energy (Biogas), and production of rich organic fertilizer. It also aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, dependency on fossil fuels, health risks from smoke and preserve natural resources by reducing deforestation, and creating new jobs and training of workforce.
He noted that the venture also aligns with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 7, of proffering universal accessing to modern energy and increasing global percentage of renewable energy, and 13 focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing deforestation activities.