Production of biodiesel from castor oil

Madam Rector Ma, in continuation of our efforts towards solving the increasing energy problems in Nigeria, we conducted a research on the production of biodiesel from the castor oil. The high energy demand in the industrialized world as well as in the domestic sector and pollution problems caused due to the widespread use of fossil fuels make it increasingly necessary to develop the renewable energy sources of limitless duration and smaller environmental impact than the traditional one.

This has stimulated recent interest in alternative sources for petroleum-based fuels. The alternative fuel must be technically feasible, economically competitive, environmentally acceptable, and readily available. However, biodiesel is an alternative biodegradable and non toxic fuel, which is essentially free of sulfur and aromatics. It is essentially produced by transesterification reaction of vegetable or waste oil with a low molecular weight alcohol, such as ethanol or methanol. Industrially the most common method of biodiesel production is a basic homogeneous reaction.

The demand for alternative energy sources is frequent, because there is a progressive decrease of the world’s petroleum. Vegetable oil fuel or biodiesel is a potential substitute for diesel fuel because it is made from renewable resources. The American Society for Testing and Materials defines biodiesel fuel as monoalkyl esters of long chain fatty acid derived from a renewable lipid feedstock such as vegetable oil or animal fat. Among the biodiesel advantages, it can cite: biodegradability, no toxicity, renewable, reduction in greenhouse gas emission and so on 79.

Biodiesel is embrace globally because it is an eco-friendly alternative diesel fuel prepared from domestic renewable resources i.e vegetable oils (edible or non-edible oils) and animal fats, which runs in diesel engines – cars, buses, trunks, construction equipment, boats, generators, and oil home heating units.

Biodiesel is non toxic, biodegradable. It reduces the emission of harmful pollutants (mainly particulates) from diesel engines (80% less CO2 emission; 100% less sulfur dioxide) but emissions of nitrogen oxides (precursor of ozone) may increase.
Biodiesel has a high cetane number (above 100, compared to only 40 for diesel fuel). Cetane number is a measure of a fuel’s ignition quality. The high cetane numbers of biodiesel contribute to easy cold starting and low idle noise.

The use of biodiesel can extend the life of diesel engines because it is more lubricating and, furthermore, power output are relatively unaffected by biodiesel.
Biodiesel replaces the exhaust odour of petroleum diesel with a more pleasant smell of popcorn of French fries.

Biodiesel can be used either in the pure form or as without any major modifications. Its biodegradability makes it eco-friendly.

Madam Rector Ma, it is worthy to note that a variety of oils can also be used to produce biodiesel. These include; virgin oil feedstock; rapeseed and soybean oils are most commonly used, Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) and Animal fats including fallow, lard, yellow grease, chicken fat, and the by-product of the production of omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil 80, and Oil from halophytes such as salicornia bigelovii, which can be grown using salt water in coastal areas where conventional crops cannot be grown, with yields equal to the yields of soybean and other oil seeds grown using fresh water irrigation81.

Many researchers had advocated that waste vegetable oil is the best source of oil to produce biodiesel, but since the available supply is drastically less than the amount of petroleum-based fuel that is burned for transportation and home heating in the world; this local solution does not scale well. Vegetable fats and oils may however be classified as edible or not edible. Examples of inedible vegetable fats and oils include processed linseed oil, lung oil, and castor oil used in lubricants, paints, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and other industrial purposes 82.

Castor oil is a vegetable oil obtained from the seeds of the plant, Ricinus communis, sometimes known as Ricinus oil. Castor oil is a large plant native to tropical Africa and Asia, the shrub is a flowering plant up to 12m high. It is cultivated widely in the tropics for its seeds, from which castor oil is extracted, and in temperate regions as an ornamental shrub seldom taller than 2m. Castor oil is pale amber viscous liquid with mild or no odour or taste, its boiling point is 3130C (5950F) and its density is 931kg.m3. It is a triglyceride in which approximately 90 per cent of the fatty chains are ricinoleic acid. This oil has an ash content of about 0.02 per cent the percentage for sulfur is less than 0.04 per cent. The higher the cetane number (CN), the better the fuel will be when used as a diesel. The CN of the majority of biodiesel fuels is actually higher than petrol or diesel, and the cetane number of castor oil biodiesel is in a good range for diesel engines83.

Castor plant has many uses, particularly the thick, yellowish or almost odourless oil and obtained from the seeds. The seeds with hulls removed contain 40 to 60 per cent oil. Although castor oil is not edible, it is more versatile than other vegetable oils and it is widely used as a starting material for many industrial chemical products because of its unique structure. It is one of those vegetable oils that have found usage in many chemical industries.

In the search for more environmentally friendly fuels, the use of castor oil as ‘ Biodiesel ‘ has proven to have technical and ecological benefits, and stands as an opportunity for agricultural development in arid and impoverished areas through the tropics and subtropics globally.
Madam Rector Ma, it is important to mention the action process in this study; the process of converting castor oil into a product that can be used as diesel is called transesterification.

We purchased the castor seeds (or beans) from a market in Umuoji local government area of Anambra state, Nigeria. The castor beans were made to undergo various processing in the course of its preparation for extraction.

We cleared, dried, winnowed i.e. the separation of the shell from the nibs (cotyledon) by using tray to blow away the cover in order to achieve very high yield, and we grinded the beans thus reduced the size; 300ml of normal Hexane was poured into round bottom flask. 10g of the sample was placed in the thimble and inserted in the center of extractor; the soxhlet was heated at 60oC. When the solvent was boiling, the vapour rises through the vertical tube into the condenser at the top. The liquid condensate drips into the filter paper thimble in the centre, which contains the solid sample to be extracted.

We determined moisture content of castor seeds, percentage of extracted castor oil, acid value, saponification value, iodine value, specific gravity, refractive index, pH value we carried out solvent extraction of the oil from castor seed in relation with time of extraction as the only optimizing parameters while keeping other parameters (e.g. particle sizes, temperature e.t.c.) constant.

In line with our objectives of the study, we extracted and characterized oil from castor seed and its utilization in the production of biodiesel.

The extracted oil was thereafter refined, and the same analysis carried out on the crude castor oil were then repeated for the refined castor oil and the value obtained were compared with the ASTM specification for quality castor oil.

However, in order to produce biodiesel from the castor oil, the action process earlier mentioned i.e transesterification was demonstrated, in this process, the castor oil is chemically reacted with alcohol like methanol or ethanol in the presence of catalyst like sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide. The triglycerides are converted into alkyl esters, which is the chemical name of biodiesel.

We found out that products of the reaction include not only biodiesel, but also by-products, such as soap, glycerin, excess alcohol and trace amounts of water. Then, the residual methanol was removed by distillation and washed out with water as a waste.

The biodiesel (after separation from glycerin) was purified by washing gently with warm water to remove residual catalyst or soaps, dried and then sent to storage.

Properties of biodiesel were tested according to ASTM D6751 standard.

The result obtained for the percentage moisture content, 6.1 per cent fall within the range of the moisture content found to be between 5 to 7 per cent 83. The result obtained from the percentage oil content 33.2 per cent also fall within the range of the percentage oil content (30 – 55 per cent) of castor beans84.

The chemical properties analysis shown in Table 3 indicates that the acid value is higher in crude oil due to free fatty acid present, while it is less for the refined oil as a result of the strength of 0.1M Na0H used in the treatment of the crude oil, which must have neutralized some of the free fatty acid present in it.

The results for the saponification value of the crude and refined oil were found to be 183.mg KOH/g of oil and 177.99mg KOH/g of oil respectively. This shows that, for the crude oil, more alkaline would be required to enable it neutralize the available free fatty acid liberated by the oil, when compared with the refined oil.

However, the low cloud and pour points makes biodiesel a good alternative in winter conditions and it implies a higher level of stability at low temperature, making biodiesel an ideal combustible for those regions with extreme seasonal weather as it does not require any kind of additives to converse its fluidity 85, The viscosity obtained at 400C is 4.97; falls within the specification which ranges between 1.9 – 6.0. This kinematics viscosity which is higher in biodiesel than the normal diesel, improves injector efficiency.

We concluded that the percentage oil yield from castor seed using solvent extraction was found to be 33.2 per cent of the total weight of 155g. The castor oil produced in this work was evaluated and some of its physical and chemical properties were determined. All these resulted in improving the quality of the castor in terms of the viscosity, saponification value, acid value, pH and made it a suitable feedstock in the production of biodiesel. The biodiesel produced by the transesterification process has much lesser viscosity which makes it capable to replace petroleum diesel in the diesel engines. Therefore, the use of castor oil in the production of biodiesel will help in producing a more environmental friendly fuel, since biodiesel is non-toxic and biodegradable, whereas petroleum based oils are potential health hazards, and take a very long time to biodegrades, thus can damage the environment when concentrated.

It is recommended that more awareness should be created concerning the use of a fuel (biodiesel) whose combustion does not generate sulphur compound and generally does not increase the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.

Government should encourage industrial production of castor seed oil which is suitable renewable feedstock and the best substance for producing biodiesel, because it is the only one that is soluble in alcohol, and does not require heat and the subsequent energy requirement of other vegetable oils in transforming them into fuels.

Further research should be carried out on the use of hydraulic pressing as an alternative method in the extraction of castor oil because of its high yield of percentage oil compared to the solvent extraction process.

SPECIAL PROJECT
NUTRIENTS IN NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES IN NIGERIA

Madam Rector Ma, we carried out a prospective study on nutrients in non-alcoholic beverages in Nigeria. Non-alcoholic drinks are common and available in our society. The non-alcoholic drinks comprise mainly Cola, Orange, Clear Drinks, including Club Soda, Sparkling Water, Seven Up, fruit juices and squashes. All these, except the last two and other specialized soft drinks, are sugar –sweetened carbonated drinks containing water (83-93 per cent), sugar (7-17 per cent), CO2 (0.1-5 gas volumes), colorants ,e.g. Sunset Yellow, tartrazine among others. Non-alcoholic beverages may be classified on the basis of sweetener employed. Sugar is a very popular and widely accepted sweetener. Synthetic sweetener mixtures include among others saccharin, sucrose, cyclamates, rib nucleotide, chlorosucrose. These sweeteners, when used to replace sucrose, may provide low caloric drinks.

It is important to mention that standard specification approved for carbonated drinks in Nigeria is as follows: water (90 per cent); Sugar (9 – 14 per cent); Ash (about 0.017 per cent); Carbon dioxide (3.5 – 4.0gas / volume); pH (2-5). This specification excludes synthetic sweeteners and enquires conducted suggest that the use of synthetic sweeteners is prohibited in soft drinks in Nigeria.

The sugar content of soft drinks in Nigeria is rather high; these drinks therefore serve the purpose of increasing the caloric value of the diet. In this regard, therefore, soft drinks, when used as refreshment, also serve the function of supplementing and complicating the energy consumption of consumers.

The soft drink industry has experienced one of the highest growth rates, reaching about 250 within the last six years in Nigeria. There are over 60 brands of soft drinks in Nigeria today. The industry alone accounts for more than 35 per cent of national sugar consumption. In view of the already unduly high carbohydrate intake in the Nigeria diet, the high rate of consumption of soft drinks and the possible human pathology associated with high sugar intake (e.g. cardiovascular disease, dental disorders, diabetes mellitus, obesity, enzymatic disorders, etc.) there is need to monitor samples of soft drinks on shelves in the market for their principal constituents and particularly their sugar level.

We carried out analyses of forty – one (41) samples of soft drinks commonly consumed in Nigeria. The analyses conducted according to the official analytical methods87 include Sugar, Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C), Citric acid, Malic acid and tartaric acid, Ash, Soluble and Insoluble ash, Alkalinity of Soluble Ash, Alkalinity of Insoluble Ash, Total Acidity and Nitrogen.

The results of the analysis shows that the sugar contents of the forty-one samples of four brands- Fanta, Cola, Clear Drinks, and Fruit juices – of non-alcoholic carbonated drinks are slightly higher, on average, than what the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of Federal Ministry of Health, Nigeria approves for non-alcoholic drinks in Nigeria. Ketiku 88 and Adeneye 89 had earlier analyzed seven and twenty –nine samples of drinks, respectively, and found higher sugar contents than approved by the FDA Department. Our analysis shows an overall mean value of 13.6% of total sugar, with variation between 17.8% and 13.0% for orange drinks, 19.3 and 12.5% for cola, 16.0 and 4.00% for clear drinks including Club soda, and 14.0 and 8.0% for the fruit juice drinks. The FDA Department, however, approves 9.0 – 10.0% sugar for Cola drinks, a maximum of 14.0% for Orange drinks and a maximum of 0.5% for Club Soda and Sparkling Water carbonated drinks. Noronha da Silevia’s 90 analyses of canned fruit juices showed much higher sugar content, varying between 14.0 and 21.8 Brix. Recent studies by Fang & Chang 91 showed that the sugar content of juices depends on the fruit variety. It is no surprise, therefore, to find a wide divergence in the sugar content of drinks in the C and D brands. It is surprising, however, to find that Club Soda drinks, the C brand, contain as much as 16.0% sugar and on no occasion were any of these brands found to contain less than 5.0% sugar, whereas these brands of drink should not contain more than a maximum of 0.5% sugar altogether. Vitamin C contents range from 0.036% to 0.008%, 0.018% to 0.002%, 0.015% to 0.013% and 0.014% to 0.009% for orange, Cola, Clear drinks and Fruit juices, respectively. Fresh fruit pulp or juice extracts of Chrysophyllum albidum, sweet orange and mangoes, for example, contain, on average, about 0.90%, 0.45% and 0.10% ascorbic acid, respectively. The values for the drinks being investigated are rather low, particularly the bottled fruit juices. Fresh fruits are well known to be one of the natural sources of ascorbic acid. Vitamin C, however, is very sensitive to many conditions, including heat, storage and physical treatment. Soft drinks, even with low ascorbic acid contents, serve to supplement the body requirements of vitamin C.

Soft drinks today are supplemented with various agents to improve their nutritive value. For example, amino acids, such as proline, aspartic acid, glutamic acid and their salts have become common additives introduced in desired and controlled quantities under special dispensation for specific purposes, e.g. as health drinks.

Acidity in carbonated beverages is most often provided by citric, tartaric, phosphoric and malic acids. Phosphoric acid is predominantly used in Cola drinks while tartaric acid is used in grape or fruit juices. The low mean pH values of 3.75, 3.39, 4.04, and 3.47 for the Orange, Cola, Clear drinks and Fruit juice, respectively, provided supporting evidence for inclusion of these acids within approved and tolerable limits. Of the four acids investigated, it is observed that malic and citric acids were of higher value than tartaric and phosphoric acids. The clear drinks record the lowest acidity while the fruit drinks have the highest, most probably to buffer the solution to give the drinks a taste closest to the taste of natural juices and also serving as preservatives.

The level of soluble ash follows no definite pattern even within the same brand of drinks. Ca2+ is highest in each drink: Na+, K+, Ca2+ have mean values of 3-83, 21-68, and 85-92ppm respectively. The insoluble ash is a reflection of the level of other cations including Pb2+, Mg2+, Mn2+, Fe2+, Cu2+ and Zn2+ present at 0.05, 10.1, 0.10, 2.24, 0.08 and 0.39 ppm, respectively. Cd2+ was not observed in any detectable quantity.

Kechciak 92 in another report showed that the levels of Fe2+, Mn2+, Pb2+, Cu2+, Ni2+ and Co2+ were higher in carbonated beverages than in tap water used for their production. Electrolytes in soft drinks may not necessarily be expected to maintain a particular value but efforts should be made to guarantee the content of these within accepted safe levels.

The results of the analysis shows that the soft drinks in Nigeria contain high sugar contents (mean value, 14.0 per cent) despite the high cost of this ingredient; the Food and Drug regulations allow 9 per cent-14 per cent. There is a considerable divergence in the mean values of sugar for the four (4) brands examined; 14.9 per cent, 15.3 per cent, 12.4 per cent and 13.7 per cent for the Cola, Fanta, Clear drinks and fruit juice, respectively (Table XX). Similar large deviations in mean values were recorded for other chemical constituents of the drinks. Ascorbic acid has an overall mean value of 12.2mg/100ml whereas individual samples have mean values ranging from 36.3 to 7.25mg/100ml. The ascorbic acid values for the fruit juice drinks fall short of expectation in all cases.

Considering the high rate of consumption of soft drinks and already high caloric local diet, it is important that the sugar content of soft drinks in Nigeria, or any tropical countries where diet is of high calorific value, should be reduced. We wish, therefore, to recommend that there should be three (3) types of soft drink in the tropical underdeveloped countries. One type, health drinks, which should contain about 4% sugar but this should be fortified with amino acids, vitamins and electrolytes, and should be used especially by convalescents; a second type intended for athletes should contain up to 8% sugar and be fortified with electrolytes, amino acids and vitamins. The third type, to serve as refreshment and for entertainment, should contain less than 4.0% sugar with only a minimum quantity of amino acids.

We proceeded to investigate the effect of preservative on two (2) fruit pulps i.e. andasonia digitata bombax and Parkia filicoideae welw that are very nutritive, and can be useful in soft drink industry. The andasonia digitata bombax belongs to the bombaceceae family; it is found mainly in the tropics and sub-tropics. But, the parkia filicoideae welw is a tropical plant that produces its fruit pods in hundreds. It is an economic tree; the seed is popularly used as condiment 93, 94 in soup making in West Africa. The fruit pulp is highly nutritive and is used to a very limited extent as sweet.

Madam Rector Ma, We need to mention that; both Parkia and Andasonia fruit pulps are processed locally to obtain sweets; Parkia fruit pulp is processed to obtain tan-brown extract, a very good imitation of standard Cola drinks. Both fruit pulps contain some sugars, and are rich in ascorbic acid, protein and minerals. But, Andasonia pulp is rich in common organic acids, a good blend of both pulps, if properly processed, could provide a suitable plant extract to serve as a concentrate for non-alcoholic beverages.

During the peak period of maturity, each fruit was collected i.e. Andasonia fruits were collected in February while Parkia fruits were collected in April. After further processing, materials were analyzed according to the Official Analytical Methods 95. The two pulps were studied under four (4) conditions i.e. UPR for untreated Parkia fruit pulp extract kept at room temperature and UAR for untreated Andasonia fruit pulp extract kept at room temperature; TPR and TAR for Parkia and Andasonia fruit pulp extract, respectively, treated with sodium metabisulphite and each material kept at room temperature; TPD and TAD for Parkia and Andasonia fruit pulp extract, respectively, treated with sodium metabisulphite and kept in the dark at room temperature, TPF and TAF for Parkia and Andasonia fruit pulp extract, respectively, treated with sodium metabisulphite and kept at 10oC.

The findings revealed that Andasonia fruit with a much thicker pod testa keeps its pulp intact for a longer time than Parkia Fruit. The disparity in the rates of deterioration of the pulps was observed for the pulps kept in a beaker at room temperature. The highest rate of deterioration was observed in the months of July to September, the peak period of rains and highest humidity of the air in Nigeria. The parkia fruit pulp suffered a loss of 35% total sugar and 55.7% ascorbic acid while Andasonia fruit pulp suffered a loss of 11.3% and 49.9% sugar and ascorbic acid, respectively, at the end of six months. Other constituents of each pulp and, surprisingly, protein, however, maintained a fairly constant value throughout the period of study. The results obtained for samples kept at 10oC, however, indicate that soft drink prepared from any of the pulp will keep better at low temperature (10oC). Sodium metabisulphate was helpful in stabilizing the pulp. It is noteworthy that the pulps keep better at low temperature and if a beverage drink is produced from it, regardless of whether coloured or clear glass containers were used.

Soft drink concentrates may be prepared by various methods using plant materials. 96 prepared refreshing and invigorating beverage concentrate by extracting plant parts. Nagai et al. 97 formulated carbonated health drinks containing Kerb’s cycle acids while Ito et al.98 produced non – alcoholic beverage drinks from fruits and honey. Citrus and other sugar – rich fruits are processed to obtain squash drinks.

Madam Rector Ma, I must through you register my appreciation to University of Ilorin for granting my group the Senate Research Grant to carry out this study. We are also grateful to Mr. S.A. Durojola and Mr. J. Olota for rendering valuable technical assistance in our findings.

Recommendations
Public
The campaign on tree planting must not be ignored as well as burning of bush and felling of trees.
Indiscrimate disposal of waste should be checked to reduce the havoc caused by flood.
Noise pollution
College management
Immediate implementation of College research policy and Intellectual property.
Provision of a central laboratory manned by a chief technologist where staff can carry out their research works.

Maintenace of our incubator centre, by providing adequate and necessary infastructure and equipment to make the centre function properly, for now it is not functioning at all.

Commercialisation of Research and Development outputs Inventions) should be accorded the support desired and incentives.
Government

How can the law inject sustainability requirements for land use practices, human settlements, housing and transportation, for example? These can be achieved through the following strategies:
Legislation to control tree felling, grazing, bush fires, and other forms of activities resulting in environmental degradation such as erosion, deforestation, desertification, etc.
Tax incentives to encourage a culture of nature conservation
Regulate allocation and use of land, and the management of forests, aquatic and other ecosystems.

Government should show concerns for the environment has prompted the formation of Green parties, political parties that seek to address environmental issues as done in other countries of the world like in Australia, New Zealand and Germany but are now adopted in many other countries.

Strenghten of the weak National Civil and Research and Development infrastructure as well as Research – Industry linkage and Research and Development experts do not integrate fully into the national IP regime.

Full Implementation of National Science and Technology policy with immediate effect. Absence of specific policy direction for entrepreneurship development
Government must enhance value added to natural resources.

Techno-Entrpreneurship is key to enhance industry competitiveness, combat “dumping” and to develop national technological capabilities in various fields.
Government must improve the current poor state of Research – Industry Linkage, improve research – industry partnerships and foster intensity in market-driven research;

We need to fast-track the commercialisation of Research and Development outputs and Government should strenghten the existing IP regime as well as expand the scope of Technology Incubation Systems(TIS)

The National Innovation System (NIS) should be strenghtened, Government should show greater commitment to Science and Technological Research and Development funding.

Government should make science and engineering courses attractive to students through robust education policy and provide incentives for researchers through adequate reward system to promote innovation.

Provision of adequate funding for education in Nigeria

Conclusion

For some years now, scientists have been telling the whole world about climatic changes. They have warned about global warming occasioned by the depletion of the ozone layer. They say because temperatures would go up globally, more ice would melt and the result is that there would be massive flooding. All of these things were witnessed in the past few years. Many places around the world are suffering devastating effects of flooding with attendant loss of lives. Scientists have also advised that we plant more trees and reduce emission of gases to reduce some of these effects. On the other hand, we have been told that some other parts of the world would experience freezing temperatures.

Well, in Europe the story has been very disturbing. Heavy snow and subzero temperatures forced many airports to be closed. Gatwick Airport in Britain was closed for sometime; Edinburgh Airport in Scotland, Lyon-Bron Airport in France, Switzerland’s biggest Airport, was all shut down.

Many English Premier League matches had to be postponed because of freezing conditions. In America, Minneapolis City Stadium couldn’t withstand the weight of a big snow fall. It collapsed under the pressure of snow. The roof panels just couldn’t stand Mother Nature. On the shores of Ohio, a lighthouse was turned to an ice house as it became frozen under sub –zero temperatures. We have had the tsunamis and hurricanes with different names. And nobody seems to have a solution to the Middle East crisis. The question is: Can man tame the world?

The obvious answer is an emphatic “NO.” The scriptures tell us that this present world and all the elements in it shall be destroyed with fervent heat and because of this; we according to His promise must look for a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness would dwell. This calls for a shift in our focus.

Our effort to control second-hand noise is part of a greater effort to protect that which is held in common by the public from exploitation, abuse, and degradation. Other efforts to protect the commons are concerned with protecting our public lands and parks; air, airways, water, and waterways; habitat, species, and bio-diversity. What these efforts share is the recognition that our well-being is enhanced when the commons is used to maximize opportunities for everyone, and degraded when the commons is used to maximize profits or opportunities for a few, or to maximize only a few opportunities.
Polluting the commons is not a right. Our effort to reduce noise pollution is similar to other efforts to reduce pollution and reassert our collective stewardship over the commons. Whether the issue is second-hand smoke, elevated mercury levels, or ground level ozone, the strategy is to protect the environment and our health and well-being by creating an ethic of the commons.

We are seeking to improve human well-being by establishing an ethic for the commons that allows for as many non-consumptive and non-rival uses of the commons as possible. Human well-being is enhanced when individuals or groups succeed in two ways: first, by minimizing damaging uses of the commons, and second, by maximizing the opportunities for non-competing uses. With respect to noise, help us by spreading the message that good neighbors keep their noise to themselves.

For us to be healthy our environment must be neat and quite. Remember that a healthy nation is a wealthy nation. 

• Abiodun is of the Department Of Chemical Sciences, School of Science, Yaba College of Technology, Lagos