CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Fruits have many important values to man ranging from nutritional to medicinal and research

purpose. Fruits are widely found all over the world and are classified as the ripened ovary flower.

Citrus fruits such as Lemon. Orange Grape are small in size and evergreen trees that grown in

tropical subtropical climates. As this perennial crop does not tolerate cold climate, Citrus fruits

are normally harvested in the area situated at latitude between 40 0 North and 400 South likewise

or Lemon. They are therefore grow in “Mediterranean” type climate Florida citrus in 1990 –

2000.

Sweet potato is a crop with a significantly unrealized potential. It is capable of producing

high yields of dry matter per unit area of land and labour and this potential can be achieved under

a wide range of agro climates and farming system. The crop originated in central America but is

now grown in many countries. Most of the word production is concentrated in 15 countries

which account for almost 97% of total world output (Scott 1992). China is the world’s largest

product, of sweet potato with 105 million tons in 1993, representing about 80% of total world

production. A rapid growth in population during the 1980s, resulting in severe pressure of

farmland, is considered to be a prime factor for the expansion of production in many countries, in

particular in Vietnam, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, North Korea and Madacasgar. The largest

producer in Africa are; Uganda (1.9 Million tons), Rwanda (0.7 Million tons) Burumdi (0.68

Millions tons), and Kenya (0.63 Million tons) (Cole Pamer, 2000).

Sweet potato has the shortest growing cycle of the root crops grown in the tropics. The crop

is normally harvested when the vines and leaves have turned yellow, generally about 4 month

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after planting. In traditional farming systems, where the crop is mainly intended for consumption

by subsistence farmers, harvesting may be spread over several months. The crop is lifted by

hand. Great are being taken to avoid damage to the tubers, with only the amount needed for

immediate consumption being dug. If the crop is grown for sale or when there is a pronounced

dry season, the whole crop may be lifted at once. On a larger or commercial scale effective

harvesting machines have been developed, some consist simply of a plough that lifts the tubers to

the surface. More sophisticated mechanical harvesters combine a vine cutter (rotary or flair type

mower) to remove the vines incorporated with a plough to lift the tubers and a sorter and loading

elevator.

Actually, it is a very simple logic of science that is at use for generating electricity from a potato.

Sweet potatoes are made up of elements like:

- Water

- Starch

- Salts

We all aware of the fact that salts dissociate in water to release ions. Ions are the electrically

charged atoms and table salts dissociate in water to release sodium (positive charge) and chlorine

(Negatively charged). These ions can now be used to generate electricity by using conductors.

Irish potato (Solanum tuberosum), is root tuber and is an important source of food to

early South Americans, especially the Incas and their ancestors in the Andean highlands it is

used to make beverage and is a source of beta carotene. The potato is best known for its

carbonhydrate content (approximately 26grams in a medium potato) the predominant form of

this carbonhydrate is starch. A small bit significant portion of this starch is resistant to digestion

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by enzymes in the stomach and small intestine, and so reaches the large intestine essentially

intact (Cole – Pamer, 1996).

The variation in electrical conductivity with temperature in a number of material increases

sharply with temperature at same point, but when a material is heated by conduction, the change

is more gradual and may occur at a higher temperature than when the material is ohmically

heated. Physical properties measured during heat conduction are an average of local properties.

Consequently electrical conductivity data from sources other than ohmic heating must thus be

treated with care when designing an ohmic process.

Palaniappian, Sastry (1991) determined the effect of temperature, solid content, applied

voltage and particle size on the electrical conductivity of sweet potato. They are reported that the

electrical conductivity of sweet potato increased with temperature and decreased with solid

content under convectional heating condition. There is a linear relation between temperature and

conductivity.

A complete study on ohmic heating for the thermal processing of food including modeling,

safety consideration validation process and on economic engineering evaluation was presented in

a symposium sponsored by the Institution Food Technology (IFT) food engineering division and

cohaired by sastry (1996). This study showed that various parameters affected the performance

of the ohmic heating devices used to heat fluid food product and affirmed that the most important

factor in this heating was the electrical resistance of the product and its changes with

temperature.

A study on the variation of the electrical conductivity with salt concentration and temperature

was made for different salt solution describe by Sadaira (1992).

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1.1 AIM AND OBJECTIVE

1.2 AIM

The aim of this project is to determine the electrical conductivity of sweet potato, Irish Potato

and Citrus fruits for comparison of their electrical generations.

1.3 OBJECTIVE

Objectives towards achieving the above aims is by:

1) Sourcing of fresh Irish potatoes, Sweet potatoes and Citrus fruit

2) Extracting their juices into a non – conducting container

3) Subject the juices to electrolysis

4) Compare the current received between the three juices for 3 days.

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 CHAPTER TWO

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

Electrolysis is the chemical decomposition produced by passing an electric current through a

liquid or solution containing ions. Michael Faraday in (1990) studied this process extensively

and laid the foundation for the theory of electrolysis. Some liquids are good conductors while

others are poor conductors of electricity. Good conductors are known as electrolytes while poor

conductors are non – electrolytes.

Liquid such as Benzene and paraffin or kerosene are poor conductors while liquid such as

solution of acids , base and salt are generally good conductors.

A multimeter is a device for studying the flow of current through a liquid

2.2 KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

2.21. Electrolyte: - This is the liquid or molten substance which conduct a current and is

decomposed by it.

2.2.2 Electrode: - These are materials in the form of a plate through which currents enters or

level the electrolyte. There are two types of electrode:

i. The positive electrode through which current enters the electrolyte is called the Anode or

Copper Electrode

ii. The negative electrode through which current leave the electrolyte is called the Cathode

or Zinc.

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2.2.3 Conductor Wires: Conductor wires can be defined as the conductor materials which allow

electrons to pass through them easily.

2.2.4 Potential Difference: - The potential difference between any two points in a circuit is the

work done when one coulomb of charges moves from one point to the other. The unit of

potential difference is the volt (V).

2.2.5 Electrical Conductance: - Is an electrical phenomenon where a material contains movable

particles with electric charge (such as electrons) which can carry electricity when a difference of

electrical potential is place across a conductor. It is movable charge flow and an electric current

appears as conductor such as metal has high conductivity and insulator like glass or vacuum has

low conductivity and insulator like glass or vacuum has low conductivity. A semiconductor has a

conductivity that varies widely under different condition. Electrical conductivity is the reciprocal

(or inverse) of electrical resistively.

2.2.6 Electrical Current: - This is the rate of flow of electrons or charges round circuit. The

quantity of charge (Q) is measured in the Unit called Coulomb.

Symbolically I = Q/T

Where, I is the current in Ampere

T is the time in seconds

Q is the charge in Coulomb.

2.2.7 Multimeter: - This is an instrument used for measuring smaller amount of current, Ohms

and voltage in the circuits.

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2.2.8 Electrical Conductivity: - is a measure of how will accommodate the transport of electric

charge. Its SI derived unit is the Siemens per meter named after Werner Von Siemens or simply

more Sm-1 it is the ratio of the current density to the electric field strength or in more practical

terms, is equivalent to the electrical conductance measure between opposite faces of a 1- meter

cube (1m3) of the material under text.

2.2.9 Faradays First Law of Electrolysis: - It states that the mass, M of a substance liberated in

electrolysis is directly proportional to the quantity of electrolysis Q, which has passed through

the electrolyte.

2.2.10 Faraday’s Second Law of Electrolysis: - It stated that the masses of different substance

deposited or liberated by the same quantity of electricity are directly proportional to the chemical

equivalents of the substance. In symbol, the first law state that, M & Q Since Q = it M & IT

Hence, M = Z It where Z = 3.3 x 10 -4 where Q is the quantity of electricity in coulomb, I is the

current in Amperes and t is the time in seconds during which the current flows Z is a constant of

proportionality known as the electro chemical equivalent (e.c.e) of the substance. Hence when a

current of 1 ampere flows through is equal to electrochemical equivalent.

CHAPTER THREE

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3.0 MATERIALS AND METHOD

The following materials were used:

Electrode (zinc and copper electrode), connecting wires, Digital multimeter, Fresh Irish potatoes,

Fresh sweet potatoes, Citrus Fruit, Stop watch, Beaker, Knife, Blender, Sieve.

3.1 METHOD

Fresh Irish, Sweet potatoes and Citrus Fruit was bought at Owode market in Offa Kwara

State. The citrus fruit, Irish potatoes, and Sweet potato were peeled neatly with knife and then

blended with the aid of a blender and sieved with a sieving net in order to get the juice extract

from the potatoes. The extracted juice from the potatoes. The extracted juice from the potatoes

were collected in a beaker. Flat plate electrodes of zinc and copper were thoroughly cleaned and

connected with a connecting wire to the multimeter in series. The zinc electrode was connected

to the negative terminal of the multimeter while the copper electrode was connected to the

positive terminal. This process was repeated for the different potatoes and the reading on the

multimeter was taken with no parallax error. The response of meter by volume measured and

stage of the various fruit juice was recorded and sweet potato, Irish potato for 10:00sec each.

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Fig 3.1: Electrolysis of Irish potato, sweet potato and citus.

3.2 PRECAUTION

1. Parallax error was avoided while taken reading on the multimeter

2. The multimeter was ensured to be in good working condition

3. The electrode was rinsed and dry after each reading

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 CHAPTER FOUR

4.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 RESULTS

TABLE 4.1: Reading of current and voltage between Irish potato, Sweet Potato and Citrus

fruits.

S/ Time(s) Current for Voltage Current Voltage Current for Voltage for

N Irish Potato for Irish for Sweet for Sweet Citrus Fruit Citrus Fruit

Potato Potato Potato

1 0 11.75 0.88 4.58 1.43 7.50 1.02

2 30 2.63 0.84 1.90 1.41 6.55 0.98

3 60 2.63 0.83 1.59 1.19 6.24 0.97

4 90 2.25 0.82 1.53 0.93 6.11 0.96

5 120 2.19 0.82 1.33 0.71 6.03 0.96

6 150 2.15 0.82 1.12 0.62 5.98 0.96

7 180 2.12 0.82 0.99 0.59 5.96 0.96

8 210 2.09 0.82 0.99 0.59 5.94 0.96

9 240 2.07 0.82 0.91 0.55 5.92 0.96

10 270 2.06 0.82 0.89 0.53 5.92 0.96

Graph of current (mA) against time for citrus, irish and sweet
potato
10

1.6
 1.2

current
0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300

Time (s)

Voltage for Irish Potato Voltage for Sweet Potato Voltage for Citrus Fruit

Fig 4.1: Graph of Current against time for Citrus fruit, Irish and Sweet Potato

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 graph of voltage against ti me for citrus fruit,
irish and sweet potato
Voltage for Irish Potato Voltage for Sweet Potato Voltage for Citrus Fruit

1.6

1.4

1.2

1
VOLTAGE (V)

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300

TIME (S)

Fig 4.2: Graph of Voltage against time for Citrus fruit, Irish and Sweet Potato

From the experimental result, it can be observed that Irish potato has a high current value of
11.75 mA, while the current value for sweet potato and citrus fruit are 4.58 mA, 50mA
respectively, therefore the electrical conductivity of fruits depends on their moisture content. It
has low electrical conductivity value, which can be used to generate low current, they can both
generate electricity in a magnitude of mA.

The citrus fruit, Sweet potato and Irish potato extract is composed of weak electrolyte, when
the electrodes were dipped into the electrolyte, the electrolyte dissociates into its component ions

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C6 H6 O-6 + 2H+. The drifting of the ions to the electrodes constituent, a potential barrier
which creates a force that move electrons along a line connected across the two ends of the
electrodes. The current flow is monitored and recorded.

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 CHAPTER FIVE

5.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 CONCLUSION

From the result, it is seen that sweet potato and citrus fruit has low electrical conductivity

value compared to Irish potato that has high electrical conductivity value.

Therefore, it can be concluded that Irish potatoes could be used to monitor the important changes

in a food product during pulsed electric field processing.

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5.2 RECOMMENDATION

This work shows that different fruit have different electrical conductivity which is dependent on

their moisture content. Therefore, I hereby recommended that Irish potatoes with high electrical

conductivity can be used to generate electric current and monitor significant changes in the food

product. More work could be done to determine its medicinal value apart from its nutritional

value since in this work, electrical property is studied by ionic system.

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 REFERENCE

Adeniinju .A. (2005): Analysis of the cost of in fracture

Failures in a developing economy the case of electricity sector in Nigeria

Cole – Parmer (1996): Edward Hughes, Electrical technology low

Price Edition pp96

Ibitoye .F. (2007): Future Demand for Electricity in Nigeria

Applied Energy 84, (2002), pp 492 – 504

Modern Physics (Dula): Edited by Somoye O.A (Second Edition)

Sorensen, H.A. (1993): Energy Conversion System

Thomson F.G (1980): Electrical Installation and workshop Technology

Volume 1 and 3

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