ABSTRACT
A major problem experienced by agro-based industries in developing countries is the management of wastes.The failure or inability to salvage and re-use such materials economically results in unnecessary waste and depletion of natural resources, this study was set up to investigate the metals composition of this waste material that could be potential raw materials in producing black soap. The concentration of this metals in each watse materials in comparison to plantain stem which is already an established raw material for the manufacture of black soap and therefore determine which of this product would be useful in the production of black soap.
Plant waste material are collected within Benin city, a total of five sample are collected including plantain stem, banana stem, mango seed shell, almond seed kernel and orange peels. This sample were collected ash in a muffle funnels the samples were assayed using the flame photometer and atomic adsorption spectroscopy.
The result obtained from the analysis are as follows, Plantain fruit stem has Na(0.128mg/g), K(32.652mg/g), Ca(2.451mg/g), Mg(0.268mg/g), Banana fruit stem has Na(0.151mg/g) K(39.37mg/g), Ca(3.50mg/g), Mg(0.187mg/g) almond seed kernel with Na(1.017mg/g), K(44.03mg/g), Ca(13.44mg/g), Mg(1.02mg/g) orange peels has Na(0.708mg/g), K(61.946mg/g), Ca(11.13mg/g), Mg(0.24mg/g) and Mango seed shell Na(0.852mg/g), K(51.43mg/g), Ca(15.22mg/g) and Mg(0.72mg/g).
The high concentration of Calcium and Magnesium in mango seed shell, almond seed kernel and orange peels which are metals responsible for the hardness in water might be a limiting factor in their use for black soap production, while the low concentration of calcium and magnesium in banana stem might make it more considerable raw material in black soap making. Therefore, the soap industry should consider the use of banana stem as a row material in the black soap making to reduce the damage caused by solid was coming from plant products and in particular banana.
