Help! Procedure in Making SAP Using Orange and Avocado.

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Reynel
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Re: Help! Procedure in Making SAP Using Orange and Avocado.

Post by Reynel »

Hi Mr. Sybee,

Thank you for the advice and encouraging us! We have another bad news, the SAP that we made last February 14, using Lemon peels and Overripe Avocados, failed. The results are just the same, the powder did not form into a gel as what it was supposed to be. In this experiment we used two procedures, Ms. Lakshita’s and the other is from the dissertation I sent.
Sample 1 from Ms. Lakshita:
1. We soaked the peels in lemon juice for 2 hours
2. Boiled it and was able to strain 40 ml of liquid
3. Strained liquid was stored in a jar in the refrigerator
4. Over ripe avocado was added (no flesh, just peels) and sun dried together for 5 days
6. The 40 ml strained liquid was added to the peels
7. Oven dried for 100 degree celsius for about 50 minutes. (This took too long because the peels won’t dry) (The peels also turned black and looked burnt.
8. Blended but not really fine enough.

When we tested it, the powder just remained the same. Just like our other experiments, it turned out the same. While the other sample, the one which uses the procedure from another dissertation.
Sample 2 from another dissertation:
1. Boiled the lemon peels
2. Strained the liquid
3. And discarded it
4. Over ripe avocado was added (no flesh, just peels) and sun dried together for 5 days
8. Blended but not really fine enough.
The results are also the same. It did not turn into a gel.

But, here’s our other guess. This might be due to what you’ve said that we didn’t have the flesh of avocados and just used peels. This might be why our SA clogs and does not absorb because there are no oils since we just used peels only. We conducted another Lemon SAP last February 16 and Sundried it Last February 17. It will end Tomorrow and we will be able to test it by February 22 if it works since in that Experiment we added a bit of flesh as what you’ve said. We are expecting that by February 22, the Experiment 2 that we conducted will be successful. And if it does, We will be conducting big batches of SAP at night. So that by February 28, we will be able to have enough amount of SAP for our different testing methods. And, by March 1 we will start planting.

If the experiment doesn’t work well, we no longer know what really is the problem with our SAP. We are guessing that it really is the oil from the flesh since our past experiments we just used peels. And the last experiment that we conducted using orange peels and avocado peels with no flesh also did not work. SO that is our guess by now that the problem really is because there is no flesh of avocado that can be a source of natural oils. We are a month behind our timeline now and there have been big changes in our future plans. But we are really hoping that all our efforts will be paid off soon and our future experiments will be successful.

This is the file of the pictures of our results:

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Can I ask Mr. Sybee what are your thoughts in our experiment and any other reasons why it didn’t work out well? I hope you could respond to us. We are working well and finding different reasons why it don’t work and other reasons to save our SAP.

Thank you for your time,
Reynel
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Re: Help! Procedure in Making SAP Using Orange and Avocado.

Post by SciB »

Hi Reynel,

I wish I could come up with the answer that would solve your problem, and maybe adding more of the avocado flesh will do it. I can't think of what else to try at this point.

According to my understanding of the SAP process, the polymer pectin forms the backbone of the SAP and is cross-linked through the action of the avocado oils and the acid of the lemon. So, I did a search for fruits with pectin and grapefruit has the most--even more than orange. Here's a link to the info: https://healthyeating.sfgate.com/make-f ... 11180.html

Now, the pectin is located in the membranes surrounding the sections, but also in the white pith that lines the inside of the rind. So, I am thinking, maybe you peeled the oranges or lemons too closely and left most of the pith. Is that what you might have done?

If you have time, you could get grapefruits and use mostly the pith together with some of the avocado flesh and less of the peel. I certainly can't guarantee that this will work, but I would try it as a best guess for how to make a SAP that holds water.

What do you think?

Good luck,

Sybee
Reynel
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Re: Help! Procedure in Making SAP Using Orange and Avocado.

Post by Reynel »

Hi Mr. Sybee,

About the grapefruit, I guess we won't be able to try that one since we don't really know where we could get that as of now. And, it is quite uncommon here in our town. Even Avocados has been hard to find lately since we need to go to the City or the other Town just to buy that since no one really sells Avocado as of now in our town. We can't do further experiments as of now because of lack of resources but we are finding ways so we can conduct again tomorrow once we know the results of the Second Batch of the experiment we conducted last February 16.

About the pectin, in our past experiments we used to squeeze the lemon to obtain lemon juice. After that we just cut the peels into small pieces and boil it right away. The peels include a bit of pulp that was left after squeezing the lemon, the pith which is the white part, and the peels itself. But we noticed that the pulps made the peels stick together which causes the moisture in the peels because they were not spread properly that resulted to molds in the peels. But, when we tried to remove the pulp and include just the pith and the skin/peel, there were no molds seen in our last experiment in February 15.

Pictures:

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We also tried not to include the pulps of the lemon and used just the pith and skin in our second experiment which is from February 16. In this experiment, the procedure goes like this:
1. We removed the pulps but included pith and skin of lemon. We finely cut it and soaked the lemon peels for 2 hours.
2. We boiled it and was able to strain 40ml of liquid.
3. We strain it overnight
4. We added the avocados with some flesh and sundried them together for 5 days
The sun drying process will end today and we will oven dry it and blend it later this evening. Tonight, we will check and test the powder.

I hope this experiment turns out fine so we could proceed and conduct big batches of Lemon Avocado Powder and Mixture and conduct our testing methods. We only have a month left, so as much as possible we need to plant lettuce or Okra/Lady finger and test it for 30days. I hope our teacher will let us extend the deadline for our data gathering.

About our paper, I made an outline/format in our logbook so that when we conduct the testing methods, we will just input the data that we gathered after testing. I also made another one using Google Sheets just so we have back up data since we might need to pass the logbook. I am also trying to study about using the SPSS for our statistics, when and how to used SD, ANOVA, t-test, and many more. It is quite hectic as of now since I am trying to balance my other subject and doing research.

As of now, we don't have definite timeline since our future plans will depend on the results of the experiment tonight. If this will work, by tomorrow, we will be conducting our final experiment if we can find Avocados too. After that, we will be able to have our SAP by February 28. And by March 1 we can proceed to our testing methods which included testing the Absorption Capacity, Water Retention of Soil, and Plant Growth.

We are still stressed about our Research as of now since we don't have a lot of time. I hope this works out well. Thank you so much for the continuous support, Mr. Sybee! I hope this will be successful so all of our efforts (both ours and yours) will pay off. I hope you are doing good there!

Stay safe and healthy,
Reynel
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Re: Help! Procedure in Making SAP Using Orange and Avocado.

Post by SciB »

Hi Reynel,

I am really impressed with your persistence and ingenuity in overcoming all the obstacles to success in this project. I think it will work this time.

If the polymer still does not absorb water as it should then I think you should still proceed with the water retention and plant growth expts because I am betting that adding the lemoncado powder to soil will improve its water-holding properties and plants will grow better.

Over the centuries, farmers have always added organic matter to their soil to improve what is called 'tilth' the texture of the soil that forms by addition of lots of compost. It is not a SAP but it does make the soil hold water better, and it contains the elements that plants need--N, P and K--along with the equally important trace elements like boron, magnesium, calcium, etc.

So, even if your polymer is not 'super' absorbent, it will improve the soil and that is a desirable thing for a farmer. Using waste biomass that a farmer may be able to get for just the effort of collecting it and hauling it to his farm may well be worth it for a better crop.

Good luck with your other courses. I remember how hard it was keeping up with math, English, civics, biology, history, etc., etc. You are a diligent student, I know, so you will do well and learn well. Use the web for self-education. That is what I always tell Lakshita. There's no need to wait for a teacher to get around to instructing you in a subject that interests you. Just go to youtube and you can find a lecture on any subject that costs you nothing. Lifelong learning is the goal. Do that and you will always be happy and never bored.

All the best,
Sybee
Reynel
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Re: Help! Procedure in Making SAP Using Orange and Avocado.

Post by Reynel »

Hi Mr. Sybee,

Sadly, the last batch that we conducted didn't work too. It all turned out the same. But, we will have our one last experiment once we find avocados.
We will have different plans if this don't turn out as what we wanted it to be.
Plan A: Lemon Avocado SAP (Powder and Mixture)
Plan B: Orange Avocado SAP (Powder and Mixture)
Plan C: Add gelatin to the Powder since it may help in gelling.
Plan D: Add a bit of SAP from diapers to the Powder (But we are having a bit of hard time separating the SAP in the diaper from the cotton)

I hope Plan A or Plan B works out and if not we are left with no choice but to add Gelatin or SAP or tweak our papers and its purpose.
The process that we are going to use in our last and final experiment will be Ms. Lakshita's
We will use 19 lemons and 19 oranges, and 9 avocados each for lemon experiment and orange experiment.
We will try to find oranges that have thick pith as shown in the picture below since oranges here in our town is different from those hat are used by Ms. Kiara Nirghin.
And, we will try to include the Pulp of the lemon along with the peels/skin and pith since pectin might be found there too.
We will try to include many flesh in the avocados as much as possible.
We will still soak the peels in lemon juice for 2 hours, and boil it.
We will strain the liquid and store it in the refrigerator.
We will combine the avocado peels with lots of flesh with orange and lemon and sundry it for about 5 days.
Then, we will add the strained liquid and oven dry it in 130 degree celsius for about 20-25 minutes.
Then we will blend the powder.

Pictures:

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We will then be testing the powder and if both of the experiments work, we will still be using the Lemon Avocado SAP. But, if only the Orange Avocado works, we will be using that. And, if both unfortunately don't work, we will be adding gelatin or SAP or just proceed to Soil Moisture and Average Plant growth and remove the Absorption Capacity of the SAP in our testing methods.
Thank you so much Mr. Sybee for helping us out and suggesting ideas. I am also studying about the Data Analysis while using Ms. Lakshita's data first just to get a hang of what are the data that we need and how are we going to use it. After that, if we have gathered the data from our testing methods, I will just paste our own data so that we will have less work in the future. But now since I have a bit of free time, I'll prepare for our future experiments and papers so that our work will go smoothly. Thank you Mr. Sybee! I hope you can help us too with our Data Analysis since its a bit of the same with Ms. Lakshita.

This is our last chance and I hope this will finally turns out well. Fingers crossed for this. I hope you are doing good there and I hope you know that all your help is well appreciated.

Wishing you all the best,
Reynel
Reynel
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Re: Help! Procedure in Making SAP Using Orange and Avocado.

Post by Reynel »

Hi Mr. Sybee,

I'm glad to share that we were able to find Avocados today. We spent all the day looking for Avocados, Lemons, and Oranges in the City and fortunately we were able to find some. Tomorrow we are scheduled to conduct two batches. One is Lemon Avocado SAP and the other is Orange Avocado SAP.

Our plan for the Lemon is to just use Ms. Lakshita's Procedure


The peels were removed from 19 lemons including as much pith as possible and finely cut. (Do you recommend adding the pulps or not?)
• 100 ml of organic lemon juice, measured using a graduated beaker, was added to the lemon peels and left for 2 hours.
 1000 ml of distilled water, measured using a graduated beaker, was added to the finely cut lemon peels and lemon juice, and the mixture was kept on the gas stove for heating. The timer was switched on as soon as the liquid began to simmer and the time taken for the peels to be softened was noted for personal reference.
 The mixture was strained overnight using a kitchen sieve with fine wire mesh. This strained liquid was stored in a mason jar inside a refrigerator for future experimental purpose.
 Nine organic avocados were peeled and left a lot of flesh, finely cut, and added to the cooked lemon peels.
 The lemon and avocado peel mixture was sun-driedoutdoors until the peels were fully dried (about 4-5 days depending on the weather). The total weight of the sun-dried peels was measured using a digital weighing scale and half of the weight was ground into a powder in a blender. This crushed orange and avocado peel powder served as one type of biodegradable superabsorbent polymer and was stored in a mason jar for later experiments.
 The remaining sun-dried peels were mixed with 250 ml of the strained liquid and the combined mixture was dried in a conventional oven for 15 minutes in 130 degree celsius.
 The oven-dried mixture was ground into a powder in a blender. This crushed orange and avocado peel mixture served as the second biodegradable superabsorbent polymer and was stored in a mason jar for later experiments.

The process will still be the same with the Orange but unlike Ms. Lakshita, we will be using just 13 oranges since the ones we bought are big and it also has thick peels and pith.

This will be our last experiment and our future plans will depend on this. Just like what we've said on the last post our plans will be like this.

Plan A: Lemon Avocado SAP (Powder and Mixture)
Plan B: Orange Avocado SAP (Powder and Mixture)
Plan C: Add gelatin to the Powder since it may help in gelling.
Plan D: Add a bit of SAP from diapers to the Powder (But we are having a bit of hard time separating the SAP in the diaper from the cotton)
Plan E: We will remove the Water Absorption Capacity of SAP in our Testing methods and we will proceed in measuring the Soil Moisture and Average Plant Growth with the Powder that will somehow act as a "fertilizer".

We are still hoping that this will work so that we will be able to achieve our primary goal and be able to feel accomplished with our Research. Thank you so much Mr. Sybee. I hope you can read through our process for tomorrow so you can suggest and check what are the things we might need to change before we conduct so that we can improve the chances of the SAP be successful.

That's all we have for now.

I hope you and your family are doing good, stay safe and have fun!
Wishing you happiness,
Reynel
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Re: Help! Procedure in Making SAP Using Orange and Avocado.

Post by SciB »

Hi Reynel,

Thanks for the good wishes. I hope everything is well with you and your family, also. Stay safe!

I read over your procedures and I don't see anything that you could do differently. As for adding lemon pulp, I would use the pith but not so much pulp as that seems to allow molds to grow. I would definitely NOT add gelatin or diaper SAP as this is not scientific. Just go with what you have and report the facts of your experiments and attempt to explain what happened. As I suggested, it is still important and useful to a farmer to add organic matter to their soil even if it is not SAP.

If your mixture does not polymerize, it may be that fungi are interfering and some way would have to be found to inhibit the molds. Fungi are usually beneficial in the soil as they help to break down organic matter and turn it into a form that plants an absorb as nutrients. But if the fungus can also digest pectin, then your polymer will have no chance of survival. I don't know if this is true and you would have to do further expts to prove or disprove it, but that is what science is about.

Good luck!

Sybee
Reynel
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Re: Help! Procedure in Making SAP Using Orange and Avocado.

Post by Reynel »

Hi Mr. Sybee,

Thank you for your advice! Update about our experiment today, we finished conducting the Lemon and Orange SAP today and both are being strained overnight. We decided to put it in separate containers first where all the peels are spread well so that they don't stick and won't cause molds again. Hopefully it does not. About the pulps, we received your message after we've conducted the experiment so we included it already but we'll try to remove it from the peels tomorrow and separate while we are using gloves since it might cause molds because that's what keeps the peels sticking together. About the Avocado, we will try to include as much flesh as possible and include them together with the peels tomorrow. We are also trying to find some container with small holes in them so that the peels can "breathe" and all of them will be equally dried since the peels at the bottom can "breathe" too. (I can't find the right term but I hope you get what I mean)

Also, I talked to my cousin earlier whose in College and her course is Microbiology, she told us that another reason why our product is not working because of the fruits, since we just bought it into the market, it is most likely to have pesticides, and we've seen from Ms. Lakshita's procedure that it needs to be organic. If this still won't work, it might be because of that too. But, we can't find any solutions for that since we don't have any sources of Avocado/Orange/Lemon here but just the Market and we can't make sure if those are organic or not. Do you think this really might be the cause?

I have my fingers crossed that this experiment will be successful. I really hope it does. Thank you so much Mr. Sybee!

Sincerely,
Reynel
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Re: Help! Procedure in Making SAP Using Orange and Avocado.

Post by SciB »

You are welcome, Reynel. I am happy to help you make progress in your science project.

I understand what you mean about providing better air circulation so the peels can dry faster to avoid molds. You could have a small fan blowing air over them also to speed up the process, but that should not be necessary. We don't want to make the production any harder for the farmers than necessary.

You are right that Lakshita used organic produce that presumably has no chemical residues, but I do not think that pesticides or fungicides would inhibit the chemical reaction that turns pectin into a SAP. The mycelium of a mold, however, makes digestive enzymes that can decompose polymers and this could be the source of your problem. You might need to lower the pH even more by adding more lemon juice. Did you measure the pH of your peel mixture? That's another piece of data that you should collect. You should also be recording the temperature a couple times a day and also noting whether it is cloudy or sunny, raining or clear. Try to get a digital thermometer that also reads relative humidity as %RH is an important factor in how quickly your peels dry.

I'm hoping for the best, too, but always have a plan b--and probably c and d!

Good luck!

Sybee
Reynel
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Re: Help! Procedure in Making SAP Using Orange and Avocado.

Post by Reynel »

Hi Mr. Sybee,

I am glad you get what I meant! You replied so fast today, what time is it right now there? Here in the Philippines, it's 10:30pm. We noticed that you often reply whenever its night time in the Philippines so we always make sure to check it early in the morning if you have replied.

I agree too that using fan to dry the peels will make the procedure a bit more complicated since it requires energy and not all farmers really have an access to portable fans. We are sundrying our peels outdoors so there's wind that can help our peels airdry instead of using an electric fan. We will be covering our container with a mosquito net too to keep the flies away since it may also cause molds.

I really hope that the pesticides won't affect our peels too. We are doingthe best that we can to keep the molds away since it is the main culprit as of now to why our SAP is not working.

About the pH of the peels, we are contemplating earlier while we are conducting whether we should add lemon juice or not since it looks like it is not enough for the amount of peels that we used. But, we decided not to add since we followed Ms. Lakshita's procedure. We are a bit hesitant when it comes to changing procedure because we don't really know how will it affect our experiment and will it help improve our SAP or not. We just used 100ml of lemon juice for 1335grams of lemon peels and soaked it for 2 hours just like what Ms. Lakshita did. We tried to follow all the procedure as much as we can because it is already proven to be effective just like Ms. Lashita's and Ms. Kiara Nirghin's experiment. Do you think we should've add more lemon juice?
We weren't also able to measure the pH of our peels since we don't have any equipment to use for measuring it. But, we have a soil moisture meter here that have an option for testing the pH, the sunlight, and the moisture but we are not quite sure if we can use it since it is originally made to test the soil and maybe not for mixture. Can we still use it?

We have a thermometer here for oven/baking but we also don't have thermometer for testing the temperature in general. Can we use the same thermometer for baking? It is a digital one, and we have one that is analog.
But we will make sure to record the weather whether it is sunny or cloudy. We will also be doing that when we are testing the Plant growth even though the plants will still be stored in a greenhouse.

About the digital hygrometer and thermometer, I've been wanting to buy that too for my camera but didn't got the chance to buy one since we don't have a place that sells those. We can still order it online but we are not sure if it can arrive before we need to use it.
Can I ask if when and where will we be using those so that we can check if the item can arrive in the right time?

Thank you Mr. Sybee for the help! I am glad that we have someone we can ask our queries since we really don't have one here. I hope you can respond to our questions and we are glad to accept if you have any suggestions and ideas to how we can improve our Project. Thank you! Stay safe there.
Also, did you have your vaccine already? I remember you told us it'll be (possibly) by the end of February. I am glad your country is slowly progressing and moving forward despite the pandemic. I hope ours too!

All the best,
Reynel
Reynel
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Re: Help! Procedure in Making SAP Using Orange and Avocado.

Post by Reynel »

Hi Mr. Sybee,

Update on our experiment: Today is the first day of sun drying process. We sundried the peels outdoors, and since we conducted big batches of SAP, we can't find a container big enough that could fit all the peels (lemon, and oranges separately) all together with the avocados. So we decided to put it in small different containers. We made sure to put relatively same amounts of avocado and lemon/orange in each container. If we have small container, we made sure to put smaller amounts and bugger amounts on bigger containers. This is to prevent them from sticking together and giving them enough space to dry and prevent molds. We also did not cover the containers in mosquito nets since some containers are too low that the peels will touch the mosquito net already.
But, this time, we stirred each mixtures from time to time. We'll be doing it again tomorrow every 9:00am, 12:30pm and 2:30pm for the peels to be equaly sundried and so that the bottom of the peels won't stick to the container.

About the Avocado peels, we made sure to include a lot of flesh, as you said.

As of now, the peels looks better than what it was last time. I think that stirring then and keeping an eye on them helped in preventing molds. Do you think its okay to sundry them in separate containers just like what we did? This won't cause another failure of our SAP right?

About the temperature and weather everyday, we will be checking it using an app or in google. Though this might not be as accurate as using a thermometer, do you think we can still use this?

Are there by problems about our procedure, and do we to change something about it? Thats the only update I have for now Mr. Sybee.

I hope you still have time to help us, and I hope you know that all your efforts are well appreciated. I hope you're doing well there.

Keep safe and have fun,
Reynel
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Re: Help! Procedure in Making SAP Using Orange and Avocado.

Post by SciB »

Hi Reynel,

My time is GMT -5, so we are 13 hr apart! When it is morning and 7 am here it is evening and 8 pm where you are—so when I talk to you, I am communicating with a being from the future—wow! Time travel really does exist, except that I can’t physically get to where you are instantly, like these electrons do.

I will try to answer all your questions and verify your procedures.

• Good idea to use mosquito netting to keep flies away from the peels as fly feet carry mold spores.

• I was speculating about the pH. I don’t know if you need to lower the pH, but it is something to consider because chemical reactions are affected by pH as well as temperature. The easiest way to measure the pH of the peel mixture would be to use pH test strips. Pet stores and garden supply stores have them or you can order them online. I don’t think you can use the soil pH meter with the peel mixture, but you can try it once you get pH paper to compare the readings to.

• You are right to be careful about changing the independent variables in your experiments. It is better to follow exactly what Lakshita did and write down in detail what you observe happening. Don’t add or change anything until you see what happens when you follow her procedure exactly.

• You can use your digital oven thermometer for measuring temperature as long as it is accurate. You can assume that it is accurate, but it would be better if you had another thermometer to compare it to. You do not have to measure temperature or relative humidity, but sometimes it would be useful to know them when an experiment does not work as expected because they are also independent variables in your case. That is why scientists usually control temperature in an experiment. If you decide to buy another thermometer for general measurements, try to get one that also measures humidity.

• We are on the waiting list for the vaccine so hopefully in a couple more weeks, we will get it.

Good luck with the experiments and best wishes to you and your family for staying safe and happy.

Sybee
Reynel
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Re: Help! Procedure in Making SAP Using Orange and Avocado.

Post by Reynel »

Hi Mr. Sybee,

I guess you haven't read our last post, so I'll repost it.
Update on our experiment: Yesterday is the first day of sun drying process. We sundried the peels outdoors, and since we conducted big batches of SAP, we can't find a container big enough that could fit all the peels (lemon, and oranges separately) all together with the avocados. So we decided to put it in small different containers. We made sure to put relatively same amounts of avocado and lemon/orange in each container. If we have small container, we made sure to put smaller amounts and bugger amounts on bigger containers. This is to prevent them from sticking together and giving them enough space to dry and prevent molds. We also did not cover the containers in mosquito nets since some containers are too low that the peels will touch the mosquito net already.
But, this time, we stirred each mixtures from time to time. We'll be doing it again tomorrow every 9:00am, 12:30pm and 2:30pm for the peels to be equally sundried and so that the bottom of the peels won't stick to the container.

About the Avocado peels, we made sure to include a lot of flesh, as you said.

As of now, the peels looks better than what it was last time. I think that stirring then and keeping an eye on them helped in preventing molds. Do you think its okay to sundry them in separate containers just like what we did? This won't cause another failure of our SAP right?

About the temperature and weather everyday, we will be checking it using an app or in google. Though this might not be as accurate as using a thermometer, do you think we can still use this?

Today is the second day of our sun drying process: The peels look better than what it was in our last experiment. We weren't able to use mosquito nets but I'll try to puts some later since there are small flies flying around our experiment.
There are also small pieces that have molds, mostly avocado peels since we added a lot of flesh in them but I only got about 5 pieces of them that has molds (as of now). I got rid of them so that it won't affect other peels too.


Are there by problems about our procedure, and do we to change something about it? Thats the only update I have for now Mr. Sybee.

I hope you still have time to help us, and I hope you know that all your efforts are well appreciated. I hope you're doing well there.

Keep safe and have fun,
Reynel
SciB
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Re: Help! Procedure in Making SAP Using Orange and Avocado.

Post by SciB »

Hi Reynel,

Thanks for the update on your sun drying process. This is one of the steps that is hard to control because there are so many variables--sunny vs cloudy, humid vs dry, windy vs still--all or any of which can affect the drying of your peels. If I were doing it I would probably put the peels on waxed paper on a wire mesh and rig up a support for the mosquito net to keep the flies off because they are the carriers of fungal spores. The net would reduce the light and air flow somewhat, however. Everything has both negative and positive effects so you have to balance them in making your choices.

I have the Weather Channel app on my phone and the temp they give for my town usually agrees with my home digital thermometer within a degree or two, so you could use it instead of buying a thermometer. I think they also give relative humidity and wind speed.

There's no problem I see in drying the peels separately as you will be combining them later on and boiling them, and that's probably when the cross-linking reaction occurs.

I can't see anything that is wrong with what you are doing. I don't recall how many days Lakshita's peels took to dry, but I think you need to make sure they are very dry. But the negative to that is if you leave them outside too long, they get moldy which may inhibit the SAP formation, so you will have to make the call on this one and hope for the best.

All fingers crossed that this turns out well, but if it doesn't then use plan B and simply add the peel powder to the soil as if it were SAP and I feel sure that it will improve the growth of the plants. You can present it as a DIY soil amendment that will improve water holding properties in the soil, even though it is not a SAP.

We get our vaccine shots tomorrow--yaay! Not 100% safe afterwards, but safer. And the number of positive cases and hospitalizations continues to drop across the U.S. which is certainly good news.

I hope the virus is slowing down where you are.

Best of luck,

Sybee
Reynel
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Occupation: Student

Re: Help! Procedure in Making SAP Using Orange and Avocado.

Post by Reynel »

Hi Mr. Sybee,

I hope you're doing well there, I wonder why you haven't responded to our last update to you. I hope you still have free time, and if you're busy we understand it too.
The peels, as of now, have no molds. But, there is one tray that have molds, it is the orange and avocado peels. I assume it must be because the peels were not spread enough and the peels didn't dry just like the others on the other container. Except for the one orange peel container, the rest are well dried already. It has been sunny for the past 2 days and we expect that the sun drying will be done by February 27-28. We will be updating you everyday to what happens to our SAP.
About the one small container with Orange peels that have molds, we will just blend it right away and not mix it with others since it may affect the others that don't have molds. And the blended orange and avocado peels will serve as the Orange Avocado Powder. While the rest are Orange Avocado Mixture.

About the weather, temperature, and humidity, we are using a site on Google to check the weather everyday, but we don't know if this is accurate enough.
Do you have any questions Mr. Sybee? Maybe we have something that we forgot about, or any ideas that can improve our Experiment? We are open to consider those advices in other to improve our Project.

Thank you so much. I hope you are doing good there, and does it still snow there? I wonder what do you do in your free time.

I hope you find another reason to be a little happier and kinder today,
Reynel
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