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Dr Muyiwa Oyinlola

Job: Associate Professor in Engineering for Sustainable Development

Faculty: Technology

School/department: School of Engineering and Sustainable Development

Research group(s): Institute of Energy & Sustainable Development (IESD)

Address: De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester, LE1 9BH

T: +44 (0) 116 257 7162

E: muyiwa.oyinlola@dmu.ac.uk

W: http://www.dmu.ac.uk/mao

 

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Personal profile

Dr. Muyiwa Oyinlola is an Associate Professor  (Engineering for Sustainable Development) and Chartered Engineer who is committed to engineering sustainable solutions for  low and middle  income countries. He holds a B.Eng in Mechanical Engineering, MSc in Renewable Energy Engineering and a PhD in Sustainable Thermal Energy.

 One of the main areas of his research focusses on building capacity of local skills to engineer and use local materials for tackling global challenges. His work places particular emphasis on identifying and integrating socio-cultural considerations required for the long-term success of engineering projects. Some of his recent research projects in this area include building capacity for sustainable homes and developing processes and products that promote upcycling and recycling of plastics in low income communities.

 Another strand of Muyiwa's research is focussed on advancing low carbon technologies that will contribute to sustainably bridging the wide global energy gap. He works on optimising and developing clean and affordable energy technologies for low income communities. Some of his work in this area include investigating opportunities for renewables to support weak grids, improving the energy performance of buildings, thermal energy storage and waste heat recovery.

 Dr Oyinlola has led multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary, international consortia in writing, wining and successfully executing research bids. Muyiwa often works with transdisciplinary teams, that include social scientist, user centred designers as well as field practitioners, to ensure that project outcomes are interdisciplinary and cover both technical and social factors. He has worked with partners from several countries including Nigeria, India, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa and the United States of America.

Research group affiliations

Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development

Publications and outputs 

  • Bottle House: Utilising Appreciative Inquiry to develop a user Acceptance model
    Bottle House: Utilising Appreciative Inquiry to develop a user Acceptance model Adefila, Arinola; Abuzeinab, Amal; Whitehead, Timothy; Oyinlola, M. A. This paper develops a novel user-acceptance model for circular solutions to housing design. The model has been systematically developed from a case study of an upcycled plastic bottle building in a low-income community in Nigeria. It is common practice to use participatory approaches to consult end-users in communities, typically after design concepts have been proposed and conceptualised. However, this often leads to critical sociocultural or usability elements being overlooked and the design being substandard. Therefore, this paper develops a robust model for designers, specialists and activists involved in construction that can be used during all phases of a project. This approach demonstrates that user needs should be considered before building designs and plans are generated, providing a greater frame of reference for practitioners, consultants and end-users. Enabling the integration of holistic needs of the community and the development of circular design solution. A case study methodology has been employed to develop this model, uses appreciative Inquiry methodology. This includes multiple methods to capture end-users perception; focus groups, interactions with the local community, and self-recorded comments. This case study is part of a broader research project to develop replicable low-cost self-sufficient homes utilising local capacity using upcycled, locally available materials. The findings identify the challenges associated with designing circular-solution housing without a robust understanding of interrelated factors, which ensure sustainability and user acceptance. The conclusions demonstrate why essential sociocultural factors, usually unrelated to technical development, should be understood and contextualised when designing sustainable solutions in Low/Middle-Income Communities. We argue that without this holistic approach, undesirable consequences may arise, often leading to more significant challenges. Instead of referring to multiple frameworks, this distinctive model can be used to evaluate user acceptance for low-cost housing in particular and other dimensions of circular solution design that involve end-user acceptance. The model blends circular solution dimensions with user-acceptance concerns; offering a guide that considers essential features that are both user-friendly and pragmatic; such as utility, technological innovation and functionality as well as their intersectionality. The research relied on a single case study, which focused on end-user engagement of upcycling waste materials as an application of circular solutions. The model will contribute to developing socially accepted circular solutions taking into consideration local context factors. The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.
  • A review of retrofit interventions for residential buildings in hot humid climates
    A review of retrofit interventions for residential buildings in hot humid climates Ayodele, Tunmise; Taki, A. H.; Oyinlola, M. A.; Bhattacharyya, Subhes Buildings consume 40% of resources around the world, low energy building is fast becoming a major component of sustainable development. However, limiting the concept of low energy buildings to new builds will only undermine its ef-fects and benefits as there are numerous existing buildings that consume uneconomical energy resources irrespective of how en-ergy efficient the new ones are. Therefore, retrofit interventions to existing buildings is important in decreasing resource con-sumption and increasing energy efficiency. Some various retro-fit interventions already exist towards reducing energy con-sumption in residential buildings but deciding on a specific ret-rofit intervention needs assiduous consideration. Hence, this pa-per focuses on the review of retrofit interventions and their en-ergy performances. It was found amongst others that clay bricks, sand line, and pre-fabricated walls consume less energy than concrete bricks by 16%, 23%, and 25% respectively. Elec-trochromic glazing system with no shading device was also found to have reduced heat gains by 53%-59% in winter and summer. It was concluded that further research would benefit from the combination of the various interventions to create pathways for building retrofit in hot humid climate, the path-ways can be tested with a dynamic thermal simulation software for energy performance. The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version.
  • PVT based Solar Assisted Ground Source Heat Pump system: modelling approach and sensitivity analyses
    PVT based Solar Assisted Ground Source Heat Pump system: modelling approach and sensitivity analyses Sakellariou, Evangelos; Wright, A.J.; Axaopoulos, Petros; Oyinlola, M. A. A solar assisted ground source heat pump (SAGSHP) system is a promising technology which pairs two widely abundant renewable energy sources, solar and shallow geothermal. In space heating dominated regions, the addition of solar collectors to conventional ground source systems improves their feasibility. There are many aspects which influence the system’s efficiency; but experimentation to optimize these would requires high capital investment and take a very long time. Therefore, mathematical modeling and computer-based simulations are preferable methods to conduct sensitivity and feasibility analyses. In this work, a PVT based solar assisted ground source heat pump system was modeled using TRNSYS program, and sensitivity analyses were conducted. For the PVT collectors, an experimentally verified transient model was utilized, while experimental data were used to validate a novel very shallow borefield. For the heat pump model, manufacturer’s performance data along with a new novel method were combined, and a new component was created in the simulation platform. A single family dwelling with domestic hot water demand was assumed for the heating load, and weather data from Birmingham, West Midlands, UK was used. The simulation results were evaluated by utilizing the annual specific productivity metric rather than the systems seasonal performance factor, which is the current choice for SAGSHP systems. The proposed evaluation approach was found be capable of clarifying, in detail, the effect of the parametric variation on the system’s energy performance. The sensitivity analyses are focused on six parameters on the energy conversion side, with the heat pump’s evaporator as the physical boundary. It was found that the storage capacity and the plate heat exchanger’s effectiveness, contribute the most to the system’s and PVTs’ heat productivity. Whilst heat productivity depended more on the parameters’ variation, the power generation was influenced mainly by the collectors’ tilt. The results of this study are significant for design and operation of these systems. The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.
  • Application of the superposition technique in conduction heat transfer for analysing arrays of shallow boreholes in ground source heat pump systems
    Application of the superposition technique in conduction heat transfer for analysing arrays of shallow boreholes in ground source heat pump systems Naranjo-Mendoza, Carlos; Wright, A. J.; Oyinlola, M. A.; Greenough, R. M.
  • Thermal Analysis of an Earth Energy Bank
    Thermal Analysis of an Earth Energy Bank Naranjo-Mendoza, Carlos; Sakellariou, Evangelos; Wright, A. J.; Oyinlola, M. A.; Greenough, R. M.
  • Experimental study of a domestic solar assisted ground source heat pump with seasonal underground thermal storage through shallow boreholes
    Experimental study of a domestic solar assisted ground source heat pump with seasonal underground thermal storage through shallow boreholes Greenough, R. M.; Naranjo-Mendoza, Carlos; Oyinlola, M. A.; Wright, A. J. With the current need to reduce carbon emissions, new technologies have been developed in recent years to satisfy building thermal demands. Among others, ground-source heat pumps (GSHP) have been implemented, in both commercial and residential applications, to meet heating and cooling needs in a cleaner and more energy efficient way. Likewise, solar thermal systems have been integrated into conventional GSHP systems to reduce the size of the ground heat exchanger and provide seasonal heat storage. So far, this technology has been used in large commercial or residential buildings, mainly due to its high installation costs. This paper describes a study of an experimental Solar Assisted Ground Source Heat Pump (SAGSHP) system for domestic heating applications. The system uses an array of shallow (1.5-metre deep) vertical boreholes to store heat seasonally in an underground ‘earth energy bank’. The results show that after 19 months of operation the system was able to show a good performance in order to cover the space heating requirements of the building in winter. Likewise, it was evidenced that the solar energy injected in the ground is useful not only to recover the soil from the thermal imbalance but also to store heat. Results also highlighted the need to improve the control strategy, mainly to avoid excessive inlet fluid temperatures at the evaporator. The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.
  • Behaviour of sand-filled plastic bottled clay panels for sustainable homes
    Behaviour of sand-filled plastic bottled clay panels for sustainable homes Kim, Boksun; Wisniewski, Josef; Baker, Toby; Oyinlola, M. A. Adequate shelter is a basic necessity for human existence and mankind has continuously improved the quality of shelter. It is estimated that about 1.6 billion people still lack adequate housing. There is a cogent need for developing new methods of delivering housing that can be accessible to low-income communities who have little or no access to finances. Plastic bottles have been suggested as a candidate material for constructing low-cost, environmentally friendly homes in developing countries. Although some research on the use of plastic bottles for housing was found, the existing literature shows considerable discrepancies in the strength of plastic bottles and bottled cubes. Furthermore, the literature is limited to cement cubes and no research has been carried out using locally sustainable materials such as soils. As part of the ‘Bottle House’ project for developing low-cost sustainable homes in Nigeria, this paper seeks to fill this gap by reporting the results of two series of experimental work carried out at the University of Plymouth. A total of eight-four 500 ml PET bottles and twelve wall and floor panels with and without sand-filled plastic bottles were prepared and tested to investigate their strength and failure behaviour. The test results have shown that in-filled sands made a significant contribution to the strength of the bottles and the bottles tested vertically resisted better than those tested horizontally. They have also shown that the panels with sand-filled bottles have about a quarter of the strength of the daub only panels due to a lack of cohesion between bottles and daub, but they are found to be more ductile than the latter. The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link. Research conducted in collaboration with School of Engineering, The University of Plymouth
  • Solar and geothermal energy for low-carbon space heating and energy independence.
    Solar and geothermal energy for low-carbon space heating and energy independence. Sakellariou, Evangelos; Wright, A. J.; Oyinlola, M. A. In developed countries, space heating is highly dependent on fossil fuels consumption. Also, the non-renewable fuels combustion emits CO2 which is claimed to impact the most on greenhouse effect. The utilization of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) for space heating, instead of fossil fuels, has been found to be feasible for systems’ greater energy independence and reduction in CO2 emissions. Solar Assisted Ground Source Heat Pump (SAGSHP) systems are a promising technology which can be used to accomplish the above framed target. A mathematic model of a SAGSHP system was built and a parametric analysis for Birmingham which is a city located in the UK’s West Midlands was conducted. Two scenarios based on two different dwellings were investigated, the one was a house recently erected and the other was a refurbished house. As regards the new house, simulation results showed that the utilized energy for space heating and Domestic Hot Water (DHW) can vary from 33% up to 73% RES dependent and, at the same time, electricity generation can be 2.21 times higher than the system’s demand. As regards the energy renovated dwelling, the RES contribution to the delivered heat was found to be between the 33% and 63%, while the electricity generation did not result in any surplus energy from the consumed. Finally, by making use of SAGSHP system instead of a natural Gas boiler, the reduction of CO2 emissions was found to be between 300kg/year and 2,170kg/year for the new building and from 245kg/year up to 3,221kg/year for the refurbished house, respectively. In both cases, SAGSHP systems proved to be a feasible practice for greater energy independence from non-renewable energy sources with substantial positive impact on the greenhouse gasses emissions.
  • Recycling of plastics for low cost construction
    Recycling of plastics for low cost construction Oyinlola, M. A.; Whitehead, Timothy The impact of waste plastics has been a key part of the environmental discourse in recent years and prominent environmentalists/sustainable development scholars have called for urgent action. This article discusses some of the innovative ways plastics have been used in low cost construction in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs). It highlights the main benefits of using plastics in construction as well as identifies current gaps in the literature. Utilising plastics for low cost construction has implications for sustainable waste management and adequate housing in Low and Middle Income Communities of LMICs.
  • Bottle House: A case study of Transdisciplinary research for tackling global challenges
    Bottle House: A case study of Transdisciplinary research for tackling global challenges Whitehead, Timothy; Abuzeinab, Amal; Adefila, Arinola; Akinola, Yewande; Anafi, Fatai; Farukh, Farukh; Jegede, Oluyemi; Kandan, K.; Kim, Boksun; Mosugu, Emmanuel; Oyinlola, M. A. Globalisation has brought a number of challenges to the fore, particularly those problems which require collaboration, innovation and capability development between nations. There are some complex issues piquing the attention of researchers with respect to sustainable development, such as, waste management, climate change, and access to amenities, housing or education. Non-Governmental Organisations, Institutions, governments and others working in the field of international development have been grappling with these difficulties for decades. However, it is becoming apparent that many of these difficulties require multifaceted solutions, particularly in Low and Middle Income countries (LMIC) where it is difficult to consolidate gains and fund schemes. Development work can sometimes be disjointed and inefficient, impairing the capability of local communities and inhibiting sustainable and innovative approaches. Transdisciplinary collaboration is reliably a more efficient way of tackling some of the most pertinacious challenges. This paper presents findings from a transdisciplinary research project focussed on developing resources and capacity for the construction of affordable homes in a low income community in Nigeria. The project explored the suitability of using upcycled materials such as plastic bottles and agricultural waste in construction. Using a user-centred, co-creation methodology, a team of experts from the UK and Nigeria worked with local entrepreneurs to build a prototype home. The study explores the functionality of the home and the sustainability of project. The findings demonstrate the benefits of tackling global challenges from a transdisciplinary perspective. This has implications for researchers focused on developing technical solutions for low-income communities. This work was done in collaboration with colleagues from the institute of Engineering sciences and Architecture Research Institute The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.

 Click for full list of Muyiwa Oyinlola research outputs.

Research interests/expertise

  • Circular Economy
  • Engineering for sustainable development
  • Plastic Waste Management in LMICs
  • Thermal energy storage
  • Thermal energy transformation
  • Heat transfer
  • Energy in emerging economies
  • Sustainable energy
  • Transdisicplinary  for International Development

Areas of teaching

  • Thermodynamics
  • Heat transfer
  • Fluid dynamics
  • Renewable energy

Qualifications

PhD Heat Transfer in Solar Absorber Plates with Micro-Channels, University of Warwick, 2012-2015

MSc Renewable Energy Engineering, Kingston University, London, 2010-2011

BEng Mechanical Engineering, Ahmadu Bello Univeristy, Zaria, 2002-2008

 

Courses taught

ENGD2005 Theory of Machines and Thermodynamics

ENGT5141 Advanced Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer

Membership of professional associations and societies

Institution of Mechanical Engineers

Energy Institute

Professional licences and certificates

Chartered Engineer

Projects

Wealth from Waste: Value added products for Chennai Waste Pickers 

The aim of the project is to assess the feasibility of using local skills and materials to transform waste plastics into filaments for 3D printing, which is identified as a high value item.  This study will document the current waste materials available, and current applications for processing waste plastic and creating 3D print material. This research would set the groundwork for future studies and enable the development of new circular economy business models, underpinned with novel technological innovation. 

Low Cost Sustainable Housing Research 

The project explores utilizing up-cycled and locally engineered materials to design affordable, self-sufficient homes for low income communities. The research aims to establish scientific methods to co-design a self-sufficient home, integrated with inhouse-electricity generation, in-house-water-purification system, earthquake resistant foundation and walls as well as ensuring it is socially acceptable within the community.  Therefore the project addresses 3 of the United Nations goals for sustainable development. 

Goal 6- clean water and sanitation

Goal 7- Affordable and clean energy

Goal 11- sustainable cities and communities,

Conference attendance

1. Oyinlola , M.A. and Shire, G.S.F. (2016) Heat Transfer in Low Reynolds Number Flows Through Miniaturized Channels. The 12th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics (HEFAT2016), Malaga, Spain

2. The 5th international conference on Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow in Microscale (HTFFM V), 22-26 April 2014, Marseille, France.  Analysis of temperature distribution in absorber plates with microchannels. Oyinlola, M.A., Shire, G.S.F. and Moss, R. W. (2014) Oral Presentation (Peer Reviewed)

3. The 10th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics (HEFAT2014), 14 - 16 July 2014, Orlando, USA. Investigating the effects of channel aspect ratio on fluid flow and heat transfer  in absorber plates with minichannels.  Oyinlola , M.A., Shire, G.S.F. , Moss, R. W. and Khaliji Oskouei, M (2014). Oral Presentation (Peer Reviewed)

4. The 13th UK Heat Transfer Conference (UKHTC), 2- 3 September 2013, London, UK. Investigating Heat transfer in Absorber plates with mini channels. Oyinlola, M.A. and Shire, G.S.F. (2013). Oral presentation (Peer Reviewed).

Current research students

  1. Bilal Messahel - Investigating the potential of waste materials to construct low energy, thermally comfortable dwellings for low income communities.  October 2018 – date.  1st Supervisor
  2. Salisu Isihak - Technology Options for Improving Access to Energy Services in Areas With Low Electricity Access Rate: A Geographic Information System (GIS) Based Approach to Electricity Planning in Nigeria. April 2018 – date  2nd Supervisor
  3. Tunmise Timothy Ayodele - A Framework for Low carbon retrofitting of Residential Buildings in Nigeria. January  2017 – date,  2nd Supervisor
  4. Longinus Ogugua - Application of Terahertz Spectroscopy in In-Process Monitoring of Freeze-Drying Process: An Optimization Study of Process Analytical Technology. January  2017 – date, 2nd Supervisor
  5. Evangelos Sakellariou - Feasibility study and parametric analyses of Solar Assisted Ground Sourced Heat Pump systems for different European climate zones. January  2017 – date, 2nd Supervisor

Externally funded research grants information

Digital Innovations for Transitioning to a Circular Plastic Economy (DITCh Plastic) EPSRC-GCRF. Role - Principal-investigator May 2020 – April 2021,  £146,238 - https://ditch-plastic.org/

Circular Plastic: Utilising frontier technology and user centred design to add value to plastic waste, facilitating entrepreneurship and employment EPSRC-GCRF. Role - Co-investigator May 2020 – April 2021,  £150,000 -https://www.circularplastic.co/

Sustainability, inclusiveness and governance of mini-grids in Africa (SIGMA) - ESRC-GCRF. Role - Co-investigator March 2020 – March 2023,  £1,244,000 - https://www.sigma-gcrf.net/

Wealth from Waste: Value added products for Chennai Waste Pickers - Royal academy of engineering   Frontiers of Engineering for Development Seed funding  - Role -  Principal investigator -June 2018 – June 2019, £30,000

Blackout-Chasing: Tapping Peri-Urban Energy Perspectives, Preferences and Prospects, Royal academy of engineering   Frontiers of Engineering for Development Seed funding  - Role -  Co Investigator – February 2017 – February 2018, £20,000

Developing local capacity for building affordable self-sufficient homes - Royal academy of engineering   Frontiers of Engineering for Development Seed funding  - Role -  Principal investigator – November 2016 – August 2017, £20,000 - http://lcshr.com/

Internally funded research project information

Principal Investigator: Low Cost Sustainable Home Prototype for Developing Countries (RIF Round 8, 01/08/16 - 31/07/17).Collaborators: Dr Tim Whitehead , Dr Amal Abuzeinab(DMU), Dr Farukh Farukh, Dr Karthikeyan Kandan

Principal Investigator: Low Cost Sustainable Housing in Ahmedabad. Collaborators: Dr Tim Whitehead , Dr Amal Abuzeinab(DMU), Dr Farukh Farukh, Dr Karthikeyan Kandan

Co Investigator: A perfect gap for SMILE: Smart Last-MILE Vaccine Cooling & Delivery System.Collaborators: Dr Karthikeyan Kandan,  Dr Farukh Farukh

Co Investigator: Application of Terahertz Spectroscopy for In-Process Monitoring of Freeze-Drying of Pharmaceutical Products. Collaborators: Professor Geoff Smith, Dr.Ahmet Orun,

Co Investigator:  Develop a device for monitoring the structure of the dry layer that develops in a product under-going the process of freeze-drying.  Collaborators: Professor Geoff Smith,  Dr.Ahmet Orun

MSc Student projects Supervision

Experimental study of a high performance solar flat plate collector

Characterising a lab scale thermal energy store for concentrated solar thermal collectors

Characterising the thermal performance of sustainable building components

Developing a low cost parabolic trough collector for process heat

Clean energy solution for powering and cooling off grid telecom shelters.

CFD optimization of a solar Flat plate collector

Heat and mass transfer analysis of a sustainable membrane distillation system

Awards

  1. British Council Researcher Links travel grant to attend the China-UK Workshop on Achieving the Low Carbon City in Shanghai, China between 14-16 June 2019
  2. DMU PhD high flyers Scholarship -  Investigating the potential of waste materials to construct low energy, thermally comfortable dwellings for low income communities - October 2018
  3. Vice Chancellors Future Research Leaders programme -  September 2018
  4. British Council Researcher Links travel grant to attend the workshop on Closed Loop Green Technologies for Rural Communities in Delhi India between 10-13 September 2017
  5. British Council Researcher Links travel grant to attend  the UK-China workshop on shaping low carbon energy future between 28-31 August 2017
  6. British Council Researcher Links travel grant to attend the workshop on Water, Sanitation and Energy Nexus Research Initiative, between13-16 September 2016.
  7. European Institute of Innovation and Technology Climate – KIC Pioneers into Practice programme. €8000 grant to contribute  to a low carbon product/service development in two European region April – October 2013

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