Comparative study on effect of blending,thermal barrier coating (LHR) and injector nozzle geometry on biodiesel-fuelled engines

Increased petroleum prices, increased threat to the environment from exhaust emissions and global warming have generated intense international interest in developing renewable and alternative non-petroleum fuels for internal combustion engines. Evolving suitable technology for addressing energy crisis creates a continued investigation into the search for sustainable and clean-burning renewable fuels. This work investigates suitability of different non-edible-derived biodiesels such as cotton seed oil methyl ester (COME), Honne oil methyl ester (HnOME) and Rubber seed oil methyl ester (RuOME) to four stroke, single cylinder compression ignition (CI) engine. Engine tests were conducted to study the effect of fuel blending, thermal barrier coating (TBC) or Low Heat Rejection (LHR) and injector nozzle geometry on the performance, combustion and emission characteristics of COME, HnOME and RuOME in the modified CI engine. Blends of biodiesels with diesel were varied from 20 to 80% in steps of 20%. Two thermal barrier coatings of partially stabilized zirconium (PSZ) and aluminium oxide (Al₂O₃) were provided on the engine to make it fully adiabatic. Nozzle injectors of 3, 4 and 5 holes, with size of orifice varied from 0.2 to 0.3 mm size were selected for the study. It was concluded that B20 biodiesel blend, PSZ-coated engine and four hole nozzle injector of 0.2 mm size resulted in overall better engine performance with increased brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and reduced HC, CO, smoke emissions for the fuel combinations tested. Combustion analysis to study the effect of biodiesel blends, LHR coatings, injector nozzle geometry on the performance of the biodiesel-fuelled engine has been presented to give more insight into the behaviour of operation.     

Preparation and Characterization of Xylan Derivatives and Their Blends

Although hemicellulose is found widely in nature, it is currently under-utilized as a raw material for commercial applications. It would be desirable to find new uses for hemicellulose in order to add value to this agro-based material. A common type of hemicellulose is xylan, which is found in a number of wood species and in cotton. In this work we prepared cationic and anionic xylan derivatives and characterized them by ¹³C NMR, FT-IR, size exclusion chromatography (SEC), thermal analysis, and rheology. In particular, the ¹³C NMR spectra of carboxymethyl xylan (CMX) and quaternary ammonium-adducted xylan (QAX) were fully assigned with the help of samples with different degrees of substitution. SEC indicated that the beechwood xylan showed a bimodal molecular weight distribution, but with derivatization the distribution tended to become unimodal. Thermal analysis and rheology studies did not uncover any surprises; the solution of xylan and its derivatives exhibited mostly Newtonian behavior. The blends of CMX and QAX produced a precipitate at almost all ratios, indicating the formation of a polyelectrolyte complex. When cationic and anionic xylan samples were added together to paper, the paper dry strength increased. Thus, the combination of cationic/anionic xylan may be of interest in selected applications.     

Comparative Response of Indigenously Developed Bacterial Consortia on Progressive Degradation of Polyhydroxybutyrate Film Composites

The global demand of bioplastics has lead to an exponential increase in their production commercially. Hence, biodegradable nature needs to be evaluated in various ecosystems viz. air, water, soil and other environmental conditions to avoid the polymeric waste accumulation in the nature. In this paper, we investigated the progressive response of two indigenously developed bacterial consortia, i.e., consortium-I (C-I: Pseudomonas sp. strain Rb10, Pseudomonas sp. strain Rb11 and Bacillus sp. strain Rb18), and consortium-II (C-II: Lysinibacillus sp. strain Rb1, Pseudomonas sp. strain Rb13 and Pseudomonas sp. strain Rb19), against biodegradation behavior of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) film composites, under natural soil ecosystem (in net house). The biodegraded films recovered after 6 and 9 months of incubation were analyzed through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy to determine the variations in chemical and morphological parameters (before and after incubation). Noticeable changes in the bond intensity, surface morphology and conductivity were found when PHB composites were treated with C-II. These changes were drastic in case of blends in comparison to copolymer. The potential isolates not only survived, but, also, there was a significant increase in bacterial diversity during whole period of incubation. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first report which described the biodegradation potential of Lysinibacillus sp. as a part of C-II with Pseudomonas sp. against PHB film composites.     

Closing the material cycle of biomass-derived fly ashes: a regional case study of natural ageing in Finland

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - The amount of biomass-derived ashes is expected to rise in the EU due to targets to increase the use of renewable energy resources. To promote the...     

Mechanical Properties of Layered Laminated Woven Bamboo <Emphasis Type="Italic">Gigantochloa Scortechinii</Emphasis>/Epoxy Composites

This study investigated the application of bamboo as a natural composite, in which its potential as a composite material had been examined for 2–6 layers. In precise, the woven bamboo (BW) formed the culm fiber composite with an average of 0.5 mm thickness and 5.0 mm width strip. In addition, this study looked into a specific type of bamboo species known as Gigantochloa Scortechinii (Buluh Semantan), which can be found in Malaysia. This laminated plain BW, which had been reinforced with epoxy (EP), was developed by applying the hand lay-up technique. After that, the specimens were characterized via mechanical analyses, for instance, tensile, flexural, hardness, and impact tests. As a result, the 2-layer BW had displayed rather excellent results chiefly due to the incorporation of epoxy composite, although this is exceptional hardness value.     

The choice of system boundaries for effective long-term management of phosphorus

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - Material flow analysis (MFA) is a well-established tool for supporting decisions on nutrient management. This paper shows the importance of the...     

Modelling and Optimization of Uranium (VI) Ions Adsorption Onto Nano-ZnO/Chitosan Bio-composite Beads with Response Surface Methodology (RSM)

Nano-ZnO-chitosan bio-composite beads were prepared for the sorption of \({\text{UO}}_{2}^{{2+}}\) from aqueous media. The resulting nano-ZnO/CTS bio-composite beads were characterized by TEM, XRD etc. The sorption of \({\text{UO}}_{2}^{{2+}}\) by bio-composite beads was optimized using RSM. The correlation between four variables was modelled and studied. According to RSM data, correlation coefficients (R²?=?0.99) and probability F-values (F?=?2.24?×?10^??10) show that the model fits the experimental data well. Adsorption capacity for nano-ZnO/CTS bio-composite beads was obtained at 148.7 mg/g under optimum conditions. The results indicate that nano-ZnO/CTS bio-composite beads are appropriate for the adsorption of \({\text{UO}}_{2}^{{2+}}\) ions from aqueous media. Also, the suitability of adsorption values to adsorption isotherms was researched and thermodynamic data were calculated.     

Thermally Stable Pyrolytic Biocarbon as an Effective and Sustainable Reinforcing Filler for Polyamide Bio-composites Fabrication

Natural fibers are limited in their use as reinforcement to commodity polymers. They cannot be used to reinforce engineering polymers due to their low thermal stability at high processing temperatures. This study presents an approach to successfully reinforce polyamides using a derivative of natural fibers as reinforcement without the effects of thermal degradation during melt processing. Biocarbon from miscanthus fibers was used to reinforce polyamide 6 up to 40 wt%. At 40 wt% filler content, the tensile and flexural strengths increased by 19.6 and 47% respectively in comparison to the neat polyamide. The moduli were also increased by 31.5 and 63.7% respectively. A maximum increase in impact strength of 43.7% was achieved at 20 wt% biocarbon loading. The morphology of the tensile fractured samples showed stretched polyamide ligaments attached to the biocarbon particles, indicating the presence of interaction between filler and matrix. Interestingly, more bonded interfaces were observed between the polyamide and biocarbon particles with increasing biocarbon content possibly stemming from increased biocarbon surfaces with functional groups. These composites show great potential to substitute in part or whole, some particulate filled polyamides currently used in the automotive industry.     

The synergistic effect of air mass on outdoor performance for different PV module in India

The effect of air mass (AM) on the performance of multi-crystalline silicon (m-Si), amorphous silicon (a-Si), and hetero-junction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT)-technology-based photovoltaic (PV) modules are evaluated for representative day of four seasons during the year 2011 for composite climate of India. To find the best performing PV module technology with respect to AM at the site, annual energy yields and performance ratio against different AM bands (AM 1–4.5) are plotted. It is found that HIT modules perform better than m-Si and a-Si at each AM band. Annual energy yields for all three technologies decrease with increasing order of AM bands. The performance ratio for HIT and m-SI modules initially increases and then decreases with increasing order of AM bands. However, for a-Si modules, the performance ratio decreases with increasing order of the AM bands.     

A numerical study on the effects of EGR and spark timing to combustion characteristics and NOx emission of a GDI engine

EGR is one of the most significant strategies for reducing especially nitrogen oxides (NO_x) emissions from internal combustion engines. The thermal efficiency of spark ignition engines is lower than compression ignition engines because of its lower compression ratio. If the compression ratio is increased to obtain higher thermal efficiency, there may be a knocking tendency in spark ignition engines. EGR can be used in order to reduce NO_x emissions and avoid knocking phenomena at higher compression ratios. In-cylinder temperature at the end of combustion is decreased and heat capacity of fresh charge is increased when EGR applied. Besides EGR, spark timing is another significant parameter for reducing exhaust emissions such as nitrogen oxides, and unburned hydrocarbon (UHC). In this study the effects of EGR and spark timing on spark ignition engine were investigated numerically. KIVA codes were used in order to model combustion process. The combustion process has been modeled for a single cylinder, four stroke and gasoline direct injection (GDI) spark ignition engine. The results showed that in-cylinder pressure and heat release rate decrease as EGR ratio increase. In-cylinder pressure increases with the advancing of spark timing. Advancing spark timing increases the heat release rate and in-cylinder temperature. The simulation results also showed that EGR reduced exhaust gas temperature and NO_x emissions.