Thumbnail Image

Thesis

Browse

2011 - 20134
Reset filters
End date: 2013 × Start date: 2011 × Type: Thesis × Thesis Type: M.Tech ×
Reset filters

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Thumbnail Image
    ThesisItemOpen Access
    EFFECT OF PACKAGING MATERIAL ON SHELF LIFE AND QUALITY OF GRAPES (Vitis vinifera L.)
    (PAU Ludhiana, 2011) Landge Kishor Changdeo; Jarnail Singh
    The effect of packaging material on shelf life and quality of grapes cv. Thomson seedless was studied. Material was packed with three different packaging materials viz. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) of 100 guage, Polypropylene (PP) of 90 guage and Laminated aluminum foil (LAF). These samples were stored at 5˚C and 90- 95 % RH in the cold chamber. Control group of grapes samples were stored at room temperature without packaging. During the study viscoelastic behavior, PLW, moisture content, colour , TSS, Ascorbic acid content and Titrable acidity were measured at an interval of 5 days. The grapes stored at refrigerated conditions have shelf life of four weeks as compared to the control samples which has seven days. The LDPE film showed the best performance in terms of maintaining the hardness of fruit. The thickness of loading for packaging containers of grapes was calculated to be 45 cm for samples stored with LDPE. The PLW, variation in moisture content (% db), change in L, a, b colour values was observed to be minimum with LDPE. The quality parameters like Ascorbic acid content, Titrable acidity were least affected with the LAF packaging. The PP was the most effective packaging material for maintaining TSS values of fresh grapes. All the parameters PLW, colour, TSS, Ascorbic acid etc. were observed to be decreased at a faster rate in samples stored at atmospheric conditions in comparison with the samples stored at refrigerated conditions.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ThesisItemRestricted
    STUDIES ON THE PERFORMANCE OF C.I. ENGINE USING ETHYL ESTER AS AN ALTERNATIVE FUEL
    (PAU Ludhiana, 2011) Rajneesh Kumar; Anoop Kumar, Dixit
    The agriculture sector of the country is mainly dependent on diesel for its motive power and to a large extent for power applications. Increased farm mechanization in agriculture, further increases requirement of this depleting fuel source. To overcome the problems associated with the use of petroleum derived fuels, it becomes necessary to develop alternative fuels with properties comparable to petroleum based fuels. Among the alternative fuels, biodiesel fuel has received much attention in recent years for use in diesel engines and could be one alternative in the country to reduce petroleum diesel import. Research has been done in the country using methanol. But, methanol is toxic in nature. Ethanol is derived from biomass. Ethyl ester derived from plant oils by using ethanol brings extra carbon atoms through ethanol molecule which slightly increases the heat content and the cetane number. Ethyl esters have lower cloud and pour points than the methyl esters. This fact improves the cold start of engine. Jatropha plant oil is non edible oil so it was selected for preparation of ethyl ester. The available Jatropha oil had high free fatty acid therefore, a twostep transesterification process was used to prepare ester for the study. Fuel characteristics of different blends of ethyl ester and diesel were determined in terms of kinematic viscosity (cS), gross heating value (MJ/kg), density (g/cm3), flash point (ºC), cloud point (ºC) and pour point (ºC) and were compared with that of pure diesel fuel. Thereafter, five blends of ester and diesel were used as fuel at four levels of loads i.e. 0%, 25%, 50%, and 75% of the rated load for engine performance study at two different compression ratio (16.5:1 and 18.5:1) and compare the results with the results obtained in case of diesel fuel. Maximum recovery of ester was obtained by pretreating the oil with 5% H2SO4 and 20% ethanol and then its transesterification using 30% ethanol and 3% KOH. Kinematic viscosity (cS), density (g/cm3), flash point (ºC), cloud point (ºC) and pour point (ºC) of all blends of ethyl esters (B10, B20, B30 and B40) were higher than that of diesel and gross heating values (MJ/kg) of all biodiesel blends were less as compared to diesel. Nitric oxide (NOx) emissions in case of all biodiesel blends were more as compared to diesel. NOx concentration in exhaust gases was increased with increase of ester in blends and also increased with increase in compression ratio. Carbon monoxide (CO) emission for all biodiesel blends was less as compared to diesel. CO concentration in exhaust gases was decreased with increase in percentage of ester in the blend and also decreased with increase in compression ratio. Brake thermal efficiency for all biodiesel blends was more as compared to diesel. Brake thermal efficiency increased with increase in load and also increased with increase in compression ratio. Brake specific fuel consumption in case of blends was more as compared to diesel. Brake specific fuel consumption decreased with increase in load as well as with increase in compression ratio.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ThesisItemOpen Access
    PROCESS OPTIMIZATION FOR EXPRESSION OF OIL FROM DEHULLED SUNFLOWER (Helianthus annuus L.) SEEDS
    (PAU Ludhiana, 2013) Arul Selvam T; Tarsem Chand
    Mechanical expression of oil from dehulled sunflower seed is highly desirable as it provides, at low cost, non-contaminated, nutritionally rich press cakes which can be processed into nutritious edible foods. Unfortunately, mechanical oil extraction process suffers from certain drawbacks. The dehulled sunflower seeds obstruct forward movement inside the expeller barrel due to the absence of hull portion and less friction. The main focus of the present study was to maximize the oil recovery and obtain nutritionally rich press cakes from dehulled sunflower seeds using mechanical oil expression. Physical and mechanical properties were studied under four different moisture content ranged from 6-18 % (d.b.). The results showed that the geometric mean diameter, surface area, volume, sphericity and aspect ratio, thousand seed/kernel weight, true density, porosity, the angle of repose, static coefficient of friction and rupture energy were found to be increasing linearly for seed and kernel. Whereas bulk density, initial cracking force and mean rupture force decreased linearly with the increase of moisture content for both seed and kernel under study. Pre treatments in the form of steaming and addition of bio-based friction materials such as rice bran and wheat bran at different levels were employed. Central composite rotatable design was used to generate a set of experiment at different pretreatment levels during oil expression. A statistical model predicted the maximum oil yield efficiency, maximum protein, minimum fibre, minimum residual oil, minimum chlorogenic acid, minimum free fatty acid and minimum peroxide value of dehulled sunflower oil and press cakes at these optimized variable conditions for rice bran incorporation: steaming time of 10 min, steaming pressure of 0.5 kg cm-2 and rice bran incorporation of 13.88g 100g-1 of dehulled sunflower seed. For wheat bran incorporation it was at steaming time of 15 min, steaming pressure of 1.00 kg cm-2 and wheat bran incorporation of 15g 100g-1 of dehulled sunflower seed. Using these variables results are validated under experimental condition in three independent replicates. Rice bran incorporated oil expression gave best results with high desirability value.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ThesisItemRestricted
    Studies on effect of blade shape and rotor speed of rotavator on pulverization and mixing quality
    (PAU Ludhiana, 2013) Shiva Bhambota; G S, Manes
    A study was conducted at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana to evaluate the performance of commercially available rotavator blade shapes to find out the best combination of blade shape and rotary speed of rotavator for tillage and mixing operations. Experiments were conducted on three blade shapes (L, C and J) at three rotor speeds (180, 215 and 250 rpm) in two types of soils S1 (sand 75.5%, silt 12.4% and clay 12.1 %) and S2 (sand 24.2%, silt 34.8% and clay 41%) to study the effect of blade shape and rotor speed on pulverization index, mixing index, percent reduction in bulk density and fuel consumption. These treatment combinations were compared with control (Pulverization with single pass of disc harrow followed by single pass of cultivator). For measuring pulverization index, soil samples were taken after single pass of rotavator. Standard sieve analysis method was used to find the mean mass diameter (MMD) of sample soil particles for mixing of crop mass after the operation of rotavator, the pieces of the crop which were exposed to 1/3rd of their length or more were collected and weighed to find mixing index. Percent reduction in bulk density before and after treatment by rotavator was calculated using core sampler method for pulverization and mixing operation. For measuring the fuel consumption; fuel flow meter was installed in the fuel line of the tractor. The results for each dependent parameter (pulverization index, mixing index, percent reduction in bulk density and fuel consumption) were analyzed on the basis of Completely Randomized Design (CRD) test using software “CPCS 1”. J shape blades gave minimum pulverization index (3.06 and 8.57 mm) and maximum mixing index (80.72 and 91.43 %) at 250 rpm rotor speed as compared to L and C shaped blades and control for both soils S1 and S2 respectively. The average fuel consumption was maximum for J shape blades followed by L and C shape blades respectively for both pulverization and mixing in both soil types. C shape blades have minimum fuel consumption as compared to other two blade shapes for both types of soil for pulverization and mixing operation respectively. So, J shape blade at 250 rpm rotor speed can be considered as the best combination for pulverization and mixing.