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Open Access
Design, development and performance evaluation of a family size biogas plant using alternate construction material
(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2018-08) Dey, Deeksha; Singh, R.P.
Anaerobic digesters are assets for economic and clean biogas energy along with management of biodegradable waste like local biomass, agricultural waste etc. Biogas production in agriculture sector is a very fast growing market in developing countries and finds increased interest in many parts of the world. In India, net biogas production per year is about 2.07 billion m3. Different designs of biogas plants are available to provide biogas and fertilizer as residue. Beside, in hilly regions, inadequate production of biogas is experienced at a high cost of construction and installation. Thus, for optimum performance of biogas plant; design, operation efficiency and economic feasibility are vital factors to increase adaptation of small size domestic biogas plant in rural areas. Therefore, a family size biogas plant of capacity 0.5 m3 was designed at low cost of construction and ease of installation and operation. Also, its comparative analysis with conventional biogas plant like Pant RCC, Pant Tarai and prefabricated HDPE biogas plant was performed. All above biogas plants (fixed dome, floating drum and flexible type) were evaluated in three levels of temperature i.e. low, moderate and high. The study shows that daily biogas production per meter cube digester volume was higher in designed seamless HDPE sheet biogas plant as compared to Pant Tarai throughout the experiment. Also, daily biogas production per kg total solids for the designed seamless HDPE sheet biogas plant was comparable in mesophilic temperature range to other biogas plants. However, daily biogas production per kg volatile solids was higher for prefabricated HDPE biogas plant in mesophilic range with respect to other biogas plants. Methane content in biogas was highest of 68.86% in Pant RCC during mesophilic temperature. Further, cost analysis showed that lowest construction and installation cost of biogas plant as compared to Pant RCC, Pant Tarai, Deenbandhu, KVIC, prefabricated HDPE biogas plant was for the designed seamless HDPE biogas plant, both in planes as well as for hilly regions. Thus, flexible designs could be suggested for rural areas.
Open Access
Optimization of process parameters for conversion of pine needles to bio-oil, biochar and product gas through batch and continuous pyrolysis
(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2018-04) Mandal, Sandip; Bhattacharya, T.K.
Experiments were conducted to convert pine needles into bio-oil, biochar and product gas through pyrolysis as an alternate way to use pine needles to reduce forest fire. Batch pyrolysis of pine needles was carried out in a stainless steel tubular reactor using CO2 as sweep gas. Process parameters such as pyrolysis temperature, gas flow rate, vapour cooling temperature, heating rate, holding time were optimized by employing central composite design (CCD) in Response Surface Methodology (RSM) for the batch process. Continuous pyrolysis experiments were conducted in a screw reactor using N2 as sweep gas. Process parameters were optimized by Taguchi’s L9 Orthogonal Array. A batch type biochar production unit was also designed and developed to convert pine needles to biochar in bulk. Chemical characterization of bio-oil was conducted using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and gas chromatographic/mass spectroscopy (GC/MS). Fuel properties of bio-oil and biochar were determined using ASTM standard methods. Product gas composition was determined using gas chromatography. Bio-oil was produced from pine needles with a recovery rate of 26.7 wt.% in batch pyrolysis experiment and 28.98% in screw pyrolysis. The adaptation of response surface methodology indicated the optimum conditions for maximum bio-oil yield at pyrolysis temperature of 547C, 1.85 l min−1 gas flow rate, 15C vapour cooling temperature and 50C min−1 heating rate. The optimum conditions in screw pyrolysis experiments were pyrolysis temperature of 500C, particle size of 1.25 – 2.0 mm, residence time of 15 min and N2 gas flow rate of 30 l h–1. Bio-oil produced at optimum condition had a high heating value of 28.52 MJ kg−1 and had less oxygen content than parent material. The GC/MS analysis showed presence of about 50% phenolic compounds and many other valuable compounds. Conversion efficiency of the biochar production unit with pine needle as substrate was found to be 28.88% at 80% loading, 12% moisture and air flow rate of 40 m3 h1. Bio-char had a higher pH value and high heating value with suitability for both acid soil ameliorant and solid bio-fuel. The average composition of product gas was 6.8% H2, 65.7% N2, 3.9% CH4, 10.46% CO, 12.1% CO2 and 1.06% C2H4 with a high heating value of 4.16 MJ Nm3. The quantitative results of energy analysis indicated that the all three processes could be used to produce bio-oil, biochar and product gases to recover energy from pine needles. Among three processes, screw pyrolysis process was most energy efficient.
Open Access
Optimization of design parameters of a pedal operated winnowing fan
(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2018-08) Joshi, Swati; Singh, T.P.
A pedal operated winnowing fan was developed and fabricated in the research workshop of the department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering of G. B. Pant University especiallyfor use in hilly regions. Farmers in hilly region use conventional methods of the winnowing utilizing natural wind velocity. Available manually hand operated winnowers are heavyand the operator has to work with his one hand resulting into more effort on the arm. The present study was under taken to solve these problems. The developed winnowing fan is pedal operated where aperson can exerts more physical power for longer durations. The fan blade for this winnower is one of its vital components and was selected based on laboratory studies. During laboratory trial five sizes of fan blades having lengths of 40, 48, 60, 72, 80 cm and blade angles 10, 12, 16, 20, 22 degree, were tested at 150, 200, 230, 275, 320 and 350 rpm. The generated air velocity at the mentioned speeds was measured at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 m positions in horizontal plane and vertical plane at 0.6 m below, 0.3 m below, at fan rotational axis, 0.3 m above and 0.6 m above with reference to position of fan centre. The results were optimized using Design Expert RSM CCD technique. Based on the optimized result obtained from the software, blade with length 48 cm, blade angle 20 degree and fan speed of 320 rpm was found most suitable for winnowing operation. In the developed prototype, physical effort using foot was transmitted to fan blades, through a pedal and connecting rod to aspur gear with 80 teeth. The spur gear further transmitted the power to smaller size of spur gear having 20 number of teeth, increasing the speed at smaller gear with 4 times. With this arrangement of speed of the winnowing fan could be achieved in the range of 320 to 360 rpm. The developed winnowing fan with three blades was tested for cleaning of wheat grain at three feed rates. The cleaning efficiency was found in the range of 68.9% to 81% while winnowing in front of the winnowing fan at a distance of 1 m.
Open Access
Design and development of aspirator blower for spice thresher and performance evaluation of the developed thresher on fenugreek crop
(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2018-08) Pandey, Garima; Arun Kumar
A thresher is an agricultural machine which separates the seeds and the husk. The power operated threshers are almost a boon to the farmers as the time required for threshing is particularly less when compared with the traditional techniques like animal and human treading, beating on wooden block etc. Everywhere throughout the world, the quickly developing food industry depends to a great extent on spices for taste and flavor creators. India is the largest producer of fenugreek. During 2015-16, its production was 299 million tonnes of seeds out of an area of 211 hectares. Even after lots of development there is no thresher particularly for spices. The design factors and performance parameters of existing thresher were studied and lower concave, sieve and blower assembly were developed according to the physical properties of fenugreek seeds to attain a thresher with higher cleaning efficiency. The cleaning unit of spice thresher was designed and developed and other modifications were done at the Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, GBPUA&T, Pantnagar. The physical properties of fenugreek seed were important factor in deciding the design parameters of thresher and were determined with two levels of moisture contents, varying from 5.16% to 8.33% (w.b.). The length, width and thickness of fenugreek seeds were 3.26 mm, 2.01 mm, 1.53 mm, respectively at 5.16 % moisture content and 4.16 mm, 2.81 mm, 2.33 mm, respectively at 8.33% moisture content. The arithmetic mean diameter increased from 2.26 to 3.06 mm and geometric mean diameter from 2.15 to 2.98 mm as the moisture content increased from 5.16 % to 8.33 %. The surface area and volume were 14.54 mm2 and 3.61 mm3 at 5.16 % moisture content and 27.90 mm2 and 10.19 mm3 at 8.33 % moisture content. The sphericity of fenugreek seeds was 0.66 and 0.74 at 5.16 % and 8.33 % moisture content level, respectively. One thousand seed weight increased linearly from 9.67 g to 12.13 g. the bulk density and true density decreased non- linearly from 0.769 g/cm3 to 0.745 g/ cm3 and 1.316 g/cm3 to 1.294 g/cm3, with increase in moisture content from 5.16 % to 8.33 %. Also, the value of porosity for the seeds increased from 41.60 % to 42.42 %. The static coefficient of friction increased nonlinearly from 0.36 to 0.51 with increase in moisture content. Perimeter and angle of repose increased linearly from 8.95 mm to 10.05 and 38.28􀀀 to 41.16􀀀, respectively with increase in moisture content. The performance parameters of thresher in terms of sieve loss, cylinder loss, visible seed damage, threshing efficiency, cleaning efficiency, output capacity and power consumption were evaluated for different combinations of four cylinder peripheral speeds (6.27 m/s, 7.5 m/s, 9 m/s and 12.10 m/s) and four concave clearances (8mm, 14mm, 20 mm, 26 mm). The mean values of sieve loss and cylinder loss was 0.13 % and 1.27 %, respectively for different treatments. The visible seed damage was negligible and threshing efficiency was 99.9 % for all combinations of cylinder peripheral speeds and concave clearances. The cleaning efficiency was increased with increase in cylinder peripheral speed and decrease in concave clearance with 95.69 % maximum value at 9 m/s speed and 14 mm concave clearance, when fan having forward inclined blades was used as the blower. After attaching aspirator blower and providing the speed of 9 m/s to threshing cylinder with 14 mm concave clearance, for the samples received during threshing when fan blower was used, the cleaning efficiency increased significantly and the average value was 98.57 % for all the samples. The maximum output capacity was 48.26 kg/h for 12.10 m/s threshing cylinder speed and 8 mm concave- clearance. Maximum power consumption was 1.059 kW for 12.10 m/s speed and 8 mm concave- clearance. The best results were found at 9 m/s peripheral speed and 14 mm concave- clearance with 99.9 % and 98.88 % threshing and cleaning efficiency, respectively and minimum total losses.
Open Access
Comparative performance of seed metering mechanisms for finger millet and barnyard millet
(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2018-08) Kadvekar, Supriya; Singh, T.P.
Sowing is the pivotal operation in cultivation of any crop. Sowing of finger millet and barnyard millet is performed by broadcasting in the hills of Uttarakhand. The recommended seed rate requirement for finger millet and barnyard millet varies from 8- 10 kg/ha which contains about 4 million seeds. To obtain higher yields an optimum 4-5 lakh plant population is required. Therefore, after sowing thinning operation is followed to maintain a plant spacing of 7.5–10 cm. As finger millet and barnyard millet are small seeded crops, the seeds need to be placed precisely and thus it requires an appropriate seed metering mechanism in order to minimize the seed rate requirement. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the performance of the existing as well as designed seed metering mechanisms for metering the finger millet and barnyard millet seeds. Four types of seed metering mechanism namely inclined plate type (existing), inclined plate type (developed), cup feed type and sponge pad and disc type were selected and tested in the laboratory using sticky belt method in order to determine the uniformity in metering of finger millet and barnyard millet seeds. The performance of seed metering mechanisms was evaluated at five levels of forward speed i.e. 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 km/h. Based on seed to seed spacing and number of seeds dropped performance indicators such as mean seed spacing, multiple index, quality of feed index, miss index, precision, seed rate were calculated. Also, number of visibly damaged seeds were counted and percentage of seed damage was determined. Coefficient of uniformity based on seeds to seed spacing and based on number of seeds dropped was calculated. The results were statistically analysed using two factorial ANOVA with completely randomized design. From the results, inclined plate type (developed) seed metering mechanism was found most suitable for barnyard millet seeds and with higher quality of feed index than other seed metering mechanisms with value ranging from 80.4- 88.4 percent at different levels of forward speed. The seed damage was found to be within the permissible limit. Inclined plate type (developed) seed metering mechanism gave better performance at 3 km/h forward speed for finger millet and 4 km/h for barnyard millet. The cup feed type seed metering mechanism gave better performance for sowing of both the seeds. Quality of feed index was found to be in the range of 60.2-71.0 and 71.5-83.3 percent at different levels of forward speed for finger millet and barnyard millet respectively. The performance of cup feed type seed metering was found to be better at 2 and 3 km/h forward speed for finger millet and barnyard millet respectively. Seed damage was not observed with cup feed type seed metering mechanism.
Open Access
Studies on compatibility of pine needle biooil as a ci engine fuel
(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2018-07) Bhunia, Snehasish; Bhattacharya, T.K.
The world is presently facing the twin crisis of fossil fuel and environmental degradation. Development of alternative fuel has most necessity for betterment of economy of country and saving the environment. In Indian Himalayas region, the availability of pine needle (Pinus roxburghii) is about 15.9 MMT/yr whereas the availability in Uttarakhand alone is about 2.058 MMT/yr. The study was conducted to access the formulation of microemulsions from pine needles bio-oil for energy use and evaluate the performance of a CI engine on formulated microemulsions. The bio-oil was prepared by using a slow pyrolysis process. The condensate collected from the slow pyrolysis process contained moisture and sediments along with organic phase, which was the biooil. Moisture and sediments were removed from bio-oil by treating it with DCM and then filtering and distillation process respectively. Forty microemulsions were prepared using 5 to 25 % of pine needle bio-oil, 2 to 16 % n-butanol and the rest made up with HSD. The fuel properties such as relative density, kinematic and dynamic viscosity, flash and fire point, cloud and pour point, gross heat of combustion, ash content, carbon residue and corrosion level in copper strip of diesel, n-butanol, distilled pine needle bio-oil and the selected microemulsions were determined. A Kirloskar make, constant speed, C.I. engine developing 3.73 kW rated power at 1500 rpm was tested the performance on reference fuel HSD and selected stable microemulsions. The condensate from pyrolysis contained 46 % of moisture and 54 % of bio-oil. The average recovery of the bio-oil from pine needle was 24.8 %. The bio-oil was found to contain 1.84 and 10.34 % of coarse and fine sediments respectively. Formulation of microemulsions from pine needle bio-oil with HSD leads to improve of some properties viz. viscosity, carbon residue, ash content, copper strip corrosion level etc. The brake specific fuel consumption by the engine on HSD was calculated as 0.274 kg kW1 h1 at 100 % load. The same was found to be 5.47, 15.69, 22.26, 33.57 and 49.64 % higher than HSD in case of microemulsions replacing 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 % HSD respectively. Brake thermal efficiency of the engine on HSD was calculated as 28.91 % at maximum load. For the microemulsions replacing 15 to 35 % HSD, the brake thermal efficiency was found to be 0.05, 8.09, 11.79, 18.30 and 26.05 % lower than HSD respectively. Based on the fuel properties and engine performance test results it was evident that microemulsion P5B10D85 (5 % bio-oil, 10 % n-butanol and 85 % HSD), microemulsion P10B10D80 (10 % bio-oil, 10 % n-butanol and 80 % HSD) and microemulsion P15B10D75 (15 % bio-oil, 10 % n-butanol and 75 % HSD) may be recommended for use in CI engine without any engine modification. The above microemulsions replace 15, 20 and 25 % of HSD.
Open Access
Studies on performance evaluation of vertical rotary plough
(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2018-08) Chandrashekar; Singh, Jayant
The undulating and sloppy geography, small size fields with uneven topography, lack of skilled labour, poor repair and maintenance facilities, low purchasing capacity of farming community and non-availability of improved farm implements and machines are some of the main reasons for low level of mechanization in the hilly region of the state. By keeping in mind the problems faced by the farmers in hilly areas and to promote farm mechanization a new type of rotary plough cum weeder is designed. The designed rotary plough has 4 straight knife edge blades which were attached on circular mounting plate with the help of nuts and bolts. Power from main engine shaft is transmitted to the rotary blades by using bevel (Pinion: 10 teeth and 4 cm diameter, Crown: 40 teeth and 16 cm diameter) and spur gear transmission system. The effect of forward speeds, rotor speed and soil moisture content on actual field capacity, field efficiency, fuel consumption, energy required per unit area and total cost operation were studied. Two soil moisture content (12.5 ± 0.5 and 14.5 ± 0.5 %), three forward speeds (1.5, 1.75 and 2 km h−1) and three rotor speed (350, 450 and 550 rpm) have been chosen. The results showed that, the maximum actual field capacity of vertical rotary plough 0.097 ha h−1 was obtained when the rotor speed was 350 rpm, with the forward speed 2 km h−1 and the soil moisture content of at 14.5 ± 0.5 %. The highest field efficiency of vertical rotary plough was 88.09 % when the soil moisture content was 14.5 ± 0.5 % with a rotor speed 350 rpm and 2 km h−1 forward speed. The minimum fuel consumption of vertical rotary plough was 0.84 l h−1 when the rotary plough operated at 350 rpm of rotor speed with 1.5 km h−1 forward speed of operation and soil moisture content was 14.5 ± 0.5 %. The maximum energy per unit area of vertical rotary plough 1298.71 MJ ha−1 was obtained when the machine is operated at 2 km h−1 forward speed, 12.5 ± 0.5 % soil moisture content with 550 rpm of rotor speed. The minimum operation cost per unit area of vertical rotary plough ₹ 1504.22 ha−1 was obtained when the soil moisture content 14.5 ± 0.5 % at 1.5 km h−1 forward speed and 350 rpm of rotor speed. The maximum weeding efficiency of vertical rotary weeder was 84.44 % with a rotor speed 550 rpm and 2 km h−1 forward speed.
Open Access
Studies on compatibility of tyre pyrolysis oil as fuel for diesel engine
(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2017-08) Wankhade, Ratnakiran Dnyandeo; Bhattacharya, T.K.
The development of alternative renewable liquid fuel has become nowadays necessity for better economy of the country and saving the environment from further deterioration. The pressure of increasing fuel prices, deteriorating global supplies of crude oil demand an urgent need of finding alternative resources. The studies were conducted to assess the performance and combustion characteristic of a CI engine on formulated fuels. Eight different fuel blends were prepared by blending high speed diesel and ethanol with distilled refined tyre pyrolysis oil in 10, 20, 30, 40, and 5, 10, 15 and 20 % ratio, respectively. The distilled refined tyre pyrolysis oil was obtained by acid treatment with different levels of H2SO4 and distillation after the moisture removal. The fuel properties like relative density, kinetic viscosity, high heat value, ash content, carbon residue, flash point, fire point, pH and copper strip corrosion were studied at every stage of refining process like initial, acid treatment, distillation and blending and compared with high speed diesel to check its suitability as fuel in CI engine. The performance of multi cylinder CI engine in terms of brake mean effective pressure, brake power, brake specific fuel consumption, fuel consumption, air-fuel ratio, heat input, heat equivalent to brake power, heat carried away by water jacket, heat carried away by exhaust gas and heat un-accounted was compared on high speed diesel as well as selected fuel blend to assess their suitability as engine fuel. The observed results of the experiment indicate that the raw tyre pyrolysis oil contain 10 to 14% moisture. Also there was improvement in the fuel properties by acid treatment but high concentration of acid resulted in low pH of the sample. Hence, acid concentration up to 6% level was most effective. It was also observed that after distillation there was also improvement in the fuel properties because of removal of suspended contaminants. It was also observed that there was positive effect of blending the distilled refined tyre pyrolysis oil with high speed diesel and ethanol which shows the non-significant differences in fuel properties. It was also clear from the performance of engine on high speed diesel blend with refined tyre pyrolysis oil that engine had similar power producing capacity from all blend compared to the diesel. The brake specific fuel consumption on blended fuels was higher than diesel. The air-fuel ratio of blends was found much lower than that of diesel at high load which indicate the poor combustion. Also, in case of ethanol engine developed same power on blends as well as diesel on all load conditions. The fuel consumption of engine increases with increase in anhydrous ethanol in blend. The air-fuel ratio was lower than diesel at all load condition. Hence, it required combustion booster as an additive and certain change in injection timing to allow more time for combustion of fuel.
Open Access
Studies on biomethanation of pine needles
(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2015-08) Dwivedi, Rajnish Kumar; Singh, Ravi Pratap
The energy requirement in rural sector of India is largely met through locally available biomass i.e. renewable source of energy such as burning of cattle dung cakes, crop residues, forest biomass such as leaves litter, twigs, fire wood etc. though, it has lower calorific value and produces unhealthy smokes. Uttarakhand is blessed with a dense natural forest with a variety of flora and fauna. Though it also have about 3.43 lakh ha of pine forest which produces about 20.58 lakh tonnes of dry pine needles (deciduous leaves of Pinus roxburghii) which is prone to wild forest fire if not judiciously managed. It can be used in gasifier for electricity generation, briquetting and biomethanation. Among which Biomethanation of biomass represents a better option for its efficient utilization and environmental protection. Anaerobic fermentation for production of biomethane is conventionally being performed at feed substrate -water ratio of 1:1 (by wt.).With this in view a study was initiated for biomethanation of reduced size and ground pine needles treated with NaOH, Lime, Urea, Trichodreama spp. and Psueudomonass spp. and their combinations from laboratory to field biogas plants. Studies were, therefor conducted to establish suitability of chopped pine needles in conventional cattle dung fed 0.5 m³ Pant Tarai and 2 m³ H.D.P.E floating drum biogas plant. The experiments reveal that 30 % of pine needle may be substituted for cattle dung without any adverse effect on process parameters such as pH, total alkalinity etc. Based upon the experimental results it was observed that a specific biogas yield of 0.630 m³/kg VS destroyed as compared to 0.634 m³/kg TS destroyed for conventional process during last fortnight of experiment. An increase in TS and VS reduction with 20.5 percent and 30.7 percent respectively was of observed for treated pine needles fed into biogas plant with average cumulative biogas yield of 27.6 m³/m³ dv till end of experiment. Further the reduction in C/N ratio and increase in N, P, K during course of digestion and feasibility to prepare handmade briquettes from outlet slurry can also promote its feasibility. Further studies on it conceded that it can save about 185 kg fire wood and 200 kg dry soil organic matter rich N, P, K if 50 % of digested slurry is utilized for briquettes and 50 % to replace FYM.

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