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Subject: Farm, Machinery and Power × Start date: 2022 × Type: Thesis ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Assessment and optimization of energy requirement in major crops of Uttarakhand
    (G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, 2022-12) Akanksha; Singh, T. P.
    The energy use pattern for wheat, sugarcane and major crop cultivation in Tarai region and maize cultivation in hilly region of Uttarakhand have been studied.Survey was carried under AICRP on EAAI utilising the performa designed for the purpose and data were acquired from specific farmers. The selected farmers were divided into different category according to their land holding. All categories of farmer use different energy sources in different unit operations according to their farm power availability. The calculation of used energy in performing all unit operations were done for different categories farmers. A total of 23933.47 MJ/ha of energy was found to be used in the cultivation of wheat crops by all categories of farmers. Fertilizer application accounted for the largest portion of the total input energy used 12149.32 MJ/ha (50.76%). The second highest overall energy contributor was irrigation, which is 4029.77 MJ/ha (16.84%), sowing operation involves 2916.54 MJ/ha (12.19%) of the total input energy used followed by 2100.01 MJ/ha (08.77%) of tillage. Harvesting and threshing operation involves 1847.77 MJ/ha (07.72%) and plant protection share 890.07 MJ/ha (03.72%) in total input energy.Average crop yield obtained by large, medium, semi-medium, small and marginal category farmer was 5494.86, 5350.88, 5126.81, 5126.40 and 4800.69 kg/ha respectively using the input energy of 25248.00, 24600.86, 23858.33, 23832.27 and 23504.98 MJ/ha respectively.The energy ratio for large, medium, semi-medium, small and marginal category was found as 6.68, 6.67, 6.42, 6.48 and 6.64 respectively. In Tarai region of Uttarakhand, for all categories of farmer growing wheat cropthe energy ratio was obtained as 6.55 with energy productivity of 0.21 kg/MJ. The average farm power availability was found 2.68 kW/ha.The total energy used in the production of sugarcane crop including all unit processes was determined to be 169.644 GJ/ha. The sowing operation accounted for the largest portion of the total energy use 142.041 GJ/ha (83.73%) to cultivate sugarcane crop. It was observed that the sugarcane cultivation required highest seed energy because of high seed rate used by farmers in the region. Total input energy for sugarcane accounts fertilizer energy 21721.94 MJ/ha (12.80%), tillage energy 2872.19 MJ/ha (1.69%) followed by irrigation energy 1002.15 MJ/ha (0.59%).Medium category farmer used input energy of 173.683 GJ/ha and obtained output energy of 1127.913 GJ/ha. Similarly, total input energy used by semi-medium, small and marginal category farmers was 171.234, 166.356, 162.407 GJ/ha respectively. The output energy obtained by semi-medium, small and marginal category farmers against the used input energy was 1029.819, 916.994 and 821.913 GJ/ha respectively. The overall energy ratio, of all categories of farmers in Tarai region of Uttarakhand,wasfound as 5.74 with energy productivity was 0.36 kg/MJ.According to the study the average farm power availability for sugarcane crop cultivation in Uttarakhand's Tarai region is 2.48 kW/ha. Total of 2903.97 MJ/ha of input energy was used by the marginal farmers to cultivate maize crops in hilly region of Uttarakhand. Fertiliser contributed the most at 1346.55 MJ/ha (46.37%) and machinery contributed the least 22.26 MJ/ha (0.77%). The second largest energy input contributor for the cultivation of maize was seed, which contributed 844.25 MJ/ha (29.07%) of energy. The output of maize is influenced by animal energy to the tune of 452.68 MJ/ha (15.59%). The amount of energy needed to cultivate maize is 238.23 MJ/ha (8.23%) which comes from human as source of energy.Average maize crop yield obtained by marginal category farmer was 1174.39 kg/ha using input energy of 2903.37 MJ/ha. Output energy obtained by marginal category farmers is 38179.36 MJ/ha against the used input energy in maize crop cultivation. Energy ratio obtained was 13.14 which indicated that with the consumption of lower amount of energy the yield and output energy obtained was high. Farm poweravailability in hilly area was observed as 0.42 kW/ha which is quite low mainly due to use of animal power as source and also due to least or no intervention of improved implement/machinery for performing unit operations.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Development of a silpaulin material tubular biogas plant and studies on defoaming characteristics of different defoamers for mitigation of foaming
    (G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, 2022-10) Arya, Deepika; Arun Kumar
    Biogas technology can sufficiently meet the energy needs of rural communities and also help to mitigate the negative impacts of careless biomass resource burning.Currently, the total biogas production in India is 2.07 billion m3/year. This is quite low as compared to its potential, which is estimated to be around 29–48 billion m3/year.There are several biogas plant designs that can produce both biogas along with fertilizer as a byproduct. Biogas production in mountainous areas is insufficient and it is expensive to build and install biogas plants.For the best performance of a biogas plant, its design, operation efficiency, and economic viability are crucial variables that can be altered to enhance small-scale residential biogas plant adaption in rural regions. Therefore, a small Tubular type biogas plant (0.5m3) was designed and installed to check the operation efficiency and economic feasibility and compared with the Prefabricated balloon type and the Pant RCC biogas plant. Different parameters affecting the biogas production such as Total Solids, Volatile Solids, pH and Total alkalinity were measured on the weekly basis and biogas produced and its pressure were measured daily. The study shows that the daily biogas production per cubic meter for Tubular type was equivalent to balloon type biogas plant during psychrophilic temperature conditions. However, the highest biogas production was recorded in the Pant RCC biogas plant during psychrophilic and mesophilic temperature conditions with maximum pressure throughout the year. The cost of installation of Tubular type biogas plant lowest as compared with Pant RCC and Balloon type biogas plant. The highest methane content was 61.21% for Pant RCC followed by 53.6 % for Tubular type, 51.78% for Balloon type and biogas plant. Thus,Tubular type flexible designs can be suggested for rural hilly areas. Foaming is one of the major problems that occasionally occur in biogas plants, affecting negatively the overall digestion process and resulting in adverse operational, economic and environmental impacts.The foam can be categorized as stable and unstable, of which stable foam defines the foaming potential. The foaming potential of Tubular type, Balloon type and Pant RCC was determined and found for both psychrophilic and mesophilic temperature conditions as the temperature is one of the factors causing foam. The highest stable and unstable foam ratio was found to be 0.14 and 0.28 for the Tubular type,0.18 and 0.25 for balloon type, and 0.26 and 0.28 for Pant RCC biogas plantduring psychrophilic temperature range. The highest stable and unstable foam ratio was found to be 0.19 and 0.51 for Tubular type, 0.26 and 0.59 for balloon type, and 0.39 and 1.20 for Pant RCC biogas plant during mesophilic temperature range. The maximum stable foam ratio was found in Pant RCC biogas plant which implied that Pant RCC biogas plant has a problematic foaming situation. After foaming problem was identified, a batch experiment was conducted in order to evaluate the foam-reduction efficiency and to investigate the influence on process performance of sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, calcium carbonate and urea in batch reactors. The four defoamers was tested for three different concentrations with three replications and were 0.1%v/v, 0.2%v/v and 0.5%v/v.The foam reduction of 20% was achieved with 0.1%v/v sodium bicarbonate, 40% with 0.1%v/v for sodium carbonate, 16% with 0.5%v/v calcium bicarbonate and 44% with 0.5%v/v urea with a maximum biogas production of 23 liters.Thus, urea was found to have best potential to be used as a defoamer which does not affect the biomethanation process negatively.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Study of a Paddy residue management machine
    (G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, District Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand. PIN - 263145, 2022-10) P. Sivasailaja; Pateriya, R.N.
    Rice (Oryza sativa) is the major widespread crop grown in India. Rice straw is produced as a byproduct of paddy production during harvest. Paddy residue management is important in rice-wheat cropping system. Paddy residue handling in combine harvested fields for wheat sowing is carried out to a great degree by rigorous tillage operations. But due to the deficiency of economically practicable alternatives for paddy-straw utilization, a large portion of paddy residue is burnt on farm primarily to clear the field for sowing of the succeeding crop. So, a paddy residue management machine was developed to cut, chop and incorporate the paddy residues within the field in a single run. But the developed machine consumed more than 56 kW of power for its operation and weighs 1050 kg. So, this study was conducted to reduce the power consumption and weight of the machine. SolidWorks 2020 software was used for virtual designing and modelling three dimensional models, while SolidWorks motion simulation and Static simulation module, as an integral part of the SoildWorks software were used for Motion analysis and Finite Element Analysis. The power consumption and weight of paddy residue management machine were reduced for the same size were 39 kW and 875 kg. The cost of operation was calculated as 2863 Rs/ha. The Break-even point (BEP), Payback period and Benefit-Cost (B:C) ratio were 12.38 ha, 0.55 years and 1.75 respectively.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Design modification of a portable cold storage
    (G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2022-04) Saxena, Anshu; Pateriya, R.N.
    A solar powered portable cold storage was modified and developed for the storage of fruits and vegetables to increase their shelf-life. It was generally designed and developed in order to reduce post-harvest losses and ensure better returns for small and marginal farmer. The developed solar powered cold-storage is cost effective, simple and energy efficient unit. The installation, operation and maintenance cost of the cold-storage were also less in comparison with the existing storage facilities. It comprised of a solar AC, solar panels, compressor, cold storage structure, water tank, portable trolley, honeycomb pads and sensors. The cold storage structure was made up of Nova pan which were mounted on aluminium frame with sliding doors, the dimension of cold store was (2.431.982.43 meter) with the capacity of around 1.5-2.0 tonnes. The cold storage was fitted over movable trolley which makes it portable. The water tank was made up of an MS sheet of 1.21×2.43 meter size. The cold-storage was integrated with temperature and humidity sensor operated by the raspberry pi for remote monitoring of data. It was tested for its performance during early winter season. The minimum and maximum drop in temperature ranged between 12.5 C and 15°C, the increase in relative humidity was observed between 85% to 95% inside the cold-storage in the month of November. It was observed that there was considerable effect on physiological loss in firmness of different vegetables kept outside the portable cold-storage. The freshness and shelf-life of vegetables was increased substantially after storage in the portable cold-storage. The total cost of designed 1.5-2.0 tonnes capacity cold storage was around Rs.1,53,500/- including installation charges.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Design modification of a portable cold storage
    (G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2022-04) Saxena, Anshu; Pateriya, R.N
    A solar powered portable cold storage was modified and developed for the storage of fruits and vegetables to increase their shelf-life. It was generally designed and developed in order to reduce post-harvest losses and ensure better returns for small and marginal farmer. The developed solar powered cold-storage is cost effective, simple and energy efficient unit. The installation, operation and maintenance cost of the cold-storage were also less in comparison with the existing storage facilities. It comprised of a solar AC, solar panels, compressor, cold storage structure, water tank, portable trolley, honeycomb pads and sensors. The cold storage structure was made up of Nova pan which were mounted on aluminium frame with sliding doors, the dimension of cold store was (2.431.982.43 meter) with the capacity of around 1.5-2.0 tonnes. The cold storage was fitted over movable trolley which makes it portable. The water tank was made up of an MS sheet of 1.21×2.43 meter size. The cold-storage was integrated with temperature and humidity sensor operated by the raspberry pi for remote monitoring of data. It was tested for its performance during early winter season. The minimum and maximum drop in temperature ranged between 12.5 C and 15°C, the increase in relative humidity was observed between 85% to 95% inside the cold-storage in the month of November. It was observed that there was considerable effect on physiological loss in firmness of different vegetables kept outside the portable cold-storage. The freshness and shelf-life of vegetables was increased substantially after storage in the portable cold-storage. The total cost of designed 1.5-2.0 tonnes capacity cold storage was around Rs.1,53,500/- including installation charges.