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ThesisItem Open Access Microwave-assisted catalytic pyrolysis of biomass for biofuel production(Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, OUAT, Bhubaneswar, 2021) Fodah, Ahmed Elsayed Mahmoud; Ghosal, Manoj Kumar; Behera, Debaraj; Sahoo, Gyanaranjan; Raul, Sanjay KumarIn this thesis, biofuels in the form of bio-oil and biochar have been produced by a reliable and novel catalytic pyrolysis of biomass through microwave heating (MAP). Corn is one of the important crops in India, Egypt, and in many countries in the world. This crop generates a huge quantity of corn stover (CS) every year, thus it can be considered as a sustainable resource of bioenergy. Hence, CS has been selected as a biomass feedstock in this investigation. In this study, different levels (500 W, 700 W, and 900 W) of microwave power, different additives/catalysts (sodium carbonate Na2CO3, silicon carbide SiC, and activated carbon AC) and different additive to biomass ratios (10%, 20%, and 30%) are investigated with the aims of enhancing the absorption of microwave into the feedstock, heating performance, maximizing the yields of the desirable pyrolytic products such as bio oil and biochar in this study, as well as improving their qualities neglecting the analysis of the other component i.e. syngas. To study the effects of different pyrolysis conditions under the present investigations, various physical and thermochemical properties of both bio-oil and biochar have been evaluated. In the first approach, models are developed and validated to predict the yields of bio-oil and biochar with their statistical significance. The models revealed that the P-values for bio oil and biochar were found to be less than 0.05 suggesting their statistical significance at 95% confidence interval (p<0.05) to describe the yields of bio-oil and biochar. This implies that the pyrolysis parameters, under the studied ranges, had a significant catalytic influence on the yield distributions of bio-oil and biochar during MAP of CS. The results obtained during the study revealed that an increase in the microwave power from 500 W to 900 W favored improving the heating rate by 19 ℃/min to 63 ℃/min and also increasing of maximum temperatures by 100 ℃ to 150 ℃. This improvement in the heating behavior resulted into the increase in the yield of the syngas notably but decrease in the yield of biochar, while the bio oil yield was not significantly affected. In addition, the properties of bio-oil were not changed much with raising the microwave power. In contrast, raising of microwave power favored improving the properties of biochar markedly. A microwave power of 700 W was preferred in producing a higher yield of bio-oil with its improved quality as well as a moderate yield and good quality of biochar. On the other hand, use of all additives has a significant effect on the heating profile and the distributions of the products from CS during the MAP process. However, an increase in the additives to biomass ratios from 10% to 30%, for all the additives, had no remarkable effect on the heating rates and the attainment of the maximum temperature. The results suggested that the additive to biomass ratio of 10 % is a better option to enhance the heating behavior and improve the quality of bio-oil and biochar produced from the MAP of CS. The results also revealed that use of Na2CO3 and AC favored increasing the bio-oil yield significantly due to their catalytic effects compared to the use of SiC additive and in non catalytic conditions. The maximum bio-oil yield of 45 wt.% was observed when the CS was pyrolyzed at 700 W microwave power and using AC. Low-quality bio-oil in terms of high-water content, viscosity and acidity, as well as low carbon content, calorific value and poor chemical composition were obtained when SiC and no additive were used. Whilst using Na2CO3 and AC enhanced the properties of bio-oil markedly. The bio-oils with the better physical properties obtained in this study, when pyrolyzed at 700 W and using AC as an additive were 37%, 5.3, 2.9 mPa.s, and 1 g/mL for water content, pH, viscosity and density respectively. Also, use of Na2CO3 and AC helped in producing bio-oils that have higher carbon and hydrogen contents with less oxygen and tiny or nitrogen and sulfur free contents as well as high calorific value (17 MJ/kg). AC catalyst had a significant impact on upgrading the bio-oils compared to non-catalytic bio-oil or other additives used in this study. The upgrading parameters were in terms of higher contents of phenols and hydrocarbons components in addition to a much lower concentration of acids, guaiacol and oxygen-containing components present in the bio-oil by the use of AC compared to the other catalytic or non-catalytic bio-oils. While assessing the properties of biochar, the use of AC catalyst helped in producing biochar with the cleanest pores that were almost free of carbon-like impurities and non distorted pores with a higher surface area of the pore (105.2 m2 /g). In addition, a low ash content, high carbon content and calorific value (32 MJ/kg) of the biochar were achieved when using AC catalyst compared with other catalysts used in the study. The net energy recovery was found to be of maximum value when the CS was pyrolyzed at 700 W and using AC catalyst. The energy and exergy efficiencies of pyrolysis system were found to be of higher values using AC catalyst compared with the use of SiC and Na2CO3 and non-catalytic conditions. The results suggested that the use of AC as an additive is effective in enhancing the bio-oil and biochar quality as well as improving the energy and exergy efficiency of the pyrolysis system. The recycling test of the catalysts used in the study revealed that the AC and SiC catalysts can be reused for further runs (5 times) by maintaining the catalytic activity, heating behavior and the yields of pyrolytic products, same as those achieved during their first run. Finally, the results revealed that the MAP system for treating the agro-residues can be economically and environmentally beneficial. The system could be a serviceable practice for mitigation of the emission of CO2, causing the effective utilization of agro-residues and increased sustenance of the environment. The findings from the present study would ultimately provide appropriate information for the researchers, policymakers, planners and entrepreneurs regarding the technical feasibility and economic viability of the practice for its acceptability among the users.ThesisItem Open Access Effect of various nanoparticle additives for biogas production(Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, OUAT, Bhubaneswar, 2021) Abdelwahab, Taha Abdelfattah Mohammed; Mohanty, Mahendra Kumar; Behera, D.; Sahoo, P. K.; Raul, S. K.; Dwibedi, S. K.In recent years, to satisfy an increasing requirement of dairy and meat production, conventional family-scale livestock farms have been increasingly converted to centralized ones. These farms generate a huge amount of manure that requires proper treatment. If this manure is not handled properly, it can cause series of problems like bad odors, soil and water pollution and direct greenhouse gas emissions, etc. Anaerobic digestion (AD) has been widely considered as one of the most effective technologies for cattle manure treatment, not only to reduce its environmental impacts but also can recycle energy and realize sustainable development. Nevertheless, up to date, cattle manure digestion is still restricted with a long start-up time and low CH4 generation rate. In this context, two sequential experiments using a lab-scale batch anaerobic system were carried out. The first experiment (Experiment A) measured the impact of nanoparticle (NP) addition (iron, nickel, and cobalt) on AD of cattle manure using three NP concentrations in three bio-digesters, and the second experiment (Experiment B) measured the impact of using nanoparticle mixtures of iron, nickel, and cobalt through testing of four different NP mixture combinations in triplicate bio-digesters, compared with triplicate cattle manure-only bio-digesters in both experiment. The primary goal of this study is to improve gas production, the performance of AD regarding process stability, as well as effluent quality. To understand the effectiveness of NPs, measurements of biogas, CH4, H2S, and CO2 production, pH, volatile fatty acids (VFAs), total alkalinity (TA), total solids (TS), volatile solids (VS), characterization of organic material, and chemical composition of effluent are evaluated and tested. Established prediction models have been studied from the experimental results for the estimation of the hydrolysis rate constant and biogas production with the NP additives. The results obtained from this work showed that, for Fe NP additives, the highest biogas production (p > 0.05) was attained with 15 mg/L of Fe NPs, and was 966.90 mL /g VS as comparison to cattle manure-only which production only 589.20 mL/g VS. The addition of 30 mg/L Fe NPs increased the specific CH4 production (p > 0.05) by 118.82% compared to cattle manure-only. Moreover, the rate of H2S production was also reduced (p > 0.05) by 81.8%, 93%, and 110.5% using the 15, 30, and 60 mg/L Fe NPs, respectively compared to cattle manure-only. Further investigations reported that the presence of 15 mg/L Fe NPs maintained pH 6.9, and improved total and volatile solids removal efficiencies by 25.6% and 10.5%, respectively; this concentration of Fe NPs produced the highest concentration of VFAs and was 4050 mg/L and increases sulfide content by 12%. Moreover, the increment of TA concentration was observed at the substrate treated with 30 mg/L of Fe NPs and was 4733 mg CaCo3/L. FTIR spectrum of effluent presented the addition of Fe NPs change the intensity and shift of peaks compared to cattle manure-only peak. The substrate treated with 30 mg/L Fe NPs had the lowest intensity of C-O band stretching of the carbohydrate compared to other treatments and consequently resulted in higher CH4 production through the enhancement of the methanogenesis communities to decompose the carbohydrate with the formation of VFAs. The stable effluents of AD system containing higher nutrient content (TN, 2.50- 2.59%, TP, 2.11-2.20%, TK, 1.06-1.15%) could potentially be used as NPK organic compound fertilizer. Besides, the First-order Kinetic model showed an increase up to 1.66-fold in the hydrolysis rate constant (K), in 30 mg/L Fe NPs compared to cattle manure-only. The highest biogas yield was achieved by 4 mg/L of Ni NPs (p 0.05) by 79.12% as compared with cattle manure-only. Furthermore, the cumulative H2S production of 3 mg/L Co NPs was reduced by 57.89% compared to cattle manure-only. These results indicated that Co NPs effectively mitigated the H2S emissions in all treated bio-digesters. The possible reason for the mitigation of H2S emission in this study is the precipitation of metal sulfide. Moreover, the use of 1 mg/L of Co NPs increased TA concentration by 13.96% as compared with cattle manure only. At the substrate treated with 1 mg/L Co NPs, an increase in TA concentration was observed. The TA concentration reflected the consumption of VFAs by methanogen bacteria and consequently enhanced CH4 production. Moreover, the total nutrient (NPK) content of all Co NPs concentrations was close to 5%, they can be used in combination with an artificial compound fertilizer. After dewatering, digestates were dried to obtain a high quality organic compound fertilizer. The addition of 1, 2, and 3 mg/L Co NPs enhanced the cattle manure hydrolysis rate (K) value by 72.22%, 144%, and 66.66% as compared to cattle manure-only. Regarding NP mixture additives, the highest CH4 yield was obtained with the use of NPs mixture of 30 mg/L of Fe, 2 mg/L of Ni, and 3 mg/L of Co, and was 329.7 mL/g VS, while the cattle manure-only yielded only 259.41 mL/g VS. Furthermore, CH4/CO2 ratio for abovementioned NPs mixture was 20.21% higher than that of cattle manure only. This result indicated that the NP mixtures might facilitate the CO2 reduction by hydrogenotrophic methanogens, leading to high CH4 yield. In addition, all NP mixtures improved the characterization of organic matter and the chemical composition of effluent. The NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) content of the digestates was 5.20%, 5.36%, 5.16%, and 5.32 for R1, R2, R3, and R4 NP mixtures, respectively. According to Indian Institute of Soil Science, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, the NPK concentration of bioorganic fertilizers should be higher than 5%. Thus, these digestates are effective and promising components of organic fertilizers. By both the kinetic models (modified Gompertz and Logistic Function models) that NPs mixtures with different combinations were decreased the lag phase (λ). Finally, the most effective concentration of NP additives on average CH4 generation rate for both experiments (A and B) were obtained with the use of 30 mg/L of Fe NPs, 2 mg/L of Ni NPs, 1 mg/L of Co NPs, and NPs mixture of 30 mg/L of Fe, 2 mg/L of Ni, and 1 mg/L of Co. Furthermore, the addition of NPs mixture of 30 mg/L of Fe, 2 mg/L of Ni, 1 mg/L of Co not only enhance the CH4 generation rate by 25.42%, 66.28, and 59.29% as compared with 30 mg/L Fe NPs, 2 mg/L Ni NPs, and 1 mg/L Co NPs, respectively, but also gained more profits from the commercial aspect of view (3.23 USD over the cattle manure-only). Therefore, NPs mixtures could be a sustainable and cost-effective way to boost CH4 from AD in cattle manure. The findings of this research can be used to better understand how nanotechnology can help increase biogas production and utilization, provide the base for the use of NPs in cattle manure AD, and the effect of NPs on the composition of effluent.ThesisItem Open Access Development and evaluation of a Power Tiller operated straw Chopper-Cum-Seeder(Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, 2021) Koumary, Nitin Kumar; Goel, Aswini Kumar; Behera, D.; Mahapatra, M.; Ray, S.Odisha is an agricultural state and paddy is the main crop grown in the state. Paddy straw output in Odisha is over 124.99 lakh tonnes per year. In Odisha, 4025 combine harvesters are in operation at present and it is projected that 10.959 lakh tonnes of straw is discharged annually from these combine harvesters. Due to the operation of combine harvesters and the discharge of crop residues in the field during kharif paddy harvesting, as well as a lack of irrigation facilities, roughly 12.2 lakh ha of land in the state remained fallow and unable to produce next crops such as pulses andoil seeds. Farmers used to burn the straw residues in the combine harvested field and as a result a significant quantity of nutrient is lost as well as pollute the environment. Humans and animals are both affected by these pollutants. Insects, microbes, and earthworms that are beneficial to farmers are also killed by fire. Suitable machines for chopping straw residues in the field can allow farmers to grow pulses in combine harvested fields. Though tractor operated straw choppers and happy seeders are available, these are very costly and their operating cost is high. As the number of power tillers inthe state are about 1.0 lakh which is much more than the number of tractors, it was decided to develop a power tiller powered straw chopper-cum-seeder that would be beneficial to farmers. The power tiller operated straw chopper cum seeder with inverted “Y” shaped serrated blades was fabricated in the Dept. of Farm Machinery and Power, CAET, OUAT, Bhubaneswar. The field evaluation of the developed power tiller operated straw chopper cum seeder was conducted in OUAT Main Research Farm during the year 2021. The performance of the straw chopper cum seeder with respect to actual field capacity, size of chopped straw, percentage of straw size reduction and fuel consumption were measured at 3 levels of forward speed (1.41,1.61 and 2.05 km/h), 9 levels of rotor speed (700, 850, 1000,1150, 1300, 1450, 1600, 1750 and 1900rpm) and at 3 levels of straw moisture content (17.1,20.6 and 22.4%). It was found that as the moisture content of straw increased, the chopping size increased but the fuel consumption and the percentage of straw size reduction decreased. Highest straw size reduction of 83.69 % and lowest straw chopped size of 96.2 mm was obtained at 17.1 % straw moisture content with a forward speed of 1.61 km/h at a rotor speed of 1450 rpm. The loweststraw size reduction of 79.72 % and larger chopped straw size of 119.6 mm was obtained at 22.4 % straw moisture content with a forward speed of 1.41 km/h and rotor speed of 700 rpm. From this study it is concluded that higher straw moisture content is not suitable for straw chopper as it results lower percentage of straw reduction and larger size of chopped straw. It was observed that the rotor speed of 1450 rpm at a forward speed of 1.61 km/h with 17.1 % straw moisture content is most suitable for the chopper cum seeder. The cost of operation of the straw chopper cum seeder was found to be Rs 353/h and Rs 3153/haThesisItem Open Access Development and evaluation of a two row root wash type semi automatic rice Transplanter(Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, 2021) Inthiyaz, Mitaie; Mishra, Jayanarayan; Behera, D.; Swain, S.K.; Barik, P. K.Rice is the most common staple food in India. It is grown throughout the country. In India about 43.80 million hectares of area is under rice cultivation. Manual transplanting is a drudgerious and more time consuming operation that requires about 100-140 man-h/acre. Manual transplanting requires frequent bending downward straightening up of body posture that causes higher discomfort and fatigue. Shortage of labour at peak time and demanding high wages are the main factors leading to mechanical transplanting. Timeliness of rice transplanting is also more important to maximize the yield which can be achieved only through mechanical transplanting. Apart from saving time and cost of operation mechanical transplanting avoids human drudgery and can give uniform plant density. Most of the mechanical transplanters available in market are uses mat type seedlings for transplanting. In India about 85% of farmers belongs to marginal and small category. Land area also become a problem to use mechanical rice transplanters. And also, mat type nursery requires special materials and extra time and labour for raising seedlings. Hence, farmers need a semi mechanised rice transplanters which uses traditional root washed seedlings. By considering the above limitations, in CAET a manual rice transplanter has been fabricated and evaluated which uses conventional root washed seedlings. But this existing rice transplanter required further modification in order to avoid simultaneous operations of cranking and pulling. Based on this constraints development and evaluation of a two-row root wash type semi-automatic rice transplanter was made. It was observed that the required draft was found to be 5.1 kg-f. The missing hills, floating hills, buried hills and damaged hills for existing hand cranking type rice transplanter were found to be 1.67, 1.33, 1.33 and 1.67 per cent respectively. In case of developed semi-automatic rice transplanter and 1.33, 1.33, 1.33 and 0.67 per cent respectively. The actual field capacity, theoretical field capacity and field efficiency of the developed semi-automatic rice transplanter was found to be 0.02 ha/h, 0.026 ha/h and 71.4 per cent respectively. The mean value of working heart rate was 130.46 (± 3.06) bpm. The corresponding average Oxygen consumption rate (OCR) was 0.73 (± 0.092) l/ min. The mean work pulse (∆HR) was 34.53 (± 3.3) bpm. The total cost of developed semi-automatic rice transplanter was found to be ₹ 32000.ThesisItem Open Access Design, development and performance evaluation of a power operated coconut Dehusker(Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, 2021) R, Prajwal.; Pradhan, Padma Lochan; Behera, Debaraj; Sahoo, P. K.Coconuts are cultivated in more than 95 countries in the world. Coconut is made up of outer husk, middle shell and inner kernel. The husk of the coconut is removed for further use of mankind. Dehusking is the process of removal of outer part of coconut which is called husk. Dehusking can be done in many ways like traditional tools, improved tools, pedal operated, pneumatic operated, hydraulic operated and power operated. In traditional, improved tools and pedal operated one the drudgery is high and the chances of accidents are more. Pneumatic and hydraulic operated coconut dehusking machines are bulky, costly and cannot be afford by small and marginal farmers. Many power operated coconut dehuskers are there, but the developed power operated coconut dehusker in this research work is cheap, with less drudgery and can be afford by small and marginal farmers with moderate discomfort rate and considered as light work. In this study, physical properties of coconuts like length, breadth, thickness, thickness of husk, weight, moisture content, sphericity, roundness and dehusking force were studied and recorded. Based on these parameters a power operated coconut dehusker was designed and developed. The developed dehusker has the parts like dehusking blade, supporting stand, electric motor with gear reduction arrangement using pulleys and worm gears, crank wheel and connecting chain. The strokes at dehusking blade was 27 strokes per minute and this strokes/min were reduced from 1425 rpm at electric motor. The coconut is pierced at top of dehusking blade and the connecting chain drags the dehusking blades, so that removal of husk is done and finally by manually, husk is removed and nut is separated from husk. Performance evaluation is done by considering the total time of dehusking and found out the dehusking efficiency and output capacity of the dehusker. The dehusker can dehusk the coconut of random shape and size with different moisture content. The average dehusking time for developed power operated coconut dehusker was 13.34 seconds with dehusking efficiency and output capacity of 98.42 and 180-200 respectively. The developed power operated coconut dehusker was made comparative evaluation with manual method of coconut dehusking and found the total dehusking time per coconut was 34.95 seconds with dehusking efficiency and output capacity of 94.94 and 90-100 respectively. Ergonomical evaluation was made with different age group subjects and observed that the overall discomfort rate was moderate and the working is considered as light work as it consumes less oxygen during dehusking of coconut.ThesisItem Open Access Development and evalution of Pearl Millet thresher operated by Bullock power in rotary mode(Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, 2021) Panda, Swetali; Swain, Sangram KeshariMillets are a group of cereal crops comprising of pearl millet, sorghum, finger millet, little millet, foxtail millet, barnyard millet and proso millet which are extensively cultivated by resource poor small and marginal farmers. Generally, pearl millet crop is harvested manually and transported to threshing yard, where it is threshed either by beating the crop manually with sticks or by foot trampling method which is exceedingly labor-intensive, tedious, uneconomical, and un hygienic; however, it also results in a significant quantity of grain loss during the threshing process. It was proposed to develop one pearl millet thresher, operated by a pair of bullocks in rotary mode. Furthermore, in order to reduce the financial burden of maintaining a pair of bullocks, the annual utilization hours need be enhanced by using the bullocks for post-harvest and agro-processing operations with matching gadgets using a rotary gear system. A study on moisture-related physical, engineering, and aerodynamic properties of pearl millet was conducted. It was observed that with an increase in moisture content, the geometrical mean diameter, arithmetic mean diameter, square mean diameter, and equivalent mean diameter increased from 1.39 to 1.65 mm, 1.65 to 1.98 mm, 2.59 to 2.98 mm and 1.73 to 1.98 mm, respectively. The coefficient friction for glass, mild steel surface, GI sheet, and plywood increased linearly from 0.365 to 0.398, 0.402 to 0.414, 0.396 to 0.412, and 0.339 to 0.357, respectively with an increase in moisture content. The angle of repose, terminal velocity, aspect ratio, sphericity, surface area, volume, and 1000 grain weight were increased from 23.420 to 25.600, 4.42 to 4.62 ms-1 , 0.353 to 0.386%, 0.682 to 0.699%, 6.60 to 8.55 mm2 , 2.69 to 4.56 mm3 and 2.91 to 3.13 g, whereas bulk density, true density and porosity decreased from 608.68 to 611.78 kg m-3 , 967.53 to 968.93 kg m-3 and 0.398 to 0.354 % within the said moisture content range. The basic considerations for the development of a pearl millet thresher were taken into account and the conceptual model of the pearl millet thresher was developed using SOLIDWORKS 2019 software. The principle of threshing and pearling actions were impact and shear by a series of stud type and knife type threshing elements which were fitted alternatively on the surface of the threshing cylinder. A feed-in type pearl millet thresher having a threshing cylinder, an oscillating screen, a blower, and one aspirator was developed. The output of the machine was found to be 31.58 kg h-1 and was dependent significantly on the three independents parameters i.e. moisture content, concave clearance, and threshing cylinder speed. The threshing efficiency was found to be 95.05 percent and increased directly with an increase in cylinder speed but decreased with an increase in concave clearance and moisture content of the ear head. Similarly, the cleaning efficiency was found to be 97.65 percent whereas the cleaning efficiency decreased with an increase in concave clearance. Grain breakage was higher when the peripheral speed was higher, the concave clearance was smaller, and the moisture content was lower. The percentage of breakage was found to be 0.68%. The machine operational parameters, i.e., cylinder speed, concave clearance, and moisture content, were optimized to achieve optimum output capacity, threshing efficiency, cleaning efficiency, and grain damage. The Response Surface Method (RSM) was used in conjunction with the Box–Behnken Design tool to do the analysis. The optimum operational parameters were found to be cylinder speed of 720 rpm, concave clearance of 12mm and moisture content of 9.1%, which predict the maximum output capacity, threshing efficiency, cleaning efficiency, and broken grain ratio of 32.14 kgh-1 , 95.78%, 98.60%, and 0.812% respectively. The total operating cost of the machine operated in rotary mode was calculated as Rs 186.55 h-1 and the operating cost for threshing was calculated as Rs 5.82 kg-1 . When operated with the help of a single phase 1 hp electric motor, the total operating cost of the machine was calculated as Rs 98.71h-1 and Rs 3.08 kg-1 of pearl millet grain. In the conventional hand beating method, the cost of threshing was calculated to be Rs 12.49 kg-1 which is costlier as compared to the cost of threshing operation by the developed pearl millet thresher, operated either by bullock power in rotary mode or by 1.0 hp single phase electric motor. Considering the results of performance evaluation of the developed pearl millet thresher cum cleaner operated by bullock power in rotary mode with respect to the independent parameters and its economics of use, the developed pearl millet thresher cum cleaner is found suitable for the small and marginal millet growers of the state to accomplish threshing and winnowing operations simultaneously with reduction in labour, time, cost and drudgery of working.ThesisItem Open Access Performance and combustion studies of a tractor engine with waste cooking oil based biodiesel blends(Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, 2021) Giri, Biswa Ranjan; Sahoo, Pradeepta Kumar; Behera, D.; Mohanty, M.K.The first CI engine was operated with a vegetable oil in the 1890s when it became a revolution for the transportation sector of the world, but lately due to high viscosity of vegetable oil and frequent engine problems people started searching for alternative fuel which ended after the discovery of petroleum products which was light as compared to that of vegetable oil and seemed perfect until the crisis in the middle east during 1970s which caused disruption in the oil supply due to which the prices of fuel skyrocketed. After that again the search for alternative fuel started and now the advanced transesterified oil has drawn the interest of everyone. After that the focus of people has drifted to the environmental changes caused by the pollution emitted from the fossil fuel, rising oil prices and rapid depletion of petroleum has caused a serious concern over the future, so we have started exploring the development in the field of vegetable oil to make it suitable to use it in the CI engine. The transesterified vegetable oil was suitable to be used in a CI engine, but the only concern was price. So many options were explored to minimize the prices for the vegetable oil, using of transesterified waste cooking oil to make biodiesel is one of them. And also now a days the energy security is the affair which is given the prime importance by each and every country in the world, so we also want to be self-sufficient in our energy needs, for which we have started looking for the alternative renewable sources like wind energy, solar energy, hydro energy, bioenergy etc. but all most all the alternative sources have their limitation like for wind energy wind is not uniform everywhere for solar energy the semiconductor material is not available which is used for making solar cells, for hydro power water scarcity is one of the main problem so here the bio energy is the energy in which we can rely on for our uninterrupted energy supply in future as we can produce as much biomass as we want to fulfil our requirements. The objective of this study was to develop a test rig where we can study different parameters of the biodiesel to check its feasibility as a fuel. Then we have studied about the behaviour of the fuel inside the engine cylinder by analysing the performance and combustion parameters of the fuel. Then we have done the comparative analysis, and according to the analysis we have given our verdict for the suitability of the fuel to be used as fuel. In this study firstly we have collected waste cooking oil from the mess of hostel 5 of OUAT and then transesterified to make biodiesel. Then different physic chemical properties of the fuel blends were determined and compared with each other. After that the biodiesel was blended with diesel as per our requirement (10%, 20%, and 30%) and then by using this biodiesel-diesel blend in the setup the performance and combustion studies were started. The setup was a MITSUBISHI Shakti 180D mini tractor in which different sensors were used for acquiring the performance and combustion data. Then the data were studied to optimise the blends, The performance results which we have taken at different engine loads of (25%, 50%, 75% and 100%) showed that the brake power decreased up to 9% as the fuel blends increased whereas fuel blends and brake thermal efficiency showed an inverse relation. The specific fuel consumption was found to be increasing by 7-10% for all the blends with every applied load. Another important aspect of the performance study is the study of hand arm vibration from the steering wheel of the tractor which resulted in the highest vibration for the unblended neat diesel whereas it showed an increase as the fuel blends were increased from B10 to B30. The combustion results showed an increase in the cylinder pressure as well as the heat release rate irrespective of the load. In the emission study a spike in NOx emission was found with respect to the blend percentage, whereas for CO, CO2 and HC a proportional relation was found. From this study it was found that B10 and B20 blends were suitable for the engine as their properties were similar to that of the neat diesel, also all the properties of the biodiesel was found to be within the limits of ASTM standards. Biodiesel is an appropriate inherent source for alternative fuel carrying one of the main causes called self-sufficiency in the energy sector which will definitely drive all the governments across the world to adopt this fuel in the future with its added environmental benefits it can be a check mate for the energy sector.ThesisItem Open Access Development and evaluation of hybrid concentrating Photovoltaic/Thermal (CPVT) system for Greenhouse drying(Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, 2021) Sahu, Birupakshya; Ghosal, Manoj Kumar; Behera, Debaraj; Ray, SubhrajitSolar energy is considered to be a clean and sustainable source of energy particularly utilizing it in the way of generating photovoltaic (PV) electricity. Solar energy is now gaining importance worldwide in reducing the reliance on fossil fuels by installing PV power plants both in smaller and larger scale. Research and development is going on, to develop more efficient solar energy devices to harness and utilize solar energy in a wider scale. More attention has also been given on enhancing the efficiency of solar photovoltaic panel. The controllable approaches for increasing the efficiency of solar panel is to increase the incidence of solar radiation on it and to decrease its operating temperatures to a permissible level, mostly nearer to the temperature specified as per the standard test conditions. More is the incidence of radiation; more is the increase of temperature in the panel. The rising temperatures in the panel beyond the standard test conditions need to be reduced by incorporating various cooling devices for improving its electrical efficiency. The use of cooling devices reduces the operating temperatures of the panel by extracting the absorbed heat energy at its back surface. The extracted heat energy by the way, is utilized for low energy consuming applications such as greenhouse heating, water heating, crop drying and thermo-electric power generation etc. Such type of system is therefore called as a hybrid system due to the dual advantages of improving electrical efficiency of the panel and utilizing unused thermal energy in a productive and sustainable manner. The present study therefore focuses on the enhancement of the efficiency of solar panel by incorporating plane reflectors at its both sides and cooling the back surface with the flow of air through forced circulation mode by a DC powered fan and drying of high-value medicinal plant i.e. shatavari roots with the entry of extracted heat energy to the greenhouse integrated with the developed hybrid system. The developed system is hence known as Hybrid Concentrating Photovoltaic/Thermal (HCPV/T) solar greenhouse system. Greenhouse is integrated with the experimental set up for effective and rapid drying of the fresh shatavari roots. The performance of hybrid CPV/T solar greenhouse dryer is evaluated and compared with greenhouse system only and open sun drying method. Air is used in this study to extract the heat from the back surface of the solar panel. The performance of the whole system is evaluated with respect to electrical efficiency of solar panel and drying characteristics of the product. Open sun drying, in which the product is spread on the ground in open condition, is the simplest and cheapest method of drying. But there are considerable losses associated with it. So, an improved method of drying i.e. hybrid concentrating photovoltaic thermal (HCPV/T) greenhouse drying has been followed in this study for efficient drying and improving the quality of the product. The effects of PV panel orientation and air flowing channel on the electrical efficiency and thermal as well as drying efficiencies of the developed system have also been discussed. From the experimental findings, it was revealed that the temperatures of solar panel were decreased in the range of 9-12 ˚C in forced air cooling compared to without cooling in a clear day. The efficiencies of solar panel were increased in the range of 8-11 % and the costs of generation of unit electricity from the hybrid CPV/T system with and without air cooling are respectively Rs. 13.00 and Rs.20.00 per kWh. The drying hours to reduce moisture content of fresh satavari root (initial moisture content in the range of 80-85 %) to about 10 % (wb) are respectively 20, 26 and 30 in hybrid CPV/T greenhouse dryer, greenhouse dryer alone and open sun drying method. The food values (antioxidant and phenolic content) of dried satavari roots are maintained in hybrid CPV/T greenhouse dryer, almost same as the fresh root for long term preservation, marketing and earning income due to high medicinal and health benefits. The payback period of hybrid CPV/T greenhouse dryer is only 7 months. The payback periods of greenhouse dryer and open sun drying for shatavari root are respectively 1.5 months and 1 month only due to less initial investment and negligible maintenance.ThesisItem Open Access Development of a Power Tiller operated Groundnut Digger(Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, 2021) Satapathy, Ardhendu Sekhar; Mohanty, Santosh Kumar; Behera, D.; Pradhan, P.L.; Ray, S.Groundnut is an upright or prostrate annual plant. It is generally distributed in the tropical, sub-tropical and warm temperate zones. India is the largest producer of oilseeds in the world and this sector occupies an important position in the agricultural economy of the country. Oilseeds are among the major crops that are grown in the country apart from cereals. The state of Odisha is sixth in India in terms of groundnut production. Different Groundnut varieties grown in Odisha are Kissan, Jawan, Smruti, Devi, ICGS-44, Phule, Kadri, AK 12-24, out of which Devi variety is shown in most of the region in Odisha. The harvesting of groundnut is done by manually, using hand tools by adopting sitting, bending and squatting posture. The power tiller population in Odisha is very high with an annual sale of 13000 units. Digger can be an attachment to a power tiller to improve its annual use and reduce the time required for digging operation to 0.1 ha/h against 0.01ha/h in manual digging. As the availability of power tiller in Odisha is high and the cost of operation is lower than that of the manual digging operation, it may be accepted by the farming community. The power tiller operated groundnut digger was developed and tested in OUAT groundnut field and found different results as digging efficiency, soil separation efficiency, conveying efficiency, digging losses, draft, effective field capacity, theoretical field capacity and field efficiency etc. The vibration during the operation was measured and the effect due to vibration was also studied. The effective combination of digging operation is at 10.5 per cent moisture content and 2 km/h speed of operation with less digging loss and fuel consumption. Maximum digging efficiency was found as 97.9 per cent at1.5 km/h and 10.5 per cent soil moisture content. The high RMS acceleration at the handle of power tiller was at low frequency and decreased with the increase in frequency. With the increase of speed of operation also the vibration increased. The cost of manual harvesting was Rs.6200 per ha at the prevailing wage rate of Rs.310.00 per labour per day. The cost of harvesting with the prototype unit was Rs. 5000 ha-1. The saving in cost and time were 19.3 and 97.9 per cent respectively as compared to conventional method of manual harvesting. The break-even point and pay back period of the power tiller operated groundnut digger were estimated as 9.7 ha per year and 3.1 years respectively.
