Long-term bioethanol system and its implications on GHG emissions: a case study of Thailand

The study evaluates greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions performance of future bioethanol systems in Thailand to ascertain whether bioethanol for transport could help the country mitigate a global warming impact. GHG emission factors of bioethanol derived from cassava, molasses, and sugar cane are analyzed using 12 scenarios covering the critical variables possibly affecting the GHG performance, i.e., (1) the possible direct land use change caused by expanding feedstock cultivation areas; (2) types of energy carriers used in ethanol plants; and (3) waste utilization, e.g., biogas recovery and dry distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) production. The assessment reveals that GHG performance of a Thai bioethanol system is inclined to decrease in the long run due to the effects from the expansion of plantation areas to satisfy the deficit of cassava and molasses. Therefore, bioethanol will contribute to the country's strategic plan on GHG mitigation in the transportation sector only if the production systems are sustainably managed, i.e., coal replaced by biomass in ethanol plants, biogas recovery, and adoption of improved agricultural practices to increase crop productivity without intensification of chemical fertilizers. Achieving the year 2022 government policy targets for bioethanol with recommended measures would help mitigate GHG emissions up to 4.6 Gg CO(2)-eq per year.     

Full chain energy analysis of fuel ethanol from cassava in Thailand

An assessment of net energy and supply potentials was performed to evaluate cassava utilization for fuel ethanol in Thailand. Just recently, the Thai government approved the construction of 12 cassava ethanol plants with the total output of 3.4 million liters per day by the next 2 years (2007 and 2008). The cassava fuel ethanol (CFE) system involves three main segments: cassava cultivation including processing, ethanol conversion, and transportation. All materials, fuels, and human labor inputs to each segment were traced back to the primary energy expense level. Positive Net Energy Value and Net Renewable Energy Value, 8.80 MJ/L and 9.15 MJ/L, respectively, found for the CFE system in Thailand proved that it is energy efficient. Without coproduct energy credits, CFE in Thailand is even more efficient than CFE in China and corn ethanol in the United States. Regarding supply potentials, about 35% of the national cassava production would be used to feed approved CFE factories. A shift of cassava to ethanol fuel rather than its current use for chip/pellet products could be a probable solution.     

Chromogenic cross-linker for the characterization of protein structure by infrared multiphoton dissociation mass spectrometry

We have developed a new IR chromogenic cross-linker (IRCX) to aid in rapidly distinguishing cross-linked peptides from unmodified species in complex mixtures. By incorporating a phosphate functional group into the cross-linker, one can take advantage of its unique IR absorption properties, affording selective infrared multiphoton dissociation (IRMPD) of the cross-linked peptides. In a mock mixture of unmodified peptides and IRCX-cross-linked peptides (intramolecularly and intermolecularly cross-linked), only the peptides containing the IRCX modification were shown to dissociate upon exposure to 50 ms of 10.6-microm radiation. LC-IRMPD-MS proved to be an effective method to distinguish the cross-linked peptides in a tryptic digest of IRCX-cross-linked ubiquitin. A total of four intermolecular cross-links and two dead-end modifications were identified using IRCX and LC-IRMPD-MS. IRMPD of these cross-linked peptides resulted in secondary dissociation of all primary fragment ions containing the chromophore, producing a series of unmodified b- or y-type ions that allowed the cross-linked peptides to be sequenced without the need for collision-induced dissociation.     

An investigation of the effectiveness of fixture layout optimization methods

Deriving the optimal layout of fixture elements is critical to minimizing the impact of fixture–workpiece deformation on machined feature error. Various optimization methods for solving this problem have been reported. Unfortunately no investigation has been executed to compare their relative performance. This paper presents the methodology and results of an extensive investigation into the relative effectiveness of the main elements of these competing methods. All methods were tested over a broad range of conditions. Performance measures that were tracked included solution quality, solution repeatability, and computation time. The results of this investigation show that the best overall performance is provided by optimization methods that use both the genetic algorithm and continuous interpolation for the distribution of boundary conditions.     

Exploiting the potential of polyphenolic biomordants in environmentally friendly coloration of wool with natural dye from Butea monosperma flower extract

Coloration of textiles with natural dyes involves huge consumption of chemicals; mainly, metal salt mordants, which pose serious environmental challenges. To mitigate this pollution, more and more environmentally friendly, biodegradable, biocompatible and renewable products should be popularized in dyeing industry. This paper proposes a sustainable and metal salt-free dyeing of wool samples by employing natural mordants extracted from pomegranate peel (Punica granatum L), gallnut (Quercus infectoria L) and catechu (Acacia catechu). The color parameters of dyed wool samples were greatly found to be dependent on the chemical compounds present in respective biomordants and their interaction ability with the functional groups of wool and the dye molecules. The investigated biomordants exhibit different interactions with coloring compounds of Butea monosperma (palas) dye resulting in deep brown, olive green, dark brown, cinnamon, burgundy, and yellowish hues on wool. All the biomordants selected in this study improved dye performance and resulted in a broad beautiful spectrum of colors with acceptable fastness properties. The results encourage the search and exploitation of new plant species as a source of biomordants to replace metallic and toxic mordants currently used in textile industry.     

Light Fastness and Shade Variability of Tannin Colorant Dyed Wool with the Effect of Mordanting Methods

Mordanting methods effect on color characteristics and fastness properties, particularly light fastness were evaluated in this study. Effect of metal mordants and their combinations on wool dyeing with Terminalia chebula natural dye were investigated and correlation between dye structures, effect of metal mordant and mordanting methods were established. Results reveal that T. chebula can be used as yellow dye with or without metal mordants to get a variable range of shades on wool with good color strength and fastness properties, and appreciable shade variations with mordanting methods observed. Color performances of dyed substrate indicated substantial improvement in depth of shades and color fastness in case of mordanted samples. Pre-mordanting with tin and post-mordanting with alum proved to be most effective for increasing K/S values of the dyed substrate under the optimum dyeing conditions.     

Refuse-derived fuels as a renewable energy source in comparison to coal,rice husk,and sugarcane bagasse

The calorific potential of refuse-derived fuels (RDFs) was investigated with different coals, rice husk, and sugarcane bagasse. Carbon-sulfur analysis, gross calorific value (kJ/kg), and proximate analysis (%) were carried out. Total carbon of coal samples was found to be in the range from 62.65 to 79.19%, while RDF samples were ranged from 40.21 to 57.34% which were almost similar to rice husk (49.13%) and sugarcane bagasse (46.13%). Comparison of the total sulfur content of the coal (Duki) (10.52%) was very high as compared to RDF samples ranged from 0.17 to 0.46% and almost similar to rice husk (0.34%) and sugarcane bagasse (0.187%), while other coal samples ranged from 2.1 to 4.5%. The gross calorific value of the coal (Duki) (6,163 kJ/kg) was higher to other coal samples ranged from 4,935 to 4,972 kJ/kg, while found to be almost double to rise husk (3,518 kJ/kg), sugarcane bagasse (3,285 kJ/kg), and RDF samples (3,125–4,689 kJ/kg). The moisture content, volatile matter, and ash content were found higher in RDF 1 (42.14%), RFD 2 (66.55%), and coal (stone) (33.14%), respectively. Appropriate gross calorific value and very low sulfur content of the RDFs, especially RDF 2, appeared adequate to be used as a fuel with a lesser pollution potential and as an alternative fuel in mega cement industry of Pakistan.