Satellite- and ground-based measurements of CO2 over the Indian region: its seasonal dependencies,spatial variability,and model estimates

ABSTRACT

The present study demonstrates the distribution of carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentration over the Indian region and the surrounding oceanic regions during 2009–2012, using measurements from satellites viz., Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT) and Atmospheric Infrared Sounder, Carbon Tracker (CT) model simulations and flask measurements from two Indian stations Sinhagad (SNG) (73°45′ E, 18°21′36″ N) and Cape Rama (CRI) (73°54′ E, 15°6′ N). The concentration of CO₂ is observed to be maximum during pre-monsoon and shows a decreasing phase during the post-monsoon season. In a regional scale, it is found that Indo-Gangetic Plain and northern India have relatively higher concentrations compared to the other regions. The probability distribution of the concentration differences shows that for most of the time, the differences lie between ±3 ppmv between GOSAT and CT. The comparison between the CO₂ flask measurements over SNG and CRI with respect to that of GOSAT and CT clearly reveals that the differences in CO₂ are as high as 10 ppmv between the ground- and satellite-based measurements. Further, we utilized the Lagrangian model FLEXible PARTicle (FLEXPART) to understand the source?receptor relationship over CRI, SNG, and over the equatorial Indian Ocean (IO). The source contributions from the northern and eastern continental regions of the Indian region are found to be more influential over SNG compared to CRI. It is also found from simulations that the equatorial IO has less influence from the continental source and therefore has a reduced seasonal variability compared to the other regions considered in the present study.     

Decolourisation of leather dye by ozonation

Sewage and industrial effluent treatment plants are installed with primary and secondary biological treatment units to reduce the discharge of pollution load into the environment. These treatment plants normally reduce the organic load in terms of BOD but not the pollution load in terms of inorganic salts (total dissolved solids—TDS) and colour in the effluent. To eliminate the contamination of ground and surface water bodies and to conserve water sources, the regulatory authorities have taken very stringent regulations to implement zero liquid discharge (ZLD) for industrial effluents, i.e., water recovery from wastewater and reuse. It is difficult to recover water from secondary treated wastewater directly, as it does not meet the reverse osmosis feed requirements. In order to achieve the feed requirements, different tertiary treatment methods are being tried. In this study, removal of colour due to residual dyes has been attempted using ozone. The main purpose of this study is to decolourise the dye used in leather processing. Also, the effect of pH and dye concentration on dye decolourisation has been investigated. From the study it has been observed that maximum decolourisation efficiency up to 97% could be achieved for the pH values (4,7, 9 and 11) and dye concentrations (30, 65, 180 and 360 mg/L) studied.     

A study of austenitization of SG iron

Austenitization process of three SG irons with varying compositions and as cast matrix microstructure has been studied at three austenitization temperatures of 850, 900 and 950C for different time periods. Microstructure, hardness and X-ray diffraction have been used to reveal the nature of dependence of the process on austenitization temperature, time and as cast structure. The optimum austenitization time is maximum for ferritic and minimum for pearlitic matrix.     

Nanocrystalline ZnO Thin Film Synthesis Using Glycerol in Aqueous Polymeric Precursor Processing

Synthesis of high-quality ZnO thin films via simple and cost effective processing technique is a major challenge. In this work, the preparation of nanocrystalline ZnO thin films by a novel polymeric precursor processing using glycerol as chelating agent is presented. The process has advantages of being cost-effective and environment friendly. ZnO thin films were prepared by a single spin-coating deposition of aqueous polymeric precursor prepared with zinc nitrate [Zn(NO₃)₂] and glycerol as chelating agent. The thermal decomposition of polymeric precursors was studied by thermogravimetric analysis and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Annealing of these films were performed over the range of 300°–600°C, and the effect of annealing on the degree of crystallization, surface morphology, crystallite size, and optical properties was investigated. X-ray diffraction analysis shows that the thin films are polycrystalline with wurtzite structure. The thin films are 80% dense, have crack free microstructure, and transparency of >85% in the visible region. These films exhibit absorption edge at 375 nm. On measuring at room temperature, the optical band gap energy of ZnO thin films, annealed at 450° and 600°C, was determined to be 3.295 and 3.267 eV. Room temperature photoluminescence spectra of these films show strong UV emission and a broad yellow-green emission in the range 525–600 nm. The intensity of UV emission peak increases with increase in annealing temperature that is attributed to an improvement in crystallinity.     

Enhanced control of integrating cascade processes with time delays using modified Smith predictor

This paper presents a simple cascade controller in the enhanced modified Smith predictor structure for control of integrating processes. The proposed structure consists of two control loops, a secondary inner loop and a primary outer loop. The method has totally three controllers of which the secondary loop has one controller and the primary loop has two controllers. The secondary loop controller is designed using IMC technique. The primary loop set-point tracking and disturbance rejection controllers are designed using direct synthesis method. The primary set-point tracking controller is designed as a PID with lag filter and the primary disturbance rejection controller is designed as a PD with lead-lag filter. Simulation studies have been carried out on various cascade integrating processes with/without zero. The present method gives significant disturbance rejection both in the inner and outer loops and also shows significant improvement when compared to the recently reported methods.     

Dielectric,Mechanical, and Thermal Properties of Low-Permittivity Polymer–Ceramic Composites for Microelectronic Applications

A new low-permittivity polymer–ceramic composite for packaging applications has been developed. The ceramic-reinforced polyethylene and polystyrene composites were prepared by melt mixing and hot molding techniques. Low-loss, low-permittivity Li₂MgSiO₄ (LMS) ceramics prepared by the solid-state ceramic route were used as the filler to improve the dielectric properties of the composites. The relative permittivity and dielectric loss were increased with the increase in the ceramic loading at radio and microwave frequencies. The mechanical properties and thermal conductivity of the Li₂MgSiO₄-reinforced polymer–ceramic composite were also investigated. The stability of the relative permittivity of polymer–ceramic composites with temperature and frequency was investigated. The experimentally observed relative permittivity, thermal expansion, and thermal conductivity were compared with theoretical models.     

Analysis and design of digital predictive controller for PFC Cuk converter

A digital predictive control strategy for Power Factor Correction (PFC) is presented in this paper. The duty cycles required to achieve unity power factor in one half line period are calculated in advance by using a predictive algorithm and implemented using low cost PIC Microcontroller. A single stage PFC circuit controlled by these pre-calculated duty cycles can achieve sinusoidal current waveform. The output voltage of PFC circuit is regulated by an outer PI controller. A low frequency, small signal model of the rectifier is developed in order to design a PI voltage controller. A prototype of front end AC–DC converter followed by DC–DC Cuk converter controlled by a PIC Microcontroller is developed. Both the simulation and experimental results reveal that the proposed digital predictive strategy provides low THD, high power factor and better performance due to its lower calculation requirement and simple implementation.