Behaviour of CI engine performance,combustion and exhaust emission with neem biodiesel at varied fuel injection rates

Motorisation and fast depletion of fossil fuel reserves and issues like global warming have led the researchers all over to look for substitute fuels. Biodiesel resulting from vegetable oil is being used around the globe to lessen air pollution and reduce the necessity of diesel fuel. The current study covers the various aspects of N20 neem biodiesel with increased fuel injection pressure. The blends of N20 were tested with increased fuel injection pressure to examine the characteristics such as brake thermal efficiency, fuel consumption, emission and combustion parameters. Experimental results indicated that N20 with 240?bar has a closer performance to diesel, reduced exhaust emission and improved combustion parameters.     

Effect of methanol gasoline blended fuels on the performance and emissions of SI engine

This article presents experimental results of the effect of methanol gasoline blends as alternate fuels for the spark ignition (SI) engine. As the cost of the gasoline is periodically increasing the quest for the alternative fuels are evolved with which the emissions are reduced along with improved engine performance. A set of experiments have been conducted to investigate the effect of gasoline methanol blends in methanol percentages of M5, M10 and M15 on the engine performance and emissions. A significant reduction in emissions is observed with methanol blends compared to the standard gasoline with improved engine performance and emission characteristics. The fuels blends ranging from M10 to M15 have been found suitable for reduced emissions and improved engine performance.     

Control of time-dependent effects in steel-concrete composite frames

Studies are presented for the control of time-dependent effects of creep and shrinkage in steel-concrete composite frames with pre-cast concrete slab for both shored and un-shored constructions. A developed hybrid procedure has been used for carrying out the studies. The procedure accounts for creep, shrinkage and progressive cracking in concrete slab panels. Two frames, a single storey and a five storey frame are considered. It is shown that, for both the types of constructions, shored and un-shored, the increase in bending moments and mid-span deflections can be controlled to a significant degree, without putting constraints on design parameters, by simply delaying the time of mobilization of composite action between the pre-cast concrete slab panels and the steel section. It is also found that though there is insignificant effect of type of construction on bending moments, the percentage change in mid-span deflection due to creep and shrinkage is significantly higher for shored construction.     

Electrochemical treatment of cotton textile-based dyeing effluent

The electrochemical treatment (ECT) of textile wastewater was carried out in a 1.5 dm³ electrolyte batch reactor using iron electrodes. With the four plate configurations, a current density (CD) of 89.2 A/m² and a pH value of 8.5 were found to be optimal, at which maximum reduction in chemical oxygen demand (COD) and colour achieved were 86% and 79%, respectively. Loss of 0.0666 kg/m³ iron electrode and 18.44 kWh/m³ power consumption was observed during ECT with a maximum COD reduction of 79%. The settling characteristics of electrochemically treated effluents as well as the characteristics of foam and residue were also analysed.     

Recovery of deuterium from hydrogen–deuterium mixture using palladium

The applicability of palladium for the separation of hydrogen isotopes (hydrogen and deuterium) is evaluated systematically by generating isotherm data and conducting column experiments in a laboratory set-up. Effect of various parameters such as concentration of the isotopic mixture, particle size, eluent flow rate, etc. is studied experimentally. A fixed-bed chromatographic model is developed and validated using the experimental data. The model is further used to predict the performance of a multi-column configuration for large-scale separation. Chromatographic separation is thus found to be a promising technique to achieve the required purity and hence it may be clubbed with the existing systems (e.g. cryogenic distillation) to obtain enhanced performance.     

Modeling of single-lap composite adhesive joints under mechanical and thermal loads

Two-dimensional (plane-stress and plane-strain) theoretical models are presented for stress analysis of adhesively bonded single-lap composite joints subjected to either thermal or mechanical loading or a combination thereof. The joints consist of similar/dissimilar orthotropic or isotropic adherends and an isotropic adhesive interlayer. The governing differential equation of the problem is obtained using a variational method which minimizes the complementary strain energy in the bonded assembly. In this formulation, through-thickness variation of shear and peel stresses in the interlayer is considered. Both shear and normal traction-free boundary conditions are exactly satisfied. Peel and shear stresses obtained from plane-strain analytical models considering a homogeneous adhesive interlayer are in close agreement with those of the finite element predictions. A systematic parametric study is also conducted to identify an ideal set of geometric and material parameters for the optimal design of single-lap composite joints.     

Quaternized poly(phenylene oxide) anion exchange membrane for alkaline direct methanol fuel cells in KOH‐free media

A series of anion exchange membrane (AEM) electrolytes with quaternary ammonium moiety are fabricated from poly (phenylene oxide) for its application in alkaline direct methanol fuel cells (ADMFCs). In the first step, poly(phenylene oxide) (PPO) is successfully chloromethylated by substituting chloromethyl groups in the aryl position of polymer. In the second step, the chloromethylated PPO (CPPO) is further homogeneously quaternized and ion‐exchanged to form an AEM. From the second step, series of AEMs are prepared by changing the mole ratio of amine in relation to CPPO. The presence of quaternary ammonium group in the membrane was confirmed by elemental analysis. The fabricated membranes are subjected to cell polarization studies in ADMFCs, wherein quaternized poly(2,6‐dimethyl‐1,4‐phenylene oxide) (CPPO:amine of 1:8) membrane exhibits higher peak power density of 3.5 mW cm^?2 when compared with the other ratios of CPPO:amine in the absence of KOH solution. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 43693.     

Polyacrylonitrile solution homogeneity study by dynamic shear rheology and the effect on the carbon fiber tensile strength

Poly(acrylonitrile‐co‐methacrylic acid) (PAN‐co‐MAA)/N,N‐dimethylformamide (DMF) solutions were prepared and dynamic shear rheology of these solutions were investigated. With increasing stirring time up to 72 h at 70°C, the polymer solution became less elastic (more liquid‐like) with a ～60% reduction in the zero‐shear viscosity. Relaxation spectra of the PAN‐co‐MAA/DMF solutions yield a decrease in relaxation time (disentanglement time, τ_d), corresponding to an about 8% decrease in viscosity average molecular weight. The log‐log plot of G′ (storage modulus) versus G″ (loss modulus) exhibited an increase in slope as a function of stirring time, suggesting that the molecular level solution homogeneity increased. In order to study the effect of solution homogeneity on the resulting carbon fiber tensile strength, multiple PAN‐co‐MAA/DMF solutions were prepared, and the precursor fibers were processed using gel‐spinning, followed by continuous stabilization and carbonization. The rheological properties of each solution were also measured and correlated with the tensile strength values of the carbon fibers. It was observed that with increasing the slope of the G′ versus G″ log‐log plot from 1.471 to 1.552, and reducing interfilament fiber friction during precursor fiber drawing through the addition of a fiber washing step prior to fiber drawing, the carbon fiber strength was improved (from 3.7 to 5.8 GPa). This suggests that along with precursor fiber manufacturing and carbonization, the solution homogeneity is also very important to obtain high strength carbon fiber. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 56:361–370, 2016. © 2016 Society of Plastics Engineers