Case study of SPRERI natural draft gasifier installation at a ceramic industry

The Sardar Patel Renewable Energy Research Institute has recently introduced its natural draft gasifier burner system to replace the use of light fuel oil in ceramic product drying. The unit (rated at 350 kW_th) consumed about 80 kgh⁻¹ of sawmill residues in the form of slabs 8 and 12 cm long, 5–7 cm wide, and 2.5–3 cm thick. The oil replacement is about 17 lh⁻¹. Two types of batch driers, a rotary kiln and a tray drier, are used to dry the ceramic material from 20% to 10% moisture on a total mass basis. The tray drier is also used to dry molded ceramics in addition to the dewatered raw material ceramic cake. The cost savings over LFO are reduced by a factor of four to five units cost of output and the system repays its investment in less than two months.     

Binding ability of Allura Red with food proteins and its impact on protein digestibility

Allura Red-40 is a safe colour additive (permissible by the FDA and Health Canada) that is used in a variety of foods to make them more attractive and appealing for consumers. However, limited information is available about its binding to macronutrients that are responsible for its uniform distribution in food products. In the present study, the binding capacity of Allura with food proteins is compared with Coomassie Brillant Blue R 250, which is an established staining agent for visualizing electrophoretically resolved proteins. The data illustrate that Allura is a fast reacting dye and binds with a variety of food proteins including peanut, rice bran, garlic and mixture of proteins [(Takadiastase, nisin, a microbial protein and bovine serum albumin (BSA)]. The Allura bound proteins retained their colour at high and low temperatures and in a wide range of pH. The experiments on the resolution of proteins and staining with Allura have shown that the dye is highly sensitive, rapid, lasting and is easily linked with a variety of proteins. The binding of Allura to various proteins had almost no adverse effect on protein digestibility, as predicted by in vitro digestibility determinations.     

Patterns as a paradigm for theory in community-based learning

Learning about information technology is typically not a first-order goal for community-based volunteer organizations. Nonetheless, information technology is vital to such groups for member recruiting and management, communication and visibility to the community, and for primary group activities. During the past 12 years, we have worked with community groups in Centre County, Pennsylvania, and Montgomery County, Virginia. We have built partnerships with these groups to better understand and address their learning challenges with respect to information technology. In this paper, we suggest that patterns, standard solution schemata for recurring problems (as used in architecture and software engineering, among other design domains), can be a paradigm for codifying and developing an understanding of learning in and by community organizations. Patterns are middle-level abstractions; they capture regularities of practices in ways that are potentially intelligible, verifiable, and perhaps useful to the practitioners themselves. We present two example patterns and discuss issues and directions for developing patterns as a theoretical foundation for community-based learning.     

Study on spliced yarns of different spinning technologies. Part I: tensile characteristics

The details of a study on splicing behavior of viscose staple fiber yarns, prepared by ring, rotor, and air-jet spinning technologies, are reported in this paper. All the yarns had six different color tracers with each having 0.3% of total fibers. The mechanical and structural properties of splices were studied. A three-variable three-level factorial design approach proposed by Box and Behnken was used to study the interactive effect of splicing parameters. The splicing parameters such as splicing length, duration of splicing air blast, and splicing air pressure were varied to prepare spliced yarn samples. Splices were introduced at all these levels for the three different technologies. The present paper (Part I) deals with the mechanical characteristics of splice portions, i.e. retained splice strength (RSS) and retained splice elongation (RSE). It has been observed that there are significant effects of all these parameters on the tensile characteristics of spliced yarns. However, the trends are different for different spinning technologies. Part II of this paper deals with the internal structural characteristics of splices.     

Supporting community-based learning: case study of a geographical community organization designing its website

Community computing supports human - computer interaction among neighbours in geographical or place-based community organizations. Using a case study of such an organization, we investigate the process of designing their website. Our long-term participatory design approach, integrating developmental informal learning, allowed us to understand how this community organization adopts, evaluates, and sustains website technology. Based on our case study analysis, we present three design heuristics for developing community-based technology: align and afford new possibilities for participation, dynamically manage organizational knowledge and learning, and enhance social capital within community organizations and with the broader community.     

Evaluation of superabsorbent linseed-polysaccharides as a novel stimuli-responsive oral sustained release drug delivery system

Context: Advancement in technology has transformed the conventional dosage forms to intelligent drug delivery systems. Such systems are helpful for targeted and efficient drug delivery with minimum side effects. Drug release from these systems is governed and controlled by external stimuli (pH, enzymes, ions, glucose, etc.). Polymeric biomaterial having stimuli-responsive properties has opened a new area in drug delivery approach.

Objective: Potential of a polysaccharide (rhamnogalacturonan)-based hydrogel from Linseeds (Linum usitatissimum L.) was investigated as an intelligent drug delivery material.

Materials and methods: Different concentrations of Linseed hydrogel (LSH) were used to prepare caffeine and diacerein tablets and further investigated for pH and salt solution-responsive swelling, pH-dependent drug release, and release kinetics. Morphology of tablets was observed using SEM.

Results: LSH tablets exhibited dynamic swelling–deswelling behavior with tendency to swell at pH 7.4 and in deionized water while deswell at pH 1.2, in normal saline and ethanol. Consequently, pH controlled release of the drugs was observed from tablets with lower release (<10%) at pH 1.2 and higher release at pH 6.8 and 7.4. SEM showed elongated channels in swollen then freeze-dried tablets.

Discussion: The drug release was greatly influenced by the amount of LSH in the tablets. Drug release from LSH tablets was governed by the non-Fickian diffusion.

Conclusions: These finding indicates that LSH holds potential to be developed as sustained release material for tablet.     

Production of biodiesel through optimized alkaline-catalyzed transesterification of rapeseed oil

Present work reports an optimized protocol for the production of biodiesel through alkaline-catalyzed transesterification of rapeseed oil. The reaction variables used were methanol/oil molar ratio (3:1-21:1), catalyst concentration (0.25-1.50%), temperature (35-65 °C), mixing intensity (180-600 rpm) and catalyst type. The evaluation of the transesterification process was followed by gas chromatographic analysis of the rapeseed oil fatty acid methyl esters (biodiesel) at different reaction times. The biodiesel with best yield and quality was produced at methanol/oil molar ratio, 6:1; potassium hydroxide catalyst concentration, 1.0%; mixing intensity, 600 rpm and reaction temperature 65 °C. The yield of the biodiesel produced under optimal condition was 95-96%. It was noted that greater or lower the concentration of KOH or methanol than the optimal values, the reaction either did not fully occur or lead to soap formation.The quality of the biodiesel produced was evaluated by the determinations of important properties such as density, specific gravity, kinematic viscosity, higher heating value, acid value, flash point, pour point, cloud point, combustion point, cold filter plugging point, cetane index, ash content, sulphur content, water content, copper strip corrosion value, distillation temperature and fatty acid composition. The produced biodiesel was found to exhibit fuel properties within the limits prescribed by the latest American Standards for Testing Material (ASTM) and European EN standards.     

Removal of heavy metals by adsorption on Pleurotus ostreatus

The present study explores the adsorption potential of Pleurotus ostreatus (a macro-fungus) to remove copper, nickel, zinc and chromium from water all together. Different operational parameters such as the effect of pH, biomass dose, equilibrium time, stirring intensity, temperature and initial metal ion concentrations were studied. Maximum adsorption of Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) took place in the pH range 4.5-5.0, whereas for Cr(VI) ion, best results were achieved at pH 2.5. Nearly 150 min are required to gain sorption equilibrium. Temperature has no significant effect on biosorption in the range of 20-45 °C. The maximum biosorption capacity of fungus was 8.06, 20.40, 3.22 and 10.75 mg g⁻¹ for Cu(II), Ni(II), Zn(II) and Cr(VI) in that order. FTIR analysis pointed out the involvement of amine (-NH₂) and carboxylic (-COOH) groups in the adsorption process. Simple and adjusted Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models were used to explain the sorption phenomenon. For real effluents of electroplating, biosorption capacities were 2.73, 8.45, 0.88 and 4.45 mg g⁻¹ for Cu(II), Ni(II), Zn(II) and Cr(VI) ions, respectively. Moreover, used P. ostreatus was recycled repeatedly and used many times to evaluate the adsorption efficacy on reuse, but findings pointed out that capacity decreased, to some extent, on recycling.