Integrated ozone–photo–Fenton process for the removal of pollutant from industrial wastewater

The use of hybrid advanced oxidation processes(AOPs) for the removal of pollutants from industrial effluents has been extensively studied in recent literature. The aim of this study is to compare the performance of the photo,Fenton, photo-Fenton and ozone–photo–Fenton processes in terms of color removal and chemical oxygen demand(COD) removal of distillery industrial effluent together with the associated electrical energy per order. It was observed from the experimental results that the O_3/UV/Fe~(2 +)/H_2O_2 process yielded a 100% color and95.50% COD removals with electrical energy per order of 0.015 k W·h·m~(-3) compared to all other combinations of the AOPs. The effects of various operating parameters such as H_2O_2 and Fe~(2+) concentration, effluent pH, COD concentration and UV power on the removal of color, COD and electrical energy per order for the ozone–photo–Fenton process was critically studied and reported. The color and COD removals were analyzed using a UV/Vis spectrometer and closed reflux method.     

Object-oriented methodology for intersection simulation model under heterogeneous traffic conditions

In developing countries like India, the traffic on roads is highly heterogeneous in nature, with vehicles of widely varying static and dynamic characteristics. In this type of traffic, vehicles do not follow lane discipline and they move freely over the entire width of roadway based on availability of space. To study this type of complex traffic flow and associated vehicular interactions, simulation is considered as an effective tool. An object-oriented methodology (OOM) for heterogeneous traffic simulation is proposed in this paper with focus on mid-block and intersection flow modeling. The paper presents the basics and advanced features of object-oriented programming (OOP) in detail in the context of traffic flow. The sample C++ code is discussed in detail to demonstrate the implementation of OOP features, such as encapsulation, inheritance and polymorphism. The contribution of this research work is the development of software objects for various components such as vehicle, traffic, link and node. This software can be adopted for heterogeneous traffic simulation programs, in general.     

Solvent dependent morphological modification of micro-nano assembled Mn2O3/NiO composites for high performance supercapacitor applications

The different attractive morphologies of micro-nano assembled sphere, pseudo sphere, rock candy and cube-like Mn₂O₃/NiO composites were synthesised by the facile solvothermal method through varying the solvents and their volume ratio. The structural, morphological and compositional properties of synthesised samples were investigated by using powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), FE-SEM, EDS and XPS. The TG/DTA results confirmed the transformation of MnCO₃/NiCO₃ to Mn₂O₃/NiO structures. XRD results revealed that the synthesised samples exhibited the body-centred cubic of Mn₂O₃ and face-centred cubic of NiO. FESEM images depicted the formation of different micro-nano assembled morphologies. XPS study confirmed the presence of manganese, nickel and oxygen elements and their oxidation states. Pseudocapacitance properties of Mn₂O₃/NiO electrodes were evaluated by cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge-discharge and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy using 1M KOH electrolyte solution. The specific capacitance values of all the synthesised samples were calculated and the morphology of rock candy like Mn₂O₃/NiO composite exhibited superior properties of high specific capacitance of 566.21 Fg^?1 at a current density of 0.5 Ag^?1, better rate capability of 63.25% and good cycling stability of 87.42% capacitance retention even after 1000 cycles. From these results, the well morphological ordered Mn₂O₃/NiO composites may be preferred as the future electrode materials for electrochemical supercapacitor energy storage devices.     

Hybrid Bird Swarm Optimized Quasi Affine Algorithm Based Node Location in Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless Personal Communications - Wireless sensor networks (WSN) with the Internet of Things (IoT) play a vital key concept while performing the information transmission process. The WSN with IoT...     

Coalition Formation for Multi-Robot Task Allocation via Correlation Clustering

Abstract

The complexity of a vast number of real world tasks provides a great challenge for the currently available robots due to their limited capabilities. Thus, multiple robots would need to form coalitions for the completion of such tasks. In this paper, we examine the multi-robot coalition formation problem for task allocation where a group of robots needs to be allocated to a set of tasks. Our approach for this problem is to use a correlation clustering technique enabling similar robots to form coalitions. The algorithm presented in this paper is fast and scales better in comparison to two existing algorithms.     

Analysis of occupation time of vehicles at urban unsignalized intersections in non-lane-based mixed traffic conditions

In India, traffic flow on roads is highly mixed in nature with wide variations in the static and dynamic characteristics of vehicles. At unsignalized intersections, vehicles generally do not follow lane discipline and ignore the rules of priority. Drivers generally become more aggressive and tend to cross the uncontrolled intersections without considering the conflicting traffic. All these conditions cause a very complex traffic situation at unsignalized intersections which have a great impact on the capacity and performance of traffic intersections. A new method called additive conflict flow (ACF) method is suitable to determine the capacity of unsignalized intersections in non-lane-based mixed traffic conditions as prevailing in India. Occupation time is the key parameter for ACF method, which is defined as the time spent by a vehicle in the conflict area at the intersection. Data for this study were collected at two three-legged unsignalized intersections (one is uncontrolled and other one is semicontrolled) in Mangalore city, India using video-graphic technique during peak periods on three consecutive week days. The occupation time of vehicles at these intersections were studied and compared. The data on conflicting traffic volume and occupation time by each subject vehicle at the conflict area were extracted from the videos using image processing software. The subject vehicles were divided into three categories: two wheelers, cars, and auto-rickshaws. Mathematical relationships were developed to relate the occupation time of different categories of vehicles with the conflicting flow of vehicles for various movements at both the intersections. It was found that occupation time increases with the increasing conflicting traffic and observed to be higher at the uncontrolled intersection compared to the semicontrolled intersection. The segregated turning movements and the presence of mini roundabout at the semicontrolled intersection reduces the conflicts of vehicular movements, which ultimately reduces the occupation time. The proposed methodology will be useful to determine the occupation time for various movements at unsignalized intersections. The models developed in the study can be used by practitioners and traffic engineers to estimate the capacity of unsignalized intersections in non-lane-based discipline and mixed traffic conditions.

     

Comparative study on the wear behavior of long and short glass fiber reinforced plastics

In recent years, the fiber reinforced composites have been used more in tribological applications where the sliding surfaces requires a high wear resistance and a low co-efficient of friction. The growth of GFRP is significantly higher than that of steel. No engineer or designer can ignore the growth of GFRP, but the decision to use a new material is difficult, yet important. The comparative tribological performance of short and long glass fiber-epoxy composites, under varying load and sliding velocities, is reported in this investigation. Besides conventional weighing, the coefficient of friction, contact temperature, and wear rate were determined. The worn surfaces of the specimens were examined by a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The wear mechanisms and the transitions that govern the tribological behavior of the composites between them are discussed in detail. It was found that the epoxy reinforced with a long glass fiber exhibited a reduced wear rate than the short glass fiber.     

Visible light induced photocatalytic performance of Mn-SnO2@ZnO nanocomposite for high efficient cationic dye degradation

In this work, we have synthesized Mn-doped SnO₂@ZnO nanocomposite for photo degradation of Methylene blue and Rhodamine B dyes upon visible light irradiation. The crystal structure, functional group, optical absorption, defect related emission, morphology, purity and binding energy state of synthesized samples were identified by using various analytical tools. The crystal structure revealed the rutile tetragonal, hexagonal wurtzite for SnO₂ and ZnO samples and the average crystal sizes were found in the range of 23.3 nm to 16.7 nm for the synthesized samples. The optical absorption peaks were shifted to higher wavelength side and optical band gap values were found between 3.52 eV and 2.77 eV which confirm the formation of hetero-junction of SnO₂@ZnO composites. The field emission scanning electron spectroscopy (FESEM) revealed the spherical grain morphology for pure and composite samples. The energy dispersive spectra (EDS) and element mapping confirms the purity of the synthesized samples. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed that the composition and energy state of Mn⁴⁺, Sn⁴⁺ and Zn²⁺ for composite samples. The photocatalytic degradation results clearly indicate that the Mn-doped SnO₂@ZnO nanocomposite has higher degradation efficiency of 98% and 92% for the Methylene blue and Rhodamine B dyes, respectively and is higher than the other synthesized samples. The present study reveals a low cost and highly efficient photo-catalyst which works up on visible light irradiation for the purification of waste water from industries.

     

Effect of pH on Structural and Electrical Properties of Electrodeposited Bi<Subscript>2</Subscript>Te<Subscript>3</Subscript> Thin Films

Bi₂Te₃ thin films were electrodeposited at various pH values of a bismuth nitrate and tellurium oxide plating solution. Enhancement in pH results in a decrease in grain size. Transmission electron microscopy reveals the transformation of the film morphology from dispersed nanoparticles to connected chain-like nanostructures of Bi₂Te₃ as pH is increased. Electrical characterization for samples deposited in the temperature range of 300 K to 425 K shows a fourfold increase in Seebeck coefficient, S, between its maximum and minimum value as the solution pH changes from 1 to 3.5. Such enhancement of S is attributed to the increased connectivity of the nanostructures at higher pH.