PREDICTION OF GAS HOLD-UP IN A COMBINED LOOP AIR LIFT FLUIDIZED BED REACTOR USING NEWTONIAN AND NON-NEWTONIAN LIQUIDS

Many experiments have been conducted to study the hydrodynamic characteristics of column reactors and loop reactors. In this present work, a novel combined loop airlift fluidized bed reactor was developed to study the effect of superficial gas and liquid velocities, particle diameter, fluid properties on gas holdup by using Newtonian and non-Newtonian liquids. Compressed air was used as gas phase. Water, 5% n-butanol, various concentrations of glycerol (60 and 80%) were used as Newtonian liquids, and different concentrations of carboxy methyl cellulose aqueous solutions (0.25, 0.6 and 1.0%) were used as non-Newtonian liquids. Different sizes of spheres, Bearl saddles and Raschig rings were used as solid phases. From the experimental results, it was found that the increase in superficial gas velocity increases the gas holdup, but it decreases with increase in superficial liquid velocity and viscosity of liquids. Based on the experimental results a correlation was developed to predict the gas hold-up for Newtonian and non-Newtonian liquids for a wide range of operating conditions at a homogeneous flow regime where the superficial gas velocity is approximately less than 5 cm/

DTM-Pade Approximants for MHD Flow with Suction/Blowing

In this paper, we study theoretically the magnetic effect of Blasius equation with suction/blowing. The similarity transformations are applied to reduce the governing partial differential equations to a set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations in dimensionless form. A mathematical technique, namely the Differential Transform Method (DTM), is used to solve the nonlinear differential equations under appropriate boundary conditions, in the form of series with easily computable terms. Then, Pade approximants are applied to the solutions to increase the convergence of the given series. The combined DTM-Pade procedure is implemented directly without requiring linearization, discretization or perturbation. Graphical results are presented to investigate influence of the Magnetic field on the velocity profiles

APPLICATION OF BANANA BASED AGRO-WASTE AS A PRECURSOR OF HETEROGENEOUS CATALYST FOR BIODIESEL PRODUCTION

In the recent decades, the exploration of agro-wastes and other renewable biomass wastes as a precursor of heterogeneous catalysts for transesterification has become more fascinating in contrast to the conventional homogeneous catalysts. This is mainly attributed by its peculiar characteristics such as easy separation, reusability, cost effectiveness, eco friendliness, etc. Hence, the potential of banana inflorescence (BI), a byproduct of banana cultivation with less economic value was investigated herein, for the development of a competent heterogeneous catalyst for profitable biodiesel production from Used cooking oil (UCO). The transformation in porosity, surface area and chemical composition of banana inflorescence, brought about by calcination was examined by Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), Powder X-ray diffractogram (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) analysis. The conversion was enumerated by Nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopy and it was observed that transesterification using 2 wt% catalyst, 9:1 methanol to oil molar ratio for a reaction time of 75 min at 65 ºC showed a fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) conversion of 98.62%

Effect of organic manures and silicon nutrition on the productivity and profitability of rice

Field experiments were conducted in 2022 and 2023 during the Kharif season at experimental farm, Department of Agronomy, Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu, India to study the effect of organic manures and silicon nutrition on the productivity and profitability of rice. The treatments included both organic manures (farmyard manure (FYM), green manure (GM), poultry manure (PM)) and recommended doses of fertilizers (RDF)). Silicon through Diatomaceous earth (DE) was tested in combination with the above nutrient sources. The treatments were arranged in randomized block design with three replications. The highest growth parameters (plant height, number of tillers hill-1, leaf area index and dry matter production), yield parameters (number of panicles m-2, number of filled grains panicles-1 and Test weight) and rice yields (grain and straw yields) were found in both seasons with RDF + GM @ 6.25 t ha-1 + PM @ 2 t ha-1 + Si @ 200 kg ha-1.  However, applying RDF + PM @ 2 t ha-1 + Si @ 200 kg ha-1 through DE increased net income and benefit cost ratio in 2022 and 2023. Based on the results of two-year field experiment, it can be concluded that rice productivity and profitability can be improved through the application of RDF + PM @ 2 t ha-1 + Si @ 200 kg ha-1 through DE

Model Based-Testing of Spatial and Time Domain Artificial Intelligence Smart Antenna for Ultra-High Frequency Electric Discharge Detection in Digital Power Substations

This paper presents a fifth-generation (5G) wireless smart antenna for performing both power substation communication (in space domain beam-steering) and electrostatic discharge (in time domain Ultra-high Frequency “UHF” impulse) detection. The same smart antenna used to communicate with other wireless antennas in the switchyard, as well as with the control room, is utilized to cyclically gather data from power apparatus, busbars, and switches where electrostatic discharge (ESD) may occur. The ESD poses a major threat to electrical safety and lifetime of the apparatus as well as the stability of the power system. The same smart antenna on which beam rotation in space-domain is designed by implementing an artificial neural network (ANN) is also trained in time-domain to identify any of the received signals matching the ultra-high frequency band electrostatic discharge pulses that may be superimposed on the power frequency electric current. The proposed system of electrostatic discharge detection is tested for electrostatic pulses empirically simulated and represented in a trigonometric form for the training of the Perceptron Neural model. The working of the system is demonstrated for electrostatic discharge pulses with rising times of the order of one nanosecond. The artificial intelligence system driving the 5G smart antenna performs the dual roles of beam steering for 5G wireless communication (operating in the space domain) and for picking up any ESD generated UHF pulses from any one of the apparatus or nearby lightning leaders (operating in the time domain)

Software and computing for Run 3 of the ATLAS experiment at the LHC

The ATLAS experiment has developed extensive software and distributed computing systems for Run 3 of the LHC. These systems are described in detail, including software infrastructure and workflows, distributed data and workload management, database infrastructure, and validation. The use of these systems to prepare the data for physics analysis and assess its quality are described, along with the software tools used for data analysis itself. An outlook for the development of these projects towards Run 4 is also provided

Correlation for Prediction of Minimum Fluidization Velocity and Riser Liquid Holdup in Three-Phase External Loop Air Lift Fluidized Bed Reactor

The effect of superficial gas and liquid velocities and properties of solids on the minimum fluidization velocity and riser liquid holdup of a three-phase external loop air lift fluidized bed reactor was characterized using Newtonian and non-Newtonian systems. Water, 65% and 85% of glycerol and n-Butanol were used as Newtonian liquids and different concentrations of carboxymethyl cellulose (i.e. 0.2%, 0.5% and 1% CMC) were used as non-Newtonian liquids. Spherical glass beads, bearl saddles and rasching rings of different sizes were used as solid phases. The phase flow rates and properties of solid particles had significant effects on the hydrodynamic characteristics of the external loop air lift fluidized bed reactor, such as minimum fluidization velocity and riser liquid holdup. Unified correlations have been developed to estimate the minimum fluidization velocity and riser liquid holdup as a function of superficial phase velocities, properties of solid particles and physical properties of both Newtonian and non-Newtonian liquid systems. The predicting ability of the correlations were tested with the experimental data and found to be a good fit with an absolute average relative deviation (AARD) of ± 6.5 % and ± 7.8 % for minimum fluidization velocity and riser liquid holdup, respectively.</jats:p

Prediction of Minimum Fluidization Velocity in Two-Phase and Three-Phase Fluidized Beds: Air/Newtonian and Non-Newtonian Liquids

The present experimental data on minimum fluidization velocity for two-phase and three-phase fluidized beds, involving 459 measurements were used for the analysis. Apart from this, 70 literature data points from different published sources, using 11 different liquids and 11 different particles have been used for the development of minimum fluidization velocity correlation. The developed correlation for the prediction of the minimum fluidization velocity for two-phase and three-phase fluidized beds was found to be satisfactory for the Newtonian and non-Newtonian systems with a wide range of variables covered in the present investigation.</jats:p