Production of Indigenous and Enriched Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Coal Briquettes: Combustion and Disintegration Strength Analysis

Khyber Pakhtun Khwa province of Pakistan has considerable amounts of low ranked coal. However, due to the absence of any centrally administered power generation system there is a need to explore indigenous methods for effectively using this valuable energy resource. In the present study an indigenous coal briquetting technology has been developed and evaluated in terms of combustion characteristics such as moisture content, volatile matter, ash, fixed carbon and calorific value of the resulting coal briquette and disintegration strength using polyvinyl acetate (PVA) in combination with calcium carbonate (sample no 3 with highest disintegration strength value of 2059N). Comparison of test samples with the commercially available coal briquettes revealed improved combustion characteristics for the PVA bonded (sample no 1 and 5) coal briquettes having higher fixed carbon content and calorific value, lower ash contents as well as lower initial ignition time

Hexagonal Printed Monopole Antenna with Triple Stop Bands for UWB Application

Inherently UWB (Ultra Wideband) communication systems comes with interference problem with some if the existing narrowband communication systems. These bands are stopped with the help of band-stop filter in order to reduce electromagnetic interference However, the complexity and limitations are increased due to these filters, hence this solution is turned down in those applications where design complications and complexity is of concern. Introducing various slots of specific shapes and exact dimensions however, have solved this issue for the researchers around the world. This paper presents a hexagonal PMA (Printed Monopole Antenna) with triple stop bands. The antenna is used for UWB application. The antenna is stopped the WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access), WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) and ITU (International Telecommunication Union) bands. The antenna dimensions are 30x28x16 mm3. FR4 is used between ground and radiating patch with relative permittivity of 4.4. The VSWR (Voltage Standing Wave Ratio) is less than 2 between 3-11 GHz except WiMAX (3.1-3.7 GHz), WLAN (5.1-5.8 GHz) and the ITU frequency band (7.95-8.4 GHz). The antenna is design in CST software

Modelling Coal Dust Explosibility of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Coal Using Random Forest Algorithm

Coal dust explosion constitutes a significant hazard in underground coal mines, coal power plants and other industries utilising coal as fuel. Knowledge of the explosion mechanism and the factors causing coal explosions is essential to investigate for the identification of the controlling factors for preventing coal dust explosions and improving safety conditions. However, the underlying mechanism involved in coal dust explosions is rarely studied under Artificial Intelligence (AI) based modelling. Coal from three different regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, was tested for explosibility in 1.2 L Hartmann apparatus under various particle sizes and dust concentrations. First, a random forest algorithm was used to model the relationship between inputs (coal dust particle size, coal concentration and gross calorific value (GCV)), outputs (maximum pressure (Pmax) and the deflagration index (Kst)). The model reported an R2 value of 0.75 and 0.89 for Pmax and Kst. To further understand the impact of each feature causing explosibility, the random forest AI model was further analysed for sensitivity analysis by SHAP (Shapley Additive exPlanations). The study revealed that the most critical parameter affecting the explosibility of coal dust were particle size > GCV > concentration for Pmax and GCV > Particle size > Concentration for Kst. Mutual interaction SHAP plots of two variables at a time revealed that with 400 gm/L), explosibility is relatively lower irrespective of GCV and particle sizes

Bio-Chemicals Derived from Waste: Building on the Concept of a Bio-Refinery

The work presented here has looked into the thermal-conversion of wheat and barley spent grains (SG). Wheat fermentation was carried in the laboratory to get a mashed product while barley grain residues were sourced from a local brewing company. Pyrolysis carried at 460, 520 and 540 oC at ambient conditions of pressure in a bench scale fluidized bed reactor resulted in producing bio-oil, charcoal and non-condensable gases. These products were characterized by using the Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS), Differential Thermo-glavemetric Analysis (DTG), Elemental Analyzer (E.A) and a Bomb Calorimeter. The final pyrolysis product analysis revealed that the bio-oil production yields and Higher Heating Value (HHV) largely depended on the pyrolysis temperature and the sample type. In comparison with original raw grain samples, the analysis of thermally treated (pyrolysis) spent grains revealed the presence of high carbon and low oxygen contents. Results gathered in this work have shown that high bio-crude-oil production yields can be obtained at 520 oC (53 and 37wt% bio-oil from wheat and barley SG). Pyrolysis of wheat and barley SG resulted in giving a Higher Heating Value (HHV) of 21.80 and 21.86 MJ/kg at 540 and 460oC, which is considerably more in comparison to their virgin counterparts. This suggested route thus has a potential for further up-gradation of waste bio-mass for use as an intermediate fuel or as a raw material source for producing other bio-chemicals