Catalytic Innovation in Microfinance for Inclusive Growth: Insights from SKS Microfinance

Microfinance offers a means for reaching the poor who are left out of the formal financial sector. A fundamentally new way is needed to create a scalable and sustainable business model to meet this unmet need – a catalytic innovation. Our study focused on Swayam Krishi Sangam (SKS), an archetype of a catalytic innovator. The insights gained from our three-year longitudinal study led to the proposed framework for a catalytic innovator encompassing five factors: customer focus on the poor and social entrepreneurship for the social mission; operational innovation, information technology and human capital management for scaling and financial sustainability

Management of Coal Fly Ash in Remediation Process

The present research relates to class of adsorbents obtained by systematic biopolymer modification of cenospheres transfigured from coal fly ash (CFA): an immense waste by-product of coal based thermal power plant, method of preparation thereof and their use in wastewater treatment contaminated by tanneries, distilleries, cosmetics, textiles, plastics, pulp and paper industries, paints, electroplating and food processing industries effluents. Removal percentage of disperse dyes had better correlated with Langmuir isotherm, tested among Freundlich, Temkin and Redlich-Peterson isotherm which indicated saturated monolayer attachment of dye molecules onto the surface of adsorbent with maximum capacity 500.4 and 500.0 mg/g for Disperse Orange 25 (DO) and Disperse Blue 79:1 (DB) dyes, respectively. The uptake rate of dye molecules followed pseudo-second order kinetics in all cases. Recovery of dye molecules was completed best in three cycles with acetic acid for CFA and cenospheres, with Di-chloromethane for CNAC and in four cycles with non-polar solvent (chloroform) for zeolite and CNCH nanocomposite. The used adsorbents could easily be dumped into landfill with in concrete pit liming, or can also be used in brick making to minimize the environmental risk

Information Systems to Support “Door-step Banking”: Enabling Scalability of Microfinance to Serve More of the Poor at the Bottom of the Pyramid

Microfinance provides financial services to the extremely poor who are not served by banks. At the heart of microfinance is microcredit which provides small loans to the unbanked poor to seed small local businesses. Microfinance may help alleviate poverty because access to finance has a positive impact on economic development. The unmet need of the poor for financial services spawned over 11,000 microfinance institutions (MFIs) by 2010, but 90 percent of these MFIs are small with fewer than 10,000 clients. This article presents three case examples of MFIs in India that deployed information systems (IS) to increase the scale of their operations. Each example illustrates how IS helped MFIs achieve financial sustainability through scaling despite the necessity of using “door-step banking” which requires the MFI’s agents to visit clients in remote areas. By presenting microfinance examples that impact the economic empowerment of the poor, this article addresses the dearth of research on the use of IS to effect social change at the bottom of the pyramid. The article’s subject matter also provides engaging material for IS coursework and teaching

Hexacyanoferrate(III) as a Primary Standard for the Determination of Sb(III) in Bicarbonate Medium

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Effect of nitrate metal (Ce, Cu, Mn and Co) precursors for the total oxidation of carbon monoxide

The ambient temperature carbon monoxide oxidation is one of the important topics in the present scenario. In this paper, we prepared various types of catalysts from the precursors of cobalt nitrate, cerium nitrate, copper nitrate and manganese nitrate for the oxidation of CO. Among the prepared catalysts, the cerium nitrate precursor showed the best performance for CO oxidation at low temperature. The activity of the catalysts was measured in different calcination conditions like stagnant air, flowing air and reactive calcination (4.5% CO in air). The activity test was done in the reactor under the following reaction conditions: 100 mg of catalyst, 2.5% CO in the air and the reaction temperature was increased from ambient to a higher value at which complete oxidation of CO was achieved. The characterization of the catalyst was done by several techniques like XRD, FTIR, SEM-EDX, XPS and BET. The order of activity for different catalysts was as follows: Ce-Oxide > Mn-Oxide > Cu-Oxide > Co-Oxide

Simultaneous Control of NOx-Soot by Substitutions of Ag and K on Perovskite (LaMnO3) Catalyst

The different Ag and K substituted perovskite catalysts including base catalyst were LaMnO3 by the solid state method and the diesel soot was prepared in the laboratory. Their structures and physico-chemical properties were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), BET, SEM, H2-TPR, and XPS techniques. The Ag Substituted at A-site perovskite structured catalysts are more active than other type of catalysts for the simultaneous soot-NOX reaction, When Ag and K are simultaneously introduced into LaMnO3 catalyst, soot combustion is largely accelerated, with the temperature (Tm) for maximal soot conversion lowered by at least 50 °C, moreover, NOX reduction by soot is also facilitated. The high activity of La0.65Ag0.35MnO3 perovskite catalyst is attributed to presence of metallic silver in the catalyst. The activity order of Ag doped LaMnO3 is as follows La0.65Ag0.35MnO3 > La0.65Ag0.2MnO3 > La0.65Ag0.4MnO3 > La0.65Ag0.1MnO3. The dual substitution of silver and potassium in place of La in LaMnO3 gives better activity than only silver doped catalyst. In a series of La0.65AgxK1-xMnO3, the optimum substitution amount of K is for x=0.25. The single and doubled substituted perovskite catalyst proved to be effective in the simultaneous removal of NOX and soot particulate, the two prevalent pollutants in diesel exhaust gases in the temperature range 350-480 °C.

Effect of Preparation Conditions on the Catalytic Activity of CuMnOx Catalysts for CO Oxidation

The hopcalite (CuMnOx) catalyst is a well-known catalyst for oxidation of CO at ambient temperature. It has prepared by co-precipitation method and the preparation parameters were like Copper/Manganese (Cu:Mn) molar ratios, drying temperature, drying time, calcination temperature and calcination time has an influence on activity of the resultant catalyst. The activity of the catalyst was measured in flowing air calcinations (FAC) conditions. The reaction temperature was increased from ambient to a higher value at which complete oxidation of CO was achieved. The particle size, weight of catalyst and CO flow rate in the air were also influenced by the activity of the catalyst for CO oxidation. The characterizations of the catalysts were done by several techniques like XRD, FTIR, BET, SEM-EDX and XPS. These results were interpreted in terms of the structure of the active catalyst. The main aim of this paper was to identify the optimum preparation conditions of CuMnOx catalyst with respect to the performance of catalyst for CO oxidation. Copyright © 2017 BCREC Group. All rights reserved Received: 9th January 2017; Revised: 24th May 2017; Accepted: 25th May 2017; Available online: 27th October 2017; Published regularly: December 2017 How to Cite: Dey, S., Dhal, G.C., Mohan, D., Prasad, R. (2017). Effect of Preparation Conditions on the Catalytic Activity of CuMnOx Catalysts for CO Oxidation. Bulletin of Chemical Reaction Engineering & Catalysis, 12 (3): 431-451 (doi:10.9767/bcrec.12.3.900.437-451

Effect of Preparation Conditions on the Catalytic Activity of CuMnOx Catalysts for CO Oxidation

The hopcalite (CuMnOx) catalyst is a well-known catalyst for oxidation of CO at ambient temperature. It has prepared by co-precipitation method and the preparation parameters were like Copper/Manganese (Cu:Mn) molar ratios, drying temperature, drying time, calcination temperature and calcination time has an influence on activity of the resultant catalyst. The activity of the catalyst was measured in flowing air calcinations (FAC) conditions. The reaction temperature was increased from ambient to a higher value at which complete oxidation of CO was achieved. The particle size, weight of catalyst and CO flow rate in the air were also influenced by the activity of the catalyst for CO oxidation. The characterizations of the catalysts were done by several techniques like XRD, FTIR, BET, SEM-EDX and XPS. These results were interpreted in terms of the structure of the active catalyst. The main aim of this paper was to identify the optimum preparation conditions of CuMnOx catalyst with respect to the performance of catalyst for CO oxidation.

Low Temperature Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) of NOx Emissions by Mn-doped Cu/Al2O3 Catalysts

The 15 mol% Cu/Al2O3 catalysts with different Mn doping (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, mol%) were prepared using PEG-300 surfactant following evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) method. Calcination of precursors were performed in flowing air conditions at 500 ºC. The catalysts were characterized by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Scanning Electron Microscope Energy Dispersive X-Ray (SEM-EDX), Fourier Transform Infra Red (FTIR), and N2 physisorption. The catalysts activities were evaluated for H2 assisted LPG-SCR of NO in a packed bed tubular flow reactor with 200 mg catalyst under the following conditions: 500 ppm NO, 8 % O2, 1000 ppm LPG, 1 % H2 in Ar with total flow rate of 100 mL/min. Characterization of the catalysts revealed that surface area of 45.6-50.3 m2/g, narrow pore size distribution (1-2 nm), nano-size crystallites, Cu2+ and Mn2+ phases were principal active components. Hydrogen enhanced significantly selective reduction of NO to N2 with LPG over 1.0 mol % Mn-Cu/Al2O3 giving 95.56 % NO reduction at 150 ºC. It was proposed that the synergistic interaction between H2 and LPG substantially widened the NO reduction temperature window and a considerable increase in both activity and selectivity. Negligible loss of catalyst activity was observed for the 50 h of stream on run experiment at 150 ºC. The narrow pore size distribution, thermal stability of the catalyst and optimum Mn doping ensures good dispersion of Cu and Mn over Al2O3 that improved NO reduction in H2-LPG SCR system.

Study of Hopcalite (CuMnOx) Catalysts Prepared Through A Novel Route for the Oxidation of Carbon Monoxide at Low Temperature

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a poisonous gas, recognized as a silent killer. The gas is produced by incomplete combustion of carbonaceous fuel. Recent studies have shown that hopcalite group is one of the promising catalysts for CO oxidation at low temperature. In this study, hopcalite (CuMnOx) catalysts were prepared by KMnO4 co-precipitation method followed by washing, drying the precipitate at different temperatures (22, 50, 90, 110, and 120 oC) for 12 h in an oven and subsequent calcination at 300 oC in stagnant air, flowing air and in a reactive gas mixture of (4.5% CO in air) to do the reactive calcination (RC). The prepared catalysts were characterized by XRD, FTIR, SEM-EDX, XPS, and BET techniques. The activity of the catalysts was evaluated in a tubular reactor under the following conditions: 100 mg catalyst, 2.5% CO in air, total flow rate 60 mL/min and temperature varying from ambient to a higher value, at which complete oxidation of CO was achieved. The order of calcination strategies based on activity for hopcalite catalysts was observed to be as: RC > flowing air > stagnant air. In the kinetics study of CuMnOx catalyst prepared in RC conditions the frequency factor and activation energy were found to be 5.856×105 (g.mol)/(gcat.h) and 36.98 kJ/gmol, respectively.