Catalytic Reactive Distillation for the Esterification Process: Experimental and Simulation

In the present study, methyl acetate has been synthesized using esterification of acetic acid with methanol in a continuous packed bed catalytic reactive distillation column in the presence of novel Indion 180 ion exchange resin solid catalyst. The experiments were conducted at various operating conditions like reboiler temperature, reflux ratio, and different feed flow rates of the acetic acid and methanol. The non-ideal pseudo-homogeneous kinetic model has been developed for esterification of acetic acid with methanol in the presence of Indion 180 catalyst. The developed kinetic model was used for the simulation of the reactive distillation column for the synthesis of methyl acetate using equilibrium stage model in Aspen Plus version 7.3. The simulation results were compared with experimental results, and found that there is a good agreement between them. The sensitivity analyses were also carried out for the different parameters of bottom flow rate, feed temperatures of acetic acid and methanol, and feed flow rate of acetic acid and methanol. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Effect of π Orbital on I/V Characteristics and Transmission in Molecular Diode Structures with Au Contacts

The electronic transport properties of electrons in a molecules are observed by using Non equilibrium Green’s function(NEGF). We present a extremely through and careful computational approach well ordered method to do a framework analysis of donor (CH3) and acceptor (CN) molecules connected between the Au(111) contacts, and also observed current progress through molecular devices depends on number of bonds or not. Such observations implementation through not possible by standard quantum chemistry soft wares. The results shows I-V characteristics, Transport spectrum and Transport analysis can effectively tune the molecules works like a conventional semi-conductor based diodes, these results invoke to design the logic gates and logic circuits

Plasmid profiles of mercuric chloride tolerant rhizobia from horse gram (Macrotyloma uniflorum)

Abstract Thirty two rhizobia were isolated from the fresh healthy root nodules of horse gram. They were found to be highly salt tolerant. They were identified as rhizobia by cultural, biochemical and 16S rRNA sequence. The sequences of the four selected isolates were deposited in the NCBI GenBank. The obtained accession numbers were GQ483457, GQ483458, GQ483459 and GQ483460. All the rhizobia were able to grow at 10 ppm mercuric chloride concentration. Four isolates HGR-11, 16, 30 and 31 were used to study the effect of different concentrations of mercuric chloride on the growth of rhizobia. These isolates were able to grow at 30 ppm concentration also. In these isolates, showed maximum growth at 20 ppm than at control. These isolates contained one mega plasmid (~ 22 kb) at 20 ppm mercuric chloride concentration

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Not AvailableThe fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda, has a detrimental effect on the sustainable production of maize, particularly in India's small- and marginal-scale farming systems. FAW has indeed spread throughout India, and currently the primary means of control is pesticide spraying. Given the harmful effects of insecticide spray on natural enemies as well as resurgence and resistance problems, there is a need to develop an effective, eco-friendly, and feasible techniques. A screening experiment was carried out during 2021–22 in an insect screening net house under artificial infestation at Winter Nursery Centre, ICAR-Indian Institute of Maize Research, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, to identify resistant/tolerant maize genotypes to fall armyworm. Twenty-two maize genotypes were evaluated based on the fall armyworm leaf damage score on a scale of 1 to 9, as specified by Davis and Williams (1992), which was later modified by CIMMYT. The pooled mean data of leaf damage score (LDS) per plant varied from 3.93 to 6.84 in CML 71 and CM 501, respectively, and differed significantly from each other. Among the maize genotypes screened, CML 71, CML 67 and DMRE63 recorded significantly lower leaf damage scores of 3.93, 4.00 and 4.17, to fall armyworm. The mean leaf damage score per plant of CML 71, CML 67, DMRE63, CML 561, AEBY-1, CML 335, CML 345, and CML 337 were 3.93, 4.00, 4.17, 4.36, 4.42, 4.57, 4.72, and 4.80, respectively and were categorized as moderately resistant genotypes. These genotypes can be utilized in breeding programmes to develop fall armyworm-resistant/tolerant cultivars.Not Availabl

Seasonal Occurrence of Fall Armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda J.E. Smith) in Maize: The Role of Sowing Dates

Fall armyworm is a destructive insect pest in maize farming and has expanded widely throughout various agroecological zones, which threatens food security. An experiment was carried out at the Winter Nursery (ICAR-IIMR, Hyderabad) field to study the occurrence of fall armyworm on maize single cross hybrid DHM 117 across different sowing dates during kharif and rabi seasons of 2021-22. Weekly observations were made on a whole-plot basis to record the number of plants damaged, the number of larvae, and egg masses per plant. Among the six sowing dates, the crop sown on 2nd August 2021, had a relatively lower mean percent of infestation range (4.02% - 80.37%), a minimum larval count per plant range (0.01 - 0.24), and the least number of egg masses per plant range (0.00 - 0.11). The findings will be helpful in the construction of forecasting models, facilitating the formulation of eco-friendly management tactics to manage fall armyworms in maize