Jute Retting Process: Present Practice and Problems in Bangladesh

Jute retting process is one of the important responsible factors for quality of jute fiber. Scarcity of jute retting water in some areas of Bangladesh is one of the major issues. The main purpose of this study was provided information about the status of present jute retting process as well as mentioned the advantages and disadvantages of different jute retting processes. Data about traditional jute retting process and ribbon retting process were collected through personal interview from the jute growers. The farmers are involved in jute cultivation and majority of them use the traditional method and time consuming approach of retting in ponds/canals. The traditional method hampers the quality of the jute fiber, fish cultivation and pollutes the environment as it decomposes bio-mass. For minimizing the problems of jute retting process, the farmers are now more interested on ribbon retting process. Therefore, for getting quality jute fiber, a low cost ribbon retting technique is essential and farmers could able to produce high quality jute fiber

Electrodeposition of Copper from a Choline Chloride based Ionic Liquid

采用恒电流和恒电位方法，基于含有氯化铜溶液的乙二醇-氯化胆碱或硫脲-氯化胆碱离子液体，室温下在钢阴极上进行了铜的电沉积. 利用扫描电子显微镜和X-射线衍射技术研究了各种实验条件对电沉积的影响以及沉积层的形貌. 结果表明，室温下施加不超过-0.45 V的沉积电位和不超过-4.0 A·m-2的沉积电流密度，可以同时从氯化胆碱基乙二醇和硫脲离子液体中沉积得到非常光滑、有光泽、致密且具有良好结合力、色泽鲜艳的铜金属涂层. 铜的电沉积阴极电流效率约为97%.The electrodeposition of copper from a solution containing copper chloride in either an ethylene glycol (EG)-choline chloride based or a urea-choline chloride based ionic liquid has been carried out onto a steel cathode by constant current and constant potential methods at room temperature. The influences of various experimental conditions on electrodeposition and the morphology of the deposited layers have been investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). It is shown that very smooth, shiny and dense with good adherence and bright metallic coloured copper coatings can be obtained from both EG and urea based ionic liquids at the applied deposition potentials up to -0.45 V and applied deposition current densities up to -4.0 A·m-2 at room temperature. The cathodic current efficiency for the deposition of copper is about 97%.The authors gratefully acknowledge the Ministry of Science and Technology, the People's Republic of Bangladesh for financial support of this work(Grand Reference No. MOSICT/PRC-24/2009-2010/BS-52/172).  The authors gratefully acknowledge the Ministry of Science and Technology, the People's Republic of Bangladesh for financial support of this work(Grand Reference No. MOSICT/PRC-24/2009-2010/BS-52/172).作者联系地址：拉杰沙希大学应用化学和化学工程系，拉杰沙希-6205, 孟加拉国Author's Address: Department of Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi-6205, Bangladesh通讯作者E-mail：[email protected]

Investigation of Harvesting Track and Heading Change of Paddy Harvester using Geo-referenced Data

Global Positioning System (GPS) is a global navigation satellite system that provides geo-location and time information to a GPS receiver anywhere on or near the Earth. Machine operation track, turning pattern, effective time of field operation, field capacity, field efficiency, machine idle time, etc. can be evaluated precisely by using geo-referenced data recorded by a GPS receiver during field operations. Highly precise GPS receivers are expensive and unaffordable for farmers and farm operators in Bangladesh. Keeping this in mind the scope of an affordable and easy to handle GPS receiver was explored in the study. A GPS receiver was used to record the data generated by combine harvester and mini combine harvester during harvesting. Data were recorded during the harvesting period of Boro season (April-May, 2018) at Bangladesh Agricultural University farms and at fields of Voroshakathi village of Wazirpur upazila in Barisal district. GPS receiver recorded data were processed by Microsoft Excel and analyzed by ArcGIS. Heading change analysis of combine harvester and mini combine harvester made it clear that turning of mini combine harvester was easier than combine harvester. It was also visible that change of heading was more frequent and extreme in combine harvester than in mini combine harvester. ArcGIS was used to show the findings on map. Using GPS receiver on harvesting machines can help in decision making for appropriate farm management

DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A MULTI-CROP MANUAL SEED DRILL

A machine which can sow seeds of paddy, wheat, black gram, mung bean, lentil, mustard, and radish in rows was designed and developed at the department of Farm Power and Machinery, Bangladesh Agricultural University. The machine, consisted of two wheels, two drums with a number of peripheral openings in seven rows, furrow opener, furrow closer and handle. There is a provision to change the openings of drum for different types of seed and row spacing for sowing seeds. The average seed rate was found 88 kg/ha, 122 kg/ha, 33 kg/ha, 50 kg/ha, 32 kg/ha, 3.8 kg/ha, and 7.2 kg/ha for paddy, wheat, black gram, mung bean, lentil, radish, and mustard, respectively at normal walking speed.  A relation was found between seed rates and filling condition of drums.  Since the seed rates were not uniform with the change of filling conditions of drums by seeds, agitators were designed and fixed with the shaft to get the better seed rate at different filling conditions. It was found that the best filling conditions of drum to get the uniform seed rate were 0.9-2 kg, 0.25-1.7 kg, 0.8-2 kg, 1.4-2.2 kg, 0.9-2 kg, 1-1.21 kg and 1-2 kg for paddy, wheat, black gram, mung bean, radish, mustard, and lentil, respectively whereas the best operational speed of the machine was found 2-4 km/hr. The average effective field capacities of the machine at a speed of 2.58 km/hr were 0.17 ha/hr (width 80 cm), and 0.24 ha/hr (width 120 cm) having field efficiencies as 82.22% and 78.6%, respectively. The estimated cost of the machine was Tk 5,750 only. The weight of the whole machine was only 14 kg and required a pulling force of only 10.5 Kg which made it to operate at ease by a man or a woman in the field. Overall performance of the multi-crop seed drill machine was found satisfactory

Potential of Peatlands in Bangladesh and Sustainable Management Strategy

Peat is an unconsolidated deposit of semi-carbonized plant matter. Peat is usually found in water-saturated environments and has certainly high moisture content. Haors are peat-dominated areas in Bangladesh, which hold the largest peat reserves of the country. Peat is one of the most important mineral resources worldwide. For the utilization of peat similar to other countries, it is necessary to know its energy and fertility potential and develop a sustainable management strategy for peatlands in Bangladesh. This study mainly focused on the heating and fertility potentials of peat in Bangladesh and on strategies to sustainably manage these peatlands. This study was carried out in the haor-based Katiadi and Mohanganj upazilas in the Kishoreganj and Netrokona districts of Bangladesh, respectively. After peat samples were collected, they were tested in several laboratories such as the Agrivarsity Humboldt Soil Testing Laboratory of the Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) and Institute of Fuel Research and Development (IFRD), Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR), Dhaka, Bangladesh. Selected physical properties of peat were also tested at the Green Energy Knowledge Hub at BAU. Based on the physical and chemical analysis of the collected peat, it has heating and organic fertility potentials. The calorific value of peat (2638 kcal/kg) is higher than that of cow dungs (1797 kcal/kg) and rice husk briquettes (2546 kcal/kg).Minor-scale rural haor communities use peat as domestic cooking fuel and supply for small agrofarms. In some agrofarms, ingredients, such as animal manure, are mixed with the peat to balance organic fertilizer. Our analysis indicates that peat might be used for different purposes, especially for brick fields, which reduces deforestation and saves the environment. The Government of Bangladesh should design a major peat development program to determine systematic approaches for the sustainable use of peat and peatlands in Bangladesh

Jute Retting Process: Present Practice and Problems in Bangladesh

Jute retting process is one of the important responsible factors for quality of jute fiber. Scarcity of jute retting water in some areas of Bangladesh is one of the major issues. The main purpose of this study was provided information about the status of present jute retting process as well as mentioned the advantages and disadvantages of different jute retting processes. Data about traditional jute retting process and ribbon retting process were collected through personal interview from the jute growers. The farmers are involved in jute cultivation and majority of them use the traditional method and time consuming approach of retting in ponds/canals. The traditional method hampers the quality of the jute fiber, fish cultivation and pollutes the environment as it decomposes bio-mass. For minimizing the problems of jute retting process, the farmers are now more interested on ribbon retting process. Therefore, for getting quality jute fiber, a low cost ribbon retting technique is essential and farmers could able to produce high quality jute fiber

Checking surface contamination and determination of electrical resistivity of oxide scale deposited on low carbon steel by DC potential drop method

This article describes about the nature of potential drops (PDs) on carbon steel (SS400) and stainless steel (SUS304). The experimental results showed the remarkable nature of potential drops on oxidized surface. Direct current PD (DCPD) technique was used to investigate the nature of potential drops on the test surfaces with probe contact time. The nature of PDs on oxidized and oxide scale free surfaces were compared for the same experimental conditions and it is easy to compare the contaminated surface with oxide scale free surface and to decide whether the surface is oxidized or clean. Oxidized test surface is considered as two layers of different resistivities. The effect of two layers on the potential drops was illuminated by electrical image method. Electrical resistivity of oxide scale was determined by DCPD technique on the basis of the two layers of different resistivities model. In an attempt to verify the accuracy and prove the validity of the proposed method, the electrical resistivity is also determined at different probe spacing and all the results are shown to be very proximate to one another. © 2010 The Japanese Society for Non-Destructive Inspection

Design and Development of a Drum Seeder cum Granular Urea Applicator for Rural Farmers in Bangladesh

To overcome high human stress and drudgery in rice cultivation, a pull type manually operated drum seeder cum granular urea applicator was designed and developed. It was tested in laboratory and farm for both granular urea (GU) and paddy seeds. It has three drums for applying seeds and two hoppers for applying GU, which were placed over a shaft. A relationship was found between seed rate and filling condition of drum. The seed rate was 25.48 kg/ha when drum was full of seeds and it was 64.9 kg/ha when drum was fill up with one-fourth of its capacity. Metering device consisting four cups of 25.4 mm diameter and made of mild steel (MS) sheet was designed to apply the GU uniformly. Maximum missing percentage and over falling percentage for both the hoppers were found 3%. The average distance between applied GU to GU was found 40 cm. The effective field capacity of the applicator for applying GU was found 0.138 ha/hr at a speed of 2.21 km/hr and field efficiency was found 78.40%. On the other hand, the field capacity of the applicator for applying paddy seeds was found 0.33 ha/hr and field efficiency was found 86.75%. The machine was very easy to pull because pulling force was only 108 N. The weight of the whole applicator was only 12 kg. So it is very easy to carry from one field to another field. It is also very easy to operate manually and rural farmers can easily handle it manually

Hydrogen entry into steel during atmospheric corrosion process

Hydrogen entry and permeation into iron were measured by an electrochemical method during atmospheric corrosion reaction. The hydrogen permeation was enhanced on passive films because the hydrogen adsorption increased by the hydrogen evolution mechanism which is different from that on a bear iron surface. The permeation rate during a wet and dry corrosion cycle showed a maximum in the drying process depending upon the surface pH and the corrosion potential. The pollutant such as Na2SO3 which decreases the pH and the corrosion potential causes an increase in the permeation rate. The mechanism of the change in the permeation rate during the wet and dry cycles is explained by the polarization diagram of the electrode covered by thin water layer. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

<span style="font-size:15.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-weight: bold" lang="EN-GB">Electroless and electrolytic deposition of nickel from deep eutectic solvents based on choline chloride^a </span>

127-133<span style="font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt" lang="EN-GB">The electroless and electrolytic deposition of nickel from a solution containing nickel chloride in either an ethylene glycol (EG)-choline chloride based or a urea-choline chloride based ionic liquids has been carried out onto copper and steel cathodes under different conditions. It is found that electroless nickel deposits of up to several microns has been obtained by dip coating from only EG based ionic liquids at temperature above 70°C without the use of catalysts. The influences of various experimental conditions on electrodeposition and the morphology of the deposited layers have been investigated by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. It is shown that very smooth, shiny and dense with good adherence and bright metallic coloured nickel coatings can be obtained from both EG and urea-based ionic liquids at applied deposition potential of up to -0.50 V and applied deposition current density of up to -5.0 A m-2 between 50°C and 100°C. The cathodic current efficiency for the deposition of Ni is about 97%. </span