Design and techno economic evaluation of biomass gasifier for industrial thermal applications

This paper addresses the design, performance and economic evaluation of biomass based open core downdraft gasifier for industrial process heat application. The gasifier is having feed rate as 90 kg h-1 and producing about 850 MJ h-1 of heat. The gasifier has been installed in M/S Phosphate India Pvt. Limited, Udaipur (27° 42' N, 75° 33' E) for heating and concentrating phosphoric acid. The system is in position to save 20 L of light diesel oil per hour. The techno economics of the designed system is also presented in the paper.Key words: Biomass, gasifier, downdraft, feed stock

Experimental investigation of the performance of the solar tunnel dryer for drying aonla pulp

This article presents the critical design specifications and field performance of an improved solar tunnel dryer for drying aonla plup. The dryer consists of an ultraviolet stabilised semi-transparent polythene sheet of 200-micron thickness with loading capacity of 1 ton of aonla in a batch. Drying of aonla is mainly carried out by traditional method of sun drying, but the use of improved solar tunnel dryer has led to a considerable reduction in drying time and dried aonla of better quality in comparison to aonla dried under the sun or other solar dryer. The results, shown by plotting the variation of air temperature, moisture content, etc. indicate that the dryer performs better with chimneys, exhaust fans, north wall, as they considerably reduce the fluctuations in the drying air temperature with fluctuating solar radiation.aonla pulp; drying rate; performance evaluation; solar tunnel dryers; ultraviolet; wet basis; UV semi-transparent polythene sheet; air temperature; solar radiation.

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Not AvailableA four-year field experiment was conducted in order to assess the productivity and economic potential of five cropping systems, with two tillage (conventional and deep) and four nutrient management [no application, farm yard manure (FYM) at 5 t ha 1, chemical fertilizer (CF), FYM at 5 t ha 1 þ CF] treatments in a hot, arid environment at Bikaner, India. Pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br], cluster bean [Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub.] and moth bean [Vigna aconitifolia (Jacq.) Marechal] were grown in five rotations. The five rotations were: moth beanepearl millet, cluster beanepearl millet, moth beanecluster bean, pearl milletepearl millet and pearl millet þ cluster beanepearl millet þ cluster bean. The moth beanecluster bean cropping system recorded 21e148%, 36e246% and 33e178% higher equivalent yields, return and water use efficiency, respectively than other cropping systems. Deep tillage increased equivalent yields by 20% higher than conventional tillage. The combined application of CF and FYM recorded 15 and 32% higher equivalent yields than their respective sole application. In this hot, arid ecosystem, a legumeelegume system was more productive and profitable than other systems, and higher crop yields could be achieved by combining deep tillage with the integrated use of CF and FYM.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableA field experiment was conducted at Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Regional Research Station , Bikaner during Kharif seasons of 2012 and 2013 on Squash Melon (Tinda) crop under rainfed conditions to evaluate four treatments of Farm Yard Manure viz.,0,20,30 and 40 t ha-1 and three treatment of mulching viz., no mulch ,straw mulch and plastic mulch. Experiment was conducted in split – plot design with three replications using the Tinda cv. Selection 1. Vine length, numbers of fruits per plant and yield of squash melon (Tinda) crop were significantly influenced by FYM, mulching and their interaction during both the years of experiment. Application of FYM recorded significant improvement in yield up to 30 t ha-1. Averaged across mulching, the yield with application of FYM @ 20, 30 and 40 t ha-1 had 43.3, 83.9 and 87.4 % higher yield compared to control. Application of mulch brought significant improvement in yield and its component. The straw mulch recorded highest vine length, numbers of fruits per plant and yield. Plastic and straw mulch had 24.80 and 42.25 % higher yield than no-mulch. The response of mulch varied with level of FYM application. The highest yield was recorded with application of 40 FYM t ha-1 combined with straw mulch, however the difference between FYM 30 t ha-1 and 40 t ha-1 was non-significant under both straw and plastic mulching.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableWater stress is one of the main environmental stress conditions that adversely affect growth and yield of crops. Sulphydryl (-SH) compounds have been reported to induce tolerance to abiotic stress conditions. A two-year (2010 and 2011) experiment was conducted at Bikaner, Rajasthan, India to test whether the exogenous applications of thiourea (500, 750 and 1000 mg L−1) and thioglycolic acid (200, 300 and 400 mg L−1) as a foliar spray would alleviate deleterious effects of water stress on clusterbean (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L.). The -SH-treated plants showed higher membrane stability index, photosynthetic pigment content, photosynthetic capacity and antioxidant enzyme activities and lower lipid peroxidation compared with untreated plants. Compared with untreated plants, the -SH-treated plants had 11–18, 18–30, 17– 57, 25–47, 14–22% higher membrane stability index, total chlorophyll content, antioxidant enzyme activities, net photosynthetic rate and seed yield, respectively; whereas the malondialdehyde content was 10–19% lower. These data suggest that under water deficit stress, exogenous -SH compound application improves photosynthesis by increasing photosynthetic pigment, protects plants against oxidative damage by scavenging reactive oxygen species and minimizing lipid peroxidation by elevated antioxidant enzyme activities. These results indicated the role of -SH compounds in diminishing the negative effects of water deficit on clusterbean and suggest that -SH compounds could be used as a potential bioregulator to improve plant growth and yield under water deficit conditions.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableA field experiment was conducted during the rabi season of 2009-10 and 2010-11. The experiment consisted of two methods of irrigation viz. drip and furrow methods and four type of mulching material treatments viz. plastic mulch (black polyethylene-25micron), hessian cloth mulch (50% shade jute cloth), indigenous plant material (laptodoniaspps.@ 10t/ha) mulch and no mulch (control). Method of irrigation, mulching and their interaction had significant effects on growth, yield attributes and yield. Mean yield averaged across the mulching treatments was 18.3 % higher under drip irrigation than furrow method. Mulching improved the yield from 40 to 71.8 % over no mulch treatment. Among the tested mulching materials, the plastic mulch had the highest improvement in yield (71.8 %) followed by hessian cloth (54.1 %) and indigenous plant material mulch (40 %) over no mulch. Interaction effect between drip irrigation with plastic mulch resulted in significant response in growth, yield attributes and yield of pea as compared to all other treatment combinations. Number of branches per plant, canopy cover and survival percentage of ber was higher in ber + pea cropping system than sole ber.Not Availabl

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