Biosorption potential of natural, pyrolysed and acid-assisted pyrolysed sugarcane bagasse for the removal of lead from contaminated water

Lead (Pb) is a ubiquitous pollutant which poses serious threats to plants, animals and humans once entered into the food chain via contaminated industrial effluents on their discharge into the surface of water bodies and/or geological materials. This study aimed to examine and compare the biosorption potential of natural sugarcane bagasse (NB), pyrolysed sugarcane bagasse (PB) and acid assisted pyrolysed sugarcane bagasse (APB) for the removal of Pb from contaminated water. To explore this objective, a series of batch experiments were conducted at various adsorbent mass (0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0 g per 100 ml contaminated water), initial Pb concentration (7, 15, 30, 60 and 120 ppm), and contact time (7, 15, 30, 60 and 120 min). Results revealed that all the tested bio-sorbents have potential to adsorb and remove Pb ions from the contaminated water. In this regard, APB proved more effective since it removed 98% of Pb from aqueous solution at initial Pb concentration of 7 ppm and mass of 0.25 g per 100 ml of aqueous solution. The respective values in case of NB and PB were 90 and 95%. For a given adsorbent type, Pb adsorption decreased by increasing the mass from 0.25 to 1.0 g per 100 ml of aqueous solution. However, the greatest Pb removal occurred at adsorbent mass of 1.0 g per 100 ml of aqueous solution. Initial Pb concentration had a great impact on Pb adsorption and removal by adsorbent. The former increased and the latter decreased with the increase in initial Pb concentration from seven to 120 ppm. At seven ppm Pb concentration, maximum Pb removal took place irrespective to the adsorbent type. Out of the total Pb adsorption and removal, maximum contribution occurred within 15 min of contact time between the adsorbate and adsorbent, which slightly increased till 30 min, thereafter, it reached to equilibrium. Application of equilibrium isotherm models revealed that our results were better fitted with Freundlich adsorption isotherm model. Overall, and for the reasons detailed above, it is concluded that sugarcane bagasse has capabilities to adsorb and remove Pb ions from contaminated water. Its bio-sorption potential was considerably increased after pyrolysis and acid treatment

Accident Prevention and Reporting System Using GSM (SIM 900D) and GPS (NMEA 0183)

The Rapid growth of technology has made our lives easier. This advancement in technology also increased the traffic hazards. Hence the ratio of road accidents take place frequently increases that cause immense loss of life due to poor emergency facilities. Main causes behind these road accidents include: lack of training institutes, unskilled drivers, poor road conditions, use of cell phone during driving, over loading and poor governmental plans in this regard. Our research provides a solution for accident detection and prevention for human life safety. It enables intelligent detection of an accident at any place and reports about the accident on predefined numbers. Our system consists of two parts, alarming part and messaging part. The hardware includes SONAR ranging modules, vibration sensor, three modules GPS receiver (NMEA), Microcontroller (AT89S51), GSM modem (SIM 900D) and an Alarm. When distance is too short between the vehicle and obstacle then alarm will be “ON ” as an indicator to move vehicle in other direction which is safer but when a vehicle faces accident despite of alarm, immediately vibration sensor will detect the signal and then Microcontroller sends the alert message through the GSM modem including the location to predefined numbers that can be reserved for a rescue team. Our designed syste

Effects of the Pore Morphology on Multiphase Fluid Displacement in Porous Media─A High-Resolution Modeling Investigation

[Image: see text] Advances in computational and image acquisition capabilities have made direct simulation of multiphase fluid flow through porous media possible. An example is application of volume of fluid modeling on images produced using the X-ray computed micro-tomography technique. Analysis of such high-resolution (both temporal and spatial) data sets provides new insights into pore-scale dynamics of previously less well-known processes. We present the outcomes of a high-resolution direct-simulation two-phase fluid displacement study performed on a series of five two-dimensional images of sandy porous media produced using erosion and dilation algorithms. This has enabled us to study the pore-scale dynamics systematically in models that are similar in connectivity but different in the morphology (pore sizes and aspect ratio). Our results show that the drainage and imbibition processes result in very distinct fluid displacement patterns in these models at the pore scale. As a result of drainage, the more open (eroded grains) models accommodate large oil clusters, while the tighter (dilated grains) models trap smaller oil clusters. The imbibition process is dominated by oil trapping in two ways: (i) bypassing larger oil clusters in the eroded models and (ii) local trapping of smaller clusters in the dilated models. This behavior is shown to arise from the relatively larger average aspect ratios of the dilated models compared to those of the eroded models. This promotes snap-off at pore throats (in competition with piston-like displacement), resulting in local trapping of the non-wetting phase. Both of these pore-scale trapping regimes seen here allow trapping of oil in as much as 50% of the pore space. Through the use of erosion and dilation operations, we show that a power–law relationship exists between the average pore size and the average grain size for these sandy media. This relationship is useful in designing engineered porous materials where pore sizes need to be estimated based on grain sizes

Financial Hazard Prediction Due to Power Outages Associated with Severe Weather-Related Natural Disaster Categories

Severe weather conditions not only damage electric power infrastructure, and energy systems, but also affect millions of users, including residential, commercial or industrial consumers. Moreover, power outages due to weather-related natural disasters have been causing financial losses worth billions of US dollars. In this paper, we analyze the impact of power outages on the revenue of electric power suppliers, particularly due to the top five weather-related natural disasters. For this purpose, reliable and publicly available power outage events data are considered. The data provide the time of the outage event, the geographic region, electricity consumption and tariffs, social and economic indicators, climatological annotation, consumer category distribution, population and land area, and so forth. An exploratory analysis is carried out to reveal the impact of weather-related disasters and the associated electric power revenue risk. The top five catastrophic weather-related natural disaster categories are investigated individually to predict the related revenue loss. The most influencing parameters contributing to efficient prediction are identified and their partial dependence on revenue loss is illustrated. It was found that the electric power revenue associated with weather-related natural disasters is a function of several parameters, including outage duration, number of customers, tariffs and economic indicators. The findings of this research will help electric power suppliers estimate revenue risk, as well as authorities to make risk-informed decisions regarding the energy infrastructure and systems planning

Financial Hazard Prediction Due to Power Outages Associated with Severe Weather-Related Natural Disaster Categories

Severe weather conditions not only damage electric power infrastructure, and energy systems, but also affect millions of users, including residential, commercial or industrial consumers. Moreover, power outages due to weather-related natural disasters have been causing financial losses worth billions of US dollars. In this paper, we analyze the impact of power outages on the revenue of electric power suppliers, particularly due to the top five weather-related natural disasters. For this purpose, reliable and publicly available power outage events data are considered. The data provide the time of the outage event, the geographic region, electricity consumption and tariffs, social and economic indicators, climatological annotation, consumer category distribution, population and land area, and so forth. An exploratory analysis is carried out to reveal the impact of weather-related disasters and the associated electric power revenue risk. The top five catastrophic weather-related natural disaster categories are investigated individually to predict the related revenue loss. The most influencing parameters contributing to efficient prediction are identified and their partial dependence on revenue loss is illustrated. It was found that the electric power revenue associated with weather-related natural disasters is a function of several parameters, including outage duration, number of customers, tariffs and economic indicators. The findings of this research will help electric power suppliers estimate revenue risk, as well as authorities to make risk-informed decisions regarding the energy infrastructure and systems planning

Removal of chromium(VI) from wastewater through ion exchange. Kinetic and scale up studies

Chromium(VI) ions were removed from industrial wastewater. In this regard, a rig was fabricated carrying alkaline anion resin. Various experiments were carried out by varying pH, temperature and volumetric flow rate of solution by employing a rig to study the kinetics of the ion exchange process. The rate constant (k) and maximum solid phase concentration of exchanged solute (q0) were calculated using the Thomson equation to scale up the purification process of industrial runoff of chromium(VI) from the tanning, photography and ceramic industry. Experimental optimization revealed that developed setup will remove chromium(VI) to a level of 5 mg/dm3 from 300 mg/dm3 in 40 000 dm3 of wastewater. To achieve the best results for the flow rate of 10 000 3 3/day, 12.03 kg of anionic resin were recommended by fixing the pH of the setup at 7.4 while maintaining the treatment temperature at 20 °C

The Diagnostic Value of Artificial Intelligence Ultrasound S-Detect Technology for Thyroid Nodules

This study aimed to evaluate the consistency of ultrasound TI-RADS classification used by sonographers with different ultrasound diagnosis experience in the diagnosis of thyroid nodules and the diagnostic value of using artificial intelligence ultrasound S-Detect technology in the differentiation of benign and malignant thyroid lesions. 100 patients who underwent ultrasound examination of thyroid masses in our hospital from June 2019 to June 2021 and were further punctured or operated on were included in the study. Pathological results were used as the gold standard to evaluate ultrasound S-Detect technology and the value of TI-RADS classification and the combined application of the two in diagnosing benign and malignant thyroid TI-RADS 4 types of nodules, and the consistency of judgments of doctors of different ages is assessed by a Kappa value. There were 128 nodules in 100 patients, 51 benign nodules, and 77 malignant nodules. For senior physicians, the sensitivity of diagnosis using TI-RADS classification combined with ultrasound S-Detect technology is 93.5%, specificity is 94.1%, and accuracy is 93.8%; for middle-aged physicians using TI-RADS classification combined with ultrasound S-Detect technology for diagnosis, the sensitivity is 89.6%, specificity is 92.2%, and accuracy is 90.6%; for junior doctors, the sensitivity of diagnosis using TI-RADS classification combined with ultrasound S-Detect technology is 83.1%, specificity is 88.2%, and accuracy is 85.1%. Regardless of seniority, the combined application of artificial intelligence ultrasound S-Detect technology and TI-RADS classification can improve the diagnostic ability of sonographers for thyroid nodules and at the same time improve the consistency of judgment among physicians, and this is especially important for radiologists