Effect of water flow on concentrator coupled hemispherical basin solar still

This research article briefly epitomizes the augmentation of condensate by adopting enhanced desalination methodology and technological approach pondering extensive limelight on its performance generating revenue added approach to all scale applications. The experiments were conducted to study the water flow over the condensing cover of the hemispherical basin single slope solar still. Two types of measurements were performed; one with cooling and the other without cooling. The hourly and daily productivity are also calculated and reported. The system efficiency ranged between 3% to 33% for experiments without flow and 9% to 43% with flow. It is concluded that the average maximum efficiency is recorded for still with cooling water flow technique. The peak efficiency of the system worked out to be 37.85%. The maximum of total productivity for stills with and without water flow are 1.67 L and 1.5 L respectively which achieved in possible flow rate (0.065 kg/min)

IN VITRO AND OMICS TECHNOLOGIES OPENS A NEW AVENUE FOR DECIPHERING WITHANOLIDE METABOLISM IN WITHANIA SOMNIFERA

Withania somnifera, commonly known as Ashwagandha or winter cherry, is a principal medicinal plant that has been used in Ayurvedic and native medicine. In view of its varied therapeutic prospective, it has also been the subject of considerable modern scientific attention. Ashwagandha roots are an integral of over 200 formulations in Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani medicine, which are used in the treatment of various physiological disorders. The major chemical constituents of this plant, the withanolides, are a group of naturally occurring C28-steroidal lactones. It has been extensively investigated in terms of chemistry and bioactivity profiling. However, there exists only very little fragmentary evidence about the dynamics of withanolide biosynthesis. This review examines different in vitro approaches that had been carried out over past decade of years and newly developed omics technologies for the large scale production of withanolides as well as for the analysis of genes associated with withanolide biosynthesis.Keywords: Withania somnifera, Withanolides, in vitro cultures, Genomics, Transcriptomics, In silico, Proteomics, Metabolomics

Effect of air flow on tubular solar still efficiency

BACKGROUND: An experimental work was reported to estimate the increase in distillate yield for a compound parabolic concentrator-concentric tubular solar still (CPC-CTSS). The CPC dramatically increases the heating of the saline water. A novel idea was proposed to study the characteristic features of CPC for desalination to produce a large quantity of distillate yield. A rectangular basin of dimension 2 m × 0.025 m × 0.02 m was fabricated of copper and was placed at the focus of the CPC. This basin is covered by two cylindrical glass tubes of length 2 m with two different diameters of 0.02 m and 0.03 m. The experimental study was operated with two modes: without and with air flow between inner and outer tubes. The rate of air flow was fixed throughout the experiment at 4.5 m/s. On the basis of performance results, the water collection rate was 1445 ml/day without air flow and 2020 ml/day with air flow and the efficiencies were 16.2% and 18.9%, respectively. FINDINGS: The experimental study was operated with two modes: without and with air flow between inner and outer tubes. The rate of air flow was fixed throughout the experiment at 4.5 m/s. CONCLUSIONS: On the basis of performance results, the water collection rate was 1445 ml/day without air flow and 2020 ml/day with air flow and the efficiencies were 16.2% and 18.9%, respectively

Effect of CuO, MoO3 and ZnO nanomaterial coated absorbers for clean water production

Solar energy is one of the most powerful sources for many sustainable applications. Recently, efficient water distillation has attracted significant attention. The fresh water productivity depends on how efficiently the system harvests the incoming solar energy and converts it into useful heat. In the present work, nano-coated absorber plates (NCAPs) were examined in the single slope solar still (SSSS) for clean water production. The NCAPs were CuO, MoO3 and ZnO, respectively. The CuO-NCAP was fabricated with the thermal evaporation method while the radio-frequency Magnetron Sputtering technique was used to fabricate the MoO3 and ZnO NCAPs. The attained particle size of the CuO, MoO3 and ZnO are 30–34 nm, 25–30 nm and 30–35 nm, respectively. The sphere (CuO), plate (MoO3), and wedge (ZnO) like morphologies are identified with field emission-scanning electron microscope. All the NCAPs and reference solar still were tested under the same environmental conditions. The climatic parameters (solar influx, ambient temperature and wind) and SSSS's temperatures including water temperature (Tw), internal air temperature (Tint-air), inner cover (Tic), outer cover (Toc), and absorber plate temperature (TNCAP) were measured at 30 min intervals with the help of Type-J thermocouples. Herein, we present an evaporative heat transfer (hew), efficiency, and cost analysis of the SSSS with CuO, MoO3 and ZnO-NCAPs. Three different feed waters fetched from the surface well water, hill side well water and hill side pond water were used in this work for evaporation. The result reveals that the evaporation of conventional single slope solar still, CuO, MoO3 and ZnO NCAPs were 2.1 l/m2 day, 2.9 l/m2 day, 2.7 l/m2 day and 2.6 l/m2 day, respectively

EVALUATION OF IN VITRO CYTOTOXIC AND ANTICANCER ACTIVITY OF HEPATOPROTECTIVE POLYHERBAL FORMULATION IN CELL LINE MODEL

Introduction: The use of natural products as anticancer agents has a long history that began with folklore medicine and through the years has been incorporated into traditional and allopathic medicine. Several drugs currently used are derived from medicinal plants. Objective: The main objective of this study is to investigate the cytotoxic potential of hepatoprotective polyherbal formulation in normal and cancer cell lines. Methods: A 3-(4,5-dimethythiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay was utilized to screen the cytotoxic activity. Results: The results revealed that the formulation does not induce much mortality in normal liver and kidney cell lines, and LC50 value of liver cell lines was found 1716.355 μg/ml and kidney cell lines 2464.910 μg/ml. The in vitro anticancer activity was performed on liver, colon, and prostate cancer cell lines, and IC50 values are found 2.077, 3.850, and 11.989 μg/ml, respectively, which show excellent anticancer activity. Conclusion: Based on the results obtained, the hepatoprotective polyherbal formulation is safe for normal cells and cytotoxic for cancer cells. Further, identification and quantification of phytoconstituents responsible for the activity are in progress

COMPARATIVE CHEMOMETRIC PROFILES BETWEEN LEAF TISSUES OF WITHANIA SOMNIFERA CULTURED IN VITRO AND FIELD

Objective: Metabolomic profiling of herbal extracts is indispensable to standardize drugs and to inaugurate the scientific basis of their therapeutic properties. The present study was attempted with an objective to investigate a comparative GC-MS (Gas chromatography–Mass spectrometry) analysis of in vitro and field grown leaf tissues of “Indian ginseng”. Methods: GC-MS often serves the methods of option for screening and quantitative metabolite profiling. In the present study, metabolic profiling of methanolic extracts of field and in vitro cultured Withania somnifera (Ashwagandha) leaf tissues were carried out using GC–MS technique. Results: A total number of 39 primary metabolites in leaf were identified. These include alcohols, organic acids, purine, pyrimidine, sugars and putrescine. Highly significant qualitative and quantitative differences were noticed between the leaf tissues cultured in vitro and from the field. Especially, significant elevation in the accumulation of GABA (γ amino butyric acid) and putrescine was recorded in in vitro cultured leaf samples. Conclusion: We conclude that in vitro cultures offers an intrinsic advantage to produce therapeutically valuable compounds, relatively in a short span of time and this principle determine its use as an alternative to field grown sample

Emission Analysis of Chlorella sp. Microalgae Biodiesel with Oxide Nano Additives in Diesel Engine

The Chlorella sp. biodiesel was produced from the microalgae oil via transesterification process. Three combinations were studied. Blend of biodiesel (20%) with diesel (80%) was prepared and denoted as B20. Then the TiO2 nanoparticles were added to each B20 blend samples in a quantity of 50 and 100 ppm using an ultrasonicator. In compliance with the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) fuel requirements, the biodiesel blends have been characterized. In an unaltered four-stroke diesel engine using various loads, the biodiesel blends were studied. The experimental outcomes show a decrease in exhaust emissions in terms of CO, HC, NOx, and Smoke

Emission Analysis of Chlorella sp. Microalgae Biodiesel with Oxide Nano Additives in Diesel Engine

1031-1034The Chlorella sp. biodiesel was produced from the microalgae oil via transesterification process. Three combinations were studied. Blend of biodiesel (20%) with diesel (80%) was prepared and denoted as B20. Then the TiO2 nanoparticles were added to each B20 blend samples in a quantity of 50 and 100 ppm using an ultrasonicator. In compliance with the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) fuel requirements, the biodiesel blends have been characterized. In an unaltered four-stroke diesel engine using various loads, the biodiesel blends were studied. The experimental outcomes show a decrease in exhaust emissions in terms of CO, HC, NOx, and Smoke