Jeppiaar Engineering College

Biochar has potential as a valuable tool for the agricultural industry with its unique ability to help build soil health, increase physical properties of soil, soil pH, organic carbon content, conserve water and mitigate drought, reduce GHG emission, conserve nutrients, decrease fertilizer requirements, sequester carbon, increase crop productivity and serve as a most preferred habitat for microbes. In this study, three perishable biomass wastes viz. Pea pod (Pisum sativum), cauliflower leaves (Brassica oleracea) and orange peel wastes (Citrus sinensis) were carbonized and characterized for differential application. The biomass was subjected to carbonization at different temperatures from 100 to 600 °C for 1 h. Biomass and biochar samples were characterized for proximate (M, VM, FC, Ash), ultimate (CHNS-O), biochemical properties (Ce, He, Li), thermo gravimetric analysis, pH, EC and bulk density. The biochars were also analyzed through SEM and FTIR for identification of pore size and functional groups. The char yield was high in cauliflower leaf (30.16 %), followed by orange peel (25.54 %) and pea pod (21.154 %) at 300 °C. The total organic carbon (11.61 %), total negative surface anions (4.25 mmol H+ eq/g C) and water holding capacity (200 %) were high in pea pod biochar. The SEM images of biochar samples showed plane cleavage surfaces with broken edges. The surface functional groups of all the three biochar samples were hydroxyl, methyl, carboxylic and alkene groups. The pea pod and cauliflower leaf biochar showed higher values of organic carbon, total surface anions, water holding capacity and mineral content and performed as best soil amendment than orange peel biochar. These biochar can be used as an effective medium for increasing soil carbon, irrigation efficiency and efficient disposal of agricultural waste-biomass.

Investigation of heat transfer behaviour of hybrid nanofluid (HyNF) flow through the tubular heat exchanger was experimentally studied. In this analysis, the effects of thermal characteristics of forced convection, thermal conductivity and heat transfer coefficient were explored. The nanofluid was prepared by dispersing the copper-titanium hybrid nanocomposite (HyNC) in the water. The experiments were performed for various nanoparticle volume concentrations added in the base fluid ranging from 0.1% to 1.0%. The results showed that the convective heat transfer coefficient was found maximum by 48.4% up to 0.7% volume concentration of HyNC.

The current experimental study is aimed to analyze the influence of single-walled Carbon Nano Tubes (CNT) on the emission characteristics of neem biodiesel-fueled (NBD-fueled) diesel engine and the results compared with conventional diesel. Experiments were conducted in a single-cylinder, 4-stroke, diesel engine with an eddy current dynamometer at a constant speed of 1500 rpm. Two samples of CNT are characterized and dispersed into 100% of the NBD in a mass fraction of 50 and 100 ppm using ultrasonicator, and the physicochemical properties were measured. Experimental results indicated that by adding CNT nanoparticles in NBD reduces its NOx, HC, CO, and smoke emission by 9.2%, 6.7%, 5.9%, and 7.8%, respectively, at all load conditions.

The virtues of hybrid composites are higher performances and improved mechanical properties as compared to polymer composites. Hence, it have been extensively used in various applications. However, only a few works reported on the performance of natural fiber-reinforced biocomposite. In this study, the experimental work has been carried out to investigate the mechanical properties, such as tensile, flexural and impact, of randomly oriented Calotropis gigantea Fiber (CGFs) & Palmyra fiber (PFs)-reinforced Phenol-Formaldehyde (PF) hybrid biocomposites. The samples have been prepared by varying the fiber percentages and fiber length by using hand layup method. The fabricated specimens were tested as per ASTM standard. The results illustrate that the addition of palmyra fiber with Calotropis gigantea fiber composites improved the mechanical properties of hybrid composite. Hybridization of Calotropis gigantea Fiber (CGFs) & Palmyra fiber (PFs) was effective at higher fiber volume percentage composites. Variation in fiber length shows effective results in mechanical properties. The water absorption of the composites increased with the increase in the fiber volume percentage, all the composites attained equilibrium state after 120 hours. To understand the failure mechanism of composites during mechanical testing, the failed specimens were examined using Scanning Electron Microscopic (SEM) images. Also, the failure modes and their effects were discussed.

Edge is a basic feature of image. The image edges include rich information that is very significant for obtaining the image characteristic by object recognition. Edge detection refers to the process of identifying and locating sharp discontinuities in an image. So, edge detection is a vital step in image analysis and it is the key of solving many complex problems. In this paper, the main aim is to study the theory of edge detection for image segmentation using various computing approaches based on different techniques which have got great fruits.

This research work evaluates the influence of compression ratio and exhaust gas recirculation on combustion, performance, and emission characteristics of a compression ignition engine powered with diesel/WLDPE oil/1-decanol. A ternary blend was prepared using splash blending technique and the blend ratio was designated as 70% volume of diesel + 20% by volume of WLDPE oil + 10% by volume of 1-decanol called as D70L20DEC10 blend. The experimental trials were carried at three compression ratios (16:1, 17.5:1, and 19:1) and three EGR rates (0%, 10%, and 20%) at the maximum power output of the engine. Results indicated that ignition delay period get shortened as the compression ratio got higher. The in-cylinder pressure and the rate of heat release dropped with escalating EGR rates and increased with the higher compression ratio. In comparison with CR 17.5:1 and CR 16:1, BTE increased by 4% and 6%, respectively, for CR 19:1 operation. CR 19:1 under 0% EGR rate gave diesel equivalent BTE. The NOx emission escalated with increasing CR and reduced upon increasing the EGR rates. At CR 19:1, NOx emission was reduced by 58.82% as EGR grows from 0 to 20%. When compared to CR 17.5:1 and CR 16:1 smoke emission got suppressed by 31.6% and 36%, respectively, with CR 19:1 under 0% EGR operation. On the other hand, smoke emission aggravated with higher EGR rates at all CR . Both HC and CO emission decrease with higher CR and increased with the inclusion of EGR. Finally, CR 19:1 and 10% EGR rate are suggested as the best operating parameters when the engine is fueled with the ternary blend.

The present study utilized the catalytic pyrolysis method for extracting oil from waste high-density polyethylene (WHDPE) plastics. Experiments were carried out with D70H30 (diesel-70%, WHDPE oil-30%) blend under the influence of three start of pilot injection (SoPI) timings [45° before top dead center (bTDC), 50°bTDC, and 55°bTDC] and three pilot fuel injection quantity (PFIQ) (10%, 20%, and 30%) at the engine’s rated power output. Later, the impact of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) (0%, 10%, and 20%) was studied with the optimum SoPI and PFIQ. Experimental results indicated that at SoPI timing of 55°bTDC and at PFIQ of 30%, the brake thermal efficiency (BTE) increased by 8.5%, nitrogen oxides (NOx) increased by 19.25%, while smoke, hydrocarbons (HC), and CO emission got lowered with baseline operation of the blend and found to be best among other modifications. In the next phase of the work, exhaust gas is recirculated at 10% and 20%. The results portray that inclusion of 10% EGR in the intake at SoPI 55°bTDC and at PFIQ 30% has shown 1.7% higher BTE, with 3.7% and 28.9% lower NOx and smoke emission compared to the single main injection of the blend. It is concluded that pilot injection strategy with 30% PFIQ and SoPI timing of 55°bTDC at 10% EGR rate can be adopted to utilize WHDPE oil/diesel in diesel engines effectively.

The present study utilizes (a) recycled low density polyethylene oil extracted through catalytic pyrolysis and (b) 1-decanol and di-n-butyl ether, as a blend component with diesel to power a single-cylinder, light-duty, water-cooled, four-stroke, common rail direct injection diesel engine. Experiments were conducted with two ternary blends and they were designated as (1) D70L20D10 (2) D70L20DNBE10. Later these results were compared with baseline diesel and D70L30 blend. Results indicated that replacing 10% by vol. of LDPE oil in D70L30 blend with 1-decanol and di-n-butyl ether was beneficial in increasing the combustion characteristics of the research engine, ignition delay period of oxygenated blends got shorter when compared to D70L30 blend. Slightly higher peak pressures were observed with the ternary blends than baseline fuels. Brake thermal efficiency of diesel was high at part load, whereas at peak load, D70L20DNBE10 shown 0.7% and 3.1% superior performance than diesel and D70L30 blend respectively. NOx emission for D70L20D10 and D70L20DNBE10 blend was found lower by 17.9% and 5.7% respectively than the D70L30 blend. Smoke opacity of the ternary blend was found to be lower against D70L30 and higher with diesel operations. The study revealed that 1-decanol and di-n-butyl ether could be a potential fuel additives for diesel engines operating with LDPE oil extracted from LDPE plastic waste.

The present study analyzes the emission pattern of Decanol combined Jatropha biodiesel (JBD100) fueled diesel engine and compared with conventional diesel fuel (D100). Experiments were conducted in a single-cylinder, 4-stroke naturally aspirated diesel engine with an eddy current dynamometer at a constant speed of 1800 rpm. Modified fuel was prepared using a mechanical agitator, in which the Decanol concentration was varied from 10 to 20% to JBD100. The physicochemical properties of Decanol combined biodiesel are within ASTM limits. JBD100 promotes a lower level of carbon monoxide (CO) hydrocarbon (HC), and smoke emissions with notable increases in NOx and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. An inclusion of 20% Decanol in JBD100 reduces the NOx, Smoke, CO, and HC emission by 7.4%, 4.4%, 5.7%, and 5.9%, respectively, under full brake power.

When it comes to large-scale renewable energy plants, the future of solar power forecasting is vital to their success. For reliable predictions of solar electricity generation, one must take into consideration changes in weather patterns over time. In this paper, a hybrid model that integrates machine learning and statistical approaches is suggested for predicting future solar energy generation. In order to improve the accuracy of the suggested model, an ensemble of machine learning models was used in this study. The results of the simulation show that the proposed method has reduced placement cost, when compared with existing methods. When comparing the performance of an ensemble model that integrates all of the combination strategies to standard individual models, the suggested ensemble model outperformed the conventional individual models. According to the findings, a hybrid model that made use of both machine learning and statistics outperformed a model that made sole use of machine learning in its performance.

The characteristics of natural fiber reinforced composites such as light weight, non-abrasive, nonflammable, nontoxic, low cost and biodegradable have grabbed the attention of current researchers in the area of composites. The objective of this study is to examine the interlaminar shear strength of the polyester based wood and woven jute hybrid composite. To accomplish this objective, the following parameters such as (i) wood density, (ii) wood weight ratio, (iii) woven jute type, (iv) number of jute layers, (v) cryogenic treatment duration and (vi) alkaline treatment duration, each at three different levels were picked and optimized using the Taguchi method. The fibers were pretreated with 5% of NaOH solution for different length of time to reduce the moisture absorption. The L27 orthogonal array was selected for the chosen parameters and the required composite materials were fabricated using hand lay-up techniques. The fabricated composites were then subjected to cryogenic treatment by immersing in liquid nitrogen at 77 K for different period of time. The interlaminar shear strength of the fabricated hybrid composites was done according to ASTM standard. The morphological features and degree of dispersions of fibers into the matrix of the fabricated hybrid composites were further studied and discussed.

Abstract At present, composites are being utilized on account of simplicity in manufacturing and their characteristics are low weight, non-abrasive, non-flammable and non-harmful. This article attempts to achieve good mechanical properties of the wood and woven jute based natural fiber-reinforced plastics. The required composite materials were fabricated by using a hand layup method. The fabricated laminates were immersed in liquid nitrogen at 77 K for cryogenic treatments. The following parameters are (i) wood density, (ii) wood weight ratio, (iii) woven jute type, (iv) number of jute layers, (v) cryogenic treatment durations and (vi) alkaline treatment durations, each at three different levels were picked for composite development by utilizing the Gray-Taguchi method. Mechanical testing of fabricated laminates was done as per ASTM standards to estimate compressive, double shear and hardness properties. Based on the L 27 (3 6 ) orthogonal array of the Grey Taguchi technique, 27 investigational trials were conducted. According to the Gray relation analysis, 300 kg m −3 of wood density with a weight ratio of 12%, three layers of 350 gsm woven jute, 60 min of cryogenic treatment and 4 h of alkaline treatments resulted in good mechanical strength of the composites. Based on the Analysis of Variance, wood density was identified as the most influencing parameter that contribute up to 35.65% to the improvement of the mechanical strength of hybrid composites. The morphological expositions of NaOH treated hybrid composites and degree of fibers’ dispersion into the matrix were discussed based on Optical and SEM images.

The rapid industrialization and urbanization in the country leads lot of infrastructure development. This process leads to several problems like shortage of construction materials, increased productivity of wastes and other products. This paper deals with the reuse of waste plastics as partial replacement of coarse aggregate in M20 concrete. Usually M20 concrete is used for most constructional works. Waste Plastics were incrementally added in 0%, 2%, 4%, 6%, 8% and 10% to replace the same amount of Aggregate. Tests were conducted on coarse aggregates, fine aggregates, cement and waste plastics to determine their physical properties. Paver Blocks and Solid Blocks of size 200 mm X 150 mm X 60 mm and 200 mm X 100 mm X 65 mm were casted and tested for 7, 14 and 28 days strength. The result shows that the compressive strength of M20 concrete with waste plastics is 4% for Paver Blocks and 2% for Solid Blocks. Keywords: Coarse Aggregate, Fine Aggregate, Paver Blocks, Solid Blocks, Waste Plastics

This study uses cyclohexanol – a high-carbon, cyclic bio-alcohol which is a derivative of lignocellulosic biomass – in blended form with diesel to power a direct-injection single-cylinder diesel engine that is widely used in Indian agricultural sector. Experiments were conducted at the engine’s rated load using the blend composition of cyclohexanol in diesel (10%, 20% and 30% by vol.), EGR (10%, 15%, and 20%) and injection timing (19°, 21° and 23°CA bTDC) as controllable factors. The optimization criterion is to minimize smoke, NOx emissions, and BSFC. Response surface methodology coupled with desirability approach was used to predict and optimize NOx, smoke opacity and BSFC measured from the experiments. The top solutions predicted by desirability approach were validated by confirmatory experiments and were found to describe the experimental data to a reasonable accuracy of within 4%. With reference to diesel operation, it was found that 10% by vol. of cyclohexanol/diesel blend injected at 21°CA bTDC and 10% EGR reduced NOx (43.1%▼) and smoke opacity (32.4%▼) with an increase in BSFC (4%▲). Cyclohexanol/diesel blend at optimum conditions delivered better smoke reduction but with higher NOx and slight increase in BSFC Cyclohexanol/diesel blends can be recommended as a full-time fuel to substitute diesel subject to long-term durability tests in diesel engines.

n-Octanol is a promising biofuel synthesized from biomass with several properties closer to diesel than the more popularly researched n-butanol. This study investigates the effects of injection timing (2°CA advance & retard), EGR (up to 30%) and Oct30 (30% by vol. of n-octanol in diesel) on combustion, performance, and emissions of a DI diesel engine. Results in comparison with diesel indicated Oct30 blend presented an enhanced premixed combustion phasing with higher peaks of pressure and HRR. BSFC was found to be slightly higher for Oct30 blend at all EGR rates. Further, when the injection timing is advanced, the blend produced better BSFC. Oct30 delivered better BTE at all injection timings. NOx and smoke emissions are lower for Oct30 at all conditions. Oct30 could overcome the trade-off between smoke and NOx emissions at a combination of certain EGR and injection timings. It was found that at advanced injection, the reduction in NOx and smoke density was 19.02% and 57.14%, respectively, while BTE increased by 4.6% and BSFC increased by 1.3%. At late injection, a reduction of 50.87% in NOx emissions and 15.87% in smoke density was achieved with a slight drop in BTE by 3.5% and an increase in BSFC by 9.7%.

Brain tumour segmentation is the process of separating the tumour from normal brain tissues. A glioma is a kind of tumour, which fires up in the glial cells of the spine or the brain. This study introduces a technique for classifying the severity levels of glioma tumour using a novel segmentation algorithm, named DeepJoint segmentation and the multi‐classifier. Initially, the brain images are subjected to pre‐processing and the region of interest is extracted. Then, the segmentation of the pre‐processed image is done using the proposed DeepJoint segmentation, which is developed through the iterative procedure of joining the grid segments. After the segmentation, feature extraction is carried out from core and oedema tumours using information‐theoretic measures. Finally, the classification is done by the deep convolutional neural network (DCNN), which is trained by an optimisation algorithm, named fractional Jaya whale optimiser (FJWO). FJWO is developed by integrating the whale optimisation algorithm in fractional Jaya optimiser. The performance of the proposed FJWO–DCNN with the DeepJoint segmentation method is analysed using accuracy, true positive rate, specificity, and sensitivity. The results depicted that the proposed method produces a maximum accuracy of 96%, which indicates its superiority.

This study aims at the effective utilisation of WPO in a light-duty, water-cooled, four-stroke, direct-injection diesel engine. For this purpose, WPO was extracted from mixed waste plastic via catalytic pyrolysis in a lab-scale extraction unit. Neat WPO is well known for its tailpipe carcinogenic smoke emissions, hence in this study WPO is blended with 30% by vol. of oxygenated, high carbon n-octanol derived from ligno-cellulosic biomass and tested under the influence of cold EGR and injection timing corresponding to peak load condition. With reference to diesel operation, it was found that n-octanol addition to WPO injected at 21° CA bTDC with 10% EGR simultaneously reduced smoke emissions by 46.8% and NOx emissions by 1.1% with almost equal brake specific energy consumption (BSEC). Reformulation of WPO with n-octanol derived from ligno-cellulosic biomass feedstock presents an attractive opportunity to utilise both a recycled and a renewable fuel in diesel engines.

Abstract Marine seaweeds are rich source of polysaccharides present in their cell wall and are cultivated and consumed in China, Japan, Korea, and South Asian countries. Brown seaweeds (Phaeophyta) are rich source of polysaccharides such as Laminarin and Fucoidan. In present study, both the laminarin and fucoidan were isolated was yielded higher in PP ( Padina pavonica ) (4.36%) and STM ( Stoechospermum marginatum ) (2.32%), respectively. The carbohydrate content in laminarin and fucoidan was 86.91% and 87.36%, whereas the sulphate content in fucoidan was 20.68%. Glucose and mannose were the major monosaccharide units in laminarin (PP), however, fucose, galactose, and xylose in fucoidan (STM). FT-IR down peaks represent the carbohydrate of laminarin and fucoidan except, for 1219 cm −1 , and 843 cm −1 , illustrating the sulphate groups of fucoidan. The molecular weight of laminarin was 3–5 kDa, and the same for fucoidan was 2–6 kDa, respectively. Both the Fucoidan and Laminarin showed null cytotoxicity on Vero cells. Contrastingly, the fucoidan possess cytotoxic activity on human liver cancer cells (HepG2) (IC 50 —24.4 ± 1.5 µg/mL). Simultaneously, laminarin also shown cytotoxicity on human colon cancer cells (HT-29) (IC 50 —57 ± 1.2 µg/mL). The AO/EB (Acriding Orange/Ethidium Bromide) assay significantly resulted in apoptosis and necrosis upon laminarin and fucoidan treatments, respectively. The DNA fragmentation results support necrotic cancer cell death. Therefore, laminarin and fucoidan from PP and STM were potential bioactive compounds for anticancer therapy.

This paper proposes a new content recommendation system which combines the newly proposed embedded feature selection method and the new Fuzzy Temporal Logic based Decision Tree incorporated Convolutional Neural Network classifier. The newly proposed embedded feature selection called Fuzzy Decision Tree and Weighted Gini-Index based Feature Selection Algorithm (FDTWGI-FSA) that contains the existing incorporated the Fuzzy Decision Tree (FDT) and the Weighted Gini-index based Feature Selection Algorithm (WGIFSA) for getting optimized feature subset. Moreover, an enhanced CNN and Fuzzy Temporal Decision Tree for performing the deep learning process which is able to identify the exact e-content from the huge volume of data with the help of the recommended features by the proposed embedded feature selection method. The exact e-content can be identified after performing the five-layer network structure for extracting the relevant features and it also can be classified by applying the Fuzzy Temporal Decision Tree for the e-learners. Finally, the proposed content recommendation system provides exact content to the e-learners according to their level of understanding and it also satisfies them by providing the exact high level contents. The experiments have been conducted for evaluating the proposed content recommendation system and compared with the existing classifier including the standard CNN.

Pentanol and Hexanol are two excellent biofuels that could be derived from lignocellulosic biomass feedstock without disturbing food-based sources. The present study utilizes these two alcohols as blend constituents with diesel by up to 30% by vol. (designated as Pen30 and Hex30) in a DI diesel engine subject to modifications in injection timing (early and late) and intake air dilution through EGR (up to 30%). The modifications were intended to obtain an optimum performance of the engine. The combustion and performance characteristics of this engine were analyzed with reference to diesel operation. The results indicated that Pen30 blend experienced longer ignition delays, higher peaks of pressure and heat release rates (HRR) than Hex30 at all conditions of EGR. The premixed combustion phasing with the blends were more enhanced followed by numerous HRR spikes during diffusion phasing indicating better combustion. Both the blends delivered better brake thermal efficiencies but with a penalty in fuel consumption. Pen30 delivered better BTE but consumed more than Hex30. NOx emissions of the blends were of the order: Diesel > Pen30 > Hex30. Smoke densities of the blends were of the order: Diesel > Hex30 > Pen30. HC emissions of the blends were of the order: Pen30 > Hex30 > Diesel. CO emissions of the blends followed the trends of smoke emissions. Both these alcohols could be excellent partial substitutes for diesel with minor modifications to the engine subject to long-term tests on durability.