Faculty Publications
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Item Artificial neural network based modeling to evaluate methane yield from biogas in a laboratory-scale anaerobic bioreactor(Elsevier Ltd, 2016) Nair, V.V.; Dhar, H.; Kumar, S.; Thalla, A.K.; Mukherjee, S.; Wong, J.W.C.The performance of a laboratory-scale anaerobic bioreactor was investigated in the present study to determine methane (CH4) content in biogas yield from digestion of organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW). OFMSW consists of food waste, vegetable waste and yard trimming. An organic loading between 40 and 120 kg VS/m3 was applied in different runs of the bioreactor. The study was aimed to focus on the effects of various factors, such as pH, moisture content (MC), total volatile solids (TVS), volatile fatty acids (VFAs), and CH4 fraction on biogas production. OFMSW witnessed high CH4 yield as 346.65 L CH4/kg VS added. A target of 60–70% of CH4 fraction in biogas was set as an optimized condition. The experimental results were statistically optimized by application of ANN model using free forward back propagation in MATLAB environment. © 2016 Elsevier LtdItem Life cycle assessment of municipal solid waste management options for India(Elsevier Ltd, 2019) Khandelwal, H.; Thalla, A.K.; Kumar, S.; Kumar, R.Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tool can be used for environmental assessment of Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) system. The present study aims to evaluate the impact of MSWM system in Nagpur city, India under four different scenarios. i.e., composting combined with landfilling (S1), material recovery facility (MRF) & composting combined with landfilling (S2), MRF & anaerobic digestion (AD) combined with landfilling (S3) and MRF, AD & composting combined with landfilling (S4) using LCA tool. The sensitivity analysis was also performed for evaluating the influence of recycling rate of valuable resources in all the considered scenarios. The scenarios were compared using Gabi 8.5.0.79 model and CML-1A impact characterization method. S2 was found to have the least environmental impacts on global warming, human toxicity, eutrophication, and photochemical ozone creation potential categories. The sensitivity analysis indicated an inversely proportional relation between change in recycling rate and total environmental burdens. © 2019 Elsevier LtdItem Co-digestion of Food Waste and Switchgrass for Biogas Potential: Effects of Process Parameters(Springer editorial@springerplus.com, 2020) Uma, S.; Thalla, A.K.; Devatha, C.P.Abstract: Anaerobic digestion is the technology aimed at organic substrates conversion to biomethane potential. The co-digestibility performance of food waste and switchgrass at different mix ratio and the temperature is evaluated in the present study. To address this performance evaluation, the response of volatile acid groups’ viz. acetic, propionic, butyric and valeric acids, pH related to the biomethane potential. The highest methane yield observed with 1:1 FW: SG is 267 ml/g VSadded at mesophilic and 234 ml/g VSadded at thermophilic condition respectively. Methane yield has a positive response on co-digestion is confirmed by digestion performance index (DPI). Also, process parameters viz acetic and butyric acid concentrations were in the range 15–70% and 18–70% for the loadings at 35 °C and 55 °C respectively. SG showed the highest butyric acid concentration, and in contrast, the utmost acetic acid produced from both FW and SG respectively. Even though at higher acid concentrations, less significant inhibition on biomethane yields is observed during performance evaluation. Result revealed that co-digestion at 1:1 ratio yields the improved performance with FW and SG at mesophilic as well as in thermophilic condition. Food waste is predominant and achieves the second highest methane yield compared to switchgrass in single substrate digestion. This study confirms the presence of slow and fast biodegradable organic matters have an equal contribution to the biomethane yield. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.] © 2018, Springer Nature B.V.Item Experimental studies on cyclic variations in a single cylinder diesel engine fuelled with raw biogas by dual mode of operation(Elsevier Ltd, 2020) Jagadish, C.; Gumtapure, V.In this research work, cycle-by-cycle variations of a single cylinder, diesel engine operated with raw biogas is investigated. The biogas used to run the engine is obtained from food waste and as the composition of 88.10%-CH4 + 11.895%-CO2. To study the combustion characteristics, the naturally aspirated diesel engine is converted into dual mode by inducting the biogas into the intake manifold for different proportions from BG20 to BG60 with a step of 10% is mixed with air (i.e. BG60-60% of biogas by mass) respectively. Combustion parameters are measured and recorded by the means of the data acquisition system (DAQ) for 100 combustion cycle. By determining the parameters such as standard deviation, coefficient of variation and return map, the cycle variability is analyzed. From the experimental result, it is observed that as the engine is operated at higher loads and as the biogas is increased from BG20 to BG60 the cyclic variations for maximum cylinder pressure (Pmax) and indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP) increases. Coefficient of variation of Pmax for BG20 and BG40 is lower by 2.3% and 11.98% as compared to diesel. From time return map, BG40 showed good combustion stability and lesser NOx emission compared to diesel. © 2020 Elsevier LtdItem Experimental investigation of methane-enriched biogas in a single cylinder diesel engine by the dual fuel mode(Taylor and Francis Ltd., 2022) Chandrashekar, J.; Gumtapure, V.In this experimental work characteristic such as performance, combustion and emission of a single cylinder, four-stroke constant speed, direct injection, water-cooled diesel engine is investigated. The engine is operated by dual fuel mode using methane-enriched biogas (88.10%-CH4 + 11.89%-CO2) obtained from the food waste. Biogas (BG) is inducted into the engine at intake manifold with various mixtures like BG20, BG30 and BG40 mixed with air (i.e. BG40-40% of CH4 by mass respectively) at actual injection timing of 27.5° before top dead centre (bTDC) for different loads. The performance, combustion and emission characteristics of the engine operated by dual fuel mode were experimentally investigated, and compared with respect to diesel. By observing the experimental results, BG40 was optimized on the basis of lesser emissions and improved performance. BG40 showed lesser brake thermal efficiency and higher brake specific energy consumption than BG20 and BG30 for all loads. On the other hand, BG40 showed lower BTE by 15.5% and 15.62% compared to diesel at 3/4th and full load. Whereas the cylinder peak pressure for BG40 is higher than diesel by 5.36% and the net heat release rate is 14.9% higher than the diesel at full load. BG40 emitted higher carbon monoxide (CO) emissions than diesel by 5% at full load. The nitrogen oxide (NOx) emission for BG40 was lesser by 26.60% than diesel at full load, whereas the soot emission was 22.71% lower than diesel at full load respectively. © 2022 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.Item Effects of chemical pretreatments on material solubilization of Areca catechu L. husk: Digestion, biodegradability, and kinetic studies for biogas yield(Academic Press, 2022) Vannarath, A.; Thalla, A.K.This study aimed to understand the pretreatment-aided anaerobic digestion of lignocellulosic residues and to assess the substrate solubilization capacity of pretreatment processes. We evaluated the feasibility of biogas production using chemically pretreated Areca catechu L. (Arecanut husk, AH). AH was pretreated for 24h at two different temperatures—25 °C and 90 °C with four different chemicals viz. H2SO4 (acidic), NaOH (alkaline), H2O2 (oxidative), and ethanol in 1% H2SO4 (organosolv) under each temperature. AH solubilization assessment included analyses of parameters such as volatile solids to total solids (VS:TS) ratio, soluble chemical oxygen demand, total phenolic content, and biomass composition. Alkaline pretreatment of AH at 90 °C resulted in the maximum biogas yield of 683.89mL/gVS, which was 2.3 times more than that obtained using raw AH without pretreatment. Methane content of biogas produced using AH pretreated with 2–10% of NaOH was found to be between 71.53% and 75.06%; methane content of biogas using raw AH was 62.31%. In order to describe the AH degradation patterns, biogas production potential from pretreated AH was evaluated using bacterial kinetic growth models (First-order exponential, logistic, transference, and modified Gompertz models). The modified Gompertz and logistic models (correlation coefficient >0.99) were found to have the best fit of all kinetic models for the cumulative experimental biogas curve. We formulated a multiple linear regression equation depicting the biodegradability index (BI) as a technical tool to determine biomethane production; BI is represented as a function of biomass composition (cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin), with a high correlation (>0.95). Based on our analyses of AH pretreatment and substrate utilization for biogas production, we propose that the biochemical composition of lignocellulosic residues should be carefully considered to ensure their biodegradability when subjected to anaerobic digestion. © 2022 Elsevier LtdItem Effect of dry torrefaction pretreatment of the microwave-assisted catalytic pyrolysis of biomass using the machine learning approach(Elsevier Ltd, 2022) Ramesh, R.; Suriapparao, D.V.; Sankar Rao, C.S.; Sridevi, V.; Kumar, A.This study employs the Leave-One-Out cross-validation approach to build a machine-learning model using polynomial regression to predict pyro product yield through microwave-assisted pyrolysis of sawdust over KOH catalyst and graphite powder a susceptor. The determination of coefficient (R2) validates the developed models. All the developed models achieved a high prediction accuracy with R2 > 0.93, which signifies that the experimental values are in good agreement with the predicted one. The dependence of the catalyst loading and pretreatment temperature on dominating process parameters such as heating rate, pyrolysis temperature, susceptor thermal energy, and pyro products, namely bio-oil, biochar, and biogas, are explored. The yield of biochar is reduced; however, bio-oil and biogas are enhanced as the catalyst loading increased. On the other hand, increasing the temperature of pretreated sawdust decreased bio-oil and biogas yields while increasing biochar yields. Further, microwave conversion efficiency, and susceptor thermal energy increased with increased catalyst quantity and pretreatment temperatures of sawdust. It was observed that the average heating rate was increased by increasing the catalyst quantity while maintaining the same pyrolysis time until pretreatment temperatures of 150 °C were reached, after which the heating rate dropped due to the continuous microwave energy input to the system. © 2022 Elsevier LtdItem Experimental Study on the Effect of Injection Timing on a Dual Fuel Diesel Engine Operated With Biogas Derived From Food Waste(American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), 2022) Chandrashekar, J.; Gumtapure, V.The present work emphasizes the effects of injection timing on the characteristics of a 5.2-kW powered four-stroke diesel engine using biogas and its heat loss analysis. The biogas is obtained from food waste consisting of methane (CH4)-88.1% and carbon dioxide (CO2)-11.8% as the composition. The biogas (BG) is selected by mass basis ranging from 20% to 60% with 10% increments and is used to operate the engine by dual-fuel mode. The effect of three injection timings such as 25.5 deg (retarded), 27.5 deg (actual), and 29.5 deg (advanced) before top-dead center (bTDC) under dual-mode operation to enhance the properties of the engine is studied, and the results are compared with diesel mode at actual injection timing. Maximum brake thermal efficiency of 30.1% was observed for BG20 operated at 29.5-deg bTDC injection timing (IT). The dual mode operated at the injection timing of 29.5-deg bTDC showed an increase in cylinder pressure compared to diesel by 11.9% at full load conditions, whereas carbon monoxide emission was lower by 5.2% at 29.5-deg bTDC IT than diesel, and nitrogen oxide emission was lower at 25.5 deg bTDC IT than diesel mode by 45%. Besides, at 75% engine load, the least amount of heat losses was observed for BG50 exhibiting effective conversion of fuel energy into equivalent work higher than that of diesel by 2.2%, respectively. © © 2022 by ASME.Item Co-digestion of mushroom compost with switchgrass using solid-state anaerobic digester(ICE Publishing, 2023) Nair, R.R.; Thalla, A.K.; Nair, V.V.Spent mushroom compost (SMC) already broken down into smaller particles by fungal action is an ideal material for producing biogas. Two cycles of five solid-state anaerobic digesters (SS-ADs) with different mix-ratio of SMC and switchgrass (SG) were operated at feedstock-to-effluent ratio of 2 at a temperature 35 ± 2°C. The total solids concentration of the digester was kept at 17%. Initial biogas production observed during the start-up of the digester confirmed the presence of readily available extractives for digestion. In the first cycle, the highest methane yield was observed in SMC 0 (0% SMC + 100% SG) of 28.82 l/kg VS/d and the lowest yield was observed in SMC 4 (100% SMC + 0% SG) as 10.32 l/kg VS/d. The substrate containing 100% SG (SMC 0) recorded the highest cumulative biogas yield of 295.43 l/kg VS in 63 days. The digesters with higher SMC fraction showed lower methane production, low pH value and high volatile fatty acids content upon decomposition. The SS-ADs having SMC/SG of 50 : 50 showed more than 2 times methane production in comparison with SS-ADs having SMC as sole substrate. An estimation of volumetric productivity also established a linear relationship with the SMC/SG ratio. © 2023 Emerald Publishing Limited: All rights reserved.