Search results for: biomass carbon

Authors: Sónia Ribeiro, Diana Farinha, Hélia Sales, Rita Pontes, João Nunes

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The demand and commitment to sustainability in the agrifood sector introduce news opportunities for new composite materials. Composite materials are emerging as a vital entity for the sustainable development. Polylactic acid (PLA) has been recognized as a potential polymer with attractive characteristics for agrifood sector applications. PLA that can be beneficial for the development of composites, biocomposites, films, porous gels, and so on. The production of PLA from lignocellulosic biomass residues matrix is a key option towards a sustainable and circular bioeconomy and a non-competitive application with feed and food sector. The Flui and BeirInov projects presents news developments in the production of PLA composites to value the Portuguese forest ecosystem, with high amount of lignocellulosic biomass residues and available. A performance production of lactic acid from lignocellulosic biomass undergoes a process of autohydrolysis, saccharification and fermentation, originating a lactic acid fermentation medium with a 72.27g.L-1 was obtained and a final purification of 72%. The high purification PLA from multi lignocellulosic residues representing one economic expensive process, and a new materials and application for the polymers and a combination with others types of composites matrix characteristic is the drive-up for this green market.

Keywords: polylactic acid, lignocellulosic biomass, agrifood, composite materials

Procedia PDF Downloads 52

Authors: Mohammad R. Irshidat, Mohammed H. Al-Saleh, Mahmoud Al-Shoubaki

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This paper investigates the viability of using carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composites modified with carbon nano tubes to strengthening reinforced concrete (RC) columns. Six RC columns was designed and constructed according to ASCE standards. The columns were wrapped using carbon fiber sheets impregnated with either neat epoxy or CNTs modified epoxy. These columns were then tested under concentric axial loading. Test results show that; compared to the unwrapped specimens; wrapping concrete columns with carbon fiber sheet embedded in CNTs modified epoxy resulted in an increase in its axial load resistance, maximum displacement, and toughness values by 24%, 109% and 232%, respectively. These results reveal that adding CNTs into epoxy resin enhanced the confinement effect, specifically, increased the axial load resistance, maximum displacement, and toughness values by 11%, 6%, and 19%, respectively compared with columns strengthening with carbon fiber sheet embedded in neat epoxy.

Keywords: CNT, epoxy, carbon fiber, RC columns

Procedia PDF Downloads 330

Authors: P. Kiran Kumar, S. Vijaya Krishna, Kavita Verma1, V. Himabindu

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Concern about global warming and energy security has led to increased biomass utilization as an alternative feedstock to fossil fuels. Biomass is a promising feedstock since it is abundant and cheap and can be transformed into fuels and chemical products. Microalgae biofuels are likely to have a much lower impact on the environment. Microalgae cultivation using sewage with industrial flue gases is a promising concept for integrated biodiesel production, CO₂ sequestration, and nutrients recovery. Autotrophic, Mixotrophic, and Heterotrophic are the three modes of cultivation for microalgae biomass. Several mechanical and chemical processes are available for the extraction of lipids/oily components from microalgae biomass. In organic solvent extraction methods, a prior drying of biomass and recovery of the solvent is required, which are energy-intensive. Thus, the hydrothermal process overcomes the drawbacks of conventional solvent extraction methods. In the hydrothermal process, the biomass is converted into oily components by processing in a hot, pressurized water environment. In this process, in addition to the lipid fraction of microalgae, other value-added products such as proteins, carbohydrates, and nutrients can also be recovered. In the present study was (Scenedesmus quadricauda) was isolated and cultivated in autotrophic, heterotrophic, and mixotrophically using sewage wastewater and industrial flue gas in batch and continuous mode. The harvested algae biomass from S. quadricauda was used for the recovery of lipids and bio-oil. The lipids were extracted from the algal biomass using sonication as a cell disruption method followed by solvent (Hexane) extraction, and the lipid yield obtained was 8.3 wt% with Palmitic acid, Oleic acid, and Octadeonoic acid as fatty acids. The hydrothermal process was also carried out for extraction of bio-oil, and the yield obtained was 18wt%. The bio-oil compounds such as nitrogenous compounds, organic acids, and esters, phenolics, hydrocarbons, and alkanes were obtained by the hydrothermal process of algal biomass. Nutrients such as NO₃⁻ (68%) and PO₄⁻ (15%) were also recovered along with bio-oil in the hydrothermal process.

Keywords: flue gas, hydrothermal process, microalgae, sewage wastewater, sonication

Procedia PDF Downloads 114

Authors: Suchhanda Ghosh, A. K. Paul

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Nickel, an industrially important metal is not mined in India, due to the lack of its primary mining resources. But, the chromite deposits occurring in the Sukinda and Baula-Nuasahi region of Odhisa, India, is reported to contain around 0.99% of nickel entrapped in the goethite matrix of the lateritic iron rich ore. Weathering of the dumped chromite mining overburden often leads to the contamination of the ground as well as the surface water with toxic nickel. Microbes inherent to this metal contaminated environment are reported to be capable of removal as well as detoxification of various metals including nickel. Nickel resistant fungal isolates obtained in pure form from the metal rich overburden were evaluated for their potential to biosorb nickel by using their dried biomass. Penicillium simplicissimum SAU203 was the best nickel biosorbant among the 20 fungi tested and was capable to sorbing 16.85 mg Ni/g biomass from a solution containing 50 mg/l of Ni. The identity of the isolate was confirmed using 18S rRNA gene analysis. The sorption capacity of the isolate was further standardized following Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherm models and the results reflected energy efficient sorption. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy studies of the nickel loaded and control biomass in a comparative basis revealed the involvement of hydroxyl, amine and carboxylic groups in Ni binding. The sorption process was also optimized for several standard parameters like initial metal ion concentration, initial sorbet concentration, incubation temperature and pH, presence of additional cations and pre-treatment of the biomass by different chemicals. Optimisation leads to significant improvements in the process of nickel biosorption on to the fungal biomass. P. simplicissimum SAU203 could sorb 54.73 mg Ni/g biomass with an initial Ni concentration of 200 mg/l in solution and 21.8 mg Ni/g biomass with an initial biomass concentration of 1g/l solution. Optimum temperature and pH for biosorption was recorded to be 30°C and pH 6.5 respectively. Presence of Zn and Fe ions improved the sorption of Ni(II), whereas, cobalt had a negative impact. Pre-treatment of biomass with various chemical and physical agents has affected the proficiency of Ni sorption by P. simplicissimum SAU203 biomass, autoclaving as well as treatment of biomass with 0.5 M sulfuric acid and acetic acid reduced the sorption as compared to the untreated biomass, whereas, NaOH and Na₂CO₃ and Twin 80 (0.5 M) treated biomass resulted in augmented metal sorption. Hence, on the basis of the present study, it can be concluded that P. simplicissimum SAU203 has the potential for the removal as well as detoxification of nickel from contaminated environments in general and particularly from the chromite mining areas of Odhisa, India.

Keywords: nickel, fungal biosorption, Penicillium simplicissimum SAU203, Indian chromite mines, mining overburden

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Authors: Tejaswi Agarwal, Amritansh Agarwal

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Forest ecosystem plays very important role in the global carbon cycle. It stores about 80% of all above ground and 40% of all below ground terrestrial organic carbon. There is much interest in the extent of tropical forests and their rates of deforestation for two reasons: greenhouse gas contributions and the impact of profoundly negative biodiversity. Deforestation has many ecological, social and economic consequences, one of which is the loss of biological diversity. The rapid deployment of remote sensing (RS) satellites and development of RS analysis techniques in the past three decades have provided a reliable, effective, and practical way to characterize terrestrial ecosystem properties. Global estimates of tropical deforestation vary widely and range from 50,000 to 170,000km2 /yr Recent FAO tropical deforestation estimates for 1990–1995 cite 116,756km2 / yr globally. Remote Sensing can prove to be a very useful tool in monitoring of forests and associated deforestation to a sufficient level of accuracy without the need of physically surveying the forest areas as many of them are physically inaccessible. The methodology for the assessment of forest cover using digital image processing (ERDAS) has been followed. The satellite data for the study was procured from Indian institute of remote Sensing (IIRS), Dehradoon in the digital format. While procuring the satellite data, care was taken to ensure that the data was cloud free and did not belong to dry and leafless season. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) has been used as a numerical indicator of the reduction in ground biomass. NDVI = (near I.R - Red)/ (near I.R + Red). After calculating the NDVI variations and associated mean, we have analysed the change in ground biomass. Through this paper, we have tried to indicate the rate of deforestation over a given period of time by comparing the forest cover at different time intervals. With the help of remote sensing and GIS techniques, it is clearly shown that the total forest cover is continuously degrading and transforming into various land use/land cover category.

Keywords: remote sensing, deforestation, supervised classification, NDVI, change detection

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Authors: Mario Belseran

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The issue of climate change become world attention where one of them increase in air temperature due to greenhouse gas emissions. This climate change is caused by gases in the atmosphere, one of which is CO2. DKI Jakarta as the capital has a dense population with a variety of existing land use. Land use that is dominated by settlements resulting in fewer green space, which functions to absorb atmospheric CO2. Image interpretation SPOT-7 is used to determine the greenness level of vegetation on a green space using the vegetation index NDVI, EVI, GNDVI and OSAVI. Measuring the diameter and height of trees were also performed to obtain the value of biomass that will be used as the CO2 absorption value. The CO2 absorption value that spread in Jakarta are classified into three classes: high, medium, and low. The distribution pattern of CO2 absorption value at green space in Jakarta dominance in the medium class with the distribution pattern is located in South Jakarta, East Jakarta, North Jakarta and West Jakarta. The distribution pattern of green space in Jakarta scattered randomly and more dominate in East Jakarta and South Jakarta

Keywords: carbon dioxide, DKI Jakarta, green space, SPOT-7, vegetation index

Procedia PDF Downloads 256

Authors: Xia Fang

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Arid and semiarid areas of China (ASAC) have experienced significant land-use/cover changes (LUCC), along with intensified climate change. However, LUCC and climate changes and their individual and interactive effects on carbon stocks have not yet been fully understood in the ASAC. This study analyses the carbon stocks in the ASAC during 1980 - 2020 using the specific arid ecosystem model (AEM), and investigates the effects of LUCC and climate change on carbon stock trends. The results indicate that in the past 41 years, the ASAC carbon pool experienced an overall growth trend, with an increase of 182.03 g C/m2. Climatic factors (+291.99 g C/m2), especially the increase in precipitation, were the main drivers of the carbon pool increase. LUCC decreased the carbon pool (-112.27 g C/m2), mainly due to the decrease in grassland area (-2.77%). The climate-induced carbon sinks were distributed in northern Xinjiang, on the Ordos Plateau, and in Northeast China, while the LUCC-induced carbon sinks mainly occurred on the Ordos Plateau and the North China Plain, resulting in a net decrease in carbon sequestration in these regions according to carbon pool measurements. The study revealed that the combination of climate variability, LUCC, and increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration resulted in an increase of approximately 182.03 g C/m2, which was mainly distributed in eastern Inner Mongolia and the western Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Our findings are essential for improving theoretical guidance to protect the ecological environment, rationally plan land use, and understand the sustainable development of arid and semiarid zones.

Keywords: AEM, climate change, LUCC, carbon stocks

Procedia PDF Downloads 49

Authors: Yumei Wu, Xiaoyan Dang, Shenglong Yang, Shengmao Zhang

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The East China Sea is one of four main seas in China, where there are many fishery resources. Some important fishing grounds, such as Zhousan fishing ground important to society. But the eco-environment is destroyed seriously due to the rapid developing of industry and economy these years. In this paper, about twenty-year satellite data from MODIS and the statistical information of marine environment from the China marine environmental quality bulletin were applied to do the research. The chlorophyll-a concentration data from MODIS were dealt with in the East China Sea and then used to analyze the features and variations of plankton biomass in recent years. The statistics method was used to obtain their spatial and temporal features. The plankton biomass in the Yangtze River estuary and the Taizhou region were highest. The high phytoplankton biomass usually appeared between the 88th day to the 240th day (end-March - August). In the peak time of phytoplankton blooms, the Taizhou islands was the earliest, and the South China Sea was the latest. The intensity and period of phytoplankton blooms were connected with the global climate change. This work give us confidence to use satellite data to do more researches about the China Sea, and it also provides some help for us to know about the eco-environmental variation of the East China Sea and regional effect from global climate change.

Keywords: the East China Sea, phytoplankton biomass, temporal and spatial variation, phytoplankton bloom

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Authors: Ekaterina Artiukhina, Panagiotis Grammelis

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Torrefaction of biomass pellets is considered as a useful pretreatment technology in order to convert them into a high quality solid biofuel that is more suitable for pyrolysis, gasification, combustion and co-firing applications. In the course of torrefaction the temperature varies across the pellet, and therefore chemical reactions proceed unevenly within the pellet. However, the uniformity of the thermal distribution along the pellet is generally assumed. The torrefaction process of a single cylindrical pellet is modeled here, accounting for heat transfer coupled with chemical kinetics. The drying sub-model was also introduced. The non-stationary process of wood pellet decomposition is described by the system of non-linear partial differential equations over the temperature and mass. The model captures well the main features of the experimental data.

Keywords: torrefaction, biomass pellets, model, heat, mass transfer

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Authors: Omar Alelweet

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Carbon emissions are quantified in terms of carbon dioxide equivalents, generated through a specific activity or accumulated throughout the life stages of a product or service. Given the growing concern about climate change and the role of carbon dioxide emissions in global warming, this initiative aims to create awareness and understanding of the impact of human activities and identify potential areas for improvement regarding the management of the carbon footprint on campus. Given that trees play a vital role in reducing carbon emissions by absorbing CO₂ during the photosynthesis process, this paper evaluated the contribution of each tree to reducing those emissions. Collecting data over an extended period of time is essential to monitoring carbon dioxide levels. This will help capture changes at different times and identify any patterns or trends in the data. By linking the data to specific activities, events, or environmental factors, it is possible to identify sources of emissions and areas where carbon dioxide levels are rising. Analyzing the collected data can provide valuable insights into ways to reduce emissions and mitigate the impact of climate change.

Keywords: sustainability, green building, environmental impact, CO₂

Procedia PDF Downloads 31

Authors: Ji Sun Kim, Jae Ho Baek, Kyeong Ho Kim, Ji Hae Ha, Seong Soo Hong, Jung-Wook Park, Man Sig Lee

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Carbon supported palladium catalysts have been used in many industrial reactions, especially for hydrogenation in the fine chemical industry. Porous carbons had been widely used as catalyst supports due to its higher surface area and larger pore volume. The specific surface area, pore structure and surface chemical functional groups of porous carbon affects metal dispersion and particle size. In this paper, we confirm the effect of support texture on the dispersion of Pd. Pd catalyst supported on activated carbon having various specific surface area were characterized by BET, XRD and FE-TEM. Catalyst activity and dispersion of prepared catalyst were evaluated on the basis of the CO adsorption capacity by CO-chemisorption. As concluding remark to this part of our study, let us note that specific area of carbon play important role on the synthesis of Pd/C catalyst/.

Keywords: carbon, dispersion, Pd/C, specific are, support

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Authors: Mercedeh Malekzadeh

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Scrap tires are the source of wastes that cause the environmental problems. The major components of these tires are rubber and carbon black. These components can be used again for different applications by utilizing physical and chemical processes. Pyrolysis is a way that converts rubber portion of scrap tires to oil and gas and the carbon black recovers to pyrolytic carbon black. This pyrolytic carbon black can be used to reinforce rubber and metal, coating preparation, electronic thermal manager and so on. The porous structure of this carbon black also makes it as a suitable choice for heavy metals removal from water. In this work, the application of base treated pyrolytic carbon black was studied as an adsorbent for chromium (III) removal from water in a batch process. Pyrolytic carbon blacks in two natural and base treated forms were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive analysis x-ray. The effects of adsorbent dosage, contact time, initial concentration of chromium (III) and pH were considered on the adsorption process. The adsorption capacity was 19.76 mg/g. Maximum adsorption was seen after 120 min at pH=3. The equilibrium data were considered and better fitted to Langmuir model. The adsorption kinetic was evaluated and confirmed with the pseudo second order kinetic. Results have shown that the base treated pyrolytic carbon black obtained from scrap tires can be used as a cheap adsorbent for removal of chromium (III) from the water.

Keywords: chromium (III), pyrolytic carbon, scrap tire, water

Procedia PDF Downloads 172

Authors: R. C. Ferreira, H. H. C. De Lima, A. A. Cândido, O. M. Couto Junior, P. A. Arroyo, K. Q De Carvalho, G. F. Gauze, M. A. S. D. Barros

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Removal of the widespread used drug paracetamol from water was investigated using activated carbon originated from dende coconut mesocarp and babassu coconut mesocarp. Kinetic and equilibrium data were obtained at different values of pH. Babassu activated carbon showed higher efficiency due to its acidity and higher microporosity. Pseudo-second order model was better adjusted to the kinetic results. Equilibrium data may be represented by Langmuir equation. Lower solution pH provided better removal efficiency as the carbonil groups may be attracted by the positively charged carbon surface.

Keywords: adsorption, activated carbon, babassu, dende

Procedia PDF Downloads 338

Authors: Lukáš Plošek, Jaroslav Hynšt, Jaroslav Záhora, Jakub Elbl, Antonín Kintl, Ivana Charousová, Silvia Kovácsová

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Compost can influence soil fertility and plant health. At the same time compost can play an important role in the nitrogen cycle and it can influence leaching of mineral nitrogen from soil to underground water. This paper deals with the influence of compost addition and mineral nitrogen fertilizer on leaching of mineral nitrogen, nitrogen availability in microbial biomass and plant biomass production in the lysimetric experiment. Twenty-one lysimeters were filed with topsoil and subsoil collected in the area of protection zone of underground source of drinking water - Březová nad Svitavou. The highest leaching of mineral nitrogen was detected in the variant fertilized only mineral nitrogen fertilizer (624.58 mg m-2), the lowest leaching was recorded in the variant with high addition of compost (315.51 mg m-2). On the other hand, losses of mineral nitrogen are not in connection with the losses of available form of nitrogen in microbial biomass. Because loss of mineral nitrogen was detected in variant with the least change in the availability of N in microbial biomass. The leaching of mineral nitrogen, yields as well as the results concerning nitrogen availability from the first year of long term experiment suggest that compost can positive influence the leaching of nitrogen into underground water.

Keywords: nitrogen, compost, biomass production, lysimeter

Procedia PDF Downloads 324

Authors: Ayuko Itsuki, Sachiyo Aburatani

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The seasonal (January, April, July and October) and monthly soil respiration rate and the monthly litter fall amounts were examined in the laurel-leaved (B_B-1) and Cryptomeria japonica (B_B-2 and PW) forests in the Kasugayama Hill Primeval Forest (Nara, Japan). The change of the seasonal soil respiration rate corresponded to that of the soil temperature. The soil respiration rate was higher in October when fresh organic matter was supplied in the forest floor than in April in spite of the same temperature. The seasonal soil respiration rate of B_B-1 was higher than that of B_B-2, which corresponded to more numbers of bacteria and fungi counted by the dilution plate method and by the direct count method by microscopy in B_B-1 than that of B_B-2. The seasonal soil respiration rate of B_B-2 was higher than that of PW, which corresponded to more microbial biomass by the direct count method by microscopy in B_B-2 than that of PW. The correlation coefficient with the seasonal soil respiration and the soil temperature was higher than that of the monthly soil respiration. The soil respiration carbon was more than the litter fall carbon. It was suggested that the soil respiration included in the carbon dioxide which was emitted by the plant root and soil animal, or that the litter fall supplied to the forest floor included in animal and plant litter.

Keywords: field soil respiration rate, forest soil, litter fall, mineralization rate

Procedia PDF Downloads 264

Authors: M. Z. Shazana, R. Rosazley, M. A. Izzati, A. W. Fareezal, I. Rushdan, A. B. Suriani, S. Zakaria

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There is an increasing interest in the development of flexible energy storage for application of Carbon Nanotubes and nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC). In this study, nanocomposite is consisting of Carbon Nanotube (CNT) mixed with suspension of nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) from Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch (OPEFB). The use of Carbon Nanotube (CNT) as additive nanocomposite was improved the conductivity and mechanical properties of nanocomposite from nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC). The nanocomposite were characterized for electrical conductivity and mechanical properties in uniaxial tension, which were tensile to measure the bond of fibers in nanocomposite. The processing route is environmental friendly which leads to well-mixed structures and good results as well.

Keywords: carbon nanotube (CNT), nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC), mechanical properties, electrical conductivity

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Authors: Reza Tirsadi Librawan, Tara Vergita Rakhma

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The increasing demand for energy and concern of global warming are intertwined issues of critical importance. With the pressing needs of clean, efficient and cost-effective energy conversion processes, an alternative clean energy source is needed. Biomass is one of the preferable options because it is clean and renewable. The efficiency for biomass conversion is constrained by the relatively low energy density and high moisture content from biomass. This study based on bio-based resources presents the Biomass Direct Chemical Looping Combustion Process (BDCLC), an alternative process that has a potential to convert biomass in thermal cracking to produce electricity and CO2. The BDCLC process using iron-based oxygen carriers has been developed as a biomass conversion process with in-situ CO2 capture. The BDCLC system cycles oxygen carriers between two reactor, a reducer reactor and combustor reactor in order to convert coal for electric power generation. The reducer reactor features a unique design: a gas-solid counter-current moving bed configuration to achieve the reduction of Fe2O3 particles to a mixture of Fe and FeO while converting the coal into CO2 and steam. The combustor reactor is a fluidized bed that oxidizes the reduced particles back to Fe2O3 with air. The oxidation of iron is an exothermic reaction and the heat can be recovered for electricity generation. The plant design’s objective is to obtain 5 MW of electricity with the design of the reactor in 900 °C, 2 ATM for the reducer and 1200 °C, 16 ATM for the combustor. We conduct process simulation and analysis to illustrate the individual reactor performance and the overall mass and energy management scheme of BDCLC process that developed by Aspen Plus software. Process simulation is then performed based on the reactor performance data obtained in multistage model.

Keywords: biomass, CO2 capture, direct chemical looping combustion, power generation

Procedia PDF Downloads 481

Authors: O. M. Couto Junior, I. Matos, I. M. Fonseca, P. A. Arroyo, E. A. Silva, M. A. S. D. Barros

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This study was the adsorption of paracetamol from aqueous solutions on fixed beds of activated carbon from babassy coconut shell. Several operation conditions on the shape of breakthrough curves were investigated and proposed model is successfully validated with the literature data and obtained experimental data. The initial paracetamol concentration increases from 20 to 50 mg.L-1, and the break point time decreases, tb, from 18.00 to 10.50 hours. The fraction of unused bed length, HUNB, at break-through point is obtained in the range of 1.62 to 2.81 for 20 to 50 mg.L-1 of initial paracetamol concentration. The presence of Ca+2 and Mg+2 are responsible for increasing the hardness of the water, affects significantly the adsorption kinetics, and lower removal efficiency by adsorption of paracetamol on activated carbons. The axial dispersion coefficients, DL, was constants for concentrated feed solution, but this parameter has different values for deionized and hardness water. The mass transfer coefficient, Ks, was increasing with concentrated feed solution.

Keywords: paracetamol, adsorption, water hardness, activated carbon.

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Authors: N. Veerappan

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Seasonal variations of sea grasses and physico-chemical parameters were studied from April 2011 to March 2012. Samples were collected in four different seasons, namely post monsoon (January-March), summer (April-June) premonsoon (July-September) and monsoon (October-December) from the Uppanar estuary. Three species of sea grass biomass were measured during the study period: Halophila ovalis (215.3 g/m2 - 38.5 g/m2), Halophila beccarii (75.2 g/m2 –30.1 g/m2) and Halodule pinifolia (65.4 g/m2 - 26.5 g/m2), respectively. Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) showed that NO2, NO3 PO4, and SiO4 influenced Halophila ovalis biomass distribution, whereas for Halophila beccarii and Halodule pinifolia, atmospheric temperature, water temperature, salinity, pH and DO proved important.

Keywords: sea grass, species biomass, Uppanar estuary, water quality

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Authors: Seyyed Ershad Moradi, Javad Khodaveisi, Atefeh Nasrollahpour

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In this study, the highly ordered mesoporous carbon molecular sieve with high surface area and pore volume have been synthesized and modified by TiO₂ doping. The titanium oxide modified mesoporous carbon (Ti-OMC) was characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), BET surface area, DRS also XRD analysis (low and wide angle). Degradation experiments were conducted in batch mode with the variables such as amount of contact time, initial solution concentration, and solution pH. The optimal conditions for the degradation of methyl red (MR) were 100 mg/L dye concentration, pH of 7, and 0.12 mg/L of TiO₂ modified mesoporous carbon photocatalyst dosage.

Keywords: mesoporous carbon, photodegradation, surface modification, titanium oxide

Procedia PDF Downloads 169

Authors: Melike Yaylacı, Tuğba Bilgin

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Against the climate crisis, an increasing number of countries are working on green energy, carbon emission measurement, calculation and reduction. The work of industrial organizations with the highest carbon emissions on these issues is increasing. Aim of this paper is calculating carbon emissions of laser cutting machine with cradle-to-grave approach and discuss the potential affects of usage condisions, such as laser power, gas type, gas pressure, on carbon footprint. In particular, this study includes consumption of electricity used in production, laser cutting machine raw materials, and disposal of the machine. In the process of raw material supplying, machine procesing and shipping, all calculations were studied using the Tier1 approach. Laser cutting machines require a specified cutting parameter set for each different material in different thickneses, this parameters are a combination of laser power, gas type, cutting speed, gas pressure and focus point, The another purpose of this study is examine the potential affect of different cutting parameters for the same material in same thickness on carbon footprint.

Keywords: life cycle assessment, carbon emission, laser cutting machine, cutting parameters

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Authors: Linda A. O’Higgins, Astrid Wingler, Jorge Oliveira

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The growth of Chlorella vulgaris was characterized as a function of irradiance in a laboratory turbidostat (1 L) and compared to batch growth in sunlit modules (5–25 L) of the commercial Phytobag photobioreactor. The effects of variable sunlight and culture density were deconvoluted by a mathematical model. The analysis showed that algal growth was light-limited due to shading by external construction elements and due to light attenuation within the algal bags. The model was also used to predict maximum biomass productivity. The manipulative experiments and the model predictions were confronted with data from a production season of a 10m2 pilot-scale photobioreactor, Phytobag (10,000 L). The analysis confirmed light limitation in all three photobioreactors. An additional limitation of biomass productivity was caused by the nitrogen starvation that was used to induce lipid accumulation. Reduction of shading and separation of biomass and lipid production are proposed for future optimization.

Keywords: microalgae, batch cultivation, Chlorella vulgaris, Mathematical model, photobioreactor, scale-up

Procedia PDF Downloads 77

Authors: Christine M. Corrales, Gloria G. Delan, Rachel Luz V. Rica, Alfonso S. Piquero

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Marine protected areas (MPAs) in the study sites were established 8-13 years ago and are presently operational. This study was conducted to gather baseline information on the diversity, density and biomass of coral reef fishes inside and outside the four marine protected areas (MPAs) of Cawayan, Dalaguete; Daan-Lungsod Guiwang, Alcoy; North Granada, Boljoon and Sta. Cruz, Ronda. Coral reef fishes in the MPAs were identified using Fish Visual Census Method. Results of the t-test showed that the mean diversity (fish species/250m2) of target and non-target reef fish species found inside and outside the MPAs were significantly different. Density (ind./1,000m2) of target species inside and outside the MPAs showed no significant difference. Similarly, density of non-target species inside and outside the MPAs also showed no significant difference. This is an indication that fish density inside and outside the MPAs were more or less of the same condition. The mean biomass (kg/1,000m2) of target species inside and outside the MPAs showed a significant difference in contrast with non-target species inside and outside the MPAs which showed a no significant difference. Higher biomass of target fish species belonging to family Caesonidae (fusiliers) and Scaridae (parrotfishes) were commonly observed inside the MPAs. Results showed that fish species were more diverse with higher density and biomass inside the MPAs than the outside area. However, fish diversity and density were mostly contributed by non-target species. Hence, long term protection and management of MPAs is needed to effectively increase fish diversity, density and biomass specifically on target fish species.

Keywords: biomass, density, diversity, marine protected area, target fish species

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Authors: Audrey Ngambia, Ondrej Masek, Valentina Erastova

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Biochar is an amorphous carbon-rich material generated from the pyrolysis of biomass with multifarious properties and functionality. Biochar has shown proven applications in the treatment of flue gas and organic and inorganic pollutants in soil and water/wastewater as a result of its multiple surface functional groups and porous structures. These properties have also shown potential in energy storage and carbon capture. The availability of diverse sources of biomass to produce biochar has increased interest in it as a sustainable and environmentally friendly material. The properties and porous structures of biochar vary depending on the type of biomass and high heat treatment temperature (HHT). Biochars produced at HHT between 400°C – 800°C generally have lower H/C and O/C ratios, higher porosities, larger pore sizes and higher surface areas with temperature. While all is known experimentally, there is little knowledge on the porous role structure and functional groups play on processes occurring at the atomistic scale, which are extremely important for the optimization of biochar for application, especially in the adsorption of gases. Atomistic simulations methods have shown the potential to generate such amorphous materials; however, most of the models available are composed of only carbon atoms or graphitic sheets, which are very dense or with simple slit pores, all of which ignore the important role of heteroatoms such as O, N, S and pore morphologies. Hence, developing realistic models that integrate these parameters are important to understand their role in governing adsorption mechanisms that will aid in guiding the design and optimization of biochar materials for target applications. In this work, molecular dynamics simulations in the isobaric ensemble are used to generate realistic biochar models taking into account experimentally determined H/C, O/C, N/C, aromaticity, micropore size range, micropore volumes and true densities of biochars. A pore generation approach was developed using virtual atoms, which is a Lennard-Jones sphere of varying van der Waals radius and softness. Its interaction via a soft-core potential with the biochar matrix allows the creation of pores with rough surfaces while varying the van der Waals radius parameters gives control to the pore-size distribution. We focused on microporosity, creating average pore sizes of 0.5 - 2 nm in diameter and pore volumes in the range of 0.05 – 1 cm3/g, which corresponds to experimental gas adsorption micropore sizes of amorphous porous biochars. Realistic biochar models with surface functionalities, micropore size distribution and pore morphologies were developed, and they could aid in the study of adsorption processes in confined micropores.

Keywords: biochar, heteroatoms, micropore size, molecular dynamics simulations, surface functional groups, virtual atoms

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Authors: Guilherme M. Pereira, Kimmo Teinïla, Danilo Custódio, Risto Hillamo, Célia Alves, Pérola de C. Vasconcellos

Abstract:

South American large cities often present serious air pollution problems and their atmosphere composition is influenced by a variety of emissions sources. The South American Emissions Megacities, and Climate project (SAEMC) has focused on the study of emissions and its influence on climate in the South American largest cities and it also included Lima (Peru) and Medellin (Colombia), sites where few studies of the genre were done. Lima is a coastal city with more than 8 million inhabitants and the second largest city in South America. Medellin is a 2.5 million inhabitants city and second largest city in Colombia; it is situated in a valley. The samples were collected in quartz fiber filters in high volume samplers (Hi-Vol), in 24 hours of sampling. The samples were collected in intensive campaigns in both sites, in July, 2010. Several species were determined in the aerosol samples of Lima and Medellin. Organic and elemental carbon (OC and EC) in thermal-optical analysis; biomass burning tracers (levoglucosan - Lev, mannosan - Man and galactosan - Gal) in high-performance anion exchange ion chromatography with mass spectrometer detection; water soluble ions in ion chromatography. The average particulate matter was similar for both campaigns, the PM10 concentrations were above the recommended by World Health Organization (50 µg m⁻³ – daily limit) in 40% of the samples in Medellin, while in Lima it was above that value in 15% of the samples. The average total ions concentration was higher in Lima (17450 ng m⁻³ in Lima and 3816 ng m⁻³ in Medellin) and the average concentrations of sodium and chloride were higher in this site, these species also had better correlations (Pearson’s coefficient = 0,63); suggesting a higher influence of marine aerosol in the site due its location in the coast. Sulphate concentrations were also much higher at Lima site; which may be explained by a higher influence of marine originated sulphate. However, the OC, EC and monosaccharides average concentrations were higher at Medellin site; this may be due to the lower dispersion of pollutants due to the site’s location and a larger influence of biomass burning sources. The levoglucosan average concentration was 95 ng m⁻³ for Medellin and 16 ng m⁻³ and OC was well correlated with levoglucosan (Pearson’s coefficient = 0,86) in Medellin; suggesting a higher influence of biomass burning over the organic aerosol in this site. The Lev/Man ratio is often related to the type of biomass burned and was close to 18, similar to the observed in previous studies done at biomass burning impacted sites in the Amazon region; backward trajectories also suggested the transport of aerosol from that region. Biomass burning appears to have a larger influence on the air quality in Medellin, in addition the vehicular emissions; while Lima showed a larger influence of marine aerosol during the study period.

Keywords: aerosol transport, atmospheric particulate matter, biomass burning, SAEMC project

Procedia PDF Downloads 238

Authors: Vikram Singh

Abstract:

This paper aims to take into account carbon tax or cap-and-trade legislation to manage Delhi carbon emissions after a post-Kyoto treaty. This report estimated the influence of the carbon taxes or rebate/compensation cost at the household level. Here, the three possible scenarios will help to comprehend the difference between a straightforward compensation/rebate, and two clearly denoting progressive formula. The straightforward compensation is basically minimizing the regressive applications that will bears on cost. On the other hand, both the progressive formula will generate extra revenue, which will help for feasibility of more efficient, vehicles, appliances and buildings in the low-income household. For the hypothetical case of carbon price $40/tonne, low-income household for both urban and rural region could experience price burden up to 5% and 9% on their income as compared to 3% and 7% for high-income household respectively. The survey report also shown that carbon emission due low-income household are primarily by the substantive requirement like housing and transportation whereas almost 40% emission due to high-income household are by luxurious and non-essential items. The equal distribution of revenue cum incentives will not completely overcome high-income household’s investment in inessential items. However, it will merely help in investing their income in energy efficient and less carbon intensive items. Therefore, the rebate distribution on per capita basis instead on per households will benefit more especially large families at low-income group.

Keywords: household emission, carbon credit, carbon intensity, green house gas emission, carbon generation based insentives

Procedia PDF Downloads 412

Authors: E. M. Hoballah, M. Saber, A. Turky, N. Awad, A. M. Zaghloul

Abstract:

Remediation of cultivated sewage soils in Egypt become an important aspect in last decade for having healthy crops and saving the human health. In this respect, a greenhouse experiment was conducted where contaminated sewage soil was treated with modified forms of 2% bentonite (T1), 2% kaolinite (T2), 1% bentonite+1% kaolinite (T3), 2% probentonite (T4), 2% prokaolinite (T5), 1% bentonite + 0.5% kaolinite + 0.5% rock phosphate (RP) (T6), 2% iron oxide (T7) and 1% iron oxide + 1% RP (T8). These materials were applied as remediative materials. Untreated soil was also used as a control. All soil samples were incubated for 2 months at 25°C at field capacity throughout the whole experiment. Carbon dioxide (CO2) efflux from both treated and untreated soils as a biomass indicator was measured through the incubation time and kinetic parameters of the best fitted models used to describe the phenomena were taken to evaluate the succession of sewaged soils remediation. The obtained results indicated that according to the kinetic parameters of used models, CO2 effluxes from remediated soils was significantly decreased compared to control treatment with variation in rate values according to type of remediation material applied. In addition, analyzed microbial biomass parameter showed that Ni and Zn were the most potential toxic elements (PTEs) that influenced the decreasing order of microbial activity in untreated soil. Meanwhile, Ni was the only influenced pollutant in treated soils. Although all applied materials significantly decreased the hazards of PTEs in treated soil, modified bentonite was the best treatment compared to other used materials. This work discussed different mechanisms taking place between applied materials and PTEs founded in the studied sewage soil.

Keywords: remediation, potential toxic elements, soil biomass, sewage

Procedia PDF Downloads 203

Authors: S. N. Turkmen, A. S. Kipcak, N. Tugrul, E. M. Derun, S. Piskin

Abstract:

Activated carbon is an amorphous carbon chain which has extremely extended surface area. High surface area of activated carbon is due to the porous structure. Activated carbon, using a variety of materials such as coal and cellulosic materials; can be obtained by both physical and chemical methods. The prepared activated carbon can be used for decolorize, deodorize and also can be used for removal of organic and non-organic pollution. In this study, pomegranate peel was subjected to 800W microwave power for 1 to 4 minutes. Also fresh pomegranate peel was used for the reference material. Then ZnCl2 was used for the chemical activation purpose. After the activation process, activated pomegranate peels were used for the adsorption of Zn metal (40 ppm) in the waste water. As a result of the adsorption experiments, removal of heavy metals ranged from 89% to 85%.

Keywords: activated carbon, adsorption, chemical activation, microwave, pomegranate peel

Procedia PDF Downloads 521

Authors: Mana Shrestha, Dhruba Khatri, Pralhad Kunwor

Abstract:

The objective of the study was to explore the vehicle owners’ willingness to pay (WTP) for offsetting carbon that could eventually facilitate local governmental institutions to take further step in environmental conservation. Contingent valuation method was used to find out how much amount people were willing to pay for the carbon service they are getting from providers. Open ended questionnaire was carried out with 181 respondents randomly. The result shows different mean willingness to pay amount depending upon demographic variations like education, occupation, sex and residence but the occupation and the educational status significantly affected the WTP of respondent. Total WTP amount was calculated as 650 NRS.

Keywords: community forest, carbon offset, Kyoto, REDD WTP

Procedia PDF Downloads 281

Authors: Vivek Kumar, Alexander M. Zaitsev

Abstract:

A study on chemical sensing properties of carbon nanofilms on diamond for developing all-carbon chemical sensors is presented. The films were obtained by high temperature graphitization of diamond followed by successive plasma etchings. Characterization of the films was done by Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, and electrical measurements. Fast and selective response to common organic vapors as seen as sensitivity of electrical conductance was observed. The phenomenological description of the chemical sensitivity is proposed as a function of the surface and bulk material properties of the films.

Keywords: chemical sensor, carbon nanofilm, graphitization of diamond, plasma etching, Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy

Procedia PDF Downloads 423