Search results for: rubber wood

Authors: Supanun Kangrang, Kraipat Cheenkachorn, Kittiphong Rattanaporn, Malinee Sriariyanun

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Rice straw is lignocellulosic biomass which can be utilized as substrate for the biogas production. However, due to the property and composition of rice straw, it is difficult to be degraded by hydrolysis enzymes. One of the pretreatment method that modifies such properties of lignocellulosic biomass is the application of lignocellulose-degrading microbial consortia. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of microbial consortia to enhance biogas production. To select the high efficient consortium, cellulase enzymes were extracted and their activities were analyzed. The results suggested that microbial consortium culture obtained from cattle manure is the best candidate compared to decomposed wood and horse manure. A microbial consortium isolated from cattle manure was then mixed with anaerobic sludge and used as inoculum for biogas production. The optimal conditions for biogas production were investigated using response surface methodology (RSM). The tested parameters were the ratio of amount of microbial consortium isolated and amount of anaerobic sludge (MI:AS), substrate to inoculum ratio (S:I) and temperature. Here, the value of the regression coefficient R2 = 0.7661 could be explained by the model which is high to advocate the significance of the model. The highest cumulative biogas yield was 104.6 ml/g-rice straw at optimum ratio of MI:AS, ratio of S:I, and temperature of 2.5:1, 15:1 and 44°C respectively.

Keywords: lignocellulolytic biomass, microbial consortium, cellulase, biogas, Response Surface Methodology (RSM)

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Authors: J. Vasauskaite

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From the perspective of Lithuanian furniture enterprises, the role of energy efficiency is significant as it leads to direct economic benefits, increased competitiveness and higher productivity. There are various possible improvements in energy efficiency in industry: changes in the production process, investment in R&D, implementation of energy-saving technologies or energy management systems. The research aims to contribute the understanding of energy efficiency importance in industry by presenting possible improvements of energy use in different manufacturing process of enterprises. The evaluation methodology included quantitative and qualitative research methods: the comparative and statistical analysis of primary and secondary sources of information. This paper provides the detailed analysis of the energy efficiency development opportunities and challenges in Lithuanian furniture industry. The results of the study show the importance of technological innovations, energy efficiency policies and environmental management strategies in developing energy efficiency within the wood and furniture industry. The analysis of energy efficiency development in Lithuanian furniture industry showed that the industrial activities are influenced by various internal and external factors such as increasing flows of products, human resources and overall management decisions; dynamic growth and increasing competition; emerging need for environmental information. In the light of these factors, Lithuanian furniture industry has undergone significant changes – restructuring, technological advances and business model innovations, allowing it to be more export-oriented and focus on upgrading quality, design and innovation.

Keywords: energy efficiency, energy policy, furniture industry, technological innovation

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Authors: Pisit Poolprasert, Phakin Kubchanan, Keerati Tanruean, Wisanu Thongchai, Yuttasak Chammui, Wirot Likittrakulwong

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Rice insect pests are problems to rice production. Use of chemicals to minimize these problems of insect pests in paddy field can lead to the residue and affect the health of farmers. Therefore, botanical extracts applied for controlling rice serious enemies should be promoted especially use of plant extract as attractants to lure insects. This research aimed to feasibility study of bioattractants from pandanus palm extracts for trapping insect pets using two different trap models, including plastic bottle and yellow sticky traps. Two main growth and development stages of rice, namely tillering and booting stages, were selected and trapped. The results from both trap models revealed that four rice insect species, including Orseolia oryzae (Wood-Mason), Nilaparvata lugens, Recilia dorsalis, and Nephotettix nigropictus from three families (Cecidomyiidae, Cicadellidae and Delphacidae) and two main orders (Diptera and Hemiptera) were exhibited. All rice insect species mentioned could be found from the yellow sticky trap that were higher than in the bottle trap in which only O. oryzae could be only trapped. From this survey, it was indicated that the yellow sticky trap coated with pandanus palm extracts had a promising potential to use as an attractant for the detection of rice paddy insects in the next future.

Keywords: pandanus palm, bioattractant, bottle trap, yellow sticky trap

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Authors: Mona Zaryoun, Mahmood Hosseini, Seyed Mohammad Hassan Khalkhali, Haniyeh Okhovat

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Zegalli houses in Guilan province, northern Iran, are a type of vernacular houses which their foundation, skeleton and walls all have been made of wood. The only houses which could survive the major Manjil-Rudbar earthquake of 1990 with a magnitude of 7.2 were these houses. Regarding this fact, some researchers started thinking of this type of foundations used in these houses to benefit from rocking-wise behavior. On the one hand, the relatively light weight of the houses, have helped these houses to withstand well against seismic excitations. In this paper at first a brief description of Zegalli houses and their architectural features, with emphasis on their foundation is presented. in the next stage foundation of one of these houses is modeled as a sample by a using a computer program, which has been developed in MATLAB environment, and by using the horizontal and vertical accelerograms of a set of selected site compatible earthquakes, a series of time history analysis (THA) are carried out to investigate the behavior of this type of houses against earthquake. Based on numerical results of THA it can be said that even without no sliding at the foundation timbers, only due to the rocking which occurs in various levels of the foundation the seismic response of the house is significantly reduced., which results in their stability subjected to earthquakes with peak ground acceleration of around 0.35g. Therefore, it can be recommended the Zegalli houses are considered as sustainable Iranian vernacular architecture, and it can be recommended that the use of these houses and their architecture and their structural merits are reconsidered by architects as well as civil and structural engineers.

Keywords: MATLAB software, rocking behavior, time history analysis, Zegalli houses

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Authors: Lara A. Alshawawreh, R. Sean Smith, John B. Wood

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This study focuses on the sheltering response in the Middle East, specifically through reviewing two Syrian refugee camps in Jordan, involving Zaatari and Azraq. Zaatari camp involved the rapid deployment of tents and shelters over a very short period of time and Azraq was purpose built and pre-planned over a longer period. At present, both camps collectively host more than 133,000 occupants. Field visits were taken to both camps and the main issues and problems in the sheltering response were highlighted through focus group discussions with camp occupants and inspection of shelter habitats. This provided both subjective and objective research data sources. While every case has its own significance and deployment to meet humanitarian needs, there are some common requirements irrespective of geographical region. The results suggest that there is a gap in the suitability of the required habitat needs and what has been provided. It is recommended that the global international response and support could be improved in relation to the habitat form, construction type, layout, function and critically the cultural aspects. Services, health and hygiene are key elements to the shelter habitat provision. The study also identified the amendments to shelters undertaken by the beneficiaries providing insight into their key main requirements. The outcomes from this study could provide an important learning opportunity to develop improved habitat response for future shelters.

Keywords: culture, post-disaster, refugees, shelters

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Authors: Teng-Chiu Lin, Pei-Jen Lee Shaner, Shin-Yu Lin

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Both forest age and physical damages due to weather events such as tropical cyclones can influence forest characteristics and subsequently its capacity to sequester carbon. Detangling these influences is therefore a pressing issue under climate change. In this study, we compared the compositional and structural characteristics of three forests in Taiwan differing in age and severity of typhoon disturbances. We found that the two forests (one old-growth forest and one secondary forest) experiencing more severe typhoon disturbances had shorter stature, higher wood density, higher tree species diversity, and lower typhoon-induced tree mortality than the other secondary forest experiencing less severe typhoon disturbances. On the other hand, the old-growth forest had a larger amount of woody debris than the two secondary forests, suggesting a dominant role of forest age on woody debris accumulation. Of the three forests, only the two experiencing more severe typhoon disturbances formed new gaps following two 2015 typhoons, and between these two forests, the secondary forest gained more gaps than the old-growth forest. Consider that older forests generally have more gaps due to a higher background tree mortality, our findings suggest that the age effects on gap dynamics may be reversed by typhoon disturbances. This study demonstrated the effects of typhoons on forest characteristics, some of which could negate the age effects and rejuvenate older forests. If cyclone disturbances were to intensity under climate change, the capacity of older forests to sequester carbon may be reduced.

Keywords: typhoon, canpy gap, coarse woody debris, forest stature, forest age

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Authors: Ali Jahanfar, Brajesh Dubey, Bahram Gharabaghi, Saber Bayat Movahed

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Ever increasing population growth of major urban centers and environmental challenges in siting new landfills have resulted in a growing trend in design of mega-landfills some with extraordinary heights and dangerously steep slopes. Landfill failure mobility risk analysis is one of the most uncertain types of dynamic rheology models due to very large inherent variabilities in the heterogeneous solid waste material shear strength properties. The waste flow of three historic dumpsite and two landfill failures were back-analyzed using run-out modeling with DAN-W model. The travel distances of the waste flow during landfill failures were calculated approach by taking into account variability in material shear strength properties. The probability distribution function for shear strength properties of the waste material were grouped into four major classed based on waste material compaction (landfills versus dumpsites) and composition (high versus low quantity) of high shear strength waste materials such as wood, metal, plastic, paper and cardboard in the waste. This paper presents a probabilistic method for estimation of the spatial extent of waste avalanches, after a potential landfill failure, to create maps of vulnerability scores to inform property owners and residents of the level of the risk.

Keywords: landfill failure, waste flow, Voellmy rheology, friction coefficient, waste compaction and type

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Authors: K. Almi, S.Lakel, A. Benchabane, A. Kriker

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The fiber–matrix compatibility can be improved if suitable enforcements are chosen. Whenever the reinforcements have more thermal stability, they can resist to the main processes for wood–thermoplastic composites. This paper is an investigation of effect of different treatment process on the mechanical proprieties and on the thermal stability of date palm leaflets fibers with a view to improve the date palm fiber proprieties used as reinforcement of thermoplastic materials which main processes require extrusion, hot press. To compare the effect of alkali and acid treatment on the date palm leaflets fiber properties, different treatment were used such as Sodium hydroxide NaOH solution, aluminium chloride AlCl3 and acid treatment with HCL solution. All treatments were performed at 70°C for 4h and 48 h. The mechanical performance (tensile strength and elongation) is affected by immersion time in alkaline and acid solutions. The reduction of the tensile strength and elongation of fibers at 48h was higher in acid treatment than in alkali treatment at high concentration. No significant differences were observed in mechanical and thermal proprieties of raw fibers and fibers submerged in AlCl3 at low concentration 1% for 48h. Fibers treated by NaOH at 6% for 4h showed significant increase in the mechanical proprieties and thermal stability of date palm leaflets fibers. Hence, soda treatment is necessary to improve the fibers proprieties and consequently optimize the composite performance.

Keywords: date palm fibers, surface treatments, thermoplastic composites, thermal analysis

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Authors: Praveen K. Khatri, Neha Karanwal, Savita Kaul, Suman L. Jain

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Conversion of biomass through green chemical routes is of great industrial importance as biomass is considered to be most widely available inexpensive renewable resource that can be used as a raw material for the production of bio fuel and value-added organic products. In this regard, acid catalyzed dehydration of biomass derived pentose sugar (mainly D-xylose) to furfural is a process of tremendous research interest in current scenario due to the wider industrial applications of furfural. Furfural is an excellent organic solvent for refinement of lubricants and separation of butadiene from butene mixture in synthetic rubber fabrication. In addition it also serve as a promising solvent for many organic materials, such as resins, polymers and also used as a building block for synthesis of various valuable chemicals such as furfuryl alcohol, furan, pharmaceutical, agrochemicals and THF. Here in a sulfonated polymer impregnated carbon composite solid acid catalyst (P-C-SO3H) was prepared by the pyrolysis of a polymer matrix impregnated with glucose followed by its sulfonation and used for the dehydration of xylose to furfural. The developed catalyst exhibited excellent activity and provided almost quantitative conversion of xylose with the selective synthesis of furfural. The higher catalytic activity of P-C-SO3H may be due to the more even distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons generated from incomplete carbonization of glucose along the polymer matrix network, leading to more available sites for sulfonation which resulted in greater sulfonic acid density in P-C-SO3H as compared to sulfonated carbon catalyst (C-SO3H). In conclusion, we have demonstrated sulfonated polymer impregnated carbon composite (P-C-SO3H) as an efficient and selective solid acid catalyst for the dehydration of xylose to furfural. After completion of the reaction, the catalyst was easily recovered and reused for several runs without noticeable loss in its activity and selectivity.

Keywords: Solid acid , Biomass conversion, Xylose Dehydration, Heterogeneous catalyst

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Authors: Erma Desmaliana, Saptahari Sugiri

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Limited availability of solid timber in large dimensions becomes a problem. The demands of timbers in Indonesia is more increasing compared to its supply from natural forest. It is associated with the issues of global warming and environmental preservation. The uses of timbers from HTI (Industrial Planting Forest) and HTR (Society Planting Forest), such as Jabon, is an alternative source that required to solve these problems. Having shorter lifespan is the benefit of HTI/HTR timbers, although they are relatively smaller in dimension and lower in strength. Engineering Wood Product (EWP) such as glulam (glue-laminated) timber, is required to overcome their losses. Glulam is fabricated by gluing the wooden planks that having a thickness of 20 to 45 mm with an adhesive material and a certain pressure. Glulam can be made a curved beam, is one of the advantages, thus making it strength is greater than a straight beam. This paper is aimed to know the material behavior of curved glue-laminated beam of Jabon timber. Preliminary methods was to gain physical and mechanical properties, and glue spread strength of Jabon timber, which following the ASTM D-143 standard test method. Dimension of beams were 50 mm wide, 760 mm span, 50 mm thick, and 50 mm rise. Each layer of Jabon has a thickness of 5 mm and is glued with polyurethane. Cold press will be applied to beam laminated specimens for more than 5 hours. The curved glue-laminated beams specimens will be tested about the bending behavior. This experiments aims to obtain the increasing of load carrying capacity and stiffness of curved glulam beam.

Keywords: curved glulam beam, HTR&HTI, load carrying, strength

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Authors: Alam Zeb, Glen W. Armstrong, Muhammad Qasim

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Loss of forest cover is one of the most important land cover changes and has been of great concern to policy makers. This study quantified forest cover changes over pre logging ban (1973-1993) and post logging ban (1993-2015) to examine the role of geophysical factors and spatial attributes of land in the two periods. We show that despite a complete ban on green felling, forest cover decreased by 28% and mostly converted to rangeland. Nevertheless, the logging ban was completely effective in controlling agriculture expansion. The binary logistic regression revealed that the south facing aspects at low elevation witnessed more deforestation in the pre-ban period compared to post-ban. Opposite to deforestation, forest degradation was more prominent on the northern aspects at higher elevation during the policy period. Agriculture expansion was widespread in the low elevation flat areas with gentle slope, while during the policy period agriculture contraction in the form of regeneration was observed on the low elevation areas of north facing slopes. All proximity variables, except distance to administrative boundary, showed a similar trend across the two periods and were important explanatory variables in understanding forest and agriculture expansion. The changes in determinants of forest and agriculture expansion and contraction over the two periods might be attributed to the influence of policy and a general decrease in resource availability.

Keywords: forest conservation , wood harvesting ban, logistic regression, deforestation, forest degradation, agriculture expansion, Chitral, Pakistan

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Authors: Iin Mayasari

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This study aims at exploring the influence of aspects of entrepreneurial marketing on a firm’s performance. Entrepreneurs are not only supported by resources control to obtain sustainable competitive advantage, but it should also be supported by intangible resources. Entrepreneurial marketing provides the opportunity for entrepreneurs to proactively find better ways to create value for desired customers, to create innovation, and to build customer equity. Entrepreneurial marketing has the medium between entrepreneurship and marketing, and serves as an umbrella for many of the emergent perspectives on marketing. It has eight underlying dimensions. They are proactiveness, calculated risk-taking, innovativeness, an opportunity focus, entrepreneurial orientation, resource leveraging, customer intensity, and value creating. The research method of the study was a qualitative study by having an interview with 8 small companies in Kudus Region, the Central Java, Indonesia. The interviewees were the owner and the manager of the company that had the scope work of small business enterprise in wood crafting industry. The interview was related to the implementation of the elements of the entrepreneurial marketing. The result showed that the small business enterprises had implemented the elements of entrepreneurial marketing in supporting their daily activities. The understanding based on the theoretical implementation was well executed by the owner and managers. The problems in managing small business enterprises were related to the full support by the government and the branding management. Furthermore, the innovation process should be improved especially the use of internet to promote the product, to expand the market and to increase the firm’s performance.

Keywords: entrepreneurial marketing, innovativeness, risk taking, opportunity focus

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Authors: Lokesh Soni, Sushanta Kumar Sethi, Gaurav Manik

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This work attempts to use molecular simulations to create equilibrated structures of a range of commercially used polymers. Generated equilibrated structures for polyvinyl acetate (isotactic), polyvinyl alcohol (atactic), polystyrene, polyethylene, polyamide 66, poly dimethyl siloxane, poly carbonate, poly ethylene oxide, poly amide 12, natural rubber, poly urethane, and polycarbonate (bisphenol-A) and poly ethylene terephthalate are employed to estimate the correct chain length that will correctly predict the chain parameters and properties. Further, the equilibrated structures are used to predict some properties like density, solubility parameter, cohesive energy density, surface energy, and Flory-Huggins interaction parameter. The simulated densities for polyvinyl acetate, polyvinyl alcohol, polystyrene, polypropylene, and polycarbonate are 1.15 g/cm3, 1.125 g/cm3, 1.02 g/cm3, 0.84 g/cm3 and 1.223 g/cm3 respectively are found to be in good agreement with the available literature estimates. However, the critical repeating units or the degree of polymerization after which the solubility parameter showed saturation were 15, 20, 25, 10 and 20 respectively. This also indicates that such properties that dictate the miscibility of two or more polymers in their blends are strongly dependent on the chosen polymer or its characteristic properties. An attempt has been made to correlate such properties with polymer properties like Kuhn length, free volume and the energy term which plays a vital role in predicting the mentioned properties. These results help us to screen and propose a useful library which may be used by the research groups in estimating the polymer properties using the molecular simulations of chains with the predicted critical lengths. The library shall help to obviate the need for researchers to spend efforts in finding the critical chain length needed for simulating the mentioned polymer properties.

Keywords: Kuhn length, Flory Huggins interaction parameter, cohesive energy density, free volume

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Authors: K. N. Ashna

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Lightweight fills are a viable alternative where weak soils such as soft clay, peat, and loose silt are encountered. Materials such as Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) geo-foam, plastics, tire wastes, rubber wastes have been used along with soil in order to obtain a lightweight fill. Out of these, Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) geo-foam has gained wide popularity in civil engineering over the past years due to its wide variety of applications. It is extremely lightweight, durable and is available in various densities to meet the strength requirements. It can be used as backfill behind retaining walls to reduce lateral load, as a fill over soft clay or weak soils to prevent the excessive settlements and to reduce seismic forces. Geo-foam is available in block form as well as beads form. In this project Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) beads of various diameters and varying densities were mixed along with sand to study their lightweight as well as strength properties. Four types of EPS beads were used 1mm, 2mm, 3-7 mm and a mix of 1-7 mm. In this project, EPS beads were varied at .25%, .5%, .75% and 1% by weight of sand. A water content of 10% by weight of sand was added to prevent segregation of the mixture. Unconsolidated Unconfined (UU) tri-axial test was conducted at 100kPa, 200 kPa and 300 kPa and angle of internal friction, and cohesion was obtained. Unit weight of the mix was obtained for a relative density of 65%. The results showed that by increasing the EPS content by weight, maximum deviator stress, unit weight, angle of internal friction and initial elastic modulus decreased. An optimum EPS bead content was arrived at by considering the strength as well as the unit weight. The stress-strain behaviour of the mix was found to be dependent on type of bead, bead content and density of the beads. Finally, regression equations were developed to predict the initial elastic modulus of the mix.

Keywords: expanded polystyrene beads, geofoam, lightweight fills, stress-strain behavior, triaxial test

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Authors: Lejla Sunagic

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The aim of the manuscript is to further the understanding of risky decision-making in the context of forced and irregular migration. The empirical evidence is collected through interviews with Syrian refugees who arrived in Europe via irregular pathways. Analytically, it has been approached through the juxtaposition between risk perception and the notion of desire. As different frameworks have been developed to address differences in risk perception, the common thread was the understanding that individual risk-taking has been addressed in terms of benefits outweighing risks. However, this framework cannot explain a big risk an individual takes because of an underprivileged position and due to a lack of positive alternatives, termed as risk-taking from vulnerability. The accounts of the field members of this study that crossed the sea in rubber boats to arrive in Europe make an empirical fit to such a postulate by reporting that the risk they have taken was not the choice but the only coping strategy. However, the vulnerability argument falls short of explaining why the interviewees, thinking retrospectively, find the risky journey they have taken to be worth it, while they would strongly advise others to restrain from taking such a huge risk. This inconsistency has been addressed by adding the notion of desire to migrate to the elements of risk perception. Desire, as a subjective experience, was what made the risk appear smaller in cost-benefit analysis at the time of decision-making of those who have realized migration. However, when they reflect on others in the context of potential migration via the same pathway, the interviewees addressed the others’ lack of capacity to avoid the same obstacles that they themselves were able to circumvent while omitting to reflect on others’ desire to migrate. Thus, in the risk-benefit analysis performed for others, the risk remains unblurred and tips over the benefits, given the inability to take into account the desire of others. If desire, as the transformative potential of migration, is taken out of the cost-benefit analysis of irregular migration, refugees might not have taken the risky journey. By casting the theoretical argument in the language of configuration, the study is filling in the gap of knowledge on the combination of migration drivers and the way they interact and produce migration outcomes.

Keywords: refugees, risk perception, desire, irregular migration

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Authors: Phusit Phukamchanoad, Chutchai Ditchareon, Suwaree Yordchim

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This research was to study on background and social and cultural context of Kamchanoad community for sustainable tourism management. All data was collected through in-depth interview with village headmen, community committees, teacher, monks, Kamchanoad forest field officers and respected senior citizen above 60 years old in the community who have lived there for more than 40 years. Altogether there were 30 participants for this research. After analyzing the data, content from interview and discussion, Kamchanoad has both high land and low land in the region as well as swamps that are very capable of freshwater animals’ conservation. Kamchanoad is also good for agriculture and animal farming. 80% of Kamchanoad’s land are forest, freshwater and rice farms. Kamchanoad was officially set up as community in 1994 as “Baan Nonmuang”. Inhabitants in Kamchanoad make a living by farming based on sufficiency economy. They have rice farm, eucalyptus farm, cassava farm and rubber tree farm. Local people in Kamchanoad still believe in the myth of Srisutto Naga. They are still religious and love to preserve their traditional way of life. In order to understand how to create successful tourism business in Kamchanoad, we have to study closely on local culture and traditions. Outstanding event in Kamchanoad is the worship of Grand Srisutto, which is on the full-moon day of 6th month or Visakhabucha Day. Other big events are also celebration at the end of Buddhist lent, Naga firework, New Year celebration, Boon Mahachart, Songkran, Buddhist Lent, Boon Katin and Loy Kratong. Buddhism is the main religion in Kamchanoad. The promotion of tourism in Kamchanoad is expected to help spreading more income for this region. More infrastructures will be provided for local people as well as funding for youth support and people activities.

Keywords: social and culture area, tourism management, Kamchanoad Community, Udon Thani Province

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Authors: Jean-Philippe Gagnon, Benjamin Saute, Stéphane Boubanga-Tombet

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Infrared thermal imaging is used for a wide range of applications, especially in the combustion domain. However, it is well known that most combustion gases such as carbon dioxide (CO₂), water vapor (H₂O), and carbon monoxide (CO) selectively absorb/emit infrared radiation at discrete energies, i.e., over a very narrow spectral range. Therefore, temperature profiles of most combustion processes derived from conventional broadband imaging are inaccurate without prior knowledge or assumptions about the spectral emissivity properties of the combustion gases. Using spectral filters allows estimating these critical emissivity parameters in addition to providing selectivity regarding the chemical nature of the combustion gases. However, due to the turbulent nature of most flames, it is crucial that such information be obtained without sacrificing temporal resolution. For this reason, Telops has developed a time-resolved multispectral imaging system which combines a high-performance broadband camera synchronized with a rotating spectral filter wheel. In order to illustrate the benefits of using this system to characterize combustion experiments, measurements were carried out using a Telops MS-IR MW on a very simple combustion system: a wood fire. The temperature profiles calculated using the spectral information from the different channels were compared with corresponding temperature profiles obtained with conventional broadband imaging. The results illustrate the benefits of the Telops MS-IR cameras for the characterization of laminar and turbulent combustion systems at a high temporal resolution.

Keywords: infrared, multispectral, fire, broadband, gas temperature, IR camera

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Authors: Mi-Hyang Lee, Seung-Hoon Han

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Korean traditional residences have been built with deep design issues for various values such as social, cultural, and environmental influences to be started from a few thousand years ago, but its meaning is being vanished due to the different lifestyles these days. It is necessary, therefore, to grasp the meaning of the Korea traditional building called Hanok and to get Korean people understand its real advantages. The purpose of this study is to propose a standardization methodology for evaluating comfort features towards Korean traditional houses. This paper is also trying to build an official standard evaluation system and to integrate aesthetic and psychological values induced from Hanok. Its comfort performance values could be divided into two large categories that are physical and psychological, and fourteen methods have been defined as the Korean Standards (KS). For this research, field survey data from representative Hanok types were collected for each method. This study also contains a qualitative in-depth analysis of the Hanok comfort index by the professions using AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process) and has examined the effect of the methods. As a result, this paper could define what methods can provide trustful outcomes and how to evaluate the own strengths in aspects of spatial comfort of Hanok using suggested procedures towards the spatial configuration of the traditional dwellings. This study has finally proposed an integrated development of a standardization methodology assessing the comfort performance for Korean traditional residences, and it is expected that they could evaluate inhabitants of the residents and interior environmental conditions especially structured by wood materials like Hanok.

Keywords: Hanok, comfort performance, human condition, analytical hierarchy process

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Authors: Erich Gomes Schaitza, Antônio Francisco Savi, Glaucia Aparecida Prates

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The penetration of renewable energy into the electricity supply in Brazil is high, one of the highest in the World. Centralized hydroelectric generation is the main source of energy, followed by biomass and wind. Surprisingly, mini and micro-generation are negligible, with less than 2,000 connections to the national grid. In 2015, a new regulatory framework was put in place to change this situation. In the agricultural sector, the framework was complemented by the offer of low interest rate loans to in-farm renewable generation. Brazil proposed to more than double its area of planted forests as part of its INDC- Intended Nationally Determined Contributions to the UNFCCC-U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This is an ambitious target which will be achieved only if forests are attractive to farmers. Therefore, this paper analyses whether planting forests for in-farm energy generation with a with a woodchip gasifier is economically viable for microgeneration under the new framework and at if they could be an economic driver for forest plantation. At first, a static case was analyzed with data from Eucalyptus plantations in five farms. Then, a broader analysis developed with the use of Monte Carlo technique. Planting short rotation forests to generate energy could be a viable alternative and the low interest loans contribute to that. There are some barriers to such systems such as the inexistence of a mature market for small scale equipment and of a reference network of good practices and examples.

Keywords: biomass, distribuited generation, small-scale, Monte Carlo

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Authors: David B. Kisakye, Paul Mugabi

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Biomass briquettes have been identified as a plausible and close alternative to commonly used energy fuels such as charcoal and firewood, whose prices are escalating due to the dwindling natural resource base. However, briquettes do not seem to be as popular as would be expected. This study assessed the production, distribution, and acceptability of the briquettes in the Kampala district. A total of 60 respondents, 50 of whom were briquette users and 10 briquette producers, were sampled from five divisions of Kampala district to evaluate consumer acceptability, preference for briquette type and shape. Households and institutions were identified to be the major consumers of briquettes, while community-based organizations were the major distributors of briquettes. The Chi-square test of independence showed a significant association between briquette acceptability and briquette attributes of substitutability and low cost (p < 0,05). The Kruskal Wallis test showed that low-income class people preferred non-carbonized briquettes. Gender, marital status, and income level also cause variation in preference for spherical, stick, and honeycomb briquettes (p < 0,05). The major challenges faced by briquette users in Kampala were; production of a lot of ash, frequent crushing, and limited access to briquettes. The producers of briquettes were mainly challenged by regular machine breakdown, raw material scarcity, and poor carbonizing units. It was concluded that briquettes have a market and are generally accepted in Kampala. However, user preferences need to be taken into account by briquette produces, suitable cookstoves should be availed to users, and there is a need for standards to ensure the quality of briquettes.

Keywords: consumer acceptability, biomass residues, briquettes, briquette producers, distribution, fuel, marketability, wood fuel

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Authors: Anita Vidacs, Csaba Vagvolgyi, Judit Krisch

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The attachment of microorganisms to different surfaces and the development of biofilms can lead to outbreaks of food-borne diseases and economic losses due to perished food. In food processing environments, bacterial communities are generally formed by mixed cultures of different species. Plants are sources of several antimicrobial substances that may be potential candidates for the development of new disinfectants. We aimed to investigate cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum), marjoram (Origanum majorana), and thyme (Thymus vulgaris). Essential oils and their major components (cinnamaldehyde, terpinene-4-ol, and thymol) on four-species biofilms of E. coli, L. monocytogenes, P. putida, and S. aureus. Experiments had three parts: (i) determination of minimum bactericide concentration and the killing time with microdilution methods; (ii) elimination of the four-species 24– and 168-hours old biofilm from stainless steel, polypropylene, tile and wood surfaces; and (iii) comparing the disinfectant effect with industrial used per-acetic based sanitizer (HC-DPE). E. coli and P. putida were more resistant to investigated essential oils and their main components in biofilm, than L. monocytogenes and S. aureus. These Gram-negative bacteria were detected on the surfaces, where the natural based disinfectant had not total biofilm elimination effect. Most promoted solutions were the cinnamon essential oil and the terpinene-4-ol that could eradicate the biofilm from stainless steel, polypropylene and even from tile, too. They have a better disinfectant effect than HC-DPE. These natural agents can be used as alternative solutions in the battle against bacterial biofilms.

Keywords: biofilm, essential oils, surfaces, terpinene-4-ol

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Authors: Abu S. M. G. Kibria, Alison M. Behie, Robert Costanza, Colin Groves, Tracy Farrell

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This study is aimed to understand the level of access and the influence of livelihood capitals in maintaining access and control of ecosystem services (ESS) in the Sundarbans, Bangladesh. Besides the villagers, we consider other stakeholders including the forest department, coast guard, police, merchants, pirates and villagers who ‘controlled’ or ‘maintained’ access to ESS (crab catching, shrimp fry, honey, shrimp, mixed fish, fuel wood) in this region. Villagers used human, physical, natural and social capitals to gain access to ESS. The highest level of access was observed in crab catching and the lowest was found in honey collection, both of which were done when balancing the costs and benefits of accessing one ESS against another. The outcomes of these ongoing access negotiations were determined by livelihood capitals of the households. In addition, it was often found that the certain variables could have a positive effect on one ESS and a negative effect on another. For instance, human, social and natural capitals (eldest daughter’s education and No. of livelihood group membership and) had significant positive effects on honey collection while two components of human and social capitals including ‘eldest son’s education’ and ‘severity of pirate problem’ had exactly the opposite impact. These complex interactions were also observed in access to other ESS. It thus seems that access to ESS is not anything which is provided, but rather it is achieved by using livelihood capitals. Protecting any ecosystem from over exploitation and improve wellbeing can be achieved by properly balancing the livelihood capital-access nexus.

Keywords: provisioning services, access level, livelihood capital, interaction, access gain

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Authors: Priya Tomar, Pallavi Mittal

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Bioremediation has been recognized as an environment friendly and less expensive method which involves the natural processes resulting in the efficient conversion of hazardous compounds into innocuous products. The pulp and paper mill effluent is one of the high polluting effluents amongst the effluents obtained from polluting industries. The colouring body present in the wastewater from pulp and paper mill is organic in nature and is comprised of wood extractives, tannin, resins, synthetic dyes, lignin, and its degradation products formed by the action of chlorine on lignin which imparts an offensive colour to the water. These mills use different chemical process for paper manufacturing due to which lignified chemicals are released into the environment. Therefore, the chemical oxygen demand (COD) of the emanating stream is quite high. For solving the above problem we present this paper with some new techniques that were developed for the efficiency of paper mill effluents. In the present study we utilized the consortia of fungal and bacterial strain and the treatment named as C1, C2, and C3 for the decolourization of paper mill effluent. During the study, role of carbon source i.e. glucose was studied for decolourization. From the results it was observed that a maximum colour reduction of 66.9%, COD reduction of 51.8%, TSS reduction of 0.34%, TDS reduction of 0.29% and pH changes of 4.2 is achieved by consortia of Aspergillus niger with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Data indicated that consortia of Aspergillus niger with Pseudomonas aeruginosa is giving better result with glucose.

Keywords: bioremediation, decolourization, black liquor, mycoremediation

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Authors: Kalpana Rajouriya, Ajay Taneja

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Particulates are ubiquitous in the air environment and cause serious threats to human beings, such as lung cancer, COPD, and Asthma. Particulates mainly arise from industrial effluent, vehicular emission, and other anthropogenic activities. In the glass industrial city Firozabad, real-time monitoring of size segregated Particulate Matter (PM) and black carbon was done by Aerosol Black Carbon Detector (ABCD) and GRIMM portable aerosol Spectrometer at two different sites in which one site is urban and another is rural. The average mass concentration of size segregated PM during the study period (March & April 2022) was recorded as PM10 (223.73 g/m⁻³), PM5.0 (44.955 g/m⁻³), PM2.5 (59.275 g/m⁻³), PM1.0 (33.02 g/m⁻³), PM0.5 (2.05 g/m⁻³), and PM0.25 (2.99 g/m⁻³). The highest concentration of BC was found in Urban due to the emissions from diesel engines and wood burning, while NO2 was highest at the rural sites. The average concentrations of PM10 (6.08 and 2.73 times) PM2.5 exceeded the NAAQS and WHO guidelines. Particulate Matter deposition and health risk assessment was done by MPPD and USEPA model to know about the particulate matter toxicity in industrial residents. Health risk assessment results showed that Children are most likely to be affected by exposure of PM10 and PM2.5 and may have various non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic diseases. Deposition results inferred that the sensitive exposed population, especially 9 years old children, have high PM deposition as well as visualization and may be at risk of developing health-related problems from exposure to size-segregated PM. They will be discussed during presentation.

Keywords: particulate matter, black carbon, NO2, deposition of PM, health risk

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Authors: Seyed Mohamad Rasool Mirkarimi, David Chiaramonti, Samir Bensaid

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Catalytic methane decomposition (CMD, reaction 4) is a one-step process for hydrogen production where carbon in the methane molecule is sequestered in the form of stable and higher-value carbon materials. Metallic catalysts and carbon-based catalysts are two major types of catalysts utilized for the CDM process. Although carbon-based catalysts have lower activity compared to metallic ones, they are less expensive and offer high thermal stability and strong resistance to chemical impurities such as sulfur. Also, it would require less costly separation methods as some of the carbon-based catalysts may not have an active metal component in them. Since the regeneration of metallic catalysts requires burning of the C on their surfaces, which emits CO/CO2, in some cases, using carbon-based catalysts would be recommended because regeneration can be completely avoided, and the catalyst can be directly used in other processes. This work focuses on the effect of biochar as a carbon-based catalyst for the conversion of methane into hydrogen and carbon. Biochar produced from the pyrolysis of poplar wood and activated biochar are used as catalysts for this process. In order to observe the impact of carbon-based catalysts on methane conversion, methane cracking in the absence and presence of catalysts for a gas stream with different levels of methane concentration should be performed. The results of these experiments prove conversion of methane in the absence of catalysts at 900 °C is negligible, whereas in the presence of biochar and activated biochar, significant growth has been observed. Comparing the results of the tests related to using char and activated char shows the enhancement obtained in BET surface area of the catalyst through activation leads to more than 10 vol.% methane conversion.

Keywords: hydrogen production, catalytic methane decomposition, biochar, activated biochar, carbon-based catalyts

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Authors: Kriyapa lairungruang, Arunporn Itharat

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Limonia acidissima L. (LA) (Common name: wood apple, Thai name: ma-khwit) is a medicinal plant which has long been used in Thai traditional medicine. Its bark is used for treatment of diarrhea, abscess, wound healing and inflammation and it is also used in oral cancer. Thus, this research aimed to investigate antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of the LA bark extracts produced by various extraction methods. Different extraction procedures were used to extract LA bark for biological activity testing: boiling in water, maceration with 95% ethanol, maceration with 50% ethanol and water boiling of each the 95% and the 50% ethanolic residues. All extracts were tested for antioxidant activity using DPPH radical scavenging assay, cytotoxic activity against human laryngeal epidermoid carcinoma (HEp-2) cells and human oral epidermoid carcinoma (KB) cells using sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay. The results found that the 95% ethanolic extract of LA bark showed the highest antioxidant activity with EC50 values of 29.76±1.88 µg/ml. For cytotoxic activity, the 50% ethanolic extract showed the best cytotoxic activity against HEp-2 and KB cells with IC50 values of 9.55±1.68 and 18.90±0.86 µg/ml, respectively. This study demonstrated that the 95% ethanolic extract of LA bark showed moderate antioxidant activity and the 50% ethanolic extract provided potent cytotoxic activity against HEp-2 and KB cells. These results confirm the traditional use of LA for the treatment of oral cancer and laryngeal cancer, and also support its ongoing use.

Keywords: antioxidant activity, cytotoxic activity, Laryngeal epidermoid carcinoma, Limonia acidissima L., oral epidermoid carcinoma

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Authors: Md Omar Faruq Howlader, Tariq Pervez Sattar, Sandra Dudley

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This paper describes the design process of a 200 MHz Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and a battery powered concrete vertical concrete surface climbing mobile robot. The key design feature is a miniaturized 200 MHz dipole antenna using additional radiating arms and procedure records a reduction of 40% in length compared to a conventional antenna. The antenna set is mounted in front of the robot using a servo mechanism for folding and unfolding purposes. The robot’s adhesion mechanism to climb the reinforced concrete wall is based on neodymium permanent magnets arranged in a unique combination to concentrate and maximize the magnetic flux to provide sufficient adhesion force for GPR installation. The experiments demonstrated the robot’s capability of climbing reinforced concrete wall carrying the attached prototype GPR system and perform floor-to-wall transition and vice versa. The developed GPR’s performance is validated by its capability of detecting and localizing an aluminium sheet and a reinforcement bar (rebar) of 12 mm diameter buried under a test rig built of wood to mimic the concrete structure environment. The present robotic GPR system proves the concept of feasibility of undertaking inspection procedure on large concrete structures in hazardous environments that may not be accessible to human inspectors.

Keywords: climbing robot, dipole antenna, ground penetrating radar (GPR), mobile robots, robotic GPR

Procedia PDF Downloads 248

Authors: Nihad Chakri, Btissam El Amrani, Faouzi Berrada, Halima Jounaid, Fouad Amraoui

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In the context of the increasing water resource scarcity in Morocco in recent years, the use of unconventional resources has become imperative. Although efforts have been made in the field of sanitation in urban areas, rural areas, due to their specificities, such as scattered dwellings and limited accessibility, suffer from a lack of basic infrastructure. This work focuses on replicating the Faculty of Sciences Ain Chock (FSAC) model for the treatment and reuse of wastewater from a peri-urban traditional hammam in Casablanca, specifically in the municipality of Dar Bouazza. This initiative is part of the Eco-Hammam project, which aims to minimize the negative impacts of traditional hammams in terms of irrational and uncontrolled consumption of water and wood energy resources. To achieve this, a comprehensive environmental diagnosis of all hammams in the municipality of Dar Bouazza, our study site, has been undertaken. Then, a feasibility study is also conducted to assess the possibility of replicating the FSAC mini-station to treat the wastewater of the selected pilot hammam, namely, My Yacoub II.

Keywords: water resource scarcity, unconventional resources, sanitation, per-urban areas, rural areas, basic infrastructure, replication, reuse of wastewater, traditional hammam, Casablanca, Municipality of Dar Bouazza, negative impacts, environmental diagnosis, feasibility study, pilot hammam, My Yacoub II

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Authors: Cora Bulmău

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Soil polluted with hydrocarbons spills is a major global concern today. As a response to this issue, our experimental study tries to put in evidence the option to choose for one environmentally friendly method: use of the biochar, despite to a classical procedure; incineration of contaminated soil. Biochar represents the solid product obtained through the pyrolysis of biomass, its additional use being as an additive intended to improve the quality of the soil. The positive effect of biochar addition to soil is represented by its capacity to adsorb and contain petroleum products within its pores. Taking into consideration the capacity of the biochar to interact with organic contaminants, the purpose of the present study was to experimentally establish the effects of the addition of wooden biomass-derived biochar on a soil contaminated with oil. So, the contaminated soil was amended with biochar (10%) produced by pyrolysis in different operational conditions of the thermochemical process. After 25 days, the concentration of petroleum hydrocarbons from soil treated with biochar was measured. An analytical method as Soxhlet extraction was adopted to estimate the concentrations of total petroleum products (TPH) in the soil samples: This technique was applied to contaminated soil, also to soils remediated by incineration/adding biochar. The treatment of soil using biochar obtained from pyrolysis of the Birchwood led to a considerable decrease in the concentrations of petroleum products. The incineration treatments conducted under experimental stage to clean up the same soil, contaminated with petroleum products, involved specific parameters: temperature of about 600°C, 800°C and 1000°C and treatment time 30 and 60 minutes. The experimental results revealed that the method using biochar has registered values of efficiency up to those of all incineration processes applied for the shortest time.

Keywords: biochar, biomass, remediaton, soil, TPH

Procedia PDF Downloads 201

Authors: Natalia Moreira, Trevor Wood-Harper

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The acceptance of sustainable products by the final consumer is still one of the challenges of the industry, which constantly seeks alternative approaches to successfully be accepted in the global market. A large set of methods and approaches have been discussed and analysed throughout the literature. Considering the current need for sustainable development and the current pace of consumption, the need for a combined solution towards the development of new products became clear, forcing researchers in product development to propose alternatives to the previous standard product development models. This paper presents, through a systemic analysis of the literature on product development, eco-design and consumer involvement, a set of alternatives regarding consumer involvement towards the development of sustainable products and how these approaches could help improve the sustainable industry’s establishment in the general market. The initial findings of the research show that the understanding of the benefits of sustainable behaviour lead to a more conscious acquisition and eventually to the implementation of sustainable change in the consumer. Thus this paper is the initial approach towards the development of new sustainable products using the fashion industry as an example of practical implementation and acceptance by the consumers. By comparing the existing literature and critically analysing it this paper concluded that the consumer involvement is strategic to improve the general understanding of sustainability and its features. The use of consumers and communities has been studied since the early 90s in order to exemplify uses and to guarantee a fast comprehension. The analysis done also includes the importance of this approach for the increase of innovation and ground breaking developments, thus requiring further research and practical implementation in order to better understand the implications and limitations of this methodology.

Keywords: consumer involvement, products development, sustainability, eco-design

Procedia PDF Downloads 565