NISCAIR Online Periodicals Repository Community: JSIR Vol.71 [2012]

Reactive-extraction of pongamia seeds for biodiesel production

Title: Reactive-extraction of pongamia seeds for biodiesel production

Authors: Porwal, Jyoti; Bangwal, Dinesh; Garg, M.O.; Kaul, Savita

Abstract: Biodiesel (FAME) was produced from Pongamia seeds (commonly known as Karanja) by reactive-extraction. Reactiveextraction involves contacting ground seeds directly with alcohol and catalyst i.e. without intervening extraction of the vegetable oil. This process has the potential to reduce cost by removing the need for capital and running cost-intensive steps such as oil extraction of seeds. Reaction parameters such as seed size (>2 mm to <1 mm), seed/solvent ratio (wt/wt) (1:2-1:4), temperature (30-60^oC) and rate of mixing (250-550 rpm) were studied. The maximum 98.5% conversion to biodiesel was achieved at: seed size (<1 mm), seed/solvent ratio (wt/wt) (1:4), rate of mixing (550 rpm) at 60 ^oC for 1 hr with 0.1 M catalyst (KOH) concentration, meeting International (ASTM) as well as National (BIS) specifications.

Page(s): 822-828

The adsorption of methylene blue from aqueous solution by using waste potato peels; equilibrium and kinetic studies

Title: The adsorption of methylene blue from aqueous solution by using waste potato peels; equilibrium and kinetic studies

Authors: Öktem, Yalçýn Aþkýn; Soylu, Selda G. Pozan; Aytan, Nevin

Abstract: This study examined the adsorption of methylene blue from aqueous solutions using waste material potato peels. After one hour, the maximum adsorption yield in methylene blue solution was determined as 33.87 mg/g at pH 8. Among the equilibrium isotherms with two or three parameters (Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, Sips, etc.) applied the acquired data, Langmuir isotherms had the highest correlation (0.99 %) and the maximum adsorption capacity of methylene blue was calculated as Q_max; 33.55 mg/g. In kinetic assessments, a pseudo-second order constant best defined the rate of adsorption. It is thought that the development of adsorption depends on the loads of various functional groups, which form adsorbent, hydroxyl and carboxylic groups in the potato peels, play a significant role in methylene blue adsorption.

Page(s): 817-821

Studies on surface characterisation and isotherm modelling: Biosorption of arsenic(III) onto low cost biosorbent derived from orange peel

Title: Studies on surface characterisation and isotherm modelling: Biosorption of arsenic(III) onto low cost biosorbent derived from orange peel

Authors: Kamsonlain, Suantak; Balomajumder, C.; Chand, S.

Abstract: The paper described the removal of As(III) from contaminated water by orange peel (OP) by a low cost biosorbent. The effects of various parameters such as mesh size, pH, temperature, adsorbent dosage and contact time were studied in batch experimental setup. Physiochemical analysis of OP biomass was carried out through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and fourier transmission infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). It was observed that the pH had a strong effect on biosorption capacity. At the optimum treatment conditions of pH (7), temperature (30^oC), contact time (90 min) and adsorbent dosage (4 g), OP biomass was found to be effective for the removal of As(III) with 82.45% sorption efficiency at a concentration of 50 mg/l As(III), and thus uptake capacity was 1.18 mg As(III)/gm of biomass. To establish the most appropriate correlation for the equilibrium curves, isotherm studies were performed for As(III) ion using Freundlich and Langmuir adsorption isotherms. Langmuir isotherm was found to be best fitted to equilibrium sorption data with higher linear correlation coefficient (R² = 0.992). A low cost OP biosorbent shows a potential and promising simple method for the removal of As(III) ion.

Page(s): 810-816

Performance analysis of screening diabetic retinopathy

Title: Performance analysis of screening diabetic retinopathy

Authors: Raja, D Siva Sundhara; Vasuki, S

Abstract: This study presents a new method for screening Diabetic Retinopathy (DR), is the leading ophthalmic pathological cause of blindness among people of working age in developed countries. The first manifestations of DR are tiny capillary dilations known as Microaneurysms (MA) and Exudates. It may provide an early indication of the risk of the Type –I Diabetes. The various features of the images of the Retinal Vessels are used to indicate the different MA’s and Exudates disease processes. Neural Networks and k-means clustering provide significant benefits in medical research. This Proposed work deals DR with Segmentation and Classification algorithms for the analysis of Retina images. This effectiveness and robustness, together with its simplicity make this Optimized analysis for being integrated into a complete screening system for early DR detection. It proposes an Optimized Soft Computing technique approach for screening the Diabetic retinopathy.

Page(s): 804-809