Siddharth Jain

Development of a decision model for the techno-economic assessment of municipal solid waste utilization pathways

Economic competitiveness is one of the key factors in making decisions towards the development of waste conversion facilities and devising a sustainable waste management strategy. The goal of this study is to develop a framework, as well as to develop and demonstrate a comprehensive techno-economic model to help county and municipal decision makers in establishing waste conversion facilities. The user-friendly data-intensive model, called the FUNdamental ENgineering PrinciplEs-based ModeL for Estimation of Cost of Energy and Fuels from MSW (FUNNEL-Cost-MSW), compares nine different waste management scenarios, including landfilling and composting, in terms of economic parameters such as gate fees and return on investment. In addition, a geographic information system (GIS) model was developed to determine suitable locations for waste conversion facilities and landfill sites based on integration of environmental, social, and economic factors. Finally, a case study on Parkland County and its surrounding counties in the province of Alberta, Canada, was conducted and a sensitivity analysis was performed to assess the influence of the key technical and economic parameters on the calculated results.

Emerging biorefinery technologies for Indian forest industry to reduce GHG emissions

The production of biofuels as alternative energy source over fossil fuels has gained immense interest over the years as it can contribute significantly to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from energy production and utilization. Also with rapidly increasing fuel price and fall in oil wells, the present scenario forces us to look for an alternative source of energy that will help us in the operation of industrial as well as the transportation sector. The pulp mills in India are one of the many options. The pulp mills in India can help us to produce bio-fuels by thermo-chemical/biochemical conversion of black liquor and wood residues. These technologies include extraction of hemi-cellulose from wooden chips and black liquor, lignin from black liquor, methanol from evaporator condensates, biogas production from waste sludge, syngas production from biomass using gasification and bio-oil production from biomass using pyrolysis. The objective of this paper is to overview these emerging bio-refinery technologies that can be implemented in Indian Forest Industry to get bio-fuels, bio-chemicals and bio-energy to reduce GHG emissions.

Process parameter assessment of biodiesel production from a Jatropha-algae oil blend by response surface methodology and artificial neural network

ABSTRACT Biodiesel production from different feedstocks is one of the effective ways to anticipate the problems related with fuel crisis and environmental issues. In this study, the response surface methodology (RSM)-based Box–Behnken experimental design (BBD) is used to optimize the parameters of biodiesel production for the blend of Jatropha–algae oil such as molar ratio, temperature, reaction time, and catalyst concentration. A significant quadratic regression model (p < 0.0001) with R2 of 0.9867 was achieved under the condition of molar ratio 6–12%, KOH 0–2%, reaction time 60–180 min, and temperature 35–55°C. The artificial neural network (ANN) with the Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm was also trained in this study with the topology 4-10-1 with a predicted correlation coefficient of 0.9976. From the results, it is also found that the predicted values of yield are in good agreement with the results of RSM correlations.

Processing and Properties of Bagasse Fibers

Botanically, sugarcane belongs to an economically important seed plant family that includes maize, wheat, rice, and sorghum known as Saccharum officinarum. Bagasse, an agricultural residue not only becomes a problem from the environmental point of view, but also affects the profitability of the sugarcane industries. This chapter discusses the properties and processing methods for the extraction of the bagasse fibers from sugarcane and its current status of research. The applications of the bagasse fibers in different fields have also been discussed.

Performance evaluation of adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system and response surface methodology in modeling biodiesel synthesis from jatropha–algae oil

ABSTRACT Biodiesel production from different feedstocks is an effective method of resolving problems related to the fuel crisis and environmental issues. In this study, an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) and the response surface methodology based Box–Behnken experimental design were used to model the parameters of biodiesel production for a jatropha–algae oil blend, including the molar ratio, temperature, reaction time, and catalyst concentration. A significant regression model with an R2 value of 0.9867 was obtained under a molar ratio of 6–12, KOH of 0–2% w/w, time of 60–180 min, and temperature of 35–55°C using response surface methodology (RSM). The ANFIS model was used to individually correlate the output variable (biodiesel yield) with four input variables. An R2 value of 0.9998 was obtained in the training. The results demonstrated that the developed models adequately represented the processes they described.

Composites from Bagasse Fibers, Its Characterization and Applications

As an important branch of the composite materials field, natural fiber-reinforced polymer composites have been studied for decades. Natural fibers are originated from several sources such as cotton, nut, shells, bagasse, corncobs, bamboo, and vegetable. This work aims to discuss the different surface modification techniques of bagasse fibers including alkaline, silane, acetylation, and benzoylation treatments. The chapter also deals with the discussion on processing techniques of bagasse fiber-reinforced composite manufacturing and its mechanical and morphological properties. It also covers advantages of bagasse fiber reinforcement in composites and future trends and applications.