Miscanthus, an invasive crop, has recently gained attention as an emerging energy crop because of certain traits like fast growth, high yield, ability to grow in marginal land, and resistance to extreme weather conditions. In this work, Miscanthus was selected as the feedstock for fast pyrolysis in a mechanically fluidized bed reactor at variable temperatures (400 C, 450 C, and 500 C) and vapour residence times (1.4, 2.7, and 5.2 seconds). Fast pyrolysis performed at 450 C with 1.4 seconds of vapour residence time gave the highest yield of biooil (>50 wt%). Biochar obtained at different pyrolysis temperatures was activated at 900 C for 1.5 hours under CO 2 atmosphere to enhance its value as a potential adsorption agent for pollutants. Several physicochemical characterization techniques were used to study the bio-oils, biochars, and activated biochars obtained from the pyrolysis of Miscanthus. The absorption of methylene blue as a model dye was done to evaluate the performance of activated biochar vs the biochar precursors. Both pyrolysis and physical activation complemented each other as new technologies for energy extraction and material synthesis from Miscanthus.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Physical, chemical, and mineralogical characterisation of as-received Rice Husk Ash (RHA) samples sourced from four rice-growing regions (North, South, East, and West) of India is presented. Valorised RHA was obtained through controlled combustion at two temperature ranges (600^oC–700^oC and 650^oC–700^oC) of husks from the North in an industry set up. Valorisation efficacy has been tested through comparative characterisation of the valorised RHAs with the as-received RHAs from the four regions. Blending of 15% valorised RHA (in the beneficiated state) by weight of cement had no adverse effect on compressive strength even though water-binder ratio of the blended mortar had to be increased by 14% to achieve flow of the control cement mortar. Compared to the control cement mortar, porosity of the mortar blended with the beneficiated RHA measured using Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry increased by up to 10% primarily due to an increase in the number of large mesopores (0.01-0.05 µm).

In this study, concrete mix was prepared using recycled aggregates (RA) which were retrieved from demolished concrete blocks. Pozzolanic materials like fly ash (FA) and nanosilica (NS) were used as partial replacement of cement by weight in varying percentages i.e. 10%, 20% 30% and 2%, 3%, 4% respectively. The experimental work was focused on investigating the effect of nanosilica and fly ash on fresh properties and compressive strength of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC). To examine the fresh properties of concrete, slump test was performed for workability requirements. It was observed from experimental results that with the increase in percentage of recycled aggregates in concrete, compressive strength decreases but workability was not affected up to 50% variation of recycled aggregates. Results showed that with the addition of nanosilica compressive strength of concrete was increased but workability was decreased with the increase in percentage of nanosilica. The use of fly ash in addition to nanosilica (30% RA+3% NS + 10% Fly Ash) improved both the workability and compressive strength of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC).