Activated charcoal (AC) is a carbonaceous material with high surface area due to high degree of micro-porosity which makes it a very versatile adsorbent for utilization in industrial, medicinal, environmental and other fields. Ligno-cellulosic biomass (eg. pine needles, paddy stubbles, other waste agricultural residue) can be a prominent raw material for activated bio-char due to its abundance, slow decomposition (which lead to fire/ air pollution). The main factors which affect the AC characteristics (surface area, micropore volume, mesopore volume) are biomass properties, impregnation ratio, impregnation time, activation temperature and activation time. The specific surface area, micropore, mesopore decreases after optimum value with continually increase in impregnation ratio and impregnation time. The activation temperature and impregnation ratio also affect the AC yield significantly. Sorption capacity get affected by adsorbent doses, contact time, agitation speed, adsorption temperature due to availability of active binding sites, adsorptive forces/ bonds.
Increasing demand and rapid depletion of fossil fuels have together prompted the researchers of many countries to look for alternate renewable fuels. This study is an attempt to test the feasibility of rice bran oil as fuel in C. I. engine in its original and in its refined form. It is generally produced from rice bran which is a by-product produced during paddy processing. Its viscosity though relatively higher than diesel can be reduced by natural sedimentation process. In this attempt, the performance and emission characteristics of rice bran oil and its refined form were studied and compared with diesel by employing them as a fuel in a single cylinder, direct injection, 4.4 KW, air cooled diesel engine. The performance characteristics revealed that the brake thermal efficiency of the rice bran oil was higher than its refined form and were marginally lower than that of diesel. Emission measurements were carried out using MRU Delta 1600L gas analyzer and the soot concentration was measured with AVL smoke meter. It was found that though blends of rice bran oil with ethanolexhibited greater soot concentration characteristics than rice bran oil and diesel at all loads, it exhibited desirable characteristics for other emissions such as lower CO, HC, NOx emissions and lower exhaust gas temperatures with increasing load.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.