Development of a framework for sustainable improvement in performance of coal mining operations

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - India is a developing country, where boosting of modern energy supply is the primary requirement for economic growth. About two-thirds of this energy...     

Microstructure characterization and charpy toughness of P91 weldment for as-welded,post-weld heat treatment and normalizing & tempering heat treatment

The effect of weld groove design and heat treatment on microstructure evolution and Charpy toughness of P91 pipe weldments was studied. The P91 pipe weldments were subjected to subcritical post weld heat treatment (760 °C-2 h) and normalizing/tempering conditions (normalized-1040 °C/40 min, air cooled; tempered 760 °C/2 h, air cooled) were employed. The influence of subsequent PWHT and N&T treatment on the microstructure of various zone of P91 pipe weldments were also investigated. The present investigation also described the effect of PWHT and N&T treatment on hardness, grain size, precipitate size, inter-particle spacing and fraction area of precipitates present in each zone of P91 pipe weldments. The result indicated great impact of heat treatment on the Charpy toughness and microstructure evolution of P91 weldments. The N&T treatment was found to be more effective heat treatment compared to subsequent PWHT. Charpy toughness value was found to be higher for narrow-groove design as compared to conventional V-groove design.     

Comparative studies for two different orientations of pebble bed in an HCCB blanket

The Indian Test Blanket Module(TBM) program in ITER is one of the major steps in its fusion reactor program towards DEMO and the future fusion power reactor vision. Research and development(RD) is focused on two types of breeding blanket concepts: lead–lithium ceramic breeder(LLCB) and helium-cooled ceramic breeder(HCCB) blanket systems for the DEMO reactor. As part of the ITER-TBM program, the LLCB concept will be tested in one-half of ITER port no. 2, whose materials and technologies will be tested during ITER operation. The HCCB concept is a variant of the solid breeder blanket, which is presently part of our domestic RD program for DEMO relevant technology development. In the HCCB concept Li_2TiO_3 and beryllium are used as the tritium breeder and neutron multiplier, respectively, in the form of a packed bed having edge-on configuration with reduced activation ferritic martensitic steel as the structural material. In this paper two design schemes, mainly two different orientations of pebble beds, are discussed. In the current concept(case-1), the ceramic breeder beds are kept horizontal in the toroidal–radial direction. Due to gravity, the pebbles may settle down at the bottom and create a finite gap between the pebbles and the top cooling plate, which will affect the heat transfer between them. In the alternate design concept(case-2), the pebble bed is vertically(poloidal–radial) orientated where the side plates act as cooling plates instead of top and bottom plates. These two design variants are analyzed analytically and 2 D thermal-hydraulic simulation studies are carried out with ANSYS, using the heat loads obtained from neutronic calculations.Based on the analysis the performance is compared and details of the thermal and radiative heat transfer studies are also discussed in this paper.     

Homotopy methods for constraint relaxation in unilevel reliability based design optimization

In reliability based design optimization, a methodology for finding optimized designs characterized with a low probability of failure the main objective is to minimize a merit function while satisfying the reliability constraints. Traditionally, these have been formulated as a double-loop (nested) optimization problem, which is computationally intensive. A new efficient unilevel formulation for reliability based design optimization was developed by the authors in earlier studies, where the lower-level optimization was replaced by its corresponding first-order Karush–Kuhn–Tucker (KKT) necessary optimality conditions at the upper-level optimization and imposed as equality constraints. But as most commercial optimizers are usually numerically unreliable when applied to problems accompanied by many equality constraints, an optimization framework for reliability based design using the unilevel formulation is developed here. Homotopy methods are used for constraint relaxation and to obtain a relaxed feasible design and heuristic scheme is employed to update the homotopy parameter.     

Correlation of structure and properties of groups I to III base oils

The understanding of the relationship between molecular structure and viscosity–temperature behaviour of a lubricant system is a subject of considerable importance. The quantitative distribution and types of different classes of hydrocarbons such as aromatics, paraffins (normal and iso) and naphthenes determine the physico‐chemical behaviour of a lubricant system. The study of molecular structure and molecular alignment of hydrocarbons constituting a lubricant helps in the development of lubricating oil with desired physico‐chemical properties. The present study highlights the application of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic technique for deriving detailed hydrocarbon structural features present in API groups II and III base oils produced through catalytic hydrocracking/isodewaxing processes. The viscosity–temperature and viscosity–pressure properties, such as viscosity index, pour point, elastohydrodynamic film thickness and cold cranking simulator viscosity, were determined. The structural features of these base oils such as various methyl branched structures of isoparaffins and branching index, which are characteristics of high performance molecules, were correlated with the above‐mentioned properties to explain their physico‐chemical properties, particularly low temperature properties. The molecular dynamics parameters such as diffusion coefficient and T₁ relaxation times estimated from the nuclear magnetic resonance spectral studies have provided sufficient evidence for the dependence of these properties on these high performance molecules present in various types of methyl structures of isoparaffins of groups II and III base oils compared with conventional group I base oils. Results are explained on the basis of molecular structural differences of hydrocarbons present in these base oils and diffusion measurement studies. On the basis of the studies, molecular engineering concept for the designing of a high performance base oil molecule is proposed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The importance of peripheral sequences in determining the metal selectivity of an in vitro-selected Co(2+) -dependent DNAzyme

DNAzymes are catalytically active DNA molecules that use metal cofactors for their enzymatic functions. While a growing number of DNAzymes with diverse functions and metal selectivities have been reported, the relationships between metal ion selectivity, conserved sequences and structures responsible for selectivity remain to be elucidated. To address this issue, we report biochemical assays of a family of previously reported in vitro selected DNAzymes. This family includes the clone 11 DNAzyme, which was isolated by positive and negative selection, and the clone 18 DNAzyme, which was isolated by positive selection alone. The clone 11 DNAzyme has a higher selectivity for Co(2+) over Pb(2+) compared with clone 18. The reasons for this difference are explored here through phylogenetic comparison, mutational analysis and stepwise truncation. A novel DNAzyme truncation method incorporated a nick in the middle of the DNAzyme to allow for truncation close to the nicked site while preserving peripheral sequences at both ends of the DNAzyme. The results demonstrate that peripheral sequences within the substrate binding arms, most notably the stem loop, loop II, are sufficient to restore its selectivity for Co(2+) over Pb(2+) to levels observed in clone 11. A comparison of these sequences' secondary structures and Co(2+) selectivities suggested that metastable structures affect metal ion selectivity. The Co(2+) selectivity of the clone 11 DNAzyme showed that the metal ion binding and selectivities of small, in vitro selected DNAzymes may be more complex than previously appreciated, and that clone 11 may be more similar to larger ribozymes than to other small DNAzymes in its structural complexity and behavior. These factors should be taken into account when metal-ion selectivity is required in rationally designed DNAzymes and DNAzyme-based biosensors.     

Consumption of brown rice: a potential pathway for arsenic exposure in rural Bengal

This study assesses the arsenic (As) accumulation in different varieties of rice grain, that people in rural Bengal mostly prefer for daily consumption, to estimate the potential risk of dietary As exposure through rice intake. The rice samples have been classified according to their average length (L) and L to breadth (B) ratio into four categories, such as short-bold (SB), medium-slender (MS), long-slender (LS), and extra-long slender (ELS). The brown colored rice samples fall into the SB, MS, or LS categories; while all Indian Basmati (white colored) are classified as ELS. The study indicates that the average accumulation of As in rice grain increases with a decrease of grain size (ELS: 0.04; LS: 0.10; MS: 0.16; and SB: 0.33 mg kg(-1)), however people living in the rural villages mostly prefer brown colored SB type of rice because of its lower cost. For the participants consuming SB type of brown rice, the total daily intake of inorganic As (TDI-iAs) in 29% of the cases exceeds the previous WHO recommended provisional tolerable daily intake value (2.1 μg day(-1) kg(-1) BW), and in more than 90% of cases, the As content in the drinking water equivalent to the inorganic As intake from rice consumption (C(W,eqv)) exceeds the WHO drinking water guideline of 10 μg L(-1). This study further demonstrates that participants in age groups 18-30 and 51-65 yrs are the most vulnerable to the potential health threat of dietary As exposure compared to participants of age group 31-50 yrs, because of higher amounts of brown rice consumption patterns and lower BMI.     

Ethephon‐induced fractional changes of pectic polysaccharides in developing cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana L) fruits

Pectic polysaccharides extracted from fruit tissue of cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana L) at different maturity levels were fractionated and analyzed for galacturonic acid backbone molecules. Preharvest spray of the fruits at 7 days old with ethephon resulted in a higher accumulation of water‐soluble and oxalate‐soluble pectic fractions than non‐treated fruits, while this treatment effectively enhanced the polygalacturonase enzyme activity necessary for maintenance of pectin degradation. Treatment with ethephon not only enhanced the solubilization rate but also resulted in a net increase in total pectic polymer content in developing cape gooseberry fruits. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry