Utilization of Banana Stem Juice as a Feedstock Material for Bioethanol Production

Bananas are widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical countries and about 220 tons of biomass waste is produced per hectare of banana plantation. Banana pseudostem contains nearly 90% of moisture and about 4–5 m³ sap is generated from one ton of dried stem with high chemical oxygen demand(COD) and biological oxygen demand (BOD). The feasibility of using banana sap as a feedstock to produce ethanol is evaluated in this study. Banana sap is obtained by crushing the pseudostems and concentrated ten times and supplementing with other industrial byproducts such as corn steep liquor(CSL), spent wash (SW), and yeast extract (YE) for ethanol production. Acid and alkali hydrolyzes are performed to enhance the sugar levels of the sap before fermentation. Two different strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (MTCC170 and MTCC180) are used for fermentation. In general, supplementation of banana sap with industrial byproducts significantly enhanced the ethanol production. The maximum ethanol production (2.5 g ^?1) is observed with concentrated banana sap supplemented with 25% SW (v/v) with MTCC170, which is 16‐fold higher than banana sap alone. Theethanol content is also higher in alkali‐hydrolyzed banana sap supplemented with 25% SW compared to control. These results suggest that banana sap can be used as a renewable source to produce ethanol by supplementing with other industrial byproducts.     

Rock physics model for seismic velocity & fluid substitution in sub-resolution interbedded sand–shale sequences

The measured geophysical response of sand – shale sequences is an average over multiple layers when the tool resolution (seismic or well log) is coarser than the scale of sand – shale mixing. Shale can be found within sand – shale sequences as laminations, dispersed in sand pores, as well as load bearing clasts. We present a rock physics framework to model seismic/sonic properties of sub-resolution interbedded shaly sands using the so-called solid and mineral substitution models. This modelling approach stays consistent with the conceptual model of the Thomas–Stieber approach for estimating volumetric properties of shaly sands; thus, this work connects established well log data-based petrophysical workflows with quantitative interpretation of seismic data for modelling hydrocarbon signature in sand – shale sequences. We present applications of the new model to infer thickness of sand – shale lamination (i.e., net to gross) and other volumetric properties using seismic data. Another application of the new approach is fluid substitution in sub-resolution interbedded sand–shale sequences that operate directly at the measurement scale without the need to downscale; such a procedure has many practical advantages over the approach of “first-downscale-and-then-upscale” as it is not very sensitive to errors in estimated sand fraction and end member sand/shale properties and remains stable at small sand/shale fractions.     

Traditional agrodiversity management: A case study of central himalayan village ecosystem

Environmental, biological, socio-cultural and economic status variation existing in the Central Himalaya have led to the evolution of diverse and unique traditional agroecosystems, crop species and livestock, which facilitate the traditional mountain farming societies to sustain themselves. Indigenous agroecosystems are highly site specific and differ from place to place, as they have evolved along divergent lines. For maintenance of traditional agrodiversity management the farmers of the Central Himalaya have evolved various types of crop rotations in consonance with the varied environmental conditions and agronomic requirements. In irrigated flat lands two crops are harvested in a year with negligible fallow period but in rainfed conditions if a cropping sequence is presumed to be starting after winter fallow phase then four major cropping seasons can be identified namely first kharif season (first crop season), first rabi season (second crop season), second kharif season (third crop season) and second rabi season (fourth crop season). Highest crop diversity is present in kharif season in comparison to rabi season. Traditionally the fields are left fallow after harvest of the second kharif season crop. Important characteristics of agrodiversity management are the use of bullocks for draught power, human energy as labour, crop residues as animal feed and animal waste mixed with forest litter as organic input to restore soil fertility levels. Women provide most of the human labour except for ploughing and threshing grain. The present study deals with assessment of traditional agrodiversity management such as (i) crop diversity, (ii) realized yield under the traditional practices and (iii) assess the differences of realized yields under sole and mixed cropping systems. It indicated that crop rotation is an important feature of the Central Himalayan village ecosystem which helps to continue the diversity of species grown, as are the distribution of crops in the growing period and the management of soil fertility. The cropping diversity existing and the sequences practiced by the traditional farmers seems to have achieved high degree of specialization and thus even when the yield/biomass variations are about 60%, the farmers continue to practice these sequences as they need to maintain diversity and synergistic relationships of crops in addition to manage the food and labour requirements for crop husbandry. Crop yields are generally higher in irrigated systems than rainfed systems and in sole cropping as compared with mixed cropping. However, gross biological and economic yields are higher in mixed cropping than sole cropping systems.     

Coastal hazard mapping in the Cuddalore region, South India

It is estimated that nearly one-third of India’s population lives on the coast and is dependent on its resources. Shoreline erosion, storm surges and extreme events have resulted in severe loss of human life, damage to ecosystems and to property along the coast of India. Studies carried out in the Cuddalore region of South India reveal that this low-lying coastal zone, which suffered significant erosion during the last century, has been severely affected by the tsunami of 2004, storm floods and cyclones. In response to these impacts, a variety of coastal defense measures and adaptation strategies have been implemented in the region, although with only limited success. In order to inform future coastal planning in this region, the work reported here identifies a composite hazard line, seaward of which coastal flooding events will have a return interval of less than 1 in 100 years. The area landward of the coastal hazard line will be unaffected by 100 years of coastal erosion at present day rates. The study directly supports the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Plan of the Tamil Nadu State through the identification and assessment of coastal hazards and the overall vulnerability to coastal flooding and erosion. The key results from this pilot study will be used directly by the State of Tamil Nadu in the protection of the coastal livelihoods, better conservation measures and sustainable development along the coast. This study is a step toward mapping the hazard line for the entire coast of India that helps protect human lives and property.     

Fluid inclusion study of the Higher Himalayan quartzitic pelites, Garhwal Himalaya, India: Implications for recrystallization history of metasediments

Quartzitic pelites forms a part of Higher Himalayan Crystalline of higher geotectonic zone in Garhwal Himalaya. Quartzitic pelites (locally known as Pandukeshwar Quartzite) in Garhwal Himalaya is sandwiched between high grade metamorphic rocks of Central Crystallines and Badrinath Formation. Fluid inclusion studies are carried out on the detrital, and recrystallized quartz grains of quartzitic pelites to know about the fluid phases present during recrystallization processes at the time of maximum depth of burial. The quartzitic pelite (Pandukeshwar Quartzite) essentially consists of recrystallised quartz with accessory minerals like mica and feldspar. Fluid microthermometry study reveals the presence of three types of fluids: (i) high-salinity brine, (ii) CO₂-H₂O and (iii) H₂O-NaCl. These fluids were trapped during the development of grain and recrystallization processes. The high saline brine inclusions and CO₂-H₂O fluid with the density of 0.90 to 0.97 gm/cm³ are remnants of provenance area. CO₂ density in detrital quartz grains characterise the protolith of the sandstone as granite or metamorphic rock. The H₂O-NaCl fluids involved in the recrystallization processes at temperature-pressure of 430-350°C; 4.8 to 0.5 Kbars as constrained by fluid isochores of CO₂-H₂O and H₂O-NaCl inclusions and bulging and subgrain development during recrystallization processes. The re-equilibration of the primary fluid due to elevated internal and confining pressure is evident from features like ‘C’ shaped cavities, stretching of the inclusions, their migration and decrepitation clusters. The observed inclusion morphology revealed that the rocks were exhumed along an isothermal decompression path.     

A Certain Class of Laplace Transforms with Applications to Reaction and Reaction-Diffusion Equations

A class of Laplace transforms is examined to show that particular cases of this class are associated with production-destruction and reaction-diffusion problems in physics, study of differences of independently distributed random variables and the concept of Laplacianness in statistics, α-Laplace and Mittag-Leffler stochastic processes, the concepts of infinite divisibility and geometric infinite divisibility problems in probability theory and certain fractional integrals and fractional derivatives. A number of applications are pointed out with special reference to solutions of fractional reaction and reaction-diffusion equations and their generalizations.     

On fractional kinetic equations

The subject of this paper is to derive the solution of generalized fractional kinetic equations. The results are obtained in a compact form containing the Mittag-Leffler function, which naturally occurs whenever one is dealing with fractional integral equations. The results derived in this paper provide an extension of a result given by Haubold and Mathai in a recent paper (Haubold and Mathai, 2000). This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.