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CONTENTS
Volume 5, Number 3, September 2017
 


Abstract
Energy consumption in agriculture is responsible for greenhouse gas emission but it can be reduced after efficient utilization of energy inputs. Therefore, the present study aims for the estimation of energy efficiency and extent of greenhouse gas reduction after benchmarking of inefficient farms in off-season tomato in Punjab province of Pakistan. Primary data were collected from 70 farmers with simple random sampling. By using data envelopment analysis, the average value of technical, pure technical and scale efficiency was 0.80, 0.92 and 0.87, respectively while increasing, constant and decreasing return to scale was observed in 33, 26 and 11 farmers, respectively. Total input energy was reduced by 12,688.91 MJ ha-1 (13.89%) if inefficient farms used the energy inputs according to recommendations or benchmarking. A major portion of energy saving comes from fertilizers (68.79%) followed by diesel (15.70%), chemicals (5.91%), machinery (4.37%) and water (4.00%). Total greenhouse gases reduction was 499.17 kg CO2 eq.ha-1 (14.57%) as a result of improvement in energy efficiency or benchmarking of inefficient farms. Agricultural extension staff should visit the vegetable farms on regular basis and give necessary information about efficient utilization of energy inputs. The government should create awareness about the optimum use of input through seminars and pamphlets.

Key Words
benchmarking; data envelopment analysis; energy efficiency; environment; vegetables

Address
Qamar Ali: Institute of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan

Muhammad T.I. Khan: Department of Economics, Government Postgraduate College, Jaranwala, Pakistan

Muhammad N.I. Khan: Department of Chemical Engineering, Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences,
Islamabad, Pakistan

Abstract
Electrochemical double layer capacitors (EDLCs) have received a tremendous interest due to their suitability for diverse applications. They have been fabricated using different carbon based electrodes including activated carbons, single walled/multi walled carbon nano tubes. But, graphite which is one of the natural resources in Sri Lanka has not been given a considerable attention towards using for EDLCs though it is a famous carbon material. On the other hand, EDLCs are well reported with various liquid electrolytes which are associated with numerous drawbacks. Gel polymer electrolytes (GPE) are well known alternative for liquid electrolytes. In this paper, it is reported about an EDLC fabricated with a nano composite polyethylene oxide based GPE and two Sri Lankan graphite based electrodes. The composition of the GPE was [{(10PEO: NaClO4) molar ratio}: 75wt.% PC] : 5 wt.% TiO2. GPE was prepared using the solvent casting method. Two graphite electrodes were prepared by mixing 85% graphite and 15% polyvinylidenefluoride (PVdF) in acetone and casting n fluorine doped tin oxide glass plates. GPE film was sandwiched in between the two graphite electrodes. A non faradaic charge discharge mechanism was observed from the Cyclic Voltammetry study. GPE was stable in the potential windows from (-0.8 V-0.8 V) to (-1.5 V-1.5 V). By increasing the width of the potential window, single electrode specific capacity increased. Impedance plots confirmed the capacitive behavior at low frequency region. Galvanostatic charge discharge test yielded an average discharge capacity of 0.60 Fg-1.

Key Words
gel polymer electrolyte; graphite; electrochemical double layer capacitors; cyclic voltammetry; electrochemical impedance spectroscopy; galvanostatic charge discharge; nyquist plots; super capacitors

Address
Bandara Jayamaha and Kandasamy Vignarooban: Department of Physics, University of Jaffna, Jaffna, Sri Lanka

Malavi.A.K.L. Dissanayake: National Institute of Fundamental Studies, Hanthana, Kandy, Sri Lanka

Kamal P. Vidanapathirana and Kumudu S. Perera: Department of Electronics, Wayamba University of Sri Lanka, Kuliyapitiya, Sri Lanka


Abstract
The continuous increase of emission rates of green house gases and the effects on global warming added a new dimension to the problem of substituting the petroleum and its derivatives by environment friendly and sustainable energy sources for the world. Solar and wind energy appear at the top of the list of renewable of high potential, widely available, of dominated technology and well accepted. Brazil is one of the few countries in the world that receives number hours of sunshine exceeding 3,000 hours per year with a daily average of 4.5 to 6 kWh. However, this potential is largely unexplored and poorly tapped. The number of renewable systems implanted in Brazil has grown in recent years, but still insignificant when compared, for example, with Germany and Spain among others. This paper presents the results of an optical study on small concentration solar collector with evacuated tube enveloping the absorber and internal reflective surface fixed on the bottom part of the evacuated tube. The designed collector has a 2D geometrical concentration ratio between 2.455 and 4.91. The orientation of the solar collector, the ratio of the radius of the receiver to the radius of the absorber, the incidence angle for each period of the year, the collector inclination angle, the aperture angle of the reflective surface, concentration and optical efficiency were determined. The ray traces and flux distribution on the absorber of the evacuated tube solar collector were determined by using the program Ray Optics Simulation. The optical efficiency varies during the year according to the solar declination. For the periods were the solar declination is close to zero the efficiencies are maximum, and the variation during the day is around 25.88% and 99.9%. For the periods were the solar declination is maximum the efficiencies are minimum, and the variation during the day is around 23.78% and 91.79%.

Key Words
optical analysis; evacuated tube collector; low concentration collector; internal reflective surface

Address
Mavd R. Teles, Raquel Carvalho and Kamal A.R. Ismail: Department of Energy, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, State of University of Campinas, Mendeleiev Street, 200, Cidade Universitária

Abstract
The world began to search for new energy sources with increasing energy demand. Renewable energy sources are as hydropower important for alternative energy. Countries with high hydroelectric potentials continue to work to utilize hydroelectric power plants in the most efficient way. Pumped storage hydropower plants are an important investment to meet the growing energy needs at peak times and to store energy. Although it produces energy in many countries, pumped storage hydropower plants have not begun to be built in Turkey which has high hydroelectric potential. A new era will be opened for energy production in Turkey where a large number of pumped storage hydropower plants projects are in study phase with the construction of pumped storage hydropower plants and first nuclear power plant.

Key Words
pumped storage; hydroelectric; power plant; turkey; energy

Address
Egemen Aras: Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Technology, Karadeniz Technical University,
61830 Trabzon, Turkey


Abstract
The advantages of using natural circulation (NC) as a cooling system, has prompted the worldwide development to investigate this phenomenon more than before. The interesting application of the NC in low power experimental facilities and research reactors, highlights the obligation of study in these laminar flows. The inherent oscillations of NC between hot source and cold sink in low Grashof numbers necessitates stability analysis of cooling flow with experimental or numerical schemes. For this type of analysis, numerical methods could be implemented to desired mass, momentum and energy equations as an efficient instrument for predicting the behavior of the flow field. In this work, using the explicit, implicit and Crank-Nicolson methods, the fluid flow parameters in a natural circulation experimental test loop are obtained and the sensitivity of solving approaches are discussed. In this way, at first, the steady state and transient results from explicit are obtained and compared with experimental data. The implicit and crank-Nicolson scheme is investigated in next steps and in subsequent this research is focused on the numerical aspects of instability prediction for these schemes. In the following, the assessment of the flow behavior with coarse and fine mesh sizes and time-steps has been reported and the numerical schemes convergence are compared. For more detail research, the natural circulation of fluid was modeled by ANSYS-CFX software and results for the experimental loop are shown. Finally, the stability map for rectangular closed loop was obtained with employing the Nyquist criterion.

Key Words
natural circulation; single-phase; numerical methods; low Grashof; CFD; experimental facility

Address
Imaneh Karami and Mahdi Aghaie: Department of Engineering, Shahid Beheshti University, G.C, P.O.Box 1983963113, Tehran, Iran


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