In this study, the unhydrolyzed solid (UHS) derived from corn stover was hydrothermally processed to generate heavy bio-oil (HBO) and hydrochar. In particular, hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) was ...carried out in a 300 mL high temperature and high pressure reactor with the slurry of UHS in de-ionized (DI) water, and the effect of reaction temperature, initial nitrogen pressure, reaction time, and UHS to solvent ratio on hydrochar generation was investigated. HTL processed slurries were filtered to recover the solid residue, which was extracted with acetone to recover heavy bio-oil (HBO). The solid residue was thermally treated further at 400 °C to produce hydrochar, which was thoroughly characterized by BET, SEM/EDX, FTIR and Raman spectroscopy. Results indicated that as temperature of HTL process increased from 250 to 300 °C, hydrochar yield decreased. Increase in HTL temperature also resulted in decrease in BET specific surface area (SSA) and pore volume; however, increase in pore diameter. HTL parameters such as initial N2 pressure, reaction time, and UHS:water ratio was found to influence the yield, BET SSA, pore volume and pore diameter. SEM images showed porous structure whereas surface functional groups with O-H, >CC< and C–H stretching vibrations were observed with FTIR spectroscopy. Fully characterized hydrochar obtained under different HTL processing conditions was used with sol-gel synthesized (Mn,Ti)-oxide electrode and aqueous KOH electrolyte to fabricate asymmetric supercapacitors (ASC), which were tested with cyclic voltammetry to determine specific capacitance. A maximum specific capacitance was observed for the hydrochar electrode materials obtained at the HTL processing conditions of 275 °C temperature, 1 h reaction time, and UHS:water ratios of 1:30 and 1:10 with initial nitrogen pressure of 100 psig and 150 psig, respectively.
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•Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of unhydrolyzed solids produce high value hydrochar.•HTL at 275 °C, 150 psig N2 produce highly porous hydrochar with maximum surface area.•Raman spectra reveals ID and IG bands at 1374 and 1584 cm-1 with 4 nm planer size.•Asymmetric supercapacitor fabricated with hydrochar/(Mn,Ti)-oxides shows 284 F.g-1.
Sodium-ion batteries are promising futuristic large-scale energy-storage devices because of the abundance and low cost of sodium. However, the development and commercialization of the sodium-ion ...battery solely depends on the use of high-capacity electrode materials. Among the various metal oxides, SnO2 has a high theoretical specific capacity for sodium-ion battery. However, the enormous volume expansion and low electrical conductivity of SnO2 hinder its capability to reach the predicted theoretical value. Although different nanostructured designs of electrode materials like SnO2 nanocomposites have been studied, the effects of other cell components like electrolyte and binder on the specific capacity and cyclic stability are yet to be understood. In the present study, we have investigated the synergistic effect of electrolyte and binder on the performance enhancement of SnO2 supported on the intertwined network structure of reduced graphene oxide partially open multiwalled carbon nanotube hybrid as anode in sodium-ion battery. Our result shows that sodium carboxyl methyl cellulose and ethylene carbonate/diethyl carbonate as the electrolyte solvent offers a high specific capacity of 688 mAh g–1 and a satisfactory cyclic stability for 500 cycles. This is about 56% enhancement in specific capacity compared to the use of poly(vinylidene fluoride) binder and propylene carbonate as the electrolyte solvent. The present study provides a better understanding of the synergistic role of electrolyte and binder for the development of metal-oxide-based electrode materials for the advancement of the commercialization of sodium-ion battery.
Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common entrapment neuropathy seen in uremic patients. The study was undertaken to estimate the frequency of CTS in uremic patients and to identify the most ...sensitive electrodiagnostic test. Study was conducted on 80 subjects of age 30-60 years. End-stage kidney disease patients were recruited for the clinical evaluation, motor nerve conduction studies (NCS), sensory NCS, F wave study and median-versus-ulnar comparison studies (palm-to-wrist mixed comparison study, digit 4 sensory latencies study and lumbrical-interossei comparison study). Among three different diagnostic modalities, frequency of CTS was found to be 17.5% with clinical evaluation, 15% with routine NCS studies and 25% with median-versus-ulnar comparison studies. Among the median-versus-ulnar comparison studies, lumbrical-interossei comparison study was found to be most sensitive (90%). The comparative tests for CTS are more sensitive compared to routine NCS and clinical examination. Among the comparative tests, lumbrical-interossei comparison study is the most sensitive. Early diagnosis of CTS may help patients of uremia to seek proper treatment at an appropriate time.
A total of 790 frontline demonstrations were conducted on farmers’ field during last three decades (1987-88 to2018-19) in scarcity zone of Maharashtra state. The components viz., whole package, ...thinning, improved variety,recommended dose of fertilizers, plant protection measures and intercropping were tested with local package ofpractices. The intercropping of gram and safflower (6:3) and use of RDF under rain fed conditions were the mosteconomical component which increased monetary returns by 46 and 40 per cent over local practice. The results also revealed that awareness in respect of use of improved varieties, balanced fertilization, IPM module adoption and précise use of component technologies brought a significant change in their livelihood through additional income.
The role of pions in the nuclear interaction has been studied in pionic fusion experiments using the AGOR accelerator facility at KVI. Pionic fusion is a highly coherent process in which two nuclei ...fuse to a united nucleus and the available centre-of-mass (C.M.) energy is emitted through the pion channel. The examined reactions were 4He(3He, π0)7Be and 6Li(4He, π0)10B⁎ and both reactions were performed at C.M. energies about 10 MeV above the coherent pion production threshold. Here, the experimental results for the 6Li(4He, π0)10B⁎ reaction will be presented and discussed. In order to provide sensitivity to the full dynamics and relevant processes involved in the pionic fusion reaction, almost the full angular distribution of neutral pions has been determined. In a phenomenological analysis, the contributions of Legendre polynomials to reproduce the behaviour of the angular distribution have been studied. The results of this analysis confirm the importance of the clustering correlations for the 6Li(4He, π0)10B⁎ reaction. The mass dependence of the pionic fusion reaction is in agreement with the results of the existing models extrapolated to this reaction.
A radiative deuteron–proton capture experiment was carried out at KVI using polarized-deuteron beams at incident energies of 55, 66.5, and 90 MeV/nucleon. Vector and tensor-analyzing powers were ...obtained for a large angular range. The results are interpreted with the help of Faddeev calculations, which are based on modern two- and three-nucleon potentials. Our data are described well by the calculations, and disagree significantly with the observed tensor anomaly at RCNP.
Quasifree photoproduction of eta mesons off nucleons bound in the deuteron has been measured with the CBELSA/TAPS detector for incident photon energies up to 2.5 GeV at the Bonn ELSA accelerator. The ...eta mesons have been detected in coincidence with recoil protons and recoil neutrons, which allows a detailed comparison of the quasifree n(gamma,eta)n and p(gamma,eta)p reactions. The excitation function for eta production off the neutron shows a pronounced bumplike structure at W=1.68 GeV (E{gamma} approximately 1 GeV), which is absent for the proton.
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