Environmental impact and waste recycling technologies for modern wind turbines: An overview.

Wind power is rapidly expanding worldwide, and so is the installation of wind turbines. The concept of wind power as a clean-energy alternative will be questioned if the waste from these turbines is not and adequately controlled. The goal of this review paper is to evaluate the various approaches for end-of-life management of wind turbine blades emphasizing on fibre recovery. Different methods for recovering carbon and glass fibres are described, including thermal treatment and chemical treatments and their economic and environmental comparisons. Life cycle assessment and comparative analysis of different recycling processes are also presented. Natural composites, modified thermoset composites, and thermoplastic composites are also covered as alternative environmentally friendly blade materials.

Influences of a novel cylindrical solar dryer on farmer's income and its impact on environment.

Poor grain drying facilities, along with the burden of drying cost, bound the farmers to market their produce soon after harvest. Thus, this research paper intends to study the influences of a novel cylindrical solar-assisted dryer on farmers' income and its impact on the environment. The paper also presents the design and fabrication of a drying system for maize cobs using non-conventional solar energy. The performance of the solar-assisted drying system was also investigated for drying of yellow dent maize cobs. As a very energy-intensive post-harvest process, drying consumes a lot of electricity, which is usually provided by conventional energy. Here, solar dryers are the perfect solution in terms of efficiency, uniform drying of agricultural food products, less drying time, increased marketability of agricultural products, and reducing the load on farmer's pocket for drying. With a high internal rate of return of 66 percent, the designed dryer proved to be technically and economically viable. Compared to open sun drying, the solar drying system produced better quality and drying time results. Compared to other models, the Midilli model fits the experimental maize drying data better, with a coefficient of determination of R2 = 0.89729. Energy analysis inferred savings of 1352.97 kWh electrical energy and 128.18 liters of diesel fuel plus a reduction of 1.22 t CO2 per annum can be achieved by using this dryer.

Thermogravimetric studies on co-pyrolysis of raw/torrefied biomass and coal blends.

The pyrolysis and co-pyrolysis behaviours of cotton stalk (CS), torrefied cotton stalk (TCS) and mined coal, as single fuels, and their blends, have been examined through thermogravimetric analysis. Biomass has been torrefied at 250°C for 45 min to enhance physicochemical properties, and then mixed with mined coal for co-pyrolysis. Thermal degradation of CS and TCS is characterized by a reaction. However, this is not the case for mined coal, which shows a single-stage reaction. The thermal degradation of all blends was done in three stages: dehydration; biomass and small mined coal; and lignin or mined coal. A similar trend emerged for mass loss of individual fuels, which depended mainly on their ratios in the blend. The kinetics of pyrolysis and co-pyrolysis of all fuels were calculated at 20°Cmin-1 heating rate using the Coats-Redfern model-fitting method.

Environment friendly biomass gasifier cookstove for community cooking.

Traditional community cookstoves have a low level of efficiency due to their poor heat transfer efficiency and incomplete combustion. The low efficiency results in a high consumption of fuel wood, thereby creating a need of more fuel wood. This paper deals with the development of a biomass cookstove suitable for community cooking. The stove exhibits approximately 36.38% thermal efficiency and has a thermal power rating of 5 kW. The maximum flame temperature recorded was 712°C. The data indicate that the developed cookstove can save approximately 7155 kg of CO2 per annum.

Experimental investigation of an applicator of liquid slurry, from biogas production, for crop production.

A unit for the application of liquid digested slurry in the field was designed and developed. The developed slurry applicator had a capacity of 1500 L and was pulled by a 35 h.p. tractor. The liquid digested slurry of a biogas plant was pumped in to the tank with the help of a slurry pump. The necessary power transmission system, consisting of a pulley, power take off shaft (PTO) and cross joints, was provided to get power from the PTO of the tractor. In this paper an attempt has been made to evaluate the application of liquid slurry in the field in terms of plant growth parameters such as number of branches/plant, number of nodules/plant, plant height and yield attributes like pods/plant and grains/pod. The application of liquid slurry resulted in an increase in grain, straw and biological yields of 32%, 7% and 15%, respectively, compared with the application of farmyard manure.