Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati

About: Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati is a education organization based out in Guwahati, Assam, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Catalysis & Computer science. The organization has 6933 authors who have published 17102 publications receiving 257351 citations.

Study of B→πℓν and B→ρℓν decays and determination of |Vub|

Abstract: We present an analysis of exclusive charmless semileptonic B-meson decays based on 377×106 BB pairs recorded with the BABAR detector at the Υ(4S) resonance. We select four event samples corresponding to the decay modes B0→π-l+ν, B+→π0l+ν, B0→ρ-l+ν, and B+→ρ0l+ν and find the measured branching fractions to be consistent with isospin symmetry. Assuming isospin symmetry, we combine the two B→πlν samples, and similarly the two B→ρlν samples, and measure the branching fractions B(B0→π-l+ν)=(1.41±0.05±0.07)×10-4 and B(B0→ρ-l+ν)=(1.75±0.15±0.27)×10-4, where the errors are statistical and systematic. We compare the measured distribution in q2, the momentum transfer squared, with predictions for the form factors from QCD calculations and determine the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element |Vub|. Based on the measured partial branching fraction for B→πlν in the range q2<12 GeV2 and the most recent QCD light-cone sum-rule calculations, we obtain |Vub|=(3.78±0.13-0.40+0.55)×10-3, where the errors refer to the experimental and theoretical uncertainties. From a simultaneous fit to the data over the full q2 range and the FNAL/MILC lattice QCD results, we obtain |Vub|=(2.95±0.31)×10-3 from B→πlν, where the error is the combined experimental and theoretical uncertainty.

Algae based microbial fuel cells for wastewater treatment and recovery of value-added products

Abstract: Microalgae based microbial fuel cells are efficient systems to remove nitrogen, phosphorous and CO2 from wastewater, to produce bioelectricity and value-added products from microalgal biomass. Microalgae can be used in MFCs as algae assisted cathode systems, microbial carbon capture cells or sediment microbial fuel cells as well as photosynthetic microalgae microbial fuel cell. These MFCs are shown efficient for CO2 capture with a low risk of carbon emission, N and P removal via symbiotic interactions of microalgae-bacteria consortia in wastewater treatment along with power generation. The oxygen production by microalgae during the light period reduces the need for external oxygen supply for cathodic reactions, which is advantageous for reducing the aeration cost, as otherwise power needs to be supplied for mechanical aeration. Utilization of algal biomass harvested from the cathodic compartment requires a pretreatment in a biorefinery concept. This still remains a major drawback, but current advances towards the choice of a biofilm on the cathode allow for further recovery of value-added products from algal biomass. Alternatively, the algal biomass can be utilized as the sole feedstock in the anodic compartment. This paper reviews the application of algae based microbial fuel cells for bioelectricity production, mainly focusing on the use of algae in the cathodic compartment, microalgae in the anodic compartment and the main interactions between the compartments affecting the bioelectricity production.