Kongu Engineering College

About: Kongu Engineering College is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Computer science & Cluster analysis. The organization has 2001 authors who have published 1978 publications receiving 16923 citations.

Microbial fuel cell for harvesting bio-energy from tannery effluent using metal mixed biochar electrodes

Abstract: The present study aims on the ways and means of reducing the cost of electrodes and decreasing environment pollution using waste materials. For example, Coconut Shell (CS) materials were used for synthesizing electrodes through carbonization and testing it as the anode in the Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) utilizing tannery effluent. The electrodes were synthesized by using activated coconut shell wastes blended with various metals such as Silicon (Si0.2), Zinc (Zn0.2), and Copper (Cu0.2) with 20%. The specific surface area of CS-Si0.2 (0.1825 m2 g−1), CS-Zn0.2 (0.1900 m2 g−1), and CS-Cu0.2 (0.2162 m2 g−1) is greater than Graphite Particle (GP) (0.1890 m2 g−1). Power output of electrodes were CS-Si0.2 ((16.8 ± 0.5) mW m−2), CS-Zn0.2 ((22.96 ± 0.6) mW m−2), and CS-Cu0.2 ((38.72 ± 0.5) mW m−2) similar to GP ((30.42 ± 0.5) mW m−2). Our outcomes exhibit that the activated coconut shell with CS-Cu0.2 metal electrode gives the maximum power output. Therefore, CS-Cu0.2 electrodes are progressively viable, have greater biocompatibility, effective and adaptable for application in the microbial fuel cell. Among these three proposed electrodes, CS-Cu0.2 electrode has a huge potential for maximum performance and developing a cost-effective sustainable MFC.

Biosorption studies on waste cotton seed for cationic dyes sequestration: equilibrium and thermodynamics

Abstract: The immature Gossypium hirsutum seeds—an agricultural waste was converted into a novel adsorbent and its effectiveness for cationic dyes removal was discussed in this study. Characterization revealed that sulfuric acid activated waste Gossypium hirsutum seed (WGSAB) contains surface area 496 m2 g−1. The ability of WGSAB to adsorb basic red 2 (BR2) and basic violet 3 (BV3) from aqueous solutions has been studied. Batch adsorption studies were carried out at different initial dye concentrations (100–300 mg l−1), contact time (1–5 h), pH (2–12) and temperature (293–323 K) to understand the adsorption mechanism. Adsorption data were modeled using Langmuir, Freundlich and Toth adsorption isotherms. Equilibrium data of the adsorption process fitted very well to the Toth model for both dyes. The Langmuir maximum adsorption capacity was 66.69 mg g−1 for BV3 and 50.11 mg g−1 for BR2 at optimum conditions. The near unity value of Toth isotherm constant (BR2: 0.999 and BV3: 1.0) indicates that WGSAB surface is heterogeneous in nature. The maximum adsorption capacity predicted by Toth isotherm of BV3 (66.699 mg g−1) is higher than BR2 (50.310 mg g−1). The kinetic investigation revealed that the BR2 and BV3 were chemisorbed on WGSAB surface following Avrami fractional order kinetics. Further, the fractional order and rate constant values are almost similar for every concentration in both the dyes. The thermodynamic parameters such as ΔH 0, ΔS 0 and ΔG 0 were evaluated. The dye adsorption process was found to be spontaneous and endothermic for the two dyes. Regeneration of WGSAB exhausted by the two dyes could be possible via acetic acid as elutant.

Development of model for treatment of pulp and paper industry bleaching effluent using response surface methodology

Abstract: The treatment of bleaching-effluent from pulp and paper industry was investigated in a batch electrocoagulation (EC) reactor using aluminium as sacrificial electrodes. The response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to evaluate the individual and interactive effects of four independent parameters viz., current density (j: 5–25 mA/cm2), initial pH (pHo: 5–9), electrolyte (NaCl) concentration (c: 0–2 g/L) and electrolysis time (t: 10–30 min) on Colour, COD and BOD removal efficiency. The results were analyzed using Pareto analysis of variance (ANOVA). Based on RSM analysis, a second-order polynomial regression model was developed and found to be good fit with experimental results. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 2011