In the present work, the energy and exergy analysis was carried out for a diesel engine fueled with soybean oil biodiesel and its blends at different temperatures and two speeds (1200 and 1600 rpm). To simulate the combustion process, a single-zone combustion model was developed. A comprehensive MATLAB-based simulation tool incorporating multiple combustion by-products was developed to perform detailed energy and exergy evaluations. Simulated in-cylinder pressure profiles for pure diesel fuel were benchmarked against experimental observations, demonstrating strong correlation and reliability. The model also provided insights into both instantaneous and cumulative forms of energy and exergy at various crank angles for three biodiesel blend ratios—B20, B40, and B100. The results indicate that the total exergy of B100 is approximately 50

This paper presents a combined heating, power, and hydrogen system production by utilizing biogas energy. A novel methodology is proposed to identify thermodynamic cycle conditions and reform processes by using biogas as the energy source. Biogas steam and dry reforming methods are considered based on equilibrium data employing the EES program. It is found that biogas has two principal roles for combustion and reforming processes simultaneously. The thermal energy from the combustion of biogas causes its reforming and improves the efficiency of the system by 74%. The exergy efficiency, the overall exergy destruction, and hydrogen efficiency are calculated for various electric powers ranging from 5 to 40 MW. It is found that the combustion chamber has the maximum exergy destruction of about 51%. The parametric study of the system is performed to assess the optimum conditions for producing hydrogen. The optimal condition corresponds to CO2/CH4 = 0.50-0.66, H2O/ CH4 = 2-3.6, and the reforming temperature range of 965-1036 K. The conversion of methane and carbon dioxide shows the reduction of the greenhouse gases.

Trogoderma granarium Everts (Coleoptera: Dermestidae) is one of the major destructive pests of grain products in hot and dry parts of the world. No information has been made available on the bioacoustic signals (BASs) of T. granarium. In this paper, the bioacoustic features of this insect have measured from larvae and adult males and females. No anechoic chamber was used in this study. The extracted features were compared to evaluate the ability of the acoustic method to determine larva or adult as well as their sex. Adult males and females and larvae T. granarium produced BASs with a length of 2-11, 2-52, and 2-30 ms with a maximum sound pressure level of 3, 36, and 17 dB, respectively. At least 60 % of all BASs were in the ranges of 2-12 impulses in larva and adult stages. The sum of the total BASs was different in larvae and adult stages. Adult males had the least number of BASs compared to adult females and larvae. Detection of the growth stage and determination of the sex of the adult T. granarium by acoustic method in the time domain depends on the feature extracted from BASs and number of their impulses. Furthermore, in the frequency domain, the most dominant frequency bands were in the range of 1-8 kHz. In this band, the most dominant frequency band was 3.5-4.5 and 1-1.7 kHz for adult males and larvae, respectively. The most dominant bands of 1-3 and 4-5 kHz were observed for adult females.

Conventional transesterification processes not only require large amounts of methanol and catalysts but are also time-consuming and operate at high temperatures. Advanced methods such as non-thermal plasma have been studied for biodiesel production because they mainly reduce the temperature as well as the reaction time. In this study, a liquid-phase capillary discharge plasma reactor was developed for the continuous production of biodiesel from sunflower oil at ambient temperature and pressure. The four main operational parameters were examined each with three levels, including molar ratio (4, 6, 8), catalyst concentration (0.5, 1, 1.5 wt%), applied voltage (10, 15, 20 kV), and reactant flowrate (2, 4, 6 ml/s). The response surface method (RSM) was used to optimize FAME content. The results show that the capillary discharge reactor is possible to continuously produce 95.9 % methyl ester content (FAME- content) in a MeOH/oil molar ratio of 6.2:1, catalyst concentration of 1.2 wt %, applied voltage of 18 kV and flow rate of 4.6 ml/s. The power consumed in this process was 46.16 kJ/lit. These results indicate that the studied technology is able to continuously produce methyl ester with high conversion efficiency at low temperatures and with minimum amounts of inputs compared to common methods.

Biodiesel, a renewable energy replacing fossil fuels, exhibits eco-friendly traits with beneficial lubrication properties. This research aims to design and construct a single-orifice oscillatory flow reactor to reduce the reaction time, improve the mixing process, and increase efficiency. The response surface method was used for the analysis of independent parameters like molar ratio (1:6-1:12), temperature (30-50 degrees C), reactor length (1-3 m), and catalyst concentration (0.75%-1.25%) on yield as the dependent variable. Elevated temperature up to 50 degrees C enhances conversion from 61.91% to 69.51%, peaking at 65.43% by 60 degrees C, adjusting the molar ratio to 1:9 boosts biodiesel conversion from 58.70% to 69.51%, dropping by 4% at 1:12 ratio. Catalyst concentration at 1% heightens conversion from 48.82% to 69.51%, but at 1.25%, it falls to 57.26%. Increasing reactor length to 2 m yields a 20% boost, while at 3 m, conversion drops by 4%. Optimal conditions, at 40 degrees C, 1:9 ratio, 1% catalyst, and 3 m reactor, resulted in a 91.98% conversion percentage. Experimental verification at the suggested point yields an 89% conversion, aligning acceptably with the model's prediction. Biodiesel meets EN 14214 standards, positioning it as a viable diesel fuel alternative.

The current research was conducted with the aim of investigating the combined effect of diesel, biodiesel, hydrogen, aluminum oxide nanoparticles (Al2O3) and Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) system on diesel engine emissions and performance. Data analysis showed that with a 30% increase in biodiesel, the amounts of Hydrocarbons (HC) and Carbon Monoxide (CO) decreased by 11.7% and 14.9%, respectively. However, it reduced power and torque. Increasing the share of EGR in the intake air decreased the power and torque due to the decrease of oxygen, and by adding 30% of the exhaust gas to the intake air, it reduced the amount of HC by 3.2%. However, it caused an increase in CO. By increasing the concentration of Al2O3 from 30 ppm to 60 ppm, the amount of HC decreased by 5.4%. Further increase to 90 ppm reduced CO by 5.8% but increased nitrogen oxides (NOx) by 8%. However, the torque increased by 4.89%. Increasing hydrogen by 10% of intake air volume increased power and torque by 16%, but also increased CO by 7.19%. However, further increase of hydrogen decreased power and torque. The optimal point obtained for Al2O3, hydrogen, biodiesel and EGR compounds was 61, 10, 20 and 15% ppm, respectively.

Applying conventional methods for prediction of environmental impacts in agricultural production is not actually applicable because they usually ignore other aspects such as useful energy and economic consequence. As such, this article evaluates intelligent models for exergoenvironmental damage and emissions social cost (ESC) for mushroom production in Isfahan province, Iran, by three machine learning (ML) methods, namely adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), artificial neural network (ANN), and support vector regression (SVR). Accordingly, environmental life cycle damages, cumulative exergy demand, and ESC are examined by the ReCiPe2016 method for 100 tons of mushroom production after data collection by interview. Exergoenvironmental results reveal that, in human health and ecosystems, direct emissions, and resources and exergy categories, diesel fuel and compost are the main hotspots. Economic analysis also shows that total ESC is about 1035$. Results of ML models indicate that ANN with a 6-8-3 structure is the optimum topology for forecasting outputs. Moreover, a two-level structure of ANFIS has weak results for prediction in comparison with ANN. However, support vector regression (SVR) with an absolute average relative error (AARE) (%) between 0.85 and 1.03 (based on specific unit), a coefficient of determination (R2) between 0.989 and 0.993 (based on specific unit), and a root mean square error (RMSE) between 0.003 and 0.011 (based on specific unit) is selected as the best ML model. It is concluded that ML models can furnish comprehensive and applicable exergoenvironmental-economical assessment of agricultural products.

As one of the sources of renewable energies, ethanol is produced from lignocellulosic compounds and food waste during the fermentation process. In the present study, the capability of electronic nose (e-nose) system and machine learning approaches was evaluated of classification/prediction of bioethanol production and sensor responses as real-time monitoring. For this purpose, rice and wheat residual were conducted by acid-ultrasound, thermal-acid hydrolysis, and plasma technology, respectively. Then, the prepared substance was poured into both a pneumatic anaerobic digester (PAD) and a mechanical anaerobic digester (MAD). The fermentation process lasted for 20 days and data were acquired every five days. The output of each reactor was examined after the distillation stage. For this purpose, the output bioethanol was injected into an e-nose with an arrangement of 13 sensors, and the feature of the produced bioethanol was investigated by gas sensors. The response of the sensors was predicted and identified by chemometric methods. Moreover, the optimal responses with time and type of digester were investigated by RSM (Response Surface Methodology). The obtained results indicated that given the significance coefficient, the gas sensors MQ135, MQ2, MQ7, MQ9, TGS2620, and TGS822 had the highest rate of detection. Moreover, the obtained results showed that the PAD generated different gas compounds within the produced bioethanol when compared with the MAD. In addition, all chemometric methods had high accuracy for classification and prediction.

Conventional transesterification processes are time-consuming and costly. New methods, such as non-thermal plasma technology, reduce the reaction time and temperature. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the use of a combined plasma jet-hydrodynamic reactor for transesterification. The plasma jet used in this research comprised a ceramic tube with a central high-voltage electrode and a ring outer electrode, into which argon gas was fed. The hydrodynamic reactor consisted of a rotor with holes in its environment that rotated in a fixed stator. In this study, the operating parameters for plasma jet evaluation include the molar ratio of methanol to oil (4:1, 6:1, 8:1), catalyst concentration (0.75, 1, 1.25 wt.%), and reaction time (30, 60, and 90 s). The operating parameters for evaluating the hydrodynamic reactor included reaction time (30, 60, and 90 s), reaction temperature (40, 50, and 60 degrees C), and rotor-stator distance (10, 20, and 30 mm). The response surface method (RSM) and Box-Behnken design were used to analyze and optimize the results. According to the results, using a plasma jet alone produces a conversion percentage of 83%. Finally, the product's physical and chemical characteristics were evaluated, and it was found to be insufficiently compliant with international standards.

In this study, an anaerobic pneumatic mechanical digester (PMD) was designed for the first time to investigate the impact of pneumatic agitator on increasing the bioethanol production and compared with a mechanical digester (MD). Fermentation was performed during an optimized pretreatment and hydrolysis process by RSM (Response Surface Method). Ultrasound optimized points (the time values, the acid concentration, and the biomass load) were 30 min, 1.95% v/v, and 6%, and hydrolysis was done within 45 min at the acid concentration of 2.04% v/v and temperature of 148.4 °C. The hydrolysis solutions were poured and the fermentation process took place within 20 days in the PMD and MD. The sampling sequence was every 5 days. According to the results, the PMD could produce bioethanol more than the MD by 27.94%. Besides, CO, H2S and O2 were measured through fermentation. In PMD, the amount of H2S and O2 was lower than the MD, but then the production of CO in the PMD was meaningfully higher. Finally, by the application of the PMD, the amount of harmful mixtures produced throughout the process can be controlled. It can be said that with the new method designed in this study, it is possible to take an important step in the biorefinery and use the biomass produced in nature in an economical and environmentally friendly way.

ABSTR A C T Due to the energy crisis and pollution caused by fossil fuels, the development of renewable fuels is an increasing demand to meet energy needs. Biodiesel fuel, which results from the transesterification process between vege-table or animal oils and alcohols, has a high potential to replace diesel fuels. However, the conventional transesterification processes are costly, time-consuming, and inefficient. Many researchers have accomplished a lot of researches about novel intensification methods to improve the yield of biodiesel production. Therefore, many researchers have considered strong electric fields an advanced molecular decomposition process in recent years. The present study provides an overview of different non-thermal plasma reactors reported in the trans-esterification process. Also, the effect of design and various operational parameters on energy efficiency has been investigated. The data reported in this study can optimize non-thermal plasma reactors and develop new reactor systems.

An anaerobic pneu-mechanical digester (PD) was designed to ferment lignocellulosic compounds. So, wheat and rice straws were pretreated using an ultrasound-acid, and then thermal-acid hydrolysis was conducted. Hydro-lysis optimization was performed using the response surface method and the optimal points for time, temper-ature, and acid concentration were 45 min, 148.4 ?, and 2.04 % v/v, respectively. Cold plasma was then used as detoxification to reduce the amount of inhibitory compounds and acids. This method was capable of reducing the amounts of acetic acid, formic acid and furfural by 73, 83 and 68 % in hydrolyzed biomass, respectively. The biomass was fermented in a PD for 20 days and compared with a conventional digester (CD). The obtained results showed that the PD could increase the efficiency of bioethanol by 37 % in the detoxified state and 22 % in the non-detoxified state after 20 days of fermentation compared to the CD. Moreover, H2S, CO and O-2 were measured during fermentation process. In PD, the amount of H2S and O-2 was lower than CD, but CO was significantly higher in the PD.

As the parameters involved in the brake thermal efficiency of the engine cycles affect each other, the simultaneous investigation of the critical parameters, non-critical parameters, and the maximum temperature of the working fluid involved to optimize the brake thermal efficiency of the engine cycles is vital to implement the theoretical proposition into practical design perspectives. For this reason, a new method to compare the thermal efficiency of the engine cycles has been carried out with the simultaneous application of the optimal cycle design parameters (the geometric-compression ratio, expansion–compression​ ratio, and pressure ratio), the operating parameters (the heat-transfer loss, heat-release during combustion, friction loss, temperature-dependent specific heat ratio of the working fluid, and initial temperature of the working fluid), and the maximum temperature of the working fluid. The numerical examples show that the largest brake thermal efficiency is for the Dual-Miller cycle (46.32%) as compared to that for the classical-Otto (42.41%), classical-Diesel, classical-dual (40.22%), Otto-Miller (45.32%), Diesel-Miller (40.27%), Otto-Atkinson (42.31%), Diesel-Atkinson (32.19%), and dual-Atkinson (42.34%) cycles. When the heat-release during combustion and temperature-dependent specific heat ratio of the working fluid increased, the brake thermal efficiency of the Dual-Miller cycle rises and then begins to abate. As the heat-transfer coefficient, friction coefficient and initial temperature of the working fluid increased by about 20%, the brake thermal efficiency of the Dual-Miller cycle decreases by about 1.3%, 1.1%, and 3%, respectively. The numerical examples also show that the brake thermal efficiency of the Dual-Miller cycle first increases with increasing the maximum temperature of the working fluid, reaches its maximum value (43.01%) and then remains constant with further increases in the maximum temperature of the working fluid.

Performing anaerobic digestion is affected by different slurry properties, and its optimization poses many practical constraints. In high-dimensional input parameters with small sample size data, regression models and simple artificial neural network models may not be good enough at estimating responses. Therefore, a deep learning neural network (DNN) model was developed to estimate the responses (biogas compounds) according to the slurry properties. This model was able to predict the biogas compounds with high accuracy in comparison with regression models and back propagation neural network models. The DNN model was integrated with desirability analysis to determine optimum amounts of the slurry properties, and thus, increase biogas purification. Accordingly, the optimum ranges of C/N (15.04-18.95), BOD/COD (0.763-0.818), TS (8.1-10.6%) and T.VS (38.19-49.46%) were more precise than the ranges reported in the literature. The results indicated that large amounts of BOD/COD had a deterrent effect on desirability values, and therefore had an inhibitory effect on biogas purification. Further, pH amounts slightly above neutral could improve biogas purification. Suitable amounts of the slurry properties for the second repetition of experiments were all in the determined optimum ranges, indicating that the optimum ranges were practical to be used in biogas plants. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

In this study, the energy, exergy and yield is calculated for two cultivars of quinoa (Sajama and Titicaca) production. The result shows that the energy consumption, exergy consumption, energy efficiency, and exergy efficiency for producing quinoa are calculated to be 10,932.34 MJ/ton, 14,6940 MJ/ton, 141.32% and 15.9% in Sajama cultivar and 6,442.42 MJ/ton, 98,243.6 MJ/ton, 215.3% and 20.6% in Titicaca cultivar, respectively. The grain yield of Titicaca cultivar is higher, although its growth duration is less as compared to Sajama cultivar. The combined application of bio-fertilizer with chemical fertilizers give the highest growth duration, grain yield, 1000-seed weight, biological yield and harvest index, when compared with the sole application of fertilizer and no fertilizer. Nitrogen fertilizer consumes the highest amount of total energy inputs followed by irrigation water and diesel fuel for quinoa production. About 97.5% of total input exergy consumed in quinoa production is water irrigation. Thus, it is clear that decrease in the use of irrigation water decreases the environmental impact and increases sustainability and vice versa. In pursuit of sustainable agriculture goals, Titicaca cultivar could be introduced as advanced cultivar in saline and drought stressed fields as a crop with high potential yield and nutritional value.

ABSTRACTLittle research has been done on the effects of irradiation on dehydration kinetics of dried fruit in recent decades. Hot air drying is a convenience method frequently used for dehydration and moisture removal in products, such as fruits and vegetables. However, there are some disadvantages to using hot air dryers that often lead to the production of dried products with inferior quality due to its low drying efficiency. The present research aims to investigate the hot air dryer performance and presents a new strategy to improve dried bio‐products quality using gamma irradiation as a drying pretreatment. The effects of irradiation dosage (control, 0.5, 2, and 5 kGy) and air temperature (50, 65, and 80°C) on the dehydration rate, moisture ratio, activation energy, and diffusion coefficient of dried apple slices were investigated. The results showed that different dose 0.5, 2, and 5 kg decreased moisture content average 35, 21, and 11%, respectively. Also, by decreasing dehydration temperature, moisture content decreased to 42, 31, and 25%, respectively. The effective diffusivity values at different temperatures increased by increasing the irradiation dosage (control, 0.5, 2, and 5 kg increased to 12, 17, 29, and 43% respectively), and vice versa for the activation energy.Practical ApplicationsIrradiation is one of the few food technologies that can maintain food quality and address food safety and security problems without significantly affecting a food's sensory or nutritional attributes. The destructive effect of 60Co γ‐ray irradiation on interior tissue of some fruit and vegetables may change product structure to some extent. These kinds of structural changes can affect the drying kinetics, dehydration rate, moisture ratio, activation energy, and diffusion coefficient. Therefore, the investigation of hot‐air drying kinetics of apple slices pretreated by 60Co γ‐ray was required to improve the product quality. Additionally, it can cause a reduction in drying quality and improve the product characteristics during the drying process.

The present study was performed to investigate the effects of nitrogen and phosphorus biofertilizers on seed germination, growth, and some biochemical indices of quinoa seedlings (Sajama and Titicaca cultivars) under drought stress. Therefore, a three-factor factorial experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with three replications in 2019. The experimental treatments were two cultivars of Sajama and Titicaca as the first factor, four levels of drought stress (control, -0.4, -0.8, and -1.2 MPa) as the second factor, and four levels of nitrogen and phosphorus biofertilizers (control, nitroxin, biophosphorus, and a combination of nitroxin and biophosphorus) as the third factor. Experimental results showed that all measured biochemical characteristics, such as proline content, soluble sugar content, and malondialdehyde content, increased significantly in severe drought stress (drought level of -1.2 MPa) compared to other drought levels for both quinoa cultivars. On the other hand, the germination percentage, germination rate, seedling length, and dry weight of seedling indices had decreased under the application of drought stress. The values of germination rate, seedling length, and seedling dry weight indices had decreased equal to 33, 46, and 51% in the application of severe drought stress than the control treatment for Sajama cultivar and equal to 16, 42, and 39% for Titicaca cultivar, respectively. Further, simultaneous inoculation of seeds with nitroxin and biophosphorus fertilizers was reduced the effects of drought stress on the studied traits in both cultivars compared to no application of biofertilizers..

In order to investigate the effects of solitary and combined application of chemical and biological fertilizers on the yield and yield components of quinoa plant, a factorial experiment was conducted based on randomized complete block design with three replications in Dastgerd (Borkhar), Isfahan, central Iran, during the 2017-2018 growing season. Experimental factors included four levels of Chemical fertilizers [control, urea, triple superphosphate (TSP), and combined urea + TSP fertilizers] and bio-fertilizers at four levels (no inoculation, and inoculations with nitroxin, bio-phosphorus, and combined nitroxin + biophosphorus). Results showed that the interaction effects of chemical and biological fertilizers on leaf area index, grain yield, and yield components (including number of panicles per m2, number of grains per panicle, and 1000-grain weight) of quinoa plant were significant at 1% probability level. Combined application of urea and TSP fertilizers had the highest impact on the biological yield. Overall, the results showed that plant height, chlorophyll content and the number of panicles per m2 were significantly influenced by nitrogen sources of fertilizers used in this study. The phosphorus fertilizer sources had the highest effects on leaf area index, number of grains per panicle, 1000-grain weight, grain yield, and biological yield, which can be attributed to the greater impact of nitrogen on the increase of prolific panicles and to the marked role of phosphorus in both flower and grain formation. The integrated application of biofertilizers and all of the examined chemical fertilizers treatments increased the yield of quinoa plant compared to the control. Therefore, the application of biofertilizers as supplements can be introduced as a practical approach for optimal and balanced use of chemical fertilizers in order to achieve sustainable agriculture goals in quinoa cultivation.

Due to limited oil reserves, the rising world fuel prices and environmental problems caused by the use of fossil fuels increase the tendency to use alternative fuels such as biodiesel and bioethanol. In this study, the evaluation of energy and exergy flow from seed planting to final production of biodiesel from rapeseed oil was carried out. Biodiesel production from rapeseed was made in three main phases: farm, oil extraction, and industrial biodiesel production. Initially, the input and output variables for rapeseed production were collected through questionnaires from 30 rapeseed farms in Khuzestan province, Iran. Thus, the amount of energy input and output to the field for rapeseed was estimated to be 12826.98 and 22195 MJ/ha, respectively. The highest energy consumption is related to chemical fertilizers with 65 % share of other inputs. Input and output exergy rates were obtained as 3933.494 and 22603.39 MJ/ha, respectively, and the highest exergy consumption related to diesel fuel with 58 % share of other inputs. At the biodiesel production stage, the input energy and output energy were 156.95 MJ and 41.88 MJ, respectively, and the highest amount of electricity consumed was 91.02 MJ. The total amount of exergy in the production of biodiesel and the output exergy was 48.412 MJ and 64.568 MJ, respectively. In this study, the effects of alcohol-to-oil molar ratio, ultrasound power (W), catalyst concentration (w/w %), and the reaction time (min) on methyl ester yield using response surface methodology based on Box Behnken experimental design in the Design Expert software were investigated. Finally, gas emissions were studied at the planting and biodiesel production stages, and the resultsshowed that the highest greenhouse gas emissions at the planting stage were related to chemical fertilizers and alcohol production.