Journal of
Scientific & Industrial Research
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VOLUME 61
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NUMBER
7 |
JULY 2002 |
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CONTENTS |
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Technical
Commentary |
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493 |
A proposed
environmentally friendly petroleum oil industry |
A
blue-print for a clean refinery has been proposed taking advantage of the
technological breakthroughs, and giving-in to the ever mounting pressures of
Government policies and environmentalists, and as well as to ensure a safe
and habitable planet for the future generations. Green petrochemicals
processing plant appeared a distant possibility, but the genius of man and
ingenuity of R&D personnel made it possible. In the proposed scheme, FCC
is still the workhorse of the new refinery, but the major products are light
olefins and small amounts of gasoline and distillate, the bottom fraction of
the effluent is recycled to the hydrotreater. Catalytic deep hydrotreating
not only satisfies the stoichiometric H2/C balance, but it also
minimizes air toxic production and gas plant solvent disposal which helps
reduce catalyst deactivation in FCC. The fluid-bed riser cracking technology
needs modification. Rather than processing any metal-contaminated bottom fraction
of the crude oil in the catalytic units, the new refinery uses thermal
upgrading processes. The coke from the fluid coker is gasified with steam and
oxygen to produce the hydrogen needed by the hydroprocessing units. The
process cost of the clean refinery will be 11 per cent higher than a startup
refinery based on the current technology. According to the economic analysis,
the clean refinery would be more profitable when compared with a startup
refinery using the current technology even without considering the cost of
environmental fixups. There are R&D needs in olefin production, gas
separation, resid upgradation, and olefin upgradation for the green refinery.
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Review Paper |
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504 |
Ozone: a
potent disinfectant for |
The paper reviews the various aspects of ozone as a disinfectant for different applications in food industry. |
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Papers |
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510 |
Scientists’
expectations from their job |
Ascertains aspects which are regarded as important by Indian scientists in their jobs. The sample is drawn from scientists in a government funded research laboratory who attended a Workshop on Quality of Work Life during December 2000. Factor analysis with Vari-Max rotation reveals five factors important for Indian scientists. These are: comfort, challenge, pay, relation with co-workers, and resources. Except for the factors – challenge and relations with co-workers, the satisfaction level on other factors, is found to be average. It is also found that scientists who have started their career in the laboratory itself are less satisfied with their jobs, compared to those who come from other organizations. |
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517 |
A sustainable
agro-biotechnology for bioremediation of saline soil |
To
restore fertility and productivity of saline soil through bioremediation, a
farm-scale trial is undertaken by exploring effect of three factors, viz.
soil conditioner (SC, recycled agrowaste), halophiles culture, and a plant
growth regulator (PGR) modified industrial byproduct. A three factor
factorial design is used with each factor at two levels—the lower level
indicates no treatment, while the upper level indicates treatment, and there
are eight experiments in all, which are replicated thrice. One of the eight
treatment combinations is without SC, PGR, or halophiles inputs serve as control. The plantation of
growth of Casuarina equisetifolia, in the treated soils as per the
design, is monitored through various relevant parameters that include soil
characteristics, level of (micro) nutrients, and exchangeable cations, and
growth-related parameters. The analysis of data thus generated through
appropriate ANOVA indicates an overwhelming role of SC in the bio-remediation
of soil salinity and growth parameters of the C. equisetifolia
plantation, followed by that of halophiles and then the PGR as envisaged. The
role of PGR is however important in first establishing the plantation in the
saline soil, when halophiles get enough time to establish favourable pattern
and concentration of microbes in soil
by up to more than a million times of the initial microflora level of 5.9 ´ 103/g soil. Data collected up to
six months clearly indicates bioremediation of the otherwise saline soil, and
effectiveness of the given treatments
is evident. It is proposed that such bio-measures may go a long way in
converting large tracts of saline soils into fertile ones with healthy
soil-microflora in an eco-friendly manner which is cost-effective as well.
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529 |
Evaluation of
binding properties of selected natural mucilages |
Mucilages
from Asparagus racemosus and Cassia sophera are isolated by
maceration technique using water as solvent precipitated by the addition of
acetone, used as non-solvent. The percentage yields of mucilages from the
selected sources are 11 and 20 per cent, respectively. Both the mucilages are
evaluated for their granulating and binding properties in tablets, using
paracetamol as model drug. The mucilages are used at three different concentrations,
i.e., 8, 9 and 10 per cent, respectively. Wet granulation technique is used
for preparation of granules. The prepared granules are evaluated for
percentage of fines, particle size, and flow properties. The properties are
compared with starch. The tablets are punched by using a Cadmach single punch
machine and are evaluated for content
uniformity, hardness, friability, disintegration time, and in vitro
dissolution profiles. The tablets have good physical properties and the drug
release is more than 90 per cent
within 3 h. The tablets prepared using 10 per cent mucilage as binder exhibits
more hardness than 8 and 9 per cent batches. Hence, 8 and 9 per cent
concentrations are considered as ideal concentrations for preparation of
tablets.
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533 |
Production of
beneficiated |
The beneficiation of phosphogypsum procured from two sources is conducted in the pilot plant of 2 t/shift capacity installed at Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) to reduce impurities of phosphates, fluorides, organic matter, alkalies, etc. The techno-economic feasibility of beneficiating phosphogypsum is highlighted. The beneficiated phosphogypsum is used for making portland cement and portland slag cement. The results favour use of phosphogypsum as an additive to cement clinker in place of natural gypsum.
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538 |
Extraction of
hexavalent chromium from aqueous solution by emulsion liquid membrane |
The
extraction of hexavalent chromium from aqueous solution by cocobetaine in a
mixture of kerosene and benzene is investigated. The results indicate that in
acidic solution the extraction efficiency of Cr(VI) is excellent. In these
experiments the relative affinities of different anions to cocobetaine are in
the order: NO3->Cl->SO42-.
Experimental results show that dichromate ion (Cr2O72-)
is the major extractable species of Cr(VI) at lower pH. The strippant
composed of 0.1 M sodium hydroxide and 1 M sodium nitrate,
results in maximum stripping.
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Report |
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543 |
Biological
control of insect pests |
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Book Reviews |
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547 |
·
Innovation, evolution of industry
and economic growth, Volumes 1-3 |
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Stress in life and at work |
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Sci-Tech Update |
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550 |
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Spinning black holes may
act like giant batteries |
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Software wars: India vs
China |
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e-Science launched formally |
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Modular computers |
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New ceramic element
developed |
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Disease resistant wheats
developed |
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Stainless steel fibres used
for textile industry |
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Solid propellant as an
alternative for fuels |
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Waste treatment technology
produces substitute fuel |
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Carbohydrates on a chip |
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Splitting water with
visible light |
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Sweet but deadly: cancer
cells come sugar-coated |
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Wheat extract makes ice
cream super smooth |
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Electrical currents
functioning of catalysts |
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A device that lowers the
cost of air-conditioning designed |
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Superconductors go granular |
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Urine test for Alzheimer’s
disease |
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Protecting privacy in
remote-patient monitoring |
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Software engineering in the
academy |
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Accelerating development
with agent components |
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Software engineering
metrics for COTS-based systems |
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How internet software companies
negotiate quality |
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A formal process for
evaluating COTS software products |
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An efficient
video-on-demand model |
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562 |
Additions and Corrections |
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