scholarly journals Development of a Low-Cost pH Meter for Liquid Chemical Fertilizers

Author(s):  
Muhittin Yağmur Polat ◽  
Abdullah Beyaz ◽  
İbrahim Çilingir

Liquid chemical fertilizers are widely used in modern agriculture. The pH values of these fertilizers are important in terms of their effectiveness in the field application and their effect on the soil-water pH balance. Therefore, it is necessary to measure the pH and other properties of liquid fertilizers with fast, practical and inexpensive methods. With the advancing technology, pH value has been started to measure more accurately and efficiently with the help of low-cost devices. In this study, a low-cost pH meter was developed using a low-cost pH sensor, an Arduino UNO R3 microcontroller board, and a software written in the C/C++ programming language. The developed pH meter was used to measure the pH values of liquid chemical fertilizers. Close variations were observed between the values obtained from it and the values measured by an accredited, laboratory-type pH meter. According to the pH measurements of the two pH meters, R2 ranged 88.1% to 99.3%, average error range 0.14 to 0.28, and average error percentage ranged 1.56% to 6.81% for three different types of liquid fertilizers. In light of these results, it was shown that the developed low-cost pH meter can be useful for practical pH measurement applications.

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-82
Author(s):  
Avara Ghamaliel Ty ◽  
Pramudi Utomo

The purpose of this article is to describe the analysis, design and performance of prototype shrimp water quality control systems. This tool is expected to simplify and ease the work of shrimp farmers in checking water quality regularly. In its design consists of several steps, namely designing the design of tools, making mechanical systems, programming, and the final stage of testing. The main component that is used as the main control is Arduino Nano. Salinity sensor, DS18b20, and PH-4520C as components for monitoring water quality. 12V DC water pump as a stabilizer of the pH level in the water. Based on the results of testing the average error for the water temperature sensor, water pH sensor and salinity sensor are 0.74%, 2.06%, and 3.60%, respectively. The three error values are less than 10%. Based on the results of testing the pH of water, liquid pH up will be sprayed when the pH value of the water is less than 6.5. While the liquid pH down will be narrowed when the pH value of water is less than 8. The results of this performance test can work in accordance with the function and purpose.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 2258-2271

Inceptions for chemical process automation are presented in this study. A chemical process demonstrated by neutralization reaction was designed, built, and tested experimentally towards evaluating automation and control algorithms through the Arduino Mega platform. The main objective parameter in this work was selected to be the product pH value, which was evaluated based on several scenarios that targeted various changes in direct and indirect effects. Two main branched ideas were investigated in this study; the first was dealt with the application of Arduino board in the automation of chemical process; the second was dedicated to studying integration of Arduino board in controlling the targeted pH parameter in the product side. Upon examining different automation scenarios, an algorithm was developed to approach the product quality of specific pH and temperature efficiently. The automation algorithm was further developed by integrating the process dynamics and control concepts towards speeding up the pH set point's reach. To make this happen, the pump's speed was corrected and tuned based on the feedback signal from the pH sensor. Consequently, the setpoint was reached in shorter periods, attaining considerable savings in time (≈ 35%). Based on the study outcomes, it is believed that Arduino open source is a challenging and promising low-cost platform, proved useful for mimicking control and automation of chemical processes.


2014 ◽  
Vol 660 ◽  
pp. 851-856
Author(s):  
Badrul Aisham Md Zain ◽  
Muhammad Farhan Khasim ◽  
Salihatun Md Salleh ◽  
Md Saidin Wahab

Shrimp culture is the fastest growing sector of the aquaculture industry in Malaysia. In culturing tiger prawn, the pH level needed for water is around 7.0-8.5. Currently, prawn farmer in Malaysia still using a manual method to control the water pH level by adding chemical (Lime), in which, the process required constant monitoring and control by labor. Since the prawns are so sensitive on pH level, an automatic pH control system is required to maintain the water pH automatically and precisely. This research was conducted to design a system that can control and provide feedback on the changes of pH level and been implemented at the reservoir tank that can act as water storage tank and prawn pond. Control system and pH sensor are the important components in controlling the pH level. Input from pH sensor was processed by controller. Moreover, after an error is detected by controller, the correction will be delivered to the system as a feedback process. Nitric acid with concentration of 0.001M was added to 25 liter water in tank 1 so that the pH level is decreased to pH 3.00. Different concentrations were used for slaked lime; 0.5M, 0.4M. 0.3M, 0.2M and 0.1M, to increase the pH from acid to slightly alkaline in the range of pH value 7.00-8.50. Slaked lime was pumped to Tank by water pump and it will stop if the pH level reaches the setting level. The time for the system to recover from pH 3.00 to 7.00-8.50 was recorded. The results shows that slaked lime with the concentration 0.5M has the fastest recover time which was 29s follow by 0.4M in 69s, 0.3M in 92s, 0.2M in 151s and 0.1M in 252s, respectively.


2013 ◽  
Vol 832 ◽  
pp. 73-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Q. Humayun ◽  
U. Hashim ◽  
Tijjani Adam

The article describes the fabrication and characterization of silver microgap sensor on silicon substrate. By employing cheap photolithography process the proposed microgap sensor has been fabricated. The silver microgap sensor was used for pH sensing, by dropping different pH on microgap surface. To obtain the microgap sensor structure by using AutoCAD software, mask was designed. To maintain high accuracy in pattern transfer the AutoCAD design mask was transferred to chrome glass mask. The fabricated silver microgap pH sensor gap spacing was around 03μm. From the electrical data we conclude that when the pH value varies from acidic to basic (pH 1, pH 2 to pH 11, pH 13) the value of capacitance decreased from 33pF to 8pF. The result shows that the silver microgap pH sensor has the ability to differentiate the acidic pH form basic one. The next part of the research is to decrease the microgap spacing until reach to nanosize spacing, so that can easily used for biosensing application.


Author(s):  
Mohammad Farid Saaid ◽  
Ahmad Ihsan Mohd Yassin ◽  
Nooritawati Md Tahir

<span>A hydroponics plant can grow healthily with sufficient nutrient, temperature, light, humidity as well as pH level that is indeed vital in ensuring the plants will absorb maximum nutrient elements required. This paper presents automated monitoring and controlling pH levels for the hydroponic cultivation technique. In this study, automated monitoring and controlling of pH levels are developed specifically for the hydroponic cultivation technique. There are three main methods that involved in the development of the system namely hardware, programming and functionality test. Firstly, users need to set the maximum and minimum pH levels as required by the plant. Then, the pH sensor will monitor the real-time pH level of the water. A syringe pump that contains a pH up solution (alkaline) and a pH down solution (acid) will drip the solutions to neutralize the water content if the water pH level is not within the stated ranges as set by the user. Results showed that the automated monitoring and controlling pH levels were successfully developed and functionality was tested and confirmed as desired. The syringe pumps responded perfectly upon changes of the water pH value based on the validation done that showed 100% accuracy of the syringe pump responds. </span>


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao Li Ma ◽  
Guang Tao Fei ◽  
Shao Hui Xu

Abstract In this study, polyaniline (PANI) is prepared by means of chemical oxidization polymerization and directly loaded on the modified fiber ball (m-FB) to obtain macroscale polyaniline/modified fiber ball (PANI/m-FB) composite, and then its removal ability of Cr(VI) is investigated. The effects of different parameters such as contact time, pH value and initial concentration on Cr(VI) removal efficiency are discussed. The experimental results illustrate that the favorable pH value is 5.0 and the maximum removal capacity is measured to be 293.13 mg g−1. Besides, PANI/m-FB composites can be regenerated and reused after being treated with strong acid. The kinetic study indicates that the adsorption procedure is mainly controlled by chemical adsorption. More importantly, the macroscale of composites can avoid secondary pollution efficiently. Benefiting from the low cost, easy preparation in large scale, environmentally friendly, excellent recycling performance as well as high removal ability, PANI/m-FB composites exhibit a potential possibility to remove Cr(VI) from industrial waste water. Graphic Abstract The polyaniline (PANI) was coated on modified fiber ball (m-FB) to remove Cr(VI) in waste water, and this kind of PANI/m-FB composites can avoid secondary pollution efficiently due to its macrostructure. Furthermore, the removal capacity can reach to 291.13 mg/g and can be multiple reused.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 467
Author(s):  
Emília Mendes da Silva Santos ◽  
Isabela Regina Alvares da Silva Lira ◽  
Hugo Moraes Meira ◽  
Jaciana dos Santos Aguiar ◽  
Raquel Diniz Rufino ◽  
...  

In this study, a new formulation of low-cost, biodegradable, and non-toxic biosurfactant by Candida sphaerica UCP 0995 was investigated. The study was conducted in a bioreactor on an industrial waste-based medium, and a central composite rotatable design was used for optimization. The best results, namely a 25.22 mN/m reduction in surface tension, a biosurfactant yield of 10.0 g/L, and a critical micelle concentration of 0.2 g/L, were achieved in 132 h at an agitation speed of 175 rpm and an aeration rate of 1.5 vvm. Compositional and spectroscopic analyses of the purified biosurfactant by chemical methods, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance suggested that it is a glycolipid-type biosurfactant, and it showed no cytotoxicity in the MTT assay. The biosurfactant, submitted to different formulation methods as a commercial additive, remained stable for 120 days at room temperature. Tensioactive properties and stability were evaluated at different pH values, temperatures, and salt concentrations. The biosurfactant obtained with all formulation methods demonstrated good stability, with tolerance to wide ranges of pH, temperature and salinity, enabling application under extreme environmental conditions. Bioremediation tests were performed to check the efficacy of the isolated biosurfactant and the selected microbial species in removing oil from soil. The results demonstrated that the biosurfactant produced has promising properties as an agent for the bioremediation of contaminated soil.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 67
Author(s):  
Ján Iždinský ◽  
Ladislav Reinprecht ◽  
Ján Sedliačik ◽  
Jozef Kúdela ◽  
Viera Kučerová

The bonding of wood with assembly adhesives is crucial for manufacturing wood composites, such as solid wood panels, glulam, furniture parts, and sport and musical instruments. This work investigates 13 hardwoods—bangkirai, beech, black locust, bubinga, ipé, iroko, maçaranduba, meranti, oak, palisander, sapelli, wengé and zebrano—and analyzes the impact of their selected structural and physical characteristics (e.g., the density, cold water extract, pH value, roughness, and wettability) on the adhesion strength with the polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) adhesive Multibond SK8. The adhesion strength of the bonded hardwoods, determined by the standard EN 205, ranged in the dry state from 9.5 MPa to 17.2 MPa, from 0.6 MPa to 2.6 MPa in the wet state, and from 8.5 MPa to 19.2 MPa in the reconditioned state. The adhesion strength in the dry state of the bonded hardwoods was not influenced by their cold water extracts, pH values, or roughness parallel with the grain. On the contrary, the adhesion strength was significantly with positive tendency influenced by their higher densities, lower roughness parameters perpendicular to the grain, and lower water contact angles.


Nanomaterials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 587 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan-Dong Guo ◽  
Jun-Feng Su ◽  
Ru Mu ◽  
Xin-Yu Wang ◽  
Xiao-Long Zhang ◽  
...  

Graphene has attracted attention in the material field of functional microcapsules because of its excellent characteristics. The content and state of graphene in shells are critical for the properties of microcapsules, which are greatly affected by the charge adsorption equilibrium. The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of pH value on the microstructure and properties of self-assembly graphene microcapsules in regard to chemical engineering. Microcapsule samples were prepared containing liquid paraffin by a self-assembly polymerization method with graphene/organic hybrid shells. The morphology, average size and shell thickness parameters were investigated for five microcapsule samples fabricated under pH values of 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. The existence and state of graphene in dry microcapsule samples were analyzed by using methods of scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Fourier Transform Infrared Spectoscopy (FT-IR) and Energy Dispersive Spectrometer (EDS) were applied to analyze the graphene content in shells. These results proved that graphene had existed in shells and the pH values greatly influenced the graphene deposition on shells. It was found that the microcapsule sample fabricated under pH = 5 experienced the largest graphene deposited on shells with the help of macromolecules entanglement and electrostatic adherence. This microcapsules sample had enhanced thermal stability and larger thermal conductivity because of additional graphene in shells. Nanoindentation tests showed this sample had the capability of deforming resistance under pressure coming from the composite structure of graphene/polymer structure. Moreover, more graphene decreased the penetrability of core material out of microcapsule shells.


2012 ◽  
Vol 454 ◽  
pp. 324-328
Author(s):  
Yan He ◽  
Ya Jing Liu ◽  
Yong Lin Cao ◽  
Li Xia Zhou

Infra-red absorption spectrometry, X-ray diffraction observations and characterization tests based on silicon molybdenum colorimetric method were used to investigate the optimal pH value controlling the stability of the silicic acid form. The experiment process was done by using sodium silicate as raw material. The results showed that the solution of silicate influenced the polymerization. The active silicic acid solution with a certain degree of polymerization was obtained by controlling the pH values.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document