Thermal unit requirement of grape (Vitis vinifera L.) varieties under south western Punjab conditions

Weather components have significant impact on the phenology of fruit plants. In order to study the effect of heat, photothermal and heliothermal units on phenology of grapes, an experiment was conducted during 2016 and 2017 on eleven grape varieties. The weather based indices were used for characterizing the thermal response to various phenophases of different grape varieties. Based on the thermal response the eleven varieties were classified into early, mid and late maturing categories. The fruit ripening was differed by 7-9 days for early, 4-8 days for mid and 1-3 days for late ripening groups. For early, mid and late maturing varieties the accumulated range of growing degree days was 1303-1530, 1617-1712 and 1912-1959 °C day, photothermal unit was 15971-19032, 20201-21484 and 24255-24923°C day. Likewise, minimum heliothermal unit was required by early ripening varieties i.e., Himrod(9973 °C days) and Madeliene Anguvine (11235 °C days) but, maximum for long duration varieties like Black Muscat (15000 days) and Angur Early (14579 °C days). Maximum and minimum heat use efficiency was recorded by variety Perlette (1.57) and Black Muscat (0.96), respectively.

Assessing impact of thermal units on growth and development of mustard varieties grown under optimum sown conditions

Thermal unit indices have a strong correlation with the phenology, growth and yield of crops and can be effectively used to select suitable crop cultivars for specific environmental conditions especially temperature. In this study, four mustard varieties (viz., 'BARI Sharisha-14', 'BARI Sharisha-15', 'BARI Sharisha-16' and 'Tori-7') were grown in two consecutive growing to assess the impact of thermal unit indices on crop growth and development, and to select the suitable variety for better yield under optimum sowing condition. Thermal unit indices viz., growing degree-day (GDD), helio-thermal units (HTU), phenothermal index (PTI) and heat use efficiency (HUE) were estimated from daily temperature and sunshine hours. Role of GDD on different growth indicators and seed yield (SY) were estimated through association and dependence of the traits. Significant variations in studied genotypes were observed for different traits. Among the studied varieties, 'BARI Sharisha-16' produced higher dry matter and seed yields (1.82 t ha-1) while accumulated maximum GDD at different growth stages. A strong positive association was obtained between GDD and the studied traits. Thermal unit indices had a strong influence in attaining different phenophases and other growth indicators. Therefore, results suggest that those indices could be used for growth prediction; further 'BARI Sharisha-16' is expected to use heat energy more efficiently for increasing the seed yields which indicated that the crop can perform better under global warming scenarios.

Heat unit requirement and yield of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) varieties under different growing environment in mid hill conditions of Himachal Pradesh

A eld experiment was conducted during rabi seasons of 2015-16 and 2016-17 to study the accumulated growing degree days (GDD), helio-thermal unit (HTU), photo-thermal unit (PTU), heat use efciencies (HUE) at different phenological stages and performance of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) varieties grown under different sowing dates. Results of present study revealed that the crop sown on 20th October required maximum calendar days, growing degree days, photo-thermal unit and helio-thermal unit for tillering, owering, earing and maturity which was signicantly reduced with subsequent delay in sowing time. The grain yield recorded in 20th November (4065 kgha-1) was statistically at par with 5th November yield (3863 kgha-1). The signicant reduction in grain yield on varieties was recorded when sowing was delayed beyond 20th November. Among the varieties 'VL-907' produced highest grain yield(3771 kgha-1) which was statistically on par with 'VL-829' (3726 kgha-1). The early and timely sown wheat variety like VL-829 and VL-907 took highest calendar days, GDD, HTU and PTU for earing and maturity. The variety 'VL-907' recorded the highest grain yield (4196 and 4168 kgha-1) at 5th and 20th November sowing as compared to all other sowing dates.

Pilot-Scale Experimental Study on Impacts of Biomass Cofiring Methods to NOx Emission from Pulverized Coal Boilers—Part 2: NOx Reduction Capability through Reburning versus Cofiring

In this study the NOx reduction capability of reburning three biomasses (i.e., wood pellet, torrefied biomass, and empty fruit bunch) via 12 cases (i.e., four reburning ratios for every biomass) is investigated in a 1 MWth-scale pilot-scale furnace. These reburning cases are compared with 12 cofiring cases presented in the Part 1 paper on a consistent basis. It is found that, for every cost to purchase and prepare biomass, reburning technology provides significantly better NOx abatement performance than cofiring (up to 3.4 times). NOx reduction effectiveness as high as 4.9 could be achieved by reburning, which means the percent of NOx abatement could be 4.9 times higher than the percent of reburning ratio. It is found that the highest NOx reduction per thermal unit of biomass happens at the lowest reburning ratio, and increasing the reburning ratio leads to a reduction in NOx abatement effectiveness in an exponential decay manner. Unlike cofiring technology, reburning was found to have little dependence on the fuel characteristics, such as fuel ratio or fuel-N, when it comes to NOx abatement potential.

Influence of the temperature field in the energy-saving carbon-graphite thermal unit on configuration of the solidification front under different conditions of growing fluoride single crystals by the HDS method

Mathematical modeling of the influence of the temperature field created by the ECU on the position and on configuration of the solidification front under different conditions of growing single crystals of fluorides by the HDS method has been carried out. Data were obtained for different growing conditions for single crystals of fluorides and their effect on configuration of the solidification front in various modifications of the ECU of the first and second types. From a comparison of mathematical calculations, a conclusion was made about the most suitable conditions for the synthesis of these single crystals.

Optimal Scheduling of Hydro–Thermal–Wind–Photovoltaic Generation Using Lightning Attachment Procedure Optimizer

This paper presents an effective solution for the short-term hydrothermal generation scheduling (STHS) problem using an integration of wind and photovoltaic power (PV) system. Wind and PV power are integrated into the power system to minimize the total fuel cost of thermal units. In this paper, the lightning attachment procedure optimization algorithm (LAPO) is employed to solve the STHS problem using the wind and PV power integration system. The proposed method is applied for solving five test systems with different characteristics, considering the valve-point loading impact of the thermal unit. The first and third test systems include hydro and thermal units only, and the rest of the systems consist of hydro and thermal units with integrating wind and PV power-generating units to inspect the effect of renewable energy sources in the selected test systems. The simulation results are compared with other studied methods. It is found that the proposed method is superior, and it has the ability to obtain the best solutions with respect to other optimization methods that are implemented to solve the STHS problem.

Study on Boil-off Gas (BOG) Minimization and Recovery Strategies from Actual Baseload LNG Export Terminal: Towards Sustainable LNG Chains

Boil-off Gas (BOG) generated at the liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal causes negative economic and environmental impacts. Thus, the objective of this study is to develop and evaluate various handling schemes to minimize and/or recover the generated BOG from an actual baseload LNG export terminal with a capacity of 554 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) of natural gas feed. The following three main scenarios were assessed: JBOG re-liquefaction, LNG sub-cooling, and lean fuel gas (LFG) reflux. For the LNG subcooling, two sub-cases were considered; standalone subcooling before LNG storage and subcooling in the prevailing liquefaction cycle. Steady-state models for these scenarios were simulated using Aspen Plus® based on a shortcut approach to quickly evaluate the proposed scenarios and determine the promising options that should be considered for further rigorous analysis. Results indicated that the flow of attainable excess LNG is 0.07, 0.03, and 0.022 million metric tons per annum (MTA) for the standalone LNG sub-cooling, LNG sub-cooling in the main cryogenic heat exchanger (MCHE), and both LFG-refluxing and jetty boil-off gas (JBOG) liquefaction, respectively. This in turn results in a profit of 24.58, 12.24, 8.14, and 7.63 million $/year for the LNG price of 7$ per Metric Million British Thermal Unit (MMBtu) of LNG.