Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) is a private university located in&nbsp;Tamil Nadu, India. Founded in 1984, as Vellore Engineering College, the institution offers 20 undergraduate, 34 postgraduate, four integrated and four research programs. It has campuses in Vellore, Amravati, Bhopal and Chennai.

VIT is one of the top ranked private universities in India according to NIRF, THE and QS Rankings.&nbsp;Govt. of India has recognized&nbsp;VIT, Vellore as an&nbsp;Institution of Eminence. This has allowed VIT to take independent quality initiatives and move up in world ranking.

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VIT University

Department of Environmental and Water Resources Engineering

For the exploration of an effective and economical method to treat composite raw tannery effluent, the integrated approach of Ozonation and phycoremediation was followed. In a lab-scale Ozone reactor, the highest performance index was attained, when it was operated at a low O3 flowrate (2 g/h) condition. The tannery effluent partially treated by Ozonation (≈60% COD removed in 90 min) with the ozone consumption of 1.5 g of O3/g of COD, at pH 7.6, coupled with phycoremediation had improved the tannery effluent characteristics to a considerable extent. Overall, the maximum reduction in pollutant concentration attained with the combined treatment was 84% for COD, 60% for colour, 100% for odour, 90% for inorganic carbon, 82% for NH4+- N, 100% for PO4–P, 97% for chromium and 10% for TDS. In phycoremediation, microalgae Nannochloropsis oculata had shown an enhanced growth (μ = 0.255 day−1) with a maximum cell density of 5.2 × 107 cells/mL, dry biomass of 0.86 g L−1 and cell division rate of 0.369 day−1. Elemental analysis of biomass validated the chromium remediation along with other elements such as calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, zinc, and iron from the tannery effluent. Therefore, the phycoremediation integrated ozone process can be considered as a feasible treatment method for tannery effluent along with value-added biomass production. © 2020 Elsevier Inc.

School of Civil Engineering

Vellore Campus

Environmental Research

An integrated approach for tannery effluent treatment with ozonation and phycoremediation: A feasibility study

This paper deals with the impact of temporal variation of Land use/Land cover (LULC) and precipitation on runoff estimation for an un-gauged hilly watershed in Kodagu District of Karnataka, India. Sloped Terrain of the watershed and increasing trend of rainfall over the last decade, has been contributing to high runoff values which has ultimately damaged the rich flora and fauna of the region. The total area of the watershed is 459.31 km2. The land use/land cover change analysis has been performed for the years 2004, 2007, 2013, and 2018. Remote sensing and GIS techniques have been used to identify the watershed and for developing thematic maps. Very popular, soil conservation service - Curve number (SCS-CN) (USDA), method has been used in this study to estimate the seasonal runoff from the rainfall. The LULC maps have been generated by supervised maximum likelihood classification technique in order to get higher accuracy in the estimation of curve numbers. Class-wise runoff coefficients have been estimated to analyse the response of each class to rainfall. The runoff response for a watershed depends both on precipitation as well as land use/land cover classes. The impact of both the factors has been assessed in the estimation of runoff, and it has been observed that the impact of rainfall factor is more. The runoff values have been obtained for return periods of 10, 20, 30, 50, and 100 years by using the value of runoff coefficient averaged over 15 years. © 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.

World University root node

Watershed Management 2020: A Clear Vision of Watershed Management - Selected Papers from the Watershed Management Conference 2020

Impact of Temporal Variation of Land Use/Land Cover and Precipitation on Runoff Estimation in an Ungauged Hilly Watershed in Kodagu

Two molecules with an aldehyde donor substituted 4'-(7,8,13,14-tetrahydrodibenzo[a,i]phenanthridin-5-yl)-[1,1′-biphenyl]-4-carbaldehyde (5) and a dicyanovinyl acceptor substituted 2-((4'-(7,8,13,14-tetrahydrodibenzo[a,i]phenanthridin-5-yl)-[1,1′-biphenyl]-4-yl)methylene)malanonitrile (7) were synthesized, and both were applied to remarkable solvatochromism studies. Due to their intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) characteristic, both fluorophores, with a positive solvatochromism effect and emission color, changed from blue to green-orange when the polarity was increased from non-polar hexane to polar acetonitrile solvent. Meanwhile, for compound 5 and 7, aggregation induced emission (AIE) and acidochromism studies have been carried out. The obtained results indicated that compound 5 and 7 exhibited tunable aggregation induced emission and quenching of acidochromism for 7. In this study, we have proposed a new method based on dicyanovinyl substituted phenanthridine moiety of 7 for selective and efficient recognition of biogenic primary amines (BPAs), based on the interaction between amine and the dicyanovinyl-linked phenanthridine moiety of 7. It can be cleaved quickly with significant changes in fluorescence (from orange to blue) that produced 7-imine with induced ratiometric fluorescence. UV–visible/fluorescence spectral titration, NMR, mass spectra and DFT spectroscopic studies were proved by the mechanism of amine sensing. Limit of detections 3.67 nM (DA), 28.3 nM (EDA), 65.3 nM (HA) and 15.8 nM (n-BA) are also obtained for this probe 7 with remarkable ratiometric fluorescence enhancement. Additionally, fluorescence test paper with probe (7) was also fabricated and utilized to detect amines. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd

Department of Chemistry

School of Advanced Sciences

Dyes and Pigments

A colorimetric and ratiometric fluorescent sensor for biogenic primary amines based on dicyanovinyl substituted phenanthridine conjugated probe

Metro Water District (MWD) is an agency that administers water distribution in a large geographic region. It targets for existing conditions with future projections of water resources for conservation, supply, and usage. Hence, it is required to show proper water resources management for MWD. Where the river basin profiles are projected to provide the water resources management with potential issues for MWD. Here, Upper Chattahoochee River (UCR) basin of the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District (MNGWPD) selected for the study area. UCR is one of the largest river basins in the MNGWPD and it provides drinking and primary receiving water for nearly 3.5 million people of Atlanta Metro Region. In this study, Parallel Computing of Emulator based Spatial Optimization (PCESO) framework developed for spatial optimization of large complex watersheds. The proposed framework optimizes the hydrological model by parallel computing, emulator fit, sampling design, and spatial optimization. The results showed that 1) the computational time required for spatial optimization was significantly reduced by 50%, 2) goodness-of-fit reached its threshold limit in all stations inclusive in reservoir containing stations, 3) the water balance components and the optimized parameter values with sensitivity index provided the physical phenomena of the study area and showed the approximate hydrological processes in MWD. Further, this proposed work incorporates into future climate data can provide an accurate hydrological analysis with water allocation issues like water use, demand, conservation, and supply for MWD and it helps to identify the water-related disasters floods and droughts.

Water Resources Management

Approximation of Metro Water District Basin Using Parallel Computing of Emulator Based Spatial Optimization (PCESO)

Paver block construction in roads is versatile, attractive and aesthetical, cost effect and requires lesser maintenance cost. The main objective of this present work is to replace the natural river sand with manufactured sand with an incremental increase of 10% and to find out the optimum replacement level in respect of strength and durability properties of paver blocks for M30, M40 and M50 Grades of concrete. The availability of natural sand is depleting due to increase in developmental activities across the world particularly in India. In the current work manufactured sand is used as an alternative sand material in place of natural river sand and accordingly paver blocks were prepared with M-sand with an incremental increase of 10% to 100% replacement. The paver blocks so prepared was tested for its strength and durability property and discussed in detailed and reported. The use of Msand in concrete paver blocks reduces the environmental degradation such as depletion of water table. Hence in this research work an attempt was made to put forward an idea of using the M-sand in commercial products like paver blocks. This will be beneficial to ecological and environmental for sustainable developments towards greener world. © 2020 Alpha Publishers. All rights reserved.

Journal of Green Engineering

Evaluation of strength and durability properties of sustainable concrete paver blocks using manufactured sand as fine aggregates

Sustainable resources management, incorporating energy markets and resources such as electricity, fossil fuels, renewable and sustainable energy capital is essential for society to understand production and conversion of various forms of energy, their current as well as future supply. Waste-to-energy (WTE) or energy-from-waste (EFW) is a well-identified transitional technology which could prevent complete depletion of renewable resources. In our present study, the selected microalgae (Chlorella pyrenoidosa) was cultured in paddy-soaked wastewater (PWW) using outdoor raceway ponds of 50 L capacity where biotransformation of nutrients (NH3–N removal: 75.89 ± 0.69%; PO4–P removal: 73.71 ± 0.75%; yield co-efficient YN: 6.12 mg biomass/mg of N; YP: 7.77 mg biomass/mg P) has occurred with better growth and biochemical composition (dry biomass weight: 1.56 ± 0.11 g/L; chlorophyll: 15.57 ± 0.14 mg/L; specific growth rate (SGR): 0.42/d; lipids: 27.47 ± 1.41% biomass; carbohydrates: 23.77 ± 1.00% and protein: 46.12 ± 3.55%). Further, the obtained algal lipid was identified for a wide range of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) and consequently brought forward to in-situ single-step transesterification by optimizing reaction conditions. Central composite design (CCD) of response surface methodology (RSM) has given optimized conditions of sample amount: 2 g (wet); methanol sulphuric acid volume: 3 mL; and hexane volume: 4 mL, under the reaction temperature of 90 °C for maximum biodiesel conversion (46.54% of algal lipids). The outcome of our current research may add value to the application and development of WTE technology for sustainable energy conservation. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd

CO2 Research and Green Technologies Centre

Biomass and Bioenergy

Outdoor cultivation of Chlorella pyrenoidosa in paddy-soaked wastewater and a feasibility study on biodiesel production from wet algal biomass through in-situ transesterification

Nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) particles have proved to be effective in the remediation of chlorinated compounds and heavy metals from contaminated soil. The present study aimed to analyze the performance of nanoparticles synthesized from low-cost biomass (green leaves) as chemical precursors, namely Azadirachta indica (neem) and Mentha longifolia (mint) leaves. These leaves were chosen because huge amounts of them are present in the region of Vellore. These nanoparticles were used to remove lead and nickel from contaminated soil. Characterization of nZVI particles was conducted using the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller isotherm (BET) techniques. Remediation was performed on two different soil samples, polluted with lead or nickel at an initial metal concentration around 250 mg/kg of soil. The results revealed that after 30 days, the lead removal efficiency with 0.1 g of nZVI particles/kg of soil was 26.9% by particles synthesized using neem leaves and 62.3% by particles synthesized using mint leaves. Similarly, nickel removal efficiency with 0.1 g of particles/kg of soil was 33.2% and 50.6%, respectively, by particles using neem and mint leaves. When the nanoparticle concentration was doubled, Pb and Ni removal improved, with similar trends obtained at a lower dosage (0.1 g of particles/kg of soil). These first results evidenced that: (1) the nZVI particles synthesized using green leaves had the potential to remove Pb and Ni from contaminated soil; (2) the neem-derived particles gave better Pb removal efficiency than Ni one; (3) the mint-derived particles showed better Ni removal efficiency than Pb one; (4) the highest removal efficiency for both metals was achieved with the mint-derived particles; (5) double higher dosage did not greatly improve the results. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Department of Thermal and Energy Engineering

School of Mechanical Engineering

Fulltext

Processes

Remediation of lead and nickel contaminated soil using nanoscale zero-valent iron (Nzvi) particles synthesized using green leaves: First results

This paper assesses Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) classification and Land Surface Temperature (LST) in Wayanad district during the years 2004 and 2018. The LULC classification of Wayanad district is identified using IRS P6 (Linear Imaging Self Scanner) LISS- III, and LST using thermal band of (Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus) ETM+ imageries. Maximum likelihood classification (MLC) technique is opted to categorize six land-use features: water body, paddy field, forest, dense, agricultural crops and built-up. From 2004 to 2018, impacts of changes in features are correlated with the raised LST. Overall vegetation cover shows an increasing pattern during the study period. The water bodies in Wayanad district improved from 4.30 to 32.68 sq.km due to construction of two dams: Banasurasagar and Karappuzha. However, agricultural crops and paddy field area have decreased by 4.7% in last 14 years. Decreasing rate of agricultural crops can be directly linked to population growth, thereby developing various built-up zones for basic needs. Forest and dense vegetated cover area are increased nearly 2.3 and 3.0%, respectively, during the study period, while bamboo degradation has also been witnessed from 2008 to 2013. The built-up class shows growth from 1.48 to 5.69% of total land area during 2004 and 2018. LULC have noticeable influences on LST with a negative correlation between vegetation cover and LST with a decrease of 1.75oC. The study findings can help the local authorities to implement urban planning regulations for public awareness and policy makers for a sustainable planning and management in forthcoming years. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group, on behalf of Nanjing Normal University.

Annals of GIS

Land use/land cover and land surface temperature analysis in Wayanad district, India, using satellite imagery

Protein-functionalised aluminium nanosheets (PRS–AlNs) were packed in a continuous fixed-bed column to remove crystal violet (CV) and Congo red (CR) dyes. A group of characterisation techniques, like SEM, TEM, AFM, XRD, BET, DSC and Raman spectroscopy, was performed for PRS–AlNs. The influence of several factors like bed depth (1, 2 and 3 cm), inlet dye concentration (50, 100 and 150 mg/L) and inlet flow rate (1.17, 2.26 and 3.34 mL/min) on the characteristics of the breakthrough profile of the adsorption process was examined at optimum pH 9.8 and 3.5 for CV and CR, respectively. The maximum adsorption capacity was achieved as 38.70 and 57.86 mg/g for CV and CR at 1 cm bed depth, 150 mg/L inlet concentration of the dye and 3.34 mL/min inlet rate of flow. The experimental data were analysed using kinetic models like the Yoon–Nelson, Adams–Bohart and Thomas models. Also, a detailed mechanism behind the CV and CR adsorption using PRS–AlNs was proposed in this research work. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]. © 2019, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

VIT Unitversity

Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Application of protein-functionalised aluminium nanosheets synthesised from sewage sludge for dye removal in a fixed-bed column: Investigation on design parameters and kinetic models

Increase in sludge dewatering plays an important role in reducing its treatment, handling and disposal costs. In this work, efficacy of various sludge dewatering techniques such as Fenton (F), Free Nitrous Acid (FNA) and F/FNA was performed under ultrasonication. Experiments were carried out to determine the amount of sludge filtrate and Capillary Suction Time (CST) under various conditions. The optimum pH was found to be 3, 3 and 5 respectively for Fenton, FNA and F/FNA. More amount of sludge filtrate was detected for treated sludge in the order F/FNA (57 mL) &gt; FNA (55 mL) &gt; Fenton (48 mL) and minimum CST was observed in F/FNA (28 s) &lt; FNA (31 s) &lt; Fenton (49 s). SEM and DSC analysis were performed to observe the variation in physical characteristics before and after treatment. The change in functional groups in sludge cake before and after treatment was investigated using FT-IR. Excitation-Emission Matrix (EEM) was used to measure the fluorescence peak and intensities of the released biopolymers into sludge filtrate caused by the disintegration of EPS. In addition, the radical scavenging experiments were also performed to identify the significant roles of hydroxyl (OH·), nitrogen dioxide (NO2 ·), nitric oxide (NO·) and superoxide (O2 ·-) radicals. The experimental results indicated that the increased mass transfer due to the application of ultrasonication resulted in higher dewaterability. The leaching of metals from the sludge cake into the treated sludge filtrate portrays that sludge could be utilized as manure and solid biomass fuel. © 2019 Elsevier B.V.

Chemical Engineering Journal

A study on combined effect of Fenton and Free Nitrous Acid treatment on sludge dewaterability with ultrasonic assistance: Preliminary investigation on improved calorific value