Advances in methanolisation
by S.S. Verma
The demand for energy is ever increasing and with the advancement of various conventional and non-conventional sources of energy efforts are being equally directed towards making best use of energy in terms of anergy (useless part) and exergy (useful part).

• Response
• New products and discoveries

Calendar for ever
by M.M. Mata and V.P. Luhach

We need calendars in our day to day working. Most widely used and adopted by several countries is Gregory’s calendar. Every year a new calendar is used. Many a times it is required to refer to old calendars or future calendars. For this, it is not convenient to keep a collection of calendars of all past and future years.

We can know the day of week on a particular date of a given year by some already designed mathematical calculations, but all this is not within everbody’s capability and it is also not convenient every time to do these calculations. The authors hereby present a calendar which is in harmony with Gregory’s calendar and is simple to read and will work for ever.

The basis of structuring of this new calendar is as follows:

(i) All calendars repeat themselves every 400 years;

(ii) Within each century, calendars repeat themselves every 28 years;

(iii) There are 14 possible types of years, in all. These include seven types of simple years, years type numbers from 1 to 7. Year type 1 is the year that begins with Sunday on Jan 1, YT-2 is the year that begins with Monday on Jan 1 and so on. Similarly, there can be 7 types of leap years (YT-8 to 14) depending upon the day of week on which they begin.

(iv)There are 7 possible types of months in all the years depending upon the day of week with which they begin. A month will be of type 1 if it begins on Sunday. A month beginning on Monday will be of type 2 and so on.

In Table 1, type numbers have been allotted to all the years. This allotment has been made indirectly. For this, the year number has been divided by 400 and the remainder left is termed as remainder I. Remainder I is divided further by 28 and the remainder left is called Remainder II. Remainder I and II indirectly represent the year to which they belong. In this table, four rows have been allotted to four ranges of remainder I (range 1 to 100, 101-200, 201 to 300, and 301 to 399 and 0 ). For a range of 28 types of remainder II (0,1 to 27), 28 columns have been allotted. The number in a cell, corresponding to a particular row and particular column will indicate the year type number (YT) of the year to which remainder I and II relate.

The type of month will vary from one year type to another. A month, say for example month of March, will be of type 4 in year of type 1, whereas, in a year of year type 2 it will be of type 5 and in year type 10 it will be of type 7. Months from January to December belonging to years of all 14 year types have been given their month type number in Table 2. Thus, this table shows as to what will be the type of different months in various type of years. This table has 14 rows and 12 columns. Each row corresponds to a different year type number and each column corresponds to a different month of a year. The number in a cell of this table corresponding to a particular row and column will indicate the Month Type number of this month (corresponding to that column) in that Year Type (corresponding to that row).

A set of seven types of monthly calendars giving days of the week on the various dates of each month type is given in Table 3.

The procedure to use this calendar involves four steps. These steps are described and illustrated below by taking an example to find out the day of week on 15th August 1947.

Step 1. Determine remainder I and II for the year in question:

Divide the year number by 400. Note its remainder as remainder 1. Divide remainder I by 28 and note the remainder as remainder II.

(Dividing 1947 by 400 leaves 347 as remainder. Dividing 347 by 28 leaves 11 as remainder. Hence for year 1947, remainder I is 347 and remainder II is 11).

Step 2. Determine year type number for that year:

Locate the year type number from table 1 in the row corresponding to range in which remainder I for that year falls and under the column corresponding to remainder II. This will be the year type number for the year in question.

Alternately, year type number corresponding to remainder I can be located in Table 4 in the last column of the row in which that remainder I lies.

(Year type number corresponding to remainder I as 347, in 4th row with range 301-399 & 0, and remainder II as 11 comes out to be 4 in Table 1. Hence year 1947 will be of type YT-4)

(Alternately, in table 4 remainder I as 347 lies in 3rd row. Year type number given in last column of this row is 4. So, year 1947 is of YT-4 type)

Step 3. Determine Month Type number for the month in question:

Find out the month type number from Table 2, in the row of Year Type number found above and under the column of month in question. This will be the month type number for the desired month in that given year. (In Table 2, month of August in year type 4 is of type 6 so August month in the year 1947 was of month type 6.)

Step 4. Determine the day of week on the date in question:

Select from Table 3 the monthly calendar with above determined month type number and look for the day of week corresponding to desired date.

(In Table 3, looking at month type 6 monthly calendar, we find that on date 15th the day of week is Friday. Hence the answer to problem is that on 15th August 1947 it was Friday.)

At first , the procedure might seem to be a difficult but once the steps are clearly understood it will not take more than 15 seconds to find out the day of week on a given date.

This calendar holds good for the period starting from year 1 A.D. and will continue to do so for ever if the present system of leap years continues as such, hence a calendar for ever. But sometime back, it was reported that year 2000 will have 30 days in the month of February instead of 29 days. If this is so, then this calendar will work up to year 1999 only and some additions will have to be made in it to use it beyond 1999.

The authors are Assistant Professors at Krishi Gyan Kendra, Mahendergarh, of C.C.S.Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar.

Advances in methanolisation
by S.S. Verma

The demand for energy is ever increasing and with the advancement of various conventional and non-conventional sources of energy efforts are being equally directed towards making best use of energy in terms of anergy (useless part) and exergy (useful part). With the development of prime and alternate sources of energy, attention has been towards the secondary intermediate sources of energy. Natural gas and biomass are being used as prime sources of energy in the form of methane. Besides, when CO2 and H2O as the ultimate products of combustion are also under debate as pollutants, their conversion to CH3 OH can be very useful. With the increasing concern of global warming with respect to carbon dioxide emissions as exhaust gas in any combustion process, any technology making possible conversion of CO2+H2O/CH4+CO2/CH4+ H2O, to methanol, a product of high utility value will definitely prove more beneficial for the society. CH3OH is being under consideration as a secondary intermediate fuel for energy generation particularly in automobiles.

Moreover, with the unavoidable use of fossil fuels and the threat of depleting energy resources, CH3OH with a large part of anergy involved can play an important role in terms of an intermediate energy source. In majority of industrial and household applications primary sources of energy viz., coal, water gas, natural gas, etc. are generally used in the form of secondary energy sources. Thus, intermediate sources of energy like CH3OH can play a leading role with many advantages being associated with it to prove to be a principle fuel for 21s century.

Methanol is a colourless, mobile, inflammable, highly poisonous, liquid at normal temperature and pressure (NTP) conditions having energy density-19. 6MJ/kg, boiling point-65°C, freezing temperature-73°C.

With the increase in efficiency in the procurement of fuel energy (i.e., high conversion efficiency to energy) and other many advantages associated with its easier and safe handling in transportation, storage, Methanol is considered the fuel of 21st century.

Methanol can be used as a chemical and a source of energy in fuel cells, IC engines, space heating, and electric power generation. Methanol is being advocated as the principal, intermediate and secondary energy form for future.

Various fossil fuels e.g., coal/wood/natural gas/peat/solid waste and biomass are used to derive the synthesis gas (CO+H2) which is preferred as a sources of methanol due to cost, convenience and efficiency. Synthesis gas is reacted under pressure of 10-20MPa at high temperatures (250-330°C) to yield methanol in the presence of suitable catalyst. But only a small amount of methanol is obtained. However, there are a number of problems. associated with the direct methods of methanol production from fossil fuels and biomass e.g., low production, multi-step processes, wastage of combustion energy (anergy) etc. Therefore efforts are being directed to convert the fuel directly to methanol with the application of thermal, non-thermal and bioconversion methods.

In thermal methods, CH4 is oxidised in the presence of some suitable catalyst to convert it directly into methanol. Various catalysts, along with different operating temperatures are being investigated and many catalysts are being reported for high conversion. Thermal methods with the use of various catalysts under thermal conditions give promising results but still a lot of investigations have to be carried out. Because, the results obtained under different conditions of operation do not come to a single conclusion and to the level of reproducibility with high output, more flexible equipment, low-cost technology, long life of catalysts, and without the generation of any new environmental unfriendly gas.

Application of non-thermal (electric discharges) systems with different geometry, duration, energy are being studied with various type of fuel combinations e.g., CH2+CO2, CH2+H2O, CH2+N2O and many others for their suitability to produce high concentration of methanol. Using highly non-equilibrium pulsed corona discharge plasma at atmospheric pressure and temperature could be able to reduce the energy consumption in the process. The effect of various parameters viz temperature, applied voltages, electrode configuration, oxygen concentration etc. on conversion efficiency and selectivity have to be investigated in detail. Besides, optimising the combination of various conditions and combining this technique with catalytic reactions could largely enhance conversion efficiency and selectivity.

Bio-Conversion method

Methane is the easily available synthesised fuel from fossil fuels. Hence, a direct conversion from CH4 to CH3OH with minimum energy consumption could be one of the key technologies in the highly efficient utilisation of fossil fuel energies. The most ambitious efforts are under way attempting to mimic the chemical reactions used by specialised bacteria that consume methane in the presence of oxygen to produce methanol. Because, low quality or low temperature energy sources can be used and regenerated in the reforming of methanol to hydrogen, whose exergy loss through the combustion process (anergy) is much smaller than that of other hydrocarbon fuels.

Thus, direct conversion technology could have a significant contribution to realise a new energy system of energy regeneration. While conventional methods of methanol synthesis from CH4 or other fossil fuels need large energy consumption, direct thermal and non-thermal as well as bioconversion methods of methanol synthesis provide a good opportunity.

The writer is from the Deptt. of Physics, S.L.L.E.T., Longowal.

The article "Fly Ash Utilisation and Brick-kilns" by Amar Chandel and G.S. Dhillon (April 22) was quite informative, but certain pitfalls brought out were found imaginary and not based on ground realities.

The statement that value of the lime reactivity of the material obtained from the RTP (Ropar Thermal Plant) ashpond is not greater than 15 kg/cm2 and bricks obtained from such flyash did not attain the minimum desired strength does not commensurate with tests conducted by CBRI, Roorkee, where pond ash revealed lime reactivity as 36.8 kg/cm2 . As per their report fly ash sand lime bricks conforming to IS-12894-1990 and possessing compressive strength of about 100 kg/cm2 (more than desired) can be produced from the raw materials comprising 70% of above pond ash, 20-22% river sand and 8-10 hydrated lime. Further the strength of such bricks will increase with age.

The lime reactivity factor of ESP Ash is of the order of 50 to 70 kg/cm2 at Bathinda and Ropar. So flyash lime bricks made out of this ash should not be brittle.

As far as the PSEB is concerned, there is no dearth of good quality flyash at thermal plants at Bathinda an Lehra Mohabat and pondash at Ropar for those who want to utilise the same.

R.S. KANWAR
S.E./Fly Ash,
PSEB, Patiala

Sharper cutting tools

A non-resident Indian engineer in the United States has developed a new class of surgical tools based on silicon that are 10 times sharper than current advanced instruments.

Amit Lal, an electronics and computer engineer at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, has come out with the tools etched from silicon wafers that could lead to greater precision in sensitive surgical procedures. These tools use ultrasonic vibrations to cut tissues.

Expensive ultrasonic medical tools, used for years in cataract surgery, are made from titanium or other high-performance metals which tend to overheat and require high voltage.

The new silicon-based tools to away with these problems. In addition, silicon allows integration of electrical and mechanical properties in the tools which can be equipped with built-in sensors and monitors to instantly communicate back to doctors, a Wisconsin University release says.

The pen-sized tools can be exploited to differentiate between healthy and diseased tissues. The working ends of the cutting tools can vibrate up to 200,000 times per second — about eight times faster than those of currently-available ultrasonic devices.

Mutilated sponges rise from the dead

Spanish researchers have discovered a kind of sponge that rises not from its ashes but from shredded fragments, Reuters reports.

The sponge, Scopalina lophyropoda, can not only survive such insults as having bits knocked off it or nibbled by fish, but can thrive on the abuse.

Writing in the journal Nature, Manuel Maldonado and Maria Uriz of the Centro de Estudios Ayanzados de Blanes in Girona, Spain, said the sponge seems to be able to produce little sponge embryos from very tiny pieces of itself.

"Our results show that even small fragments often carry the essential functional elements for reorganising and nourishing embryos", they wrote in their report.

Fragments of shredded sponge as small as a millimetre across contain embryos, they said.

Although sponges can spread a sexually, they also produce embryos sexually, which are nurtured in the adult’s body by specialised ‘nurse’ cells.

These embryos seem to be released when the sponge is broken up, the researchers said.

In fact, they said, it might be good for the sponge’s genetic future, allowing its larvae to disperse more widely than they usually would.

Enzyme test to confirm heart attack

A simple blood test can tell doctors if someone complaining of chest pain and other symptoms is having a heart attack, Reuters reports.

The test looks for an enzyme called creatine-kinase MB (CK_MB), which is released by dying heart cells, Robert Roberts of Baylor University in Texas, USA said.

"Currently, physicians have the ability to make an accurate diagnosis in only four per cent of those with chest pain", he said.

People who think they are having a heart attack undergo a battery of tests, only to be told, sometimes, that they are suffering from a bad case of indigestion. Of the five million people who turn up at hospitals each year thinking they are having heart attacks, only 10 per cent are.

Another 20 per cent are suffering from unstable angina, which causes chest pain and is a symptom of heart disease, but which is not as immediately damaging as a heart attack.

Others do not report to hospitals because their symptoms are mild, only to die later of their heart attacks.

Writing in the journal Ciculation, Roberts and colleagues said they took blood samples from patients showing up at four hospitals.

Out of 955 patients with chest pain, 119 had been suffering from heart attacks. Only 45 per cent of these heart attacks were found by doing a standard electrocardiograph.

"The use of CK-MB could significantly reduce the number of patients admitted to the hospital unnecessarily, get appropriate and early treatment for heart attacks and unstable angina, and save about four billion dollars to six billion dollars a year", Roberts said.

Cloned monkeys for experiments

US scientists are trying to clone rhesus monkeys to provide a supply of genetically identical animals for medical research, Reuters reports.

Having access to cloned monkeys would enable researchers to test new drugs on animals and compare their development to that of genetically identical control monkeys given other treatment, said Tanja Kominko, scientist at the Orefon Regional Primate Centre in Oregon.

It would be extremely valuable for research into vaccines, AIDS and some forms of cancer, she said.

Primates are especially interesting to researchers because of their close relation to humans. Rhesus monkeys are preferred for laboratory testing because they are not endangered in the wild and humans’ closest relatives, chimpanzees and gorillas, are not big enough to endanger scientists.

Rhesus monkey’s reproductive organs function almost identically to those of humans. Female rhesus monkeys even have a menstrual cycle the same length as that of humans.

Repair of animal nerve fibres

US researchers have for the first time developed a way to successfully join severed nerves quickly in animals — a process that can also be used in humans.

The technique, developed by researchers at the University of Texas in Austin, involves joining the cut or crushed ends of severed central and peripheral nerve cells so that the repaired cells again conduct electrical signals through the severed area within seconds to minutes after they are joined.

There is currently no technique in humans or other mammals to repair severed nerves in the brain or spinal cord, the scientists reported in the Journal of Neuroscience.