Utilization of Crop Stubble as Alternate Source of Electricity Generation

The Indian states including Punjab,Haryana,Bihar,Uttar Pradesh,Madhya Pradesh,and Himachal Pradesh follow combine harvesting method followed by burning of crop stubble to prepare the fields for next crop.Crop stubble burning is the reason of annual increment in pollution concentrations which lead to massive winter pollution in the region.However,the state governments have taken several initiatives for proper management of crop stubble through various departments and institutions but still air pollution level is increasing.Instead of burning the crop residue,it can be used in other ways,which are beneficial to humanity.In the direction of rising issues due to burning of the crop stubble,efforts have been carried out to explore the options to utilize the crop stubble rather than burning of it.Present experimental study is an attempt to outline alternative use of crop stubble like utilization of rice straw for electricity generation through microbial fuel cell.In 10 days experimental set up,the MFC produced the maximum voltage of 0.002 V corresponding to the maximum current of 2.5 mA which results in power output of 0.05 mW.The experiments'results of the study accentuate the significance of biomass by utilizing the rice paddy straw for generating the electricity by means of microbial fuel cells.The electricity generated through crop stubble can be used as a sustainable source of energy in the remote areas.It is also focused on suggesting policies to the government so that air pollution can be minimized in affected areas.

An Analysis of Ambient Air Quality Conditions Over Delhi, India From 2004 to 2009

We analyzed 1-hour, 8-hour and 24-hour averaged criteria pollutants (NO2, SO2, CO, PM22.5, and PM10) during 2004 - 2009 at three observational sites i.e. Income Tax Office (ITO), Sirifort and Delhi College of Engineering (DCE) in Delhi, India. The analysis reveals increased pollutant concentrations at the urban ITO site as compared to the other two sites, suggesting the need to better locate hot spots in designing the monitoring network. There is also significant year to year variation in the design value trends of criteria pollutants at these three sites, which may be attributed to meteorological variations and local-level emission fluctuations. Correlations among criteria pollutants vary annually and spatially from site to site, indicating the heterogeneous nature of air mix. The annual ratios of CO/NOx are considerably higher than SO2/NOx confirming that vehicular source emissions are the primary contributors to air pollution in Delhi. The seasonal analysis of criteria pollutants reveals relatively higher concentrations in winter because of limited pollutant dispersion and lower concentrations during the monsoon period (rainy season). The diurnal averages of criteria pollutants reveal that vehicular emissions strongly influence temporal variations of these pollutants. Weekdays and weekend diurnal averages do not show noticeable differences.