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HomePosts Tagged "Indian Institute of Technology Mandi"
Agro Universities, Agrotech, Environment, India, Nature, R&D

The researchers have set up a cost-effective laboratory which allows controlled testing of the effects of rainfall intensity, slope gradient, soil texture, and vegetation cover on soil erosion.

Indian Institute of Technology Mandi researchers led to examine the potential of plants and fibres in combatting soil erosion. The findings of this work were recently published in the renowned Journal of Soil and Sediments, in a paper co-authored by Dr Kala Venkata Uday, Associate Professor, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, IIT Mandi, and Dr Arnav Bhavsar Vinayak Associate Professor, School of Computing and Electrical Engineering, IIT Mandi, and their research scholars Ms. Charu Chauhan, Manvendra Singh.

Soil erosion, a complex global environmental issue, has garnered significant worldwide attention. The FAO-led Global Soil Partnership reports an annual erosion of a staggering 75 billion tonnes of soil worldwide, resulting in an estimated financial loss of US$400 billion annually. This issue hits home in India, where nearly 60 per cent of land faces soil erosion. Approximately 145 million hectares of land in the country demand immediate conservation efforts from a reported total area of 305.9 million hectares.

The researchers have established a cost-effective laboratory setup for erosion studies under simulated rainfall conditions. This setup allows controlled testing of the effects of rainfall intensity, slope gradient, soil texture, and vegetation cover on soil erosion. The team employs image analysis to quantify soil erosion and show the effectiveness of bioengineering methods in preventing it. Their study also provides insights into soil detachment, transport, and deposition mechanisms.

Dr Arnav Bhavsar Vinayak, said, “Image analysis works well for small areas like road embankments, slopes, and short natural stretches. But for bigger areas, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and remote-sensing imaging are better Our approach which uses contour detection and filling, is better than existing techniques that are often complex and costly.”

The study showed that natural vegetation roots and added fibres can work together to significantly improve soil cohesion.  The type of soil, moisture content, and reinforcement collectively influence erosion rates, offering insights into soil conservation strategies. This multidisciplinary approach, combining bioengineering and image analysis, provides a promising path for addressing the challenge of soil erosion.

The researchers have shown how natural vegetation and added fibres of Indian goose grass can transform an intense erosion zone into one with practically “no erosion”. The study shows that the choice of the right material (fibre or plants) and its amount will depend on the type of erosion (caused by splashes or runoff) and the form of erosion (sheet or rill). Such research aims to make erosion control methods more effective and promote the use of natural materials.

In terms of the practical implications and future work, Dr K V Uday said, “We’ve developed a simple method to gauge the effectiveness of nature-based erosion mitigation solutions. Our method can differentiate between splash-induced erosion and runoff-induced erosion, a capability lacking in current methodologies. Also, numerical studies help enhance specific strategies for soil erosion control in larger fields.”

The researchers have set up a cost-effective

Agro Universities, Biofuel industry, R&D

 The process can sustainably generate bioethanol and other green chemicals in bioreactors.

 Indian Institute of Technology Mandi researchers have identified microbial pairs that can effectively convert cellulose (a major component present in Agriculture residue and paper waste) into useful chemicals, biofuels, and carbon suitable for several industrial applications.

The details of this research have been published in the journal Bioresource Technology Reports, in a paper co-authored by Dr Shyam Kumar Masakapalli, Associate Professor, School of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Dr Swati Sharma, Assistant Professor School of Engineering and their research scholars Chandrakant Joshi, Mahesh Kumar, Jyotika Thakur from IIT Mandi, Martyn Bennett and Mr David J. Leak from University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom, and Neil MacKinnon from KIT, Germany.

Plant dry matter, also known as lignocellulose, is one of the most abundant renewable materials on Earth.  Lignocellulosic waste from agriculture, forests, and industries can be converted into valuable chemicals such as bioethanol, biodiesel, lactic acid, and fatty acids using a process called bioprocessing. Bioprocessing, however, involves multiple steps and can release undesirable chemicals, requiring multiple washing and separation steps, which increases costs.

Scientists are exploring an innovative method called Consolidated Bioprocessing (CBP) to convert lignocellulosic biomass into useful chemicals. This method involves combining saccharification (the conversion of the cellulose into simple sugars), and fermentation (the conversion of simple sugars into alcohol) into one step. One way to achieve this is by using a Synthetic Microbial Consortium (SynCONS).  SynCONS are a combination of different microorganisms; in this case, two types of microbes are selected, one brings about saccharification and the other, fermentation. A combination of microbes that is stable at high temperatures (thermophilic consortia) is particularly useful because fermentation is a heat-releasing process.

IIT Mandi scientists studied two SynCONS systems for a cellulose processing process that was followed by pyrolysis. Pyrolysis, a method that decomposes organic materials by heating them above 500 oC in the absence of oxygen, was integrated with microbial bioprocessing. Pyrolysis converts the unreacted raw materials and side-products formed into useful carbon. Pyrolysis also destroys the microbes after their work is done, which eliminates the need for safe disposal.

Explaining the details of the work, Dr Shyam Kumar Masakapalli, IIT Mandi, said, “We analysed multiple microbes to create SynCONS that could convert cellulose to ethanol and lactate. We developed two SynCONS – a fungal-bacterial pair and a thermophilic bacterial-bacterial pair – both of which exhibited effective cellulose degradation with total yields of 9% and 23%, respectively. After pyrolysis of the remnant biomass, we obtained a carbon material with desirable physicochemical properties.”

The researchers obtained even higher ethanol yields (33 per cent) with the thermophilic SynCONS by including another engineered fermentative partner.  The co-use of cellulose-acting enzymes (cellulases) for saccharification resulted in a 51 per cent yield of ethanol.

Dr Swati Sharma, IIT Mandi, added, “The microbial consortia designed can be adopted for bioprocessing of cellulose to valuables such as industrial enzymes like cellulase, ethanol, and lactate. Once scaled up, this process can sustainably generate bioethanol and other green chemicals in bioreactors. The carbon obtained after pyrolysis can be used in a range of applications such as water filtration and electrodes.” The method has been patented, and further scale-up of the bioprocess is ongoing.

 The process can sustainably generate bioethanol and