Debendra Chandra Baruah

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Professor at Tezpur University

This study assesses the techno-economic and environmental aspects of solar photovoltaic (PV), diesel, and electric water pumps for irrigation in Assam, India. Two practical crop rotations are considered: Sali rice, strawberry, and Ahu rice; and Sali rice, mustard, and Boro rice. A comprehensive analysis, including performance, cost-effectiveness, a...

Bioenergy is a clean and renewable source of energy that can reduce global depency on fossil fuel, and it is a sustainable, economically viable, and socially acceptable. Bioenergy production aligns with several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) directly or indirectly. Bioenergy feedstocks are spatio-temporally distributed and, the...

A novel solar air heater (SAH) with provision of integrating phase change material (PCM) was designed and developed in the Department of Energy, Tezpur University located in (26.7003◦N and 92.8308◦E). A code was developed in MATLAB platform to estimate design parameters of the PCMSAH viz., (i) air mass flow rate (0.018 kg/s), (ii) length of the...

Toxic, carcinogenic, and hazardous materials are omnipresent, generally obtained by anthropogenic activities, industrial activities, aerobic and anaerobic degradation of waste materials and are harmful to human health and environment. Thus, sensing, colorimetric detection, and subsequent inclusion of these chemicals are of prime importance for huma...

Sugarcane bagasse-based cogeneration contributes significantly to bioenergy conversion in India and therefore, appropriate performance analysis is required considering the regional factors. Further increase of sugarcane bioenergy is expected in India with the Government's mandate to enhance the share of renewable energy by 2030. Herein this study,...

Biomass gasification is a promising source of decentralised electricity generation, especially in regions having abundant biomass resources. Parameters associated with demand-side and supply-side of biomass gasification-based electricity generation are integrated to develop a decision support system (DSS). The DSS platform enables to analyse wide v...

Sustainable development of rural sector has been a prime concern of the present World including India. Technology plays an important role for rural development. Appropriateness of any technology with reference to economy and environmental sustainability is a prerequisite. In this context, scope of a biogas-based bioenergy technology cluster is inve...

Approximately 1.5 million South African households (~16 million total) are still relying on paraffin, fuel wood, candle, and coal for their daily quota of energy. Although coal-based power generation is apparently easier for coal-rich South Africa, an increasing share of large-scale renewable energy (solar and wind) is mandated due to environmental...

Approximately 1.5 million South African households (~ 16 million total) are still relying on paraffin, fuel wood, candle, and coal for their daily quota of energy. Although coal-based power generation is apparently easier for coal-rich South Africa, an increasing share of large-scale renewable energy (solar and wind) is mandated due to environmenta...

Management of the by-products generated during bioenergy conversion technologies is essential for technology sustainability and due to strict adherence to waste minimisation legislation. We investigated the potential of four types of bioenergy by-products (BEBPs), i.e. char from rice husk and digestates from 3 types of feedstocks: (i) Ipomoea carne...

Recycling of nutrients through soil application of bioenergy by‐products (BEBPs) promotes closing of nutrient cycle as well as solves issues related to their improper management. Present investigation reports experimental data on soil fertility, crop growth (rapeseed), and crop nutrition from application of 15 fertilization treatments comprising of...

The cyclic effect of energy poverty and economic poverty has been conclusively evidenced primarily from the experiences of developing World. In the developing countries, struggle to meet the basic energy needs impacts the life of the poorer section in terms of cost of health, education and quality. However, considering the adequate biomass resource...

Strong potential exists in India for bioelectricity (biomass-derived electricity) to meet the rising, domestic demand for energy. In order to fill the anticipated need, precise assessments of the resource potential are necessary as well as regularly-tracked resource inventories and apt policy. Studies addressing these aspects of energy management a...

Thermoelectric generator (TEG) is a promising thermoelectric (TE) conversion technology to effectively recover and convert waste heat from vehicle exhaust into useful energy, ie, electricity. Exhaust TEG (ETEG) is a system that is incorporated into the exhaust manifold of a vehicle. Exhaust TEG comprises of a heat exchanger, TEG modules, heat sink,...

Success and acceptability of the bio energy conversion technology to a large extent depend upon management of the inevitable by-products generated during the conversion process. By-products can be considered favourable as organic fertilizer as they retain nutrients with varying composition depending upon input biomass. However, characteristics of t...

Energy Performance Index (EPI) is a tool primarily used to assess energy performance of building. According to the Indian Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ISHRAE), EPI ranges between 200 to 400 kWh per square meter of built up area per annum with major share attributed to heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (...

India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world. However, a major portion of these produces is perished due to the lack of post harvesting care. According to ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research) up to 16% of fruits and vegetables are wasted primarily due to lack of processing facilities causing huge economic los...

Sustainability of a bioenergy project depends on precise assessment of biomass resource, planning of cost-effective logistics and evaluation of possible environmental implications. In this context, this paper reviews the role and applications of geo-spatial tool such as Geographical Information System (GIS) for precise agro-residue resource assessm...

Reliable supply of feedstock is one of the major factors accountable for acceptance and hence success of biogas technology. Cow dung (CD) has been the traditional feedstock for production of biogas which is utilized for domestic cooking in rural areas. Search for alternative feedstock becomes inevitable with increasing interest in biogas technology...

Alternative fertilizer resources have drawn attention in recent times in order to cope up with ever increasing demand for fertilizer. By-products of bioenergy system are considered favourable as organic fertilizer due to their ability to recycle plant nutrients. Present study evaluates fertilizer suitability of by-products of two bioenergy systems...

Energy is the vital input for sustainable development of a country as it is directly related to the country’s economic growth. Even though energy use has doubled since 2000, but energy consumption per capita is still only around one-third of the global average and some 240 million people have no access to electricity. This study investigates the pr...

The disposal of rice stubbles after harvest of crop remains a major concern in all rice growing areas. In lowland rice ecosystems, where sole cropping is mostly practiced, low energy in situ composting may contribute tremendously towards recycling of solid waste and long-term sustenance of soil fertility. Spraying of a bacteria, isolated and charac...

Electricity generation for rural applications through biomethanation process is very promising in countries like India where availability of biomass feedstock is very high. However, sustainability of biomass power plants requires meticulous planning starting from assessment of feedstock availability to collection, storage, transport and conversion...

Most of the food processing industries are thermal energy dependent and fossil fuels have been the traditional sources for it. The need for positive growth of food processing industries has been felt in all the nations for better economic prosperity. However, the uncertainties related with the uses of fossil fuel pose a serious concern in recent ti...

A steady state heat transfer model is developed to predict performance of biomass stove with varying operating (composition, particle size and moisture of fuel, air flow, ambient conditions) and design conditions (size, shape and material of combustion chamber, pot size). Model is validated for a commercial stove (Harsha) for test conditions. The b...

Global population growth requires intensification of agriculture, for which a sustainable supply of phosphorus (P) is essential. Since natural P reserves are diminishing, recovering P from wastes and residues is an increasingly attractive prospect, particularly as technical and economic potential in the area is growing. In addition to providing pho...

The paper presents a possible approach to address India’s formidable challenge of ensuring security of access to modern energy carriers to the majority of its rural population. This study presents a case study of the selection methodology, implementation strategies for setting up Energy Eco-enterprise in North-East, India under RHEES. The RHEES (Ru...

Five locally available biomassesnamely Bamboo (Banbusea Tulda), Gulmohar (Delonix regia), Neem (Melia Azedarach L), Dimaru (Ficus lepidosa wall), and Shisham (Delbergia sissoo) had been characterized with CHN analysis. The elemental characterization results were used to model a downdraft gasification (10 kWthermal) process in terms of producer gas...

Biomass is being considered seriously as a source of energy generation worldwide. Among the various routes available for biomass based energy generation, biomass gasification is one of the most important routes that are being studied extensively. Biomass gasification is a thermo-chemical conversion process of biomass materials within a reactor. Num...

Gasification of uprooted tea shrub (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze) is an attractive option for partial substitution of thermal energy in tea manufacturing industries. Chopped and dried uprooted tea branches with moisture content (X < 20%) have high energy contents suitable to generate process heat. Good number of tea processing units in Assam us...

Solar flat plate collectors are used for meeting the hot air requirement in a number of applications ranging from domestic to industrial sectors. However, the varying degree of uncertainties of available solar radiation along with varying weather conditions often acts as restriction to their wider use. The varying input conditions like solar radiat...

Biomass based energy generation is one of the major focus areas of renewable energy programs in India. The strength of India's biomass resources mostly lies in the agricultural sector. A large quantity of crop residue biomass is generated in India. However, crop residue biomasses are distributed resources with variation in spatio-temporal availabil...

Thin layer drying kinetics of fermented tea (Camellia sinensis) was investigated at air temperatures (80, 90,100, 110) °C and velocities (0.50, 0.65, 075) m s−1 respectively using a producer gas furnace tea dryer. The tea samples weight, dry and wet bulb temperatures and air velocities were recorded continuously during each experiment. The black te...

Sapindus mukorossi is a tree available in northeastern region of India. Fruit of S. mukorossi has some traditional usage and its kernel contains 39% (w/w) oil. Prospect of S. mukorossi oil for biodiesel production is investigated with reference to some relevant properties. The fatty acid profile of oil extracted from S. mukorossi is found comparabl...

Microwave drying characteristics of Assam crush, tear, curl (CTC) tea were determined at five different microwave power of 180, 360, 540, 720 and 900 W respectively. The effect of power level on moisture content and drying rate (d.b.) of 50 g CTC tea sample were investigated. The time required to reduce the moisture content to any given level in mi...

One of the major waste products of oil industry is formation water which comes with crude oil from underground and this is considered as pollutant because of the presence of several undesirable elements exceeding the permissible limits. The conventional oil field practice is to dispose the formation water by injecting underground. Such underground...

Wind is one of the cleanest sources of renewable energy. The confidence on wind power can be realized from the recent growth of wind power at global level. Several countries have set specific target to meet substantial portion of their domestic energy demand from wind while many others have initiated large scale R&D. In this article, a comprehensiv...

It is well known that fossil fuel combustion has tremendous negative impact on ecology and global climate. It is non renewable as well. The present rate of technological and economic growth of a country may be unsustainable due to rapid consumption of fossil fuel like crude oil, natural gas or coal. Thus people search for viable renewable energy so...

Management and utilization of Ipomoea (Ipomoea spp.), a profusely grown wetland plant, have been under investigation in the regions of tropics including India. Uses of Ipomoea for bio-energy generation using modern biomass-to-energy conversion technologies have also been reported. Generally Ipomoea growth is considered undesirable as it causes p...

Availability of identified tree species bearing non-edible oil has a region specific production characteristics and availability of sufficient amount at a given place is always uncertain. Moreover, the any prospective biodiesel production and utilization programe would need to consider more and one feedstock to meet the target. There could be anoth...

This paper presents a study on spatial distribution of rice (Oryza sativa) straw and its potential demand as a renewable energy fuel for tea (Camellia sinensis L.) drying. Rice straw availability and its demand in tea gardens are estimated using IRS-P6 LISS III remote sensing data in GIS environment. Shortest road transportation network is designed...

Terminalia belerica has been identified as a promising feedstock for production of biodiesel in North East India. The major fuel properties of T. belerica biodiesel satisfy both the ASTM and European standard specifications. However, storage behavior as reflected by induction period (IP) does not conform to the standard norms. Two specific issues v...

Reduction of electricity distribution loss is a major area of focus in India. This paper aims to investigate geo-electrical options to improve distribution efficiency of electrical network. Distribution efficiencies corresponding to several possible electrical network options are assessed using Geographical Information System (GIS) integrated elect...

The present investigation is undertaken to investigate prospect of seeds of a locally available tree (koroch) for biodiesel production. The middle-size, evergreen koroch tree with spreading branches are available in Assam. The characteristics of koroch biodiesel and engine performance fueled by koroch biodiesel are also analyzed reviewing similar r...

Reduction of electricity distribution loss is a major area of focus in India. This paper aims to investigate geo-electrical options to improve distribution efficiency of electrical network. Distribution efficiencies corresponding to several possible electrical network options are assessed using Geographical Information System (GIS) integrated elect...

The present study analyzes the performance and combustion characteristics of 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% blending of Koroch Seed Oil Methyl Ester (KSOME) and Jatropha Methyl Ester (JME) with diesel as fuels in a d iesel engine. The brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) was more for the methyl ester blends and particularly for the JME blends. The brake t...

Moisture sorption isotherms of Assam CTC manufactured from tea cultivar T3E3 were determined at 30, 40 and 50C using the static gravimetric method over a range of relative humidity from 0.1 to 0.9. The equilibrium moisture content of the tea sample decreased with increase in temperature at constant relative humidity. Seven mathematical models (Brun...

An experimental investigation was carried out on a small direct injection (DI) diesel engine, fuelling the engine with 10% (B10), 20% (B20), 30% (B30) and 40% (B40) blending of Koroch seed oil methyl ester (KSOME) with diesel. The performance and combustion characteristics of the engine at various loads are compared and analyzed. The results showed...

Decentralized electricity generation potential from surplus rice straw residue in Lakhimpur district of Assam, India is investigated in this study. Appropriately validated Linear Imaging and Self Scanning Sensor (LISS) III satellite images of Indian Remote sensing Satellite (IRS-P6 series, also known as RESOURCESAT-1), are used to map rice cropland...

Spatial assessments of crop residue biomass and its power potential at village level in Sonitpur district of Assam, India is presented in this paper. Recent IRS P6 LISS-III remote sensing data of the study area is analyzed in GIS environment to map crop areas and subsequently residue biomass availability at village level. Altogether 16 different ty...

Performance of a single cylinder four-stroke diesel engine is analysed in the light of first law of thermodynamics in this study considering 10% (B10) to 40% (B40) (by volume) blending of Koroch seed oil methyl ester (KSOME) with diesel as fuels. An energy balance study is carried out to quantify the various losses associated with diesel engine pro...

Among the alternative fuels, biodiesel and its blends are considered suitable and the most promising fuel for diesel engine. The properties of biodiesel are found similar to that of diesel. Many researchers have experimentally evaluated the performance characteristics of conventional diesel engines fuelled by biodiesel and its blends. However, expe...

A hilly watershed in Kopili River basin in Assam (India) was considered for assessment of hydropower potential using spatial tool (GIS) and hydrological model (SWAT2000). The available data related to topography, soil, land use, weather and discharge pertaining to the study watershed were used to characterize the watershed. The characterization was...

Terminalia (Terminalia belerica Robx.) is available in the northeastern region of India. The fruit of terminalia has some medicinal value and its kernel contains 43% oil. The prospect of terminalia oil for biodiesel production is investigated with reference to some relevant properties. The fatty acid profile of oil extracted from terminalia is foun...

Assam is the largest tea producing state with an annual contribution of about 51% of nation's production. Coal, TD oil, and natural gas are used in tea drying as a source of thermal energy. Crop residue biomass is considered as a potential substitute of fossil energy. Availability of sufficient biomass in the vicinity of user location, avoiding cos...

Though India has done well in agricultural development, the state of Assam in the northeastern region needs special attention for agricultural development to address several socio-economic issues and is a typical example of economically backward rural India. Agricultural development aiming at higher production would require mechanization and supply...

Energy use scenario and resulting rice yield of 576 farms belonging to six agroclimatic zones of Assam, India were investigated. Input energy from eight distinct sources, viz., human, animal, diesel, commercial chemical fertilizer, farm yard manure (FYM), seed, pesticide chemical and machinery were determined on the basis of collected data and usin...

An energy requirement model of a combine harvester has been developed by suitably integrating the energy models of the machine components. The model calculates the output with ten model coefficients associating four model variables. The crop throughput, travel speed, peripheral speed of the threshing cylinder and total vertical load borne by the gr...

Energy is an important input of production agriculture. The timeliness of operation depends on energy availability. Energy input for harvesting and threshing of grain crops constitutes a major part of the total energy input. The combine harvester is a widely used harvesting machine for grain crops. The components of combine harvester have been mode...

Energy use pattern and paddy yield of 576 farms covering an area of 760 ha of Assam (India) were investigated. Total input energy form eight distinct sources viz., human, animal, diesel, chemical fertilizer, FYM, seed, plant protection chemical and machinery pertaining to the inputs of all the 576 farms were individually estimated. Four types of fa...

The existing energy-use pattern, based on the prevailing cultivation practices and the optimal energy-demand based on the optimal mechanization strategy for animal operated paddy farms of Assam (India) were assessed. Two categories of paddy farms, i.e. with and without the use of chemical fertilizers were identified. Lower yield (1976 kg/ha) associ...

The consumption of direct energy from major sources in tea industry in Assam was studied. Two important sectors of the tea industry are garden and factory. Human labour is the major source of energy for different unit operations in the garden. A tea garden requires an estimated 18 408 MJ/ha of human energy in the first year. The demand decreases fr...