Aditya Birla (India)

Collaborative manufacturer–retailer relationships based on efficient consumer response (ECR) have become ubiquitous over the past decade. Yet academic studies of ECR adoption and its impact on marketing relationships are relatively scarce. Inspired by the relational view of competitive advantage, the authors empirically investigate whether the extent to which suppliers of a major retailer adopt ECR has a beneficial impact on their outcomes. The results demonstrate that whereas ECR adoption has a positive impact on supplier economic performance and capability development, it also generates greater perceptions of negative inequity on the part of the supplier. However, retailer capabilities and supplier trust moderate some of these main effects. The overall results are robust with respect to differences in supplier size as well as between branded and private-label suppliers.

High intensity dry magnetic separators are in use for various applications in the mineral as well as coal processing industries. Evaluation of the performance of these separators treating different minerals has become an active research topic. Several attempts have been made by different researchers and technologists to understand the separation behavior of particles in each of these separators treating different types of para-magnetic minerals. Despite all these efforts, these separators are yet to find widespread applications to treat different para-magnetic minerals. Therefore, the present status of these separators with a brief description of their operating principles, applications, and modeling are reviewed in this article. Also, the research work needs to focus on each separator has been highlighted.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced governments across the world to impose lockdowns to prevent virus transmissions. This resulted in the shutdown of all economic activity and accordingly the production at manufacturing plants across most sectors was halted. While there is an urgency to resume production, there is an even greater need to ensure the safety of the workforce at the plant site. Reports indicate that maintaining social distancing and wearing face masks while at work clearly reduces the risk of transmission. We decided to use computer vision on CCTV feeds to monitor worker activity and detect violations which trigger real time voice alerts on the shop floor. This paper describes an efficient and economic approach of using AI to create a safe environment in a manufacturing setup. We demonstrate our approach to build a robust social distancing measurement algorithm using a mix of modern-day deep learning and classic projective geometry techniques. We have deployed our solution at manufacturing plants across the Aditya Birla Group (ABG). We have also described our face mask detection approach which provides a high accuracy across a range of customized masks.

A new technique for the measurement of 3D crystal morphology and identification of its polymorph using tomographic images is proposed. Confocal microscopy is used for the first time to obtain tomographic images of crystals that are coated with a suitable fluorescent dye. A convex polyhedron is fitted through a stack of tomographic images of a crystal to obtain the normal vectors of each facet and their corresponding perpendicular distances from the center of the crystal. The angular patterns are generated from the measured normal vectors and are matched with the master angular patterns of each polymorph. It is shown that the matching of the angular patterns is unique and provides a simpler way to identify polymorphs. An image-analysis program that can be integrated with conventional confocal microscopes was created to sequentially perform image processing, morphology measurement, and polymorph detection. This program was used to measure morphologies and identify polymorphs of 2D and 3D acetaminophen crystals. Detailed directions are provided to enable the application of the methodology without the need for special-purpose software. The image-analysis program is also suitable for repeated measurements to produce morphology distributions. This technique will provide an effective platform for measuring the 3D shapes of materials of interest to many applications.

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) synthesized by an implicitly environmentally gracious route using Acanthospermum hispidum aqueous leaves extract at room temperature reported. This approach is facile, swift, cost-effective and stable for a long time, reproducible at room temperature and in an eco-friendly manner to obtain a self-assembly of AgNPs. These fabricated AgNPs were investigated by ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, transmission electron microscope with selected area electron diffraction, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform Infrared spectroscopy, particle size, zeta potential, photoluminescence with fluorescence life-time spectroscopy and surface area with porosity studies of synthesized nanoparticles were analyzed by Brunauer–Emmett–Teller and Barrett–Joyner–Halenda curve. Besides, these AgNPs displayed antibacterial, antifungal antimycobacterial and antimalarial activity against some bacterial pathogens. From the outcomes obtained it is suggested that AgNPs could be used effectively in future nanobiotechnology and medical concerns.

Lignocellulosic biomass-based adsorbents for removal of heavy metal ions from water have been reported. Importantly, a solid biomass waste known as Banana Stem Scutcher (BSS) is generated in banana stem fiber (BSF) extraction from lignocellulosic rich banana stem (BS). Here, for the first time, we report BSS characterization, and its ability for adsorption of lead (Pb(II)) ion from water. The maximum adsorption capacity for Pb(II) ion removal by BSS was determined to be 179.9 mg g−1. BSS was recycled five times without any significant loss in adsorption performance. Pb(II) ion adsorption onto BSS is exothermic (ΔH = −70.55 kJ mol−1), and spontaneous (ΔG = −3.52 kJ mol−1 at 303 K) with energy of activation as, 95.95 kJ mol−1. Further, interaction between Pb(II) ion and functional groups of BSS was confirmed by XPS and FTIR results. The relative cellulose content in BSS (74.25%) was higher than the BS (57.85%), as well as BSF (60.36%). The higher accessible cellulosic content in BSS was proposed for the enhanced Pb(II) ion adsorption by BSS, compared to BS and BSF. The study highlights a low cost and chemical free, mechanical based treatment of biomass useful to produce effective biomass-based adsorbents for removal of metal ions.

Regenerated cellulose fibers are among the most widely used bio-derived materials. Currently, there is great interest in transitioning from the traditional viscose process to the more environmentally friendly lyocell process for fiber production. Differences between the characteristics of viscose and lyocell fibers can be attributed to microstructural differences that arise due to differences in the processing techniques. Here, we use small-angle scattering to characterize the microvoids in regenerated cellulose fibers that might govern the onset of mechanical failure in these. In regenerated cellulose fibers, scattering of X-rays or neutrons at small angles is largely dominated by scattering from microvoids. We demonstrate that small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) over the q range that is typical for most commercial instruments arises from Porod scattering from the microvoid surfaces, viz., the scattered intensity scales as q –4 . Therefore, it is not possible to extrapolate this data to lower q to obtain microvoid dimensions and volume fraction. We combine SAXS with medium-resolution small-angle neutron scattering to characterize the microvoids in regenerated cellulose fibers. Specifically, we compare fibers produced using the viscose process with those from the lyocell process. For both viscose and lyocell fibers, microvoids have a high aspect ratio and are elongated in the fiber direction. Also, the volume fraction occupied by the microvoids is comparable for viscose and lyocell fibers (0.04–0.05%). However, there are differences in the microvoid size: Microvoids are more highly oriented in lyocell fibers and have a larger average length and diameter compared with viscose fibers. This result might have important implications for understanding failure of these fibers.

Ammoniacal leaching and sulfuric acid leaching were explored separately to recover copper from smelter slag. The overall 75% copper recovery was achieved from the smelter slag under optimum condition using ammoniacal leaching. The low copper recovery in this process is directly related to the complex slag mineralogy and dissolution kinetics. To overcome such problems, sulfuric acid leaching was applied separately. This method provided an overall 89% copper recovery under atmospheric condition. The use of sulfuric acid as the leaching agent was found to be more advantageous than ammonia due to the complex interlocking nature of copper bearing particles and different reaction kinetics of the slag.

Photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants in water using graphitic carbon nitride and persulfate under visible light (g-C 3 N 4 /PS system) has been studied. Here, we demonstrate augmentation of photocatalytic degradation of Acetaminophen (AAP) using hydrothermally treated g-C 3 N 4 and PS under 400 nm LED irradiation (HT-g-C 3 N 4 /PS system). A pseudo-first-order rate constant (k obs, 0.328 min −1 ) for degradation of AAP using HT-g-C 3 N 4 /PS system was determined to be 15 times higher compared to g-C 3 N 4 /PS system (k obs, 0.022 min −1 ). HT-g-C 3 N 4 showed a higher surface area (81 m 2 /g) than g-C 3 N 4 (21 m 2 /g). Photocurrent response for HT-g-C 3 N 4 was higher (1.5 times) than g-C 3 N 4 . Moreover, Nyquist plot semicircle for HT-g-C 3 N 4 was smaller compared to g-C 3 N 4 . These results confirm effective photoelectron-hole separation and charge-transfer in HT-g-C 3 N 4 compared to g-C 3 N 4 . AAP degradation using HT-g-C 3 N 4 /PS system was significantly inhibited with O 2 . − and h + scavengers compared to 1 O 2, S O 4 . − and H O . scavengers. ESR results revealed O 2 . − formation in HT-g-C 3 N 4 /PS system. Moreover, photocurrent measurements reveal AAP oxidation by h + of HT-g-C 3 N 4 was effective than g-C 3 N 4 . HT-g-C 3 N 4 was reused for five cycles in HT-g-C 3 N 4 /PS system. Augmented photocatalytic degradation of AAP by HT-g-C 3 N 4 /PS system compared to g-C 3 N 4 /PS is attributed to effective photoelectron hole separation of HT-g-C 3 N 4 that generates O 2 . − and h + for oxidation of pollutant. Importantly, electrical energy per order (E EO ) was 7.2 kWh m −3 order −1 . k obs for degradation of AAP in simulated groundwater and tap water were determined as 0.029 and 0.035 min −1 , respectively. Degradation intermediates of AAP were proposed. AAP ecotoxicity against marine bacteria Aliivibrio fischeri was completely removed after treatment by HT-g-C 3 N 4 /PS system.

In the current work, dynamic studies of mass transfer of sulfur from the gas phase to the metal phase of pure iron through CaO-SiO 2 -Al 2 O 3 -FeO quaternary slag were carried out. X-ray videos were taken that were later processed to identify the oscillation of the metal drop occurring during the mass transfer. It was observed that the metal drop had hybrid oscillations. Each of these oscillations could be identified as composed of a symmetric and an asymmetric element, which was attributed to the changes in the shape of the droplet. The latter (asymmetric part) could be identified by the deviation of the left and right contact angles from the stable configuration. The symmetric oscillations were traced to the surface movement of sulfur at the interface, which created an instantaneous area change at the slag–metal interface. This area change was due to the combined effect of Marangoni flow and interface dilatation. The velocity of sulfur at the interface was calculated from the area change and had a maximum order of magnitude as 10 −4 m/s. It was also observed that the interfacial velocity increased with increase in temperature.

In deep underground rock engineering projects, rocks are under static pre-load and they may further experience dynamic load due to earthquakes or production blasts. It is thus desirable to consider dynamic failure of rocks subjected to static pre-load. Besides, bending load is commonly encountered near underground openings. Therefore, this study considers the effect of the pre-load on the dynamic bending strength of Laurentian granite (LG). Using a modified split Hopkinson pressure bar system, the semi-circular bend (SCB) method is applied to carry out the bending tests. Five groups of SCB specimens are tested under different pre-loads and loading rates. The results show that under a given pre-load, the flexural tensile strength of LG increases with the loading rate, and decreases with the static pre-load at a given loading rate. The total flexural tensile strength is roughly independent of the pre-load. An empirical equation is used to represent the effects of the loading rate and the pre-load force on the dynamic flexural tensile strength. Furthermore, the flexural tensile strengths measured from SCB tests have higher values than the tensile strengths measured using the Brazilian disc method for the same rock. A nonlocal failure theory is utilized to quantitatively interpret this discrepancy.

The performance of floc magnetic separation (FMS) has been compared with wet high-intensity magnetic separator (WHIMS). This study was performed on low-grade iron ore slime contained 59.58% Fe with 4.57% silica and 3.78% alumina. Detailed characterization data indicated that a substantial amount of the slime was below 20 µm in size. Beneficiation studies indicated that the FMS process is effective to recover fine hematite and goethite particles, compared with the conventional magnetic separation. In conventional magnetic separation, the extent of the fluid drag force exceeds the magnetic force exerted on ultrafine particles. Thus, ultrafine magnetic particles were usually not recovered effectively by magnetic separators, resulting in the loss of valuable ultrafine slime particles. The FMS process significantly increases the magnetic force on the ultrafine iron ore in the form of hydrophobic flocs in a magnetic field, thus the ultrafine particles can be picked up effectively as magnetic concentrates. The FMS process improved the Fe recovery from 37.35% to 79.60%.

Fluoride, an anionic pollutant, existing in concentrations exceeding the allowed limit of 1.5 mg/L in drinking water, has been reported to cause detrimental impact on human health. The traditionally employed methods for water defluoridation mostly involve Al-based coagulants, which however face some limitations, such as requirement of relatively high dosage and production of excessive amounts of chemical sludge posing a problem of its safe disposal. In this study, two inorganic polymeric coagulants of medium (IPC-M) and ultrahigh basicity (IPC-UH) were synthesized using polymerization of aluminum trihydrate (Al 2 O 3 ·3H 2 O) with an aqueous solution of 32% hydrochloric acid. The basicity of coagulants was increased by manipulating the redox reaction of the product with the aluminum metal. The synthetic coagulants were analyzed using various characterization techniques, viz., Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, electrospray ionization–mass spectrometry, and field emission scanning electron microscopy with electron-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and the main physicochemical properties such as % Al 2 O 3, relative basicity, and % chloride. The aluminum species distribution was assessed by the ferron assay, and their electrochemical properties such as dissolved charge, conductivity, acidity, and pH were also measured. The application of IPCs was explored for their fluoride removal efficacy using jar tests. The outcome showed that IPC-M was the most efficient when applied in a pH range relevant to fluoride-containing water as it was the only coagulant that showed increasing efficiency at pH values > 7. The uptake capacity of coagulants for using synthetic samples prepared in Milli-Q water containing 9 mg/L of raw fluoride concentrations to achieve residual concentration of less than 1.5 mg F/L at the pH value 6.5 ± 0.1 was calculated as 87.68 and 68.48 mg F/g Al 2 O 3 for IPC-M and IPC-UH, respectively, which were higher than the reported values of 37.42 and 37.75 mg F/g Al 2 O 3 for alum and poly-aluminum chloride in an earlier published paper. The residual aluminum concentration in these experiments ranged at 30 ± 5 and 20 ± 5 μg Al/L, respectively, for IPL-M and IPL-UH, which were well within the WHO norm for drinking water (<200 μg/L), indicating their immense application in the field.

Regenerated cellulose fibers represent an important class of bioderived commercial fibers. The traditional viscose process requires the use of environmentally harmful carbon disulfide solvent to produce fibers. Lyocell fibers, produced using a more sustainable recent process, exhibit differences in properties from viscose. These differences arise from their semicrystalline microstructure, formed during fiber spinning. It is widely believed that regenerated cellulose fibers predominantly form fringed fibrillar crystals. We optimize acid etching, followed by SEM as an experimental tool to visualize this fibrillar structure. Acid etching provides sufficient topological contrast to directly visualize ∼O(10 nm) fibrils using field-emission scanning electron microscopy (SEM). We combine SEM with small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) to reveal other microstructural details. We observe a Bragg peak, indicating the coexistence of stacked lamellar structure with crystalline fibrils for viscose fibers, but not for lyocell. Viscose and lyocell fibers are characterized by partially oriented semicrystalline microstructure. We present a methodology to calculate the Lorentz correction for such microstructure and employ this to analyze the lamellar scattering from viscose fibers using a 1D correlation function approach. We characterize the lamellar microstructure after swelling viscose fibers with water and observe expansion of the Bragg spacing due to water absorption in the amorphous regions. Our data suggest that the water-induced plasticization of amorphous regions is inhomogeneous. Lamellar stacks that are more misoriented from the fiber direction exhibit lower swelling than those along the fiber direction. The experimental methods described in this work reveal interesting details of semicrystalline microstructure in regenerated cellulose fibers, with important implications for the mechanical response of dry and wet fibers. The methods developed here might find use in investigations of other polymer fibers as well.

In the present review, the suitability of adsorption process using low cost adsorbent for the treatment of pulp and paper mill effluent has been discussed. It is clear that adsorption processes are appropriate for the removal of recalcitrant compounds such as surfactants and pesticides, among others biodegradable or non-biodegradable compound present in pulp and paper mills effluents. The importance of the adsorption is to improvement of the removal of various physico- chemical (biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), colour, suspended solids, lignin), heavy metals (Cu, Cr, Fe, Zn, Ni and Mn etc) organochlorine compounds, all recalcitrant pollutant, reduce toxicity, enhance colour removal by using different cost effective adsorbents. The effective use of the different adsorbents developed from different adsorbent media such as activated carbon, agriculture by product and industrial wastes and sludge as adsorbents for the removal of different pollutants from the various processes and operations of pulp and paper mill as potential alternatives to different treatment process and received widespread attention. Adsorption necessity is a novel treatment option to improve the efficiency of removal within the discharge limits of wastewaters into the receiving bodies without causing any damage of the environment. However, still there is a need to find out the practical usefulness of such low cost adsorbent at industrial scale with the special reference to metals.

Rapid electrode wear due to localised random alloying between copper and aluminium at high temperature is by far the greatest challenge for the resistance spot welding of aluminium alloys. An effective recourse would be to enhance the overall electrical conductivity along the electrode/sheet interface to reduce the resistive heating of copper electrode and to prohibit direct contact between electrode and sheet during welding. We propose here the application of carbon black paste in fluidic form as a barrier along the electrode/sheet interface both for the enhancement of electrical conductivity and for the prohibition of direct electrode to sheet contact. Carbon black is chemically inert to both copper and aluminium and in fluidic form allows the enhancement of thermal and electrical conductance due to better conformability within a pressurised contact. The present experimental study has shown a significant enhancement in electrode life in the presence of the carbon black based barrier coating along the interface.

To achieve a viable forest-based biorefinery, both the carbohydrate and lignin parts of the raw material should be valorized. While lignin-first approaches have successfully been applied to hardwoods, where up to 50% of the lignin –close to the ‘theoretical maximum yield’– has been transformed to valuable monophenols; limited studies have targeted softwoods. Softwood lignin comprises lower amount of beta-ether bonds and this results in lower theoretical and observed yields of monophenols in reductive catalytic fractionation (RCF): below 5 wt% yield of initial biomass has been reported. In this study, we use beetle infected spruce, a softwood, as raw material. A fast fractionation was developed to give a pulp and a lignin fraction in the absence of transition metal catalysts. The carbohydrate matrix was valorized to dissolving grade pulp in 37 wt% from biomass (86% yield), and successfully spun to Lyocell fibers. The lignin fraction was dissolved in furfural –operating as green ‘solubility-enhancing-agent’– to blend lignin in inert carrier liquids to promote controlled hydrotreatment to yield biofuels in 10 wt% (60% carbon yield) from initial biomass. Life cycle assessment (LCA) of the value-chain showed improved sustainability in several footprint categories compared to cotton production. Thus, upgrading of a considered forestry waste to high value textile fibers and biofuels has been achieved: in case of lignin beyond the ‘theoretical maximum yield’. This is an important step to mitigate a future growing demand of textiles without negatively affecting irrigation or land use.

Solar thermal energy-driven double effect absorption refrigeration system (DE-ARS) for district cooling in smart cities is an efficient, and sustainable alternative for centralized air conditioning and concurrently harnesses low-grade solar energy. This work investigates ionic liquid based H2O-[mmim][DMP] mixture as an alternative working fluid to overcome the drawback of H2O–LiBr driven DE-ARS. The thermodynamic properties of H2O-[mmim][DMP] mixture is evaluated using the excess Gibbs free energy model. Performance modeling and simulation of DE-ARS is based on both energy and exergy analysis by applying the first and second laws of thermodynamic. The performance, and solution circulation ratio of parallel flow DE-ARS is assessed and optimized under various temperatures and solution distribution ratios. In comparison to the conventional H2O–LiBr, the proposed H2O-[mmim][DMP] working fluid achieves 5.22% and 4.95% improvement in COP and ECOP, respectively at Th/Te/Ta/Tc of 140/5/30/30°C . An optimization of generator temperature to achieve maximum COP and ECOP is performed for a wide range of evaporation temperature from 5 to 20°C and Ta/Tc from 30 to 40°C. An optimization of H2O-[mmim][DMP] mixture driven DE-ARS reveals the uppermost COPmax and ECOPmax of 1.81 and 0.69 for Te of 20°C and TaTc=30°C.

Purpose This research focuses on suggesting an optimized model for selecting best employees using advanced multi-criteria decision making method to a supply chain firm, who is planning to start a new cold chain business vertical. Design/methodology/approach Study has been conducted in a supply chain firm in North India, who wants to expand its business with the help of efficient team members. In total 38 applicants were considered for the study, as selected by the firm after initial screening from pool of talent. AHP-LP and TOPSIS-LP integrated approach were applied separately for evaluation and implementation of personnel selection model. Further, both the approaches were compared to find the best fit and optimized model. Findings As per the findings, both AHP and TOPSIS can be used to select the best candidate among the alternatives available. TOPSIS was found easier to implement as it involves ranking of applicants with respect to each skills required for respective job profile only once, whereas AHP involves pair-wise comparison among candidates with respect to each skills required for respective job profile and normalization of each comparison, resulting in the formation of number of comparison matrices. However, AHP is more reliable as it considers consistency check for each level of pair-wise comparison. Hence, there is a chance to avoid or revise the human judgment error. Integrated ranking and optimization approach minimizes the cost by suggesting the relevant positions to be filed to make an efficient team. Research limitations/implications Group of interviewers are involved in the decision-making process, hence there are chances of biasness in ranking method which can influence the group decision. Research is limited to a particular geography of North India therefore needs to be tested for other regions also in order to generalize. The research will help the third party logistics (3PL) and other related firms in efficient team selection. Originality/value The researcher focuses on formalizing a method for potential candidate selection by considering the constraints of the organization. It has been observed that limited researches have been done on the application of AHP-LP or TOPSIS-LP integrated approach for selection process. Hence, this research proposes two integrated ranking-optimization method and suggests the best fit by comparing both the approaches.

More and more primary metal production and processing units are being shifted away from the developed countries to the developing countries. India is poised to become one of the largest producers of metals after China. This poses its own challenges in terms of solid waste management. As far as the production of primary metals are concerned, steel industries produce the largest amount of solid wastes. India has rich deposits of haematite. Because of high alumina content and inferior coke quality, approximately 1.6 tons of solid wastes are generated per ton of the steel produced. Most of the Blast Furnace slag is granulated and is used for manufacturing cement. However, steel making slag that contains high amounts of Fe poses challenges. This paper discusses the issues pertaining to solid waste generation from iron and steel making processes in terms of volumes, challenges and efforts towards recycling and utilization.