Browsing by Author "Bandara, W. A. R. T. W."

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Current situation in the consumption of biomass energy for industrial boilers; Kalutara district
(4th International Research Symposium on Pure and Applied Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2019) Leelarathna, W. D. S. R.; Bandara, W. A. R. T. W.
Biomass fuel has shared a prominent place in the Sri Lankan industrial primary energy supply. Many industries including agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial sectors use biomass to fulfill their energy requirements. This study was carried out to collect information on biomass type and fuel wood species that are used in industries and to identify, reasons for consuming fuel wood species, limitation of using form of fuel wood in industries located in Kalutara district. An interviewer based survey was carried out in fifteen industries including tea, rubber, food and beverage, textile, wood product and paper product industries. According to the industrial survey results, 66.67% of respondent industries use only biomass boilers, 20% use biomass boilers and furnace oil boilers and, 13.33% use both biomass and diesel. Respondent industries in Kalutara district, use fire woods, saw dust, branches and roots as biomass type in their biomass boilers. Among them 73.33% use only the fire wood.20% of respondents use only the saw dust and 6.67% industries use both saw dust and fire wood. 100% of respondent industries in their biomass boilers use mainly Rubber wood. Other than that mix fuel woods such as Albezia (Albizia lebbeck), Mango (Mangifera indica), Ginikuru (Alstonia macrophylla), Gliricedia (Gliricidia sepium) and other minor species such as Kasa Ghas (Caurina equisetifolia), Gal Goraka (Clusia rosea), Ipil Ipil (Leucena leucosephala) from the jungle used as fuel wood. Reasons for consuming fuel woods for their boilers are low cost, high energy capacity and also to maintain the high quality of their output. Based on the survey the respondent industries also experience some disadvantages of using fuel woods. They can be identified as high amount of ash production and low availability of woods in some periods of the year. 100% of respondent industries daily buy fuel wood for their factories from fuel wood suppliers and the saw mills. Size and moisture content are the only factors they consider when they purchase fuel woods. All the respondents use mixture of fuel wood species. Because of that fuel becomes a heterogeneous mixture which leads to low efficiency.
Derive and validate an allometric model for the biomass gain of Tectonia grandis (Teak) in Sri Lanka
(4th International Research Symposium on Pure and Applied Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2019) Wijayasenarathne, K. A. S. H.; Bandara, W. A. R. T. W.
Forest plantations play a crucial role in mitigating climate change. Tectonia grandis has the highest occupancy among plantation species in Sri Lanka, expanding into 23266.5 ha in 2018. Objective of this study was to develop and validate an allometric equation for the above ground biomass gain of Tectonia grandis. . Generally, commercial Tectonia grandis plantations are confined into intermediate zone and dry zone of Sri Lanka. Therefore, four study sites were selected from Kurunegala district (Athagala, Iriminna) and Anuradhpura district (Ashokpura, Palagala). Due to variations in the selected plantations, two 0.05ha squared plots with 10 trees were laid out from each plantation by using random sampling method. Sixty trees were used for model construction and 20 trees were kept for the model validation. Total tree height, merchantable tree height, crown diameter and diameter at breast height were measured from each individual in each plot as independent variables. Stem carbon content as the dependent variable was estimated by analyzing the carbon content in the extracted core samples at breast height through the loss an ignition method by oven-drying at 105˚C and igniting at 450˚C and extrapolating that value to estimate the carbon content in the stem. Stepwise regression method in the MNITAB 17 statistical software package was used for the model construction and validated with Model Bias (MB) and Model Efficiency (ME). After considering the mutlicollinearity, merchantable tree height and crown area were removed from the model construction. The constructed model to predict the carbon content of stem of Tectonia grandis is; Ln CC(kg) = −4.06 + 1.92 Ln dbh(cm) + 0.758 Ln TH(m) The final model was able to predict the stem carbon content of Tectonia grandis up to 76.1% reliability. According to the model validation, the model was to be proved to be applied to predict carbon content in the real world.
Estimating carbon footprint: Case study of University of Kelaniya
(Research Symposium on Pure and Applied Sciences, 2018 Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2018) Bandara, W. A. R. T. W.; Theekshana, I. K. P. R.; Tharaka, T.; Ketethenna, K. V. L. M.
According to GHG protocol, in 2011 Sri Lanka emitted 45 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e). In order to identify the organizational impact on carbon dioxide emission leading to global warming, an analysis was carried out using planned CO2 inventory for the University of Kelaniya, with setting Dalugama premises as organizational and operational boundary. Estimates were limited for the scope 1 and scope 2 emissions. Reporting period is for 12 months and ideally corresponding with 2016 financial year since this allows easier comparison of financial performance with other aspects of carbon footprint analysis. The four main faculties namely Faculties of Science, Social Science, Finance and Management Studies and Humanities were considered. As activity data, monthly water bills and electricity bills of year 2016 were gathered. Total consumption of fuel used in transportation from internal vehicle pool was collected for the year 2016 from the Transport Division of University of Kelaniya. Further information was collected to understand the, “Exact mode of transportation, type of vehicles (engines) used” and, “how often transport is used”. Total consumption of fugitive fuels for air conditioner and refrigerator refilling were also collected for the year 2016. In addition, amount of diesel used in diesel generator to produce electricity for the year was considered. After the collection of data direct and indirect carbon footprint was calculated separately using guidelines given in the DEFRA data base. Conversion factors widely accepted are used in conversion of electricity, water, transportation into CO2e. Emissions of other greenhouse gases were converted into equivalent emissions data in MtCO2e, using the global warming potential factors published by DEFRA. According to the analysis, the total carbon emission of the University of Kelaniya, Dalugama premises under scope 1 and 2 was 42,383.8 tons CO2e in year 2016. To calculate the per capita carbon footprint, the total carbon footprint was divided by the number of the permanent staff considered in this case study. The per capita carbon footprint by considering scope 1 and 2 was 4.7093 tons CO2e during 2016 at University of Kelaniya.
Financial feasibility of waste paper recycling: A case from Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2021) Indunil, G. M.; Bandara, W. A. R. T. W.
Sri Lanka has been facing many social, environmental, and economic challenges due to wastage of resources including papers. Recycling waste papers can be identified as a profitable venture in addressing waste paper to ensure resource recovery. The largest state-owned printing entity in Sri Lanka produces 600 tons of paper waste per annum and the majority is disposed as waste. The objective of this study is to assess the financial feasibility of installing a paper recycling plant in which the process involves waste paper shredding and pulping, screening, deinking, bleaching and rolling. To assess the financial feasibility of plant installation, a cost-benefit analysis was carried out considering the currency conversion rate of 1US$ = 200 LKR. Cost-Benefit Ratio (CBR), Net Present Value (NPV), and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) were calculated. This study assumed; recycled waste papers are used to make file covers only with the market price of one file cover is 3.95 LKR, price of the file covers as well as the cost of electricity, water, maintenance, and labor are constant throughout the year, proposed paper recycling process operates 16 hrs. per day/20 days per month, machines operate in two shifts with 4 skilled professionals and 6 unskilled laborers in each shift, production of the 1st year of the project is 50% from its full production potential, and the whole recycling process operates manually. The estimated minimum land extent to install the paper recycling plant is 10 perches from the printing premises. Related data were collected from a world-recognized paper recycling machine manufacturer and by interviewing four professionals in the paper recycling industry. CBR of the proposed paper recycling plant at the existing printing entity is 1.09, NPV is 11,230,770.65 LKR at the 10% discount rate, and the IRR value is 32%. Calculated CBR, NPV, and IRR values justified the financial feasibility of the proposed paper recycling plant in the State Printer’s premises. As paper recycling consumes a considerable amount of water, installing a recycling water plant, proper management of work schedules, and diversifying recycled paper products can help to further reduce the project costs.
Generic assumption vs. actual stem carbon content in three selected street tree species in urban setting of Colombo, Sri Lanka
(4th International Research Symposium on Pure and Applied Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2019) Kulangana, T.; Bandara, W. A. R. T. W.
Current interest on removal of anthropogenic CO2 emissions from urban areas through plants, arises with the potential of trees in urban environments to sequester atmospheric carbon and offset the increasing CO2 concentrations within the cities. Prediction of carbon stocks in trees that indicate their relative capacities is based on estimations founded on assumptions. The widely used assumption is that the carbon content of stems accounts for 50% of the biomass. Present study investigates the extent to which the organic carbon estimates based on this assumption, for Mudhuca longifolia (Mee), Cassia fistula (Ehala) and Pongamia pinnata (Karanda), the most abundant species in Colombo Municipal Council area, deviate from the actual content of organic carbon in their stems. Streets with highest abundance of these species were selected for sampling (purposive method). Sixty individual trees of each species were randomly selected from the selected streets. Tree diameter at breast height (DBH), total height, crown height, and crown diameter were measured. Stem core samples were collected and the core carbon content per unit biomass was measured using loss on ignition method. The core carbon content was extrapolated to estimate the total carbon content in the stems by multiplying with the tree biomass. Carbon content of the stems were also calculated using the assumption of 50% of biomass is composed of carbon. Both values were compared using One way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s pairwise comparison. For M. longifolia, C. fistula and P. pinnata, results showed that stem carbon content only had a statistically significant relationship with DBH. Furthermore, there was a significant difference between the assumed and estimated carbon contents (P<0.05) in the stems of the three species. It was revealed that the assumption of 50% of the biomass to be composed of carbon, results an underestimation of the true carbon content of the stems