Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Effects Of The Inclusion Of Rice Hull Derived Bio-Oil On Wood Pellet Production, Tyler E. Lowe

Theses and Dissertations

Wood pellet production has become an advancing industry for the sake of reducing greenhouse emissions into the atmosphere especially, in European Union countries. Researchers and industry executives seek new methods and materials to improve the pelletization process. Rice hulls or husks has the potential to aid in wood pelletization as they possess high calorific values. This study focuses on using rice hull derived bio-oil from pyrolysis, which will also decrease ash content, as an additive to aid in the wood pelletization process. Using two groups of rice hull derived bio-oil as an additive in wood pelletization: Group 1 uses heavy …

Food From Somewhere: Envisioning And Practicing Aspirational Food Systems, Caitlin Morgan

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

This transdisciplinary dissertation explores the connections between material conditions, human engagements, and the social, economic, and ecological contexts in which they exist. It investigates imaginations of a better food system, projects people have already undertaken, and what happens when their visions meet reality.

Chapter 1 weaves together diverse literature: a justification for action-oriented research and a blending of ecofeminist scholarship, agroecology and sustainable agriculture, ecological economics, systems theory and food systems scholarship, and sensory studies. These disciplines tie together through notions of embeddedness, embodiment, and the context for action, which all translate to the dissertation’s methodological approach of mixed qualitative …

Formulación De Una Estrategia De Asociatividad Y Sistema Colaborativo Food Hub En El Sector Agrícola Del Municipio De Sesquilé, Erika Julieth Galeón Cortes, Sonia Katherine Olaya Olaya

Ingeniería Industrial

Actualmente el sector agrícola de pequeños productores colombianos se ve afectado por la baja retribución económica y el marcado carácter de individualidad que restringen una producción planificada que garantiza ingresos adecuados por la labor realizada. La presente propuesta nace de la necesidad de organizar los pequeños productores del área rural del municipio de Sesquilé, Cundinamarca; estos agricultores presentan dificultades a la hora de comercializar la producción agrícola lo que se ve reflejado en pérdidas económicas para ellos. Por tanto, se plantea formular un sistema colaborativo Food Hub entre pequeños productores del área rural para fortalecer y dar valor a la …

Desarrollo De Un Producto Derivado De Mango, Cultivado En Fincas Rurales De La Vereda Laguna Verde, La Mesa, Cundinamarca, Adriana Sofía García Burgos, Gabriela Pérez Barajas

Ingeniería Industrial

Actualmente, la Vereda Laguna verde ubicada en La Mesa, Cundinamarca posee una gran cantidad de hectáreas dedicadas al cultivo de mango, allí existe una sobreproducción para su comercialización local. Este proyecto presenta una propuesta basada en la transformación del mango para el desarrollo de un producto, haciendo uso de las buenas prácticas agrícolas y de las buenas prácticas de manufactura. Se espera obtener un impacto económico, social y cultural en la población perteneciente a la vereda Laguna Verde; generando empleo, de tal manera que se aumenten los ingresos de toda la población vinculada al presente proyecto, pero lo más importante …

Classifying Interdependencies In The Food And Agriculture Critical Infrastructure Sector, John Doerpinghaus

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This work classifies examples of infrastructure interdependencies found in the food and agriculture critical infrastructure sector. Interdependencies are identified through an examination of rice and poultry agriculture throughout the state of Arkansas. The subtleties of interdependence examples in the food and agriculture sector are inadequately captured by the well-studied interdependence classification taxonomies. Through 39 interviews, we develop an understanding of the subtle temporal, geographic, and productivity scales of interdependence in over 100 examples and present five new, distinct classifications of interdependence: (1) dynamic physical, (2) dynamic geographic, (3) deadline, (4) delay, and (5) human, economic, and natural resource interdependencies. An …

Two Essays On Whole Farm Modeling And Crop Marketing In Western Kentucky, Benjamin A. Martin

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This thesis is composed of two essays that investigate whole farm planning and crop marketing in western Kentucky. In the first essay, contracting decisions between food corn producers and a mill are analyzed to observe factors affecting the bushel amount farmers contract. Unbalanced panel data containing seven years’ worth of pricing and contract information are used with a fixed-effects model to generate parameter estimates and quantify their effect on bushels contracted. It was found that contract attributes, market condition, and relationship-specific assets had a significant effect on producers’ food corn contracting decisions. The second essay utilizes mixed-integer programming to optimize …

Developing Sustainable Rice Production Through Image Classification, Parker R. Fitzgerald

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The agricultural industry’s continued success is critical to our future. However, many agricultural practices—specifically rice farming—are currently based on unsustainable methods. The processes used in rice farming consume water at an unsupportable rate, and, consequently, are serious contributors to rising emission levels. Several alternative growing methods have been introduced, and one of the most promising candidates is Alternative Wetting and Drying (AWD). An obstacle encountered by proponents of these methods comes in implementation. Studies have shown AWD is more successful in fields with higher leveling precision. The research in this study works to create a stepping stone for farmers to …

Photovoltaic Cooking In The Developing World, Tyler Watkins, Christopher O'Day, Omar Arriaga

Mechanical Engineering

The challenge of clean cooking is faced by hundreds of millions of people worldwide. We present a cooking technology consisting of a solar panel directly connected to an electric heater in a well-insulated chamber. Assuming continued decrease in solar panel prices, we anticipate that in a few decades Solar Electric Cooking technologies will be the most common cooking technology for the poor. Appropriate use of insulation reduces the power demand making low-power Insulated Solar Electric Cooking systems already cost competitive.

Using Precision Agriculture Field Data To Evaluate Combine Harvesting Efficiency, Justin Carroll

Agricultural Education, Communications and Technology Undergraduate Honors Theses

Soybean crops must be harvested during a limited time period using expensive combines and associated equipment. Maximizing combine field efficiency, the ratio of the actual harvesting capacity to theoretical harvesting capacity, is an important objective of machinery managers. Spatial and temporal yield data from a 2012 CaseIH 8120 Axial-Flow combine equipped with a 30-foot MacDon D-65 Draper header and the Case-IH Advanced Farming System (AFS) yield monitoring system were used to examine field efficiency when harvesting soybean in three Arkansas Delta irrigated soybean fields during the 2015 season. Time efficiencies (TE) in the three fields ranged from 72.9 to 85.8% …

Economic And Environmental Optimization In The Supply Of Switchgrass In Tennessee, Jia Zhong

Masters Theses

The low efficiency of collection, storage and transportation in the switchgrass supply chain has hindered the commercialization of a switchgrass-based biofuel industry, even given its ecological and environmental advantages in carbon sequestrate, soil quality, water use, and pollution pressure. Thus, designing a switchgrass-based supply chain balancing both environmental and economic performance is important to expedite the development of the cellulosic biofuel industry to meet the national energy plan.

The objectives of this study are to 1) determine economic cost and multiple environmental outcomes in feedstock supply chains and 2) identify the relation between the economic and environmental performances. The first …

A Framework And System For A Multi-Model Decision Aid For Sustainable Farming Practices, Kasi Bharath Vegesana

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Decision support systems (DSS) for farmers address the need for modeling multiple processes and scenarios that affect farmer decision making. Existing DSS have various drawbacks that stop them from being deployed as decision support tools. This research proposes a multi-model simulation framework that can be used to analyze farm management practices at the crop level, individual farm level and at the community level to show the impact and alternatives for smallholder farming practices. A generic crop growth model is proposed, based on existing equations. We run sensitivity analysis on the model to identify important variables. The outputs from the crop …

Methane Production By A Packed-Bed Anaerobic Digester Fed Dairy Barn Flush Water, Sean Richard Thomson

Master's Theses

Packed-bed digesters are an alternative to covered lagoon digesters for methane production and anaerobic treatment of dilute wastewaters such as dairy barn flush water. The physical media of packed-beds retain biofilms, often allowing increased treatment rates. Previous studies have evaluated several types of media for digestion of dilute wastewaters, but cost and media fouling have setback commercial development. A major operational cost has been effluent recirculation pumping.

In the present effort, a novel approach to anaerobic digestion of flush dairy water was developed at pilot-scale: broken walnut shells were used as a low-cost packed-bed medium and effluent recirculation was replaced …

Evaluating Food Safety Systems Development And Implementation By Quantifying Haccp Training Durability, Marienne A. Anandappa

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

HACCP-based food safety programs have been widely acclaimed, accepted and implemented as an effective means of managing food safety risks. While HACCP training is a cornerstone of managing HACCP programs, there is little information about the effectiveness of HACCP training and the durability of HACCP knowledge. Findings reveal a link between involvement level in HACCP activities and the accuracy of HACCP knowledge over time. Opportunities for peer training in HACCP, irrespective of overall experience in the food industry provide favorable circumstances for maintaining accuracy of HACCP knowledge. The optimal window for engaging employees in HACCP is directly following the completion …