http://repo.lib.sab.ac.lk:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/125 Annual research sessions organized by the university. Thu, 09 Apr 2026 02:48:10 GMT 2026-04-09T02:48:10Z http://repo:8080/xmlui/bitstream/id/f34db692-f85e-4f9d-8143-64eec196040a/ http://repo.lib.sab.ac.lk:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/125 http://repo.lib.sab.ac.lk:8080/xmlui/handle/susl/4654 Front materials 13th Annual Research Session of the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka Tue, 05 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMT http://repo.lib.sab.ac.lk:8080/xmlui/handle/susl/4654 2023-12-05T00:00:00Z http://repo.lib.sab.ac.lk:8080/xmlui/handle/susl/4653 Design Biogas Upgrading Process using Low Temperature Distillation While Capturing CO2 Wijesekara, E.R.J.M.D.D.P.; Morozyuk, T As the world moves towards renewable energy generation, biogas and biomethane play a significant role in meeting energy requirements shortly. The study aimed to design a biogas upgrading process to produce higher-purity biomethane while producing Carbon dioxide as a by-product. The design and simulation were performed in Aspen Plus V.12 software. Three different concentrated biogas feed systems were analyzed, with typical biogas concentrations of 50% (mol mol-1), 60% (mol mol-1), and 75% (mol mol-1) methane concentrations. The water removal from raw biogas was carried out by designing a flash drum unit, and a low-temperature double-distillation approach was designed and analyzed as the primary biogas upgrading step. The refrigeration cycle was designed to maintain a low temperature for the purification process, and Nitrogen was used as the working fluid in the design. The simulation was carried out to find the sensitivity analysis and optimizations of the operation conditions in each processing unit. Based on sensitivity analysis results, the maximum water removal can be achieved at around -35 0C at 8 bar pressure in Flash drum operation, and the 10 and 9 stages for the series-operated distillation columns were required to perform a smooth distillation process without freezing the carbon dioxide at any stage. The optimal distillate-to-feed flow ratios in the first distillation column were 0.54, 0.62 and 0.78 and the corresponding ratios for the second distillation column were 0.922, 0.920 and 0.915. These ratios were determined for systems 01, 02, and 03, which utilized 50%, 60% and 75% CH4 methane feed biogas respectively. All three designed systems, operating at a feed rate of 1000Kmol hr-1, consistently produced methane with a purity of 98.5% (mol mol-1) while generating a high-purity Carbon dioxide stream as a valuable by product. The major limitation of the system was the freezing conditions of Carbon dioxide, and the simulation was optimized to maintain a Carbon dioxide frozen-free environment up tp the optimum operating level. Tue, 05 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMT http://repo.lib.sab.ac.lk:8080/xmlui/handle/susl/4653 2023-12-05T00:00:00Z http://repo.lib.sab.ac.lk:8080/xmlui/handle/susl/4652 Solar-Powered Vehicle Energy Generation Forecasting Karandana, C.A.; Lin, L. Solar-powered vehicles are anticipated to have a significant impact on transportation in the near future, owing to developments in solar energy harvesting technologies. Nevertheless, there are significant obstacles that must be overcome in order to make solar-powered vehicles a feasible and viable option. One such problem is the requirement for precise energy generation forecasting. Accurately forecasting the energy production for each trip is crucial to guarantee the continuous functioning of a solar-powered vehicle. Regrettably, current energy generation forecasting techniques are predominantly tailored for fixed solar panels and are inadequate for predicting energy generation in mobile, solar-powered vehicles. This paper proposes a method for predicting the energy produced by solar-powered cars while they are moving, together with a computerized user interface for delivering pertinent information. The process encompassed the identification of all variables influencing solar energy generation and the acquisition of up-to-the-minute data via application programming interfaces (APIs). This approach has the potential for worldwide use, as it takes into account route, topography, and weather data. Its accuracy was evaluated across several routes, days, hours, speeds, and precision levels in a specific area in Sri Lanka, using local route, terrain, and weather data. The findings demonstrated that implementing the procedure on a global scale yields a notable level of precision at a reduced computational timeframe, whereas implementing it locally produces comparable accuracy but necessitates a relatively longer computational duration. Tue, 05 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMT http://repo.lib.sab.ac.lk:8080/xmlui/handle/susl/4652 2023-12-05T00:00:00Z http://repo.lib.sab.ac.lk:8080/xmlui/handle/susl/4651 Floating Ocean Macro Plastic Detection using an Innovative Index Developed for Sentinel 2 Acolite and Sen2Cor Images Lakshani, P.A.K.R.; Tang, D.L.; Wang, S.F. The detection of plastic using remote sensing images is a current research demand due to piling heaps of plastic in the ocean. Plastic is ubiquitous and exerts a negative influence on marine biota and humans. The plastic cycle consists of emissions, transportation, weathering, and accumulation. Plastic processing algorithms are expected to understand these various stages which are critical in eliminating them. This study introduced a novel index to identify floating macro plastic in Sentinel 2 satellite images. The atmospherically corrected images using Acolite and Sen2Cor algorithms were used in testing this index. The index protected the plastic information and maximized the separation from surrounding objects. A convolution high pass filter (3x3) was applied after the index to enhance the plastic objects. The categorization of plastic and nonplastic information was done by using the scatter plots. These scatter plots were made by placing the Index applied convolution high pass filtered Acolite/ Sen2Cor image as the “X” axis and Sentinel 2 bands 5,8, and 9 as the “Y” axis. The index and the scatter plot analysis identified plastic pixels with more than or equal to 14% plastic bottle percentage. The other plastic types, such as fishing nets and plastic bags, required pixel percentages above 50% to be detected. The pixels with high plastic percentage and 100% coverage were located as a separate cluster in the scatter plot analysis. Therefore, the pixel plastic percentage and the pixel plastic coverage are important contributors to the accurate detection of plastic. The plastic detection was not successful for the dates with aerosol, clouds, and smooth sea surface conditions. The Acolite and Sen2Cor images are not suitable for plastic detection when the plastic signal is weak. Tue, 05 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMT http://repo.lib.sab.ac.lk:8080/xmlui/handle/susl/4651 2023-12-05T00:00:00Z