Search Results (7)

This article analyzes statistics on the failure of technological equipment, assemblies, and mechanisms of agricultural (and other) machines associated with the breakdown or failure of gear pumps. It was found that the leading causes of gear pump failures are the opening of gear teeth contact during pump operation, poor assembly, wear of bushings, thrust washers, and gear teeth. It has also been found that there is a problem related to the restoration, repair, and manufacture of parts in the conditions of enterprises serving the agro-industrial complex of the Republic of Kazakhstan (AIC RK). This is due to the lack of necessary technological equipment, tools, and instruments, as well as centralized repair and restoration bases equipped with the required equipment. This work proposes to solve this problem by applying AM technologies to the repair and manufacture of parts for agricultural machinery and equipment. The study results on the stress–strain state of support bushings under various pressures are presented, showing that a fully filled bushing has the lowest stresses and strains. It was also found that bushings with 50% filling and fully filled bushings have similar stress and strain values under the same pressure. The difference between them is insignificant, especially when compared to bushings with lower filling. This means that filling the bushing by more than 50% does not provide a significant additional reduction in stresses. In terms of material and printing time savings, 50% filling may also be the optimal option. Full article

The operational suitability of electromagnetic starters equipped with experimental contacts has been substantiated within their use in electrical installations of the agro-industrial sector, which may be affected by the environments containing aggressive components. Tests on commutation wear resistance and investigations on arc erosion of the series-produced contact parts of such starters as PML-1100O4, PML-2100O4 (versions A and B; contact material—CpH-90, CpM-0,2 + M1, KMK-A10m, respectively) and PML-1100O4 starter with the experimental copper-based contact parts (Cu + Nb + Zr + Y₂O₃; Cu + Mo + MoO₃ + C + Ni; Cu + Cr + TiB₂ + Nb + C + Zr) have been conducted. The influence of energy parameters of a commutated circuit on the value of electro-erosion wear, the morphology of the working surfaces of contacts and contact resistance have been determined. Investigation results have been obtained by conducting a set of tests on electromagnetic starters at the experimental plant that simulates the operating conditions of the AC-3 application category. The impact of the electric arc of alternative current on the arc erosion of silver-based and copper-based contact materials have been determined by using a scanning electron microscope Cambridge Stereoscan S4-10 equipped with an attachment for X-ray spectroscopic analysis, Link System-290 and an X-ray microanalyzer Camebax SX-50 (CAMECA, Gennevilliers, France). A metallographic analysis of the contact surfaces has been conducted, which contributed to the determination of the patterns of erosive destruction of bridging contacts based on Ag and Cu. Evolution of the eroded morphology of contacts and the surface components of electrical contacts under the influence of an arc have been characterized. In addition, contact mass loss and the dependence of contact resistance have been studied. When manufacturing the experimental contacts, it is possible to abandon the use of silver, which is significantly cost saving, and not to use dangerous contact additives that are hazardous to the environment and people’s health. Full article

Nowadays, the agri-food sector is facing fundamental challenges. According to the FAO study, the amount of arable land per capita in the world will decrease from 0.6 hectares per person in 2000 to 0.2 hectares by 2050, while the demand for food will increase by 70%. With today’s yield growth of 1.5% per year, such changes could result in global food shortages. Therefore, the governments of developed and developing countries should support initiatives for the digitization of agri-food businesses and the introduction of new technologies to increase the volume of food production. Russia’s war against Ukraine is the main cause of the global food crisis, which could bring serious political and economic consequences. The agricultural and food sector of Ukraine is about 10% of GDP. For many years, the Ukrainian agro-industrial complex, before the full-scale invasion of Russia, occupied a leading position among the global exporters. Ukraine supplied 10% of world wheat exports, more than 14% of corn and more than 47% of sunflower oil. A full-scale war has become a real test for the Ukrainian agri-food industry. The invasion entailed the destruction of food production processes and logistics chains. Many sowing areas were mined, equipment and warehouses were destroyed. At the end of 2022, Ukraine exported agricultural products worth USD 23.6 billion. Although the figure for 2022 is 15% less than the record of 2021 (USD 27.9 billion), last year’s value of exports became the second since the independence of Ukraine. Disruptions to Ukrainian exports exacerbated the rise in food prices, which, according to the FAO index, increased by 54% in February 2022. In March 2023, prices fell, but they were still 6.4% higher than in 2022. The purpose of the study is to assess the level of digital transformation of the Ukrainian agri-food industry in order to ensure food security at the national and international levels. Digitalization of the agri-food industry in Ukraine should be considered a source of deep systemic transformations, which involves the use of digital technologies at the business level to optimize business operations, increase company productivity, and improve interaction with suppliers and customers. For agri-food companies, the issue of digitalization concerns not only technological modernization, but also a complete change of business processes: farm management systems, data processing and harvest forecasting, agricultural processing, food quality management, systems for creating added value for products, warehouse management systems, and human resources management. Nowadays, digitalization can accelerate the transformation of the agri-food industry across the entire supply chain, from manufacturing and purchasing processes to distribution, logistics and finance. Innovative technologies that can become breakthrough in the agri-food industry are as follows: bioinformatics; synthetic biology; food design; smart farming; vertical farms; aquaculture; bioinformatics; genetics; alternative sources of protein; technology of conservation and extension of the shelf life of food products. In Ukraine, a number of agri-food enterprises are moving to Industry 4.0. The most innovative companies in Ukraine are the largest exporters “Kernel”, “MHP”, “ASTARTA-KYIV”. “Kernel”, a large producer and exporter of sunflower oil, has been successfully implementing innovations for the agro-industrial complex of Ukraine for many years. The company uses digital technologies at all stages—from growing products to sales. The company’s IT team digitized logistics, trading, and document management. All information about the processes taking place in agri-food production is collected in the “Kernel DigitalAgriBusiness” innovative ecosystem. “MHP”, the largest producer and exporter of chicken in Ukraine, continues to use biogas to produce electricity, industrial steam, and heating. “MHP” biogas projects are a significant contribution to the company’s energy independence and environmental responsibility. “ASTARTA-KYIV”, a vertically integrated agricultural holding, developed a complex system of IT solutions for agribusiness management “AgriChain”, which includes management of the land bank of the agricultural company (AgriChain Land), agricultural production (AgriChain Farm), monitoring of crops (AgriChain Scout), logistics of goods (AgriChain Logistics), warehouse management (AgriChain Barn), business processes (AgriChain Kit). Digital transformations are also being followed in the dairy industry. “Bel Shostka Ukraine” company is engaged in the digital transformation of the milk harvesting process. According to our research, breakthrough innovations are predominantly implemented by large Ukrainian agri-food companies, since they have significant financial resources for R&D, while SMEs are concentrating their efforts on the digitalization of business operations and implementation of energy efficient technologies. Full article

Polylactic acid (PLA) is the main biobased plastic manufactured on an industrial scale. This polymer is synthetized by chemical methods, and there is a strong demand for the implementation of clean technologies. This work focuses on the microbial fermentation of agro-industrial waste rich in starch for the production of lactic acid (LA) in a consolidated bioprocess, followed by the enzymatic synthesis of PLA. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and the fungus Rhizopus oryzae were evaluated as natural LA producers in pure cultures or in fungal–lactobacteria co-cultures formed by an LAB and a fungus selected for its metabolic capacity to degrade starch and to form consortia with LAB. Microbial interaction was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy and biofilm production was quantified. The results show that the fungus Talaromyces amestolkiae and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum M9MG6-B2 establish a cooperative relationship to exploit the sugars from polysaccharides provided as carbon sources. Addition of the quorum sensing molecule dodecanol induced LA metabolism of the consortium and resulted in improved cooperation, producing 99% of the maximum theoretical yield of LA production from glucose and 65% from starch. Finally, l-PLA oligomers (up to 19-LA units) and polymers (greater than 5 kDa) were synthetized by LA polycondensation and enzymatic ring-opening polymerization catalyzed by the non-commercial lipase OPEr, naturally produced by the fungus Ophiostoma piceae. Full article

Agriculture must find new ways to reduce costs and increase efficiency to meet the rising demand for products, avoiding waste due to potential food scarcity. Through the systematic literature review methodology, this study analyzes and synthesizes the existing literature on lean manufacturing (LM) applied in agro-pastoral production, its impact on reduction in losses and waste, and productivity increases considering production function mechanism (PFM), connecting to a sustainability model based on triple bottom line (TBL). A comprehensive search strategy was used to identify relevant studies and critically evaluate them using pre-determined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The findings provide insights into LM applied in agro-pastoral production and inform future research in the field, highlighting the potential of using LM concepts by reducing losses and waste and increasing productivity. The potential for TBL impacts from application of lean concepts in agro-pastoral production suggests a tendency for growth in this area of research. A theoretical understanding of how lean tools and techniques can be applied to improve productivity and profitability in the agricultural sector is provided, as well as practical examples and recommendations for implementing lean practices in agricultural operations, aligning sustainability and LP tools and concepts. Full article

The grain handling industry plays a significant role in U.S. agriculture by storing, distributing, and processing a variety of agricultural commodities. Commercial grain elevators are hazardous agro-manufacturing work environments where workers are prone to severe injuries, due to the nature of the activities and workplace. Safety incidents in agro-manufacturing operations generally arise from a combination of factors, rather than a single cause, therefore, research on occupational incidents must look deeper into identifying the underlying causes, through the application of advanced analyses methods. In occupational safety, it is possible to estimate and predict probability of safety risks through developing artificial neural network predictive models. Due to the significance of safety risk assessment in the design and prioritization of effective prevention measures, this study aimed at classifying and predicting causes of occupational incidents in grain elevator agro-manufacturing operations in the Midwest region of the United States. Workers’ compensation claims data, from 2008 to 2016, were utilized for training multilayer perceptron (MLP) and radial basis function (RBF) neural networks. Both MLP and RBF models could predict the probability of safety risks with a high overall accuracy of 60%, 61%. Based on values of AUC (area under the curve) from the ROC (receiving operating charts), both models predicted the probability of individual safety risks with a high accuracy rate of between 71.5% and 99.2%. In addition, sensitivity analysis showed that nature of injury is the most significant determinant of safety risks probability, along with type of injury. The novelty of this study is the use of the artificial neural network methodology to analyze multi-level causes of occupational incidents as the sources of safety risks in bulk storage facilities. The results confirm that artificial neural networks are useful in safety risk estimation, and identifying the incidents’ risk factors. The implementation of safety measures in grain elevators can help in preventing occupational injuries, saving lives, and reducing the occurrence and severity of such incidents in industrial work environments. Full article

India, the second largest agro-based economy with year-round crop cultivation, generates a large amount of agricultural waste, including crop residues. In the absence of adequate sustainable management practices, approximately 92 seems a very small number of metric tons of crop waste is burned every year in India, causing excessive particulate matter emissions and air pollution. Crop residue burning has become a major environmental problem causing health issues as well as contributing to global warming. Composting, biochar production and mechanization are a few effective sustainable techniques that can help to curtail the issue while retaining the nutrients present in the crop residue in the soil. The government of India has attempted to curtail this problem, through numerous measures and campaigns designed to promote sustainable management methods such as converting crop residue into energy. However, the alarming rise of air pollution levels caused by crop residue burning in the city of Delhi and other northern areas in India observed in recent years, especially in and after the year of 2015, suggest that the issues is not yet under control. The solution to crop residue burning lies in the effective implementation of sustainable management practices with Government interventions and policies. This manuscript addresses the underlying technical as well as policy issues that has prevented India from achieving a long-lasting solution and also potential solutions that have been overlooked. However, effective implementation of these techniques also requires us to look at other socioeconomic aspects that had not been considered. This manuscript also discusses some of the policy considerations and functionality based on the analyses and current practices. The agricultural waste sector can benefit immensely from some of the examples from other waste sectors such as the municipal solid waste (MSW) and wastewater management where collection, segregation, recycling and disposal are institutionalized to secure an operational system. Active stakeholder involvement including education and empowerment of farmers along with technical solutions and product manufacturing can also assist tremendously. Even though the issue of crop residue burning touches many sectors, such as environment, agriculture, economy, social aspects, education, and energy, the past governmental efforts mainly revolved around agriculture and energy. This sectorial thinking is another barrier that needs to be broken. The government of India as well as governments of other developing countries can benefit from the emerging concept of nexus thinking in managing environmental resources. Nexus thinking promotes a higher-level integration and higher level of stakeholder involvement that goes beyond the disciplinary boundaries, providing a supporting platform to solve issues such as crop residue burning. Full article