The brick kiln industry is one of the largest and most highly unregulated industrial sectors in developing countries. Most of the kilns use low-quality coal as primary fuel along with small quantities of bagasse, rice husk, and wooden chips. As a result of inefficient methods of combustion in conventional brick kilns, such as fixed chimney Bull’s trench kilns (FCBTKs), harmful pollutants are emitted in high quantities, which ultimately deteriorate the environment and are widely in operation in Pakistan. The most prominent harmful pollutants include carbon dioxide (CO₂), carbon monoxide (CO), sulphur dioxide (SO₂), black carbon (BC), and particulate matter less than 2.5 microns (PM_2.5). Over the years, new technologies have been adopted by developed countries for the reduction of environmental burdens. One of these technologies is induced draught zigzag kilns (IDZKs), or zigzag kilns (ZZKs), technology, which effectively improves the combustion across the path of bricks stacked in a zigzag pattern. For the mass adoption of this technology, environmental assessment and comparison of both technologies is a crucial step. Both types of kiln sites are investigated for the analysis of their emissions and their environmental impact in this work. Carbon mass balance equations are used for the calculation of emission factors. Collected inventory data is then used for the life cycle assessment of both types of kilns using open LCA (version 1.10.3) and the Eco-invent database. According to the study, ZZK technology outperforms FCBTK in all aspects. The analysis of the specific energy consumption (SEC) of fired bricks for each kiln type reveals that ZZKs require 30% less energy than the conventional FCBTK. This implies that ZZKs demand lesser fuel than FCBTKs. The zigzag technology adoption scenario, in particular, can lead to approximately 30% lower CO₂ emissions, which can be further reduced by up to 80% when taking into account black carbon (BC) emissions. Additionally, the adoption of zigzag technology can result in a 35% decrease in PM_2.5 emissions. The study shows that adopting ZZK technology significantly reduces impact categories, such as particulate matter formation (PMF), photochemical oxidant formation (POF), and terrestrial acidification (TA) by 63%, 93%, and 95%, respectively.

Inconel 718 is considered the most widely adopted nickel-based superalloy, and drilling of this alloy is always challenging for researchers. Cemented carbide twist drills have been evaluated in the drilling of this alloy by changing the cutting environment or by varying the tool geometry. In the latter case, the cutting speed has been extended from 30 m/min to 60 m/min when drills are micro-textured or ground. In this study, contrary to cemented carbide twist drills, for the first time, inserts named stepped (central) and peripheral (wiper) are evaluated in the drilling of this alloy. The central insert is designed for balanced forces, while the peripheral is a wiper insert designed for better surface finish. Drilling experiments are conducted in flood cooling conditions with a 12 mm diameter twist drill equipped with novel stepped and wiper inserts at varying cutting speeds (25, 35, and 45 m/min) and feed rates (0.04, 0.06, and 0.08 mm/rev). At a cutting speed (Vc) of 25 m/min and feed rate (f) of 0.04 mm/rev, 25 holes are drilled with roughness (Ra) values ranging from 0.40 µm to 0.60 µm, which represents a significant increase in the number of holes per drill and improved surface finish over to previous work. The new inserts showed almost three-fold longer tool life compared to a standard drill bit at a higher Vc of 45 m/min and 0.04 mm/rev f with an Ra between 0.22 µm to 0.43 µm, which is deemed acceptable for aerospace applications. In addition, minimal surface and sub-surface defects were observed, eliminating the need for a post-drilling finishing operation; therefore, a one-step drilling operation was achieved.

The largest problem with scanning real objects involves bearing the huge costs of scanning and the low quality of point cloud data for a scanned object, thereby increasing the cost and lead time. Therefore, a need exists to improve the quality of scanning to save time, costs, and computational resources. In this research, the levels of optimal factors associated with a three-dimensional (3D) scanner were investigated, improving the quality of 3D scanning data. Optimizing the 3D scanner factors could help us acquire errorless digital scanned data that accurately resemble a 3D physical object and which may be further used in various engineering applications, e.g., additive manufacturing and non-engineering applications. For this study, four modes of 3D scanning (A, B, C, and D) were utilized with five crucial 3D scanning factors namely texture, watertightness, simplification, and alternate deployments of smoothness and sharpness. This research was divided into two stages. The former stage involved the 3D scanning of two samples with simple and complex geometrical intricacies and the later stage involved checking the scanned objects for any dimensional errors. A coordinate measuring machine (CMM) was used to measure the dimensional details of the real objects. For virtual metering, Solidworks was utilized. With reference to the limited literature in the current context, 3D scanning errors were highly reduced for the first time up to 0.1% for the complex sample when compared to the errors found for the simple sample.

In the strive for an environmentally conscious energy sector, a sustainable supply of natural gas necessitates comprehensive strategies that prioritise the prevention of gas leakages, ensuring minimal ecological harm while harnessing the benefits of this valuable resource. Though all sectors are putting their efforts into coping with the problems associated with the energy crisis, one of the many ways is to reduce distribution losses, particularly in the gas sector. The loss impacts include methane escaping to the environment to affect ozone, direct financial loss, non-availability of gas to the domestic, commercial, and industrial sectors, public safety hazards and indirect environmental impacts. There is a dire need to improve the natural gas distribution system, which has its own insight problems to be addressed. This work aims to investigate leakages in domestic, commercial and industrial gas distribution lines with different times, volumes and pressures using a pressure profiling technique. As a result of this investigation, around 293 million cubic feet (MMCF) of natural gas is saved, which is enough volume to feed approximately 16,000 domestic consumers for 365 days. The same energy content is equivalent to 21 million pounds of coal, which emits 64 million pounds of carbon dioxide, whereas natural gas would have 50% less CO₂ emissions, and that is apart from the tangible pollution and waste associated with the use of coal.