Pyrolysis of anaerobically digested sludge can serve as an efficient biomass for biofuel production. Pyrolysis produces products like char, bio-oil, and combustible gases by thermochemical conversion process. It can be used for sludge treatment that decreases sludge disposal problems. Sludge produced from anaerobic co-digestion (microalgae, cow dung, and paper) waste has high carbon and hydrogen content. We investigated the candidacy of the anaerobic sludge having high heating value (HHV) of 20.53 MJ/kg as a reliable biomass for biofuels production. The process of pyrolysis was optimized with different temperatures (400, 500, and 600 °C) to produce high quantity and improved quality of the products, mainly bio-oil, char, and gas. The results revealed that with the increase in pyrolysis temperature the quantity of char decreased (81% to 55%), bio-oil increased (3% to 7%), and gas increased (2% to 5%). The HHV of char (19.2 MJ/kg), bio-oil (28.1 MJ/kg), and gas (18.1 MJ/kg) were predominantly affected by the amount of fixed carbon, hydrocarbons, and volatile substance, respectively. The study confirmed that the anaerobic sludge is a promising biomass for biofuel production and pyrolysis is an efficient method for its safe disposal.

Anaerobic co-digestion provides a promising solution for converting inexpensive carbon from wastes to biogenic methane. We used microalgae (Nannochloropsis oculata) with cow manure and sludge to produce a better quantity and quality of biogas. To further improve the gas production, microalgae were pretreated with ultrasonication, hot water, and a combination of both. Interestingly, the results showed that the pretreatment of microalgae decreased biogas production by 5 to 30%. The no-pretreatment runs produced a maximum of 118 L of biogas. The relative content of biogenic methane was higher in the pretreated feedstock (48 to 52%) in comparison with the no-pretreatment runs (44%). The conversion of volatile suspended solids present in the feedstock to total biogenic methane production was highest in hot-water-treated runs. The carbon content in the gas produced by the pretreated microalgae peaked (38%) in the middle of the experiment (i.e., at 45 days), whereas for no-pretreatment runs, the content remained constant from the start to the middle and declined (from 36 to 34%) at the end of the experiment (i.e., at 90 days). We also report the chemical structure of microalgae with and without pretreatments.

Anaerobic co-digestion (AcoD) has been practiced for decades to convert waste into value-added energy products, especially biogas. This study aimed to assess the potential of biogenic methane (CH₄) production from the co-digestion of pretreated cotton gin trash (CGT), cow manure, and sludge. CGT contains high cellulosic content, making it a reliable feedstock for biogenic methane production. To further improve the biogas quantity and quality, the CGT was subjected to physical pretreatments, i.e., hot water (HW), ultra-sonication (US), and a combination of both (HW+US). After 91 days of AcoD, 79–110 L of biogas was produced by the treatments. Among the treatments, HW+US-pretreated CGT presented maximum biogas production capacity, at 110 L. Besides, this treatment showed the high-quality biogenic CH₄ content, 52.4% of the total biogas volume, with an improved conversion rate of 0.37 L/g of volatile suspended solids consumed. In addition, this study discussed the structural changes in feedstock due to pretreatments and correlated them with the corresponding biogenic methane production. The study reports the potential of pretreated CGT conversion to CH₄. It will impact the circular economy by contributing to on-farm energy requirements and reducing the financial expenditures incurred in this regard.

It is of great importance to carefully choose appropriate donors according to strict eligibility criteria, so as to guarantee an adequate and safe blood supply. The aim of this study was to determine the rate of deferral in blood donors and evaluate the different causes of deferral in Multan. This prospective study was carried out at the Blood Bank of Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Multan. All donors who came for the donation of blood from 1st February to 30th September 2019 were evaluated after taking their consent. The data was analyzed to determine the frequency and causes of deferral using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. Among 3348 individuals presenting for blood donation, 433 (12.9%) were deferred (427 males and only six females). The mean age of deferred individuals was 28.96 + 6.42 years. The youngest individual was 18 years, while the eldest one was 51 years of age. Almost 65% of the individuals were less than 30 years of age. The most frequent cause of deferral was low hemoglobin. Anemia was the leading cause of deferral in more than half of the individuals (n = 221). Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection was the second most frequent cause of deferral, seen in 83 (19.2%), followed by hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection (n = 49, 11.3%), syphilis (n = 36, 8.3%), thrombocytopenia (n = 18, 4.2%), and active infection (n = 14, 3.2%). Other rarer causes included early donation, thrombocytosis, polycythemia, pancytopenia, malaria, allergies, insulin, and tuberculosis. Deferral for blood donation is a significant problem in Multan and accounts for almost 13% of all prospective blood donors. Our results stress the importance of addressing the problem of anemia which is the most prevalent cause of temporary deferral for blood donation in this region of the world.

Microalgae has proven potential for producing products that are accepted as an alternate energy source. An attempt is made to further improve the efficiency of pyrolysis in terms of product yields and characteristics by adding cotton gin trash and cattle manure as a mixed feedstock (cobiomass). A statistically significant number of treatments were made by mixing different amounts of cotton gin trash and cattle manure with microalgae (Nannochloropsis oculata). These treatments were pyrolyzed at different temperatures (400 to 600 °C ) and product yields and characteristics were analyzed. The pyrolysis of cobiomass resulted in higher yield for bio-oil and char as compared to microalgae alone. An operating temperature of 500 °C was found to be the best suitable for high bio-oil yield. The high heating values (hhv) of bio-oil were observed to be maximum at 500 °C and for syngas and char, the heating value slightly increased with further increase in temperature. Comparatively, the bio-oil (30 MJ/kg) had higher heating values than char (17 MJ/kg) and syngas (13 MJ/kg). The combustible material decreased whereas fixed carbon and ash content increased in char with an increase in temperature. The bio-oil produced from cobiomass had abundant aliphatics and aromatics with low nitrogen content making it a better alternative fuel than bio-oil produced by microalgae alone. The mixing of different biomass helped improving not just the quantity but also the quality of products.

This study empirically examines the possible factors that determine the services sector growth, both in selected developed and developing economies. For estimation purpose, the study employs the static as well as the dynamic panel data estimation technique with panel data over the period 1990-2014. The results suggest that GDP per capita, FDI net inflow, trade openness and innovations are the common factors that significantly affect the services sector growth both in developed and in developing economies. However, the productivity gap is the only factor that does not have any significant impact on services sector growth, both in developed and developing economies, which indicates that the Baumol's cost disease has been cured. Keywords: Services Sector Growth, Panel Data Analysis, Innovations