bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Explosion of rice flour at different concentration and moisture content
Authors: Wan Sulaiman W Z , Mohd Idris M F , Gimbun J , Sulaiman S Z
Published: March 2020

The dust explosion characteristics of commercial rice flour towards different concentration were analysed. Experiments were performed in 20 L spherical explosion chamber to obtain maximum explosion overpressure (Pmax), rate of pressure rise (dP/dT), and minimum explosibility concentration (MEC) of undried and dried commercial rice flour. The dust samples and air mixtures were ignited by two chemical ignitors at ignition time of 100 ms. The Kistler Piezoelectric pressure sensors were used to quantify the propagation of pressure wave during the explosion process. The moisture content of the samples were measured by using proximate analysis. The Pmax was obtained at the highest pressure over the range of concentrations. Pmax for undried rice flour and dried flour are 10.0 bar and 10.4 bar respectively at 1000 kg/m3. Both of the Pmax were attained at the highest level of concentration. The highest value of dP/dT of undried was 70 bar/s at 1000 kg/m3 but for dried rice flour, the highest value obtained was 63.5 bar/s at 750 kg/m3. MEC for both dried and undried was 500 kg/m3. This study concluded that as the concentration increases, the severity of dust explosion would also increase and the presence of moisture decrease the severity of the rice flour explosion but not too significant at ignition time of 100 ms.
Treatment of leachate by coagulation-flocculation process using polyaluminum chloride (PAC) and tapioca starch (TS)
Authors: Azizan M O , Shaylinda M Z N , Mohd-Salleh S N A , Amdan N S M , Yashni G , Fitryaliah M S , Afnizan W M W
Published: March 2020

Coagulation-flocculation is commonly used in the leachate treatment. The objectives of this study were to determine the optimum conditions (dosage and pH) and to compare the performances between single coagulants (polyaluminium chloride (PAC) and tapioca starch (TS)) and dual coagulant (PAC+TS) through a series of jar test. The highest percentage removal by PAC at the optimum conditions as a single coagulant (dose 2.5 g/L at pH 7) in terms of suspended solids (SS), turbidity, colour, chemical oxygen demand (COD), and ammonia was 92 %, 77 %, 94 %, 37% and 32 %, respectively. While for TS coagulant, at the optimum conditions (dose 2.5 g/L at pH 8), the percentage removal of SS, turbidity, colour and ammonia at pH 8 was 35%, 13%, 30% and 38% removals respectively. Thus, PAC performed better than TS as a single coagulant. While in dual coagulant, the percentage removal of SS, turbidity, colour, COD and ammonia of dual coagulant at optimum condition (dose PAC 1.5 g/L and dose TS 0.2 g/L at pH 5) was 90%, 74%, 87%, 40%, and 17%, while the percentage removal of single PAC (dose 1.5 g/L at pH 5) was 69%, 31%, 85%, 28%, and 13%, respectively. The addition of TS at a dose of 0.2 g/L into 1.5 g/L of PAC at pH 5 was able to achieve more percentage removal than single PAC and TS. This showed that the dosage of chemical coagulant could be reduced by 40% (2.5 g/L to 1.5 g/L) and indirectly reduced the drawbacks without affecting its efficiency.
Formulation and evaluation of antimicrobial herbosomal gel from Quercus infectoria extract
Authors: Suzilla W Y , Izzati A , Isha I , Zalina A , Rajaletchumy V K
Published: March 2020

Nowadays, the use of herbal medicine is gaining importance for treating many diseases due to their significant effect and lesser side effects as compared to allopathic medicines. Phytosomal herbal formulations or herbosomes are better absorbed and produce better bioavailability than the conventional botanical extracts. Hence, this study is conducted to formulate the herbosomal gel from QI galls ethanolic extract. The QI gall was extracted using ethanol giving the percentage of yield 17%. For the High-Performance Liquid Chromatography analysis, it was revealed that the QI galls extract contains large amount of tannic acid (1794.18 mg/g) and small amount of gallic acid (76.22 mg/g). The formulation consists of 1.0% of Carbopol 940 were found to be the best formulation since it shows good physicochemical properties. pH value was 6.31 while the viscosity was 3482.3144 cps. Formulated gel showed good stability after 21 days of formulation by not showing significance changes in pH value, viscosity and spreadability. Disc diffusion method was used to determine the antimicrobial activity and the results showed the inhibition zone for P. aeruginosa was greater than S. aureus. As conclusion, the QI galls extract formulated herbosomes was showed promising results to be developed as a new antibacterial gel formulation.
An approach on a sustainable and stable continuous emulsion liquid membrane (CELM) for phenol recovery
Authors: Sulaiman R N R , Othman N , Harith N H , Rahman H A , Jusoh N , Noah N F M , Rosly M B
Published: March 2020

Throughout this work, continuous emulsion liquid membrane (CELM) was employed for the recovery of phenol using a primary water in oil (W/O) emulsion containing a mixture of kerosene and palm oil as diluent, Span 80 as a surfactant, and sodium hydroxide as a strippant. Several factors influencing the recovery of phenol namely rotational speed, treat ratio and retention time were examined and optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). Results revealed that about 29% of phenol was recovered with 7 times enrichment (2100 ppm) was concentrated in the internal phase under best conditions of 527 rpm of rotational speed, 1:4 of treat ratio and 2.6 min of retention time. Besides, an interaction effect of rotational speed and retention time was found to be significant towards phenol recovery in CELM. Thus, CELM has the ability to recover and concentrate the phenol for other applications.
Optimization of microwave assisted hydrodistillation of essential oil from lemon (Citrus aurantifolia) leaves: Response surface methodology studies
Authors: Dao T. P. , Tran T. H. , Nguyen P.T.N. , Tran T.K.N. , Ngo T.C.Q. , Nhan L.T.H. , Anh T.T. , Toan T.Q. , Quan P.M. , Linh H.T.K.
Published: March 2020

In this paper, microwave-assisted hydro-distillation (MAHD) of essential oils from the lemon (Citrus aurantifolia) leaves was attempted and optimized. Optimization of MAHD was performed by using response surface methodology. In the optimization, selected parameters consisted of water and material ratio, microwave power and extraction time were. It is also indicated that quadratic polynomial model could be employed to optimize the microwave extraction of essential oil from Lemon (Citrus aurantifolia) leaves. The optimal extraction conditions included microwave power of 523.89W, water to material ratio of 3.27 mL/g, and extraction time of 84.47 minutes. The optimized yield (0.76%) approached predicted yield predicted by the model, implying that the model is suitable to predict behavior of the process.
In-situ quantification of alkali metals from biomass
combustion by optical emission spectroscopy
Authors: Lim M , Matsuoka L
Published: March 2020

In this study, an in-situ method was developed to quantify the
alkali metal emissions and its speciation from the combustion of biomass in a
150 kWth furnace. An optical emission spectrometer was used to detect
the spontaneous atomic emissions of the potassium and sodium in the flame. A
calibration is performed to obtain the radiation intensities of potassium and
sodium, which are precursive values needed to quantify each alkali
metals’ relative ground state number densities. The results show that the
spontaneous emissions of the alkali metals appear as doublet lines in the
spectra. The calibrated radiation intensities for sodium were converted to
relative values via Lorentzian fitting. The relative excited state number
densities for sodium and potassium were within the range of 0.536 to 0.791
cm−3 and 23.468 and 30.320 cm−3
respectively. This shows that potassium vapours and its compounds were higher
compared to sodium. These number densities will be compared to the sodium and
content in the ash for further discussion and validation.
Production of phytosterols mix from palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) through multi-staged extraction processes
Authors: Nor Faizah J , Noorshamsiana A W , Wan Hasamudin W H , Astimar A A , Kamarudin H , Ab Gapor M T
Published: March 2020

Phytosterols is one of bio-active compounds that naturally present in vegetable oils and its by-products or derivatives. The source of phytosterols can be in the form of by-product that generated during the extraction of vitamin E and in this study known as phytosterols resources (PSR). Vitamin E (tocopherols and tocotrienols) extracted from the palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) produces solid by-product containing 2–4% (w/w) sterols. However, there are no suitable extraction and purification processes developed to exploit these compounds. Therefore, the extraction of phytosterols from PFAD by-product in a mini-pilot scale involving multistage extraction processes, which are solid-liquid extraction, saponification, liquid-liquid extraction and crystallization was developed. Phytosterols was recovered from the extraction and purification processes were of more than 80% purity and 80% yield, composed of ☐-sitosterol (21-22%), campesterol (13-20%) and stigmasterol (59–64%). In conclusion, this extraction process is technically feasible to extract and produce crude phytosterols from a byproduct of the PFAD processing.
Enhanced removal of Methyl Orange from aqueous solution by Chitosan-CaCl2 beads
Authors: Wong V L , Tay S Y , Lim S S
Published: March 2020

Use of low-cost and environmental friendly sorbents has been studied as an ideal alternative to the current costly methods of removing textile dyes especially methyl orange from wastewater. In present study, the adsorption affinity of chitosan (CS)-CaCl2 beads towards anionic acid dye, methyl orange was investigated by performing batch adsorption experiments. The surface morphology and elemental composition of CS-CaCl2 beads were examined using Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX) respectively. The effects of initial dye concentration (20 to 100 mg/L), adsorbent dosage (0.05 g to 0.5 g), contact time (0 to 48 h), and agitation speed (0 to 300 rpm) were also studied to evaluate the efficacy of adsorption. Adsorption isotherm data of CS-CaCl2 fitted well to Langmuir (R2 = 0.9964) isotherm model, indicating that homogenous adsorbent surface. Kinetic studies showed that the sorption process followed pseudo-second-order rate that involves chemisorption process, indicating that the adsorption nature of dye on CS-CaCl2 adsorbent. Based on the results, CS-CaCl2 beads could be alternative cost effective adsorbents gaining prominence as a method for the removal of anionic acid dye from textile effluent. In conclusion, this study demonstrated a profound impact on improvement in water quality.
Influence of activation temperature and acid concentration on sludge-based activated carbon
Authors: Nafsun A I , Nasir A J , Mohd Jamal M N , Mohamad S , Abdulrazik A , Selva Raja D D , Herz F
Published: March 2020

In this work, the influence of operational parameters on activation process of POME sludge is presented. The POME sludge undergone processing steps including cutting and grinding. Then, the sample was carbonized at 400°C for 1 hours and followed by chemical activation process. The chemical activation process was carried out by impregnated with 25 wt% of phosphoric acid with impregnation ratios of 1:4 (w/w) for 24 h. After 24 h, the sample was filtrated and dried overnight in the oven. The sample then pyrolyzed at different temperature (500°C to 800°C) for 1 hour for activation and followed by washing. Based on the BET analysis, the activated carbon prepared under highest activation temperature as well as highest phosphoric acid concentration resulted in biggest surface area (186.46 m2/g). Therefore, activation temperature and acid concentration are the important parameters determining the activated carbon quality.
Modified banana peels for Fe (II) ion sorption
Authors: Yuen M L , Ros A R , Nurfyahfizeh N , Tan Y P , Yuen C W
Published: March 2020

The capability of modified banana peel (MBP) to adsorb Fe (II) ions from synthetic ion solution has been studied. The acidic and basic solution strongly affected the Fe (II) ions adsorption. The effect of contact time and initial ion concentrations revealed that removal efficiency for 15 mg/L Fe (II) ions above 90 % after 2 hours. The size particles for MBP below 106 μm turned out to be the prefer size due to the highest percentage of ions adsorption. MBP appears to be a promising material to purify wastewater.
Characteristics and techno-economic potential of bio-compressed natural gas (Bio-CNG) from palm oil mill effluent (POME)
Authors: Nasrin A B , Raman A A A , Loh S K , Sukiran M A , Bukhari N A , Aziz A A , Saad M F M , Kamarudin M K M , Buthiyappan A
Published: March 2020

This study investigated technical and economic feasibility of converting biogas from palm oil mill effluent (POME) into bio-compressed natural gas (Bio-CNG) for offsite utilization. Purification of raw biogas using biological and physical methods and removal of carbon dioxide (CO2) using membrane separation were evaluated. With about 99% hydrogen sulphide (H2S) and 88% CO2 removal efficiencies, the Bio-CNG was found to contain about 92%, 7% and 0.9% of methane (CH4), CO2 and oxygen (O2), respectively with H2S at trace level of 5 ppm. Biogas purification process also increased the calorific value (CV) of biogas from 20.0 MJ m−3 to 35.0 MJ m−3. The combined biological and physical method was found to be a feasible process for H2S and CO2 removal. The economic analysis conducted for Bio-CNG plant in comparison with existing biogas plant showed an approximate internal rate of 14% with a payback period about 6 years for a mill that processes 60 tonnes of fresh fruits bunches hourly. This study has therefore demonstrated that it is technically and economically viable to produce Bio-CNG as a fuel from POME for offsite utilization.
Application of Response Surface Methodology in the Process of extracting essential oil from the Calamondin (Citrus microcarpa) Peels
Authors: Ngo T C Q , Dao T P , Tran T H , Le T H N , Pham M Q , Nguyen N H , Tran Q T
Published: March 2020

Calamondin (Citrus microcarpa) essential oil is applied in different fields, including medicine, food, and cosmetic. This study aimed to determine theextraction yield of essential oil from Calamondin peels and optimize the extraction process using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). A three-level three-factors Box Behnken design with three variables including extraction temperature (103-137°C), time (95-145 min), and water to the material ratio (1.32-4.68 mL/g) was adopted. The aforementioned factors are identified to exert significant influence on the essential oil efficiency. Adopting a central composite design, optimal processing conditions were determined. The maximum yield of essential oil was 3.2%, achieved at conditions of the ratio of water and raw materials (3.20:1 mL/g), the temperature of 120.84°C and time of 21.27 min. The results showed good fits with the proposed model for the essential oil extraction (R2 = 99.71%).
Development of an aromatic wax product containing natural Lemongrass (Cymbopogon Citratus) essential oil
Authors: Tran T K N , Tran T H , Le T H N , Xuan T L , Phan N Q A , Cam T I , Long G B
Published: March 2020

Lemongrass oil contains many useful aromatic compounds, some of which have strong deodorizing and antibacterial properties (citral and geraniol). The ingredient with the highest content in citronella oil is Citral (accounting for more than 80% of citronella oil content), which plays a key role in functionalities of disinfectants, biocides, odorants and insecticides. This study aims to incorporate lemongrass essential oil into a wax product to extend the application of the oil. The effect of factors that affects the process of creating aromatic wax was investigated. The yield of essential oils obtained by steam distillation was 0.29%. The effect of factors that affects the process of creating aromatic wax was investigated. The formula of aromatic wax contains 4.5% Stearic acid, 2.7% NaOH, 88.6% Alcohol 20°, 2.4% PEG-40, 2% Lemongrass Essential oil. The results indicate that the lemongrass essential oil causes no significant detriment to the beneficial properties of the obtained aromatic wax.
Biogasoline synthesis via fluid catalytic cracking of waste cooking oil using treated eggshell
Authors: Hassan S N , Nurdin S , Yaakob Z , Mahmud M S
Published: March 2020

This paper reports on preparation and characterization of eggshell for fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) reaction of waste cooking oil (WCO) to produce biogasoline. Hydrocarbon from condensate of gas emitted from a spherical flask reactor was agitated at 350, 400 and 450 resolution per minute (rpm) under 350, 400 and 450 °C reaction temperature by the one-factor- at-a-time (OFAT) approach was analyzed by using a gas chromatography mass spectrometer (GC-MS). Acid compounds were also recorded. Earlier, the eggshell was ground, calcined at 900 °C for three hours and sieved into 250 – 425 μm range of particle size before being analyzed using Fourier-transform-infrared-spectroscopy (FTIR) for calcium oxide content. About 30 wt% of biogasoline ranged from C4 to C12 of alkanes and alkenes was obtained from the 350-°C hydrocarbon condensate after 30, 45 and 60 min of which aromatic compounds increased with the reaction temperature. However, the biogasoline compounds decreased with the reaction temperature. More than 20 wt% was esters and free fatty acids of carbon number greater than 20 were also formed, respectively. Stirring speeds generally increased condensate yield but the increment does not have pattern due to various volatility of the content. The highest biogasoline yield through the FCC reaction was 4.5 wt% at 350 0C at 400 rpm stirring speed, and the product was found comparable with previous research and commercial gasoline.
Estimation of solute transport parameter and mass transfer coefficient in nanofiltration for solvent-diluted palm oil
Authors: Lim K M , Ghazali N F
Published: March 2020

Membrane technology has been gradually used as an alternative to the conventional purification method in various industries. In the advancement of membrane technology, important elements such as volumetric flux, rejections, mass transfer and interaction parameters have been frequently considered, particularly in the prediction of membrane performance. In this study, an estimation of mass transfer and solute transport parameters in organic solvent was conducted by using the Levenberg-Marquardt least squares method. Combined film theory/solution-diffusion model was selected and was correlated with experimental data to estimate the parameters. The mass transfer and solute transport parameters for the nanofiltration of acetone-diluted palm oil in SolSep 030306 membrane were successfully estimated. The correlation of mass transfer coefficient with feed concentration and stirrer speed were additionally described.
Factorial experimental design for xylanase production by Bacillus sp. isolated from Malaysia landfill soil
Authors: Rosli S N A , Che Man R , Masngut N
Published: March 2020

Two-level full factorial design was applied to screen the important parameters for production of xylanase by newly isolated Bacillus sp. from landfill soil. Five production parameters were considered: initial pH media (pH 5–9), inoculum size (5%–10% v/v), incubation period (18–30 h), temperature (30-50 °C) and agitation speed (0-200 rpm). Xylanase activity was estimated using dinitrosalicylic acid (DNS) based on the xylose released under specified assay conditions. Based on the factorial analysis, it was observed that the significant parameters in the xylanase production were temperature, agitation speed and initial pH of media. Meanwhile, the interaction between temperature and initial pH of media gave the highest influenced to the xylanase production. The model revealed that the highest xylanase activity can be achieved at 123.34 U/mL with initial pH media of 7.0, 30 h incubation period, 5% (v/v) inoculum size, agitation speed of 100 rpm at 40 °C. Confirmation run produced the highest experimental xylanase activity by Bacillus sp. at 123.10 U/mL with 0.17% of error than the predicted one. Hence, the model was reliably predicting the xylanase production.
Stability Study on Acetaminophen Removal from Aqueous Solution using TOA via Emulsion Liquid Membrane
Authors: Zaulkiflee Nur Dina , Ahmad Abdul Latif , Sugumaran Jayasree
Published: March 2020

The aim of this study is to develop a stable emulsion liquid membrane for acetaminophen removal through membrane breakage. In this work, Trioctylamine (TOA), Span 80 and kerosene were used as carrier, surfactant and diluent, respectively in membrane phase while ammonia solution was used as a stripping agent in the internal phase. Research was conducted on various parameters such as stripping agent concentration, agitation speed, extraction time and treat ratio. The stripping agent concentration was varied from 0.05 M to 0.2 M while agitation speed was investigated at 200 rpm to 500 rpm. The best condition achieved for acetaminophen removal from aqueous solution via emulsion liquid membrane were at 0.1M of stripping agent using 300 rpm agitation speed for 3 minutes of extraction time with a treat ratio of 3:1. Investigation on membrane breakage revealed the lowest membrane breakage achieved was 0.17%.
Performance studies on co-gasification between coal/sawdust and coal/wood pellet using RSM
Authors: Mansur F Z , Faizal C K M , Monir M U , Samad N A F A , Atnaw S M , Sulaiman S A
Published: March 2020

This work presents the comparative study between raw biomass and pre-treated biomass co-gasified with coal with the aimed to investigate the reliability of the pre-treated biomass to enhance the gasification performance. Sawdust and wood pellet (the pelletization form of sawdust) and blends of these two feedstocks with sub-bituminous coal, were gasified in an air atmosphere using an external heated fixed-bed downdraft gasifier system. Response surface methodology (RSM) incorporating with the central composite design (CCD) was applied to assist the comparison of all operating variables. The independent variables were investigated within the specific range of coal ratio from 25 to 75%, gasification temperature from 650 to 850 °C and equivalence ratio from 0.20 to 0.30. Meanwhile, the dependent variables were evaluated on the H2/CO ratio in the syngas, higher heating value of the syngas (HHVsyngas) and gas yield (GY). The results revealed the H2/CO ratio in the syngas, HHVsyngas and GY of more than 1.585, 6.072 MJ/Nm3 and 2.464 Nm3/kg were achieved, respectively for both co-gasification. From the results, the H2/CO ratio in the syngas and GY from co-gasification of coal/wood pellet shows a higher value than that of the coal/sawdust. However, for the HHVsyngas, co-gasification of the coal/sawdust possess higher value with merely 1% difference from the coal/wood pellet. Therefore, co-gasified coal with wood pellet has the potential to be substitute with the sawdust.
Corrosion of Carbon Steel in Hybrid N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone - Monoethanolamine Solutions for Carbon Dioxide Absorption Unit Application
Authors: Tan P Y , Tan L S , Yeap S P , Kow K W , Shariff A M , Wong M K
Published: March 2020

Corrosion is defined as degradation or deterioration of material and its properties interact with environment by electrochemical and chemical reaction. It not only causes monetary loss but also potential issues for human health. This study investigates the corrosion rate of carbon steel when immersed in hybrid n-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) - monoethanolamine (MEA) solutions in comparison with immersion in the conventional aqueous MEA solution. ASTM G31 was adopted in research design methodology and the corrosion rate was evaluated via mass loss measurement. The corrosion rate of carbon steel at 35 days was lowered by approximately 14% when NMP partially replaced the water in the MEA solution. Meanwhile, the corrosion rate was lowered by approximately 20% when NMP fully replaced the water in the MEA solution. Therefore, the corrosion of carbon steel in MEA solution was found to be reduced when NMP partially or fully replaced the composition of water.
Ultrasound- assisted extraction propolis and its kinetic study
Authors: Yusof N , Abdul Munaim M. S , Veloo Kutty R
Published: March 2020

In current times, there has been a growing attention in the consumption of functional food such as propolis due to the abundant of available bioactive compounds such as polyphenols. There are several health properties of propolis reported on having a huge spectrum of biological properties including anti- inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer and antimicrobial. Maceration is known for its longer extraction time issue. Ultrasonic- assisted extraction is seen as an alternative to solve this problem. This study focused on indicating the factors influencing solid liquid ultrasonic- assisted extraction of total polyphenols content (TPC) from propolis using ethanol as solvent. The effects of three main factors; temperature (25°C, 35°C, 45°C, 55°C, 65°C), reaction time (5, 10, 15, 20, 25 minutes) and concentration of ethanol (50:50, 60:40, 70:30, 80:20, 90:10) (v/v) were studied to achieve maximum total phenolic content. The optimum conditions for ultrasonic- assisted extraction of phenolic content from propolis are with 70% ethanol, at 65°C for 25 mins. From the experimental data of kinetics study, the ultrasonic extraction of phenolic compounds from propolis is the second- order kinetic model and the extraction constant (k2) was 2.8998 g mg−1 min−1.
Extraction of Pure Silicon from Tiger River
Sediments in Iraq by using Pure Aluminum As Reducing Agent
Authors: Al-Rubaiey Sami. I. J. , Al-Qaisi Bariq. A. H.
Published: March 2020

Year after year, the sediments of the Tigris River in Iraq are increasing,
causing the river clogs, which requires the removal of these sediments from time
to time. Unfortunately, they do not benefit from these deposits, although they
contain high levels of silica, which concentrations were between 59 - 66%. Pure
aluminum powder mixed with sediments at different ratio (1:1, 1.5:1 and 2:1)
sediments/aluminum. The reducing temperatures were 900, 950 and 1000 °C.
leaching process was used to purified the silica. This process was carried out
by using different concentrations (3,4 and 5)M of sulfuric acid to obtain
silicon element. The purity of produced silicon reached to 98. 9%. with of
extraction efficiency more than (88%).
Study the synergistic Effect between Nanoparticles and Spiramycin on Immunological Response Against Toxoplasmosis
Authors: Hamad Hanaa Kamil , Ramadan Nadia Farid , Mohamed Shadia Hassan , Aly Ibrahim , Zalat Rabab
Published: March 2020

This investigation was carried out to estimate the antiparasitic potential of silver and Chitosan nanoparticles loaded with spiramycin against toxoplasmosis infected. After mice injected intraperitoneal in a dose 103viable tachyzoites for acute infection; then treated with spiramycin, chitosan nanoparticles and silver nanoparticles as a single or combined therapy given for seven days. Peritoneal fluid examination revealed a significant decrease in the number ofT. gondiitachyzoites in all treated infected mice compared with infected non-treated. The combined therapy presented better results than the single one. The best effect was observed in a group of mice treated with the combined chitosan nanoparticles and silver nanoparticles loaded with spiramycin. Also, immunological parameters IgM antibody, INF-γ and TNF-α cytokines responses againstT. gondiiantigens were assessed in serum samples by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) kits after treatment. The current work is the first time of using Ag NPs and CS NPs loaded with spiramycin as therapeutic agents against experimental toxoplasmosis. It was shown that the highest degree of effectiveness attained by the synergistic action of chitosan and Ag NPs as was indicated by lower parasite count and IFN-γ, TNF-α concentration.
Modelling flow in a fishway using LABSWE™
Authors: Sabri F N , Shafiai S H
Published: March 2020

Fishways are designed to provide a canal for fishes to migrate upstream and downstream when there is a presence of natural or man-made obstructions. In designing the fishway, correct prediction and simulation of the flows play a crucial role. A well designed and constructed fishway will provide a path that allow fish to continue migrating past the obstructions. This paper presents numerical modelling of flows in fishway using Lattice Boltzmann Method for Shallow Water Equations (LABSWE™) in order to demonstrate its simple applicability and accuracy in solving complex flow problems. Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) is an alternative numerical method in solving complex fluid flows problems. LBM was found to be efficient and accurate after series complex shallow water problems have been solved. The flow is simulated by using Bhatnagar-Gross-Kook (BGK) collision term. Lattice Boltzmann equation was derived based on shallow water equations. A D2Q9 model was implemented for a more accurate result. The BGK-LBM equations was coded up in MATLAB and the numerical results yield from LBM were then compared with the numerical results solved using Finite Volume Method (FVM). The result comparison was done on velocity vectors, velocity contour and depth contour. From the result comparison, there is good agreement between LBM and FVM which shows that LBM can mimic the flow perfectly. In fact, LBM yield a more detailed and accurate results.
Reduction of Organics in Dairy Wastewater by Adsorption on a Prepared Charcoal from Iraqi Sugarcane
Authors: Barno Suondos K. A. , Abbas Ammar S.
Published: March 2020

The prepared charcoal from Iraqi sugarcane was used to reduce the high organic content in dairy wastewater. The Iraqi sugarcane was washed and cut to the size of 1 to 1.5 cm length, then placed in a stainless-steel reactor in an electrical furnace. After 2 hours at 400°C the produced charcoal was collected and weight. The prepared charcoal with particle size less than 500 μm has 213.52 m2/g surface area and 1.2824 mL/g pore volume. The performance of organics adsorption on the surface of the prepared charcoal was studied. The amount of organic reduction, expressed as dropping in chemical oxygen demand (COD), was measured initially (6948 mg/L) and at equilibrium to identify the adsorption isotherm. Adsorption isotherms of organics was consistent with Freundlich adsorption isotherm. The kinetics results of the adsorption show the process follow the pseudo-second order kinetic in different operating temperatures (15, 25, 35, and 45°C). The obtained thermodynamic parameters (ΔG, ΔH and ΔS) were valuable to prove the spontaneity of the adsorption process.
Optimization of fractional freezing process for bioethanol purification
Authors: Amran Nurul Aini , Mohd Khir Low Siti Nur Amira , Samsuri Shafirah
Published: March 2020

A new bioethanol purification method namely fractional freezing (FF) has been introduced to replace the conventional distillation and adsorption methods which require a higher energy and cost demand. The FF process was conducted in a cylindrical crystallizer equipped with a digital stirrer. Response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to optimize the process, and to investigate the effect of coolant temperature and freezing time towards the efficiency of the process which is represented by effective partition constant (K) and purification efficiency (Peff
). Subsequently, a validation experiment was conducted to validate the predicted optimum conditions given by RSM. From the result, the optimum and comparative value of K (0.28) and Peff
(31.74) were found at coolant temperature of -17°C and 65 min freezing time, with error for both responses less than 10% from prediction.
Charcoal characterization and application is solar evaporator for seawater desalination
Authors: Roslan J , Kan W Eh , Abdul Rahman A K , Suliman M , Isha R
Published: March 2020

Solar desalination is the most attractive and simple technique for desalination process but suffers low thermal efficiency. The objective of this research is to study the effect of charcoal in seawater desalination for clean water production. The experiment was conducted in a basin type solar evaporator by using seawater with charcoal to seawater mass ratio variation of 1:50 to 1:500. The investigation was carried out for eight hours in sunny daylight. The water qualities including pH, conductivity, total dissolve solid (TDS), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and turbidity of the seawater and amount of evaporated water were determined. The spent and fresh charcoals were also characterized by using Nitrogen Adsorption (BET), X Ray Detector (XRD) and Scanning Electromagnetic Microscope (SEM). It is found that the addition of charcoal in the water leads to20 % increment of water temperature. Charcoal’s exposed area to the energy source significantly affects the temperature raise. The best charcoal to water mass ratio was achieved at 1:100 to produce 16.8% evaporated water. Charcoal was stable in seawater because minimum changes of pore size and pore volume were observed. In conclusion, charcoal is a potential salt adsorbent and medium for solar thermal energy storage for seawater solar desalination process.
Crystallisation parameters effect on the particle size distribution (PSD) of carbamazepine-saccharin (CBZ-SAC) co-crystals in batch cooling crystallisation
Authors: Engku Mat Nasir E N , Rahman F Ab , Abd Rahim S , Edros R Z , Anuar N
Published: March 2020

The crystallisation parameters effect on the particle size distribution (PSD) of carbamazepine-saccharin (CBZ-SAC) co-crystals in batch cooling crystallisation is presented. The particle size distribution study of CBZ-SAC co-crystals revealed that the multimodal with broad PSD was found for CBZ concentration of 19.14 mg/ml. Meanwhile, the unimodal with broad PSD were observed at CBZ concentration of 17.01 mg/ml and 17.96 mg/Crystal characterisation using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and optical microscopy confirm the solid formed is CBZ-SAC co-crystal Form I with plate-like crystal morphology.
Sensitivity analysis of xylose production process using aspen plus
Authors: Ibrahim N H , Ibrahim W H W , Mimi Sakinah A M , Harun N , Othman M R
Published: March 2020

Xylose production has become one of the most studied process over the year due to the significant application as a raw material for the production of a variety of specialty chemicals, mainly xylitol. The most promising raw material is lignocellulosic biomass because of its widely available and cheap. There are several type of pretreatment process has been studied to depolymerized the lignocellulosic compounds into fermentable sugars. Among all, dilute acid hydrolysis is the most promising process to produce high xylose. However, disadvantage of this pretreatment process is production of byproduct that can slowdown the fermentation step. Understanding the effect of pretreatment processing parameters on lignocellulosic depolymerization could possibly result in minimization of degradation compounds. Therefore, the aim of this work is to carry out the sensitivity analysis of the acid hydrolysis process used for the production of fermentable sugars with the aid of Aspen Plus by considering the concentration of xylose, glucose, furfural and acetic acid obtained at the outlet of reactor as the output variable. Sensitivity analysis were apply at temperature (160 °C, 170 °C and 180 °C) and residence time (0-160 min). The results indicate that the developed process model is possible to improve lignocellulosic conversion efficiency while minimizing degradation product generation with the highest xylose produce is 18.26 g/L at 180 °C during 20 min reaction time.
Peat swamp groundwater treatment: efficiency of mixed citrus peel and kernel activated carbon layer
Authors: Muhammad Haziq J , Farah Amalina I , Abdul Syukor A R , Siddique Md Nurul Islam , Sui Fung L.
Published: March 2020

One of the natural water resources is groundwater. Groundwater is another alternative to meet the increasing water demand in Malaysia. Then, the decrease in supplying raw groundwater which may due to depletion of groundwater and hence it is important to maintain the availability of water supply locally and even establish new water source such as from peat swamp to overcome future water crisis. Activated carbon is famous for its characteristic in eliminating various organic contaminants. In this investigation, low cost mixed activated carbon of food waste (citrus peel) and agricultural waste (palm kernel shell) are used as adsorbents in biological sand filter to treat peat swamp groundwater whereby the overall aim of study to evaluate the performance of mixed activated carbon layer of citrus peel and kernel in biological sand filter for peat swamp groundwater treatment. The mixed activated carbon with 1:1 ratio is filled into the biological sand filter. The efficiency of the mixed activated carbon layered biological sand water treatment system is evaluated using parameters pH, Turbidity, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Total Suspended Solids (TSS) and E. coli and removal of heavy metal ions of peat swamp groundwater. All these parameters follow the Standard Methods for Examination of Water and Wastewater 2005. The implementation of investigation improved the water quality of the peat swamp groundwater, the water treatment technology using combination of activated carbon and biosand filter, human living standards by providing safe and clean water supply.
Recovery of inclusion body protein in Escherichia coli: Effects of solubilization methods and process condition
Authors: Chew F N , Abidin N H Z , Yusof N H M , Rafi N M , Chua G K
Published: March 2020

Inclusion bodies (IBs) are produced in Escherichia coli cells and solubilization process is required to recover desired protein in bioactive form. Conventional and mild solubilization methods were applied for IBs solubilization and the performances were influenced by respective process condition. Therefore, it is the objective of current work to investigate the effects of solubilization methods on the recovery of soluble enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) from IBs by using urea, alkyl alcohol and freeze thaw method. The present study indicates urea concentration, incubation temperature, type of alcohol and its concentration, freezing duration and freeze thaw cycles influenced the yield and purity of solubilized EGFP. Conventional method using 8 M of urea with incubation temperature of 60°C achieved the highest yield (61%) and purity (10%). Mild IBs solubilization with 6 M of n-butanol and 2 M of urea has solubilized IBs with a yield of 45% and purity of 22%. By freezing and thawing the IBs suspension in 2 M of urea, the yield (66%) and purity (9%) of solubilized EGFP were comparable to that of 8 M of urea in buffer. Hence, mild solubilization using the alkyl alcohol or freeze thaw method is applicable for IBs solubilization.
Air particulate matter dispersion at biomass energy plant using AERMOD Modelling
Authors: Binti Mokhadzir Nur Sakinah , Ramli Azizan Bin
Published: March 2020

Biomass is included as one of the conventional sources other than solar and hydro energy. There are different types of biomass such as empty fruit bunch (EFB), fronds, mesocarp fibre (MF), trunk and shell. Each type provides a different level of particulate matter and the particulate matter had already emerged as one of the most critical pollutants. The main purpose of this paper is to identify the critical location on-site and to measure and analyse the particulate matter dispersion by using AERMOD Modelling. This paper presents a simulation study of particulate matter dispersion at biomass energy plant. The dispersion of the particulate is studied at Bioenergy plant located at Jengka, Pahang which generates electricity from the EFB waste. The shredded EFB had produced abundant of dust and particulate matter which suspends in the air and deteriorating the air quality. Thus, the dispersion of particulate matter pollutant by the biomass power plant is a rising concern. The influence of other operating variables were studied (temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction and activity). This paper also compares the concentration of PM2.5 and PM10 disperse from a location that had been marked as critical. From the result, the average concentration of particulate emitted to the air in 24-hour mean is 0.6944 mg/m3 for both size. Based on the guidelines provided by the World Health Organization (WHO), the concentration of both PM2.5 and PM10 are exceeding the level of 24 hour mean of emission and can be concluded as critical.
Screening of factors influencing dilute nitric acid pretreatment for xylan recovery from oil palm frond bagasse
Authors: Mazlan N A , Samad K A , Yussof H W , Samah R A , Jahim J
Published: March 2020

Lignocellulosic biomass is the most abundant biodegradable material that has been used in obtaining various of valuable products. However, the conversion may hinder due to its solvent insoluble characteristic which can be treated by nitric acid pretreatment. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the effect of nitric acid pretreatment on oil palm frond bagasse (OPFB) for achieving high xylan recovery. A two-level factorial design was employed to determine the best condition for the process. The result revealed that the sequence of contribution effect toward the increment of xylan recovery was found to be temperature > solid loading > reaction time > acid concentration > agitation. Pretreatment of OPFB with nitric acid discovered the temperature of 37 °C with 5% solid loading at 0.01% acid concentration for 24 hours without agitation were determined as the best condition to recover up to 27.63% of xylan. The present results highlight that nitric acid pretreatment has the potential to improve xylan recovery by removing lignin to facilitate enzymatic hydrolysis for product recovery.
Summary of past works of maintenance prioritization and optimization mechanisms for power plant
Authors: Ismail Firas B , N A Fazreen Fuzi , Kamal N A
Published: March 2020

Annual maintenance is vital for any heavy industries including power plant to ensure the plants operate consistently. A proper maintenance management can reduce the failures occurrence and maintain the good performances. This paper reviews the literature on maintenance optimization mechanisms that have been utilized to solve the difficult and complex problems in power system. A brief introduction and literature review on the turnaround maintenance are included in this paper. In order to optimize the maintenance tasks of power plant systems, the tasks need to be prioritized first. Hence, this paper also presented several literatures on the methods used for maintenance prioritization. This paper includes the most related case studies and references on maintenance actions involved in power plants. The main outcome of this reviewed paper is to become a reference for the power plant people in choosing the best mechanism to be implemented in their plant so that the plant performance can be improved, specifically in term of maintenance practice.
Potentiality of petrochemical wastewater as substrate in microbial fuel cell
Authors: Sarmin Sumaya , Ideris Asmida Binti , Ethiraj Baranitharan , Amirul Islam M , Yee Chin Sim , Rahman Khan Md. Maksudur
Published: March 2020

The petrochemical wastewater (PCW) from acrylic acid plant possesses very high chemical oxygen demand (COD) due to presence of acrylic acid along with other organic acids. The treatment of PCW by conventional methods is energy intensive. The treatment of PCW with concurrent power generation by employing microbial fuel cell (MFC) could be a potential alternative solving the problem of energy and environment. The goal of the present paper is to evaluate the viability of treating the wastewater using anaerobic sludge as biocatalyst in a dual- chamber MFC for simultaneous power generation and wastewater treatment. This study demonstrates that anaerobic sludge (AS) could work as a biocatalyst producing maximum power density of 0.75 W/m3at current density and open circuit voltage (OCV) of 412 mA/m2 and 0.45 V respectively using PCW with an initial COD of 45,000 mg/L. The COD removal efficiency and the columbic efficiency (CE) were found 40% and 13.11%, respectively. The mechanism of electron transfer in the anode was analyzed by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and the resistances across the electrode/biofilm/solution interface were investigated by employing impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The current work proves the capability of the MFC for the treatment of acrylic acid plant PCW using anaerobic sludge (AS) as biocatalyst.
Effect of microwave power intensity on synthesis of mesoporous titania nanoparticles for degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenol: Photoactivity performance and kinetic studies
Authors: Marfur N A , Jaafar N F , Gani F H H
Published: March 2020

In this study, mesoporous titania nanoparticles (MTN) were synthesized via microwave (MW)-assisted method under various heating power (0.12 (MTN1), 0.37 (MTN2) and 0.56 (MTN3) Wg−1). The performance of MTN was investigated on photocatalytic degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) in aqueous solution using a batch reactor under visible light irradiation. The catalysts were characterized by XRD, UV-Vis DRS, BET and FTIR. The degradation of 2,4-DCP showed that catalyst synthesized at MTN2 was the most effective with 89.43% degradation compared to MTN1 and MTN3 with 82.93% and 86.99%, respectively. This result probably MTN2 has the lowest band gap and highest surface area compared to MTN1 and MTN3. The kinetic studies for degradation 2,4-DCP using MTN2 revealed that the reaction followed pseudo-first order kinetics with reaction rate values (kapp
) decreased as the initial concentration increased that proved the system was preferable at low concentration.
Annual Energy Output Simulation of an Optical Concentrator Based PV System for Energy Security
Authors: Foster S , Muhammad-Sukki F , Ramirez-Iniguez R , Freier D , Deciga-Gusi J , Abu-Bakar S H , Bani N A , Munir A B , Abubakar Mas’ud A , Ardila-Rey J A
Published: March 2020

Concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) system is an application of PV devices introduced with the aim of reducing the cost of BIPV systems through the use of an optical element to concentrate or focus the solar radiation from a large area, into a smaller area to which the solar cell is attached, thus reducing the overall cost by saving expensive PV material. This paper aims at presenting the simulation results of an annual prediction for a system comprising of CPV based on the Rotationally Asymmetrical Compound Parabolic Concentrator (RACPC) and compared it with a non-concentrated PV module installed in Bogota, Colombia under different weather conditions. The yearly energy yield of the CPV module was calculated to be 480 kWh whereas the non-concentrating PV module had a drop in the output - almost half of the CPV module output, having a final value of 231 kWh. This indicates that the RACPC can increase the output by a factor of 2.08. This study demonstrates that a CPV system can be used as an alternative to a conventional PV system; as it offers a lower cost without compromising its performance.