bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Concentration measurement on preparation of blending SiO2 nano biodiesel
Authors: Norhafana M , Noor M M , Hairuddin A A 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
Biodiesel is an important renewable energy candidate for the future energy. To improve the fuel properties, many experimental works and trial for the fuel blend. The fuel enrichment method by addition of nano-additives is widely accepted by numerous researchers. The nano-additives are used to achieve specific fuel properties and to improve the performance characteristics and to attain a good emission control of the Compression Ignition (CI) engine without any modification. It is important to blend in right concentration in order to avoid the effect on fuel properties. This paper reports the calculation on how to measure concentration of blending biodiesel fuel with nanoparticles with the appropriate method which is mass concentration method. This paper investigates the details of concentration measurements of blending biodiesel (B7) with SiO2 nanoparticle by using the mass fraction method for only 0.5 liter of fuel. This method also can use for other types of fuel and nanoparticles. Thus, by using the correct method of mass concentration would not be affect to its fuel properties, engine performance and also exhaust emissions.
Sequential ultrasound-microwave assisted extraction of water soluble proteins from Eurycoma longifolia roots
Authors: Abugabr Elhag H E , Sulaiman A Z , Ajit A 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
Even though Eurycoma longifolia was extensively studied, few researches investigated the protein content in its water extracts with the consideration of establishing the most suitable extraction method to increase their yields with high efficiency and less time consumption. The study applied a sequential extraction method to increase the yields of water soluble proteins (WSPs) in E. longifolia root extracts by the application of two nonconventional extraction methods, Microwave assisted extraction (MAE) and ultrasound assisted extraction (UAE). The study was established by circumscribed central composite designs (CCCDs) to indicate the optimum extraction conditions and the corresponding maximum WSPs yields for both the methods by investigating the MAE factors which were temperature (T); microwave power (W) and irradiation time (i) and UAE factors temperature (T); ultrasonic intensity (UI); and sonication time (s). The optimum conditions of MAE (T: 54°C, W: 301W and i: 15 min) led to the WSPs yield 23.101±1.647%.The optimum conditions of UAE (T: 46°C; UI: 1.84 W.cm”2 and s: 24 min) led to 24.181±0.321%. These predicted optimum conditions were then employed for the two proposed sequential extraction method, sequential ultrasound-microwave assisted extraction (SUMAE) and sequential microwave-ultrasound assisted extraction (SMUAE). Results revealed that the highest WSPs yield (27.172±1.086%) was obtained by initiating the sequential extraction with UAE for 10 minutes followed by MAE treatment for 5 minutes was the best extraction process. Therefore, SUMAE illustrated more efficiency than SMUAE. This concluded that the SUMAE is a more efficient extraction process than the one-step nonconventional extraction methods and was nominated for the upscaling of extracting proteins from E. longifolia roots in pilot and industrial scales.
Evaluation of offshore marine current energy performance in Malaysia
Authors: Zahari S H , Ng C Y , Kurian V J , Wong L W , Selamat I M 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
Venturi Marine Current Energy Device (VMCED) is a current energy converter, which is focused in this research that aimed to harness the continuous movement of ocean current. It focuses on the venture effect to increase the efficiency of the flow velocity in resulting higher output energy from the ocean current. This research aimed to identify the best potential location of Malaysian waters to deploy the device. A computational fluid dynamic analysis was conducted in this study considering two important parameters i.e. velocity and differential pressure in the VMCED. These parameters were adopted in the analysis to measure the highest velocity and pressure differential. Among of the locations in Malaysia analysed in this study, it is to conclude that VMCED is best to be deployed in Straits of Malacca. This location measured the highest velocity and differential pressure of ocean current compared to others.
Simulation analysis of fuel cell integration in a hybrid car
Authors: Asus Z , Madon M I S , Che Daud Z H , Muhamad Said M F , Aglzim E H , Ab. Talib M H , Ahmad Z A 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
Fuel cell is one of the green technologies that can help reduce toxic gas and decreasing effect of greenhouse gases in the world. This paper attempts to improve simulation model of fuel cell system that is easy to use and at the same time have an acceptable accuracy. The simulation model is developed through Matlab/Simulink software using Energetic Macroscopic Representation method which accuracy is compared with an established model. Simulation analysis of fuel cell integration is conducted by using experimental data from a real hybrid car. There are two potential types of system that were considered for the hybrid car in term of electricity generation and power produced to move the car, a full fuel cell car or a hybrid of fuel cell and battery. Analysis reveals that the hybrid car using combination of fuel cell and battery system is more effective compared to the car using fully fuel cell system due to factors that prevents fuel cell wide utilization for the vehicle.
Analysis of cylinder pressure cyclic variability operating with butanol blends in a diesel engine
Authors: Mat Yasin M H , Mamat R , Sapee S , Yusop A F , Ali M H 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
Butanol is a second-generation biofuel which obtained from the biomass feedstock sources to improve the fuel properties and performance of the recent fuels. However, there are certain grey aspects in the combustion characteristics of butanol blends in various operating speeds and loads. This work investigates the use of mineral diesel (D), palm biodiesel (B), butanol (10%)-diesel (90%) (DBu10) and butanol (10%)-palm biodiesel (90%) (BBu10) fuels. The objectives of this study are to investigate the cyclic combustion variations of cylinder pressure profiles and peak cylinder pressure, Pmax and analyse the combustion stabilities using recurrence plot (RP) on tested fuels using a diesel engine. The results showed that higher peak cylinder pressures were observed for butanol blends with full load at 1100 rpm. Higher cylinder pressure cyclic variability occurred at high load and speed for all test fuels, especially DBu10 with higher COVPmax values. Thus, in this case, DBu10 produced the most chaotic combustion irregularities and higher cyclic variations for the time series in those conditions. In conclusion, cylinder pressure variations in the time series were found to be affected by the fuel composition of butanol in the blends and types of fuel in engine operation.
Preparation of Reduced Graphene Oxide (RGO) Modified Titanium Dioxide Nanotube (TNTs) as Visible Light Effective Catalyst for the Conversion of CO2 to CH4
Authors: Khatun F , Aziz A A , Sim L C 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
In this study, a modified visible light active photocatalyst has been prepared where titanium dioxide nanotube (TNTs) was coupled with reduced graphene oxide (RGO) through a facile synthesis process. The photoactivity of the RGO-TNTs has been evaluated by converting CO2 to CH4 under visible light irradiation. In order to justify the photo-effectivity of the catalysts, physical and optical characterization were performed through FESEM, EDX, UV-Vis absorption spectra and PL spectra. The morphological analysis shows homogeneous RGO distribution on the TiO2 nanotube whereas elemental compositional analysis revealed the presence of all elements in the prepared catalyst. Visible light enhancement activity of the prepared catalyst after the incorporation of RGO was exposed by UV-Vis analysis due to its enhanced light absorption properties. Improved electron-hole separation rate was investigated for the RGO incorporated TNTs through PL analysis. The fruitful incorporation of the RGO with TNTs further affirmed by the increased photocatalytic activity by converting CO2 to CH4 that acquired enhanced CH4 production (9.27%) which is 1.81 times higher than the CH4 production rate obtained through TNTs (5.12%). Thus, this study induces a simple synthesis procedure to modify TNTs as a visible light active photocatalyst with the integration of RGO. Moreover, RGO-TNTs enhanced visible light activity were evaluated through the conversion of CO2 to CH4.
Ni–supported palm oil fuel ash catalyst (Ni–POFA) from in situ glycine-nitrate combustion for methane cracking
Authors: Hanifa N H E , Ideris A , Ismail M 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
Metal-supported catalysts synthesized using a conventional impregnation method are usually suffered from non-uniform distribution and agglomeration of catalyst particles. In this work, in situ glycine-nitrate combustion method has been explored to synthesize Ni catalyst supported on palm oil fuel ash (Ni–POFA). The properties and performance of the catalyst were compared with one produced using impregnation method. Effects of pre-treatment and catalyst preparation method have been investigated and characterizations of POFA and Ni–POFA catalysts were performed using XRF, XRD, BET surface area, FESEM and TGA. Catalytic activity of the catalysts was evaluated for methane cracking at 550 °C. Results showed that pre-treatment has improved the composition of SiO2 in POFA from 42.4 to 72.0%. Ni–POFA catalyst synthesized using in situ glycine-nitrate combustion method exhibited a good catalytic performance during the methane cracking with an initial H2 yield of 6.4%. This was attributed to high Ni metal dispersion on POFA support. Nevertheless, the degradation of CH4 conversion for this particular catalyst was more significant than one produced using impregnation method. Catalyst prepared using in situ glycine-nitrate combustion was active towards carbon formation, thus led to an obvious formation of carbon on the catalyst surface. Additionally, catalyst preparation method influenced the type of carbon formed on the spent Ni–POFA catalysts.
High degradation of BIVO4 nanoparticle for organic dyes under visible light irradiation mediated by S2O8
Authors: Cao V D , Nong L X , Nguyen V H , Tran T V , Vu H T , Nguyen C V , Do S T 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
In this study, we have successfully synthesized BiVO4 materials by hydrothermal method. The degradation of methylene blue (MB) under LED visible light mediated by S2O8/BiVO4/Vis system. The obtained BiVO4 catalyst was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman, scanning electron microscope (SEM), and UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectrum (UV-vis DRS). We investigated the effect of S2O8 concentrate, pH value and initial concentration on the removal rate of MB. The results of XRD spectra showed that the BiVO4 fragment has a crystalline structure in moneblinite monoclinic phase alone. The degradation of MB concentration under visible light mediated S2O8/BiVO4/Vis was 78% after 100 minutes of irradiation. The band gap (Eg) of BiVO4 was estimated to be 2.39 eV. Therein, the presence of Na2SO4 anions decrease concentration of MB with compared to the original using S2O8/BiVO4 system alone.
Synthesis and characterization of MSU-2 synthesized by using tetraethylorthosilicate and Triton X-100
Authors: Lee X Y , Chew T L , Oh P C , Jawad Z A , Ho C D 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
Adsorption technology is one of the well-established gas separation techniques as it can minimize cost and energy requirement for CO2 separation. Mesoporous silicas such as MSU-2 appears to be a good adsorbent as it comprises of three-dimensional (3D) wormhole framework structures that are highly interconnected which minimize the diffusion resistance of CO2 through its pore structure. Current study focus on the preparation of MSU-2 and investigation on the CO2 adsorption on the synthesized MSU-2. In this study, MSU-2 was prepared by using tetraethylorthosilica (TEOS) as a source of silica in the presence of non- ionic polyethyleneoxide (PEO)-based surfactants under an acidic condition where the pH is 2 at 55 °C for 48 hours via the fluoride-assisted two-step synthesis process. The two main steps involved are hydrolysis of TEOS and condensation of silica. The morphology, crystallinity, functional groups and pore characteristics of MSU-2 were investigated by using characterization method of Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM), Energy Dispersive X-Ray (EDX) Spectrometry, X-ray Diffractometer (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET). The synthesized MSU-2 was well crystallized and possessed a uniform monodisperse microspherical morphology with BET surface area, pore volume and pore size of 964 m2/g, 0.98 cm3/g and 4.1 nm, respectively. All the characterization results showed that MSU-2 was successfully synthesized via solution precipitation method. In conclusion, the high BET surface area of the synthesized MSU-2 shows that MSU-2 is a very potential candidate as a good adsorbent for gases.
Kinetic study of immobilized ω-transaminase for the asymmetric synthesis of chiral amine
Authors: Vijaya Kumar S. D. , Handani Z. B. , Abu R. 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
Biocatalysis is a powerful tool for the synthesis of high value products such as, chiral molecules and intermediates. Chiral amines can be synthesized by kinetic resolution of racemic amines or by the asymmetric synthesis from pro-chiral ketones. Kinetic parameter estimation for biocatalytic reaction is useful to evaluate process and technology options. In this work, the Michaelis–Menten kinetic parameters of immobilized ω-transaminase on methacrylate beads for the asymmetric synthesis of (R)-1-phenylethylamine (PEA) from acetophenone (ACP) and alanine (ALA) were determined. The parameters such as, MichaelisMenten constant (Km) and maximum rate of reaction (Vmax) were measured from initial rate experiments by varying ACP concentrations (2 mM to 10 mM) at a fixed 100 mM ALA under mild reaction conditions (pH 7.5 and temperature 30 °C). The concentration of ACP and PEA were measured by gas chromatography. Lineweaver-burk plot was used to estimate the Vmax and Km from the initial rate data. The results yielded a Vmax of 6.87 mM/min and a Km of 2.52 mM. The Michaelis-Menten model is useful for understanding the kinetic properties of immobilized enzymes.
Pyrolysis Study of mixed plastics waste
Authors: Jadhao S B , Seethamraju S 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
There is limited work reported on the pyrolysis of mixed plastics waste. The objective of this work is to investigate the effect of interaction of various types of plastics on the quality and yields of liquid oil obtained from pyrolysis. The plastics chosen in this work were polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) and polystyrene (PS) since their combination contributes to approximately 80% of the plastics waste in India. In addition, previous studies showed that polyolefins (HDPE, LDPE, PP, and PS) were best suited for chemical recycling through pyrolysis. Experiments were performed in a bench-scale batch reactor with individual components (PE, PP and PS) and binary mixtures of them in various proportions. In this study, the dependent variables were the yields and quality of pyrolysis products. There was non- linearity observed in the liquid and gas yield and product composition with varying mixture constitution. This study on interaction effects is envisaged to help in further development and scale-up of the plastic pyrolysis process.
Photodegradation of Paracetamol using Electrosynthesized Silver Supported on Durio Zibethinus Husk
Authors: Jusoh N W C , Mustapha M H , Masudi A , Jaafar N F 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
An advanced oxidation process (AOPs) using heterogeneous semiconductor photocatalysts such as TiO2, ZnO, CuO, and ZrO2 have become a popular method for the removal of toxic pollutants from wastewater. Recently, the noble metal nanoparticles (NPs), such as silver (Ag), gold (Au) and platinum (Pt) has also been intensively studied and show the intense UV and visible light absorbance capability. However, the usage of pure noble metal might be limited due to its cost, hence the utilization of support material is needed. Herein in this study, a simple electrochemical method was used to prepare a series of Ag (5, 10 and 15 wt%) loaded onto Durio Zibethinus Husk (Ag/DZH) as support material. The synthesized catalyst was examined using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to measure the crystallinity, chemical composition and morphology, respectively. Additionally, the effect of Ag loading on DZH catalysts was evaluated through photocatalytic reaction to degrade 5 mg/L of pH 9 paracetamol in aqueous solution using 0.03 g/L catalyst. Among the catalysts, 10 wt% Ag/DZH shows the highest degradation rate of 0.01197 mg/L.min due to its size, well distribution as well as metal-support interaction.
Photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange using Carbon Quantum Dots (CQDs) derived from watermelon rinds
Authors: Remli U R R P , Aziz A A 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
In this study, a facile synthesis of carbon quantum dots (CQDs) was successfully conducted by hydrothermal treatment at mild temperature (120 °C) using watermelon rinds as carbon precursor. The synthesized CQDs was aimed to harvest the visible light from artificial source for photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange (MO) dye. The prepared CQDs were characterized by TEM to check the physical properties. The produced CQDs demonstrated a band of spherical dots which display a complete dispersion of particles in water. The spherical morphology of the CQDs was clearly seen with narrow size distribution, averagely around 1 -5 nm in diameter. The CQDs exhibited an excellent photocatalytic performance with 68.9% of MO degradation rate within 120 min reaction owing to the large surface area for adsorption and reaction process to take place.
Blue luminescence carbon quantum dots derived from oil palm empty fruit bunch biomass
Authors: Mahat Nur Akma , Shamsudin Siti Aisyah 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) have attracted tremendous attention for their interesting properties such as excellent chemical and photo stability, good water dispersibility, biocompatibility and possessing outstanding photoluminescence (PL) properties. In this study, oil palm biomass is used as the carbon precursor to produce CQDs and exhibit high luminescent properties. However, a large amount of biomass produces by the oil palm industry is either burnt in the open air or disposed in waste ponds and contributes to global climate change via emissions of carbon dioxide and methane. Hence, synthesis the CQDs from oil palm biomass by hydrothermal treatment method has formed excellent properties in optical properties that could be comparable to semiconductor quantum dots. The results have shown the diameter size of CQDs in the range of 2-5 nm. While, the optical properties, UV-vis spectrum of CQDs have given a strong absorption at 282 nm and obtains in brown color under visible light and emitting blue luminescence under 365 nm of UV lamp. Furthermore, PL spectra of CQDs have shown excitation and emission wavelength at 360 nm and 450 nm, respectively. This is attribute to the excitation-wavelength dependent of PL properties. Hence, the spectra from FTIR showed the existence of hydroxyl and carboxyl groups on the CQDs would have originated from lignocellulosic materials, thus resulted in excellent water stability and solubility properties of CQDs. The presented study is the green approached reprocessed biomass from waste to materials with excellent optical properties that could utilize in various field of applications.
Preparation and physicochemical properties of zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8)/rice husk derived graphene (GRHA) nanohybrid composites
Authors: Arifin N F T , Yusof N , Nordin N A H M , Raimi N I C , Jaafar J , Ismail A F , Aziz F , Salleh W N W 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
This paper proposes an improve nanohybrid composites of Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework-8 (ZIF-8)/Rice husk Derived Graphene (GRHA). The main goal of this work is to prepare the nanohybrid composites with high surface area and enhanced porosity. The composite is prepared via aqueous room temperature method which is simple and fast. Based on Fourier transform Infrared (FTIR) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis, it shows that the produced ZIF- 8 is in sodalite (SOD) structure while GRHA is in amorphous due to the presence of multilayer graphene. Raman analysis shows that the prepared GRHA has a high degree of graphitization. The BET specific surface area (BETSSA) is found to increase up to three times higher (1632.10 m2/g) as compared to pristine GRHA (518.11 m2/g) and ZIF-8 (687.32 m2/g) respectively. Therefore, it is envisaged that this composite can be very useful for hydrogen storage.
The effects of biomass binders and moisture content on the mechanical durability of rice husk pellets
Authors: Abdul-Rahman A A , Yusoff N , Abd-Rahman A 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
Paddy straw and rice husk (RH) are considered agricultural waste. About 22 wt% of paddy is RH, which is normally disposed of by open burning. Pelletizing RH increases the bulk density of the waste and is capable of providing benefits such as ease of transport and potentially a more efficient fuel for combustion. This will allow for RH to be utilized for more meaningful applications instead of just being burnt. However, one of the main challenges of producing RH pellets is their low durability, causing pellets to be broken into fines and dust during transportation and thus making them unattractive to potential buyers. This work aims to investigate suitable locally-sourced biomass waste as binder compounds that could improve the mechanical durability of RH pellets. Here, the effects of binder types, binder contents and moisture contents on RH pellet durability were evaluated. Palm kernel shell (PKS), palm oil mill effluent (POME) and sawdust were selected due to their abundance in Malaysia. In general, it was observed that the mean durability improved as moisture contents increased. More specifically, pellets with PKS and POME binders improved mean durability whereas sawdust deteriorated the durability. The results presented would be beneficial for the improvement of RH pellet production for domestic and export consumptions.
Formation of NaY zeolite membrane: influence of intermediate layer and its characterization
Authors: Aimen Isa M , Hanif Halim M , Chew Thiam Leng , Yeong Yin Fong 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
In the synthesis process of zeolite membranes, the zeolites crystals are crystallized and grow during crystallization period to form polycrystalline film.Secondary growth method is an effective method to synthesis high quality zeolite membranes which involves two main steps which are coating and hydrothermal treatment (HT) synthesis. There are several problems associated with the coating process in secondary growth method such as lack of good adherence of the seeds, rough surface of the support, and thermal mismatch between the zeolite seeds and supports during hydrothermal process. In order to solve these issues, an intermediate layer (buffer layer) could be applied between the support and the seeds layer hence to reduce the defects forms during the hydrothermal treatment (HT) synthesis process. In current study, two different types of intermediate layer were studied and results were compared in terms of zeolite seeds coverage on the surface of the support and zeolite layer formed during subsequent hydrothermal treatment (HT) to form zeolite membranes. The formed zeolite membranes were characterized with X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy (EDX).