ICGSCE 2014

Energy consumption in the world is increasing every year while expanding technology trying to catch up with the demand of oil production. One of the technologies which has been widely used to enhance oil recovery is surfactant flooding. A variety of surfactants promote oil recovery are reviewed in this paper, with particular emphasis on the ability: (i) to lower the interfacial tension (ii) to adjust the pH and (iii) to stand the high salinity conditions of reservoirs. To date, surfactants studied in enhanced oil recovery applications can be categorized as chemical-based, bio-based and natural-based surfactants.

An agriculture activity is one of the major sectors which contribute a significant share to Malaysia economy. Therefore it is important to maintain the soil fertility. Superabsorbent polymer composite (SAP’c) was produced using graft polymerization technique with the addition of the oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) filler to enhance the absorbance properties and decomposition process. Effect of filler addition at different size to the SAP’c was investigated. Water absorbency test was conducted to determine the absorbency and swelling properties while Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and Scanning Electron Microscopic (SEM) analysis was conducted to investigate the functional groups and morphology of the SAP’c. Water absorb highest for SAP’c with coarse OPEFB while fine particle size showed a decrement in swelling behaviour. FTIR spectra shows that –C ≡ C–H with C–H bend existed in all samples. SEM showed that the addition of the OPEFB give a fibrous morphology and build a surface contact. In conclusion the addition of biomass filler in the superabsorbent polymer (SAP) will increase the water absorbency and swelling properties of the hydrogel.

The increasing demand in wood fibre consumptions especially in pulp and paper making has pushed forward the search for alternative fibre resources. Non-woods derived fibre could be good candidates due to its abundance availability. The objective of this study is to determine the potential of non-wood plants as alternative fibres for pulp and paper-based industries based on its chemical and physical properties. The chemical properties involved in this study (cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, hot water and 1 % NaOH solubilities and ash contents) were determined according to relevant TAPPI test, Kurscher-Hoffner and Chlorite methods. Meanwhile, the physical properties (fibre length and diameter) were determined according to the Franklin method. In order to propose the suitability of the studied non-wood plants as alternative fibre resources in pulp and paper-based industries, the obtained results are compared to properties of published wood resources. Results show that lignin content (5.67 %) and 1 % NaOH solubility (19.64 %) of cogon grass are the lowest compared to cocoa pod husk and oil palm leaf. These contents influenced the production of higher pulp yield. Although cogon grass contains short fibres length than oil palm leaf, the paper product will have higher strength due to the good inter-fibre bonding. This study conclude, based on the chemical and physical properties, the cogon grass, cocoa pod husk, and oil palm leaf are suitable to be used as alternative fibre resources in pulp and paper-based industries with various applications such papers, boxes and craft materials.

The removal of aromatic nitrogen compound from diesel oil is important to produce cleaner fuel and reduce the environmental impact. Therefore, denitrification of diesel oil is carried out by liquid-liquid extraction at ambient and moderate condition. The aim of this work is to study liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) for the mixture of ionic liquids (ILs); 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium ethylsulfate ([EMIM][EtSO

4

]) and 1-ethyl-3-methylpyridinium ethylsulfate ([EMPy][EtSO

4

], nitrogen compounds; pyrrole (PYR) and model diesel compound; isododecane (ISOD). The selectivity and solute distribution ratio values were calculated, four ternary diagrams were generated and denitrification efficiency was determined to evaluate the effectiveness of the extraction. The Conductor-like Screening Model for Real Solvents (COSMO-RS) model was used to predict the composition of the ternary systems. The experimental values and COSMO-RS prediction were then compared to determine the root-mean-square deviation (RMSD) for each system. The slope of tie lines is positive for all ternary system and the average RMSD is 2.825 %. The prediction gave RMSD of 1.12 % for [EMIM][EtSO

4

](1) + Pyrrole(2) + Isodecane(

3

) system; 2.51 % for [EMPy][EtSO

4

](1) + Pyrrole(2) + Isodecane(3) system.

Adsorption process becomes a promising, cost-effective and efficient separation technique for CO

2

capture. Inspired by the commercialized technique for capturing and sequestering CO

2

, the development of solid amine sorbents relies on support material has become a great interest amongst researchers worldwide. Based on this new invention, a research on kenaf as cost-potential agricultural source was conducted to study the adsorptive performance towards carbon dioxide (CO

2

). The research work was initiated by impregnating a series of amine groups such as MEA, DEA and MDEA on kenaf via wet impregnation method. The CO

2

adsorption study was carried out by flowing 300 cm

3

/min of purified CO

2

to the PSA column and compressed up to 1.5 bar. Result obtained indicates that MEA has achieved the highest amount of CO

2

adsorbed amongst the other types of amines. Therefore, MEA was selected for further study by varying the ratio of kenaf to MEA as 1:0.5, 1:0.7, 1:1, 1:2, 1:5, 1:7 and 1:10. It is shown that the ratio of kenaf to MEA of 1:1 have recorded the highest amount of CO

2

capture capacity (2.07 mmol CO

2

/g sorbent) as compared to 1:0.5, 1:0.7, 1:2, 1:5, 1:7 and 1:10 with 0.78, 1.71, 1.77, 1.20, 0.96 and 0.89 mmol CO

2

/g sorbent, respectively. This study inferred that the introduction of MEA has enhanced the adsorptive capability of kenaf towards CO

2

.

This paper discusses the feasibility of using an agricultural waste called palm oil fuel ash (POFA) as micro-filler in polymer concrete. As a cellulose waste material, such potential of POFA is often neglected since it tends to uptake excessive resin during the mixing process. Hence, the filler characterization was involved in this study to investigate the potential of POFA become as micro-filler in polymer concrete. The filler characteristics of unground and ground POFA (UPOFA and GPOFA) were examined under microstructural examination, which included particle size analyzer (PSA), morphology image, and termogravimetric and differential thermal analyses (TGA and DTA). A total of ten mix designs of polymer concrete were employed for flowability and compression test. Then, the workability and strength of polymer concrete were investigated after incorporating two types of filler with different filler content. Two major outcomes had been achieved. Firstly, the filler had their physical features significantly changed after physical surface modification. Secondly, finer filler had given superior workability and compressive strength. In conclusion, the agricultural waste of POFA can be incorporated as micro-filler in polymer concrete after being physically modified and mixed with the appropriate mix design to obtain superior mechanical properties.

Succinic acid is developing as one of the most competitive new bio-based chemicals. However, the biological production of succinic acid results in difficult product recovery and not economically competitive. Thus, the development of economical method to extract and purify succinic acid is really essential. One of the promising methods for succinic acid extraction is emulsion liquid membrane (ELM). In this study, the ELM process will be develop to recover succinic acid from simulated aqueous waste solution through screening of ELM components; the carrier, diluent and stripping agent using liquid-liquid extraction method. Several parameters such as the possibility of using palm oil as diluent, types of carrier and their concentration, and stripping agents were examined. Outcomes indicate that 21.39 g/l of succinic acid and 0.41 g/l of acetic acid was extracted using Amberlite LA2 in palm oil. Besides, 16.34 g/l succinic acid was recovered selectively over acetic acid by Na

2

CO

3

in stripping process. Therefore, it can be concluded that Amberlite LA2, palm oil, and Na

2

CO

3

has high possibility to be used in liquid membrane formulation for succinic acid extraction.

Natural dye/colorant extracts used for dyeing source are incapable to be stored for a substantial period of time due to their unstable property in aqueous medium. Therefore, this study explores a suitable method to preserve the extracts for storage and produce natural textiles dyes with longer shelf life. PVA Alginate was used as a pure/blank beads to encapsulate the colorant from

Xylocarpus moluccensis

using ultrasonic cleaner approach at different ultrasonic volume and time. Results show the highest encapsulation efficiency was achieved using ultrasonic cleaner at optimum condition of high sonic volume in 80 min time. Fourier-transform infrared spectrosopic (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to characterize the encapsulated colorant. The characterization via these methods indicates the colorant was successfully encapsulated into the PVA Alginate beads. Thus, the encapsulation approach studied in this work showed a promising process for preservation of natural textiles dyes.

Textile manufacturing is one of the largest industrial users of process water. This production gives rise to the major pollutant in this industry where the discharging residue from dyeing process contains organic and inorganic compounds and some potentially toxic solvents. This effluent is the environmental challenge for textile industry where the wastewater often rich in color, high pH, high Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) also low biodegradability. Therefore, complete dye removing technology of users and environmentally friendly is very necessary. In this research, biodegradable material for coagulation-flocculation process tailored for textile wastewater treatment was developed based on polymeric material from fish scales. This coagulant with a particle size of 75 µm was tested for real wastewater from industry via jar tests to determine the optimum operating condition such as the dosage of coagulant and pH. The treated textile wastewater was found to be complying with the Parameter Limits of Effluents of Standards A and B from Environmental Quality (Sewage and Industrial Effluents) Regulations 1978, from the result, the optimum pH and dosage is 5.0 mg/l of coagulant dosage at pH 5.0. COD reduction is about 98 % meanwhile the reduction of colour achieves more than 90 %.

The adsorption types of corrosion inhibitors are typically organic compounds made-up of element comprising of N, O, P and S. In this study, the relative inhibition effect of synthesized fatty amides mixture, pyridine and pyrrole as corrosion inhibitors on carbon steels in saline water had been compared using linear polarization resistance method (LPRM). It is still unknown which of these organic compounds performed best than another. The experimental results had shown that compounds containing elemental N performed as corrosion inhibitor in protecting carbon steels when immersed in saline water. The synthesized fatty amides mixture is found to be better than pyridine and pyrrole, indicating the presence of various chain lengths of fatty amides molecules provide a better surface on carbon steels.

It is important to understand the fundamental nature of petroleum wax formation since this problem is still a challenging issue in the crude oils industry. The application of a wax inhibitor was introduced in this study to reduce the wax. Poly (ethylene-co-vinyl acetate) (EVA) and cocoamide-diethanolmines (DEA) with different ratios were used to evaluate their performance as an inhibitor using cold finger equipment. A total of 10 ml inhibitor at different ratio of EVA and DEA was injected into crude oil sample at constant cold finger and water bath temperature of 10 and 50 °C, respectively. The Percent Inhibition Efficiency (PIE) was increased as the amount of EVA in DEA was increased. The use of pure EVA had successfully showed the highest PIE value which is 23.08 % compare to other ratios. The GC-FID analysis found that the C

28

H

58

(n-octacosane) wax solid deposit was reduced almost 90 % if pure EVA was used. The addition of DEA in the EVA inhibitor does not give a significant effect to the prevention of wax solid formation. It is highly recommended to use pure EVA as a single wax inhibitor in controlling wax solid deposition.

Optimization of percentage of oil yield extracted from castor seed was carried out using response surface methodology and Box-Behnken design. Castor oil was extracted using solvent extraction with three different solvents; hexane, petroleum-ether and ethanol. The linear and quadratic effects of the two variables studied were most significant in affecting the oil yield. The maximum yield of oil extracted was 50.9, 49.0 and 59.5 % using hexane, petroleum ether and ethanol respectively as solvents and the optimum conditions were at a time of 3 h and an average particle size of 1 mm which were within the experimental domain. The model equations gave a good fit with the coefficient of determination of 0.9216, 0.9587 and 0.9005 for hexane, petroleum ether and ethanol, respectively, and hence the suitability of the response surface methodology for the optimization of percentage oil yields.

Titanium dioxide (TiO

2

) is the most researched photocatalyst due to its potential for dye removals in wastewater treatment. However, the TiO

2

powder suffers from agglomeration which hindered its process of industrialization. Thus, this study was carried out to immobilize nano-sized TiO

2

on glass plate via doctor blade technique and the crystal structure and surface morphology of the samples were accomplished using XRD and FESEM. The effects of operational parameters such as effect of light and pH in the removal of methyl orange (MO) and methylene blue (MB) using the as-prepared TiO

2

films were investigated. MO achieved a removal of 95 %, while only 47 % removal efficiency for MB after 120 min under UV-light illumination. On the other hand, percentage removal for MO and MB are recorded as 65 and 28 % respectively under LED light irradiation. The photocatalytic removal of MO and MB was found to be mainly due to the adsorption-photocatalysis process, while the photolysis process is almost negligible. The kinetic study indicates that the photodegradation rate of MO and MB is fitted to the pseudo-first order rate model.

This study investigated the effects of simulated flue gas temperature and mercury inlet concentration on the mercury removal efficiency using activated carbon produced from oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) which is prepared using physical (steam) activation method. The elemental, proximate, porous structure and particle size were performed for the oil palm EFB activated carbon. At low temperature, performance of activated carbon showed a good potential for adsorption of mercury. However, as temperature increase from 90 to 180 °C, the efficiency of mercury was found to be decreased from 92 to 64 %. When the inlet mercury concentration was increased, the mercury removal efficiency is increased from 55 to 98 %. It was observed that mercury removal was favoured at lower temperature, such as 30 and 90 °C and higher mercury concentration, such as 0.192 ppm for virgin oil palm EFB activated carbon.

In this study, production of glucose, galactose and mannose from the skins of tropical fruits, durian and mangosteen was carried out. Those sugars were obtained by acid hydrolysis of micro-crystalline cellulose and polysaccharide rich-fractions of the samples. The micro-crystalline cellulose (MCC) rich-fractions were purified using nitric acid-acetic extraction while polysaccharide rich-fractions were obtained using aqueous-acetone precipitation method. The hydrolysates consist of glucose, galactose, mannose and other sugar residues were analyzed its total sugar/carbohydrate contents and monosaccharide composition using phenol-sulfuric acid and pre-column derivatization HPLC techniques, respectively. The results indicated that yields of glucose that obtained from the MCC of durian skins is 14.23 % of the dried skin of durian compared to 8.52 % of glucose from the MCC of mangosteen skins. The yields of glucose, galactose and mannose from the polysaccharides of the durian and mangosteen skins are very low, which are 0.98, 0.70 and 0.16 % of the dried skin of durian, respectively. While 0.23 % glucose, 0.18 % galactose and 0.17 % mannose were determined from the polysaccharide fraction of mangosteen skins. Results proposed that durian and mangosteen skins are feasible for the production of bioethanol from plant wastes.

In the present work, in-situ methanolysis of microwave irradiation heat pre-treated

Jatropha curcas l

oil in the presence of alkaline benzyltrimethylammonium hydroxide (BTMAOH) as a phase transfer catalysis (PTC) was investigated. Combined use of microwave heat pretreatment of

Jatropha curcas l

seed particles and alkaline BTMAOH as a PTC drastically reduced the reaction time from 240 to 30 min. The yield of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) was also increased from 49.7 to 93.5 %. Reaction kinetics was investigated to study the extent of reaction rate. Reaction kinetic study demonstrated that the order of the reaction is a first order reaction at all reaction temperature under investigation. Activation energy of the reaction was found to be 21,641 J/mole. Combined use of microwave heat treatment of

Jatropha curcas l

seed particles and PTC is promising to enhance the reaction rate of in-situ methanolysis.

Nucleation signifies the start of phase transition where nuclei of crystalline forms in the solution prior to crystal growth. There is an increasing demand in investigating reliable method to measure the nucleation rate in order to control the process an it has been reported that electric field has been successfully used to control the nucleation consequently the crystallization process. Hence, it becomes the objective of this paper to examine the effect of electric field on the induction time crystallization of L-isoleucine. The experiment was conducted in a 200 mL jacketed reactor where constant stirring was provided by retreat curve impeller and the temperature was regulated using two refrigerated baths. The induction time in this work was found to be lower than system without the application of electric field due to the hydrophobicity of L-isoleucine molecule and competition to form hydrogen bond with water when electrolysis occurs. The interfacial tension calculated shows no significant change with concentration while nucleation rate increases as the supersaturation increases. The critical radius calculated also proves to be smaller and decreases when supersaturation increases. The result also suggests the presence of new crystalline phase for the crystals produced at 48 g/L and supersaturation ratio of 1.08 and 1.14.

Membrane gas separation has been one of the most favorable techniques used in industry due to its efficiency and low operating cost. One of the main problems in using membrane in gas separation is the non-biodegradable nature of the membrane material. In this study, PLA membrane was fabricated for oxygen/nitrogen separation system. The dope solution was prepared by using dichloromethane as a solvent with different concentration of 15, 17.5, 20 and 25 wt%. The membrane was cast at a fixed casting speed and solvent evaporation time of 0.0413 ms

−1

and 60 s, respectively by using pneumatically-controlled casting system via dry/wet phase inversion technique. The prepared membrane morphology, mechanical strength and gas permeation performance was characterized using scanning electron microscope (SEM), tensile testing machine and soap bubble meter, respectively. Based on SEM result, the increase in dope solution concentration was proven to decrease the membrane porosity and increase its compactness that leads to the improvement of membrane gas permeation performance and mechanical strength. However, the further increase of concentration led to membrane brittleness with low elasticity causing the membrane become hard to handle for further testing.

Particle size plays a major role in segregation phenomena in mixing process. In pharmaceutical industry, it is essential to have a proper analysis to make sure that the good product is well mixed and to prevent segregation. In this study, Digital Image processing has been used as an alternative method to thief probe, to study the effect of particle size on mixing and segregation process. The experiment started with execution of image acquisition process of mixing process. The images taken were further analyzed using Image Processing Tool in MATLAB software. The experiments were done with two different arrangement of particle in the bed using air velocity of 0.94 ms

−1

. The mixture was considered to be well mixed when the intensity of red of colour histogram is approximately constant. For the layered position, the good mixing time for set 1, 2, 3 and 4 were achieved at 62, 84, 86 and 74 s respectively. Then, for random position, homogeneous mixture were achieved at 62, 76, 82 and 72 s for set 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively. This finding has been quantified by using Lacey Mixing Index where the value obtained was nearly to 1.0 which showed uniform mixing.

Gas separation using polymeric membrane is associated with numerous benefits compared to other separation technologies. This research was conducted to study the separation performance of polymeric composite membranes and to characterize the membranes in terms of mechanical strength and thermal stability. For the purpose of this study, several types of membranes were fabricated by using N-methyl pyrrolidone (79–82 wt%), polysulfone (18 wt%), bentonite clay (0–3 wt%) and agarwood waste powder (0–3 wt%). Membranes were fabricated by solution blending and phase inversion methods. The separation performance of the prepared membrane was identified through gas permeation experiment. In addition, thermal stability of the membranes was analyzed by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Furthermore, mechanical strength of the prepared membranes was determined by conducting tensile test. Based on result, the addition of bentonite clay into polysulfone solution enhance the membrane performance in term of gas permeability, strength and thermal stability. In the case of agarwood however, systematic investigations conducted shows that membrane with 3 wt% agarwood waste powder has a lower thermal stability and selectivity. Meanwhile, the performance of the agarwood composite membrane such as mechanical properties and permeability is better compared to Psf membrane.

Xanthomonas campestris

is a gram-negative bacterium which causes black rot disease in varieties of brassicas which include cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, turnip and radish. The cabbage samples were collected locally from Cameron Highlands, Pahang Darul Makmur. The bacteria were locally isolated and cultured to produce pure species of the bacteria which later several analysis and a series of fermentation was done in order to obtain Xanthan gum. Fermentation procedure conducted through shake flask fermentation. Five different culture and media combination were fermented to compare the final results of each substrate. On specific time intervals e.g.: every 2 h sampling, several analysis were conducted to determine bacteria cell mass and glucose concentration of the fermentation samples. After the completion of the fermentation, Xanthan gums were recovered through precipitation by isopropanol.

Supercapacitors are a class of energy storage device which has high energy density and high power density. As a material with unique 2D structure as well as outstanding physical properties such as high electrical conductivity and large surface area, graphene demonstrates great potential to be the electrode material for supercapacitors. Despite graphene showing theoretical surface area as high as 2630 m

2

/g, results acquired showed that not all the surface area were utilized. This could be due to the tendency of the graphene layers to restack. In this work, 1-pyrenebutyric acid (1-PB) was anchored to graphene with the pyrenyl group via π-π stacking to prevent the restacking of graphene layers. The successful functionalization of 1-PB on the hydrophobic surface of rGO was characterized with UV-Vis Spectroscopy and Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The electrochemical performance of 1-PB-rGO was studied through cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge-discharge (CD) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Using 6 M KOH as the electrolyte, we obtained an enhanced specific capacitance for 1-PB-rGO. These findings indicates that the non-covalent functionalization of 1-PB on rGO enhances the capacitive storage ability and it show potential as an electrode material in the energy storage application.

With the goal of increasing awareness of toxicity level and environmental impact of drilling fluid, and for providing continuous findings for a better drilling fluid formulation, an experimental work based on a rheological evaluation of drilling fluid was carried out. The use of palm-based and palm oil-based as an alternative base component in drilling fluid formulation have been explored in terms of sand content, pH, viscosity, yield point and gel strength. Standard laboratory formulation including distilled water, sodium hydroxide, bentonite, barite and 1,2-propylene glycol were used in this study. Tests conducted on palm-based drilling fluid with properties of 17.0 ppg and 80/20 oil-water ratio revealed that palm methyl ester C14 and palm kernel oil have sand content of less than 0.5 % vol. with excellent thermal resistance on high temperature for palm kernel oil based.

Biomass gasification is a common technology, which converted solid biomass into gaseous fuel at high temperature reactions in the presence of gasification agent. In this paper, co-gasification of lignocellulosic biomass materials with oil palm fronds (OPF) in a downdraft gasifier is presented. The biomass feedstocks considered were sugar cane bagasse (SCB) and wood (

acacia mangium

). Only one material was co-gasified with OPF at a time, with blending ratios of 80:20, 50:50 and 20:80. The resulting temperature profiles in the reactor and the syngas flare duration were recorded. It was found that the blend of 80:20 wood and OPF gave the best result as it produced the longest steady flare duration (49.5 min). On the other hand, a significant bridging problem was observed in the co-gasification OPF and SCB, and thus implying the need for process improvement.

A potential solution to curb the environmental problems is the utilization of renewable energy, including solar energy. Malaysia has abundant solar energy resources throughout the year, promises the highest beneficial in using solar energy for technology development such as solar water heater (SWH). However, peoples in Malaysia are not aware of SWH’s advantages due to the high initial installation cost of SWH. Thus, this study presents financial evaluation of SWH in Malaysia which takes into account of the cost saving and pollution prevention by SWH instead of electrical water heater (EWT). The benefit of SWH was analysed based on annual effective solar radiation. From the analysis, the utilization of a SWH can save up to RM 708.3 of energy cost per year and avoid 1583 kg CO

2

, 12 kg SO

2

and 5 kg NO

x

emissions per year.

Pandanaceae is an application, based on the iPhone Operating System (iOS) that introduces the screwpines or

pokok pandan

, within a hand click. It describes both medicinal and traditional uses, chemical constituents, scientific references and geodata of this Asia Pacific plant species. For the purpose of the application prototype, the user is introduced to eight selected plants within the

Pandanus

genus of the Pandanaceae plant family. Fascinating pictorial views of the whole

Pandanus

plant and the major plant parts are not to be missed. From the users’ perspective, they can select the image of one specific

Pandanus

species and the scientific information on the biological and pharmacological properties of that particular plant will be displayed. The researchers’ years of experiences on sampling the

Pandanus

and the laboratorial work can be shared via this software, interactively. The molecular structures of the chemical ingredients of the

Pandanus

extracts are also shown. Consequently,

Pandanus

research profiling can be concluded; which touches on the scientists who are conducting experiments on this plant and their area of studies. Owing to the lack of information regarding Pandanaceae in a mobile application format, the concept is presently materialized.

In this research, heat treatment is the final finishing process applied on nanocrystalline CoNiFe to improve microstructure for good hardness property. Nanocrystalline CoNiFe has been synthesized using the electrodeposition method. This study investigated the effect of heat treatment at 500, 600, 700 and 800 °C on electrodeposited nanocrystalline CoNiFe. The heat treatment process was performed in the tube furnace with flowing Argon gas. In this paper, physical properties such as phase and crystallographic structure, surface morphology, grain size and hardness of nanocrystalline CoNiFe was studied by changing the heat treatment temperatures. The nanocrystalline CoNiFe phase revealed the Face Centered Cubic (FCC) and Body Centered Cubic (BCC) crystal structure. FESEM micrographs showed that the grain sizes of the coatings were in the range of 78.76–132 nm. Dendrite shape was found in the microstructure of nanocrystalline CoNiFe. The nanocrystalline CoNiFe prepared in heat treatment temperature of 700 °C, achieved the highest hardness of 449 HV. The surface roughness of nanocrystalline CoNiFe heated at 700 °C was found to be smaller than other temperatures.

Mercury is among the main pollutants in the atmosphere. Mercury can be released to the atmosphere by human activities including coal combustion, cement production, incineration and others. Coal combustion is primarily contributed to mercury emissions. This study is aimed at research and implementation of mercury model in computational fluid dynamics modeling to predict the distribution of mercury when coal is combusted in the furnace. The mercury model was implemented in CFD Fluent that consists of three models including One Step Model, Two Step Model and Detail Wilcox Model. The post process modeling is used for mercury emissions prediction since the low amounts of mercury has negligible impact on coal combustion. The Detailed Wilcox mercury model was applied and the result obtained was compared with measured from the plant.

The objective of this paper is to highlight the use of a three-dimensional (3D) sustainability index in performing a sustainable integrated process design and control (

Sustain

-IPDC) for a reactor system.

Sustain

-IPDC for reactor systems is formulated as a mathematical programming problem and solved by decomposing it into six sequential hierarchical sub-problems: (i) pre-analysis, (ii) design analysis, (iii) controller design analysis, (iv) sustainability analysis, (v) detailed economic analysis, and (vi) final selection and verification. By using thermodynamics and process insights, a bounded search space is first identified. Then, the feasible solution space is further reduced to satisfy the process design, controller design, sustainability constraint and economical in stage 2, 3, 4 and 5 respectively. Lastly, all the feasible candidates are ordered according to the defined performance criteria. In this methodology, the concept of an attainable region (

AR

) diagram is used in finding the feasible candidates. The targets for this optimal solution is defined and selected at the maximum point of the

AR

diagram. Then, the proposed methodology is applied to the production of cyclohexanone using a continuous-stirred tank reactor (

CSTR)

system. The results show that the proposed methodology is capable in finding an optimal solution for a

CSTR

design problem that satisfy design, control, sustainability and economic criteria in an easy and systematic manner.

The objective of this paper is to present the development of a sustainable integrated process design and control methodology for a distillation column system. The sustainable integrated process design and control methodology for a distillation column system is developed to ensure the distillation column design is more cost efficient, controllable and sustainable to meet the product quality. The sustainable integrated process design and control problem for a distillation column system is typically formulated as a mathematical programming (optimization with constraints) problem, and solved by decomposing it to six sequential hierarchical sub-problems: (i) pre-analysis, (ii) design analysis, (iii) controller design analysis, (iv) sustainability analysis, (v) detailed economics analysis and (vi) final selection and verification. In the pre-analysis sub-problem, the concept of driving force is used to locate the optimal design-control solution targets, which are defined at the maximum point of the driving force diagram. The sustainability analysis sub-problem was calculated by using the three-dimensional sustainability index. The results through case study of benzene-toluene separation process shows the proposed methodology is capable to find the optimal solution that satisfies design, control, sustainability and economic criteria in a simple and efficient way.

In this study the effect of the heating/cooling rate of various CBZ-SAC mixture in ethanol was investigated in order to deduce the metastable zone width (MSZW) and the nucleation order. Nývlt’s equation involving the maximum temperature difference

$$\varDelta T_{ \hbox{max} }$$

Δ

T

max

between dissolution and crystallization temperatures of CBZ-SAC co-crystals with the heating/cooling rate r was applied for the study of nucleation kinetics by the polythermal method. A step towards the determination of dissolution temperature of the crystals has been improved. The results showed that dissolution temperature for CBZ-SAC co-crystal mixture increased with the increase in heating rate, CBZ-concentration and the ratio of SAC to CBZ in ethanol solution. The analysis revealed that a nucleation order for CBZ-SAC co-crystals increases with the SAC to CBZ ratio and is in the range of 1.58–6.31.

Surface modification of the titanium dioxide, TiO

2

by doping with nitrogen or iron in order to produce visible-light active photocatalyst was investigated. Solgel method was used in preparing the modified TiO

2

. Tetra titanium isopropoxide, ammonium nitrate and ferric nitrate were used as precursors with the dopant concentration of 1 % and calcination temperature of 600 °C. The prepared photocatalyst samples were characterized by XRD, BET and UV-vis DRS in order to study their physical properties. The results from XRD demonstrated that all the photocatalysts were anatase phase with high surface area. The reduction of band gap energy was shown by adding a non-metal dopant into TiO

2

lattice. Meanwhile, FTIR results revealed the presence of N and Fe dopant in the prepared photocatalysts. The properties of the photocatalyst affected its effectivity which was tested by performing a standard

batch

Batch

photocatalytic degradation experiment with methylene blue as a model pollutant under visible light. The result showed that N-doped TiO

2

and Fe-doped TiO

2

photocatalyst degraded the methylene blue within five hours of irradiation time yielding photodegradation efficiency of 72.3 and 61.98 %, respectively.

Ammonia (NH

3

) has been widely used in the manufacture of fertilizers that applied to soil, but the high consumption of fertilizers will end up with water pollution. Owing to the deleterious effects of NH

3

to human and environment, a new optosensor for NH

3

has been fabricated based on silica pellet sensing material. Microsilica was synthesized by sol-gel method in the presence of cobalt(II) chloride hexahydrate (CoCl

2

·6H

2

O), followed by manual grinding process to obtain micro-sized silica particles. Due to the non-transparent pellet material used for NH

3

sensing, a fiber optic reflectance spectrophotometer was employed for monitoring of reflectance signal transduction event as the pellet colour changed from pink to blue hue upon reaction with NH

3

at optimum pH 13. Due to the high

porosity

Porosity

and surface area of silica microparticles were used as immobilization matrix, the immobilized Co

2+

ion demonstrated broad dynamic linear range from 18 to 100 ppm NH

3

with a fast response time of 3 min. The reflectometric sensing protocol involves a single-step NH

3

assay which merely requires dispensing small aliquots of NH

3

onto the reaction surface of the pellet sensor. This makes on-site NH

3

detection more user-friendly and convenient when compared to traditional electrochemical-, infrared- and gas chromatography-based methods.

Double layer rubberized concrete block (DL-RCPB) was introduced to effectively make use of waste tyre and to improve the performance of concrete pavement block. This study was carried out to justify the effectiveness of using waste tyre rubber as aggregate. In this study, there were eight series of concrete mix with 10 and 20 % waste tyre rubber replacement level and different thickness of facing layer; 10, 20, 30 and 40 mm. The compressive strength was reduced when the percentage of waste tyre rubber was increased. Remarkably, all types of DL-RCPB with rubber percentage up to 20 % achieved minimum required compressive strength of 45 MPa. Moreover, DL-RCPB (20 %) with 40 mm top layer was proven to have the most effective sound absorption concrete mix design with up to 36 % of sound

adsorption

Adsorption

recorded. Reduction in block density was found when the percentages of rubber were increased. Porosity up to 17 % was recorded for DL-RCPB (20 %). The rough surface of rubber particles tends to attract air on the rubbers’ surface and the trapped air tends to produce voids once the concrete hardened. Porosity of DL-RCPB was increased when the rubber was added to concrete mix, thereby decreasing the density of DL-RCPBs. Low density and high porosity increased the intensity of sound absorption and relatively gives positive impact on the development of low noise CBP as long as the compressive strength was sufficient.

Three samples of covalent organic framework-1 (COF-1) assigned as COF-1 (S1), COF-1 (S2) and COF-1 (S3) were prepared by varying the initial mass of 1, 4-benzene diboronic acid (BDBA) used. The samples were characterized using

Nitrogen

Nitrogen

adsorption for porosity analysis and XRD for crystallinity analysis. All samples exhibit Type IV isotherm indicating mesoporous materials. The BET surface area value showed an increasing trend with increasing mass of BDBA used. The highest BET surface area was recorded by COF-1 (S3) with a value of 107.9 m

2

/g. This sample has the highest amount of micropore volume of 66 % and the lowest average pore diameter of 11.05 nm. XRD patterns revealed sharp peaks indicating a crystalline structure and the peak positions matched well with other works available in literature. The difference in intensities however was due to the exposure of the samples to atmosphere resulted in the re-formation of COF-1 structure onto BDBA structure.

In this study, two different wt% of H

3

PW

12

O

40

/ZrO

2

catalysts were synthesized, characterized and screened for the synthesis of γ-valerolactone (GVL) from D-glucose. The catalysts involved were 10 % H

3

PW

12

O

40

/ZrO

2

and 15 % H

3

PW

12

O

40

/ZrO

2

prepared through wet

impregnation

Impregnation

method. Catalyst characterization using FTIR, BET and NH

3

-TPD revealed that the catalytic performances were dominantly influenced by the acid sites of the catalyst in the production of Levulinic acid (LA) from D-glucose via acid hydrolysis reaction. High acidity greatly influenced the catalytic performance for the production of GVL. These catalysts were tested based on five sets of reaction time (8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 h) at a fixed temperature of 180 °C with 1:1 catalyst to feedstock ratio. 10 % H

3

PW

12

O

40

/ZrO

2

exhibited high performance at 16 h of reaction time with 22.3 % yield compared to 15 % H

3

PW

12

O

40

/ZrO

2

with only 14.8 % yield of GVL.

Carbon cryogel (CC) has been synthesized from commercial lignin with furfural via acid catalyzed

sol-gel

Solgel

polycondensation reaction step. Freeze drying and carbonization were performed on the gels for preparation of the CC. Effect of water and H

2

SO

4

concentration on carbon synthesis was studied where lignin to water (L/W) ratio and acid concentration of 1.0 and 8 M, respectively were found suitable for CC synthesis. The selected CC exhibited higher thermal stability which can be used in thermal reaction process. CC has potential as super acid solid catalyst with acidity and surface area of 14.07 mmol/g and 330.35 m

2

/g, respectively for esterification of free fatty acid to produce 91.3 wt.% FAME yield.

CeZrO

2

nanocatalysts doped with three transition metals of Cu, Ni and Co were synthesized via sequence method of microemulsion and deposition-precipitation method. The

crystallinity

Crystallinity

phase was studied by using X-ray diffraction (XRD) while the textural analysis was performed by N

2

adsorption desorption analysis. XRD results exhibited the transition metals peaks were detected on the CeZrO

2

pattern. N

2

adsoption–desoption depicted that Ni/CeZrO

2

produced higher BET surface area of 35.19 m

2

/g as compared to Cu/CeZrO

2

and Co/CeZrO

2

. Therefore, this result suggested that the CeZrO

2

nanocatalyst doped with Ni has a great potential to enhance the catalytic activity.

Solid Polymer Electrolyte (SPEs) composed of cellulose acetate (CA) doped with different stoichiometric ratio of ammonium iodide (NH

4

I) was study. Alternating current impedance spectroscopy was carried out in the frequency range between 50 Hz and 1 MHz at room and elevated temperatures. The highest ionic conductivity obtained from the complex impedance spectra of the order of 10

−4

S cm

−1

at room temperature with the polymer-salt composition of CA (75 wt%):NH

4

I (25 wt%). Temperature dependence of the conductivity for all samples studied was of the Arrhenius type. Modulus formalism analysis verified the samples are ionic conductor and was confirmed by electronic transference number. X-ray diffraction spectral analysis showed the introduction of doping salt was decreased the degree of crystallinity of polymer host.

The effect of new corrosion inhibitors, namely

N

-(2-methoxyphenyl)-

N’

-(2-methylbenzoyl) thiourea (A1).

N

-(3-methoxyphenyl)-

N’

-(2-methylbenzoyl)thiourea (A2),

N

-(4-methoxyphenyl)-

N’

-(2-methylbenzoyl)thiourea (A3) and

N

-(2-methylbenzoyl)-

N’

-phenylthiourea (A4) on mild steel in 1.0 M H

2

SO

4

with variation concentrations of inhibitors: 1 × 10

−5

, 1 × 10

−4

and 1 × 10

−3

M was tested by using weight loss method and linear polarization resistance (LPR) technique. These compounds were characterized using elemental analyser, FTIR,

1

H and

13

C NMR spectroscopy. Result obtained for IR showed the important bands of thiourea compound such as ν(N–H), ν(C=O), ν(C–N) and ν(C=S) which were observed around 3200, 1670, 1250 and 700 cm

−1

. The

1

H chemical shifts for CONH and CSNH had been observed around 11 and 12 ppm respectively. For the

13

C resonance, the signal of C=O and C=S had been observed at 180 and 206 ppm. The presence of the inhibitors significantly reduced the corrosion rate of the mild steel. The most promising inhibitors action is at 1 × 10

−3

M and was achieved by compound A1 where the inhibition efficiency is 82.4–86.2 %. The effectiveness of the compounds was affected by the presence and absence of methoxy as the substituents in the compounds.

Microbial fuel cells (MFC) is a bio-electrochemical device that converts organic substrate into electricity by electrogenic bacteria. In the MFC, anode compartment plays an important role in achieving high power density and thereby improving the cell performance. In this study,

Geobacter sulfurreducens

was used as a biocatalyst to catalyze the generation of electricity by using acetate as an oxidizing agent and sodium fumarate as a reducing agent. The polarization curve was determined after MFC system was reached at open circuit voltage (OCV) around 0.80 V and gives maximum power production of about 0.22 mW. The cyclic voltammetry (CV) method was performed in order to evaluate the oxidation and reduction processes in a batch of MFC before and after attachment of

Geobacter sulfurreducens

cells and it was proved by scanning electron microscope (SEM) images. Overall, this study provides a convenient way for evaluating the performance of MFC.

Industrially useful surfactants such as alkyl polyglucosides (APGs) and synthetic branched-chain glycosides are interesting biosurfactants and offer an interesting insight into life-science applications. Hence, research presented here a study of the thermotropic and lyotropic phase of 2-hexyldecyl

β

-D-maltoside (

β

-Mal-C

10

C

6

) and the corresponding 2-decyltetradecyl

β

-D-maltoside (

β

-Mal-C

14

C

10

) over a range of temperatures (0–80 °C). Small-angle X-ray diffraction (SAXS) and optical polarizing microscopy (OPM) have been used to characterize the mesophase behaviour. This study has shown that in dry conditions

β

-Mal-C

10

C

6

and

β

-Mal-C

14

C

10

adopt a lamellar crystalline phase (L

c

), on the other hand, in excess water these compounds form a fluid lamellar phase (L

α

) upon heating and cooling. The study also reported the effects of temperature (0–80 °C) on the d-spacing value using SAXS, and we estimated the surface area per molecule and water content of the fluid lamellar phase (L

α

) in the fully hydrated state for both

β

-Mal-C

10

C

6

and

β

-Mal-C

14

C

10

. The former gave the surface area per molecule and water content of 57 Å

2

and 25 wt % respectively, however, the latter forms 69 Å

2

and 20 wt %.

The preparation and characterization of Unsaturated Polyester Resin (UPR) filled recycled Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) composite systems were systematically investigated. Additives such as Alumina and Organic Nano-crystal (ONC) were added to the composite for infrared reflection enhancement. The effect of different weight percentage of additive on the thermo-physical properties, e.g. thermal conductivity and physical density were determined. The fabricated composite undergoes thermal analysis by using a hand-held thermal probe which yield thermal conductivity, thermal resistivity and heat capacity data for analysis. The results obtained from comparing the use of ONC additive against alumina addition in the composite system revealed and concluded that ONC could impart better heat insulation to the studied composite using a lower concentration. It can be inferred that this is might be due to alumina being a metal oxide, which are more heat conductive compared to ONC. Further studies on the material can be done to determine the actual mechanism of how ONC and Alumina enhances thermal insulation by reducing thermal conductivity and increasing heat capacity of the composite.

Equipment failures play significant roles in most accidents that occur and recur in the chemical process industry. Many risk reduction strategies were applied to prevent these accidents but the accidents keep on happening. In this study, 50 equipment-related accidents are analyzed based on their comprehensive accident investigation reports, retrieved from several accident databases to determine the preferred accident prevention strategies of the industry. Based on the analysis, 91 % out of 590 recommended corrective actions are procedural strategies. Other layers of hierarchy of controls are only 9 % i.e. active-engineered (3.4 %), inherently safer (3.1 %), and passive-engineered (2.5 %). An analysis using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) shows a significant relationship exists between the groups of hierarchy of controls. By emphasizing on the most reliable group of hierarchy of controls for equipment failures prevention such as inherently safer, passive-engineered, and active-engineered accident prevention strategies, the preference for procedural strategies in the industry may be reduced.

In this study, the analysis will focus firstly on the analysis of the effect of an increment of explosion yield, η value between 2 and 9 % and its correlation toward the parameter peak side-on overpressure p

o

, the duration of the positive phase t

d

compared to diagnostic features of explosion damage results translated according to criteria developed by V.J. Clancey. Secondly, the aim is to validate the recommended methods of yield factor by Less [

1

] with estimated results (η between 2 and 9 %) by using TNT model in comparison with the physical observation damage of VCE incident impact at Flixborough in 1974.

In order to avoid excessive noise exposure and to improve construction environmental performance, noise should be predicted at the planning stage and appropriate mitigation measures should be implemented. There are various noise prediction methods that have been practiced by the respected parties. The simplest and most recommended method of noise prediction is the procedure of BS 5228-1:2009. However, previous studies have claimed that this method was inaccurate because of several factors. Therefore, this study attempts to assess the difference between the prediction using this method and the noise obtained from the measurement. The study was conducted by measuring noise emissions from earthwork, piling work and structural work at selected measurement stations, investigating the individual noise emission of construction equipment and predicting construction noise using the measured data. Several related variables were also measured to identify their effects on outdoor sound propagation. The results of

t

-test showed that all the stations have the significant disparities between prediction and measurement. The highest over prediction of 5 dBA was due to the use of several moving machines during operation processes and high noise emission level of machines. Consequently, this affects the distance between the sound source and the measurement station (geometry factor).

Flame retardancy is an important characteristic in the flame and fire safety field to both prevent and limit the effects of material ignition and flame consumption. The preparation and characterization of Unsaturated Polyester Resin (UPR) filled recycled Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) composite systems were systematically investigated. Additives such as organic nanocrystal (ONC) and silica aerogel powder were added to the composite for imparting suitable characteristics to the composite. The result obtained from comparing the current study against its predecessor reveals Liquid Natural Rubber (LNR) is significantly more flammable than Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) by more than doubled but aerogel utilization can negate this effect. It can be concluded that the use of additive could affect flame retardancy and thermal properties. Further studies of the material can be done in determining and/or confirming the actual mechanisms which ONC and aerogel produces this effect on flammability.

Effective accident prediction is needed in the chemical process industries to facilitate risk management during plant operations. The unavailability of data impeded the process for accident modelling. This article discusses the use of grey model in predicting accidents in data-scarce environment. The model used is a first order single variable, i.e., G(1, 1) and is applied to a vessel and a CSTR case studies. The results obtained are compared to that of Poisson–Gamma model. Results show that G(1, 1) is more accurate compared to the Poisson model that exhibited underestimation in prediction. It is concluded that the use of G(1, 1) can represent the CPI deviations with better accuracy, and it can replace the use of Poisson model especially when some of its weaknesses are overcome.