Ab Aziz Abdul Latiff

Experimental Study for Phycoremediation of Botryococcus sp. On Greywater

Greywater (GW) is identified as waste disposal from home activites that is discharging from laundry, bath and wash-basin. GW useful in irrigation of a garden and aids to reduce cost as well as maintain the environmental prosperity. This paper discussed the effectiveness of Botryococcus sp. to clean GW in phycoremediation treatment. This process involves as growing the Botryococcus sp. in the GW which is contributing to utilize supplements in GW for its grow. The results indicated that Botryococcus sp. is effective to reduce COD (88%), BOD (82%), TIC (76%), TC (58%), TN (52%), TOC (39%), Phosphate (37.5%) and pH (7%) for 100% concentration of GW. Meanwhile, for the 50% of GW concentration Botryococcus sp. capable to remove such as COD (83%), TIC (82%), BOD (68%), TN (67%), Phosphate (36.8%), TC (34%), TOC (31%) and pH (1.2%). Then, the study concludes that Botryococcus sp. can grow effectively in GW and be able to reduce the rate of nutrient in GW.

Phycoremediation of dairy wastewater by using green microlgae: botryococcus sp.

Dairy wastewater are usually much polluted due to the high level of nutrient content such as phosphate, nitrate, sulfate etc. The pollution level are indicated by few characteristics such as BOD (243 mg/L), COD (324 mg/L), pH (9.08), Total Nitrogen (65.06 mg/L), Total Organic Carbon (143.3 mg/L), Total Carbon (312.9 mg/L) and Inorganic Carbon (169.6 mg/L). In this study, Botryococcus sp., a species of green microalgae are used to determine whether it can purify dairy wastewater. In spite of that, the microalgae growth over phycoremediation process also determined daily based on hemocytometer counting. From 100% concentration of dairy wastewater, Botryococcus sp. was capable to reduce the parameters such as BOD of 73.3%, TOC of 65.1%, TC of 61.4%, IC of 58.3% and COD of 48.8% on the 15 days of phycoremediation. Meanwhile, for the 50% of dairy wastewater, the same microalgae be able to remove the parameter such as phosphate of 78.7%, BOD of 73.8%, TOC of 70%, TC of 68,8%, IC of 59.4% and COD of 50%. The overall result from this study shown that the Botryococcus sp. is useful to reduce the inorganic and organic pollutant in dairy wastewater and could be potential to be used for any different wastewater.

Extraction of hydrocarbons from freshwater green microalgae (Botryococcus sp.) biomass after phycoremediation of domestic wastewater

ABSTRACT This study was undertaken to analyze the efficiency of Botryococcus sp. in the phycoremediation of domestic wastewater and to determine the variety of hydrocarbons derived from microalgal oil after phycoremediation. The study showed a significant (p < 0.05) reduction of pollutant loads of up to 93.9% chemical oxygen demand, 69.1% biochemical oxygen demand, 59.9% total nitrogen, 54.5% total organic carbon, and 36.8% phosphate. The average dry weight biomass produce was 0.1 g/L of wastewater. In addition, the dry weight biomass of Botryococcus sp. was found to contain 72.5% of crude oil. The composition analysis using Gas Chromatogram - Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) found that phthalic acid, 2-ethylhexyltridecyl ester (C29H48O4), contributed the highest percentage (71.6%) of the total hydrocarbon compounds to the extracted algae oil. The result of the study suggests that Botryococcus sp. can be used for effective phycoremediation, as well as to provide a sustainable hydrocarbon source as a value-added chemical for the bio-based plastic industry.

The potential of biodiesel production from Botryococcus sp. biomass after phycoremediation of domestic and industrial wastewater

The aim of the present work is to investigate the capability of microalgae, known as Botryococcus sp. for wastewater phycoremediation and potential biodiesel production. The vertical closed photobioreactors (PBR) were employed and supplemented with domestic wastewater (DW) and food industry wastewater (FW) at different batch of study. The cultivation was conducted under natural outdoor condition for 12 days. The results revealed that the removal of pollutant and nutrients presence in both wastewaters with constantly decrease proportionate to the increase in cultivation time. The chemical oxygen demand (COD), total phosphorus (TP) and total organic carbon (TOC) were successfully removed up to 84.9%, 69.3% and 93.3%, respectively in DW while 96.1%, 35.5% and 87.2%, respectively in FW. The result on FT-IR analysis of microalgae oil was shown comparable with conventional palm oil based biodiesel in term of IR spectra. This study suggests that Botryococcus sp. has tremendous potential in pollutants removal and biodiesel production for renewable energy development.

Growth of microalgae Botryococcus sp. in domestic wastewater and application of statistical analysis for the optimization of flocculation using alum and chitosan

ABSTRACT Microalga biomass has been recognized as a sustainable bio-product to replace terrestrial biomass in biofuel production. The microalga industry has high operating costs, specifically on harvesting and biomass recovery. Therefore, the development of an efficient harvesting method is crucial to the minimization of production cost. A statistical analysis through response surface methodology was used to investigate the optimization of harvesting efficiency using alum and chitosan as a coagulant. Growth rate and biomass productivity were also determined. This research revealed that the harvesting efficiency using alum was 99.3%, with optimum dosage and pH of 177.74 mg L−1 and 8.24, respectively. Chitosan achieved 94.2% biomass recovery at an optimal dosage of 169.95 mg L−1 at pH of 12. Moreover, Botryococcus sp. achieved the maximum growth of 0.7551 µmax d−1, with an average total biomass productivity of 9.81 mg L−1 d−1 in domestic wastewater. Overall, this study shows that both alum and chitosan coagulants have great potential for efficient microalgal biomass recovery. It suggests that domestic wastewater as a potential growth medium for the large-scale production of microalga biomass.

Remediation of Raw Wastewater of Palm Oil Mill Using Activated Cow Bone Powder through Batch Adsorption

The most critical parameter of palm oil mill effluent (POME) is chemical oxygen demand (COD mg/L). The adsorption of COD mg/L from raw POME using activated cow bone powder has been investigated. The raw POME contains 4.786 g/L of COD, which has to be treated effectively before discharge. Batch experiments were conducted at fixed condition of pH, contact time and speed at different weight dosages for different particle sizes of 75, 150 and 300μm. The result obtained showed a similar adsorption pattern for the particle sizes, the optimum removal was obtained at 150 μm at 0.025g/L with 71% removal efficiency, there was no further significant diference after the adsorption at this stage. The BET adsorption model was adopted to describe the experimental isotherm and isotherm constants for the optimum particle size. The equilibrium data fitted well to the BET model. The hydrophobic behaviour of the CBP proved by the WDPT analysis influenced the removal of COD mg/L on CBP.

Application of Google Maps API with Grails Services for Mapping Highway Construction Sites

Most people agreed that Google Maps set the standard for ease of use when it comes to a free online web mapping services. In addition, different map views are available which user can choose from the options of a terrain view, normal map view, or satellite image view based on their needs. Embedding a Google Maps on a website will not only make it more user-friendly but also enable people to access certain location with more ease. This paper intends to introduce the use of this geoinformatics services from Google along with Grails services in creating a simple interactive map for highway construction sites. A discussion will cover up the use of programming interface provided by Google and Grails (open source web application framework) and also the advantages of embedding the map to the website.

Study of metal pollution in Sembrong River, Johor, Malaysia

Sampling of the Sembrong River over a 9-month period revealed maximum total aluminium (Al), ferum (Fe) and manganese (Mn) concentrations of 61.0, 33.0 and 1.5 mg/L, respectively, and pH as low as 2.5, making it one of the most metal- and acid-contaminated rivers in Malaysia. The river serves as a fresh water source to water treatment plants located at the downstream reach of the river, which supplies potable water to more than 500,000 residents in the area. This paper outlines the water quality problems and demonstrates the application of the USEPAs QUAL2E model to the Sembrong River, Malaysia. The results showed that the main source of low pH and metals pollution to the Sembrong River is the acid sulphate soils. The water quality parameters included in the model were conservative minerals, namely Al, Fe and Mn. The model was calibrated and validated using the data collected in 2005.

Potential of Agro Waste-Derived Adsorbent Material for Colour Removal

The potential of Empty Fruit Bunch obtained from palm oil tree as a low-cost adsorbent is a sustainable approach in wastewater treatment. The objective this study to investigate the capability of EFB for removal colour from natural rubber wastewater as well as the influence of adsorbent dosage, pH, shaking speed and contact time. The results of the analysis show that all selected factors exhibit significant effect on removal of colour. Maximum removal (87.1%) for colour was achieved at 3.5 g of adsorbent dosage, pH 7, 150 rpm of shaking speed, 120 min of contact time. The Langmuir isotherm (R2 = 0.9913) described colour adsorption slightly better than the Freundlich isotherm (R2 = 0.9805), suggesting a monolayer adsorption behavior of the adsorption processes

Micro-Peat as a Potential Low-Cost Adsorbent Material for COD and NH3-N Removal

Micro-peat (M-P) was demonstrated in the present study as a potential low cost natural adsorbent for the removal of COD and ammoniacal nitrogen (NH3-N) from landfill leachate. A series of batch experiments were carried out under fixed conditions and the influence of mixture ratio was investigated. The characteristics of leachate were then determined. Results indicated that leachate is non-biodegradable with high concentration of COD (2739.06 mg/L), NH3-N (1765.34 mg/L) and BOD5/COD ratio (0.09). The optimum ratio for activated carbon (AC) and M-P in the removal of COD and NH3-N obtained were at 2.5:1.5 (87%) and 1.0:3.0 (65%) respectively. The low-cost natural adsorbent used in the present investigation is an attractive alternative to the conventional adsorbent (AC). Thus, M-P can be appropriated for use in leachate treatment that could be cost-effective due its local availability and adsorption property.