Ahmad Tarmizi Abdul Karim

Size Distribution Analysis of Kaolin Using Laser Diffraction Technique

Kaolin is widely used in ceramic, paper, and pharmaceutical industries. The suitability use of kaolin in industries will depend on its physical and chemical properties. The physical and chemical composition of Kaolin is dependent on its geological origin, geographic source and processing. Processed kaolin available in the market is normally graded by the manufacturer based on its physical and chemical composition. This paper is focused on the size distribution analysis of nine types/batches of processed kaolin and one raw kaolin soil by using laser diffraction technique (based on Fraunhofer diffraction theory) in accordance to BS ISO 13320:2009. The laser diffraction technique is widely used in the powder industries in determining the particle size distribution because of its simplicity and its repeatability. All the specimens were pre-sieved with a sieve of 2mm aperture size. The effective size, uniformity coefficient and coefficient of curvature of the material were also calculated to facilitate the size distribution analysis. The findings of this paper are expected to benefit industries in which size the distribution of the kaolin will directly or indirectly contribute to its suitability use.

The Effectiveness of Pseudomonas putida Atcc 49128 as Biodegradable Agent in Biodiesel Soil Contamination

Soil contamination has become a major problem because of the large amounts of manmade pollutants and chemicals that have been put into the environment. This study aims to determine the growth rate of Pseudomonas putida to treat soil that has been contaminated with pure biodiesel, B100. The effectiveness on bioremediation have been conducted by examined several physico-chemical tests for biodiesel-contaminated soil before and after seeding with Pseudomonas putida. The physico-chemical tests involved were pH, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfate and organic carbon. The experimental results show that after 20 days pure culture Pseudomonas putida able to remove approximately 69 % of nitrogen, 27 % of sulphate, however, no removal for phosphate and organic carbon. The results indicated that the application of this bacterium is suitable for the degradation of nitrogen and sulfate in biodiesel-contaminated soil. The Pseudomonas putida growth has slightly increased from Day 2 (3.0 × 107 CFU/ml) to Day 8 (4.1 × 107 CFU/ml). After Day 8, the amount of Pseudomonas putida slightly starts to deplete until Day 20 (4 × 106 CFU/ml). The available nutrient in the sample is low once the bacterium has used them as source of carbon and energy before Day 8. Overall, this study proved that Pseudomonas putida is the effective microorganism and potentially exploit as useful oil-soil biodegradable agent.

The Effectiveness of Bioremediation Treatment for Diesel-Soil Contamination

Abstract. Soils are increasingly threatened by spillage of petroleum products such as petrol, diesel fuel, gasoline at oil refineries, underground storage tanks and pump stations pipelines. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of Pseudomonas putida as oil-biodegradable agent in soil contaminated with diesel (D100). The effectiveness on bioremediation have been conducted by examined several physico-chemical tests on diesel-contaminated soil before and after seeding with P. putida. The spillage stimulation of D100 was conducted at laboratory scale for 24 days of incubation time. The results show that the bioremediation treatment able to remove up to 82%, 55%, 48%, and 34% of nitrogen, total organic carbon, phosphate, sulfate and, respectively. The pH of soil sample was changed from pH 7.8 (Day 0) to 6.78 (Day 24) after the treatment. Meanwhile, the moisture content in the sample has increased from 39% (Day 0) to 59% (Day 24). All of these results show the good indication of quality improvement of polluted soil after treated with P. putida. It is apparent from the acquired results that the application of P. putida is suitable as effective microorganism and potentially exploits as useful diesel-soil biodegradable agent in polluted soil.

Effect of Humic Acid on Geochemistry Properties of Kaolin

Organic soil is always known as problematic soil because of its engineering properties are inferior from other soft soils and/or because its behaviour may deviate from traditional rules of soil behaviour which makes it difficult to predict and design. Considerable research has been carried out over the years on organic soils, particularly peat soil which consists of various components of organic matter but the effect of particular organic matter is less reported. Hence, this study is carried out to determine the effect of humic acid (a kind of humified organic matter) on kaolin (which is widely studied). This paper addresses the influence of humic acid (30% and 50% of dry mass) on kaolins geochemistry properties namely Atterberg limits, compaction, specific gravity and Loss on Ignition (LOI). The findings of the study showed that the contents of humic acid had altered the behaviour of kaolin. The loss on ignition increased linearly with the increment of humic acid. However, the specific gravity, maximum dry density and Atterberg limits decreased with addition of humic acid. Atterberg limits decreased as the humic acid increased is believed to be due to the nature of humic acid which precipitated under acidic environment.

Stabilization of Artificial Organic Soil at Room Temperature using Blended Lime Zeolite

Organic content in soil is believed to inhibit formation of reaction products in lime stabilization which resulted in low gain of strength when dealing with organic soils. Zeolite, a kind of pozzolan with high CEC capacity is proposed to be use in this study in order to improve lime stabilization of organic soil. The effectiveness of blended lime zeolite in stabilization of organic soils was investigated by using two types of artificial organic soils with predetermined organic contents. Artificial organic soils were formed by mixing inorganic soil (commercial kaolin) with organic matter (commercial humic acid) at specific ratio. Initial consumption of lime for organic soils was determined in order to determine the minimum percentage of stabilizer required for each soil. Potential influencing factors that might affect the strength such as organic contents, contents of stabilizer, and curing periods were studied. The findings of the study showed that high organic contents and low lime contents resulted in lower gain of strength. However, it is found that slight replacement of lime with zeolite works well with low organic soil at long curing period which resulted in highest strength among all the mixes. Overall, longer curing periods will increase the strength of the soil in the order of 56 days > 28 days > 7 days. Nevertheless, the percentage of strength increment over curing periods is linear with the lime contents, which proved that lime is required for pozzolanic reaction.

Bioremediation of Biofuel-Soil Contamination by Using Pseudomonas putida

Abstract. The commercialization of biodiesel/diesel blends on the market can cause environmental damages due to spills. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of Pseudomonas putida as oil-biodegradable agent in soil contaminated with biodiesel/diesel blend (B20). The effectiveness on bioremediation have been conducted by examined several physico-chemical tests on biodiesel/diesel-contaminated soil before and after seeding of P. putida. The spillage stimulation of B20 was conducted at laboratory scale for 24 days of incubation time. The results show that the bioremediation treatment able to remove up to 82%, 77%, 16%, and 10% of nitrogen, phosphate, sulfate and total organic carbon, respectively. The pH of soil sample was changed from pH 7.45 (Day 0) to 7.25 (Day 24) after the treatment. Meanwhile, the moisture content in the sample has increased from 44.11% (Day 0) to 50.35% (Day 24). All of these results show the good indication of quality improvement of polluted soil after treated with P. putida. It is apparent from the acquired results that the application of P. putida is suitable as effective microorganism and potentially exploits as useful oil-soil biodegradable agent in polluted soil.

Bioremediation of Biodiesel/Diesel Blend (B50) in Soil Contamination by Using Pseudomonas putida

The biodiesel fuels nowadays are attracting worldwide attention as blending components or direct replacements for diesel fuel in conventional diesel engines. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of Pseudomonas putida as oil-biodegradable agent in soil contaminated with biodiesel/diesel blends (B50). The effectiveness on bioremediation has been conducted by examining several physico-chemical tests on biodiesel/diesel-contaminated soil before and after seeding of Pseudomonasputida. The spillage stimulation of B50 was conducted at laboratory scale for 24 days of incubation time. The results show that the bioremediation treatment able to remove up to 82%, 54%, 38% and 10% of nitrogen, sulfate, phosphate and organic carbon, respectively. The pH of soil sample was changed from pH 7.42 (Day 0) to pH 6.38 (Day 24) after the treatment. Meanwhile, the moisture content in the sample has increased from 25.61% (Day 0) to 31.83% (Day 24). All results show the good indication of quality improvement for polluted soil after treated with Pseudomonas putida. It is apparent from the acquired results that the application of Pseudomonasputida is suitable as effective microorganism and potentially useful as oil-soil biodegradable agent in polluted soil.

Reaction Products of Lime Zeolite Stabilized Kaolin Humic Acid

Lime, a traditional calcium based stabilizer, had been widely used in chemical stabilization to improve the strength of soil. Past researches had shown that the major reaction product of lime and soil such as Calcium Silicate Hydrate (CSH) was formed abundantly under the observation of microscopic studies. However, sometimes it will be quite difficult to confirm the existence of CSH phase if solely based on its needle like structures, especially when other rod like structures will also exist. Practically, the recognition of the CSH phase by using XRD spectrum through matching with published data had speed up the process of identification. If the method is viable, then theoretically, the molecular weight ratio of silica and calcium, S/C of CSH gel is specific and can be determined based on its possible chemical compound. Hence, this study was carried out in an attempt to examine the possibility use of its S/C ratio as a quick method to confirm the existence of CSH gel. Two types of artificial organic soils were formed by admixing kaolin (inorganic matter) and humic acid (organic matter) with the ratio of 7:3 and 5:5. Four types of admixtures with different percentages ratio of lime and zeolite (a kind of pozzolan) were used to stabilize the soils. The specimens were cured at elevated temperature of 50°c in order to accelerate the development of reaction products. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope with attached Energy Dispersive Analyzer (FESEM-EDX) was utilized to observe and determine the existence of reaction products and its bulk chemical composition. The S/C ratio of needle like structures were determined and it is found that the S/C ratio fluctuates and varies significantly from one specimen to another. It is believed that due to the limitations of the experimental setup, the EDX analysis can only serve as semi-quantitative and act as a reference guide on the existence of element. Despite of its limitations, the EDX analysis is useful in distinguish the CSH from other structure which is physically un-identical.

Characteristics of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons emissions of palm-biodiesel blends

Abstract Pure diesel fuel and biodiesel/diesel blends are widely used as important materials in manufacturing and transportation industries because of increasing industrialisation rate and consumption of energy worldwide. However, it causes environmental damages because of spills during their extraction, transportation, processing and distribution. The spill simulations with pure diesel and pure palm-biodiesel as well as their blends have been carried out in laboratory, aiming at analysing their polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The spill simulations with pure diesel and pure palm-biodiesel as well as their blends have been carried out in laboratory, aiming at analysing their polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by using chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis. Total 14 compounds of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were found in this study that known as toxicity potential stated by United States of Environmental Protection Agency. The results showed that higher proportion of biodiesel fuel in the mixture resulted lower amount of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Most of quantification limits obtained for all of these compounds exceeded the permitted limits recommended by Netherland, UK and Canada soil quality guidelines.

Strength and Stiffness of Artificial Organic Soil Admixed with Lime Zeolite

Chemical stabilizers especially calcium based stabilizer, namely lime and cement had been widely used to modify and stabilize the soil. Extensive studies were carried out by researchers to improve the effectiveness and cost-benefit of stabilizers by introducing various types of blended lime and cement. Unconfined compressive test (UCT), one of the most simple and quick strength tests, is commonly used by researchers to indicate the suitability and successfulness of newly introduced stabilizer. The aim of this study is to establish the relationship and correlation of unconfined compressive strength and tangent modulus, E at 50% of unconfined compressive strength of artificial organic soil admixed with lime zeolite. Two types of artificial organic soils, which named as Type A and Type B were prepared manually by mixing commercial kaolin with humic acid powder in different percentages. The artificial organic soils were admixed with blended lime zeolite in different ratio and cured for 7, 28 and 56 days in an oven with controlled temperature of 50°c. The strength of the materials were determined by compressing the specimens using a UCT testing frame and the tangent modulus, E50 were calculated by plotting a linear slope at 50% of ultimate strength over stress-strain curve. The findings of the study showed that the strength and E50 are strongly correlated and important as the indicator of rigidity of the material as well as its capability to resist compressive load.