Mazlan Ibrahim

Scavenging behaviour of meranti sawdust in the removal of methylene blue from aqueous solution.

Meranti (Philippine mahogany) sawdust, an inexpensive material, showed strong scavenging behaviour through adsorption for the removal of methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solution. Batch studies were performed to evaluate and optimize the effects of various parameters such as contact time, pH, initial dye concentrations and adsorbent dosage. Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin isotherms were used to analyze the equilibrium data at different temperatures. The experimental data fitted well with the Langmuir adsorption isotherm, indicating thereby the mono layer adsorption of the dye. The monolayer sorption capacity of meranti sawdust for MB was found to be 120.48, 117.64, 149.25 and 158.73 mg/g at 30, 40, 50 and 60 degrees C, respectively. Thermodynamic calculations showed that the MB adsorption process is endothermic and spontaneous in nature. Kinetic studies showed that the adsorption followed a pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The results indicated that the meranti sawdust could be an alternative material in place of more costly adsorbents used for dye removal.

Effect of pretreatment using microorganism on production of pulp from oil palm trunk

Abstract Evaluation on the production of pulp from oil palm trunk (OPT) using microorganism was investigated based on pulp yield, screened pulp yield, kappa number and strength of the paper produced. The fungi used were Aspergillus sp., fungal strain from rubberwood and white rot fungi. Fungal growth was measured in radial extension of the mycelium. The OPT chips were exposed to various fungi between 9 and 36 days and then the chips were pulped mechanically. Pulp yield and screened pulp yield decreased as the exposure time to microorganism increased. However, the kappa number became lower after longer exposure, while the paper strength increased. Micromorphological structure of wood chips and pulp produced were analysed using SEM. It was found that these fungal species were well colonised in OPT chips especially in vessel elements. The reaction time and fungal species were in general relative to the properties and yield of the resultant pulps.