Muhammad S. Abu Bakar

Thermochemical characterisation of Acacia auriculiformis tree parts via proximate, ultimate, TGA, DTG, calorific value and FTIR spectroscopy analyses to evaluate their potential as a biofuel resource

ABSTRACT Continuously increasing energy requirements coupled with environmental pollution have established pressure to utilise lignocellulosic biomass for energy production. Acacia auriculiformis is a fast-growing species capable of accumulating large quantities of biomass without requiring major agricultural inputs. The aim of this research was to investigate the thermochemical properties of its tree parts including phyllodes (leaves), trunk, bark and branches to utilise them as solid fuel to produce bioenergy. Thermogravimetric and derivative thermogravimetric (TGA and DTG ) analyses were performed to study the biomass degradation behaviour, which showed the decomposition of biomass in three major stages corresponding to the decomposition of hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin components. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis was carried out to determine the functional groups. Proximate analysis showed the weight percentages of moisture contents, volatile matter, fixed carbon and ash contents as 7.25–9.27%, 61.79–73.28%, 16.50–27.92% and 2.13–3.72%, respectively. Ultimate analysis showed the ranges of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen as 44.27–49.41%, 5.3–6.10% and 41.93–49.44% respectively, while lower values of sulphur and nitrogen components were reported which are encouraging from an environmental perspective. Higher heating values (HHV) for the parts were reported to range between 17.85 and 20.93 MJ/kg on a dry basis.

Global PBL for Environmental IoT

Advanced Institute of Industrial Technology has performed the global Project Based Learning (PBL) for environmental IoT with Universiti Brunei Darussalam (Brunei) and Unitec Institute of Technology (New Zealand) in 2015-2016, in order to address environmental monitoring in Brunei. We evaluate the effectiveness of this global PBL from various metrics including questionnaire and GitHub. Finally, we learn some lessons from this global PBL and suggest the direction of future global PBL.

State of the art of smoke and fire detection using image processing

In this paper we present a comprehensive review of the state of the art of smoke and fire detection techniques using image processing. Smoke is a good indicator of a pre-fire condition and many fires are indicators of subsequent dangerous situations due to the spread of fire. In this paper we first start our comparison of smoke detection methods and different types of approaches for the classification of smoke. Furthermore we analyse different types of technologies and various models involve in detection techniques such as RGB and HSI models for detecting smoke and fire. Generally, the false alarm rate can be reduced by image processing through effective types of detection techniques such as vision-based or sensor-based methods. Mainly in this paper, we focus on optimised technologies in order to detect smoke and fire at the earliest possible stage of the event, and smoke and fire detection by satellite vision methods.

Synthesis of La 10 Si 6-2x Bi 2x O 27-x as Possible Electrolyte Materials for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

La10Si6-2xBi2xO27-x (x = 0.22, 0.46 and 0.72) ceramics have been synthesized by the solid-state reaction method. The calcination temperature of La10Si6-2xBi2xO27-x was 900°C for 4 hours and the sintering temperature was 1500°C for 5 hours with the heating and cooling rates of 10°C per minute. Crystal structures of La10Si6-2xBi2xO27-x have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Room temperature XRD patterns of La10Si6-2xBi2xO27-x ceramics doped with Bi3+ show hexagonal apatite structure with space group P63/m as the primary compound with minor appearance of La2SiO5 impurity as the secondary compound. As the bismuth oxide content increased the La2SiO5 impurity also increased. La10Si5.56Bi0.44O26.78 has the highest bulk density of 5.2 gcm-3 and good microstructure compared to La10Si5.08Bi0.92O26.54 and La10Si4.56Bi1.44O26.28.