Shareena Fairuz Abdul Manaf

Yields Performance of Automotive Paint Sludge via Microwave Assisted Pyrolysis

This paper reported on the product yield of automotive paint sludge via microwave assisted pyrolysis. By having an optimum weight sample loading and power level at 500g and 1000W respectively, optimum product in terms of liquid yields has been obtained. This desired liquid product comprised hydrocarbon material since it contains oil layer and almost 40% of the product can be recovered from the automotive paint sludge with an optimum microwave parameter. Furthermore, the liquid product has a potential to be used as fuel since it exhibit high energy content at 22.6 MJ/kg.

Pencirian karbon teraktif menggunakan sistem pengaktifan kimia melalui ketuhar gelombang ultrasonik

Higher adsorption capacities of activated carbon (AC) can be evaluate according to pore volume, porosity and surface area. AC with higher pore volume, porosity and surface area desired in the present study in order to enhance the properties of AC supercapacitor. Thus, the present studies focus on the chemical activation process to increase the characterization of AC. The study was using bamboo waste as a precursor and the activation process was conducted using microwave ultrasonic system. The chemical agent used during the process was KOH and H2SO4. Microwave activation was conducted at intensity 100 W and 300 W for 30 min and sonication frequency was constantly set at 200 Hz for 60 min. The sample was carbonized at temperature of 400 oC and 800 oC using furnace for 2 hours. Then, AC was characterized for surface area using BET analysis and functioning group using FTIR analysis. The results shown the carboxyl, aliphatic, aromatic and phenolic hydroxyl group are present on raw bamboo while new functional group such as alkyl halide and some of some weak bands appeared which analogous with out of plane bending mode of the C-H or O-H group occur for AC. Active surface area and total pore volume of AC supercapacitor in 5M of concentration for H2SO4 and KOH corresponded to 1167 m2/g, 0.724 cm3/g, 740.10 m2/g, 0.462 cm3/g, respectively.

Chemical Engineering students soft-skills in Integrated Project (IP) Part 4

Faculty of Chemical Engineering (FKK) has been implementing Integrated Project (IP) as one of the element in teaching. It is a defined short project formally introduced to combine assignments given by respective lecturers from 3-4 selected courses, mimicking the final year Chemical Engineering Capstone project but students are asked to present the findings in groups. By looking into the results of IP in 2012 and 2013, CDIO has been introduced to overcome issue of unmeasured soft skills, a vital communication aspect for engineers. CDIO has been incorporated by various factors such as disciplinary knowledge, personal and professional skills (problem solving and system thinking), interpersonal skills (communication and teamwork) and CDIO skills (Conceive-Design: experience learning). This paper presents the outcome of soft-skills results on Semester 4 students from Bioprocess Engineering Department (EH222) during their IP presentation in June 2015. Three courses have been involved; Genetic Engineering (CBE 552), Separation (CBE 582) and Chemical Reaction Engineering (CHE 594). Surveys shows that IP4 has been accepted by the students and results vary with implementation as well as students have really shows better soft-skills quality during the IP4 June 2015 through the thorough analysis and focused questions constructed using high-order thinking skill by The Bloom Taxonomy.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae from Baker’s Yeast for Lower Oil Viscosity and Beneficial Metabolite to Improve Oil Recovery: An Overview

This article is an overview of microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) and the potential of Saccharomyces Cerevisiae to be applied in MEOR. MEOR may have same mechanisms with commercial enhanced oil recovery (EOR) but it used biological approach in improving oil recovery. Saccharomyces Cerevisiae produced carbon dioxide and ethanol under anaerobic condition. The carbon dioxide and ethanol that produced by this microbe are two from the six main MEOR agents in improving oil recovery. This articles also discussed on previous MEOR pilot projects that were conducted in Argentina, China and Malaysia.

Optimization of Drying and Extraction Process of Pereskia bleo Leaves in Determining Antioxidant Properties Utilizing Pareto ANOVA

Pereskia Bleo is commonly used among the local traditional medicine practitioners to prevent or treat cancer by consuming the leaves either raw or taken as a concoction brewed from fresh leaves. However, more research, regulation and standardization are required before herbal medicines can be recommended as effective and safe therapies. The objectives of this study are to obtain the optimum drying parameter and to identify the concentrations of phenolic content expressed as gallic acid equivalents (GAEs) in Pereskia bleo leaves. Pareto ANOVA method was used to study the optimum condition and the total phenolic content via F-Test using three samples for variance and three-factor with replication. Taguchi ANOVA was performed using SN ratio with L9 orthogonal array to accommodate the three factor level. The drying time were tested for 3 hours, 4 hours and 5 hours. The result shows that drying time is the significant factor in drying process and followed by drying temperature and solvent volume used. The drying experiments were conducted at operating temperature of 35 °C, 40 °C and 45 °C. While the extraction were conducted at different volume using methanol of 150 ml, 180 ml and 200 ml. The standard curve of total phenolic content was based on the gallic acid compound. The total phenolic content in C2 was at the most suitable for being used as antioxidant for consumption in human body with drying time of 5 hours at 45 °C by using 180 ml of methanol for extraction of P.bleo leaves.

Microwave-Alkali Activation on the Morphology and Structure of Bamboo Activated Carbon

A study was conducted for production of activated carbon (AC) from industrial bamboo waste using carbonization and Microwave-alkali (Mw-A) activation techniques. The aim of the study is to produce activated carbon with higher surface area via Mw-A activation techniques. The study was focused on the effect of activation (KOH soaking and Mw-A) and carbonization temperature (400oC and 500oC) on the physical and chemical structure of AC. The analysis was conducted using proximate analysis, BET surface area, FESEM and FTIR analysis. The morphology and characteristic study on activated carbon shown that Mw-A activation techniques gave higher BET surface area and well develop pore structure. The results indicated that Mw-A activation of activated carbon gave BET surface area of 950m2g-1, whereas by using steam activation only 719 m2g-1 of BET surface area was recorded. Higher carbonization temperature for Mw-A treated bamboo produced higher surface area of AC. At 500oC, 1578m2g-1 BET surface area of AC was achieved. This work highlighted, Mw-A activation can be applied and further enhanced to obtain higher surface area of activated carbon derived from industrial bamboo waste.