Sofiah Hamzah

Preparation and characterization of asymmetric ultrafiltration membrane for effective recovery of proteases from surimi wash water

The wash water generated from the surimi processing industry contains a large amount of proteases which are widely used in the food and biotechnology industries. Asymmetric polysulfone and polyethersulfone ultrafiltration (PSf-UF and PES-UF) membranes with three different polymer concentrations were screened for their abilities to recover proteases from surimi wash water. Inhouse fabricated membranes were prepared via a simple dry/wet phase inversion technique and were characterized in terms of permeability coefficient, membrane morphology and molecular weight cut-off (MWCO). The ability of the UF membranes to remove commercial proteases was tested at various pressures (up to 10 bars). The membrane with the best performance, 15 wt-% PSf-UF, was further tested with actual surimi wash water. The effect of the pH of the feed solution (4 to 8) in the pre-treatment stage was also evaluated to recover the highest amount of proteases. The highest retention of protease was 96% with a flux of 25.6 L/(m2·h) which was achieved with the 15 wt-% PSf-UF membrane.

Green Synthesis and Characterization of Hydroxyapatite from Fish Scale Biowaste

The present study was undertaken to study the effect of calcinate temperature on characteristics of hydroxyapatite synthesized from the fish scale (FHAp). The FHAp calcined at different temperatures starting from 100 up to 300 °C. The structures of FHAP were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction. The analytical results show that the FHAp quality increased as the calcin temperature increased. The FHAp displayed excellent characteristics in term of particle size, morphology and properties and crystalinity after calcined at 300 °C, FHAp 300. From this study, it founded that 300 °C is the lowest calcin temperature could be applied to synthesize high quality of HAp from fish scale biowaste.

Integration of Different Sintering Temperature of Hydroxyapatite and Polyethersulfone Membrane for Fouling Mitigation

This study aimed to investigate the effects of hydroxyapatite integration with polyethersulfone (PES) membrane towards fouling mitigation. PES membrane were modified through self- assembly technique with hydroxyapatite (form fish sclaes) which prepared at different sintering temperatures. This composite membrane were characterized concerning on permeability coefficient, membrane porosity, ATR-FTIR analysis fouling quantification. Overall results showed that PES membrane incorporated with hydroxyapatite sintered at 300°C (PES/FSHAp-300) promoted an excellent characteristics and performance. The membrane demonstrated high permeability coefficient and membrane porosity for about 93.52 L/m2.h and 89.78%, respectively. This kind of membrane was also presented the highest flux recovery ratio around 83.3% and this findings can be a good pathway for the design of low fouling membrane for enzyme separation.

Hydroxyapatite/ Chitosan Biocomposite for Remazol Blue Dyes Removal

This study aimed to synthesis and characterized hydroxyapatite/ chitosan biocomposite for Remazol Blue Dyes Removal. Hydroxyapatite was extracted from egg shell and incooporated with commercial chitosan to improve its mechanical strength and adsorption capacity. The prepared adsorbent was characterized in term of morphology using scanning electron microscope and the presence of funtional group in this biocomposite were confirmed by ATR-FTIR. Performance of hydroxyapatite/ chitosan was evaluted by its efficiency for remazol blue dyes removal. The observed results show that the developed adsorbent achieved the highest adsorption capacity for about 95 % dyes removal. The findings in this study perhaps can be used as a fundamental knowledge for the development of dyes wastewater treatment mainly in textile industry.

Characterization Study of a Highly Specific Affinity Membrane for Trypsin Purification

This study aimed to characterize a highly specific affinity membrane for trypsin separation. The basic membrane was fabricated using 15% polysulfone via phase inversion technique. Membrane surface modification was employed by immersing the native membrane into the chitosan solution for 60 minutes dip times. Further modification was performed to activate the PSf/chitosan hybrid membrane using glutaraldehyde before ligand immobilization. The prepared affinity membrane was characterized in term of morphology using scanning electron microscope and the presence of aldehyde group and ovomucoid were confirmed by ATR-FTIR. Performance of affinity membrane was valuted by adsorption study of trypsin enzyme. The observed results show that the developed affinity membrane, with 0.7 mg/ml ligands was able to adsorb trypsin for about 0.219 mg/cm2 membrane