Sumaiya Zainal Abidin

Reforming of glycerol for hydrogen production over Ni based catalysts: Effect of support type

ABSTRACT This current work focuses on hydrogen production that is a component in syngas by glycerol dry reforming over 15% nickel (Ni) loading supported on different oxides, namely CaO, ZrO2, and La2O3. The screening process was conducted in a fixed-bed reactor at 700°C under atmospheric pressure. It was found that 15% Ni/CaO showed the best performance in screening studies. The effect of temperature and the carbon to glycerol ratio (CGR) was then analyzed for this catalyst. From the analysis, it was seen that 15% Ni/CaO has its optimum condition at 800°C and CGR = 1, where it gives the highest glycerol conversion (XG = 37.66%) and hydrogen yield (YH = 32.45%).

Studies on free fatty acid esterification of used cooking oil: investigation on the performance of sulphonated cation exchange resins

ABSTRACT Used cooking oil (UCO) is one of the potential substitutes for conventional biodiesel feedstock. In this study, different types of macroporous cation exchange resins, namely RCP160M, RCP145H, PK228LH, PK216LH, PK208LH, SK104H and SK1BH, were used as catalysts in the UCO esterification process. These resins were characterised using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), nitrogen physisorption, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), an elemental analyser (CHNS), titration and a particle size distribution (PSD) analyser to determine their physicochemical properties. These catalysts were screened and RCP160M resin was found to give the best catalytic performance. RCP160M was used in subsequent studies focusing on the effect of different esterification variables. A conversion rate of 95% of free fatty acid (FFA) was achieved at the optimum condition with catalyst loading of 4 wt. %, reaction temperature of 60°C, and methanol-to-oil mass ratio of 18:1. RCP160M shows great potential as a catalyst in the biodiesel pre-treatment process as it outperformed the other catalysts and yielded maximum FFA conversion. This may be attributed to its higher specific surface area and total pore volume. The kinetic results revealed that the experimental data was best fitted to the Eley-Rideal model (Case II) with the activation energy of 37.2 kJ mol−1.

Studies on the performance of tubular flow reactor for esterification of free fatty acid from used cooking oil using highly porous cation exchange resin as catalyst

ABSTRACT Semi-batch esterification of free fatty acid (FFA) from used cooking oil with methanol was carried out using RCP160M cation exchange resin in a tubular flow reactor (TFR). The results revealed that the conversion of FFA increased with the increase of catalyst bed height, methanol to oil mass ratio and decreases with increase of feedstock flow rates. However, the FFA conversion was decreased upon further increases of methanol to oil mass ratio from 6:1 to 12:1. This might possibly happen due to several factors such as mass transfer limitation between reactants and catalyst and inhomogeneity of the reactants during the reaction.

Industry Involvement in Undergraduate Research Project for Chemical Engineering (Biotechnology) Programme

This paper reported on industry involvement in Undergraduate Research Project (URP) course. During the final year of study, Chemical Engineering (Biotechnology) (BKB) students were required to conduct a final year project. Undergraduate Research Project (URP) was divided into two which were URP I and URP II. In URP I, students have to prepare a research proposal and URP II was the continuation of URP I. In URP II the students were required to conduct the research and produce the dissertation. Rubrics for each evaluation have been developed to clearly define the assessments. In order to ensure a strong connection between students, staff and industry, BKB students were required to have at least 15% industrially linked/based URP topics. Starting from 2012, the faculty has invited external examiners from research institution and industries to assess students during their URP II presentation seminar. The presentation seminar was successfully conducted with the involvement of 14 industrial academic panels. The panels came from various industries, research institutes and consultation companies such as Petronas, MTBE Malaysia, Bio tropics Malaysia, MOX Gases, FRIM and Sime Darby. Their recommendations and suggestions during the presentation projects have benefited all students and lecturer towards improving their research works. Other than that, the requirement to have at least 15% industrially linked URP topics has strengthened the relationship between the faculty and industry. In addition, several URP projects has been sent for research exhibition, internal and externally.