Tengku Nuraiti Tengku Izhar

Investigation of Noise Reduction Coefficient of Organic Material as Indoor Noise Reduction Panel

Noise can cause a few types of effect to human health especially in hearing like hearing loss. Indoor noise pollution comes from many sources and places. The research focuses on the sound reduction wall surface material rather than any techniques available and using organic material like coconut coir fiber, rice husk and sawdust. These sound reduction material is suitable to apply as interior lining for homes and offices. This research conducted to compare the efficiency of coconut coir fiber, rice husk and sawdust as indoor noise reduction, to evaluate the effectiveness indoor noise level by using wall surface sound reducer material and to determine the best material that will reduce noise level. In preparation of board panel, two binders were used which is polyester resin and hardening catalyst, cement and sand. For board panel using binder of polyester resin and hardening catalyst, the binders were stirred for two minutes. Then, the mixture of polyester resin, hardening catalyst with raw material was mix uniformly. The suppression done for 24 hours in order to obtain a composite outcome that is denser. Then, the ratio for coconut coir fiber, cement and sand is 1.5:0.5:0.5, the same ratio used for sawdust and rice husk and the Noise Reduction Coefficient (NRC) will be determined. The parameter use to determine the NRC and the sound transmission are the frequency, speaker intensity and the distance from the speaker. If not absorbed, the sound can be reflected and this will prevent sound dispersed to other space. The results show rice husk is better with cement binder and sand, while for polyester resin and hardening catalyst binder, sawdust is the best. Therefore, currently organic materials present good alternative to synthetic material providing good health with green environment as well as enhancing natural agricultural and growth.

The influence of calcium supplementation on immobilised mixed microflora for biohydrogen production

This study is aim to study the effect of calcium as supplement in attached growth system towards the enhancement of the hydrogen production performance. The effects of calcium ion for thermophilic biohydrogen production were studied by using a mixed culture, from palm oil mill effluent sludge and granular activated carbon (GAC) as the support material. Batch experiments were carried out at 60°C by feeding the anaerobic sludge bacteria with sucrose-containing synthetic medium at an initial pH of 5.5 under anaerobic conditions. The repeated batch cultivation process was conducted by adding different concentration of calcium at range 0.025g/L to 0.15g/L. The results showed that the calcium at 0.1 g/L was the optimal concentration to enhance the fermentative hydrogen production under thermophilic (60°C) conditions.

A Study of Fire Retardant Effect in Natural Fiber Composite Panels with Magnesium Hydroxide and Zinc Borate as Additives

The objective of this study is to investigate the fire retardancy effect of coconut coir, rice husk and sawdust panels which are incorporated with magnesium hydroxide (Mg (OH)2) and zinc borate (2ZnO∙3B2O3∙3.5H2O) as additives. The natural fiber and additives are mixed and cured for one week, with polyester resin and hardening catalyst as binders. Fire retardancy of these panels are tested according to American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Horizontal (D 365) and Vertical Burning (D 3801) tests. Principle of fire retardants and mechanism of polymer combustion are shown in this study too. The study revealed that the sawdust panels with both additives have the highest fire retardancy compared to rice husk and coconut coir panel with both additives.

A Study on Hydrogen Sulphide as Potential Tracer in Landfill Gas Monitoring

Municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills are one of the major source of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) which is the offensive odours potentially creating annoyance in adjacent communities. This project focuses on H2S emission from landfills in Perlis, Malaysia. Landfill gas (LFG) samples were collected and analyzed accordance with NIOSH method 6013. The mean concentrations of H2S in Kuala Perlis Landfill and Padang Siding Landfill are 210.68 ppm and 242.85 ppm respectively. High concentrations of H2S may be a concern for employees working on the landfill site. These results indicate that workers should use proper personal protection at landfill when involved in excavation, landfill gas collection, and refuse compaction. The formation of H2S most likely to be contributed by the biological conversion of sulfate from gypsum-rich soils and landfill wastewater treatment sludges by sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) which can utilize dissolved sulfate as an electron acceptor. H2S is conveniently detected by hand held analyzer, such Jerome meter, landfill gas analyzer. In the organic range, in the ease of detection range in the dispersion rate within the landfill site, the monitored H2S gas form a very noticeable concentration with the travelling wind direction. It proved that the dispersion rate of H2S are suitable as tracer to detect route of travelling in a certain distance.