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Browsing Theses & Dissertations by Department "Universiti Malaysia Perlis"
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PublicationComplexity factors in influencing the relationship between critical success factors and performance of building refurbishment projects( 2019)Building is an important sector of today’s human life, where it meets the basic needs of modern humans for shelter and as a place for social activity and also to protect from the environmental threat. The importance of this sector is growing in line with the increasing number of population in need of new building development. Unfortunately, the high demand for new building development has become increasingly difficult due to the limited of vacant land available for development as a building development project. Consequently, refurbishment of existing buildings is one way to overcome this issue. However, recent studies have found that the success of the building refurbishment project is still not satisfactory. Previous studies have been conducted to determine the Critical Success Factors of building refurbishment projects, but they do not take into account important aspects of current development namely sustainability, technology and policy as well as Complexity Factors that are synonymous with building refurbishment projects compared to new building projects. Therefore, this study was conducted with the aim of establishing a multi-dimensional model of a building refurbishment project. To achieve this, Critical Success Factors are identified taking into account the sustainability, technology and policy aspects as well as Complexity Factors in influencing the building refurbishment project performance success. In this regard, the study was conducted through a quantitative method using the questionnaire form as a research medium to obtain feedback from the construction organization on the Critical Success Factors and the successful performance of the building refurbishment project. The questionnaire developed was distributed by employing self-administered method among managers to represent construction organizations operating in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. As a result, 204 of the 240 questionnaires were fully completed. The analysis showed that all of the Critical Success Factors were categorized as critical to the success of the building refurbishment project and even had a strong relationship with the success of the building refurbishment project. The study also found that Complex Factors not only directly influence the success of the building refurbishment project but also have a significant impact on the relationship between the four Critical Success Factors and the success of the building refurbishment project namely project management, environment, economic and policy. Overall, this study met the goals and objectives of the study. Finally, this study outlines strategies that can be implemented by construction organizations that carry out building refurbishment projects not only to achieve better project success but also to impact the construction industry on leading a competitive industry and creating a better human environment
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PublicationContaminants’ immobilisation of incinerated air pollution control residue and rubber sludge using respectively Calcium Aluminate cement and ordinary portland cement with rice husk ash via stabilisation/solidification technique( 2014)Treatment of incinerated wastes has become a challenge as the production of these wastes increased each year which become source of hazard to human and ecosystem. Corresponded to that, the first stage of experiment was to treat air pollution control (APC) residue from municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration using two types of calcium aluminate cements (CAC) known as Secar 71 and Ciment Fondu. While the second stage of experiment focused on the treatment of local incinerated waste from rubber gloves industry known as incinerated rubber sludge (IRS) using combination of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) and rice husk ash (RHA) mixtures which comprises of 50% rice husk activated carbon and 50% rice husk ash. The aim of this research is to immobilise heavy metals and non hazardous contaminants such as chlorides and sulphates within these wastes using stabilisation/solidification (S/S) technique. The objectives of this study were to study the effects of waste and RHA addition to compressive strength, to assess the effectiveness of RHA in immobilising the contaminants via analysing the leaching pattern and also to evaluate the stability and disintegration of the mineral phases from the stabilised/solidified sample. Series of factorial design were used to prepare mix formulations for CAC and OPC sample batches. As for APC residue treated with CAC, the focused is more towards incorporating the chlorides and sulphates in respective minerals known as Friedel’s salt and ettringite. Treatment of IRS using OPC was aided by including mixtures of RHA to functional as activated carbon and provide high silica content for enhancing sample strength. Findings on first stage of experiment show that, Friedel’s salt and ettringite were able to be formed successfully to immobilise chloride and sulphate. Whereas the second stage of experiment revealed that, there was reduction in terms of heavy metals and chlorides concentration that leached out from stabilised/solidified sample containing incinerated rubber sludge as RHA been incorporated into the batch samples as compared to OPC with IRS alone. Sulphates were able to be fully immobilised in the presence of RHA in the sample. In terms of unconfined compressive strength, most of the RHA addition batch samples have shown remarkable results as all compressive strength findings surpassed the minimum requirement of sanitary disposal which was at 1 MPa even at 50% waste addition or 1:1 waste to binder ratio. These findings have derived to conclusion that RHA is an excellent material to be included in hazardous waste treatment using S/S whereby the treated waste is also suitable to be reconsidered and utilised as secondary material for construction such as underneath road fillers or base foundation.
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PublicationDevelopment of aerobic granular sludge using industrial latex wastewater( 2015)An attempt of developing aerobic granules using industrial latex wastewater sludge was conducted. Optimization of cycling time were investigated and assessment of the effect of fluctuating organic loading was performed. Subsequently followed by investigation of physical characteristics of a stable aerobic granules under inconsistent and constant organic loading. Finally, aerobic granular sludge produced was then characterized by a height to diameter ratio (H/D) of 2.7 and 14. Experimental investigation was conducted in sequencing batch reactors R1, R2, R3 and R4 with cycling time of 4 hours after selection of cycling time was conducted based on preliminary investigation. Four batches of experiment were performed to support the objectives of this study. Similar size of sludge flocs was inoculated to all four reactors with reactor configuration of 2.7 and 14 together with various organic loading rate. R1 and R3 was introduced to real latex wastewater with varying chemical oxygen demand (COD) loadings from as low as 0.01 to 0.28 kgCOD/m3/d. However, granules in R1 were cultivated with superficial air velocity (SAV) of 4.25 cm/s, whereas granules R3 utilized SAV of 1.1 cm/s. R2 and R4 was fed with synthetic wastewater with consistent COD loadings of 0.07 kgCOD/m3/d but with different application of SAV. All four reactors achieve granulation, although granules developed in R1 and R3 is bigger and denser than in R2 and R4. But when compared to granules grown in R1 and R3, R2 and R4 granules were less compact and smaller in size. R2 and R4 granules can reach granule size of 0.2 to 0.6 mm within 210 days, compared to R1 and R3 granules that can only developed up to 4.75 mm within 150 days. This result shows significant difference between R1 and R3 with R2 and R4 granules, and that COD loadings appear to be a crucial factor for complete granulation. When R1 granules were compared to granules in R3, an apparent difference of granules characteristics were observed with a high average settling velocity (SV) value in R3 than in R1. On the other hand, R2 and R4, displayed unstable development of granules throughout the study but stable reactor performance after formation of granules. Utilization of a constantly low organic loading rate (OLR) does not seem to favour a stable granules formation, although high height to diameter ratio was applied to enhance the SAV within the reactor in order to intensify shear force optimizing the formation of a more stable and compact granules.
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PublicationOzonation and advanced oxidation process of wastewater containing azo dye( 2016)Ozonation (O3) and AOP involving O3/H2O2 have been considered as an emerging technology for degradation of dyes in textile and dyestuffs industrial effluent. However, the comparative performance of these processes for dye removal is remains unclear. Therefore, the performance of O3 and O3/H2O2 processes for azo dye removal in industrial effluent was evaluated in this study. The specific objectives of the research are to compare the performance of O3 and O3/H2O2 processes for colour, COD and TOC removal, and to evaluate the effect of initial concentration and initial pH on the performance of O3 and O3/H2O2 processes. The dyes used were Reactive Black 5 (RB5), Remazol Brilliant Blue (RBB), Reactive Green 19 (RG19) and Reactive Red 120 (RR120). The experiments of O3 and O3/H2O2 processes were conducted in a semibatch reactor originated from cylindrical glass reactor. The result shows that the colour removal of RB5, RBB, RG19 and RR120 in O3/H2O2 treatment was slightly higher than O3 treatment for ozonation time less than 5 minutes and the comparison value approximately only 0.5 %. Moreover, complete colour removal was achieved for ozonation time more than 5 minutes in both processes. The significant removal efficiency of both O3 and O3/H2O2 processes showed that both processes are efficient for colour removal of reactive dyes.
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PublicationRecycling of municipal solid waste incineration ash as raw material in cold-bonded lightweight aggregate( 2021)This study focusses on the development of new lightweight aggregate (LWA) that eventually have comparable properties with existing natural aggregate which is granite. The main objective of this study is to examine potential use of recycled municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) ash as raw material in LWA production with a method of cold-bonded pelletization process. The ashes are collected from Cameron Highland Incineration Plant, Malaysia that can be divided into bottom ash (BA) and fly ash (FA). The properties of BA and FA are studied by means of X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and apparent density test. The LWA is denoted as bottom ash lightweight aggregate (BALA) and fly ash lightweight aggregate (FALA). Both BALA and FALA have experienced two different curing process for 28 days namely room-room (RR) and room-water (RW) curing conditions. The percentage of BA and FA used in this study were 10 %, 20 %, 30 %, 40 % and 50 % of partial cement replacement and the size of aggregate is fixed between 10 mm to 20 mm with circular shape. The properties of BALA and FALA produced in this study is examined including loose bulk density, water absorption, aggregate impact value (AIV) and specific gravity. Other physical properties including colour and texture are also being investigated. Potential use of BALA and FALA in concrete is investigated by selecting optimum samples of both aggregates to be incorporated in the manufacturing of semi-lightweight aggregate concrete (SLWAC). 30 specimens of SLWAC were produced having water-cement ratio of 0.5 and percentage of aggregate replacement is fixed at 20 %. Characteristics of SLWAC were examined including workability, density, water absorption, capillary water sorption, ultra-pulse velocity (UPV), compressive strength and permeability. Distribution of BALA and FALA in SLWAC is examined through cut-section of concrete. From the results of LWA it is clearly seen that 20 % BA and 20 % FA were the best percentage of ash used to produce good quality LWA. Loose bulk density of BALA selected is 739.53 kg/m3 with water absorption 20 % and AIV 13.94 %. Meanwhile, for FALA, optimum percentage is as follows; loose bulk density 716.72 kg/m3, water absorption is 19.7 %, AIV 13.80 % and specific gravity 1.670. However, for SLWAC, the results show that by incorporating BALA and FALA in the concrete improved the workability of concrete. The obvious impact due to the reduction of loose bulk density in LWA can be evident by the reduction of apparent density of SLWAC. Compressive strength of FASLWAC is comparable with NWC. Well-distributed BALA and FALA in concrete specimens is believed to contribute to the properties of SLWAC.
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PublicationRemoval of dyes from industrial effluents using combination of Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) and biological treatment( 2014)Nowadays, the removal of dyes from industrial effluents is still far away to a satisfactory solution. Even though the AOPs are known strong technologies for wastewater treatment, it still requires further advancement and extent. Hence, a new promising treatment is their combination with biological treatment, by taking the advantages of the individual potentials. Therefore, this research evaluated four treatment techniques, namely ozonation, ozone/hydrogen peroxide (O3/H2O2), ultraviolet/hydrogen peroxide (UV/H2O2), and a combination of ozonation-biological for synthetic dyes, consist of monoazo Methyl Orange (MO), disazo Reactive Red 120 (RR120) and anthraquinone Reactive Blue 19 (RB19). Finally, the treatments are evaluated with batik wastewater as a real wastewater sample from industries. The finding revealed that ozonation, O3/H2O2, UV/H2O2, and ozonation-biological become an effective treatment for monoazo, disazo, anthraquinone, and real wastewater. The treatments accomplish, under appropriate conditions, a full decolourization and a substantial mineralization. However, O3/H2O2 and ozonation works well with the dyes, in contrast to UV/H₂O₂. It reveals that complete decolourization by ozonation and O3/H2O2, with less than 20 min contact. Two decolourization curves of ozonation and O3/H2O2 almost overlapped suggesting that H2O2 hardly affects decolourization rate. Contrariwise, it takes more than 60 min for complete decolourization with UV/H₂O₂ for RR120, but requires more than 120 min for MO and RB19. Nevertheless, there was a significant difference for COD and TOC removals. It is apparent that O₃/H₂O₂ showed higher removal, suggesting that the presence of H₂O₂ promote the oxidation reaction. The final COD removal of O₃/H₂O₂ reached 100% within less than 10 min for RR120 and RB19, while 15 min for MO. Likewise, the higher TOC removal was observed for O₃/H₂O₂ in comparison to ozonation and UV/H₂O₂. On the whole, the COD removal was similar to TOC removal for each treatment. It is obvious that high decolourization from the start of biological was contributed from ozonation pre-treatment. In addition, the results indicate that 59.6 and 69.4% COD removal from ozonation and ozonationbiological, respectively for MO. While, resulted about 40.7 and 72.9% removal for RR120, and 51.4 and 59.8% for RB19, respectively. Thus, it represents small organic molecules that contribute considerably to the COD that cannot be completely removed by ozonation-biological treatment. Similar to COD, the results indicate that 49.1 and 73.7% TOC removal from ozonation and ozonation-biological, respectively for MO. While it leads to 39.3 and 64.3% removal for RR120 and 37.5 and 70.8% removal for RB19, respectively. It is clear that the biological further degrades the dyes from ozonation. In addition, each dye shows different decolourization pattern and degradation behaviour according to its chemical structure. The change in UV-vis and FT-IR spectra indicated the evidence of dye structure cleavage and intermediates formation. While, the NO₃-, SO₄2- and Cl- anions formed indicate dye mineralization. The decolourization conform first-order kinetics, with R2 values greater than 0.92. The O₃/H₂O₂ performs better with the batik wastewater, as compared to ozonation and UV/H₂O₂. Therefore, the results for synthetic wastewater support its application for real wastewater, even though the batik wastewater was more difficult to be decolourized and degraded because of its complex composition.
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PublicationStudy on the potential of repair fire-damaged reinforced concrete beams using ultra high performance concrete with curing at ambient temperature( 2016)Fire-damaged reinforced concrete structure requires repair work to improve its serviceability and prevent structural failure. The intense fire exposure on the structure deteriorates its strength and durability. Fire-damaged concrete structure was normally repaired using the shotcrete and normal strength concrete as practised previously. In experimental work, usage of fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) as repair material to retrofit or wrap around the fire-damaged concrete indicates improve strength but has lower effect on stiffness. This study used Ultra High Performance Concrete (UHPC) as repair material. UHPC composed of fine size aggregate, cement, silica fume and superplasticizer. Another composition of UHPC that also includes steel fibre is considered as ultra high performance fibre reinforced concrete (UHPFRC). This material has an excellent mechanical properties compared to high strength concrete and steel fibre in the UHPFRC enhances its ductility behaviour. Contrary to normal practise of curing regime for UHPC, this research adopted ambient temperature curing instead of high temperature curing. This is to ease the application of UHPC on site. The aim of this research is to repair fire-damaged reinforced beam concrete with 2 types of material which is UHPC and UHPFRC. UHPC which does not incorporate steel fibre in the mix was laid on compressive face of fire-damaged beam sample. UHPC is considered as economical compared to UHPFRC and aimed to repair fire-damaged beam as additional layer of compression. UHPFRC has steel fibre in the mix and is placed on tensile face of fire-damaged beam. UHPFRC is aimed to repair the fire-damaged sample as additional tensile layer of composite structure. Assessment is made based on flexural strength, peak load capacity, toughness and elastic stiffness to evaluate the suitability of UHPC as repair material. Repair of 400°C fire-damaged samples using UHPC fully regained its original peak load capacity and toughness. Repair of 400°C fire-damaged samples using UHPFRC fully regained its original flexural strength, peak load capacity and toughness. Repair of 600°C fire-damaged samples using UHPC and UHPFRC failed to fully rehabilitate its peak load capacity, flexural strength, elastic stiffness and toughness. In conclusion, UHPC of 20mm thickness is not viable as repair material for fire-damaged concrete.
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PublicationThe direct and catalytic pyrolysis of rice straw( 2010)A study of the catalytic pyrolysis on rice straw was carried out in a fixed-bed reactor. The work objectives were to determine the influences of pyrolysis parameters i.e pyrolysis temperature, heating rate and holding time on distribution of product yield. The optimization process was analyzed by employing central composite rotatable design (CCRD) in response surface methodology (RSM). The catalysts used in this research were zeolite ZSM-5 and dolomite. The catalytic pyrolysis was carried out based on optimized condition of bio-oil yield. The characterization of pyrolysis product between non-catalytic and catalytic pyrolysis were investigated, by elemental, spectroscopic and chromatographic techniques. The char yield produced from pyrolysis process was high at low heating rates, while the gas yield produced was high at higher temperature and longer holding time. The experimental value of the optimum bio-oil yield was 27.62% as compared to the predicted value which bio-oil yield was 27.87% at pyrolysis temperature of 450 oC, heating rate of 77.63 oC/min and holding time of 2.61 min by using optimization process in the Design Expert (DOE) software. The chemical characterization studies of uncatalysed bio-oil derived from pyrolysis of rice straw contained considerable amounts of carbonyl and oxygenated compound, resulting in higher oxygen content in elemental composition and low pH value. Used of zeolites ZSM-5 and dolomite caused an increase in gas yields and a decrease in bio-oil yields. The product yields and the quality of the produced bio-oil were affected by the used of catalyst. The major improvement in the quality of liquid product with the use of catalyst was the increase of phenol concentration (useful chemicals) and the reduction of some corrosive acids which are undesirable compound in bio-oil. Dolomite catalyst having the most impacts than zeolite ZSM-5 in removing some of aldehyde and ketone compounds which are responsible for the thermal or storage stability. The influence of the zeolite ZSM-5 and dolomite catalyst used in this study caused only enhancement of liquid production in terms of quality but not the bio-oil produced.
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PublicationThe effectiveness of successful maintenance management in public hospital building( 2017)Building maintenance is an important aspect in facility management and should be given particular emphasis especially for complex buildings such as hospital so that it can operate at an optimal level. Despite the concern of the government to allocate a sum of budget for aspects such as building maintenance, the level of maintenance management for public buildings are still unsatisfactory and ineffective. The same problem also arises in public hospitals where poor performance showed by the appointed contractors in the aspects of maintenance management. According to the survey results, various other factors influenced the effectiveness and success of facility management in hospital buildings. But these factors can be summarized into three main constructs namely 1) individual factors, 2) maintenance aspects and 3) administrative and organizational factors. Hence, this study aims to identify the key indicator of the effectiveness and key success of the implementation of maintenance management in public hospitals, evaluating the relationship between the effectiveness and successful maintenance management of public hospitals and factoring the dimension of maintenance management effectiveness in public hospitals. A survey approach has been chosen as the method for data collection and the target respondents in this study are composed of the maintenance managers in the hospitals in the Northern region of Peninsular Malaysia which are maintained by Edgenta Mediserve Sdn Bhd. Self-administration techniques has been used to carry out the set of questionnaire to the 32 maintenance managers in public hospitals in the Northern region and all survey questions sets have been successfully completed by the respondents. Descriptive analysis have been used to determine the effectiveness and successful maintenance management in public hospitals. Descriptive analysis results of the key indicator of the effectiveness of maintenance management in public hospitals showed that all constructs are considered as important and significant and accepted as a key indicator in the maintenance management of public hospitals. While the analysis results of the key success of maintenance management in public hospitals found that the six dimensions namely failure, reliability of equipment, time, quality, maintenance cost and safety are very important and accepted as the key success of maintenance management of public hospitals. Next, the relationship between the effectiveness and successful maintenance management had been achieved by using Pearson correlation and found that all three constructs have a great relationship with the successful maintenance management in public hospitals. The final analysis conducted for factoring the dimensions of maintenance management effectiveness is known as factor analysis. Result of the analysis found that three initial constructs are 1) individual factors, 2) maintenance aspects, 3) administration and organizational factors have formed two new constructs which are 1) administrative and organizational factors and 2) technical aspects. Overall, these findings are consistent with the findings of previous studies.
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