Now showing 1 - 10 of 13
  • Publication
    Adsorption of basic green 4 onto gasified Glyricidia sepium woodchip based activated carbon: optimization, characterization, batch and column study
    (Scientific Scholar, 2020) ;
    Azam Taufik Mohd Din
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    Nasehir Khan EM Yahaya
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    ;
    Mohd Azmier Ahmad
    The abundance of gasification char residues which contributed to solid waste management problem is one of the major concerns in biomass gasification industry. This study focuses on synthesizing gasified Glyricidia sepium woodchip based activated carbon (GGSWAC) for the removal of basic green 4 (BG4) dye, evaluating the GGSWAC physicochemical properties and assessing the BG4 adsorption performance in batch and fixed-bed column systems. The optimal conditions of GGSWAC synthesis were at radiation power, time, and impregnation ratio (IR) of 616 W, 1 min and 1.93 g/g, respectively. The surface area (SBET) and total pore volume (TPV) of GGSWAC were 633.30 m2/g and 0.34 cm3/g, respectively. The Fritz–Schlünder best fitted to the experimental data at all temperatures in the isothermal studies, indicating a monolayer adsorption. The kinetic study showed that BG4 adsorption followed Avrami kinetic model. Based on thermodynamic parameters, the adsorption of BG4 dye onto GGSWAC was an endothermic and spontaneous process. In continuous operation, the Thomas and Yoon–Nelson models successfully predicted BG4 adsorption onto GGSWAC. The low production cost of 0.54 USD/kg showed that GGSWAC is economically feasible for commercialization.
  • Publication
    Valorization of face mask waste as an adsorbent for cationic dye adsorption
    (Desalination Publications, 2023)
    Goy Khai Sze
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    ;
    The increasing environmental pollution caused by the disposal of untreated dye-containing effluent and face mask wastes in landfills has become a significant concern. To address this issue, this work focuses on the utilization of face mask wastes as alternative adsorbents for the adsorption of malachite green (MG) dye. These adsorbents offer advantages such as ease of operation, cost-effectiveness, high efficiency, and ready availability. In this study, the raw face mask wastes (RFM) undergo a thermal treatment process in a furnace at 800°C for 21 h before conducting the adsorption tests. The Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analysis revealed the presence of various functional groups, including alkane, alkene, alcohol, and carbonyl, in both the treated face mask adsorbent (TFMA) and RFM. The scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis displayed the surface morphologies of RFM as a porous and homogeneous carbon sorbent structure, while TFMA exhibited a heterogeneous and flaky structure. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis indicated that RFM primarily consisted of carbon elements, followed by oxygen and calcium elements, whereas TFMA predominantly comprised calcium and oxygen elements with a limited amount of carbon. The adsorption experiments, considering various parameters such as initial dye concentration (1,000–1,200 mg/L) and contact time (5–1,500 min), demonstrated that increasing the contact time and initial concentration led to an enhanced adsorption capacity. The maximum adsorption capacity of 2,127 mg/g confirmed the effectiveness of TFMA as an adsorbent for MG. Thermodynamic analysis revealed that the adsorption process was spontaneous and endothermic. The isotherm and kinetic studies showed a good fit between the adsorption data and the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller and pseudo-second-order models as evidenced by high R2 values and low error function values, suggesting a heterogenous adsorption of MG on TFMA.
  • Publication
    Optimization of microwave sol–gel synthesis of N-Ce-AC/TiO₂ for adsorption/photodegradation of tetracycline
    (Elsevier, 2023)
    Nur Athirah Awatif Abdul Rahman
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    ;
    Sabah Ansar
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    ; ;
    Raj Boopathy
    ;
    Achmad Syafiuddin
    Nitrogen (N) and cerium (Ce) co-doped titanium dioxide (TiO₂) supported activated carbon (AC) (N-Ce-AC/TiO₂) were synthesized to remove antibiotic tetracycline from aqueous solution via adsorption and photodegradation. The sol–gel technique, aided by microwave radiation, was used to synthesize N-Ce-AC/TiO₂. Central composite design under response surface methodology was used to optimize the variables comprising urea (N source) (A: 0.02–0.20 g), cerium(III) nitrate hexahydrate (Ce source) (B: 0.02–0.20 g), activated carbon (C: 0.10–0.50 g), and microwave power (D: 600–800 W), where the degradation of tetracycline was the response. Characterization of the produced catalyst was carried out by means of X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller method for determining surface-texture parameters. N-Ce-AC/TiO₂ prepared with 0.50 g activated carbon, doped with 0.02 g urea and 0.20 g cerium, and activated at microwave power 600 W for 15 min exhibited 91.08% tetracycline removal when subjected to 7 W of UV irradiation, according to the results of optimal variable preparation.
  • Publication
    Effective removal of methylene blue from aqueous solution by adsorption onto gasification char: isotherm, kinetic and thermodynamics studies
    (Elsevier, 2023)
    Nurul Najihah Ahmad
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    ;
    This study presents the preparation of oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) activated char from gas-ification plant residues via phosphoric acid chemical treatment for adsorption of methylene blue (MB) in aqueous solution. The Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis were conducted to identify the characteristic of OPEFB. Adsorption experiments were carried out to determine the effects of initial dye concentration 100–300 mg/L, contact time, pH 2–10 and temperature 30°C–60°C. The optimum conditions were achieved at adsorbent dosage, pH, initial dye concentration and temperature of 0.2 g/200 mL, 6, 100 mg/L and 60°C, respectively with 91.44% of MB removal. From isotherm study, the Freundlich isotherm model fitted the adsorption data very well owing to its higher value of correlation factor (R2 = 0.9352), compared to Langmuir model (R2 = 0.8682). The Langmuir maximum monolayer capac-ity, qm was estimated at 167.2 mg/g. The results from the kinetic study showed that the MB adsorp-tion followed a pseudo-second-order kinetic model (R2 = 0.9216–0.9581). The adsorption of the MB dye onto OPEFB activated char was an endothermic and spontaneous process with ΔH°, ΔG° and ΔS° values of 58.379 kJ/mol, –0.70505 kJ/mol and 194.955 J/mol‧K, respectively. The obtained results suggest that the OPEFB char could be a promising candidate as an adsorbent for MB removal.
  • Publication
    Gasification char adsorbent for dye removal: characterization, isotherm, kinetics and thermodynamic studies
    (Springer, 2025)
    Valarmathi Saravanan
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    Mohd Azmier Ahmad
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    Previous research has shown GC's reliable performance as an adsorbent in water and wastewater treatment, but broader applications remain underexplored. This study focuses on treating GC with KOH to eliminate methylene blue (MB) dye. The FTIR results indicated an enrichment of carbonyl groups on the GC surface, which enhanced the rate of MB adsorption. SEM analysis of both treated and untreated GC revealed that the treated char exhibited prominently developed pores and displayed a distinct open-porous structure, reminiscent of a honeycomb-like porous formation. The result from Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis reveals that BET surface area (469.27 m2/g) and total pore volume (0.2728 cm3/g) of treated GC improved after activation. Increasing the initial concentration of MB from 100 to 250 mg/L resulted in a decrease in its removal from 82.1 to 50.87%, respectively. Meanwhile, raising the pH from 3 to 9 enhanced MB adsorption from 85.46 to 97.06%. As the temperature increased from 30 to 60 Â°C, the adsorption process accelerated, leading to an increase in the percentage of dye removal from 89.11 to 96.63%. Matlab curve fitting tools were used to fit non-linear isotherm and kinetic models. The n-BET isotherm and Pseudo-First-Order (PFO) kinetic models demonstrated an excellent fit to the experimental data, evidenced by the highest R2 values, specifically 0.99206 and 0.9577–0.9855, respectively. These findings strongly suggest a multilayer adsorption process taking place on the uniform surface of treated GC. Thermodynamic analysis affirms the endothermic and spontaneous nature of the adsorption process, corroborated by negative ΔG° and positive ΔH° values ranging from -11.0722 to -8.1916 kJ/mol and from 0.694 to 0.857 kJ/mol, respectively.
  • Publication
    Effect of pineapple leaf (PALF), napier, and hemp fibres as filler on the scratch resistance of epoxy composites
    This article presents the effects of pineapple leaf (PALF), napier, and hemp fibres as filler on the scratch resistance of epoxy composites. In particular, it explores the effect of these natural fillers on the horizontal load, coefficient of friction (COF), penetration depth, fracture toughness, scratch hardness, brittleness index and scratch observation. The mixing method using magnetic stirrer was used to produce the natural fibre-filled epoxy composites with different wt%, namely, 5, 7.5, and 10 wt%. The test was performed using a CSM Revetest Xpress, which consisted of a cone of the half-apex angle of 60° ending with a sphere having a tip radius of 200 μm. The indenter scratch distance and speed were 7 mm and 1.5 mm/min, respectively. The results show that the napier fibre-filled epoxy composites have the highest peak load and COF. It was also noted that the napier fibre-filled epoxy composites have the lowest penetration depth for each wt% of filler. Lastly, the fracture toughness (Kc) for the napier fibre-filled epoxy composites with 10 wt% of filler yielded the highest value of 4.33 MPa.m1/2. It can also be seen that using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), the amount of debris increased with higher of wt% of the natural fibre fillers in the composites. Hence it was demonstrated that the napier fibre-filled epoxy composites have higher scratch resistance compared to the PALF and hemp fibre-filled epoxy composites. Keywords: Surface analysis, Fracture toughness, Scratch resistance, PALF, Napier, Hemp fibres.
      12  19
  • Publication
    Effect of elevated temperature on the tensile strength of Napier/glass-epoxy hybrid reinforced composites
    The effects of elevated temperature on the tensile strength of Napier/glass-epoxy hybrid reinforced composites and its morphology of fractured surfaces are discussed. Napier/glass-epoxy hybrid reinforced composites were fabricated by using vacuum infusion method by arranging Napier fibres in between sheets of woven glass fibres. Napier and glass fibres were laminated with estimated volume ratios were 24 and 6 vol. %, respectively. The epoxy resin was used as matrix estimated to 70 vol. %. Specimens were tested to failure under tension at a cross-head speed of 1 mm/min using Universal Testing Machine (Instron) with a load cell 100 kN at four different temperatures of RT, 40°C, 60°C and 80°C. The morphology of fractured surface of hybrid composites was investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy. The result shows reduction in tensile strength at elevated temperatures. The increase in the temperature activates the process of diffusion, and generates critical stresses which cause the damage at first-ply or at the centre of the hybrid plate, as a result lower the tensile strength. The observation of FESEM images indicates that the fracture mode is of evolution of localized damage, from fibre/matrix debonding, matric cracking, delamination and fibre breakage.
      12  38
  • Publication
    Effect of natural filler loading, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), and moisture absorption on the dielectric constant of natural filled epoxy composites
    The effect of natural filler loading, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), and moisture absorption on the dielectric constant of natural filled epoxy composites was investigated. The natural filled epoxy composites were fabricated using a natural filler, MWCNTs and epoxy resin. The natural fillers chosen were Jute, Kenaf, and Napier. Composites were manufactured using a cold-press method, with the loading of the natural fillers being 7, 14, and 21 vol%, respectively, while the MWCNTs were 0 and 2 vol%. Dielectric tests were conducted using an Agilent/Keysight E8363B PNA Network Analyser in dry and wet conditions. The moisture absorption curves indicate that higher vol% natural filler loading increases the moisture content of the composites. The results show that the Napier filled epoxy composite had the lowest dielectric constant between 12.40 GHz and 16.66 GHz. The presence of 2 vol% MWCNTs successfully decreased the dielectric constant for 7 vol% Jute filled epoxy composites.
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