Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Publication
    Preliminary studies on antimicrobial activity of extracts from aloe vera leaf, citrus hystrix leaf, zingiber officinale and Sabah snake grass against bacillus subtilis
    ( 2018)
    M.N.A. Uda
    ;
    ;
    Nur Hulwani Ibrahim
    ;
    ; ; ;
    Tan Ewe Shen
    ;
    Ong Yee Fen
    ;
    Maisara A. M. Akhir
    ;
    Herbal plants have several potential antimicrobial activities either as antifungal or antibacterial to fight against the disease and pathogen that attack the plants. The extractions of the Aloe vera leaf, Citrus hystrix leaf, Zingiber officinale rhizome and Sabah snake grass were selected in this study to fight against Bacillus subtilis. B. subtilis is a Gram-positive bacterium, rodshaped and catalase-positive that lives on decayed organic material. It is known as Gram-positive bacteria because of its thick peptidoglycan and would appear purple when subjected to Gram test. This species is commonly found in the upper layers of the soil, in meat or vegetables, in pastry, cooked meat, in bread or poultry products. The extracts of Sabah Snake Grass found to be most effective than A.vera leaf, Z. officinale, and C. hystrix against the B. subtilis.
  • Publication
    Extraction of Spear Grass (Imperata Cylindrica) as Pro-Oxidant In polymer blends
    ( 2018) ;
    N. A. Abdul Halim
    ;
    K.F. Kasim
    ;
    S.T. Sam
    ;
    H.I. Zulhaimi
    ;
    Packaging material such as plastic bags is one of the main factors that contribute to the environmental pollution due to slow degradation. The usage of metal oxide as pro-oxidant has been proven to accelerate the degradation of these materials, but the excessive usage of this pro-oxidant will be harmful to the human body. Therefore, in this research, spear grass is investigated to be used as natural based pro-oxidant that can increase the degradation rate of the polymers. In terms of that, spear grass is extracted by using pressurized hot water extraction (PHWE) to obtain the metal element such as zinc (Zn) and ferum (Fe). PHWE is using water as a solvent which is highly favourable due to non-toxicity and non-flammable characteristics that make it easy to handle. Box-Behnken design is used to optimize the temperature, extraction time, and sample-to-solvent ratio to get the maximum amount of Zn and Fe concentration from the extracted spear grass. As a conclusion, the leaf of spear grass contributed the highest amount of Zn and Fe concentration. The highest amount of Zn and Fe concentration is achieved at 150 °C, 20 minutes, and 3 g of sample to 45 ml of water.
  • Publication
    Preliminary studies on antimicrobial activity of extracts from aloe vera leaf, citrus hystrix leaf, zingiber officinale and Sabah snake grass against bacillus subtilis
    Herbal plants have several potential antimicrobial activities either as antifungal or antibacterial to fight against the disease and pathogen that attack the plants. The extractions of the Aloe vera leaf, Citrus hystrix leaf, Zingiber officinale rhizome and Sabah snake grass were selected in this study to fight against Bacillus subtilis. B. subtilis is a Gram-positive bacterium, rodshaped and catalase-positive that lives on decayed organic material. It is known as Gram-positive bacteria because of its thick peptidoglycan and would appear purple when subjected to Gram test. This species is commonly found in the upper layers of the soil, in meat or vegetables, in pastry, cooked meat, in bread or poultry products. The extracts of Sabah Snake Grass found to be most effective than A.vera leaf, Z. officinale, and C. hystrix against the B. subtilis.
  • Publication
    Properties and biodegradability of low density Polyethylene/ thermoplastic soya spent powder blends added spear grass powder as pro-oxidant
    Plastic waste is a serious environmental problem and become an enormous challenge to waste management. A high determination to produce eco-friendly polymer has led the researchers to investigate about biodegradable polymers by adding natural polymer into the non-degradable plastic material. Thermoplastic is a material that produced by incorporating the plasticizer into the natural polymer, ie starch. Therefore in this research, an attempt was made by incorporating protein based natural polymer which was soya spent powder (SSP) into LDPE matrix. This study investigated the influence of glycerol on the properties of blends prepared from low density polyethylene (LDPE) with different SSP content varied from 5 to 25 wt%. Spear grass powder as a natural pro-oxidant (1.5 wt%) has been added into LDPE/SSP and LDPE/TSSP blends. Natural weathering test and soil burial test were performed for 9 months period to determine the potential of this polymer to degrade in different surroundings. As a result, LDPE/TSSP blends showed higher strength and elongation at break (Eb) compared to LDPE/SSP blends after weathering and composting. However, after the addition of spear grass powder, the tensile strength and Eb of LDPE/TSSP blends decreased. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrographs showed the formation of crack, pores and fungus colonization on of LDPE/SSP and LDPE/TSSP blends surfaces. For differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis, LDPE/TSSP blends presented higher crystallinity (15.65% for 25 wt% TSSP) compared to LDPE/SSP blends for the same blends ratio (14.76%). The thermal stability for each blends decreased from 451 °C (for neat LDPE) with an increase of 25 wt% of SSP (269 °C) and TSSP (284 °C) content. Three different strains have been successfully isolated in this study. Aspergillus fumigatus from the genus of Aspergillus encountered the highest percentage increment of cell dry weight (mg) which is 56% through the fermentation process.