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Sara Yasina Yusuf
Life cycle assessment of expanded polystyrene
Optimization of copper adsorption from synthetic wastewater by oil palm-based adsorbent using Central Composite Design
2021-01-26
,
Lim Y.S.
,
Tengku Nuraiti Tengku Izhar
,
Irnis Azura Zakaria
,
Sara Yasina Yusuf
,
Siti Khadijah Za'aba
,
Mohamad M.A.
Expanded polystyrene (EPS) is one of the most common materials used in packaging. In Malaysia, EPS is a type of plastic which is not in the recycling category. Usually, EPS wastes will end up in landfill and incinerator, leading to severe environmental impacts. Therefore, a cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) study of EPS was carried out to investigate the potential environmental impacts of EPS. The most significant potential environmental impact will also be identified. Both will be identified under 2 different scenarios. The study was analyzed using GaBi Education Software with the method of TRACI 2.1 to the environmental indicators of global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), and ozone depletion potential (ODP). In scenario 1, the emission percentage for GWP, AP, EP, and ODP are 99.73 %, 0.21 %, 0.06 %, and 3x10-6 %, respectively. As for scenario 2, all the 3 conditions show similar trend with scenario 1. The LCA study of EPS is particularly focused on the manufacturing, distribution, and the end-of-lifetime treatments, with the introduction of recycling into the system. The findings show that manufacturing of EPS is the major contributor of the environmental impacts and GWP contributes to the most significant potential environmental impacts. Overall, recycling was found to have the least impact to the environment, which possibly be used as the new end-of-lifetime treatment of EPS in Malaysia.
2020-06-10
,
Wong H.W.
,
Naimah Ibrahim
,
Muhammad Adli Hanif
,
Norazian Mohamed Noor
,
Sara Yasina Yusuf
,
Masitah Hasan
Oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) was chemically activated by phosphoric acid and heat treatment to produce porous activated carbon (AC) for adsorption of copper ions from synthetic wastewater using static batch test. Copper adsorption process was optimized using Response Surface Method (RSM) by varying four operating parameters i.e. pH (A), initial concentration (B), adsorbent dosage (C) and contact time (D) through a quadratic model developed based on Central Composite Design (CCD) approach. Within the tested parameter range, copper adsorption was found to be at optimum condition at pH 5, initial concentration of 200 mg/L, adsorbent dosage of 0.55 g per 200 mL copper solution and contact time of 2.5 hours, yielding 52.5% of copper removal. A good agreement was achieved by comparing the predicted model with experimental data (R2=0.9618). All four operating parameters tested are significant in affecting the adsorption process, with pH being the most significant with an F-value of 171.70. The interaction between pH and initial concentration (AB) has the most significant interacting effects (F-value of 18.30), while quadratic effects of pH (A2) and adsorbent dosage (C2) are most significant with F-values of 62.80 and 42.58 respectively.