Sara Yasina Yusuf
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Preferred name
Sara Yasina Yusuf
Official Name
Sara Yasina, Yusuf
Alternative Name
Yusuf, S. Y.A.
Yusof, Sara Yasina
Yusuf, Sara Yasina
Yusuf, Sara Y.
Yusof, S. Y.
Sara, Y. Y.
Yusuf, S. Y.
Main Affiliation
Scopus Author ID
57221740411
Researcher ID
B-9242-2012

Research Output

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Comparative Environmental Impact Evaluation of Disposable Surgical and Reusable Cloth Face Masks

2023-01-01 , Ragaven R. , Sara Yasina Yusuf , Dewika M. , Zulkifli A.R. , Tengku Nuraiti Tengku Izhar , Amneera W.A.

Malaysia, wearing face mask during Covid-19 outbreak were mandatory. This action has caused significant surge in face mask production which deem to affect environment and human health. This paper evaluates and compared the environmental impacts, in a life cycle assessments perspective between disposable surgical face mask and reusable cloth face mask using cradle-to-grave approaches according to ISO 14040. The environmental impacts were assessed based on nine midpoint impact categories which are ozone depletion, greenhouse gases, acidification, eutrophication, smog formation, human health cancer and non-cancer, human health particulates and ecotoxicity. The functional unit for both types of face masks is a person wearing face mask as protection every day for one year (365 masks for disposable surgical face mask and 3 masks for reusable cloth face mask). The LCA tool used was OpenLCA software with Ecoinvent consequential 3.7.1 version database and TRACI 2.1 for impact method assessment. The study showed that reusable cloth face mask had the lowest impact compared to disposable surgical face mask across the assessed midpoint impact categories. This study suggested incineration as the best disposal method for the End-of-Life (EoL) of both face masks. Sensitive analysis also performed by manipulating the amount of face mask used per individual and it was found that the amount of mask used had significant effects to the environmental performance.

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Cloud-based System for University Laboratories Air Monitoring

2020-09-21 , Abu Hassan Abdullah , Sukhairi Sudin , Mustafa M.H. , Fathinul Syahir Ahmad Sa'ad , Khairul Azwan Ismail , Muhammad Aizat Abu Bakar , Mohamed Elshaikh Elobaid Said Ahmed , Abdul Ghapar Ahmad , Zahari Awang Ahmad , Sara Yasina Yusuf

Indoor air such as house, shopping complex, hospital, university, office and hotel should be monitor for human safety and wellbeing. These closed areas are prone to harmful air pollutants i.e. allergens, smoke, mold, particles radon and hazardous gas. Laboratories in university are special room in which workers (student, technician, teaching/research assistants, researcher and lecturer) conduct their works and experiment. The activities and the environment will generate specific air pollutant which concentration depending to their parameters. Anyone in the environment that exposure to these pollutants may affect safety and health issue. This paper proposes a study of development of a cloud-based electronic nose system for university laboratories air monitoring. The system consists of DSP33-based electronic nose (e-nose) as nodes which measure main indoor air pollutant along with two thermal comfort variables, temperature and relative humidity. The e-noses are placed at five different laboratories for acquiring data in real time. The data will be sent to a web server and the cloud-based system will process, analyse using Neuro-Fuzzy classifier and display on a website in real time. The system will monitor the laboratories air pollutants and thermal comfort by predict the pollutant concentration and dispersion in the area i.e. Air Pollution Index (API). In case of air hazard safety (e.g., gas spills detection and pollution monitoring), the system will alert the security by activate an alarm and through e-mail. The website will display the API of the area in real-time. Results show that the system performance is good and can be used to monitor the air pollutant in the university laboratories.

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Optimization of copper adsorption from synthetic wastewater by oil palm-based adsorbent using Central Composite Design

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.

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Temporal and spatial variability of PM10 in daycare centres in Perlis

2020-06-10 , Sara Yasina Yusuf , Marianne M.A. , Abdullah L.C. , Naimah Ibrahim , Norazian Mohamed Noor

A good indoor air quality (IAQ) is preferred for a healthy and safe indoor environment especially for children since they are more susceptible to the effects from indoor pollutants. Most of indoor air pollution researches focus on the health effect on the children but they eliminate the possibility of how the environmental factors and daycare characteristics could contribute to this problem. This study investigates the concentration level of PM10 and its relationship with environmental factors and daycare centers characteristics and two different sampling sites, representing residential and near roadside. Gravimetrical method was used in order to present spatiotemporal analysis utilizing descriptive analysis, Pearson Correlation and Coefficient of Divergence (COD) treatments of data. The average indoor concentration in Taska Penyayang 1 Malaysia (TP1M, representing residential setting) were 105.97 ° 40.06 μg/m3 indoor and 50.77 ° 30.85 μg/m3 outdoor. Taska Penyayang Permata (TPP), represented near roadside setting were 59.88 ° 18.53 μg/m3 and 69.09 ° 23.54 μg/m3 indoor and outdoor, respectively. PM10 variations at TP1M was observed to be originated from indoor/local strong sources and was minimally influenced by weather parameters and outdoor infiltration. Infiltration of pollutants occurred at TP1M, showed by large IOR (above unity) while exfiltration of pollutants governed at TPP, indicated by low IOR and insignificant COD values between all of its micro-location. Natural ventilation as practiced by TPP may also be the reason of very much lower levels of PM10 concentration, evidenced by strong positive correlation between number of occupants and inverse correlation between number of activities. Lower frequency of activities accumulates PM10, contributing to its higher level. In contrast, persistent closed-windows and doors may contribute to inadequate ventilation and accumulated air pollutants, as observed at TP1M. This has been evident by higher COD correlation, indicating similar sources of PM10 at micro-environments with outdoor air.

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A Study on the Environmental Impact During Distribution and Disposal Stages for the 3-Ply Face Masks by Using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

2022-01-01 , Chow Suet Mun Christine , Tengku Nuraiti Tengku Izhar , Irnis Azura Zakaria , Sara Yasina Yusuf , Ayu Wazira Azhari , Boboc M.

The demand of face masks had increased tremendously due to pandemic outbreak of COVID-19, leading to the increment production rate of face masks in Malaysia. Waste is also produced at the same time, resulting impacts towards the environment. Due to the land scarcity issue in Malaysia, the end of life treatment for the waste is taken into consideration. The study tools used in this study is life cycle assessment (LCA) to identify the significant potential environmental impact produced during the life cycle stages for distribution and disposal through GaBi Education Software. The disposal stage between landfill and incineration of the 3-Ply face masks is studied to determine the end of life treatment for it. The impact assessment method selected in this study is CML 2001-Jan 2016 with the environmental indicator of Global Warming Potential (GWP), Acidification Potential (AP), Eutrophication Potential (EP) and Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP). GWP results in producing highest impact to the environment during both distribution and disposal stages. The impact of GWP also relates to the climate change. Modern incineration is recommended to overcome the issue of land scarcity in Malaysia as the amount of waste by 3-Ply face masks are increasing due to the pandemic COVID-19, reducing the impacts towards the environment.

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Carbon footprint assessment from purchased electricity consumption and campus commute in Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP): Pre- and during COVID-19 pandemic

2022-01-01 , Nor Atiqa Baharom , Sara Yasina Yusuf , Siti Khadijah Za'aba , Norazian Mohamed Noor , Nor Ashikin Ahmad , Wan Amiza Amneera Wan Ahmad , Boboc M.

Most institutions and organizations nowadays have been taking responsibility in reducing their carbon footprint (CF) to curtail the global warming impact to at least 20–25% reduction by 2030. Universities and higher learning institutions are starting to invest in becoming greener and carbon-free. Current COVID19 communicable disease has swayed the routine and concurrently influenced regular trends of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions throughout the world. This study explored the possible GHG emissions (calculated as CO2e) from internal campus commute and purchased electricity consumption from the year 2018–2020 at Universiti Malaysia Perlis main campus to analyze the influence of COVID19 pandemic on its CO2e emission. The average amount of CO2e emitted during pre-COVID19 period (n = 26) was 1,518.8 tCO2e/year while during COVID19 period, it was 1,071.5 tCO2e/year (n = 10), marked as 29.5% reduction. Due to completeness and quality of data for contracted bus (monitoring period of years 2018, 2019 and 2020 as 12 months, 12 months, and 2 months, respectively), year 2019 was determined as the appropriate baseline year for setting the CO2e reduction target due to COVID19 pandemic precedented year. In comparison to pre-COVID19 pandemic, almost 95%/year and 7%/year reductions of CO2e were recorded for both Scope 1 and Scope 2, respectively. Comparing Scope 1 and 2, it was obviously observed that the purchased electricity consumption (Scope 2) was the predominant contributor to GHG emission at UniMAP campus by 78% despite of current pandemic influence and its reduction was indistinct (7%/year reduction). Thus, the reduction target in future should be venturing in energy savings and energy auditing in addition to carbon offsetting.

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Removal of molluscicide compound: A comparison of metaldehyde removal performance between rubber-based aerobic granules and molasses-based aerobic granules

2023-12-01 , Saad A.M. , Farrah Aini Dahalan , Naimah Ibrahim , Sara Yasina Yusuf

Rubber-based aerobic granules (RAGS) were developed in a bioreactor. Outside of the bioreactor, RAGS were supplemented with molasses wastewater to produce molasses-based aerobic granules (MAGS). Rates of RAGS and MAGS elimination and growth were calculated across a range of 180–330 mg/L of metaldehyde. Metaldehyde removal rates for RAGS and MAGS were 84 % and 85 %, correspondingly. Rates of biodegradation (K1) ranged from 0.402 to 0.063 h−1 for RAGS and from 0.404 to 0.065 h−1 for MAGS. There was a negative correlation between metaldehyde concentration and the first-order rate constant. MAGS had somewhat higher metaldehyde removal capacities than RAGS, with a lower Ks value (234 mg/L) than RAGS (282 mg/L). The MAGS had a higher μmax (0.188 day−1) value than the RAGS (0.129 day−1). RAGS and MAGS show promise for use in aerobic granular sludge remedy of wastewater due to their ability to degrade metaldehyde.

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Indoor and outdoor particulate matter concentrations in the vicinity of plastic waste processing industries

2020-12-29 , Sara Yasina Yusuf , Nur Liza Rahim , Wazam W.Z. , Naidu D. , Jamian R.

While plastic recycling has gained conclusive acceptance by various stakeholders as a preferable products’ end-of-life management, plastic waste processing industries may contribute to serious air pollutants emission and impair human health, especially if it is in uncontrolled conditions. Apart from toxic gas pollutants, this industry may also emit significant concentration of particulates matter or dust, notably via physical (shredding, sorting, and washing) and melt (re-granulation and reprocessing) processes. Meanwhile, in Sungai Petani, Kedah, Malaysia, public anguish is increasing in recent years due to mushrooming plastic waste recycling industries in its residential area. Thus, a study was conducted to analyse the day- and night-time ambient air PM10 levels and their relationship with selected meteorological parameters (ambient temperature, relative humidity and wind speed) at two different locations (Cinta Sayang Resort Villa, CSRV and Metro Specialist Hospital, HM) in Sungai Petani, Kedah, Malaysia. The mean ambient PM10 levels of Cinta Sayang Resort Villa (CSRV) and Metro Specialist Hospital (HM) were found exceeding the New Malaysia Ambient Air Quality Standard at 150 µg/m3 (24-hours), which were 568.082 ± 266.441 µg/m3 615.046 ± 355.672 µg/m3, respectively. Distribution of PM10 concentrations betwen day and night-time were found to be statistically insignificant at both sites. Meteorological parameters have also contributed to the trend of PM10 concentrations at both sites especially at HM. Inverse correlation with PM10 at CSRV was explained by the absence of moisture (or rain) at the site while the positive correlation observed at HM was due to the hot temperature-strong wind association at the site. Temperature was found to be the manipulating factor for PM10 at HM, via linear regression model developed at PMouth = - 4352.426 + 170.557 × Th with F(1, 8) = 15.224 at p < .005, accounting for 65.6% of the variation Thus, proper attention should be given to the particulates matter emitted in Sungai Petani, believed to be influenced by the uncontrolled emission from the plastic recycling industries.

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Surface alkali promotion of carbon dioxide hydrogenation for conservation of carbon sources: Cyclic voltammetry study

2020-01-01 , Tan S.Y. , Naimah Ibrahim , Umi Fazara Md Ali , Sara Yasina Yusuf , Aroua M.K.

Conversion of CO2 captured from biogas upgrading process into useful chemicals or fuels e.g. methane is an attractive route towards conservation of carbon sources. Sustainable hydrogenation route could be achieved by combining the process with hydrogen generated from water electrolysis. In this work, cyclic voltammetry was used as preliminary technique to probe the electrochemical behaviour of Na-modified Pt/YSZ as model catalyst under CO2 hydrogenation. The reaction is irreversible and the voltammogram features are not easily distinguishable under reaction conditions. The increase in cathodic peak height and the decrease in peak potential with addition of sodium at low coverage (0.32%) indicated that the charge transfer reaction was enhanced and thus the methanation reaction could be electrochemically promoted given sufficient amount of H2 flow. However, increasing Na coverage was found to decrease the current hysteresis possibly due to formation of sodium compounds such as carbonates or oxides that populate the three-phase-boundary (tpb) active sites, thus deactivating the catalyst.

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Life cycle assessment of expanded polystyrene

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.

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