Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
  • Publication
    Processing, tensile and morphological characteristics of polylactic acid/ Chitosan biocomposites prepared by melt compounding technique
    Biodegradable polymers of polylactic acid (PLA) and chitosan (Cs) has a great potential as alternative candidates to replace conventional synthetic plastic apart to reduce the plastic waste pollution due to the unique properties of superior mechanical strength, feasible processability and rapid degradation. In this work, PLA/Cs biocomposites were prepared via melt compounding and compression moulding techniques in the absence of any plasticizer and additive. The effect of chitosan loading (2.5, 5, 7.5, 10 php) on processing, tensile and morphological characteristics of PLA/Cs were evaluated using internal mixer, universal testing machine and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), respectively. Processing characteristic indicates PLA/Cs biocomposites demonstrated higher processing torque in comparison to neat PLA due to the increase in melt viscosity and decrease in chain mobility of the polymeric materials. Tensile test results revealed that the maximum strength (54.60 ± 0.51 MPa) and tensile elastic modulus (2.67 ± 0.01 GPa) was attained by PLA/2.5Cs biocomposite. In fact, the addition of chitosan content up to 10 php results in significant decreased in tensile strength and elongation at break of 23.38 ± 0.37 MPa and 0.96 ± 0.04 %, respectively. This is supported by the electron micrograph observation of the PLA/2.5Cs tensile fractured surfaces that exhibits uniform dispersion and good interfacial adhesion between chitosan and PLA matrix which signifies higher tensile properties. However, more agglomeration and poor filler-matrix interaction was observed with further addition of chitosan content of above 7.5 php which implies deterioration in tensile properties. The results suggest that the incorporation of low chitosan loading improve the processing, tensile and polymer compatibility in PLA/Cs biocomposites.
  • Publication
    Inhibition of Aspergillus flavus by Momordica charantia Ethanolic Leaves Extract for Mushroom Protection
    Pleurotus ostreatus, better known as oyster mushroom is one of the world’s widely cultivated mushroom. Infection from pathogenic fungi is one of the major reasons causing losses of mushroom during cultivation. The objective of this study is to investigate the antifungal property of Momordica charantia leaves extract against Aspergillus flavus for mushroom protection. The inhibitory effect of M. charantia leaves extract against A. flavus isolated from infected P. ostreatus mushroom bag was investigated using pour plate technique. Inhibition of A. flavus mycelial growth was the highest at extract concentration of 9.64 v/v %, temperature 26℃ and incubation time of 96 hours with inhibitory value of 70.58 ± 0.00 %, 78.4 ± 0.00 % and 63.33 ± 2.89 % respectively. Structural morphology of the mycelia grown on the treated plate also showed morphological alteration compared to the control plate. Hence, Momordica charantia leaves extract may serves as a promising fungicides alternative to chemical use for controlling invasion of A. flavus on oyster mushroom.
  • Publication
    Formulation of selective hydrophobic deep eutectic oil-in-water nanoemulsion as green fungicides for mitigating anthracnose fungus Colletotrichum gloeosporioides
    ( 2023-12-01)
    Gidado M.J.
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    Wongs-Aree C.
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    Makhtar M.M.Z.
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    Hydrophobic deep eutectic nanoemulsions derived from fatty acids and terpenes (referred to as HyDEN) were introduced as potential nano-coating to effectively combat anthracnose during the postharvest preservation of fruits. Anthracnose primarily caused by the Colletotrichum gloeosporioides species is known for causing substantial damage to fruits. Synthetic fungicides have proven to be effective but come with environmental, health, and safety concerns. In this study, hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents (HDESs) were evaluated for their physical properties to identify the most suitable HDES for the formulation of HyDEN. Menthol-Thymol (MT) at 1:1 and 2:1 ratio met the criteria and was chosen for the formulation of HyDEN. HyDEN (MT-N 1:1) displayed a higher zeta potential value and smaller mean droplet diameter and then tested for its antifungal properties against C. gloeosporioides compared with selected antifungal agents. HyDEN (MT-N 1:1) exhibited strong antifungal activity against C. gloeosporioides and was attributed to its potent mode of action, binding affinity, and rapid onset compared to HDES and fungicide (Globus 5.5). This study also investigated how HyDEN (MT-N 1:1) affects mycelial growth, cell membrane permeability, and cellular leakage of C. gloeosporioides, highlighting its superior disruption of cell membranes compared to HDES and Globus 5.5. This research presents an eco-friendly alternative to the use of toxic chemicals and showcases an innovative and sustainable approach to controlling anthracnose in postharvest fruit preservation.
  • Publication
    β-Glucan extraction from mycelium in spent mushroom substrate of pleurotus ostreatus and schizophyllum commune
    ( 2021-05-24) ;
    Ruslan N.R.N.
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    Zakaria Z.
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    Hassan S.A.M.
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    Ishak N.
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    Spent mushroom substrate (SMS) is the biomass waste produced from the production of mushroom which generating disposal problems. To overcome the problem the extraction of bioactive compound such as β-glucan from the waste SMS could solve the problem and can also increase its added value. β-glucan appears to be promising for aiding in the cure of tumorous disease and help to reduce the cholesterol levels in blood. In this study, β-glucan was extracted and compared from two different commercial mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus and Schizophyllum commune) from its fruiting body and mycelium on solid waste SMS using chemical extraction methods. The characteristics of physical structure, functional group and properties of extracted β-glucan was investigated. Here, Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) and screening electron microscope (SEM) were used to identify and evaluated the structural conformations of β-glucan and physical structure. The functional properties, swelling power, viscosity and fat binding capacity were analyzed. Based on results, mycelia of Pleurotus ostreatus shown highest swelling power (11.74 g/g) and fat binding capacity (12.09 g oil/g sample) while, mycelia of Schizophyllum commune shown the highest viscosity (11.85 cP). Since the value for all functional properties shown the highest value on mycelium compare to fruiting body, thus it is strength that β-glucan extraction from mycelium solid waste has high novel properties compare with mushroom fruiting body.
  • Publication
    Pretreatment of Leucaena Leucocephala Using Deep Eutectic Solvent for Ethanol Production by Kluyveromyces Marxianus UniMAP 1–1
    Conventional pretreatment methods such as alkaline and acid pretreatment which were used in biorefineries to dissolve lignin and hemicellulose faces many drawbacks. These pretreatment methods were considered as toxic not only to the environment, but also to the biomass as further treatment using these solvents will lead to the production of hydroxymethyl furfural (HMF) and furfural, which can inhibit the production of ethanol. Recently, deep eutectic solvents (DES) have grown in popularity as an alternative solvent to substitute conventional pretreatment solvents. DES have a great number of advantages such as biodegradability, non-toxic, low volatility and low cost. Furthermore, DES also is a powerful solvent to dissolve lignin, thus this makes DES a superior solvent to be used in biorefineries compared to alkaline and acid pretreatment. In this study, Leucaena leucocephala seeds and pods were treated with choline chloride – glycerol (ChCl – Gly) based DES at 1:2 molar ratio, and the performance subjected to sugar released and ethanol production were analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The values were then compared with the conventional pretreatment methods as the controls. The results suggested that DES pretreatment released slightly higher total sugar, 29.28 g/L compared to alkaline and acidic pretreatment at 28.77 and 24.94 g/L, respectively. On the other hand, the yield of ethanol after fermentation in DES treatment were among the highest, which was 0.287 g ethanol/g glucose with 56.27% conversion compared to theoretical yield. The purpose of this report is to offer further information in the interest of making DES as a good replacement for the conventional pretreatment method.
  • Publication
    Environmental Lighting towards Growth Effect Monitoring System of Plant Factory using ANN
    ( 2025-01-01)
    Kader M.M.M.A.
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    Mansor M.N.
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    Razali Z.B.
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    Mustafa W.A.
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    Setumin S.
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    Osman M.K.
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    Idris M.
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    Akbar M.F.
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    Farid W.M.F.N.M.
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    Zainol M.Z.
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    Mizam N.S.S.
    Malaysia is currently driven to become another most developed country in the world. Among other priority sector is Food Sustainability. Along the process, our vegetable supply-demand keeps increasing by year. Compared to traditional systems, closed systems or its other name called hydroponic is getting more important for plant production, with artificial light which has many potential advantages, including better quality transplants, shorter production time and less resource use. To gain full profit from it, the quality of vegetables needs to be controlled efficiently. Climate conditions, especially temperature and light intensity, have a significant impact on vegetable growth and yield, as well as nutritional quality. Plant growth and development are influenced by a variety of environmental factors, the most important one is light intensity. Among the problems to be tackled in this research are plant growth manual observation, light intensity variation and abundance of growth-related data to be evaluated manually. Therefore, to solve these problems, the specific type of vegetable used here is lettuce. The proposed methods are, observation of plant growth conducted automatically round the clock in intervals of 15 minutes for the whole month (estimated mature period of lettuce), using images captured. At the same time, the proposed light intensity which is red & white to the ratio of 2:1 (optimum ratio recommended by previous researchers) will be used. The issue of data to be evaluated manually will be solved using Artificial Neural Network (ANN) architecture, in specific Deep Learning. Concisely, the results & analysis shows the research is successfully developed for plant growth monitoring by using artificial neural network which, reached 80% to 90% accuracy in the training and validation session that made the architecture sufficient for determining the growth of the said vegetable. This is indeed foreseen, will highly assist the farmer in better monitoring the growth rate of the plant.
  • Publication
    Development of a Multi-Fan System (MFS) in a Plant Factory with Artificial Light
    ( 2022-01-01) ; ; ; ; ;
    Akbar M.F.
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    Osman M.K.
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    Setumin S.
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    Idris M.
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    Bin Ramli M.A.
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    Sharifful Mizam N.S.
    A plant factory is a factory that grows plants indoors. These indoor farms could be the key to solve food shortages in the world. Plant factories are operated in indoor spaces under controlled cultivation conditions such as light, temperature and humidity. Then, a multi-fan system (MFS) for single culture beds. The MFS had four fans which were installed on both the front and back sides of culture beds to generate airflow from two opposite horizontal directions by using the Internet of Things (IoT) via the access and connection of smartphone devices. The fans that push the air into the culture bed were air inlets while those that pull the air out of the culture bed were air outlets. The main problem is in plant factories with artificial light, a heat that is usually used to control the environmental parameters and the air velocity is generally lower than the optimum range required for plant growth. Compare to a plant factory without using a multi-fan, it no circulation of air in the container to ensure continuous gas exchange. This reduction in gas exchange can impact calcium uptake by the plants. The gas exchange makes the tip burn. Tip burn can have a significant impact on the salability of a lettuce crop. Based on the limitations that have been highlighted previously, this research has been carried out by using multi-fan and without multi-fan. To get the data that need to be compared. Then, to improve the airflow in a plant factory with artificial light and prevent tip burn occur on the lettuce itself. In a nutshell, this prototype is expected to help plant factories reduce tip burn symptoms on leaf lettuce and the airflow can improve the growth of indoor cultured lettuce.
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  • Publication
    Application of OPEFB fibre based electrode in microbial fuel cell system for electricity generation and chlorophenol degradation
    ( 2021-05-24)
    Raudzah Mohd Zahir
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    Microbial fuel cell (MFC) has emerged as one of the potential technologies for sustainable bioelectrical energy recovery and reduction of recalcitrant wastes. The MFC performance is greatly influenced by the anode materials which serve as the support for exoelectrogenic bacteria attachment. In this study, oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) is proposed as an alternative anode material prepared via a direct carbonization process using tube furnace owing to its good conductivity property. The carbonization process was conducted under nitrogen gas flow at 900℃ with a constant heating rate of 5℃/min. The anode was prepared by mixing the carbonized OPEFB with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) binder. When used in MFC, the OPEFB-anode generated a maximum current density of 97.30 mA/m2, which is comparatively higher than that of the conventional carbon cloth anode (76.24 mA/m2). Our MFC system had also resulted considerable chemical oxygen demand (COD) and 2-chlorophenol reductions of 77% and 75%, respectively. This study could support future research on freely-available OPEFB materials for high performance MFC anode.
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