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Kinetic and isotherm studies of empty fruit bunch biochar on ammonium adsorption

2021-02-23 , Razi Ahmad , Khairunissa Syairah Ahmad Sohaimi , Mohamed A.R. , Siti Nazrah Zailani , Salleh N.H.M. , Azizan N.H.

The presence of excessive ammonium in wastewater due to agriculture and other industrial activities affects the aquatic plants, animals and human health. Common wastewater practice offers high cost and maintenance as well as low performance. The adsorption technique offers an efficient, economically favourable and reliable physicochemical treatment method. Despite the efficiency, the studies on Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) biochar as an adsorbent for ammonium removal is under discovered. The conducted study described the characterization of EFB biochar together with its kinetic and isotherm studies for ammonium removal. EFB underwent conventional pretreatment using fixed bed reactor at temperature of 350, 450,550 and 650 °C for 60 min of holding time prior for characterization and kinetic studies. For characterization studies, moisture, ash and pH anlysis were performed before proceed with adsorption and kinetic studies. It was found that the increment of temperature resulted in high content of ash and low content of moisture while optimum pH was in the range of pH 7. The optimum condition for ammonium adsorption was 2.5 ppm of EFB, 0.05g of ammonia dosage and time exposure of 200 minutes. The ammonium adsorption followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model which suggests that the ammonium adsorption process is controlled by the chemical adsorption mechanism. The finding suggests the utilization of EFB biochar as a good alternative for ammonium removal through adsorption process while increasing the biomass value.

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Compost Physical Properties Study on Degradation of Poultry Manure Composting in Closed-Aerated Composter

2020-12-18 , Siti Nazrah Zailani , Lee C.T. , Zainol N.A. , Yusoff N.A. , Khairunissa Syairah Ahmad Sohaimi

A variety of parameters including physical, chemical, and biological properties of different input materials contribute to different composting performance. This study aimed to investigate the compost physical properties (bulk density, porosity, specific surface area and water holding capacity) on the composting process at different initial moisture content (MC). The degradation of total organic carbon (TOC) for the compost inoculated with Bacillus coagulans (BC) and effective microorganism (EM) was determined. The composting materials consisted of 50 % sawdust, 12 % chicken dung and 38 % rice husk with a fixed initial C/N ratio of 30. A closed-aerated composter was fabricated with an optimum air flow rate of 0.3 L/min.kg compost to avoid O2 limitation for 7 d of composting. The compost temperature was recorded to exhibit the active reaction between microorganisms and compost materials will generate a considerable amount of heat. The effect of the initial MC of the compost bed has been intensively investigated with regards to compaction analysis and compost particle for the composting inoculated with BC or EM in an aerated closed-system composter. The results showed that composting using the single strain of BC provides comparable results to that degraded by the commercial mixed culture EM.

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Ammonium adsorption - Desorption using rice husk biochar

2021-05-24 , Khairunissa Syairah Ahmad Sohaimi , Nur Izzati Iberahim , Ghani A.A. , Zafifah Zamrud , Heng C.W.

Rice husk was utilized into biochar by pyrolysis and used as adsorbent for ammonium removal. Rice husk biochar (RHB) was produced at temperature of 3500C, 4000C, 4500C, 5000C, and 5500C. Characteristics of biochar were analyzed by moisture content, ash content, pH Zero Charge and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy. As the temperature for the pyrolysis increases, the moisture content of RHB decreases while the ash content of RHB increases. From the pH zero charge analysis, the value obtained from analysis is pH 7. The FTIR spectra showed the organic part of RHB with different functional groups such as alkene, alcohol, phenol, ether, ester etc. Based on the result of the characterization test, RHB500 was chosen as the best biochar for the adsorption of ammonium. The equilibrium contact time was 180 minutes and the optimum adsorbent dosage was 0.1g and the optimum concentration of ammonium was 1.2 ppm. For the adsorption-desorption of ammonium, RHB can run up to 5 cycles for biochar regeneration. Adsorption kinetic, pseudo-second-order model is more preferable than pseudo-first-order model because R2 value is 0.9995 which closer to 1.

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Cactus opuntia as coagulant in treating landfill leachate via coagulation process

2021-02-23 , Zainol N.A. , Syarmimi F.N. , Siti Nazrah Zailani , Yusoff N.A. , Ghani A.A. , Khairunissa Syairah Ahmad Sohaimi

Coagulation-flocculation treatment is often used for the treatment of stabilized landfill leachate. However, uses a non-environmentally friendly chemical coagulant which is a threat to environment quality, therefore Cactus opuntia is proposed to replace the use of current chemical coagulants such as aluminium sulphate in order to achieve sustainable growth. In this regard, the comparative suitability of Cactus opuntia and alum as coagulants for the treatment of the stabilised leachate of the Padang Siding Landfill Site was evaluated via a series of Jar Test experimental works with a rapid mixing speed of 100 rpm for 3 minutes, a slow mixing speed of 30 rpm for 10 minutes and a set-up period of 30 minutes. In addition, the sludge volume index (SVI) of the treated leachate sample was calculated under optimised conditions. Cactus opuntia was able to remove 66.8 per cent turbidity and 42 per cent COD at optimal pH 2 with a favourable dose of 8000 mg / L, while the optimal pH 5 with a coagulant dose of 8000 mg / L induced 94.5 per cent turbidity and 69 per cent COD reduction from the same leachate sample. In addition, the SVI of alum coagulant was 42.2 while the Cactus opuntia was 4.45 with a relative ratio of alum to opuntia of 9:1. Cactus opuntia may also be proposed as a plentiful coagulant of metal cationic ions such as aluminium, iron and silica elements for the treatment of leachate.