Ku Syahidah Ku Ismail
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Ku Syahidah Ku Ismail
Official Name
Ku Ismail, Ku Syahidah
Alternative Name
Ku Ismail, Ku Syahidah
Ismail, K. S.Ku
Ismail, K. S.K.
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Scopus Author ID
8932508300
Researcher ID
AAA-2532-2019

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Effect of molasses-based wastewater irrigation on the rice yield and heavy metals uptake by Oryza sativa: a field study

2023 , Nuratikah Ghazali , Ku Syahidah Ku Ismail , Roslaili Abd Aziz , Nyvee Inthano , Ahmad Radi Wan Yaakub , Md Nabil Ab Adzim Saifuddin , Ng Hock Hoo , Ayob Katimon

The molasses-based effluent discharge contains significant amount of nutrients (e.g. Fe, Mg, K), which has potential use as an organic fertilizer to fit into the waste-to-wealth plan. Apart from that, the presence of toxic heavy metals content should not be underestimated as it could somehow end up in the rice grains and into the food chains. Thus, in this present work, the concentrations of Al, Cr, Cu and Ni in paddy crops from three different plots irrigated with the molasses-based effluent from an ethanol distillery; Control Plot, Plot 1 (repeatedly irrigated) and Plot 2 (irrigated for the first time) were investigated. All the heavy metals were found to be within the limits indicated by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for the reuse of wastewater for cultivation, Standard B in the Fifth Schedule, Environmental Quality (Industrial Effluent) Regulations 2009, and the Malaysia Ground Water Quality Standard (MGWQS) for Agricultural 2019 by the Department of Environment Malaysia. The results postulated that the rice yield in Plot 2 was higher compared to the other plots. The study also revealed that the concentrations of the heavy metals in the paddy plants decreased when mobilized from the roots to the rice grains for all sampling plots (p < 0.05). The bioconcentration factor (BCF) for Cu and Ni showed the highest values of 2.01 and 4.89, respectively in Plot 1. As the heavy metals concentration in wastewater were within the allowed limit, metals present in the paddy plant parts could be mobilized from the metals readily present in the soil. These results indicated that the molasses-based distillery’s effluent could be a source of plant nutrients as the rice yields improved and have potential to be used for paddy irrigation, as long as it is contained from leaching into water reservoirs.xc

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Utilization of Seaweed (Gracilaria sp.) Liquid as Cost-Effective Macronutrients and Micronutrients for Bioethanol Production

2023 , Nur Zatul 'Iffah Zakaria , Ahmad Anas Nagoor Gunny , Mohd Irfan Hatim Mohamed Dzahir , Abdul Aziz Ahmad , Ku Syahidah Ku Ismail , Safa Senan Mahmod , Muhammad Javed , Namdar B.-Yazdi , Md Nabil Ab Adzim Saifuddin

Seaweed liquid waste from filter-squeezed drying process of Gracilaria sp. causes an unpleasant odour to the environment. Although this waste can partially be used as biofertilizer and heavy metals adsorbent, a bigger portion of the waste remains unutilized thus causing a problem to the environment. The present study aimed to utilize seaweed liquid waste as a supplement in fermentation media. To achieve this aim, Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a famous bioethanol producer was used to examine the ability of seaweed liquid to supply macronutrients and micronutrients in the media to produce ethanol. Interestingly, when used as a supplement in the fermentation media to produce ethanol, the liquid boosted ethanol production three folds from 200 mg/L of 2 % glucose alone to 600 mg/L of 2 % glucose in liquid. Additionally, the liquid was able to substitute yeast extract and peptone within YPD media to produce 647.48 mg/L ethanol as compared to only 542.39 mg/L with normal YPD which contains yeast extract and peptone. For that reason, the utilization of seaweed liquid as the supplement in the medium should be considered as an alternative cost-effective media for enhancing ethanol production without the addition of other nutrients.

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Optimization of enzymatic hydrolysis for acid pretreated date seeds into fermentable sugars

2020 , Hekma Salem Hasan Ba Hamid , Ku Syahidah Ku Ismail

One of the issues in the Middle East is that tons of date palm fruit waste are discarded by the date processing industries daily. Open burning to dispose agricultural residues can create environmental problems. To mitigate this issue, it is desirable to evaluate the potentials of the date palm wastes, such as date seeds, to be converted into value-added products. Date seeds were found to contain 27.34% lignin, 20.63% cellulose and 13.49% hemicellulose which can be hydrolysed into fermentable sugars. In this project, acid hydrolysis at 70 °C coupled with enzymatic hydrolysis proved to be able to deteriorate the lignin and cellulose in date seeds based on the physical changes observed with FESEM. Response surface methodology was used to determine the optimum condition; 120 FPU/g of cellulase for 6 h, at 45 °C. Under this condition, the maximum concentration of reducing sugars obtained from enzymatic hydrolysis is 31 g/L, making a total of 0.3 g/g of fermentable sugar obtained when combined with acid hydrolysis, equivalent to 81% from the theoretical value. Validation of the model indicated that there was no variance between the predicted (32.5 g/L) and observed values (31 g/L). This is the first work done on optimization of dates seeds into fermentable sugar under mild conditions.

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Soil risk assessment on the usage of molasses-based distillery effluent for paddy irrigation: heavy metals content

2023 , Nuratikah Ghazali , Ku Syahidah Ku Ismail , Roslaili Abd Aziz , Ahmad Radi Wan Yaakub , Md Nabil Ab Adzim Saifuddin , Nyvee Inthano , Ng Hock Hoo , Ayob Katimon

Heavy metal contamination in the soil is becoming a serious issue for food safety and human health. This study aims to quantify the concentration of cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), and lead (Pb) in paddy soil before and after irrigation with molasses-based distillery effluent in Perlis, Malaysia. Samples of effluent together with soil samples from two sampling plots were collected and analyzed using an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). It was found that the heavy metals in the effluent used for irrigation did not exceed the standard limit given by the Department of Environment (DOE) of Malaysia and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Standards for irrigation. Cr concentration was 0.01 mg/L, while Cd and Pb were not detected. The concentrations of heavy metals for the selected elements in paddy soil were also below the critical soil concentration enforced by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for normal soil. The heavy metal concentration’s contamination level was assessed by using the geoaccumulation index (Igeo) and the obtained data showed that all the selected elements can be classified as class 0 (uncontaminated). The results also showed that the Igeo before paddy planting was already high, and it might be due to anthropogenic activities. Pollution Load Index (PLI) values of all the soil samples were uncontaminated as the result showed PLI < 1. The study’s findings support the assertion that the soil samples were not significantly contaminated with the studied heavy metals before and after irrigation with molasses-based distillery effluent.

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Effect of Microwave-Assisted COâ‚‚ Pyrolysis on the production of activated carbon from confiscated cigarettes

2023-07 , Lee Jian Wei , Ku Syahidah Ku Ismail , Mohamad Firdaus Mohamad Yusop , Mohd Azmier Ahmad

Confiscated cigarettes are a significant problem worldwide, and in Malaysia, the Royal Malaysian Customs Department (RMCD) Perlis had confiscated 1.5 billion sticks of cigarettes from 2016 to 2019 and the cost of disposal reached RM1.2 billion. Confiscated cigarettes are commonly disposed by incineration which can cause environmental pollution. In this study, the cigarette tobacco was converted into activated carbon (AC) via microwave-assisted CO₂ pyrolysis. The tobacco was first carbonized at 300°C, followed by carbon dioxide (CO₂) activation under microwave heating. The highest yield, 31% was obtained at 616W for 6 min. The BET surface area for tobacco, char and the best AC produced were 1.99, 1.21 and 1.69 m2/g, respectively. Response surface methodology (RSM) of dye removal from AC showed that the optimum condition with the best adsorption properties was achieved at 364 Watt for 2 minutes, which resulted in 87.4% removal of methylene blue (MB). Due to the low surface area, the capability of the AC to adsorb MB dye might be assisted by a diversified factors that contributes to the adsorption mechanism. Modelling of the adsorption data also showed that the adsorption process occurs in multilayers of the adsorbent, best fit to the Freundlich isotherm. Microwave-assisted CO2pyrolysis shows potential in the production of AC from tobacco and could be further improved to increase the surface area.

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Structural and mechanical variations of major ampullate silk spun by Malaysian Nephila pilipes spider

2023 , Nurul Ain Harmiza Abdullah , Ku Syahidah Ku Ismail , Khadijah Hanim Abdul Rahman , Saiful Bahari Bakarudin , Johan Ariff Mohtar , Mohd. Mustafa Al Bakri Abdullah , Boon Yin Khoo

Major ampullate (MA) silk is a natural biomaterial, spun by spiders with exceptional mechanical characteristics. Most researchers who studied MA silk structure were primarily interested in the properties of a dragline thread that protrudes from the spider’s spigot when being chased by its predator. Apart from the dragline, the MA silk fibers may also be found in three pivot threads of the orb web known as the mooring, framework, and radial. However, it is currently uncertain whether the MA silk in these threads has properties similar to the dragline thread. Thus, this work attempted to compare the properties of MA silk fiber in the mooring, framework, radial, as well as the dragline threads. The MA silk fibers in mooring thread were found to exhibit significant quantity of MA fibers (12 ± 5.0 fibers per thread), thickness diameter (11.7 ± 0.6 μm), and supercontraction effect (high swelling ratio of 18.6), with an outstanding combination of strength (4464 MPa) and toughness (875 MJ/m3), outperforming the dragline thread. Positive correlation was found between the diameter of MA fibers and supercontraction effect and between the number of MA fibers and tensile strength. These findings might be modeled as a fundamental guide in silk spinning for future synthetic MA silk fiber development with extraordinary mechanical performance.

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Pretreatment of Leucaena Leucocephala Using Deep Eutectic Solvent for Ethanol Production by Kluyveromyces Marxianus UniMAP 1–1

2023-01-01 , Ishak M.Z. , Khadijah Hanim Abdul Rahman , Ahmad Anas Nagoor Gunny , Younesi H. , Ku Syahidah Ku Ismail

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.

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Effect of microwave-assisted COâ‚‚ pyrolysis on the production of activated carbon from confiscated cigarettes

2023-07 , Lee Jian Wei , Ku Syahidah Ku Ismail , Mohamad Firdaus Mohamad Yusop , Mohd Azmier Ahmad

Confiscated cigarettes are a significant problem worldwide, and in Malaysia, the Royal Malaysian Customs Department (RMCD) Perlis had confiscated 1.5 billion sticks of cigarettes from 2016 to 2019 and the cost of disposal reached RM1.2 billion. Confiscated cigarettes are commonly disposed by incineration which can cause environmental pollution. In this study, the cigarette tobacco was converted into activated carbon (AC) via microwave-assisted CO₂ pyrolysis. The tobacco was first carbonized at 300℃, followed by carbon dioxide (CO₂) activation under microwave heating. The highest yield, 31% was obtained at 616W for 6 min. The BET surface area for tobacco, char and the best AC produced were 1.99, 1.21 and 1.69 m2/g, respectively. Response surface methodology (RSM) of dye removal from AC showed that the optimum condition with the best adsorption properties was achieved at 364 Watt for 2 minutes, which resulted in 87.4% removal of methylene blue (MB). Due to the low surface area, the capability of the AC to adsorb MB dye might be assisted by a diversified factors that contributes to the adsorption mechanism. Modelling of the adsorption data also showed that the adsorption process occurs in multilayers of the adsorbent, best fit to the Freundlich isotherm. Microwaveassisted CO₂ pyrolysis shows potential in the production of AC from tobacco and could be further improved to increase the surface area.

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Deep Eutectic Solvent Pretreatment of Rubber Seed Shells for Cellulose and Hemicellulose Production

2023 , Nur Zatul 'Iffah Zakaria , Norshakilla Afendi , Ahmad Anas Nagoor Gunny , Younesi Habibollah , Ku Syahidah Ku Ismail

Ethanol is a clean biofuel that can be produced from biomass, namely, rubber seed shells. Rubber seed shells (RSS) tend to be less worthy and are rapidly becoming an agricultural waste. The environment is getting incredibly degraded as the industrial world constantly expands and has become more technologically developed in industrial operations. Generally, the most common chemical method used in pretreatment is acid and alkaline based. However, this method is unsuitable since it causes a lot of problems such as inhibitors generation and high energy consumption during the pretreatment process. Therefore, in this study, deep eutectic solvent (DESs) was used as the green solvent to pretreat the RSS for more environmentally friendly production of cellulose and hemicellulose. Seven combinations of hydrogen bond acceptor (HBA) and hydrogen bond donor (HBD) were used to synthesize DESs based on their molar ratio and physiochemical properties (pH, viscosity, density, hydrogen bond) were examined. Later, the best synthesized DES to pretreat RSS based on the cellulose and hemicellulose content was evaluated. The chemical composition (cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin) for untreated and pretreated RSS were determined by using the ASTM and TAPPI methods. The experimental results showed that the higher cellulose production were obtained by using acidic based DESs; ChCl:Oxalic acid, ChCl:Lactic acid and ChCl:Formic acid (24.43, 20.42, and 20.31%, respectively). Meanwhile, higher hemicellulose was obtained when using ChCl:Ethylene glycol and ChCl:Urea, with 46.86% and 41.14%, respectively. Hence, the study showed that acidic and slightly acidic based DESs were able to produce high cellulose and hemicellulose from RSS.

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