Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
  • Publication
    Phytoremediation potential of Azolla pinnata on water quality and nutrients from agricultural water
    ( 2022-09-01) ;
    Remlee N.N.
    ;
    ;
    Kamaruddin M.A.
    ;
    ;
    Ibrahim M.H.
    ;
    Alam M.
    ;
    Andini A.
    ;
    Ratnasari A.
    ;
    Boopathy R.
    ;
    Syafiuddin A.
    The area of polluted water expands day by day due to the rapid increase in agricultural activities. Application and the excessive amount of fertilizer in the agricultural activity can reduce the water quality. One of the alternative way to remove pollutants from polluted water is phytoremediation technique. This paper attempt to evaluate the potential of Azolla pinnata act as a phytoremediation to treat the agricultural water. Three types of media with different dosage which are tap water, water added with organic fertilizer (chicken manure: dosage range of 10–30 g), and water added with inorganic fertilizer (growing fertilizer: dosage range of 10–30 g) were employed. Media B10 (water added with 10 g organic fertilizer) had the highest removal 3– – efficiencies for NH3 –N, PO4, and NO3 with 25%, 38.5% and 30%. In addition, turbidity and pH value diminished to 15.65% and 18.6%, respectively. However, it indicated that Azolla pinnata has the potential as an agent of phytoremediation especially for water polluted with organic fertilizers.
  • Publication
    Malaysian and Libyan Perspectives on Single-Use Plastic's Environmental Impact During the Pandemic COVID-19: A Pilot Study
    Plastics have become a significant threat to natural ecosystems as well as human health. The use and consumption of plastics improves our quality of life significantly, but it is critical to transition to more sustainable alternatives. Thus, the current study proposes an investigation into the impact of single use plastic products during pandemic on the impact to the environment from the Malaysian and Libyan perspective. A pilot study was conducted to examine the strength of the questionnaire in collecting on the environmental impacts of single use plastic during COVID-19 pandemic distributed across two countries (Libya and Malaysia). SPSS was used to test the questionnaires' strength with 40 participants, 20 in each nation. The reliability test results with Cronbach’s Alpha predicted values of 0.7-0.86 and actual data Alpha values 0.87-0.93, normal test of variance inflation factor ranging between 1 and 5, skewness and kurtosis values of -1.343 to -0.076 and 5.312 to -0.024 respectively confirmed the strength of the questionnaires as benchmarked in the literature. Further, the participants' responses to the quality of the questionnaire in determining the single use plastic impact to environmental have clearly revealed the strength and applicability of this questionnaire for wider data collections.
  • Publication
    Comparative Study between Organic Liquid Fertilizer and Commercial Liquid Fertilizer and Their Growth Performances on Mustard Greens
    Organic liquid fertilizers (OLF) are made up of essential plant nutrients, as well as beneficial microbes that assist in the recycling of organic waste. The purpose of this study was to determine the macronutrient content of organic liquid fertilizers and compare the growth performance of mustard greens under Wick System hydroponic conditions. Market wastes also known as vegetable wastes, were utilized to produce organic liquid fertilizers and compare it to commercial fertilizer (Nutrient Solution, NS). The vegetable wastes were fermented with water and Effective Microorganisms (EM) Bokashi separately. The ratios used for fermentation are 2 kilograms of vegetable wastes, 0.5 litres of water and 100 grams of EM Bokashi. A parameter study on the OLF and OLF with Bokashi to determine the nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) were done. Thereafter, four Wick System (pure water, OLF, OLF with Bokashi and NS) were setup to monitor the growth performance of mustard greens twice a week. The organic liquid fertilizers are produced after 40 days of fermentation and used at a dilution of 1: 10 in the hydroponic system. The OLF and OLF with Bokashi showed the ranges of pH values as 5.1 and 4.6 respectively. The results for the hydroponic system showed that OLF demonstrated the best growth performance. The number and size of leaves and the height of the plants in the NS hydroponic system were almost similar to the plants in OLF hydroponic system. The colour of plants in OLF changed slightly to yellowish green towards the end of the growing season. The life spent of mustard greens in OLF with Bokashi hydroponic system was the least compared to other hydroponic system. This study showed that organic liquid fertilizer is as effective as commercial liquid fertilizer. Considering, it has all the nutrients that plants need to grow.
  • Publication
    Adsorption of hydrogen sulfide (H2s) from municipal solid waste by using biochars
    The emission of hydrogen sulfide (H2 S) from municipal solid waste is one of the environmental issues that raised the public’s attention and awareness. Exposure to H2 S that brings a foul smell of rotten eggs will cause headaches, irritation, dizziness, fatigue, and even death if the concentration of H2 S is too high. The study’s goals are to investigate the properties of biochars made from rice hulls, banana peels, and sawdust; to compare the biochars’ physical and chemical properties; and establish the H2 S removal efficiency of the three biochars. Biochars derived from rice hull (RHB-500), banana peel (BPB-550), and sawdust (SDB-500) by pyrolysis were used as the adsorbents. The biochar yield, pH, ash content, surface functional group, and morphology of the biochars produced were investigated. In this study, H2 S was synthesized by mixing food waste and soil in the experimental column. The H2S produced was reduced by the adsorption method. The removal efficiencies of H2 S for each biochar were determined by allowing the synthetic H2 S to flow through the two columns that were packed with sand (act as control) and biochars, respectively. All biochars were alkaline, and BPB-550 had the highest pH, followed by SDB-500 and finally RHB-500. The order for removal efficiency of H2 S (>94%) is BPB-550 > SDB-500 > RHB-500. Overall, the biochars derived from biomass had a strong ability to act as the adsorbents for H2S removal.
  • Publication
    A study on Hydrogen Sulphide as potential tracer in landfill gas monitoring
    Municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills are one of the major source of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) which is the offensive odours potentially creating annoyance in adjacent communities. This project focuses on H2S emission from landfills in Perlis, Malaysia. Landfill gas (LFG) samples were collected and analyzed accordance with NIOSH method 6013. The mean concentrations of H2S in Kuala Perlis Landfill and Padang Siding Landfill are 210.68 ppm and 242.85 ppm respectively. High concentrations of H2S may be a concern for employees working on the landfill site. These results indicate that workers should use proper personal protection at landfill when involved in excavation, landfill gas collection, and refuse compaction. The formation of H2S most likely to be contributed by the biological conversion of sulfate from gypsum-rich soils and landfill wastewater treatment sludges by sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) which can utilize dissolved sulfate as an electron acceptor. H2S is conveniently detected by hand held analyzer, such Jerome meter, landfill gas analyzer. In the organic range, in the ease of detection range in the dispersion rate within the landfill site, the monitored H2S gas form a very noticeable concentration with the travelling wind direction. It proved that the dispersion rate of H2S are suitable as tracer to detect route of travelling in a certain distance.
  • Publication
    Evaluation of phytoremediation in removing Pb, Cd and Zn from contaminated soil using Ipomoea Aquatica and Spinacia Oleracea
    ( 2020-06-10) ;
    Lim F.J.
    ;
    ;
    Odli Z.S.M.
    Phytoremediation is an innovative and profound method to clean heavy metals which have been released by human activities into the environment and where the metals had persisted over many years. Phytoremediation employs plants to remove the heavy metals. The aim of this study is to compare Ipomoea Aquatica and Spinacia Oleracea in effectiveness of phytoreduction capability and translocation capability in responds to lead, cadmium and zinc from synthetic soil within 35 days. The synthetic soil was prepared to contain 66 mg/kg Pb, 30 mg/kg of Cd and 66 mg/kg of Zn. I. Aquatica has shown higher removal percentage of Pb, Cd and Zn than S. Oleracea which are 27.7% of Pb, 29.0% of Cd and 32.8% of Zn. The translocation factor (TF) of root to shoot by I. Aquatica is 1.05 and it is higher than S. Oleracea, which is 0.79. Besides that, I. Aquatic has shown a higher combined bioaccumulation factor (BAC) of 0.78 while S. Oleracea has combined BAC of 0.68. The results show that I. Aquatica is more effective for phytoremediation. Furthermore, kinetic evaluation shows that heavy metals treated with I. Aquatica has shorter half-life compared to S. Oleracea which is 76 days.
  • Publication
    Removal of ammonia from municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill using hydrated lime
    ( 2020-06-10) ;
    Chua Jui Shing
    ;
    Rajeb Salem Hwidi
    ;
    ;
    Irnis Azura Zakarya
    Leachate is known as a vigorous wastewater in terms of its organic matter and ammonia content. It is a major problem for municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill. It posed threat to surface water and groundwater. This study focusing on the removal of ammonia-nitrogen (NH3-N) by coagulation on a raw leachate sample taken from Rimba Mas municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill. The landfill leachate is tested for COD, colour and NH3N. Morphological features of calcium oxide are studied using XRF and SEM. Optimum dosage of coagulant for ammonia nitrogen removal from MSW leachate is investigated. The method used in this research was coagulant-flocculation treatment: jar test apparatus. The coagulant was conducted using hydrated lime, Ca(OH)2 with varying amount of coagulant to find the optimum dosage for ammonia nitrogen removal. A raw leachate sample taken from Rimba Mas landfill was treated with a different amount of hydrated lime (2, 4, 6, 8, 10 g/L) and 0 as a control to investigate the removal of ammonia nitrogen. The results showed that the pH of leachate (9.09) after treated with hydrated lime is increased when the dosage of hydrated lime is increased. Results showed that the best value of removal efficiency from leachate of colour, COD and NH3N were 54.70%, 56.22% and 85.25% respectively. We can conclude that as the optimum dosage increases, removal efficiency is increases.
      2  2