Now showing 1 - 10 of 30
  • Publication
    Study on characterization of bio-oil derived from sugarcane bagasse (Saccharum barberi) for application as biofuel
    ( 2022-04-01)
    Ahmad S.F.K.
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    ;
    Isa K.M.
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    Lignocellulosic biomass especially, sugarcane bagasse Saccharum barberi sp., appears to be a more suitable material for partial substitution of transport fuel (diesel) than Saccharum officinarum sp., due to its structural similarity to transport fuel (diesel). Besides that, less research has been implemented on this type of species. Bio-oil can be implemented as biodiesel by processing it further using chemical reactions such as hydrodeoxygenation and cracking with zeolite catalyst. Hence, the purpose of this study is to determine the compatibility of pyrolytic bio-oil produced from Saccharum barberi sp. in comparison with S. officinarum sp. for use as transport fuel (diesel) in automotive applications. This purpose can be accomplished by comparing the oil’s bio-physiochemical properties for both species. The experiment is conducted on a bench-scale on which bio-oil of Saccharum barberi sp. is secured from the catalytic pyrolysis process at a temperature of 500°C and heating rate of 50°C/min with the addition of ZSM-Zeolite catalyst. Thermogravimetric analysis of Saccharum barberi sp. reveals that cellulose is more reactive than lignin, evidenced by the high percentage of weight loss at temperatures ranging from 251°C to 390°C. The high contents of carbon (40.7%) and hydrogen (6.50%), as well as slight traces of sulphur (0.08%) and nitrogen (0.85%), in bio-oil (Saccharum barberi sp.) indicate that it is conceivable to be partially used for replacement in biofuel production. Overall physiochemical properties reveal that Saccharum barberi sp. shows more potential than S. officinarum sp. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis reveals that bio-oil consists of high amounts of aromatic hydrocarbon (26.2%), phenol (14.8%) and furfural (13.0%) in comparison to S. officinarum sp.
  • Publication
    Gasification char residues management: Assessing the characteristics for adsorption application
    ( 2023-09-01) ;
    Ahmad M.A.
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    ;
    Ken K.
    Due to the world-wide energy crisis and economic issues, biomass has become a resource of global interest as an alternative to activated carbon (AC) produced using non-renewable feedstock (i.e. coal-based). The production of AC from biomass has been determined to be sustainable owing to the abundance of biomass resources on Earth. Biomass gasification has significantly gained market interest and was predicted to reach a value of USD 126 billion by 2023. A critical concern for the existing commercial gasification plants is the handling of char residues, which represent approximately 10% of the initial feedstock mass and are presently treated as waste. The conversion of these chars into AC that can be used for adsorption applications is a possible alternative. This review article focuses on evaluating the characteristic of the gasification char (GC) that is used for adsorption processes. The current AC production method was briefly reviewed. In addition, recent studies on adsorption using GC were explored and summarised.
  • Publication
    Advancement in recycling waste tire activated carbon to potential adsorbents
    ( 2022-12-01) ;
    Hussin F.
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    Aroua M.K.
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    Khamidun M.H.
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    Jusoh N.
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    ;
    Ahmad S.F.K.
    Waste tires have been identified as one of the contributors to environmental problems and the issue of inadequate landfill spaces. The lack of consistent and systematic approaches such as specific regulations/laws or mechanisms of waste management to waste tires, limited application of technology for recycling waste tires and lack of awareness on the impacts of waste tires problem, make waste tires a source of environmental pollution. Various researches have been conducted on recycling waste tires into polymer bends, and materials to harden concretes, fuels and adsorbent. Researchers suggested that pyrolysis is the current trend of recycling waste tire to harvest the saleable pyrolysis oil and the recycled carbon black. Therefore, this review attempts to compile relevant knowledge about the potential of adsorbent derived from waste tires to be applied in the removal of various types of pollutants like heavy metals, organic pollutants, dye and air/gaseous pollutant. Studies were carried out on revealing the properties and the characteristics of activated carbon derived from waste tire as effective adsorbent which influence the application performance at liquid or gas phase. In addition, the challenges in the production of activated carbon derived from waste tire were discussed.
  • Publication
    Sulfur dioxide removal by calcium-modified fibrous KCC-1 mesoporous silica: kinetics, thermodynamics, isotherm and mass transfer mechanism
    ( 2022-04-01)
    Hanif M.A.
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    ; ; ;
    Tuan Abdullah T.A.
    ;
    Jalil A.A.
    The removal of sulfur dioxide from industrial flue gas through dry flue gas desulfurization method commonly involves the use of adsorption process with porous sorbent. The efficiency of this process is highly dependent on the adsorption capacity and the adsorption rate of SO2 onto the sorbent materials. The use of KCC-1 mesoporous silica modified with calcium metal additives (Ca/KCC-1) in SO2 adsorption is examined in a fixed bed reactor system. The adsorption capacity of Ca/KCC-1 is found to be critically governed by the reaction temperature and inlet SO2 concentration where low values of both parameters are favorable to achieve the highest adsorption capacity of 3241.94 mg SO2/g sorbent. SO2 molecules are adsorbed on the surface of Ca/KCC-1 by both physisorption and chemisorption processes as assumed by the Avrami kinetic model. Thermodynamic study shows that the process is exothermic and spontaneous in nature, and changes from an ordered stage on the surface of KCC-1 towards an increasingly random stage. The process is well explained by Freundlich isotherm model indicating a slightly heterogeneous process and moderate adsorption capacity. The adsorption stage is limited by film diffusion at the initial stage and by intraparticle diffusion during the transfer of SO2 into the network of pores before adsorption takes place on the active sites.
  • Publication
    Adsorption of carbon dioxide (CO2) by activated carbon derived from waste coffee grounds
    ( 2021-05-24)
    Lim H.K.
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    ; ;
    Aroua M.K.
    Currently, three are several agricultural bio-based materials have been successfully utilized as gas adsorbents. In this study, waste coffee grounds (WCGs) have been selected as a potential precursor of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) adsorbents. The preparation parameters for activated carbon derived from WCGs were optimized using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The optimized preparation parameters were found to be 1:3.67 impregnation ratio of acid, 533oC of carbonization temperature and 1.13 hours of activation time, which resulted in 23.6 wt% of yield. The physical and chemical characteristics of WCGAC in terms of surface morphology, carbon content, ash content and yield were also investigated. The CO2 breakthrough time using WCGAC were carried out at the temperatures of 30, 40, and 60°C. It was found that WCGAC shows a longer CO2 breakthrough times (5 mins) and a higher adsorption capacity (4.33 mg CO2/g adsorbent) at 30oC.
  • Publication
    Evaluation of phenol formaldehyde resin synthesized from sugarcane bagasse bio-oil under optimized parameters
    Bio-oil from biomass is considered as a potential substitute to partially replace phenol in the preparation of phenol formaldehyde resin as replacement to the commercial phenol which high in cost. However, the percentages of bio-oil substitutions need to be determined to ensure that the performance is good as the commercial ones. The aim of this research is to identify the optimum conditions for synthesizing phenol formaldehyde resin (PF) and determines the percentages of bio-oil substitutions by manipulating the synthesizing variables such as formaldehyde to phenol (F/P) catalyst ratio (NaOH/P), catalyst ratio and duration using one-factor-at-time method. The effect of each manipulated variables on shear strength was compared to the Chinese National Standard for PF resin shear strength. Bio-based phenolic resins are synthesized using the optimum conditions by replacing 10, 20, 30 and 40% of phenol with bio-oil from the pyrolysis of sugarcane bagasse. The results obtained shown that the optimum conditions to synthesize phenol formaldehyde resin is at F/P molar ratio of 2.0, catalyst ratio of 0.6 and duration of 3 hour. The results of bio-based phenolic resins bonding performance shows that substitution percentage of bio-oil up to 20% at most gives good performance compared to the pure PF resin.
  • Publication
    Oil palm waste-derived reduced graphene oxide (rGO) for dynamic adsorption of dye in a fixed-bed system
    ( 2024-01-01)
    Mohd Ali Jinnah S.N.H.
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    ; ; ; ;
    Mohamed Zuki F.
    This study focuses on investigating the dynamic adsorption of Rhodamine B (RhB) from reduced graphene oxide (rGO) derived from oil palm waste. The synthesis of rGO from palm kernel shell (PKS) was achieved through double oxidation and carbonization method, resulting in a yield of 73.5 wt%. The reduction of oxygen-containing functionalities process using PKS was confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy, microscopic evaluation, and X-ray diffraction analyses. Laboratory-scale fixed-bed experiments were conducted with various process parameters. Both PKS and rGO were used as adsorbents, and a comparison was made based on breakthrough curve analysis, adsorption capacity and percentage removal of dye. The adsorption kinetics of RhB on PKS and rGO were best described by the non-linear Yoon-Nelson model, with a high adsorption capacity of 88.32 mg/g and 195.24 mg/g respectively. Using both PKS and rGO, the maximum adsorption capacity was observed when using 10 cm bed depth column, inlet dye concentration of 5 mg/L, flow rate of 12 mL/min and pH of 7. PKS exhibited good dye removal with an efficiency of 66.54%. Meanwhile, the exothermic behavior highlighted the potential of utilizing rGO for maximum dye removal, achieving an efficiency of 90.35%. This study justifies rGO as a cost-effective superior dye removal adsorbent, providing new prospect for large-scale dye removal.
  • Publication
    Application of regenerated spent bleaching earth as an adsorbent for the carbon dioxide adsorption by gravimetric sorption system
    ( 2022-04-28)
    Phey M.L.P.
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    Abdullah T.A.T.
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    Ahmad A.
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    The atmospheric level of carbon dioxide (CO2) is indicated to be alarming which in turn has contributed to the worldwide environmental issue such as global warming. The goal of this project was to study the adsorption of CO2 onto regenerated spent bleaching earth (RSBE). Spent bleaching earth (SBE) can be a good adsorbent but it has the weakness in surface area due to the organic impurities left in the pores after being generated from the edible oil processing. Thus, the regeneration processes of SBE by (a) direct heat treatment, and (b) heat treatment followed by nitric acid treatment were studied to enhance the surface area, thus increasing the CO2 adsorption capacity. The SBE were calcined at four temperatures of 400, 500, 650 and 800 °C in the regeneration process. The surface properties of RSBE were characterized using Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) analysis and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area analysis. The CO2 adsorption capacity on RSBE produced by heat treatment followed by nitric acid treatment was shown to be more effective than RSBE produced by direct heat treatment. RSBE_500_HNO3 offered highest surface area (192.81 m2/g) and give highest CO2 adsorption capacity of 86.67 mg CO2/g. In comparison to the low pressure condition, the high pressure CO2 adsorption values recorded for both RSBE were significantly better.
  • Publication
    Reverse water gas shift reaction over a Cu/ZnO catalyst supported on regenerated spent bleaching earth (RSBE) in a slurry reactor: the effect of the Cu/Zn ratio on the catalytic activity
    ( 2023-01-19)
    Phey Phey M.L.
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    Tuan Abdullah T.A.
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    Mohamud M.Y.
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    Ikram M.
    ;
    Nabgan W.
    The catalytic conversion of CO2via the Reverse Water Gas Shift (RWGS) reaction for CO production is a promising environment-friendly approach. The greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels can be used to produce valuable fuels or chemicals through CO2 hydrogenation. Therefore, this project was to study the CO2 conversion via RWGS over various Cu/ZnO catalysts supported by regenerated spent bleaching earth (RSBE) prepared by wet impregnation technique with different Cu : Zn ratios (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 3.0). The causes of environmental pollution from the disposal of spent bleaching earth (SBE) from an edible oil refinery can be eliminated by using it as catalyst support after the regeneration process. The synthesized catalysts were characterized by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), temperature-programmed reduction of hydrogen (TPR-H2), pyridine-adsorbed Fourier transform infrared (FTIR-pyridine), temperature programmed desorption of carbon dioxide (TPD-CO2), N2 physisorption, and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis. The RWGS reaction was carried out in a slurry reactor at 200 °C, with a pressure of 3 MPa, a residence time of 4 h, and catalyst loading of 1.0 g with an H2/CO2 ratio of 3. According to experimental data, the Cu/Zn ratio significantly impacts the catalytic structure and performance. The catalytic activity increased until the Cu : Zn ratio reached the maximum value of 1.5, while a further increase in Cu/Zn ratio inhibited the catalytic performance. The CZR3 catalyst (Cu/Zn ratio of 1.5) with a higher catalytic reducibility, high copper dispersion with small crystalline size, lower total pore volume as well as higher basicity showed superior catalytic performance in terms of CO2 conversion (40.67%) and CO yield (39.91%). Findings on the effect of reaction conditions revealed that higher temperature (>240 °C), higher pressure (>3 MPa), higher reaction time (>4 h) and higher catalyst loading (>1.25 g) could improve CO2 conversion to CO yield. A maximum CO2 conversion of 45.8% and multiple recycling stability of the catalyst were achieved, showing no significant decrease in CO2 conversion.
  • Publication
    Fabrication and characterization of poly(ether-block-amide) (Pebax-1657) and silicoaluminophosphate (SAPO-34) composite membranes
    ( 2020-01-01)
    Kamarudin M.S.
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    Jusoh N.
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    Tengku Hassan T.N.A.
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    Abdullah S.B.
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    Amir Hamzah A.S.S.S.
    In the past few years, composite membrane has been introduced to cater the limitation of polymeric and inorganic membranes. However, the fabrication of ideal composite membrane with appropriate loading of filler remains challenging. Thus, the material selection as well as optimum loading with the conditions observed for the formulation of the composite membrane studied. In this present work, a series of poly(ether-block-amide) (Pebax-1657) and silicoaluminophosphate (SAPO-34) composite membrane with different loading of SAPO-34 particles (0-4 wt%) were fabricated. The physicochemical properties of the resultant membranes were investigated by utilizing X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX). Based on analysis, a good distribution of filler was obtained for the membranes loaded with 1 wt% and 2 wt% of SAPO-34 particles. Further increase of inorganic filler loading lead to the sedimentation and agglomeration of particle in the membrane, which may deteriorate the membrane performance in gas separation. Therefore, the optimum loading of inorganic particles in polymer phase play a major role in obtaining membrane with minimum defects ahead of gas separation performance tests such as for CO2/ethylene separation application.