Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
  • 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
    Production of fuel grade anhydrous ethanol: A review
    ( 2021-05-24)
    Lee Y.H.
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    Chen C.H.
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    ;
    Alcoholic fermentation of fermentable carbon sources like molasses and table sugar using yeast are typical route in producing alcohol particularly known as bioethanol (C2H5OH). The key challenge encountered in bioethanol production process is to eliminate the impurity presence within the bioethanol which mainly water. Distillation is an energy extensive process which commonly used to recover ethanol up to 95% purity due to the presence of azeotropic composition. The distillation will no longer appropriate for further purification once the azeotrope composition has reached. Nonetheless, to be able to use as a viable fuel for gasoline engine or for any other utilizations where the purity is a major concern, further dehydration steps are needed producing an absolute ethanol. Few studies have been investigated on various dehydration methods for producing anhydrous ethanol, including azeotropic distillation, extractive distillation, adsorption, membrane pervaporation, and solvent extraction process. This review offers an insight into currently used technology on the ethanol dehydration methods and the future prospect on the continuous improvement particularly on the process energy requirement and efficiency will be discussed.
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  • Publication
    Comparative Performance of Catalytic and Non-Catalytic Pyrolysis of Sugarcane Bagasse in Catatest Reactor System
    ( 2020-04-30)
    Faraheen Kabir Ahmad S.
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    ; ; ;
    Sataimurthi O.
    Catalytic pyrolysis is a favourable process used to enhance the quality of bio-oil. Based on reviews from previous research there are only scarce of studies on the comparison of catalytic and non-catalytic pyrolysis of biomass such as rice husk, olive husk and corncob. In this study, sugarcane bagasse was selected as it has not been explored much yet. The target of this research is to compare the impact of catalytic and non-catalytic pyrolysis of sugarcane bagasse in terms of the yield, properties, and also the compositions of bio-oil. Catalytic and non-catalytic pyrolysis was executed in catatest bed reactor at temperatures 400°C to 550°C with the aids of ZSM-5 zeolite catalyst. Bio-oil from catalytic and no-catalytic pyrolysis which gives the maximum yield was used to be studied further in terms of the properties and chemical compositions. The result shows that the maximum yield of bio-oil was accomplished from catalytic pyrolysis at temperature 500°C which was 21.4%. The properties and composition of bio-oil from catalytic pyrolysis shows better result compare to non-catalytic pyrolysis.
      2  10
  • Publication
    Adsorption of 4-Nitrophenol from wastewater using Sea Mango (Cerbera odollam) based Activated Carbon
    ( 2020-04-30)
    Zufarhana Zulkurnai N.
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    ; ;
    Ru Shien T.
    The presence of phenols and phenolic compounds in water and wastewater has gained great public attention and it is one of the most frequent pollutants in wastewater. In this study, the adsorption of 4-Nitrophenol from wastewater using activated carbon prepared from the non-edible Sea Mango (Cerbera odollam) fruit was investigated. The Sea Mango Activated Carbon (SMAC) was prepared through a physicochemical activation which consists of H3PO4 impregnation and followed by CO2 gasification. The influences of process variables represented by solution pH value, contact time, initial concentration and adsorbent dosage on removal efficiency of 4-NP onto Sea Mango Raw Material (SMRM) and Sea Mango Activated Carbon (SMAC) were studied. Result showed that the optimum pH for 4-NP removal was at pH 3. The dosage usage required to complete 100 ml of 4-NP on SMRM and SMAC was 1.0 g. Batch studies were performed to evaluate the adsorption process, and it was found that the Freundlich isotherm effectively fits the experimental data for the adsorbates better than the Langmuir model with the highest adsorption capacity 158.730 mg/g of 4-nitrophenol on SMAC. It was found that 70.49% and 97.98% of 4-NP was adsorbed onto SMRM and SMAC, respectively, at an initial concentration of 20 mg/L.
      14  2
  • 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.
      16  2
  • 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.
      2  15
  • Publication
    Parametric study on producing Fused Deposition Modelling filament made of recovered carbon black reinforced Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene plastics
    ( 2023-01-01)
    Saad M.F.
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    Fooi C.C.
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    Quan C.R.
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    Hadi M.H.J.A.
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    ;
    Osman A.F.
    Additive manufacturing is a process that makes three-dimensional object layer by layer. There are many different types of 3D printer and the most commonly used is Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM). There is a need for a new material for Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) FDM filament to improve filament strength and reduce the usage of plastics. From literature, there are limited studies available on making 3D printer filament reinforced by recycled carbon black. The limitation hinders the potential of using this material in new applications. In this study, recycled carbon black powder (rCB) was added as a filler reinforcement to enhance the properties of ABS. Parameters considered in this study were percentage of filler weight loading and filler size. Tests and characterisation used in this study were tensile test, thickness test, surface roughness test, scanning electron microscopy, density test and water absorption test. There were improvements in mechanical properties such as tensile test and elasticity of the filament compared to the pure ABS plastic. The higher filler percentage can improve the elasticity of filament and lower filler percentage can improve the strength of the filament. The findings could help in improving marketability status and commercialisation potential of rCB reinforced ABS filament for FDM applications.
      5  24
  • Publication
    Carbon dioxide hydrogenation using Ru/YSZ promoted with low-coverage alkaline earth metals
    ( 2020-07-09)
    Sze Yen T.
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    ; ;
    Kheireddine Aroua M.
    Utilization of CO2, which is the main contributor to the global climate change is one of the means to produce useful chemicals and fuels while at the same time reduce CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. Ruthenium (Ru) was chosen as the probe catalyst in carbon dioxide hydrogenation based on its ability to selectively enhance methanation reaction. Ru supported on YSZ solid electrolyte (Ru/YSZ) was modified with alkaline earth metal promoters i.e. calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) at low coverage (0.16%). It was found that Ca-modified system is more favorable to enhance the catalytic activity and selectivity of reaction towards methane production compared to Mg-modified system, perhaps due to the higher basicity of Ca.
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