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The paper is focused on investigation of the nature and size of cellulose fibers in the structure of stabilizing additives for stone-mastic asphalt concrete, as well as on determination of fibers retention capacity based on their geometric parameters. To obtain the results a scanning electron microscope JSM-6510LV was used, with the help of which 15 to 20 photomicrographs were obtained. It was found out that in all inspected samples of stabilizing additives over 80% of pulp and paper fibers have a band structure with filaments from 0.56 to 1.4 micrometer in length. The fiber thickness in all cases slightly varies within the range of 0.008 to 0.021 micrometer. For a more detailed analysis of the additives the X-ray microanalysis was carried out. The results showed that in all cases the component distribution of the chemical elements present in the additive is inhomogeneous and has two fundamental differences in the oxygen (O) and carbon (C) content. ARMIDON additives contain more than 79% carbon (C) and just 6-13% oxygen (O). VIATOP 66 and SD-1 additives contain up to 61% carbon (C) and up to 48% oxygen (O). Tests to determine the runoff of the organic binder showed that additives with cellulose fiber filaments up to 0.6 micrometers in length hold bitumen worse than additives with cellulose fiber filaments 1.4 micrometers in length.The paper is focused on investigation of the nature and size of cellulose fibers in the structure of stabilizing additives for stone-mastic asphalt concrete, as well as on determination of fibers retention capacity based on their geometric parameters. To obtain the results a scanning electron microscope JSM-6510LV was used, with the help of which 15 to 20 photomicrographs were obtained. It was found out that in all inspected samples of stabilizing additives over 80% of pulp and paper fibers have a band structure with filaments from 0.56 to 1.4 micrometer in length. The fiber thickness in all cases slightly varies within the range of 0.008 to 0.021 micrometer. For a more detailed analysis of the additives the X-ray microanalysis was carried out. The results showed that in all cases the component distribution of the chemical elements present in the additive is inhomogeneous and has two fundamental differences in the oxygen (O) and carbon (C) content. ARMIDON additives contain more than 79% carbon (C) and ju...

Here, a small analytical device was fabricated on both nitrocellulose membrane and filter paper, for the detection of biotinylated double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) from 1 nM. Zif268 was utilized for capturing the target DNA, which was a zinc finger protein that recognized only a dsDNA with specific sequence. Therefore, this detection platform could be utilized for PCR result detection, with the well-designed primers (interpolate both biotin and Zif268 binding sequence). The result of the assay could be recorded by a camera-phone, and analyzed with software. The whole assay finished within 1 hour. Due to the easy fabrication, operation and disposal of this device, this method can be employed in point-of-care detection or on-site monitoring.

Wood fiber derived cellulose has been mainly used as the raw material in the papermaking. However, currently the paper production capacity is greater than the availability of wood. To overcome this problem, there have been many attempts to use non-wood fibers as substitutes for papermaking such as the fibrous materials derived from agriculture wastes. In this research, the paper was made from sugarcane bagasse which was previously delignified using soda process. The research was conducted by varying NaOH concentrations of 8 –16%, delignification temperatures of 60– 100°C and times of 30 –150 min. The aim of the research was to study the effect of delignification process on physical properties of sugarcane baggase soda pulping. The results showed the increase in tensile strengths as the NaOH concentrations increased. Tensile strength was increasing up to optimum temperature and time and then decreased. The water uptake results showed the opposite tendencies with those of tensile strength. The optimum condition was achieved at the NaOH concentration of 10 %, delignification temperature of 80 °C, and time of 90 min. Tensile strength and water uptake achieved at this optimum condition were 27.42 N/mm2 and 240 g/m2, respectively.

Malaysia is facing serious challenges in dealing enormous quantities of waste paper sludge produced in the country every year. This enormous quantity causing major economic problems and environmental problems over the paper and board industry. In order to confront with the economic problems associated with waste disposal costs, which make up almost half of the cost of wastewater treatment, there is a need to provide a viable solution to the reuse of waste and by reducing the use of natural resources. Hence, a comparative analysis of the experimental results novel properties of fresh and hardened concrete with recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) with different substitution of waste paper sludge ash (WPSA) as a partial substitute for cement is presented in the paper. Recycled aggregates is made by crushing the waste concrete cube laboratory tests. Recycled aggregate is made by crushing the concrete waste at laboratory. Utilize of WPSA and RCA is estimated to produce significant gains in strength performance ...

The micro-fibrillated cellulose crystals from natural cotton fiber via alkaline treatment and acid hydrolysis were explored as possible reinforcement in recycled paper to improve its mechanical properties. Results confirmed the characteristic properties and crystallinity of the obtained micro-fibrillated cellulose crystals. Reinforcement of the micro-fibrillated cellulose crystals in the production of recycled paper showed an improvement in the tensile strength compared to the recycled paper samples without reinforcement or even with kapok fiber/micro-fibrillated cellulose crystals combination. Further improvement on the barrier properties of the micro-fibrillated cellulose reinforced paper via biocoating made from chitosan/starch blend resulted to a 27.69% decrease of the water absorption capacity compared to uncoated sample using the Cobb test.

During recycling of waste paper from private households different fractions containing plastics and polluted paper fibers are received. Current research at the Institute of Polymer Materials and Plastics Engineering at Clausthal University of Technology showed that the use of waste paper as filler and reinforcement in polypropylene leads to nearly the same mechanical properties as natural fibers like flax, sisal and hemp. The present investigations focus on the chemical cleaning of the paper recyclate to treat the fiber surface and to solve foreign plastics like polystyrene. For this purpose Soxhlet extraction with different solvents is used. The received extracts are examined via infrared spectroscopy, as well as the treated and the untreated fibers. Afterwards, the cleaned paper is incorporated into polypropylene. The received composites are investigated regarding their mechanical properties by tensile testing and Charpy impact testing.During recycling of waste paper from private households different fractions containing plastics and polluted paper fibers are received. Current research at the Institute of Polymer Materials and Plastics Engineering at Clausthal University of Technology showed that the use of waste paper as filler and reinforcement in polypropylene leads to nearly the same mechanical properties as natural fibers like flax, sisal and hemp. The present investigations focus on the chemical cleaning of the paper recyclate to treat the fiber surface and to solve foreign plastics like polystyrene. For this purpose Soxhlet extraction with different solvents is used. The received extracts are examined via infrared spectroscopy, as well as the treated and the untreated fibers. Afterwards, the cleaned paper is incorporated into polypropylene. The received composites are investigated regarding their mechanical properties by tensile testing and Charpy impact testing.

The commercial telecommunication system in future would explore the electromagnetic spectrum with higher frequency than used now, because it requires higher speed of transmission data. Using the millimeter waves (mmW) with frequency ranging from 30 to 300 GHz, such requirement could be fulfilled. The upcoming 5G cellular technology is expected to use frequency 30 GHz or higher. Then materials with a specific characteristic at the mmW range are interesting to be explored and investigated. Here, we report the synthesis process of graphene/TiO2 deposited on paper and their transmission characteristics to the electromagnetic energy at frequency 27-40 GHz (Ka-Band). The reduced graphene oxide (rGO) was synthesized by a modified Hummers method with introduction of microwave irradiation in the process. rGO and TiO2 were mixed in ethanol solution and deposited on the paper by a spraying technique. Transmission coefficient of electromagnetic wave energy at Ka-Band was measured by using the millimeter vector networ...

This paper presents the laboratory result on compaction characteristic for soft soil subgrade which was stabilized by using waste paper sludge ash (WPSA). The soft soil sample was collected from Banting Selangor, Malaysia named as Banting soft soil and classified as slightly sandy Clay with intermediate plasticity. Additive of WPSA is a finely waste product produced from the incinerated waste paper. In ASTM C618, this WPSA samples are categorized as Type-C fly ash due to the high free lime (CaO) content (>20%) and possesses some cementitious and pozzolanic, resulting in the self-cementing characteristics. Therefore no entire activators such as lime are required. Objectives of this study are to determine the dry density and moisture content of Banting soft soil stabilized by WPSA through the different energy and method of compaction and to determine the Atterberg limit properties of Banting soft soil stabilized using WPSA. Several percentage of WPSA (4%, 8%, 12% and 16%) was used to stabilize the soft soil...

We successfully developed a method utilizing colloidal CdSe nanocrystalline quantum dot for anti-counterfeiting label on a piece of glossy paper. We deposited numbers and lines patterns of toluene soluble CdSe quantum dot using rubber stamper on a glossy paper. The width of line pattern was about 1-2 mm with 1-2 mm separation between lines. It required less than one minute for deposited CdSe quantum dot on glossy paper to dry and become invisible by naked eyes. However, patterned quantum dot become visible using long-pass filter glasses upon excitation of UV lamp or blue laser. We characterized photoluminescence of line patterns of quantum dot, and we found that emission boundaries of line patterns were clearly observed. The error of line size and shape were mainly due to defect of the original stamper. The emission peak wavelength of CdSe quantum dot was 629 nm. The emission spectrum of deposited quantum dot has full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 30-40 nm. The spectra similarity between deposited quant...

Water filter has been made to improve well water quality by using filtration concept in which activated carbon from cocoa rind waste and clay was used. The filter was made by varying the composition of cocoa rind waste and clay in activated carbon at the ratios of 85%:15%, 80%:20%, 75%:25%, 70%:30% and 65%:35%. The combustion temperature was varied at 200°C, 230°C, 260°C, 290°C and 320°C. Then it was molded by using mold and press conventional technique. The characterization results showed optimum composition was reached at 65%:35% ratios under 320°C combustion where the absorbance and porosity of water filter were at 86% and 52.38% respectively. Whereas density of 0.617 g/cm3 and 0.00514 MPa compressive strength were obtained from 85%:15% composition at 200°C combustion temperature. The performance test for the filter in purifying well water gave 3.2 NTU for turbidity, 7 TCU for color, 338 µS/cm conductivity, 6.7 pH level and Fe content of 1.0 mg/L. The analysis done showed that the water filtered has met the standard quality of clean water.

The use of magnetite nanoparticles to produce magnetic paper has a severe effect on the color of the paper, which is worth searching means to alleviate. Multicore-shell Fe3O4-SiO2 magnetic nanocomposites were synthesized. The nanocomposite powder was dispersed in cellulose pulp and paper was produced by dehydration on a Rapid Kothen machine. The nanocomposite retention efficiency was investigated in correlation with nanocomposite shell thickness, the resinous vs. deciduous fiber content of the cellulose pulp, the long and short fibers’ grinding degree, the cationic starch and polymeric retention agent content of the pulp. The whiteness and magnetization was measured for all paper samples. It was proved that the use of multi-core shell magnetic nanocomposites leads to weaker paper coloring. This effect is enhanced by increasing the polymeric retention agent content of the pulp, in spite of higher composite content.

This paper reports results of an investigation on the blended BWA-FA geopolymer mortars prepared by the inclusion of biomass wood ash (BWA) as a partial replacement material for fly ash (FA). The blended mortar systems were prepared at three replacement ratios of FA by BWA of 5%, 15% and 25% by binder mass. The engineering properties of compressive strength, water absorption and total porosity measurements obtained at different ageing of 3, 7 and 28 days, were used to assess the blended systems against a control mortar mix containing 100% FA. The results showed that the inclusion of BWA up to 15% resulted in higher strength and durability characteristics than the control mix at age of 3 and 7 days. However, at age of 28 days, the geopolymer containing 10% BWA of the total binder was the only blended mixture exhibited higher compressive strength and lower total porosity than the control mix.

A sensitive dip test strip for detection of formalin (HCHO) in tofu samples based on immobilized pararosaniline (PR) has been developed. The test strip has been fabricated by immobilizing PR reagent on filter paper. By using image color analysis (ImageJ) as the average of ΔRGB value as color sensor response, the analytical parameters are obtained from an area of the sensing zone of the test strip using digital output of the color scanner. By using this scanometric method, it is possible to determine HCHO as low as 0.05 mg/L with the concentration range of 2-80 mg/L and the response time of 3 minutes. The reproducibility was found to be 8.04% (RSD) for good recovery. The test strip has been successfully applied to detect formaldehyde in tofu samples, and the results show in good agreement with the Nash method using UV/vis spectrophotometry.

The paper focuses on the development of a low-cost biogas filtration system for alternating current generator to achieve higher efficiency in terms of power production. A raw biogas energy comprises of 57% combustible element and 43% non-combustible elements containing carbon dioxide (36%), water vapor (5%), hydrogen sulfide (0.5%), nitrogen (1%), oxygen (0 – 2%), and ammonia (0 – 1%). The filtration system composes of six stages: stage 1 is the water scrubber filter intended to remove the carbon dioxide and traces of hydrogen sulfide; stage 2 is the silica gel filter intended to reduce the water vapor; stage 3 is the iron sponge filter intended to remove the remaining hydrogen sulfide; stage 4 is the sodium hydroxide solution filter intended to remove the elemental sulfur formed during the interaction of the hydrogen sulfide and the iron sponge and for further removal of carbon dioxide; stage 5 is the silica gel filter intended to further eliminate the water vapor gained in stage 4; and, stage 6 is the activated carbon filter intended to remove the carbon dioxide. The filtration system was able to lower the non-combustible elements by 72% and thus, increasing the combustible element by 54.38%. The unfiltered biogas is capable of generating 16.3 kW while the filtered biogas is capable of generating 18.6 kW. The increased in methane concentration resulted to 14.11% increase in the power output. The outcome resulted to better engine performance in the generation of electricity.

Bioethanol is a natural product and manufactured by the fermentation of plants containing sugar and starch. Characteristic physical and chemical of bioethanol near to gasoline. As a biofuel, bioethanol can be used as a fuel substitution for gasoline with hopefully can decreasing emission and renewable energy for security energy. The objective of this research was to determine the effect of bioethanol-gasoline blended fuels on the performance SI Engine compared with varying gasoline at the market. The experimental test was using gasoline with octane number 88, 92, 98, with 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% bioethanol blends. The effect of the bioethanol-gasoline blend on performance SI engine 150 CC is increased research octane number, and to decrease heating value with increasing blending bioethanol can decreasing power and increasing fuel consumption. The one important things in this research had differences of each kind of gasoline toward performance and emission of SI engine.

Cellulose is one of the most abundantly available biopolymer in nature. This semi crystalline cellulose cannot be melted directly to form fiber, as it degrades before melting. Hence processing of cellulosic fiber requires dissolution process. There are many solvents available for direct dissolution of cellulose to form polymer, N-Methyl Morpholine Oxide (NMMO) is one of the solvents, which has commercial feasibility to dissolve the cellulose to form spinnable polymer matrix. The process of direct dissolution of cellulose using NMMO is conventionally termed as Lyocell process. It is a multiple step process that involves swelling and dissolution of cellulose in N-Methyl Morpholine Oxide (NMMO) solvent and spinning of solvated cellulose solution to produce fiber by dry jet wet spinning. The conventional process of lyocell manufacturing consists of single stage of slurry (cellulose suspension in NMMO) preparation in which solvent gets penetrated in cellulose fibers (Swelling). It is necessary at slurry stage to have optimum pulp swelling and higher NMMO to cellulose ratio to achieve better uniformity of slurry for fast dissolution and homogeneous solvated cellulose polymer formation. To achieve this, pulp sheets are shredded to an optimum size before addition to aqueous solution of NMMO. The shredding of pulp sheet requires intensive energy and raises safety concerns due to the static charge generation which can lead to dust explosion. This makes conventional processes of dissolved cellulose preparation commercially and operationally unviable. In the present work a new method is developed to overcome the safety concern. In this new method, slurry preparation is carried out in two stages. In first stage dilute solvent is used to prepare slurry with low (4-6%) solid, slurry is later pressed to upto 45-50% solid percentage, the pressed solvent removes metal ion impurities and short chain hemicellulose by 10-20% from pulp. The pressed cake of cellulose is again mixed with high concentration of NMMO to form the slurry mixture for further processing. The dissolution of cellulose starts when monohydrate state of NMMO is reached by removing excess water from cellulose NMMO slurry to get Lyocell dope at 90-100 °C. This polymer solution is then spun through spinnerets by jet-wet spinning to get the Lyocell fiber. This method of cellulose-NMMO slurry preparation for the manufacturing lyocell fiber has shown reduction in undissolved particles of cellulose and metal ions impurities in polymer matrix of cellulose with no change in the fiber properties compared to the conventional process. The advantage of this process over conventional process is that high impurity pulp can be easily blended with good quality pulp in first stage of slurry-making, while the excess impurity is removed before second stage to get better quality of solvated cellulosic polymer network.

The paper discusses the possibility of using the flax boons for thermal insulation materials. The solution for systematization of materials based on flax boon is suggested. It based on the principle of building materials production using the flax waste with different types of binders. The purpose of the research is to obtain heat-insulating materials with different structure based on agricultural production waste - flax boon, mineral and organic binders. The composition and properties of organic filler – flax boons – are defined using infrared spectroscopy and standard techniques. Using the method of multivariate analysis the optimal ratio of flax boons and binders in production of pressed, porous and granular materials are determined. The effect of particles size distribution of flax boons on the strength of samples with the different composition is studied. As a result, the optimized compositions of pressed, porous and granular materials based on flax boons are obtained. Data on the physical and mechani...

Lignin is a kind of formed by polymerization of aromatic alcohol, prices are lower and sources of renewable resources. Using lignin as raw material, through the push to resolve together preparation phenolic high value-added fine chemicals alkanes and aromatic hydrocarbons, such as the high grade biofuels, can partly replace fossil fuels as raw material to the production process, biomass resources is an important part of the comprehensive utilization of effective components. In lignin push solve clustering method, catalytic hydrogenolysis can directly to the lignin into liquid fuels, low oxygen content in the use of biofuels shows great potential. In this paper, through the optimization of the reaction time, reaction temperature, catalyst type and solvent type, dosage of catalyst, etc factors, determines the alcoholysis - hydrogen solution two-step degradation of lignin, the optimal process conditions: lignin alcoholysis under 50% methanol and NaOH catalyst in the solution, the lignin in methanol solution ...

Wood-plastic composite (WPC) is a relatively new material that consists of sawdust and plastic polymer using the extrusion process. Due to its attributes such as low water content, low maintenance, UV durability and being fungi and termite resistant. Nowadays, WPC has already been produced in Indonesia using sawdust from local wood such as Albizia (Paraserianthes falcataria) and Teak (Tectona grandis). Moreover preliminary studies about the physical and mechanical WPC board from Albizia sawdust and HDPE plastic have been carried out. Based on these studies, WPC has a high shear strength around 25–30 MPa higher than its original wood shear strength. This paper was a part of the research in evaluating WPC as potential sheathing in a shear wall system. Since still little is known about connection behavior in WPC using Indonesian local wood, this study evaluated the connection for both of these two types of wood-plastic composite. WPC board from Albizia sawdust will be projected as shear wall sheathing and WP...

Wastewaters from electroplating industries are usually contaminated with nickel up to 1000 mg/L. According to environmental regulations worldwide, nickel concentration on wastewaters must be controlled to an acceptable level before being discharged to the environment. This paper offers an alternative way to develop an efficient effluent-free technology to reduce the nickel content of rinse water so that the treated water could be recycled for rinsing and subsequently to workout methodology to recover nickel by electrodeionization (EDI). Electrical voltage and initial nickel concentration were varied to study the effect of the parameters. Results showed that EDI could remove nickel effectively which gives an outstanding result in terms of product quality. Nickel concentration on diluate chamber decreased up to 99% after 60 and 180 minutes for nickel concentration of 300 and 1000 mg/L, respectively. Meanwhile, the increase of electrical voltage led to faster nickel removal.

Bio-Char was the solid product from pyrolysis and one of its important parameter was calorific value. Bio-char with high calorific value was yielded by a pyrolysis process with variation of heating rate and final temperature. The determination of kinetic parameter was also studied to get the proper conditions where the pyrolysis became easier to occur. The heating rate variations of pyrolysis were 10°C /min, 30°C/min and 60°C/min while the final temperatures were 350°C, 450°C, 500°C and 600°C. Mahogany wood was pyrolyzed with slow pyrolysis method in a batch reactor. It was found that activation energy became higher with the increase of heating rate and final temperature so the decomposition reaction will be more difficult. The calorific value of bio-char increased in the higher heating rate and also in the higher final temperature. The highest calorific value of biochar was 7512.96 cal/g and yielded in heating rate of 60°C/min with final temperature of 450°C. From all of the conditions performed, it was found that the calorific value of bio-char was higher than its raw material. Biochar, pyrolysis, Mahogany wood, calorific value.

This research was conducted to study the effect of fly ash on alkaline activator ratio to the fly ash geopolymer artificial aggregate. The raw material used is fly ash, sodium silicate and sodium hydroxide. This research involves four different ratio of mix design which is 2.0, 2.5, 3.0 and 3.5 while ratio of NaOH/NaSi2O3 is constant at 2.5. In this study, the molarity of NaOH is fix at 12M. The characterization of fly ash was done by X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF). The properties of fly ash geopolymer artificial aggregate then characterized by Aggregate Impact Value (AIV), and its microstructure been observed by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Results show that, the sample with Fly Ash/Alkaline Activator 3.0 give the lowest percentage of AIV (19.6%) which denotes a high performance of aggregate in concrete field and also contribute to high performance of concrete while ratio 2.0 gives the highest percentage of AIV (25.19%). The tested results indicated that the significant potential of fly ash geopolymer aggregate as an alternative artificial aggregate in construction materials field.

Municipal solid waste (MSW) has the great potential to be next generation of solid fuel. However, it has major drawbacks of low calorific value and low bulk density. Low calorific value results smaller energy and the low bulk density develop problems during the handling, transportation, and storage. Combination of torrefaction and briquetting offer solutions for those problems. Torrefaction is the thermochemical process in the inert condition used to produce high calorie solid fuel. Meanwhile, briquetting is a densification process used to increase the bulk density of the powder material. In this research, the process employs starch material contained in MSW as the binder to create agglomeration among the particles. In order to understand the role of starch as binder, this study was initiated by performing binderless briquetting at low pressure employing starch material, rice, as binder and torrefied orange peel as the representative of MSW. The experiment was varied in various parameter such as the rice composition in the briquette, briquetting temperature and rice torrefaction temperature. The products were then evaluated for its quality by comparing its briquette strength using drop shatter test method. The result showed that the optimum rice torrefaction temperature to produce durable briquette from torrefied MSW material was 175 ℃.

This research aims to investigate the potential of Nyamplung oil as a bio-based diesel engine fuel in outer islands and to achieve the optimum process of a mechanical oil extraction by using a flexible single screw extruder. Mechanical oil extraction process was selected because it has a cheaper operation cost and a green impact than a chemical extraction process. Nyamplung seeds were selected because this plant is easy to be growth in coastal areas, non-edible vegetable, and has a high fat content up to 75%. A flexible single screw extruder was selected to extract the seeds mechanically because it has simpler construction, cheaper production cost, and easier operation than a twin-screw extruder. Experiments to investigate the optimum process were conducted by varying screw configuration and operating condition. Ten screw configurations were examined to define the best performance of oil by evaluating the influence of operating conditions (barrel temperature and screw speed). The experiments to investigate the potential of Nyamplung oil as bio-based diesel engine fuel were conducted by testing its chemical properties and then comparing to diesel fuel. Generally, oil extraction yield is affected by the number, position, and pitch width of screw elements. Oil extraction yield increases as barrel temperature and screw speed are increased. It is observed that the highest oil extraction yield was 46.48%, which is obtained through screw configuration of T66/F16/I34/I34/I34/I34/F16/F10 with operating conditions of 105 °C, 25 rpm, 25 g/min while the seed moisture content was 1.67% and the average seed particle size was 5 mm. In these experiments, the chemical characteristics of Nyamplung oil before purification were 0.905 g/mL (density at 27°C), 94.128 cP (viscosity at 27 °C), 48.454 mg KOH/g of oil (acid value), 174.348 mg KOH/g of oil (saponification value), and 96.757 g I2/100 g of oil (iodine value), and the characteristics after purification were 0.879 g/mL (density at 27 °C), 55.278 cP (viscosity at 27 °C), 0.780 mg KOH/g of oil (acid value), 173.253 mg KOH/g of oil (saponification value), and 84.035 g I2/100 g of oil (iodine value). Based on the result, density, acid value, saponification value, and iodine value after purification had fulfilled biofuel requirements, but it was not for viscosity because it was more than 6 cP. Therefore, to reduce the viscosity, a preheater must be added to the diesel engine.

Rice husk is the outermost part of the rice seed which is a hard layer and a waste material from rice milling. Rice husk includes biomass that can be exploited for various requirements such as industrial raw materials as well as energy sources or fuel but only a small group of people use it. This research is conducted utilizing the rice husk as an alternative fuel by making it as a charcoal briquette. To make the treatment easy, firstly the rice husk biomass was converted into charcoal powder by carbonization method using two kinds of furnace which have different heating behavior. The best carbonization results are obtained from the furnace, which has a constant temperature heating behavior. The process of making briquettes is prepared by adding tapioca starch of 6% concentration by weight as charcoal adhesive and then printed with the aid of pressing tools using loads at 1,000 kg/cm2. The resulting briquette has a calorific value about 3.126 cal/g, mass density is 0.86 g/cm3 and compressive strength is about 2.02 kg/cm2, so that the bio-briquette of charcoal produced can be used as alternative energy to replace the fossil fuel for domestic or household purposes.

This study describes the properties of upgraded palm kernel shell (PKS) and mukah balingian (MB) coal by microwave irradiation pretreatment. The microwave power level and processing time were varied in this research. The pretreated samples were analysed for mass and energy yield, calorific value and proximate and elemental composition. The characteristics of pretreated samples were improved with increasing microwave power level and reaction time. The oxygen content, O/C ratio of upgraded sample were reduced with increasing microwave power level. The carbon content of pretreated PKS was closed to the untreated MB coal properties with comparable calorific value was obtained. The microwave power level of 450 W and processing time of 8 min were appropriate to upgrade the PKS and MB coal for co-gasification. Thus, it can be concluded that the change in physical and chemical properties of upgraded PKS and MB coal revealed the potential of applying these feedstocks in co-gasification for hydrogen production.

Preliminary survey showed that organic waste from the market is about 18.77%, or second largest in the total waste generation. Its management becomes a challenge, because it is not comprised only of organics but also mixed with small amount of plastics; therefore, conventional biological process will not achieve their maximum efficiency. Wet torrefaction is a thermal process in hot water medium, which will dissolve organic materials into water, effectively converting most solids into liquid product. Banana fruit stem and cabbage were chosen as the mixed organic waste representative, and treated in a 2.5 L reactor using saturated steam in the temperature range of 175 to 225 °C before being analyzed for their heating value in solid products as fuel precursors, and their nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK) contents in liquid products as liquid fertilizer precursors. It was found that for cabbage, the wet torrefaction process at 200 °C and 90 min resulted in 15.59 MJ/kg product heating value with NPK content of 3.43%. For banana fruit bunch stem, the wet torrefaction process at 225 °C and 30 min resulted in 17.64 MJ/kg product heating value with NPK content of 5.13%. It can be concluded that wet torrefaction process can simultaneously produce solid and liquid product as solid fuel and liquid fertilizer, respectively.

Municipal solid waste has the potential to become renewable energy resource. As solid fuel however, municipal solid waste has many problems caused by its low bulk density. Briquetting process is widely used to overcome the problem of low bulk density in solid fuel. Organic fraction of solid waste is benefited with lignin as one of its constituent which could be utilized as internal binder in hot briquetting process. To provide better understanding of lignin characteristic as internal binder, briquetting research was commenced in two stages using dry leaves as the representation of organic fraction in municipal solid waste, which contains 35.14% lignin. First stage was aimed to search the opportunity for evaluating lignin characteristic with variance of briquetting pressure. The second stage was used to investigate the binding characteristic of lignin as briquetting temperature increased in the range of lignin phase transition from glassy to liquid phase. The mechanical strength of produced briquette was measured using drop shatter test. Experiment results show that briquetting pressure of 500 bar could be utilized to evaluate the lignin characteristic in briquetting process. Highest performance of lignin as internal binder in briquetting was obtained at temperature 164 °C. In this temperature, briquette with DSI as high as 83% could be provided. The improved quality of lignin in green strength condition was probably caused by mechanical interlocking and adhesion effect that appeared during hot briquetting process.

Concrete is one of the significant element uses. in the field of construction. Through environment concern, the studies of recycling and utilizing the agricultural or industrial wastes material to be used in a concrete as replacement or admixtures has been established. This study is focusing on the utilization of rice husk ash (RHA) together with a coconut fiber (CF) as partial cement replacement of concrete. The purpose is to determine the strength and durability of concrete grade 30 when the combination of RHA and CF takes place in producing concrete. Coir has partially replace the cement weight by 1%, 2%, 3% and 4% while RHA replace the cement by 9%, 18%, 27% and 36% of the cement weight. The strength and durability will only be test after 7 and 28 days of curing. The composition of 1% of coconut fiber and 9% of RHA gives the maximum compressive strength in 7 days which is 38.12 N/mm2. The rate of water absorption for concrete is increase with the increment of percentage of coconut fiber and RHA content. At 7 days, the increment rate of water absorption was 1.56%, 2.11%, 7.31% and 10.33%, while at 28 days the increment rate ware 1.52%, 1.85%, 6.54% and 9.91% both for the 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% cement replacement respectively. The water absorption rate for 7 and 28 days are 2.95% and 2.18% respectively.

Liquid fuels from polypropylene plastic waste and co-reactants biodiesel from nyamplung oil (Calophyllum Inophylum) have been successfully performed by catalytic cracking method. The catalyst used is Al-MCM-41: Ceramics with ratio 7:3. The catalyst was characterized by XRD, SEM, Pyridine-FTIR, N2-Adsorption-Desorption, and the product of catalytic cracking were investigated by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). The Liquid fuels obtained was mixed with commercial fuels (Premium RON 88) and methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) with ratio (10:87.5:2.5). The results showed liquid fuels have the largest percentage of gasoline (C7-C12) are 93.92 fraction produced. The performance of liquid fuels is enhanced with the additive MTBE investigated by generator set engine with gasoline-based fuel. Physical characteristic as density, caloric value, viscosity of liquid fuels were also investigated before and after adding commercial fuels. The performance of liquid fuels has optimum thermal efficiency (BTE) at 2090 watts loading of 27.18%. Addition of MTBE improving the physical characteristic of liquid fuels. Characteristic of liquid fuels produced were also suitable with commercial gasoline standard.

The nitrogen compound concentration in water is increased by atmospheric-pressure plasma discharge treatment. A rod-to-water electrode discharge treatment system using plasma discharge has been developed by our group to obtain water with a high concentration of nitrogen compounds, and this plasma-treated water improves the growth of chrysanthemum roots. However, it is difficult to apply the system to the agriculture because the amount of treated water obtained by using the system too small. In this study, a multi-spark discharge system (MSDS) equipped multiple spark plugs is presented to obtain a large amount of plasma-treated water. The MSDS consisted of inexpensive parts in order to reduce the system introduction cost for agriculture. To suppress the temperature increase of the spark plugs, the 9 spark plugs were divided into 3 groups, which were discharged in order. The plasma-treated water with a NO3− concentration of 50 mg/L was prepared using the MSDS for 90 min, and the treatment efficiency was about 6 times higher than that of our previous system. It was confirmed that the NO2−, O3, and H2O2 concentrations in the water were also increased by treating the water using the MSDS.The nitrogen compound concentration in water is increased by atmospheric-pressure plasma discharge treatment. A rod-to-water electrode discharge treatment system using plasma discharge has been developed by our group to obtain water with a high concentration of nitrogen compounds, and this plasma-treated water improves the growth of chrysanthemum roots. However, it is difficult to apply the system to the agriculture because the amount of treated water obtained by using the system too small. In this study, a multi-spark discharge system (MSDS) equipped multiple spark plugs is presented to obtain a large amount of plasma-treated water. The MSDS consisted of inexpensive parts in order to reduce the system introduction cost for agriculture. To suppress the temperature increase of the spark plugs, the 9 spark plugs were divided into 3 groups, which were discharged in order. The plasma-treated water with a NO3− concentration of 50 mg/L was prepared using the MSDS for 90 min, and the treatment efficiency was abo...

Today, the application of natural fiber as raw material for textile become wider, such as fiber from pineapple, bamboo, hemp, jute, flax, kenaf, and banana. The natural fiber is abundance and can be cultured, it will be a big potential for textile. The aim of this research is to analyze the characteristic of durian fiber from North Sumatera as an alternative textile fiber. The durian fiber was analyzed using FT-IR, SEM, DSC also the chemical can physical characteristic were characterized. The chemical analysis showed durian fiber contained cellulose (57-64%), hemicellulose (30.7%), lignin (13.6%), and absorbed water (0.08%). The durian fiber has good mechanical properties with tensile strength of 298 MPa and Young’s modulus of 5987 MPa. The FT-IR analysis showed the functional group that common be found in cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. The microphotograph of the surface of durian fiber showed the fiber has a macro size. The DSC analysis revealed the durian fiber has a good thermal stability up to 367°C and this result is suitable if this natural fiber will be used as raw material to develop rayon as a regenerated cellulose fiber.

Pyrolysis is the process of decomposition of materials at high temperatures by producing products of char, tar, and gas. Analysis of the characteristics of pyrolysis combustion with thermogravimetry is needed to determine the thermal decomposition behavior of the material. Treatment of sengon waste with pyrolysis can be used as an environmentally friendly renewable energy source. Variations in the final temperature and heating rate are required to determine the optimum conditions of pyrolysis. The final temperature variations were performed at 350°C, 450°C, 550°C, and 600°C, while variations in heating rates at 10°C/min, 30°C/min and 60°C/min each performed at a holding time of 5 minutes. The results showed that the char mass decreased with increasing the final temperature, but increased with the increase of heating rate. The activation energy increases with increasing final temperature and heating rate. While the highest calorific value obtained on tar products amounted to 10365.911 cal/g at the final temperature 450°C and heating rate 30°C/minute. The resulting calorific value is not much different from the solar calorific value indicating that this sengon sawdust waste can be used as a renewable liquid fuel.

Geopolymer is an environmentally attractive Portland cement substitute, owing to its lower carbon footprint and its ability to consume various aluminosilicate waste materials as its precursors. This work describes the development of geopolymer formulation based on biomass-coal ash blends, which is predicted to be the prevalent type of waste when biomass-based thermal energy production becomes mainstream in Indonesia. The ash blends contain an ASTM Class F coal fly ash (FA), rice husk ash (RHA), and coconut shell ash (CSA). A mixture of Na2SiO3 and concentrated KOH is used as the activator solution. A preliminary experiment identified the appropriate activator/ash mass ratio to be 2.0, while the activator Na2SiO3/KOH ratio varies from 0.8 to 2.0 with increasing ash blend Si/Al ratio. Both non-blended FA and CSA are able to produce geopolymer mortars with 7-day compressive strength exceeding the Indonesian national SNI 15-2049-2004 standard minimum value of 2.0 MPa stipulated for Portland cement mortars. As...

Hydrothemal treatment is a thermochemical process that converts biomass into a coal-like materials called hydrochar by applying elevated temperature to biomass in a suspension with water under saturated pressure for a certain time. With this conversion process, easy to handle fuel with well-defined properties can be created from biomass residues, even with high moisture content. In this research, the effects of temperature (200-330°C) and biomass to water ratio (5%-20%) at initial pressure of 1.0 MPa to hydrothermal treatment of biomass (in the form of sawdust) were examined. All samples were then characterized in terms of yield, proximate analysis, calorific value,and changes in functional groups by FTIR. Approximately 52-69% of the original material was recovered as hydrochar. The gross calorific value ranged from 5472-7032 cal/g compared 5180 cal/g in the raw material. Fixed carbon ranged from 26.035-wt% compared with 26.269 wt% in the raw material.

To investigate the influence of content of coal ash on performance of cement-coal ash slurry, slump test and rheological test were conducted to evaluate the slurry rheology comprehensively. In the case of the cement dosage unchanged and 57% concentration of slurry, the change effect of coal ash content in 62.5%~87.5% on rheology, bleeding rate, compressive strength of cement-coal ash slurry were studied. In the case of 57% concentration of slurry and 75% content of coal ash were studied. The results showed that: with the increase of coal ash content, slurry rheology weakened, cohesiveness increased, bleeding rate decreased; with the increase of coal ash content, the compressive strength of all slurry test blocks of different ages decreased, the strength of 3-day changes slowly, 7-day strength variation is the biggest, 3 ~ 7-day hydrated significantly, their strength increase could achieve 37% ~ 42% of the strength of 28-day.

Liquid waste in textile industry contains large amounts of dyes and chemicals which are capable of harming the environment and human health. It is due to liquid waste characteristics which have high BOD, COD, temperature, dissolved and suspended solid. One of chemical compound which might be harmful for environment when disposed in high concentration is phenol. Currently, Phenol compound in textile industrial waste has reached 10 ppm meanwhile maximum allowable phenol concentration is not more than 0.2 ppm. Otherwise, Phenol also has economic value as feedstock of plastic, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry. Furthermore, suitable method to separate phenol from waste water is needed. In this research, liquid - liquid extraction method was used with extraction time for 70 minutes. Waste water sample was then separated into two layers which are extract and raffinate. Thereafter, extract and raffinate were then tested by using UV-Vis Spectrophotometer to obtained liquid – liquid equilibrium data. Aim of this research is to study the effect of temperature, stirring speed and type of solvent to obtain distribution coefficient (Kd), phenol yield and correlation of Three-Suffix Margules model for the liquid – liquid extraction data equilibrium. The highest extraction yield at 80.43 % was found by using 70% methanol as solvent at extraction temperature 50 °C with stirring speed 300 rpm, coefficient distribution was found 216.334. From this research it can be concluded that Three-Suffix Margules Model is suitable to predict liquid – liquid equilibrium data for phenol system.

Palm oil plantation has become one of the country’s success stories in agricultural development which also generates the highest number of waste among the agricultural waste. In this study, the investigation on the possibility to utilize the empty fruit bunch (EFB) waste into the fired clay brick was carried out. The main purpose of this study is to determine the physical and mechanical properties of bricks incorporated with different percentages of EFB. In this study, bricks with four different percentages of EFB (0 %, 1 %, 5 % and 10 %) were manufactured. Manufactured bricks were fired at 1050 °C with heating rate of 1 °C/min. Physical and mechanical properties including shrinkage, density, Initial Rate of Suction (IRS) and compressive strength were reported and discussed. Since shrinkage for each mixing is below than 8 %, then a good brick was manufactured. Bricks become more porous due to the organic content of EFB are burnt away and voids are formed in the specimen, giving it a lighter appearance and...

This study focus on Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis of paddy straw pulp treated using deep eutectic solvent (DES). DES was synthesized using potassium carbonate and glycerol at different molar ratio under normal atmospheric pressure. Pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass was carried out at temperature of 120°C for 60 minutes under mass ratio of paddy straw to DES 1:9. The chemical structures of the untreated paddy straw and paddy straw pulp treated with different molar ratio of DES were analyzed using FTIR. The characterization result from FT-IR spectra indicated that the potassium carbonate-glycerol DES deconstructed the structures of paddy straw by removing lignin and hemicellulose during the pulping process. The peak intensity that occurs at region between 900 cm−1 and 1500 cm−1 shows that the presence of elevated level of cellulose after lignocellulosic pulping. From FT-IR analysis, DES could not remove the functional group of lignin and hemicellulose completely but yet expos...

Sugarcane bagasse (SCB) is most abundant agricultural wastes in the world. It is an attractive feedstock for the large-scale biological production of bioethanol. However, the limitation in bagase use is its high degree of complexity because of its mixed composition of extremely inhomogeneous fibers. Therefore, ethanol production from bagase is often complex, with three main steps, i.e pretreatment, sacharification, and fermentation. Here we used alkali pretreatment using delignification reactor with NaOH 1N and 1.5 bar for 2 hours. Followed by Simultaneous Sacarification and Fermentation (SSF) using Saccharomyces cerevisiae in addition of cellulase and β-glucosidase enzyme. We found that the alkaline pretreatment can decrease cellulose crystallinity, decrease lignin content up to 84.83% and increased cellulose content up to 74.29%. SSF using cellulase enzymes and combination of cellulase enzymes and β-glucosidase derived bioethanol levels respectively 5.87±0.78% and 6.83±0.07%. In conclusion these results...

The purpose of this study is chemical modification by process of acetylation and impregnation of oil palm wood to improve the dimensional stability. Acetylation process aimed at substituting the hydroxyl groups in a timber with an acetyl group. By increasing the acetyl groups in wood is expected to reduce the ability of wood to absorb water vapor which lead to the dimensions of the wood becomes more stable. Studies conducted on oil palm wood (Elaeis guineensis Jacq) by acetylation and impregnation method. The results showed that acetylated and impregnated wood oil palm (E. guineensis Jacq) were changed in their physical properties. Impregnation with coal ashfly provide the greatest response to changes in weight (in wet conditions) and after conditioning (dry) with the average percentage of weight gain of 198.16% and 66.41% respectively. Changes in volume indicates an increase of volume in the wet condition (imbibition) with the coal ashfly treatment gave highest value of 23.04 %, whereas after conditionin...

An experimental study on co-pyrolysis of coal with biomass wastes to produce hybrid coal was conducted to investigate the effects of important process variables, namely biomass type (rice husk and sawdust), blend composition, and co-pyrolysis temperature on the quality of hybrid coal. The experiments were carried out using a vertical tubular furnace equipped with temperature controller to maintain the co-pyrolysis reactor at a given temperature. Nitrogen gas was introduced into the furnace to create an inert environment preventing the sample from burning. A known mass of solid sample consisting of manually granulated blend of coal and biomass with binder in spherical shape was contained in a basket made of stainless sieve. After a given residence time, the sample was taken from the furnace. The blend sample prior to experiment and the produced hybrid coal were then characterized for its proximate analysis, ultimate analysis and calorific value. Experimental findings suggested that by increasing co-pyrolys...

Biomass solid waste in the form of rice husk particle is pyrolyzed in a fixed bed stainless steel pyrolysis reactor of 50 mm diameter and 50 cm length. The biomass solid feedstock is prepared prior to pyrolysis. The reactor bed is heated by means of a cylindrical heater of biomass source. A temperature of 500°C is maintained with an apperent vapor residence time of 3-5 sec. The products obtained are liquid bio-oil, solid char and gases. The liquid product yield is found to be 30% by weight of solid biomass feedstock while the solid product yield is found to be 35% by weight of solid biomass feedtock, the rest is gas. The bio-oil is a single-phase brownish color liquid of acrid smell. The heating value of the oil is determined to be 25 MJ/kg. The density and pH value are found to be 1.125 kg/m3 and 3.78 respectively.

Lubricants in metalworking play an essential role in controlling the quality of the final product. Different approaches have been researched to improve the performance of metalworking fluids. The use of vegetable oil such as groundnut oil and fatty acid methyl esters such as palm oil methyl ester (POME) has demonstrated improvements in machining operation parameters. These two types of lubricants provide environmental and lubricating advantages over conventional mineral oil based lubricants. In this study, naphthenic and groundnut oils were blended in three different ratios (3:1, 1:1, 3:1) to study viscosity index, thermal conductivity and evaporation losses with respect to temperature ranging from 24°C - 100°C. In addition, another set of samples were prepared by adding POME to the aforementioned blend ratios with volume fractions of 0.03, 0.05 and 0.07. The evaporation loss was evaluated using the TGA Noack test. Furthermore, results obtained on the viscosity index, thermal conductivity and evaporation losses were modeled using quadratic functions under experimental setup of full factorial design. The models generated are proposed to be used for variety of optimization problems of the groundnut oil and POME contents for this class of lubricants. The results show that as the content of the groundnut oil and POME increase, the viscosity index also increases. Moreover, groundnut oil showed higher thermal conductivity enhancement of about 36% compared to naphthenic oil which depicts that groundnut oil is capable of removing the heat generated during machining operation more efficiently than the naphthenic base oil. In contrast, POME content and temperature did not show strong influence on thermal conductivity. Along with this, it was also found that by increasing the content of the groundnut oil, the evaporation losses are reduced which could be due to the higher viscosity of the groundnut oil.Lubricants in metalworking play an essential role in controlling the quality of the final product. Different approaches have been researched to improve the performance of metalworking fluids. The use of vegetable oil such as groundnut oil and fatty acid methyl esters such as palm oil methyl ester (POME) has demonstrated improvements in machining operation parameters. These two types of lubricants provide environmental and lubricating advantages over conventional mineral oil based lubricants. In this study, naphthenic and groundnut oils were blended in three different ratios (3:1, 1:1, 3:1) to study viscosity index, thermal conductivity and evaporation losses with respect to temperature ranging from 24°C - 100°C. In addition, another set of samples were prepared by adding POME to the aforementioned blend ratios with volume fractions of 0.03, 0.05 and 0.07. The evaporation loss was evaluated using the TGA Noack test. Furthermore, results obtained on the viscosity index, thermal conductivity and evaporation ...

Black rice husk ash (BRHA) waste product is inexpensive and can be obtained from rice mills. Reuse of waste product is ideal to reduce pollution, because disposal is decreased or eliminated. The commercial value of BRHA has increased, and it is suitable for use in road construction. In this study, BRHA waste was ground using a grinding ball mill for 120 min to form fine powder. BRHA was then sieved to less than 75 µm. At the laboratory, BRHA was mixed with bitumen to replace 2%, 4%, and 6% of the total weight, whereas 0% represented the control sample. The penetration, softening point, dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) and rolling thin film oven (RTFO) were investigated in this study. Results showed that bitumen became harder, whereas the rate of penetration decreased when the replacement amount of BRHA increased. Softening point test of bitumen also revealed an increase. The short-term aging test revealed that modification of bitumen could relieve the effect of aging. BRHA waste added into bitumen improved t...

Depletion of petroleum and environmental problem have led to look for an alternative fuel sources In many ways, biomass is a potential renewable source. Among the many forms of biomass, oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) is a very attractive feedstock due to its abudance, low price and non-competitiveness with the food chain. EFB can be converted bio-oil by pyrolysis process. but this product can not be used directly as a transportation fuel, so it needs upgrading bio-oil through a catalytic cracking process. The catalyst plays an important role in the catalytic cracking process. The objective of this research is to study the effect of Ni concentrations (1,3,5 and 7 wt.%) on the characteristics of the catalyst Ni / Silica-Alumina and the performance test for the catalytic cracking of bio-oil. Preparation of the catalyst Ni / Silica-Alumina was done by impregnation at 80°C for 3 hours, then done to calcination and reduction at 500°C for 2 hours. The performance test was conducted on catalytic cracking temper...

In this work, graphene was exfoliated by introducing the constant Galvano Static Current (GSC) at the range of 300-600mA with the incremental of 100mA. The Graphene produced through this exfoliation technique was also investigated through optical characterization using Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM), Ultraviolet Visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy to comprehend the quality behavior. To further understand the graphene characteristic, we applied the produced graphene on top of fabricated interdigitated electrode (IDE) device to investigate the electrical reaction.

Recently, the attempt to create adsorbents in solving various separation problems has intensified drastically. The proposal of present research lightens the way to enhance the microalgae biomass harvesting process with the addition of sugarcane bagasse-derived adsorbent in culture medium. The adsorbents were tested with several chemical activations and concentrations to determine the optimum ones. Acid modified adsorbents with concentration of 1.0M and 1.5M demonstrated the highest adsorption with attainable biomass adsorption capacities 66% for both. The samples viewed under SEM showed 1.0M and 1.5M acid modified adsorbents have highest microalgae adsorption.