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In this paper we report some tests regarding the feasibility of nanodiamond to act as a cleaning/consolidation agent of papers and parchments. We carried out a series of treatments aiming to develop innovative approaches for de-acidification, cleaning and consolidation. Dispersions of nanodiamond have been used as de-acidification agents of ancient papers showing the ability to sensibly reduce the acidity of the paper without using any alkaline base. Similar dispersions have been used for cleaning processes and nanodiamond demonstrated an outstanding capability to clean ancient papers and parchments avoiding the use of any solvent and surfactant. Moreover interesting results were obtained by using nanodiamond as consolidation agent. In particular, artificial aging by UV exposition was appreciably contrasted when samples were preliminarily submitted to a treatment by nanodiamond. This outcome was demonstrated in papers and parchments by Raman spectroscopy analyses that evidenced the property of nanodiamond to be an excellent UV-scavenger.

Chitosan were selected as cellulose raw material to prepare coating solutions. The morphology, physical characteristics and chemical surface properties of the coatings are discussed in this paper. Different concentrations of chitosan (1–5% w/w) and deposited solution layer (0.5–1.00 μm) were used to obtain coated papers with thicknesses varying between 0.062–0.068 μm. The percentages of coating agent impregnated inside paper were also calculated from the apparent density of coated paper and the density of self-supported films prepared in the same conditions but deposited on an inert and smooth Plexiglass support. These percentages of impregnation ranged from 4.8 to 63.3% and increased as following: chitosan < chitosan nanoparticle. The resulting absorption rates indicated significant differences as a function of the nature of coating agent and confirmed results obtained for the percentage of impregnation. To explain differences in the behaviour of coating solutions, it was finally concluded that not only their viscosity must be taken into account but also their affinity toward paper.

Lateral light scattering simulations of printed dots are analyzed using general radiative transfer theory. We investigated the appearance of a printed paper in relation to the medium parameters like thickness of the paper sample, its optical properties, and the asymmetry factor. It was found that the appearance of a print greatly depends on these factors making it either brighter or darker. A thicker substrate with higher single scattering albedo backed with an absorbing surface makes the dots brighter due to increased number of scattering events. Additionally, it is shown that the optical effects of print also depend on illuminating and viewing angles along with the depth of ink penetration. A larger single scattering angle implies less intensity and the dots appear much blurred due to the shadowing effect prominent when viewed from sides. A fully penetrated dot of the same extinction coefficient as a partial penetrated one is darker due to increased absorption. These results can be used in applications dealing with lateral light scattering.

CdSe quantum dot has great potential in various applications especially for emitting devices. One example potential application of CdSe quantum dot is security label for anti-counterfeiting. In this work, we present a practical approach of security label on paper using one and two colors of colloidal CdSe quantum dot, which is used as stamping ink on various types of paper. Under ambient condition, quantum dot is almost invisible. The quantum dot security label can be revealed by detecting emission of quantum dot using photoluminescence and cnc machine. The recorded quantum dot emission intensity is then analyzed using home-made program to reveal quantum dot pattern stamp having the word ’RAHASIA’. We found that security label using quantum dot works well on several types of paper. The quantum dot patterns can survive several days and further treatment is required to protect the quantum dot. Oxidation of quantum dot that occurred during this experiment reduced the emission intensity of quantum dot patterns.

The use of digital tools in algebra education is expected to not only contribute to master skill, but also to acquire conceptual understanding. The question is how digital tools affect students” thinking and understanding. This paper presents an analysis of data of one group of three grade seventh students (12-13 year-old) on the use of a digital tool for algebra, the Cover-up applet for solving equations in particular. This case study was part of a larger teaching experiment on initial algebra enriched with digital technology which aimed to improve students” conceptual understanding and skills in solving equations in one variable. The qualitative analysis of a video observation, digital and written work showed that the use of the applet affects student thinking in terms of strategies used by students while dealing with the equations. We conclude that the effects of the use of the digital tool can be traced from student problem solving strategies on paper-and-pencil environment which are similar to strategies while working with the digital tool. In future research, we recommend to use specific theoretical lenses, such as the theory of instrumental genesis and the onto-semiotic approach, to reveal more explicit relationships between students” conceptual understanding and the use of a digital tool.

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...

Recycled glass powder was added with ball clay and feldspar using ratio 90:5:5. The blend were mixed into different amount of paper fiber and cast into porous ceramic. Samples prepared with different compositions (2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 wt % of paper fiber) were heat treated at constant temperature (750 °C) for an hour. Samples with high percentage of paper fiber gave the largest pore size in the ceramic body, meanwhile lower percentage of paper fiber produced ceramic body with smaller pore size.

The Young’s modulus of buckypaper (BP) was improved via the addition of carbon nanocoils (CNCs). The Young’s modulus was the highest when the added amount of CNCs of the mass of the bucky paper was 11.9%. It is likely that the improved Young’s modulus was due to the higher Young’s modulus of the CNCs, compared with the multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) bundles. The helical structure of the CNCs also contributed to the improvement in the Young’s modulus. In the BP containing CNCs, the CNCs were anchored in the MWCNT matrix with superior entanglement, and this effect improved the Young’s modulus of the BP.

Metal magnetic memory test (MMMT), which is an effective way in evaluating early damages of ferrimagnets, can determine the existence of material stresses concentration and premature defects. As one of offshore oil exploration and development equipment, jack-up platform always generate stress concentration during its life-cycle due to complicated loading condition and the hash marine environment, which will decline the bearing capacity and cause serious consequences. The paper conducts in situ experiments of defects detection on some key structural components of jack-up platform using MMMT. The signals acquired by MMM-System are processed for feature extraction to evaluate the severity of structure stress concentration. The results show that the method presented in this paper based on MMMT can provide an effective and convenient way of defect detection and structural health monitoring for Jack-up Platform.

Application additives into the material for the production of wood pellets achieve an improvement in some properties such as pellets ash flow temperature and abrasion resistance. Additives their properties influence the course of combustion, and have an impact on the results of issuance. The experiment were selected additives corn starch and dolomite. Wood pellets were produced in the pelleting press and pelletizing with the additives. Selected samples were tested for the production of particulate matter (PM) during their direct burn. The paper analyzing a process of producing wood pellets and his effect on the final properties.

Flotation deinking has industrially applied but several problems keep unsolved because limitations have to compete with several variables present. Flotation deinking is multi variables process, so studying flotation deinking is still interesting. In this research, the amount of variables was reduced and focused to the performance comparison between flotation deinking of old newspaper (ONP) using biodegradable fatty acid of morinda citrifolia as the raw bio surfactant (RBS) and biodegradable fatty acid of palm oil that had been converted to be commercial surfactant (CS). The flotation was done at laboratory flotation cell equipped with orifice at different diameter (orifice number 20, 40 and 60) with adjustable airflow rate. Brightness and Effective Residual Ink Concentration (ERIC) of the deinked pulp were measured. The best results were achieved on orifice number 40 with the highest brightness of 41.96 °ISO and 40.96 °ISO when using CS and RBS respectively, and lowest ERIC of 896.82 ppm and 1001.72 ppm when using CS and RBS respectively. The percentage delta of deinking power characteristic between CS and RBS was 2.36% and 11.70% for brightness and ERIC, respectively.

Flexible electronics is one of the emerging area of this era. In this paper we have reported synthesis of Cu doped Zinc sulphide nanostructures on filter paper flexible substrates. Zinc chloride and Thio urea were used as a precursor for Zinc and Sulphur. The structures were characterized by XRD, FE-SEM and UV visible spectrometer. All the peaks identified for cubic structure of ZnS. Appearance of small Cu peaks indicates incorporation of Cu into ZnS lattice. Zns nanostructures assembled as nanobelts and nanofibers as shown in FE-SEM micrographs. Compound Structures provide the reasonable electrical conductivity on filter paper. Absorption in UV region makes them suitable for flexible electronic devices.

Amounts of motor vehicles in Indonesia have been recognized a sharply increase from year to year with the increment reaching to 22 % per annum. Meanwhile motor vehicles produce particulate emissions in different sizes with high concentrations depending on type of vehicles, fuels, and engine capacity. Motor Particle emissions are not only to significantly contribute the atmosphric particles but also adverse to human health. In order to reduce the particle emission, it is needed a filter. This study was aimed to develop a thin filter using coconut fiber to reduce particulate emissions for motor vehicles. The filter was made of coconut fibers that were grinded into power and mixed with glues. The filter was tested by the measurements of particle concentrations coming out from the vehicle exhaust directly and the particle concentrations after passing through the filter. The efficiency of the filter was calculated by ratio of the particle concentrations before comming in the filter to the particle conentrations after passing through the filter. The results showed that the efficiency of the filter obtained more than 30 %. The efficiency increases sharply when a number of the filters are arranged paralelly.

High quality competitive dry building mixes require modifying additives for various purposes to be included in their composition. There is insufficient amount of quality additives having stable properties for controlling the properties of cement compositions produced in Russia. Using of foreign modifying additives leads to significant increasing of the final cost of the product. The cost of imported modifiers in the composition of the dry building mixes can be up to 90% of the material cost, depending on the composition complexity. Thus, the problem of import substitution becomes relevant, especially in recent years, due to difficult economic situation. The article discusses the possibility of using local raw materials as a basis for obtaining dry building mixtures components. The properties of organo-mineral additives for cement compositions based on thermally modified peat raw materials are studied. Studies of the structure and composition of the additives are carried out by physicochemical research methods: electron microscopy and X-ray analysis. Results of experimental research showed that the peat additives contribute to improving of cement-sand mortar strength and hydrophysical properties.

Graphite oxide has attracted much interest as a possible route for preparation of natural graphite in the large-scale production and manipulation of graphene as a material with extraordinary electronic properties. Graphite oxide was prepared by modified Hummers method from purified natural graphite sample from West Kalimantan. We demonstrated that natural graphite is well-purified by acid leaching method. The purified graphite was proceed for intercalating process by modifying Hummers method. The modification is on the reaction time and temperature of the intercalation process. The materials used in the intercalating process are H2SO4 and KMNO4. The purified natural graphite is analyzed by carbon content based on Loss on Ignition test. The thermo gravimetricanalysis and the Fouriertransform infrared spectroscopy are performed to investigate the oxidation results of the obtained GO which is indicated by the existence of functional groups. In addition, the X-ray diffraction and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy are also applied to characterize respectively for the crystal structure and elemental analysis. The results confirmed that natural graphite samples with 68% carbon content was purified into 97.68 % carbon content. While the intercalation process formed a formation of functional groups in the obtained GO. The results show that the temperature and reaction times have improved the efficiency of the oxidation process. It is concluded that these method could be considered as an important route for large-scale production of graphene.

In this research an attempt has been done for upgrading the carbon content on processed graphite concentrate obtained from Sanggau Regency, West Kalimantan, Indonesia by acid leaching. The purpose of this research was to find optimal conditions for increasing graphite purity by eliminating the impurities, in particular, sillica – which is easy to remove by hydrofluoric acid. The concentrate contained 69.74% FC ranging from 149 µm to 841 µm. The optimal leaching parameters were time reaction 120 minutes, temperature 180° C, solid-liquid ratio 1:5 and purity of acid 48%. The determination of the carbon content showed that the carbon grade was 98% FC.

PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) is a plastic material that is commonly used in our daily life. The high production of PET and others plastics that can be up to three hundred million tons per year, is not matched by its degradation rate and hence leads to environmental pollution. To overcome this problem, we develop a biodegradation system. This system utilizes LC Cutinase enzyme produced by engineered escherichia coli bacteria to degrade PET. To make the system works efficaciously, it is important to understand the mechanism underlying its enzyme regulation. Therefore, we construct a mathematical model to describe the regulation of LC Cutinase production. The stability of the model is analyzed. We show that the designated biodegradation system can give an oscillatory behavior that is very important to control the amount of inclusion body (the miss-folded proteins that reduce the efficiency of the biodegradation system).

The improvement of LiFePO4 (LFP) cathode performance has been performed by addition of Graphene (LFP+Graphene). The cathode was prepared from the active material with 5 wt % graphene and 10 wt % polyvinylidene fluoride in an n-methyl pyrrolidone solvent. Another cathode material used only 5% artificial graphite for comparison (LFP+Graphite). The crystal structure, microstructure, electronic conductivity, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) of the cathodes were characterized by X-ray diffraction, SEM, and Impedance spectroscopy, respectively. Two half cell coin batteries were assembled using a lithium metal as an anode and LiPf6 as an electrolyte, and two cathodes (LFP+Graphene) and (LFP+Graphite). Charge discharge performance of battery was characterized by Battery analyser (BTS 8). The electronic conductivity of cathode with grapheme increased of about one order magnitude compared with the only cathode with graphite, namely from 1.97E-7S/cm (LFP+Graphite) to 1.92E-6S/cm (LFP+Graphene). The charge-discharge capacity after 10th cycles of LiFePO4 with graphene decreased of about 0.68% from 114.3 mAh/g to113.1 mAh/g, while LFP with graphite decreased of about 2.84% from 110.2 mAh/g to 107.1 mAh, at 0.1C-rates. It could be concluded that the addition of graphene has increased the ionic conductivity, and improved performance of the LFP lithium ion battery, such as higher capacity and better efficiency.

The aim of the article is to appraisal of the changes in the structure of the ash due to the addition of compounds capable of the eutectics composition change. For the transformation were used limestone and dolomite dosed in amounts of 2, 5 and 10 wt.% with pellets of spruce wood, willow wood and refused derived fuel. Combustion temperatures of the mixtures were adjusted according to the temperatures reached during the using of fuels in power plants, i.e. 900, 1000, 1100 and 1200 °C.

In this short paper, we present a general method to embed flexible structures into rigid multibody systems. The flexible structure is seen as a force element contained in the multibody system formalism. This allows to use well established integrators for the multibody dynamics simulation, while suitable integrators are used for the co-simulation of the flexible part. To find the coupling forces an algebraic constraint is used and the necessary Lagrange multiplier is computed efficiently by solving a reduced monolithic index-1-system. This keeps the method very general for different flexible structures, interfaces and coupling joints.In order to be applicable in interactive multibody dynamics simulation, efficient models of flexible structures with cheap evaluations should be used. High dimensional 3D finite elements are computationally too expensive, therefore the special geometry of flexible structures should be exploited. E.g., a geometrically exact Cosserat rod, a cable model that was developed at the ...

Natural flake Graphite was used as the starting material for the graphene synthesis. In the first step flake graphite was treated with oxidizing agents under vigorous conditions to obtain graphite oxide. Layered graphite oxide decorated with oxygen has large inter-layer distance leading easy exfoliation into single sheets by ultrasonication giving graphene oxide. In the last step exfoliated graphene oxide sheets were reduced slowly with the help of reducing agent to obtain fine powder which is labeled as reduced graphene oxide (rGO). This rGO was further characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman Spectroscopy techniques. XRD pattern shows peaks corresponding to (002) graphitic lattice planes indicating the formation of network of sp2 like carbon structure. SEM images show the ultrathin, wrinkled, paper-like morphology of graphene sheets. IR study shows that the graphite has been oxidized to graphite oxide with the presence of various absorption bands confirming the presence of oxidizing groups. The FTIR spectrum of rGO shows no sharp peaks confirming the efficient reduction of rGO. The Raman spectrum shows disorder in the graphene sheets.

Graphene is a 2D form of carbon. Due to its wonderful physical and chemical properties has attracted wide interest in recent years. Graphene majorly made by two completely different approches i.e. top-down and bottom up. The top-down approach depends on exfoliation of carbon to provide graphene. Liquid phase exfoliation is more classified in to primarily two categories one is surfactant free and another is surfactant aided Liquid part exfoliation. In this paper we have reportable the liquid phase exfoliation of surfactant aided graphene via probe tip sonication followed by centrifugation. The yield of graphene obtained has been exaggerated and it is easy technique to provide films and graphene composites for photovoltaic applications.

The sappan wood extract contain natural colour called brazilin that can be used as a food colouring and antioxidant. The product is commonly found as a dry extract powder for consummer convenience. The spray dryer with air dehumidification can be an option to retain the colour and antioxidant agent. This paper discusses the effect of air temperature on sappan wood extract drying that was mixed with maltodextrin. As responses, the particle size, final moisture content, and extract solubility degradation were observed. In all cases, the process conducted in temperature ranging 90 – 110°C can retain the brazilin quality as seen in solubility and particle size. In addition, the sappan wood extract can be fully dried with moisture content below 2%. Moreover, with the increase of air temperature, the particle size of dry extract can be smaller.

The objective of this study was to optimize of ratio oil type, ratio oil to methanol and catalyst concentration. The optimization was used Central Composite Design (CCD). Biodiesel was produced with multi stock oil as feed and conducted in direct ultrasonic radiation. Biosonic equiped with ultrasonic generator with a frequency of 28 kHz. Biodiesel produced at a pressure of 1 atm, reaction time of 60 min and temperature 60 ° C. The optimum conditions of volume ratio for Palm and Coconut oil 4:1, KOH catalyst concentration 0.3% and methanol to oil mole ratio 7:1. Biodiesel yield was determined under this condition and obtained 81.105%.

Wastewater of energy drink type of powder produced when the the production equipment required cleaning treatment to produce one taste to others. These equipments washed by water, so that, it produced wastewater. It contains high organic substances and classified as high degradable due to food product. The content of wastewater is high carbon and nitrogen substances. Microalgae is an autotrophic microorganism, live without carbon presence, utilized to digest the substances in wastewater especially for nitrogen substances. Spirulina sp is the type of microalgae selected to utilize the wastewater of energy drink, the selection criteria is the size of Spirulina sp is relatively large and easy to separated from its solution. The experiment conducted by cultivate the seeding microalgae with certain nutrients until the certain volume. The synthetic wastewater obtained from one of energy drink type of powder with commercial brand as Kuku Bima Ener-G, the wastewater concentration selected under the close to the real condition of wastewater as basis of COD measurement (6 sachet/L or COD of 12.480mg/L) and aqueous concentration (1 sachet/L or COD of 2080mg/L). The batch experiments with 1L volume conducted and with variable of percent volume of wastewater added in order to observe the growth of microlagae. The response of the microalgae growth obtained by increasing the optical density of the microalgae solution and continued by calculation for the growth rate of microalgae. The result of the experiments indicated that for the aqueous concentration (1 sachet/L or COD of 2080mg/L) the optimum added of wastewater is 40 % with growrate of 0.55/day while for the concentrated wastewater (6 sachet/L or COD of 12.480mg/L), the optimum condition is 25 % wastewater added with growth rate of 0.43/day.

The aims of this study are to present the experimental research on the drying of cassava starch in a pneumatic dryer, to describe its drying curves, as well as to calculate its thermal efficiency. The effects of operating conditions, namely the inlet air temperature (60-100 °C) and solid-gas flow rate ratio (Ms/Mg 0.1-0.3) were studied. Heat transfer is accomplished through convection mechanism in a drying chamber based on the principle of direct contact between the heated air and the moist material. During the drying process, intensive heat and mass transfer between the drying air and the cassava starch take place. In order to meet the SNI standards on solid water content, the drying process was done in two cycles. The higher the temperature of the drying air, the lower the water content of the solids exiting the dryer. Thermal efficiency of the 2nd cycle was found to be lower than the 1st cycle.

Using plane wave pseudo potential density functional theory, we studied the electronic properties of graphene with different C:O ratio. In this work, we discussed the changes that occur in electronic band structure of graphene functionalized with different amount of epoxy group. Electronic band gap depends on C:O ratio in graphene oxide containing epoxy group. The present work will have its implication for making devices with tunable electronic properties by oxidizing graphene.

This work focuses on the study of the compaction effect on the stabilization of a highly expansive clay soil by adding lime. To this end, we used two types of swelling clay soils, the first one is intact and the other derivative (reconstituted, prepared from a natural soil and bentonite mixture with the following proportions: 70 and 30%. The results of the recorded œdometric tests show that the incorporation of the lime reduces the soil swelling pressures at each dosing lime in agreement with many reported previous studies. The contents of lime greatly affect swelling; indeed for a dosage of 6% lime the swelling pressures are reduced by 27% for the sample of disturbed soil. The compaction test performed on the reconstituted incorporated lime soil shows that for a dosage of 2% lime, we have a reduction of the swelling pressure of 96%.

Development and innovation of ethanol food grade production are becoming the reasearch priority to increase economy growth. Moreover, the government of Indonesia has established regulation for increasing the renewable energy as primary energy. Sorghum is cerealia plant that contains 11-16% sugar that is optimum for fermentation process, it is potential to be cultivated, especially at barren area in Indonesia. The purpose of this experiment is to learn about the effect of microorganisms in fermentation process. Fermentation process was carried out batchwise in bioreactor and used 150g/L initial sugar concentration. Microorganisms used in this experiment are Zymomonas mobilis mutation (A3), Saccharomyces cerevisiae and mixed of Pichia stipitis. The yield of ethanol can be obtained from this experiment. For ethanol purification result, distillation process from fermentation process has been done to search the best operation condition for efficiency energy consumption. The experiment for purification was divided into two parts, which are distillation with structured packing steel wool and adsorption (dehydration) sequencely. In distillation part, parameters evaluation (HETP and pressure drop) of distillation column that can be used for scale up are needed. The experiment was operated at pressure of 1 atm. The distillation stage was carried out at 85 °C and reflux ratio of 0.92 with variety porosities of 20%, 40%, and 60%. Then the adsorption process was done at 120°C and two types of adsorbent, which are starch – based adsorbent with ingredient of cassava and molecular sieve 3A, were used. The adsorption process was then continued to purify the ethanol from impurities by using activated carbon. This research shows that the batch fermentation process with Zymomonas mobilis A3 obtain higher % yield of ethanol of 40,92%. In addition to that, for purification process, the best operation condition is by using 40% of porosity of stuctured packing steel wool in distillation stage and starch-based adsorbent in adsorption stage, which can obtain ethanol content of 92,15% with acetic acid percentage of 0,001% and the rest is water. This result is qualified for ethanol food grade specification which is between 90 - 94 % of ethanol with maximum percentage of acetic acid is 0,003%, and passes in fusel oil and isopropyl alcohol test.

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation with simulated annealing method is used to study the growth process of bi- and tri-layered graphene on a 6H-SiC (0001) substrate via molecular dynamics simulation. Tersoff-Albe-Erhart (TEA) potential is used to describe the inter-atomic interactions among the atoms in the system. The formation temperature, averaged carbon-carbon bond length, pair correlation function, binding energy and the distance between the graphene formed and the SiC substrate are quantified. The growth mechanism, graphitization of graphene on the SiC substrate and characteristics of the surface morphology of the graphene sheet obtained in our MD simulation compare well to that observed in epitaxially grown graphene experiments and other simulation works.

Studies on leachate taken from scheduled waste landfill are limited. This might be due to the complex characteristics of the leachate from scheduled waste landfill compared to other types of landfills. Leachate is known as a strong wastewater in terms of its organic matter and ammonia content. In this study, a pre-treatment on the removal of ammonia-nitrogen (NH3-N) by coagulation on a leachate sample taken from a Scheduled Waste Landfill (SWL) is reported. The coagulation was performed using lime (Ca (OH)2), and caustic soda (NaOH) with varying pH and amount of coagulant. A different dosage of Ca (OH)2, and NaOH was applied and the removal efficiency using both coagulants were investigated to find the most optimum dosage for NH3-N removal. Results showed that the percentage of NH3-N removal was relatively the same for both Ca (OH)2 and NaOH which was up to 45% and 48%, respectively. The optimum pH and dosage of coagulant for the removal process using Ca (OH)2 was pH=12.40±0.02 and 6gL−1, respectively while with NaOH was pH=12.83±0.02 and 8 gL−1, respectively. A small difference in the removal of NH3-N with a less dosage of coagulant used in the study suggests that lime (Ca(OH)2), is a better choice for the pre-treatment process.

The reaction of glycerolysis currently has weakness, which uses a catalyst with a high price and performed at a high temperature. Indonesia is rich in minerals that have the potential to be used as a catalyst. Besides that, the solvent allows the glycerolysis reaction done in a low temperature so that it can maintain the quality of product. The purpose of this research is to study the influence of a type of solvent and a type of natural mineral to the chemistry and physical characteristic of palm oil glycerolysis product. The research activity consists of four steps. The first is the analysis of chemistry characteristics of palm oil. The second is the process of palm oil as the effect of a type of solvent and a type of natural mineral factors. The third is the analysis of chemistry and physical characteristics of glycerolysis product. The last is the analysis of data. Based on the analysis variant at α=0.05, it shows that type of solvent and type of natural mineral doesnot influence significantly to the a...

Biogas production from lignocellulosic biomass can be used as an alternative fuel to replace fossil fuels. Lignocellulose can be obtained from agricultural crop residues, such as rice straw. The aims of this study were to determine the effects of F/I ratio, total solid content, and physical pretreatment on biogas production by solid-state anaerobic digestion. The kinetics of biogas production were also examined in this study. The results showed that the biogas yield decreased by the increasing of F/I ratio. Meanwhile, the increase TS content of 22% to 24% also decreased the biogas yield. Physical pretreatment had no a significant effect on biogas yield (p > 0.05). The highest biogas yield of 248.4 L/kg VS was obtained at an F/I ratio of 2, TS content of 22%, and particle size of 2 mm. The kinetics of biogas production from rice straw followed the first-order kinetic model with the highest rate constant (k) of 0.0861 day−1.

Cellulose was extracted from kenaf core pulp (KCP) by series of bleaching steps in the sequence (DEED) where D and E are referred as acid and alkali treatment. The bleached kenaf pulp (BKCP) is then pretreated with acid hydrolysis at room temperature for 1 and 3 h respectively. The pretreated cellulose is dissolved in lithium hydroxide/urea (LiOH/urea) and cellulose solution produced was immersed in distilled water bath. BKCP without treatment was also conducted for comparison purpose. The effects of acid hydrolysis pretreatment on solubility and crystallinity are investigated. Higher solubility of cellulose solution is achieved for treated samples. Cellulose II formation and crystallinity index of the cellulose membrane were determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD).

The composite of reduced graphene oxide-Cu2S was synthesized by facile and cost effective one-step hydrothermal process. Powder XRD reveals the formation of Reduced Graphene Oxide (RGO) and Cu2S composite nanostructures. Average crystallite size of 16.5 nm was estimated for composite material from XRD measurement. Raman and FTIR analysis confirm the formation of graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide-Cu2S composites. Origin of strong electrostatic interaction between Cu2S and RGO was also inferred from FTIR and Raman investigations. UV absorption spectral analysis illustrates the wide optical absorption region of the prepared composite material. The band gap of the composite was also calculated using the absorbance spectra. The obtained band gap of the composite was 1.64 eV which was much lower expected for copper sulphide particles in nano regime.

Biomass waste utilization for biofuel production such as bioethanol, has become more prominent currently. Coconut coir is one of lignocellulosic food wastes, which is abundant in Indonesia. Bioethanol production from such materials consists of more than one step. Pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis is crucial steps to produce sugar which can then be fermented into bioethanol. In this research, ground coconut coir was pretreated using dilute sulfuric acid at 121°C. This pretreatment had increased the cellulose content and decreased the lignin content of coconut coir. The pretreated coconut coir was hydrolyzed using a mix of two commercial cellulase enzymes at pH of 4.8 and temperature of 50°C. The enzymatic hydrolysis was conducted at several initial coconut coir slurry concentrations (0.1-2 g/100 mL) and reaction times (2-72 hours). The reducing sugar concentration profiles had been produced and can be used to obtain reaction rates. The highest reducing sugar concentration obtained was 1,152.567 mg/L, w...

The abundance of empty fruit bunches (EFB) from oil palm mill made them an economically attractive and viable source of energy nowadays. Converting pyrolyzed EFB into densified solid fuel (briquette) could overcome the troublesome of using raw material which has low energy density and lack of uniform properties for domestic and industrial energy utilization. In this work, EFB is pyrolyzed at 400°C under heating rate of 10°C/min for at least 2 hours to obtain char and pyrolysis liquid needed. Char is prepared as a main source for the briquette mixture, meanwhile the pyrolysis liquid acts as the binder. Both char and pyrolysis liquid were mixed at various percentage of concentrations; 90:10, 80:20, 70:30 and 60:40, and then manually compressed at 10MPa for at least 10 minutes. The results of the properties found that the proportion of 60:40 mixtures has the highest density value of approximately around 0.95 g/cm3, with largest weight loss of production up to 4.83%. The increased pyrolysis liquid added into the mixture has seemly lowered the energy value of the briquette from 23.13 to 21.23 MJ/kg. In the burning test determination, briquettes mixture of 70:30 was found to generate the highest temperature up to 483°C compared to others, and could retain a temperature of 100°C for at least 10 minutes after the flame was gradually put out by itself.

The alkaline and water soluble polysaccharides were isolate by sequential extractions with distilled water, 60% ethanol containing 1%, 5% and 8% NaOH. The samples were prepared at 60 °C for 3 h from local bamboo. The functional group of the sample were examined using FTIR analysis. The most precipitate obtained is from using 60% ethanol containing 8% NaOH with yield of 2.6%. The former 3 residues isolated by sequential extractions with distilled water, 60% ethanol containing 1% and 5% NaOH are barely visible after filtering with cellulose filter paper. The FTIR result showed that the water-soluble polysaccharides consisted mainly of OH group, C H group, C O indicates the carbohydrate and sugar chain. The sample weight loss was slightly decreased with increasing of temperature.

Graphene was synthesized and used as a counter electrode in place of platinum in dye sensitized solar cells. This study reveals that the graphene synthesized by reduction of graphene oxide still contains functional groups even after reduction. The synthesized graphene counter electrodes were prepared by screen printing fabrication techniques. The influence of temperature variation on the films morphology, crystallinity, and its interfacial adhesiveness to the fluorine doped tin oxide coated glass were studied. Screen printing technique has shown uniform surface, decreased agglomeration of nanoparticles and high film adhesiveness. The screen printed film annealed at 400°C reveals best surface morphology.

A new patent pending process is proposed in this study to produce edible film directly from seaweed (Kappaphycus alvarezii). Seaweed together with other ingredients had been used to produce the film through casting technique. Physical and mechanical tests were performed on the edible film to examine the thickness, colour, transparency, solubility, tensile strength, elongation at break, water permeability rate, oxygen permeability rate and surface morphology. The produced film was transparent, stretchable, sealable and have basic properties for applications in food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, toiletries and also agricultural industries. Edible film was successfully developed directly from dry seaweed instead of using alginate and carrageenan. The edible film processing method developed in this research was easier and cheaper compared with the method by using alginate and carrageenan.

Hummer's method was used for the chemical synthesis of graphite oxide from graphite flakes. Simultaneous exfoliation and reduction of graphite oxide to Graphene was achieved through focused solar light irradiation using a convex lens. The morphological characteristics were studied using SEM and TEM. Layered morphology of Graphene was observed through TEM. Raman spectra and FTIR were used for the structural characterization of Graphene. EDAX analysis showed the drop in oxygen content during exfoliation. The method offered a faster, easier and environmental friendly method to produce Graphene for potential applications.

Wholestalk Kenaf were liquefied using phenol as liquefaction medium, while sulfuric acid was used as liquefaction catalyst. Kenaf liquefaction process was performed in a glass flask equipped with thermometer, condenser systems and mechanical stirrer. The efficiency of the liquefaction process depended on the raw materials and parameter used. Liquefaction of kenaf were carried out with different phenol/kenaf ratios at 150 °C using 3% of sulfuric acid. Characterization was carried out on liquefaction kenaf residues to study their morphology properties. Liquefaction data showed that the liquefaction residue with parameter percent of sulfuric acid 4 %, F/K ratio 2.5/1.0, 90 minutes and 170 °C gave optimum conversion percentage as high as 89.04% of liquefied kenaf.

Soilless cultivation was carried out using anaerobic digestion effluent of sewage sludge as liquid fertilizer, with a preparation which cultures microorganisms in nutrient solution. As a result, ammonium ions contained in the effluent were nitrified into nitrate ions by the microorganisms. And then, Japanese mustard spinach (Brassica rapa var. perviridis) was cultivated by soilless cultivation system. The plants were grown well using microbial nutrient solution, which similar to the plants using conventional inorganic nutrient solution. In contrast, the plants were grown poorly using the effluent as liquid fertilizer without microorganisms.

Interest in graphene on its excellent mechanical, electrical, thermal and optical properties, it’s very high specific surface area, and our ability to influence these properties through chemical functionalization. Chemical reduction of graphene oxide is one of the main routes of preparation for large quantities of graphenes. Hydrazine hydrate used as reducing agent to prepare for the reduced graphene oxide (RGO). There are a number of methods for generating graphene and chemically modified graphene from natural graphite flakes, graphite derivative (such as graphite oxide) and graphite interaction compounds (i.e. expandable graphite). Here we review the use of colloidal suspensions of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) with large scalable, and is adaptable to a wide variety of applications. The graphene oxide (GO) and the reduced material (RGO) were characterized by XRD, UV-Vis spectroscopy, Thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), Raman spectroscopy and Field emission Scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) etc.

The trend of using renewable sources such as palm oil as raw material in radiation curing is growing due to the demand from the market to produce a more environmental friendly product. In this study, the radiation curable process was done using epoxy acrylate and urethane acrylate resins which are known as epoxidised palm olein acrylate (EPOLA) and palm oil based urethane acrylate (POBUA), respectively. The purpose of the study was to investigate curing properties and the application of this UV-curable palm oil resins for wood coating. Furthermore, the properties of palm oil based coatings are compared with the petrochemical-based compound such as ebecryl (EB) i.e. EB264 and EB830. From the experiment done, the resins from petrochemical-based compounds resulted higher degree of crosslinking (up to 80%) than the palm oil based compounds (up to 70%), where the different is around 10-15%. The hardness property from this two type coatings can reached until 50% at the lower percentage of the oligomer. However, the coatings from petrochemical-based have a high scratch resistance as it can withstand at least up to 3.0 Newtons (N) compared to the palm oil-based compounds which are difficult to withstand the load up to 1.0 N. Finally, the test on the rubber wood substrate showed that the coatings containing benzophenone photoinitiator give higher adhesion property and their also showed a higher glosiness property on the glass substrate compared to the coatings containing irgacure-819 photoinitiator. This study showed that the palm oil coatings can be a suitable for the replacement of petrochemicals compound for wood coating. The palm oil coatings can be more competitive in the market if the problems of using high percentage palm oil oligomer can be overcome as the palm oil price is cheap enough.

Graphene has been proposed as a promising two-dimensional nanomaterial with outstanding electronic, optical, thermal and mechanical properties for many applications. In present work a process of dispersion of graphene oxide with ZnO nanoparticles in ethanol solution with different pH values, have been studied. Samples have been characterized by XRD, SEM, PL, UV-visible spectroscopy and particles size measurement. The results analysis indicates overall improved emission spectrum. It has been observed that the average diameter of RGO (Reduced Graphene Oxide) decreases in presence of ZnO nanoparticles from 3.8μm to 0.41μm.

Being an excellent electronic material graphene is a very poor candidate for optoelectronic applications. One of the major strategies to develop the optical property in GO is the functionalization of graphene oxide (GO). In the present work GO sheets are functionalized by o-phenylenediamine to achieve diaminobenzene functionalized GO composite (DAB-GO). Formation of DAB-GO composite is further characterized by FTIR, UV, Raman studies. Excellent photoluminescence is observed in DAB-GO composite via passivation of the surface reactive sites by ring-opening amination of epoxides of GO.

The production of crude palm oil from the processing of palm fresh fruit bunches in the palm oil mills in Malaysia hs resulted in a huge quantity of empty fruit bunch (EFB) accumulated. The EFB was used as a feedstock in the pyrolysis process using a fixed-bed reactor in the present study. The optimization of process parameters such as pyrolysis temperature (factor A), biomass particle size (factor B) and holding time (factor C) were investigated through Central Composite Design (CCD) using Stat-Ease Design Expert software version 7 with bio-oil yield considered as the response. Twenty experimental runs were conducted. The results were completely analyzed by Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The model was statistically significant. All factors studied were significant with p-values < 0.05. The pyrolysis temperature (factor A) was considered as the most significant parameter because its F-value of 116.29 was the highest. The value of R2 was 0.9564 which indicated that the selected factors and its levels showed high correlation to the production of bio-oil from EFB pyrolysis process. A quadratic model equation was developed and employed to predict the highest theoretical bio-oil yield. The maximum bio-oil yield of 46.2 % was achieved at pyrolysis temperature of 442.15 °C using the EFB particle size of 866 μm which corresponded to the EFB particle size in the range of 710–1000 μm and holding time of 483 seconds.

Graphene is considered to be a very promising material for applications in nanotechnology. The properties of graphene are strongly dependent on defects that occur during growth and processing. These defects can be either detrimental or beneficial to device performance depending on defect type, location and device application. Here we present experimental results on formation of few-layered graphene by carbon ion implantation into nickel films and characteristics of graphene devices formed by graphene transfer and lithographic patterning. Micro-Raman spectroscopy was used to determine the number of graphene layers formed and identify defects arising from the device processing. The graphene films were cleaned by annealing in vacuum. Transport properties of cleaned graphene films were investigated by fabrication of back-gated field-effect transistors, which exhibited high hole and electron mobility of 1935 and 1905 cm2/Vs, respectively.

In this study we report on optical sensor, based on the sorption properties of graphene film reduced on the tip of a standard single mode optical fiber. Reflectance measurements will be carried out to investigate the changes in the graphene refractive index due to sorption when the sensor probe was exposed to gas molecules. © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.