Search

A paper battery is a 6 cm × 4 cm × 1 mm dimension battery that uses CuCl as a cathode, magnesium as an anode, and urine as an electrolyte. CuCl2 dan CuSO4 as used to synthesis CuCl was analyzed. A simple and cheap sandwiched fabrication model has been identified using the low-cost CuCl synthesis process. This paper battery has passed experimental testing and delivers the best power generation at 169,588 mW and continuously up to 4 hours. Voltage also measured and provided a stable voltage at least for 6 hours at 582.667 mV. Method 2 of using CuSO4, which has price lower than CuCl2 showed better power generation and stability.

We have developed a flexible reduced graphene oxide (RGO) temperature sensor on filter paper based cellulose substrate using vacuum filtration method. One of the most commonly used synthesized methods for RGO thin films is vacuum filtration process. It has several advantages such as simple operation and good controllability. The structural analysis was carried out by FE-SEM, in which the surface morphology images confirm the formation of RGO nanostructures on the filter paper substrate. It was observed that the pores of the filter paper were completely filled with the RGO material during the filtration process, subsequently the formation of continuous RGO thin films. As a results, the RGO films exhibits a piezoresistive property. The resulted RGO based films on the filter paper reveals the semiconducting behavior having sensitivity of 0.278 Omega/degrees C and negative temperature coefficient (NTC) about -0.00254 Omega / Omega /degrees C. Thus, we demonstrate a simplified way for the fabrication of RGO films on filter paper that possesses better and easier measurable macroscopic electrical properties. Our approach is for easy way of electronics, cost-effective and environment friendly fabrication route for flexible conducting graphene films on filter paper. This will enable for the potential applications in flexible electronics in various fields including biomedical, automobile and aerospace engineering.

Here, we presented a novel, cost effective approach to fabricate flexible piezoelectric nanogenerator (NG) consisting of ZnS nanowires (NWs) grown upon cellulose. An output voltage of 4 V is generated from the nanocomposite paper (NC-paper) based NG. Subsequently, it has the capability to power Light Emitting Diode (LED) and charging up capacitor. The corresponding energy stored in the capacitor (1 µF) is 16 µJ. Thus, the fabricated NC-paper based NG can be used for smart textile structures, wearable and self-powered nanodevices.

A simple and economical method has been used to grow macroscopically reduced graphene oxide (rGO) paper for device application. Synthesized paper has been characterized by different experimental techniques namely SEM, TEM, Raman and UV-Vis spectroscopy respectively. Besides these, temperature dependent electrical studies of rGO paper have also been carried out.

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...

Graphene is one atom thick two dimensional material with unusual mechanical, electrical, thermal and optical properties. Graphene, on larger scale is produced through reduction of graphene oxide which in turn is synthesized by chemical oxidation of graphite. Generally large area graphene oxide paper can be easily fabricated by solution filtration process, spin casting method and Langmuir-Blodgett assembly. In present study graphene oxide was synthesized by modified Hummers method. Free standing graphene oxide paper (GOP) was developed by simple drying of graphene oxide suspended in water followed by reduction by thermal treatment to synthesize free standing conducting graphene paper (Thermally Reduced Graphene Paper, TRGP). Thermal reduction was carried out for 30, 60, 90 and 120min and samples referred as TRGP_30, TRGP_60, TRGP_90 and TRGP_120 respectively. XRD results show decrease in inter layer spacing (d002) from 0.87 nm to ∼0.35 nm after reduction of GO paper. This shows gradual removal of oxygen fu...

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.

Organic catalyst has recently been identified as the potential substitution for expensive platinum electrocatalyst for fuel cell application. Numerous studies have shown that the nitrogen-containing carbon nanotubes (N-CNT) can be synthesized through spray pyrolysis or floating chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique using various type of organometallic as precursors. This paper presents the method of synthesis and the initial findings of the growth of N-CNT directly on carbon paper using a modified CVD technique. In this research, nickel (II) phthalocyanines (Ni-Pc) as precursor was dissolved in ethanol solvent, stirred and sonicated to become homogenized. The solution was poured into a bubbler and heated up to allow the mixture to vaporize. Subsequently, the solution vapor was flowed into the tubical reactor maintained at 900°C. Carbon paper sputtered with nickel nanoparticles was used as the substrate. The synthesized sample was examined through Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), At...

For the paper industry, stiffness properties are an important parameter for producing more efficiently a fibrous material like paper. Some stiffness properties of paper webs can be obtained in a non‐contact fashion using two lasers. The authors have developed an automated laboratory laser‐ultrasonics instrument for paper, described here. The results of non‐contact laser generation and detection of ultrasound are also presented. The paper grades investigated were heavy grades like linerboard, as well as copy paper.

The mechanical and electrical properties of a bulk material made of single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNT) are, due to weak intermolecular interaction, several orders of magnitude lower than those of the individual molecules themselves. We studied the effect of gamma‐irradiation on SWNT paper in air and under vacuum. For samples irradiated in air, changes in Young modulus and electrical conductivity were observed with maximum value for a dose of 170 kGy. Under vacuum there was only a small effect of irradiation. Raman studies of irradiated samples showed defects formation. Same experiments done with graphite showed similar results. A likely explanation of the results is that cross‐links between nanotubes were induced by irradiation in air.

An important material property in the paper industry is the anisotropic stiffness distribution due to the fibrous microstructure of paper. Ultrasonic methods offer a means of determining the stiffness of sheets of paper from the anisotropic propagation characteristics of elastic Lamb waves along the machine direction (MD) and the cross direction (CD). Currently, piezoelectric ultrasonic methods are employed in the industry to measure the elastic polar diagram of paper through multiple contacting measurements made in all directions. This paper describes a new approach utilizing the INEEL Laser Ultrasonic Camera to provide a complete image of the elastic waves traveling in all directions in the plane of the paper sheet. This approach is based on optical dynamic holographic methods that record the out of plane ultrasonic motion over the entire paper surface simultaneously without scanning. The full-field imaging technique offers great potential for increasing the speed of the measurement and it ultimately pr...

On-line measurement of material properties is a goal of many manufactures for production improvement and quality control. In the paper industry, the elastic stiffness of the paper web needs to be accurately measured and controlled online. Currently, contact ultrasonic methods are employed to measure the elastic constants of paper offline. Piezoelectric transducers are placed in contact with the paper surface to generate and detect plate wave modes, known as Lamb wave modes, in the paper in both the machine and cross directions. Laser ultrasonics offers a new approach to making elastic wave measurements that does not require contacting the paper web. A pulsed laser generates ultrasound in the paper by delivering a high intensity short impulse to the paper through thermoelastic expansion. An optical interferometer is used to demodulate the small phase modulation that the elastic wave produces on a continuous probe laser beam. Difficulty in applying this approach to online measurements of rapidly moving pape...

Nitrogen is the most important substance in fertilizer to produce high quality harvest. Nitrogen, which comes from the air, can formed as ammonia and nitrate in fertilizer. In industry, the most common fertilizer contain ammonia not nitrate because of its production process easiness compared to nitrate. Ammonia has fertilization efficiency 40% and nitrate has fertilization efficiency 60%. Industrial fertilizer production process nowadays, ammonia synthesis which called Haber-Bosch process, still not environmental friendly and also consume high energy. Environmental friendly and lower energy process is needed to produce fertilizer. Some study related to nitrogen fixation to produce fertilizer has been made including plasma electrolysis method. Plasma electrolysis is an effective method to fix nitrogen from the air because of its ability to produce OH radicals and other radicals to break the N2 bound to produce nitrate with lower energy consumption compared to Haber-Bosch process. This method is implemented in batch reactor with variation of anode depth. This study has proven can produce nitrate up to 1,200 ppm in condition power 800 watt, anode depth 1.5-3.5 cm and Na2SO4 electrolyte concentration 0.02 M.

Driven by the exacerbating urbanization and population, there has been a shoot up in the global energy demand over the past few years. The technological exploration efforts in the field of biofuels have proven to be a promising alternative to the slumping fossil reserves. The main aim of this work is to inspect the potential of palm oil as a biofuel with aluminum oxide nanoparticles as an additive in it. The experimental work was carried out on a single-cylinder four-stroke CI engine running at a constant speed of 1500 rpm at varying loads using palm oil biodiesel blends and the emissions and performance parameters were compared with that of neat diesel. The results concluded a significant increase in BTE with increase in alumina concentration in the blend owing to catalytic behavior of alumina which accelerates the combustion process. Furthermore, reductions in HC and CO emissions were also recorded.

Photobioreactor have been a prominent way to produce biomass in case of biofuel production. One of the most important procedure in this line of production is harvesting. Nowadays, microalgae biomasses are harvested by using many methods such as flocculation, filtration, centrifugation, and the other methods. Those methods are the commonly used by many bioenergy companies to accumulate their biomass before extraction phase. This process requiring a lot of cost and times. In order to increase cost and time efficiency, examination of ultrasound wave trapping method has been done. A harvesting module was assembled as a system consisted of two piezoelectric circuit (ultrasound wave generator) in a transparent box. Data shown by generating 1.7 MHz wave for 20 minutes, turbidity of Synechococcus (coccoid cyanobacteria) biomass was decreased from 56.3 NTU to 55.6 NTU. The other data also shown decreased turbidity of mixed culture biomass from 46.5 NTU to 16.4 NTU. This results also followed by weight measurement for both biomasses. This module capable to accumulating microalgal biomass a number of 0.0138 gram for Synechococcus and 0.8544 gram for mixed culture. The difference in biomass accumulation results are caused by cell size and density. Synechococcus cell size range between 0.5-2 µm with a very low density. This phenomenon makes any kind of small-sized coccoid cyanobacteria are need more time to be accumulated. Meanwhile mixed culture of microalgae is easier to accumulated due their variety of size and density.

Gasoline used in an Otto engine can be substituted by pure Bioethanol or Gasoline-Bioethanol blends. The engine performance can be affected by the mixture. Specifically, the blends can affect (Increasing or decreasing) power, torque, and emission produced by the engine. It is caused by the different characteristic of the Gasoline-Bioethanol blends depending on the volume percentage of the Bioethanol. Theoretically, as the increasing of the volume percentage of Bioethanol to the mixture, the power and torque produced would be decreased because of the lower energy contained rather than gasoline. As a biofuel, Bioethanol is a natural product and created by the fermentation of plants containing sugar and starch which has a similar physical and chemical characteristic to gasoline. The objective of this experiment was to determine the effect of Bioethanol-gasoline blended fuels on the performance of an engine. In this case, the performance includes specific fuel consumption, power, and torque. The experimental test was using gasoline with octane number 88, 92, 98, and 30%, 40% Bioethanol blend. The effect carried out by increasing the volume number of Bioethanol to the gasoline is the increasing of the power and torque produced by the engine. Keywords: Gasoline, bioethanol, research octane number, engine performance.

The level consumption of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) as a packaging of colored beverage bottles occupies the fourth largest in the world. In Indonesia, PET consumption increased reaches 7% per year so that it can cause environmental impacts. This study aims to process the recycling PET waste by obtaining a simple potential process to remove the color from PET waste. The decolorized PET waste will be an alternative carbon source for Carbon Nanotube (CNT) synthesis. The colors of PET waste are blue and green bottles. The selected color removal agent is hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) because it is inexpensive reagent and has lower toxicity to environment. The colored PET waste and H2O2 will be heated in the oil bath system at temperature 110°C and pressure 1 atm. The result showed that color removal time for blue PET waste faster than the green PET waste, 72 and 115 minutes per 15 grams PET waste. The quality of color removal of blue PET waste is better than the green PET waste because it has a reflectance value closer to colorless PET waste, namely 80%. The CNT synthesis process from decolorized blue PET waste produce 8.58% yields. The average diameter of CNT crystals from its process is obtained at 37 nm. This shows that PET waste plastic which has been discolored can be used as a carbon source in CNT synthesis.

Batik industry in Indonesia frequently dispose liquid waste containing high level of toxic and carcinogenic dyes to the drainage without being treated. In accordance with it, plasma electrolysis has been proved as the efficient method to degrade dyes waste, yielding higher hydroxyl radicals than other methods. The experiment was conducted by generating plasma in circulated reactor using stainless steel cathode and tungsten anode with 2 cm depth immersed in 0.02 M Na2SO4 electrolyte solution added by 20 mg/L Fe2+ and 100 mg/L of Remazol Red initial concentration, with addition of varying air injection rate at maintained power. The results show that 1 L/min is the optimum air injection rate value to operate this reactor effectively at 450 W of optimum operating power so that it could lower the breakdown voltage, reduce energy consumption, produce more OH radicals and other reactive species, and elevate the degradation percentage. The experiment conducted in optimum operating condition provide result of 99.61% in degradation percentage for 60 minutes with final concentration of dye is 0.39 mg/L, 41.55 mg/L of COD, and 3177.16 kJ of energy consumption.

Hydrogen is an alternative energy source that can replace fossil fuels. The latest breakthrough idea for producing hydrogen fuel is by utilizing biomass in bioelectrochemical systems, which is Microbial Electrolysis Cell (MEC). MEC is a method for producing hydrogen gas that is managed from organic materials, including from wastewater. In addition to very low energy consumption, the MEC system is able to use sludge waste as a substrate for the bacterial community to be implemented. The rate of hydrogen production with MEC is relatively lower when compared to air fermentation and electrolysis methods. Efforts that can be made to increase hydrogen production are by operating the MEC system at optimal distance between electrodes. One of the major problems that arises from the use of the MEC system is methanogens, the methane-producing bacteria. This methanogen consumes biohydrogen produced at the cathode which cause the loses of biohydrogen production in MEC system. In this research, biological control methods is utilized in bioelectrode by enriching it with denitrifier bacteria to inhibit the growth of methanogens. The MEC reactor is carried out in configuring a single-chamber MEC. Variation in denitrifier bacteria used and distance between electrodes aim to find the optimal conditions. The composition of the reactor chamber gas head is supported by using Gas Chromatography to analyze hydrogen and methane reserves. The addition of Pseudomonas stutzeri as biological control of methanogenesis could reduce the methane up to 76.28% compared to the control reactor at the first cycle. The presence of Pseudomonas stutzeri was also able to increase the H2 produced 128% higher compared to the control reactor. With the electrode spacing 0.5 cm, the H2 produced 65% was higher than the MEC reactor with 1 cm-electrode spacing. The 0.5 cm space was the optimum space for this experiment since it still supported the growth of the exoelectrogen bacteria and reduced the internal resistance within the MEC system.

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 purpose of this paper is to study the Lean-TRIZ initiative within the context of service sector organizations. In addition, article has the objective to determine the Readiness Factors (RF) for the successful implementation of Lean- TRIZ in service sector organization. The research has utilized secondary data to justify the need for RF. Data from various indexed papers and conference papers were studied. The data thus obtained was coupled with the vast experience and the expertise of the authors in Lean implementation in service sector organization. The papers present RF which are essential for the sustainability of Lean-TRIZ in a service sector organization and provides a framework for the successful implementation. This is a theatrical paper based on the author’s vast experience in service sector organization and existing literature. Lean-TRIZ is still in embryonic stage with most of the academic literature only in conferences and there is a serious dearth in literature. Future researchers can focus on empirical studies in specific service sector organizations.

Nowadays, the high amount of waste generated by the world population represents a major environmental problem. Landfills still represent one of the main endpoints of the solid wastes disposal in most of the countries. The major problem associated with this is the landfill leachate production. Leachate treatment using microalgae has been reported in numerous studies and it is a very promising method. A key challenge is the sensitivity of microalgae to high contaminants in landfill leachate. This paper underlines the landfill leachate treatment using Chlorella vulgaris sp. with pre-treated landfill leachate by physico-chemical treatment. Current research is to explore a dual purpose method to treat the leachate by incorporating Chlorella vulgaris sp. culturing in 100% pre-treated landfill leachate. During pre-treatment, the leachate samples were undergone coagulation process by using aluminium ammonium sulphate 12-hydrate followed by modified filtration system. The chemical analysis such as Total Solids (TS), turbidity, pH, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Total Organic Carbon (TOC), and heavy metal contents were analysed for landfill leachate samples before the treatment, after physico-chemical treatment, and after the combined physico-chemical-biological treatment using Chlorella vulgaris. The combined coagulation, filtration and microalgae treatments achieved removal efficiencies of more than 94% on turbidity, COD, BOD, TOC, and heavy metals. Effective contaminants removal efficiencies have been attained through the pre-treatment by coagulation and filtration. Microalgae managed to polish the pre-treated leachate to achieve the standard discharge limit according to DOE of Malaysia government. The lipids with broad carbon range of (C-21 to C-36) were identified in Chlorella vulgaris. The paper proves that the deteriorative impact of landfill leachate can be reduced successfully with combined treatment approaches.Nowadays, the high amount of waste generated by the world population represents a major environmental problem. Landfills still represent one of the main endpoints of the solid wastes disposal in most of the countries. The major problem associated with this is the landfill leachate production. Leachate treatment using microalgae has been reported in numerous studies and it is a very promising method. A key challenge is the sensitivity of microalgae to high contaminants in landfill leachate. This paper underlines the landfill leachate treatment using Chlorella vulgaris sp. with pre-treated landfill leachate by physico-chemical treatment. Current research is to explore a dual purpose method to treat the leachate by incorporating Chlorella vulgaris sp. culturing in 100% pre-treated landfill leachate. During pre-treatment, the leachate samples were undergone coagulation process by using aluminium ammonium sulphate 12-hydrate followed by modified filtration system. The chemical analysis such as Total Solids (TS...

Ligno-cellulosic biomass from sustainable sources has been used to produce light weight and high specific surface area (SSA) activated carbons (AC) for a multitude of applications; such as components in energy storage devices such as batteries and supercapacitors. While direct conversion from biomass has been studied heavily, such AC with relatively high surface area can be more effectively produced when leveraged as a co-product from a biorefinery. In this paper, we discuss the production of high specific surface area activated carbons from residual fiber (fiber remaining after extraction of C5-sugars) generated as part of a biorefinery. Our work showed that the AC produced from the residual fiber delivered an order of magnitude higher surface area than the one directly from corn pericarp fiber and soy hulls. These AC were evaluated as electrodes in electrical double layer capacitors for energy storage. These results, along with the benefits of using the residual fiber to produce AC, are highlighted in this paper.

The rapid dewatering process of wastewater sludge was studied. The effects of two different thickening methods on subsequent conditioning and pressing were compared: gravity thickening and mechanical concentration. The study also investigated the optimal type and the concentration of flocculant added by sludge concentration, which was 0.2%. In terms of mechanical concentration method, under the same formulation of conditioner, the addition of Polyacrylamide(PAM) could significantly promote the dewatering process. Compared with the gravitational sedimentation and the sludge without chemical concentration, the filtration rate and dry-base treatment efficiency of the sludge during pressing were obviously improved, and the moisture content of the sludge cake was reduced.

The production of bioethanol from date molasses is one of the effective discoveries in the field of Sustainable development represented in positive exploiting of renewable energies mainly biomass energy. The paucity of ethanol gas at the Sirte University was the stimulator for considering this research. The study was conducted in the chemistry labs at the Sirte University in 2018 to investigate the possibility of producing bioethanol from date molasses determining the effect of different temperature, PH, yeast quantity and fermentation time in molasses on the amount of ethanol produced. Three samples of molasses were taken in different sizes. Bioethanol was indirectly extracted through alcoholic fermentation of date molasses in anaerobic conditions. Because of the lack of a low-pressure distillation device, a normal distillation device was used. The best amount of bioethanol (25ml) was extracted at the largest quantity of yeast (2g), the longest fermentation time (236h), the highest fermentation’s temperature and PH 4.8. Ethanol specifications were examined via qualitative tests.

Emulsions are dispersion systems, where one phase is dispersed in another phase in the presence of an emulsifying agent (surfactant). Emulsion fuel can reduce cylinder peak pressure from the combustion chamber compared to using neat diesel fuel. This research use a single-cylinder diesel engine, operates using water diesel emulsion with water percentage of 30% and 35% by volume and diesel fuel as a comparison. Diesel operates with a speed of 1500 rpm and engine load 1000-4000 watts at 500-watt intervals. The results of research at high load showed that fuel consumption of E30 and E35 increased by 15.5% and 16.6%, thermal efficiency increased by 21% and 35.8% (respectively). Whereas HC and CO emissions increase along with the increase in water percentage.Emulsions are dispersion systems, where one phase is dispersed in another phase in the presence of an emulsifying agent (surfactant). Emulsion fuel can reduce cylinder peak pressure from the combustion chamber compared to using neat diesel fuel. This research use a single-cylinder diesel engine, operates using water diesel emulsion with water percentage of 30% and 35% by volume and diesel fuel as a comparison. Diesel operates with a speed of 1500 rpm and engine load 1000-4000 watts at 500-watt intervals. The results of research at high load showed that fuel consumption of E30 and E35 increased by 15.5% and 16.6%, thermal efficiency increased by 21% and 35.8% (respectively). Whereas HC and CO emissions increase along with the increase in water percentage.

Ethanol-Diesel blended fuel is usually known as ‘E-Diesel’, ‘Diesohol’ or ‘Oxygenated Diesel’ that has been performed on the unmodified compression ignition engine. Three different proportions of 5%, 7.5% and 10% ethanol (by volume) are blended with diesel that being used as fuel. Biodiesel was added at the range of 5-10% into the blended fuels as emulsifier and balancing the overall fuel properties. Based on the properties test, it was found that the blended fuels have lower heating value, kinematic viscosity and density as the percentage of ethanol was increased. For the engine performance characteristics, no significant reduction in brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) due to slight difference in heating values between diesel and blended fuels. The percentage deviation of brake thermal efficiency (BTE) for blended fuels from diesel were less than 4% showing the engine converted the chemical energy in fuels into mechanical energy almost the same efficiency. Whilst for emissions, the blended fuels reduced in oxides of nitrogen (NOX) at the range of 24.1-43.1% compared to diesel. As conclusion, the best blended fuel is E5 which contained 5% ethanol, 7.5% biodiesel and 87.5% diesel (D87.5B7.5E5) that contributed lower NOX emitted and performed better in term of BSFC and BTE.

In recent years, many researches have been performed to find suitable alternative fuels to petroleum products. In the present investigation, an experimental work has been carried out to analyze the performance and emissions characteristics of a single cylinder compression ignition DI engine fuelled with the blends of biodiesel at the different engine speed. The performance parameters evaluated were torque, brake power (BP), brake mean effective pressure (BMEP) and the emissions such as carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2) and unburned hydrocarbon (UHC). The results of experimental investigation with biodiesel blends with diesel are compared with that of diesel. The performance parameter in terms of torque and BMEP are 12.5 % and 9% less for B5 and B10 than diesel respectively. BP for diesel was higher about 6 % compared to biodiesel blends. The results indicated that the UHC, CO and CO2 emissions are slightly less than diesel; UHC emissions were also observed to be 4% less for B5 and B10 compared to diesel, CO emissions were also observed to be 5% less for B5 and B10 compared to diesel and CO2 emissions were also observed to be 1% less for B5 and B10 compared to diesel. In a nutshell, performance characteristics for biodiesel were lower compared to diesel which not much significant difference, while emission characteristics for biodiesel blend were improved compared to diesel.

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.

Water treatment is the process to make the water reusable to consumers. There are several process to treat water such as chlorination, sedimentation and filtration. Water filtration is known to separate substance or object in contaminated water. Method of filtration is vary depending on the location of the targeted material whether it is dissolved in the suspended as a solid or fluid. This paper present a preliminary study to constructing a low-cost of water filter by using materials namely coarse aggregates, sand, activated carbon in additional of loofah and coconut fiber. The result was measured by analyzing the water parameter such as, Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Dissolve Oxygen (DO), turbidity, and colour. The result of raw water and filtered water are characterized according to the National Water Quality Standard (NWQS) for Malaysia. The final results from laboratory experiment showed a good improvement of water parameter during the application of coconut and loofah fiber in water filtration. The BOD5 result for coconut and loofah fiber model show significant improvement from class IV to class I and III.

Scarcity in fuel from fossil fuel has led to exploration of potential substitutes from renewable sources. Biodiesel as one of renewable energy sources is identified as cleaner alternative to petroleum fuel. This paper reports on the study of potassium carbonate, K2CO3 sourced from pineapple and orange peels as heterogeneous catalyst for biodiesel production. K2CO3 was produced by drying of fruit peel prior to calcination at temperature ranged from 700°C to 1000°C for 2 to 4 hours. To determine the physicochemical properties of the resulting ash, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis were employed for the characterization of the solid. Through FTIR analysis, the presence of carbonate was confirmed while SEM analysis revealed the morphological properties of the catalyst. Biodiesel with highest yield of 95.6% was produced at 60°C, 2.75 wt% of catalyst and 12:1 molar ratio of methanol to oil.

Batik industry in Indonesia is growing very rapidly. This is of course accompanied by the increasing volume of waste generated, especially liquid waste. Liquid waste generated in the process of coloring, washing, or in the finishing process, if not handled intensively will cause environmental imbalances. The purpose of this research is to provide one alternative solution to treat batik liquid waste, especially in overcoming problems about COD and TSS levels. Bed layer and electrolysis combination techniques can be used to overcome the problem of batik waste. This technique uses parameters such as bed layer variation, layers, pH, electrolysis time, and voltage. The dependent variables analyzed in this study were the percentage decrease of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Total Solid Solution (TSS). Based on this research, it is found that the arrangement of bed layer combination with effective electrodegradation in lowering COD and TSS in batik liquid waste is charcoal, gravel, sand, rice husk ash, coconut fiber. The treatment was continued with electrolysis and the resulting efficiency of COD and TSS decrease were 60% and 85%

Diesel oil as an energy source is insufficient to meet the present-day energy demands and rapid industrial development. The goal of this work is to experimentally investigate the effects of using CDB (Cashew Nut Shell Oil diesel blends i.e. B20) mixture of 80% diesel by volume with 20% CNSO with different injection pressures (IP) of 200, 220 and 240 bar respectively. In the present scenario, CNSO is one of the superlative substitute sources which are comparably the cheapest non-edible sources in nature. The test was carried out with CDB in a 4-stroke, single cylinder diesel engine, at a rated power of 4.4 kW and constant speed of 1500 rpm. The effect of combustion analysis of test fuels at a net heat release rate, cylinder pressure, brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC), brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and cylinder temperature were observed by the performance tests. The experimental results revealed that BTE have improved whereas BSFC of CDB fuelled has been reduced, at 220 bar IP. It is also seen that there is a significant reduction in emissions of hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and smoke opacity with 220 bar IP, whereas carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide shows increasing trends.

Alum sludge needs to be managed properly to ensure its adverse potential impact to environment is mitigated due to its content of pathogen and metal. Usually, alum sludge will be dumped to the landfill for dewatering and become sludge cake due to inadequate facility to treat it. Furthermore, alum sludge treatment involves high cost and handling problem because of its water content and offensive odour. In this study, performance and evaluation of alum sludge ash (ASA) as a brick material was investigated. The alum sludge which was collected was fired to become ash. Ash characteristic (chemical content and mass losses) were investigated by means of Toxicity Characteristics Leaching Procedures (TCLP) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The physical (water absorption and compressive strength) and chemical (leaching) properties mixture of Portland cement with the different weight percentage of alum sludge ash (0% - 40% by mass). TGA analysis showed that 95% of ASA residue remained at temperature 1000°C and the heavy metal contents in the leachate are below acceptable threshold limits. Increasing the ASA contents results in decreased compressive strength and increased water absorption. The result also showed that the mixture 30% of ASA by mass with Portland cement is at optimum condition as a brick material which is comply the standard of bricks.

Cotton is an inflammable substance that can be ignited by a weak ignition source. Since, cotton fiber is typically removed from cottonseed, compressed into bales and stored in the warehouse for extended periods of time, the moisture content is a very important characteristic of cotton. In this study, the effect of moisture content on cotton smoldering combustion was studied experimentally by characterizing cotton samples with different moisture contents. The results showed that the higher moisture content of cotton delayed the smoldering combustion process of cotton and prolonged the duration of high temperature of cotton smoldering. And we could find that when the moisture content is higher than 10%, the characteristics of smoldering change obviously.

The presence of lead heavy metals in waters can cause negative impacts on the environment. One way to reduce lead metal content is by adsorption process using waste of banana leaf. Adsorption of lead metal using banana leaf waste has been successfully done. This study aims to determine the optimum contact time so as to produce the greatest adsorption power to lead metal in banana leaf waste, and determine the adsorption kinetics. Determination of functional groups was performed by using infrared spectroscopy while the determination of lead content using atomic absorption spectroscopy. The adsorption process is done by batch system that is soaking bio sorbent in solution containing lead. The immersion times were varied at 0, 30, 60, and 120 minutes. The adsorption process is carried out by mixing 25 mL of Pb(NO3)2 solution with 0.125 gram of activated banana leaf waste. Determination of amount of lead metal adsorbed by banana leaf waste done by calculating the difference of initial metal concentration with concentration in filtrate. Based on result of research known that optimum adsorption time from waste of activated banana leaf is for 30 minutes. The adsorption capacity of activated banana leaf waste in the time was 35.714%. Adsorption kinetics of lead at banana leaf follows kinetic model of pseudo two Ho with the value of R2 0.924 and the value of k is 13.305 minutes−1.

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...

Geopolymer is an inorganic polymer composite developed by Joseph Davidovits in 1970s. Such material has potentials to replace Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC)-based materials in the future because of its lower energy consumption, minimal CO2 emissions and lower production cost as it utilizes industrial waste resources. Hence, geopolymerization and the process to produce geopolymers for various applications like building materials can be considered as green industry. Moreover, in this study, red mud and rice husk ash were used as raw materials for geopolymeric production, which are aluminum industrial and agricultural wastes that need to be managed to reduce their negative impact to the environment. The red mud and rice husk ash were mixed with sodium silicate (water glass) solution to form geopolymer paste. The geopolymer paste was filled into 5-cm cube molds according to ASTM C109/C109M 99, and then cured at room temperature for 28 days. These products were then tested for compressive strength and volumetric weight. Results indicated that the material can be considered lightweight with a compressive strength at 28 days that are in the range of 6.8 to 15.5 MPa. Moreover, the geopolymer specimens were also tested for heat resistance at a temperature of 1000oC for 2 hours. Results suggest high heat resistance with an increase of compressive strength from 262% to 417% after exposed at high temperature.Geopolymer is an inorganic polymer composite developed by Joseph Davidovits in 1970s. Such material has potentials to replace Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC)-based materials in the future because of its lower energy consumption, minimal CO2 emissions and lower production cost as it utilizes industrial waste resources. Hence, geopolymerization and the process to produce geopolymers for various applications like building materials can be considered as green industry. Moreover, in this study, red mud and rice husk ash were used as raw materials for geopolymeric production, which are aluminum industrial and agricultural wastes that need to be managed to reduce their negative impact to the environment. The red mud and rice husk ash were mixed with sodium silicate (water glass) solution to form geopolymer paste. The geopolymer paste was filled into 5-cm cube molds according to ASTM C109/C109M 99, and then cured at room temperature for 28 days. These products were then tested for compressive strength and volumetr...

Thin films of graphene oxide (or reduced graphene oxide) recently drawn a huge attention because of their several applications which are based on properties of graphene. The aim of the present paper is twofold: to find the straightforward, simple and cheap method for the preparation of thin film of graphene oxide and to study the effect of electron beam irradiation on the GO thin film. GO film was made by drop casting method from commercially procured aqueous solution of GO (concentration - 5 g/L). Electron beam irradiation were done in SEM obtain from MIRA II LMH from TESCAN. Irradiation of GO film was done at 25 keV electron beam energy. The authors have measured I-V characteristic of pristine as well as irradiated GO thin film in two probe configuration. Irradiation time were chosen 1 min, 33 min and 100 min which corresponds to 3×1011 e-/cm2, 1×1013 e-/cm2 and 3×1013 e-/cm2 fluence of electron beam. The samples were characterized using SEM and Raman methods. I-V spectra show that the resistance of fil...

In recent year, the Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) concrete is vastly used as main binder in construction industry which lead to depletion of natural resources in order to manufacture large amount of OPC. Nevertheless, with the introduction of geopolymer as an alternative binder which is more environmental friendly due to less emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) and utilized waste materials can overcome the problems. Rice husk (RH) is an agricultural residue which can be found easily in large quantity due to production of paddy in Malaysia and it’s usually disposed in landfill. This paper investigated the effect of rice husk (RH) content on the strength development of fly ash based geopolymer mortar. The fly ash is replaced with RH by 0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% where the sodium silicate and sodium hydroxide was used as alkaline activator. A total of 45 cubes were casted and their compressive strength, density and water absorption were evaluated at 1, 3, and 7 days. The result showed compressive strength decreased when the percentage of RH increased. At 5% replacement of RH, the maximum strength of 17.1MPa was recorded at day 7. The geopolymer has lowest rate of water absorption (1.69%) at 20% replacement of RH. The density of the sample can be classified as lightweight geopolymer concrete.

Conventional media/sand filtration has been the mainstream water treatment process for most municipal water treatment plants in Malaysia. Filtrate qualities of conventional media/sand filtration are very much dependent on the coagulation-flocculation process prior to filtration and might be as high as 5 NTU. However, the demands for better quality of drinking water through public piped-water supply systems are growing. Polymeric ultrafiltration (UF) hollow fibre membrane made from modified polyethersulfone (PES) material is highly hydrophilic with high tensile strength and produces excellent quality filtrate of below 0.3 NTU in turbidity. This advanced membrane filtration material is also chemical resistance which allows a typical lifespan of 5 years. Comparisons between the conventional media/sand filtration and PES-based UF systems are carried out in this paper. UF has been considered as the emerging technology in municipal drinking water treatment plants due to its consistency in producing high quality filtrates even without the coagulation-flocculation process. The decreasing cost of PES-based membrane due to mass production and competitive pricing by manufacturers has made the UF technology affordable for industrial-scale water treatment plants.

Sweet orange peel (Citrus sinensis) is part of orange plant that contains essential oils. Generally, taking essential oil from orange peel is still using hydrodistillation and steam-hydrodistillation method which still needs solvent and takes a long time to produce high quality essential oil. Therefore, the objectives of this experiment are to study the process of orange peel’s essential oil extraction using Solvent Free Microwave Extraction (SFME) and to study the operating condition that effect an optimum yield and quality of the essential oil. In this experiment, extraction process with SFME method goes for 60 minutes at atmospheric pressure. Variables for SFME are: variation of orange peel condition (fresh and dry), ratio orange peel mass to distiller volume (0,1; 0,2; 0,3; 0,4 g/mL), orange peel size (±0,5; ±2; ±3,5 cm width), and microwave power (100, 264, 400 Watt). Moisture content of fresh peel is 71,4% and for dry peel is 17,37% which is obtained by sun drying. The result of this experiment will...

The technological development of concrete demands innovation regarding the alternative material as a part of the effort in improving quality and minimizing reliance on currently used raw materials such as bottom ash of palm oil. Bottom ash known as domestic waste stemming from palm oil cultivation in East Kalimantan contains silica. Like cement in texture and size, bottom ash can be mixed with concrete in which the silica in concrete could help increase the compressive strength of concrete. This research was conducted by comparing between normal concrete and concrete containing bottom ash as which the materials were apart of cement replacement. The bottom ash used in this research had to pass sieve size (#200). The composition tested in this research involved ratio between cement and bottom ash with the following percentages: 100%: 0%, 90%: 10%, 85%: 15% and 80%: 20%. Planned to be within the same amount of compressive strength (fc 25 MPa), the compressive strength of concrete was tested at the age of 7, ...

In this study has been the treatment of batik waste using distillation method. This study aims to the treatment of batik waste using distillation method. Batik is a world heritage that has an impact on economic improvement and environmental damage. Batik waste is a hazardous and toxic waste material. Batik waste in this research has been taken from Batik Industry in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Batik waste of 5 L is included in the distillation apparatus, then the distillation run for 4 hours. The distillation product of solids and liquids is collected and analyzed. The solid produced at the distillation boiler was analyzed by FTIR. The distillation liquid was analyzed ammonia and COD concentration using UV-Vis Spectrophotometer. The result of the analysis showed that based on FTIR spectra obtained by dye with high purity. The analysis results shown are of ammonia, COD and pH were 0.652 mg/L, 238.31 mg/L, and 7.306, respectively. The compounds produced by boiler are the azo dye based on the spectrum at wave numbers 1554.07 cm−1. The conclusion of this research is that the distillation method is very suitable for the treatment of the batik waste at small batik industry. Advantages of distillation techniques that can be obtained two products are water and dye that can be used in batik industry.

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...

As one of the solid waste generated by palm oil plantations, Oil Palm Fronds have the potential to be further processed into useful products since the presence of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Hence, the objective of this study was to utilize oil palm fronds in producing oxalic acid through oxidation process using. To achieve the objective, this study assessed conversion of cellulose, yield and quality of oxalic acid produced. Two stages are carried out, namely oxidation and crystallization. Assays on raw materials revealed the cellulose content of 29.2 percent. The largest yield of oxalic acid was 43.31 percent, the highest conversion of cellulose was 58.86 percent. FTIR and melting point analysis were employed in this study. These analyses indicated that the functional groups have reached the standard of oxalic acid with a melting point of 102.1 °C, which showed that the oxalic acid obtained was oxalic acid dehydrate.

Graphene flakes have been grown by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) method on Cu foils. The obtained graphene flakes have been characterized by optical microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) and Raman spectroscopy. The graphene flakes grown on Cu foil comprise mainly single layer graphene and confirm that the nucleation for graphene growth starts very quickly. Moreover, KPFM has been found to be a valuable technique to differentiate between covered and uncovered portion of Cu foil by graphene flakes deposited for shorter duration. The results show that KPFM can be a very useful technique in understanding the mechanism of graphene growth.

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...