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The effect of the interaction factor between pH and dosage is important in leachate wastewater treatment. This study aims to remove leachate pollutants such as turbidity, total suspended solid (TSS), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and colour using simultaneous factors of plant‐based Tacca leontopetaloides biopolymer flocculant (TBPF) dosage and leachate pH. The flocculation process was carried out through jar test by applying the perikinetic theory and statical analysis (face‐centred central composite design). The results found that the optimum leachate pH and TBPF dosage were pH 3 and 150 mg/L, respectively. The highest removal of leachate pollutants reached up to 69% with a second‐order perikinetic model; R2 = 0.9545 and k = 9 × 10−6 L/mg/min were obtained. Simultaneous interaction factors between leachate pH and TBPF dosage on turbidity and TSS removal were found significant and hence can be applied in the actual leachate wastewater treatment industry, particularly at the primary stage using the proposed model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential thermal gravimetric (DTG) were used to study the efficiency of slow pyrolysis of chicken skin waste (CSW) through determining the apparent activation energy. CSW was heated from 50°C to 900°C at 5°C/min, 10°C/min, 15°C/min, and 20°C/min. The CSW was further investigated in pyrolysis using a fixed bed reactor where the maximum production of bio-oil was achieved at 550°C. The crude bio-oil products demonstrated different classes of organic and complex mixture of hydrocarbons compound. The proposed decomposition pathway suggested that most CSW was cracked around 340–440°C even at a low heating rate to produce mostly long-chain hydrocarbons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermoplastic starch (TPS) based plastic is a promising material for solving various environmental issues. Therefore, this research was conducted to investigate the potential of Tacca leontopetaloides starch plasticized using glycerol and crude palm oil (CPO) as an aid in plastic development. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) analysis of CPO-TPS shows the samples have a lower limit since the bends undergo less disruption after degradability test was performed. The functional group of glycerol TPS was 100% disrupted after degradation test where no peaks observed by FTIR. The thermal decomposition of TPSs analyzed by using Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) showed Glycerol TPS gave similar thermal stability behavior as conventional TPS. However, glycerol TPS has faster degradation rate since the samples started to degrade at low temperature 70°C compared with conventional bio-plastic at 110°C. This finding shows the benefit of a new renewable source of starch as a bio-plastic. This is fiscible since starch is not a staple food for Malaysia population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Coconut dregs is a residue of coconut milk production, have no others usage except as animal food. It contains main components of lignocellulosic materials and high carbohydrate content. However, there are lack of study and understanding regarding properties of coconut dregs as useful products. In addition, the physical and chemical barriers due to the complex bonds of cellulosic compound hinder the hydrolysis hemicelluloses and cellulose into fermentable sugars. Thus, the main purpose of this study was to investigate the hydrolysis of coconut dregs for the production of glucose at various times. Coconut dregs were subjected to dilute sulfuric acid (1%) hydrolysis at 130°C and varying hydrolysis time (30, 60 and 90min). The prehydrolyzate from this process was characterized by Biochemistry analyzer for glucose concentration analysis. Higher glucose concentration (0.38g/l) was reached at a residence time of 60min. Chemical and thermal properties of the solid residue were also carried out. The results demonstrated a reduction in chemical and thermal of solid hydrolyzed fraction compared to raw state. Meanwhile, FTIR spectra revealed no significant changes in cellulosic compound when coconut dregs were hydrolyzed at different time. TGA and DTG analysis showed almost similar range of cellulosic compound degradation temperature after hydrolysis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Starch is used whenever there is a need for natural elastic properties combined with low cost of production. However, the hydrophilic properties in structural starch will decrease the thermal performance of formulated starch polymer. Therefore, the effect of glycerol, palm olein, and crude palm oil (CPO), as plasticizers, on the thermal behavior of Tacca leontopetaloides starch incorporated with natural rubber in biopolymer production was investigated in this paper. Four different formulations were performed and represented by TPE1, TPE2, TPE3, and TPE4. The compositions were produced by using two-roll mill compounding. The sheets obtained were cut into small sizes prior to thermal testing. The addition of glycerol shows higher enthalpy of diffusion in which made the material easily can be degraded, leaving to an amount of 6.6% of residue. Blending of CPO with starch (TPE3) had a higher thermal resistance towards high temperature up to 310°C and the thermal behavior of TPE2 only gave a moderate performance compared with other TPEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effectiveness of dragon fruit foliage as a natural coagulant for treatment of concentrated latex effluent was investigated and compared with ferric sulfate, a chemical coagulant. Dragon fruit is a round and often red-colored fruit with scales-like texture and is native to south American countries which is also cultivated and heavily marketed in southeast Asian countries. Its foliage represents a part of its overall plant system. Latex effluent is one of the main byproduct from rubber processing factories in Malaysia. Three main parameters investigated were chemical oxygen demand (COD), suspended solids (SS), and turbidity of effluent. Coagulation experiments using jar test were performed with a flocculation system where the effects of latex effluent pH as well as coagulation dosage on coagulation effectiveness were examined. The highest recorded COD, SS, and turbidity removal percentages for foliage were observed for effluent pH 10 at 94.7, 88.9, and 99.7%, respectively. It is concluded that the foliage showed tremendous potential as a natural coagulant for water treatment purposes. The foliage could be used in the pretreatment stage of Malaysian latex effluent prior to secondary treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High removal of heavy metals using plant-based bioflocculant under low concentration is required due to its low cost, abundant source, and nontoxicity for improved wastewater management and utilization in the water industry. This paper presents a treatment of synthetic wastewater using plant-based Tacca leontopetaloides biopolymer flocculant (TBPF) without modification on its structural polymer chains. It produced a high removal of heavy metals (Zn, Pb, Ni, and Cd) at a low concentration of TBPF dosage. In our previous report, TBPF was characterized and successfully reduced the turbidity, total suspended solids, and color for leachate treatment; however, its effectiveness for heavy metal removal has not been reported. The removal of these heavy metals was performed using a standard jar test procedure at different pH values of synthetic wastewater and TBPF dosages. The effects of hydroxide ion, pH, initial TBPF concentration, initial metal ion concentration, and TBPF dosage were examined using one factorial at the time (OFAT). The results show that the highest removal for Zn, Pb, Ni, and Cd metal ions were 98.4–98.5%, 79–80%, 97–98%, and 92–93%, respectively, using 120 mg/L dosage from the initial concentration of 10% TBPF at pH 10. The final concentrations for Zn, Pb, Ni, and Cd metal ions were 0.043–0.044, 0.41–0.43, 0.037–0.054, and 0.11–0.13 mg/L, respectively, which are below the Standard B discharge limit set by the Department of Environment (DOE), Malaysia. The results show that TBPF has a high potential for the removal of heavy metals, particularly Zn, Pb, Ni, and Cd, in real wastewater treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]