Pusat Pengajian Kejuruteraan Kimia - Monograf

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Modelling of gas diffusion in mesoporous tin dioxide (sno2) as gas sensor in detecting acetone vapour
(2021-01-01)
Mohan, Khamini
Mesoporous semiconductor based gas sensors have been extensively researched and employed in the detection of traces poisonous and flammable gases such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as ethanol, methanol and acetone which are dangerous to both people and the environment. In this research, mesoporous tin dioxide based gas sensor, SnO2 is utilized due to its low cost, high sensitivity and quick response. In order to determine the most effective techniques for optimising the gas sensing properties of mesoporous SnO2, the effect of acetone concentration and operating temperature on the sensitivity of a gas sensor was investigated using a diffusion mechanism model. The gas detecting mechanism was controlled by Knudsen diffusion of the target gas through the porous film and its interaction with adsorbed oxygen, which followed a first-order reaction kinetic. In the diffusion mechanism model equation, a general expression of sensitivity, S (Ra/Rg) as a function of pre-exponential constants, α0 and k0, reaction activation energy for gas dependent, Ea, universal gas constant, R, temperature, T, concentration, 𝐶𝐴𝑠, film thickness, L, reaction activation energy for temperature dependent, Ek, pore radius, r and molecular weight of target gas, M was derived under steady state condition. Theoretically, the variations of sensitivity with the sensor operating temperature resulted in a bell-shaped curve with optimum temperature, whereas increasing gas concentration resulted in increased sensitivity before saturation was attained. When comparing the previous result with the MATLAB simulation, it is clear that the sensitivity increases as the temperature rises, resulting in a linear line rather than a bell shape curve. This can be said the developed model is not suited for the stimulated various operating temperature. The model was used to do a sensitivity analysis based on film thickness, L, and pore radius, r. According to simulation results, sensitivity improved with decreasing layer thickness at 300oC because of greater interaction between the gas to be detected and the sensor surface. The sensitivity of the gas sensor increased with increasing pore radius in the model at a given temperature of 300 oC, which can be explained adequately by the equation of Knudsen diffusion coefficient, Dk.
Effect of membrane selectivity and configuration on purity and recovery of hydrogen from syngas
(2021-01-01)
Thamudoran, Mohashiniee
In this thesis, simulation of a membrane gas separation system for purification of hydrogen from syngas has been discussed. The simulation was done to study the effects of membrane selectivity, flow configuration, stage cut and feed pressure on the purity and recovery of hydrogen from syngas. In order to model the membrane, a complete mixing model was applied to study these effects. The mathematical modelling involved in the simulation was done in Mathcad and the results were analysed using the analysis of variance (ANOVA) under the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) method. In order to produce high purity hydrogen that is accepted as commercial industrial grade hydrogen, we studied two types of flow configuration models. Configuration 1 involves a carbon dioxide permeable membrane while configuration 2 model involves a hydrogen permeable membrane. As a result, it is noticed that in the first configuration, at the stage cut of 0.2, feed pressure of 5 bar and CO2/H2 selectivity of 1500, the highest purity of hydrogen at 52.24% and recovery of 59.58% at the permeate stream is achieved. Meanwhile in the retentate stream, the purity and recovery of carbon dioxide achieved is 52.21% and 55.53% respectively. The second configuration is when a hydrogen permeable membrane is applied. This configuration results in the highest possible purity of hydrogen of 100% with recovery of 32.52% and carbon dioxide purity and recovery at 27.35% and 90.42% respectively, at stage cut of 0.2, feed pressure of 25 bar and H2/CO2 selectivity of 500.
Conentrating of phosphate with simultaneous removal of sodium chloride via nanofiltration
(2021-01-01)
Vengedesweren, Durgashene
Recovery of phosphorus has been gaining importance due to its natural scarcity and high economical value. Aquaculture and poultry effluent with significant phosphate content required further treatment before discharging to the environment. However, its trace quantity makes the whole process not feasible. Moreover, the presence of salt (NaCl) makes the effort to recover the phosphate as fertilizer less attractive due to its unwanted salinity. In this study. nanofiltration had been tested to recover/concentrate the phosphate ions and at the same time removing the sodium chloride. The study was conducted using Desal DK5 membrane in dead-end mode using Dead End Stirred Cell at different pressures and concentration to investigate the effect of transmembrane pressure (TMP) and feed concentration on the rejection of phosphate ions, average permeate flux and concentrating factor. The highest phosphate ion rejection, 99.86%, was achieved at the lowest pressure, 2 bar, and lowest concentration of potassium dihydrogen phosphate solution (20 ppm). However, in the same parameter, the permeate flux and the concentrating factor (CF) obtained were the lowest compared to other sets of experiment which are 20.15 L/m2 .h and 1.55 respectively. The maximum CF of could be achieved at 6 bar. The removal of NaCl increases with pressure, however the presence of NaCl further reduce the phosphate ion rejection, lowering the average permeate flux and concentrating factor. The results obtained is very promising in terms of harvesting the nutrient from aquaculture effluent and at the same time removing the unwanted salinity.
Modelling of reactive distillation for the production of methyl tert-butyl ether (mtbe) parametric sensitivity study on kinetic model
(2021-05-01)
Mohamed Zubir, Mohamed Fahim
Modelling of reactive distillation for the production of MTBE has been presented in this thesis. A reactive distillation column modelled by using RADFRAC module in the Aspen Plus V10 software for the production of MTBE. The simulation was done on an equilibrium basis. Prior to running the simulation, all the necessary data were collected. The kinetic data which is the coefficients of the equilibrium equation were collected from the equilibrium equation. The values obtained were 357.094, -1492.77, -77.4002 and 0.507563.These values were entered into the Aspen Plus V10 built-in Keq expression. The simulated model was verified by comparing to the published data. Once it was verified, the simulation was then used to carry out parametric sensitivity study on kinetic model. The effect of changes in the kinetic data and four different operating conditions of choice such as the feed flowrate of methanol, the feed flowrate of mixed butenes, the reflux ratio and the composition of isobutylene on the simulation results in terms of MTBE purity and isobutylene conversion were studied in detail. The individual best values for each operating conditions were determined. Then optimization carried out. The optimized values were 209.3 mol/s for methanol feed flowrate, 583.2 mol/s for mixed butenes feed flowrate, 7 for reflux ratio and 0.357 for isobutylene mole fraction. From these set of values, a MTBE purity and isobutylene conversion of 100.00 % obtained successfully. This study shows that the changes in parameters influences the performance of reactive distillation process for the production of MTBE.
Aquaculture wastewater treatment using a combination of ozonation process and activated carbon adsorption
(2021-06-01)
Mohd Shukri, Farah Anis
This study investigates the effectiveness of ozonation treatment alone and combination of ozonation treatment with activated carbon adsorption to treat the synthetic aquaculture wastewater. The solution of a synthetic dye, methylene blue was ozonated using an ozone generator in order to illustrate the color removal of aquaculture wastewater. The experiment was conducted under a constant ozone dosage of 600 mg/h and the concentration was observed throughout 60 minutes. The factors affecting the process of degradation were investigated, i.e., the effects of initial dye concentration (mg/L) and effects of pH. Apart from that comparison between ozonation and ozonation-activated carbon adsorption was observed. The ozonation was done in 1L beaker with 500 mL dye solution. The initial concentration studied in this work were 30 mg/L, 45 mg/L and 60 mg/L meanwhile pH 3, pH 7 and pH 9 for pH studies. As a result, the initial dye concentration of 60 mg/L took the longest reaction time to achieve 90% of color removal efficiency followed by 45 mg/L and 30mg/L. This happened as ozone became the limiting substances in the reaction since the ozone dosage supplied was kept constant. Eventually, within 60 minutes, all color were successfully removed for all the initial concentrations. Apart from that, the degradation of methylene blue with ozone treatment had the highest color removal at pH 9 which was under basic condition and the lowest at pH 3 which was under acidic condition. Ozonation performed best under alkaline condition as more hydroxyl radicals could be generated compared in acidic condition. Besides that, the rate of degradation was enhanced with the combination of activated carbon adsorption and ozonation treatment.
Adsorption of chloramphenicol by activated carbon derived from palm kernel shell via microwave irradiation
(2021-06-01)
Luqman, Farihah
This study aims to synthesis activated carbon (AC) derived from palm kernel shell (PKS) to adsorb chloramphenicol (CAP) from aqueous solution. This palm kernel shell activated carbon (PKS-AC) was produced via physical activation method that involves carbon dioxide (CO2) gasification and heating process via microwave. The effects of preparation conditions of microwave radiation power and radiation time on CAP removal efficiency and AC’s yield were optimized via response surface methodology (RSM). Optimum preparation conditions for PKS-AC were identified, including radiation power of 364 W and 2 min of radiation time. These optimum conditions contributed to relatively high CAP removal of 85.93% and AC’s yield of 37.02%. Through elemental analysis, the total fixed carbon for raw PKS was found to be 40.23% and greatly increased to 71.86% (optimized PKS-AC) after activation process. The equilibrium studies which involved initial CAP concentration, contact time, the temperature of solution and pH solutions based on adsorption of CAP on optimized PKS-AC were performed. The adsorption of CAP onto optimized PKS-AC followed Langmuir isotherm where the maximum adsorption capacities were 22.83, 23.70 and 24.88mg/g for 30°C, 45°C and 60°C respectively. Kinetic studies revealed that adsorption of CAP onto PKS-AC followed pseudo-second order kinetic model while thermodynamic studies confirmed that the adsorption system was endothermic in nature. Mechanism studies described that the CAP adsorption process was govern by film diffusion mechanism model.
Comparison of different rsm designs to predict and optimize the acid violet (av 7) adsorption using rha-cfa adsorbent
(2021-06-01)
Mohamad, Ahmad Aqil Asyraaf
In this study, the factors affecting the performance of rice husk ash (RHA)-coal fly ash (CFA) adsorbent in removing acid violet 7 (AV7) dye were analysed using different type of response surface methodology (RSM). Face-Centered Composite Design, D-Optimal Design and Historical Data Design were compared based on the R2 value, Mean Square Error (MSE) and error in optimization section (%). DOD had the highest accuracy (R2 = 0.9765) in predicting dye adsorption efficiency, while FCC and HDD have lower accuracy but still in good value range (R2= 0.9335). By using Expert Design software, the optimum RHA-CFA adsorbent preparation condition with the highest AV7 dye adsorption efficiency was obtained through the numerical optimization of RSM models. Optimization by FCC and HDD, maximum adsorption efficiency obtained were 45.1% and DOD was 44.4% with RHA/CFA ratio of 3.00 and 1.00 M of NaOH. An additional experiment of RHA/CFA ratio of 3.00 and 1.00 M of NaOH is obtained from the literature and the result from it is used to compare with predicted values of each RSM design. DOD had the lowest error at value of 2.93% and both FCC and HDD models were 4.43%.
Simulation study of biodiesel production via transesterification process from waste cooking oil
(2021-06-01)
Mohamad, Nurul Hazirah
Biodiesel is an environmental-friendly and alternative liquid fuel that can be used to substitute conventional diesel. It can be produced by a variety of feed stocks such as animal fats, non-edible oils and by-product of the refining vegetable oils. Biodiesel becomes a spotlight as a renewable fuel that is non-toxic and is biodegradable. It is usually synthesised by the transesterification of vegetable oil or animal fat with short chain alcohol such as methanol or ethanol. Its high oxygen content makes it a better choice for diesel engines. Waste cooking oil is one of the feedstocks that can be converted into biodiesel. Therefore, in this simulation study, waste cooking oil has been used as the raw material that reacted with methanol. This study was done by using Matlab software to observe how the operating conditions affect on the yield, conversion and selectivity of biodiesel. It was found that the temperature of 60 ̊C exhibited the highest yield of methyl ester. Oil to alcohol ratio of 1:15 gives the highest yield at 59%and catalyst weight of 1.4 wt % leads to the maximum yield of biodiesel. The simulation results obtained reasonable with the literature results and within the range studied by the previous researchers.
Configuration of molecular imprinted polymers for specific uptake of pharmaceutical in aqueous media through radical polymerization method
(2021-06-01)
Mohd Amri, Mohammad Hanif
Precipitation polymerization method was used to prepare molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP) for the uptake of acetaminophen in aqueous media. Acetaminophen, methacrylic acid (MAA), ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EDGMA), 1,1’-Azobis(cyclohexanecarbonitrile) (ABCN) were used as template, functional monomer, cross-linker and intiator respectively. The molarity of cross-linker and functional monomer were varied for the study of imprinting effect of MIPs. High concentration of cross-linker exhibit poor binding ability of MIPs while high molarity of monomer demonstrate better performance in binding capacity. The optimum MIP was observed from template:monomer:cross-linker molar ratio at 1:58:15 with binding capacity of 3.68 mg/g polymer. Next, pristine PES and molecularly imprinted membrane (MIM) were fabricated using phase inversion method. MIM was prepared by adding optimum MIPs in casting solution for the study of antifouling properties as compared to pure membrane. The relative flux of MIM has showed a poor antifouling behaviour in real wastewater sample while a good performance in synthetic solution. However, MIM and pristine membrane have revealed better rejection of acetaminophen in wastewater at 71.31 and 73.06% respectively.
Optimization of biodiesel production from waste cooking oil (wco) using aspen hysys
(2021-06-01)
Badli, Muhammad `Izzuddin
Optimization of biodiesel production from waste cooking oil (WCO) using ASPEN HYSYS has been presented in this thesis. Waste cooking oil (WCO) is chosen as the raw material because about 40,000 tonnes per year of WCO produced in Asia countries such as China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, India, etc. The other ways are to recycle the oil and convert it into a new form of product which is biodiesel that will be useful to reduce the amount of wastes and give the WCO a new life. The simulation was carried out to study the efficiency of the biodiesel production from the membrane reactor since the main reference article use for this project is using membrane reactor taken from “ASPEN HYSYS Simulation for Biodiesel Production from Waste Cooking Oil using Membrane Reactor”. This project will further optimize the biodiesel production using membrane reactor. The process flow diagram (PFD) is also taken from the “ASPEN HYSYS Simulation for Biodiesel Production from Waste Cooking Oil using Membrane Reactor” and were used to simulate the result by using ASPEN HYSYS. The research methodology for the simulation rely on the ASPEN HYSYS software. The list of components for the simulation can be obtained from the HYSYS databanks. The fluid package for the simulation is using NTRL method. The process flow diagram (PFD) for the simulation is referring the article “ASPEN HSYS Simulation for Biodiesel Production from Waste Cooking Oil using Membrane Reactor”. The result was unable to obtained due to many errors occurduring conducting the simulation. The expected result from the hypotheses are the yield of the biodiesel will increase as the temperature and pressure increase. The yield of biodiesel will also increase as the reaction time increase. This study hasshown that the parameters such as temperature, pressure and reaction time play an important role that affecting the yield of biodiesel. Moreover, it shows a potential as new commercialize process due to the less waste is generated because no water is needed to purify the final product.
Microwave – assisted extraction (mae) of rhizome kaempferia parviflora crude and its biological activity
(2021-06-01)
Mohammad Gial, Mohamad Anwar
Extraction is a process to separate the desired natural products from the raw materials. It has been used in various industry such as food and pharmaceutical industries to achieve certain level of nutrients in the products. However, traditional extraction method required a large volume of solvents and longer extraction time. Hence, advanced extraction which is microwave-assisted extraction was carried out. This research study focusses on green extraction technique where the solvent used is water. Microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) was optimized by Response Surface Methodology (RSM) to enhance the extraction of rhizome K. Parviflora crude. The optimization was done to get the optimum microwave power, microwave extraction time and solvent to feed ratio with maximum response. Central Composite Design (CCD) was selected as a model for RSM to evaluate the first and second-order polynomial model. The analysis of variance was used to evaluate the model fitness and optimal condition. Considering the maximum content of extracted yield, total phenolic content and antioxidant activity, the optimal conditions for all investigated response were obtained at microwave power of 360 W, microwave time of 2 min and solvent feed ratio of (10:1). Under the optimal condition, obtained K. Parviflora crude extract contained 16.72% yield of crude extract, 18.24 μg /ml of total phenolic content and 142.681 μg/ml of antioxidant activity. The study revealed that the response surface methodology (RSM) is an efficient statistical method for preparing appropriate empirical model related to the independent variables and predicting the optimum conditions influencing K. Parviflora crude extract. Microwave-assisted extraction is an environmental-friendly technique for extractions of bioactive compounds and an attractive alternative procedure in industry food and traditional herb.
Optimization and thermal degradation kinetics of cellulose nanoparticles (cnps) production from coconut fiber
(2021-06-01)
Tim, Mau Sean
Optimization and thermal degradation kinetics of the cellulose nanoparticles (CNPs) production from coconut fibers were presented in this research project. The research project was carried out by using the data collected from the thesis with the title of ‘Dissolution of Natural Fiber using Ionic Liquid for Production of Cellulose Nanoparticles’ by Nadzirah binti Yahya. For optimization part, the CNPs production from coconut fibers was simulated using the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) via Central Composite Design (CCD) in Design Expert software to determine the relationship between the affecting parameters (extraction time, extraction temperature and ratio of coconut fiber (CF) to ionic liquid (IL)) on the response (ultrafine CNPs distribution). The simulation results showed that both the extraction temperature and CF:IL ratio were more significant to the regression model. The maximum ultrafine CNPs distribution obtained through the optimization process was 58.074 %, under the operating conditions of 30 mins of extraction time, 69.518 °C of extraction temperature and 0.01 w/w of CF:IL ratio. For the thermal degradation kinetics study of CNPs produced from coconut fibers, both the model-free isoconversional Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose (KAS) and Flynn-Wall-Ozawa (FWO) methods were used to determine the activation energy, Ea of the CNPs. However, the calculated results of Ea were not satisfied, which were ranged from -0.039 to -3.134 kJ/mol. The values deviated very much from the Ea value of common CNPs, and the possible source of error was predicted to be from the inaccurate results from the collected data.
Modelling of gas diffusion in mesoporous tin oxide (sno2) based gas sensor effect of operating temperatures and gas concentration
(2021-06-01)
Arshad, Muhammad Hafizuddin
The sensitivity of a mesoporous tin oxide gas sensor has been theoretically investigated in relation to gas diffusion phenomena. Diffusion models that comprises original and modified diffusion models were created by using MATLAB with the assumption that the target gas which is the inflammable gas flows inside the film is driven by Knudsen diffusion and react with adsorbed oxygen species via a first-order kinetic reaction. Theoretically, the sensitivity of the gas sensor depicts a bell-curved with the variations of operating temperatures. Whilst, the sensitivity increases with the gas concentrations and subsequently became saturated. However, the original diffusion model unable to predict both trends. The modification of the former equation of diffusion model was carried out in which the film conductance variation against hydrogen gas concentration is found to coincide with the power law. With this modification, a bell shaped was obtained which is in a closed agreement with the experimental result. In additions, the effect of silver, Ag and gold, Au modification of film in SnO2 gas sensor was also simulated. The simulated result in detecting 1-butanol gas shows that the optimum operating temperature was reduced by 150°C for both Ag/SnO2 and Au/SnO2 with higher sensitivity as compared to pure SnO2. Finally, the effect of pore radius, r and film thickness, L on the sensitivity was also simulated in detecting hydrogen gas. The simulated result for the pore radius shows that the sensitivity increases as pore radius increase at the fixed temperature, which is correlate with the Knudsen equation, Dk. For film thickness, the result shows that the sensitivity increases as the thickness of the film decreases due to a stronger contact between the target gas and the sensor's surface.
Esterification of ethanol and acetic acid catalysed by immobilized candida rugosa lipase
(2021-06-01)
Mohd Radzi, Nurul Adila
Ethyl acetate is a versatile ester used as solvent and diluents. The conventional esterification reaction of ethanol and acetic acid was catalysed by sulphuric acid, H2SO4. Enzyme is a sustainable approach for the esterification reaction to produce ethyl acetate. In this study, the esterification reaction of ethanol and acetic acid catalysed by immobilized candida rugosa lipase (CRL) in n-hexane was optimized. The free CRL was immobilized by physical adsorption on support, Amberlite XAD7 which resulted in specific activity of 0.13 U/mg. The effect of reaction time, temperature, substrate molar ratio and enzyme loading were studied. Maximum conversion of 88% was attained at 2 hours of reaction time, temperature of 50°C, acetic acid to ethanol ratio of 0.5 and enzyme loading of 80 U. Next, the kinetic modelling of bi-substrate enzymatic transesterification of ethyl butyrate was studied using secondary data from research paper. The data was fitted to the rate equation of the kinetic model using non linear regression to obtain the kinetic parameter. Based on the Lineweaver-Burk double reciprocal plot, the transesterification reaction follows ping-pong bi-bi mechanism with competitive inhibition by ethyl caprate. The kinetic parameters obtained was, Vmax = 1.1918 M, Km,A = 0.0117 M, Km,B = 0.1674, Ki,A = 0.1091 M, and Ki,B = 0.0031.
Study on the effect of nitrite and free nitrous acid on cultivation of microalgae
(2021-06-01)
Chan, Jyh Loong
Chlorella vulgaris was widely used as potential nutrients elimination microalgae in wastewater treatment plant due to its high removal efficiency of total nitrogen (TN) and totalphosphorous (TP). The aim of this study was to study the effect of nitrite addition on microalgae cultivation by introduce 0 mg/L, 50 mg/L, and 100 mg/L of nitrite into batch reactors respectively, to investigate the effect of free nitrous acid (FNA) on microalgae cultivation by controlling microalgae cultivation condition in pH 4, 6, and 8 with addition 50mg/L of nitrite into batch reactors respectively, and to evaluate the influence of FNA concentration on the extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) secretion from microalgae by conducting EPS extraction as well as proteins and polysaccharides analysis. The results show that 50 mg/L of nitrite introduced into microalgae cultivation had highest growth rate in the result of oxygen inhibition had been eliminated, while 100 mg/L of nitrite introduced into microalgae cultivation had lowest growth rate because of high FNA concentration presented. Moreover, microalgae cultivation with addition 50 mg/L of nitrite and pH 4 culturing condition show the lowest growth rate, and the growth rate for microalgae cultivated at pH 8 had slightly higher than microalgae cultivated at pH 6. From the aspects of proteins and polysaccharides released in EPS, the peak points for protein (PN) concentration released with condition of pH 4, 6, 8 were 156.06 ug/mL (at first day), 171.35 ug/mL (at seventh day), and 173.71 ug/mL (at ninth day), while polysaccharide (PS) released with pH 4 was up to 91.02 ug/mL at third day and reduced to 13.43 ug/mL at seventh day which almost similar trend with others cultivation systems. In overall, microalgae cultivation with addition 50 mg/L of N and pH culturing condition more than 6 could enhance the microalgae cultivation.
Adsorption of copper (ii) ions in wastewater using mangrove-based activated carbon
(2021-06-01)
Bong, Sock Ving
Water pollution due to the discharging of industrial wastewater consisting of heavy metals has become a serious issue. A cheap adsorbent is required to support the pollutant adsorption technique. Thus, the main goal of the research is to optimise the preparation and adsorption conditions of activated carbon from cheap raw materials. The production of mangrove-based activated carbon using microwave heating activation is cost-effective because mangrove is abundantly available in Malaysia and microwave heating requires less time and lower electricity. The optimal activated carbon was produced at 616 W and 2 mins under nitrogen flow. The ideal KOH: Char ratio was found to be at IR of 0.75 with 99.67% of activated carbon yield and 77.256% of copper (II) ions removal. The AC was examined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherm and elemental analysis. Aside from optimisation, the adsorption process using the mangrove adsorbent was examined under various conditions. From the experimental data, the adsorption reached equilibrium after 3 hours at 10ppm and 60℃. Freundlich isotherm models with R2 values of 0.9995 and 1/n smaller than one explains the multilayer and heterogenous nature of adsorption. The maximum adsorption capacity of mangrove based activated carbon obtained using Langmuir Isotherm was 33.557 mg/g, which shows its intrigue value as a potential adsorbent. Furthermore, the data was well fitted to Pseudo-second-order kinetics models with R2value of 0.9997. Finally, the thermodynamic analysis revealed that the adsorption studied is endothermic process, and the adsorption is spontaneous at 50 and 60°C.
Gravitational ultrafiltration of river water fouling and cleaning efficiency study
(2021-06-01)
Bachok @ Joffri, Luqman Hakim
Gravity Driven Ultrafiltration System is a promising technology which could produce potable water to the community with no electricity and proper wastewater treatment. This project focuses on the construction of the non-point source, modular type GDU system to filter the river water using the Krian river as source water. The GDU systems are tested under both depleting and constant hydrostatic pressure conditions. Underdepleting hydrostatic pressure at 40 cm, the highest flux was found at 0.58 LMH and it reduce to almost zero due to reduction of hydrostatic pressure and exhaustion of river water in the module. The module can recover its flux up to 85.17% after being backwash for 5 cycles. Under constant hydrostatic pressure, it was found that 40 cm length hollowfibres produce the lowest permeation flux stabilization due to the larger extent of fouling. Therefore, the tendency for fouling is higher at longer membrane. This can be seen through the characterization of membrane using SEM and FTIR by comparing the pristine membrane with the fouled membrane. Water quality test using different parameters are used to determine the amount in the river water before and after undergoing GDU system. It was found out the concentration of parameters tested on the permeate water is lesser compared to the river water, especially on the bigger molecule. The quality of the permeate is safe for human activity according to the guideline outlined by WHO. The module can recover its flux up to 36.83,86.26 and 94.32% for 40,35 and 30 cm respectively after backwash for 5 cycles. The modular GDU system is promising to provide the clean water for the community that is deprived of electricity and water treatment facilities.
Simulation of reactive distillation column of methyl tert- butyl ether production
(2021-06-01)
Shanmugasundaram, Parrathen
Reactive distillation is an efficient technique of combination of both reaction and separation in a single unit beneficial for equilibrium-limited reactions, cost-effective , reduce energy and improvement purity of the product. The usage of reactive distillation column has increased attention because of its high potential for process intensification and therefore this process needs to be studied fully so that the reaction conversion and purity of the product are assured before its implementation in industrial scale. In this work, Aspen Plus was used for simulation of reactive distillation column where methanol and butene undergo esterification reaction to produce Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) and undergo continuous separation process. Firstly, the results are compared for both literature and simulation studies. The simulated results obtained by Aspen Plus showed that it is acceptable range since the simulation values obeyed that of the literature with a purity errors of top and bottom for MTBE is 0.0048% and 0.0026% respectively. In addiction, simulation results have been performed for sensitivity analysis. Sensitivity analysis on the same RadFrac model showed that reflux ratio of 7, number of reactive stages at 10, and reboiler of 11.45have significant effects on met MTBE purity. Sensitivity analysis conducted shows that the MTBE purity were maximum at reflux ratio 7. The best feed location for butene at stage 3 while methanol feed at stage 12.
Dynamic simulation of phenol adsorption using microwave induced coconut shell activated carbon
(2021-06-01)
Lim, Kai Wen
Coconut shell is a cheap, sustainable, and abundant resources in Malaysia as a raw material for making the activated carbon to be used as adsorbent in the adsorption process. In this study, the adsorption performance of the microwave induced coconut shell activated carbon is tested on the continuous adsorption of phenol by using ASPEN Adsorption software. The effects of the process parameters such as flow rate, initial phenol concentration and adsorbent bed height to the adsorption performance are investigated and the results showed that those 3 parameters have a significant effect on the adsorption performance. The adsorption performance of the phenol by using the microwave induced coconut shell activated carbon is evaluated by using the breakthrough time and the breakthrough adsorption capacity. The phenol adsorption performance is studied for both experiment and simulation and the results show a similar trend on the varying of process parameters. Higher amount of phenol is adsorbed on the activated carbon when the feed flow rate is lowered. In the other hand, the amount of phenol adsorbed also increased as the initial phenol concentration and bed height increased. The breakthrough behaviour of phenol adsorption is predicted by using three dynamic models which are Thomas model, Yoon-Nelson model and Adams-Bohart model. All three models are capable in providing a good fit to both the experimental data and simulation results based onthe high r2 values.
Evaluation of emulsion liquid membrane on pharmaceutical waste from aquaculture wastewater
(2021-06-01)
Jasni, Mohd Khairul Akmal
Liquid membrane technology is undergoing a significant increase in both research and application as an industrial separation method at the moment. A liquid membrane can be used to isolate a specific solute from a mixture and even extract a solute against its concentration gradient. There are three liquid phases in a liquid membrane system: feed phase, liquid membrane organic phase, and receiving phase. Either a supported liquid membrane or an emulsion (unsupported) liquid membrane can be made. Emulsion liquid membranes are liquid membranes that disseminate the emulsion's membrane phase into the feed phase to be treated. This method was investigated as an alternative process for the recovery of ibuprofen from pharmaceutical waste. The formulations of ELM were studied in order to find the most suitable component. Besides that, some parameter affecting the performance of ELM was also being studied. The parameter involved are agitation speed, emulsifying time, concentration of stripping agent, internal to membrane ratio, and the weight percentage of surfactant and carrier. Based on the result, the most suitable component for ELM was found to be kerosene as diluent, trioctylamine as carrier, and ammonia as stripping agent. It is also being found that, the optimal condition for this emulsion liquid membrane study was obtained at 300 rpm of agitation speed, 15 minutes of emulsification time, a ratio of 1:3 internal to membrane, 0.1 M concentration of stripping agent, and 6 wt% and 2wt% for the weight percentage of carrier and surfactant respectively which yield 84% of efficiency.

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