DEVELOPMENT OF A SYSTEM FOR COOLING INLET AIR FOR GAS TURBINE USING CHILLED WATER

The strong influence of climate on gas turbine behavior is well known. The output of gas turbine falls to a value that is less than the rated output under high temperature conditions that often occur during the daylight. In Malaysia, during daylight ambient temperature varies from 23°C to 38°C. This temperature is relatively high. Cooling of the turbine air intake can increase output power substantially. This is because cooled air is denser, giving the turbine higher mass flow rate and resulting in decreasing compressor specific work and specific fuel consumption. In order to maintain inlet air at constant low temperature, an air cooling system is required to be developed at the air intake of gas turbine. A lot of researches have been done proved that by cooling the air at inlet gas turbine will increase the efficiency of gas turbine. The gas turbine engine at Gas District Cooling Plant (GOC) plant in Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) has an advantage due to availability of a chilled water system that is produced by cogeneration plant. Heat from gas turbine exhaust is recovered to produce chilled water by the steam absorption chiller (SAC). The chilled water is then distributed to the academic building at a temperature of 6°C by pipeline into the air handling unit (AHU) in every building at UTP for air conditioning purpose and return back to GDC at a temperature of l3°C. This study analyzed the power requirement by the cooling system, the material used, sizing and feasibility of new cooling system. Mathematical equations have been developed. The air cooling system consist of 83 units of copper tubes 19.05 mm outer diameter and 77.26 m length for each tube. A 0.35 kW pumping power is required to circulate 11.72 kgls mass flowrate of chilled water through the system to cool 19 kgls mass flowrate of air from variable high temperature to 20°C

DEVELOPMENT OF A SYSTEM FOR COOLING INLET AIR FOR GAS TURBINE USING CHILLED WATER

The strong influence of climate on gas turbine behavior is well known. The output of gas turbine falls to a value that is less than the rated output under high temperature conditions that often occur during the daylight. In Malaysia, during daylight ambient temperature varies from 23°C to 38°C. This temperature is relatively high. Cooling of the turbine air intake can increase output power substantially. This is because cooled air is denser, giving the turbine higher mass flow rate and resulting in decreasing compressor specific work and specific fuel consumption. In order to maintain inlet air at constant low temperature, an air cooling system is required to be developed at the air intake of gas turbine. A lot of researches have been done proved that by cooling the air at inlet gas turbine will increase the efficiency of gas turbine. The gas turbine engine at Gas District Cooling Plant (GOC) plant in Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) has an advantage due to availability of a chilled water system that is produced by cogeneration plant. Heat from gas turbine exhaust is recovered to produce chilled water by the steam absorption chiller (SAC). The chilled water is then distributed to the academic building at a temperature of 6°C by pipeline into the air handling unit (AHU) in every building at UTP for air conditioning purpose and return back to GDC at a temperature of l3°C. This study analyzed the power requirement by the cooling system, the material used, sizing and feasibility of new cooling system. Mathematical equations have been developed. The air cooling system consist of 83 units of copper tubes 19.05 mm outer diameter and 77.26 m length for each tube. A 0.35 kW pumping power is required to circulate 11.72 kgls mass flowrate of chilled water through the system to cool 19 kgls mass flowrate of air from variable high temperature to 20°C

Determinants for Healthy Lifestyle of Patients with Familial Hypercholesterolaemia

Lifestyle modification is a pivotal intervention for Familial Hypercholesterolaemia (FH). This study aims to describe the lifestyles (physical activity and healthy diet) and their associations with sociodemography, illness characteristics, psychological elements, family support and level of barrier. 100 participants were given Pro forma questionnaires to assess sociodemography and illness characteristics. The lifestyles, psychological elements, family support and level of barrier were assessed using the Theory of Planned Behaviour questionnaire. The determinants of healthy lifestyles include the status of receiving treatment, level of barrier and intention for behavioural change. The findings may inform the strategy for lifestyle modification of FH patients.Keywords: Familial Hypercholesterolaemia; lifestyle; physical activity; healthy diet.eISSN: 2398-4287© 2020. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v5i14.233

Determining Predictors of Depression and Anxiety for Prevention of Common Mental Illness among Staff of an Academic Institution in Malaysia

The Adopt-A-Park Programme has Information on depression, anxiety and predictors for these mental illnesses among the staff of the academic institution is sparse. Hence, this study aimed to determine the prevalence of these mental illnesses and investigate possible predictors. Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale 21-item and pro forma questionnaires were used to assess the presence of depression, anxiety, sociodemographic, personal and job-related factors. Of 278 participants, 27.7% had depression, and 26.7% had anxiety. Predictors for depression include inadequate workplace facilities, low-tier job category, working in urban campus and low income. Predictors for clinical anxiety were high workplace responsibility and low-tier job category. Keywords: Depression; Anxiety; Academic Institution; Staff 2398-4279 © 2019 The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA CE-Bs by E-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.  DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ajqol.v4i17.19

Experimental investigation, techno-economic analysis and environmental impact of bioethanol production from banana stem

© 2019 by the authors. Banana stem is being considered as the second largest waste biomass in Malaysia. Therefore, the environmental challenge of managing this huge amount of biomass as well as converting the feedstock into value-added products has spurred the demand for diversified applications to be implemented as a realistic approach. In this study, banana stem waste was experimented for bioethanol generation via hydrolysis and fermentation methods with the presence of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast) subsequently. Along with the experimental analysis, a realistic pilot scale application of electricity generation from the bioethanol has been designed by HOMER software to demonstrate techno-economic and environmental impact. During sulfuric acid and enzymatic hydrolysis, the highest glucose yield was 5.614 and 40.61 g/L, respectively. During fermentation, the maximum and minimum glucose yield was 62.23 g/L at 12 h and 0.69 g/L at 72 h, respectively. Subsequently, 99.8% pure bioethanol was recovered by a distillation process. Plant modeling simulated operating costs 65,980 US$/y, net production cost 869347 US$ and electricity cost 0.392 US$/kWh. The CO2 emission from bioethanol was 97,161 kg/y and SO2 emission was 513 kg/y which is much lower than diesel emission. The overall bioethanol production from banana stem and application of electricity generation presented the approach economically favorable and environmentally benign

Synthesis of Gold Nanorices on ITO Substrate Using Silver Seed-Mediated Growth Method

Herein, we propose a seed-mediated growth method for synthesis of gold nanorices directly grown on the substrate using silver seed. The as prepared sample was characterized using UV-Vis spectrometer, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and X-Ray diffraction (XRD). The UV-Vis spectrum of the sample shows transversal surface plasmon resonance (t-SPR) peak at wavelength 541 nm and longitudinal surface plasmon resonance (l-SPR) peak at wavelength 730 nm. The FESEM image confirmed the morphology of gold nanostructures are rice-like shape. Typically, the nanorices have long axis (a) 55.54±3.30 nm, short axis (b) 28.71±2.30 nm, and aspect ratio (a/b) 1.98±0.09. The XRD pattern of the sample at diffraction angle (2θ) in the range of 10º-70º reveals three peaks at 38.18º, 44.48º, and 64.67º which corresponding to (111), (200), and (220) Bragg’s reflection of face centers cubic lattice Gold (ICSD file No. 98-005-3763). The strong peak intensity at 38.18º represents the nanorices growth in the (111) direction. The gold nanostructures with rice-like shape which exhibit two localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) thus it has very potential for application in plasmonic sensin

Oxidation of p-Cresol by ozonation

Oxidation of p-Cresol was investigated by using ozonation process. The aim of this research is to assess the effectiveness of ozonation on oxidation of micropollutant such as p-Cresol. Ozonation performance was evaluated based on p-Cresol concentration reduction and chemical oxidation demand (COD) reduction. It was found ozonation at pH11 achieved the highest p-Cresol degradation, with 95.8% of p-Cresol reduced and 96.0% of COD reduced, for an initial 50 mgL-1 of p-Cresol. The degradation of p-Cresol could be expressed by second-order of kinetic model. The second-order rate constant k increases as the initial pH increased, but decreases with the increasing of initial p-Cresol concentrations. Besides, the absorption spectra of p-Cresol over ozonation time were analyzed by spectrophotometry. The evolution of absorption spectra of p-Cresol degradation suggests that the oxidation of p-Cresol follows three stages mechanisms with cycloaddition as the first step to produce aromatic intermediates followed by ring-opening reactions, degradation of the intermediates, and subsequently achieved mineralization

Microarray analysis revealed different gene expression patterns in HepG2 cells treated with low and high concentrations of the extracts of Anacardium occidentale shoots

In this study, the effects of low and high concentrations of the Anacardium occidentale shoot extracts on gene expression in liver HepG2 cells were investigated. From MTT assays, the concentration of the shoot extracts that maintained 50% cell viability (IC50) was 1.7 mg/ml. Cell viability was kept above 90% at both 0.4 mg/ml and 0.6 mg/ml of the extracts. The three concentrations were subsequently used for the gene expression analysis using Affymetrix Human Genome 1.0 S.T arrays. The microarray data were validated using real-time qRT–PCR. A total of 246, 696 and 4503 genes were significantly regulated (P < 0.01) by at least 1.5-fold in response to 0.4, 0.6 and 1.7 mg/ml of the extracts, respectively. Mutually regulated genes in response to the three concentrations included CDKN3, LOC100289612, DHFR, VRK1, CDC6, AURKB and GABRE. Genes like CYP24A1, BRCA1, AURKA, CDC2, CDK2, CDK4 and INSR were significantly regulated at 0.6 mg/ml and 1.7 mg but not at 0.4 mg/ml. However, the expression of genes including LGR5, IGFBP3, RB1, IDE, LDLR, MTTP, APOB, MTIX, SOD2 and SOD3 were exclusively regulated at the IC50 concentration. In conclusion, low concentrations of the extracts were able to significantly regulate a sizable number of genes. The type of genes that were expressed was highly dependent on the concentration of the extracts used

Robot education peers in a situated primary school study: personalisation promotes child learning

The benefit of social robots to support child learning in an educational context over an extended period of time is evaluated. Specifically, the effect of personalisation and adaptation of robot social behaviour is assessed. Two autonomous robots were embedded within two matched classrooms of a primary school for a continuous two week period without experimenter supervision to act as learning companions for the children for familiar and novel subjects. Results suggest that while children in both personalised and non-personalised conditions learned, there was increased child learning of a novel subject exhibited when interacting with a robot that personalised its behaviours, with indications that this benefit extended to other class-based performance. Additional evidence was obtained suggesting that there is increased acceptance of the personalised robot peer over a non-personalised version. These results provide the first evidence in support of peer-robot behavioural personalisation having a positive influence on learning when embedded in a learning environment for an extended period of time