Boric Acid Modified Starch Polyvinyl Alcohol Matrix For Slow Release Fertilizer

The slow release urea fertilizer was prepared by the boric acid crosslinked starch/polyvinyl alcohol (SPB) matrix as biodegradable carrier material. Using a two level factorial design of experiment, a comprehensive understanding of the concentration of boric acid, reaction time and heating temperature in the preparation of SPB matrix was obtained. The swelling ratio, release profile of urea in water, and crushing strength were selected as the response. The interaction between the variables and response was analyzed using the ANOVA model. The system was confirmed using the constant determination,R2 with values above 0.99.The high concentration of boric acid with a prolonged reaction time at high temperature gave relative good results of swelling ratio, dissolution rate of urea and crushing strength. In the 28-day soil incubation experiment, the retention of exchangeable ammonium ion 4 (NH ) + was significant higher in SPB urea as compared to pure urea. There was a potential for SPB matrix to improve nitrogen efficiency by increasing the accumulation of exchangeable 4 NH+ and decreasing the dissolution rate of urea in the flooded condition

Effect Of Functionalised And Non-Functionalised Carbon Nanotubes-Urea Fertilizer On The Growth Of Paddy

The roles of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) and functionalised multiwalled carbon nanotubes (fMWNTs) in enhancing the efficacy of urea fertilizer (UF) as plant nutrition for local MR219 paddy variety was investigated. The MWNTs and fMWNTs were grafted onto UF to produce UF-MWNTs fertilizer with three different conditions,coded as FMU1 (0.6 wt. % fMWNTs),FMU2 (0.1 wt. % fMWNTs) and MU (0.6 wt. % MWNTs.The batches of MR219 paddy were systematically grown in accordance to the general practice performed by the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI).The procedure was conducted using a pot under exposure to natural light at three different fertilization times;after a certain number of days of sowing (DAS) at 14,35 and 55 days. Interestingly,it was found that the crop growth of plants treated with FMU1 and FMU2 significantly increased by 22.6% and 38.5% compared to plants with MU addition.Also, paddy treated with FMU1 produced 21.4% higher number of panicles and 35% more grain yield than MU while paddy treated with FMU2 gave 28.6% more number of panicles and 36% higher grain yield than MU,which implies the advantage of fMWNTs over MWNTs to be combined with UF as plant nutrition.The chemical composition and morphology of UF-MWNTs fertilizers which is further characterised by FTiR and FESEM confirmed the successful and homogeneous grafting of UF onto the fMWNTs

Analytical hierarchy process for design selection of micro hot-marking tool

Veracious concept selection process is crucial in design engineering where, a concept with concise description will fulfill customers’ requirements. Failure in concept selection can lead to inaccurate design which will result in unnecessary process repetition of the initial stage. One of the best tools that can be used in determining the best design concept is Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Micro Hot-Marking Tool (HMT) is a super-finished tool with micro tip which is to be used for alphabetical marking process using CNC milling machine. In this research, AHP was successfully employed in selecting design concept for HMT. Four significant and robust concepts were analyzed, namely C1, C2, C3 & C4. Concept 2 (C2) has been chosen as the best concept with the highest score of 27% among all the evaluated concepts which will be taken into next design stage

Effect Of Different Cooking Temperature And Alkalinity On Mechanical And Morphological Properties Of Composite Sheet From Durian Shell

Temperature and alkalinity are the critical factors that contribute to the successful of soda pulping. These factors influence the length size and interfibre bonding of the fibre. In this paper, durian (Durio zibethinus Murray) shell composite sheet were prepared by conducting chemical pulping through soda method to study the effect of different pulping temperature and % of NaOH on the mechanical and morphological characteristics of durian shell composite sheet. Six sets of composite sheet were produced from six sets of pulping. The pulping processes were conducted at 140, 160 and 170°C with 17, 19 and 21% of active alkali. The mechanical properties of the durian shell composite sheet were analyzed through few standard TAPPI analyses which are tensile, tear, burst, folding endurance and paper bulk thickness. The results show that the highest reading of paper bulk thickness, tensile, tear and burst index, and also folding endurance were achieved at the pulping condition of 170°C with 21% of NaOH with the value of 1.3366 g/cm3, 54.151 NM/g, 6.648 m.Nm2/g, 2.517 k.Pam2/g and 170 no. of fold, respectively. Scanning electron microscopic analysis showed that morphological changes took place depending on the size and arrangement of the fibres in the composites sheet

Influence Of Pulping Process Conditions Towards Better Water Resistant Effect Of Durian Shell Paper By Lignin: Two Level Factorial Design Approach

Chemical pulping of durian shell fiber is a comparatively new approach in the field of pulping, and the paper industry as a whole. Pressures of rising wood resource consumption have resulted in increased attention on the use of non-wood raw materials in the papermaking industry. This situation is due to trees being exploited in high numbers for the purpose of paper manufacturing. Thus, some alternative solutions have been developed to remedy this. Natural resources wastes like kenaf, bamboo and sugarcane bagasse are used as the raw material to produce these varied grades of paper. Additionally, cellulose fiber possesses a natural tendency to absorb moist and water vapor from the surrounding, producing weak mechanical properties and limiting paper's use. Therefore, in this study, lignin acts as a natural plasticizer in plant cell wall has been optimized to overcome the hygroscopic issue. An optimal amount of lignin will generate maximum hydrophobic effect to prepare for the production of water resistant paper. The process is optimized under the influence of three operational variables; 1) % of NaOH, 2) cooking temperature, and 3) period of cooking. To analyze the response, two level factorial design method by Design Expert v.6.0.8 software has been used. The results show that the highest water contact angle reading of 70.33° has been achieved at the condition of 17 % alkalinity, 140 °C of cooking temperature and 120 min of cooking period. At the same process condition, the highest amount of lignin (57.67 %) has also been obtained which showing the significant interaction between lignin and the hydrophobic effect. From the analysis of variance (ANOVA), all parameters have significantly affected the reading of water contact angle. The P-value of the experiment model is less than 0.0001 and the coefficient of determination value (R2) is 1.000. This conclusively suggested that the model is significant and influences on the precision and process-ability of the production

Microstructural Analysis On Biochar Obtained From Rubber Wood Sawdust Via Slow Pyrolysis

Biochar was derived from the crop residue as multifunction materials for agriculture purposes and a soil amendment to improve soil fertility. Rubber wood sawdust (RWSD) was heated slowly inside the vertical furnace for an hour at temperatures ranging from 300 °C to 700 °C. The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of pyrolysis temperatures on the physiochemical properties of the biochar. The properties of biochar were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) attached with Energy Dispersive X-ray for elemental analysis. It was found that pore size distribution was more uniform on samples heated at higher temperature (700 °C). The SEM-EDX analysis confirmed the O:C ratio was directly proportional to the heating temperature. These means that slow pyrolysis of RWSD at 700 °C could produce biochar of greater cation exchange capacity (CEC) that important for soil fertility improvement

Analytical Hierarchy Process For Design Selection Of Micro Hot-Marking Tool

Veracious concept selection process is crucial in design engineering where,a concept with concise description will fulfill customers’requirements.Failure in concept selection can lead to inaccurate design which will result in unnecessary process repetition of the initial stage. One of the best tools that can be used in determining the best design concept is Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP).Micro Hot-Marking Tool (HMT) is a super-finished tool with micro tip which is to be used for alphabetical marking process using CNC milling machine.In this research,AHP was successfully employed in selecting design concept for HMT.Four significant and robust concepts were analyzed,namely C1,C2,C3 & C4.Concept 2 (C2) has been chosen as the best concept with the highest score of 27% among all the evaluated concepts which will be taken into next design stage

Optimization Of Fluidised Bed Granulation Process Parameters For Urea Granule Manufacturing Using The Response Surface Method

Fluidised bed technology is commonly applied in the pharmaceutical, agricultural and food production technology. The aim of this work is to identify the optimum process parameters in order to gain the best hardness and density values for the urea granules from the fluidised bed granulation. The layout of the experiments are based on Central Composite Design of Response Surface Method. The analyzed data shown that the optimize value for each of these parameter are 0.10MPa, 32.11Hz, 50% w/w, 42.250C for spray pressure, fan speed, urea solution concentration and inlet air temperature with 1.71 kgf/granule hardness and 1.85 g/cm3 density were predicted. Experimentally, using the predicted optimize input parameter, the hardness and density observed were 0.20 kgf/granule and 1.30 g/cm3 respectively