Treatment of palm oil mill secondary effluent (POMSE) using ultrafiltration and nanofiltration membranes

Malaysian palm oil industry has grown rapidly over the last few decades, to becoming the world’s largest producer and exporter of palm oil. This success story however, comes with a greater challenge and equally required more sacrifices in order to maintain the tempo. In the year of 2004, it has been recorded that 26.7 million tons of solid biomass and approximately a 30 million tons of palm oil mill effluent (POME) were generated from 381 palm oil mills in Malaysia [1]. Although different kind of wastes are generated in the palm oil mills, the perceived harmful waste among all the waste generated is the palm oil mill effluent (POME) due to its associated harm if discharged into the environment untreated [2]. POME is a colloidal suspension originating from mixture of sterilizer condensate, separator sludge and hydro cyclone wastewater in a ratio of 9:15:1 respectively [3]. It is a brownish colored, thick liquid that is containing high amount of oil, solids, and grease with high Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) values. Table 15.1 describes the characteristic of POME obtained from Malaysian Palm Oil Board

Polyethersulfone/HFO mixed matrix membrane for enhanced oily wastewater rejection

The recent growth of oil and gas industry has led to the increase of oily wastewater release. Membrane technology has been in the spotlight in recent advancement to treat the oily wastewater. Fouling due to surfactant adsorption and/or oil droplets plugging the pore has become one of the major hindrances in most of the research on oily wastewater treatment. In this work, self-synthesized hydrous ferric dioxide nanoparticles (HFO NPs) via chemical precipitation method were incorporated in polyethersulfone (PES) to fabricate a novel nanocomposite mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) for ultrafiltration (UF). The morphologies and physicochemical properties of prepared HFO NPs and MMMs were characterized using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission electron microscope (TEM), contact angle goniometer, before further subjected to water permeation test and oil rejection test. It was found that contact angle of membrane decreased remarkably with an increase in HFO nanoparticle loading from 70° to 38° at which proved its improved hydrophilicity which led to a significant rise in permeate flux, achieving 168.06 L/m2h bar in comparison to 63.67 L/m2h bar shown by the plain PES membrane. Total rejection of oil (100% rejection) demonstrated by the MMMs has confirmed the superior potential of PES/HFO UF membrane for total purification of oily wastewater especially to be reused in oilfield and refinery processes as well as to be released to the environment

Electrochemical strategy for grown ZnO nanoparticles deposited onto HY zeolite with enhanced photodecolorization of methylene blue: Effect of the formation of Si O Zn bonds

Nanoparticles of electrogenerated zinc-supported HY zeolite (EGZnO/HY) catalyst were prepared by a simple electrochemical method. The interaction between zinc species and HY support during the electrolysis was found to affect the EGZnO/HY structure. In addition to the formation of EGZnO nanoparticles (<30 nm in size) that distributed on the surface of HY support, an isomorphous substitution of Al with Zn also occurred in the aluminosilicate framework to result in a Si O Zn bonds. The photoactivity of EGZnO/HY was tested on the decolorization of methylene blue (MB). An amount of 0.375 g L−1 of 1 wt% EGZnO/HY was found to be the optimum dosage for 10 mg L−1 MB, which resulted in 80% of maximum decolorization after 6 h of contact time at pH 3 under fluorescent light (420 nm). Increasing the EGZnO loading led to additional formation of Si O Zn bonds and lessened the number of EGZnO nanoparticles, which then reduced the photodecolorization percentage of MB.The photocatalytic reaction was follows the first-order Langmuir–Hinshelwood model, and gives partially mineralization. The photocatalyst was still stable after five cycling runs with no Zn leaching

Synthesis, characterisation and evaluation on the performance of ferrofluid for microplastic removal from synthetic and actual wastewater

Synthesis of ferrofluid without the addition of stabilizing agents or surfactants is an innovation of new method for microplastic removal. This study focuses on the ability of several types of oils as carriers and how they may improve the removal efficiency of the microplastic. The method is relatively low cost, simple and sustainable. The formation of ferrofluid involved the mixing of oil and iron oxide powder. The experimental work was commenced by adding 2 mm polyethylene terephthalate (PET) microplastics into synthetic ferrofluid. Then, the removal efficiency of microplastics was examined by varying the elements of ferrofluid based on three specific parameters, namely type of oil, volume of oil and dosage of iron oxide to obtain a standard formulation of the optimum results. Overall findings of the study indicated that the optimum formulation for ferrofluid preparation was at a ratio of 1:2.5 (volume of oil: dosage of magnetite) using lubricating oil which has successfully removed 99% of microplastic from water media. Subsequently, the physical and chemical properties of the prepared ferrofluid were also analysed using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Performance evaluation of the prepared ferrofluid on actual wastewater (laundry wastewater) revealed that 64% of microplastics were removed after treatment

Nanofiltration of hazardous Congo red dye: performance and flux decline analysis

The effectiveness of nanofiltration (NF) for dye wastewater treatment has been well established. However, detailed study on the fouling phenomena during the NF of dye is still limited. This paper provides the understanding on the performance and fouling phenomena of the polypiperazine amide nanofiltration (PA–NF) membrane for the treatment of hazardous Congo red (CR) dye. The 20 mg L−1 dye at pH 9 was successfully 100% removed with minimum flux decline under the specific conditions: room temperature (25 ◦C) and trans-membrane pressure 5 bar. In addition, the membrane retained more Na2SO4 (62–91%) than NaCl (14–31%), owing to the ion size and negative charges on the membrane surface. The experimental results showed that fouling was the significant reason of the membrane flux decline which principally caused by the favourable/irreversible adsorption. Mechanisms ofthe PA–NF membrane fouling were investigated using the linearized forms according to Wiesner and Aptel equations. It had been found that the fouling mechanisms were influenced by the solution pH and concentration. Under 20 mg L−1 of initial CR concentration at pH 9, the decline of permeate flux was due to standard blocking mechanism during the initial filtration. The cake formation took place rapidly at the second stage of filtration which contributed to the relatively constant permeate flux decline

Axial vibration mode of coupled liquid-structure-gas system in a rigid cylindrical container

This paper describes the axial vibration analysis of a closed ends rigid cylindrical container containing liquid and gas which separated by a thin circular plate at their interface. The liquid depths inside the container were varied and then the mode of vibration and the natural frequencies were analyzed. The natural frequencies obtained experimentally were compared favorably with those of commercial finite element analysis software, ANSYS. The vibration mode of the liquid-structure interaction of the tank system can be visualized from the software post processing animation/plot. The visualized modes are also consistent with the measurement by the respective experimental transducers. It was found that strong coupling predominantly occur between liquid and structure. In weak coupling conditions, the modes are predominantly gas mod

Synergistic effects on process parameters to enhance enzymatic hydrolysis of alkaline oil palm fronds

Due to an increasing demand for more sustainable and renewable resources, there has been strong interest in utilizing biomass as a source for cleaner production of energy and chemicals. In this work, the lignocellulosic elements of oil palm frond (OPF) biomass were assessed as an alternate sugar feedstock for biofuel and bioproducts production. At present, long hydrolysis times and high enzymatic loadings hinder commercialisation and large-scale utilisation of enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass. Thus, various process parameters of enzymatic hydrolysis of alkaline OPF fibre were investigated in an attempt to improve process performance. In this study, OPF biomass was pretreated with 4.42% NaOH at 100 °C for 58.31 min, resulting in significant disruption as characterised by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Alkaline pretreatment of OPF biomass improved enzymatic biodegradability, and glucan recovery by the Cellic Ctec2 enzyme was more effective than the conventional Celluclast 1.5 L cellulase enzyme. Synergistic effects of stirring speed, surfactant Triton X-100 loading, and β-glucosidase supplement on enzymatic hydrolysis were assessed using statistical experimental design. Under optimal conditions (450 rpm, 1.31%, and 0.14 pNPGU/FPU), 88% conversion of glucan was obtained from alkaline OPF, which is equivalent to the conversion from commercial cellulose (microcrystalline cellulose, MCC). Enzymatic hydrolysis of pretreated OPF was further improved at high agitation speeds. Synergy between agitation speed and surfactant loading interactions with β-glucosidase supplement enhanced glucose production due to the efficient mixing and availability of cellulose to be adsorbed by cellulase

Pertarungan sengit hujah Mujahid, Abdul Azeez - isu tabung haji jadi kupasan hangat dalam program barani semuka sinar harian

In this paper we find an exact analytical expression for the number of spanning trees in Apollonian networks. This parameter can be related to significant topological and dynamic properties of the networks, including percolation, epidemic spreading, synchronization, and random walks. As Apollonian networks constitute an interesting family of maximal planar graphs which are simultaneously small-world, scale-free, Euclidean and space filling, modular and highly clustered, the study of their spanning trees is of particular relevance. Our results allow also the calculation of the spanning tree entropy of Apollonian networks, which we compare with those of other graphs with the same average degree. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Photocatalytic of Thiophene Desulfurization

Thiophene, found in the fuels is a heterocyclic five-membered ring consisting of sulfur as the heteroatom, with two pairs of electrons at the S atom along with a pair in the six-electron π-system and the others in the ring. Thiophene give negative impacts on living things and also the atmosphere. The presence of sulfur in fuels will lead to the emission of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere and lead to atmospheric pollution such as acid rain. Thiophene is difficult to remove by using conventional desulfurization processes such as hydro-sulfurization (HDS). Thus, the photocatalytic process is the best alternative method available to degrade thiophene. The photocatalytic process only requires a minimal quantity of catalyst and the by product is almost zero or less harmful to the environment and living things. The process efficiency depends strongly on the chosen photocatalyst. ZnO/KCC provides great potential as the photocatalyst. Hence, this review paper focus on photocatalytic thiophene desulfurization using ZnO/KCC as the photocatalyst