Preparation and Characterization of Sugar Based Catalyst on Various Supports

A novel structured carbon-based acid catalyst was prepared by depositing the carbon precursor onto glass, ceramic and aluminum supports via dip-coating method, followed by carbonization process for converting the d-glucose layer into black carbon char in an inert nitrogen environment at 400 °C. Then, the –SO3H group was introduced into the framework of the carbon char by multiple vapor phase sulfonation. Four different carbonization methods were carried out (dry pyrolysis and hydrothermal carbonization with or without pressurized) in the catalyst preparation while among the carbonization methods, the samples which prepared from dry pyrolysis without pressurized process showed the strong acidity due to highest adsorption of acid group in the catalyst surface although the catalyst attached onto the support was the least compared to other preparation methods. Among the catalysts, the sulfonated carbon-base catalyst that is attached on the ceramic support exhibited the highest aci-dity (1.327 mmol/g) followed by the catalyst deposited on the glass (0.917 mmol/g) and aluminum (0.321 mmol/g) supports. The porous structure of ceramic surface, allowed a better interaction between reactants and –SO3H site in the carbon. Through the FT-IR analysis, it was observed that the functional groups –COOH, –OH, and –SO3H were present in the active sites of the catalysts. The surface areas of  glass (Si–SC), ceramic (Ce–SC) and aluminum (Al–SC) catalysts were larger than 1 m2/g, whereas the pore size belongs to macroporous as the average pore size is more than 50 nm. It is also stable within the temperature of 400 °C as there was less than 10% weight loss revealed from the TGA analysis.

Oil Extraction from Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunches with Crystallization Technique

Oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB) are the common by-product of palm oil mills as in 2017 approximately 87.721 million tons of EFB were produced. This abundance of EFB causes several problems, including pollution and pest infestation, which have an impact on the well-being of the environment and humanity. Due to this, research on EFB has been conducted, demonstrating its capability to be a sustainable resource for derived products, such as bio-oil and EFB fibre as composite filler. Research shows that processed EFB fibre contains 2-3% of residual oil but current oil extraction methods require the use of either high temperature and/or high pressure. Existing methods require high energy consumption and are unable to extract all residual oil within EFB. Therefore, a new EFB oil extraction technique is proposed, based on the fundamental theory of crystallization as a separation method. This technique was able to achieve reductions of 74.45 and 30.03% in the oil yield from processed EFB using liquid nitrogen and standard refrigeration system as crystallization media, respectively

Oil extraction from oil palm empty fruit bunches with crystallization technique

Oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB) are the common by-product of palm oil mills as in 2017 approximately 87.721 million tons of EFB were produced. This abundance of EFB causes several problems, including pollution and pest infestation, which have an impact on the well-being of the environment and humanity. Due to this, research on EFB has been conducted, demonstrating its capability to be a sustainable resource for derived products, such as bio-oil and EFB fibre as composite filler. Research shows that processed EFB fibre contains 2-3% of residual oil but current oil extraction methods require the use of either high temperature and/or high pressure. Existing methods require high energy consumption and are unable to extract all residual oil within EFB. Therefore, a new EFB oil extraction technique is proposed, based on the fundamental theory of crystallization as a separation method. This technique was able to achieve reductions of 74.45 and 30.03% in the oil yield from processed EFB using liquid nitrogen and standard refrigeration system as crystallization media, respectively

Effect of moisture content and drying method on the amylose content of rice

Rice is a primary source to all human beings. It gives energy and supply carbohydrate in human daily life. It is also one of the main sources of employment for people living in the rural area to generate incomes. In this study, determinations of quality of rice dried in an oven and in a Laterally Aerated Moving Bed (LAMB) dryer were performed., tTe drying in an oven was performed with initial moisture content (MC) of 18% reduced to 14% w.b. at temperatures of 35, 45, 55, 65 and 75 0C. The amylose contents of the rice were 20.78, 21.81, 21.53, 21.63 and 22.50%, respectively. Furthermore, drying of paddy with temperature of 45 0C and initial moisture content of 15% w.b was performed with different final moisture content of 14, 12, 10 and 8% w.b using oven drying. The amylose content were 21.79, 20.17, 20.85, 26.35%, respectively. As for paddy dried in LAMB dryer, it was found that the amylose content were in the intermediate range (20 - 25.50%). The drying temperature of the LAMB dryer was at 25 0C with 100 to 200 L/min of air flowrate resulted in the intermediate amylose content of the rice despite the final moisture content reduced to 8% w.b

Structural Analysis of Laterally Aerated Moving Bed (LAMB) Dryer by using Robot Structural Analysis (RSA) Professional 2018

The structural design of Laterally Aerated Moving Bed (LAMB) dryer is subjected to buckling effects due to the loads of the paddy bed, self-weight and static pressures by the air blower to overcome the air resistance in the paddy bed, perforated tube and the bed chamber perforated wall. The dryer structural type is a spatial complex structure where the boundary conditions are not very clear, thus the Robot Structural Analysis (RSA) Professional 2018 is used to determine the critical values of loads when the overall structural elements instability occurred to form buckling. The RSA analysed the global buckling of a structure to find the critical coefficient value to be multiply with the case load for the critical buckling load determination. Three different model of dryer structural designs were prepared and analysed by RSA to find the buckling critical coefficient values (αcr), displacements (mm), reactions (N) and moments (Nm). All structural design model was designed with similar type of materials, different sizes and geometrical arrangements. The RSA results within the three structural design models were compared. The structural design model with the best buckling coefficient values with minimum displacement had been selected for the actual LAMB dryer structural construction

Design, development and performance evaluation of a large-scale hybrid solar dryer

A large-scale hybrid solar dryer was developed to account the limitations encountered in traditional open sun drying. With loading capacity of 500 kg and incorporated with a hybrid heating control system, this dryer is suitable for industrial drying that requires large drying capacity and products with high moisture content. In addition, this drying system offers flexibility in switching between different combinations of air vents based on the drying purpose required. Chaotic air flow produced in the drying chamber ensure uniform temperature distribution across the drying trays in an updraft air movement. Potential application of the drying system for durian skin and chili drying were tested. Based on the performance evaluation, a maximum temperature and maximum average temperature of 66°C and 59°C, respectively, was attained in the drying chamber. The drying of chilli with the drying temperature set at 50°C and operating condition of using the ventilation fan and opening the air vent achieved the drying time of 5 days or 45 hours in total, equivalent to 9 hours of drying time per day

The Tudan's Organic Mulberry Tea: An Indigenous Community Tea Product Made Underutilized Part of Mulberry Plant

Kampung Tudan is located at the rural area and protected under buffer zone of Crocker Range Biosphere Reserve Area by UNESCO, where human and society live in harmony. Mulberry plantations have been introduced as an alternative economic activity to enhance their livelihood. Tudan’s Organic Mulberry Tea was made locally in Kampung Tudan, is an innovative product made up from the mulberry leaves into tea product. Fresh leaves from mulberry plant was harvested, dried using community solar powered dryer for the production of the tea and the formulation is under Trade Secret by the Centre for Research and innovation which belongs to Universiti Malaysia Sabah. A few series of laboratory test have been conducted on Tudan’s Organic Mulberry Tea such as physicochemical analysis and consumer sensory evaluation. Results shows that, mulberry tea powder considerable high in protein with stable shelf life. There were about 100 panels majority from student has been evaluated Tudan’s Organic Mulberry Tea based on four sensory test which are aroma, color, taste, mouthfeel and their overall acceptance. Overall acceptance scores for Tudan’s Organic Mulberry Tea is more than 30%. The newly developed tea product has been undertaken by Kampung Tudan villager’s cooperative, Koperasi Kampung Tudan Berhad and has commercialized in the market since January 2017. The product is priced at RM 19.90 per box and has generated more than RM 95, 081 revenues since January 2017

Development of sulfonated carbon catalysts for integrated biodiesel production

The issues of energy security, climate change, and environmental protection attract the use of biodiesel as an alternative fuel worldwide despite several potential setbacks such as deforestation and escalating food prices. A better biodiesel production scheme is needed to reduce the setbacks, to increase the economical value, and to have a safer production process. The use of waste oil and fat as feedstock, and conversion of glycerol into fuel oxygenates are the key solutions in this scheme. Motivated by the high activity of the sugar catalyst, a low surface area and non-porous carbon-based catalyst, this study investigates the synthesis of mesoporous, high surface area and acidity carbon-based catalysts that are active for the conversion of oleic acid and glycerol into biodiesel and fuel oxygenates, respectively. The results showed that a silica templating technique, prepared via confined activation process, was effective for synthesizing mesoporous and high surface area catalyst, but low in total acidity. The technique of catalyst functionalization in liquid fuming sulfuric acid was effective, but destroyed the internal pores of the char. The activity of the mesoporous catalyst was lower than the sugar catalyst in esterification of oleic acid. The catalyst activity was dependant on the total acidity, but independent of surface area and porosity. Further investigation showed that multiple vapour phase sulfonation was effective in synthesizing higher acidity catalyst while maintaining the mesoporous and high surface area structure. Vapour phase sulfonation caused less pore destruction in the char compared with liquid phase sulfonation. Repeated vapour phase sulfonation was effective in loading increased functional groups on the catalyst at the expense of its surface area. Evaluation of the activities of carbon-based catalysts on esterification of oleic acid showed that it depended on density and accessibility of active sites, and catalyst deactivation. Evaluation of etherification of glycerol showed that all catalysts, despite having huge differences in surface area, had comparable activity per unit mass. The carbon-based catalysts had a high selectivity to di- and tri- glyceryl ethers. In conclusion, the carbon-based catalysts synthesized through multiple vapour phase sulfonation processes are promising catalysts for a better biodiesel production process.Applied Science, Faculty ofChemical and Biological Engineering, Department ofGraduat