Preliminary Studies on the Chemical Composition of Sound and Decayed Wood of Acacia mangium

A comparison of the simple wood sugars and proximate chemical components in sound wood and wood with advanced decay of A. mangium was made. There were significant differences in the amounts of mannitol and alkali solubles between the sound and decayed wood. A slight difference was observed in the amount of alcohol-benzene and hot water solubles

Preliminary Studies on the Steam Explosion Pretreatment of the Oil Palm Stem

Steam explosion was found to be an effective method of improving the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose in the oil palm stem. The pretreatment also caused the degradation of hemicelluloses and Tendered them water-soluble. By aqueous extraction of the exploded material 23-31 % hemicelulosa with xylose contents up to 83% after acid hydrolysis coultd be recovered. This paper also discusses some m0rphological changes which occurred in the pretreatment

Intelligent control of grain drying process using fuzzy logic controller.

Controlling grain drying process has always been a challenging task for engineers and researchers in food and agricultural sectors. The main obstacles to obtain the best control system for the grain drying system are due to the long delay process, highly non-linear behaviour and parameter uncertainties exist in the plant. Applying an intelligent controller such as fuzzy logic controller to a grain drying system is a good choice as fuzzy logic controller is a very powerful control methodology that can estimate functions based on partial knowledge of the system in case of parameter uncertainties and can deal with non-linear behaviour. This paper focused on the design and application of fuzzy logic controller in order to obtain the grain output moisture content close to the set-point in spite of disturbances. Two inputs and one output fuzzy logic controller has been designed to drive the grain flow rate which is used as the manipulated variable. A new algorithm of fuzzy logic controller for a grain drying process has been introduced. Simulation tests have been carried out using the process model developed by Liu and Bakker-Arkema for a cross-flow grain dryer. The overall results from the tests are very promising and the fuzzy logic controller is stable and robust towards input disturbance. Although the design process of fuzzy logic controller is simple; however it provides very fast response to make the grain output moisture content close to the set-point and to reject disturbance exists during the grain drying process