Biomethane Purification Using PVDF/Pebax 1657 Thin Film Composite Membrane

Biogas is an alternative energy from biomass. The gas can be produced from anaerobic digestion by microorganism. Biomasses such as animal manure, kitchen waste, garden waste, or even human excreta are among the major sources of biogas. Usually, biogas contains 60% methane along with 40% of carbon dioxide. Besides its important role in natural gas, methane also contributes to greenhouse gases. Their presence in atmosphere will thicken earth blanket and further lead to climate change. One pound of methane traps 25 times more heat in the atmosphere compared to one pound of carbon dioxide. This research introduced a new material, Pebax 1657 to improve the current polymeric based membranes in the form of thin film composite (TFC). Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) was used as a porous support layer for this TFC and this combination surpassed the Robeson 2008 trade off limit with CO2 pressure normalise flux and selectivity of 1075 Barrer and 52.50 respectively. Besides transforming the waste into wealth, the emission of this greenhouse gases can be reduced so that a green environment and clean air can be continually enjoyed by future generations

The relationship between managerial communications and employees' performance among grade 17 employees in UiTM Terengganu, Dungun Campus / Mohamad Hariri Lokman,Mohd Hafizie Abd Rahman and Muhammad Syafiq Mohd Sarif

ABSTRACT This research was conducted to study the Relationship between Managerial Communications and Employees' Performance among Grade 17 Employees in UiTM Terengganu, Dungun Campus. The objective for this research is to identify the relationship between managerial communications in terms of speaking, listening, reading and writing towards employees' performance. This study was also conducted to identify which elements in managerial communications that is crucial towards employees' performance. The researchers have distributed the questionnaire among 100 employees that hold Grade 17 position in all departments in UiTM Terengganu, Dungun Campus. After the data was collected and analyzed, the result showed that there is a relationship between four variables and employees' performance. The finding also showed that the most important skills that influenced employees' performance are employer's listening skills. By conducting this research, the researchers hope that in future, the employer in all in departments in UiTM Terengganu, Dungun Campus should improve their speaking, reading and writing skills

A mini review on membrane potential for pharmaceutical and personal care product (PPCP) removal from water

Recently, environmental awareness has grown due to the emergence of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) as pollutants that ended up in water bodies and become a threat to the aquatic ecosystem and clean water sources. To solve this worldwide clean water dilemma, new environmentally friendly technology is required. Membrane technology for PPCP removal provides several advantages over other methods such as conventional wastewater treatment plant, advanced tertiary treatments (ATTs), adsorption activated carbon (AAC), and advanced oxidation process (AOP). Many studies have proven the effectiveness of membrane technology for PPCP removal from water resource, yet, the major challenge is still there: membrane fouling. In order to overcome this challenge, functionalization of membrane has been introduced. The modification or functionalization of membranes through the addition of nanomaterial, MOFs, and microorganisms successfully assists in better hydrophilicity, high water flux, excellent permeability, and fouling resistance of the membrane. This study provides a thorough analysis of membrane materials, methods for fabricating membranes, and a clear grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each. It also describes how microbes, metal–organic frameworks, and nanomaterials could functionalize the polymeric and inorganic membranes. Finally, the removal of PPCPs using polymeric and inorganic membranes is explored. For record, up to 99% of bisphenol A (BPA) was removed using interfacial polymerization of PSF polymeric membrane. Also, 99.74% of diclofenac was removed using phase inversion method of PES polymeric membrane. This proves that membrane technology is a promising path for water treatment and purification. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Goals 3 and 14, which are excellent health and well-being and life below the ocean respectively, are in line with this topic

A comparison study on performance of thin film composite membrane embedded with graphene oxide for Acetaminophen, Diclofenac and Ibuprofen separation from waste water

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are one of the threats to water safety and security. These contaminants are hard to be removed due to toxicity and resistant to breakdown. In this study, thin film composite polypiperazine-amide membrane modified with graphene oxide (GO) was synthesized as a rejection medium for this groups of contaminants. Acetaminophen (ACT), Diclofenac (DCF), and Ibuprofen (IBF) was selected as pharmaceutical pollutants and was rejected at different pH ranging from 4 to 9. ATR-FTIR, surface hydrophilicity, pure water permeability and rejection % was evaluated. The effect of GO on rejection showed that PES/GO-0.2 had the greatest hydrophilic effect, pure water permeability and rejection efficiency on all three drugs. The effect of pH on the membrane showed that DCF had the highest rejection (99.13%) at pH8–9, followed by IBF (95.78%) at pH 8–9, and lastly ACT (97.7%) at pH 7. Thus, thin film composite polypiperazine-amide membrane modified with graphene oxide can be effectively and sustainably applied in water treatment processes

Prospect and legal challenges of medical tourism in relation to the Advance Medical Directive (AMD) in Malaysia

People fly for several reasons. One of the goals is to obtain medical attention. This idea is known as "medical tourism." In defending this concept, the notion of medical tourism is one of the prospects of increasing industries that have rapidly grown in Malaysia and other countries. One of the factors that led to this trend is the propensity to pursue better medical care at a lower cost. Around the same time, certain patients in modern society have begun to provide input on their medical care in cases where they are unable to give consent. Advance Medical Directive (AMD) is a particular directive containing the desires of a knowledgeable patient regarding his or her future medical plans if he or she becomes incompetent or unable to make any decisions regarding his or her body. However, the concern that arises in the sense of medical tourism is whether there are applicable laws in Malaysia that will ensure that the AMD of patients is enforced. The art of AMD is still relatively new in the country and, as a result, the legal status on the AMD is still vague and uncertain. The purpose of this article is, therefore, to define the laws that can be applied in relation to AMD in the context of medical tourism. The approach used in this article is qualitative. It found that Malaysia did not have a clear legal framework for AMD within the scope of medical tourism. This article concludes that this legal challenge can be overcome by means of the special AMD regulations on medical tourism in Malaysia

Permeance Based Algorithm For Computation Of Flux Linkage Characteristics Of Non-Linear 6/4 Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM)

The concept of permeance is used in the analysis of flux linkage of 6/4 SRM. The aim of this paper is to develop an efficient algorithm exploiting the nonlinear feature of the 6/4 SRM using the aforementioned concept of permeance. The first step is to generate the relevant equations related to permeances of the 6/4 SRM under study. The 6/4 SRM’s magnetization curve is then derived from the summation of mmf drops at various blocks representing the motor. The air gap permeances are derived at various angles and 3-D leakage effects are taken into account. These permeances are used for the mmf drop computation. The algorithm is capable of efficiently computing mmf drop at every block to consequently yield a complete accurate nonlinear flux linkage feature of the 6/4 switched reluctance motor. In this way, the capability of the SRM to produce the expected four times the specific output torque due to operation in high saturation region compared to an equivalent induction motor as special the attribute of the SRM is demonstrated

The Effect Number of Pebax® 1657 Coating Layer on Thin Film Composite (TFC) Membrane for CO2/N2 Separation

A high performance of thin film composite (TFC) membrane was fabricated with Pebax® 1657 as a selective layer on top of PVDF substrate to improve the CO2/N2 separation. The purpose of the studies was to investigate the effect of Pebax® 1657 coating layer to the permeability and selectivity. The substrate was produced by using 15% of PVDF diluted in 85% of NMP as a dope solution. Meanwhile, the Pebax® 1657 was diluted in 70/30 ethanol water which later acts as a selective layer to the substrate. The number of layer varies by 1,2,3 and 4 which gave different thickness of Pebax® 1657- 0.002mm, 0.004mm, 0.011mm and 0.018mm respectively. The FTIR analysis was done for chemical analysis for the produced TFC membrane. The SEM image revealed that the PVDF pore ranging from 930nm to 1.8 μm with large finger like void was formed and it was believed that the formation of pores and void due to the solvent-non solvent interaction during film bath. The 3 layer Pebax® 1657 gave the highest selectivity of 13.69, 2 bar with CO2 and N2 permeance of 29 and 2 respectively whereas at 4 coating layer no gas flow was recorded during the test

Super selective dual nature GO bridging PSF-GOPebax thin film nanocomposite membrane for IPA dehydration

In this work, Graphene Oxide (GO) is embedded in both selective hydrophilic layer and porous hydrophobic substrate creating a mutual bridge between the two surfaces. Pristine 1–3 μm microporous PSF prepared via dry/wet phase inversion techniques with contact angle of 74.12° has been further study with GO embedded Pebax dense selective layer. This dual nature thin film nano composite TFNC membranes managed to reduce the water contact angle down to 37.18°. As for the IPA dehydration study, the total flux up to 1.19 kgm−2h−1 and 0 wt% IPA detected in permeate was achieved with 20 wt% water feed at 30°C

Hydrophilic enhancement of Polysulfone membrane via Graphene Oxide embedded thin film nanocomposite for Isopropanol dehydration

Graphene oxide (GO) was introduced in this study as a hydrophilic enhancer to polyether block amide copolymer (PEBAX) in the form of thin film nanocomposite (TFNC) for hydrophobic based polysulfone (PSF) membrane. The objective is to increase hydrophilic moieties by providing more polar terminal within the TFNC network and by doing so, the film managed to completely reduce IPA traces in the permeate from 0.8 wt % while maintaining a constant flux of 1.2 kg/m2h. SEM, FTIR and water contact angle was used to characterized the produced film. The contact angle was also reduced from 77.5_ to 37.48_, indicating the increment of hydrophilicity of the film. Interestingly, the GO incorporated film could take up to 38.02% of water, proving a possibility for this TFNC to be used in pervaporation

Flux model development and synthesis optimization for an enhanced GO embedded nanocomposite membrane through FFD and RSM approach

A two-level full factorial design was used to analyze several factors involved in PSF–GO–Pebax thin film nanocomposite membranes development. Permeate flux was chosen as a single response for four possible factors: Pebax selective layer concentration, amount of GO load to Pebax selective layer, Pebax–GO selective layer thickness, and amount of GO load to PSF substrate. The study is aimed at factors interaction and contribution towards the highest permeation flux via FFD and RSM approach. R2 obtained from the ANOVA is 0.9937 with Pebax concentration as the highest contributing factor. Pebax concentration–amount of GO load to PSF substrate is the only interaction contributing to the highest flux. A regression analysis concluded the study with model development and an optimized condition for the membrane design