Decarbonised polygeneration from fossil and biomass resources

Utilisation of biomass resources and CO2 abatement systems in currently exploited fossil resource based energy systems are the key strategies in resolving energy sustainability issue and combating against global climate change. These strategies are affected by high energy penalty and high investment. Therefore, it is imperative to assess the viability of these energy systems and further identify niche problem areas associated with energy efficiency and economic performance improvement. The current research work has two parts. The first part presents techno-economic investigation of thermochemical conversion of biomass into the production of fuels (Fischer-Tropsch liquid or methanol) and electricity. The work encompasses centralised bio-oil integrated gasification plant, assuming that the bio-oil is supplied from distributed pyrolysis plant. Bio-oil is a high energy density liquid derived from biomass fast pyrolysis process, providing advantages in transport and storage. Various bio-oil based integrated gasification system configurations were studied. The configurations were varied based on oxygen supply units, once-through and full conversion configurations and a range of capacities from small to large scale. The second part of this thesis considers integration of various CO2 abatement strategies in coal integrated gasification systems. The CO2 abatement strategies under consideration include CO2 capture and storage, CO2 capture and reuse as well as CO2 reuse from flue gas. These facilities are integrated into cogeneration or polygeneration systems. The cogeneration concept refers to the production of combined heat and power while polygeneration concept is an integrated system converting one or more feedstocks into three or more products. Polygeneration is advocated in this work attributed to its high efficiency and lower emission. Furthermore, it can generate a balanced set of products consisting of fuels, electricity and chemicals. It is regarded as a promising way of addressing the future rapidly growing energy demands. A holistic approach using systematic analytical frameworks comprising simulation modelling, process integration and economic analysis has been developed and adopted consistently throughout the study for the techno-economic performance evaluation of decarbonised fossil and bio-oil based systems. Important design methodology, sensitivity analysis of process parameters and process system modifications are proposed. These are to enhance the efficiency as well as lower the economic and environmental impacts of polygeneration systems. A shortcut methodology has also been developed as a decision-making tool for effective selection from a portfolio of CO2 abatement options and integrated systems. Critical and comprehensive analyses of all the systems under considerations are presented. These embrace the impact of carbon tax, product price evaluation and recommendations for sustainability of low carbon energy systems.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceOverseas Research Scholarship (ORS)The University of Manchester Alumni FundProcess Integration Research Consortium (PIRC)School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science (CEAS)GBUnited Kingdo

Malaysians' willingness to support Japanese expatriates

Expatriates' success studies have always focused on the expatriates' home country preparation, cross cultural adjustment ability and host country environment. This study examined the host country nationals' perspective, particularly their willingness to support Japanese expatriates. Malaysians' openness to change, openness to linguistic diversity and perceived reciprocity were found to significantly explain their willingness to support Japanese expatriates. The outcome of this study provided information to companies on strategies they can use in improving host country nationals' willingness to support expatriates

Roles performed by bank branch managers in Malaysia

This paper discusses managerial roles performed by bank branch managers in Malaysia basing on Mintzberg's model. In-depth understanding of managerial roles performed is significant to organization in at least two ways: improve managerial recruitment effectiveness and identify suitable training programs for existing managers. Data was collected from 143 bank branch managers across Peninsular Malaysia via interview survey. There were at least four implications worth noting here. First, Mintzberg's (1971) framework was indeed applicable in Malaysia although it has been developed more than 38 years ago. Second, there were indeed changes in role rankings, suggesting role emphasis changes over time. Third, roles more emphasized by today’s managers were interpersonal and informational roles while role less emphasized was decisional role. Fourth, male and female managers were found to perform all 10 roles in the same extent. Practical implications were then discussed

The Gut Microbiota and Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Friend or Foe?

Progress in the understanding of the pathophysiology of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), once thought to be a purely psychosomatic disease, has advanced considerably and low-grade inflammation and changes in the gut microbiota now feature as potentially important. The human gut harbours a huge microbial ecosystem, which is equipped to perform a variety of functions such as digestion of food, metabolism of drugs, detoxification of toxic compounds, production of essential vitamins, prevention of attachment of pathogenic bacteria to the gut wall, and maintenance of homeostasis in the gastrointestinal tract. A subset of patients with IBS may have a quantitative increase in bacteria in the small bowel (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth). Qualitative changes in gut microbiota have also been associated with IBS. Targeting the gut microbiota using probiotics and antibiotics has emerged as a potentially effective approach to the treatment of this, hitherto enigmatic, functional bowel disorder. The gut microbiota in health, quantitative and qualitative microbiota changes, and therapeutic manipulations targeting the microbiota in patients with IBS are reviewed in this paper

Fight or flight: the importance of team work, leadership and human governance

This case discusses issues revolving around organization behavior within MAB & Co., a pharmaceutical company in Malaysia. The company experienced substantial staff turnover following the announcement of its acquisition by Marck. The issue was further aggravated with the resignation of the Senior Manager of the Research & Development (R&D) division, who had served the company for 10 years. The previous Manager of the Marketing division was then promoted to the vacancy. However, the new appointment was not well-received by the existing staff, and hence conflicts started to surface. This case highlights the potential organization structural change arising from the impending merger exercise, coupled with deteriorating employee morale as evidenced by increasing staff turnover, which could eventually lead to disorganization of the company

Role of bioenergy, biorefinery and bioeconomy in sustainable development: Strategic pathways for Malaysia

Malaysia has a plethora of biomass that can be utilized in a sustainable manner to produce bio-products for circular green economy. At the 15th Conference of Parties in Copenhagen, Malaysia stated to voluntarily reduce its emissions intensity of gross domestic product by upto 40% by 2020 from 2005 level. Natural resources e.g. forestry and agricultural resources will attribute in achieving these goals. This paper investigates optimum bio-based systems, such as bioenergy and biorefinery, and their prospects in sustainable development in Malaysia, while analyzing comparable cases globally. Palm oil industry will continue to play a major role in deriving products and contributing to gross national income in Malaysia. Based on the current processing capacity, one tonne of crude palm oil (CPO) production is associated with nine tonnes of biomass generation. Local businesses tend to focus on products with low-risk that enjoy subsidies, e.g. Feed-in-Tariff, such as bioenergy, biogas, etc. CPO biomass is utilized to produce biogas, pellets, dried long fibre and bio-fertilizer and recycle water. It is envisaged that co-production of bio-based products, food and pharmaceutical ingredients, fine, specialty and platform chemicals, polymers, alongside biofuel and bioenergy from biomass is possible to achieve overall sustainability by the replacement of fossil resources. Inception of process integration gives prominent innovative biorefinery configurations, an example demonstrated recently, via extraction of recyclable, metal, high value chemical (levulinic acid), fuel, electricity and bio-fertilizer from municipal solid waste or urban waste. Levulinic acid yield by only 5 weight% of waste feedstock gives 1.5 fold increase in profitability and eliminates the need for subsidies such as gate fees paid by local authority to waste processor. Unsustainable practices include consumable food wastage, end-of-pipe cleaning and linear economy that must be replaced by sustainable production and consumption, source segregation and process integration, and product longevity and circular economy