Development of Hybrid Polymeric Polyerthersulfone (PES) Membrane Incorporated with Powdered Activated Carbon (PAC) for Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) Treatment

The development of water treatment system to produce low cost & high quality effluent has become extremely important nowadays. Since year 1960, membrane technology has transformed from laboratory stage to industrial applications stage. The development of newer membrane modules in recent years helps the membrane industry growth rapidly, but the technology is still not so universal due to membrane fouling issue. Additional of PAC directly into the treatment system has proven to be a promising strategy to reduce membrane fouling and improve efficiency of the system. However, there are also drawbacks caused by excessive PAC within a treatment system. In this study, the potential of integrating the PAC into PES membrane was evaluated and its performance was assessed. The result shows that the PAC integrated membrane has higher permeation rate, which is 231 L/m2.hr compare to the one without PAC integrated membrane, which only has 89 L/m2.hr. In addition, PAC integrated membrane was able to achieve up to 81% and 67% removal rate, compared to the one without PAC integrated which only can remove 10% and 35% of COD and color respectively. Besides, the structural property of the membranes was observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed a trend where the membrane with higher concentration of PAC integrated will have better performance in both pollutant removal ability as well as the membrane fouling control

Used engine oil as alternate binder for buildings – a comparative study

At present, global warming and climate change are the major challenges of foremost significance that substantially influence the earth's environment. The construction sector, especially buildings, is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Conventional building materials such as clay bricks and cement are considered as environmentally unfriendly due to enormous emissions during their production. This paper investigates the utilisation of used engine oil (UEO) as an alternative to the usual cementitious binders. Prototypes were produced from UEO to optimise the compositions and conditions of the process and tested for compressive and flexural strength, permeability and water absorption, respectively, following the ASTM standards. Furthermore, environmental and weathering aspects were also demonstrated to ensure the feasibility of the product. Samples constituting 5% by weight UEO have shown significant results for flexural stress, compressive strength and water absorption and also passed the permeability test. Moreover, 5% of UEO samples have negligible effect in strength for accelerated weathering conditions as demonstrated by the ultraviolet test. Conclusively, UEO can be used as a replacement to conventional binding materials such as a clay bricks and cement. Sustainable development and waste management are the hallmarks of this research. </jats:p

2245G/A polymorphism of the receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) gene is associated with diabetic retinopathy in the Malaysian population

Background/aims The receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of diabetic microvascular complications. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between 2245G/A gene polymorphism of the RAGE gene and retinopathy in Malaysian type 2 diabetic patients. Methods 342 unrelated type 2 diabetic patients (171 with retinopathy (DR), 171 without retinopathy (DNR)) and 235 unrelated healthy subjects from all over Malaysia were recruited for this study. Genomic DNA was isolated from 3�ml samples of whole blood using a modified conventional DNA extraction method. The genotype and allele frequencies of 2245G/A were studied using the polymerase chain reaction�restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. Results A statistically significant difference in 2245A minor allele frequency was found between control (5.5) and DR groups (15.2) (p0.05). Conclusions This is the first study that shows an association between the 2245A allele of the RAGE gene and development of diabetic retinopathy in the Malaysian population

The effect of powdered activated carbon and two-compartment configuration on membrane bioreactor performance

The objective of this study was to investigate alternative membrane bioreactor (MER) designs in an attempt to reduce membrane fouling in the MBR system. Several approaches were investigated including (i) modifying the mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) using powdered activated carbon (PAC) to form biologically activated carbon (BAC), (ii) limiting the biomass formation from contacting with the membranes using a two-compartment reactor design and (iii) using relatively large polymer beads (~ 600 f.lm) to scour the membrane surface to prevent pollutant attachment and to detach fine foulants on the membrane surface. The effect of PAC addition up to 5 gIL to the activated sludge (AS) in the MBR has been investigated in detail. The benefit of PAC addition to the MBR (AS) was confirmed in a series of tests operated at sludge retention times (SRTs) of 10 and 30 days which involved the addition of 10% and 3.3% by PAC weight addition per day respectively to compensate for sludge wastage. Better performance in terms of fouling mitigation was observed for MBR (BAC) atSRT 10 days compared to 30 days. At these SRTs the MBR (BAC) experienced less fouling than the MBR (AS). However when the MBR (BAC) were operated without wastage, its performance was worse than the MBR (AS). Thus the improved performance achieved by the MBR (BAC) requires regular replenishment of aged BAC with fresh PAC.Doctor of Philosophy (CEE

Investigation on the performance of hybrid anaerobic membrane bioreactors for fouling control and biogas production in palm oil mill effluent treatment

[[abstract]]Three different sizes of powdered activated carbon (PAC) were added in hybrid anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBRs) and their performance was compared with a conventional AnMBR without PAC in treating palm oil mill effluent. Their working volume was 1 L each. From the result, AnMBRs with PAC performed better than the AnMBR without PAC. It was also found that adding a relatively smaller size of PAC (approximately 100 μm) enhanced the chemical oxygen demand removal efficiency to 78.53± 0.66%, while the concentration of mixed liquor suspended solid and mixed liquor volatile suspended solid were 8,050 and 6,850 mg/L, respectively. The smaller size of PAC could also enhance the biofloc formation and biogas production. In addition, the smaller particle sizes of PAC incorporated into polyethersulfone membrane resulted in higher performance of membrane fouling control and produced better quality of effluent as compared to the membrane without the addition of PAC.[[notice]]補正完

Performance of Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor (AnMBR) With Powdered Activated Carbon (PAC) in Biogas Production and Flux Enhancement

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Generalized modeling of the sludge volume index and suspended solids to monitor activated sludge bioflocculation using image analysis

The performance of an activated sludge wastewater treatment plant depends on bioflocculation that is monitored by physical measurements such as the sludge volume index (SVI) and mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS). The estimation of SVI and MLSS has been proposed using image analysis based modeling which is time-efficient and valid for multiple plants operating in different states. The methodology includes the sequence of image acquisition using bright-field microscopy, a robust segmentation of flocs, partitioning of flocs based on different ranges of their equivalent diameters, extraction of morphological features, and modeling of SVI and MLSS using the features. It is proposed that bright-field microscopy at lower magnification to capture the flocs is sufficient to model SVI and MLSS. A robust approach for image segmentation is adopted by integrating state-of-the-art image segmentation algorithms. It is hypothesized that flocs in different ranges of equivalent diameter respond differently to the variation in the operating state. Hence, flocs and their respective image analysis features are categorized based on the range of equivalent diameter. Finally, stepwise regression is used for feature selection and model identification to explore the feasibility of generalization of models to multiple plants in different states regarding SVI and MLSS