Mechanical and water absorption properties of hybrid kenaf and pineapple composite added with epoxidized natural rubber

Wood polymer composites, WPC, is a competitive material which ranging from consumer products to engineering parts in various of application field. In this research, mechanical properties and water absorption were investigated on the hybrid WPC made from kenaf fibre and pineapple leaf fibres, PALF, as fillers at three level of total fibre loading of 30 %, 40 % and 50 % by weight, mixed in high density polyethylene, HDPE. The fibres hybrid ratio was kept constant at 60% kenaf to 40% PALF and the composite was compounded in a melt mixer and fabricated by compression moulding. The effect of different total fibres loading and addition 3% by weight epoxidized natural rubber, ENR, into the composite formulation was evaluated. For both with and without addition of ENR into kenaf-PALF/HDPE composite, tensile strength, tensile modulus, flexural modulus, impact strength and water absorption increased with an increase in total fibres loading, but the elongation at break of the composite decreased with increasing total fibres loading. Flexural strength only increased at lower fibre loading but decreased at highest fibre loading of this experiment. Meanwhile, overall effect of ENR addition was that it enhanced the tensile strength, impact strength and water absorption of the composite but only improved flexural strength and flexural modulus at lower fibre loadings of 30 and 40 %. On the other hand, ENR decreased the tensile modulus and elongation at break of the composites. At highest fibres loading from this study and with 3 % ENR-50 added, the composite, KP50PE2 is deformable and experienced a slight decreased in tensile strength. However, its enhanced impact property and higher toughness enabled the composite to withstand impact loading

Characterization of Ag-promoted Ni/SiO2 Catalysts for Syngas Production via Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Dry Reforming of Glycerol

The carbon dioxide (CO2) dry reforming of glycerol for syngas production is one of the promising ways to benefit the oversupply crisis of glycerol worldwide. It is an attractive process as it converts carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas into a synthesis gas and simultaneously removed from the carbon biosphere cycle. In this study, the glycerol dry reforming was carried out using Silver (Ag) promoted Nickel (Ni) based catalysts supported on silicon oxide (SiO2). The catalysts were prepared through wet impregnation method and characterized by using Bruanaer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), and Thermo Gravimetric (TGA) analysis. The experiment was conducted in a tubular reactor which condition fixed at 973 K and CO2: glycerol ratio of 1, under atmospheric pressure. It was found that the main gaseous products are H₂, CO and CH4 with H₂:CO < 1.0. From the reaction study, Ag(5)NiSiO2 results in highest glycerol conversion and hydrogen yield, accounted for 32.6% and 27.4%, respectively

Characterization of Ag-promoted Ni/SiO2 Catalysts for Syngas Production via Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Dry Reforming of Glycerol

The carbon dioxide (CO2) dry reforming of glycerol for syngas production is one of the promising ways to benefit the oversupply crisis of glycerol worldwide. It is an attractive process as it converts carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas into a synthesis gas and simultaneously removed from the carbon biosphere cycle. In this study, the glycerol dry reforming was carried out using Silver (Ag) promoted Nickel (Ni) based catalysts supported on silicon oxide (SiO2) i.e. Ag-Ni/SiO2. The catalysts were prepared through wet impregnation method and characterized by using Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), and Thermo Gravimetric (TGA) analysis. The experiment was conducted in a tubular reactor which condition fixed at 973 K and CO2:glycerol molar ratio of 1, under atmospheric pressure. It was found that the main gaseous products are H₂, CO and CH4 with H₂:CO molar ratio < 1.0. From the reaction study, Ag(5)-Ni/SiO2 results in highest glycerol conversion and hydrogen yield, accounted for 32.6% and 27.4%, respectively.

Study on mechanical characteristics of mixed heterogeneous coastal plastic waste

Coastal plastic pollution is a common problem in many coastal regions in Malaysia. Arising from environmental concern and at the same time supporting waste to wealth program, the best way to overcome coastal plastic pollution is by recycling. However, due to photo degradation and nature of the surroundings, the characteristics of coastal plastic waste are differ from land plastic waste that drives for further research in determining the characteristics of coastal plastic waste and discovering its potential value. The objectives of this study are to improve the characteristics of mechanical properties of coastal plastic waste by heterogeneous recycling, to compare the mechanical properties of heterogeneous coastal plastic waste with the commercial plastic and to study the potential value of heterogeneous coastal plastic waste. Polypropylene (PP) and Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), two types of plastic waste which are highly abundant at the coastal region for its great consuming in food and beverages packaging and containers are used as sample. Samples are collected, cleaned and sorted manually according to the types and crushed into small flakes. PP and PET are mixed by volume composition of 0%, 3%, 5%, 7% and 10% of PET before undergo extrusion process. Under extrusion process, the plastic is extruded to strands and then pelletized to produce a single-polymer plastic. Then, plastic is moulded into testing specimen according to standard measurement, ASTM D638-05 and tested in term of its mechanical properties- tensile strength, elongation at break and elastic modulus- by using Universal Testing Machine. From analysis of obtained result, the mechanical properties of mixed heterogeneous coastal plastic waste are poor compared to homogeneous recycling except for elastic modulus. However, at 7% composition of recycle PET, it shows the optimum mixing ratio which gives better of mechanical properties. Homogeneous recycled plastic has the close and almost similar mechanical properties as the commercial plastic and have the potential to be utilized in some application as in producing household items. Varying the mechanical testing and blending polymers with plastic additives can be applied in further research for improvement of mechanical characteristics of recycled materials

Glycerol dry reforming for syngas production over ag-promoted on ni-based catalysts

The use of glycerol has been widely investigated and one of the possible alternatives is as a feedstock in the production of synthesis gas (syngas). The glycerol CO2 dry reforming process is an attractive process as it converts carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into a synthesis gas and simultaneously removed from the carbon biosphere cycle. The main objective of this research work is to study the process of CO2 dry reforming of glycerol over noble catalyst i.e. a noble metal (silver) promoted on nickel-based catalyst supported on oxides (aluminium oxide and silicon oxide). Silver is rarely used as catalyst in reforming studies. However, it is proven that silver has the ability to reduce the carbon deposition and increase selectivity of hydrogen production besides lower in cost compared to other noble metal. The catalysts were formulated through wet impregnation method using different combinations of noble metal-oxides support. Their physicochemical characteristics were evaluated using nitrogen physisorption (Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET) method), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Temperature programmed calcination (TPC), Temperature programmed reduction (H2-TPR) and Temperature programmed desorption (TPD). The screening study was conducted to evaluate the performance of different types of supports, and it was found that Ni/Al2O3 catalyst series gave higher glycerol conversion and hydrogen yield compared to Ni/SiO2 catalyst series due to their small crystallites size and high surface area. Moreover, alumina support could increase metal dispersion as well as avoiding the carbon deposition, which simultaneously improved the activity and stability of the catalyst. Apart from that, when different Ag loadings were introduced to these catalysts, 3wt% of Ag in Ni/Al2O3 was found to give the best catalyst performance due to the well-dispersion of active sites on the catalyst surface, which created high surface area. Higher Ag loading (>3wt%) resulted in formation of small particles, which covered the active sites of the catalyst thus impaired the catalyst performance. Further investigation on the effect of reaction variables (i.e. reaction temperature, weight hourly space velocity (WHSV) and CO2-to-glycerol ratio (CGR)) to the production of syngas were conducted using the best catalyst obtained from the screening study. The best reaction condition was found at temperature of 1073 K, CGR of 1 and WHSV of 36 L gcat-1 h-1 (catalyst loading of 0.2 g) which gave 41.09% glycerol conversion and 32.31% hydrogen yield. During the catalyst longevity study, Ag(3)-Ni/Al2O3 was found to stabilise along the 72 hours reaction after experiencing a reduction at tenth hour. Apart from that, the study on the catalyst deactivation of the used catalyst shows the presence of filamentous and encapsulated carbon types on the catalyst surface, which can be removed through oxidation

Reforming of Glycerol for Hydrogen Production over Ni Based Catalysts: Effect of Support Type

This current work focuses on hydrogen production that is a component in syngas by glycerol dry reforming over 15% nickel (Ni) loading supported on different oxides, namely CaO, ZrO2, and La2O3. The screening process was conducted in a fixed-bed reactor at 700°C under atmospheric pressure. It was found that 15% Ni/CaO showed the best performance in screening studies. The effect of temperature and the carbon to glycerol ratio (CGR) was then analyzed for this catalyst. From the analysis, it was seen that 15% Ni/CaO has its optimum condition at 800°C and CGR = 1, where it gives the highest glycerol conversion (XG = 37.66%) and hydrogen yield (YH = 32.45%)

Reverse micelle liquid-liquid extraction of a pharmaceutical product

Reverse micelle extraction has received considerable attention in recent years due to its ability to selectively solubilise solutes from an aqueous phase, and in the case of biomolecules to maintain their biological activities. The apparent success of research on protein extraction from the aqueous phase using reverse micelle provides motivation to study the solubilisation of antibiotic. The objective of this study is to investigate the extraction of antibiotic (penicillin G is chosen as model antibiotic) from aqueous solution (forward extraction) and from the reverse micelle to a new aqueous solution (backward extraction). Sodium di(2-ethylhexyl)sulfosuccinate (AOT) is chosen as the surfactant and isooctane as the organic solvent. The UV-Vis spectrophotometer is used to determine the mass of penicillin G in solution after the extraction process. The extraction is expected to be influenced by the initial penicillin G concentration, the salt type and concentration in the aqueous phase, pH, and surfactant concentration. It is expected that as penicillin is an interfacially active compound that will interacts with AOT surfactant, the interfacial association will be dependent on both pH and surfactant concentration

Characterization of Ni catalyst supported on α-Al2O3 and SiO2 for syngas production via dry reforming of glycerol

Ni-based catalysts supported on α-Al2O3 and SiO2 were prepared through wet impregnation method for glycerol dry reforming to produce hydrogen, carbon monoxide and methane. Glycerol dry reforming was carried out in tubular reactor at 973 K under atmospheric pressure. The catalysts were characterized using X-Ray Diffraction, Bruneuer-Emmet Teller surface area, Thermogravimetric Analysis, temperature-programmed reduction and Scanning Electron Microscopy. Ni/Al2O3 gives the higher glycerol conversion and hydrogen yield (14.46% and 9.82% respectively) compared to Ni/SiO2. This result was due to smaller crystallite size and higher specific surface area of Ni/Al2O3 compared to Ni/SiO2. Additionally, the nature of Al2O3 could increase metal dispersion as well as avoid the carbon deposition, helps the activity and the stability of this catalyst. The deposition of encapsulated carbon and filamentous carbon could be observed on Ni/Al2O3 and Ni/SiO2, respectively, and can be easily removed through oxidation