An Experimental Study on Thermal Properties of Sustainable Bricks Made from Local Industrial Waste

Rapid development around the globe, increase of population and construction with the latest and megastructures have escalated the demand for energy.  The increasing of ambient outdoor temperature requires mechanical air conditioners to maintain a comfortable environment within the building, this contributes to high energy consumption.  Building with good thermal conductivity properties passively reduces energy consumption. This experimental work focuses on four (4) brick systems which are Laterite Clay (LC), Solid Waste Fly Ash (SWFA) Bricks, Laterite SWFA (LS) Brick, and Laterite SWFA Paint Sludge (LSP) Bricks.  Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), Hydrate Lime (HL), and Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS) were used as stabiliser. Higher thermal conductivity was recorded for all bricks systems that stabilised with HL. Thermal conductivity was significantly reduced when GGBS was incorporated as a blended stabiliser. SWFA bricks system recorded the lowest thermal conductivity of all bricks systems investigated. A lower thermal conductivity value indicates better thermal properties. In all brick-wall systems, the thermal conductivity was found to increase linearly with density

Design and Built a Prototype Kit for Fire Detection in a Peat Swamp Forest: A Preliminary Results

Peat forest fire detectors need to be developed immediately due to the frequency of peat forest fires in Malaysia during the summer is very high which can affect the life in the forest and the health of the surrounding population. Among them is the Ayer Hitam Muar Forest Reserve, Johor which is almost 50,000 acres in size and experiences fires every year. However, fire monitoring management methods still need to be improved in terms of speed, accuracy and systematic in channelling fire alerts. Apart from location and area factors, the main challenge of the early fire detection process is the lack of manpower for the purpose of monitoring and notification of fires. The conventional method through patrols and phone calls from farmers who see a fire is less effective because of the delay in notification received by the authorities. Initially, the work of identifying the location of the fire and measuring the signal strength of the telco service in the Forest Reserve was done with the help of rangers from the Muar district forestry department. This article proposes a propotype for detecting peat forest fires that is capable of monitoring and sending early fire notifications using a smartphone. The prototype uses an ESP32 microcontroller, GSM/GPRS modem and industry-standard sensors which include smoke, temperature, humidity and motion detectors. A total of five prototype units were developed as sensor nodes (SN) 1 to 5 with unique IDs that can send information to UTHM web servers simultaneously. Data from each SN is displayed in real time while notifications of smoke detection and motion alerts are sent to the authorities via Telegram application. Solar panels are used as a source of electricity supply while the authorities can access information via smartphones. This prototype was tested to see its stability and operational accuracy while the data obtained were recorded. The developed system can help the authorities detect fires at an early stage and the location of the fire can be known based on the SN information received on the smartphone screen

High Sensitivity Prototype Kit with IoT System for Fire Detection in a Peatland Swamp Forest Area

Smoke sensor of the photoelectric type is often used in indoor fire detection system. It is very sensitive to fire smoke and will trigger a fire alarm quickly when the presence of smoke is detected. By making a small innovation, this sensor can be implemented outdoors by means of IoT as used in the forest fire early detection system. However, the typical use of the sensor without any modification causes the sensitivity of the system to be very low such as failing to identify the actual presence of smoke. To increase the sensitivity of systems that use this type of sensor, the developed system is equipped with an automatic reclosing operation that is able to distinguish real smoke or not. The system has been designed to trigger cloud servers only after detecting smoke for ten seconds or beyond. System equipped with automatic reclosing operation show better response by not triggering cloud servers when detecting temporary smoke from car, motorcycle or nearby factory. When comparing the system before and after using this operation is, it was found that the system no longer sends smoke notification message to the user via Telegram channel when this temporary smoke is detecte

High Sensitivity Prototype Kit with IoT System for Fire Detection in a Peatland Swamp Forest Area

Smoke sensor of the photoelectric type is often used in indoor fire detection system. It is very sensitive to fire smoke and will trigger a fire alarm quickly when the presence of smoke is detected. By making a small innovation, this sensor can be implemented outdoors by means of IoT as used in the forest fire early detection system. However, the typical use of the sensor without any modification causes the sensitivity of the system to be very low such as failing to identify the actual presence of smoke. To increase the sensitivity of systems that use this type of sensor, the developed system is equipped with an automatic reclosing operation that is able to distinguish real smoke or not. The system has been designed to trigger cloud servers only after detecting smoke for ten seconds or beyond. System equipped with automatic reclosing operation show better response by not triggering cloud servers when detecting temporary smoke from car, motorcycle or nearby factory. When comparing the system before and after using this operation is, it was found that the system no longer sends smoke notification message to the user via Telegram channel when this temporary smoke is detecte

Soil stabilization utilising wastepaper sludge ash

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Utilization of Agricultural Wastes in Stabilization of Landfill Soil

Palm Oil Fuel Ash (POFA) and Rice Husk Ash (RHA) are local agricultural waste material from Palm Oil Industry and from Paddy Industry in Malaysia. Currently, the disposal of these ashes from a burning process is a problem to both industries, and hence leads to environmental pollution. The main aim of this research was to investigate the potential of utilizing POFA and RHA as sustainable stabilizer material as partial replacement of traditional one which is lime and Portland Cement (PC). Laboratory investigations were carried out to establish the potential utilization of Malaysian Agricultural wastes POFA and RHA in stabilizing Teluk Kapas Landfill soil. Landfill soil on its own and combination with laterite clay soil were stabilized using POFA or RHA either on its own or in combination with Lime or Portland Cement (PC). The traditional stabilizers of lime or Portland Cement (PC) were used as controls. Compacted cylinder test specimens were made at typical stabilizer contents and moist cured for up to 60 days prior to testing for compressive and water absorption tests. The results obtained showed that landfill soil combined with laterite clay (50:50) stabilized with 20% RHA:PC (50:50)and POFA: PC (50:50) recorded the highest values of compressive strength compared to the other compositions of stabilizers and soils. However, when the amount of POFA and RHA increased in the system the compressive strength values of the samples tends to increase. These results suggest technological, economic as well as environmental advantages of using POFA and RHA and similar industrial by-products to achieve sustainable infrastructure development with near zero industrial waste

Utilization of Agricultural Wastes in Stabilization of Landfill Soil

Palm Oil Fuel Ash (POFA) and Rice Husk Ash (RHA) are local agricultural waste material from Palm Oil Industry and from Paddy Industry in Malaysia. Currently, the disposal of these ashes from a burning process is a problem to both industries, and hence leads to environmental pollution. The main aim of this research was to investigate the potential of utilizing POFA and RHA as sustainable stabilizer material as partial replacement of traditional one which is lime and Portland Cement (PC). Laboratory investigations were carried out to establish the potential utilization of Malaysian Agricultural wastes POFA and RHA in stabilizing Teluk Kapas Landfill soil. Landfill soil on its own and combination with laterite clay soil were stabilized using POFA or RHA either on its own or in combination with Lime or Portland Cement (PC). The traditional stabilizers of lime or Portland Cement (PC) were used as controls. Compacted cylinder test specimens were made at typical stabilizer contents and moist cured for up to 60 days prior to testing for compressive and water absorption tests. The results obtained showed that landfill soil combined with laterite clay (50:50) stabilized with 20% RHA:PC (50:50)and POFA: PC (50:50) recorded the highest values of compressive strength compared to the other compositions of stabilizers and soils. However, when the amount of POFA and RHA increased in the system the compressive strength values of the samples tends to increase. These results suggest technological, economic as well as environmental advantages of using POFA and RHA and similar industrial by-products to achieve sustainable infrastructure development with near zero industrial waste