Development of high temperature CO2 sorbents using solid wastes from power generation

One of various ways to curb anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is by using Li4SiO4 sorbents to capture CO2, which have shown high CO2 uptake capacities (up to 367 mg CO2/g sorbent) at high temperatures (400 to 600 °C). In this study, solid wastes from coal- and biomass-fired boilers that contain high amounts (>47 wt%) of silica were used as precursors in the development of Li4SiO4-based high temperature CO2 sorbents via solid state (SS) and suspended impregnation (SI) methods. Thermogravimetric analyses (TGA) carried out in pure CO2 environment at sorption temperatures of 500 to 700 °C showed the waste-derived Li4SiO4 sorbents have high CO2 sorption capacities (up to 263 mg CO2/g sorbent at 700 °C). This study also experimented for the first time the potential of palm oil mill boiler ash (POMBA) as a waste-derived Li4SiO4 sorbent precursor. It was found that POMBA-derived sorbents showed high CO2 sorption capacities (up to 257 mg CO2/g sorbent at 700 °C in pure CO2 environment). These waste-derived Li4SiO4 sorbents exhibited CO2 sorption capacities exceeding some of those in published work (27 mg CO2/g sorbent). Furthermore, this study analysed the effect of excess lithium on waste-derived sorbents. It was found that depending on the materials used, the amount of excess lithium added during the preparation step affected CO2 sorption performance of the waste-derived sorbents

Fish gelation in skin and bone tissue engineering

Gelatin is a biomaterial commonly used in tissue engineering application as it offers biocompatibility feature that can attract cell attachment. The most abundant sources of gelatin usually come from porcine skins, bovine hides and cattle bones. However, the mammalian gelatins are rejected by some consumers due to religious reason or health concerns. The fish gelatin can become a good option to substitute the mammalian gelatins. This review provides insights on the use of fish gelatin in tissue engineering applications. The review is focusing on the application fish gelatin in two main areas which are skin tissue engineering and bone tissue engineering that been studied by researchers in journals and thesis report. The potential of fish gelatin to substitute mammalian in this field will provide an alternative for Muslims to choose a halal medical treatment for them

Discrimination of lard in extracted ink of printed packaging of foodstuff using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and multivariate analysis

The presence of lard in extracted ink of printed-packaging of foodstuff was discriminated using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy in combination with the chemometrics tool by means of multivariate analysis. The spectra for lard, commercial gravure ink, and the blends of both ranging from 0.1%-20% of lard in gravure ink were acquired and analysed to characterise the peaks of interest. The inks from plastic food packaging were extracted in a process called deinking. The resulting ink extracts were also tested on FTIR. Several spectral regions of lard, commercial gravure ink, and the blends of both were selected and subjected for the partial least square (PLS) regression calibration. The calibration revealed that the 3020-2630cm-1 region was well-suited for correlating the predicted and actual value of lard. The coefficient of determination (R2) obtained using the optimized spectral treatments was higher than 0.99, while the root mean standard error of calibration (RMSEC) value was 0.007. The score plot from the principal component analysis (PCA) of the calibration set discriminated the lard, gravure ink and the blends into their respective groups. Soft independent modelling class analogy (SIMCA) was employed as the method of discriminant analysis (DA) to classify the samples into their specific groups based on the result of PCA. The plots showed that the lard and gravure ink are well separated and located at their axis, indicated that the discriminant analysis utilised was able to classify the samples into groups based on the presence of lard. These results demonstrated that FTIR spectroscopy, when combined with multivariate analysis, can provide a rapid method with no excessive sample preparation to discriminate the presence of lard in ink of foodstuff packaging

Effect of pH on the physicochemical properties and reducibility of MoVTeNbOx catalysts

A range of MoVTeNbOx catalysts were synthesised by slurry method assisted with a microwave irradiation. The pH of the synthesis solution was varied at pH = 1, 3, 5, and 7 and the obtained solid were calcined in air at 553 K for 1 hour and followed in N2 at 873 K for 2 hours. The calcined samples were characterised and their reduction properties were evaluated. The pH of the synthesis solution was shown to affect the physicochemical properties where the formation of orthorhombic M1 phase was obtained for catalysts prepared at pH 1 and 3. The reducibility of the catalyst is improved for catalyst prepared at pH 3 as compared to those prepared at pH 1. Although higher synthesised pH (5 and 7) gave much higher reducibility of the metal oxides, however the removable oxygen could be of the unselective ones

Effect of pH on the physicochemical properties of MoVTeNbOx catalysts for oxidation of propane to acrylic acid

Mo1.0V0.3Te0.23Nb0.12 mixed metal oxide catalysts were prepared via slurry method followed by microwave irradiation. The pH (1, 3, 5, and 7) of the synthesis solution was shown to affect physicochemical properties of the catalysts. XRD analysis revealed that the monophasic orthorhombic M1 phase Te2M20O57 (M = Mo, V, and Nb) was only developed when pH was 1. This catalyst displayed BET surface area, 18.0 m2/g the highest among other samples after post treatment and suggested the elimination of hexagonal M2 phase. The sample was also highly reducible with reduction temperature coincide very well with the temperature of catalytic reaction. Therefore, this catalyst was also active and selective for anaerobic propane oxidation to acrylic acid

Aging dynamics of bio-coagulants: Implications for oily wastewater treatment efficiency

Inadequate treatment of oily wastewater discharge can contribute to an increase in the levels of both biological oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) in the water. Various studies have highlighted the effectiveness of natural bio-coagulants in particular chitosan as an alternative to the chemical coagulants available in the market. However, minute studies have been reported in discussing the correlation between the aging effect of the bio-coagulant and its performance. Thus, this paper presents research on the aging effect of bio-coagulants for treating oily wastewater. In this study, G-Treat was used as the bio-coagulant, which was produced from chitosan powder, acetic acid, and deionized water. The experimental procedure started by filling 500 mL of oily wastewater into a beaker. Next, 10 wt. % of G-Treat was added into the beaker for the jar test, which was mixed for 30 min at 150 rpm, followed by 2 hours settling time. Then, the mixture was separated using filter paper. The analysis of oily wastewater characteristics was conducted using five types of analyses, which are pH, chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD), total suspended solids (TSS), and oil and grease (O&G) under the parameters of days (0–7 days), weeks (0–6 weeks), and months (0–3 months). From the result, the best performance of G-Treat was achieved at the optimum parameters during week 2, with 33.16%, 65.75%, 35.73%, 28.58%, and 0% removal of pH, COD, BOD, TSS, and O&G, respectively. In conclusion, the studied bio-coagulant demonstrated higher removal of pH, COD, BOD, TSS, and O&G at optimum parameters, and eventually, the level of effectiveness will drop

Dough rheology and physicochemical properties of steamed buns fortified with cross-linked rice starch

Although fibre is associated with numerous health effects, daily fibre consumption is less than recommended. Fibre-enriched food is desirable to overcome this problem and resistant starch (RS) has potential as fibre ingredient. The objective of the research was to study the effect of cross-linked (CL) rice starch (RS type 4) at different levels (0%, 15% and 30%) on dough rheology, physicochemical and sensory acceptance of steamed bun. CL rice starch was produced by cross-linking rice starch with combination of 12% sodium trimetaphosphate and sodium tripolyphosphate for 3h at 45°C under alkaline condition. The dough of steamed bun was characterized by Farinograph and Extensograph, whereas cooked steamed bun was characterized by total dietary fibre, protein, moisture, textural properties, colour and sensory acceptance. Incorporation of CL rice starch in wheat flour lowered the strength, extensibility and quality of dough. The quality of dough was positively correlated with the protein content, indicating lower gluten formation in fortified SB. Total dietary fibre of steamed bun increased significantly with increasing CL starch in the order: 30CL (2.44%) > 15CL (1.33%) > 0CL (0.75%). Hardness and yellowness of steamed bun incorporated with CL rice starch reduced significantly. SB with 15% CL rice starch showed similar sensory acceptability with control SB. The study suggests that CL rice starch at 15% is suitable to increase fibre in steamed bun with little effects on the appearance and sensory attributes

VG Pasta Production / Nurul I'zzati Ramli... [et al.]

We are making pasta from vegetables that has been steamed until become soft to start our business. We choosing to making this product because, in Malaysia there is a few company that produced the same products but using the different vegetables. Besides, nowadays people are more concern on healthy lifestyle and tend to eat the food that contains high amount of nutrients. The research show that vegetables has many benefit to human health and need to consume by the human every day.We produce pasta from carrots, beetroot and pumpkin. The price of vegetables pasta is based on the box that consists of IO packets. Every packet of vegetables pasta consists of 250 g of this pasta. The price of the box is RM 180.00 which RM 18.00 per packet. The price is medium compare to other regular pasta and it considered fine as our product contain vegetables which are on another level. The reason we put such medium price because we want people from rural and urban areas able to consume our product. We believe that our product can reach people heart, compete with our competitors soon and keep improving in the future

Influence of raisins puree on the physicochemical properties, resistant starch, probiotic viability and sensory attributes of coconut milk yogurt

Coconut milk is a good substitute for dairy milk in yogurt production, so that individuals with lactose intolerance and allergy may enjoy the benefits of probiotics in the yogurt. Addition of raisins puree in coconut milk yogurt will further enhance the probiotic viability and increase the prebiotics in yogurt. The objective of the research was to study the physicochemical properties, resistant starch, probiotic viability and sensory acceptance of coconut milk yogurt (CY) supplemented with raisin puree at different levels (0%, 17%, 23% and 29%). Using a commercial dairy yogurt milk (DY) as a comparison, CY with 0, 17, 23 and 29% raisins puree were characterized by pH, viscosity, total soluble solids, and colour. The nutritional properties were characterized by proximate analysis and resistant starch. The probiotic viability and sensory evaluation were also carried out. As compared to DY, increased level of raisins puree in CY showed significantly higher viscosity, total soluble solid, fat, probiotic viability and resistant starch, but lower protein content. The lightness of CY decreased with increasing raisins puree amount, whereas redness and yellowness decreased. Sensory evaluation showed that all CY had a better preference in terms of aroma, taste and overall acceptability. Except for CY with 29% raisins puree, the texture of DY was more preferred over CY. The study suggests that CY with 29% raisins puree is suitable to improve the overall physical and nutritional properties. Besides, it had significantly better sensory acceptance than DY that makes it a good alternative yogurt for lactose intolerance and milk-allergic individuals