Development of Black Pepper Rotary Drum Dryer System

Rotary drum dryer has been identified as hygienic and practical method to dry black pepper. The quality of black pepper is defined based on the chemical properties and moisture content. This research aims to develop a control system for black pepper rotary drum dryer. The dried pepper should meet the specific 12% moisture content while the heating temperature must be kept below 550C. The requirement of 12% moisture content is equivalent to 30% of the remaining weight of the pepper (final weight). The developed system uses Arduino Mega 2560 REV board as a microcontroller.  A type K thermocouple with MAX6675 thermocouple amplifier and S-type load cells (TAS501) with HX711 load cell amplifier are used as input sensor to microcontroller.  The system keeps measuring the current weight until it hit the targeted final weight. Two set of experiments that are using 500 g and 1500 g of pre-treated pepper were conducted to verify the system. As a result, the dryer was successful to work within the desired temperature and it stop operating just after the samples reached 12% of the moisture content. The finding has proven a shorten of drying time from 4 to 7 days when using the traditional method to the current 3 – 5 hours only when using the developed system. Hence, this is an improved method achieved to a quick drying of the black pepper.  &nbsp

Malaysia National Annex to MS EN 1998-1: 2015, Eurocode 8: Design of structures for earthquake resistance - Part 1: General rules, seismic actions and rules for buildings

The Malaysia National Annex was developed by the Technical Committee on Earthquake under the authority of the Industry Standards Committee on Building, Construction and Civil Engineering. Development of this national annex was carried out by The Institution of Engineers, Malaysia which is the Standards-Writing Organisation (SWO) appointed by SIRIM Berhad to develop standards for earthquake. This standard is based on the National Annex to BS EN 1998-1:2004, Eurocode 8: Design of structures for earthquake resistance - Part 1: General rules, seismic actions and rules for buildings and is implemented with the permission of the British Standards Publishing Ltd

Mix proportion for medium grade concrete with silica fume as cement replacement for general purpose construction

There are many demands of concrete in construction leading to the use of industrial waste as mineral additive or supplementary filler to improve the concrete performance and lower production cost. Silica fume is a distinct industrial waste. The making of silica fume concrete is made by case basis based on specific needs especially for the production of prescribed High Performance Concretes. In this study, the use of silica fume for low/medium grade concrete for general production is investigated [1]. It is an attempt to find a mix proportion with recommended silica fume replacement to produce a medium grade concrete for general purpose construction. Silica fume as cement replacement greatly increase the mechanical and durability properties of concrete. The concrete mix with 10% silica fume replacement gives the most practical replacement percentage resulting to a 32% strength increase compared to concrete with no silica fume. It is also possible to produce a normal grade concrete using a standard M40 mix proportion. Concrete samples with less than 10% cement replacement did not show significant differences in mechanical and durability properties compared to the reference sample

Comparison of Mechanical and Microstructural Properties of Fly Ash Geopolymer in Water and Chloride Environment

In cement industry, the emissions of greenhouse gases specifically CO2 from the clinker production led to the need of alternative binders. Geopolymer binder whose precursors are sourced from industrial by-products such as fly ash that are rich is silica and alumina has been studied extensively in the past decades. Chloride attack is one of the threats to concrete structures. Analysis at microstructural level needs to be studied carefully before this binder can be used with confidence. This study attempts to compare the properties of fly ash geopolymer binder when exposed in water and chloride solution. Fly ash geopolymer pastes were prepared using 12M sodium hydroxide (NaOH) as activator. The pastes were tested under two separate curing conditions, i.e in ambient and in distilled water. Compressive strength test along with microstructure properties of samples cured at 7, 14 and 28 days were conducted via Universal testing machine, Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscope with Energy-dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX). After 28 days of curing, these samples were immersed in 10% sodium chloride (NaCl) solution for another 56 days. Samples cured in ambient condition showed better mechanical performance than those in distilled water. Their differences in compressive strength were also seen consistent with the FTIR results. Samples exposed to NaCl and distilled water showed similar mechanical performance and microstructural properties. Based on SEM-EDX analysis, samples cured in ambient were rich in silica and alumina while the intensity of these compounds were observed to reduce when exposed to distilled water. Samples cured in ambient showed stronger intensity of Si/Al gel as compared to samples exposed to chloride environment and distilled water and these were consistent with the compressive strength results obtained. When immersed in water, concentration gradient changes in the liquid phases, leading to ions diffusion and causing decrement in strength and durability of the solids in fly ash geopolymer

Characterization of Alkali-Activated Palm Oil Fuel Ash Pastes as a Function of Calcination Temperatures of Raw Precursor

This research investigates the influence of calcination temperatures of palm oil fuel ash (POFA) on the properties of the raw precursor and its hardened binder after alkali activation.The raw POFA obtained from palm oil mill is treated at 500°C, 600°C, and 700°C for approximately 6 h. The treated POFA (TPOFA) is characterized for particle size distributions and chemical compositions by X-ray fluorescence (XRF); microstructural properties by observing through scanning electron microscopy (SEM); and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) for molecular functional groups. Pastes of alkali-activated POFA (AAPOFA) are synthesized with 12 M sodium hydroxide (NaOH) as alkali activator where the liquid to binder ratio is 0.4. Calcination temperatures are observed to have some influences on the physical properties (such as color, texture, particle size and fineness) and chemical properties (such as composition and reactivity) of the raw precursor. These properties control microstructural evolution of hardened pastes, compressive strength and capillary sorptivity properties of the hardened pastes. Overall results show 500°C is the optimum calcination temperature for POFA that contributes to comparable strength and lowest permeability of AAPOFA binders

Development of Black Pepper Rotary Drum Dryer System

Rotary drum dryer has been identified as hygienic and practical method to dry black pepper. The quality of black pepper is defined based on the chemical properties and moisture content. This research aims to develop a control system for black pepper rotary drum dryer. The dried pepper should meet the specific 12% moisture content while the heating temperature must be kept below 550C. The requirement of 12% moisture content is equivalent to 30% of there maining weight of the pepper (final weight). The developed system uses Arduino Mega 2560 REV board as a microcontroller. A type K thermocouple with MAX6675 thermocouple amplifier and S -type load cells (TAS501) with HX711 load cell amplifier are used asinput sensor to microcontroller. The system keeps measuring the current weight until it hit the targeted final weight. Two set of experiments that are using 500 g and 1500 g of pre-treated pepper were conducted to verify the system. As a result, the dryer was successful to work within the desired temperature and it stop operating just after the samples reached 12% of the moisture content. The finding has proven a shorten of drying time from 4 to 7 days when using the traditional method to the current 3 –5 hours only when using the developed system. Hence, this is an improved method achieved to a quick drying of the black pepper

Development of elastic design response spectra with emphasis on far‑source earthquakes for low to moderate seismic region

The development of design response spectra is crucial for earthquake design of structures. However, there are disagreements from the engineering community on the suitability of design values proposed by the existing design code which underestimates the long-period responses for fexible soils, typical of far-source earthquakes. This study uses soil response analysis to investigate the efect of near and far sources’ earthquakes on the response spectral acceleration of Malaysia in three seismically diferent regions, namely Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak. 1923 borehole data have been collected and analysed under 5 near and 4 far sources earthquakes, subjected to the intensity from the probabilistic seismic hazard analysis. The results show that for Peninsular Malaysia, the far-source earthquake will govern the response at a period of more than 1 s, indicating its importance for structures with long periods such as tall buildings. It is also found that the corner period TC is slightly higher than the code recommended and is dependent on the soil property, while TD is signifcantly higher for far-source earthquakes due to the larger magnitudes. The fnding of this research shows that the Eurocode 8 supplemented by the Malaysian National Annex (MS-EN1998-1, 2017) can be used to design structures in Malaysia, with some adjustments to the longer period motion for Peninsular Malaysia. Finally, it is recommended to perform an enhanced analysis for important structures of long periods to ensure their loadings are not underestimated

Micro Fine Sized Palm Oil Fuel Ash Produced Using a Wind Tunnel Production System

Micro fine sized palm oil fuel ash (POFA) is a new supplementary cementitious material that can increase the strength, durability, and workability of concrete. However, production of this material incurs high cost and is not practical for the construction industry. This paper investigates a simple methodology of producing micro fine sized POFA by means of a laboratory scale wind tunnel system. The raw POFA obtained from an oil palm factory is first calcined to remove carbon residue and then grinded in Los Angeles abrasion machine. The grinded POFA is then blown in the fabricated wind tunnel system for separation into different ranges of particle sizes. The physical, morphological, and chemical properties of the micro fine sized POFA were then investigated using Laser Particle Size Analyser (PSA), nitrogen sorption, and Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-Ray (SEM-EDX). A total of 32.1% micro fine sized POFA were collected from each sample blown, with the size range of 1-10 micrometers. The devised laboratory scale of wind tunnel production system is successful in producing micro fine sized POFA and, with modifications, this system is envisaged applicable to be used to commercialize micro fine sized POFA production for the construction industry

Computational Investigation of Soil Liquefaction Susceptibility based on Standard Penetration Test Value of Miri District (Sarawak, Malaysia)

Miri is a district of Sarawak state of Malaysia and is a coastal area located at the boundary of Brunei. This paper deciphers the analysis of liquefaction susceptibility of the Miri district. Standard penetration test with N values (SPT-N) empirical criteria has been used for evaluating the liquefaction susceptibility in the Miri district. The software LiquefyPro and LiqIT have been used for the analysis by using the Idriss and Boulanger approach as this methodology encompass a simple technique and calculation. This exploration utilized a seismic tremor record from another area well-matched from target response spectrum with comparative qualities of Sarawak earthquake acquired from the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER) online database (PEER NGA) with a moment magnitude of 6.0 and peak ground acceleration as 0.15 g on the ground surface. The ground motions assigned for assessment are predominantly attentive on a good complete match for the target response spectrum and on actual earthquakes that might happen in Sarawak. Liquefaction potential index (LPI), the factor of safety (Fs) and the probability of liquefaction (PL) for each soil layer was determined and then summed up for each borehole and were used to plot the contour maps by utilizing the geographical information system (GIS). From the results, the overall area of Miri is not liquefiable, only a few sites have liquefaction index as high, moreover, the obtained results of this study by using the methodology of Idriss and Boulanger are reliable. The results of this study can be used in seismic microzonation

Development of wind tunnel for ultrafine palm oil fuel ash separator

Palm Oil Fuel Ash (POFA) is a pozzolanic material that has great potential in concrete production. POFA sizes range from 1 to 10 μm is preferable. Thus, there is a need for efficient method to separate the POFA according to the sizes needed. This study explores the idea of using a simple wind tunnel as a separator for ultrafine POFA. The existing operation of the wind tunnel is simulated using ANSYS-CFX, a numerical modelling software. The identified weakness of the wind tunnel design is located at the hopper. The wind tunnel is simulated with a different air inlet velocity in order to visualize the air flow profile as well as air flow energy at the hopper. Different air inlet velocities has a similar air flow profile but the air flow intensity is different. For further study the modifications of the air flow profile were conducted. By altering the hopper angle shows that the air flow profile is changed. Based on the simulation results, the hopper at 60° yields the best flow characteristic. At angle 60° of the hopper, the air flow is mostly directed downward into the tunnel and the air flow energy is low. Therefore, it allows the POFA to be directed into the tunnel and reduced the ultrafine POFA losses at the tip of the hopper. This practical method utilizes a simple open wind tunnel that enables the process to be more efficient and cost efficient thus the production of ultrafine POFA can be increased