Supported TiO2 on Borosilicate Glass Plates for Efficient Photocatalytic Degradation of Fenamiphos

Supported titanium dioxide (TiO2) was investigated for the photodegradation of the insecticide fenamiphos in water. The photocatalyst was immobilised on borosilicate glass plates and the kinetics of degradation were studied in a stirred tank reactor under UV irradiation. Two types of TiO2, for example, Millennium PC500 (100% anatase) and Degussa P25 (80% anatase, 20% rutile), were used. Their activities have been based on the rates of insecticide disappearance. Experiments were investigated to evaluate the effect of pH and initial concentrations of fenamiphos as well as catalyst doses on the photocatalytic degradation of fenamiphos. Kinetic parameters were experimentally determined and an apparent first-order kinetic was observed. For photolysis process of fenamiphos, two photoproducts were identified and characterized using high performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS). The plausible mechanism of photolysis involved is the oxidation of sulfonamide group. In presence of photocatalyst TiO2, photodegradation was observed. Under identical conditions, Degussa P25 shows higher photocatalytic activity in regard to PC500 Millennium and complete degradation was observed after 180 min

ROOFING ASSESSMENT FOR ROOFTOP RAINWATER HARVESTING ADOPTION USING REMOTE SENSING AND GIS APPROACH

Rooftop rainwater harvesting refers to the collection and storage of water from rooftops whereby the quality of harvested rainwater depend on the types of roof and the environmental conditions. This system is capable to support the water supply in almost any place either as a sole source or by reducing stress on other sources through water savings. Remote sensing and GIS have been widely used in urban environmental analysis. Thus, this study aimed to develop the roofing layer in order to assess the potential area for rooftop rainwater harvesting adoption by integrating remote sensing and GIS approach. An urban area containing various urban roofing materials and characteristics was selected. High resolution satellite imagery acquired from WorldView-3 satellite systems with 0.3 m of spatial resolution was used in order to obtain spectral and spatial information of buildings and roofs. For quality assessment, the physical and chemical parameters of the rooftop harvested rainwater were performed according to the Standard Tests for Water and Wastewater. The potential area for rooftop rainwater harvesting adoption can be identified with the detail information of the rooftops and quality assessment in geospatial environment

Detection of covid-19 from chest x-ray and ct scan images using improved stacked sparse autoencoder

The novel Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) has spread rapidly and has become a pandemic around the world. So far, about 44 million cases have been registered, causing more than one million deaths worldwide. COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on every nation, particularly the economic sector. To identify the infected human being and prevent the virus from spreading further, easy, and precise screening is required. COVID-19 can be potentially detected by using Chest X-ray and computed tomography (CT) images, as these images contain essential information of lung infection. This radiology image is usually examined by the expert to detect the presence of COVID-19 symptom. In this study, the improved stacked sparse autoencoder is used to examine the radiology images. According to the result, the proposed deep learning model was able to achieve a classification accuracy of 96.6% and 83.0% for chest X-ray and chest CT-scan images, respectively

Factorial design in optimizing parameters for thermoresponsive ionic liquids as draw solution

This study aims to optimize the operating conditions of the forward osmosis (FO) process by introducing thermo-responsive ionic liquids (TRILs) namely 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([Bmim][BF4]) as a draw solution for seawater desalination applications. The influence of the operation parameters, such as the feed and draw flowrate (60–300 ml/min), draw solution concentration (0.6–3.0 M), temperature (25–50 °C), and type of flow with feed concentration using artificial seawater (0.6 M NaCl). The interaction between parameters has been specified using fractional factorial design (FrFD). The draw solution concentration and the interactions between draw and feed flowrate were the most significant factors in achieving high water flux 5.1 LMH. Besides that, the draw flowrate and the interaction of both draw and feed flowrate give high significance toward adverse effects (such as concentration polarization), which is good to obtain low reverse salt at 1.3 gMH. Use the desirability function (DF) to obtain the highest water flux of 5.04 LMH and the lowest reverse salt flux of 1.71 gMH, with a desirability of 0.95. The optimal condition for FO performance is 300 ml/min feed and draw flowrate with 3.0 M draw solution at 25 °C and co-current flow

A review on surface characterization techniques of polymeric membrane in forward osmosis

Forward osmosis (FO) is an emerging osmotic process that has been extensively investigated in the past decade. There are many literatures, discussing on the available methods in producing FO membranes as well as researches that emphasis on the type of FO membranes. The quality of the FO membrane often valued based on its intrinsic parameters and its morphological characteristics. Unlike the intrinsic parameters, the surface characteristics regularly described in adjectives thus it is hardly to be consistent. This paper presents a comprehensive review on surface characterization specifically for FO membranes. Regardless the types of FO membranes, the surface characterization comprises of FTIR, XPS, FESEM/SEM, AFM and contact angle were discussed in the way that how the findings should be reported. Thus, through this work, the relevant discussion that should be measured and included when deliberating the analysis result for FO membranes is presented. Insufficient and misinterpreted characterization data might have not changed the novelty fact of the research, yet it may lead to lower its impact. A strong connection between the intrinsic values and surface characteristics would have been compromised as well

High sugar production from hydrolysate of pineapple residues via integrated enzyme-membrane system

The enzyme-membrane integrated system has become an attractive method for the depolymerization of lignocellulosic biomass. The effects of pH, temperature, enzyme loading, and reaction time were evaluated in order to maximize the sugar production. Hydrolysate extracted from pineapple leaves was used as a substrate. The feed substrate was hydrolyzed by β-xylosidase under different working conditions using the one-factor-at-a-time (OFAT) method. The best working conditions obtained via enzymatic hydrolysis were applied in the enzyme-membrane integrated system. The sugar yield obtained by simultaneous reaction and filtration was much higher (293.94 %) than by the reaction alone (32.23 %)

Local Authority planning provision for Event Management in Ireland: A Socio-Cultural Perspective

The increasing popularity of the event sector in Ireland has resulted in many community events being developed and marketed to international and domestic tourists alike. This growth has had an effect on host communities in a positive and negative manner. This paper assesses the current levels of Local Authority socio-cultural planning provision and guidelines for event management in Ireland. To achieve this, a content analysis approach was used to illustrate which Local Authorities in the Republic of Ireland employed socio-cultural tools and indicators for event management. Accordingly, analysis revealed a lack of Local Authority socio-cultural planning guidelines or policies for event management. However, this offers and opportunity to be improved by implementing and applying best practice indicators in socio-cultural policies and guidelines for event management in Ireland

Polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based carbon hollow fiber membrane for O2/N2 gas separation

Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) was used as an alternative precursor for making carbon membranes for gas separation. Nitrogen gas pyrolysis system was applied in order to convert the PAN polymer membranes into PAN based carbon hollow fiber membranes. The effect of pyrolysis temperature on the separation performance of carbon membranes for gas separation was studied. The temperature range from 500-800°C was studied during pyrolysis process. The resultant carbon hollow fiber membranes were tested with pure oxygen and nitrogen as test gases. The highest selectivity of PAN carbon membrane for O2/N2 separation is about 1. These permeation data represents the first reported data for PAN as a precursor in literature. Such data can be a useful guide to tailor made the separation performance of PAN based carbon membrane in the future

Fabrication of carbon membranes for gas separation - a review

Carbon membrane materials are becoming more important in the new era of membrane technology for gas separation due to their higher selectivity, permeability and stability in corrosive and high temperature operations. Carbon membranes can be produced by pyrolysis of a suitable polymeric precursor under controlled conditions. This paper reviews the fabrication aspects of carbon membranes, which can be divided into six steps: precursor selection, polymeric membrane preparation, pretreatment of the precursor, pyrolysis process, post-treatment of pyrolyzed membranes and module construction. The manipulation of the pretreatment variables, pyrolysis process parameters and post-treatment conditions were shown to provide an opportunity to enhance the separation performance of carbon membranes in the future. By understanding the available methods, one can choose and optimize the best technique during the fabrication of carbon membranes. Furthermore, areas of future potential in carbon membrane research for gas separation were also briefly identified