Used cooking oil as a source for biodiesel blend

With the depleted world petroleum reserves and increase demand for oil as a fuel, it has become imperative to investigate the possibility of using non-fossil fuel as an alternative fuel for diesel engine. Therefore, this paper describes the experimental investigation on possibility of producing biodiesel from used cooking oil and their properties, characteristics and performance as a blended biodiesel for diesel engine at constant speed. Properties analysis of biodiesel from used cooking oil in accordance to the ASTM D6751 specification showed that it fulfilled the requirements of a biodiesel fuel specification. Comparison also conducted between the ordinary diesel as a standard fuel and several set of blended biodiesel range from I% to 5% volume of biodiesel. The properties of blended biodiesel were not much different to the properties of conventional diesel fuel except the density and specific gravity. The density of diesel is 0.8358 gm/cc and the biodiesel is 0.8723 gm/cc. For blended biodiesel, it's slightly increased from 0.8363 gm/cc for I% to 0.8385 gm/cc for 5%. The results from Detroit Deisel Engine performance test showed that the blending fuel sample produced almost the same performance characteristics as compared to conventional diesel. As a result, blended biodiesel with used cooking oil is suitable to be used up to 5% as a fuel for diesel engine at constant speed and gives the same engine performances as conventional diesel fue

Effect of Interphase Region and Neighboring Particles on Electric Field Intensity within Nanocomposite Systems

Recent works show that the presence of the interphase surrounding nanoparticles can improve the dielectric properties of nanocomposites. Also, neighboring particles in the nanocomposites affect the electric field distribution. Therefore, the objective of this paper to model and analyze the effect of onedimensional (1D) nanofillers towards the electric field distribution when the interphase and neighboring are taken into account inside the nanocomposite system. By using Finite Element Method Magnetics (FEMM) 4.2 software, a model of nanocomposites system consists of polymer matrix, nanoparticle filler with interphase and neighboring particles is modeled under the electrostatic problem module. Electric field intensity is observed with different distance between adjacent nanoparticles and interphase region permittivity values. The result obtained show that the presence of the interphase with various permittivity value will result in distorted electric field intensity surrounding a nanoparticle. Furthermore, the electric field intensity also affected when adjacent nanoparticles displaced between each other within nanocomposites

Distribution Voltage in DC Micro-grid System based Solar PV Topologies Configuration in Sarawak, Malaysia

In the past few decade, longhouse communities in the rural area of Sarawak has been experienced the limitation of electricity supplies. Due to geographic of Sarawak, supply electricity to these rural areas from utility grid through transmission lines also will only results in many losses, the initiation of utilize solar as prime sources is favourable solution. The implementation of DC microgrid system for this area will achieved, as the solar PV system is a DC source to generate electrical supply for appliances in longhouse communities. However, the tropical climate and geographical in Sarawak such as the inconsistent solar radiation, changing temperatures, high humidity and heavy rainfall will be the main restrain to implement solar DC microgrid system. Thus, this paper proposes a comprehensive study about the voltage distribution of DC microgrid configuration in order to investigate system the reliability and efficiency. The configuration of DC micro-grid model has been designed using MATLAB Simulink and an experimental presenting the Simulink also has been developed for validation purposes. The obtained simulation and experimental results confirm that the proposed configuration of the ring system with multiple-sources is more reliable and efficient than radial system with multiple-source configuration in terms of DC voltage distribution at different buses. Thus, the proposed configuration is more reliable according to voltage distribution at each buses

MULTI-RESPONSE OPTIMIZATION OF PLASTIC INJECTION MOULDING PROCESS USING GREY RELATIONAL ANALYSIS BASED IN TAGUCHI METHOD

This project investigates the multi-response optimization using grey relational analysis based in Taguchi method of plastic injection mould. Four input process parameters selected are mould temperature, melting temperature, injection time and cooling time. The responses investigated were part weight, shrinkage, warpage, ultimate tensile strength, tensile modulus and percentage of elongation. It is found that the optimum setting parameter generated from multi-response optimization is at run number 4 that are mould temperature at 56oC, melting temperature at 250oC, injection time at 0.7s and cooling time at 15.4s. Result of run number 4 for multi-response optimization for part weight, warpage, shrinkage, tensile ultimate strength, tensile modulus and percentage of elongation are 6.9807g, 0.087mm, 1.73%, 24.732MPa, 981.76MPa and 31.37%, respectively. Multi-response optimization results show that all response results are not higher or lower than experimental results. This is because multi-response optimization normalized all response value. Thus, by implemented multi-response optimization process, the materials characteristics value of plastic part can be predicted

Historical atmospheric pollution trends in Southeast Asia inferred from lake sediment records

Fossil fuel combustion leads to increased levels of air pollution, which negatively affects human health as well as the environment. Documented data for Southeast Asia (SEA) show a strong increase in fossil fuel consumption since 1980, but information on coal and oil combustion before 1980 is not widely available. Spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCPs) and heavy metals, such as mercury (Hg), are emitted as by-products of fossil fuel combustion and may accumulate in sediments following atmospheric fallout. Here we use sediment SCP and Hg records from several freshwater lentic ecosystems in SEA (Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore) to reconstruct long-term, region-wide variations in levels of these two key atmospheric pollution indicators. The age-depth models of Philippine sediment cores do not reach back far enough to date first SCP presence, but single SCP occurrences are first observed between 1925 and 1950 for a Malaysian site. Increasing SCP flux is observed at our sites from 1960 onward, although individual sites show minor differences in trends. SCP fluxes show a general decline after 2000 at each of our study sites. While the records show broadly similar temporal trends across SEA, absolute SCP fluxes differ between sites, with a record from Malaysia showing SCP fluxes that are two orders of magnitude lower than records from the Philippines. Similar trends in records from China and Japan represent the emergence of atmospheric pollution as a broadly-based inter-region environmental problem during the 20th century. Hg fluxes were relatively stable from the second half of the 20th century onward. As catchment soils are also contaminated with atmospheric Hg, future soil erosion can be expected to lead to enhanced Hg flux into surface waters

Fisheries practices and fish diversity in Muda and Beris Lakes: a preliminary survey study

Beris and Muda are two artificial lakes that have shifted from lotic to lentic system. Despite both lakes were created for irrigation and source of drinking water, they provide fish habitat for human consumption. This study was carried out to find out the effect of different management approaches on fish in the studied lakes. Muda Lake was utilized for commercial fisheries; this lake hosts around 50 active fishermen compared to Beris that has all part-time fishermen. The catch and the existence of fish landing centre makes the Muda a successful lake for commercial fisheries. In contrast, Beris Lake has also developed its fisheries activity, but concentrates more on the recreational aspect which is well developed at this lake. The existence of many chalets providing boats for sport fishing makes Beris Lake more successful than Muda Lake. The study found a contrasting impact of introducing different alien species where may cause benefit at Muda Lake such as increasing fish stocks of Tilapia (Orechromis spp.) but developed problems in Beris Lake when Toman (Channa micropeltes) was introduced to this lake which reduced the number of native fish species compared to previous studies. This study finds that different methods of fishery management and the introduction of alien species may affect the fisheries activities and fish diversity in those lakes

Modeling of nanocomposite structures to evaluate the effect of nanoplatelet interphase region on electric field intensity

The effects of the nanoplatelet interphase region on the electric field intensity within a nanocomposite structures are presented in this paper. The modeling of the nanoplatelet and its interphases was performed by using the Finite Element Method Magnetics (FEMM) 4.2 software. Two possible structures of the nanoplatelet were simulated - with and without interphases. In addition, two different models of interphase structures surrounding the nanoplatelet were analyzed - one with rectangular-shaped interphase and the other with circularly-shaped interphase. Both sets of the model interphase were assumed to have different thicknesses and radii. The results showed that the presence of the nanoplatelet interphase affected the electric field intensity of the nanocomposite

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На кажных зразу на кутах на іконачках хрэсцікі мама ставіла мелам. На вокнам потым тры хрэсцікі, і на двярах, і ў хляв