Reactive Extraction For The Synthesis Of Fame/Faee From Jatropha Curcas L. Seeds

Owing to the non-edible nature and suitability for cultivation in local tropical climate in Malaysia, Jatropha oil (Jatropha curcas) is believed to be a potential oil source for biodiesel production after palm oil. Biodiesel from Jatropha curcas L. seed is conventionally produced via two steps method; extraction of oil and subsequent esterification/transesterification to fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) or commonly known as biodiesel. Contrary, in this research work, a single step in-situ extraction, esterification and transesterification (or collectively known as reactive extraction) of Jatropha curcas L. seed to biodiesel was studied. The Jatropha seed used in this study was found to have a moisture and oil content of 5.39% and 54.4% respectively, while the extracted oil was found to have high free fatty acid (FFA) content. In the preliminary study, this research work began by studying the effect of different Jatropha seed size and moisture content on the reactive extraction process

Studies on The Sulfonated Carbon Nanotubes Catalyst and Membrane Reactor for Biodiesel Production

Tumpuan kajian ini ialah penghasilan biodiesel dengan menggunakan sulfonat tiub-nano karbon dinding berlapis (s-MWCNTs) sebagai pemangkin dan reaktor membran jenis pervaporasi sebagai teknologi pertukaran. Pada mulanya, s-MWCNTs disintesis dan diguna untuk menukar sulingan asid lemak sawit (PFAD) kepada biodiesel. Hasilan biodiesel yang dicapai oleh s-MWCNTs yang disediakan melalui rawatan haba dengan asid sulfurik pekat, in-situ pempolimeran asetik anhydride dan asid sulfurik, penguraian haba ammonium sulfat ((NH4)2SO4) dan in-situ pempolimeran poli(natrium4-stirenasulfonat) ialah masing-masing 78.1 %, 85.8 %, 88.0 % dan 93.4 %. Penguraian haba (NH4)2SO4 ialah kaedah yang paling sesuai dalam penyediaan s-MWCNTs kerana ia adalah satu kaedah yang mudah dan bebas asid. Seterusnya, kesan kepekatan larutan (NH4)2SO4 dan tempoh ultrasonikasi MWCNTs dalam larutan (NH4)2SO4 dikaji dan dioptimumkan. Prestasi s-MWCNTs yang terbaik boleh diperolehi dengan ultrasonik campuran MWCNTs tulen dalam 10 % berat larutan (NH4)2SO4 selama 10 minit dan dipanaskan pada suhu 235 °C selama 30 minit. s-MWCNTs yang disediakan melalui cara ini memaparkan kestabilan haba dan penyebaran di dalam metanol yang baik serta mempunyai kawasan permukaan Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) dan diameter liang yang besar. Kemudian, s-MWCNTs yang telah dioptimumkan diguna untuk kajian proses, kajian kinetik, penggunaan dan penjanaan semula pemangkin untuk menunjukkan potensi s-MWCNTs sebagai pemangkin dalam penghasilan biodiesel. Kajian proses termasuk nisbah metanol kepada PFAD (8 – 30), pemuatan pemangkin (1 – 3 % berat), suhu tindak balas (80 – 200 ºC) dan masa bertindak balas (1 – 5 jam). Hasilan biodiesel setinggi 93.5 diperolehi pada nisbah metanol kepada PFAD 20, 3 % berat pemangkin, suhu 170 ºC dan masa bertindak balas selama 2 jam. s-MWCNTs menunjuk aktiviti pemangkinan yang baik dengan hasilan biodiesel melebihi 75 % walaupun selepas penggunaan kelima. Penjanaan s-MWCNTs (setelah 5 kitaran) dengan asid sulfurik berjaya memulih aktiviti pemangkinan s-MWCNTs ke paras asalnya. Model kinetik pseudo-homogen bagi esterifikasi PFAD dengan metanol diterbit berdasarkan keputusan eksperimen. Faktor praeksponen, haba molar dan tenaga pengaktifan untuk tindak balas esterifikasi ialah 1.9 × 102 L mol-1min-1, 84.1 kJ mol-1 and 45.8 kJ mol-1 masing-masing. Seterusnya, poliimeda, kopoli(1,5-naftalena/3,5-asidbenzoik-2,2’-bis(3,4-dikarboksifenil) heksafluoropropanadimeda (6FDA-NDA/DABA) disintesis dan diubah-suai dengan perangkaian silang pasa suhu tinggi untuk dijadikan membran dalam reaktor membran. Dalam masa tindak balas selama 10 jam, membran polyimide 6FDA-NDA/DABA yang dirangkai silang berjaya menyingkirkan 94.8 % air yang dihasilkan dalam tindak balas esterifikasi. Peratus penyingkiran air yang tinggi oleh membran poliimeda ini telah mencetuskan peningkatan sebanyak 17.9 % dalam hasilan biodiesel yang dicapai oleh reaktor membran berbanding dengan reaktor kelompok di bawah keadaan tindak balas yang sama. Membran poliimeda 6FDA-NDA/DABA yang dirangkai silang merupakan membran bersifat hidrofilik yang menunjukkan darjah pengampulan yang boleh diabaikan pada larutan tindak balas, dan kestabilan haba yang tinggi pada suhu serta tekanan tindak balas yang tinggi. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This study focused on the synthesis of biodiesel using sulfonated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (s-MWCNTs) as catalyst and pervaporation membrane reactor as the conversion technology. First, s-MWCNTs were synthesized and utilized as catalysts to transform palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) into biodiesel. The biodiesel yields achieved by the s-MWCNTs prepared via thermal treatment with concentrated sulfuric acid, the in situ polymerization of acetic anhydride and sulfuric acid, the thermal decomposition of ammonium sulfate ((NH4)2SO4) and the in situ polymerization of poly(sodium4-styrenesulfonate) were 78.1 %, 85.8 %, 88.0 % and 93.4 %, respectively. Sulfonation via the thermal decomposition of (NH4)2SO4 was the most suitable method to prepare s-MWCNTs because it is a facile and acid-free method. Next, the effects of the concentration of (NH4)2SO4 solution and the ultrasonication period of MWCNTs in the (NH4)2SO4 solution were studied and optimized. The results showed that the best performance of the s-MWCNTs was obtained by ultrasonicating the purified MWCNTs in a 10 wt% (NH4)2SO4 solution for 10 min and heating at 235 °C for 30 min. s-MWCNTs prepared by this method demonstrated good thermal stability, good dispersibility in methanol and high Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area coupled with a large pore width. Then, the optimized s-MWCNTs were subjected to process parameters study, kinetic study, catalyst reusability and regeneration study to reveal the potential of s-MWCNTs as a catalyst for biodiesel production. The process parameters studied included the methanol-to-PFAD ratio (8 – 30), catalyst loading (1 – 3 wt %), reaction temperature (80 – 200 ºC) and reaction time (1 – 5 h). A high FAME yield of 93.5 % was obtained at a methanol-to-PFAD ratio of 20, catalyst loading of 3 wt %, reaction temperature of 170 ºC and reaction time of 2 h. The s-MWCNTs exhibited good catalytic activity, with a FAME yield higher than 75 % even after 5 repeated runs. The regeneration of the spent s-MWCNTs (after 5 runs) with sulfuric acid was able to restore the catalytic activity to its original level. A pseudo-homogeneous kinetic model for the esterification of PFAD with methanol using s-MWCNTs as a catalyst was then developed based on the experimental results. The pre-exponential factor, molar heat and activation energy for the esterification were found to be 1.9 × 102 L mol-1min-1, 84.1 kJ mol-1 and 45.8 kJ mol-1, respectively. Then, the polyimide, copoly(1,5-naphthalene/3,5-benzoicacid-2,2’-bis(3,4-dicarboxyphenyl) hexafluoropropanedimide (6FDA-NDA/DABA) was synthesized and modified via thermal cross-linking to serve as a membrane in membrane reactor. At 10 h of reaction time, the thermally cross-linked 6FDA-NDA/DABA polyimide membrane was able to remove 94.8 % of the generated water from the reaction mixture. The high removal percentage of water by the polyimide membrane has triggered a 17.9 % increment of FAME yield achieved by pervaporation membrane reactor as compared to the FAME yield achieved by the batch reactor under the same reaction conditions. The thermally cross-linked polyimide membrane was a hydrophilic membrane which demonstrated negligible swelling degree in the reaction mixture and high thermal stability under high reaction temperature and pressure

Oil Palm Biomass As A Sustainable Energy Source: A Malaysian Case Study.

The latest scientific data confirmed that the earth's climate is rapidly changing. Therefore, it has been widely accepted worldwide that global warming is by far the greatest threat and challenge in the new millennium. The main factor that causes global warming is the release of greenhouse gases to the environment

Review on Phytoremediation Potential of Floating Aquatic Plants for Heavy Metals: A Promising Approach

Water pollution due to heavy metals has become a serious environmental concern due to their hazardous properties. Since conventional water remediation techniques are generally ineffective and non-environmentally friendly, phytoremediation has gained increasing attention from worldwide researchers and scientists due to its cost-effectiveness and environmental friendliness. Hence, this review first discussed soil and water remediations. Phytoremediation can be divided into five techniques to remove heavy metals from the polluted environment, namely, phytostabilization (phytosequestration), phytodegradation (phytotransformation), phytofiltration (rhizofiltration), phytoextraction (phytoaccumulation), and phytovolatilization. Four common floating aquatic plants (accumulator plants), such as duckweed (Lemna minor), water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes), water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), and watermoss (Salvinia) were discussed in detail due to their great capability in absorbing the metal ions by their roots and further translocating the metal ions to the aerial parts. Furthermore, the parameter studies, such as optimum pH and temperature of the water, exposure duration, initial metal concentration, water salinity, and the addition of chelating agents, were evaluated. The absorption kinetics of the plants was discussed in detail. In short, phytoremediation is a promising green and sustainable water remediation approach. However, further research is necessary to enhance its practicability and performance at large-scale implementation

Utilisation of biomass wastes based activated carbon supported heterogeneous acid catalyst for biodiesel production

This study evaluated the utilisation of biomass wastes as catalyst supports by comparing the catalytic performance of papaya seed, empty fruit bunch (EFB) and corncob biomass waste derived carbon based acid catalysts applied for biodiesel production through esterification reaction of palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) and methanol. Arylation of 4-benzenediazonium sulfonate synthesis method was able to sulfonate the catalyst support efficiently. The activated carbon (AC) synthesised possessed high porosity with surface area ranged between 639.68 and 972.66 m2/g. The effect of catalyst synthesising condition including carbonisation temperature (600–1000 °C), sulfonation time (0.5–2.5 h) and sulfanilic acid to AC weight ratio (3:1–13:1) towards the FAME yield and free fatty acid (FFA) conversion were evaluated. At the optimum catalyst synthesis conditions, corncob waste derived sulfonated AC catalyst exhibited the highest FAME yield and FFA conversion of 72.09% and 93.49%, respectively. Reusability study showed that corncob waste derived sulfonated AC catalyst was able to achieve relatively high FAME yield at the first two reaction cycles. The esterification reaction followed the irreversible pseudo-homogeneous reaction model. The high catalytic efficiency of the catalyst had shown its high potential to fit into the cost-effective and sustainable framework for biodiesel production. © 2020 Elsevier Lt

Investigation on the potential of various biomass waste for the synthesis of carbon material for energy storage application

The metal–air battery (MAB) has been a promising technology to store energy, with its outstanding energy density, as well as safety features. Yet, the current material used as air cathode is costly and not easily available. This study investigated a few biomass wastes with good potential, including the oil palm empty fruit bunch and garlic peel, as well as the oil palm frond, to determine a sufficiently environmentally-safe, yet efficient, precursor to produce carbon material as an electro-catalyst for MAB. The precursors were carbonized at different temperatures (450, 600, and 700 °C) and time (30, 45, and 60 min) followed by chemical (KOH) activation to synthesize the carbon material. The synthesized materials were subsequently studied through chemical, as well as physical characterization. It was found that PF presented superior tunability that can improve electrical conductivity, due to its ability to produce amorphous carbon particles with a smaller size, consisting of hierarchical porous structure, along with a higher specific surface area of up to 777.62 m2g−1, when carbonized at 600 °C for 60 min. This paper identified that PF has the potential as a sustainable and cost-efficient alternative to carbon nanotube (CNT) as an electro-catalyst for energy storage application, such as MAB

A Novel Tri-Functionality pH-Magnetic-Photocatalytic Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Polyoxometalates Augmented Microspheres for Polluted Water Treatment

The severe water pollution from effluent dyes threatens human health. This study created pH-magnetic-photocatalytic polymer microspheres to conveniently separate the photocatalyst nanoparticles from the treated water by applying an external magnetic field. While fabricating magnetic nanoparticles’ (MNPs) microspheres, incorporating 0.5 wt.% iron oxide (Fe3O4) showed the best magnetophoretic separation ability, as all the MNPs microspheres were attracted toward the external magnet. Subsequently, hybrid organic–inorganic polyoxometalates (HPOM), a self-synthesized photocatalyst, were linked with the functionalized magnetic nanoparticles (f-MNPs) to prepare augmented magnetic-photocatalytic microspheres. The photodegradation dye removal efficiency of the augmented magnetic-photocatalytic microspheres (f-MNPs-HPOM) was then compared with that of the commercial titanium dioxide (TiO2) photocatalyst (f-MNPs-TiO2). Results showed that f-MNPs-HPOM microspheres with 74 ± 0.7% photocatalytic removal efficiency better degraded methylene orange (MO) than f-MNPs-TiO2 (70 ± 0.8%) at an unadjusted pH under UV-light irradiation for 90 min. The excellent performance was mainly attributed to the lower band-gap energy of HPOM (2.65 eV), which required lower energy to be photoactivated under UV light. The f-MNPs-HPOM microspheres demonstrated excellent reusability and stability in the photo-decolorization of MO, as the microspheres retained nearly the same removal percentage throughout the three continuous cycles. The degradation rate was also found to follow the pseudo-first-order kinetics. Furthermore, f-MNPs-HPOM microspheres were pH-responsive in the photodegradation of MO and methylene blue (MB) at pH 3 (acidic) and pH 9 (alkaline). Overall, it was demonstrated that using HPOM photocatalysts in the preparation of magnetic-photocatalytic microspheres resulted in better dye degradation than TiO2 photocatalysts

A Novel Tri-Functionality pH-Magnetic-Photocatalytic Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Polyoxometalates Augmented Microspheres for Polluted Water Treatment

The severe water pollution from effluent dyes threatens human health. This study created pH-magnetic-photocatalytic polymer microspheres to conveniently separate the photocatalyst nanoparticles from the treated water by applying an external magnetic field. While fabricating magnetic nanoparticles’ (MNPs) microspheres, incorporating 0.5 wt.% iron oxide (Fe3O4) showed the best magnetophoretic separation ability, as all the MNPs microspheres were attracted toward the external magnet. Subsequently, hybrid organic–inorganic polyoxometalates (HPOM), a self-synthesized photocatalyst, were linked with the functionalized magnetic nanoparticles (f-MNPs) to prepare augmented magnetic-photocatalytic microspheres. The photodegradation dye removal efficiency of the augmented magnetic-photocatalytic microspheres (f-MNPs-HPOM) was then compared with that of the commercial titanium dioxide (TiO2) photocatalyst (f-MNPs-TiO2). Results showed that f-MNPs-HPOM microspheres with 74 ± 0.7% photocatalytic removal efficiency better degraded methylene orange (MO) than f-MNPs-TiO2 (70 ± 0.8%) at an unadjusted pH under UV-light irradiation for 90 min. The excellent performance was mainly attributed to the lower band-gap energy of HPOM (2.65 eV), which required lower energy to be photoactivated under UV light. The f-MNPs-HPOM microspheres demonstrated excellent reusability and stability in the photo-decolorization of MO, as the microspheres retained nearly the same removal percentage throughout the three continuous cycles. The degradation rate was also found to follow the pseudo-first-order kinetics. Furthermore, f-MNPs-HPOM microspheres were pH-responsive in the photodegradation of MO and methylene blue (MB) at pH 3 (acidic) and pH 9 (alkaline). Overall, it was demonstrated that using HPOM photocatalysts in the preparation of magnetic-photocatalytic microspheres resulted in better dye degradation than TiO2 photocatalysts

Effects of Organic Solvents on the Organosolv Pretreatment of Degraded Empty Fruit Bunch for Fractionation and Lignin Removal

Empty fruit bunch (EFB), which is one of the primary agricultural wastes generated from the palm oil plantation, is generally discharged into the open environment or ends up in landfills. The utilization of this EFB waste for other value-added applications such as activated carbon and biofuels remain low, despite extensive research efforts. One of the reasons is that the EFB is highly vulnerable to microbial and fungi degradation under natural environment owning to its inherent characteristic of high organic matter and moisture content. This can rapidly deteriorate its quality and results in poor performance when processed into other products. However, the lignocellulosic components in degraded EFB (DEFB) still largely remain intact. Consequently, it could become a promising feedstock for production of bio-products after suitable pretreatment with organic solvents. In this study, DEFB was subjected to five different types of organic solvents for the pretreatment, including ethanol, ethylene glycol, 2-propanol, acetic acid and acetone. The effects of temperature and residence time were also investigated during the pretreatment. Organosolv pretreatment in ethylene glycol (50 v/v%) with the addition of NaOH (3 v/v%) as an alkaline catalyst successfully detached 81.5 wt.% hemicellulose and 75.1 wt.% lignin. As high as 90.4 wt.% cellulose was also successfully retrieved at mild temperature (80 °C) and short duration (45 min), while the purity of cellulose in treated DEFB was recorded at 84.3%. High-purity lignin was successfully recovered from the pretreatment liquor by using sulfuric acid for precipitation. The amount of recovered lignin from alkaline ethylene glycol liquor was 74.6% at pH 2.0. The high recovery of cellulose and lignin in DEFB by using organosolv pretreatment rendered it as one of the suitable feedstocks to be applied in downstream biorefinery processes. This can be further investigated in more detailed studies in the future

Assessing the effects of operating parameters on flocculation of

Harvesting of microalgae is one of the main challenges in the production of biodiesel due to the small cell size of microalgae cells. Chemical flocculants have been generally used in the harvesting of microalgae, but they are harmful to the environment and relatively costly. Therefore, the utilization of waste biomass in producing bioflocculants is the current research niche to introduce environmental-friendly harvesting method and to minimize the cost of biodiesel production. Thus, in the current work, flocculation Chlorella vulgaris using mild acid-extracted bioflocculants from miscellaneous waste biomass (cockle shell, peanut shell and banana peel) were conducted by varying the pH values, the dosage of bioflocculants and temperatures. Cockle shell bioflocculant demonstrated the best flocculation performance, with highest flocculation efficiency of 85.2% compared to the peanut shell bioflocculant with flocculation efficiency of 37% and banana peel bioflocculant with flocculation efficiency of 16.3%. The optimum flocculation conditions for cockle shell bioflocculant were determined as follow: pH 9, bioflocculant dosage of 140mg/L and temperature of 30oC. The findings herein presented practical applicability of bioflocculants extracted from cockle shell for safe, rapid and inexpensive microalgae harvesting