Characteristic of pineapple leaf fibre using different methods at minimum level with the assist of mechanical breaker

Pineapple cultivation has resulted in wastage of pineapple leaf fibre (PALF) where it can be used as renewable natural resources. PALF is able to be used in various textile and non-textile products. However, to gain fibre as raw material requires suitable processing methods. Several methods were used in this experiment to identify suitable process using minimal resources. There were four methods used to produce open PALF which are unchanged extracted PALF, unchanged extracted PALF and going through PALF breaker, extracted PALF going water retting for 4 days and extracted PALF treated with 1% NaOH and going through PALF breaker. All PALFs were opened using Shirley Trash Analyser, and analysed by looking at its trash and microscopy. The results found that the assist of water retting and NaOH treatment and going through PALF breaker give better results for textile and non-textile application

Effect of maltodextrin concentration and slurry temperature on pineapple powder using ultrasonic spray dryer

In order to prolong the shelf life of the pineapple, one of the methods that can be applied is spray drying. Ultrasonic Spray Drying (USD) relies on an electromechanical device that vibrates at a very high frequency. The main objective of this work is to study the effect of maltodextrin concentrations and pre-heat slurry temperature in order to improve pineapple powder yield and moisture content. The spray dryer model used was equipped with ultrasonic system and the samples were run at different preheat slurry temperatures of 30° C, 40°C, and 50°C. Maltodextrin (MD) was used as a carrier agent at different concentrations ranging from 10% to 30% w/w. The pineapple powder then was analyzed for its yield, moisture content and colour. It was found that at higher pre-heat slurry temperature and MD concentration, the drying yield of pineapple powder had also increased. The moisture content of pineapple powder decreased with an increase of preheat slurry temperatures and MD concentration. The pineapple was found to be spray dried best at 40°C pre-heat slurry temperature with 20% w/w MD concentration highest yield recorded was 127 g. It was observed that the lightness colour of the powder is the highest at 40°C of slurry temperature and 20% w/w MD concentration. The pineapple slurry with high water to pineapple ratio resulted in low moisture content. In addition, the result shows that an increased amount of pineapple slurry and MD concentrations gives higher pineapple powder

Characterization of hopanes in surface sediments from Southwest corner of South China Sea: application of PCA utilizing of individual hopanes

Oil pollution has been introduced into the aquatic environment of the South China Sea through anthropogenic activities such as discharging of oil during extraction, transportation and consumption. In order to determine the source of oil pollution in South China Sea, 30 surface sediment samples were collected in 2008 and were analyzed for pentacyclic triterpanes (hopane) by gas chromatography mass spectrometer (GCMS) with m/z 191. This study investigates the utility and limitation of individual hopane in tracing the sources of oil pollution by using Principle Component Analysis (PCA). Characterization the utility of hopane in determining the source of oil pollution has been done by integrating diagnostic ratios of C29/C30 and ΣC31-C35/C30 with PCA. PCA has classified all target components into 3 major principle components prior to determine their importance in identifying the source of oil pollution. From the rotated component pattern, first principle component (63.24% of variability) loaded by 9 target compounds which namely Ts, Tm, 17α(H), 21β(H)- norhopane, 17α(H), 21β(H)- hopane, 22S, 17α(H), 21β(H)- homohopane, 22S, 17α(H), 21β(H)- bishomohopane, 22S, 17α(H), 21β(H)- trishomohopane, 22S, 17α(H), 21β(H)- tetrakishomohopane and 22S, 17α(H) and 21β(H)- pentakishopane. Those individual hopanes listed in PC1 were excellent in tracing both oil pollution as all of them degrade less and generally unaffected by even severe biodegradation. This findings give better understanding for non consideration of both 17β(H), 21α(H)- norhopane, 17β(H), 21α(H)- hopane in determining the origin of oil spill