The Relationship among Petroleum Prices, Biodiesel Demand, and Malaysian Palm Oil Prices: Evidence from Simultaneous Equation Approach

The prices of petroleum and palm oil appear to be moving in tandem, a trend that has not been observed before. Oil prices are thought to have a direct effect on agricultural prices. This paper examines the relationship among world petroleum prices, biodiesel demand, and palm oil prices in Malaysia. To this end, a market model is formulated, representing palm oil supply, import, world excess demand, domestic consumption, export demand, rest-of-the-world excess supply, and palm oil prices. Using annual data for the period 1976–2010, a system of equations of eight structural equations and four identities is estimated through the two-stage least squares (2SLS) method. The simultaneous equation results suggest that world petroleum price significantly affects world palm oil price. Hence, our results support neutrality of palm oil commodity markets in Malaysia to direct effects of oil price changes. The elasticity of Malaysian palm oil domestic price with respect to biodiesel demand is then obtained. Results suggest that biodiesel demand has a positive impact on the Malaysian palm oil domestic price. Thus, significant growth in biodiesel demand is important in explaining Malaysian palm oil price determination

Mechanical characterization of ABS recyling based electric and electronic equipment (WEEE) by using injection molding

Nowadays, recycling process become more and more importantly mostly due to the impressive increase in the production of waste and to growing attention to the environment friendly. Increasing of demand of new products and waste electric and electronic of waste polymer from many sectors is being recycled to reduce an economic, environment and energy issues. According to Rosa et al., (2010) and Tarantili et al., (2010), the term of polymer usually refers to thermoplastic material rather than thermosets and some typical representative’s acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer (ABS), polycarbonates (PC), polyamides (PA) and poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET)

A compact flat lens antenna with aperture-coupled patch elements

A compact 7 x 7 flat lens antenna design for Xband applications is presented in this paper. A new design with aperture-coupled E-shaped patch elements at 10 GHz is simulated and analyzed. This antenna design is realized by using two back-to-back printed patches with slotted common ground plane and feed horn antenna. The transmission loss obtained of 2.2 dB is sufficiently low. A 320º transmission phase range for the E-shaped patch unit cell is achieved with less than 1.5 dB of deviation in the transmission loss level.The proposed design uses a simple technique and less manufacturing complexity for transmission phase control

Impact of biodiesel demand on the Malaysian palm oil export: A simultaneous equations approach

In the last few years, against the background of increasing concerns regarding the energy supply security as well as environmental concern, there has been an increase in interest on renewable energy sources. This has resulted in some countries looking for bio-based alternative energies which lead to the increase in demand for bio-based feedstocks such as palm and rapeseed oil (for bio-diesel) and sugar cane and corn (for ethanol). The European Union (EU) Renewable Energy Directive requires reduction of green house gases (GHG) emissions by at least 35 percent compared with fossil fuels, so that biodiesel is classfied as "sustainable" and help to spur growth of green technologies. One of the new elements in the palm oil market is the growing demand for this commodity as a feedstock to biodiesel production. This will also put Malaysia in a better light on the international front for taking the effort to reduce carbon emissions. In line with this, the palm oil sector in Malaysia will be able to match the New Economic Model's (NEM) major goals of high income, sustainability and inclusiveness. This new development is affecting the dynamics of the market, in particular, the supply and demand sectors of this commodity. This paper seeks to examine the impact of biodiesel demand on the Malaysian palm oil export. This paper proposes a structural econometric model consisting of nine structural equations and four identities. The model has been estimated by two stage least squares method using annual data for the period 1976-2010. The specification of the structural model is based on a series of assumptions about general economic conditions, agricultural policies and technological change

Impact of Biodiesel Demand on the Malaysian Palm Oil Industry: A Simultaneous Equations Approach

The European Union (EU) Renewable Energy Directive set a target of 20 % share of energy from the renewable sources and 10% share of renewable energy specifically in the transport sector. This has resulted in some countries looking for bio-based alternative energies which lead to the increase in demand for bio-based feedstocks such as palm and rapeseed oil (for biodiesel) and sugar cane and corn (for ethanol). One of the new elements in the palm oil market is the growing demand for this commodity as a feedstock to biodiesel production. This will also put Malaysia in a better light on the international front for taking the effort to reduce carbon emissions. In line with this, the palm oil sector in Malaysia will be able to match the New Economic Model’s (NEM) major goals of high income, sustainability and inclusiveness. This new development is affecting the dynamics of the market, in particular, the supply and demand sectors of this commodity. This paper seeks to examine the impact of biodiesel demand on the Malaysian palm oil industry. This paper proposes a structural econometric model consisting of nine structural equations and four identities. The model has been estimated by the two stage least squares method using annual data for the period 1976–2010.

A review of riverbank and coastal erosion protection structure

Riverbank and coastal erosion are not new issues; it has been occurring globally for a long time. They are the most critical and unpredictable hazard issue, causing the loss of valuable property and land, posing a threat to the closest residents and having an economic impact. This review paper discusses the causes and consequences of riverbank and coastal erosion, and the dominant erosion processes involved. This paper further reviews the effectiveness of the protection method that was successfully being used to protect riverbank and coastal against repeated erosional attacks in Malaysia and its limitations. The last part of this paper reviews the potential of geobag as a rapid protection structure to the riverbank and coastal erosion. This method could prove to be an alternative to traditional rock-fill methods or bioengineering techniques, which are often quite complex and costly

Impact of biodiesel demand on the Malaysian palm oil industry: A simultaneous equations approach

The European Union (EU) Renewable Energy Directive set a target of 20 % share of energy from the renewable sources and 10% share of renewable energy specifically in the transport sector.This has resulted in some countries looking for bio-based alternative energies which lead to the increase in demand for bio-based feedstocks such as palm and rapeseed oil (for biodiesel) and sugar cane and corn (for ethanol).One of the new elements in the palm oil market is the growing demand for this commodity as a feedstock to biodiesel production.This will also put Malaysia in a better light on the international front for taking the effort to reduce carbon emissions.In line with this, the palm oil sector in Malaysia will be able to match the New Economic Model’s (NEM) major goals of high income, sustainability and inclusiveness.This new development is affecting the dynamics of the market, in particular, the supply and demand sectors of this commodity.This paper seeks to examine the impact of biodiesel demand on the Malaysian palm oil industry.This paper proposes a structural econometric model consisting of nine structural equations and four identities.The model has been estimated by the two stage least squares method using annual data for the period 1976–2010.The specification of the structural model is based on a series of assumptions about general economic conditions, agricultural policies and technological change.The study indicates that counterfactual simulation of a sustained 30% increase in biodiesel demand predicts a positive increase (2.48%) in palm oil exports for non-biodiesel, 13% increase in the domestic price of palm oil and a marginal increase in production.An increase in export demand would make Malaysia more competitive regionally and globally with benefits accruing to all Malaysians.Apart from this, the biodiesel demand income is also sustainable and will position the nation on the right path towards a high income country by 202

Evaluation of performance energy collection using five types of solar flat plate collector

Solar radiation is emitted from the sun and collected on the surface of the earth by solar collectors. Solar energy can be transformed into useful energy in the structure of thermal power. One of the foremosteconomic always is to reapheat by exploitationsolar Flat Plate Collector (FPC). The solar collector's function is to heat water from the atmosphere. Heated water can be used for domestic and industrial uses, etc. The types of FPCs involved in this study are, for the colour’s FPC (black collector versus white collector), material’s FPC (copper collector versus polypropylene collector) and glazing’s FPC (double glazing collector versus single glazing collector) by using the Energy Solar Trainer. The present work is aimed to predict the performance of FPC tested for three different days with different types of FPC using an application of water heating The sky was almost clear with an ambient temperature in the range 20o C-36.2o C. Readings are collected from 9.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. with the solar radiation intensity, I = 722 W/m2 and flow rate fixed at 2 Lm-1. The result shows that the efficiency of FPCs (colour, material and glazing), the colour’s FPC, and black collector is higher than white collector. While for material’s FPC, copper collector is higher than polypropylene collector. For the glazing’s FPC, double glazing collector is higher than single collector. For the overall FPCs efficiency, double glazing collector is the highest compared to others FPC

Noise study of Air-conditioning system at UTHM Pagoh: a facility management approach

Human spend most of their time indoor. So, the quality of indoor environment should be assessed and improved ensure a comfortable and safe indoor environment. However, in UTHM Pagoh there do the building occupants face a major facility problem, which is the noise, coming from the air-conditioning system. In this study, the objectives are to identity the causes and the effects of air-conditioning system noise in UTHM Pagoh and to propose the solution to control the problem. There are three main method used to verify the objectives. The first one is by questionnaire distribution to all building occupants. It is found that their physiology, communication and performance are affected by the noise produced. Secondly, physical data were measured using sound level test. It is found that the Total Average Noise Level in all laboratories exceeded the standard by WHO and ASHRAE, which is 55dBA. Lastly, the interview sessions were conducted to determine the causes and the effects of the noise. Through these interviews, it is found that the causes of the noise are location of air-conditioning blower and return air duct from the room that are too close to the laboratories. The solution listed is design stage control. The solutions proposed is installation of noise insulation using acoustic material and relocation of the return air duct from the room to a higher position

Parameter selection in data-driven fault detection and diagnosis of the air conditioning system

Data-driven fault detection and diagnosis system (FDD) has been proven as simple yet powerful enough to identify soft and abrupt faults in the air conditioning system, leading to energy saving. However, the challenge of data driven FDD is to obtain reliable operation data from the actual building. Therefore, a lab-scaled centralised chilled water air conditioning system was successfully developed in this paper. All necessary sensors were installed to generate reliable operation data for the data- driven FDD. Nevertheless, if a practical system is considered, the number of sensors required would be extensive as it depends on the number of rooms in the building. Hence, parameters impact in the dataset were also investigated to identify critical parameters for fault classifications. The analysis results had identified four critical parameters for data- driven FDD: the rooms' temperature, TTCx, supplied chilled water temperature, TCHWS, supplied chilled water flow rate, VCHWS, and supplied cooled water temperature, TCWS. Results showed that the data-driven FDD successfully diagnosed all six conditions correctly with the proposed parameters for more than 92.3% accuracy; only 0.6% - 3.4% differed fromthe original dataset's accuracy. Therefore, the proposed parameters can reduce the number of sensors used for practical buildings, thus reducing installation costs without compromising the FDD accuracy