Modulated nanofiltration process for pesticides treatment.

In Malaysia, little attention has been given to the presence of pesticides in the water source and its adverse effects on human health. These huge amount of pesticides used, especially in agriculture practice, are the emerging contaminants in drinking water supplies. Di Malaysia, terlalu sedikit perhatian telah diberikan kepada kehadiran racun serangga dalam sumber air dan kesan buruknya terhadap kesihatan manusia. Amaun besar racun serangga yang digunakan, terutamanya dalam bidang pertanian, telah menjadi bahan pencemar yang muncul dalam bekalan air minuman

Solvent-Free Isoamyl Acetate Production via Enzymatic Esterification

Isoamyl acetate is an organic compound which is mainly used as flavor additive in food industries. Traditionally, the food flavor has been produced by extraction from plants, followed by chemical synthesis route which then shifted to biocatalytic route due to consumer’s awareness and inclination toward natural products. This study was carried out to examine the reaction synthesis between acetic anhydride and isoamyl alcohol in the presence of Candida antarctica Lipase-B (CALB) as a catalyst in solvent-free system (SFS). Results show that two reactions took place between acetic anhydride and isoamyl alcohol. The effect of different reaction parameters on the final yield of isoamyl acetate and the optimization of process parameters using a statistical tool were also investigated with response surface methodology (RSM). It was found that the optimum isoamyl acetate yield is at reaction temperature 30°C, acid/alcohol molar ratio 0.10, and enzyme loading 4.14%. The regression coefficient for optimization based on RSM was 0.9961. Errors resulted from model validation is less than 1% and is acceptable for real-life application. RSM model and first principle model were selected to determine the reaction kinetics and yield of reaction for isoamyl acetate. The results showed that RSM model provides a good predication of the esterification system with R2 value of 0.90

Synthesize of nanoporous ceramic membrane with Bimodal pore size distribution using nanosized template.

Walaupun membran seramik mempunyai rintangan yang tinggi terhadap haba dan bahan kimia, kebolehtelapannya adalah lebih rendah berbanding dengan membran organik. Selain daripada mengurangkan ketebalan membran yang akan menyebabkan kecacatan, membran seramik dioptimumkan dalam kajian ini dengan memperkenalkan membran seramik berliang dwimod yang dipencontohkan dengan sfera polistirena bersaiz nano. Although ceramic membranes possess great resistance toward heat and chemicals, the permeability of ceramic membranes is relatively low compared to organic membranes. Instead of reducing membrane thickness which induces defects; the ceramic membrane was optimized in this study by introducing bimodal porous ceramic membrane templated by nanosized polystyrene spheres

Preliminary Study on The Effect of Inlet Pressure of Standard Slit Interdigital Micro Mixer Towards Mixing by Computational Fluid Dynamics

The aim of this work is to visualize the velocity profile and concentration profile of the mixing element of standard slit interdigital micro mixer (SSIMM) by simulating it in computational fluid dynamic (CFD)

Experiential Learning via Open-Ended Laboratory Initiatives

Conceptual mapping of existing knowledge on previous subject learned with the new knowledge can be accentuated using experiential learning methodologies. Open-ended laboratory (OEL) initiative exemplifies the intended outcome of experiential learning cycle where the learners encounter new experiences via laboratory experiments, reflecting the observation made interconnecting the inconsistencies between experience and understanding. This provides a solid basis for the learners to create or modify existing abstract concept of the experiments undertaken. These experiences will be put into context where the learners actively and adaptively experimenting and integrating previous knowledge with the new knowledge and put into practice by developing appropriate experimental procedures in order to achieve the set objectives given for a particular problem statement. This chapter illustrates the concept of open-ended laboratory (problem based), describing the transition of traditional laboratory (TL) to problem-based learning experience via experiential learning methodologies. The methodologies in developing the OEL in a chemical engineering laboratory course and their implementation in a process control laboratory setup were also outlined. The transition of traditional to problem-based findings and course outcomes attainments were investigated and measured using appropriate tools. The challenges and difficulties in implementing OEL were described and analyzed with data obtained from the experiences of conducting OEL in the School of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia

Computational Fluid Dynamics of Mixing Performance in Microchannel

In microchannel, fluid viscous effect becomes dominant, and the micro-flow typically falls in laminar regime. Mixing of fluid in the absence of turbulence is a slow molecular process as it is solely dependent on diffusion. Fast and complete mixing of relevant fluids is of crucial importance in many chemical engineering processes, thus computational fluid dynamics simulation on mixing in microchannel is the main topic in this chapter. The simulation was based on laminar flow and convective diffusion equation model. The factors affecting the mixing performance in microchannel was further simulated. The finding provides some insight of transport phenomena on mixing in microchannel

Nonlinear process modeling of pH neutralization process in CSTR using,selective combination of multiple neural Networks.

pH control problem is very important in many chemical and biological systems and especially in waste treatment plants. The neutralization is very fast and occurs as a result of a simple reaction. However, from the control point of view it is very difficult problem to handle because of its high nonlinearity due to the varying gain and varying dynamics with respect to the operating point. Masalah pengawalan pH adalah amat penting dalam kebanyakan proses kimia mahupun biologi terutamanya dalam sistem rawatan air sisa. Dalam sistem ini, proses peneutralan berlaku begitu pantas dan hanya disebabkan oleh tindakbalas yang ringkas

Applying the Taguchi Method to Optimise the Size of Silica Nanoparticles Entrapped with Rifampicin for a Drug Delivery System

The aim of this study was to optimise the experimental conditions for the synthesis of silica nanoparticles. In achieving this, the amount of butanol, the amount of surfactant, the amount of silica precursor, the synthesis temperature and the agitation speed were optimised by applying the Taguchi orthogonal arrays method. The optimal synthesis conditions for silica nanoparticle production were a temperature of 50°C, 6 ml butanol, 7 ml Tween 80, 3 ml trimethoxyvinylsilane (TMVS), and an agitation speed of 320 rpm. The nanoparticle size was characterised to optimise the synthesis conditions and determined to be smaller than 100 nm using a Malvern Zetasizer Nano ZS and a transmission electron microscope (TEM)

Process Modelling of Isoamyl Acetate Synthesis Catalysed by Lipase from Candida antarctica in a Solvent-free System

The objective of this work is to propose a reaction mechanism and develop a model for the synthesis of isoamyl acetate from isoamyl alcohol and acetate anhydride by using lipase from Candida antarctica in a solvent-free system. Ping-Pong Bi-Bi reaction mechanism with acetic anhydride and acetic acid inhibition is found to be the mechanism which is able to describe this reaction. Unknown parameters of the model developed are obtained by minimising deviation of model prediction from experimental result and it is performed by the Solver Tool in Microsoft Excel. The model prediction is found to match the experimental data quite well (average percentage error = 8.08%