Perceptions of developers in green home project in Kuala Lumpur

Green home is rapidly becoming a strong momentum in the construction industry after recognizing many negative environmental issues & problems and potential social and economical benefits around the world. However, developers still using conventional way to construct the housing. This gives huge impact to the environment and also human health. Meanwhile, there are actually some barriers hinder developers to adopt this in their projects. This study examines the perceptions of the developers in Kuala Lumpur on the future of the green housing sector for the next 20 years, their commitment about green housing and propose solution for improvement green home project in Kuala Lumpur. The methodology used in this study is questionnaire and it is targeted 200 developer’s firms in Kuala Lumpur.The introduction of Green home rating system, improvement of awareness and knowledge among the stakeholders, support from the government and local industry and the effect of competitive advantage would support brighter future. Meanwhile, the status quo in rules and regulation, lack of public interest and demand, organization disinterest, local authority enforcement and project cost escalation would hinder a faster progress. Finally, this study could really help the awareness on environment and in improve the green home project among developers

Behavior of kenaf fiber reinforced recycled aggregate concrete beam

Disposal and treatment of construction and demolition (C&D) wastes are often costly and hazardous to the environment. Their recycling could lead to a greener solution to the environmental conservation. This study utilizes demolished concrete as coarse aggregate often termed as recycled coarse aggregate (RCA) for producing industry quality concrete. Large scale recycling can substantially reduce the consumption of natural aggregate and help preserve the environment. However, in near future, it can raise new challenges. The use of “repeated recycled coarse aggregate” in concrete production can be a viable solution to the growing problem regarding the Construction & Demolition waste disposal. During the development of new generation product like recycled and repeated recycled coarse aggregate concrete, it is essential to investigate the fresh, hardened, and durability properties of concrete to promote and escalate its application in the construction industry. Through adding kenaf fiber into the mixture, it may have prospect to prevent the cracking beams. Four beams are constructed in this research, which are the control beam and the rest beams replaced with 25% of recycled concrete as coarse aggregate added with (0%,1%,2%) volume of kenaf fibers. Kenaf fiber had potential to delay the cracking compared to control beam. However, kenaf fiber reinforced recycled aggregate concrete beams has potential to become more ductility compare with control beam

Lithium adsorption from aqueous solution using aluminum hydroxide: Characterization, optimization by response surface methodology, kinetic modelling, and isotherm studies

The growing need for Lithium (Li) chemicals for industrial application demands finding affordable and environmentally friendly ways of producing them beyond conventional land mining. Adsorption is a promising technique for Li recovery as it selectively extracts Li from aqueous resources at a low cost and with minimal energy requirements. The use of adsorption for Li recovery is important for promoting a circular economy and decreasing natural Li in the environment. Thus, this study aim to assess the efficiency of aluminum hydroxide (Al(OH)3) as an adsorbent for Li recovery from aqueous solution by adjusting the amount of adsorbent, time, Li concentration, and pH. The use of Al(OH)3 provides selective separation of Li ions and can be used as a simple and cost-effective method for purifying Li-containing solutions. The optimal conditions for the adsorption process were determined using the Box-Behnken in response surface methodology (RSM). The findings revealed that the highest removal was anticipated with a 1150 mg/L adsorbent dose, 4.5 pH, 1150 mg/L initial concentration, and 255 minutes contact time. The outcome of the finding supports the use of Al (OH)3 as a suitable choice for recovering Li due to its greater capacity for sorption and higher percentage of Li absorbed. The analysis of the isotherm and kinetic experiment results showed that the Temkin isotherm and the pseudo-first-order model were well-fitting, with R2 values of 0.998 and 0.999, respectively. This study emphasizes the effectiveness of Al(OH)3 in recovering Li and details the optimal adsorption process. As a result, Al(OH)3 has been presumed to be the most suitable choice for Li recovery because it outperforms other available adsorbents with high sorption ability

Pretreated palm oil clinker as an attached growth media for organic matter removal from synthetic domestic wastewater in a sequencing batch reactor

Attached-growth systems are biological wastewater treatment processes with biomass attached to a media for organic matter and nutrient removal from wastewater. In this regard, bioreactors containing biocarriers have been successful by far with few limitations. The impact of bio-carrier materials type and properties on wastewater treatment is one important aspect that needs attention. Different synthetic materials have been utilized. However, this study utilized waste palm oil clinker (POC) as a biocarrier in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) for syntheticdomestic wastewater treatment. This is to work in line with the attainment of sustainable development goals (SDGs). In this study, the POC was used as a biocarrier submerged in the aeration tank of bioreactor A of an attached growth system. Whereas the bioreactor B acts as a control. The overall working volume of the bioreactor systems was 10 L each. The treatment efficiency was measured by differing the hydraulic retention time (HRT) while organic contaminants were monitored. The HRT was varied at 6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 hours with the organic loading rate (OLR) kept constant at 550 mg/L.d. At all conditions of HRT (6–72 hours), minimum and maximum COD removals were up to 80% and 95.4% respectively. The influence of HRT was found to be more affected. Several biokinetic models, that includes the First order and Stover-Kincannon, were fitted to the steady-state data collected at different HRTs. The COD R2 values of 0.9096 and 0.9269 were obtained for reactors A and B, respectively. The maximum removal rate constant (μmax) and the saturation value constant (KB) for the Stover-Kincannon, were observed as 0.0005 g/L.d and 1 g/L.d, respectively for the bioreactor A. Throughout the study, POC incorporated SBR system demonstrated higher treatment efficiency compared to the control reactor in terms of COD removal. Thus, findings from this study have the potential to answer SDGs 6, 9, and 14