Rapid hydropyrolysis of coals for production of liquid hydrocarbons

Production of fuels and chemicals from coal is becoming attractive due to potential high cost and uncertain supply of crude petroleum oil. Conventional techniques of coal liquefaction, though technically feasible, have been expensive due to hydrogen requirements, high pressure equipment, and high cost of commercial supported catalysts. In this study, a novel technique for rapid hydropyrolysis of bituminous, subbituminous, and lignite coals has been investigated. Rapid hydropyrolysis is the process of heating at a fast rate to high temperature in a hydrogen environment. A coal sample in hydrogen atmosphere is targeted, in the absence of a catalyst, with a high intensity xenon light beam. A shuttering mechanism is incorporated to expose the coal sample only for a few seconds at a time. This technique provides the best of several processes: high heating rate of the coal sample to achieve a high carbon conversion, and control of secondary reactions via low ambient hydrogen gas temperature to potentially achieve high yields of liquid hydrocarbons. This technique also provides an effective economic alternative to the use of expensive commercial catalysts for the conventional coal liquefaction process. The operating parameters studied were exposure time, peak temperature, particle size, gaseous atmosphere, and coal rank. The most suitable conditions for the rapid hydropyrolysis of coals were found to be 30 seconds exposure time, 900\sp\circC peak temperature, 63 to 74 micrometer particle size, and in hydrogen atmosphere (1 atm). The total amount of coal converted to liquid and gaseous products for bituminous coal was found to be 38.5% and decreased to 33.6% for subbituminous coal and to 32.2% for lignite. The amount of liquid hydrocarbons produced were 16.3%, 8.8%, and 3.5% for bituminous, subbituminous, and lignite coal, respectively. In this process, a radiative heat source is used. The rapid hydropyrolysis method used in this study has several advantages over the coal liquefaction processes. It is conducted at atmospheric pressure, at a relatively shorter exposure time (less than one minute), and in the absence of a catalyst

Role of environment policy and community participation on air pollution control in Malaysia:lessons from Japan.

Air pollution is defined as the presence of pollutant in the air, in quantities large enough to produce harmful effect towards human health, vegetation, human property and water ground cycle

Analysis of Cannabinoids in Post-mortem Blood Samples

This thesis is concerned with the analysis of cannabinoids, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and its major metabolite, 11-nor-9-carboxy-delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THCCOOH), in post-mortem blood samples. It concentrates on sample preparation procedures and end-step detection techniques by High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). A comparative evaluation was made of solid-phase (diatomaceous earth, Extrelut) and solvent extraction procedures. When extracted with hexane, mixtures of hexane and more polar solvents, or acetonitrile, the former gave low extraction yields, for example, with acetonitrile the recoveries were 70.4% for THC and 43.9% for THCCOOH. It was observed that clogging of the extrelut columns by precipitated blood proteins might have resulted in the poor results obtained. On the other hand, solvent extraction procedures using acetonitrile gave better results. Recoveries obtained for THC and THCCOOH were 82.1% and 82.7% respectively. These values were found to be higher when deionised water was added to dilute the blood samples (83.2% for THC and 86.9% for THCCOOH). However, addition of buffers at pH 5.0 and 7.4 did not improve the recoveries obtained by addition of water. Calibration curves of the solvent extraction procedure produced linear plots within the 0-80ng/ml range for both THC and THCCOOH. The solid-phase extraction material Bond Elut Certify II was developed recently for the extraction and purification of cannabinoids from biological matrices. It was incorporated into this study as a clean-up procedure for HPLC analysis of the solvent extracts. Therefore, extraction procedure selected for further analysis involved deproteinization and extraction with acetonitrile, supernatant clean-up using the Bond Elut Certify II columns, evaporation to dryness and either reconstitution of the residue in mobile phase for HPLC analysis or derivatization of the residue prior to GC-MS analysis. For HPLC analysis, acetonitrile-methanol-0. 02N sulphuric acid (65:15:50, v:v:v) was chosen from four mobile phases examined. Detection of analytes was carried out using ultra-violet (UV) and electro-chemical (ECD) detectors at wavelengths 212nm, 220nm and at an applied potential of +1.10V respectively, after detector optimisation procedures. The clean-up procedure separated the cannabinoids into THC and THCCOOH fractions. Thus, two internal standards were needed for quantitation purposes. N-octyl p-hydroxy benzoate and phenylbutazone were found to be the most suitable choices for the two fractions, respectively. It was also observed that the THC fraction gave clean chromatograms while the THCCOOH fraction contained co-extracted interferences which eluted closed to the metabolite. Average recoveries for THC, cannabidiol (CBD), cannabinol (CBN) and THCCOOH by this HPLC system were 91.1%, 93.6%, 90.1% and 91.4% detected by UV 212nm; 88.9%, 93.5%, 88.9% and 90.7% by UV 220nm and 93.4%, 94.7%, 98.7% and 89.1% by ECD +1.10V, respectively. Calibration curves were linear from 0-100ng/ml for both UV detection wavelengths, and within the range 0-200ng/ml for ECD detection. When eight test samples were analysed, which were positive when screened for cannabinoids by radioimmunoassay, none of the samples gave positive results for THC and CBN. Electrochemical detection but not UV detection gave five samples positive for CBD, while THCCOOH was found to be present in all of the test samples. GC-MS analysis was performed under full scan, selected ion recording (SIR), multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) and negative ion chemical ionisation (NICI) modes. Extracted samples were not cleaned up with Bond Elut Certify II in order to evaluate the sensitivity and selectivity of the different GC-MS modes. Full scan mass spectra of THC, THCCOOH and their derivatives were compared. They were found to produce parallel series of ion fragments through similar fragmentation mechanisms. Analyses by SIR-MS were performed to confirm the identity of the analytes in blood extracts. Calibration curves for THC and THCCOOH were linear from 0-100ng/ml. When the same eight test samples were analysed, three of them were found to be positive for THCCOOH, but only two of the samples gave positive results for THC. In the MRM mode, the transitions to the most prominent daughter fragments [M-15]+ formed by the parent analytes, THC and THCCOOH, were monitored. Linear calibration curves were obtained within the range 0-100ng/ml. In conclusion, the optimum method established in this study was acetonitrile extraction of blood samples followed by GC-MS in El(+) selected ion recording mode used as the end-step analysis. Sample clean-up is not essential but would help in prolonging the column life

The halfsweeps multigrid method as a fast multigrid Poisson solver

The idea of halfsweeps iterative method (introduced by A. R. Abdullah, 1991) is used to develop the halfsweeps multigrid method to solve the 2-D elliptic partial differential equation with the Dirichlet boundary conditions. The method is shown to be very much faster compared with the fullsweeps multigrid method due to M. M. Gupta et al, 1995. Some numerical experiments are included to confirm our recommendation

An efficient multigrid Poisson solver

In this paper, we introduce an efficient technique known as a quarter sweeps multigrid method for solving two dimensional Poisson equation with the Dirichlet boundary condition. The method with the red black Gauss-Seidel smoothing scheme is shown to be the most superior than the half- and full-sweeps multigrid methods due to Othman et at. [8] and Gupta et al. [5], respectively. Some numerical experiments are included to confirm our recommendation

Development of catalytic membrane reactor for the production of ethylene from natural gas.Based on oxidative coupling of methane technology.

Malaysia mempunyai banyak simpanan gas asli, di mana metana sebagai komponen utama boleh dipergunakan dan ditukar kepada produk yang lebih bernilai seperti metanol, formaldehid, syngas, bahan api bercecair dan etilena. Malaysia has abundant reserv:s of natural gas, in which methane as the main constituent could be utilized and converted into more valuable products such as methanol, formaldehyde, syngas, liquid fuel and ethylene

EIA- A Teacher Education Project in Bangladesh: An Analysis from Diversified Perspectives

English in Action (EIA) is an ongoing teacher education project which places mobile technology at the centre of its action. Most of the studies carried out focused on the changes EIA brought in teachers’ classroom actions. Along with this, they also explored the classroom to observe whether the input given during training program is implemented in real life. No study has been conducted that compares and contrasts the components of mobile learning in general and the components EIA is using. This study, particularly, drew a comparative analysis between the mobile learning and EIA initiated mobile learning to reveal the extent it matched or mismatched to the components of mobile learning. It also scrutinized teachers’ behavior in the classroom after participating in EIA. It also penetrated to find the contents to be reviewed. Qualitative method was used to conduct this study. The result revealed that the components of EIA match to the mobile learning ones to the extent that EIA entails those suiting the context. Few elements were seemed absent as they are less suitable in such context. Besides, teachers were found bringing changes in their classrooms. The introduction of action research and reflective teaching were suggested to add to EIA’s program

Upland rice root characteristics and their relationship to nitrogen uptake

Nitrogen and phosphorus efficiencies are the main constraints to food production in the sub-humid and humid tropic soils. A laboratory and glasshouse study was initiated to examine the differences in the root architecture of Malaysian upland rice landraces and relate them to efficiency of the nitrogen fertilizer uptake. Six upland rice landraces, obtained locally, were soaked in water and allowed to germinate using the cigar role method. The seedlings were fertilized with a complete nutrient solution daily and the roots which were allowed to develop after 14 days were measured using the WINRHIZO. The same landraces were planted in the glasshouse in polybags containing 25 kg soil in four replications. N-15 labelled urea was applied at 170 kg N/ha and N use efficiency was measured at harvest. Significant differences in root length, surface area, root volume, average root diameter, and number of forks, between the 6 landraces were studied. Nitrogen in the plant (derived from fertilizer applied) was found to range from 6.22 – 27.6%. Nevertheless, a poor correlation was obtained between the length of root and the dry matter yield and the total N uptake. Five of the landraces tested showed a good potential in taking up the fertilizer N applied

Energy Policy For Sustainable Development In Malaysia.

Energy is crucial to all aspects of development from powering manufacturing and modernization of agricultural sectors to providing electricity to run schools and health facilities, yet the impact of its production, distribution and use grows more severe with every decade

A Note on The Butterflies of Gunung Belumut, Kluang Forest Reserve, Malaysia

A butterfly survey was done in Gunung Belumut Amenity Forest located within Kluang Forest Reserve, Johor. Sampling was done through manual collection using aerial nets and baited traps. A total of 128 individuals comprising 64 species were collected. Despite the high plant species richness in Kluang Forest Reserve, the butterfly diversity observed within Gunung Belumut Amenity Forest was relatively low when compared to other forested areas in Johor. This may be attributed to the abundance of oil palm plantation surrounding the area.  However, it is likely that there are more species within Kluang Forest Reserve, especially in the higher elevations of Gunung Belumut. Further sampling may add some new records to this checklist. &nbsp