The rapid thermal cracking technology of biomass can convert biomass into bio-oil and is beneficial for industrial applications. Agricultural and forestry wastes are important parts of China's energy, and their high-grade utilization is useful to solve the problem of energy shortages and environmental pollution. To the best of our knowledge, the impact of nanocatalysts on converting biowastes for bio-oil has not been studied. Consequently, we examined the production of bio-oil by pyrolysis of Aesculus chinensis Bunge Seed (ACBS) using nanocatalysts (Fe2O3 and NiO catalysts) for the first time. The pyrolysis products of ACBS include 1-hydroxy-2-propanone (3.97%), acetic acid (5.42%), and furfural (0.66%). These chemical components can be recovered for use as chemical feedstock in the form of bio-oil, thus indicating the potential of ACBS as a feedstock to be converted by pyrolysis to produce value-added bio-oil. The Fe2O3 and NiO catalysts enhanced the pyrolysis process, which accelerated the precipitation of gaseous products. The pyrolysis rates of the samples gradually increased at DTGmax, effectively promoting the catalytic cracking of ACBS, which is beneficial to the development and utilization of ACBS to produce high valorization products. Combining ACBS and nanocatalysts can change the development direction of high valorization agricultural and forestry wastes in the future.
Malaysia’s palm oil industry is growing in complexity and successively to succeed on the global level by accounts for about 36% of the word production of palm oil [1]. But, Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) issues are still problematic areas that need to be addressed by all parties concerned in this industry. In the olden days, unlike construction or manufacturing industry, palm oil industry was green in OHS management system. However, due to stringent in the legislative enforcement in the past few years, it has lead some of the plantation companies to develop OHS management system, which are based on Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS), towards corporate sustainability. Sustainability is not about paying lip-service to the latest corporate buzzword; neither is it about superficially meeting minimum requirements for the sake of compliance. Rather, sustainability is a core value that lies at the heart of the companies’ business conduct. In practical terms, this means strive to operate with due consideration for the interest of all stakeholders by making the health and safety of all workers a priority. This paper describes the certification of OHSAS 18001 and MS 1722 in Genting Plantations Berhad (GENP) prove the commitment to sustainability by forming guiding principle on safety management. Further, this paper also demonstrates that the implementation of safety management can help to reduce the accident rate, especially fatal accident.
The present conventional (destructive) method used in determining LAI is laborious, difficult and time consuming. Thus, an image-based measurement using camera system with fish eye lens offers an alternative means for an accurate indirect measurement of LAI in oil palm. In this study, a methodology was developed to improve the leaf area index of the oil palm determination using hemispherical photography as an indirect method. A set of true LAI data, collected using the destructive method, were used as a reference to calibrate the LAI measurements obtained by the hemispherical photography. A good relationship (r = 0.85) was found between age of palm and hemispherical photographic LAI. However, the estimated LAI obtained by the hemispherical photographic method was underestimated as compared to the destructive method. Some means of calibration was necessary to determine the relationship between the actual LAI and the hemispherical photographic LAI. It was necessary to multiply the LAI value from 5 years to 16 years, by a clumping factor of 2.14 for 5 to 9 year old palms, 2.33 for 10 to 14-year old palms and 2.37 for above 15- year old palms to calculate the accurate LAI values. For palms which are less than 5 year old (i.e. 2 to 3 years in this study), the photography LAI value was equal to the calculated LAI value. This proposed that correction factors would solve this underestimation effect. In addition, two equations were also proposed to estimate the true LAI from the Photographic LAI for immature and mature oil palm plantation.
Virgin Coconut Oils (VCO) were prepared from fresh-dry (grated coconut route), chilling and thawing, enzymatic and fermentation method in this study. All of the VCO produced conformed physicochemically to the standards established by the Asian and Pacific Coconut Community (APCC) and Codex Alimentarius Commission. The highest FA (fatty acid) is lauric acid in all of the VCO and ranged from 46.36 – 48.42 %, while the principal TAG (triacylglycerol) is LaLaLa (La: Lauric) with 17.94 – 19.83 % of the total TAG. Tocopherol analysis showed the presence of beta, gamma and delta tocopherols at low levels. In all, the physicochemical, FA and TAG analyses of the VCO extracted from different methods showed some significant differences, while the tocopherol content does not differ significantly among the different types of extraction methods used.
Refined bleached and deodorized palm oil (RBDPO) was crystallized from the melt in a thermally controlled water bath at 14 and 22°C for 90 min. Slurries were withdrawn after 5, 15, 30, 60 and 90 min of crystallization for crystal morphology studies. Crystallization was also performed in a similar manner using a Labmax reactor connected to a FBRM detector to obtain the information on crystal count and size distribution during crystallization. Based on the shape of the crystals viewed under the microscope, all crystals appeared as needle shaped spherulitic β´- form at both crystallization temperatures studied. Crystals were slightly larger with increase in crystallization time and at higher crystallization temperature (22°C). Crystals size range between 4.34 to 22.29µm. FBRM recorded high count of crystals with increased in crystallization time and at lower temperature (14°C).
In this study, we have employed a photocatalytic method to restore the liquid effluent from a palm oil mill in Malaysia. Specifically, the performance of both TiO2 and ZnO was compared for the photocatalytic polishing of palm oil mill effluent (POME). The ZnO photocatalyst has irregular shape, bigger in particle size but smaller BET specific surface area (9.71 m2/g) compared to the spherical TiO2 photocatalysts (11.34 m2/g). Both scavenging study and post-reaction FTIR analysis suggest that the degradation of organic pollutant in the TiO2 system has occurred in the bulk solution. In contrast, it is necessary for organic pollutant to adsorb onto the surface of ZnO photocatalyst, before the degradation took place. In addition, the reactivity of both photocatalysts differed in terms of mechanisms, photocatalyst loading and also the density of photocatalysts. From the stability test, TiO2 was found to offer higher stability, as no significant deterioration in activity was observed after three consecutive cycles. On the other hand, ZnO lost around 30% of its activity after the 1st-cycle of photoreaction. The pH studies showed that acidic environment did not improve the photocatalytic degradation of the POME, whilst in the basic environment, the reaction media became cloudy. In addition, longevity study also showed that the TiO2 was a better photocatalyst compared to the ZnO (74.12%), with more than 80.0% organic removal after 22 h of UV irradiation.
Citrus peel essential oils have an impressive range of food and medicinal uses. In the present study we investigated the variation in the yield and chemical composition of the essential oils isolated from fresh, ambient-, and oven-dried peels of three Citrus species namely Citrus reticulata (C. reticulata), Citrus sinensis (C. sinensis) and Citrus paradisii (C. paradisii). The hydro-distilled essential oil content from fresh-, ambient-, and oven-dried peels of C. reticulata, C. sinensis and C. paradisii ranged from 0.30-0.50, 0.24-1.07 and 0.20-0.40 g/100 g, respectively. The maximum amount of the oil was determined in oven-dried while the minimum in fresh peel samples. Using GC and GC/MS, a total of 16-27, 17-24 and 18-40 chemical constituents were identified in the peel essential oils of C. reticulate, C. sinensis and C. paradisii, respectively. The content of limonene, the most prevalent chemical constituent, detected in these essential oils, ranged from 64.1-71.1% (C. reticulata), 66.8-80.9% (C. sinensis) and 50.8-65.5% (C. paradisii). The yield and content of most of the chemical components including limonene (the principal chemical compound detected) of the tested essential oils varied significantly (p < 0.05) with respect to drying treatments and species employed.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of milling methods on tensile properties of polypropylene (PP) / oil palm mesocarp fibre (OPMF) biocomposites. Two types of mills were used; Wiley mill (WM) and disc mill (DM). Ground OPMF from each milling process was examined for its particle size distribution and aspect ratio by sieve and microscopic analyses, respectively. Results showed that DM-OPMF had smaller diameter fibre with uniform particle size compared to the WM-OPMF. Surface morphology study by SEM showed that DM-OPMF had rougher surface compared to WM-OPMF. Furthermore, it was found that PP/DM-OPMF biocomposite had higher tensile strength compared to PP/WM-OPMF, with almost two-fold. Thus, it is suggested that small diameter and uniform size fibre may improve stress transfer and surface contact between the fibre and polymer matrix and cause well dispersion of filler throughout the polymer resulted in better tensile strength of PP/DM-OPMF Compared to PP/WM-OPMF biocomposite. Overall, it can be concluded that disc milling could serve as a simple and effective grinding method for improving the tensile properties of biocomposite.
This study is an attempt to investigate the adsorption of petroleum hydrocarbon (toluene) from aqueous solutions using granular activated carbon (GAC) synthesized from oil palm shell (OPS) (referred as OPSbased GAC). This study involved a series of batch experiments to determine the adsorption equilibrium and kinetics. The batch experiments were conducted by shaking 200 mL toluene solution containing 0.4 g GAC (initial concentrations of 5, 15, 25 and 30 mg/L) at 180 rpm at 30°C. The OPS-based GAC achieved more than 80% toluene removal in all the experiments. The adsorption capacity of the OPSbased GAC estimated using Freundlich isotherm was 6.039 mg/g (L/mg)1/n. The adsorption kinetic study showed that the adsorption of toluene was of chemisorption as the experimental data fitted better to the pseudo-second-order kinetic model than the pseudo-first-order kinetic model.
The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of Palm Oil Clinker (POC) added as a stabilizer for improving the strength of peat. Cement and POC are added into peat up to 50% of the maximum dry unit weight. Treated peat achieved higher dry unit weight, almost 2.5 times as compared to untreated peat. Unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of treated peat is also investigated for soaked and unsoaked conditions. The results show that curing time improved the unconfined compressive strength of treated sample and increased by a factor of 20 and 11 for unsoaked and soaked conditions after 28 days of curing, respectively. The treated samples added with POC can be related to an increase in unconfined compressive strength for long time curing.
Malaysia, with her tropical jungles, mangroves and seas, is blessed with riches in biodiversity, being one of the twelve megabiodiversity countries on earth. Genetics has contributed substantially to the success of our country's agricultural production especially of rubber and palm oil. Hence, it should play a pivotal role in helping Malaysia fulfill her responsibility to identify, characterize and sustainably utilize her numerous indigenous bioresources for the benefit of humanity.
The existence of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM) such as K-40 was studied all over the world for their characteristics and effects on human and environment. K-40 exist in the earth crust with the concentration about 1.8 mg/kg or 481 Bq/g.. In this study, the level of K-40 in soil samples were measured using gamma spectrometer equipped with hyper pure germanium detector. The samples were collected from an oil palm cultivated area of Jengka 15, in Maran District, Pahang. The results show the level of K-40 activities at various locations. The activities of K-40 are in the range 52.9-150.5 Bq/kg and total potassium concentrations are 1.60-4.50%. There are no correlation between activities of K-40 with elevation i.e. R2= 0.0885.
Malaysia is in the process of modernizing its oil palm plantation management, by implementing geo-information technologies which include Remote Sensing (RS), Geographic Information System (GIS), and Spatial Decision Support System (DSS). Agencies with large oil palm plantations such as the Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA), Federal Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (FELCRA), Guthrie Sdn. Bhd., and Golden Hope Sdn. Bhd. have already incorporated GIS in their plantation management, with limited use of RS and DSS. In 2005, FELCRA, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and Espatial Resources Sdn. Bhd. (ESR) collaborated in a research project to explore the potentials of geo-informatics for oil palm plantation management. The research was conducted in FELCRA located in Seberang Perak Oil Palm Scheme. In that research, a tool integrating RS, GIS and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was developed to support decision making for replanting of the existing old palms. RS was used to extract productive stand per hectare; AHP was used to compute the criteria weights for the development of a suitable model; and GIS was used for spatial modelling so as to generate the decision support layer for replanting. This paper highlights the approach adopted in developing the tool with special emphasis on the AHP computation.
The development of a new, low-cost building material that is composed of non-fired, pressed laterite bricks incorporating oil palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFB) fibre was investigated in this study. The main aim of this research was to study the physical and mechanical properties of laterite brick reinforced with OPEFB fibre, including dimensions, weight, density, water absorption and compressive strength. The tests were carried out according to BS 3921:1985 for water absorption and compressive strength tests. The mix proportion of the control bricks was 70% soil, 24% sand, and 6% cement. Meanwhile, the OPEFB fibre contents ranged from 1% to 5% by weight of cement. The specimens were taken from a total of 120 bricks. The findings withdrawn from this research were: firstly, the density of laterite bricks was decreased with the increase in the OPEFB fibre content of the bricks. Secondly, it was found that the addition of the OPEFB fibres improved the compressive strength of the bricks, and the maximum compressive strength determined in this study for bricks was with 3% fibre content. Finally, the water absorption results indicated a small increase in water absorption with the increase in the OPEFB fibre content in laterite bricks.
Vegetable oil has become more attractive recently because of its environmental benefits and better
quality exhaust emission. A well-known transesterification process made biodiesel, pungam seed oil was selected for biodiesel production. Pungam seed oil is non-edible oil, thus, food versus fuel conflict will not arise if this is used for biodiesel production. A maximum of 75% biodiesel was produced with 20% methanol in the presence of 0.5% sodium hydroxide. The experimental investigations were carried out in an engine that is coupled with an eddy current dynamometer. The engine is a single cylinder water-cooled, direct injection diesel engine developing a power output of 3.7 kW at 1500 rev/min. The crank angle encoder measured the engine speed, whereas the piezo electric sensors measured the cylinder pressure and the fuel injection pressure. The experimental investigations were carried out for bio-diesel and diesel and the results were compared. From the experimental results, it is concluded that the use of bio-diesel as an alternative fuel leads to significant reduction in emissions and improved performance of diesel engines. This paper discusses the production process of biodiesel from Pungam seed oil and its performance in the compression ignition engine.
In recent years, vegetable oil such as Palm Oil (PO) has been identified as a potential alternative dielectric insulating fluid for transformers. It is biodegradable, non-toxic and has high flash and fire points. In this paper, a study on the positive lightning impulse breakdown voltages of PO under non-uniform field is carried out. The testing was carried out using needle-plane electrodes configuration at gap distances of 25 mm and 50 mm. Rising voltage, 1 and 3 shots per step testing methods were used and 3 types of Refined Bleach and Deodorized Palm Oil (RBDPO) and Mineral Oil (MO) were examined. It was found there is no significant effect on the breakdown voltages of all samples. The breakdown voltages of all RBDPO at 50% probability are comparable with MO. At 1% probability and gap distance of 50 mm, the breakdown voltages of all RBDPO are lower than MO.
Recycling waste cooking vegetable oils by reclaiming and using these oils as biodiesel feedstocks is one of the promising solutions to address global energy demands. However, producing these biodiesels poses a significant challenge because of their poor physicochemical properties due the high free fatty acid content and impurities present in the feedstock, which will reduce the biodiesel yields. Hence, this study implemented the following strategy in order to address this issue: (1) 70 vol% of waste cooking vegetable oil blended with 30 vol% of Calophyllum inophyllum oil named as WC70CI30 used to alter its properties, (2) a three-stage process (degumming, esterification, and transesterification) was conducted which reduces the free fatty acid content and presence of impurities, and (3) the transesterification process parameters (methanol/oil ratio, reaction temperature, reaction time, and catalyst concentration) were optimized using response surface methodology in order to increase the biodiesel conversion yield. The results show that the WC70CI30 biodiesel has favourable physicochemical properties, good cold flow properties, and high oxidation stability (22.4 h), which fulfil the fuel specifications stated in the ASTM D6751 and EN 14214 standards. It found that the WC70CI30 biodiesel has great potential as a diesel substitute without the need for antioxidants and pour point depressants.
An investigation on a batch production of palm kernel oil polyol (PKO-p) was conducted via esterification and condensation.
The process design was thoroughly studied as a preliminary step for future upscaling. The process variables included
necessity of vacuum pump, controlling of heating rate, recording the production time, nitrogen gas flow and agitator
speed. About 250 mL PKO-p was successfully synthesized within 3 h. Vacuum pressure was applied to haul out moisture
from the system. The control of heating rate and production time are vital to avoid sudden oxidation.
An alternative method was proposed to optimize the treatment process of palm oil mill effluent (POME) in an effort to address the poor removal efficiencies in terms of the chemical and biological oxygen demand (COD and BOD), total suspended solids (TSS) as well as oil and grease (O&G) content in treated POME along with many environmental issues associated with the existing POME treatment process. The elimination of the cooling ponds and the insertion of a dewatering device in the treatment process were recommended. The dewatering device should enhance the anaerobic digestion process by conferring a means of control on the digesters' load. The objective of this study is to identify the optimum solid: liquid ratio (total solids (TS) content) that would generate the maximum amount of biogas with better methane purity consistently throughout the anaerobic digestion of POME, all while improving the treated effluent quality. It was established that a 40S:60L (4.02% TS) was the best performing solid loading in terms of biogas production and methane yield as well as COD, BOD, TSS, and O&G removal efficiencies. Meanwhile, at higher solid loadings, the biogas production is inhibited due to poor transport and mass transfer. It is also speculated that sulfate-reducing bacteria tended to inhibit the biogas production based on the significantly elevated H2S concentration recorded for the 75S:25L and the 100S loadings.
Foam flooding technique, commonly known as foam assisted water alternating gas method (FAWAG) has been identified as an effective chemical enhanced oil recovery (CEOR) technique. The ability of EOR-foam to sweep oil in low permeable zones makes it important displacement fluid in the oil industry. However, extreme reservoir conditions such as temperature, pressure and salinity have detrimental effects on the stability and the overall performance of the EOR-foam. Consequently, understanding foam stability and performance under different conditions is crucial for long term oil field application. This paper discusses the current status of the EOR-foam stability, performance and challenges from laboratory studies to field application perspective. The paper also highlights the knowledge gaps which require further research for successful field application.