A 'green tyre' concept has the advantage of low rolling resistance, improved wet grip and enhanced handling. It has been reported that 3% decrease in rolling resistance is equivalent to 1% fuel saving, thus giving the 'green tyre' economic benefits and customer satisfaction. In this study, epoxidised natural rubber (ENR) compounds containing various loading of silica filler were prepared. The processibility and viscoelastic properties were investigated using the rubber processing analyser and Mooney viscometer. Results showed that the properties were adversely affected by the poor dispersion of silica as supported by the bound rubber measurement. In addition, a reversion in the cure behaviour was also observed as the curing temperature was increased to 170ºC.
An extensive amount of research has reported on the use of ultrafiltration (UF) membrane,
particularly in the improvement of membrane performance efficiency on cow’s milk. However,
a very limited number of researches reported on using UF for producing low-lactose goat’s
milk due to inherently low lactose. Nonetheless, goat’s milk is still not suitable to be consumed
in a large amount by people who are lactose intolerant, especially among Asians, where
over 90% of the populations are suffering from lactose intolerance. Until today, fouling and
concentration polarization (CP) on membrane surface in cross-flow hollow fiber UF unit are
the major problems in the dairy industry. Discovery on how to overcome the problem is still
in a hot debate due to the nature’s complex composition in milk. One way to overcome this
problem is by evaluating the effects of processing parameters such as trans-membrane pressure
(TMP) and feed-flow rate on flux (J), lactose rejection (Ri), concentration factor (CF), and
accumulation rate (AR) during the fractionation of lactose. In terms of lactose fractionation for
5 KDa and 10 KDa UF membranes, the TMPs examined were 0.41, 0.55, and 0.69 bars, while
feed flow-rates examined were 0.18, 0.34, 0.54, and 0.74 L/min. 5 KDa membrane shows that
feed flow-rate and flux behave in a direct relationship, while an inverse relationship in 10 KDa
membrane. Both membranes showed that TMP 0.55 bar exhibit the best flux value without
reaching the limiting flux region, but with feed flow rate of 0.74 L/min in 5 KDa, while 0.18
L/min in 10 KDa membrane. Lactose rejection percentage (%Ri) is the lowest with 77.71% in
5 KDa membrane while 66.28% in 10 KDa membrane. This can be summarized that the best
parameters for 5 KDa membrane is at TMP 0.55 bar with feed flow-rate of 0.74 L/min, while
for 10 KDa membrane is at TMP 0.55 bar with feed flow-rate of 0.18 L/min. Due to higher flux
value and lowest lactose rejection obtained from low feed flow-rate, 10 KDa UF membrane
size was chosen over 5 KDa. As a conclusion, a high degree of lactose removal from goat’s
milk could be achieved by 10 KDa UF membrane in a cross-flow hollow fiber system, which
proved that different outcomes between 5 KDa and 10 KDa membranes and feed flow-rate
required is closely associated to UF pore size and molecular weight of feed solute particles.
Aquaculture is a growing industry with a great potential towards the contribution of the country’s total
fish requirement. Serious efforts have been done to develop and improve the production of fish by rearing high value fish in tanks or ponds. Under the Third National Agricultural Policy (1998-2010), the target is to annually produce 1.93 million tonnes of fish worth approximately RM8.3 billion by the year 2010. Consequently, the development of an automatic fish feeding machine can be very beneficial to the growth of the aquaculture industry. This device was developed to overcome labour problems in the industry and introduce a semi-automatic process in the aquaculture industry. It has the ability to dispense dried fish food in various forms such as pellets, sticks, tablets or granules into fish tanks or ponds in a controlled manner for a stipulated time. The automatic fish feeder is controlled by a digital timer and it is capable of feeding the fish in accordance with a pre-determined time schedule without the presence of an operator, and at a feeding rate of 250g/min. The feeder can be adjusted to the desired height and conveniently moved around to be positioned adjacent to the pond or tank. Meanwhile, its hopper can be covered and easily dissembled to change the size of the hopper to accommodate different capacities of feed. This automatic fish feeder can be implemented in aquaculture system to convenience to fish culturists.