Statistical techniques such as multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and discriminate analys... more Statistical techniques such as multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and discriminate analysis (DA) were used to analyze the data obtained from three different locations (rivers, lake, drinking water supply). Seven parameters were measured pH, temperature, TSS, COD, BOD, turbidity and E. coli to investigate the pollution status. MANOVA showed a strong significant difference. While discriminate analysis (DA) explained the differences between different locations with the use of two functions. The first function showed 98.4% total variation, mainly due to E. coli, turbidity, BOD, temperature and COD. Even as the second function recorded 1.6% total variation, mainly due to E. coli, COD, temperature and pH. DA was also used to determine the relative contribution for all parameters in differentiating between river, lake and tap water. The results also showed strong correlations between COD and suspended solids. BOD with temperature, COD and pH. Turbidity with pH, temperature, COD and...
Malaysian Journal of Fundamental and Applied Sciences, 2019
Activated carbon from coconut shell was prepared to investigate the removal of zinc from palm oil... more Activated carbon from coconut shell was prepared to investigate the removal of zinc from palm oil mill effluent (POME). The reduction of zinc is significant to protect the ecosystem. The effect of temperature on the adsorbent was observed from the thermo gravimetric analysis while the decomposition of the lignocellulosic structure of the adsorbent was observed at 385 ᵒC. A total mass loss of 38.87% was observed. The Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy used for the chemical characterization illustrated that hydroxyl, carbonyl, ether and aromatic compounds were the major functional groups that contributed on the presence of oxygen at the available active sites on the adsorbent. This finding supported the result of the thermo gravimetric analysis of the lignocellulosic structure of the material. The adsorption equilibrium onto the coconut shell activated carbon was carried out to investigate the experimental data. The experimental data was fitted into the three isotherm models (Lan...
Aims: This research aims to investigate the potential of biohythane (biohydrogen and biomethane) ... more Aims: This research aims to investigate the potential of biohythane (biohydrogen and biomethane) production from palm oil mill effluent (POME) in a two-stage anaerobic digestion (AD) system. Methodology and results: A two-stage AD system was configured with a thermophilic dark fermenter (TDF) for biohydrogen (H2) production and a thermophilic anaerobic contact digester (TACD) for biomethane (CH4) production. To adjust pH 5.5 for dark fermentation, the settled sludge was recirculated from TACD to TDF. The hydraulic retention time (HRT) applied in TDF and TACD was 3.75 and 6.25 day, respectively. Conclusion, significance and impact of study: The sludge recirculation from TACD was able to adjust the pH in TDF to the optimum value of 5.5. The total COD and TSS degradation were 63.12 and 77.94 %, respectively. The H2 production in TDF was 1.54 L H2/L POME and the CH4 production in TACD was 19.87 L CH4/L POME. The H2 and CH4 yielded 0.085 L/g CODremoved and 0.339 L/g CODremoved, respectiv...
Materials are the foundation in human development for improving human standards of life. This res... more Materials are the foundation in human development for improving human standards of life. This research aimed to develop microbial composite films by integrating sodium alginate with Bacillus subtilis. Sodium alginate film was fabricated as control. The microbial composite films were fabricated by integrating 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6 g of Bacillus subtilis into the sodium alginate. Evaluations were performed on the mechanical, physical, chemical and thermal properties of the films. It was found that films reinforced with Bacillus subtilis significantly improved all the mentioned properties. Results show that 0.5 g microbial composite films had the highest tensile strength, breaking strain and toughness, which were 0.858 MPa, 87.406% and 0.045 MJ/m3, respectively. The thickness of the film was 1.057 mm. White light opacity, black light opacity and brightness values were 13.65%, 40.55% and 8.19%, respectively. It also had the highest conductivity, which was 37 mV, while its wate...
Bacterial flagella are complex multicomponent structures that help in cell locomotion. It is comp... more Bacterial flagella are complex multicomponent structures that help in cell locomotion. It is composed of three major structural components: the hook, the filament and basal body. The special mechanical properties of flagellar components make them useful for the applications in nanotechnology especially in nanotube formation. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are nanometer scale tube-shaped material and it is very useful in many applications. However, the production of CNTs is costly and detrimental to the environment as it pollutes the environment. Therefore, bacterial flagella have become a highly interesting research area especially in producing bacterial nanotubes that could replace CNTs. In this review article, we will discuss about bacterial flagellum and carbon nanotubes in the context of their types and applications. Then, we will focus and review on the characteristics of bacterial flagellum in comparison to carbon nanotubes and subsequently, the advantages of bacterial flagellum as n...
Tons of anthropological activities contribute daily to the massive amount of lignocellulosic wast... more Tons of anthropological activities contribute daily to the massive amount of lignocellulosic wastes produced annually. Unfortunately, their full potential usually is underutilized, and most of the biomass ends up in landfills. Lignocellulolytic enzymes are vital and central to developing an economical, environmentally friendly, and sustainable biological method for pre-treatment and degradation of lignocellulosic biomass which can lead to the release of essential end products such as enzymes, organic acids, chemicals, feed, and biofuel. Sustainable degradation of lignocellulosic biomass via hydrolysis is achievable by lignocellulolytic enzymes, which can be used in various applications, including but not limited to biofuel production, the textile industry, waste treatment, the food and drink industry, personal care industry, health and pharmaceutical industries. Nevertheless, for this to materialize, feasible steps to overcome the high cost of pre-treatment and lower operational cos...
The suitability of bacteria application as fillers to reinforce calcium chloride cured sodium alg... more The suitability of bacteria application as fillers to reinforce calcium chloride cured sodium alginate film was investigated through the determination of the physical, morphological and mechanical properties of composite films. There were six species of bacteria isolated from palm oil mill effluent sample. The bacteria sample selected for filler reinforcement has a sub-micron diameter of 0.83 ± 0.13 µm. The growth curve of selected bacteria revealed that four days of broth culture produced the maximum bacteria mass. The composite films were produced with reinforcement of 0.1 g, 0.2 g, 0.3 g and 0.4 g of bacteria respectively. Overall, the increment of bacteria mass resulted in the production of yellowish composite films with improved morphological, physical and mechanical properties. The results revealed that the composite films reinforced with 0.3 g and 0.4 g of bacteria appeared to have less curling on the surface of the film. The water absorption properties of the films were init...
The utilization of various types of natural and modified polymers for removing toxicant dyes in w... more The utilization of various types of natural and modified polymers for removing toxicant dyes in wastewater generated by the dye industry is reviewed in this article. Dye wastewater contains large amounts of metals, surfactants, and organic matter, which have adverse effects on human health, potentially causing skin diseases and respiratory problems. The removal of dyes from wastewaters through chemical and physical processes has been addressed by many researchers. Currently, the use of natural and modified polymers for the removal of dyes from wastewater is becoming more common. Although modified polymers are preferred for the removal of dyes, due to their biodegradability and non-toxic nature, large amounts of polymers are required, resulting in higher costs. Surface-modified polymers are more effective for the removal of dyes from the wastewater. A survey of 80 recently published papers demonstrates that modified polymers have outstanding dye removal capabilities, and thus have a ...
Yemen is the least advanced country among Middle Eastern countries in sewage reuse and safety con... more Yemen is the least advanced country among Middle Eastern countries in sewage reuse and safety control. The current sewage effluent quality in Yemen is generally poor as none of the existing sewage treatment plants produces effluents that comply with the effluent quality regulations. There is no plan to build tertiary treatment systems. However, the oxidation and stabilization ponds are considered most appropriate for the warm climate conditions in the country. Sewage effluents and biosolids generated from these ponds are used extensively for agricultural purposes. This review discusses the potential use of solar disinfection (SODIS) and lime treatment for the reduction of pathogens in sewage effluents and biosolids before reuse. SODIS and lime treatment are natural processes, simple, easily implemented, produce non-toxic by-products and are low cost. The merits of these processes are enormous, and they are suitable for application in developing countries such as Yemen.
Palm oil is one of the many vegetable oils widely consumed around the world. The production of pa... more Palm oil is one of the many vegetable oils widely consumed around the world. The production of palm oil requires voluminous amount of water with the concurrent generation of large amount of wastewater known as palm oil mill effluent (POME). POME is a mixture of water, oil, and natural sediments (solid particles and fibres).There is a dearth of information on the physical properties of these POME sediments. This study intends to distinguish the physical properties of oily and non-oily POME sediments which include sediment size, particle size distribution (PSD), sediment shape, sediment surface morphology, and sediment density. These characterizations are important for future researches because these properties have significant effects on the settling process that occurs either under natural gravity or by coagulations. It was found that the oily and non-oily POME sediments have different sizes with nonspherical irregular shapes, and because of that, the aspect ratio (AR) and circulari...
Statistical techniques such as multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and discriminate analys... more Statistical techniques such as multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and discriminate analysis (DA) were used to analyze the data obtained from three different locations (rivers, lake, drinking water supply). Seven parameters were measured pH, temperature, TSS, COD, BOD, turbidity and E. coli to investigate the pollution status. MANOVA showed a strong significant difference. While discriminate analysis (DA) explained the differences between different locations with the use of two functions. The first function showed 98.4% total variation, mainly due to E. coli, turbidity, BOD, temperature and COD. Even as the second function recorded 1.6% total variation, mainly due to E. coli, COD, temperature and pH. DA was also used to determine the relative contribution for all parameters in differentiating between river, lake and tap water. The results also showed strong correlations between COD and suspended solids. BOD with temperature, COD and pH. Turbidity with pH, temperature, COD and...
Malaysian Journal of Fundamental and Applied Sciences, 2019
Activated carbon from coconut shell was prepared to investigate the removal of zinc from palm oil... more Activated carbon from coconut shell was prepared to investigate the removal of zinc from palm oil mill effluent (POME). The reduction of zinc is significant to protect the ecosystem. The effect of temperature on the adsorbent was observed from the thermo gravimetric analysis while the decomposition of the lignocellulosic structure of the adsorbent was observed at 385 ᵒC. A total mass loss of 38.87% was observed. The Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy used for the chemical characterization illustrated that hydroxyl, carbonyl, ether and aromatic compounds were the major functional groups that contributed on the presence of oxygen at the available active sites on the adsorbent. This finding supported the result of the thermo gravimetric analysis of the lignocellulosic structure of the material. The adsorption equilibrium onto the coconut shell activated carbon was carried out to investigate the experimental data. The experimental data was fitted into the three isotherm models (Lan...
Aims: This research aims to investigate the potential of biohythane (biohydrogen and biomethane) ... more Aims: This research aims to investigate the potential of biohythane (biohydrogen and biomethane) production from palm oil mill effluent (POME) in a two-stage anaerobic digestion (AD) system. Methodology and results: A two-stage AD system was configured with a thermophilic dark fermenter (TDF) for biohydrogen (H2) production and a thermophilic anaerobic contact digester (TACD) for biomethane (CH4) production. To adjust pH 5.5 for dark fermentation, the settled sludge was recirculated from TACD to TDF. The hydraulic retention time (HRT) applied in TDF and TACD was 3.75 and 6.25 day, respectively. Conclusion, significance and impact of study: The sludge recirculation from TACD was able to adjust the pH in TDF to the optimum value of 5.5. The total COD and TSS degradation were 63.12 and 77.94 %, respectively. The H2 production in TDF was 1.54 L H2/L POME and the CH4 production in TACD was 19.87 L CH4/L POME. The H2 and CH4 yielded 0.085 L/g CODremoved and 0.339 L/g CODremoved, respectiv...
Materials are the foundation in human development for improving human standards of life. This res... more Materials are the foundation in human development for improving human standards of life. This research aimed to develop microbial composite films by integrating sodium alginate with Bacillus subtilis. Sodium alginate film was fabricated as control. The microbial composite films were fabricated by integrating 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6 g of Bacillus subtilis into the sodium alginate. Evaluations were performed on the mechanical, physical, chemical and thermal properties of the films. It was found that films reinforced with Bacillus subtilis significantly improved all the mentioned properties. Results show that 0.5 g microbial composite films had the highest tensile strength, breaking strain and toughness, which were 0.858 MPa, 87.406% and 0.045 MJ/m3, respectively. The thickness of the film was 1.057 mm. White light opacity, black light opacity and brightness values were 13.65%, 40.55% and 8.19%, respectively. It also had the highest conductivity, which was 37 mV, while its wate...
Bacterial flagella are complex multicomponent structures that help in cell locomotion. It is comp... more Bacterial flagella are complex multicomponent structures that help in cell locomotion. It is composed of three major structural components: the hook, the filament and basal body. The special mechanical properties of flagellar components make them useful for the applications in nanotechnology especially in nanotube formation. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are nanometer scale tube-shaped material and it is very useful in many applications. However, the production of CNTs is costly and detrimental to the environment as it pollutes the environment. Therefore, bacterial flagella have become a highly interesting research area especially in producing bacterial nanotubes that could replace CNTs. In this review article, we will discuss about bacterial flagellum and carbon nanotubes in the context of their types and applications. Then, we will focus and review on the characteristics of bacterial flagellum in comparison to carbon nanotubes and subsequently, the advantages of bacterial flagellum as n...
Tons of anthropological activities contribute daily to the massive amount of lignocellulosic wast... more Tons of anthropological activities contribute daily to the massive amount of lignocellulosic wastes produced annually. Unfortunately, their full potential usually is underutilized, and most of the biomass ends up in landfills. Lignocellulolytic enzymes are vital and central to developing an economical, environmentally friendly, and sustainable biological method for pre-treatment and degradation of lignocellulosic biomass which can lead to the release of essential end products such as enzymes, organic acids, chemicals, feed, and biofuel. Sustainable degradation of lignocellulosic biomass via hydrolysis is achievable by lignocellulolytic enzymes, which can be used in various applications, including but not limited to biofuel production, the textile industry, waste treatment, the food and drink industry, personal care industry, health and pharmaceutical industries. Nevertheless, for this to materialize, feasible steps to overcome the high cost of pre-treatment and lower operational cos...
The suitability of bacteria application as fillers to reinforce calcium chloride cured sodium alg... more The suitability of bacteria application as fillers to reinforce calcium chloride cured sodium alginate film was investigated through the determination of the physical, morphological and mechanical properties of composite films. There were six species of bacteria isolated from palm oil mill effluent sample. The bacteria sample selected for filler reinforcement has a sub-micron diameter of 0.83 ± 0.13 µm. The growth curve of selected bacteria revealed that four days of broth culture produced the maximum bacteria mass. The composite films were produced with reinforcement of 0.1 g, 0.2 g, 0.3 g and 0.4 g of bacteria respectively. Overall, the increment of bacteria mass resulted in the production of yellowish composite films with improved morphological, physical and mechanical properties. The results revealed that the composite films reinforced with 0.3 g and 0.4 g of bacteria appeared to have less curling on the surface of the film. The water absorption properties of the films were init...
The utilization of various types of natural and modified polymers for removing toxicant dyes in w... more The utilization of various types of natural and modified polymers for removing toxicant dyes in wastewater generated by the dye industry is reviewed in this article. Dye wastewater contains large amounts of metals, surfactants, and organic matter, which have adverse effects on human health, potentially causing skin diseases and respiratory problems. The removal of dyes from wastewaters through chemical and physical processes has been addressed by many researchers. Currently, the use of natural and modified polymers for the removal of dyes from wastewater is becoming more common. Although modified polymers are preferred for the removal of dyes, due to their biodegradability and non-toxic nature, large amounts of polymers are required, resulting in higher costs. Surface-modified polymers are more effective for the removal of dyes from the wastewater. A survey of 80 recently published papers demonstrates that modified polymers have outstanding dye removal capabilities, and thus have a ...
Yemen is the least advanced country among Middle Eastern countries in sewage reuse and safety con... more Yemen is the least advanced country among Middle Eastern countries in sewage reuse and safety control. The current sewage effluent quality in Yemen is generally poor as none of the existing sewage treatment plants produces effluents that comply with the effluent quality regulations. There is no plan to build tertiary treatment systems. However, the oxidation and stabilization ponds are considered most appropriate for the warm climate conditions in the country. Sewage effluents and biosolids generated from these ponds are used extensively for agricultural purposes. This review discusses the potential use of solar disinfection (SODIS) and lime treatment for the reduction of pathogens in sewage effluents and biosolids before reuse. SODIS and lime treatment are natural processes, simple, easily implemented, produce non-toxic by-products and are low cost. The merits of these processes are enormous, and they are suitable for application in developing countries such as Yemen.
Palm oil is one of the many vegetable oils widely consumed around the world. The production of pa... more Palm oil is one of the many vegetable oils widely consumed around the world. The production of palm oil requires voluminous amount of water with the concurrent generation of large amount of wastewater known as palm oil mill effluent (POME). POME is a mixture of water, oil, and natural sediments (solid particles and fibres).There is a dearth of information on the physical properties of these POME sediments. This study intends to distinguish the physical properties of oily and non-oily POME sediments which include sediment size, particle size distribution (PSD), sediment shape, sediment surface morphology, and sediment density. These characterizations are important for future researches because these properties have significant effects on the settling process that occurs either under natural gravity or by coagulations. It was found that the oily and non-oily POME sediments have different sizes with nonspherical irregular shapes, and because of that, the aspect ratio (AR) and circulari...
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