The functionalization of pyrolyzed palm empty fruit bunches-based membranes adsorbent by fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy

Membranes adsorbent are successfully prepared derived from palm empty fruit bunches (PEFB) which pyrolyzed by furnace as physical activation. The PEFB membrane adsorbent was activated to develop porous structures and surface area which able to be applied for gas separation. The aims of this study are to fabricated the pyrolyzed PEFB-based membrane adsorbent with different loading of PEFB mass to identify the surface organic functional groups of the PEFB membrane adsorbent. Fabrication of this membrane adsorbent was conducted into three steps, i.e. (1) pre-treated PEFB materials; (2) pyrolyzed the PEFB adsorbent at 500°C; and (3) PEFB membrane adsorbent fabrication by mixed both of PVA and PEG polymers into PEFB adsorbent with varied mass (15-17.5 grams). The functionalization of this membrane adsorbents was analysed by Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) spectra. The result shows the three variations of the PEFB membrane adsorbents present the surface oxygen, functional group. The effect of PEFB mass loading to the carbon pores formation of PEFB membrane adsorbent was exhibited by the escalating of C-H and C-O groups. The membrane adsorbent by adding 17.5 grams of PEFB mass indicating the highest peak of hydroxyl C-O at wavenumber 1070 cm−1. It demonstrates that membrane adsorbent with high PEFB mass loading and physic activation by pyrolyzing is great to tailoring the membrane adsorbent structure properties which capable to be applied for gas separation, especially for biogas upgrading.

Mushroom Quality Related with Various Substrates’ Bioaccumulation and Translocation of Heavy Metals

Mushrooms are popular due to the nutrition contents in the fruit bodies and are relatively easy to cultivate. Mushrooms from the white-rot fungi group can be cultivated on agricultural biomass such as sawdust, paddy straw, wheat straw, oil palm frond, oil palm empty fruit bunches, oil palm bark, corn silage, corn cobs, banana leaves, coconut husk, pineapple peel, pineapple leaves, cotton stalk, sugarcane bagasse and various other agricultural biomass. Mushrooms are exceptional decomposers that play important roles in the food web to balance the ecosystems. They can uptake various minerals, including essential and non-essential minerals provided by the substrates. However, the agricultural biomass used for mushroom cultivation is sometimes polluted by heavy metals because of the increased anthropogenic activities occurring in line with urbanisation. Due to their role in mycoremediation, the mushrooms also absorb pollutants from the substrates into their fruit bodies. This article reviews the sources of agricultural biomass for mushroom cultivation that could track how the environmental heavy metals are accumulated and translocated into mushroom fruit bodies. This review also discusses the possible health risks from prolonged uptakes of heavy metal-contaminated mushrooms to highlight the importance of early contaminants’ detection for food security.

Effect of Sodium Hydroxide/Urea/Deionised Water Solution Ratio on the Solubility of Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunches Extracted Biocellulose

Biocellulose extracted from oil palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFB) is attracting increased research interest in versatile applications as an alternative material to synthetic cellulose. Normally, biocellulose needs to undergo dissolution prior its applications. Among all explored solvents to dissolve biocellulose, aqueous sodium hydroxide (NaOH)/urea solution is gaining increased attention. OPEFB biocellulose solubility in NaOH/urea/deionised (DI) water solution has not been fully studied by researchers. This study aimed to investigate the solubility of OPEFB biocellulose in NaOH/urea/DI water solution by manipulating the NaOH/urea/DI water solution ratio and weight percentage of OPEFB biocellulose. Results indicated that increasing the NaOH/urea/DI water solution ratio increased the solubility of OPEFB biocellulose. Further increased NaOH/urea/DI water solution ratio resulted in decreased solubility. Meanwhile, increased OPEFB biocellulose weight percentage decreased the solubility of OPEFB biocellulose in NaOH/urea/DI water solution. The highest solubility of 70.89%±1.85% was exhibited by 7% NaOH/12% urea/81% DI water (w/w) solution and 1 w/v% OPEFB biocellulose. This study on OPEFB biocellulose solubility in NaOH/urea/DI water solution can promote cost-effective and wide utilisation of the abundantly available OPEFB for the synthesis of cellulose fibres, films, and hydrogels in the textile, packaging, and biomedical industries.

Synthesis of Cellulose Stearate Ester as Wet Strength Agent for Synthesis of Bio-polybag from Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch

Biodegradable polybags are an alternative to overcome the weakness of synthetic polybags because of their degradation properties. Oil palm empty fruit bunches contain a lot of cellulose so that they can be used as a biodegradable polybag. Wet Strength serves to increase the physical strength of bio-polybags when exposed to water (in wet conditions) so that water content stability is required. In this study, Cellulose Stearate Esters were synthesized in an effort to increase the stability of the water content in bio-polybags. Cellulose Stearate Esters are synthesized through a transesterification reaction between -Cellulose isolated from Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunches (EFB) with methyl stearate. The synthesis of cellulose stearate esters was carried out by refluxing for 2 hours using methanol solvent with various catalysts Na2CO3 5, 10, 15, 20 mg and with volume variations of methyl stearate 5, 10, 15. And the best variation was determined based on the degree of substitution test, namely with variations Na2CO3 catalyst 20 mg and volume of methyl Stearate 15 ml, amounting to 1.95. The result of the synthesis, namely cellulose stearate, was tested for functional groups by FT-IR spectroscopy and surface morphology using SEM. The formation of cellulose stearate is supported by the FT-IR spectrum in the wavenumber region of 3468.01 cm-1 indicating an OH group, 3062.96 cm-1 indicating a CH stretching group, 1695.43 cm-1 indicating a C=O group, cm-1 indicating a CH bending group, 1095.57cm-1 indicates a COC group, 609.51cm-1 indicates a (CH2)n>4 group. The results of surface morphology analysis using SEM showed that the surface of cellulose stearate looked homogeneous, more regular and had denser cavities than -Cellulose

Removal of Methyl Red using Adsorbent Produced from Empty Fruit Bunches by Taguchi Approach

Contamination of anionic dye in the water streams may cause harm to human being and aquatic species. The conventional adsorbent used in the adsorption process is normally produced using expensive and unsustainable precursor such as coal. In this work, activated carbon was produced through carbonization and activation of raw oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFBs). Taguchi approach was employed to determine the optimum dye removal parameters. The percentages of contribution of each factor in the removal of Methyl Red (MR) by raw EFB and EFB based activated carbon (AC) were determined using analysis of variance (ANOVA). According to ANOVA, for raw EFB, agitation speed has the highest percentage of contribution. As for EFB based AC, the amount of adsorbent is the most significant factor. The optimum parameters for both adsorbents were obtained from mean and S/N ratio. The optimum operating parameters for raw EFB were 25 ppm of initial dye concentration, 0.01 g of adsorbent and 200 rpm of agitation speed whereas the optimum operating parameters for EFB based AC were 20 ppm of initial dye concentration, 0.06 g of adsorbent and 120 rpm of agitation speed. The predicted percentages of dye removal for raw EFB (55.54%) and EFB based AC (86.72%) were in good agreement with the experimental values for raw EFB (50.5%) and EFB based AC (84.61%), respectively. This study provides a useful insight into the practicability of using the Taguchi method in the removal of anionic dye using raw EFB and EFB based AC as adsorbents.