Optimization of Anthocyanin Extraction from Cockspur Coral (Erythrina Crista-Galli L.) Petals with Microwave-Assisted Extraction (MAE) using Response Surface Methodology

Cockspur coral (Erythrina crista-galli L) petals are flowers that contain anthocyanins and active compounds of flavonoids and tannins. This study aims to determine the optimum conditions for the anthocyanin extraction process of cockspur coral petals using Microwave-Assisted Extraction (MAE), analyzed through the Response Surface Method (RSM). This process uses ethanol-hydrochloric acid solvents and a Box-Behnken experimental design involving three factors, namely the solvent ratios (w/v) (1:5, 1:15, and 1:25), microwave powers (300, 450, and 600 watts), and extraction times (3, 9, and 15 minutes). As a result, the second-order polynomial model was enhanced and sufficient to explain the variation of the data that denoted the significant correlation with the independent variables and the response. Derringer's desired function methodology was used for optimizing studies and generated ideal conditions for each or combined an independent variable. The optimum anthocyanin extract of 5.82 mg/L was obtained at a power condition of 325,5 Watts, an extraction time of 3.05 minutes, and a solvent ratio of 20.5. Meanwhile, the operating conditions at a power of 310.8 Watts, a time of 14.94 minutes, and a solvent ratio of 24.96 resulted in the optimum color intensity (IC) of 1040.26. In the meantime, the optimum antioxidant activity was obtained at a power of 585.97 Watts, a time of 4.93 minutes, and a solvent ratio of 5.43 with IC50 of 0.115.

Comparison of Microwave-Assisted Extraction to Soxhlet Extraction of Mango Seed Kernel Oil using Ethanol and n-Hexane as Solvents

Mango seed kernel oil was extracted by Soxhlet Extraction (SE) and Microwave-Assisted Extraction (MAE) with ethanol and n-hexane as extraction solvents. To optimize the extraction condition for SE, the temperature was set to 90°C for ethanol and 80°C for n-hexane with varying solvent-to-feed ratios (S/F ratio) of 75/12, 75/10, and 60/6 mL/g. As for MAE, the same S/F ratios were considered. Extraction was done for 5, 10, and 15 minutes with microwave power levels of 120 and 240 W. It was found out that the highest yield per extraction process for SE was: 18.00±0.25 % and 9.38±2.03 % using ethanol and n-hexane, respectively; and 6.69±0.05 % and 4.68±0.06 %using ethanol and n-hexane, respectively for MAE. It was also noted that MAE, with the microwave power level of 120 W has less extraction time for about 15 minutes as compared to SE of 8 hours. Also, the best S/F ratio in this study is 60/6 for all processes. In oil quality determination, the oil extracted was examined through several tests such as FTIR, GC-MS, acid value, % FFA, iodine value, saponification value, and melting point. It was noted that oil extracted in ethanol has a better yield compared to that of n-hexane but the oil extracted using n-hexane would provide superior quality.

Submerged Membrane Photo Reactor (SMPR) with Simultaneous Photo Degradation and TiO2 Catalyst Recovery for Efficient Dyes Removal

In this study, a polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) hollow fiber membrane module incorporated with TiO2 was submerged into a photocatalytic reactor to create a hybrid photocatalysis with membrane separation process (a submerged membrane photoreactor, SMPR), for advanced dyes wastewater treatment. The SMPR performance was assessed by the degradation of single component Rhodamine B (RhB) and degradation of mixed dyes (RhB and Methyl orange (MO)) in a binary solution. Several operational parameters such as the amount of catalyst loading, permeate flux, and the effect of aeration were studied. Fouling tendency on the membrane was also investigated to determine the optimum operating conditions. The results show that the synergetic effect of the low catalyst loading and permeate flux creates the environment for optimum light penetration for high photocatalytic activity as the hybrid system with low catalyst loading (0.5 g/L) and 66 L/m2h of flux with aeration at 1.3 L/min has proven to increase the photocatalysis performance by 20% with additional catalyst recovery. In addition, applying the low catalyst loading and flux permeate with aeration brings minimal fouling problems.

Artificial Neural Network (ANN) Analysis of Co-pyrolysis of Waste Coconut Husk and Laminated Plastic Packaging

Co-pyrolysis of plastic with biomass was used in the possible mitigation of environmental health problems associated with plastic waste. The pyrolysis method possessed the highest solution in the reduction of waste problems. Fuel oil can be produced through the pyrolysis of plastic and biomass waste. Many researchers used pyrolysis technology to produce a suitable amount of pyrolytic oil through different optimization techniques. This study will predict the percentage mass oil yield using an artificial neural network. It uses an input layer, hidden layer and an output layer. Three input factors for the input layer were (i) temperature, (ii) particle size, and (iii) percentage coconut husk. The structure has one hidden layer with two neurons. The artificial neural network was designed to predict the percentage oil yield after 15 pyrolysis runs set by the Box-Behnken design of the experiment. Percentage oil yields after pyrolysis were calculated. Results showed that temperature and percentage of coconut husk significantly influenced the percentage oil yield. Predicted values from simulation in the artificial neural network showed a good agreement through a correlation coefficient of 99.5%. The actual percentage oil yield overlaps the predicted values, which ANN demonstrates as a viable solution.

A Kinetic Study of Manganese Leaching from Low-Grade Psilomelane Ore by Acetic-Tannic Acid Lixiviant

Kinetic leaching of psilomelane using tannic acid as reductant and acetic acid as an acidic modifier is investigated in terms of tannic acid and acetic acid concentration, solid-liquid ratio, particle size and temperature. Kinetic modelling using three models: shrinking core, shrinking particle, and diffusion-interface transfer model revealed that at room temperature leaching (30 °C), experimental data are best modelled using diffusion-interface transfer model, indicating the dissolution of Mn is more affected by reaction rate among reactants and their concentration in bulk volume rather than by transfer across the boundary layer. At higher temperatures (≥ 50 °C), the shrinking particle model fits the experimental data best, suggesting the prominence of the diffusion process boundary layer. The apparent activation energy obtained at two temperatures were 13.1 and 52.7 kJ/mol for lower and higher temperatures. Plot between rate constant and concentration yields reaction order to be 1.28 for tannic acid and 0.73 for acetic acid. A semi-empirical model for each temperature range is proposed to describe the overall manganese leaching efficiency.

The Effect of Niobium Addition on Mechanical Properties and Corrosion Resistance of a Medical Grade SS316L

To improve mechanical properties, especially elongation, of as-cast medical grade 316L stainless steel, niobium (Nb) was introduced into the alloys, followed by solution heat treatment. Alloying was performed using a 250 kg air induction melting furnace with duplex raw materials and ferronickel. Heat treatment using a solution at 1040 oC, with a holding time of 45 minutes, and water quenching was used. The sample was tested using hardness and ultimate tensile machines. Corrosion tests with simulated body fluids were carried out using media with similar corrosion conditions to human blood. Microstructure observations were performed optically. The results show that the addition of Nb increases the hardness of medical grade 316L stainless steel by 6% compared to the unalloyed steel, both before and after heat treatment. The addition of Nb increases the tensile strength by 8% compared to non-heat treated steel and increases the elongation before and after heat treatment by 8% and 5%, respectively. However, the corrosion rate of the material with Nb is higher than without the addition of Nb. Nb as a carbide former improves the mechanical properties of medical grade 316L stainless steel but adversely affects its corrosion resistance

Recent Development of Biomass Conversion using Ionic Liquid-based Processes

The amount of biomass products generated globally increases year after year. Nature produces lignocellulose, which is largely constituted of three components in the following order: cellulose (34–50%), hemicellulose (15–35%), and lignin (5–30%). A promising conversion method known as biomass conversion employs a liquid media-based process to address the issue of an abundance of biomass as waste. Converting biomass with ionic liquid (IL) can address not only environmental issues caused by the abundance of biomass waste but also generate new energy sources or new products with economical selling value. IL can be employed as a green catalyst, solvent, or electrolyte, as well as in a number of conversion processes. In general, 1-alkyl-3-methyl-imidazolium-based cations are the most commonly used IL types for biomass conversion. The conversion conditions are relatively mild, consisting of a low temperature of around 95-220 °C, 1 atm, for 10–240 minutes. This paper review is expected to be a significant reference in the future for the development of other biomass conversion processes.

Enhancement of Delignification and Glucan Content of Sugarcane Bagasse by Alkali Pretreatment for Bioethanol Production

The current work aimed to enhance the delignification of sugarcane bagasse (SCB) for bioethanol production. The optimization of alkali (sodium hydroxide) pretreatment parameters such as concentration and residence time was carried out by the Taguchi method using L16 orthogonal array with two factors and four levels. Sugarcane bagasse powder was mixed with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution (0.5-2 wt.%) and heated in an autoclave at 121°C and at varied times (30-120 min). From the statistical analysis of data, it was observed that delignification and glucan increased with the increased concentration and short time. The optimum parameters of NaOH pretreatment were 2 wt.% of NaOH concentration and 30 minutes of residence time. At the optimum conditions, 86.8% delignification and 46.6% glucan content of SCB were obtained. Thus, alkali pretreatment optimized by Taguchi design is the effective method to remove lignin and to increase cellulose or glucan content in sugarcane bagasse for facilitating the further catalytic hydrolysis in bioethanol production.

Erianthus Plant: A Rich Silica Source for Extraction of Amorphous Silica

In this paper, Erianthus plant, a grass type of lignocellulosic biomass, is presented as an alternative source for the production of amorphous silica. Thermal treatment (combustion) of Erianthus plant under a controlled temperature of 600–900°C produces Erianthus Ash (EA). Then, silica powder was extracted from EA by the chemical extraction method. In this work, the effect of treatment temperature on the preparation of EA and extracted silica is studied. The EA samples and extracted silica are noted as EA600 – EA900 and Si600 – Si900 respectively with respect to the treatment temperature. To evaluate the effect of the concentration of NaOH solution on the purity of silica, NaOH solution (2–3 N) is verified in this work. The results revealed that the pure amorphous silica can be extracted using a 2.5 N NaOH solution from EA800. The percentage of amorphous silica with a purity of about 99% was confirmed by X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF).

Chemical and Electrochemical Properties of Bamboo Activated Carbon Activate Using Potassium Hydroxide Assisted by Microwave-Ultrasonic Irradiation

This paper presents the utilization of bamboo residue from the chopstick industry as modified carbon (AC) for supercapacitor application. Bamboo activated carbon (BAC) was activated using Potassium hydroxide (KOH) and assisted with microwave ultrasonic (Mw-U) irradiation to enhance the properties of bamboo activated carbon (BAC). Different microwave (Mw) power intensities of 100 W, 300 W, and 500 W at 30 minutes of retention time have been applied on activation and the carbonization process was conducted at temperature 800°C. The BAC was analyzed for the morphology using a scanning electron microscope and proximate and ultimate analysis. Then BAC with the higher surface area was subjected to the electrochemical analysis to determine the electrochemical properties. The study indicated Mw-U irradiation improved the morphology of the BAC, eliminated the impurity of the sample, and gave higher carbon content of BAC. The findings show that lower Mw-U irradiation power provided a higher surface area of BAC. The surface area of 646.87 m2/g and total pore volume of 2.8x10-1 cm3/g was obtained with a power intensity of Mw-U activation at 100 W. While, electrochemical properties, the specific capacitance (Cs) of BAC was 77 Fg-1 at 25 mVs-1 in 1 mol/L KOH of electrolyte for cyclic voltammetry (CV) which indicates the ability of the prepared BAC to be used as an electrode in supercapacitor application. This study determined that Mw-U irradiation can improve the properties of the bamboo during chemical activation and formed BAC that consists of supercapacitor properties.