School of Environmental Engineering (Theses)http://dspace.unimap.edu.my:80/xmlui/handle/123456789/96682024-03-29T00:01:03Z2024-03-29T00:01:03ZPenilaian kualiti sumber air dan kesannya terhadap permintaan klorinhttp://dspace.unimap.edu.my:80/xmlui/handle/123456789/787902023-05-23T03:56:24ZPenilaian kualiti sumber air dan kesannya terhadap permintaan klorin
This study aims to assess the quality of water resources in the Kedah North Canal, and its impact on chlorine demand in the Water Treatment Plant Arau Phase IV, Perlis. The study was conducted over 12 months from June 2014 to May 2015 based on the WQI, INWQS, and NSDWQ. The study found that the quality of water resources in the North Canal are in Class III. The main factors associated with this pollution is land use activities and the seasons change. Studies have shown that Pelubang, Jitra and Tunjang Station are major contributors of pollution such as ammonia, TSS, TOC, BOD, COD, turbidity, temperature, pH and DO. Iron and manganese pollution were the highest recorded at Tunjang and Jitra Station, while phosphate and nitrate pollution
concentrated in Tunjang and Padang Sera Station. Analysis of water quality in the Water Treatment Plant Arau Phase IV shows the changes of water quality resources with a significant impact on the chlorine demand when the value of r = 0.75 and r2 =
0.56. The average of chlorine demand in D1 Station (Intake), D2 (Aeration), D3 (Sedimentation) and D4 (Sand filtration) were 2.48 mg/L, 2.31 mg/L, 1.98 mg/L and 1.74 mg/L. Analysis of water quality parameters and chlorine demand also exhibits a
very strong relationship with r > 0.90, particularly by pH, ammonia, nitrate, phosphate, iron, manganese and TOC. This is followed by r > 0.70 by TSS, temperature, and turbidity, while DO exhibit the weakest correlation, r = 0.20. Multiple regression
analysis showed predictor parameters for chlorine demand in D1, D2, D3, and D4 each consisting of TSS, TOC, manganese and ammonia. The conclusion is, the combination of land use activities and seasonal changes can affect and impact on the quality of raw water resources in the North Canal, Kedah thus affecting the chlorine demand present in the water treatment process at the Water Treatment Plant Arau Phase IV, Perlis. The higher quality of water resources, chlorine demand will decline, but when low-quality water resources will increase of chlorine demand. Therefore, the effectiveness of
pollution control and water treatment process is very important to eliminate or minimize
the potential precursor to cause demand to ensure that chlorine treated water supplied to
consumers quality and safe.
Master of Science in Civil Engineering
Carbon footprint of road pavement rehabilitation: case study at KM 99.6 to KM 103.0 in Southbound along Sungai Petani Utara to Sungai Petani Selatan section N2, north-south expresswayhttp://dspace.unimap.edu.my:80/xmlui/handle/123456789/787892023-05-23T03:49:49ZCarbon footprint of road pavement rehabilitation: case study at KM 99.6 to KM 103.0 in Southbound along Sungai Petani Utara to Sungai Petani Selatan section N2, north-south expressway
Several challenges are facing the development of the industrial sector as a response to resource depletion, environment degradation, and climate change. These phenomena result from substantial carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission and increased carbon footprint. The transportation infrastructure sector consumes a large amount of energy and draws upon natural resources, and carbon footprint can be used to measure the amount of CO₂ from road, highway, or an overpass exerts on earth. CO₂ emissions comprise 95% of the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A carbon footprint is made up of two parts. The primary footprint is a measure of direct emissions, and the secondary footprint is a measure of indirect emissions from the entire life cycle of products. This research identifies and determines the amount of total carbon footprints of fuel used by machineries and quantity of materials used in the pavement rehabilitation of the PLUS Malaysia Berhad at highway site from Sungai Petani Utara to Sungai Petani Selatan km 99.60 – km 103.00 in the state of Kedah, Malaysia. The data for the research are collected from relevant site engineers through interviews and daily logbooks containing records of material and machinery used in pavement rehabilitation. This research adopts the life cycle assessment approach for evaluating the impact of carbon emission using the materials and machineries utilized in pavement rehabilitation. Results reveal that carbon footprints from materials come from quarry dust material, which emits the highest CO₂ producing 3247.91 tons of CO₂e, followed by cement, stone aggregate, and bitumen emit 251.15, 130.74, and 0.11 tons of CO₂e respectively. The dense bitumen macadam (DBM) layer emits the highest carbon footprint, accounting for 45% of carbon footprint emissions, followed by the asphaltic concrete wearing course (ACWC) layer, and asphaltic concrete binder course (ACBC) layer at CO₂ 28% and 27% respectively. Milling machinery emits the highest carbon footprint producing 478.14 tons fossil of CO₂e due to the highest engine capacity of 448.8 kW/h followed by the lorry DBM, lorry ACWC, and lorry dump truck at 459.47, 352.50, 314.64 tons fossil of CO₂e, respectively. The highest carbon footprint emissions are also observed from milling work task, accounting for 38% of total carbon emissions followed by the tasks in DBM, ACWC, and ACBC layers at 27%, 21% and 14% of CO₂ emission, respectively. The premix cutter machinery emits the lowest carbon footprint emission producing 2.64 tons fossil of CO₂e because of engine capacity is 9.5 kW/h, which is the lowest among the machineries. In the long run, these data contribute to improve methods for implementing policies that monitor and mitigate GHG emissions. As a contribution, the findings of this research are expected to assist contractors, town planners, academics, and policy makers in this field to lessen the carbon footprints in the road infrastructure system in Malaysia
Master of Science in Civil Engineering
Simultaneous wastewater treatment and power generation with single chambered up-flow membrane-less microbial fuel cellhttp://dspace.unimap.edu.my:80/xmlui/handle/123456789/787882023-05-23T03:28:47ZSimultaneous wastewater treatment and power generation with single chambered up-flow membrane-less microbial fuel cell
Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a technology that can convert chemical energy into electrical energy from biomass. MFC is also one of the promising technology to generate sustainable green bioenergy. The development of MFC technologies have been expanded
to various application, such as wastewater treatment, specific inorganic pollutant treatment, sediment bioremediation and biosensor. This thesis addressed the potential of an up-flow membrane-less (UFML) MFC that used for wastewater treatment with an enormous variety of configurations and working parameters. The primary objective of this study is to examine the potential and the mechanism of the novel UFML MFC by using various carbon material as aqueous biocathode. Further investigation was
conducted to evaluate the effect of the biofilm formation on different carbon material surface morphology based on performance of power output and chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction in UFML MFC. Carbon flake, Pt-loaded carbon paper, carbon plate and carbon felt were used as aqueous biocathode. The voltage output for the carbon flake cathode (384 ± 16 mV) was comparable to the Pt-loaded carbon paper cathode (399 ± 9 mV), which is unexpected. The COD reduction efficiency for all cathode materials at the anode region and effluent were achieved as high as 75% and 85%, respectively. The
surface area and surface morphology of the cathode material may influence the ability of
microbial attachment and electron transfer. The results suggested that the power
generation and the COD reduction were influenced by the cathode material. Besides,
UFML MFC was also used to further explore the potential and the mechanism between
biodegradation of Acid Orange 7 (AO7) and generation of bioelectricity. The
decolorization efficiency of AO7 was up to 96%. Overall voltage output was affected by
the increased dosage of AO7. However, the increased dosage of AO7 and continuous 24-
h flow could help to lower down the other anaerobic microbial activities and consequently
caused more available electrons which can be used by AO7 decolorization and electricity
generation. Furthermore, the decolorization of AO7 at cathode region indicated that the
oxygen and azo dye were both competed for electron acceptor. Based on the UV–visible
spectra analysis, the breakdown of the AO7 azo bond into more toxicity aromatic
compounds in anaerobic condition were confirmed. Nonetheless, these aromatic
compounds can be further degraded into short chain aliphatic acids and lastly
decomposed into carbon dioxide and water. In additional, the intermediates listed in the
proposed plausible biodegradation pathway were partially identified. These results
proved that the combination of anaerobic-aerobic in UFML MFC was able to completely
mineralize the AO7. Lastly, the new enhanced up-scaled UFML MFC (SUFML MFC)
was fabricated with innovative anode configuration (cube carbon felt and linked carbon
felt). This reactor was used to examine the overall performance of power output with
different hydraulic retention time (HRT) and electrode spacing distance. The results
proved that the linked anode was better in flow pattern and mass transfer, providing
overall better voltage output during stationary phase at all different HRT setup.
Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental Engineering
Production of sea mango (Cerbera Odollam) based activated carbon for CO2 adsorptionhttp://dspace.unimap.edu.my:80/xmlui/handle/123456789/783522023-04-17T07:11:54ZProduction of sea mango (Cerbera Odollam) based activated carbon for CO2 adsorption
The activated carbon utilization for carbon dioxide (CO2) adsorption process is a promising method to reduce the emission of CO2. The activated carbon was produced from the non-edible sea mango (Cerbera odollam) fruit through sequential chemical and physical processes. There were two methods of activated carbon preparation; i.e. Method 1: the precursor was impregnated with phosphoric acid (H3PO4) and then thermally activated at 500 °C with different activation atmosphere for 2 hours, Method
2: the precursor was heated at 200 °C with nitrogen gas (N2) flow prior to chemical and thermal activation processes as performed in Method 1. Porous structures were developed on the surface of the activated carbon due to the physicochemical activation process and proven by surface morphology study. The best virgin activated carbon prepared by double-stage activation via Method 2 in the absence of any gases (RCIHM2-A) which recorded the highest BET surface area (1475.43 m2/g), iodine
adsorption capacity (1040.58 mg/g) and the highest carbon element (79.17 %). The activation process was further confirmed to happen with the unchanged and/or disappearance of C-H and -C≡C-H:C-H of the functional group at peaks 2936.73 cm-1
and 617.76 cm-1 as compared to raw sea mango sample. The prepared mesoporous activated carbon with pore diameter 2.86 nm was then modified with amine-based chemical (AMP, PZ, MEA, and DEA) impregnation to improve its adsorption capability
and selectivity to adsorb CO2. Physisorption process which has weak Van der Waals forces interaction between CO2 molecules and pores on virgin activated carbon surface has been transformed to chemisorptions process (covalent bond) via amine
impregnation. The performance of the activated carbon on CO2 adsorption was obtained through breakthrough time curve and adsorption capacity. The reduction of BET surface area was approximately 56 % to 62 % after amine impregnation proved that amine molecules successfully attach on the activated carbon surface. The result was further confirmed by SEM images which illustrated that amine molecules filled up most of the activated carbon pores. The best amine functionalized on carbon surface was 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP) with highest CO2 adsorption capacity 23.05 mgCO2/gsorbent and has been able to achieve 94.47 % of regeneration. The nitrogen (N) element measurement via elemental analysis by EDX was enhanced two-fold (from 4.73% to 7.25 %) after impregnated with this AMP amine and confirmed by the existence of N-H bond at 3391.22 cm-1 and C-N bond at 1173.19 and 1047.55 cm-1, respectively. The result indicated that elemental N functionalized activated carbon surface for CO2 adsorption. The effect of other operating parameters such as the lowest inlet flow rate (5.00 mL/min) and sample loading (2.00 g) recorded the highest CO2 adsorption capacity, 23.05 mgCO2/gsorbent, and 28.18 mgCO2/gsorbent, respectively, whilst CO2 adsorption capacity was inversely proportional to inlet flow rate and adsorbent loading increment.
Master of Science in Environmental Engineering