Mesoporous material RH-MCM-41 was synthesized with rice husk silica by a hydrothermal method. It was used as a support for bimetallic platinum−iron catalysts Pt-Fe/RH-MCM-41 for phenol hydroxylation. The catalysts were prepared by co-impregnation with Pt and Fe at amounts of 0.5 and 5.0 wt.%, respectively. The RH-MCM-41 structure in the catalysts was studied with x-ray diffraction, and their surface areas were determined by nitrogen adsorption. The oxidation number of Fe supported on RH-MCM-41 was +3, as determined by x-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) analysis. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images of all the catalysts displayed well-ordered structures, and metal nanoparticles were observed in some catalysts. All the catalysts were active for phenol hydroxylation using H 2 O 2 as the oxidant at phenol : H 2 O 2 mole ratios of 2 : 1, 2 : 2, 2 : 3 and 2 : 4. The first three ratios produced only catechol and hydroquinone, whereas the 2 : 4 ratio also produced benzoquinone. The 2 : 3 ratio gave the highest phenol conversion of 47% at 70• C. The catalyst prepared by co-impregnation with Pt and Fe was more active than that prepared using a physical mixture of Pt/RH-MCM-41 and Fe/RH-MCM-41.

Activated carbon (GAC) was impregnated by sodium and used as adsorbent to remove chlorinated hydrocarbon (CHC) gases contaminated in H2feedstock. The adsorption was carried out in a continuous packed-bed column under the weight hourly space velocity range of 0.8–1.0 hr−1. The adsorption capacity was evaluated via the breakthrough curves. This modified GAC potentially adsorbed HCl and VCM of 0.0681 gHCl/gadsorbentand 0.0026 gVCM/gadsorbent, respectively. It showed higher adsorption capacity than SiO2and Al2O3balls for both organic and inorganic CHCs removal. In addition, the kinetic adsorption of chlorinated hydrocarbons on modified GAC fit well with Yoon-Nelson model.

-RH-MCM-41 was synthesized by using silica from rice husk and further modified to increase acidity by adding Al with grafting method with Si/Al ratio of 75 and 25. The resulting materials were referred to as RH-AlMCM-41(75) and RH-AlMCM-41(25). The XRD spectra of all RH-AlMCM-41 confirmed a mesoporous structure of MCM-41. Surface areas of all RH-AlMCM-41 were in the range of 700-800 m 2 /g, lower than that of the parent RH-MCM-41, which was 1230 m 2 /g. After Al addition the Si/Al ratios of RHAlMCM-41(75) and RH-AlMCM-41(25) were higher than that of the parent RH-MCM-41. The RH-AlMCM-41 materials were used as supports for bimetallic platinum−iron catalysts, denoted as Pt-Fe/RH-AlMCM-41, with Pt and Fe amounts of 0.5 and 5.0% by weight, respectively. Results from TPR indicated that the presence of Al might assist the interaction between Pt and Fe as the reduction temperature of iron oxides shifted to a lower value. All catalysts were active for phenol hydroxylation using H 2 O 2 as an oxidant, for which the highest conversions were observed on the RH-MCM-41 material with the highest surface area. The acidity of the supports did not present a significant role in improving the catalytic performance.

The pineapple peel cellulose can be convert to carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) by etherification. The pure cellulose from pineapple can be prepared by refluxing of pineapple peel powder with 0.5 M HCl and 1 M NaOH solution at 90°C for 1 h and 2 h, respectively. Then, the solid material was bleached with calcium hypochlorite. The pure cellulose was soaked in mixed solution between isopropyl alcohol and NaOH for 12 h. After that, it was reacted with cholroacetic acid at 55°C for 6 h. The optimum condition for carboxymethylation was cellulose 5 g, cholroacetic acid 13.0 g and 40%w/v NaOH 50 mL. The optimised product had a DS of 0.50 and used as constituent in bioplastic. The application of pineapple peel bioplastic probably is green packaging of dehydrated materials.

Agar and banana (Gros Michel) powder composite film with silver nanoparticles were prepared using a solution casting method. Then, the ratio of agar and banana powder also the concentrations of silver nitrate solution have affected the properties of biocomposite film. These physical properties were characterized by UV-Vis spectrophotometer and colorimeter. The results indicated that biocomposite film with the mass ratio of agar to banana = 3:1 (A3B1_Ag50) was brown and had the maximum absorption of UV-Vis light at 432 nm. This biocomposite film exhibited strong antibacterial activity against both Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Because of their microbial activity and physical properties, these biocomposite films have the potential to be used extending the shelf life of food packaging.