This study investigated the tribological behaviour of Pongamia oil (PO) and 15W–40 mineral engine oil (MO) with and without the addition of graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs). The friction and wear characteristics were evaluated in four-ball anti-wear tests according to the ASTM D4172 standard. The morphology of worn surfaces and the lubrication mechanism of GNPs were investigated via SEM and EDS. This study also focuses on the tribological effect of GNP concentration at various concentrations. The addition of 0.05 wt % GNPs in PO and MO exhibits the lowest friction and wear with 17.5% and 12.24% friction reduction, respectively, and 11.96% and 5.14% wear reduction, respectively. Through SEM and EDS surface analysis, the surface enhancement on the worn surface by the polishing effect of GNPs was confirmed. The deposition of GNPs on the friction surface and the formation of a protective film prevent the interacting surfaces from rubbing, resulting in friction and wear reduction.

An effective analytical technique for biomass characterisation is inevitable for biomass utilisation in energy production. To improve biomass processing, various thermal conversion methods such as torrefaction, pyrolysis, combustion, hydrothermal liquefaction, and gasification have been widely used to improve biomass processing. Thermogravimetric analysers (TG) and gas chromatography (GC) are among the most fundamental analytical techniques utilised in biomass thermal analysis. Thus, GC and TG, in combination with MS, FTIR, or two-dimensional analysis, were used to examine the key parameters of biomass feedstock and increase the productivity of energy crops. We can also determine the optimal ratio for combining two separate biomass or coals during co-pyrolysis and co-gasification to achieve the best synergetic relationship. This review discusses thermochemical conversion processes such as torrefaction, combustion, hydrothermal liquefaction, pyrolysis, and gasification. Then, the thermochemical conversion of biomass using TG and GC is discussed in detail. The usual emphasis on the various applications of biomass or bacteria is also discussed in the comparison of the TG and GC. Finally, this study investigates the application of technologies for analysing the composition and developed gas from the thermochemical processing of biomass feedstocks.

It has been widely accepted worldwide, that the greenhouse effect is by far the most challenging threat in the new century. Renewable energy has been adopted to prevent excessive greenhouse effects, and to enhance sustainable development. Malaysia has a large amount of biomass residue, which provides the country with the much needed support the foreseeable future. This investigation aims to analyze potentials biomass gases from major biomass residues in Malaysia. The potential biomass gasses can be obtained using biomass conversion technologies, including biological and thermo-chemical technologies. The thermo-chemical conversion technology includes four major biomass conversion technologies such as gasification, combustion, pyrolysis, and liquefaction. Biomass wastes can be attained through solid biomass technologies to obtain syngas which includes carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen. The formation of tar occurs during the main of biomass conversion reaction such as gasification and pyrolysis. The formation of tar hinders equipment or infrastructure from catalytic aspects, which will be applied to prevent the formation of tar. The emission, combustion, and produced gas reactions were investigated. It will help to contribute the potential challenges and strategies, due to sustainable biomass, to harness resources management systems in Malaysia to reduce the problem of biomass residues and waste.

Two main aspects of the transportation industry are pollution to the environment and depletion of fossil fuels. In the transportation industry, the pollution to the environment can be reduced with the use of cleaner fuel, such as gas-to-liquid fuel, to reduce the exhaust emissions from engines. However, the depletion of fossil fuels is still significant. Biodiesel is a non-toxic, renewable, and biodegradable fuel that is considered an alternative resource to conventional diesel fuel. Even though biodiesel shows advantages as a renewable source, there are still minor drawbacks while operating in diesel engines. Modern vehicle engines are designed to be powered by conventional diesel fuel or gasoline fuel. In this review, the performance, emissions, combustion, and endurance characteristics of different types of diesel engines with various conditions are assessed with biodiesel and blended fuel as well as the effect of biodiesel on the diesel engines. The results show that biodiesel and blended fuel had fewer emissions of CO, HC, and PM but higher NOx emissions than the diesel-fuelled engine. In the endurance test, biodiesel and blended fuel showed less wear and carbon deposits. A high concentration of wear debris was found inside the lubricating oil while the engine operated with biodiesel and blends. The performance, emissions, and combustion characteristics of biodiesel and its blends showed that it can be used in a diesel engine. However, further research on long-term endurance tests is required to obtain a better understanding of endurance characteristics about engine wear of the diesel engine using biodiesel and its blends.

The key feature of air-cooled dynamometer is the geometry of the rotor, which played a vital role in effective heat rejection. Dual application is limited for air cooled eddy current dynamometer due to excessive heat generation when the operating speed is up to a certain range. The aim of this research is to observe the air flow pattern and temperature distribution on the rotor of the air-cooled dynamometer with different geometry designs. In addition, the air flow and heat transfer simulation were carried out by using ANSYS software. Besides, the setting of normal size mesh was proposed in all design cases to reduce the computational time and the mesh files size of the simulation. Furthermore, a total of four configurations of rotating domain were designed and created using SolidWorks software, with each one differentiated with the features of holes and cover. The results of air flow velocity contour were compared with those of without the cover and holes on the rotor design. The optimum design in air motion distributed within all cases of numerical simulation were then observed and compared. To validate the simulation setup, experimental data were used to validate the airflow and heat transfer coupling simulation models. The results revealed that an improvement with more air volume movement can be observed at medium range and high velocity range for all models with cover features over the models without cover. Besides, the results also shows that the influences of hole features on air flow velocity were less significant as compared to the one with cover features. Also, the rotor design with cover and without holes were found to be the best configuration as it allows the as high as 27.7% greater air flow dynamic to achieved lowest steady state temperature as compared with those of baseline design. The Design C also improved in term of temperature as compared to the simple model of plane rotor, with as high as 11.6% reduction in overall temperature. Through the results of this analysis, it was justifiable that the Design C can be suggested as the best-case scenario for further experimental study. These results will serve as a basis for rotor design to improve the performance of the air-cooled eddy current dynamometer.

One of the many problems that engineers face is the failure of numerous automotive parts due to corrosion. This investigative project was instituted to study the immersion of different types of metal surfaces such as aluminium, mild steel and copper in Moringa non-edible biodiesel at 60˚C for 1100 hours. This project gave an insight on the corrosion performance of similar metals immersed in Moringa biodiesels. Besides that, this project had fulfilled its objective to study the elemental composition of selected corrosion spots on the surface of the metal as there were presence of aggressive pitting corrosion on unpolished metal surface than on polished surface. In additions, any colour changes of biodiesels were also recorded as proof of chemical reactions between the metal and biodiesel. The results show that copper had the highest corrosion rate followed by aluminium and lastly, by steel. Marginally changes in biodiesel colour for aluminium and steel when immersed in Moringa biodiesel but the complete opposite was seen when copper was immersed in Moringa biodiesel.

Most of the world’s energy requirements are still derived from natural resources. This will result in a catastrophic energy crisis with negative environmental consequences. The increased energy supply will result in greater consumption of non-renewable sources. The production of biomass producer gas (BPG) from biomass gasification has received significant attention as an alternative fuel due to the depletion of non-renewable resources. This experimental study aimed to determine the flame propagation, flame propagation speed, and chamber pressure trace of BPG at different equivalence ratios. Understanding the characteristics of the BPG’s combustion, finding lower greenhouse gas emissions of BPG, and minimizing the use of fossil fuels is necessary to mitigate these problems. Using the direct visualization technique, an optical constant volume combustion chamber (CVCC) was developed to measure combustion characteristics. Liquid petroleum gas (LPG) was used to compare the flame propagation speed in the CVCC calibration. In comparison to wood pellet (WP), coconut husk (CH), and palm kernel shell (PKS), the chamber peak pressure at ϕ equal to 1 of CH for the combustion of BPG was the lowest at 20.84 bar. At ϕ of 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3, the chamber peak pressure of CH was discovered to be around 17.77, 18.12, 18.81, 20.84, 20.39, 17.25, and 16.37 bar, respectively. Compared to the other two types of BPG, CH produced the lowest emissions of CO2 and CO at 2.03% and 0.022%, respectively. In conclusion, the CH had the lowest chamber peak pressure and emissions due to the lower heating value (LHV) being relatively lower.

Biomass is the organic matter formed by photosynthesis that occurs on the earth’s surface. They contain all forms of waste compost, including urban solid waste, municipal bio solids, animal wastes, forestry and agricultural wastes, and some industrial wastes. Efficient use of biomass oil would aid in the resolution of issues caused by fossil fuels. However, the biggest issue about using this energy is due to the gas composition of biomass material. As a result, properties of biomass are the critical parameter for assessing the fuel content of a special biomass substance in energetic applications. Gasification is the most mature thermo-chemical conversion technique available among the various methods of transforming biomass materials to bio resources. In this context, proximate and ultimate analysis has been used to classify two groups of biomass material that carry out in this experiment. The proximate analysis results have been obtained by the TGA technique while the ultimate analysis results will obtain by the GC mechanism. Then, based on the proximate analysis data various empirical equations containing linear and nonlinear terms were evaluated in order to predict the higher heating values (HHV) of the entire sample range. Since, the biomasses used in this analysis have different properties and fuel characteristics, the estimated HHV for the wood pellet sample are between 15.33 and 19.71 MJ/kg, while the rubber seed sample is between 15.18 and 18.64 MJ/kg. According to the experimental findings, the HHV of wood pellet is at around 2.95 MJ/Nm3 while the HHV of rubber seed of about 4.99MJ/Nm3. The comparison on the theoretical analysis have been show 0.19% compared to the results on wood pellet while the rubber seed have at around 2.07% difference compare each other. The experimental results on wood pellets, the findings reveal a 15.35% difference, while rubber seed indicates a 13.81% difference. Nonetheless, the finding and analysis on the properties, the results can be considered within reasonable limits.