The preparation of activated carbon from wood-based industrys residue is one of the most environmental friendly solutions of transforming negative-valued wastes to valuable materials. Wood sawdust was first chemically activated using potassium hydroxide, KOH and characterized by nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms measured in Micrometrices ASAP 2020 and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM). By manipulating three different parameters, the optimal activation conditions were found at temperature of 500°C, activation time of 60 min and impregnation ratio of 1:3. Results showed that the BET surface area, total pore volume and diameter of activated carbon were 1876.16 m2g-1, 0.88 cm3g-1and 6.93 nm, respectively. Nitrogen adsorption desorption isotherm analysis proved the existence of mesopores in activated carbon produced, suggesting that it can be effectively used as an adsorption material.

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The objective of this research is to study the potential of using banana peel as a biosorbent in removing heavy metal ions (Cu2+, Zn2+ and Pb2+) and oil/grease particles from industrial waste water. The study emphasizes on the parameters involved in the preparation phase of the banana peel adsorbent, such as particle sizes, activating agent, impregnation ratio, carbonization temperature and duration. Based on the findings, it shows that the adsorption capacity is correlated to the total surface area (SBET), pore volume (VT) and average pore diameter (D) of the materials. Sample A20 yields the highest percentage removal for all tested waste water pollutants, suggesting that banana peel based activated carbon can be used effectively as biosorption material.

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The main purposes of this project are to assess and to optimize the solubility of carbon dioxide (CO2) in an aqueous 30 wt% monoethanolamine-tetrabutylphosphonium methanesulfonate (MEA-[TBP][MeSO3]) new hybrid solvent. In this study, the viscosity and density of aqueous MEA-[TBP][MeSO3] hybrid solvents containing different amounts of [TBP][MeSO4] were determined. Meanwhile, Fourier Transform-Infrared (FT-IR) Spectroscopy was used to determine the presence of carbamate in aqueous MEA-[TBP][MeSO3] to prove that CO2 was absorbed by aqueous MEA-[TBP][MeSO3]. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) based on central composite design (CCD) was used to design the experiments and explore the effects of three independent parameters on the solubility of CO2 in aqueous MEA-[TBP][MeSO3]. The three independent parameters are concentration of [TBP][MeSO3] (2–20 wt.%), temperature (30–60 °C) and pressure of CO2 (2–30 bar). The experimental data was found to fit a quadratic equation using multiple regressions and analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA). The final empirical equation in terms of actual factors was deducted as mol fraction = 0.5316 − (2.76 × 10−4)A − (8.8 × 10−4)B + (8.48 × 10−3)C + (2.9 × 10−5)AB + (2.976 × 10−6)AC + (5.5 × 10−5)BC − (8.4 × 10−5)A2 − (3.3 × 10−5)B2 − (1.19 × 10−4)C2, whereby A = ionic liquid ([TBP][MeSO3]) concentration, B = temperature and C = CO2 pressure. An attempt was made to perform the experiments for solubility of CO2 in aqueous MEA-[TBP][MeSO3] to validate the removal of CO2 predicted by RSM. Based on a validation study, the experimental data showed a percentage error between 0.6% and 2.11% as compared to the predicted value of CO2 removal by RSM.

Abstract-Down Syndrome (DS) is a common chromosomal abnormality in human and typically delay in cognitive ability and physical growth. This study investigated the skills of 19 DS children ages between 1-13 attending special sessions at Kiwanis Down Syndrome Foundation center at Ipoh, Perak. A 34 item survey checklist with 1-4 in the Likert scale was used and defined as 1-Never to 4-Always. The skills were categorized into cognitive, affective and psychomotor. From the responses of the teacher-in-charge and the parents, the results showed that the DS children have varied skills that can further be improved in order for them to become more independent. The identified skills were used as a bench mark in developing learning material on numbers from 1 to 10 using multimedia technology. The developed learning material is called SynMax and composed of 3 activities such as learning, matching and counting. It was based on some learning theories Dual Coding Theory and Schema Theory. The Synmax will be tested to the children with Down Syndrome to determine its suitability, for our future work.

The removal of H2S and CH4 from natural gas is crucial as H2S causes environmental contamination, corrodes the gas stream pipelines, and decreases the feedstock for industrial productions. Many scientific researches have shown that the metal-organic framework (MOF)/ionic liquids (ILs) have great potential as alternative adsorbents to capture H2S. In this work, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation was carried out to determine the stability of ILs/IRMOF-1 as well as to study the solubility of H2S and CH4 gases in this ILs/IRMOF-1 hybrid material. Three choline-based ILs were incorporated into IRMOF-1 with different ratios of 0.4, 0.8, and 1.2% w/w, respectively, in which the most stable choline-based ILs/IRMOF-1 composite was analysed for H2S/CH4 solubility selectivity. Among the three choline-based ILs/IRMOF-1, [Chl] [SCN]/IRMOF-1 shows the most stable incorporation. However, the increment of ILs loaded in the IRMOF-1 significantly reduced the stability of the hybrid due to the crowding effect. Solvation free energy was then computed to determine the solubility of H2S and CH4 in the [Chl] [SCN]/IRMOF-1. H2S showed higher solubility compared to CH4, where its solubility declined with the increase of choline-based IL loading.