Browsing by Author "Amin, Nor Aishah Saidina"

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    Characterization Of Solid Products From Ozonolysis Pretreatment Of Oil Palm Fronds
    (2016-04-22) Omar, Wan Nor Nadyaini Wan; Amin, Nor Aishah Saidina
    This present work focused on the characterization of treated oil palm frond (OPF) from ozonolysis pretreatment. The ozonolysis pretreatment was performed in a conventional semi-batch reactor at ambient condition. The effectiveness of ozonolysis pretreatment was validated by investigating the degradation of lignin and composition of solid product from pretreatment (treated OPF). In addition, crystallinity, surface area, pore structure, and morphology of untreated and treated OPF, as well as functional groups present were examined accordingly to study the effect of ozonolysis pretreatment on physical properties of OPF. The ozonolysis pretreatment on OPF was found to degrade the lignin structure, and exerted only a slight effect on the hemicellulose structure. Meanwhile, the cellulose yield was increased. As comparison to the untreated OPF, the crystallinity index OPF was increased while the surface area, pore volume, and mean pore diameter for the treated was decreased. This observation explained that the ozonolysis reaction has degraded the C=C bond of acid insoluble lignin into acid soluble lignin. Thus, the lignin could be removed easily by washing with water. Removing the amorphous component would lead to higher crystallinity index. Meanwhile, the pore properties of treated OPF would collapse during washing and drying process. Results of the present study indicated ozonolysis pretreatment as an effective method for OPF pretreatment to produce a washed clean substrate rich in cellulose and xylan. In addition, the physical properties of OPF were improved and ready for subsequent downstream bioconversion process such as acid hydrolysis for glucose production.
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    Esterification Of Renewable Levulinic Acid To Ethyl Levulinate Over Modified HY Zeolite Catalyst
    (2016-04-22) Ramli, Nur Aainaa Syahirah; Amin, Nor Aishah Saidina
    The depleting primary energy sources and increasing greenhouse gas emissions have driven initiatives to develop clean technologies for chemical transformations from renewable feedstocks. Currently, extensive studies are being carried out to investigate the conversion of renewable biomass into biofuels and other chemical feedstocks. In particular, levulinic acid (LA) derived from biomass has been recognized as a versatile building block for the production of various platform chemicals. Esterification of LA with alcohols produce levulinate esters which have extensive application either in the flavoring and fragrance industries or fuel additives. Till date, the catalyst employed in the reported literatures for LA esterification suffered from either poor catalytic activity or lack of reusability properties. Herein, the esterification of LA with ethanol for ethyl levulinate (EL) production was conducted using iron modified HY zeolite (Fe/HY) at reflux condition. The effect of reaction time (1 – 7 h) , Fe/HY loading (10 – 35% Fe/HY to LA), and molar ratio of LA to ethanol (1:4 – 1:24), on LA conversion and EL yield were investigated. The experimental results revealed the optimum LA conversion and EL yield were obtained from LA esterification conducted at reflux condition for 6 h, 10% Fe/HY loading, and 1:16 of LA to ethanol molar ratio. The reusability of Fe/HY for EL production was also examined. In addition, Fe/HY catalyst was employed in the esterification of LA with methanol and butanol for methyl levulinate (ML) and butyl levulinate (BL) productions, respectively, with good performance. This study demonstrated the potential of Fe/HY catalyst for esterification of LA to levulinate esters at mild process conditions