Save your precious time and money by using this approach to fractional-factorial design of experiments (DOE) for studies involving 6 to 7 variables. Highly recommended.

To read the article which was written by Joseph F. Louvar from Wayne State University, which was published in CEP, January 2010 edition, please download the article from the link below:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/qfxx293n96p92bk/simpligyexptdesign.pdf

Contributed by Prof. Dr. Nor Aishah Saidina Amin.

The term “biomass fuel” is a broad term that encompasses all leaves, roots, seeds, and stalks of all plants as well as animal waste. Anything that can burn and decompose can be a biomass fuel, or also called biofuel. Although crude oil is not considered biomass, but it once was millions of years ago.

The wood used to build a campfire is biomass fuel. The idea of using biomass as fuel to create energy to run our homes and cars isn’t new. It’s been around for a long time, but until gasoline went to four bucks a gallon and utility bills went through the roof, nobody seemed too interested in developing the technology into a practical and financially feasible substitute for fossil fuel. But biomass fuel is an idea whose time has come.

You hear now about a grass that grows in Africa being used to create energy or about corn grown in America being used to create energy. You hear about methane gas that’s a natural byproduct of landfills being captured and turned into usable energy. And you haven’t heard the end of these ideas and others like them, either.

Burning fossil fuel (oil, gas, coal) is easy, but it’s quickly becoming far too expensive, and the problem is that there’s a limited supply of all fossil fuels. The earth gives these fuels up after men drill or mine into the earth, but there’s no more being made. When what’s here is gone, it will be millions and millions of years before there is more. So you see the problem.

But biomass is a renewable resource, unlike fossil fuel. If we use grass or corn today, next year there will be more grass or corn because we can produce them easily. Another good thing about using these biofuels is that they be grown at the backyard like what our ancestors have done before. Landfills keep getting bigger and bigger, and the gas that could be harnessed and used has been ignored – until now. Yes, biomass fuel is an idea whose time has come!

Propylene (CAS.NO.115-07-1)(refined level) : 40.12 – 40.38 cents (usd)/pound

Ethylene (CAS.NO.74-85-1) : 31.255 – 31.495 cents (usd)/pound

Frankly, as a chemical engineer, I have never really studied or know much about laser. Laser, an acronym for light amplification by stipulated emission of radiation, is a really interesting area to study and apply. My nearest experience with laser is merely using a laser pointer during presentations and also a so called laser printer. When I was a kid, I learned about laser while watching Star Wars and Battle Star Galactica.

Recently, while surfing the net, I came across Arcor Laser, a company providing various services related to the laser business. I never expected or rather known such a laser oriented business like Arcor Laser existed. All this while, as mentioned earlier, I have just wondered and saw laser in movies, but in reality, laser is a very useful technology. The application of laser evolved around the automotive, aerospace, medical, electronics, oil patch, heavy equipment, military, power generation, research and development as well as fire arms industry.

Among the signature services provided by Arcor Laser are the laser welding and fuel cell welding. Again, I have never thought of a laser welding, but from what I read, this technology provides an excellent tool for welding many types of material. The focused beam delivers a concentration of heat with spectacular accuracy. This process results in a very narrow weld bead with weld penetration control as close as plus or minus .001”. The heat affected zone, unlike normal welding, is minimized assuring minimal dimensional distortion. These weld characteristics provide more reliable welds, more repeatedly on smaller, thinner parts, unmatched by traditional welding.

Despite of the advantages and benefits of using laser welding, several factors are required to ensure the success of the process. Before laser welding takes place, we need to select the correct type of laser for the material and thickness. Besides that the reflectivity and conductivity should be considered as well as it will affect the weld quality. Likewise the conventional welding, the spot to be welded must be ensured clean to avoid contamination which will result to poor quality. Integration of the entire above mentioned factor will ensure an optimum laser welds.

Arcor laser not only dwell on laser welding and fuel cell welding. They are also very capable in laser materials processing services, system integration, development of intellectual property opportunities, laser cutting, cladding, drilling, welding, and surface modification. In short, whenever there are problems using the conventional method, you can discuss and consult Arcor for innovative solutions using laser.

For me as a researcher, I may consider adopting laser as one of the techniques to gain energy and other products in the field of reaction and catalysis engineering. Who knows I may come out with a revolutionary discovery of the century?

Photo credited to http://opticsclub.engineering.ucdavis.edu/

http://www.ohgizmo.com/2007/11/06/ohgizmo-review-dragon-lasers-250mw-hulk/

Unfortunately, the opportunity to obtain more money from research grants from the government was effected due to the recent economic crisis. The researchers throughout the county as well as other parts in the world are experiencing some tough time. Hence, it is now important to seek for other means of financing the research activities.

To do this, we need to promote our research extensively globally. One way of doing this is by writing reports, articles and essays on our expertise and general research finding to be published in websites, blogs, magazines, newspapers, book chapters, journals and others. In order to impressed and educate the readers and potential sponsors and financers, we need to present the reports, articles and essays attractively and the best possible way.

For this purpose, we can seek for professional custom essay, report and article writing services. We can search services like this by keying write my essay in google or yahoo or other search engines. On top of that, this professional service provider can also proof read our writings to make it an excellent and top notch article, essay or report. This is importantly one way of attracting sponsors and financers. Who knows, from this small effort, we may be rewarded and attract big companies to finance our research. We just need to try…

Wood Waste, Sawdust and Empty Palm Fruit Bunch (EPFB)

This idea of generating enough sawdust to produce a useful amount of energy might sound weird. All the trash from industrial wood processing is generally redundant and thrown away. Some of it is reprocessed into particle board or into wood pellets for stoves, but there’s still a lot of unused waste wood out there. EPFB in the other hand is left just like that while small fraction of it is utilized for running boilers in mills. When left for a long time, the wood and EPFB will rotten, and this waste can be a potential hazard to the environment as methane is formed. Methane, as we know, is a harmful greenhouse gas.

With proper waste management, the sawdust and EPFB can be systematically collected and burned at a power plant designed for this purpose. The heat is used to generate electricity which can be used to run cars. The idea is more than feasible, it’s already in practice — a 14-megawatt wood waste power plant is being built in Nigeria.

Dirty Diapers

Dirty diapers sound disgusting. But used diapers are an excellent fuel source. The garbage can be transformed into fuel gas and fuel oil by using a process called pyrolysis. Pyrolysis is the chemical decomposition of condensed substances by heating that occurs spontaneously at high enough temperatures with catalyst and without oxygen.

The world has a lot of disposable diapers and babies constantly generate more. And it would be relatively easy to use special recycling bins to separate them from other garbage. Pyrolysis is best when it has been fine-tuned to the material being heated. Mixed garbage is full of all kinds of random materials, and you never know what sort of mix you’re going to get each day. We know what kind of the plastics and fabrics are used in their manufacture, and what is the waste material.

Conclusion

As conclusion, proper waste management is imperative and it can be integrated with process such as pyrolysis. From pyrolysis, fuel and energy can be obtained and this is indeed an alternative to the present fossil fuel which will last soon.

Scope
WCCAS-2010 is expected to greatly contribute to the promotion of new
concepts for the development of efficient methodologies for catalytic
asymmetric synthesis and its practical applications. The topics will
reflect this general theme, placing emphasis on aspects that are common to
all areas of catalytic asymmetric synthesis and the type of reaction
involved:

Track 1: Novel Technologies for Catalytic Asymmetric Synthesis

Track 1-1: Rational Ligand Designs and Novel Catalyst Screening
Technologies
Track 1-2: Microwave/Ultrasonic/Photo Assisted Asymmetric Catalysis  Track
1-3: Practical Chiral Catalyst Immobilization
Track 1-4: Nanotechnologies in Asymmetric Catalysis
Track 1-5: Non Air Sensitive or On-water Catalysis and Solid Phase Catalysis

Track 2: Organometallic Chiral Catalysts in Asymmetric Transformations

Track 2-1: Catalytic Asymmetric Alkylation
Track 2-2: Catalytic Asymmetric Additions
Track 2-3: Catalytic Asymmetric Hydrogenation and Reductions
Track 2-4: Catalytic Asymmetric Oxygenation
Track 2-5: Catalytic Asymmetric Carbon-Carbon Bond Formation
Track 2-6: Catalytic Asymmetric Epoxidation
Track 2-7: Catalytic Asymmetric Aziridination, Cyclopropanation and
Diels-Alder Reaction
Track 2-8: Catalytic Asymmetric Carbonylation
Track 2-9: Catalytic Asymmetric Amination and Introduction of Other Hetero
Atoms
Track 2-10: Catalytic Asymmetric Polymerization Reactions

Track 3: Enantioselective/ Diastereoselective Organocatalysis

Track 3-1: Chiral Lewis Base Organocatalysts
Track 3-2: Chiral Bronsted Acid Organocatalysts
Track 3-3: Peptide Based Chiral Organocatalysts
Track 3-4: Phase Transfer Chiral Organocatalysis
Track 3-5: Other Organocatalysis in C-N, C-O and C-C Bond formations

Track 4: Applications of Catalytic Asymmetric Synthesis

Track 4-1: Asymmetric Synthesis in Drug Discovery and Processing
Track 4-2: Asymmetric Synthesis of Biocides or Pesticides
Track 4-3: Synthesis of Chiral Unnatural Amino Acids and other Natural
Products
Track 4-4: Enantioselective Synthesis of Analytical Chiral Compounds and
Intermediates
Track 4-5: Asymmetric Synthesis of Optical and other Special Functional
Materials

Track 5: Biocatalysis for Asymmetric Transformations

Track 5-1: Mild to Extremophilic Enzymatic Catalyzed Transformations
Track 5-2: Enzymatic Catalytic Degradations of Biopolymers and Chemical
Polymers
Track 5-3: Microbial and Antibody Catalyzed Asymmetric Reactions

Track 6: Business Development for High Value Chiral Molecules

Track 6-1: Enabled Enantioselective Catalysts on Market
Track 6-2: Purification and Analytic Instrumentation of Enantio-pure
Compounds

Scientific Program
The scientific program will consist of plenary and keynote lectures,
approximately 30 sessions, exhibition and a poster session.
More program information can be found at:
www.bitlifesciences.com/wccas2010
Abstracts of the lectures and posters will be printed in the Conference
Proceedings, which participants will receive at the registration desk and
is included in the registration fee.

Location
The capital city of the People’s Republic of China, Beijing is a
fast-growing, dynamic metropolis that, while courting foreign businesses
and visitors, maintains a firm grip on its rich cultural heritage. Beijing
made history in 2008 with the first Olympic Games ever to be held in
China. The conference will be held in Beijing International Convention
Center (BICC) which is located within the magnificent Asian Games Village.
It is one of the Chinese biggest facilities specifically designed for
conferences and exhibitions, comprising 50 conference halls and meeting
rooms equipped to serve a wide variety of purposes with the capacity from
10 up to 2500 people.

Looking forward to seeing you in Beijing in May, 2010

Sincerely Yours,

Ryan

Program Coordinator
26 Gaoneng St., R405, Dalian Hightech Zone
Dalian, LN 116025, China
Tel: 0086-411-84799609-811
Fax: 0086-411-84799629
Email: ryan@webbitmail.cn
Website: http://www.bitlifesciences.com/wccas2010

1. Are you interested in delivering a speech in this congress? Which session?

2. Would you like to chair or co-chair any session of this conference?

Session details PS: http://www.bitlifesciences.com/wccas2010/program.asp

ERA would like to congratulates Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Group (REFRAC) head by Prof. Dr. Md Nor Musa for their success to get Symbiosis UTM-MTDC grant awarded by MTDC amounted RM 2.5 million.

Congratulations!!

Thank you.

Website: www.utm.my/era

CREG is searching for new masters and/Ph.D student for the coming semester. We are searching candidates with excellent academic results, strong computer modeling knowledge and impressive dedication.

If you are the person, you will join a dynamic research group consisting of numerous undergraduate, masters and pH.D students. Please explore this website to learn all about the potential research work that you can work on with.

For further information, please contact Prof. Dr. Nor Aishah Saidina Amin at:

07-5535588 (office) or 012-7165490 (hand phone) or email: noraishah@fkkksa.utm.my.