Chemical Reaction Engineering Group

Since the 2012 have arrived, I take as honour to report some of our achievement in 2011.

Student Graduated

In this year, a few members of CREG have successfully graduated of their study. They are:

1)      Wan Nor Nadyaini Wan Omar has completed the M.Eng (Chemical) on 26 Sept 2011. Now, she furthers her study on phD level also in this group.

2)      Zafifah

3)      Dr. Javaid Akhtar has passed the viva-voice on Sept 2011, and has completed his thesis correction. Now, he became a post-doctoral in our group while waiting his graduation days.

4)      Rubyatul Adawiyah Samsudin has completed her M.Eng (Chemical) on July 2011. Now she is working on big company in oil and gas field in Kuala Lumpur.

5)      Putri Sylvia Utami has passed her viva-voice on 23 August 2011 and already finished her thesis correction, now she has back to her hometown in Pekan Baru, Indonesia. She is a mixed-mode master student

6)      Nurul Huda Zamzuri has already passed the viva-voice on last 13 Dec 2011, now she is doing some minor correction on her thesis while working with Shimazu in Senai.

Publications

A CREG members with supervised by our head have successfully published a few paper on high impact journal. There are:

1)      W.N.N. Wan Omar and N.A.S. Amin (2011). Biodiesel Production from Waste Cooking Palm Oil over Alkaline Modified Zirconia Catalyst. Fuel Processing Technology Journal, 92 (12), 2397-2405. (Impact factor 2.781) .

2)      Javaid Akhtar, NorAishah Saidina Amin and Azmi Aris (2011).  Combined adsorption and catalytic ozonation for removal of sulfamethoxazole using Fe₂O₃/CeO₂ loaded activated carbon. , Chemical Engineering Journal, 170, 136-144, Elsevier. (Impact factor 2.816)

3)      NorAishah Saidina Amin, Javaid Akhtar, H.K. Rai (2011). Catalytic ozonation of aqueous phenol over metal-loaded HZSM-5, Water Science and Technology, 63 (8), 1651-1656,  IWA Publishing .(Impact factor 1.094)

4)      Javaid Akhtar and NorAishah Saidina Amin (2011). A Review On Process Conditions For Optimum Bio-Oil Yield In Hydrothermal Liquefaction Of Biomass, Renewable Sustainable Energy Reviewers, 15, 1615-1624, Elsevier. (Impact factor 4.567)

5)      M.K. Nikko and NorAishah Saidina Amin (2011). Thermodynamic Analysis of Carbon Dioxide Reforming of Methane in View of Solid Carbon Formation. Fuel Proc Tech, 92, 678-691, Elsevier. .(Impact factor 2.781)

6)      NorAishah Saidina Amin and Wan Nor Nadyaini Wan Omar (2011). Optimization of Heterogeneous Biodiesel Production from Waste Cooking Palm Oil via Response Surface Methodology, Biomass & Bioenergy, 35, 1329-1338, Elsevier. (Impact factor 3.840)

In addition, a few papers have been submitted and also a lot of papers are in a pipeline. Therefore, hopefully all this paper will be accepted to be published on the selected journal.

Patent granted

This year, only one patent have been filing that is: GREEN DIESEL (PI 2011001655)

Grants

In this year, there are three grants have been closed. The grants are as following:

1)            Prof Dr. NorAishah Saidina Amin. Dual Functional Modified Zirconia Catalyst for Biodiesel Production from Waste Cooking Oil, under Fundamental Research Scheme, Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia, Project Head(Vot 78402); Amount: RM 46,000 (2009-2011)

2)            En khairuddin Ahmad. Axial and radial dispersion of catalyst bed dilution of catalytic conversion of glycerol to olefin, under Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS), (Vot 78401); Amount: RM31, 000, (June 2009-2011)

3)            Dr Hajar Alias. Supported Material On Platinum Catalyst For Hydrogen Production From Glycerol By Aqueous Phase Reforming, under Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS), Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia; Project head (Vot 78422); Amount: RM 42,500 (August 2009-2011).

In the meantime, we are also had successfully won a few new grants. Thus, the following is a list of active grants for the next year.

1)      Prof Dr Nor Aishah Saidina Amin. Nano top down research grant.

2)      Prof Dr Nor Aishah Saidina Amin. Long Research Grants Scheme. RM 500,000

3)      Prof Dr. NorAishah Saidina Amin. Methanol From Renewable Resources For Green Car Fuel. Under Research University Grant. Project head (Q.J13000.7125.00H49); Amount: RM 170,000 (April 2011-2013)

4)      Prof Dr. NorAishah Saidina Amin . Kinetic Study of Glucose for Levulinic Acid Production over a Hybrid Nanocatalyst, under Fundamental Research Grant Scheme, Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia; Project head (Vot 78681); Amount: RM 56,590 (August 2010-2012).

5)      Thermodynamics Analysis of Alkanes and Intermediates from Glucose in Hot Compressed Water with Acid Catalyst, under Fundamental Research Grant Scheme,

6)       Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia, Member (Vot78687); Amount: RM 46,610 (August 2010-2012)

7)      PM Dr Ramli Mat. Synthesis And Characterization of Catalyst For Crude Glycerol Conversion To Methanol, under Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS), (Vot 78541); Amount: RM 53,600.00, (April 2010- 2012).

8)      Dr Norzita Ngadi. Synthesis and Characterization of Renewable Carbon Cryogel Beads from Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) for Wastewater Treatment, under Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS), (Vot 78620); Amount: RM44 000, (April 2010-2012).

Awards.

After working very hard for the three years, the biodiesel project finally has won a Gold award on INATEX 2011 on last November. This is a second time for the project participates on INATEX competition. The last previous one, we already participated on INATEX 2009 and won nothing. After 2 years, we wake up with a lot of preparations in mental and physical to won this time, and then finally we won this gold medal. Thanks to Prof NASA and others group members who give a support to this project.

New Members.

This year also we welcome by a lot of potential students and lecturer to our group. The new group members have their own speciality on their areas. Hopefully with their presence, CREG will be known widely in among the worlds.