FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND GREEN TECHNOLOGY
PETROCHEMICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
UGEA4913 Project
No.
1
Final Year Project Title
Description / Objective / Scope
Preparation and characterization of graphite oxide membrane for recovery of industrial
chemicals from waste water
Equipment Required
Remarks (if any)
Supervisor
Dr Yamuna
a/p
Munusamy
Objective:
To prepare graphene oxide membrane
To characterize and test the performance of the graphene oxide membrane
Description:
Permeation through nanometer pores is important in the design of materials for filtration and
separation techniques and because of unusual fundamental behavior arising at the molecular scale.
Submicrometer-thick membranes made from graphene oxide can be completely impermeable to
liquids, vapors, and gases, including helium, but these membranes allow unimpeded permeation of
water (H2O permeates through the membranes at least 1010 times faster than He).
2
Production of polyethylene hybrid nanocomposites
Objective:
To produce hybrid nanocomposites for structural applications
To characterize and test the performance of the hybrid nanocomposites
Dr Yamuna
a/p
Munusamy
Description:
Polyethylene hybrid nanocomposites will be produced using waste biofiller and organoclay
nanofillers. The melt blending techniques will be used.
3
Dr Lo Po
Kim
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation on liquid-liquid-mixing fluid motion across
S-mix static mixers.
Objective:
To carry out liquid-to-liquid mixing simulation and understand the fluid motion in static mixers.
To analysis the pressure drops and coefficient of variation (CoV) across the static mixers for in-line
as well as open channel type flow.
To create strong turbulence at minimal pressure drop.
To achieve near homogenous mixing of chemicals and water at downstream of the mixers.
Background:
Static mixers, also known as motionless mixers, have become standard equipment in the process
industries. However, new designs are being developed and new applications are being explored.
Their use in continuous processes is an attractive alternative to conventional agitation since similar
and sometimes better performance can be achieved at lower cost. The prototypical design of a static
mixer is a series of identical, motionless inserts that are called elements and that can be installed in
pipes, columns or reactors. The purpose of the elements is to redistribute fluid in the directions
transverse to the main flow, i.e. in the radial and tangential directions.
4
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) 3-D simulation of the proton exchange membrane fuel
cell (PEMFC) Gas Flow Field Channel [or an alternative title]
Objective:
To investigate the effect of gas flow pattern on the performance for PEMFC with different bend
angle and width of serpentine flow channels.
To analyzes the distributions of model variables with different gas flow pattern.
To optimize the performance of PEMFC.
Requirement:
Candidate will need to
stay at NCTU, Taiwan
during the second
trimester of FYP.
Dr Lo Po
Kim
Background:
Since their introduction by NASA in the 1960’s, proton exchange membrane fuel cells
(PEMFCs) have attracted considerable interest within industrial and academic circles as a potential
power source for a range of mobile applications. Characterized by a compact size, an efficient
performance, a straightforward design and operation, and a high degree of environmental
friendliness, it seems likely that PEMFCs will one day replace gasoline and diesel internal
combustion engines as the method of choice for vehicular applications. The literature contains many
experimental and numerical investigations into the transport phenomena and electrical performance
of PEMFCs. The design of the flow delivery system has a critical effect on the cell performance.
5
Liquid carbon dioxide extraction of oil from oil palm fruit
Dr Tan
Chew Khun
Objective:
To determine the potential application of liquid carbon dioxide extraction of palm oil as an
alternative to the conventional extraction process using aqueous thermal boiler.
Description:
Explore the potential use of liquid carbon dioxide for extracting oil from oil palm fruits. The study
will compare the efficiency of liquid carbon dioxide extraction with the conventional steam
extraction method commonly used by the oil palm mill industry in Malaysia.
6
Gasification using palm fronds as the biofuel source
Objective:
To study the process of gasification using a small bench gasifier with oil palm fronds as the fuel
Description:
Explore the potential of using the biowaste oil palm fronds as an alternative fuel source of natural
gas for cooking stove. The study will determine the effectiveness of the biowaste as a renewable fuel
in place of natural gas for home cooking.
Dr Tan
Chew Khun
7
Potential of cotton oil as a source of renewable fuel
Dr Tan Kok
Tat
Objective:
To determine the optimum conditions for oil extraction
To investigate the quality of oil extracted
Description:
In this project, a thorough investigation will be conducted to examine the potential of cotton oil as a
source of fuel. Cotton trees are abundantly available in area nearby Gopeng and cotton oil will be
extracted from the seed. Characterization tests will be conducted on the extracted oil to determine
the quality of oil contained in the seed.
8
Optimization of biodiesel production via supercritical reaction from cerbera odollam
Dr Tan Kok
Tat
Objective:
To determine the optimum conditions for oil extraction
To investigate the optimum conditions for biodiesel production
Description:
In this project, optimization of biodiesel production will be carried out by employing Design of
Experiment (DOE). The source of triglycerides will be from cerbera odollam, an inedible fruits
commonly found in housing area. After extraction of oil, biodiesel will be produced via supercritical
reaction.
9
Ordered Mesoporous Materials: Synthesis and Characterization
Objective:
To study the parameters (heating time and temperature) for the synthesis of MCM-48 under
microwave heating.
To characterize the synthesized MCM-48.
The student needs to do Dr Chew
the project using CEM Thiam Leng
MARS 5 reactor for
microwave heating,
which is at USM,
Nibong Tebal,
Malaysia.
Description:
Ordered mesoporous silicas (OMS) are widely used in applications such as catalysis, sensing, drug
delivery and optics. MCM-48 is one of the promising OMS. In this project, MCM-48 will be
synthesized under microwave heating (MW), which is expected to significantly reduce the synthesis
time compared to conventional hydrothermal synthesis method. The parameters such as synthesis
temperature and time will be studied for synthesis of MCM-48. The synthesized MCM-48 will be
characterized using different analytical techniques.
10
Case Study of Refinery and Petrochemicals Integrated Development (RAPID) Petronas
Projects in Pengerang, Johor.
Description:
It is good for students to understand the RAPID projects activities and its requirement if the students
are interested to work with them in the future. This project is going to conduct an understanding of
the current situation of RAPID project in Pengerang, Johor which is still under construction.
Employ SWOT analysis to evaluate the feasibility of the RAPID project.
11
Case Study of Oil & Gas Production Facilities for Fixed and Floating Jacket Offshore
Platforms.
Description:
To simplify an overview of the typical oil and gas production process and its facilities. The oil and
gas process is the process equipment that takes the product from the wellhead manifolds and
delivers stabilized marketable products, in the form of Crude Oil, Condensate or Gas. Components
of the process also exist to test products and clean waste products such as produced water. Though
this study, student will be exposed to the diversity of oil and gas industry as well as keep in pace
with the oil and gas world.
12
Effectiveness of using a consortium of microbes to remediate soils contaminated by
petrohydrocarbons and PCBs.
Objectives:
To determine the contamination level of a study site
AutoCad, Solid Work, Ir Dr Low
3D Model. Engineering Chong Yu
Economics & Analysis.
For those who are
willing to work in
RAPID projects after
graduation (Prefer
student's hometown is
from Johor Bahru)
AutoCad, Solid Work, Ir Dr Low
3D Model, Aspentech
Chong Yu
Hysis Simulation,
Engineering
Economics & Analysis.
For those who are
willing to work in
design & fabrication
offshore facilities after
graduation. (Prefer
student's hometown is
Lumut / Setiwan)
Bioremediation
Ms Chong
Foon Yee
To treat the contamination site with a special microbial culture to evaluate the effectiveness of the
treatment.
Description:
This project is for a business concern with bioremediation of contaminated land. The treatment
process using a microbial preparation will be provided by the business concern. The study is to
provide scientific evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of the business methodology.
13
Capturing CO2 from Flue Gas using Amine−functionalized Biomass Adsorbent: Adsorption
Studies
Mr Tan Kee
Liew
Objective:
To develop adsorbent and evaluate its adsorption performance
Description:
This project involves developing a new adsorbent from biomass to capture CO2 from simulated flue
gas. The developed adsorbent is first subjected to characterization, and then a series of performance
tests, in order to evaluate its capability as adsorbent for CO2 gas.
14
Development of Fe2O3/TiO2 catalyst for removal of dye
Objective:
To study the effect of calcination temperature & time on dye removal.
Description:
Preparation and characterization of the catalyst for dye removal with different parameters.
Ms Leong
Siew Yoong