FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND GREEN TECHNOLOGY
PETROCHEMICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
UGEA4913Project
No. / Final Year Project TitleDescription / Objective / Scope / Equipment Required
Remarks (if any) / Supervisor
1 / Preparation and characterization of graphite oxide membrane for recovery of industrial chemicals from waste water
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). / Dr Yamuna a/p Munusamy
2 / Production of polyethylene hybrid nanocomposites
Objective:
To produce hybrid nanocomposites for structural applications
To characterize and test the performance of the hybrid nanocomposites
Description:
Polyethylene hybrid nanocomposites will be produced using waste biofiller and organoclay nanofillers. The melt blending techniques will be used. / Dr Yamuna a/p Munusamy
3 / 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. / Dr Lo Po Kim
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.
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. / Requirement:
Candidate will need to stay at NCTU, Taiwan during the second trimester of FYP. / Dr Lo Po Kim
5 / Liquid carbon dioxide extraction of oil from oil palm fruit
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. / Dr Tan Chew Khun
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
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. / Dr Tan Kok Tat
8 / Optimization of biodiesel production via supercritical reaction from cerbera odollam
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. / Dr Tan Kok Tat
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.
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. / The student needs to do the project using CEM MARS 5 reactor for microwave heating, which is at USM, Nibong Tebal, Malaysia. / Dr Chew Thiam Leng
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. / AutoCad, Solid Work, 3D Model. Engineering Economics & Analysis.
For those who are willing to work in RAPID projects after graduation (Prefer student's hometown is from Johor Bahru) / Ir Dr Low Chong Yu
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. / AutoCad, Solid Work, 3D Model, Aspentech 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) / Ir Dr Low Chong Yu
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
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. / Bioremediation / Ms Chong Foon Yee
13 / Capturing CO2 from Flue Gas using Amine−functionalized Biomass Adsorbent: Adsorption Studies
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. / Mr Tan Kee Liew
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