Agricultural, veterinary and food sciences

Permanent URI for this collection

http://openscience.utm.my/handle/123456789/32

Browse

Now showing 1 - 5 of 15

Silica removal from rice straw for animal feed application
(Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 2017) Abd. Talib, Norfahana
The large production of rice straw (731 ton/season) could eventually lead to uncontrolled air pollution due to open burning activity. Although rice straw has been used as animal feed since in the 1980s, it has failed to provide sufficient amount of protein for daily ruminant growth (about 15-20%). Hence, this study explored the use of rice straw waste for animal feed that can provide the amount of protein needed for daily ruminant growth. Moreover, as silica has been discovered as the main hurdle in animal feed processing, the rice straw sample was treated with alkaline hydrogen peroxide (AHP) via batch and continuous systems. Besides reducing the silica content, it is also aimed to maximize the protein content of the treated rice straw. Meanwhile, in the continuous system, a single column packed bed with up-flow system was adapted before carrying out further biological treatment with the fungi, Neurospora sitophila for cell protein production. Other than that, physical and chemical characterizations of rice straw sample (obtained from Seberang Perak, Malaysia) were conducted before and after pretreatment processes to determine the effectiveness after each pretreatment process. From the results obtained, a kinetic study was carried out to investigate the removal behavior for each system. From the characterization analysis, the rice straw sample was found to contain a high level of silica (20%) and lignin (20%), but very low-level protein content (6-7%). Besides, the batch process of pretreatment with AHP, as well as the effects of different parameters (i.e. AHP concentrations, particle sizes of rice straw, and temperature) had been studied. From the batch process, the optimum condition obtained was at 60°C with application of 10% of AHP solution for sample with < 0.5mm particle size. At this condition, more than 83.8% of silica removal, 80% of delignification, and 7.88% of reduced sugar production were achieved. On the other hand, as for the continuous AHP pretreatment process, and followed by biotreatment of Neurospora sitophila (edible fungus) in the single column, it was found that 84% of silica was removed with 80% of delignification and 8% of reduced sugar production with 10% AHP solution in a 7cm treated and compacted rice straw bed at room temperature. Furthermore, the protein content in the pretreated rice straw increased by a whopping 80%. Meanwhile, the kinetic study revealed that both the batch and the continuous silica removal processes were highly influenced by mass transfer, in comparison to the other steps. Hence, it can be concluded that this study has depicted that the selected processes for silica removal and protein enhancement of local rice straw are indeed suitable for animal feed production. Additionally, the kinetic study has been proven beneficial in understanding the attributes of the removal process
Optimal design and synthesis of rice supply chain
(Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 2013) Lim, Jeng Shiun
Continuous rise in energy cost and increased competitiveness have motivated rice enterprises to find new ways to improve productivity, reduce resource consumption, minimise waste generation, and ultimately, raise profitability. Consequently, there has been extensive research and development works in the conversion of the by-products from rice mills into value-added products. However, most of the works on the improvement of the rice mill and its downstream processes have been carried out in the piece-meal manner. There is a clear need for a systematic framework to optimise and improve the existing rice mill and its value-added processes in an integrated, resource-efficient way. The new framework developed in this thesis includes four key components as described below. Component 1: A new cost-screening framework that is known as the resource-efficient screening (RES) method to screen the rice value chain and select the products and technologies targeted to maximise profit. Component 2: The framework for an integrated, resource-efficient (IRE) rice mill complex to synthesise the processes by evaluating the trade-off between the product revenue, capital investment and utility consumption. The model also considers the seasonality and degradation of rice resources with time. Component 3: A new framework called the integrated, resource-efficient (MSIRE) framework has also been developed for the rice enterprise that operates a cluster of rice mills at different locations. The MSIRE framework is used to determine the product portfolio for each rice mill, the location of the cogeneration system and its optimal scale, whether to expand the current processing facility or to build a new facility and the configuration of the paddy and rice husk logistic network. Component 4: A framework that combines the optimal logistic network of rice husk, with the rice mill’s utility supply network has also been developed. These frameworks were successfully implemented on several case studies involving different scenarios of a national rice enterprise, and produced significant improvement in the enterprise’s profitability
Optimizing pigment production from agricultural waste using metaheuristic-based algorithms
(Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 2022) Suhaimi, Siti Nurulasilah
Due to the uncontrolled industrial applications of synthetic pigments that can cause a serious hazard to human health and the environment, the scientific community skewed towards natural colors. The simplest and efficient method to increase pigment production is by manipulating the medium. Among classical and statistical methods, one factor at a time and response surface methodology (RSM) is the most widely used in medium optimization. However, the main drawback of these methods is tedious wet experiments need to be conducted to predict the output for a new input data and prior to data processing and analytic for decision making. In the past few years, the rapid advances in the field of metaheuristic optimization algorithm have provided a solution in optimization problems. In this study, metaheuristic optimization scheme, together with the mathematical model which is regression analysis have been implemented to minimize time and cost of wet-lab experiments by increasing the pigment productions using the proposed compact experiments. Moreover, the predictive optimization performance and sensitivity analysis of metaheuristic algorithm have been evaluated to validate the results, and the authenticity has been proven by wet laboratory experiments. Analysis of the optimization showed that the percentage improvement for the proposed compact experiment which is particle swarm optimization (PSO) model improved from RSM model by 1.32%, while the percentage improvement for all compact experiments was better than multiple polynomial model (MPR) model with the highest PSO percentage of 2.0507%. Hence, the experimental findings revealed that, the metaheuristic-based approach successfully predicted the optimum fermentation parameters condition and concentration with better achievement on pigment production by using proposed compact experiment.
Enhanced adoption model for collaborative knowledge sharing in Malaysia halal food industry
(Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 2019) Melatu Samsi, Siti Zakiah
Collaborative Knowledge Sharing (CKS) is one of the strategies that enable organisations to work together with their internal and external stakeholders. It enables the achievement of common objectives which in turn improves organisational performance. Accordingly, via qualitative phenomenology, this research has explored the ways by which a Halal food organisation adopted CKS. The approach entailed explorations of the CKS practices of respondents’ from one of the main players in the Malaysian Halal food industry which findings contribute to the enhancement of CKS adoption model for the industry. Purposive sampling was employed to recruit the respondents, who consisted of staff from different management levels. Semi-structured face-to-face and over-the-phone interviews have been conducted to collect data. All interview sessions have been recorded using a voice recorder, following which transcription was done so that the text could be analysed using the Atlas.ti software. As per findings, the organisation’s CKS practices were still at pre-adoption stage, meaning that they were still informal and not centralised. However, there were activities that have already been embedded in current policies, examples of which included induction sessions for new staff, trainings, and the audits. Meanwhile, the new requirements set by the external stakeholders (like vendors and customers) provided useful information for product-development. This research has found five factors that helped enhance the CKS adoption model in the Halal food industry: individual, organisational, environmental, technological and non-technological channels, as well as Islamic perspectives. From a practical viewpoint, this study provides the players with valuable information that can assist in strategising for CKS adoption in their organisations.
The fate and transport of nutrients using deterministic model in tropical watershed
(Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 2019) Mohamed, Khairul Anuar
Optimum fertilisation and nutrient losses in agriculture watershed systems are strongly affected by land use characteristics, oil palm nutrient processes and climate change. Nutrient losses from oil palm fertiliser accumulate in Johor Straits, leading to algal bloom and eutrophication. The main objective of this study is to identify the main contributor of nutrient loading at upper Johor River watershed based on oil palm fertilisation, land use and climate data. This study proposes optimum fertilisation months and rate for oil palm systems in order to reduce the nutrient losses into Johor River for better water quality, tackling current and future conditions. Four land-use scenarios from the year 2000 to 2014 and one projected climate change scenario obtained from the United States Centre for Atmospheric Research were used. These land use and climate model were incorporated into Hydrological Simulation Program-FORTRAN (HSPF) to determine the impact of long-term land-use, climate, and contaminants control via oil palm uptake and nitrate leaching in a tropical watershed. The model was calibrated and validated against observed data from two stations, Johor River at Rantau Panjang and Sayong River at Jambatan Johor Tenggara. Good correlations were obtained between the observed and simulated streamflows, total sediment concentration, water temperature, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), dissolved oxygen (DO), nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N), ammoniacal nitrogen (NH3-N), and orthophosphate (PO4). The simulated model indicates that the hydrological water balance and yield of the watershed vary under different land-use scenarios and evapotranspiration is the primary contributor of water deficit. Proper soil management practices and improved water infiltration reduce sediment yield and suspended solids concentration by almost 70% and 30%, respectively. Considerable depletion of dissolved oxygen occurs primarily from August to October due to low flow and high water temperatures. For oil palm nutrient components, organic mineralisation is the most sensitive since the mineralisation rate is related to soil temperature via air temperature and microbial activity. As agriculture development expanded from 68% to 90% within 14 years, total nitrogen and total phosphorus loads increased by 2.9% and 2.1% respectively. Analyses using extreme future climate scenario (until year 2100) stipulated that only 5% of nitrate leached if fertilisation rate is reduced by 30% and more frequent fertilisation (from three times to five times per year) is introduced. The phosphorus yield from oil palm plantation is higher from June to August due to surface runoff and sediment attachments. This study suggests optimum fertilisation schemes that optimise nutrient uptake and reduce nutrient leaching in tropical oil palm dominated watershed, therefore improving water quality status in Johor River.

Browse

Recent Submissions