Super Oil Absorbent Form Rubber Waste
There are three main threats that give disastrous outcomes to the ecosystem, oil spill in the open sea, non-biodegradable wrapping plastics and logging to accommodate the paper industry. The current oil absorbent available in the market nowadays are more of fibers with hydrophilic characteristics. As a result, the oil been absorbed cannot be reused and causing total lost to the oil companies. It is estimates that billions of Malaysian Ringgit(RM) lost due to this cause for the past ten years.\r The objective of this project is to produce oil absorbent that not only created from the Empty Fruit Bunch(EFB) as a recycling initiative but at the same time able to reuse back all the absorbed oil after that. On top of that to this, we also hope to produce a biodegradable wrapping paper from the same material.\r The initial step towards the production of this eco-absorbent is known as Compounding Process which involves the grinding of the EFB along with some used rubber. This is then followed by adding flour to the mixture and then cooked until it is matured. At the end of this process, the product is grinded into refined form. Based on the investigations conducted, this eco-absorbent able to absorb oil five times of its weight and using a minimal pressure, the absorbed oil can be recollected back hence use onwards without changing the oil physical or chemical properties.\r On the other hand, the eco-friendly wrapping paper made out of the same material also showed high durability and tensile index. In addition to this it also showed high flexibility folding index which enables this wrapping paper to be shaped and folded into various forms according to the customer needs. All of these positives characteristics suggest that this eco-friendly wrapping paper able to replace the conventional plastic wrapping paper available in the market nowadays.\r In conclusion, we are one step closer in reducing the environmental pollution by using the EFB to produce the eco-oil absorbent and wrapping paper that it’s not only stressed on recycling the waste materials and precious oil resources but at the same time helps to save billions of Ringgit by the oil companies.
生活中的碳-探討自製的活性碳之吸附雜質及竹炭屏蔽電磁波效應
有鑑於SARS 期間活性碳口罩因原料均從國外進口，而造成活性碳急需用時的短缺，於是我們的研究是以國內最常見的木材自製成活性碳，並探討活性碳對生活週遭常見物質的吸附能力。我們利用六種不同的木材配合兩種活性化方法來製成不同的十二種活性碳，觀察活性碳對有色溶液的吸附效果，發現不同的活性碳對不同的物質有不同的吸附效果。在定量實驗中，我們採用不同大小、不同性質的物質依次為氯離子、氨分子、葡萄糖分子及三氧化二砷等，用十二種不同的活性碳作吸附效果的比較，發現每種物質都有對其具有最佳吸附能力的活性碳。再利用電子顯微鏡觀察並測出活性碳孔洞的大小，將結果與活性碳對各種物質的吸附能力相對應而得知，【1】活性碳的孔洞大小與物質質點相容性大即得最好的吸附效果【2】雖然木材本身並不帶電，但其中所含的礦物質可能會具有電性，所以在必要情況下亦可將電性列入考慮。同時，在現代化的生活環境中，人們與電磁波的接觸已無可避免；而電磁波因頻率的差異而有不同的特性，因此對於人們的影響也不相同，新聞報導中常出現宣稱竹炭具有遮蔽電磁波的效果。於是我們深入地去探討竹炭對電磁波的影響原因。 在我們實際測量過程中發現，基地台、高壓電塔、行動電話和家庭電器所釋放之電磁波總和均在安全範圍之內。竹炭的燒製溫度須達550℃以上才可在內部形成具有導電性的石墨結構才進一步具有屏蔽效果。 ;During the ravage of SARS, a great amount of activated carbon was imported to Taiwan, leading to the shortage of actived carbon for emergent use in our country. In view of this phenomenon, we investigated six kinds of wood that are most commonon the market and processed them into twleve kinds of actived carbon. We found that different actived carbon has distinct adsorptive power on different substances by observing theadsorption in the colored solutions. In quantitative experiments, we applied substances of different sizes and properties (chlorine ions, ammonium ions, glucose molecules, arsenic(Ⅲ) oxide) to compare the adsorption of these twelve kinds of actived carbon. We found that each substance is adsorbed the most by a certain kind of actived carbon. Then we observed the apertures of actived carbon under stereoelectric microscope and contrast the result with adsorption. We had two following findings: Actived carbon has better adsorption if its apertures fit the adsorbate molecule well in size. Wood itself doesn’t have electric charge. But sometimes the minerals contained would enable it to have electric charge. We have to take the electric charge into consideration in the experiment if necessary. At the same time, in a modern life, the contact between us and electronic waves are not avoidable. Electronic waves with different frequency have varied characteristic and therefore cause dissimilar influences on humans. The news reports keep on showing the charcoal can shield us from electronic waves. Therefore, we want to find the causes why the charcoal affects the electronic waves. During the process of the research, we find that the total of all electronic waves released by electricity tower, mobile phones, household electronics are within the secure spec. The charcoal has to be burned higher than 550℃ and then it can generate the electric conduction graphite structure inside and then it can have the shielding function.
幾丁聚醣包埋酵母菌球株對重金屬離子廢水處理
本實驗的目的,就是希望利用幾丁聚醣除污的效果,再配合酵母菌所能累積金屬的能力,以酵母菌包埋於幾丁聚醣的方法,吸附廢水中的重金屬離子.用Langmuir 理論求得飽和吸附量,進而求出休眠酵母菌-幾丁聚醣所能吸附金屬離子(銅)0.2048(g/g)的數量,與活化酵母菌-幾丁聚醣所能吸附金屬離子(銅)0.1750(g/g),並比較回收效率,以應用於處理工業上工廠所排放的廢水. In this experiment , we want to use the ablation of chitosan and the accumulation in metal of saccharomycete to absorb the metal cation of waste liquid . In the process , we embedded the saccharomycete in chitosan to absorb the metal cation , and obtained the impregnate absorption of dormant saccharomycete and activated saccharomycete by the theory of Langmuir . Then , we compared the efficiency of them and applied them to work on the waste liquid in industry.
奈米複合材料與空氣分子的愛恨情仇-探討奈米碳管對空氣滲透率之影響
本實驗使用聚醚亞醯胺溶液製備基本薄膜，由於玻璃態高分子薄膜過於緻密，一直是高分子薄膜在應用上的一大限制，為了在薄膜上製造缺陷，又不會使薄膜之選擇性降低，因此選擇將酸化之奈米碳管(孔徑10~20nm) 加至聚醚亞醯胺薄膜中。本實驗主要為探討添加不同濃度的酸化奈米碳管對聚醚亞醯胺薄膜的滲透率與選擇率的影響，藉由添加0.5 wt%、1 wt%、1.5 wt%、3 wt%、4 wt%等不同濃度的酸化奈米碳管至15 wt% 的聚醚亞醯胺溶液中，並製作薄膜，測試其基本性質與五種氣體(H2、CO2、O2、N2、CH4)的滲透率及不同空氣分子之間的選擇率。我們總共測試了三種薄膜的性質，分別是表面特性、熱穩定性及結晶型與層間距，薄膜的表面性質，能觀察到奈米碳管在薄膜中製造奈米孔隙結構，增加氣體滲透的孔道，能有效增加氣體的滲透率。增加奈米碳管的量，能有效升高第一階段熱裂解的溫度，雖然熱裂解在本實驗中沒有很大的差異，但是還是可以從熱重分析圖中推測不同量的奈米碳管會影響熱穩定性。在X 光繞射實驗中，添加奈米碳管的薄膜與純聚醚亞醯胺薄膜，在結晶相上都屬非結晶型薄膜，添加了奈米碳管的高分子複合薄膜的層間距明顯增大。在氣體滲透實驗中，我們比較了不同氣體或濃度不同的奈米複合薄膜的氣體滲透率，在不同氣體時，氣體的滲透率會隨著奈米碳管濃度增加有明顯的提升，五種氣體滲透率大致依照H2>CO2>O2>N2>CH4 這個趨勢增減。奈米碳管對1.5%增加到3%或4%的奈米複合薄膜滲透率的影響卻減小，由此可以推斷奈米碳管對空氣滲透率並非無限制的增加，在1.5%以後就漸漸趨近最大值。H2為14.89barrer，CO2 為9.51barrer，O2為6.34barrer，N2為6.48barrer， CH4 為3.75barrer 。本研究總共比較了三組氣體的選擇率，分別是CO2/CH4，O2/N2，H2/CH4，分離率最高的是H2/CH4 的，兩分子的粒徑大小差對分離率有極大影響，差愈大，其分離率也愈高。奈米碳管的量改變並不會使薄膜的氣體選擇率明顯增加或減少，但是加入太多奈米碳管其選擇率會變低。在五片薄膜中，1.5%的薄膜有最好的選擇率，奈米碳管的添加量超過1.5%選擇率就會開始下降。綜合滲透率及選擇率可以分析出，添加1.5%奈米碳管的高分子奈米複合薄膜有較高的滲透率，又不會降低選擇率，在利用上比其他濃度的奈米複合薄膜在有害氣體過濾及空氣的分離回收方面產生更好的效果。;This experiment uses Polyetherimide polymers solution to make basic membranes. Because glassy polymer membranes are too dense for gas permeations, it is one of the limitations in their applications. To increase gas permeability and maintain air selectivity, I made some nanogaps on the surface of the membranes by an acidification multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWNTs, kinetic diameter 10~20nm) in the PEI membranes. We mainly want to find if it has some influence between the consistency of acidification MWNTs and gas permeability or selectivity. We mixed 0.5wt% 、1wt%、1.5wt%、3wt%、4wt% acidification Carbon nanotube in 15wt% PEI solution, made membranes and tested the character, five kinds of gas permeability (H2、CO2、O2、N2、CH4) and the selectivity between different gases. We have tested the three nature of membranes, including surface characteristic, TGA and XRD. We can see some nanogapes made by carbon nanotube in the membranes. It could availably increase gas permeability. Mixing more carbon nanotube in the membranes could increase the temperature of the first heat-decomposition. Though the heat-decomposition in this experiment didn’t change a lot, we could say that different percent nanotube would affect the membranes’ heat-decomposition. By the experiment of XRD, the membranes with carbon nanotube and the pure PEI membranes attach to amorphous membranes. Nanocomposite’s de-spacing is bigger than pure membranes. In the experiment of air permeability, we compared different kinds of gas or different percent carbon nanotube of nanocomposite if they have some change of permeability. The conclusion is that air permeability increase as the quantity of nanotube increase. The five kinds of permeability the direction：H2>CO2>O2>N2>CH4.The influence of permeability will decrease when the quantity of carbon nanotube increase from 1.5% to 3% or 4%. We can get the conclusion that the increment of gas permeability isn’t limitary. It drifts towards maximal about 1.5%. H2 is 14.89barrer. CO2 is 9.51barrer. O2 is 6.34barrer. N2 is 6.48barrer. CH4 is 3.75 barrer.This experiment totally compared three groups of air selectivity. They ’re CO2/CH4, O2/N2 and H2/CH4. The maximum of selectivity is H2/CH4. The difference of kinetic diameter affects air selectivity a lot. The quantity of nanotube doesn’t associate with the air selectivity, but mixing too much nanotube will decrease air selectivity. The 1.5% nanocomposite has the highest selectivity. If the consistency of the membranes is higher than 1.5%, the air selectivity will decrease. Depend on the gas permeability and the air selectivity, the 1.5% nanocomposite has higher permeability and constant air selectivity. That shows the 1.5% nanocomposite has a better effect on air selectivity and recycling.
Bio-Active Plants
My Science Fair project last year tested a local native plant for it’s toxic effects on insects (fruit flies), bacteria, fungi, and viruses. The root of the plant Lomatium dissectum, had been used by the Salish People to control lice and other insect pests in horses and cattle. The root was also used to kill fish, which could then be harvested by women and children. The fish killed in this way were not harmful to eat as long as they were consumed soon afterward. I have found also that fishing with the aid of plant toxins was formerly very common in tropical Africa. \r Lomatium dissectum, grows in dry rocky slopes in conjunction with Sagebrush.\r Many desert plants produce toxic substances that inhibit the growth of competing plants\r nearby. This adaptation is called Allelopathy. In a natural ecosystem, Lomatium does not\r kill fish because it does not grow beside creeks. But this raises the question of whether\r allelopathic plants growing outside their natural ecosystem are having a toxic effect on\r animal life. There are introduced invasive weeds that are allelopathic, such as\r Knapweed,growing near streams. And there are crop plants that are allelopathic – Rye and\r Alfalfa. Do these “natural herbicides” also kill fish? Walnut trees are allelopathic and\r compounds from Walnut kill fish.\r If this effect does go beyond toxicity to other plants, it would be an important\r consideration to environmental guidelines for private land bordering on streams and\r rivers. The B.C. Ministry of Environment notes the importance of shade cover for\r spawning streams. It does not recognize the harmful effects of introduced plants. Yet,\r when we were purchasing supplies for our Koi Pond the pet supply company offered a list\r of “Some of the Worst Plants to Have Around Koi”. We do not know if the introduced\r allelopathic plants are poisoning fish or reducing fish stock by poisoning the food that fish\r need.\r Science Fair rules do not allow any research that is expected to have any negative\r impact on vertebrate animals. Because of this, I have decided to test the effect of\r allelopathic plants on fruit flies (Drosophila). Fruit flies are similar to fish since, during\r larva and pupa forms, they live in direct contact with their culture media. I will also be\r testing the effect of allelopathic plants on Planaria (Turbellaria), an aquatic invertebrate.
神經妙算流博村-是洪水？是山崩？
南投溪頭米堤飯店在2001 年因土石流受創，產險公司以「土石流即是山崩」為由拒絕理賠。歷經5 年的訴訟後，2007 年1 月台灣高等法院認定，土石流屬保險契約中所規範的「洪水」，並非「山崩」，判決產險公司應給付賠償金。土石流究竟是洪水？是山崩？主要因素便是土石流發生的水文因子。本文藉由博愛村的現場調查及文獻探討先作初步資料分析（preliminary analysis），了解到地文因子(physiographical factor)是土石流發生的充分條件，非必要條件；一般僅考慮雨量因子，把地文因子看作常數（忽略地文因子受水文因子歷程(course)影響），簡單易懂，但在安全與經濟考量上有待討論。使用類神經網路對已發生過的土石流事件計算土石流發生臨界曲線，並使用模糊理論計算松鶴地區其受水文因子影響的土石流發生臨界曲線，這樣的模式，考慮似乎比較周到。由「米堤飯店」的例證，更說明土石流發生的水文因子的必要性。Lemidi hotel, Xitou, Nantou because mudflows and landslides and was wounded in 2001. The Insurance Company refused to settle a claim on the position on “A landside is a debris flow”. After the lawsuit which was going through 5 years. In January, 2007, the High Court of Taiwan asserted that the adversity in the 2001 belongs to “the flood” in the norm of the insurance agreement. As the norm of the insurance agreement said, the debris flows in the land is the flood, not the “landslide”. The High Court of Taiwan judged that the Insurance Company should compensate the Lemidi Hotel. Is debris low a landslide or a flood? The main cause is the Hydrology in the happening of a debris flow. We did preliminary analysis of forms by on-the-spot investigation on Song-Ho Village and reference discussing. We realized that physiographical factor is an abundant condition for a happening of a debris flow, not the essential condition. Generally, people only consider rainfall factor. And they consider physiographical factor as not as constant (neglect the influence of hydrology factor to physiographical factor). We can understand easily in that way. Therefore, in the aspect of security and economy, there is much doubt that is needed to be discussed. People who use neural network method to calculate the curve of the debris flow happening , and used fuzzy theory to calculate the curve of the debris flow happening which is influenced by the hydrology in Song-Ho Village. In that way, we may consider more thoughtful. From the example of the Lemidi Hotel in Nantou, we can prove that how necessary the hydrology factor in the debris flow is.
Geo-engineering CO2 Scrubber
On account of the rapid development of human activities, much more fossil fuel is burnt and thus a greater amount of greenhouse gases are emitted to the atmosphere including carbon dioxide (CO2). CO2, is considered as the major cause of the exacerbating global warming. “Geo-engineering”, literally, means the options that would involve large-scale engineering of our environment in order to combat or counteract the effects of changes in our atmosphere. As a carbon neutral CO2 scrubber is proposed to be a large-scale scheme to fix carbon globally through reducing the CO2 emitted to the atmosphere and our ultimate goal is to implement the CO2 scrubber scheme to the whole globe, that is, a large-scale scheme to our environment, it is a project of geo-engineering. The procedures of the project are as the following: (a)Investigating on the absorption of CO2 produced by calcium carbonate (CaCO3), using different basic substances at different temperatures (b)Investigating the absorption of CO2 in car exhaust produced by combustion of petrol in car engine using basic solid (c)Feasibility of using a prototype of CO2 scrubber in exhaust pipe of car (d)Feasibility of fixing carbon by turning CO2 into dry ice and stored in deep water (e)Feasibility of growing plant in used basic solution Results: 1.The CO2 scrubber prototype had an average CO2 removal ability over 50%, which was considered to be efficient. The concentration of CO2 (561ppm) was even lower than that in the ambient air (CO2 612ppm). During the experiment, the prototype was closely attached to the exhaust pipe and did not fall down. Thus, a CO2 scrubber was feasible to be used in the vehicles. Besides, our prototype was more energy efficient than LM2500 PE simple cycle gas turbine (consumed 21MW electricity) though our prototype had a lower CO2 removal efficiency. The cost of our prototype would be much lower than membrane technology as the production cost of the membrane was high. 2.Unlike existing CO2 scrubber prototype installed in open area (with electric fan installed), our CO2 scrubbers installed in the chimneys of power stations and exhaust pipes of cars are carbon neutral as exhaust gas has high kinetic energy and would pass into the scrubber. 3.dry ice would not evolve carbon dioxide gas at high water pressure such as at the bottom of the ocean. 4.Plants grew well in alkaline environment, it was feasible to grow plants in basic solution. Conclusion: CO2 scrubber is a suitable choice in combating the climate change through absorbing the excess carbon dioxide, with the utilization of the carbonates produced in the reaction, it is hoped that the climate change can be relieved using an environmentally-friendly device.