Mass Attenuation Coefficient of Binderless Particleboard made from Oil Palm Trunk and Acacia mangium using 16.59-25.26 keV Photon Energy Range

4ICERT 2015

Proceedings of the School of Industrial Technology

th

International Conference on Environmental Research and Technology

Exploring the Frontiers in Environmental Science and Technology Research 27 - 29 MAY 2015 PARK ROYAL Penang Resort Malaysia EDITORS:

Teng Tjoon Tow Yusri Yusup Widad Fadhlullah

4 ICERT 2015 International Conference on th

Environmental Research and Technology

“Exploring the Frontiers in Environmental Science and Technology Research” 27 - 29 MAY 2015, PARK ROYAL Penang Resort, Penang, Malaysia

School of Industrial Technology

© School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia 2015 Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia Data

Cataloguing-in Publication

International Conference on Environmental Research and Technology (2015: Pulau Pinang) Proceedings of the 4th ICERT 2015: INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY: Exploring the Frontiers in Environmental Science and Technology Research, 27-29 May 2015, Parkroyal Hotel Penang, Malaysia/ Editors: Teng Tjoon Tow, Yusri Yusup, Widad Fadhlullah. ISBN 978-967-394-211-4 1. Environmental Management—Malaysia—Congresses. 2. Environmental sciences—Malaysia—Congresses. I. Teng Tjoon Tow. II. Yusri Yusup. III. Widad Fadhlullah. IV. Title 363.70070595 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Distributed & Published by: School of Industrial Technology Universiti Sains Malaysia 11800 USM, Penang, Malaysia Tel: +604 653 2219 Fax: +604 653 6375 E-mail: [email protected] Printed by: Redhouse Business Solution Bangunan A04 Rumah Merah PKAP, USM 11800 Penang. T/F: 04-6584945 H/P: 012-4242288, 012-4542288 E-mail: [email protected] Editors: Professor Teng Tjoon Tow Dr Yusri Yusup Dr Widad Fadhlullah

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PREFACE Some of the greatest moments in scientific history were documented not in the most popular of textbooks or the most renowed of journals, but within the conscience of explorers who dedicated their lives unravelling the mysteries of the universe. As the flame of curiousity descended through apprentices and students, their burning desire for knowledge soon gave rise to a culture of exploration that transcended generations. With that, the road towards research and development on science and sustainability was mapped; it is now up to us to nurture this flame by taking steps to explore the horizon for the benefit of mankind. And it was with this spirit that the International Conference on Research and Technology or ICERT was founded, with the aim of bringing together a diverse set of minds that would contribute to the frontiers of research in sustainability and environmental technology. Naturally, this tradition evolved to encompass researchers from across the spectrum, coming under one roof to deliberate on these frontiers. We are proud to host participants who profess a multitude of disciplines from both the arts and sciences. Our approach towards research at the division of Environmental Technology, School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, places emphasis on multi-disciplinary endeavours, with many of our researchers actively involved in fundamental, exploratory and community development programs with an emphasis on sustainable research development. In this proceedings, you will encounter seventy-seven papers from international and national researchers who have been willing to share their work for our collective benefit. It will serve as a testimony to the progression and sustainability of our vision, which is to steer research in science and technology to the next level. We hold this conference to signify our commitment towards the exploration of new horizons and discovering uncharted frontiers. With the guiding principle being sustainability in research and development, it seems apt for this year’s ICERT 2015 to be themed ‘towards the exploration of the frontiers in science and technology’. With that, it gives us great pleasure to unveil the proceedings of the 4th ICERT 2015, and to extend our earnest appreciation for your collective effort in making this proceeding a successful one.

Teng Tjoon Tow Yusri Bin Yusup Widad Fadhlullah Universiti Sains Malaysia

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Disclaimer: the works reported in this proceedings were reviewed based on technical content, without extensive English editing.

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ORGANISING COMMITTEE ICERT 2015 Patron

:

Vice Chancellor, USM Professor Dato’ Omar Osman

Advisor

:

Professor Dr Azhar Mat Easa

Chairman Co-Chairman

: :

Professor Dr Teng Tjoon Tow Assoc Prof Dr Norhashimah Morad

Secretary

:

Dr Widad Fadhlullah

Treasurer

:

Professor Dr Norli Ismail Mr Omar Ahmad

Publicity & ICT

:

Dr Mardiana Idayu Ahmad Dr Lee Chee Keong

Sponsorship

:

Dr Japareng Lalung Dr Mohd Rafatullah

Scientific Committee

:

Dr Yusri Yusup Assoc Prof Dr Abbas Fadhl Mubarek Al-Karkhi Assoc Prof Dr Mahamad Hakimi Ibrahim Assoc Prof Dr Poh Beng Teik Assoc Prof Dr Tay Guan Seng Dr Harlina Ahmad Dr Mohd Rafatullah

Technical

:

Mr Che Ku Abdullah Che Ku Alam

Transportation & Hospitality

:

Dr Mazlan Ibrahim

Hotel Liaison

:

Dr Muhammad Izzuddin Syakir Ishak

Protocol

:

Assoc. Prof. Wan Nadiah Wan Abdullah Dr Syahidah Akmal Muhammad

Conference Secretariat

:

Prof Dr Rokiah Hashim Dr Cheng Lai Hoong

EDITORIAL BOARD Professor Teng Tjoon Tow Dr Yusri Yusup Dr Widad Fadhlullah Ragvinder Singh Jessy H’ng Yin Mun Chou Kian Weng Lee Sze Chi Nurul Syuhada bt Hj Baharudin Tan Kah Aik Amir Talebi

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface 1

iii

Keynote address: Biological Treatment Processes: Suspended Growth Vs Attached Growth Ghasem D. Najafpour and Atiye Ebrahimi

2

1

Design Principles of Public Open Space in the Tidal Area (Case : Limboto Lakeside Area in Gorontalo City) Vierta Ramlan Tallei, Budi Faisal and Haryo Winarso

3

Diversity of Eulophid Wasps (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) from Wang Kelian, Malaysia Nadia, N.M., Idris, A.B., Khir, N.H.M., Nicholas, S. and Tun, M.F.A.

4

54

Optimization of Conditions for the Production of Biochar from Maize Residues Without using Carrier Gas Kiatkamjon Intani, Sajid Latif, A.K.M. Rafayatul Kabir and Joachim Müller

10

66

Synthesis of Nitrogen Doped ZnO Nanorods and their Application as a Sensor Sang Kyoo Lim, Seong Hui Hong, Won Mi Choi, Sung-Ho Hwang and Soonhyun Kim

12

60

Effect of Substrates and Granules/Inocula sizes to Biogas Production in Anaerobic Batch Digestion Sunwanee Jijai, Galaya Srisuwan, Sompong O-thong, Norli Ismail and Chairat Siripatana

11

49

Adhesion Behavior of Benzoyl-Peroxide-Cured Epoxidized Natural Rubber (ENR 25)/ Acrylonitrile-Butadiene Rubber (NBR) Blend Adhesive with Natural Resin Tackifier K. W. Soo, B. Azahari, and B. T. Poh

9

44

Diurnal Changes in Water Quality in Batang Ai Reservoir Teck-Yee Linga, Lee Nyanti, Elisha Munsu, Jongkar Grinang and Siong-Fong Sim

8

32

Source Contribution Analysis of Ambient NO2 Concentration in Maptaphut Industrial Complex Area, Thailand Laddawan Khamyingkert and Sarawut Thepanondh

7

24

Spatial and Temporal Abundance of Tectus niloticus in Marine Protected Areas in Palawan, Philippines: Prospects for Conservation Roger G. Dolorosaa, Alastair Grant and Jennifer A. Gill

6

19

Greening a Society for a Resilient Development Farrah Zuhaira Ismail, Anthony Halog and Mohd Reza Esa

5

13

73

Reduction of Oil and Grease by Fungi Isolated from Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) Jeremiah David Bala, Japareng Lalung, Adel A.S. Al-Gheethi and Norli Ismail

vi

78

13 Effects of Temperature and Aeration Rate on Composting of Empty Fruit Bunches (EFB) from Oil-alm Vivienne Sim Jie Wei, Chua Han Bing, Agus Saptoro and Jobrun Nandong

14

Waste Management in the Construction Industry: A Review on the Issues and Challenges Mohd Reza Esa, Dr Anthony Halog and Farrah Zuhaira Ismail

15

149

Behind the Beauty of Cities Haliza Abdul Rahman

25

141

Heavy Metals (Lead, Arsenic & Cadmium) Concentration in Dried Seafood and Potential Health Risk among Adults in a Fishing Village in Malacca Saliza Mohd Elias, Nurumirah Ali and Ahmad Zaharin Aris

34

136

Container Architecture in the Hot-Humid Tropics: Potential and Constraints Mazran Ismaiil, Karam M. Al-Obaidi, Abdul Malek Abdul Rahman and Mardiana Idayu Ahmad

23

131

Assessment of Indoor Air Quality and Thermal Comfort Environmental Factors in a Secondary School Located Close to an Industrial Zone in Northern Peninsular Malaysia Nurul Aqilah Alias, Mardiana Idayu Ahmad, Yusri Yusup, Norli Ismail, Haslan Abu Hassan and Badrol Hisham Mohd Nowani

22

125

Variations in Water Quality at Cage Culture Sites in Batang Ai Reservoir, Sarawak, Malaysia Lee Nyanti, Teck-Yee Ling and Nurul Safinaz Mohamad Kamal

21

120

Study on Flood Risk Assessment Using GIS Approach with Principal Component Analysis in Kuantan Haris Nizhomul Haq*, Ngahzaifa Ab Ghani, Noraniza Samat, Abbas S Lokman and Luhur Bayuaji

20

115

Extraction of Oil Palm Starch: A Comparative Study Norani Abd Karim, Rokiah Hashim, Othman Sulaiman, and Salim Hiziroglu

18

110

Total Phenolic, Flavonoid Content, and Antioxidant Activity of Gluta torquata Extracts Lily Zuin Ping Ang, Rokiah Hashim, Shaida Fariza Sulaiman, Ahmed Yacouba Coulibaly and Othman Sulaiman

18

106

Preliminary Studies on Properties of Compressed Veneers from Oil Palm Trunk Without Synthetic Adhesive Norhafizah Saari, Rokiah Hashim, Othman Sulaiman and Masatoshi Sato

17

99

Evaluation on the Addition of Polylactic Acid in Different Thickness Oil Palm Particleboards Mohana Baskaran, Rokiah Hashim and Othman Sulaiman

16

91

155

Determination of Origin of Edible Bird’s Nest by Stable Isotopes and Minerals Analysis Eng-Keng Seow, Syahidah Akmal Muhammad, Baharudin Ibrahim, Lam Hong Lee, Ainolsyakira Mohd Rodhi and Lai-Hoong Cheng

vii

160

26

Sterilization of Fresh Palm Oil Fruit – A Reliability of Existing and Advanced Technologies; and Environmental Impacts Tengku Norsalwani Tuan Lah, Abdul Khalil H.P. Shawkataly, Nik Norulaini Nik Ab Rahman, Mark Harris Zuknik and Mohd Omar Ab Kadir

27

Effect of Temperature on Anaerobic-Aerobic Biodegradation of Palm Oil Mill Effluent – A Preliminary Study Chou Kian Weng, Norli Ismail, Teng Tjoon Tow, Mohd. Omar Abd Kadir and Norhashimah Morad

28

224

Preparation of Chitosan Beads for the Adsorption of Reactive Blue 4 from Aqueous Solutions Mohammadtaghi Vakili, Mohd Rafatullah, Mahamad Hakimi Ibrahim, Ahmad Zuhairi Abdullah, Babak Salamatinia and Zahra Gholami

37

216

Preliminary Study on Properties of Isolated Cellulose Fibers from Oil Palm Fronds by Chemo-Mechanical Process Noor Afeefah Nordin, Othman Sulaiman, Rokiah Hashim, Mohamad Haafiz Mohamad Kassim, Mohamed Nasir Khan and Junidah lamaming

36

210

The Development of a Simplified Hybrid Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment (SHEIO-LCA) Model Chai Tew Ang, Norhashimah Morad and Norli Ismail

35

203

An Economic Approach of Palm Oil Mill Effluent Tertiary Treatment using Ferrous Sulphate Ahmad Jaril Asis, Mohd Affiq Mohd Arifin, Rahmat Ngteni, Shawaluddin Tahiruddin and Mohd Omar Abdul Kadir

34

198

Palm Kernel Oil Fractionation using Supercritical Fluid Extraction (SFE) Technology Nik Suhaimi Mat Hassan, Ahmad Jaril Asis, Shawaluddin Tahiruddin and Mohd Omar Abdul Kadir

33

192

Optimization of the Coagulation-Flocculation of Dye Wastewater using Hybrid Polymer Claire Xin-Hui Su, Tjoon Tow Teng, Norhashimah Morad and Mohd Rafatullah

32

186

A Batch Study on Removal of Heavy Metals in Landfill Leachate Harlina Ahmad, Maheera Mohamad and Norli Ismail

31

176

Effects of Carbonization Parameters on the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller Surface Area of Carbonized Elaeis guineensis Frond Fiber Chars Ling Wei Low, Tjoon Tow Teng*, Norhashimah Morad and Baharin Azahari

30

171

An Optimization on Heavy Metals Extraction and Stripping Process Using Ionic Liquids and Octanol Amir Talebi, Teng Tjoon Tow, Norli Ismail and Abbas F. M. AL-Karkhi

29

165

230

Comparison Study of Thermophilic and Mesophilic Anaerobic Degradation of POME Wastewater - A Start-up Operation Yee-Shian Wong, Tjoon Tow Teng, Soon-An Ong, Norhashimah Morad and Mohd Rafatullah

viii

235

38

Bioremediation of Metals by Live Green Macroalgae Ulva reticulata from the Industrial Wastewater of Bayan Lepas, Penang, Malaysia Sharareh Khodami, Misni Surif and Wan Maznah W. O

39

Leaching Behaviour and Chemical – Mineralogical of Construction and Demolition Waste (Concrete and Gypsum) Nurhanim Abdul Aziz, Norli Ismail, Norhashimah Morad and Abdul Khalil H.P.S.

40

305

Water Quality Characteristics in Bakun Reservoir and its Downstream Area Three Years After Impoundment Norliza Gerunsin, Lee Nyanti, Teck-Yee Ling and Siong-Fong Sim

48

319

Degradation of 2-naphthol Orange in Anaerobic Treatment and its Degradation Mechanism Siee-Kung Khiew, Tjoon-Tow Teng, Yee-Shian Wong, Soon-An Ong, Norli Ismail and Abbas Fadhi Mubarek Al-Karkhi

50

313

Hydrochemical Characteristics of Groundwater in part of Ganga-kali subbasin, Western Uttar Prades Mohd Talha Anees, Rashid Umar, Abdullah K, Nawawi M.N.M and Mohd. Omar b. Abd. Kadir

49

299

Moluscicidal Properties of Plant Extracts in Controlling Pomacea canaliculata (Golden Apple Snails): A Review Sze Chi Lee and Mahamad Hakimi Ibrahim

47

295

Analysis of Public Acceptance of the Lynas Advance Material Plant (LAMP) Project: Responses from Gebeng and Johor Communities Lily Suhaila binti Yacob and Tengku Hanidza Tengku Ismail

46

289

A Preliminary Screening on Pesticides Residues Distribution in Tropical Paddy Field Area, Mukim 5, Seberang Perai Utara, Malaysia Harlina Ahmad, Mazratul Amyra Abdul Rashid, Syahidah Akmal Muhammad and Norli Ismail

45

272

Pesticide Application in Malaysia Paddy Field – A Review Harlina Ahmad and Nurul Syuhada Hj Baharudin

44

266

Assessing C and H Isotopic Fractionation of Aliphatic Hydrocarbons During Microbial Degradation: Microcosm Studies and Environmental Implications Syahidah Akmal Muhammad, Russel D. Frew, Alan R. Hayman and Robert Van Hale

43

260

Vermifiltration of Untreated Raw Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) Siti Azahani Azuar and Mahamad Hakimi Ibrahim

42

250

Assessment of Membrane Fouling Indices During Removal of Reactive Dye from Batik Wastewater: Comparison between Real and Synthetic Solutions Indok Nurul Hasyimah Mohd Amin, Muhamad Hafiz Muhamad Nizam, and Ariff Shazwan Ruzaiman

41

241

326

Turbidity Removal from Low Turbidity Synthetic Water using Crude Aqueous Extract from Moringa oleifera Seeds NorAfifah Khalil, Robert Thomas Bachmann and Muzafar Zulkifli

ix

331

51

Green Refined Laterite Soil as Advanced High Efficient Natural Coagulant for Removal of Cationic Dye and Anionic Dye Yen-Yie Lau, Yee-Shian Wong, Tjoon-Tow Teng and Soon-An Ong

52

Preliminary Study on Rubber Wood Fiber (Hevea brasiliensis) Improvement by Laccase Mohammed Nasir, Othman Sulaiman, Rokiah Hashim, Noor Afeefah Nordin and Arun Gupta

53

373

The Feasibility of Polymer Synthesis Employing Fractionated Palm Oil – An Overview Syahidah A.A., Jessy, R. S. and Ibrahim M. H.

59

378

The Effect Of Initial Initiator Concentration on Average Particle Size and Polymerization Kinetics in The Emulsion Polymerization of Vinyl Acetate Jessy, R.S., Ibrahim, M. H., Azhari, B. and Adam, F

60

395

Mass Attenuation Coefficient of Binderless Particleboard made from Oil Palm Trunk and Acacia mangium using 16.59-25.26 keV Photon Energy Range W.N.A.W. Nadhari, R. Hashim, S. Bauk, O. Sulaiman, and M.W. Marashdeh

63

389

Palm Kernel Testa Removal: A New Method Mark Harris Zuknik, Abbas F. M. Alkarkhi, Nik Norulain N. A , Wan Nursyazreen Dalila W. S.and Mohd Omar A.K.

62

382

Removal of Remozol Brilliant Blue R from Aqueous Solution using Modified Clinoptilolite Rasyidah Alrozi, Nasyrah Saiful Anuar, Faraziehan Senusi and Mohamad Anuar Kamaruddin

61

367

Finite Element Analysis of Size Effect on Structural Behaviour of Reinforced Concrete Yusof, M.Z.

58

361

Fabrication of Flat Sheet Blend Ultrafiltration Membrane Using DMAc as Solvent for Aluminium Removal Amizah Mokhtar, Mimi Nazira Abdullah and Ramlah Mohd Tajuddin

57

356

A Statistical Study for Removal of 17α-Ethynylestradiol in Aqueous Solution using Palm Kernel Shell Lim Yee Ling, Norhashimah Morad, Abbas F. M. Alkarkhi and Norli Ismail

56

349

Synthesis of Biodiesel from Coconut Waste via In-situ Transesterification Noorzalila Muhammad Niza and Nurul Asikin Mohd Azelam

55

344

Assessment of Heavy Metals in Soils at Bayan Lepas Industrial Zone, Penang, Malaysia Teh, T. L., Nik Norulaini, N. A., Wong, Y. S., Muhammad. I. Syakir and Mohd Omar, A. K.

54

337

401

A Novel and Rapid Harvesting Method of Microalgae using Saw Dust Coated Polypyrole Hena S. and Fatihah N.

406 x

64

Effect of Temperature on the Biochar Properties from Corn Cob Wastes Adilah Shariff*, Nur Ismiza Ismail and Nur Syairah Mohamad Aziz

65

Screening for Xylosyl Hydrolase (Xylanase) Enzymes in Soil Fungal Species; Comparative Efficacy of Solid State Fermentation Technique and Plate-Screening Methods Ajijolakewu Kamoldeen Abiodun, Leh Cheu Peng, Wan Nadiah Wan AbduLLah and Lee Chee Keong

66

462

Comparative Evaluation of Combustion-Driven Thermoelectric (TE) and Thermophotovoltaic (TPV) Power Generators from a Liquid-Fueled Burner Khairil Faizi Mustafa, Shahrir Abdullah, Mohd Zulkifly Abdullah and Kamaruzzaman Sopian

74

458

Optimisation of the Production of Environmental Friendly Bioplastic, Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) from Glycerol by Burkholderia cepcia BPT1213 in Shake Flask Cultures Nur Suhaila Mohamed Salleh, Nor Fauziah Mohd Zain, Mohammed Razip Samian and Wan Nadiah Wan Abdullah

73

450

Density Uniformity and Determination of Mass Attenuation Coefficient of Binderless Rhizophora spp. Particleboard Fabricated at Different Particle Sizes using CT Imaging System Mohd Fahmi Mohd Yusof, Puteri Nor Khatijah Abdul Hamid, Abdul Aziz Tajuddin, Rokiah Hashim and Sabar Bauk

72

443

Survival of Opportunistic Fungi in Clinical Wastes Generated from Healthcare Facilities Efaq, A.N., Nagao, H., Nik Norulaini Nik Ab Rahman, Al-Gheethi, A.A.S. and Ab. Kadir, M.O.

71

436

Prevalence of Antimicrobial Resistance among Pathogenic Bacteria in NonClinical Environment Adel, A.S. Al-Gheethi, Aisyah Molhit, Jeremiah Bala David, Efaq A.N. and Norli Ismail

70

433

Low Formaldehyde Emission Particleboard Bonded with Modified Crosslinked Carboxymethyl Starch as Bio-Adhesive Mohd Ezwan Selamat, Othman Sulaiman, Rokiah Hashim and Salim Hiziroglu

69

429

Catalytic Degradation of Methyl Orange Dye Using NR – Ag Films N. H. H. Abu Bakar, N. H. Muda, W. L. Tan and M. Abu Bakar

68

423

Potential Application of Betel Nut Husk Fibre/Phenolic Hollow Microsphere Filled Vinyl Ester Composites as Thermal Insulation Panels in Roof Attic Yusriah L., Sapuan S. M., Zainudin E. S., Mariatti M., Ahmad Marzio, M. Y. And Nurul Iman, A.R.

67

417

469

Vertical-Axis Wind Turbine Flow Charasterictics and Momentum Transfer Using the Eddy Covariance Method YinMun H’ng and Yusri Yusup

478

xi

75

Performance Evaluation of Solar Photovoltaic System in Kuala Terengganu: A Feasibility Study MohdAzli Abu, Hooi Peng Lim and Mohd Halim Yakop

76

Turbine Ventilator as Low Carbon Technology for Energy Conservation in Buildings Tan Yih Chia, Mardiana Idayu Ahmad and Mazran Ismail

77

484

490

A Comparative Study of Biogas Production between Day and Night at Sime Darby’s Palm Oil Mill Muhammad Ainuddin Ubaidah, Syed Mohd Hadi Syed Hilmi, Mohammed Faisal Mohammed Yunus and Shawaluddin Tahiruddin

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International Conference on Environmental Research and Technology (ICERT 2015)

Keynote address BIOLOGICAL TREATMENT PROCESSES: SUSPENDED GROWTH VS ATTACHED GROWTH Ghasem D. Najafpour1,* and Atiye Ebrahimi2 1

Biotechnology Research Lab., Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Babol University of Technology, Babol, Iran 2 Faculty of Civil Engineering, Noushirvani University of Technology, Babol, Iran *Corresponding author email: [email protected]

ABSTRACT Microorganisms play important role in biological treatment processes. Complete removal of the biodegradable organic constituents in wastewaters can be achieved with proper microbial consortia. The mixed culture is either essentially present in the wastewater, or is introduced to the target wastewater by blending it with domestic sewage or biological sludge. However, pure cultures of organisms may be utilized in certain cases for the removal of specific contaminants. In favorable environmental condition, microorganisms are capable of presenting high efficiency in destruction of pollutants. Thus, organisms can produce an acceptable effluent. If the environmental conditions are suitable for the growth; including sufficient nutrition, proper pH, optimal temperature, adequate presence or complete absence of dissolved oxygen for respective aerobic and anaerobic systems; absence of toxic and inhibition and desired hydraulic and sludge retention time to allow the microorganisms to grow and remove organic pollutants through biochemical activities. Several pilot scale of advanced and hybrid systems are developed. Combination of fluidized and fixed film has created active biogranules which were quite efficient in treatment of industrial wastewater. The mechanism of anaerobic process is discussed. Growth kinetics and COD removal of effluents were investigated. Keywords: Activated sludge, aerobic, anaerobic, attached growth, suspended growth. INTRODUCTION Wastewater after primary treatments such as physical and chemical process may go through secondary treatment processes. The biodegradable soluble organic compounds are degraded through aerobic/anaerobic biological processes. Often, activated sludge process is well known among biological treatment. Beneficial microorganisms (bacteria and protozoa) feed on contaminants; their populations are increasing (generating biomass). In aerobic oxidation process occurs while food and oxygen are supplied. In anaerobic organic matters are digested without presence of oxygen. In fact sludge is digested while organic compounds are hydrolyzed and volatile fatty acids are formed; then acid forms are taking action while methanogens are synthesizing methane and carbon dioxides [1]. Since the nature of organic compounds in wastewater in not defined; therefore, the term chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) are used to define the level of pollution. The term mixed liquor suspended and volatile suspend solids are also used in wastewater treatment. As the process generates sludge which indicates a high level of microbial activity and is used as a measurement of wastewater strength; as organic contaminants are removed. Once the organic compounds are utilized and converted to sludge the nature of treated waste is stable. The treated effluent goes to clarification, disinfection processes and then assurance of the healthy condition, the effluent is safe; has no significant organic pollution can expose to surface water reservoir for irrigation or other reuse [2, 3]. The nature of a suspended-growth system, such as activated sludge process (also aerated lagoons and aerobic digestion) is waste and microorganisms are mixed while oxygen to diffuse and penetrate into the cell while oxidation occurs inside the cell. The free-floating microorganisms, gathering into biological flocs that settle out in clarifier as the treated wastewater leaves from the clarifiers. The settled flocs retained in a clarifier while part of the sludge is recycled to aeration tank. An effective ratio of recycled sludge may influence the performance of treatment process [4]. In contrary, attached-growth systems have support media while microorganisms as a biofilm is retained and growth microorganisms as fixed or moving bed is in contact with fresh feed. As attached growth system such as trickling filters and rotating biological contactors (RBCs) are two common processes are used in industrial wastewater treatment. The trickling filter, trickling biofilter, biofilter, biological filter, consists of a fixed bed of media such as ceramic, plastic, or textile media while wastewater passes and creates a biofilm that becomes thick and falls off that is called “sloughing”[5, 6]. RBCs consist of a series of circular disks rotating through the wastewater flow, partially submerged. These rotating disks are usually plastic as biofilm is developed on exterior surface of the disks and eventually sloughs off if the film gets thick [7, 8]. The purpose of present work is to investigate the performance of various system of suspended and attached growth; while the detail of process in different fabricated systems were evaluated. The advantages and disadvantages of NRBC, UASFF, UAPB and normal activated sludge process were discussed.

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International Conference on Environmental Research and Technology (ICERT 2015)

MATERIALS AND METHODS Analytical methods The chemical oxygen demand or all organic matters are oxidized by a boiling mixture of chromic and sulfuric acids. A sample is refluxed in strongly acid digestion solution. The standard 2-h reflux time may be reduced if it has been shown that a shorter period yields the same results. Colorimetric reaction vessels are sealed glass ampules or capped culturetubes. Oxygen consumed is measured against standards at 600 nm with a spectrophotometer. COD was determined as described by Standard Methods [9]. Lactose and COD values were detected by colorometric method using spectrophotometer, UNICO 2100 (New Jersey, USA). A gas-tight syringe (Hamilton CO., Reno, Nevada, USA) was used to take sample from the gas sampling port. Gases chromatograph (Perkin Elmer, Auto system XL), equipped with thermal conductivity detector (TCD) and data acquisition system with computer software (Total Chrom), and were used for gas composition analysis. A GC column, Carboxen 1000, with 100/120 mesh (Supelco, Park, Bellefonte, PA, USA) was used. The column temperature was initially maintained at 40oC for 3.5 min, followed by automatic temperature increase at a rate of 20oC/min till it reached to 180oC. The injector and detector temperatures were 150 and 200oC, respectively. The carrier gas (He) flow rate was set at 30 ml/min. The concentration of carbohydrate solution was reacted with 3,5-dinitrosalycilic acid (DNS). The resultant change of color was linearly related to the carbohydrate concentration in the solution. The intensity of the color was recorded by using the absorbency test. A spectrophotometer at 540 nm wavelength was used. The cell optical density as biomass concentration was detected based on light absorbance and cell dry weights were measured. Since many bioreactors with different configurations are used; then, for the specific system definition and detail information is given in the related sections. The characteristics of the whey wastewater are presented in Table 1. Table 1. Characteristics of waste stream Parameter

Concentration (mg/l)

COD

60,000

BOD TS TSS TKN Lactose pH Alkalinity

32,500 60,000 12,500 15 57,500 6.25 300

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION In biological treatment processes for domestic wastewater, two distinct methods are applied which known as aerobic and anaerobic processes. Activated sludge process is a very well defined aerobic process in domestic and industrial wastewaters. While for production of energy from domestic wastewater; anaerobic process is preferred. In old digestion tank, the process for production of hydrogen, methane and carbon dioxide required long retention time. The hydrolysis, acidifiers and methanogens are the stages required for the utilization of biodegradable organic materials in domestic wastewater. Long retention time of 24-28 days may require for the bioconversion of organic matters in domestic wastewater. Such process required to be modified and long retention time has to be reduced to 3-4 days [10, 11]. An up flow anaerobic fluidized bed biogranules along with fixed film (UAFF) bioreactors which are known as hybrid systems are employed to shorten the long retention time. In recent development, for the purpose of low power generation, microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are implemented for the bioconversion of organic maters in domestic wastewater. Our research team members are the front runner in MFCs; we published many papers and we are considering applying the biotechnology know how for commercialization of the biolamp [12]. Up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) The up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor was developed in a few decades. In this process, wastewater is directly introduced to the bottom of the reactor, where it is uniformly distributed. The wastewater flows upward through a blanket of biogranules, which consume the waste as it passes through the blanket. Methane and carbon dioxide are collected by in the gas dome. Liquid passes through the bed where solid and liquid are separated. The solid retained in the blanket area while the liquid over flow from the weirs. Formation of granules and maintenance is extremely important in the process. In order to keep the blanket in suspension, an up flow velocity at 0.6-0.9 m/h was maintained. A full-scale plant for wastewater treatment of sugar beets industry achieved 80 percent removal of COD with organic loading rate of 10 kg COD/m3.d and HRT of 4 hours [13-15]. High rate systems like the up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) and packed-bed reactors have been used for the treatment of various industrial wastewaters like dairy and brewery wastewaters [16-19].

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International Conference on Environmental Research and Technology (ICERT 2015)

Growth kinetics Kinetic studies for the anaerobic digestion process of cheese whey were conducted in a pilot-scale upflow anaerobic packed bed bioreactor (UAPB). An influent COD concentration of 59419 mg/l was utilized at steady state condition. Logistic and Monod kinetic models were employed to describe microbial activities of Cheese whey in the anaerobic digester. The hydraulic retention times (HRT) in the range of 6 to 24 h were investigated throughout the experiment. Lactose conversions were 58.5 and 99.4 % for HRT of 6 and 16h, respectively. The methane productions rates were 6.57 and 3.25l/h for HRT of 6 and 24h, respectively. Biokinetic coefficients from Monod, Ks, µ and methane yield m

(YM) were 8.59, 7.63(h-1) and 0.11(g methane/g lactose), respectively. Table 2 summarized the kinetic data for several rate model applied for UAPB [13, 15, 20, 21]. Pilot scale UAPB bioreactor

Figure 1 presents the schematic diagram and actual image of the pilot scale UAPB bioreactor. The system was packed with sea shells collected from Caspian Sea beach. The Plexiglas reactor was fabricated with an internal diameter of 19.4 cm and height of 60 cm. The total volume of the reactor was 17.667 liters. The system was continuously operated without any disturbance for a period of 65 days [15, 21]. Table 2: Kinetic parameters, rate models with and without inhibition Parameter µm (h-1) KS (h-1) ḱ (h-1) k (h-1) R2 YCH4 /lactose (%) ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Substrate utilization rate 0.175 0.99 Monod equation 7.633 8.594 0.99 Logistic equation 0.1046 0.047 0.98 Methane yield 0.98 0.12 The UAPB was continuously operated with HRT of 6 to 24 h. The biofilm was fully developed on the natural packing (sea shell). Figure 2 shows substrate consumption profile (Lactose) of the effluents and the cell density with respect to HRT. The lactose concentration was sharply reduced to about 0.5 g/l at HRT of 16h. At any HRT of greater than 16h, the profile was flattened. The cell dry weight of the fermentation broth was analyzed at various HRT. As the HRT increased the cell density exponentially increased, at HRT of greater than 16h, the cell growth had reached to stationary phase [21, 22]. Figure 3 depicts methane production was gradually increased as HRT was step wised decreased (24, 20, 16, 13, 10, 9 and 6 h). As the flow rate was gradually increased the concentration of lactose also increased [21]. Figure 4 shows the SEM micrographs of the biofilm created by the anaerobic microbial consortia. The magnification scale is from 500 to 5000. The microbial core and brush shape are clearly shown. In these images, the support surfaces are fully covered by the active biofilm. Up-flow anaerobic sludge fixed film (UASFF) bioreactor The anaerobic sludge and fixed film bioreactor is a packed column, as anaerobic microorganisms grow on solid support, a film layer of attached growth of bacteria is developed on the packing media, a limited cell growth may take place. The filter may be operated up flow, which is also called up-flow fixed film reactor. The reactor can be operated down flow as well. Suitable packing such as raschig rings, flexirings, pall rings, rock or plastic balls and tubular raschig rings are required. Use of plastic balls size of 20 mm, resulted in a 40 % void volume. Also, PVC rings are often used. Keep in mind, the flow rate or up-flow velocity must be low about 1 m/h, without disturbing the biomass film and organic loading rate of 15 kg/ COD/m3/day is a desire flow rate [14]. The packed medium retaining biological solids and gas is produced in the digestion process. The fixed film portion positioned above the UASB section prevents sludge washout and helps to retain a high biomass concentration in the reactor. Several researchers have successfully used the UASFF reactor to treat various kinds of wastewaters such as starch, swine, slaughterhouse and antibiotic plant effluents [6, 7, 23-26]. An investigation on anaerobic digestion process of palm oil mill effluent (POME) was carried out in a pilot scale up-flow anaerobic sludge fixed film (UASFF) bioreactor at mesophilic temperature (38.8˚C). A t steady state condition, the COD concentrations in feed stream were in the range of 5.26–34.725 g/l. The organic loading rates of POME were in the range of 0.88–34.73 g COD/l day. The hydraulic retention times (HRT) ranged between 1and 6 days. Throughout the experiments, the removal efficiencies of COD were 80.6 and 98.6%. and methane production rate were 0.287 and 0.348 l CH4 /g COD removed day [17, 27].

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Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the pilot scale and actual image of UAPB bioreactor with working volume of 17.67L Fluidized bed reactor The fluidized or expanded bed reactor (FBR) is the most recent innovation in anaerobic treatment technology. In these reactors, bacteria are grown on particles of medium such as sand and the wastewater is pumped up flow through the bed, the sands bed on which microorganisms are grown are absolutely fluidized and have good contact with the liquid. The effluent is recycled to mix with feed in quantities by the wastewater and the fluidization velocity. The suspended biosolids have high rate of mass transfer and biologically active. The particle size is about 0.7 mm. The advantage of fluidized bed reactor is that microbial over growth of biomass is absolutely reduced and SRT is much lower compare to other treatment system [16, 28-30]. FBR have been used for the treatment of phenolic wastewaters [29, 31]. Organic removal efficiencies of 80 percent were achieved at loadings of 4 kg COD/m3.d on dilute wastewaters. The range of acceptable organic loading, influent COD concentration is from 10 to 30 g/l. The loading rate of 1 to 30 kg COD/(m3.d). The HRT is less than one day [32]. 25

5

Lactose CH

4.5

4

4 3.5

15

3 10

2.5 2

5 1.5 0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

1 65

Time (day)

Figure 2. Lactose consumption profile and cell growth curve with respect to HRT

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Figure 3. Methane production along with lactose concentration with stepwise reduction HRTs 24 to 6h

4!

CH4 (l/h)

Lactose out (g/l)

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Figure 4. Biofilm of the microorganisms built on the surface of sea shells as packing Activated sludge A bench scale model was fabricated with working volume of 26 liters. The model was implemented for the domestic treatment of Yasreb-Ghaemshar’s wastewater. Batch process of wastewater was used with additional nitrogen source for effective generation of sludge. Once sufficient amount of biomass was propagated carbon source from domestic wastewater is utilized. Fresh waste is transferred to the activated sludge unit. Wastewater was gradually added into about 10 liters of the suspension of biosolids. The effluents were collected, aged and settled in a settling basin then the sludge was returned to the aeration tank blended with fresh incoming wastewater. The recycle ratio of sludge was defined based on volume of return sludge to volume of fresh wastewater. The range of recycle ratio was from 2.5 to 40%. A 95% COD removal, as the maximum COD removal efficiency was obtained with 40% sludge retuned. The hydraulic retention time for the activated sludge process was set at 8hours. The sludge aged and the biosolids retention time was 23 days [33, 34]. The dissolved oxygen for 40% sludge return was stable at steady state condition measured at 3.5 mg/l. The pH was monitored and it was stable at 7.65. The growth kinetic model was obtained for the prediction and calculation of large scale model. The mass of sludge generated had a yield of (YX/S = 0.53). The decay coefficient for the endogenous was reported. The experimental data obtained was quite promising and can be applied to the actual treatment plant. Bulking sludge In activated sludge system excess aeration may cause foaming and bulking which is floatation of low quality of sludge in an aeration tank. Once sludge is rising foaming and floating in the secondary clarifiers caused by poor settling characteristics and poor compactions, such phenomena is known as bulking sludge. Foam and poorly settling sludge are two of the most major problems of the activated sludge process. A sludge that exhibits poor settling characteristics is referred to as a bulking sludge. Filamentous microorganisms are usually responsibility for a bulked sludge. Large surface area to volume ratios for these microorganisms retards their settling velocities. Fungi are not normally significant in a wastewater treatment. Fungi are the most familiar filamentous microorganisms. The vegetative structure of the most fungi is composed of filaments. Nutritional characteristics of filamentous sulfur bacteria (Thiotrix, Beggiatoa, and Leucothrix) have been investigated. Nocardia Microthrix parvicella are associated with extensive foaming in activated sludge processes. The foam originated by Nocardia is thick and brown color. Spraying chlorine on the surface of clarifier may eliminate Nocardia. It was found that at low F/M and low DO < 0.5 mg/l, filamentous organism population increases, causes bulking. Prechlorinated wastewater may prevent the growth of filamentous bacteria.

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Activated sludge kinetics Theoretical aspect of activated sludge mostly discussed about food to microorganism ratio (F/M), sludge retention time (θC) and COD removal. The data obtained were fitted by the kinetic models described in this paper and also the kinetic coefficients were determined. The F/M was defined as:

SO F = M (τ )( X )

(1)

where, SO is influent substrate concentration (mg/l), τ is hydraulic retention time (day) and X is the biomass concentration (mg/l). The specific rate of substrate utilization (U) is defined as the product of F/M and treatment efficiency (E). The relation present U is obtained by substitution of equation 1 for the F/M and yield resulted as:

U =(

S −S F )E = O M (τ )( X )

(2)

The specific rate of utilization can be measured by substrate utilization per unit mass of organisms U

= −rS / X . The

rate of substrate utilization is defined by Monod equation [2, 17, 19, 35, 36]:

− rS = In equation 3, the term

µm / Y

µ m XS

(3)

Y (K S + S )

is often replaced by a constant k, defined as the maximum specific substrate utilization

rate, then equation 5 is simplified for rate model:

U=

kS KS + S

(4)

The mean cell residence time in the activated sludge system ( θ C ) is measured by as stated in the following equation:

1

θC

(5)

= YU − k d

The COD removal and effluent COD with respect to sludge age is depicted in Figure 5. 120

100

COD, mg/l

80

COD removal Effluent COD

60

40

20

0 0

2

4

6

8

10

12

θc, day

Figure 5. COD removal and effluent COD with respect to sludge retention time Based on equation 4, Figure 6 shows the double reciprocating utilization rate and leaving substrate; the data are well fitted with the projected model. Based on equation 5; the rate of utilization of organic matters is strictly related to sludge retention time which is the age of active sludge (see Figure 7).

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A combined systems of NRBC and UASFF The cheese whey used in as a source of high strength wastewater was obtained from Gela Factory, Amol, Iran. Based on experimental demands, various dilutions of wastewater were prepared using distilled water. pH of the wastewater was maintained at 6.5 nearly neutral conditions by addition of 1M NaOH 0.70

0.6

0.68

0.5

Experimental data Regression

0.4

1/θc, day-1

1/U, day-1

0.66

0.64

0.62

0.3

0.2

0.60

0.58 0.0020

Experimental data Regression

0.1

0.0024

0.0028

0.0032

0.0036

0.0040

0.0

0.0044

0.2

1/S, l/g

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

U, day-1

Figure 6. Growth kinetic for activated sludge double reciprocating utilization rate and leaving substrate

Figure 7. Sludge age relation with utilization of organic matter in the wastewater

The schematic diagram of NRBC system and the biofilm developed from the treatment of cheese processing effluents are shown in Figures 8 and 9, respectively.

Figure 8. Schematic diagram of NRBC in pilot scale operation

Figure 9. Biofilm developed on rotating discs of the NRBC system

A pilot scale three-stage RBC with nominal volume 80 liters connected to an up flow anaerobic sludge fixed film bioreactor (USAFF). The UASFF bioreactor was followed by NRBC system. The effluent stream of the NRBC was introduced into the UASFF for further treatment. The schematic diagram of NRBC and UASFF bioreactor is shown in Figure 10. After development of a permanent and uniform biofilm on both sides of the discs, the system was operated in full capacity. In order to investigate the effects of influent COD and HRT on COD removal efficiency, various influent COD (40,000, 50,000, 60,000, 70,000 g/l) and HRT (8, 12, 16 h) were selected. The system was operated in sufficient time at each selected HRT to establish the steady condition. The effect of HRT on COD removal efficiency is depicted in Figure 11. It was observed that for all influent COD concentrations, the COD removal efficiency increased as HRT was gradually increased from 8 to 16 h. Maximum COD removal efficiency of 80% was obtained at HRT of 16 h and influent COD of 50,000 mg/l. As the influent COD was increased to 60,000 and 70,000 mg/l, COD removal efficiency was gradually decreased that was due to the high organic load shocks.

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Figure 10. Schematic representation of the UASFF bioreactor fed with effluent of the NRBC system

90 COD Removal (%)

80 70 60 50 40

HRT= 8h HRT= 12h HRT= 16h

30 20 10 0 30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

70,000

80,000

COD (mg/l)

Figure 11. Effect of HRT on COD removal efficiency in the RBC system Figure 12(a), (b) and (c) refer to the wastewater samples which were pretreated at HRT of 8, 12 and 16 h in the NRBC system, respectively. The achieved data revealed that the COD removal efficiency increased as the HRT was gradually increased. Figure 12(a) shows that maximum total COD removal efficiencies of 95.7, 96.9, 96.6 and 97.1% at total HRT of 24 h (8 h in NRBC and 16 h in UASFF) were obtained for the influent COD of 40,000, 50,000, 60,000 and 70,000 mg/l, respectively. Figure 12(b) and (c) depict, similar trends were followed for samples which were pretreated for 12 and 16 h in the NRBC reactor.

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(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure 12. COD removal efficiency with respect to HRT in the UASFF bioreactor (a) pretreated samples at HRT= 8 h, (b) pretreated samples at HRT= 12 h, (c) pretreated samples at HRT= 16 h Anaerobic mechanisms Organic matters presenting as both electron donor and electron acceptor cause this phase to be referred to as fermentation phase. It is also called as acidogenesis because production of simple organic acids occurs in this phase. Depending on the nature of organic waste, anaerobic process may initiate from either hydrolysis or fermentation. Bacteria that perform hydrolysis and fermentation are of both facultative and obligate anaerobic groups. For instance, fermentation is the initial step for some industrial wastewaters. In the last stage, known as methanogensis, a number of microorganisms are involved which contribute to methane formation. Methanogens can be categorized into three groups: aceticlastic methanogens, hydrogen-utilizing methanogens, and acetogens that each group is in charge of specific reactions. As acetate is cleaved by aceticlastic methanogens, methane and CO2 is formed from its methyl group and carboxyl group, respectively. Hydrogen-utilizing methane-formers oxidize hydrogen while CO2 is reduced so as methane is produced. The third group, namely acetogens, uses CO2 as electron acceptor and H2 as electron donor to form acetate, which is further converted to methane. Methane-former organisms, classified as archaea, are of strict obligate anaerobes [12]. Figure 13 illustrates the summary of stages and phases as complex organic matters are reduced to methane and CO2. Development of sulfate-reducing bacteria in anaerobic processes can be troublesome as sulfide which is toxic to methanogens is produced. These organisms can reduce sulfate to sulfide, while they are classified into two groups considering their electron donors [37, 38]. One group is capable of oxidizing a wide variety of organic materials to acetate when sulfate is reduced to sulfide. Second group consists of organisms which can consume fatty acids, especially acetate, in order for producing CO2 alongside reducing sulfate to sulfide. To prevent sulfide toxicity, controlled addition of iron instance in the form of ferrous or ferric chloride to the wastewaters containing sulfate is recommended since sulfate and iron react, thus, precipitate as iron sulfate.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Organic Complex Protein!

!

Hydrolytic Bacteria! Amino acids

Sugars

Fatty acids, Alcohols

Propionic, Butyric and Valeric Acids

Acidogenic Bacteria

Intermediate!products! Acetate

Methanogenic Bacteria

H2. CO2 CH4 + CO2

Figure 13. Anaerobic decomposition of organic matter CONCLUSION It was concluded that each process may have advantages or disadvantages. In comparison in terms of biomass generation aerated system behave as a fast treatment system while anaerobic processes are considered as a slow process. The modern and advanced hybrid processed deal with biogranules formation may be much faster than conventional anaerobic processes. Mass of sludge generation in aerated units are may be 10 times high than the anaerobic processes. Based on characteristic of wastewater a specific combined process may be recommended.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author gratefully acknowledged Biotechnology Research Lab. Noushirvani University of Technology (Babol, Iran) for the support and facilities provided to conduct present work. REFERENCES [1]

Bakhshi, Z., Najafpour, G., Kariminezhad, E., Pishgar, R., Mousavi, N., Taghizade, T. 2011. Growth kinetic models for phenol biodegradation in a batch culture of Pseudomonas putida. Environmental Technology, 32(16): 1835-1841.

[2]

Metcalf., Eddy. Wasterwater Eengineering: Treatment, disposal and reuse 2003, New York: McGraw-Hill.

[3]

Drosre, R.L.Theory and Practice of Water and Wastewater Treatment1997: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

[4]

Sadeghpoor, M., Hosseini, B., Najafpour, G.D. 2009. Assessment of Wastewater Treatment Plant's Performance in Amol Industrial Park. American-Eurasian Journal Agriculture and Environmental Science, 5(5): 707-711.

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Ebrahimi, A., Asadi, M., Najafpour, G. 2009. Dairy wastewater treatment using three-stage rotating biological contactor (NRBC). International Journal of Engineering, 22(2): 107-114.

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Ebrahimi, A., Najafpour, G.D., Mohammadi, M., Hashemiyeh, B. 2010. Biological treatment of whey in an UASFF bioreactor followed a three-stage RBC. Chemical Industry and Chemical Engineering Quarterly, 16(2): 175-182.

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Najafpour, D.G., Naidu, P.N., Kamaruddin, A.H. 2008. Rotating biological contactor for biological treatment of poultry processing plant wastewater using Saccharomyces cerevisiae. ASEAN Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2(1): 1-6.

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Najafpour, G., A. Zinatizadeh, Lee, L. 2006. Performance of a three-stage aerobic RBC reactor in food canning wastewater treatment. Biochemical engineering journal, 30(3): 297-302.

[9]

AWWA, A.A., Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Sewage. APHA & AWWA, New York222014, Washington, D. C: American Public Health Association (APHA), the American Water Works Association (AWWA), and the Water Environment Federation (WEF), https://www.standardmethods.org/.

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Amini, M., H. Younesi, A.A.Z. Lorestani, Najafpour, G. 2013. Determination of optimum conditions for dairy wastewater treatment in UAASB reactor for removal of nutrients. Bioresource technology, 145: 71-79.

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Amini, M., H. Younesi, G. Najafpour, Zinatizadeh-Lorestani, A.A. 2012. Application of response surface methodology for simultaneous carbon and nitrogen (SND) removal from dairy wastewater in batch systems. International Journal of Environmental Studies, 69(6): 962-986.

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Najafpour, G. Biochemical engineering and biotechnologyn. 2nd Ed. 2015: Elsevier, Amesterdam.

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Najafpour, Hashemiyeh, G.B., Asadi, M.,. Ghasemi, M. 2008. Biological treatment of dairy wastewater in an upflow anaerobic sludge-fixed film bioreactor. American Eurasian Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, 4: 251-257.

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Eckenfelder, W.W. Industrial water pollution control, Third ed2000, New York: McGraw-Hill.

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Najafpour, Komeili, G.M., Tajallipour, M., Asadi, M. 2010. Bioconversion of cheese whey to methane in an upflow anaerobic packed bed bioreactor. Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Quarterly, 24(1): 111-117.

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Pishgar, R., Najafpour, G.D., Neya, B.N., Mousavi, N., Bakhshi, Z. 2014. Effects of organic loading rate and hydraulic retention time on treatment of phenolic wastewater in an anaerobic immobilized fluidized bed reactor. Journal of Environmental Engineering and Landscape Management, 22(1): 40-49.

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Zinatizadeh, A., Mohamed, A., Najafpour, G., Isa, M.H., Nasrollahzadeh, H. 2006. Kinetic evaluation of palm oil mill effluent digestion in a high rate up-flow anaerobic sludge fixed film bioreactor. Process biochemistry, 41(5): 1038-1046.

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Anderson, G., Kasapgil, B., Ince, O. 1994. Comparison of porous and non-porous media in upflow anaerobic filters when treating dairy wastewater. Water Research, 28(7): 1619-1624.

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[19]

Mansouri, A., Zinatizadeh, A., Akhbari, A. 2014. Kinetic Evaluation of Simultaneous CNP Removal in an upFlow Aerobic/Anoxic Sludge Fixed Film (UAASFF) Bioreactor. Iranica Journal of Energy & Environment (IJEE), 5(3): 323-336.

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Saghafi, S., Bakhshi, Z., Najafpour, G.D., Kariminezhad, E.,. Rad, H.A. 2010. Biodegradation of Toluene and Xylene in an UAPB Bioreactor with Fixed Film of Pseudomonas putida. American-Eurasian Journal of Agricalture & Environment Science, 9(1): 801-807.

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Najafpour, Tajallipour, G.M., Komeili, M., Mohammadi, M. 2009. Kinetic model for an up-flow anaerobic packed bed bioreactor: Dairy wastewater treatment. African Journal of Biotechnology, 8(15): 3590-3596.

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Tehrani, N.S., Najafpour, G.D., Rahimnejad, M., Attar, H. 2015. Performance of up flow anaerobic sludge fixed film bioreactor for the treatment of high organic load and biogas production of cheese whey wastewater. Chemical Industry and Chemical Engineering Quarterly, (00): 18-18.

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Borja, R., Banks, C., Wang, Z. 1995. Performance of a hybrid anaerobic reactor, combining a sludge blanket and a filter, treating slaughterhouse wastewater. Applied microbiology and biotechnology, 43(2): 351-357.

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Borja, R., Banks, C.J., Wang, Z., Mancha, A. 1998. Anaerobic digestion of slaughterhouse wastewater using a combination sludge blanket and filter arrangement in a single reactor. Bioresource technology, 65(1): 125-133.

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Surampalli, R.Y., Baumann, E.R. 1995. Sludge production in rotating biological contactors with supplemental aeration and an enlarged first stage. Bioresource technology, 54(3): 297-304.

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Khademi, M., G. Najafpour, B. Nia, A. Zinatizadeh, Kalantary, R. 2009. Biological Treatment of Antibiotic Plant Effluent in an UASFF Bioreactor. World Appl. Sci. J, 5: 1-8.

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Zinatizadeh, A., Mohamed, A., Najafpour, G., Hasnain, I,M., Nasrollahzadeh, H. 2006. Kinetic evaluation of palm oil mill effluent digestion in a high rate up-flow anaerobic sludge fixed film bioreactor. Process Biochemistry, 41(5): 1038-1046.

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Firozjaee, T.T., Najafpour, G.D., Asgari, A., Bakhshi, Z., Pishgar, R., Mousavi, N. Phenol Biodegradation Kinetics in an Anaerobic Batch Reactor. in Reston, VA: ASCE, Proceedings of the 2011 World Environmental and Water Resources Congress; May 22. 26, 2011, Palm Springs, California| d 20110000. 2011. American Society of Civil Engineers.

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Pishgar, R., Najafpour, G., Neya, B.N., Mousavi, N., Bakhshi, Z. 2011. Anaerobic Biodegradation of Phenol: Comparative Study of Free and Immobilized Growth. Iranica Journal of Energy and Environment (IJEE), 2(4): 348-355.

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Pishgar, R., Najafpour, G., Mousavi, N., Bakhshi, Z., Khorrami, M. 2012. Phenol biodegradation kinetics in the presence of supplimentary substrate. International Journal of Engineering, 25(3): 181-191.

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Livingston, A.G. Chase, H.A. 2004. Modeling phenol degradation in a fluidized bed bioreactor. AIChE journal, 35(12): 1980-1992.

[32]

Metcalf, E. Eddy, H. Wastewater engineering: treatment, disposal, reuse, 2003, McGraw Hill, Boston, Mass.

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Hajia, M.S., Sadeghpour, M., Hadipour M., Najafpour, G. 2012. A Comparison of Vermi and Aerobic Technologies Applied to Manage Textile Industrial Sludge and Kitchen Wastes. World Applied Sciences Journal, 19(6): 806-810.

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Hosseini, B., Darzi, N.G., Sadeghpour, M., Asadi, M. 2008. The effect of the sludge recycle ratio in an activated sludge system for the treatment of Amol's industrial park wastewater. Chemical Industry and Chemical Engineering Quarterly, 14(3): 173-180.

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Zare, H., Najafpour, G., Heydarzadeh, H., Rahimnejad, M., Tardast, A. 2012. Performance and Kinetic Evaluation of Ethyl Acetate Biodegradation in a Biofilter Using Pseudomonas Putida. Bioresource Technology 123: 419-423.

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Najafpour, G., Pisgar, R., Mousavi, N., Bakhshi, Z., Khorami; M. 2012. Phenol Biodegradation Kinetics in Presence of Supplementary Substrate. International Journal of Engineering, Transaction B: Applications, 25(3): 181-192.

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Mousavi, N., Nnajafpour, G.D., Bakhshi, Z., Pishgar, R. 2011. Performance anaerobic baffled reactor in biodegradation of phenol. Iranica Journal of Energy and Environment (IJEE), 2(3): 229-234.

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[38]

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Bakhshi, Z., Najafpour, G., Navayi, N.B., Kariminezhad, E., Pishgar, R., Moosavi, N. 2011. Recovery of UAPB from high organic load during startup for phenolic wastewater treatment. Chemical Industry and Chemical Engineering Quarterly, 17(4): 517-524.

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DESIGN PRINCIPLES OF PUBLIC OPEN SPACE IN THE TIDAL AREA (CASE : LIMBOTO LAKESIDE AREA IN GORONTALO CITY) *,1

Vierta Ramlan Tallei, 2Budi Faisal and 3Haryo Winarso

1 Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, The State University of Gorontalo, Indonesia School of Architecture, Planning and Policy Development, Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia 3 School of Architecture, Planning and Policy Development, Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia *Corresponding author email: [email protected] 2

ABSTRACT This study aims to formulate the design principles of public open space in the tidal area of Lake Limboto in Gorontalo city and create design simulation of lakefront public open space that can adapt to the tidal behavior of Lake Limboto. Formulation of the design principles is done by identifying aspects that need to consider (issues of concerns) and the components to be arranged (the scope of issues) obtained from literature review and analysis of the study area. From the analysis of tidal patterns, this study also identified an open space typology of the lakefront that is riparian open space, tidal open space, and littoral open space. These spaces can be used for public purposes by applying good design principles that are general or specific to each typology of space. Ecological approach which is also considered related to environmental issues through Eco-hidrology Engineering - Shoreline Development (RE-SLD) to increase biodiversity and carrying capacity of the lake, and Low Impact Design for the protection of wetlands and water quality. The aspects to be considered in addition to encompass the criteria that determines the success of public open space that refers to the physical, psychological and social community needs as users, also includes ecological-based criteria that refer to the hydrologic characteristics in Lake Limboto banks area including the ecological preservation, efficiency and mitigation. The formulation of the resulting design principles set the major component of public open space includes the circulation of vehicles and pedestrian paths, open space and parks, parking, commercial, recreational and residential facilities, and ecological components including the RE-SLD embankment, wetlands and drainage. The resulting design simulation gives an idea regarding the development that has an opportunity to enliven the Lake Limboto lakefront and also enriching the quality of its environment. Keywords: Design principles, eco-hidrology, public space, shoreline development, tidal. INTRODUCTION Urban open space should be able to accommodate the needs, values and aspirations of the citizens as a public space. Public space can be defined as a space that can be used by all levels of society to carry out daily activities. It is as expressed by Carr, S., et al. [6 p.xi], that public open space is the stage where the drama of human life was held. A wide variety of both communal and personal functional activities and rituals happening here. However, the growth that occurred in many cities, including in Indonesia, unfocused and ignoring the existence of a public space, which is very important for the life of city residents. Currently, many cities fail to accommodate the needs of citizens who should be served. Development of public open space should include activities: to meet the public needs, improving the visual quality, improving environmental quality, economic development, and image enhancement. Gorontalo is an old city which is developed rapidly since it became the capital of the Gorontalo province (separated from North Sulawesi province since 2000). Issues identified in relation to open space is that Gorontalo City has not had a lot of representative public open space. The citizen of Gorontalo City still require open space that can accommodate events for socializing and accommodate certain activities. An example is the night event Tumbilotohe as the habit of welcoming Iedul Fitri by lit torches placed in many varied formations. This activity requires a fairly wide open space, and usually use the rice fields or other empty field. Urban development cannot be separated from the influence of the surrounding natural environment. That's because the natural environment is a life support cities that are nearby. When this natural environment has decreased then the quality of life of the nearby city will also experience the same thing or even destroyed. Another problem identified in Gorontalo City is environmental degradation in Lake Limboto that are nearby. Lake Limboto as the only large lake in Gorontalo province is currently experiencing severe environmental problems. As a result of the wrong forest management in the uplands in all watersheds which empties into the this lake is the process of silting remarkable that lasts from year to year, with erosion rate of 44.69 tonnes / ha / yr or 3.72 mm / yr (Legowo, [8 p.10] and Kusmawati, [7 p.VII-1]). Due to the continuation of superficiality, in 52 years the Limboto Lake size reduced to 4,304 hectares, or about 62.60%. Currently its size is only approximately 3,000 hectares. The depth of the lake which was originally 18 m, currently only 2 m. If no rescue effort, estimated at 2025 Lake Limboto will disappear (Akuba, [1 p.16]). Another direct consequence upon the inhabitants of Gorontalo city and surrounding areas are flooding that occurs during high rainfall. This is because the lake is no longer functioning as a barrier to increasing the volume of water entering through the inlet

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streams. In the dry season, the lake water volume decreased significantly resulting in a large size difference at high tide compare to low tide. The lake size during the rainy season is approximately 5,000 ha and during the dry season reduce to approximately 2,500 ha. The potential possessed by Lake Limboto actually quite large, such beautiful scenery into the tourism potential, the existence of the lake biota such as fish into the fishery potential, presence of marginal land into fertile agricultural potential, as well as its function as a retarding basin potential for flood control. The problem of flooding that always happens in the city of Gorontalo related to Lake Limboto bring the idea to create a design principle of public open space development that can adapt to the hydrological behavior of the lake in the form of tidal patterns. Design principles is one component of the draft policy in addition to the design objectives and design guidelines (Punter, [13 p.28]). Ecological approach undertaken in formulating design principles using Eco-hidrology Engineering - Shoreline Development (RE-SLD) to increase of biodiversity and carrying capacity of the lake, and Low Impact Design for the protection of wetlands and water quality. METHODOLOGY The study used a descriptive method, in analyzing the facts revealed in the study and describe it in a form that is easy to understand. Here are described the research methods used in several stages. a.

Identifying typology and norms of designing public spaces for formulating aspects to consider (issues of concerns) and components that must be regulated (scope of issues) and standards which must be met in designing public spaces. Secondary data collection techniques performed through review of the literature concerning aspects of public space, and open space standards.

b.

Identifying typology of open space that can be applied at the lakeside through the study of literature on open space and waterfront development, particularly related to the lake, as well as aspects of wetlands, and low-impact urban design (LIUD).

c.

Identify alternative open space utilization function lakeside according typology. Data processing techniques performed by the method of synthesis by considering the characteristics of open space that will be developed into a public space, public expectations regarding the facilities that can be developed in an open space as well as the analysis of the results of similar design in other countries (case study). In connection with this survey to identify the preferences of local community facilities open space which is the object of study include public expectations of the physical condition of open space, as well as the type of desired activity in the open space. This preference survey aimed to obtain a general description only, is not a statistical representation of public opinion. For the purposes of the survey determined the total sample of 100 respondents and then divided into several segments which consist of various groups, namely government, scientists, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and community.

d.

Identify existing condition to reveal the potential of the region, especially the problems and opportunities associated with open space both within the region, as well as in the Gorontalo City. Analyses were performed using secondary data on spatial policy Gorontalo city related to the planned area. Data was collected through primary data from direct observation and field interviews and secondary data from previous studies.

e.

Identify the behavior of Lake Limboto tidal, including the delineation of local tide and low tide areas. Techniques of data collection will be carried through the exploration of secondary data from the studies that have been done before in the area of Lake Limboto.

f.

Formulate lakeside open space utilization at high tide and at low tide based on the identification of an alternative open space utilization function lakeside synthesized with the identification of patterns of tidal lake.

g.

Formulate criteria and design principles of open space in the lakeside area as a public space that is adaptive to the behavior of the tidal lake. The formulation of design principles to consider the main issues facing the open space and surrounding environment, adapted to the potential of the region, as well as the limitations possessed tread. Design principles are divided into two, namely the general principles applicable to all conditions of the open space and the type of utilization, and specific principles that apply to the type of open space and utilization.

h.

Creating the design concept of public open space in the banks of Lake Limboto by applying the criteria and principles of design that has been determined as well as the design simulation.

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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Typology of Space a. b. c. d.

Assessment in this study indicates there are three types of space shores of Lake Limboto as follows: Riparian Zone: The area above the elevation of 4.5 m to a maximum limit as far as 100 m from the point of highest tide, can be used for agricultural, residential and recreational Tidal Zone: The area is located between the elevation of 2 up to 4.5 m, can be used for agriculture and recreation Littoral Zone: The area is under 2 m elevation above sea level with a maximum depth of 2 m, where sunlight can still reach the bottom, can be used for fishing and recreation.

Design Principles and Standards Prescriptive of Components Design principles that are described in this section is a specific arrangement of the components contained within each typology of space on the edge of Lake Limboto region. The elements of open space can be categorized as a component in the design of public spaces (Shirvani, [14 p.28]). Components such as vegetation and pedestrian pathways regulated by many criteria. This is logical considering that the public space designed is natural open space. Tabel 1: Design Principles and Standards Prescriptive of Components at each zone No.

Components

Criteria

Design Principles and Standards Prescriptive Riparian Zone

Comfort

1.

Vegetation

Safety

Clarity

Beauty

Health Ecological preservation Mitigation Security

2.

Pedestrian way

Comfort

Safety

Clarity Beauty

Trees are placed at certain distances (within a maximum interval of 6 m) Heading lush trees and has a sufficient diameter to calm (minimum 4 m) Placed to form intimate spaces but still visible Placed between the pedestrian path to reinforce the separation of vehicle lanes • Avoid the use of thorny or poisonous vegetation types, especially at pedestrian paths Using directional tree types, i.e single trunked plants such as palm species (king palm, cashew nut, palm), Plant branched trees> 2 m (Khaya anthotheca, Lagerstroemia, Mimusops elengi) • The use of decorative vegetation types, for example: Ixora stricata, Lantana camara, Duranta sp • Placement of vegetation that does not obstruct the view of the good (herbaceous plant height 0.05). The study is expected to be preliminary on Eulophidae at Wang Kelian and informative to the further study on diversity of Eulophidae which is as the family that able to be biological control agent on pests. Keywords: Diversity, Eulophidae, evennes, Hymenoptera, richness. INTRODUCTION Parasitic wasps Eulophidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera) are the biggest family among the chalcid wasps that comprised four subfamilies which are Eulophinae, Euderinae, Entedoninae and Tetrastichinae. The subfamilies of Eulophidae can be distinguished from one another by morphological character such as length of tarsi, scutellum, mesoscutum and body color. Eulophidae has very small scale size that range between 0.04-6.0 mm [1]. It can be found throughout the world in practically all habitats. The nature of Eulophidae attack on various host including mites and spiders and some of them are phytophagous. Most of the Eulophidae wasps were considered entomophagous which attack insects and other arthropods. They are parasitoid that can be specialists or generalists in their host selection. They will attack all stages of development and they can either have a gregarious or solitary larval development [2]. The larvae only attack egg, larvae or pupae of their host [3]. Eulophidae play a role as biological control agent such as Arthula parasitoid associated with R. plebeian (Ubaidillah et al. 2009), Euplectromorpha palida parasite of caterpillars of Teinorhyncha umbra from Ivory Coast, Africa as well as the Zagrammosoma which is parasitoid of Liriomyza huidobrensis on a potato crop in Cisarua. Furthermore, Eulophidae are proved to have high potential to be parasitoid on many pest invaded vegetable regions of Jawa and Sumatra [4]. For the current status, Eulophidae wasps is being used as biological control agent to control the litchi stink bug, Tessaratoma papillosa Drury (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) that affect the growth of economic in the litchi which is growing in importance as a fruit in China [5]. General Biology and Behaviour of Eulophidae Eulophids are distinguishable from most other Chalcidoidea by the ownership of only 4 tarsomeres on each leg, a small, straight protibial spur and by antennae with 2-4 funicles segments and at most ten antennomeres. Eulophidae lack with wing venation but the individual usually fully winged [6]. In addition, Eulophidae type has very small scale size which is range between 0.04 - 6.0 mm. Female Stenopetius jenie from subfamily Eulophinae has almost 0.8 -2.0 mm in the body length, while female Alophomorphella infaceta has body length of 2.20–2.35 mm. For male Alophomorphella infaceta has 1.7–1.9 mm in body length. Meanwhile female Alophomorphella boneia has body length of 2.1–2.2 mm and male has body length of 1.7 mm [7]. Due to small size factor, the Eulophidae wasps were poorly studied [8]. The color of body is depending on the species but most specimens are lightly sclerotized [6]. Eulophidae has complete metamorphosis known as holometabolism which is undergo through complete development of the main life stages as egg, larvae, pupae and adult. Regularly, female lay about 100-150 eggs such that for Pnigalio soemius which lay on 132 average of eggs. The eggs are deposited within 1.5 cm away from the host larva and never on its body. Furthermore eggs will hatch within one to two days. The emergence of adult larvae is influenced by the variation of temperature. At low temperature such as at 10° C, the development of P.soemius attain its longest duration about 96 days for male and 135 days for female. Meanwhile, at high temperature, the development of P.soemius will faster than at low temperature value. However, at all range of temperature value, it can be observed that there is about 1 - 2 % of emerged adult have a deformed wing [9].

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In development stage, different feeding behaviors are exposed by Eulophidae group. Parasitoid larvae paralyze the host larvae such that C.coachellae parasitize a gracillariid host by fed externally on the paralyzed host and then pupate within the mine away from the host’s remains [10]. For host-feeding behavior of female adults, they are able to use both of ovipositing and host-feeding in which they will kill the host larvae by injecting the venom which take about 3-5 seconds and then used their ovipositor to puncture and rasp the host. Furthermore, after inserting their ovipositor into the host, they will twist from side to side and eventually feeding on the exuding haemolymph. However, the adult will not use their ovipositor but by stinging in killing their host and they will not depositing the eggs [9]. There is variability in the male courtship behavior. For Tetratishinae, at the beginning of the courtship display male will mount on the female such male’s position is on above female. There are systematically changes in repeated series movement of the male’s head in which if the body and head are held away so the position between both male and female will be high. Meanwhile the position will be in low condition when both body and head are close together. However, many species of Melittobia do not show the repeated movement. When female become receptive, it will raise its abdomen in order to expose the genital orifice which later lead to the series of mating process [11]. Distribution of Eulophidae The invasive gall wasp, Lectocybe invasa (Hymenoptera:Eulophidae); first originated from Australia; is rapidly spreading to Asia such that in China then Hainan in 2007 [12].The distribution of the Eulophidae wasps is higher in the lower altitude, at the forest edge about 220 m and also in high altitude approximately 1765 m. Despites on their highly abundance but the study of diversity Eulophidae in tropical regions is relatively lack [13]. In fact, Malaysia discovered very little study on Eulophidae such as by discovering of a new Entedoninae species by Gumovsky and Boucek (2005) [14]. Furthermore Eulophidae wasps received some current studies in Asia but very few in Malaysia who studied on Eulophidae wasps such as the recent study was done to evaluate the physiology of Aprostocetus hagenowii to control American Cockroaches [15]. The poor study of Eulophidae in Malaysia contributes to the lack of understanding and difficult to find the unknown species in the region [16]. Eulophidae wasp species richness and abundance from May through August 2010 in lower altitude was examined in this study. We evaluated how parasitoid wasp diversity (abundance and species richness) varied in relation to different months from Wang Kelian, Malaysia. MATERIALS AND METHODS Study Region The Eulophidae were sampled at two different sites at Wang Kelian State Park, Perlis; Wang Kelian 1 (WK1) at latitude N 06’ 42.294 E 100’ 11.592 with altitude for 100 m above sea level and Wang Kelian 2 (WK2) at latitude N 06’42.437 E 100’11 with altitude for 300 m above sea level. The sampling was conducted at both sampling sites for four month between May and August 2010. Altogether, there were eight sampling times made throughout this study. Sampling Method The sampling was done using Malaise trap technique. The trap consists of a tent like structure made of terylene netting, with the highest point being at one end where the collecting vessel is attached. The trap was constructed with the fine mesh that allows trapping smaller size of Hymenoptera about 0.2 mm in order to reduce trap the larger Hymenoptera and the sampling of unwanted insects. The Eulophidae from other collected Hymenoptera insects were separated and then identified to the genus level and morphospecies accordingly [6]. The identification of the wasps was done by using field microscope Nikon. Data Analysis To determine the diversity of Eulophidae wasps up the subfamilies level, the Shannon Diversity index, H’ was used as the diversity index. PC-ORD Version 6 is used to calculate the diversity index, H’: -Σ Pi (ln Pi) where Pi =relative number of species I [17]. Shannon (H) index of diversity is the measurement of diversity in which characterized by the number of individuals observed for each subspecies in sample plot. To determine the evenness of the Eulophidae subfamilies in research locations and months, evenness index is calculated (E=H’/H max where H’= Shannon diversity index, E= Evenness of the families and Hmax= Diversity of the species when the abundance of every species similarity with = log S with log S = Total of the species) [18]. There will be increased in the index value when the distribution and abundance of the individual is balanced. The total of Eulophids will indicate the richness of the wasps. In this study, the analysis of the richness was conducted using Margalef’s Richness Index (R=(S – 1)/ ln(n) where R= Margalef’s Richness Index, S= Number of taxa and N= Number of individual) [19]. The association of H’ with temperature and humidity were determined using Pearson correlation coefficient. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Overall, there were four subfamilies of Eulophidae successfully collected namely Eulophinae, Entedoninae, Euderinae and Tetratishinae. From all four subfamilies, 30 morphospecies were collected. The total number of individuals from 30 morphospecies was 185 individuals and the highest number was subfamily Eulophinae, while the lowest number of individuals collected was subfamily Euderinae. Furthermore, T-test was running to get initial glance of the diversity in different months. There is no significant different for diversity index between all the months (p > 0.05). However the

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diversity index calculated showed that there is higher H’ at WK1 in May than the remaining month (Table 1). This could be due to the different in relative humidity. Mean relative humidity in May was optimum range (60-80%) rather than July. The highest H’ at WK2 was in August than the remaining months. The mean temperature for four months were optimum for the development of Eulophidae thus it is assumed that the high H’ in August could be due to the emergence of new survival species. Maybe there is high intraspecific competition in July as the temperature (26.9˚ C) is favor for high parasitism on host [20]. As a result, the survival of immature species of Eulophidae success and consumed the host rich protein thus develop to adult that comprised for almost four weeks [21]. This contributes to the emergence of adults in August thus influence the diversity of Eulophidae. All the results in Table 1 showed no significant different between the diversity value for all four months period. For the entire months, the Shannon diversity index was relatively similar showed that the evolutionary of the Eulophidae at Wang Kelian Park was preserved. This is due to the higher distribution of flora and fauna population that optimize the interaction of the organisms. Wang Kelian located at tropical region may possibly heterogeneous in spatial and temporal at tropical regions. The slightly higher of richness in May (4.156) than the remaining months was possibly due to the high in certain species such as Tetratishinae was higher in May (7 individuals) than June (4 individuals) that able to compete effectively with others species. The ability to effectively respond on their density-dependence hosts are crucial in maintaining the ecological balance and contribute to the diversity of other organisms [22]. The criteria for optimum parasitoid Eulophidae production and development were influenced by the optimum temperature and relative humidity rather than the extreme abiotic factors. It was shown that the favorable optimum condition for parasitization activity and development increased up to 30 ± 1.5°C under relative humidity levels of 60–80% [23]. From the data obtained at Meteorology Malaysia it shown that the mean temperature for May 2010, June 2010, July 2010 and August 2010 was between 20°C to 29°C (Table 2). In addition, the relative humidity that ranges 70-83% allows the increased in production of Eulophidae wasps. It was proven that there is no linear association between both temperature and relative humidity with the diversity, evenness and richness of Eulophidae. There is weak positive correlation between H’ and mean temperature and no linear association exists [(r = 0.305, p>0.05) (Table 3)]. It showed that the diversity of Eulophidae was not directly proportional to the increase in temperature. In addition, there is also weak negative correlation between H’ and mean relative humidity and no linear association exists [(r = -0.317, p > 0.05). There is very weak positive correlation between richness and temperature [(r = 0.022, p > 0.05)] showed that the richness of the Eulophidae wasps was not linearly associated with temperature but will be higher in their optimum and suitable temperature [23]. It was assumed that the temperature and relative humidity in the sampling area was optimum to favor the production of Eulophidae that caused the no different in the diversification for May and July. There are some other factors that influence the evenness of the species such as intensity of sunlight and the availability of niche that enable the interaction between both biotic and abiotic. The characteristics of Eulophidae for effectively in host searching ability and amenability to mass production under control conditions was contribute to the abundance of the Eulophidae [24]. In previous study showed that the Eulophidae subfamilies have diverse hosts as they were primary and secondary parasitoids, hyperparasitoids, phytophagous and solitary and gregarious [25]. There is highly distributed of the caterpillar in Malaysia [26]. Caterpillar is known to be parasitized by the Eulophidae such that in Euplectromorpha palida sp. parasite of caterpillars of Teinorhyncha umbra from Ivory Coast [4]. The great distribution will directly contribute to the presence of the Eulophidae. In addition, the distribution of Eulophidae also influenced by the ability of female in some species to be synovigenic. The previously study showed that S.striatipes was a synovigenic parasitoid that able to produce egg throughout their lifetime. In order to prolong the longevity and to enhance the egg production during their lifetime they rely on adult nutrition [27]. The ability in continuously produce eggs will maintain the distribution and number of available Eulophidae in the area. There are some additional parameters that presence in previous study influences the presence of Eulophidae which include the host related factor such as body size and age. The life span of a parasitoid is known to be dependent on parasitoid size. Furthermore, parasitoid associated factors such as clutch size, mating, fecundity, competition with other parasitoids and adult diet also influence on their diversity [28] Table 1: Shannon (H’) Diversity Index, Evennes Index (E’), Richness Index(R) from May 2010 to August 2010 Month May June July August

H’ WK1 2.375a 2.303a 2.146a 2.719a

E’ WK2 2.152a 1.824a 1.733a 2.398a

WK1 0.956 0.960 0.977 0.960

R WK2 0.935 0.937 0.967 0.909

WK1 3.376 3.338 3.336 4.156

WK2 2.839 2.118 2.405 3.751

Table 2: Mean Relative Humidity and Mean Temperature for May 2010 – August 2010 at Wang Kelian Park, Perlis Month May June July August

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Mean Relative Humidity (%) 79.1 82.3 83.4 82.3 21!

Mean Temperature (%) 29.2 27.6 26.9 27.5

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Table 3: Pearson Correlation Value between Mean Relative Humidity and Mean Temperature with H’ Variable H’ vs. Temperature H’ vs. Relative Humidity E’ vs. Temperature E’ vs. Relative Humidity R vs. Temperature R vs. Relative Humidity

Pearson Correlation (r) 0.305 -0.317 -0.451 0.439 0.022 -0.046

p- value > 0.05 > 0.05 > 0.05 > 0.05 > 0.05 > 0.05

CONCLUSION From the finding obtained within four months (May 2010 – August 2010) it is proved that the Eulophidae is presence at this tropical region and comprised of four subfamilies; Eulophinae, Entedoninae, Tetratishinae and Euderinae. From the analysis it is showed that the requirement of sampling effort to be done in larger space and longer period at Wang Kelian Park for surther study in the future. The low variation in the abiotic components at Wang Kelian Park was allowed for the high abundance of Eulophidae. The diversity of Eulophidae in all months were low but their evenness were high which is believed to be influenced by some biotic and abiotic components such as availability of host preferred, intensity of sunlight, competition, relative humidity and temperature. Due to the lack in information on all aspects of Eulophidae in Malaysia, it is suggested more further research on biology and taxonomy of Eulophidae in Malaysia and in worldwide. The study on biological aspect in Eulophidae is very beneficial in order to identify the major factor that influences their diversity and growth development. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thanks to Mr. Faiq Hamdan, Miss Tamalia Amanda Putri and Miss Alia Rizki Abdullah and Mr. Roslan from Centre for Insects Systematics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia for all their effort and guidance in this research. REFERENCES [1]

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Leius, K. Influence of food on fecundity and longevity of adults of Itoplectis conquisitor (Say) (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae). The Canadian Entomologist. 1961, 93: 771-780.

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Mafi, S., Ohbayashi, N. Some biological parameters of Sympiesis striatipes (Hym.: Eulophidae), an ectoparasitoid of the citrus leafminer Phyllocnistis citrella (Lep.: Gracillariidae). Journal of Entomological Society. 2010, 30 (1): 29-40.

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GREENING A SOCIETY FOR A RESILIENT DEVELOPMENT Farrah Zuhaira Ismail**, Anthony Halog* and Mohd Reza Esa* *School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management, The University of Queensland, Australia. **Corresponding author email: [email protected] ABSTRACT In line with accelerating urbanization, latest technologies are being deployed in construction activities to cope up with the rapid pace of development. In most of the cases, time and money are the primary concerns, while neglecting the vital environmental aspects. The unawareness and ignorance of the people who have a profound influence on the environmental issues often lead to disastrous outcomes. Hence, the environmental abuse has resulted to global warming, climate change, pollutions and other human-induced catastrophes. In this paper, the destabilizing pressure on the environment associated with the construction industry is addressed. The aim of this paper is to induce an awareness that can enhance the participation of the building team society within the construction industry in Malaysia towards administering a more sustainable environmental management and thus creating a resilient city. The objectives are to identify the green strategies that are currently available in Malaysia and to study how accessible they are to the participation of the construction key players (i.e. contractors). A systematic review was utilized to locate, assess and evaluate all research studies that have addressed this issue. Published studies and reports were collected based on a set of specific criteria pertaining to the issue of the construction industry with relevance to environmental sustainability. From our results, it can be seen that there are many efforts being carried out by both government and the private sectors to encourage the practice of green strategies. However, it tends to lack a holistic configuration framework for the transitioning towards green society and sustainable development in the construction industry. Thus this study highlights the significance in understanding the importance of collaboration from the society in the construction industry to create a sustainable and resilient development. Keywords: Green society, green/sustainable construction, sustainable development. INTRODUCTION Green construction is considered as environment friendly because it uses sustainable, location-appropriate building materials and employs building techniques that reduce energy consumption [1]. The USA EPA [2] for example defines “Green Building” as, “the practice of creating structures and using processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building’s life-cycle from sitting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation and deconstruction. This practice expands and compliments the classical building design concerns of economy, utility, durability, and comfort. In sum, these constructions are considered green because they work in harmony with the surrounding climatic and geographic conditions and not against them. Sustainable construction can be called as green construction that is being adopted sustainability into construction industry [3]. Sustainability and “green,” often used interchangeably [4]. Adhering to three aspects of environmental, social and economic, sustainable development is all about maintaining a balance between accommodating to current social and economic needs while sustaining the natural resources and ecosystems to be utilized by the future generations [5, 6]. This is also agreed by Abidin & Jaapar [7], enumerating that sustainable construction is all about maintaining a balance between the human need for buildings for shelter and business operations and infrastructure for higher quality of well-being at one hand, and preserving natural resources and ecosystems, on which we and future generation depend at the other hand. The Brundtland Commision [8, 9] had first inaugurated the concept of ‘Sustainable Development’. The concept was then being deliberated in ‘Agenda 21’, an international blueprint for sustainable development [10] which was derived from the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Since then, the concept of sustainable development has been evolving and widely adopted. In November 1994, the First International Conference on Sustainable Construction held in Tampa, Florida, USA, the conference convener Kibert [11] defined sustainable construction as, “Creating a healthy built environment using resource-efficient, ecologically-based principles”. Sustainable construction involves a commitment to: i) Economic sustainability – increasing profitability by making more efficient use of resources, including labour, materials, water and energy. ii) Environmental sustainability – preventing harmful and potential irreversible effects on the environment by careful use of natural resources, minimizing waste, protecting and where possible enhancing the environment.

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iii) Social sustainability – responding to the needs of people at whatever stage of involvement in the construction process (from commissioning to demolition), providing high customer satisfaction and working closely with clients, suppliers, employees and local communities. Rostami [1] stated that the primary objectives of sustainable design and construction are to avoid resource depletion of essential resources such as energy, water, and raw materials, and prevent environmental degradation. Sustainability also places a high priority on health, which is partly why green buildings are also comfortable and safe places to live and work. Pertaining to the environmental, social and economic concerns, the concept of sustainable construction is compelled to important principles. Table 1: The interpretation of the principles of sustainability within the construction industry [7] The Principles of Sustainable Development Putting people at the centre Taking a long term perspective Taking account of costs and benefits Creating an open and supportive economic system

The Interpretation of Sustainability Principles within Construction Industry Show concern for people by ensuring they live in a healthy, safe and productive built environment and in harmony with nature Safeguarding the interests of future generations while at the same time, meeting today’s needs Evaluate the benefits and costs of the project to society and environment Creating a system which can flourish trades, improve collaboration and resource efficiency

Combating poverty and social exclusion Improving the quality of buildings and services, create jobs opportunities and promote social cohesiveness Respecting environmental limits

Minimising damage to the environment and its resources

The precautionary principle

Assessing risk and uncertainties before any action and rectify possible damage at source.

Using scientific knowledge

Using technology and expert knowledge to seek information and in improving project efficiency and effectiveness

Transparency, information participation Opportunities to improve access to information and encourage ethics and access to justice and professionalism Making the polluter pay

Legislation compliance and responsibility

The sustainable principles by Abidin [7] in Table 1 can be seen quite similar with The Conseil International du Batiment (CIB) which postulated seven principles of sustainable construction which inform decision makers during each stage of the design and construction process persisting throughout the whole life cycle of a building which are: reducing resource consumption; reusing resources; using recyclable resources; protection nature; eliminating toxics; applying life-cycle costing; and emphasising quality [12]. The principles in sustainable construction have mainly revolved around limiting the damage to the environment with consideration to be taken throughout the whole construction and development process. Pearce [13] had argued the purpose of having a development without concerning on the aspect of making it sustainable for the future as the sustainable according to him, brings the meaning of being lasting or perpetual. However, the construction industry is responsible for high levels of pollution resulting from the energy consumed and during the extraction, processing and transportation of raw materials. Industrialized building methods, based on the widespread use of high-energy materials such as aluminium, cement, concrete and steel, must now comply with new directives for the protection of the environment [14]. The construction industry has significant impact on the environment, economy and the society and buildings are one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions for which they are responsible for 38% of all Carbon Dioxide emissions [15]. Nevertheless, construction activities are inevitable. Clos [16] in his commentary article has brought up a point that no economy in the world to date has become prosperous without becoming urban. Transforming to an urbanization involve massive construction activities to be carried out to feed the increasing demand for new development. This can be seen evident in the case of China. China has been among the fastest growing economies in the world history with approximately 10% per year economic growth consistently since 1978. Shenzhen for instance, has evolved from a small, rural agricultural livelihoods with 30 thousand people to a modern urban manufacturing and services metropolis with 10 million people in a matter of three decades [17]. The massive growth of the economy and population has caused major expansion of human activities such as urbanization and development which directly affects the environment. Being listed as one of the most polluted cities

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in the world by CNN[18], China surely has shown the world that without the inclusion of social and environment sustainability aspects, the economic growth might cause a major catastrophe. Similar situation can be seen prominent in Malaysia. In pursuit of becoming a developed country by the year 2020, Malaysia has been going through a massive transition. Under the 10th Malaysian Plan, RM230 billion have been allocated to the development sector. Out of this development expenditure, 60% or RM138 billion will be expended in physical development which will be undertaken by the construction sector [19]. In over the last twenty years, the construction industry in Malaysia has been consistently contributing between 3%-5% of the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP)[20]. The construction industry, whilst important for economic growth and urbanization, has direct and indirect negative impacts on the environment. Therefore, the implementation of sustainable construction practice in Malaysia is vital for management and protection of the environment. Table 2 shows findings from a study conducted by Idris et al [21] summing conclusion on the significance of sustainable construction practice. Table 2: The Significance of Sustainable Practice in Construction [21] Authors KeTTHA (2010)

Ambali (2011), Hezri and Hasan (2006)

Hamid et al (2010)

CIDB (2009)

Tan et al (2011)

Zhang and Wen (2008)

Findings Drawn conclusion Factors Associated Green technology will be the Global warming, Renewable energy mainstay of the government agenda and become one of the new drivers of the country’s economy. Various environmental challenges Environmental policy, natural and problems encountered by the resources, sustainability country due to its rapid development ethos. The construction industry plays a Sustainable construction, green vital role in helping the efforts of the technology, strategic approach government to attain sustainable development Sustainable construction in Malaysia Protection and conservation on the will be achieved through the full environment commitment by all construction stakeholders The implementation of sustainable Sustainable construction practice, construction practice can contribute competitiveness, construction to the improvement of contractors’ industry sustainability performance Environmental protection will Environmental protection, sustainable influence increase in economy in development, policy order to improve quality

MATERIALS AND METHODS A systematic review was utilized to locate, assess and evaluate all research studies that have addressed this issue. Published studies and reports were collected from highly recognized databases and the selection was based on a set of specific criteria pertaining to the issue of the construction industry with relevance to environmental sustainability. The selection criteria for the articles and materials understudied are summarized in Table 3. Due to an overwhelmed amount of materials found related to the research area of sustainable construction and development, the search was being narrowed down to the context of construction industry in Malaysia. The materials were selected based on the title and abstract, then analysed based on the contents of findings and discussion pertaining to the issue of sustainable construction implementation in Malaysia.

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Table 3: Selection Criteria for Research Material Source Type of Analysis Period of Analysis Databases Keyword Scope & Limitation Selective Method

Books, articles, reports, Government documents related to the topic Qualitative 2005 – 2015 (10 years) Emerald Insight, Elsevier, Scopus, Web of Science and Springer Link Sustainable construction, Sustainable development, Green construction Sustainable construction and development initiatives and implementation in Malaysia Related materials were selected based on the appropriateness of the title, abstract, contents, findings and discussion pertaining to the context of sustainable construction practice implementation in Malaysia and analysed according to the objective of this study.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Green and sustainable strategies in malaysia The Construction Industry Development Board Malaysia (CIDB) is a body to develop and modernize the Malaysian construction industry has always taken a proactive action to address the issue of sustainable construction and assist the stakeholders in its adoption. In June 1999 [22], the CIDB had established a technical committee, the Technical Committee 9 (TC9) to look into developing good environmental practices in the construction industry. TC9 comprises of environmental experts from government agencies, professional bodies, academia and construction related associations. Six working groups have been established under the TC9; WG1 – Development of Strategic and Programmes for good Environment Practices WG2 – Prevention and control of Soil Erosion and Sedimentation in Construction WG3 – Good Environmental Practices in Storm water Management WG4 – Accreditation Scheme for Environment Management System for Contractor WG5 – Guideline on Environmental System for Construction Industry WG6 – Guideline and Management of Construction Waste Material To further emphasize on the importance of sustainable practices, National Green Technology Policy (NGTP) was established in 2009 for the implementation of the green initiatives taking into consideration four crucial elements; environment, energy, social and economy. This policy is aimed to be the key driver in accelerating the national economy and promoting sustainable development in Malaysia. It comprises of regulations enacted by several ministries including the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (RE) and Ministry of Housing and Local Government (KPKT) as efforts to standardise, preserve and control all aspects of technology and environment. Besides that, the implementation of the ISO 14000 is also seen as the major step in ensuring consideration on the environment in the construction process. Not only that, the Construction Research Institute of Malaysia (CREAM), subsidiary of CIDB and SIRIM Berhad, formerly known as the Standards and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia, have set-up product testing facilities in its laboratory to ensure construction materials to be certified as eco-label. This is initiated as a strategy to ensure that the life cycle of the construction materials are environmentally safe throughout the life cycle of a building, from cradle to grave. Another initiative taken by the government is the establishment of The Planning and National Development Doctrine (DPPS), which stresses development that is balanced and sustainable from the economic, social, spiritual and environmental aspects, served as the foundation for the planning and development of Putrajaya and Cyberjaya. A total of 32 physical planning guidelines were established by the Town and Country Planning Department (TCPD) to ensure sustainable development of area such as coastal areas, islands, open space, housing, retention ponds, solid waste disposal areas, conservation of trees and for environmentally sensitive areas. Among other examples of sustainable projects in Malaysia are the Tanarimba sustainable housing projects which focused on ecological balance, the Demonstration and Documentation Centre for Sustainable Urban Household Energy Usage (DDC) project by Centre for Environment, Technology and Development (CETDEM) which aims at building an urban energy saving house (CETDEM, 2006) and several energy-efficient office buildings initiated by Malaysia Energy Centre (MEC, 2006) and private developers [23]. Apart from that, The Board of Architects Malaysia or Persatuan Arkitek Malaysia (PAM), in collaboration with the Association of Consulting Engineers Malaysia (ACEM), has launched a rating system known as Green Building Index (GBI) Malaysia in 2009 to lead the Malaysian property industry towards becoming more environment-friendly. This rating system provides opportunities for developers to design and construct green, sustainable buildings that can provide energy and water savings, a healthier indoor environment, better connectivity to public transport and adoption

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of recycling and greenery for their projects [24]. To compliment GBI, Green Assessment System in Construction (GASSIC) has also been introduced. GASSIC is a system or method to measure and evaluate the green attributes of a construction work from design to construction stage based on developed standard. There are 6 attributes to be measured in the GASSIC assessment. This can be seen in Table 4. Table 4: Assessment Criteria of GASSIC [1] Assessment Criteria

Overall Points Score

Part

Item

Maximum point

1

Energy efficiency

23

2

Indoor environmental quality

12

3 4

Sustainable site planning & management Material and resources

37 10

5

Water efficiency

12

6 Total score

Innovation

6 100

GASSIC is to be used together with the GBI to achieve the optimum rating system. However GASSIC has yet being made mandatory to all public projects. Apart from that, some private sectors even participate in engaging to the sustainable movement. Holcim Malaysia for example, a company which is a leading provider of building materials in southern part of Malaysia has taken a sustainable initiative with the establishment of The Foundation for Sustainable Construction. This foundation focuses on promoting innovative approaches to sustainable construction and to recognise outstanding achievements through awards competition and international forum. The green initiatives can also be seen in the area of information technology. Green ICT Working Group has been set up under The Malaysian Technical Standards Forum Berhad to actively promote the Green ICT concept in relation to the ICT industry, to set up a minimum Green ICT guideline that can be used across industries and to continuously seek to establish a sustainable ICT industry through eco-friendly technology. Many green initiatives have been promoted by both government and private sectors to initiate a green construction society in hope of a positive change towards more resilient developments. In spite of the green initiatives, the implementation of sustainable construction in Malaysia however has been facing many challenges. Accessibility of the green strategies to the participation of the construction key players for a successful implementation of sustainable construction practice in malaysia The characteristics of a successful green construction are systemization, socialization, information and integration [25]. Unfortunately, there are still discrepancies between the ideal form of sustainable development and existing construction because of the practical difficulties in realizing the concept of sustainability [26]. According to Ismail [27] sustainability in construction projects in Malaysia is still new and not fully accepted by construction players yet and even though building sustainably has many merits but applying this concept is not easy as it requires changes to the old ways [6]. Ofori [28] in his findings found that in order to increase the consideration to sustainability, the construction practitioners must be willing to change their behaviour and mindset in exploring new territory and willing to adopt new products, ideas and practices. Chen et al [29] had conducted a research and discovered that social awareness and environmental concerns are important in the selection of construction method. This is fundamental for the participation of the construction key players in sustainable construction practice. Nonetheless, there are many challenges and barriers that contribute to unsuccessful sustainable construction practice in Malaysia. Chan [30] concluded that the challenges in adopting sustainable construction were mainly cost and awareness issues, stating that only big construction companies have greater financial capacities to adopt sustainable practices and that they have higher awareness and knowledge of sustainable construction compared to the medium and small companies. Similar studies [21, 27, 31] also shown that lack of social awareness and environmental concerns becomes barrier to implement sustainable construction. This is also supported by findings in a survey conducted by Abidin [3] which highlighted that none of the respondents believed that the implementation of sustainable practices in Malaysia is excellent. Majority believed that the implementation is at low level. The reasons being were lack of enforcement, government intervention, finger pointing, urgency factor, education vs experience and passive culture (only academic). The survey also revealed that the concept of sustainability has not been widely applied in many projects. In a different

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study [24] one developer stated that only 10% of developers are really interested in environment friendly projects. It will take some time before it will become a nationwide interest. This point can also be seen apparent in findings by Rostami [1] which highlighted that the issues in implementing successful green and sustainable construction are legislative challenge, lack of knowledge and expertise and lack of coordination. The summary of the findings on challenges in implementing successful sustainable construction practices in Malaysia is shown in Table 5. It can be seen that the lack of awareness among the construction key players on the knowledge of sustainable approach in construction practice seems to be the major issue. Thus, this affirms that the accessibility of the green strategies is not being made possible to exhilarate the participation of the construction key players towards adopting sustainability in the construction practice. Table 5: Summary of Findings on Challenges in Implementing Successful Sustainable Construction Practices in Malaysia Research [30] [3]

[31]

[1]

[27] [24]

[21]

Findings Challenges: • Awareness/knowledge Challenges: • Awareness Results-moderate awareness Majority of respondents rely on written materials (journals, proceedings, newspapers, and websites) to improve their knowledge about sustainable construction. Sustainability has not been widely applied in many projects. -Challenges: • Lack of awareness (knowledge issue) • Enforcement. - Challenges: • Legislative challenge, • Lack of knowledge and expertise • Lack of coordination Challenges: • Lack of awareness Challenges: • Lack of awareness The effort should be directed to small and medium size developers as many large developers are already on board with this concept. Challenges: • Lack of social awareness

The transition towards more sustainable and resilient approach in construction would make a tremendous positive recovery to the current built environment. Major changes could be made possible and catastrophes caused by the effects of climate change phenomena could finally put to rest. In order to achieve successful implementation of sustainable construction practices, the building society, must first transcend towards this positive change. This urges the participation of the key players in construction industry to convert to a green construction society. The green reflection of the green society would propel towards sustainable transformation in the construction industry in Malaysia. CONCLUSION From the results, it can be seen that there are many efforts being carried out by both government and the private sectors in promoting green strategies to encourage sustainable construction practice in Malaysia. However, the accessibility towards these strategies is not being made possible to exhilarate the participation of the construction key players towards adopting sustainability in the construction practice. Hence, the lack of awareness among the construction practitioners is the major issue obstructing the accomplishment of successful sustainable construction in Malaysia. It tends to lack a holistic configuration framework for the transitioning towards green society and sustainable development in the construction industry. It can be concluded that the sustainability awareness and knowledge amongst the key players in construction industry are still at the low level. They need to be enlightened and educated to be able to participate in the sustainable practices. Knowledge has to be infused and the accessibility to this threshold of knowledge needs to be made possible to encourage extrinsic and intrinsic level of participation in implementing a successful sustainable construction.

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Having said that, it is a little too late to implement a sustainable construction in today’s current stage of condition. Damage has been done. With the vulnerability of natural environment to the climate change and the frequent occurrence of “human-triggered” disasters such as flood, landslide, typhoons and etc. we need more than just mediocre sustainable construction practice. A disaster prone environment we are currently living in today needs a sustainable construction practice which is also resilient to disaster. A holistic framework for the implementation of sustainable construction in regards to the disaster resilient aspects affirmatively a significant solution. Thus, this study will expand to focus on how to integrate the approach of sustainable construction and disaster resilience in the post-disaster reconstruction practice. Further research will be conducted to address three main issues; recovery from disaster, sustainability and post-disaster reconstruction. This future innovative study aims at providing green awareness as well as implementing sustainable resilient construction at the same time. A disaster resilient construction and development can be deliberated as the second chance for us to make the world a better place again. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like to thank the University of Queensland, Australia for the opportunity to become a Research Higher Degree (RHD) student, and the Ministry of Education and Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) for providing financial support for pursuing the PhD. REFERENCES [1] Rostami, R., S.M. Khoshnava, A. Ahankoob, and R. Rostami, Green Construction Trends in Malaysia, in Management in Construction Research Association (MiCRA) Postgraduate Conference. 2012. [2] EPA, EPA Green Building Strategy, Environmental Protection Agency United States, Editor. 2008, Environmental Protection Agency United States: United States. [3] Abidin, N.Z., Sustainable Construction in Malaysia-Developer's Awareness. PROCEEDINGS OF WORLD ACADEMY OF SCIENCE, ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, 2009. VOLUME 41. [4] Knox, N. What Is Green Building? 2015 [cited 2015 20 February]; Available from: http://www.usgbc.org/articles/what-green-building-0. [5] Dickie, I. and N. Howard, Assessing environmental impacts of construction: industry consensus, BREEAM and UK ecopoints. 2000: Building Research Establishment UK. [6] Abidin, N.Z. and A. Jaapar. Sustainable Concept Awareness In Malaysia Construction Practices. in The 3rd Built Environment and Natural Environment Conference. 2008. [7] Abidin, N.Z. and C.L. Pasquire, Delivering sustainability through value management. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 2005. 12(2): p. 168-180. [8] Brundtland, G.H., Report of the World Commission on environment and development:" our common future.". 1987: United Nations. [9] Redclift, M., Sustainable development (1987–2005): an oxymoron comes of age. Sustainable development, 2005. 13(4): p. 212-227. [10] Du Plessis, C., Agenda 21 for sustainable construction in developing countries. CSIR Report BOU E, 2002. 204. [11] C. J. Kibert. Preface. in Proceedings of First International Conference of CIB TG 16 on Sustainable Construction. 1994. Tampa Florida. [12] Kibert, C.J., Sustainable construction: green building design and delivery. 2005, Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley. [13] Pearce, D., Is the construction sector sustainable?: definitions and reflections. Building Research & Information, 2006. 34(3): p. 201-207. [14] Ding, G.K.C., Developing a multicriteria approach for the measurement of sustainable performance. Building Research & Information, 2007. 33:1: p. 3-16. [15] US Energy Information Administration, The Annual Energy Outlook 2014 (AEO2014). 2014, U.S. Energy Information Administration: Washington, DC 20585.

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[16] Clos, J. Building better cities. 2015 [cited 2015 29 January 2015]; Commentary]. Available from: http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/public_sector/building_better_cities?cid=mckgrowth-eml-alt-mgi-mck-oth1501. [17] Sachs, J., Economic growth and progress, in The age of sustainable development. 2015. [18] Ives, M. The air pollution that's choking Asia. 2015 [cited 2015 29 January 2015]; Available from: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/27/asia/asia-air-pollution-haze/index.html. [19] The Economic Planning Unit, Tenth Malaysia Plan 2011-2015, Prime Minister’s Department, Editor. 2010, The Economic Planning Unit Prime Minister’s Department: Putrajaya. [20] Construction Industry Development Board, Malaysian Construction Industry: Technology Foresight Report, in CIDB Workshop on Technology Foresight. 2000, CIDB Malaysia & APEC Technology Foresight Centre, Bangkok: Kuala Lumpur. [21] Idris, N.H. and Z. Ismail. Framework policy for sustainable construction in Malaysia. in Business, Engineering and Industrial Applications (ISBEIA), 2011 IEEE Symposium on. 2011. IEEE. [22] CIDB, CIDB programmes in Green Technology, Construction Industry Development Board Malaysia, Editor. 2010, The Construction Industry Development Board Malaysia Kuala Lumpur. [23] Shafii, F., Z.A. Ali, and M.Z. Othman. Achieving Sustainable Construction in the Developing Countries of Southeast Asia. in Proceedings of the 6th Asia-Pacific Structural Engineering and Construction Conference (APSEC 2006),. 2006. Kuala Lumpur. [24] Abidin, N.Z., Investigating the awareness and application of sustainable construction concept by Malaysian developers. Habitat International, 2010. 34(4): p. 421-426. [25] Rui, P. Study on green construction and index system of green construction assessment. in Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management (IE&EM), 2010 IEEE 17Th International Conference on. 2010. [26] Lam, P.T.I., E.H.W. Chan, C.K. Chau, C.S. Poon, and K.P. Chun, Environmental management system vs green specifications: How do they complement each other in the construction industry? Journal of Environmental Management, 2011. 92(3): p. 788-795. [27] Ismail, Z., N.H. Idris, and N.M. Nasir, Sustainable Initiative and Impediments towards Promoting Sustainable Construction in Malaysia, in 2012 IEEE Colloquium on Humanities, Science & Engineering Research (CHUSER 2012). 2012: Kota Kinabalu Sabah Malaysia. [28] Ofori, G., C. Briffett, G. Gang, and M. Ranasinghe, Impact of ISO 14000 on construction enterprises in Singapore. Construction Management and Economics, 2000. 18(8): p. 935-947. [29] Chen, Y., G.E. Okudan, and D.R. Riley, Sustainable performance criteria for construction method selection in concrete buildings. Automation in Construction, 2010. 19(2): p. 235-244. [30] Chan, Y.H., B.C. Lee, and J.C. Lee, Sustainability in the Construction Industry in Malaysia: The Challenges and Breakthroughs. International Journal of Social, Education, Economics and Management Engineering, 2014. 8. [31] Abidin, N.Z., Sustainable Construction Practices in Malaysia, in Global Warming: Engineering Solutions, I. Dincer, et al., Editors. 2010, Springer: New York. p. 385-398.

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SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL ABUNDANCE OF TECTUS NILOTICUS IN MARINE PROTECTED AREAS IN PALAWAN, PHILIPPINES: PROSPECTS FOR CONSERVATION Roger G. Dolorosaa,b,*, Alastair Grantb and Jennifer A. Gillc a

College of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, Western Philippines University, Philippines b School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, UK c School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, UK *Corresponding author email: [email protected]

ABSTRACT The large reef gastropod Tectus niloticus or ‘trochus’ is an important fishery resource and a significant source of revenue in its distribution range. However, the high demand for trochus shell in the production of ‘mother of pearl’ buttons and unsustainable harvesting have led to the collapse of its population and closure of its fishery in some countries. Conservation measures in the Philippines which focus on the restocking of hatchery produced juveniles in partly protected reefs were unsuccessful. To propose more relevant conservation measures, assessment of trochus abundance was conducted in three types of habitats of three Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in Palawan, Philippines to document the status of its populations. In unguarded and continuously exploited MPAs in the mainland Palawan, trochus occurred at extremely low numbers. Only juveniles were encountered at the rubble and rocky habitats within the intertidal areas. Large individuals only occurred at the shallow subtidal reefs. By contrast, in effectively protected areas of the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park (TRNP), densities were quite high with large trochus being abundant even in the rubble and rocky intertidal flats. Trends in abundance in permanent monitoring sites in TRNP indicated a sudden drop between 2006 and 2008, with slight recovering trends until 2010. Sizes of sampled trochus at TRNP in 2008-2010 were significantly larger than in 2006. No live trochus were noted in Jessie Beazley Reef, a small offshore reef which forms part of TRNP. Population recovery through natural recruits from other reefs could be very slow in this area of TRNP unless a new breeding population is introduced. The presence of recruits at constantly fished MPAs at Palawan on the mainland could lead to population recovery if these areas are effectively spared from fishing for a longer period of time. Restored biodiversity in networks of MPAs could be highly beneficial to the ecosystem, the fisheries and economic sectors. Keywords: Abundance, size structure, protected area, harvesting, Tectus niloticu. INTRODUCTION The Commercial top (Tectus niloticus, Trochidae), commonly called ‘trochus’, is an overly exploited large reef gastropod with patchy distribution in the Indo-Pacific Region [1-2]. Their short larval period [3] and the isolation of many reefs were considered reasons for their inability to colonise suitable offshore reef habitats [4,5], unless they are translocated. In more than 6 decades, trochus translocation to about 60 places within the Indo-Pacific Region has expanded its distribution, eventually becoming an important fishery resource at many of the locations to which it has been introduced [6,7]. Harvesting of trochus started in prehistoric times [8,9], but when commercial harvest of its shells for the mother-of-pearl button industry started in the early 1900s, its populations began to decline [4,5]. Overharvesting has forced some countries to declare trochus as protected species [10-13]. Stock assessment provides a wide array of biological data [14-17, 7]. It is an important step to determine the effectiveness of management intervention, and in providing a basis for effective conservation [18,19]. Assessment of trochus population in India following a 10-year ban on harvest have led to open the fisheries for three years [13]. Periodic population monitoring of density and standing stock of the introduced trochus in the Cook Islands was conducted to assess population recovery from the previous harvest and to estimate catch quota for the next harvest [2022]. Results of assessment of trochus in Tongatapu Lagoon, Kingdon of Tonga 12 years after its introduction, suggest successful recruitment and establishment of a population but harvesting was held for another 8 years to allow an increase in population size [7]. Size measurement along with abundance surveys are essential to assess recruitment overfishing, which can be detected if populations are dominated by sizes smaller than the allowed harvestable sizes, or sizes that are less likely to be searched or exploited [4]. Population assessment and the implementation of varied conservation measures have taken place in most trochus producing countries only after harvests have begun to fall [4,23,24]. In the Philippines, no comprehensive study about trochus exploitation has been conducted in spite that the country is one of the world’s top trochus producers [25] with the highest quality [26,14]. As early as 1980, trochus had already been overharvested in the Philippines [3]. In recent studies, trochus formed a small part of fishermen’s harvest [27-29], suggesting an extremely low abundance. A number of conventional methods has been suggested to manage the trochus populations [4,5]. Deciding on which one to use requires prior knowledge about the current status of trochus population. In this study, the spatial and temporal abundance of trochus in exploited and unexploited marine protected areas (MPAs) in Palawan, Philippines were assessed.

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METHODOLOGY Study Sites The study sites in Palawan, Philippines included the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park (TRNP) in the middle of the Sulu Sea (Sites 1 – 4); Rasa Island (Site 5) in the southern part of Palawan (Site 5), and Binduyan (Site 6), a northern village in the city of Puerto Princesa (Fig. 1). Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park is a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage Site (8°43’– 8°57’ N and 119°48’–120°3’ E), about 150 km southeast of Puerto Princesa City, Palawan. It covers a total area of 97,030 ha of which roughly 10,000 ha are coral reefs [30]. The park was subdivided into four study sites based on the perceived level of poaching: (Site 1) Unexploited North Atoll, composed of three stations near the Ranger Station; (Site 2) Moderately Exploited North Atoll, composed of five stations that are about 9 km away from the Ranger Station; (Site 3) Heavily Exploited South Atoll, composed of five stations around the South Atoll Reef (about 14 km from the Ranger Station); and (Site 4) the distantly located Jessie Beazley Reef situated 24 km north of the Ranger Station. Rasa Island (9o13’21.25” N and 118o26’38.06” E) is an 834 ha wildlife sanctuary situated about 1 km offshore of the Municipality of Narra, Palawan. The island has 175 ha of coastal forest, 560 ha mangrove, 39 ha coconut plantation and 60 ha barren or sparsely vegetated sand and coral outcrops [31]. Fishing and gleaning remained unregulated in this protected site. Binduyan (10o 00’46.78” N and 119o 04’14.92” E) is the second northernmost village of Puerto Princesa City. The two small adjacent reefs called Sabang Reef – a 40 ha village sanctuary and a seeding site for hatchery produced trochus; and Bitauran Reef - an open-accessed area. The exposed area (~14 ha) of Sabang Reef at low tide is nearly twice larger than that of Bitauran Reef (~8.5 ha). Both reefs were frequented with gleaners during low tide.

Fig. 1: The six study sites.1 – Unexploited North Atoll; 2 – Moderately Exploited North Atoll; 3- Overexploited South Atoll; 4 – Overexploited Jessie Beazley Reef; 5 – Overexploited Rasa Island; 6 – Overexploited Binduyan and part of Green Island Bay. Sampling stations are indicated by small triangles (i.e. around Rasa Island and in Atolls at TRNP) Three types of habitats such as flat, boulder and complex were surveyed at each site (Table 1). Flat habitats, generally composed of rubble and flat rocks, are the highest part of the reef and firstly exposed at low tide. Boulder habitats, only exposed at lowest low tide, are composed of coral rocks, mostly larger than 20 cm in diameter forming a narrow strip along the edge of the reef flat. Complex habitats are mixture of dead and live branching and massive corals at the seaward reef slope which were always submerged at 3 – 5 m deep (Fig. 2). Foods available for trochus in these habitats are sediment, and thin filamentous algae. To determine the habitat complexity or rugosity index [32] of the reef, a weighted 20-m rope (10 mm diameter) which follows the contour of the reef was placed in parallel with the 20-m transect line (Fig. 2).

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Table 1: Numbers of 2 x 20 m transect lines per study site and types of habitat surveyed. A – flat, B – boulder, C – complex, UE – unexploited, ME – moderately exploited, OE- overexploited Site Number 1 2 3 4 5 6

Site Name

Status

North Atoll, TRNP North Atoll, TRNP South Atoll, TRNP Jessie Beazley Reef, TRNP Rasa Island, Narra, Palawan Binduyan, Puerto Princesa City Total

UE ME OE OE OE OE

Number of Stations 3 5 5 1 9 2 25

Habitat Type A B C 20 16 20 16 36 36 8 32 16 0 4 4 44 48 36 8 20 12 96 156 124

Total Transects 56 88 56 8 128 40 376

Fig. 2: The three types of surveyed T. niloticus habitat in MPAs in Palawan, Philippines. Flat habitat at TRNP (left), and boulder (middle) and complex (right) habitats at Rasa Island Spatial Abundance and Size Structure Reef check methods in assessing reef invertebrates [33] were used to measure the abundance and size structure of trochus. The suggested 5 m width of belt transect was reduced into 2 m to increase the number of stations and to exhaustively search the snails. Substrate types (e.g. hard coral, rock, rubble and sand) were recorded at 0.5 m intervals of transect lines, following the substrate criteria and point intercept method described by [33]. In TRNP, seven permanent monitoring stations established in 2006 [34] were surveyed and seven additional stations were surveyed in the area. Surveys in TRNP were conducted between November 2009 and July 2010; and between March and July 2010 in Rasa Island and Binduyan, respectively (Fig. 1, Table 1). In total, 376 transect lines (2 x 20 m) were surveyed in 25 stations within six sites covering an area of 15,040 m2. Flat and boulder habitats were surveyed by reef walking while complex habitats were surveyed by snorkelling during low tide. All trochus found along each transect were counted and measured for their maximum basal diameter to the nearest millimetre with the aid of a ruler glued on a slate board. Catch per Unit Effort Catch per unit effort (CPUE), is treated as the number of trochus captured per fisherman per hour (ind h-1). At TRNP (Sites 1, 2 and 3), the estimated area covered during the collection was determined from the distance covered using the Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates and the approximate width (5 m) of the reef each person can survey visually while snorkelling in calm water. At Site 5, CPUE was based on the catches of 5 – 9 fishermen who participated during the 4-day collection. At Site 6, CPUE was based from the catch of five fishermen in Green Island Bay (also an area with several village MPAs). Temporal Abundance in TRNP Abundance data from the seven permanent monitoring stations at TRNP between 2006 [34,35] and 2010 were compiled. The numbers and areas covered by transect surveys between 2006 and 2010 are shown in Table 2.

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Table 2: Length of transect lines and area covered during the survey at seven permanent monitoring stations in TRNP from 2006 – 2010. *In 2010, there were eight transects in six stations and 16 transects in one station Year

2006 2008 2009 2010*

Width and length of transect per site 2 x 150 2 x 100 2 x 25 2 x 20

Number of transects per site

Area covered (m2) per site

Total Area Surveyed (m2)

Depth of surveyed area

1 1 4 8 or 16

300 200 100 320 or 640

2 100 1 400 700 2 560

Shallow subtidal area Shallow subtidal area Shallow subtidal area Intertidal and shallow subtidal area

Data Analyses The substrate composition at each habitat type per site was compared with analysis of variance and Scheffé post hoc tests. In the analysis, rugosity index, hard corals, rock, rubble and sand were used as dependent variables while types of habitat (flat, boulder, complex) were used as fixed independent variables. Transect lines with >10% sand were deselected so that percentage of sand did not significantly vary among habitats (F(2,312) = 1.7, P > 0.05). Rugosity index (F(2,312) = 315.42, P < 0.001), and percentages of hard coral (F(2,312) = 56.15; P < 0.001), rock (F(2,312) = 112.77, P < 0.001) and rubble (F(2,312) =185.47, P < 0.001) significantly differed among habitats. Highest rugosity index (1.22) and percentage of hard corals (20.5%) occurred in complex habitat; the highest percentage of rock (82.22%) and rubble (58.36%) occurred in boulder and flat habitats respectively. The abundance of trochus in three types of habitat within each site and among all sites was compared with Poisson log linear model. The abundance (ind 40 m-2) was treated as dependent variable, with habitat or both habitat and status (Unexploited Site or Exploited Site) as factors. Rugosity index and percentages of rock and rubble were added as covariates. To analyse the size structure, 280 (21% of the total) additional samples of trochus collected by octopus fishermen from the complex habitats at Sites 5 and 6 were added to two trochus individuals encountered along the transect line at the complex habitats at each site. In total, 1,446 individuals were measured, of which six percent were from flat habitats, 40% from boulder habitats and 54% from complex habitats. More than 70% of the samples were from Sites 1 and 2 (Table 3). Table 3: Number of trochus sampled per site per type of habitat in six study sites in Palawan, Philippines. A – flat, B – boulder, C – complex, UE – unexploited, ME – moderately exploited, OE - overexploited * mostly collected by octopus fishers for 1 – 2 days, NT – no transect Site Number 1 2 3 4 5 6

Site Name

Status A 20 58 NT NT 11 5

Habitat Type B C 312 285 209 162 26 46 0 0 14 155* 16 127*

Total

North Atoll, TRNP UE 617 North Atoll, TRNP ME 429 South Atoll, TRNP OE 72 Jessie (Beazley Reef, TRNP OE 0 Rasa Island, Narra, Palawan OE 180 Binduyan, Puerto Princesa City & part of OE 148 Green Island Bay, Palawan Total 94 577 775 1 446 The mean sizes of trochus at each type of habitat across sites and between habitats within each site were compared with univariate analysis of variance and post hoc Scheffé tests. The sizes of trochus were treated as dependent variable and either site or habitat as independent variable. The sizes of trochus from the seven permanent monitoring stations at TRNP obtained in 2006, 2008 and 2009 [34, 35] and during the recent survey were compared using univariate analysis of variance. In 2007, there was no survey of the site so the sizes of trochus confiscated from illegal fishermen at TRNP in that year [34] were included in the analysis. All statistical comparisons were performed using the SPSS version 16 [52]. RESULTS Abundance The overall pattern of abundance of trohus at six study sites was characterised by a declining trend with increasing site’s distance from the Ranger Station (as for the case of study sites at TRNP), with loss of large trochus from the flat habitat first, then from boulder habitats, but with large individuals remaining in complex habitats in sites that are relatively far from the Ranger Station or the sites that are close to coastal communities. The densities of trochus in boulder and complex habitats at Site 1 were considerably higher than at other sites (Fig. 3). In the boulder habitat at Site 1, the abundance was nearly twice as high as that in the complex habitat, but the difference was not so pronounced

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in Site 2. In Site 3, the trend changed, with abundance in the complex habitat higher than in boulder habitat. Only empty trochus shells were found at Site 4, while extremely low trochus abundances occurred in all habitats at Sites 5 and 6.

Fig. 3: Box plot (left) and line graph (right) showing the density (ind./40 sqm) of trochus per type of habitat per site. Site 1 was unexploited and Sites 2 – 6 were exploited at varying degrees In general, the abundances of trochus in three types of habitat were more variable and significantly higher in unexploited than exploited sites. The boulder habitats in unexploited site (Site 1) have the highest trochus abundance, while abundance was higher in complex habitats of heavily exploited sites. Comparison of abundance at each type of habitat per site revealed a significant variation in abundance at Site 1 (χ2 = 11.20, df = 2, P < 0.01), but not at Site 2 (χ2 = 0.93, df = 2, P > 0.05), Site 3 (χ2 = 0.64, df = 3, P > 0.05), Site 5 (χ2 = 51, df = 2, P > 0.05) and Site 6 (χ2 = 0.35, df = 2, P > 0.05). Multiple comparison of all sites revealed significant variation in abundance among sites (χ2 = 143.08, df = 4, P < 0.001). The density of trochus and CPUE was much higher in unexploited and moderately exploited sites compared to heavily exploited sites. At Sites 5 and 6, catches were extremely low, with each fisherman only able to collect about 1 – 2 trochus per hour, compared with the high CPUE of nearly 200 ind hr-1 at unexploited site. The area covered during the collection increased as the density and CPUE of trochus decreases. The large confidence intervals recorded in unexploited (Site 1) and moderately exploited site (Site 2) suggested a high variation in abundance within the complex habitats. At Site 4, only empty shells of trochus were found, indicating that they have occurred in the past on the reef (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4: CPUE for trochus in complex habitats of six study sites in Palawan, Philippines. Error bars are 95% confidence intervals. Area covered (m2 hr-1) during the collection and estimated density (ind ha-1) were only for Sites 1 – 3

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Size Structure The size structure of trochus varied at each habitat with a general declining trend in sizes from unexploited to heavily exploited sites (Fig. 5, Table 4). All sizes (small and large) of trochus occurred on flat habitats at unexploited site (Site 1, mean size: 87.47 mm), while only small sized individuals occurred on flat habitats of exploited sites (mean sizes ranged between 30.80 - 45.82 mm). Large individuals (mean: 87.39 mm) were common on boulder habitats at unexploited site (Site 1) and moderately exploited site (Site 2, mean: 95.85 mm), but were absent on boulder habitats at heavily exploited Sites 5 and 6. Large individuals occurred in all complex habitats except at site 4. In Sites 5 and 6, only two individuals occurred along the transect lines at complex habitat, so the catches of contracted fishermen intended for other studies were included.

Fig. 5: Frequency histogram of trochus per type of habitat at six study sites. A – flat habitat, B – boulder habitat, C – complex habitat. Trochus in complex habitat of Site 5 and Site 6 were from octopus fishermen The overall mean sizes of trochus per type of habitat revealed that on complex habitats, trochus were significantly larger than those on boulder or flat habitats (F(2,1443) = 403.75, P < 0.001, Table 4). In Site 1, trochus on flat habitats were significantly larger than those in flat habitats in other sites (F(3,90) = 44.74, P < 0.001). In boulder habitats, trochus were of the same sizes among Sites 1, 2 and 3, but were significantly larger than in Sites 5 and 6 (F(4,572) = 141.74, P < 0.001). However, in the complex habitat of Site 1, trochus was significantly smaller than in Sites 2 and 3 but not in Sites 5 and 6 (F(4,770) = 59.11, P < 0.001). Comparison of sizes by habitat within each site revealed that in Sites 1 (F(2,614) = 36.91, P < 0.001) and 5 (F(2,177) = 204.43, P < 0.001), the average sizes of trochus in flat and boulder habitats did not differ significantly but both were significantly smaller than in complex habitats. In other sites, the largest average size occurred on the complex habitats, followed by those on the boulder and flat habitats.

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Table 4: Mean diameter (mm) of trochus per habitat per site. A – flat, B – boulder, C – complex. ns – no shells found along the transect lines or within the habitat; nt – no transect line was laid. The same superscript means no significant difference Habitat across Sites

Habitats within Site

Site Number

A

B

C

A

B

C

1

87.47a

87.39a

95.55b

87.47b

87.39b

95.55a

2 3

39.41 ns

b

a

c

b

4 5 6

a

95.85 88.19a

103.28 102.93a

39.41 ns

nt

ns

ns

45.82b 30.80b

48.58b 42.50b

87.35c 90.28c

Mean df F value P value

3; 90 44.74 10-4 = clearly unacceptable, 10-6 to 10-4 = acceptable, and Mg>K which tallies with the findings by Norhayati et al. (2010) [9]. The differences in stable isotopes and elemental composition are influenced by the environment where the EBN originates.

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Table 1: Descriptive statistics for house and cave edible bird’s nests House nestsa (n=30)

Cave nestsa (n=30)

Min.

Max.

Mean

STDEV

Min.

Max.

Mean

STDEV

5.90

8.71

7.55A

0.65

4.05

8.56

6.56B

1.24

Isotope δN δC

-31.99

-23.38

26.50

B

A

2.71

-26.41

-24.26

-25.26

51.07

951.29

2541.96

1688.95A

0.72

Element (mg/ 100g dry matter) Ca

657.44

890.58

772.24B A

176.6

38.28

630.12

224.16

B

531.04

Na

202.92

857.22

493.40

140.17

Mg

101.13

148.77

122.78A

12.25

60.45

216.15

114.64A

36.51

K

6.77

21.34

14.57A

4.91

0

50.79

16.81A

14.51

a

Means within the same row followed by different superscript uppercase letters are significantly different at the 5% probability level. Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) The level of similarities between EBN samples was illustrated in dendrogram (Fig. 1) using HCA based on stable isotopes and elemental composition. HCA has classified the samples into three clusters: a cluster with house EBN samples and two clusters with only cave EBN samples. A few cave EBN samples from Aceh, Bau, Medan and Pasir Panjang formed a cluster with greater similarities with house EBN samples and only a cave EBN sample from Pasir Panjang was misclassified into the cluster with house EBN samples. Result suggested that EBN of different origins could possibly be differentiated using stable isotopes and elemental composition.

Fig. 1: Dendogram of hierarchical cluster analysis Principal Component Analysis (PCA) Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was an exploratory analysis applied on 30 pieces each of EBN from both caveharvested and house-farmed to investigate the possible clustering as depicted in Fig. 2. Only two principal components (PC) were extracted from this data set which explained up to 66.69% of the total variability. PC 1 and PC2 explained 38.48% and 28.05% of the total variability, respectively.

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Fig. 2: Principal Component Analysis (PCA)

Fig. 3: Loading plot of Principal Component Analysis Although three cave EBN samples were misclassified into the cluster with house nests, it was evident that EBN of different origins could be discriminated using stable isotopes and elemental composition. Na, Ca and δ13C were the highly loading variables in PC1 while PC2 was highly loaded with δ15N, K and Mg as shown in Fig. 3. Different environmental conditions of various geographical origins were probably the factor which yielded the differences in EBN samples. Distribution of cave EBN samples in the score plot (Fig. 2) was more scattered compared to house EBN samples. This could be due to the uncontrolled environmental conditions and nesting surfaces the nest adheres to in the wild contrary to the controlled conditions in house farms [7]. Apart from that, swiftlet’s diet could contribute to different stable isotopes and elemental composition. Swiftlet’s diet is largely affected by food availability and foraging regions [8]. Overall, the result is in accordance with research findings by Saengkrajang et al. (2013), Norhayati et al. (2010) and Nurul Huda et al. (2008) that EBN could be differentiated by breeding sites [6, 9, 10] CONCLUSION The use of stable isotopes and elemental composition coupled with multivariate statistical analysis has successfully discriminated edible bird’s nest based on their origins. It is proposed that the approach in this study, which incorporates fast, simple and non-laborious extraction technique could be used in predicting the origin of new unknown samples in the market.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This work was funded by Universiti Sains Malaysia Short Term Research Grant (Grant No: 304.PTEKIND.6313033). Seow acknowledges the Fellowship awarded by Universiti Sains Malaysia. The authors would like to thank Mr. George Ng Aun Heng, Dato Feasa, Mr. S.D. Hng, Mr. L.C. Ling, Mr. Chaw Seow Peoh, Mr. Sia Meu Seng, Mr. Tan Yoke Tian, Mr. Thomas Lee, Mr. Tan Sooi Huat, and Mr. Peter Lau for sponsoring edible bird’s nest samples to the project. REFERENCES [1] Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC). (2005). AOAC Official Methods of Analysis. (18th ed.). Washington DC: Association of Official Analytical Chemists. [2] Babji, A.S., Nurfatin, M.H., Etty Syarmila, I.K., & Masitah, M. (2015). Secrets of edible bird nest. UTAR Agriculture Science Journal, 1(1), 32-37. [3] Kathan, R. H., Weeks, D. I. (1969). Structure studies of Collocalia mucoid I. Carbohydrate and amino acid composition. Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, 134(2), 572–576. [4] Wang, B., Brand-Miller, J. (2003). The role and potential of sialic acid in human nutrition. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 57, 1351-1369. [5] Ma, F., Liu, D. (2012). Sketch of the edible bird’s nest and its important bioactivities. Food Research International, 48, 559-567. [6] Saengkrajang, W., Matan, N., & Matan, N. (2013). Nutritional composition of the farmed edible bird’s nest (Collocalia fuciphaga) in Thailand. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, 31, 41-45. [7] Lim, C. (2006). Make millions from swiftlet farming: A definite guide. Malaysia: Truewealth, (Chapter 6). [8] Lourie, S. A., Tompkins, D. M. (2000). The diets of Malaysian swiftlets. Ibis, 142, 596-602. [9] Norhayati, M. K., Azman, O., Wan Nazaimoon, W. M. (2010). Preliminary study of the nutritional content of Malaysian edible bird’s nest. Malaysian Journal of Nutrition, 16(3): 389-396. [10] Nurul Huda, M. Z., Zuki, A. B. Z., Azhar, K., Goh, Y. M., Suhaimi, H., Awang Hazmi, A. J., Zairi, M. S. (2008). Proximate, elemental and fatty acid analysis of pre-processed edible bird’s nest (Aerodramus fuciphagus): A comparison between regions and type of nest. Journal of Food Technology, 6(1): 39-44. [11] Koon, L. C., Cranbrook, E. (2002). Swiftlets of Borneo: Builders of Edible Nest. Malaysia: Natural History Publications (Borneo), (Chapter 1). [12] Kong, Y. C., Keung, W. M., Yip, T. T., Ko, K. M., Tsao, S. W., Ng, M. H. (1987). Evidence that epidermal growth factor is present in swiftlet’s (Collocalia) nest. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, 87(2), 221-226.

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STERILIZATION OF FRESH PALM OIL FRUIT – A RELIABILITY OF EXISTING AND ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES; AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS Tengku Norsalwani Tuan Laha, Abdul Khalil H.P. Shawkatalya, Nik Norulaini Nik Ab Rahmanb, Mark Harris Zuknika and Mohd Omar Ab Kadira* a

School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia. b School of Distance Education, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia. Tel/fax: +604 658 5435 *Corresponding author email: [email protected]

ABSTRACT ! Sterilization of fresh fruit bunch has become the most important process in the palm oil processing as it is needed in order to inactivate lipase enzyme that caused oil deterioration. The process facilitates the detachment of oil palm fruits from the bunch and conditions the nuts for the subsequent processes downstream. Commonly steam sterilization process was used in majority palm oil mills in the tropical countries like Malaysia and Indonesia. Steam sterilization was known to inactivate the lipase enzyme and conserve the palm oil quality. However, at the same time this technique generates palm oil mill effluent which can be considered as an environmental threat. The treatment of effluent needs long duration, however, its productions is overwhelm As a result, more land need to be explore for the effluent storage and treatment. So, researchers are trying to find out the eco-friendly system of sterilization to reduce the production of effluent. In this regard, sterilization of oil using supercritical technique, which operated at high pressure at low temperature was found to be suitable. In terms of oil quality, it can preserve the phytonutrients in the oil because nutrients of oil easily degrade when operated at high temperature. Moreover, this environmental friendly technology can solved the problem of the effluent discharge and space as it does not contribute to the effluent because there is no water involved in the process. So, the supercritical carbon dioxide sterilization is considered appropriate tool and it was proposed as an alternative to replace the steam sterilization in palm oil production technology. Keywords: Oil palm fruit sterilization, palm oil mill effluent, steam sterilization, supercritical carbon dioxide sterilization. INTRODUCTION Currently, sterilization of commercial or industrial processing is considered the most advanced method that can be easily operated at high pressures and low temperatures. The sterilization process plays a crucial role of eliminating pathogens or microorganisms in food and medical devices. However, in the palm oil industry, sterilization also possesses certain functions such as inactivation of enzymes that cause oil degradation, assisting in the stripping of the fruits from the bunch and conditioning of the nuts for subsequent cracking [26]. The sterilized bunches is threshed in rotating threshers in order to detach the individual fruits followed by the fruits digestion and oil extraction process (by screw pressing). Then the obtained oil undergoes few processes such as clarification, refining and storage. In the case of the nuts, they are separated from the fibres and undergo the drying process. High free fatty acid (FFA) content is obtained because the wet process is engaged and the presence of water will promote hydrolysis of oil to FFA [4]. In a tropical country like Malaysia, most of the mills implement the steam sterilization technique. The sterilizer is operated at high pressure steam (40 psi) and under the temperature range of 100°C to 140°C for 70-90 min [22]. The steam sterilization is considered as a reliable technique in palm oil processing but it could not hide the fact that this technique discharge huge amount of bad smell effluent namely palm oil mill effluent (POME) which cause a major threat to the environment. The production of the POME is found to be uncontrollable due to the excessive usage of water to generate steam. The wastewater treatment for POME is very costly and it was often ends up in a pond, awaiting to be treated. To overcome this problem, researchers have suggested alternative techniques for the palm oil processing including microwave technique. The existing technologies that were involved in the palm oil sterilization process are the steam sterilization, microwave and cooking/boiling. An advance technology was proposed for the oil palm fruit sterilization which known as supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2). SC-CO2 is a well-established technology that was generally used in the sterilization of medical devices [5, 7]. Application of this technology has been proposed as an alternative method to replace the steam sterilization process in palm oil mill processing. In addition, one of the unique properties of CO2 is that it can be recycled, giving this new technique an advantage as it can save money and simultaneously allowing the management of the problem of POME generation.

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Fig 1: Palm Oil Sterilization Technologies EXISTING TECHNOLOGIES Steam sterilization ! Steam sterilization is a common method used for food sterilization especially in the palm oil industry. Steam sterilization or autoclaving involves steam pressure of 40 psi, at more than 100°C for 70 to 90 min. It consumes a lot of water and electricity to heat up the bulk volume of water to the vapor. This process generates a huge amount of wastewater which adversely impacts the ecosystem if released without treatment. Normally, the large or medium scale palm oil mills use steam sterilization. There are three types of steam sterilizer that are used in palm oil mills namely; horizontal, vertical and continuous sterilizer. Each type of sterilizer has their respective advantages and disadvantages. For example, vertical sterilizers can be used for mills that have limited space. However, they can cause the compression of the oil palm fruit bunch which prevents heat penetration, thus requiring longer sterilization time and consuming more steam. The most important advantages and disadvantages for each type of sterilizer are listed in Table 1.

A!

B!

C!

Fig. 2: Type of sterilizer available a) Horizontal b) vertical c) continuous

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Table 1: Different type of steam sterilizer Type of sterilizer Horizontal

Steam Consumption (kg/ton of FFB) 360-400 (old) 110-130 (new)

Advantage

Disadvantage

Heat uniformly spread on the low stacking height cages which lead to efficient heat penetration

Requires a lot of space Need to explore a lot/wider land area. Deforestration to acquire a lot of land

Vertical

305-355

Space-saver. It can be used in mills with limited space.

Causes the fruit bunch to compress and impedes the heat penetrations to the inner layer of the fruits. So, it needs longer time and higher steam pressure

Continuous

300-360

The mechanical splitting of the fruit bunches in the continuous sterilizer facilitates steam penetration into inner layers of the fruit bunch

High steam consumption, requires a second post heating for effective heat treatment

Steam sterilization has been implemented in most of the palm oil mills in Malaysia. However, some problems are faced by this technology including over sterilization, which causes poor bleach ability of the extracted oil and reduction of the protein value of the press cake. It consumes a high amount of energy and water for repeated lengthy steaming period and vast quantities of steam used for complete heating [15], which results in an adverse effect on the crude palm oil chemical qualities, including an increase in both primary and secondary products of oxidation such as peroxide and anisidine [16]. In addition, high temperatures used in steam sterilization causes a reduction of some important phytonutrients in the oil such as carotene and loss of its refine ability [16]. More importantly, the steam condensate in the sterilization process produces a huge amount of effluent (POME) which requires a lot of money and time for the treatment [24]. Other disadvantages include the problem of evacuation of air from the sterilizer which increases the risk of oil oxidation at high temperatures. It is a slow and inefficient process and it involves lots of the manpower in the mill during the batch sterilization process [21]. Palm oil mill effluent (POME) ! POME is produced in huge amounts in a palm oil mill. In the palm oil mill a number of processes contributes to the generation of POME including sterilization, oil extraction, washing and cleaning processes which contains cellulosic material, fat, oil and grease etc. The characteristics of POME depend on the quality of the raw material and palm oil production. It has been estimated that 5 – 7.5 ton water is required for the production of one ton of crude palm oil and more than half amount of water ends up in the form of palm oil mill effluent (POME) [1, 11, 12]. Meanwhile, sterilization itself contributes about 36% POME in the mills [19]. ! Land exploration ! A huge amount of land is needed for building up the mill that mainly depends on the type of implemented technologies for the palm oil mill processing. For example, the sterilization technology of horizontal sterilizer needs more space for the cages and the sterilization chambers. In addition, the steam sterilization technique require more land to keep the discharged effluent from the palm oil processing which are stored in the pond awaiting the treatment process. ! Cooking/boiling ! The cooking/boiling method is used to heat the material at high-temperature to loose fruit. It involves high amount of water as a medium. Small scale palm oil mills use cooking and drying technique. Most of the small-scale processors do not have the capacity to generate steam for sterilization. Therefore, the threshed fruits are cooked in water [17]. In this process whole bunches which include spikelets absorb lots of water during cooking. Therefore, high pressure steam is more effective in heating bunches without losing much water. In the cooking process in small scale operations, the fruit bunches are threshed before fruits are cooked (manually detach the fruit from the bunch), while the steam sterilization thresh bunches after heating to loosen the fruits. Small- scale operators use the bunch waste (empty bunches) as cooking fuel. In larger mills the bunch waste is incinerated and the ash, a rich source of potassium, returned to the plantation as fertilizer. The cooking technique was implemented in most of the palm oil mills in Africa. However, this technique has disadvantages, including the usage of huge amount of water, lots of manpower, and the application of high temperature causing a reduction in the phyto-nutrients contents.

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Microwave treatment Most of the food industries use heat treatment sterilization technique. It involves the exposure of foods at high temperature for a certain period of time [8]. Microwave is an electromagnetic wave that consists of frequency in the range of 300 to 30000 MHz with the wavelengths ranging from 1 to 1000 nm. The dielectric heating of microwave irradiation can be used for heating a dipolar substance by interacting with polar water molecules and charged ions. The heat is generated within food due to frictions of the molecules in electromagnetic field [23]. The heating irradiation of microwave is considered as effective for dry and clean sterilization systems [25]. It was found that microwave irradiation can be used in oil palm fruit sterilization as it successfully halts the enzymatic lipolysis reaction and prevents free fatty acid production [25]. This sterilization technique is not suitable for application in big scale palm oil processing due to the high operating and maintenance cost. The main disadvantage of microwave treatment systems is that they are not able to treat pathological waste such as body parts or animal carcasses [14]. Other disadvantages include different temperature distribution when applied to the heterogeneous materials and irregular thermal efficiency as the temperature varies in materials. Furthermore, rise in temperature is hindered by heat radiation on the surface of materials. PROPOSED METHOD Supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) sterilization has become an effective method in the inactivation of some pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus, Serratia marcescens, Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli and Bacillus sphaericus [7]. Other researchers have explored the effectiveness of SC-CO2 as an alternative to the existing technologies for the sterilization of a wide range of products such as medical devices [18], medical waste [7] and healthcare industry [5]. This technique is well known for its effective sterilization. It was proposed that this technique can be applied to the oil palm fruit sterilization process for the purpose of halting the enzymes which cause the degradation of palm oil, as well as assisting in the detachment of the oil palm fruit from its bunch. The SC-CO2 is chosen because of its suitability as a supercritical solvent in food applications as well as in other applications. In addition it includes the advantages of low critical temperature and pressure, low cost, wide availability, nonflammability and eco-friendliness [27]. The final products obtained by SC-CO2 extraction retain their quality and the stability of thermally-labile natural components is assured without changing the bioactivity of natural molecules. Typically before supercritical fluid sterilization is employed at the industrial scale, a pilot plant is set up to test the reliability of the system incorporating laboratory data in the design.

Fig. 2: Pilot scale of Supercritical fluid carbon dioxide sterilization system The use of SC-CO2 sterilization has been proposed in the literature for food and medical devices and several hypotheses have been formulated about the mechanisms of microorganism inactivation. The proposed explanations give details regarding the formation of carbonic acid inside the cells which is generated from the reaction of CO2 with water and may be responsible for inactivation of cells through the transient acidification of the interior of the microbial cell and inactivation of essential enzymes and vital cell components [9, 13, 20]. CO2 + H2O

H2CO3 (Acidic)

Meanwhile, the` explosive rupture of cell membranes has also been found, due to the fast release of CO2 [2, 3, 13]. It was also observed that CO2 easily penetrates into the cells, leading to an increase of fluidity and membrane permeability and interferes with the cell metabolism. CO2 can induce the precipitation of intracellular substances and inactivate cell enzymes, thus compromising cell life [6, 10]. Additionally, pressurization of fruit mash enables more oil

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to squeeze out of the oil bearing cells of the mesocarp tissue which can increase the oil yield and at the same time can prevent oil loss in condensate in oil palm stalks. Compared to other techniques mentioned above, an SC-CO2 system is expensive for the first time set up. But the only things required for operating it after that is just the solvent, CO2 which needs to be refilled if it runs out. But if a recycling system is installed to the system, the CO2 can be recycled back to the sterilization vessels, which produces a zero-waste technology. CONCLUSION POME is a global threat due to the difficulties in treating and disposing of POME. Cooking techniques can only be applied to the small scale processing which is not suitable to be implemented in Malaysia. In the case of microwave treatment, it is not a new technique in food sterilization. However, microwave treatment is also considered a new technology in the sterilization of oil palm fruits since it has not been applied in any mill. Research on the suitability of this technique when applied to palm oil processing is still undergoing. So, the effectiveness of this technique applied to the oil palm fruits sterilization process is still not certain. The efficiency of the heat treatment depends on the shape of the materials while the variety in the shape of the oil palm fruits will affect the efficiency of the heat treatment. Meanwhile, for steam sterilization, since the implementation of steam sterilization techniques can generate a huge amount of POME and also involves a bigger area of land, this existing method should be replaced with a new proposed method. The advanced method of SC-CO2 sterilization is considered a suitable technique for replacing the existing sterilization method in palm oil mill. This is a reliable, cost-effective technique since it does not produce any effluent and the CO2 solvent use for this technique can be recycled. REFERENCES [1] Ahmad A.,S.I.A.S.B. (2003). Water recycling from palm oil mill effluent (POME) using membrane technology. Desalination, 157, 87-95. [2] Ballestra, P., Cuq, J.-L. (1998). Influence of pressurized carbon dioxide on the thermal inactivation of bacterial and fungal spores. LWT-Food Science and Technology, 31(1), 84-88. [3] Ballestra, P., SILVA, A.A., Cuq, J. (1996). Inactivation of Escherichia coli by carbon dioxide under pressure. Journal of Food Science, 61(4), 829-831. [4] Cheng, S.F., Mohd Nor L., Chuah, C.H. (2011). Microwave pretreatment: A clean and dry method for palm oil production. Industrial Crops and Products, 34( 1) pp. 967-971. [5] Dillow, A., Langer, R., Foster, N., Hrkach, J. (1999). Supercritical fluid sterilization method. European Patent WO, 9966960. [6] Ho-mu, L., Zhiying, Y., Li, F.C. (1993). Inactivation of Leuconostoc dextranicum with carbon dioxide under pressure. The Chemical Engineering Journal, 52(1), B29-B34. [7] Hossain, M.S., Balakrishnan, V., Ab Rahman, N.N.N., Rajion, Z. A., Ab Kadir, M.O. (2013). Modeling the inactivation of Staphylococcus aureus and Serratia marcescens in clinical solid waste using supercritical fluid carbon dioxide. The Journal of Supercritical Fluids, 83, 47-56. [8] Iwaguchi, S., Matsumura, K., Tokuoka, Y., Wakui, S., Kawashima, N. (2002). Sterilization system using microwave and UV light. Colloids and surfaces B: Biointerfaces, 25(4), 299-304. [9] Kamihira, M., Taniguchi, M., Kobayashi, T. (1987). Synthesis of aspartame precursors by enzymatic reaction in supercritical carbon dioxide. Agricultural and Biological Chemistry, 51(12), 3427-3428. [10] Lin, H.M., Yang, Z., Chen, L.F. (1992). Inactivation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae by supercritical and subcritical carbon dioxide. Biotechnology Progress, 8(5), 458-461. [11] Ma, A.N. (1999a). Treatment of palm oil mill effluent. In Singh , K.H.L.G., Leng , T., David, L.K. (Ed.), Oil palm and the environment: a Malaysian perspective. (pp. 113-126). Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Oil Palm Growers Council. [12] Ma, A.N. (1999b). Treatment of palm oil mill effluent. In Singh, L.K.H.G., Teo, L., Lee, D.K. (Ed.), Oil palm and the environment. A Malaysian perspective (pp. 113-123). Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Malaysian Oil Palm Growers Council. [13] Nakamura, K., Enomoto, A., Fukushima, H., Nagai, K., Hakoda, M. (1994). Disruption of microbial cells by the flash discharge of high-pressure carbon dioxide. Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry, 58(7), 1297-1301.

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[14] Noyes, R. (1994). Unit Operations in Environmental Engineering. New Jersey: Noyes Publications. [15] Nu'man Abdul Hadi, N.M.H., Choo Y.M., Ma A.N. (2012). Dry heating of palm fruits: Effect on selected parameters. American Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 5(2), 128-131. [16] Okogbenin, O., Okogbenin, E., Okunwaye, T., Odigie, E., Ojieabu, A. (2014). Isolation of Food Pathogens From Freshly Milled Palm Oil and the Effect of Sterilization on Oil Quality Parameters. Journal of Food Security, 2(2), 65-71. [17] Poku, K. (2002). Small-scale Palm Oil Processing in Africa. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. [18] Reverchon E., Porta GD, Adami R. (2010). Medical device sterilization using supercritical carbon dioxide based Mixtures. Recent Patents on Chemical Engineering, 3(2), 000-000. [19] Sethupathi. (2004). Removal of residue oil from palm oil mill effluent (POME) using chitosan. Universiti Sains Malaysia. [20] Shimoda, M., Cocunubo0Castellanos, J., Kago, H., Miyake, M., Osajima, Y., Hayakawa, I. (2001). The influence of dissolved CO2 concentration on the death kinetics of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Journal of Applied Microbiology, 91(2), 306-311. [21] Sivasothy, K. (2005). A new approach to plant-wide automation of palm oil mills. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 2005 MPOB National Seminar. Paper 1. [22] Sivasothy, K., Mohd Halim, R., Basiron, Y. (2005). A New System For Continuous Sterilization of Oil Palm Fresh Fruit Bunches. Journal of Oil Palm Research 17, 145- 151. [23] Tan, H. (1981). Microwave heating of oil-palm fresh fruit samples. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization1981. [24] Thani, M., Hussin, R., Ibrahim, W., Sulaiman, M. (1999). Industrial processes & the environment: crude palm oil industry, Handbook No. 3. Department of Environment, Kuala Lumpur, 7-54. [25] Umudee, I, C.M., Kiatweerasakut, M, Tangurai, C. . (2013). Sterilization of oil palm fresh fruit using microwave technique. Paper presented at the International Journal of Chemical Engineering and Applications. [26] Vijaya, S., Choo, Y.M., Muhammad, H., Hashim, Z., Yew, A.T. et al., (2010). Life cycle assesment of the production of crude palm oil (Part 3). Journal of Oil Palm Research, 22: 895-903. [27] Zaidul, I., Norulaini, N. N., Omar, A. M., Sato, Y., Smith, R. (2007). Separation of palm kernel oil from palm kernel with supercritical carbon dioxide using pressure swing technique. Journal of food engineering, 81(2), 419428. !

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EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE ON ANAEROBIC-AEROBIC BIODEGRADATION OF PALM OIL MILL EFFLUENT – A PRELIMINARY STUDY Chou Kian Weng, Norli Ismail*, Teng Tjoon Tow, Mohd. Omar Abd Kadir and Norhashimah Morad School of Industrial Technology, University Sains Malaysia, 11800 Minden, Penang, Malaysia. *Corresponding author email: [email protected] ABSTRACT This study presents a preliminary study on the effect of temperature on anaerobic-aerobic biodegradation of palm oil mill effluent using lab scale anaerobic digesters and aerobic bioreactors. POME was anaerobically digested at ambient temperature (30 ± 1 °C), mesophilic (36 ± 1 °C) and thermophilic (55 ± 1 °C) conditions, respectively, followed by aerobic degradation at room temperature. Superior performance of thermophilic digester was observed in term of biodegradation rate and solids reduction. The experimental results showed the performance of aerobic bioreactors was affected by the anaerobic treatment condition. Room temperature digested POME was slightly more accessible to COD, TSS and VSS removal than others; whereas thermophilic digested POME was easier to be biodegraded than others. Aerobic degradation of anaerobically digested palm oil mill effluent is possible to meet the local discharge standard. Keywords: Anaerobic, aerobic, palm oil mill, biodegradation. INTRODUCTION In Malaysia, the wet palm oil milling process is the most standard and typical method of extracting palm oil which requires about 5 to 7 tonnes of water for each tone crude palm oil produced. This giving rise to the main source of wastewater known as palm oil mill effluent (POME), mainly originated from sterilizer condensate, separator sludge and hydrocyclone wastewater [1]. Ponding system, the most common POME treatment system, requires a vast area to accommodate different facilities such as de-oiling tank, holding ponds, acidification pond, facultative-anaerobic ponds, aerobic ponds and polishing pond. The ponding system is cheap to construct but difficult to control and monitor thus it only operated at low organic loading rate (OLR). The direct release of green house gasses such as methane and carbon dioxide discourages implementation of ponding system in future. Closed anaerobic digestion is a suitable method for the treatment of effluent containing high concentration of organic matters and has the ability to produce a net energy gain in the form of methane. Normally the anaerobic digestion of POME is operated under mesophilic condition. However thermophilic anaerobic digestion of POME has been tried previously because it would be advantageous to carry out the process under thermophilic conditions with the POME temperature varying between 45 to 70 °C [2]. Thermophilic digestion is commonly recognized higher treatment efficiency than mesophilic digestion. However, the primary treatment of POME, anaerobic digestion alone couldn’t fulfill the local discharge limit listed by Malaysian Department of Environment (DOE) [3]. Aerobic post-treatment appears to be a techno-economical viable approach as secondary treatment of POME because the anaerobically digested POME is amenable to aerobic treatment based on its physical composition [4]. Aerobic post treatment of anaerobically digested POME is gaining researcher’s attention. Vijayaraghavan et al. [5] proposed the use of activated sludge reactor for aerobic post-treatment. Chan et al. [4] reported sequencing batch reactor (SBR) able to produce stable effluent quality and complied with the discharge limit. The effect of temperature on aerobic treatment of anaerobically digested POME was investigated using SBR and shows that the highest effluent quality was obtained under mesophilic conditions (28 °C). The effluent treated under thermophilic conditions (55 °C) was more turbid with the presence of higher total suspended solids (TSS) [6]. The temperature of anaerobic digester could be rise from mesophilic to thermophilic temperature to accelerate the biodegradation of POME as well as to enhance biogas production. The differences in the characteristics of mesophilic and thermophilic digested POME may affect the performance of post-treatment. Nevertheless, there are insufficient information regarding the comparison of aerobic post-treatment of mesophilic and thermophilic digested POME. Hence, the prime objective of this research is to investigate and compare the impact of different digested POME in aerobic post-treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS Materials POME was collected from a local palm oil mill, Malpom Industries Berhad, Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia and refrigerated at 4 °C to minimize microbiological activity, ; its characteristics is presented in Table 1. Inoculums for anaerobic digestion and aerobic treatment were collected from laboratory scale anaerobic digesters and aerobic bioreactors which have been operated for more than 12 months.

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Table 1: Characteristics of POME Parameter pH COD BOD3 TSS VSS TVFA * All parameters are in mg/L except pH.

Range 4.5 – 4.7 73200 – 80200 27000 – 35000 18000 – 21200 16000 – 19600 1500 – 2500

Mean ± SD 4.6 ± 0.1 76020 ± 3271 30800 ± 3271 19525 ± 1384 17467 ± 1890 1930 ± 383

Equipments configuration A 25 L high density polyethylene (HDPE) bottle with working volume of 20 L was used as facultative anaerobic digester to simulate the POME treatment conditions in palm oil mill. This facultative anaerobic digester (F-An) was operated at ambient temperature (30 ± 1 °C) with manual mixing of 1 – 3 times per day. Mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic digestion were conducted in semi continuous stirred tank reactor at 35 ± 1 °C (M-An) and 55 ± 1 °C (T-An), having a working volume of 6 L. Both digesters were operated in semi-continuous mode; the withdrawal and feed in procedure were done by means of a peristaltic pump. Intermittent mixing at 60 rpm for 15 minutes every two hours was performed by an overhead stirrer which was installed at the top of each digester. A 40 L Tedlar gas sampling bag was connected to each digester for biogas collection. Three 5 L aerobic bioreactors with working volume of 4 L were used to biodegrade the anaerobically digested POME at ambient temperature (30 ± 1 °C). Each aerobic bioreactor was continuously aerated at 4.5 – 4.8 L/min using a commercial aquarium air pump and air stone. Intermittent mixing (15 minutes every hour) was provided using magnetic stirrer to minimize the formation of scum and dead angle. All aerobic bioreactors were covered to minimize evaporation whereas distilled water was added to maintain the desired working volume. Digesters and bioreactors operation Fig. 1 shows the experimental flow of this study. First, POME was digested in F-An, M-An and T-An according to desired operational conditions, respectively. F-An was operated at organic loading rate (OLR) of 1.27 g COD/L.d which equivalent to hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 60 days. M-An and T-An were operated at OLR of 4.75 g COD/L.d which equivalent to HRT of 16 days. Then, the digested POMEs were feed into different aerobic bioreactors (viz. F-Ae, M-Ae and T-Ae) for post-treatment. Aerobic treated POME was withdraws then allowed to settle for two hours. The operational conditions of each aerobic bioreactor were listed in Table 2.

Fig. 1: Experimental flow of this study

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Table 2: Operational conditions of aerobic bioreactors Parameter HRT, days OLR, g COD/L.d pH DO MLVSS, g/L F/M, g COD/g MLVSS.d

F-Ae 16 0.826 ± 0.047 8.9 ± 0.1 5.8 ± 0.1 4.577 ± 787 0.19 ± 0.01

M-Ae 16 1.290 ± 0.24 9.0 ± 0.1 5.0 ± 0.9 5.500 ± 374 0.23 ± 0.01

R-Ae 16 0.816 ± 0.062 9.0 ± 0.1 5.7 ± 0.3 4.933 ± 619 0.16 ± 0.01

Analysis The measurement of pH, total alkalinity (TA), total volatile fatty acid (TVFA), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solid (TSS), volatile suspended solid (VSS) and sludge volume index (SVI) were according to APHA Standard Method [7]. Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD3) was determined by obtaining results from an incubation temperature of 30 °C for 3 days. Biogas volumes were recorded using a gas tight syringe by volumetric displacement method. Biogas compositions were analyzed using Clarus 500 Gas Chromatography (Perkin Elmer). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Facultative-anaerobic and anaerobic digestion Digester performance is typically evaluated in terms of stability and efficiency of the process through the measurement of pH, TA, TVFA, COD reduction and methane production (Table 3). High TA indicated high buffering capacity of the digesters to resist massive change in pH as well as helps to stabilize the pH in the optimum range for the methane former. Methane yield from thermophilic digester is slightly higher than mesophilic digester even both operated at similar HRT and OLR. However, the methane production and methane yield of M-An and T-An were slightly less than expectation. Previous study [8] reported mesophilic and thermophilic digestion of POME at HRT of 16 days produced methane at 1.267 L/L.d and 1.506 L/L.d, respectively, and the methane yield was 0.337 L/g COD and 0.362 L/g COD. The difference in digester performance might be due to the varied characteristics of POME in addition to different digester configurations used in previous study. Table 3: Performance of facultative-anaerobic and anaerobic digesters under steady state conditions

pH TA, mg/L TVFA, mg/L TVFA/TA Biogas volume, L/d Methane production rate, L/L.d Methane yield, L CH4/g COD

F-An 7.5 ± 0.3 5123 ± 315 333 ± 26 0.065 ± 0.005 ND ND ND

M-An 7.6 ± 0.2 5192 ± 256 392 ± 74 0.078 ± 0.008 12.73 ± 0.12 1.140 ± 0.029 0.329 ± 0.009

T-An 8.0 ± 0.1 6257 ± 6 319 ± 26 0.051 ± 0.004 14.88 ± 0.34 1.309 ± 0.045 0.333 ± 0.011

Fig. 2a shows the average COD concentration of F-An and T-An were similar, 13221 and 13063 mg/L, respectively. The COD concentrations were similar with those anaerobically digested POME using closed-type anerobic digester system in palm oil mill [4,5]. F-An and T-An achieved COD reduction of more than 82 %. Obviously, thermophilic digestion accelerated the biodegradation rate of POME. The slightly higher effluent COD concentration of M-Ae, 19175 mg/L compared to F-Ae and T-Ae was due to lower COD reduction of M-An, only 72.9 % (Fig. 2b). The three anaerobic-aerobic systems in the experimental conditions achieved COD reduction of 88.1 to 90.2 %; the settling process reduced another 8.2 to 10.3 % of COD. However there are 1.2 to 1.6 % of COD remained in F-Ae, M-Ae and T-Ae supernatant corresponding to 918, 1179 and 1232 mg/L, respectively. Higher COD concentration in T-Ae supernatant might be due to better hydrolysis and solubilization of POME in thermophilic digestion.

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Fig. 2: a) COD concentration and b) COD reduction of POME after different treatments In anaerobic processes, the BOD3 concentration of POME was greatly reduced from 30800 mg/L to 1953, 2672 and 1394 mg/L in F-An, M-An and T-An, respectively. After that, the BOD3 concentration was reduced to 380, 532 and 340 mg/L, respectively, in aerobic post-treatment and further reduced to 54, 60 and 60 mg/L, respectively, after settling. The local POME discharge limit for BOD3 is 100 mg/L. The BOD3 reduction patterns (Fig. 3b) were slightly different to COD reduction in anaerobic and aerobic processes (Fig. 2b).

Fig. 3: a) BOD3 concentration and b) BOD3 reduction of POME after different treatments More than half of the TSS in POME was reduced in anaerobic process (Fig. 4a). Aerobic post-treatments promote further TSS reduction but the result is not obvious in T-Ae. Fig. 4b shows that the total TSS reduction by anaerobic and aerobic treatment was less than 70 % in all cases and there are a significant fraction of non-degraded TSS was settled by gravity.

Fig. 4: a) TSS concentration and b) TSS reduction of POME after different treatments The performance comparison of aerobic treatment of anaerobically digested POME was listed in Table 4. Basically, the pH and BOD3 of supernatant from F-Ae, M-Ae and T-Ae were below the DOE standard. There are a minor degree of concern in TSS of M-Ae and T-Ae. In this study, the COD concentrations of supernatant from all aerobic bioreactors were near to 1000 mg/L. Although COD is not within the DOE standard, the continuous discharge of effluent with this level of COD concentration might deplete surface water quality.

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Table 4: Performance of anaerobic-aerobic treatment of POME and its respective standard discharge limit Source

Parameter

Reference

DOE Standard

pH 5-9

COD -

BOD3 100

TSS 400

F-Ae M-Ae T-Ae

8.9 - 9.0 8.8 - 9.0 8.8 - 9.0

860 - 996 1100 - 1267 1160 - 1382

39 - 91 49 - 77 33 - 93

200 - 368 360 - 520 408 - 497

This study

SBR @ 28 °C

8.3 - 8.9

670 - 735

18 - 38

150 - 250

[4]

680 ± 199 3212 ± 626 2980 ± 675 3775 ± 854

41 ± 24 282 ± 86 273 ± 83 310 ± 82

255 ± 165 2040 ± 612 2550 ± 1213 3115 ± 991

[6]

SBR @ 28 °C 8.26 - 9.14 SBR @ 45 °C 8.66 - 9.33 SBR @ 50 °C 8.63 - 9.20 SBR @ 55 °C 8.40 - 9.28 # All parameter in mg/L except pH.

[3]

CONCLUSION The anaerobic-aerobic systems can achieve appreciable COD, BOD and TSS reduction ranging from 99.7 to 99.8 %, respectively. The considerable effects of different anaerobically digested POME on aerobic post-treatment were observed due to varied influent characteristics. The results obtained in this study are useful in designing or upgrading the POME treatment system for complete compliance to local discharge limit. However, further researches should be conducted to optimize both anaerobic and aerobic treatment of POME. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The authors gratefully acknowledgements the financial support by Universiti Sains Malaysia through RU grant 1001/PTEKIND/814147. In addition, the authors would like to thank Malpom Industries Berhad for allowing the sample collection. REFERENCES [13] Ma, A.N., Ong, S.H. Pollution control in palm oil mills in Malaysia. Journal of the America Oil Chemist’ Society, 1985, 62(2): 261-226. [14] Wu, T.Y., Abdul Wahab, M., Jahim, J.M., Anuar, N. Pollution control technologies for the treatment of palm oil mill effluent (POME) through end-of-pipe processes. Journal of Environmental Management, 2010, 91: 14671490. [15] Malaysia Palm oil Board. (Available at: http://www.mpob.gov.my/palm-info/environment/520-achievements) [16] Chan, Y.J., Chong, M.F., Law, C.L. Biological treatment of anaerobically digested palm oil mill effluent (POME) using a lab-scale sequencing batch reactor (SBR). Journal of Environmental Management, 2010, 91: 1738-1746. [17] Vijayaraghavan, K., Ahmad, D., Mohd Ezami, A.A. Aerobic treatment of palm oil mill effluent. Journal of Environmental Management, 2007, 82: 24-31. [18] Chan, Y.J., Chong, M.F., Law, C.L. Effects of temperature on aerobic treatment of anaerobically digested palm oil mill effluent (POME). Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 2010, 49: 7093-7101. [19] Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, American Public Health Association: Washington, DC, 2005. [20] Chou, K.W. Effect of the organic loading rate on the performance of mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic digestion of palm oil mill effluent. Master Thesis, 2011. Universiti Sains Malaysia.

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AN OPTIMIZATION ON HEAVY METALS EXTRACTION AND STRIPPING PROCESS USING IONIC LIQUIDS AND OCTANOL Amir Talebi, Teng Tjoon Tow*, Norli Ismail and Abbas F. M. AL-Karkhi School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia. Tel.: +604 6532215; Fax: +604 6573678 *Corresponding author email: [email protected] ABSTRACT Ionic liquids are regarded as green solvents due to their nonvolatile and stable properties. In this work, 1-Butyl-2,3dimethylimidazolium chloride and tri-n-octylphosphine oxide were used as carrier and octanol as diluent for extraction of nickel and cadmium ions. The results of face centered composite design (FCCD) revealed that after 6hours of extraction using1-butyl-2,3-dimethylimidazolium chloride, 43% cadmium and 18% of nickel were extracted when feed phase pH was set up at 2, but tri-n-octylphosphine oxide showed better efficiency for cadmium extraction, extracting 65% of cadmium ions at pH:2 for same operational time. However it was revealed that tri-n-octylphosphine oxide in octanol cannot be considered as a good extractant, resulting in only 8% of nickel ions extraction. Nickel and cadmium stripping condition were analyzed and optimized using NaOH as stripping agent. It was revealed that at 10.5 76% of the total market. This indicates the relative importance of weeds as dominant pests in the Malaysian agriculture as well as reflecting the dependence on herbicides in the country for weed management, principally in estates for the past three to four decades in oil palm, rubber, cocoa, and rice and cereals, vegetable farms and fruit orchards. Table 1: Pesticide use in Malaysia in RM million (1995-2008)* Year 1995

Herbicides 220

Insecticides 43

Fungicides 15

Rodenticides 11

Total 289

2000 2005

275 256

76 75

25 23

18 18

394 372

2008

278

82

26

17

403

* Malaysian Crop Care & Public Health Association (MCPA). Such trends of increasing dependence on pesticides for pest management in Malaysia is a common cause for environmental concern particularly with records of parallel increase in incidences of pesticide resistant pests and millennial weeds, as well as the fear for the possible loss of beneficial organisms, and almost total disappearance of fresh water fish in the rice granaries, and increased environmental pollutions of rivers and waterways [19]. The challenge to produce agricultural products that are relatively free from pesticides, especially the use of environmentally benign pesticides and agrichemicals is part of the concern among policy makers, environmentalists, agriculturalists and agriculturists alike in light of the scarcity of domestic labour supply and increasing dependence on foreign labour. PESTICIDE IN PADDY FIELDS Paddy rice (Oryza sativa) is grown on every continent except Antarctica and the extent of paddy cultivation covers about 1 percent of the earth’s surface. More than half of the world’s population depends on rice as a staple food and it ranks second to wheat in terms of cultivation area and production. Production of rice is dominated by Asia, where rice is the only food crop that can be grown during the rainy season in the waterlogged tropical areas. Asia generates over 90 percent of world rice production. Malaysia’s land area for rice remained fairly constant at no more than 0.7 million hectares since the1980s. Even though the land area for rice has remained rather constant, Malaysia’s rice productivity increases every year from 2.1 ton/ha in 1961 to 3.6 ton/ha in 2008. Thus, Malaysia’s total rice production would also increase each year. Since 1985, Malaysia has seen an average increase in total rice production of about 28,000 tonnes per year. In the paddy-growing areas in Malaysia, the herbicides 2,4-D and paraquat are most commonly used by The pesticide 2,4-D is a systemic herbicide used for post emergence control of annual and perennial aquatic weeds in paddy fields[21]. Paraquat, a contact, non-selective herbicide, is effective in controlling of grassy and broad-leaved weeds [22]. Both! herbicides are listed under class II in the World Health (WHO) classification; which means they are moderately hazardous to human health.

farmers[20]. broad-leaved a wide range Organization

Besides that, in tropical countries such as Malaysia, the exploitation of pesticides in paddy fields is subjected to indiscriminate and intense use. Globally and locally, many researchers have quantified carbofuran residue concentration in agricultural fields, rivers and estuaries. However, the understanding of all the consequences of carbofuran and its transformation products is limited solely on parent compounds. Generally researchers have not considered its derivatives products. Carbofuran is a broad spectrum systemic carbamate insecticide, nematicide and acaricide. Contamination of water bodies adjacent to rice fields by carbofuran, mainly through runoff, is quite possible as a result of its widespread use in agriculture and relatively good solubility in water (320 mg/l at 20 degree Celcius) [23]. In spite of its efficacy in pest control, carbofuran is acutely toxic and has been linked to wildlife mortalities in many countries [24]. As a result, carbofuran use has been banned in several countries [25]. IMPACTS OF PESTICIDE USE Advantages of using pesticides Many studies have shown the benefits of eating fresh products such as fruits and vegetables. In order to increase the agriculture yields and crop supply, as well as reducing productivity cost, farmers have to plant and grow large amount of food products. This is because more food is needed as the human population increase rapidly. Cultivated and agriculture crops use pesticides like herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides prior to the harvest. The application of

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! pesticides gives a significant impact on crop production in multiplying the yields and decreasing the product losses. The major benefits of pesticides and their role in food production are listed below [26]: Increase food quality and quantity Annually, the world’s potential food production was lost by up to 40%. This is due to the impact of weeds, pests and diseases. These crop losses would be multiplied if existing pesticides are not being used. The increasing crop yields and productivity can be acquired by allowing the crop protection practice. What's more, the use of pesticides enables consumers to consume products that are free from bug contamination. Crop protection chemicals that eliminate and lessen insect damage allow the consumers to purchase high-quality products which are free from insect fragments. Decrease price of food Because the use of pesticides improves crop yields, crop protection technologies also impact the cost of food. Without crop protection chemicals, food production would decrease, numerous products such as fruits and vegetables would be hard to find and costs would rise. Keeping food costs within appropriate limits for the consumers is a significant benefit of pesticides. Human health protection Pesticides are the best substances to kill insects that can cause human infections such as intestinal sickness, dengue fever, lyme infection, and West Nile virus. Likewise, human wellbeing is protected against fungi, insects and organism borne carcinogens (cancer-causing agents) as well as aflatoxins, which cause hepatic and different malignancies. Environmental protection Other positive aspects of crop protection chemicals, in responsible and safe use, include household pest control, control of vegetation in industry and infrastructure, and recreation and protection of areas against environmental pests like noxious weeds and feral animals which cause land degradation. Disadvantages of using pesticides The fundamental need of life is food and when poisonous pesticides contaminate food, it gives serious consequences for the human wellbeing. Subsequently it is important to investigate systems that address this circumstance of food safety particularly where pesticide pollution is common in developing countries due to unpredictable utilization particularly among those under the poverty line. The four primary groups of pesticides, organochlorine, organophosphate, carbamate, and pyrethroid insecticides, are of particular concern due to their danger [27, 28]. Furthermore, a few of the banned pesticides are still utilized on an extensive scale in some of the developing nations posing serious wellbeing and environmental issues. Pesticide utilization raises various natural concerns, and human and animal health risks. More than 95% of herbicides and 98% of insecticides reach a destination other than their target species, including non-target species, air, water and soil [29]. Pesticides are one of the reasons for water contamination, and a few pesticides are persistent organic pollutants and add to soil defilement. Thus, we as humans are easily exposed to pesticides in the food, water and air we consume. These chemicals are non-biodegradable; they get mixed up in nature and tend to find their way into the human food chain. Regardless of regulatory measures, these chemicals continue to be found in measurable sums in the environment including marine life [27]. Furthermore, pesticide utilization decreases biodiversity, lessens nitrogen obsession [30], adds to pollinator decrease [31], decimates habitats for birds [32], and undermines imperilled species [29]. In addition, a portion of the vermin tends to adjust to the pesticides and do not die. To eliminate the offspring of this pest, known as pesticide resistance, a new pesticide or an increase in the dose of pesticide will be needed. This will worsen the pollution problem. There is a growing concern that natural chemicals, can result in pesticide resistance in a few nuisances, water, soil and air contamination that exchanges the synthetic build ups diminishment of biodiversity and nitrogen obsession as well as pulverization of marine. CONCLUSION Agricultural chemicals are vital to our welfare and the protection of the health of our families and pets. Unless, and until, better, more efficient and more cost effective means of pest control are developed, farm chemicals will remain a major weapon in our constant battle against pests. Production would drop drastically, and food would be of poorer quality, more expensive and in short supply. So, applications of pesticides are indeed important to produce healthier and larger amount of food.

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! ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like to extend their appreciation to the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and the staff of School of Industrial Technology for all the assistance rendered during the period of study. Acknowledgment is also made to USM FRGS grant (203/PTEKIND/6711466). REFERENCES [1] Hayes, W. J. Jr. Toxicology of Pesticides, William and Wilkins, Baltimore, MD. 1975, 9. [2] FAO, Guidelines for Soil Profile Description. Third edition (revised). Soil Resources, Management and Conservation Service, Land and Water Development Division, FAO, Rome. 1990. [3] Cheah, U.B., Aminuddin, Y., Salama, R., Lum, K.Y., Wan Abdullah, W.Y. Pesticide leaching in the Cameron Highlands agro ecosystem. Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Contaminants in Soil Environment in the Australasia-Pacific Region. 2000, 339-340. [4] Ismail, B.S., Kalithasan, K. Adsorption, desorption and mobility of permethrin in Malaysian soils. J. Env. Sci. Health B. 2004, 39(3): 419-429. [5] Ismail, B.S., Kalithasan, K. Effects of glufosinate-ammonium and terbuthylazine on germination and growth of two weed species. Plant Protec. Quarter. 1994, 9: 15-19. [6] Cheah, U. B. The environmental fate of selected pesticides in Malaysian agroecosysterms. PhD thesis. University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. 1996. [7] Cheah, U.B., Lum, K.Y. Pesticide residues and microbial contamination of water resources in the Muda Rice agroecosystem. In: Nashriyah, B.M., N.K. Ho, B.S. Ismail, K.Y. Ali and A.B. Lum (Eds.), Rice Agroecosystem of the Muda Irrigation Scheme, Malaysia. MINT-MADA, Malaysia. 1998, 256. [8] Nashriyah, M., Azimahtol, H.L.P. Residue levels of molinate in rice field soil. Their effects on populations of aquatic flora and fauna under recycling and non-recycling practice in the Muda area. In: Nashriyah, M., N.K. Ho, B.S. Ismail, A. Ahyaudin and K.Y. Lum (Eds.), Rice Agroecosystem of the Muda Irrigation Scheme, Malaysia. Malaysia. 1998, 231-241. [9] Ismail, B.S., Khalithasan, K. Measurement and prediction of permethrin persistence in six Malaysian agricultural soils. Aust. J. Soil Res. 2002, 40: 1-10. [10] Ismail, B.S., Enoma, A.O.S., Cheah, U.B., Lum, K.Y., Zulkifli, M. Adsorption, desorption and mobility of two insecticides in Malaysian agricultural soil. J. Environ. Sci. Health B. 2002, 37(4): 355-364. [11] Cheah, U.B., Lum, K.Y. Pesticide residue and microbial contamination of water resources of rice agrosystem in Muda area. Proceeding of the Seminar on Impact of Pesticide on the Rice Agrosystem in Muda Area, Pulau Pinang. 1994, 1-5. [12] Mohammad Shokrzadeh, Seyed Soheil Saeedi Saravi, Pesticides in Agricultural Products: Analysis, Reduction, Prevention, Pesticides - Formulations, Effects, Fate, Prof. Margarita Stoytcheva (Ed.), ISBN: 978-953-307 532-7, InTech. 2011. [13] IUPAC, "GLOSSARY OF TERMS RELATING TO PESTICIDES". Pure and Applied Chemistry. 2006, 78: 2075–2154. [14] Das, S. S. BIODIVERSITY IN INDIA – A CRITICAL ANALYSIS WITHIN THE PERVIEW OF THE BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY ACT, 2002. PhD Thesis, University of Burdwan, India. [15] USEPA, Analysis of rodenticide bait use; U.S Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances, U.S. Government Printing Office: Washington, DC. 2004. [16] Erickson, W., Urban, D. Potential Risks of Nine Rodenticides to Birds and Nontarget Mammals: a Comparative Approach; U.S Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances, Office of Pesticide Programs, U.S. Government Printing Office: Washington, DC. 2004. [17] Alert, E. 2009, New 'green' pesticides are first to exploit plant defences in battle of the fungi. Retrieved on 2015-223.

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! [18] Cornell University. Toxicity of pesticides. Pesticide fact sheets and tutorial, module 4. Pesticide Safety Education Program. Retrieved on 2015-2-23. [19] Baki, B. B. Shaping the Future of Weed Science to Serve Humanity. University of Malaya Press, Kuala Lumpur, 2006b, 183. [20] Nashriyah, M., Zawahil, A.N., Zaifah, A.K., Misman, S., Ismail, B.S. In A Survey of Pesticide Usage in the Muda Rice Agroecosystem Between 2001–2003; Proceedings of the MINT R&D Seminar 2004, Dewan Tun Ismail, Bangi, Selangor, July 12–15; MINT: Bangi, 2004, 351–358. [21] Soon, L.G., Bottrell, D.G. Pesticides in Rice: Potential and Limitations; International Rice Research Institute Publication: Manila. 1994. [22] World Health Organization, Paraquat and Diquat. In Unwelcome Harvest, Earth scan; Conway, G.R., Pretty, J., Eds.; World Health Organization: Geneva. 1991. [23] Clasen, B., Leitemperger, J., Murussi, C., Pretto, A., Menezes, Dalabona, C. F., Marchezan, E., Adaime, M. B., Zanella, R., Loro, V. L. Carbofuran promotes biochemical changes in carp exposed to rice field and laboratory conditions. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety. 2014, 101: 77–82. [24] Otieno, P.O., Lalah, J.O., Virani, M., Jondiko, I.O., Schramm, K.W. Soil and water contamination with carbofuran residues in agricultural farmlands in Kenya following the application of the technical formulation Furadan, Journal of Environmental Science and Health Part B. 2010, 45: 137–144. [25] Khuntong, S., Sirivithayapakorn, S., Pakkong, P., Soralump, C. Adsorption kinetics of carbamate pesticide in rice field soil. Int J Environ Asia. 2010, 3(2):20–28. [26] Croplifeamerica, 2009, Benefits of Pesticides and Crop Protection Chemicals. Retrieved on 2015-2- 23. [27] Smith, A.G., Gangolli, S.D.Organochlorine chemicals in seafood: occurrence and health concerns. Food and Chemical Toxicology. 2002, 40:767-779. [28] Ahmed, R.S., Vandana Seth Pasha, S.T., Banerjee, B.D. Influence of dietary ginger (Zingiber officinalis Rosc) on oxidative stress induced by malathion in rats. Food and Chemical Toxicology. 2000, 38: 443-450. [29] Miller, G.T. Sustaining the Earth, 6th ed. Thompson Learning, Inc. Pacific Grove, California. 2004. [30] Rockets, R. 2007, Down On The Farm, Yields, Nutrients And Soil Quality. www.Scienceagogo.com. Retrieved on 2015-2-24. [31] Hackenberg, D. 2007, Letter from David Hackenberg to American growers from March 14, 2007. Plattform Imkerinnen-Austria. Retrieved from WWW.imkerinnen.at. on 2015-2-24. [32] Palmer, W.E., Bromley, P.T. & Brandenburg, R.L. Wildlife & pesticides-Peanuts. North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. 2007. ! !

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! A PRELIMINARY SCREENING ON PESTICIDE RESIDUES DISTRIBUTION IN TROPICAL PADDY FIELD AREA, MUKIM 5, SEBERANG PERAI UTARA, MALAYSIA

! Harlina Ahmad*, Mazratul Amyra Abdul Rashid, Syahidah Akmal Muhammad and Norli Ismail Environmental Technology Division, School of Technology Industry, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia *Corresponding author email: [email protected] ABSTRACT The increasing use of pesticides for agricultural production especially rice paddies is causing water pollution problems in surrounding water body. It may affect the quality of environmental resources such as groundwater and surface water. The objective of this study is to investigate the distribution of pesticides residues in water samples from the adjacent water body of a paddy field in Mukim 5, Seberang Prai Utara. A total of 10 water samples were taken from 10 different sampling points and extracted by solid phase extraction method (SPE) and subsequently analyzed by Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The study shows that methoprene, triflumizole, difenoconazole, carbofuran, pyridaben, DBP, terbucarb and aldicard were detected in the selected sampling points. Keywords: Gas chromatography, paddy field, pesticides, water. INTRODUCTION Pesticides are one of the many components used in modern agriculture. Pesticides are chemicals used to control or kill the pest species, which include plants that are not required. Clean fresh water is considered the most important of all natural resources. But, surface water can be contaminated by domestic, industrial and agricultural waste, including fertilizers, and pesticides. The farming-based area is often well drained and natural drainage is often improved by land drains. Water from excessive rainfall and irrigation cannot always be held within the soil structure. Therefore pesticides and residues (also nitrates and phosphates) can be quickly taken to contaminate ground water and fresh water supplies over a large geographical area. Rice pesticides are applied directly to the surface water of the paddy field. Our concern was that runoff of pesticides applied to an agricultural land may cause contamination of water bodies and give adverse effects on aquatic ecosystem. Severals studies [2-7] have reported on the runoff of pesticides from paddy fields to a river by monitoring their residues in river or sediments. A study on DDE, DDT and heptachlor [14], found these pesticide residues in the water of almost every river surveyed in Peninsular Malaysia. Another study conducted in a paddy field in Tanjung Karang indicated that a significant amount of endosulfan (4.17 – 5.18 ppb) persisted in water 21 days after the application of the granular formulation, indicating that the toxic effects of the chemical may be quite prolonged. The purpose of the study is to investigate the distribution of pesticides in the surface water of irrigation canals in selected paddy area in Mukim 5, Seberang Prai Utara. The type of pesticides studied was based on those frequently used by the farmers in the area. MATERIALS AND METHODS Description of the Study Area and samplings

The area in which this study was carried out was made up of

5 square km of paddy field lots in Kg Padang Tembusu in Mukim 5, Penaga, Seberang Perai Utara. The samplings involved two main irrigation channels of the paddy plantation lots which were Sg. Tembus and Sg. Lahar Endin. There were 10 sampling points chosen in this study.

Fig. 1: Map of sampling location

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! As shown in figure 1, sampling points no. 1-4 were located along Sg. Tembus irrigation channel until river estuary. Sampling points 7-9 were located along Sg. Lahar Endin up to river estuary. Sampling point S10 was randomly selected in the paddy field lot itself. The description for the points was summarized in Table 1. Table 1: Description of sampling points Points

Description

S1

Located at the end of the Sungai Tembus, also known as lade. There was a residential area for fishermen and a path for boats to go to the ocean.

S2

Located along Sg.Tembus. There were a few residential areas.

S3

Located at the intersection between S4 and S5. The river water from S4 transferred to S3.

S4

Located at the starting point of Sungai Tembus. Water transferred from S4 to S5 and S3.

S5

Located at the intersection between S4 and S3. S5 connected the two rivers.

S6

The river water from S5 flows to S6. S5 is the connection for Sg Tembus and Sg. Lahar Endin. There were many plants at the point.

S7

Located at the beginning point of Sungai Lahar Endin. There was a small bridge construction site upstream from S7. There was also a sewage treatment plant and a mee hoon factory. It was nearer by road vehicles.

S8

Located along Sg. Lahar Endin. Near to main road and residential areas.

S9

Located at the end of the Sungai Lahar Endin, known as lade. There were a few residential areas and a path for boats to go to the ocean.

S10

Located in the middle of the paddy field. There were paddy planting activities such as fertilizing and poisoning activities.

The water samplings were conducted during the period planting in one season whereby most of pesticides application activities were completed. The schedule of water irrigation was provided by the Department of Irrigation and Drainage. Analytical method Solid Phase Extraction (SPE) and gas chromatography (with MS) were used to quantify the pesticide content. The water samples were pre-filtered on 0.45-mm filters to eliminate particulate matter. Prior to extraction, the C-18 cartridge was washed with 10 mL of acetone under vacuum, followed by 3 mL of acetonitrile and 3 mL of distilled water. The discs were not allowed to become dry, as recommended in the methodology used [8]. Each sample was mixed well and allowed to pass through the discs at a flow-rate of 1.5 ml/min under vacuum. The SPE tubes were surrounded by the water samples and the pump was turned on. As suction happened, water samples were drawn into the C18 cartridge. The water which flowed through the SPE cartridge was controlled to fall drop by drop using a pressure knob. After extraction, the residue pesticide trapped in the discs cartridge was collected using 6 ml of acetone as the eluting solvent. The fraction was evaporated to 1 mL in vacuum before being injected into the GC-MS. Gas chromatographic conditions GC-MS analysis was performed using a GC for mass spectrometer-2010 Plus with a Shimadzu model. An analytical column used was a cross-linked 5% phenyl methyl siloxane capillary column (BP-5MS, 30 m x 0.25 mm id x 0.25 mm film thickness). Data acquisition and control of the GCMS-2010 Plus was carried out by GCMS solution software and data system software. The study was conducted following the method of the GC-MS with injector temperature of 250ºC, a temperature detector (280ºC) and splitless time of 0.75 min. The initial temperature of 100°C, was increased at a rate of 10 ºC min-1, up to 250 -280ºC followed by a rate of 3ºC min-1. The carrier gas was nitrogen at 1 mL min-1. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION These analyses were carried out on samples from different localities and various surface waters in Mukim 5 Seberang Prai Utara paddy field. The percentage traces of Methoprene, Triflumizole, Difenoconazole, carbofuran, pyridaben, DBP, terbucarb and aldicarb in the irrigation canals in the selected paddy field are shown in Table 2. The most abundance pesticide detected was methoprene. Almost all the selected points and paddy area had the methoprene. The

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! second highest abundance of pesticide detected was triflumizole. Nevertheless, Carbofuran was detected at almost all the selected points. Methoprene, which is sold under the trade name Altosid, is an insect growth regulator. It can be categorized as having a moderate toxicity towards both warm and cold water and freshwater fish, despite the fact that the exposure of these life forms is limited due to methoprene’s rapid degradation in unshaded water. It is acutely toxic to estuarine and marine invertebrates which play an important role in the delicate estuarine ecosystem. From the results obtained, methoprene was detected at most of the selected points. The analysis showed that carbofuran was one of the detected pesticides as they appeared to persist longer and even occured in higher concentrations in the water samples of the selected points. Carbofuran, whose other trade name is Furadan, is mostly used in the agricultural area to kill insects, mites and it is used against soil and foliar pest in the field. This is significant in tropical conditions where carbofuran dissipation from the site of application can be quite rapid due to the excessive use. This study also detected 4,4'-dichlorobenzophenone (DBP) at some of the sample points. The formation of DBP was from the further transformation of 1,1,1-trichloro-2, and 2-bis-(4-chlorophenyl) ethane (DDT). This compound was detected at most of the points, but the percentage was too low. It can be concluded that some of the farmers were still using the banned pesticides, DDT as the DBP had been detected in the samples. Triflumizole (Terraguard, Procure) is categorized as being moderately toxic to highly toxic to fish. In this study, triflumizole was be detected at most of the points as it was mostly used by the farmers. In this preliminary study, the drainage of water from agricultural fields into irrigation canal poses a critical source of risk for contamination by pesticides in the broader water environment [10]. Table 2: Percentage of pesticide trace Concentration of pesticide residue in the irrigation canal (%TRACE) Sampling points/ pesticide

Methoprene

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ND: not detected

29 57 39 39 60 79 ND 73 ND ND

Triflumizole

Difenoconazole

Carbo-furan

Pyridaben

DBP

Terbucarb

Aldicarb

3 39 44 44 37 18 ND 17 ND ND

58 ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND

ND 2 ND ND 1 ND 3 2 20 23

ND ND 14 14 ND ND 54 ND 28 28

3 1 2 2 ND 1 ND ND 5 ND

ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND 15

1 ND ND ND ND 2 ND ND ND ND

CONCLUSION This study demonstrated clearly that the canal water in the selected paddy fields was contaminated with specific pesticides. The pesticides extracted from the water samples collected belonged to the fungicides and organophospate group and carbamate group. The banned pesticides were detected as DBP was found from the transformation of DDT. The significantly high percentage of concentration levels of carbofuran and methophrene, demonstrate that Furadan and Altosid was used extensively in the paddy planting activities and gave exposure to the surrounding water bodies. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like to extend their appreciation to Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and the staff of Department of Irrigation and Drainage Seberang Perai Utara in Pulau Pinang for all the assistance rendered during the period of study. The authors are also grateful to USM short term grant (1001/PTEKIND/6312098). REFERENCES [1] Ong, S. H., Zulkifli, M. Persistence of Granular Endodulfan in Padi-water and Its Implications, MARDI Research Jjournal. 1990, 18: 53 – 62.

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! [2] Iwakuma, T., Shiraishi, H., Nohara, S., Takamura, K. Runoff properties and change in concentrations of agricultural pesticides in a river system during a rice cultivation period. Chemosphere. 1993, 27:677 – 91. [3] Kotake, M. Toyota I. Influence of rain on pesticide runoff from paddy field to stream. Res bull Aichi Agric Res Control. 1993, 25:69-79. [4] Mabury, S.A., Cox, J.S., Crosby, D.G. Environmental fate of rice pesticides California. Environ Contam Toxicol. 1996, 147:71-117. [5] Nagafuchi, O., Inoue, T., Ebise, S. Runoff pattern of pesticides from paddy fields in the catchment area of Rikimaru reservoir, Japan. Water Sci Technol, 1993, 30: 137- 44. [6] Ebise, S., Inuoe, T., Numabe, A. Runoff characteristics and observation methods of pesticides and nutrients in rural rivers. Water Sci Technol, 1993, 28: 589-93. [7] Hirai, Y., Tomokuni, K. Levels of chlordane in water and sediment of rivers around Saga city, Japan. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol, 1989, 42:589-94. [8] Capri, E., Cavanna, S. Ground and surface water bodies’ contamination by pesticides use in paddy field. Tipolitografia Press, Piacenza, Italy. 1999, 48 - 71. [9] Ismail, B. S. a*, Siti Humaira Haron A., Mohd. Talib Latif. Pesticide Residue Levels in The Surface Water of The Irrigation Canals in The Muda Irrigation Scheme Kedah, Malaysia. International Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences. 2012, 12: 85129206-4545. [10] Phong, T., Yoshino, K., Hiramatsu, K., Harada, M., Inoue, T. Pesticide discharge and water management in a paddy catchment in Japan. Paddy Water Environ. 2010, 8:361–369.

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! ANALYSIS OF PUBLIC ACCEPTANCE OF THE LYNAS ADVANCE MATERIAL PLANT (LAMP) PROJECT: RESPONSES FROM GEBENG AND JOHOR COMMUNITIES Lily Suhaila binti Yacob*1 and Tengku Hanidza Tengku Ismail 2 1

Malaysian Institute of Chemical and Bioengineering Technology. Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL), 78000 Alor Gajah, Melaka, Malaysia. 2 Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Environmental Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. ABSTRACT This paper provides an analysis of the community response to the Lynas Advance Material Plant (LAMP) Project and the factors underlying their acceptance. A survey using a structured questionnaire, was conducted in 2013 on two communities. Gebeng and Johor. Participants who lived in Gebeng and Johor and at least 18 years old were included into our study. The mean of risk acceptance in each categorized group of respondents was tested with ANOVA and the principal component analysis (PCA) was used to identify latent factors. Our investigation found that, the predictors of risk acceptance by the Gebeng residents revealed three latent factors (Perception + Effect + Trust, Benefits, and No confidence in government + familiar) (R2= 0.429). For the Gebeng community, males were more acceptable of the LAMP than female. For the Johor community, the Malays were more acceptable compared to other races. The public acceptance about Lynas Advance Material Plant (LAMP) presented wide range of responses and the pattern of risk structure differed slightly for both communities. There was the third group (not sure) for Johor community that made up of one third of the respondents, indicating large portion were unable to make their decision. Keywords: Johor, LAMP, local community, rare earth, risk acceptance. INTRODUCTION During the recent years, there is increasing demand for the rare earth elements in green technology application. Rare earths are used in aerospace, hybrid electric vehicle, energy-efficient lighting systems, wind and solar energy and petrochemical industries. Rare earth is also needed by most of the technological appliances due to their unique properties elements. In the periodic table, rare earth elements are the seventeen elements, including fifteen elements with atomic numbers from 57 to 71 [1]. The mining company, Australia’s Lynas Corporation took a great opportunity in rare earth business by establishing a processing factory in Malaysia. This processing factory called Lynas Advanced Material Plant (LAMP) is situated in the Gebeng Industrial Park, Kuantan, Pahang. The purpose of this plant is to refine lanthanum oxide and other rare earth concentrates for final products. The rare earth industry is not new for countries like China but it is new for Malaysia. Nowadays, the nuclear and radioactive sectors are the most sensitive issues and controversies among people in the world. Hence, this research will look at the few case studies that seem to be relevant to the rare earth issue, including public acceptance, perception and attitude towards to nuclear and radioactive. Yu et al. [2] determined the level of knowledge and attitude toward nuclear power among residents living near the nuclear power plant in China. They found that level of awareness and acceptance of nuclear power needs to be improved. Some of the local public in many other countries refused to accept nuclear energy and radioactive waste due to concern on nuclear energy and the potential effects [3]. Studies have indicated that factors that influence risk acceptance of technological hazards are influenced by knowledge, perception of risk, benefits, and confident and trust/distrust in public and private institutions [4, 5, 6, 7]. Studies have reported on public safety of possible risk. For example, Hong Kong residents' attitudes toward the safety of the nuclear power plant in operation and their possible actions in case of leakage. Some respondents claiming they will leave Hong Kong immediately in case of plant leakage [8]. The main aim of this study is to examine how the community in close proximity to the LAMP (Gebeng community) and a community living far from the facility (Johor community) responded. This paper will attempt to uncover the fundamental reasons for public support or public opposition which leads to community accepting (or rejecting) the LAMP project. This study will answer three specific research questions: 1) to what extent the community is going to accept the refinery. 2) Is there the difference between the Johor and Gebeng community in terms of risk perception and structure, and 3) what are the factors that influence acceptance? MATERIAL AND METHODS Respondents The Gebeng community consist of 370 residents from four villages: Batu Hitam, Balok (located 5-20km), Indera Mahkota, and Sungai Isap (located 20-40 km) and the Johor community consist of 360 residents from Kota Tinggi, Ulu Tiram, Pasir Gudang, Senai, Skudai and Gelang Patah.

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! Questionnaire development The risk acceptance model will be based on the psychometric paradigm which relies on the public’s view of the potential hazard using several risk attributes and scaling method. The questionnaire (Table 1) was adopted from Tokushige et al. [9], Greenberg [10], Huang et al. [5], and He at al. [6]. Table 1: Description of questionnaires Factor

Description

Q1

SAFE

Perception whether it is safe or risky technology

Q2 Q3

SEVERE VISIBLE

The extent of impact Visible impact

Q4

NEW

New or old risk

Q5 Q6

LEAK ENVPROB

Worried if leakage occured Worried about the environmental problems

Q7

ARE

Perception of Asian Rare Earth with LAMP

Q8

FUKUSHIMA

Perception of Fukushima Daiichi with LAMP

Q9

FENV

The state of the environment in the next 25

Q10

RELIABLE

Reliability of industry and people operating

Q11

OPENNESS

Reliability of industry with releasing information

Q12

EXPERT

Knowledge and skill to ensure public safety

Q13

CLEANUP

Able to clean up contaminant

Q14

GOVACT

Government action protecting the environment

Q15 Q16

PROTENV SOCBEN

Priority of environmental protection over economy growth Benefit the society

Q17

INDBEN

Benefit to individual

Q18

FBEN

Benefit to future generation

Q19

IMP

Importance of rare earth

Q20 Q21

KNOWSITE NIMBY

Familiarity with LAMP site Distance to tolerate if accepted by human society

Statistical analysis The mean of risk acceptance in each categorized group of respondents was tested with ANOVA. The principal component analysis (PCA) was used to identify latent construct from within the 29-item instrument. PCA was performed to reduce the number of determining variables as well as eliminating inter-correlation among those factors. The extraction factor was based on Eigen values greater than 1 [11] and loading values equals to or greater than 0.6. The data analyses were performed using the statistical package Xlstat 2014.2.07. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Demographic characteristics of risk acceptance The mean age of the Gebeng community was 37.83 years and 51.89% were female. Majority of the respondents (84.87%) were the Malay, one third of them were within the 31-40 years age group, 48.92% had education level beyond the secondary school, 73.51% were employed, and 58.11% had monthly income of RM1500-3,000. The mean age of the Johor community was 31-12 years and 57.65% were female. Majority of the respondents (90.59%) were the Malay, one third of them were within the 30-39 years age group, 63.53% had education level beyond the secondary school, 77.65% were employed, and 44.12% had monthly income of RM1500-3,000. The risk acceptance was measured using the question “The extent of your acceptance of the rare earth processing plant” measured on a 7-point likert scale. The mean of risk acceptance for the local community was 3.88 while the Johor community was 3.96. For the Gebeng community, males were more acceptable of the LAMP than female (p