Postgraduate Opportunities (Chemical Engineering)
Master of Philosophy (Chemical Engineering)
Project Title #1: Development of a Rapid and Cost-Effective Detector and Estimator of Adulterants in Ground Sarawak Black Pepper using Spatial and Spectral Image Analysis
Summary
Malaysia is the world’s sixth largest pepper producer and more than 95% Malaysian-grown pepper come from Sarawak. Therefore, for Sarawak, pepper, especially black pepper, is an important agricultural commodity contributing to the state’s economy. Consequently, efforts have been directed toward maintaining and/or improving the quality of Sarawak black pepper either in whole pepper or ground pepper. In the market, however, adulterated black pepper products exist in which black pepper is contaminated with different types of adulterants. Quality monitoring in detecting these adulterants is usually carried out using either physical (density difference) method or analytical method. The first method is fast, simple and practical however, quantitative information is unavailable. Meanwhile, the later one is associated with cost-ineffective and time-consuming and requires sophisticated analytical instrumentations and expertise. This project, therefore, aims to develop a rapid, reliable and cost-effective detector and estimator of adulterants in black pepper powder. The backbone of this proposed technology will be deep learning artificial neural networks (DLANN) based image processing, classifier and predictor. Spatial and spectral images and chemical/biochemical, microbiological and physical data of ground black pepper will be collected and used to build and validate DLANN models. Then, these models will be implemented as faster and cheaper adulterant detection and estimation systems of ground black pepper compared to the traditional laboratory analyses. These project outputs are envisaged to directly benefit Sarawak black pepper industry players and regulators in monitoring the product quality and support the efforts in maintaining the reputation of Sarawak black pepper in both domestic and international markets to indirectly contribute to Sarawak digital economy.
For more information, please download the pdf here.
ELIGIBILITY
To be eligible, a candidate should have:
- A Malaysian
- Willingness to learn new things and to conduct breakthrough research.
- A Bachelor degree graduated with, or qualified for, the award of the degree of Bachelor with First Class Honours or Second Class Honours or CGPA 2.67 in one of these disciplines: Chemical Engineering, Applied Chemistry and Electrical Engineering.
- Good command of written and spoken English (e.g. IELTS: overall band of 6.5 and no individual band below 6.0).
FUNDING NOTE
This research is a part of the project funded by Sarawak Multimedia Authority through Digital Sarawak Centre of Excellence 2018 – 2020. The PhD scholarship will cover full tuition-fee and annual stipend of MYR 24,000. The duration of this scholarship is two years.
INTERESTED TO APPLY?
Potential candidates should contact:
Associate Professor Dr. Agus Saptoro
Department of Chemical Engineering | Faculty of Engineering and Science
Curtin University, Malaysia
Tel | +60 85 443 939 Ext. 2539 (GMT +8)
Fax | +60 85 443 838
Email | agus.saptoro@curtin.edu.my
Closing Date: 1st January 2019
Project Title #2: Spectrometric analysis of flocculation activity and molecular interactions of chitosan-like bioflocculant of Citrobacter strains to improve sludge dewatering
Summary
The Department of Chemical Engineering is currently looking for an outstanding Master’s applicant under the supervision of A/Prof. Chua Han Bing and Dr. Lau Shiew Wei. The proposed research title is “Spectrometric analysis of flocculation activity and molecular interactions of chitosan-like bioflocculant of Citrobacter strains to improve sludge dewatering”. Sludge production from wastewater treatment is an increasing environmental problem due to the difficulty in sludge handling and disposal which involve significant amount of expensive chemical flocculants in the dewatering operations. As a sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative to these chemical flocculants, bioflocculants such as polyglutamic acid and chitosan have been found promising despite their low market share due to high production costs and limited bioresources. Chitosan-like bioflocculant produced by Citrobacter strains is an innovation to the conventional chitin/chitosan derived from shrimps and crabs. On-going work is looking at the optimisation and scaling-up of fermentation, concentration and recovery of the chitosan-like bioflocculant from the cultures. In the meantime, it is important to understand the flocculation activity and molecular interactions between the bioflocculant and sludge as well as process parameters affecting sludge flocculation and dewatering. Successful outcomes from this work will provide a good fundamental understanding of the role of the chitosan-like bioflocculant in terms of adsorption, charge neutralisation and bridging with sludge particles
Applicants are expected to meet the following criteria:
- Minimum a Second Upper Honours degree at Bachelor’s level in chemical engineering or equivalent
- Practical skills for experimental work and ability to adapt to routine work in lab
- Good communication skills and command of English
This is a 2-year research project, starting as early as March 2018, where the successful candidate would receive a scholarship award. The scholarship is eligible for Malaysian applicants, and it covers both tuition fees and monthly stipend of RM1,500. Applicants should submit a letter detailing her/his motivation and skills with a curriculum vitae including two to three references to Dr. Lau Shiew Wei (email add.: lau.shiew.wei@curtin.edu.my, FoES Building Room SK3-335, phone no. 085-443939 ext. 2419) and cc. to Associate Dean R&D of FoES, Associate Prof. Dr.Ramasamy Nagarajan (email:nagarajan@curtin.edu.my)
Closing date: 31 March 2018
Doctor of Philosophy (Chemical Engineering)
Project Title #1: Synthesis of magnetic nanoparticle via Microwave-Induced Hydrothermal Carbonization of Empty fruit bunch for Dielectric Material.
Summary
Since last few decades, biomass has gained much attention as a renewable and sustainable future energy because of sharp depletion and unbalanced market prices of fossil fuels, and environmental issues related to petroleum fuels. There are different technologies available to convert biomass into biofuels including solid fuels (biochar/hydrochar), liquid fuels (bio-oil, methanol, ethanol) and gas fuels (hydrogen and synthetic gas) respectively. Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) thermally converts various biomass feedstocks to a high carbon containing and smokeless solid fuel called hydrochar. Hydrochar production from industrial or agricultural wastes serves a double purpose: utilizing unwanted residues and obtaining hydrochar product. Recently, researchers focus on improving the reaction conditions and targeted products by using catalyst or applying new heating methods such as microwave heating. The advantage of microwave in material processing is mainly attributed to a homogenous, selective and fast heat that significantly reduces processing time and cost . Furthermore, the microwave heating provides suitable conditions for obtaining new products. Despite the widespread use of microwave heating technology for material processing, its use for promoting HTC of biomass has not been explored. Thus, the main objective of this study is to convert agricultural waste biomass such as rice husk to useful material known as hydrochar via microwave HTC process. Further, the process parameters such as microwave power, radiation time and catalyst ratio of microwave HTC was investigating for high yield of hydrochar from rice husk. Moreover, the chemical, structural and thermal properties of hydrochar will be studied.
Supervisors Committees
Associate Professor Dr. Mubarak Mujawar ( mubarak.mujawar@curtin.edu.my), Associate Professor Dr. Chua Han Bing (chua.han.bing@curtin.edu.my), Assistant Professor Dr. Inamuddin, Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia ( inezamuddin@kau.edu.sa) or inamuddin79@gmail.com.
Interested candidate can submit a cover letter with a curriculum vitae including two to three references to Associate Professor Dr. Mubarak Mujawar (mubarak.mujawar@curtin.edu.my), FoES Building Room SK3-421, phone no. 085-443939 ext. 2414) and cc. to Associate Dean R&D of FoES, Associate Prof. Dr.Ramasamy Nagarajan (email:nagarajan@curtin.edu.my)
Doctor of Philosophy (Chemical Engineering)
Project Title #2: Synthesis, Characterization and Chromatographic Studies on Composite Materials.
Summary
Water pollution caused by heavy toxic metal ions/dyes from various industrial effluents has gained a great world wide attention. A number of regulation agencies have taken concern to restrict their untreated discharge into public severs, rivers, sea and on land. Therefore, the detection, determination, separation and removal of heavy metal ions/dyes are very important due to their toxic effects on water, posing serious hazards not only to humans, but also potentially unacceptable ecological risks to plants, animals and microorganisms. The chromatographic techniques like ion-exchange, adsoption and thin layer chromatography are well know for the identification, separation and removal of heavy metals/dyes owing to their inexpensive, simple and versatile nature. Apart from the various materials used in chromatographic studies, the use of organic-inorganic type composite materials are advantageous to overcome the limitations associated with inorganic and organic materials. There are several routes for the preparation of these materials, but probably the most prominent one is the incorporation of inorganic building blocks in organic polymers by sol-gel process.
Supervisors Committees
Associate Professor Dr. Mubarak Mujawar (mubarak.mujawar@curtin.edu.my), Assistant Professor Dr. Inamuddin, Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia ( inezamuddin@kau.edu.sa) or inamuddin79@gmail.com.
Interested candidate can submit a cover letter with a curriculum vitae including two to three references to Associate Professor Dr. Mubarak Mujawar (mubarak.mujawar@curtin.edu.my), FoES Building Room SK3-421, phone no. 085-443939 ext. 2414) and cc. to Associate Dean R&D of FoES, Associate Prof. Dr.Ramasamy Nagarajan (email:nagarajan@curtin.edu.my)
Doctor of Philosophy (Chemical Engineering)
Project Title #3: Design of Integrated Pollution Treatment for Palm Oil Mill
Summary
Major pollutions from a palm oil mill consist of wastewater, greenhouse gases and solid wastes. While solid wastes can be processed into organic fertilizers, an effective treatment for the wastewater and greenhouse gas pollutions remains unavailable. Presently, both wastewater and greenhouse gas pollutions still represent a major environmental issue and threat to the sustainability of palm oil mill operation in particular and palm oil industry in general. The goal of this research project is to design a novel integrated treatment system which can: (1) reduce greenhouse gases (both CO2 and methane) emission by at least 90% from its current level, (2) increase the discharged wastewater quality by two-fold, (3) generate electricity, and (4) produce biodiesel. Several advanced technologies will be integrated to build an advanced treatment system.
Interested candidate can submit a cover letter with a curriculum vitae including two to three references to Associate Prof. Dr. Jobrun Nandong (email: jobrun.n@curtin.edu.my, FoES Building Room SK3-322, phone no. 085-443939 ext. 2412) and cc. to Associate Dean R&D of FoES, Associate Prof. Dr.Ramasamy Nagarajan (email:nagarajan@curtin.edu.my)
Other Proposed Project Titles:
- Synthesis of magnetic nanomaterials using agricultural waste biomass for organic based phase change materials as fillers.
- Synthesis of graphene using waste biomass for energy storage material.
- Synthesis of functionization of hydronamaterials for hydrogen energy application.
- Synthesis of magnetic based carbon nanomaterials using agricultural waste biomass for waste water treatment or energy storage or phase chance materials.
- Functionization ionic based graphene material for continuous waste water treatment.
Supervisors Committees
Associate Professor Dr. Mubarak Mujawar ( mubarak.mujawar@curtin.edu.my), Associate Professor Dr. Chua Han Bing (chua.han.bing@curtin.edu.my), Assistant Professor Dr. Inamuddin, Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia ( inezamuddin@kau.edu.sa) or inamuddin79@gmail.com.
Interested candidate can submit a cover letter with a curriculum vitae including two to three references to Associate Professor Dr. Mubarak Mujawar (mubarak.mujawar@curtin.edu.my), FoES Building Room SK3-421, phone no. 085-443939 ext. 2414) and cc. to Associate Dean R&D of FoES, Associate Prof. Dr.Ramasamy Nagarajan (email:nagarajan@curtin.edu.my)
