Kinetic Study of Levulinic Acid from Spirulina platensis Residue.

Microalgae have the potential to emerge as renewable feedstocks to replace fossil resources in producing biofuels and chemicals. Levulinic acid is one of the most promising substances which may serve as chemical building blocks. This work investigated the use of Spirulina platensis residue (solid residue after lipids extraction) to produce LA via acid hydrolysis reaction.

Mesoporous Manganese Oxide/Lignin-Derived Carbon for High Performance of Supercapacitor Electrodes.

This study explores the modification of lignin with surfactants, which can be used as a template to make mesoporous structures, and can also be used in combination with manganese oxide to produce manganese oxide/lignin-derived carbon. Organosolv extraction, using ethanol (70%) at 150 °C, was carried out to extract lignin from oil palm wood. Lignin was then mixed with Pluronic F-127, with and without Mn(NO), and then crosslinked with acidic formaldehyde, resulting in a carbon precursor-based modified lignin.

Effect of chitosan addition on the properties of low-density polyethylene blend as potential bioplastic.

Plastics based on low-density polyethylene (LDPE) blends generally have limited miscibility, and it is difficult to obtain a homogeneous blend. Although they show excellent properties, their thermal degradation rate is a concern. This work aims to realize a homogeneous blend with higher chitosan concentration, thus expected to increase its degradation properties.

Kinetic Investigation for in-situ Epoxidation of Unsaturated Fatty Acid Based on the Pseudo-steady-state-hypothesis (PSSH).

Oleic acid is a mono-unsaturated fatty acid that can be found abundantly in various vegetable oils and potentially attractive to be used as raw material for epoxide chemical. In-situ epoxidation of oleic acid was conducted in batch reactor using peroxy-formic at 30-60°C. Pseudo-steady-state-hypothesis (PSSH) was applied to develop the kinetic model.

Lignin Refinery Using Organosolv Process for Nanoporous Carbon Synthesis.

Porous carbon has been widely used for many applications e.g., adsorbents, catalysts, catalyst supports, energy storage and gas storage due to its outstanding properties.

Preparation of Chitosan Microcapsules Containing Red Ginger Oleoresin Using Emulsion Crosslinking Method.

Background:: Encapsulation is one of the methods used to trap active ingredients in the wall material of microparticles.

Aim:: The aim of this study was to evaluate the encapsulation of red ginger oleoresin using an emulsion crosslinking method with chitosan as the wall material.

Methods:: Emulsions were formed of red ginger oleoresin with chitosan in concentrations of 1%, 2%, 3%, and 4% (w/v), respectively.

Characteristics of glucomannan isolated from fresh tuber of Porang (Amorphophallus muelleri Blume).

Porang is a potential source of glucomannan. This research objective was to find a direct glucomannan isolation method from fresh porang corm to produce high purity glucomannan. Two isolation methods were performed.