Recovery of oil from palm oil mill effluent using polypropylene micro/nanofiber.

Residual palm oil that goes into the river untreated can become detrimental to the environment. Residual oil discharge during milling process into palm oil mill effluent (POME) is unavoidable. About 1 wt% of residual oil in POME causes major problems to the mills, in terms of environment, wastewater treatment and economy losses.

Esterification of residual palm oil using solid acid catalyst derived from rice husk.

In this study, carbon-silica based acid catalysts derived from rice husks (RH) were successfully synthesised using microwave (MW) technology. The results showed that MW sulphonation produced Sulphur (S) content of 17.2-18.

Communicating Geographical Risks in Crisis Management: The Need for Research.

In any crisis, there is a great deal of uncertainty, often geographical uncertainty or, more precisely, spatiotemporal uncertainty. Examples include the spread of contamination from an industrial accident, drifting volcanic ash, and the path of a hurricane. Estimating spatiotemporal probabilities is usually a difficult task, but that is not our primary concern.

Study of Pyridine-Mediated Electrochemical Reduction of CO2 to Methanol at High CO2 Pressure.

The recently proposed highly efficient route of pyridine-catalyzed CO2 reduction to methanol was explored on platinum electrodes at high CO2 pressure. At 55 bar (5.5 MPa) of CO2 , the bulk electrolysis in both potentiostatic and galvanostatic regimes resulted in methanol production with Faradaic yields of up to 10 % for the first 5-10 C cm(-2) of charge passed.

Achieving cross-border consistency during a nuclear emergency.

The aim of the HERCA working group on emergencies (WGE) is to develop proposals to align decisions of European national crisis management organisations in a consistent manner during a nuclear emergency. The focus is to enhance the cooperation between the European organisations responsible for emergency radiological assessment, such as nuclear safety and radiological safety authorities, and their respective technical support organisations. A common understanding of a given emergency situation between those bodies will form the basis for consistent appropriate recommendations on protective actions and other response actions.

Strained arrays of colloidal nanoparticles: conductance and magnetoresistance enhancement.

Colloidal nanoparticles are very popular as building blocks of functional arrays for electronic and optical applications. However, there is a problem in achieving electrical conductivity in such nanoarrays due to their molecular shells. These shells, which are inherent to colloidal particles, physically separate the nanoparticles in an array and act as very effective insulators.