Nor Akalili Ahmad

University of Technology Malaysia | UTM · Department of Chemical Engineering

The use of microalgae for wastewater remediation and nutrient recovery answers the call for a circular bioeconomy, which involves waste resource utilization and ecosystem protection. The integration of microalgae cultivation and wastewater treatment has been proposed as a promising strategy to tackle the issues of water and energy source depletions...

Porous materials including polymeric and inorganic membranes are important and widely used in various industries. Controlling the pore size and pore distribution in porous materials is the major focus in this field. In this study, a novel copper-catalyzed template dissolution approach using ferric oxyhydroxide (FeOOH) as nano-templates was introduc...

This paper presents a comprehensive study of the performance of a newly developed titania nanotube incorporated RO membrane for endocrine-disrupting compound (EDC) removal at a low concentration. EDCs are known as an emerging contaminant, and if these pollutants are not properly removed, they can enter the water cycle and reach the water supply for...

The noxious side effects of pesticides on human health and environment have prompted the search of effective and reliable treatment techniques for pesticide removal. The removal of pesticides can be accomplished through physical, chemical and biologicals. Physical approaches such as filtration and adsorption is one the most prevailing pesticide rem...

Membrane technology is a sustainable method to remove pollutants from petroleum wastewater. However, the presence of hydrophobic oil molecules and inorganic constituents can cause membrane fouling. Biomass derived biopolymers are promising renewable materials for membrane modification. In this study, fouling resistant biopolymer N-phthaloylchitosan...

Functional and structural nanomaterials are emerging materials that display interesting physical and chemical properties because of their size and surface area to volume ratio. Applications for these materials include uses in removing pollutants from the environment. Looking at the current state-of-the-art as well as future trends in the use of nan...

The substrate of RO thin film composite membranes offers support for rejection layer formation. It remarkably affects the physicochemical and structural properties of the developed rejection layer. This denotes the relevance of substrates modification in realizing optimized substrate structure in terms of porosity, thickness and tortuosity with the...

A novel hybrid nanomaterials comprising of palygorskite (PAL) and chitin nanofibers (ChNFs) was successfully synthesized via simple, green and cost effective technology/method and for the first time used in adsorption process. Shrimp sourced chitin is a biopolymer endowed with amino and hydroxyl groups suited for adsorption of metals while PAL is h...

The limited clean water resource has urged the need to extract fresh water from non-conventional sources. Produced water (PW) is a potential source of fresh water, particularly for oil-producing countries experiencing water stress issue. The engagement of membrane-based desalination technology in the field of PW treatment brings about new possibili...

With the blooming of oil and gas industries, oily saline wastewater treatment becomes a viable option to resolve the oily water disposal issue and to provide a source of water for beneficial use. Reverse osmosis (RO) has been touted as a promising technology for oily saline wastewater treatment. However, one great challenge of RO membrane is foulin...

Reverse osmosis (RO) is a mature desalination technology that provides an effective solution to solve global water scarcity issues. In this study, thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membrane for RO desalination was fabricated by depositing positively charged titania nanosheet (pTNS) and negatively charged titania nanosheet (nTNS) on the surface of polya...

Oily wastewater discharge from various industry processes and activities have caused dramatic impacts on the human and environment. Treatment of oily wastewater using membrane technology has gained worldwide attention due to its efficiency in removing the amount and concentration of oil and grease as well as other specific pollutants in order to be...