Siti Rozaimah Sheikh Abdullah

National University of Malaysia | ukm · Chemical Engineering Programme

The rapid development of the residential and industrial sectors produces a huge amount of treated domestic wastewater. The treated wastewater is discharged and could affect the environment in the long term. Improving the quality of treated domestic wastewater for water reclamation would benefit both sectors. This study aims to determine the efficie...

Hexavalent chromium is one of the toxic metals in water pollution. This study is aimed at analyzing the involvement of chromium reductase and biosorption potential in chromium-resistant species of Bacillus cereus. A total of 10% (v/v) of B. cereus biomass was inoculated into a 90 mL chromium-contaminated solution with an initial concentration of 60...

Conventional physicochemical processes for removing heavy metals from industrial effluents are high in chemical usage and produce large amounts of chemical sludges, which in turn needs secured disposal. Biological processes to overcome these problems have been developed for treating wastewaters containing heavy metals. The bioremoval and biorecover...

The Department of Chemical & Process Engineering (JKKP) is committed and actively working to providing a safe lab environment for students and staff. Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994, it is one of the main responsibilities of the employer to protect and safeguard employees or consumers from the adverse effects of chemicals at the w...

Generic skills play a vital role in increasing the employability and marketability of a student. As for the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, UKM, some of these skills are imparted in the assignment given to students called Open Ended Laboratory (OEL). In this OEL assignment, students are required to propose an experiment title based...

The Integrated Project (IP) has been practised in the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering (JKKP) since the 2006/2007 session. Initially, the IP is only implemented for the Year II students for both Chemical (KK) and Biochemical Engineering (KB) programmes. Previously, the Year 1 curriculum was only based on the common faculty courses. St...

Determining the optimum application dosage of probiotic in biofloc system is often challenging because the microbial community seems to exert similar effects irrespective of their dosages. It is however noted that certain dosages promote higher yield in shrimp culture more effectively. Principal component analysis was adopted to identify these opti...

Biological treatment is currently a favorable option to treat wastewater due to its environmentally friendly methods and minimal toxic by-products. The majority of biological wastewater treatment uses bacteria as treatment agents, which are known to have excellent capabilities for removing various pollutants. Researchers have extensively explored t...

The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of petroleum sludge on a tropical indigenous plant species (Phragmites karka) and assess the feasibility of using vegetation to cure crude oil in contaminated sands. The study involved conducting experiments in glass aquarium containing P. karka that were subjected to three distinct concentr...

Suitable plant species required to initially facilitate a phytoremediation process for any pollutant should be established to avoid pollutant toxicity to plants leading to inefficient phytoremediation process. The goal of this study was to search for native plants (Pennisetum purpureum, Cyperus surinamensis and Phragmites karka) that can tolerate a...

Bacillus nitratireducens was isolated from textile effluent and showed high tolerance to chromium (Cr), reaching up to a 1000 mg/L MIC value. This research was aimed at utilizing biosorbents from live and dead cells of B. nitratireducens to remove Cr from an aqueous solution. A batch biosorption test was performed, and mechanisms analysis was appro...

Phytoremediation, an environmentally friendly approach that uses plants to break down and remove contaminants from the environment, as a viable treatment for the removal of hydrocarbons. It has the potential to be more efficient, less expensive, and more ecologically friendly than the conventional treatment. This study aimed to determine the phytor...

Aquaculture effluent generation, an environmentally crucial process requires effective treatment. Simple methods like coagulation and flocculation are considered effective. In this study, chitosan from Black tiger shrimp, Penaeus monodon, was used to remove ammonia (NH3) and turbidity. Response surface methodology-optimised dosages (5.00, 12.50, an...

Floating aquatic macrophytes have a high level of proficiency in the removal of various contaminants, particularly nutrients, from wastewater. Due to their rapid growth rates, it is imperative to ensure the safe removal of the final biomass from the system. The ultimate macrophyte biomass is composed of lignocellulose and has enhanced nutritional a...

Increasing aquaculture cultivation produces large quantities of wastewater. If not handled properly, it can have negative impacts on the environment. Constructed wetlands (CWs) are one of the phytoremediation methods that can be applied to treat aquaculture effluent. This research was aimed at determining the performance of Cyperus rotundus in remo...

The ability of mixed neem, cassava, and wild betel plant leaves to act as plant-based coagulants was tested in real aquaculture wastewater through the coagulation-flocculation process. The performance of plant-based coagulant (PBC) was compared with that of chemical coagulant (alum) to observe the removal efficiency of turbidity, TSS, color, and CO...

Selection of coagulant for coagulation-flocculation treatment process involves more factors than we generally expect. Embracing emerging global concerns on green technologies and sustainability, researchers have been focusing on natural coagulant as an alternative to minimize environmental impact due to toxic chemical coagulants. Moringa oleifera h...

Discharge of crude oil (or its products) during the extracting, refining, and transporting into the environment have caused serious environmental distress due to their highly hydrophobic resistance, and persistence in nature and very difficult to be remediated from the environment. Therefore, an environmentally conscious approach to enhance the bio...

In this study, biosorption potential of nine epiphytic bacteria isolated from the rhizosphere of Lepironia articulata and Scirpus grossus were assessed. Identification of the isolated epiphytic rhizobacteria using 16S rRNA analysis showed species belonging to the four genera of Bacillus, Enterobacter, Aeromonas, and Chromobacterium. Batch biosorpti...

Urban industrialization has caused a ubiquity of microplastics in the environment. A large percentage of plastic waste originated from Southeast Asian countries. Microplastics arising from the primary sources of personal care items and industrial uses and the fragmentation of larger plastics have recently garnered attention due to their ubiquity. D...

Treatment of petroleum-contaminated soil to a less toxic medium via physical and chemical treatment is too costly and requires posttreatment. This review focuses on the employment of phytoremediation and mycoremediation technologies in cleaning hydrocarbon-contaminated soil which is currently rare. It is considered environmentally beneficial and po...

The present study investigated the utilization of blood clam shells as a potential substitute for conventional media, as well as the influence of the acclimation time on the efficacy of an intermittent slow sand filter (ISSF) in the treatment of real domestic wastewater. ISSF was operated with 16 h on and 8 h off, focusing on the parameters of turb...

Phytoremediation is one of the green technologies that is friendly to nature, utilizes fewer chemicals , and exhibits good performance. In this study, phytoremediation was used to treat diesel-contaminated sand using a local aquatic plant species, Scirpus mucronatus, by analyzing the amount of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs). Optimization of di...

Biocoagulants have gained attention as an alternative to chemical coagulants in water and wastewater treatment due to their ability to remove pollutant parameters such as turbidity, suspended solids, color, and organic compounds. Plant-based biocoagulants are currently the most promising due to their abundant availability and reliable performance....

Ammonia-nitrogen (NH 3 − N) is one of the most frequent pollutants in wastewater which utilizes dissolved oxygen in water and produces eutrophication in water bodies, while Bisphenol A (BPA) is an emerging pollutant that disrupt endocrine hormones and system operation even at extremely low doses. This review discusses the levels of ammonia and BPA...

In the present study, the potential of Alternanthera spp and its associated rhizobacteria to uptake and biodegrade methylparaben (MP) under hydroponic conditions was assessed. The experiments were conducted in vitro using glass reactors of 500-mL volume. The results indicated that the removal rates in hydroponic reactors were significantly higher (...

The batik industry has been one of the main family businesses in most of the east-coast region of the Malaysian peninsula for many years. However, appropriate water treatment is still a major challenge for this industry. Stringent laws introduced by the Malaysian authorities and the intention to protect the environment are factors that drive resear...

Chitin was extracted from three species of crab obtained from biowastes of marine crab (Portunus. pelagicus), brackish water crab (Scylla sp.), and freshwater crab (Gecarcinucidea sp.). The chemical isolation involved 1 M NaOH and 1 M HCl for demineralization and deproteinization, respectively. 50 % NaOH deacetylated chitin to chitosan at 100 °C fo...

Coagulation-flocculation is currently the best practice for aquaculture effluent treatment, and biobased compounds are emerging as coagulant/flocculants. This study aimed to characterize the bioflocculant produced from Serratia marcescens and applied it to treat artificial turbid water (kaolin substrate) and real aquaculture effluent using the comb...

The toxicity of hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) present in the environment has exceeded the current limits or standards and thus may lead to biotic and abiotic catastrophes. Accordingly, several treatments, including chemical, biological, and physi- cal approaches, are being used to reduce Cr(VI) waste in the surrounding environment. This study compar...

Removal (%) NH 4 +-N (mg/L) Bacteria Initial (mg/L) Final (mg/L) Removal (%) Conclusions ❑ Isolate NS2 (Media 1), NB1 (Media 2) and PS (Media 3) showed the highest ammonia removal of 88.4%, 62.7% and 63.3 % respectively. ❑ The 16S rDNA identified isolate NS2, NB1 and PS had high similarity to Burkholderia latens, Paenibacillus sp., and Providencia...

Oil spill contamination occurs due to exploration activities in the deep sea and downstream activities such as oil transportation via pipelines, oil-tankers (marine and terrestrial), re-fineries, finished product storage, distribution, and retail distribution setup. Physico-chemical technologies are accessible for oil spill clean-up, but oil biorem...

Aquaculture sector plays important role for the economic development in Malaysia, but environmental concerns are arising due to the pollution caused by the discharge of untreated wastewater. Coagulation-flocculation-sedimentation is currently the best practice of aquaculture wastewater treatment. This research aims to compare the performance of che...

The environmental impacts of aquaculture wastewater and biowaste from shellfish processing have become a major challenge to aquaculture expansion and sustainability. There is need to develop measures for the wastewater treatment and proper recycling of the biowaste. In this study, dry legs of giant freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) were...

The major sources of waste from aquaculture operations emanates from fish or shellfish processing and wastewater generation. A simple technique called coagulation/flocculation utilizes biowaste from aquaculture to produce chitosan coagulant for wastewater treatment. A chemical method was applied in the present study for chitin and chitosan extracti...

Phosphorus is one of the pollutant's parameters causing environmental pollution, known as eutrophication. Coagulation-flocculation is a widely known technology to treat phosphorus-containing wastewater; however, using metal-based coagulants raises some environmental concerns related to their toxicity. Natural coagulants offer an option to treat was...

Domestic wastewater contains various organic and inorganic substances that need to be treated using appropriate technology. Phytotechnology is one of the technologies that have high efficiency in removing contaminants. Thus, this study aims to analyze the potential of Pistia stratiotes, as a floating plant, in removing various contaminants in domes...

The negative impacts of aquaculture wastewater can best be curtailed by sustainable treatment before discharge. As far as environmental safety is concerned, there is no safer place where floc recovered from the treatment of aquaculture wastewater can be disposed. Therefore, it has become imperative to find a more sustainable way of recycling the fl...

Unless better measures are put in place to address the environmental and social impacts emanating from the huge waste generated from sea food processing industries; ‘tragedy of the commons’ is inevitable. Needless to re-emphasise the enormous contributions of aquaculture as the perfect substitute to capture fisheries which has been proven unsustain...

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of plant-based coagulant extracted from Leucaena leucocephala seeds compared with alum in removing solids from aquaculture wastewater. Water-extraction method was used to extract the active ingredients from the seeds by dissolving the seeds' powder in distilled water at 20 g/L concentration, whereas al...

Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) are primarily anthropogenic compounds found in water at trace concentrations and mostly still ignored. Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are two popular categories of CECs. PPCPs are persistent in the environment and capable of disrupting the physiology of target receptors. PPCPs are reported...

Due to the growth and development of the aquaculture industry, appropriate wastewater treatment is needed to reduce uncontrolled pollution and environmental impacts. Therefore, this research uses green technology method, which is the coagulation-flocculation process to treat aquaculture wastewater. Natural flocculants have been the focus of researc...

An effective wastewater treatment is a must to prevent water resources from being polluted. In this research, the method used was biological treatment with sequencing batch reactor (SBR) as the reactor to treatment synthetic wastewater. There were four stages involved in operation of SBR, which were fill, react, settle, and draw. Synthetic wastewat...

Phytoremediation was used in this study to polish treated palm oil mill effluent using Azolla pinnata. The effectiveness of phytoremediation using A. pinnata can be proved through the reduction of the contamination concentration of wastewater before and after treatment. Preliminary study was made to determine the range of variables that are require...

In this study, we proposed three vegetated constructed wetlands (CWs) together with a non-vegetated CW acting as a control in a continuous sub-surface flow system (CSSFS) designed for the remediation of mixed pharmaceuticals (ibuprofen and paracetamol with concentrations of 600 and 60 μg/L, respectively) spiked in domestic wastewater and operated a...

Heavy metal wastes, particularly hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)], are generated from anthropogenic activities, and their increasing abundance has been a research concern due to their toxicity, genotoxicity, carcinogenicity and mutagenicity. Exposure to these dangerous pollutants could lead to chronic infections and even mortality in humans and animals...

As coffee is becoming a daily beverage, the coffee processing industry keeps expanding due to the perpetual demands from the global community. Alas, this great demand has also led to large production of wastewater. Coffee processing mill effluent is characterised as acidic wastewater, with high content of organic compounds, pungent odours and colou...

Palm oil mill effluent (POME) is a wastewater generated from palm oil industries that rich with organic and nutrients which can becomes an excellent substrate for biogas production. A comprehensive study was carried out to study the effect of different ratio of inoculum to POME substrate for biogas production. In addition, the removal efficiencies...

Chitosan is a biopolymer compound which is made up of β-1,4 glycosidic bonds. Due to its peculiar nature, chitosan has found applications in science and engineering, food processing, medicine, agriculture and wastewater treatment. Isolation of chitin and chitosan from dry powder shell of Penaeus monodon was achieved through chemical treatment with...

Phytoremediation is an eco-friendly biotechnology with low costs. The removal of copper (Cu) from polluted water by the two floating plant species Azolla filiculoides and Lemna minor was observed and recorded. Plants were exposed to different Cu (II) concentration (0.25–1.00 mg/L) and sampling time (Days 0, 1, 2, 5 and 7). Both plants can remove Cu...

The study aims to select suitable ornamental plant species that can survive relatively with high concentrations of acetaminophen and methylparaben in constructed wetlands. Alternanthera spp, Asparagus aethiopicus and Chlorophytum comosum are examined to withstand three initial concentrations, 20, 100 and 200 mg/L of acetaminophen and methylparaben....

Natural materials have a high potential to be used as coagulant/flocculant owing to the problems of inorganic materials. Petai belalang (Leucaena leucocephala) is a widely abundant plant in Malaysia and very efficient as a plant-based coagulant in previous research. This research investigated the effectiveness of seeds of L. leucocephala in removin...

Bioflocculants gain attention as alternatives to chemical flocculants because they are more environmentally friendly and highly biodegradable. This study aims to improve the bioflocculant production by Serratia marcescens using one-variable-at-a-time (OVAT) analysis and analyze its flocculating activity performance, toxicity , and the flocculation...

Extensive growth of industries leads to uncontrolled ammonia releases to environment. This can result in significant degradation of the aquatic ecology as well as significant health concerns for humans. Knowing the mechanism of ammonia elimination is the simplest approach to comprehending it. Ammonia has been commonly converted to less hazardous su...

The increasing intensification of the aquaculture industry requires the development of new strategies to reduce the negative impacts of wastewater on the environment. Plant-based coagulants/flocculants, regarded as one of the environmentally friendly technologies for wastewater treatment, show good performance in the removal of suspended solids fro...

Objective:The health system in Indonesia has a rapid development. Domestic and abroad medical escort services are currently becoming a trend. One of the medical escort services is a stretcher.This research was aimed to understand the experience of nurses in assisting patient in stretcherusingcommercialflights in Indonesia. Methods: Qualitative rese...

The use of microalgae for CO2 sequestration helps in mitigating global warming. This paper reviews the application of microalgae for CO2 sequestration with emphasis on performance evaluation, lifecycle, economic assessment, as well as environmental impact. The CO2 sequestration mechanism is done during photosynthesis, via bioconcentration. Performa...

The coffee processing industry produces toxic and low biodegradable effluent, which can pollute water bodies. A pre-treatment study on coffee effluent using a dual-media biofilm reactor (DM-BR) containing sand and Hexafilter (HEX) was conducted alongside a control biofilm reactor (C-BR) containing sand media. The novelty of this study lies in the u...