Serentak dengan kenaikan harga minyak dan gas asli secara berkekalan serta peningkatan permintaan sedunia terhadap tenaga-tenaga, pembakaran melalui arang batu merupakan cara yang lebih menjimatkan. Walau bagaimanapun, pembakaran arang batu menghasilkan abu arang batu dalam kuantiti yang banyak. Oleh itu, pemprosesan dan pencampuran abu arang batu dengan nanopartikel ferum oksida (Fe3O4) untuk dijadikan hidrogel magnetik bersilika merupakan fokus kepada projek ini. Dua cara akan diaplikasi untuk menghasilkan hidrogel magnetik, iaitu “Sol-Gel” dan “Cross-Linking”. Dalam kalangan sumber-sumber diperbaharui yang wujud setakat ini, hidrogen dipercayai berpotensi untuk dijadikan sumber tenaga. Oleh itu, sebagai fokus kedua bagi projek ini, penghasilan hidrogen gas melalui hidrolisis natrium borohidrida (NaBH4) dengan menggunakan hidrogel magnetik sebagai pemangkin akan dikaji dari segi kesan suhu dan kuantiti pemangkin terhadap kadar penghasilan hidrogen. Dalam pada itu, hidrogel magnetik juga akan dikaji dari segi strukturnya dengan menggunakan “Scanning Electron Miscroscopy (SEM)”. Tenaga aktivasi bagi hidrolisis tanpa pemangkin, hidrolisis dengan pemangkin hasilan “sol-gel” serta hidrolisis dengan pemangkin hasilan “cross-linking” adalah sebanyak 10.84 kJ/mol, 8.19 kJ/mol dan 7.82 kJ/mol masing-masing.
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In conjunction with the sustained high price for oil and natural gas plus the tremendous increase in worldwide energy consumption, coal-fired generation would be comparatively more economical. This specific way of energy generation results in an increase in the amount of coal fly ash being generated annually and hence the disposal problem exists. Therefore, the useful transformation and combine of coal fly ash with magnetic iron oxide (Fe3O4) nanoparticles into siliceous magnetic hydrogel was studied. “Sol-Gel” and “Cross-Linking” methods were used to synthesize magnetic hydrogel. In addition, growing energy demand necessitates finding renewable energy sources. Hydrogen appears to be a promising source for future energy system. Therefore, the potential application of magnetic hydrogel in hydrogen production through hydrolysis of sodium borohydride (NaBH4) was also studied in this project. The effect of temperature and catalyst amount on the hydrolysis reaction were investigated. Moreover, the fresh and spent magnetic hydrogel were studied by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The activation energies for uncatalyzed reaction, catalyzed reaction by magnetic hydrogel prepared via sol-gel method as well as catalyzed reaction by magnetic hydrogel prepared via cross-linking method were found to be 10.84 kJ/mol, 8.19 kJ/mol and 7.82 kJ/mol respectively.
Synthesis of waste-derived siliceous magnetic hydrogel and its potential application in hydrogen production through hydrolysis of sodium borohydride / Phang Wan Cheng