Aerobic granulation for real domestic sewage treatment at hot and low humidity climate condition

With inoculum sludge from a conventional activated sludge wastewater treatment plant, a sequencing batch reactor fed with real domestic wastewater was operated at 50 ± 1 °C to study the formation of aerobic granular sludge (AGS) for simultaneous organics and nutrients removal with a complete cycle time of 3 h. The AGS were successfully cultivated with excellent settling ability and demonstrated exceptional performance in the organics and nutrients removal with influent loading rate of 1.2 kg COD m-3 d-1. Stable, regular, dense and fast settling granule (average diameter, 2.0 mm and sludge volume index, 73.501 mL g-1) were developed in a single reactor. In addition, 89 % COD removal efficiency was observed in the system at the maturation stage of the granulation, while its ammonia nitrogen removal efficiencies were up to 99 %. The study demonstrated the capabilities of AGS formation in a single, high and slender column type-bioreactor at high temperature which is suitable to be applied for hot climate and low humidity condition (e.g. Saudi Arabia)

Eating culture among ASEAN countries and its implication towards development of regional halal industries

Halal industries play important roles in developing Malaysian economy with its halal product export reached RM7768.4 million from January to March this year alone. The main halal exports are food ingredients which valued for RM2521.9 million, followed by food and beverages which valued for RM3140.8 million and fats and oil derivatives account for RM1449.2 million. Malaysia is now leading in development and establishment of halal certification and became center of references for other country’s certification bodies. With broad export market and variety of resources it creates a brighter sight for Malaysia to be one of the biggest halal exporters in ASEAN. Despite the opportunity and the strength that Malaysia has in halal market, several loopholes which badly affect the halal product export need to be addressed. These include the inadequate information on legislation, social and culture of the importing countries that contribute to fewer acceptances of the exported products. Malaysian industries tend produce food products without proper knowledge of consumer acceptance in their respective importing countries. This paper is an attempt to explore the eating cultures among selected ASEAN countries and its implication on the development of the regional halal industries. Several ASEAN countries which include Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand have been targeted as the respondents for this study. Data was collected from both documents and an in-depth interview with experts from respective countries. Findings show that local preferences on food products is related to several factors which include socio-economics, religion, age, education, social class and the place of culture itself. Different culture in different countries creates a different preference in food consumption. The paper concludes that in order to penetrate the halal products into different ASEAN countries both the producers and the exporters need to understand the local preferences and cultures on food products before embarking into the business

Fiqh istihalah: integration of science and Islamic law

Modern developments in information technology have helped the expansion of knowledge, and shaped various aspects of contemporary life, including art, architecture, engineering, agriculture and the food industry. This paper discusses the role of modern technology in the food industry, with emphasis on the activities of enhancing, redesigning and upgrading the quality of the food. It analyses the use of technology in determining the permissibility of certain foods in compliance with the Islamic concept of halal; and it examines the concept of fiqh istihalah and its applications in the food industry, focusing on issues relating to the use of alcohol and gelatine ingredients in food products

Food culture ('uruf) among Muslim community in Borneo: an exploratory research

Every society is reflected by the culture that they had practiced one of it, is in halal food culture (‘uruf). This study explores the Muslim community in Sabah for the practiced of halal food culture. To obtain data on the research, researchers have applied the method of literature and field. This study found that Muslim communities in Sabah do have awareness about halal but still in a low level of understanding the concepts include, dietary food sources and its guiding principles. Most Sabahan people prefer to have fresh seafood such as fish, shrimp and seaweed in their regular diet. This even coincide with the local geography, which mostly they inhabit the coastal area and in island. Hence this exploratory study was to describe more clearly about the dietary food in halal food culture that is applied by the Muslim community

Inoculation of Bacillus sphaericus UPMB-10 to young oil palm and measurement of its uptake of fixed nitrogen using the 15N isotope dilution technique

There are increasing applications of diazotrophic rhizobacteria in the sustainable agriculture system. A field experiment on young immature oil palm was conducted to quantify the uptake of N derived from N2 fixation by the diazotroph Bacillus sphaericus strain UPMB-10, using the 15N isotope dilution method. Eight months after 15N application, young immature oil palms that received 67% of standard N fertilizer application together with B. sphaericus inoculation had significantly lower 15N enrichment than uninoculated palms that received similar N fertilizers. The dilution of labeled N served as a marker for the occurrence of biological N2 fixation. The proportion of N uptake that was derived from the atmosphere was estimated as 63% on the whole plant basis. The inoculation process increased the N and dry matter yields of the palm leaflets and rachis significantly. Field planting of young, immature oil palm in soil inoculated with B. sphaericus UPMB-10 might mitigate inorganic fertilizer-N application through supplementation by biological nitrogen fixation. This could be a new and important source of nitrogen biofertilizer in the early phase of oil palm cultivation in the field

Development and characteristics of aerobic granular sludge at 40°C

This study is conducted to develop aerobic granular sludge (AGS) for domestic wastewater treatment application in a hot climate and low humidity condition such as for Middle East countries e.g. Saudi Arabia and to investigate the performance of the granular sludge in organic matter and nutrient removal by using sequencing batch reactor (SBR). The operation of the reactor was based on the SBR system with a complete cycle time of 3 hours (5 min of feeding, 140 min of aeration, 15 to 30 min of settling, 5 min of discharging and 3 min idling) and operated at 1.6 g COD / L.d organic loading rate. Granular sludge was developed at temperature 40ºC in 30 days operation by using synthetic wastewater as the influent. Result showed that developed granular sludge had good settling ability with average size of the granules was found to be 1.03 to 2.42 mm. Meanwhile, the removal efficiencies of chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) and total phosphorus (TP) are 87.31%, 91.93% and 61.25%. The study shows AGS can be developed at high temperature and capable to treat organics and nutrients present in domestic wastewater at hot climates and low humidity condition

Cultivation and characteristics of aerobic granular sludge for simultaneous organics and nutrients removal performances at high temperature

With inoculum sludge from a conventional activated sludge wastewater treatment plant, a sequencing batch reactor fed with synthetic wastewater was operated at 50 ± 1 °C to study the formation of aerobic granular sludge (AGS) for simultaneous organics and nutrients removal with a complete cycle time of 3 h. The AGS were successfully cultivated with excellent settling ability and demonstrated exceptional performance in the organics and nutrients removal with influent loading rate and COD/N ratio of 1.6 kg COD (L.d)-1 and 8.3, respectively. Stable, regular, dense and fast settling granule (average diameter, 2.0 mm and settling velocity, 26 m h-1) were developed in a single reactor. In addition, 76% COD removal efficiency was observed in the system at the maturation stage of the granulation, while its ammonia and total phosphorus removal efficiencies were up to 88% and 69%, respectively. The study demonstrated the capabilities of AGS formation in a single, high and slender column type-bioreactor at high temperature which is suitable to be applied for hot climate and low humidity condition (e.g. Saudi Arabia)