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Techno-economic analysis and feasibility of industrial-scale biodiesel production from spent coffee grounds (2021)
Journal Article
Thoppil, Y., & Zein, S. H. (2021). Techno-economic analysis and feasibility of industrial-scale biodiesel production from spent coffee grounds. Journal of cleaner production, 307, Article 127113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127113

The depletion of the overall provision of crude oil has contributed to the penury for replacing diesel inside the tape drive industry to mitigate their impact. The purpose of the study is to perform an economic analysis to key out the viability of de... Read More about Techno-economic analysis and feasibility of industrial-scale biodiesel production from spent coffee grounds.

A circular economy approach for industrial scale biodiesel production from palm oil mill effluent using microwave heating: Design, simulation, techno-economic analysis and location comparison (2021)
Journal Article
Waudby, H., & Zein, S. H. (2021). A circular economy approach for industrial scale biodiesel production from palm oil mill effluent using microwave heating: Design, simulation, techno-economic analysis and location comparison. Process Safety and Environmental Protection, 148, 1006-1018. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2021.02.011

This paper examines a green approach to produce industrial-scale biodiesel from a palm oil mill effluent (POME) using Microwave Heating. Kinetic data were determined for this reaction and implemented into the Aspen HYSYS simulation software to produc... Read More about A circular economy approach for industrial scale biodiesel production from palm oil mill effluent using microwave heating: Design, simulation, techno-economic analysis and location comparison.

Electrochemical quantification of D-glucose during the production of bioethanol from thermo-mechanically pre-treated wheat straw (2021)
Journal Article
Ward, R. A., Charlton, A., Welham, K. J., Baker, P., Zein, S. H., Tomkinson, J., Richards, D. I., Kelly, S. M., Lawrence, N. S., & Wadhawan, J. D. (2021). Electrochemical quantification of D-glucose during the production of bioethanol from thermo-mechanically pre-treated wheat straw. Electrochemistry communications, 124, Article 106942. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.elecom.2021.106942

Mechanical pre-treatment (disc refining) of wheat straw, at both atmospheric and elevated pressure, is shown to be an efficient process to access fermentable monosaccharides, with the potential to integrate within the infrastructure of existing first... Read More about Electrochemical quantification of D-glucose during the production of bioethanol from thermo-mechanically pre-treated wheat straw.

Esterification of residual palm oil using solid acid catalyst derived from rice husk (2020)
Journal Article
Semilin, V., Balan, W. S., Janaun, J., Chung, C. H., Zhu, Z., Haywood, S. K., Touhami, D., Chong, K. P., Yaser, A. Z., Lee, P. C., & Zein, S. H. (2021). Esterification of residual palm oil using solid acid catalyst derived from rice husk. Journal of hazardous materials, 404(Part B), Article 124092. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124092

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 17.2–18.5 times higher than in raw R... Read More about Esterification of residual palm oil using solid acid catalyst derived from rice husk.

Recovery of oil from palm oil mill effluent using polypropylene micro/nanofiber (2020)
Journal Article
Semilin, V., Janaun, J., Chung, C. H., Touhami, D., Haywood, S. K., Chong, K. P., Yaser, A. Z., & Zein, S. H. (2021). Recovery of oil from palm oil mill effluent using polypropylene micro/nanofiber. Journal of hazardous materials, 404, Article 124144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124144

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

Single-Step extraction-esterification process to produce Biodiesel from Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) using microwave heating: a circular economy approach to making use of a difficult waste product. (2020)
Journal Article
Davies, E., Deutz, P., & Zein, S. H. (in press). Single-Step extraction-esterification process to produce Biodiesel from Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) using microwave heating: a circular economy approach to making use of a difficult waste product. Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery, https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-020-00856-1

This investigation explores single step biodiesel synthesis using Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) as a feedstock. Normally considered a waste product from the extraction process of palm oil, POME treatment is difficult and can cause significant environ... Read More about Single-Step extraction-esterification process to produce Biodiesel from Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) using microwave heating: a circular economy approach to making use of a difficult waste product..

Optimization of pH as a strategy to improve enzymatic saccharification of wheat straw for enhancing bioethanol production (2020)
Journal Article
Abdulsattar, M., Abdulsattar, J., Greenway, G., Welham, K., & Zein, S. H. (2020). Optimization of pH as a strategy to improve enzymatic saccharification of wheat straw for enhancing bioethanol production. Journal of Analytical Science and Technology, 11(1), Article 17. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40543-020-00217-7

In this work, wheat straw (WS) was used as a lignocellulosic substrate to investigate the influence of pH on enzymatic saccharification. The optimum enzymatic hydrolysis occurred at pH range 5.8 – 6.0, instead of 4.8 - 5.0 as has been widely reported... Read More about Optimization of pH as a strategy to improve enzymatic saccharification of wheat straw for enhancing bioethanol production.

An innovative method of extraction of coffee oil using an advanced microwave system: in comparison with conventional Soxhlet extraction method (2019)
Journal Article
Hibbert, S., Welham, K., & Zein, S. H. (2019). An innovative method of extraction of coffee oil using an advanced microwave system: in comparison with conventional Soxhlet extraction method. SN Applied Sciences, 1(11), Article 1467. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-019-1457-5

The production of energy and chemicals from waste biomass is an attractive alternative by comparison with first generation biofuels and fossil feedstocks. This paper investigates oil extraction from spent coffee grounds (SCG) by means of an advanced... Read More about An innovative method of extraction of coffee oil using an advanced microwave system: in comparison with conventional Soxhlet extraction method.

Rheological evaluation of the fabrication parameters of cellulose acetate butyrate membrane on CO2/N2 separation performance (2019)
Book Chapter
Lee, R., Jawad, Z., Ahmad, A., Chua, H., Ngang, H., & Zein, S. (2019). Rheological evaluation of the fabrication parameters of cellulose acetate butyrate membrane on CO2/N2 separation performance. In Z. A. Jawad (Ed.), Membrane Technology for CO2 Sequestration and Separation (202-225). (1). Taylor & Francis

The rise in emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) mainly carbon dioxide (CO2) in recent years due to rapid development of modern civilisation, has been listed as the primary contributor to global warming. To address this global issue, membrane technolo... Read More about Rheological evaluation of the fabrication parameters of cellulose acetate butyrate membrane on CO2/N2 separation performance.

Wheat straw bio-refining. Part II: Optimization of the microwave radiation with sulphuric acid pre-treatment and its enzymatic hydrolysis for fermentable sugars (2017)
Journal Article
Festus, O., Skoulou, V. K., & Zein, S. H. (2017). Wheat straw bio-refining. Part II: Optimization of the microwave radiation with sulphuric acid pre-treatment and its enzymatic hydrolysis for fermentable sugars. Current Microwave Chemistry, 4(4), 306-316. https://doi.org/10.2174/2213335604666171103123459

Background: The potential of microwave-assisted heating for enhancing the alkaline pretreatment of lignocellulosic waste is highlighted in this work.

Objective: To maximize separation of fermentable sugars from wheat straw.

Methods: Wheat straw... Read More about Wheat straw bio-refining. Part II: Optimization of the microwave radiation with sulphuric acid pre-treatment and its enzymatic hydrolysis for fermentable sugars.

Wheat Straw Bio-refining. Part I: Optimization of the Microwave Radiation Process with Sulphuric Acid Pre-treatment (2017)
Journal Article
Demirhan, H., Fauzi, A., Skoulou, V., Haywood, S., & Zein, S. H. (2017). Wheat Straw Bio-refining. Part I: Optimization of the Microwave Radiation Process with Sulphuric Acid Pre-treatment. Current Microwave Chemistry, 4(3), 205-218. https://doi.org/10.2174/2213335604666170719113659

Background: This study investigates the microwave-assisted acid extraction of lignin from wheat straw.

Methods: Two experimental design methods, the Central Composite Design (CCD) and the Response Surface Method (RSM) methods were used to select c... Read More about Wheat Straw Bio-refining. Part I: Optimization of the Microwave Radiation Process with Sulphuric Acid Pre-treatment.

Characterization of rice husk-based catalyst prepared via conventional and microwave carbonisation (2017)
Journal Article
Touhami, D., Zhu, Z., Balan, W. S., Janaun, J., Haywood, S., & Zein, S. (2017). Characterization of rice husk-based catalyst prepared via conventional and microwave carbonisation. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 5(3), 2388-2394. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2017.04.020

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. Carbon-based sulphonated catalysts (CBSCs) were made from rice husk for biodiesel production. The CBSCs were prepared by microwave (MW) and conventional heating processes from the same feedstock. In both heating systems, the prep... Read More about Characterization of rice husk-based catalyst prepared via conventional and microwave carbonisation.

Nanocarbons from acid pretreated waste coffee grounds using microwave radiation (2017)
Journal Article
Zein, S. H., Gyamera, B. A., & Skoulou, V. K. (2017). Nanocarbons from acid pretreated waste coffee grounds using microwave radiation. Materials letters, 193, 46-49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matlet.2017.01.100

This study investigates the use of microwave radiation to produce nanocarbons from Waste Coffee Grounds (WCG). It is first step to demonstrate the potential of integrating the microwave power to conventional methods of carbonaceous materials and nano... Read More about Nanocarbons from acid pretreated waste coffee grounds using microwave radiation.

Investigation of the chemocatalytic and biocatalytic valorization of a range of different lignin preparations: The importance of β-O-4 content (2016)
Journal Article
Lancefield, C. S., Rashid, G. M. M., Bouxin, F., Wasak, A., Tu, W.-C., Hallett, J., Zein, S., Rodríguez, J., Jackson, S. D., Westwood, N. J., & Bugg, T. D. H. (2016). Investigation of the chemocatalytic and biocatalytic valorization of a range of different lignin preparations: The importance of β-O-4 content. ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, 4(12), 6921-6930. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.6b01855

A set of seven different lignin preparations was generated from a range of organosolv (acidic, alkaline, ammonia-treated, and dioxane-based), ionic liquid, autohydrolysis, and Kraft pretreatments of lignocelluloses. Each lignin was characterized by 2... Read More about Investigation of the chemocatalytic and biocatalytic valorization of a range of different lignin preparations: The importance of β-O-4 content.

Effect of ions in ionic liquids on the characteristics of cellulose from coconut husk fibres (2016)
Journal Article
Reh, N. A., Zakaria, R., & Zein, S. H. (2016). Effect of ions in ionic liquids on the characteristics of cellulose from coconut husk fibres. International journal of biomedical engineering and technology, 21(1), 80-94. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJBET.2016.076734

This paper reports the properties of cellulose nanowhiskers as new potential biomaterials. Cellulose nanowhiskers were produced from coconut husk fibres using four different anions of ionic liquids: 1-butyl-3-mehtylimidzalium chloride, 1-butyl-3-meht... Read More about Effect of ions in ionic liquids on the characteristics of cellulose from coconut husk fibres.

Incorporation of inorganic carbon nanotubes fillers into the CA polymeric matrix for improvement in CO2/N2 separation (2015)
Journal Article
Jawad, Z. A., Ahmad, A. L., Low, S. C., & Zein, S. H. (2015). Incorporation of inorganic carbon nanotubes fillers into the CA polymeric matrix for improvement in CO2/N2 separation. Current nanoscience, 11(1), 69-79. https://doi.org/10.2174/1573413710666140922224633

Among all separation techniques, membrane technology has been shown to reduce CO 2 emissions without any phase changes due to its rapid, energy efficient process. The membrane-based gas separation must consist of a defect-free, thin, dense skin layer... Read More about Incorporation of inorganic carbon nanotubes fillers into the CA polymeric matrix for improvement in CO2/N2 separation.

Rebuttal to the comment on article "poly(3-hydroxybutyrate)-functionalised multi-walled carbon nanotubes/chitosan green nanocomposite membranes and their application in pervaporation" (2015)
Journal Article
Ong, Y. T., Ahmad, A. L., Zein, S. H. S., Sudesh, K., & Tan, S. H. (2016). Rebuttal to the comment on article "poly(3-hydroxybutyrate)-functionalised multi-walled carbon nanotubes/chitosan green nanocomposite membranes and their application in pervaporation". Separation and purification technology, 158, 94-95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2015.11.042

Influence of solvent exchange time on mixed matrix membrane separation performance for CO2/N2and a kinetic sorption study (2014)
Journal Article
Jawad, Z. A., Ahmad, A. L., Low, S. C., Chew, T. L., & Zein, S. H. (2015). Influence of solvent exchange time on mixed matrix membrane separation performance for CO2/N2and a kinetic sorption study. Journal of membrane science, 476, 590-601. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2014.11.008

Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is the largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions. Mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) have recently received attention as an attractive candidate for membrane-based separation, for which MMMs can serve as an alternative to conv... Read More about Influence of solvent exchange time on mixed matrix membrane separation performance for CO2/N2and a kinetic sorption study.

Carbon Nanotubes: Next-Generation Nanomaterials for Clean Water Technologies (2014)
Book Chapter
Ong, Y. T., Yee, K. F., Yeang, Q. W., Zein, S. H. S., & Tan, S. H. (2014). Carbon Nanotubes: Next-Generation Nanomaterials for Clean Water Technologies. In B. I. Kharisov, O. V. Kharissova, & H. R. Dias (Eds.), Nanomaterials for Environmental Protection (125-142). John Wiley and Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118845530.ch8

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Substantial progress and breakthroughs have been achieved for nanomaterials because of their nanometer size. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), a type of nanomaterial, have received considerable interest worldwide because of th... Read More about Carbon Nanotubes: Next-Generation Nanomaterials for Clean Water Technologies.