This research aims to provide insights into the biological efficacy of a newly formed hydrophobic deep eutectic solvent (DES). A DES based on menthol was successfully synthesized with fatty acids. The DESs’ properties as enzyme activators were examined against a neat counterpart. The menthol:decanoic acid (1:1) combination showed improved thermal stability, strong catalytic activity, and reusability for up to four subsequent cycles under ideal conditions (pH 7.0, 40 °C for 2 h). The hydrophobic DES replaced hexane in ester synthesis, where RNL@DES5 showed better fatty acid conversion compared to neat RNL. This study demonstrated promising applications of hydrophobic DESs in non-aqueous organic reactions.

As the country started to become an export oriented country since the early 1970s, the growth of Malaysia’s textile industry has increased greatly. In 2011 alone, the country has provided a total of RM10.8 billion of exports of textile products and RM 6.6 billion of imports. This valuable improvement has lead to several environmental impacts involving land and water pollution. The current trend in waste management is to examine the feasibility of using textile sludge generated in wastewater treatment plants of textile industry as a partial replacement for clay as building materials. The chemical and physical properties of clay and textile have been analyzed. The effects of sludge proportion (0%-10%), and firing temperature (950oC and 1180oC) on the quality of the clay bricks were examined. The tests were conducted as per British Standard (BS) codes to investigate the potential of the textile sludge to be incorporate into clay for use as engineering blocks and load bearing bricks. According to the results, sludge addition and firing temperature are the important factors to determine the quality of clay bricks. All clay samples satisfied the requirement of British Standard norms in term of compressive strength and water absorption. It is seen that all bulk density of clay samples did not comply with good quality of clay brick but they can be categorized as lightweight building materials. Textile sludge was also tested for substitution into cement bricks. Cement samples with 10% textile sludge substitution comply with the requirement of British Standard norm for load bearing class 3. In summary, this study provides a preliminary research output that will contribute to expand a new area of research in recycling of textile sludge.

Occupational noise-induced hearing loss (ONIHL) is the most reported occupational disease in Malaysia. ONIHL is aggravated by the presence of early hearing loss amongst the youth prior to entering a real working environment. At technical and vocational education training (TVET) institutions, students may develop early ONIHL because training workshops are designed imitating the industrial working environment to produce skilled workers. The exceeding noise level at workshops and recent risk of non-occupational noise can cause early ONIHL among these students. Therefore, ONIHL must be addressed at the early stage of producing skilled workers. Octa hearing conservation index (OHCI) system is developed as a management and monitoring tool for hearing conservation program (HCP) in TVET institutions. Six existing and two new HCP components were used to build the index system. A pilot test on the effectiveness of the OHCI system was conducted in a selected TVET institution for six months. The post-HCP shows a 52.6% improvement compared to the pre-HCP. The implementation of HCP has shown improved awareness on the hazards of loud noise exposure and active use of hearing protection devices among participants. The OHCI system has a great potential as a tool to improve HCP implementation in TVET institutions, and eventually, industry.