Immobilized TiO₂ and immobilized TiO₂-polyethylene glycol (TiO₂/PEG) films have been prepared via brush coating method. The formulation of immobilized TiO₂ film was prepared by mixing distilled water with P25, while the formulation containing P25 combined with 8% PEG in distilled water was used in preparing immobilized TiO₂/PEG. A double sided adhesive tape (DSAT) was stacked onto a glass surface prior to coating with the formulations and annealing by a thermal treatment at 100 °C for 15 min. The photocatalytic activity of immobilized photocatalysts was evaluated under photodegradation of methylene blue (MB). It was observed that immobilized TiO₂/PEG has showed a higher rate of photocatalytic activity compared to immobilize TiO₂. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra of immobilized TiO₂/PEG sample proved that the existence of C=O led to enhanced photoactivity efficiency under normal light and visible light irradiations. The photocatalytic activity performance of immobilized TiO₂/PEG was the highest at 75 mL·min⁻¹ aeration rate and pH 11 of MB dye. The correlation between of all these parameters was investigated in this study.

Immobilized TiO₂ was prepared by adding a small composition of polyethylene glycol (PEG) as a binder, and this paper reported for the very first time the formation of C=O from oxidized PEG, which acted as an electron injector in enhancing photoactivity. Water-based TiO₂ with PEG formulation was deposited by using a brush technique onto double-sided adhesive tape (DSAT) as a support binder to increase the adhesiveness of immobilized TiO₂. The photocatalytic activity of immobilized TiO₂-PEG was measured by photodegradation of 12 mg·L⁻¹ methylene blue (MB) dye. The optimum condition of immobilized TiO₂-PEG was observed at TiO₂/PEG-2 (TP2) with 10:0.1 for the TiO₂/PEG ratio, which resulted in a 1.8-times higher photodegradation rate as compared to the suspension mode of pristine TiO₂. The high photodegradation rate was due to the formation of the active C=O bond from oxidized PEG binder in immobilized TiO₂-PEG as observed by Fourier transform infrared and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses. The presence of C=O has escalated the photoactivity by forming an electron injector to a conduction band of TiO₂ as proven by higher photoluminescence intensity obtained for TP2 as compared to pristine TiO₂. The TP2 sample has also increased its adhesiveness when DSAT is applied as a support binder where it can be recycled up to eight times and comparable to recent photocatalysis cycle developments.

Microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) was successfully extracted from rice husk (RH) via acid hydrolysis process using nitric acid (HNO 3) in comparison with sulphuric acid (H 2 SO 4) and hydrochloric acid (HCl). MCC-RH extracted using HNO 3 produced the highest percentage yield at 83.5% as compared to H 2 SO 4 and HCl at 80.6% and 81.8% respectively. Analysis of Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy affirmed the successive elimination of noncellulosic material from RH cellulose resulting highly purified MCC-RH. X-ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis showed MCC-RH treated with HCl gives the highest crystallinity index value of 54.2% while HNO 3 and H 2 SO 4 produced comparable results of 52.4% and 49.7% respectively. The results indicate successive extraction of MCC-RH using HNO 3 that has great potential to replace strong acid such as H 2 SO 4 and HCl in acid hydrolysis.

A new immobilized TiO₂technique was prepared by coating TiO₂solution onto double-sided adhesive tape (DSAT) as a thin layer binder without adding any organic additives. Glass plate was used as support material to immobilized TiO₂/DSAT. Two different charges of dyes were applied, namely, anionic reactive red 4 (RR4) and cationic methylene blue (MB) dyes. Photocatalytic degradation of RR4 and MB dyes was observed under immobilized TiO₂/DSAT with the degradation rate slightly lower and higher, respectively, compared with TiO₂in suspension mode. It was observed that DSAT is able to provide a very strong intact between glass and TiO₂layers thus making the reusability of immobilized TiO₂/DSAT be up to 30 cycles. In fact, a better photodegradation activity was observed by number of cycles due to increasing formation of pores on TiO₂surface observed by SEM analysis.

The study describes the production of an upgrading bio oil from pyrolysis of torrefied demineralized palm empty fruit bunch (TDEFB) using a fixed bed reactor system. TDEFB used as a feedstock was produced by demineralization and torrefaction pre-treatment empty fruit bunches (EFB) on raw EFB. The pyrolysis process was examined with multiple responses such as bio oil (response, Y1), bio char (response, Y2) and bio gas (response, Y3). The effect of these pyrolysis process parameters was observed by the production of bio oil, bio char and bio gas yields as the responses. Twenty runs of pyrolysis experiments were suggested by CCD indicated the optimum pyrolysis condition were found to be at reaction temperature of 490 °C, heating rate of 85 °C/min and holding time of 250 s. The maximum bio oil yield was obtained as 51.53 % with 28.5 % of bio char and 11.97 % of bio gas under optimum condition. The p-value 0.9 which indicated that there was a good correlation between the dependable and non-dependable parameters.