Speakers
Keynote Speakers
 | ASSOC. PROF. ChM. DR. ONG MENG CHUAN Faculty of science and marine science Universiti malaysia terengganu Research Area: Heavy metals pollution |
Dr. Ong Meng Chuan is an Associate Professor with the Marine Science Program at the Faculty of Science and Marine Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT). His field of expertise includes marine pollution specifically on heavy metals pollution. Dr. Ong is actively involved in teaching and research as well as knowledge transfer programs to communities and school children. He is actively engaged in research and form a Research Interest Group, Ocean Pollution and Ecotoxicology (OPEC) Research Group among UMT researchers and also from other institution in Malaysia. He is currently mentoring 5 postgraduates who are pursuing their Ph.D. and M.Sc. degrees by research. He has successfully guided 10 postgraduate students (2 Ph.D. and 8 M.Sc.) as main and co-supervisor until project completion and graduation. Besides, he has also supervised 62 undergraduate final year research projects as main supervisor. He has published more than 70 research outputs in scientific journals, chapters in book, monograph and conference papers. He also appointed as Associate Fellow at the Institute of Oceanography and Environment, UMT and Academy of Science Malaysia Associate Fellow. He was also recently appointed as the Malaysia Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) research grant evaluator.
Title of talk:
Marine Pollution in Malaysia Aquatic Environment: A Review of Heavy Metals in Sediments and Living Organisms.
Abstract
Heavy metals contamination has drawn increasing attention to environmental problems including Malaysia through disturbing the normal functions of the aquatic system. These pollutants are a worldwide problem because these chemical elements are indestructible and most of them have toxic effects on living organisms, when they exceed a certain concentration. With the rapid industrialization and economic development in the coastal region, these pollutants are continuing to be introduced to the estuarine and coastal environment through rivers, runoff and land–based point sources where the chemical elements are produced as a result of metal refinishing by-products. Heavy metals concentrations in the harbour or estuarine sediments are usually quite high due to significant anthropogenic contaminants loading upstream of tributary rivers. The sediments serve as a metal pool that can release metals to the overlying water via natural or anthropogenic processes, causing potential adverse health effects to the ecosystems. Therefore, they are widely used as geo–markers for monitoring and identifying the possible sources of pollution in coastal environments. On the other hand, marine aquatic organisms such as fishes, bivalves and molluscs can accumulate heavy metals from various sources in their surrounding environment. The accumulation of heavy metals in marine aquatic organisms can pose a long–term burden on biogeochemical cycling in the ecosphere. Once the heavy metals enter the food chain, they may accumulate to dangerous levels and be harmful to human health. In order to estimate the human health risk assessment, PTWI were calculated and all the data were compared to Malaysia Food Act and Malaysia Food Regulation.
 | Associate Professor Jia Wen Hunan University, China Research Area: functional materials for remediation of heavy metal pollution in water and soil systems |
Dr. Jia Wen obtained her Ph.D. in soil science at the University of Adelaide in 2010. She served as Environmental Consultant in Arris Pty. Ltd., Australia, from 2010 to 2013. During this period, she worked on some major industrial consulting cases of suitability assessment for irrigation water and contaminated soil assessment. In 2013, she joined Hunan University as a full-time lecturer. She is the associate editor in the open-access journal Sustainable Environment (Taylor & Francis). She was awarded as the Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad by the Chinese Government in 2009 and Yuelu Scholar by Hunan University in 2020. She, as the first/corresponding author, has published 30+ research/conference papers in reputed journals, such as Chemical Engineering Journal, Environmental Pollution, Journal of Hazardous Materials, etc. Her research interests are functional materials for remediation of heavy metal pollution in water and soil systems.
Title of talk:
Different strategies of designing functional materials for chromium remediation in water and soil systems
Abstract
Hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) has significantly threatened environmental health because of its distinct toxicity. Current technology aims to convert the highly toxic Cr(VI) to Cr(III) of low toxicity, other than mere removal, by using various adsorbents and reducing agents. Remediating Cr contamination in water and soil requires the design of functional materials applicable in the unique two systems. In the water system, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and their derivatives (e.g., MIL-100(Fe), ZIF-67, ZIF-8, epigallocatechin gallate modified ZIF-8, and NZVI@ZD) were used for effective Cr adsorption and reduction due to their high surface area, porosity, and tunable chemical structure. Nevertheless, aggregation commonly found for nano-sized materials and the relatively high cost of MOFs could limit their use in the soil system. Therefore, cost-effective and easily acquired functional materials (e.g., polyphenol modified attapulgite and polyaniline-based gel materials) were used for in-situ soil remediation of Cr, and both showed excellent stabilization effects. Therefore, work related to heavy metal remediation should consider not only the material’s effectiveness but also the application scenarios.
 | Associate Professor Md Wasikur Rahman Jashore University of Science and Technology/ Department of Chemical Engineering, Bangladesh Research Area: Nanotechnology, Energy storage, Polymer synthesis, Food packaging, Water treatment, etc. |
Dr. Rahman has fourteen (14) years of research and teaching experience in Italy, Malaysia and Bangladesh. He served in the Faculty of Chemical and Natural Resources Engineering of Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP) as Postdoctoral fellow in 2014-2015. During his fellowship at UMP and UNITO, he actively participated in various research projects as guidance of PhD and graduate students. Currently he is supervising eleven (11) research students of different academic levels and supervised around thirty (30) students in the past. At present he has accomplished research expertise in hydrogen storage technology, natural and synthetic polymers; nanomaterials development, characterization and their potential applications in separation processes related to energy, water treatment and waste management towards smart and cleaner environment. He has received research grants (approximately BDT 6 Million) from the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences (BAS), Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), University Grants Commission (UGC), internal allocation from the university (JUST) of the country.
Dr. Rahman has authored/co-authored of more than forty (40) papers in peer reviewed journals and fifty (50) proceeding papers. He delivered keynote speeches in India in International Conference on Advanced Material Technologies (ICAMT)- 2016 and International Conference on Materials, Alloys and Experimental Mechanics (ICMAEM)- 2017. He has presented his research work at various national and international conferences and exhibitions (Italy, Spain, Norway, Slovenia, Singapore, Malaysia and India) and received recognition in the form of awards, medals and appreciations. He acquired Silver award in the competition of CITREX- 2015 (Creation, Innovation, Technology & Research Exposition) at UMP.
Title of talk:
Hydrogen Storage in Magnesium Hydride towards Cleaner Environment
Abstract
Hydrogen storage in magnesium hydride is a burning issue towards cleaner environment and energy demand. H2 absorption and desorption reactions in MgH2 promoted by ball-milling with 1 mol% MgNb2O6, Mg4Nb2O9 and Mg3Nb6O11 have been investigated. MgH2 was milled with the bare oxides for 12 h under a high purity Ar atmosphere. Absorption and desorption reactions in the ball-milled samples were studied by in situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) in isothermal conditions with Anton Paar XRK 900 reaction chamber. XRD patterns for absorption were recorded at 573 K under hydrogen pressure of 0.9 MPa and for desorption at 623 K in vacuum. Experimental data were analysed according to the Rietveld method. Ball-milled samples showed the presence of a mixture of and allotropes of MgH2, with significantly broadened diffraction peaks due to reduced crystallite size and strain, together with bare additives. The presence of Mg–Nb oxides significantly accelerates the hydrogen absorption and desorption processes. The amount of hydrogen absorbed in the presence of Mg–Nb–O phases is lower than the maximum stoichiometric capacity, because of the presence of a non-reactive MgO layer on the surface of the powders or at the grain boundaries. Experimental results are discussed on the basis of thermodynamic and kinetic arguments.
 | Prof. Azlin Fazlina Osman Universiti Malaysia Perlis, MalaysiaResearch Area: Biomedical polymer, nanotechnology, nanocomposites, green materials, biocomposites, chemistry and properties of materials. |
Assoc. Prof. Dr Azlin Fazlina Osman obtained her PhD degree in Nanotechnology from Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), The University of Queenland, Australia. She is now an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering Technology, Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), a Leader for Biomedical & Nanotechnology Group in Center of Excellence Geopolymer and Green Technology (CEGeoGTech), UniMAP and Deputy Director at Research Management Centre, UniMAP. Her research interests are in the field of biomedical polymer, nanotechnology, nanocomposites, biocomposites, chemistry and properties of materials. She is the first author / corresponding author of several articles published in Q1 and Q2 journals, and has published more than 100 scientific papers in the field of polymer, composites, nanocomposites, nanoparticles, biocomposites, geopolymer and biomedical polymers. She is supervising more than 20 postgraduate students who are working in these particular areas and being involved in several professional memberships such as Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM), Professional Technologist in Materials Science Technology from Malaysia Board of Technologist (MBOT) and Professional Member of Institute of Materials Malaysia (IMM).
 | Prof. Ahmad Zuhairi Abdullah Universiti Sains Malaysia, MalaysiaResearch Area: Reaction engineering, environmental engineering |
Professor Dr Ahmad Zuhairi Abdullah received his B. Tech (Hons), MSc, and PhD in 1995, 2000, and 2004, respectively. He was the Deputy Dean (Industry and Community Network) at School of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia between 2010-2012 and Deputy Dean (Research and Postgraduate Studies) between 2013-2018. He will also serve his deanship of the school in 2022-2024. He is registered as a Professional Technologist at Malaysian Board of Technologists (MBOT) and a Fellow Member of Institut Kimia Malaysia. His research works mostly involve the use of ordered porous materials in oleochemical reactions, renewable energy, waste treatment, and waste valorization. He has nearly 300 refereed publications in journals and book/book chapters mainly as the main author, and also involves as a technical committee member to nearly 150 international scientific conferences. He is often invited to share his research experiences in international conferences held in Malaysia, Laos, Indonesia, Vietnam, Pakistan, The Philippines and China. In addition, he is an evaluator for research proposals from different agencies locally as well as from several international scientific bodies in the USA, Oman, Qatar, Kazakhstan, and Chile. He is also an expert panel of the Department of Environment Malaysia for the evaluation of Environmental Impact Assessment reports for various proposed projects related to petrochemical complexes, paper mills, metal smelting, chemical, lead-acid battery recycle plants, etc. He is one of the recipients of the Top Research Scientists Malaysia (TRSM) award in 2014 and listed in the List of World’s Top 2% Scientists by Stanford University in 2020 and 2021. His h-index (Scopus) currently stands at 54 with more than 10,000 citations.
Title of talk:
Role of pore geometry of Ca1+xAl1-xLaxO3 composite catalyst supported on MCM-41 in selective glycerol etherification to polyglycerol
Abstract
Glycerol is abundantly produced by oleochemical and biodiesel industries and its industrial uses are rather limited. Polyglycerol is one of the potential products of industrial importance but it’s selective production through catalytic means often subjects to a few drawbacks. A novel heterogeneous catalyst was prepared by means of a co-precipitation method and its activity in selective glycerol etherification was demonstrated. Lanthanum (La):calcium (Ca) ratio, temperature, and the duration of calcination positively influenced the conversion of glycerol. A regression model was established to predict the effect of calcination conditions and La:Ca ratio on glycerol conversion. After 8 h of reaction, a conversion of 81.6 % was achieved under atmospheric pressure for at 250 °C, 3.5 wt. % of catalyst and with a La to Ca ratio of 1:2.7. The catalyst was subjected to a thermal treatment at 560 °C for 4.5 h. The catalyst characterization revealed well-mixed oxides with desirable properties such as sufficient porosity and surface area. It also showed that the formation of the O–Ca–O functional group sitting on the surface of the catalyst facilitated high glycerol conversion. The synthesized catalyst with excellent porosity and stability area was promising for glycerol etherification.