Month: February 2020

In general, it is well-known that vegetablebased waxes have many industrial applications and environmental benefits against petroleum-based wax. One of the many examples is in the production of candles. However, there are other areas where vegetablebased waxes can play a significant role. One of which is in the making of batik prints or designs. Batik printing is a process of decorating plain fabrics by … Read more

Lipstick base is a substance that is used to make lipsticks, balms or lip glosses. Lipsticks are intended to impart attractive colours, enhance the appearance of lips and hide unattractive features, such as very thick or very narrow lips. A lipstick is a combination of lipstick base and pigments. The major components of a lipstick base are oils and waxes. The addition of … Read more

Water-cast gels are used as facial masks with the potentials to adhere to the keratinous surface, hydrate and deliver the enriched supplements across the skin epidermis. The term hydrogel describes three-dimensional network structures obtained from a class of synthetic and/or natural polymers which can absorb and retain significant amount of water. The hydrogel structure is created by the hydrophilic groups or domains present in a … Read more

Shower gel, also known as bodywash, is the general term for liquid soap. It is available either in emulsion or clear types of products and used as a skin cleansing agent during showering or bathing. Shower gels are a combination of surfactants, water, skin conditioning agents and fragrances. It has chemical advantages over soap because it is milder at cleansing and less irritating to … Read more

Unlike conventional flexible polyurethane (PU) foams, memory foams are characterised by their slow recovery after compression. For example, when the human hand is positioned (Figure 1) on the memory foam, the foam progressively conforms to the shape of the hand, and after the hand is removed, the foam slowly resumes to its initial shape. In general, memory foams are used in pillows, upholstered furniture, … Read more

Termites are known to impact negatively on agriculture and construction industry imposing great damage to plantations and buildings. Financial loss due to termites infestations in Malaysia was estimated at RM 8- RM 10 million annually (Lee, 2002). The common method in termites control is by the use of emulsifiable concentrate termiticides. Such emulsifiable concentrates (EC) are petrochemicals-based and may pose risks to humans, animals, plants … Read more

Medium density fibreboard (MDF) is a bio-composite widely used particularly in furniture and building products. In Malaysia, most MDF plants use rubberwood (RW) as raw material, and of late the industry is facing a problem with the inconsistency in supply and the price hike of RW. Other materials such as mixed tropical hardwood (MTH) are used as part of raw materials to substitute RW … Read more

One of the issues associated with the bio-conversion of oil palm biomass into bio-compost is the long maturation time of composting. Since the palm oil mills operate continuously at least six days a week generating large quantities of biomass and POME, rapid composting is very crucial in order to make composting projects efficient and effective in clearing the accumulated biomass. Rapid composting is largely … Read more

The production of crude palm oil (CPO) in the mill generates a huge amount of biomass such as palm kernel shells (PKS), press fibres and empty fruit bunches (EFB). Press fibres are widely used as fuel in the mill boiler together with small quantities of PKS. With the current scenario where biogas from palm oil mill effluent (POME) is captured, and the use … Read more

One of the solutions to the log shortage problem in plywood mills is undoubtedly the sourcing of logs from oil palm plantations. However, an acceptable and more efficient mechanism of log supply has to be worked out. This is to facilitate the log flow from the plantations to plywood mills so that the manufacturers will have enough logs for processing at a fair … Read more