Abu Zahrim Yaser

Abu Zahrim Yaser Editor
Green
Engineering
for Campus
Sustainability
Green Engineering for Campus Sustainability
Abu Zahrim Yaser
Editor
Green Engineering
for Campus Sustainability
123
Editor
Abu Zahrim Yaser
Faculty of Engineering
Universiti Malaysia Sabah
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
ISBN 978-981-13-7259-9 ISBN 978-981-13-7260-5 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7260-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019934776
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To my family
Waste management at busy street of Delhi, India

Foreword
I am delighted to write this foreword, not only because Dr. Abu Zahrim is one of my
strong team members engaging with the Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS)
EcoCampus agenda, but because I believe deeply in the educative values of green
engineering toward sustainability. Indeed, I am glad and impressed that Dr. Abu and
his team members mainly from the engineering background have taken the initiative
to publish some of the evidence-based solutions and innovative technologies to
underpin and support the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
in the campus community which could set an example to other sectors and busi-
nesses. Dr. Abu is a very dedicated and productive researcher with a strong interest
in composting toward zero food waste. He is an efficient decision-maker with works
always completed ahead of time in which this character has made him one of the very
valuable contributors to our sustainability initiatives in campus. In addition, Dr. Abu
has a heartily commitment to empower the stakeholders in campus and local com-
munity by sharing his knowledge and research findings as well as giving technical
support. I strongly believe that this book written by him and researchers from various
countries with innovative ideas, evidence-based good practices, and technical
information will definitely benefit the readers.
Sabah is blessed with abundant resources. UMS is presently one of the two
public universities in Sabah which has strong academic and research strengths in
the environment-related field, besides having a beautiful and scenery campus. UMS
has striven to cultivate environmental citizenship among students and staff through
university activities, practices, and operations, besides contributing toward the
sustainability of the local and global environment especially since the commitment
to be a leading model of the “new flagship EcoCampus” in 2013.
The United Nations’ Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development with 17 SDGs and their associated 169 targets were
agreed by all countries in September 2015. Education and research are explicitly
recognized in a number of the SDGs, and universities have a direct role in
addressing these. Universities have a vital role to act a steward of development
sustainability through teaching and learning, research, infrastructure development,
management and operational practices and campus experience.
vii
viii Foreword
Through research and training of research leaders, universities are at the fore-
front of finding sustainable social, economic, environmental, and technical solu-
tions to global problems. The necessity for environmentally-friendly technologies
in the future will require the expertise of engineers by incorporating sustainability
into products, processes, technology systems, and services, which involves the
design for energy efficiency, mass efficiency, and low environmental emissions.
Dr. Abu and the contributors of this book have demonstrated their commitment
and responsibility as green guardians as well as research leaders in sustainability.
I truly hope that this book will enlighten and empower the campus community and
public to make the difference toward the achievement of SDGs by 2030.
Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia Prof. Dr. How Siew Eng

Director, EcoCampus Management
Centre, Universiti Malaysia Sabah
Acknowledgements
The editor gratefully acknowledges the following individuals for their time and
efforts in assisting the editor with the reviewing of manuscript. This book would not
have been possible without the commitment of the reviewers.
• Asha Embrandiri
• Ayu Haslija Abu Bakar
• Emma Suali
• George Z. Kyzas
• Husnul Azan Tajarudin
• Lee Kiat Moon
• Md. Abdul Mannan
• Md. Lutfor Rahman
• Mega Setyowati
• Mohd. Aizudin Abd Aziz
• Syeed Saifulazry
• Wan Khairul Muzammil
• Wu Ta Yeong
• Yasmin Che Ani
• Zainura Zainon Noor
ix
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Abu Zahrim Yaser
Environmental Sustainability of Universities: Critical Review
of Best Initiatives and Operational Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Nurul Hana Mohamed, Zainura Zainon Noor and Cindy Lee Ik Sing
The Green Vision of Technical University of Crete’s Campus . . . . . . . 19
Nikolaos Sifakis, Efprepios Baradakis, Spyros Psychis
and Theocharis Tsoutsos
The Construction of Green Building Using Interlocking
Brick System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Abdul Karim Mirasa and Chee-Siang Chong
The Feasibility of Using Palm Oil Ash in the Mix Design
of Interlocking Compressed Brick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Hidayati Asrah, Nadiah Sabana, Abdul Karim Mirasa, Nurmin Bolong
and Lim Chung Han
Second-Generation Bioethanol: Advancement of Ethanologenic
Microorganisms Toward Industrial Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Husnul Azan Tajarudin, Muhammad Syazwan Azmi,
Muaz Mohd Zaini Makhtar, Mohd Firdaus Othman
and Mardiana Idayu Ahmad
Microalgae Chlorella as a Sustainable Feedstock for Bioethanol
Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Rahmath Abdulla, Tan Kah King, Siti Azmah Jambo and Ainol Azifa Faik
Conversion of Landscape Waste into Bio-coke Solid Fuel . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Santhana Krishnan, Mohd Fadhil Md Din, Shazwin Mat Taib,
Norfarah Hanim Binti Kamaludin, Norhisyam Hanafi, Tamio Ida,
Mohd Suhaizan Shamsuddin and Shreeshivadasan Chelliapan
xi
xii Contents
The Effect of Enzyme Addition on the Anaerobic Digestion

of Food Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Mariani Rajin, Abu Zahrim Yaser, Sariah Saalah, Yogananthini Jagadeson
and Marhaini Ag Duraim
Anaerobic Digestion of Organic Waste in UMS Campus
for Resource Recovery and Waste Reduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Newati Wid and Lucita Felicity Ayut
Green Engineering for Waste Management System in University—A
Case Study of Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Arif Kusumawanto and Mega Setyowati
Sustainable Waste Management in Higher Education Institutions—A
Case Study in AC Tech, Anna University, Chennai, India . . . . . . . . . . 163
Jayapriya Jayaprakash and Hema Jagadeesan
Food Waste Composting at Faculty of Engineering, Universiti
Malaysia Sabah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Sariah Saalah, Mariani Rajin, Abu Zahrim Yaser, Nur Ain Syafiqah Azmi
and Ahmad Fathuddin Fikri Mohammad
Characterization of University Residential and Canteen Solid
Waste for Composting and Vermicomposting Development . . . . . . . . . 193
Nurmin Bolong and Ismail Saad
Sewage Treatment in Campus for Recycling Purpose: A Review . . . . . 207
Abu Zahrim Yaser and Nurliyana Nasuha Safie
Advanced Treatment of Campus Sewage by MV/UV/O3
for Water Reclamation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Shengying Gong, Yanting Wang and Jie Fu
Editor and Contributors
About the Editor
Abu Zahrim Yaser obtained his Ph.D. from Swansea

University (UK). Dr. Zahrim’s research mainly focuses
on the integrated wastewater treatment and composting
and has been leading several projects since 2006. To
date, Dr. Zahrim has published 1 book (Springer), 11
book chapters (including 1 chapter for encyclopedia), 31
journals, and 50+ other publications. He was the Guest
Editor for Environmental Science and Pollution
Research special issue (impact factor: 2.800). His paper
entitled “Modelling and optimisation of coagulation of
highly concentrated industrial grade leather dye by
response surface methodology” was awarded the
Chemical Engineering Journal Top Cited Papers
(Elsevier). In addition, his group won Best Poster for a
study entitled “Macromolecular flocculation of lignin
particles” at Third International Conference on
Recycling and Reuse of Materials (ICRM 2014), India.
He won several medals in innovation competition
including a gold medal for an invention called “UMS
Residual Oil Trap” at iENA 2018, Germany. Besides
that, he is actively involved as a reviewer for several
journals. The Elsevier (UK) has recognized him as
among the Outstanding Reviewers for the Chemical
Engineering Journal (2017), Desalination (2010, 2017),
Chemosphere (2017), Industrial Crops and Products
journal (2015), and Journal of Environmental Chemical
Engineering (2018). Dr. Zahrim was the director for the
first Earth Day celebration at UMS (2018). He was the
xiii
xiv Editor and Contributors
secretary for the 4th International Conference on

Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering (ICCBPE 2012)
and the Workshop on Progress in Wastewater Treatment
and Reuse Technology (PWTRT-2013). Dr. Zahrim is a
Visiting Scientist at the University of Hull and recipient
of Universiti Malaysia Sabah Excellent Service Award
(2015). Dr. Zahrim is a member of Institutions of
Chemical Engineers (United Kingdom) and Board of
Engineers, Malaysia. Currently, he is the Deputy Dean at
Faculty of Engineering and the Chairperson for Waste
Management Committee, EcoCampus Management
Centre.
Contributors
Rahmath Abdulla Faculty of Science and Natural Resources, Universiti Malaysia

Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia;
Energy Research Unit, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
Marhaini Ag Duraim Chemical Engineering Programme, Faculty of Engineering,
Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
Mardiana Idayu Ahmad Division of Bioprocess Technology, School of
Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia;
Division of Environment Technology, School of Industrial Technology, Universiti
Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
Hidayati Asrah Civil Engineering Program, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti
Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
Lucita Felicity Ayut Faculty of Science and Natural Resources, Universiti
Muhammad Syazwan Azmi Division of Bioprocess Technology, School of
Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
Nur Ain Syafiqah Azmi Chemical Engineering Programme, Faculty of
Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
Efprepios Baradakis Renewable & Sustainable Energy Lab, School of
Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Crete, Chania, Greece
Nurmin Bolong Civil Engineering Program, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti
Shreeshivadasan Chelliapan Department of Engineering, Razak Faculty of
Engineering and Informatics, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
Editor and Contributors xv
Chee-Siang Chong Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota

Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
Mohd Fadhil Md Din Center of Environmental Sustainability and Water Security
(IPASA), Research Institute of Sustainable Environment (RISE), Universiti
Teknologi Malaysia UTM, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia;
Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti
Campus Sustainability Office, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia UTM, Johor Bahru,
Johor, Malaysia
Ainol Azifa Faik Faculty of Science and Natural Resources, Universiti Malaysia
Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
Jie Fu Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, Fudan University,
Shanghai, China
Shengying Gong Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, Fudan
University, Shanghai, China
Lim Chung Han Civil Engineering Program, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti
Norhisyam Hanafi Campus Sustainability Office, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
UTM, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
Tamio Ida Kinki University, Higashiosaka, Japan
Hema Jagadeesan Department of Biotechnology, PSG College of Technology,
Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
Yogananthini Jagadeson Chemical Engineering Programme, Faculty of
Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
Siti Azmah Jambo Faculty of Science and Natural Resources, Universiti Malaysia
Jayapriya Jayaprakash Department of Applied Science and Technology, A.C.
Technology, Anna University, Chennai, India
Norfarah Hanim Binti Kamaludin Department of Environmental Engineering,
Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia UTM, Johor Bahru,
Johor, Malaysia
Tan Kah King Faculty of Science and Natural Resources, Universiti Malaysia
Santhana Krishnan Center of Environmental Sustainability and Water Security
(IPASA), Research Institute of Sustainable Environment (RISE), Universiti
Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti
Teknologi Malaysia UTM, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
xvi Editor and Contributors
Arif Kusumawanto Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Muaz Mohd Zaini Makhtar Division of Bioprocess Technology, School of
Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
Abdul Karim Mirasa Civil Engineering Program, Faculty of Engineering,
Nurul Hana Mohamed School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering,
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
Ahmad Fathuddin Fikri Mohammad Chemical Engineering Programme,
Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah,
Malaysia
Zainura Zainon Noor School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering,
Mohd Firdaus Othman Division of Bioprocess Technology, School of Industrial
Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia;
Division of Environment Technology, School of Industrial Technology, Universiti
Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
Spyros Psychis Renewable & Sustainable Energy Lab, School of Environmental
Engineering, Technical University of Crete, Chania, Greece
Mariani Rajin Chemical Engineering Programme, Faculty of Engineering,
Ismail Saad Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu,
Sabah, Malaysia
Sariah Saalah Chemical Engineering Programme, Faculty of Engineering,
Nadiah Sabana Civil Engineering Program, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti
Nurliyana Nasuha Safie Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota
Kinabalu, Malaysia
Mega Setyowati Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Mohd Suhaizan Shamsuddin Office of the Asset and Development, Universiti
Teknologi Malaysia UTM, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
Nikolaos Sifakis Renewable & Sustainable Energy Lab, School of Environmental
Engineering, Technical University of Crete, Chania, Greece
Cindy Lee Ik Sing School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering,
Editor and Contributors xvii
Shazwin Mat Taib Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Civil

Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia UTM, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia;
Campus Sustainability Office, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia UTM, Johor Bahru,
Johor, Malaysia
Husnul Azan Tajarudin Division of Bioprocess Technology, School of Industrial
Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia;
Cluster of Solid Waste Management, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains
Malaysia, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
Theocharis Tsoutsos Renewable & Sustainable Energy Lab, School of
Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Crete, Chania, Greece
Yanting Wang Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, Fudan
University, Shanghai, China
Newati Wid Faculty of Science and Natural Resources, Universiti Malaysia
Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia;
Water Research Unit, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
Abu Zahrim Yaser Chemical Engineering Programme, Faculty of Engineering,
Introduction
Abu Zahrim Yaser
The campus is a symbol of idealism, high intelligence and that is why its community
should have growth mindsets that can improve environmental sustainability; which
not only adapts and reacts to the severe environmental conditions but that can gen-
erate profits from it, e.g. compost or fuel from the generation of food waste. It is
undeniable that the general public has high expectation and trust in the capabilities
of the campus community. Therefore, the campus community should be the best
example of implementing an environmental sustainability agenda.
To achieve this stage, the campus community should move dynamically with a
more critical thinking and creative solution. The solution should be workable and
sustainable. With these aims in mind, this is the purpose of this book being published
in front of the reader. Without exaggeration, the incorporation of sustainability ele-
ments and the latest technologies is essential so that the process can be carried out
more easily and effectively. Among others, Mohamed et al. (Chap. 2) suggested that
energy efficiency, waste management and water conservation should be incorporated
into a holistic university’s environmental sustainability plan. Most of the time, proper
planning will produce a good result. In term of energy, Tsoutsos’s group (Chap. 3)
explained various actions dedicated for energy saving at Technical University of
Crete (TUC), Greece and ultimately, they successfully reduced about 20% in energy
consumption in the campus.
Construction of buildings at university causes significant increase in energy con-
sumption and a new method is developed to eradicate this problem. At Universiti
Malaysia Sabah, Mirasa and Chong (Chap. 4) using the interlocking brick system to
reduce energy consumption in the university building construction. The oil palm is
A. Z. Yaser (B)
Chemical Engineering Programme, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sabah,
Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
e-mail: zahrim@ums.edu.my
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 1

A. Z. Yaser (ed.), Green Engineering for Campus Sustainability,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7260-5_1
2 A. Z. Yaser
the world’s most important oil crop that produces crude palm oil (CPO) and palm
kernel oil (PKO), respectively. However, the production of a large amount of crude
palm oil (CPO) leads to enormous quantities of wastes. Fortunately, it is interesting
to note that Hidayati et al. (Chap. 5) demonstrated that palm oil waste is feasible to
be blended with clay in the interlocking brick system.
To help in mitigating the effects of global warming, the campus must reduce
its dependence on fossil fuels to produce energy. Food waste and landscape waste
are a readily available source of renewable energy. In this regard, Tajaruddin et al.
reviewed the production chain of refining lignocellulosic biomass, production of
sugar from lignocellulosic biomass during enzymatic hydrolysis and the fermen-
tation of the produced sugars to bioethanol (Chap. 6). Rahmath et al. (Chap. 7)
reported that production of bioethanol was achieved by fermentation process with
the use of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Valuable products such as bio-coke and
bio-oil can be obtained by pyrolysis/carbonization of landscape wastes. Krishnan
et al. (Chap. 8) evaluated the suitability of landscape wastes for making bio-coke at
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, Malaysia.
Anaerobic digestion (AD) is one of the oldest known processes utilised for the
treatment of organic wastes. The basis of this treatment method is the evolution of
methane via degradation in the absence of oxygen. The numerous advantages of
anaerobic digestion include the low operating costs as minimal chemicals required,
pathogen removal, higher loading rates are possible and the formation of biogas from
the metabolism of more than 90% of organic material. Nevertheless, optimization of
large-scale AD process is still an issue up to now. In order to optimise the process,
Mariani et al. investigated the effects of lipase addition on the biogas production
(Chap. 9). Due to the constant growth of the world’s population, there is a higher
demand for fertilisers, including phosphate salts, to enrich soils. Besides producing
biogas, AD also shows potential in generating phosphate salts. In this book, Newati
et al. (Chap. 10) reported that anaerobic digestion of food waste could recover
phosphorus in the form of struvite with 136 g struvite/g food waste.
Green engineering is introduced so that the engineer would prioritise environ-
mental protection mindset in their design rather solely based on profit. Arif and Mega
(Chap. 11) presented the concept of green engineering as well as green architecture.
Later, they reported the effort of waste management including organic wastes
composting that taking place at Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia. Composting
is a bio-chemical aerobic degradation process of organic waste materials that can
change the organic waste into valuable humus-like end-products called compost.
Besides can reduce organic wastes/food waste to the landfill, the compost can be
utilised as a soil conditioner and can be sold if there is excess production of compost.
In addition, Jayapriya and Jagadeesan (Chap. 12) shared with us the composting
effort using the simple in-vessel system at Anna University, Chennai, India. At
Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Sariah et al. (Chap. 13) evaluated the composition
of waste produce from Faculty of Engineering cafeteria and then reported that
composting could reduce ~ 46% of the mixture of food waste and landscape waste
in 20 days. Vermicomposting, i.e. compost production using worm as degrader is
Introduction 3
suitable for further degradation of stable compost or ‘cold’ compost. In this book,
Nurmin and Ismail (Chap. 14) compare the composting and vermicomposting
effectiveness for the treatment of food wastes from various places.
Sewage management is one of the important aspects that require attention from
university management since there is an increment of student intake from year to
year. The treated sewage effluent and sewage sludge (i.e. sludge produced from bio-
logical sewage treatment) contain nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus that can
be recycled. Zahrim and Liyana (Chap. 15) review several efforts on campus sewage
treatment and recycling potential. Finally, at Fudan University, China, Gong et al.
(Chap. 16) studied the microwave/electrode-less ultraviolet/ozone (MV/UV/O3) sys-
tem for treatment of treated sewage from the membrane bioreactor (MBR) process
to meet the requirements for campus water reclamation.
All effort to greening the campus need full cooperation among the top level man-
agement, academic staff, support staff as well as students. Every individual in the
campus has their own role to ensure campus sustainability. Apart from good monitor-
ing, well-written policy by top-level management could assist in shaping the campus
community mind and attitude towards sustainability. The effort should not only ‘one-
off’ effort or just for the sake of ranking but the effort should be taken continuously
and seriously to ensure the sustainability of campus. Sustainable campus environ-
ment would inculcate conducive learning and teaching condition among the student
as well as having a great potential for the successful edutourism.
Environmental Sustainability
of Universities: Critical Review of Best
Initiatives and Operational Practices
Nurul Hana Mohamed, Zainura Zainon Noor and Cindy Lee Ik Sing
Abstract Nowadays, there have been various environmental sustainability

initiatives implemented by the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) through
research, education, community involvement and campus operations. By embedding
an effective initiative as well as best practices, environmental sustainability perfor-
mance of universities can be improved. Realising the benefits of these factors, this
book chapter aims at constructively reviewing the university’s environmental sus-
tainability initiatives (ESI) by highlighting underlying issues and necessary improve-
ments. To accomplish this, the ESI of three research universities in Malaysia were
reviewed in accordance with UI GreenMetric World University Ranking. Around
36 major initiatives as well as several environmental sustainability courses that have
been conducted by all three research universities was categorised using the descrip-
tions and rationales of the six (6) main environmental category in UI GreenMetric
which are Setting and Infrastructure, Energy and Climate Change, Waste, Water,
Transportation and Education and Research. It can be concluded that the key factors
that should be included in the ESI plan are awareness and environmental knowledge,
green space and land use management, energy efficiency and water conservation,
natural resource limitation, climate change mitigation, waste minimisation, green-
house gas emissions reduction, environmental education programme and research
collaboration as well as environmental sustainability guidelines and policies. These
factors can help and guide universities to produce a good and strategic plan in prac-
ticing and conducting ESI towards a better future.
Keywords Environmental sustainability of universities · Environmental

sustainability initiatives (ESI) · UI GreenMetric world university ranking · Setting
and infrastructure · Energy and climate change · Waste · Water · Transportation
and education and research
N. H. Mohamed (B) · Z. Z. Noor · C. L. I. Sing

School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia,
81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
e-mail: nurulhana8@yahoo.com

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7260-5_2
6 N. H. Mohamed et al.
1 Introduction
Over the past decades, many authors have highlighted the concept of sustainability
and sustainable development in different sectors (Ragazzi and Ghidini 2017; Belu
et al. 2014; Ivascu and Cioca 2015; Biasutti and Frate 2017; Holdsworth and
Thomas 2016; Cioca et al. 2015; Scott 2014). In 1987, Brundtland Report defined
sustainable development as the “development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own need”
(Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common
Future 1987). This has become one of the most recognised definitions of sustainable
development. It has three main pillars; social sustainability, environmental sustain-
ability and economic sustainability. To achieve sustainability, these three pillars of
sustainability must be balanced in equal harmony (Ragazzi and Ghidini 2017).
The role of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in sustainable development is
universally recognised. They play a fundamental role in society and have the duty
to adopt and promote the principles of sustainability in forming future generation
and preparing future professionals (Ragazzi and Ghidini 2017; Corcoran and Wals
2004; Disterheft et al. 2013). Supporting this notion, Velazquez et al. (2006) referred
sustainable university to “a higher educational institution, as a whole or as a part,
that addresses, involves and promotes, on a regional or a global level, the minimi-
sation of negative environmental, economic, societal and health effects generated in
the use of their resources to fulfil its functions of teaching, research, outreach and
partnership as well as stewardship in ways to help society making the transition to
sustainable lifestyles”. This suggests that there should be sufficient environmental
and sustainability concerns in the campus physical and academic planning processes
when establishing a university (Alshuwaikhat and Abubakar 2008).
Ragazzi (2017) stated that it is no longer possible to ignore campuses’ externalities
on environmental quality and integrity and there are needs to consider sustainability
in academic institutions. According to Alshuwaikhat (2008), universities can be
considered as “small cities”, which may have heavy impacts on the environment due
to their activities, movement of goods and persons inside campuses. He also added
that the responsibility of educating students and the society about sustainability serves
as one of the universities missions.
One of the key factors to improve the university’s environmental sustainability
performance is by implementing effective initiatives and best practices. Since the
activities and operations of universities have a huge impact on the environment,
campus sustainability has become an issue of global concern for university policy
makers and planners (Alshuwaikhat and Abubakar 2008). In this book chapter, the
effective initiatives and best practices in universities with the aim of highlighting
underlying issues and necessary improvements are focused. To accomplish this aim,
environmental sustainability initiatives (ESI) of three (3) research universities (RUs)
in Malaysia were reviewed, namely Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti
Malaya (UM), and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). This RUs are ranked Top
100 in UI GreenMetric World University Ranking for Malaysia with UPM ranked
27th, UM ranked 34th and UTM ranked 66th.
Environmental Sustainability of Universities: Critical Review … 7
2 Research University (RU) in Malaysia
In the nineteenth century, German University is the first university to obtain the title
Research University (RU) where instead of teaching, research activities are highly
performed (Lehrer et al. 2009). In general definition, RU is a university that gives
high priority in research as a major part of their mission (Altbach and Knight 2007).
According to Atkinson and Blanpied (2008), developed countries use the concept
of RU as a guideline for teaching, research and innovation excellence. Considering
German University as a success model in promoting RU’s concept, other countries
have duplicated this model including the United States (US) (Ramli et al. 2013). Due
to the new development in research field and the idea of government’s support in uni-
versity (Atkinson and Blanpied 2008), the US had established a new RU model. The
model has then expanded through their concept and operation to become a complex
organisation with variety of campuses, research centres, institutes and programmes.
Ramli (2013) concluded that “the US RU is an independent organisation with abso-
lute autonomy to direct the focus of research and direction of the university”.
There are five public universities in Malaysia that have been appointed as RU.
The five RUs are Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM),
Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and Univer-
siti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). UM, UKM, UPM and USM were announced as
the RU under 9th Malaysia Plan (2006) while UTM was announced under 10th
Malaysia Plan (2010). In accordance with The National Higher Education Strate-
gic Plan Beyond 2020, Malaysia’s RUs are required to focus primarily on research
activities and to explore their intellectual capacity to become a model for other uni-
versities in Malaysia (Sheriff and Abdullah 2017). In this book chapter, only three
RU were reviewed, which are UM, UPM and UTM. Table 1 shows the achievement
of Malaysia’s RU according to world university rankings such as UI GreenMetric
World University Rankings 2017, QS World University Rankings 2018, QS Asia
University Rankings 2018 and Times Higher Education (THE) World University
Rankings 2018.
Table 1 Malaysia’s Research University’s Rankings (Universitas Indonesia 2017; QS Top Univer-
sities 2018a, b; Times Higher Education 2018)
Malaysia’s UI GreenMetric QS World QS Asia The World
Research World University University University
University University Rankings 2018 Rankings 2018 Rankings 2018
Rankings 2017
UPM 27 202 36 601–800
UM 34 87 24 351–400
UTM 66 228 49 601–800
3 UI GreenMetric World University Ranking
Over a few years, HEI worldwide had set up and adopted various sustainability focus
areas and goals in their campus operations (Razman et al. 2014). There were several
measurement tools that have been produced to measure the impact of environment
sustainability initiatives on the university’s governance and operation. The common
mechanism used to measure the sustainability performance of a university is in the
form of ranking.
One of the most recognised university rankings is UI GreenMetric World
University Ranking. It has been established by Universitas Indonesia (UI) in 2010.
The main purpose of this ranking is to measure campus sustainability efforts based
on environmental sustainability criteria. The UI GreenMetric gives a participated
university impressive benefits such as internationalisation and recognition globally,
increased awareness of sustainability issues through social change and action
and also as a platform to build a networking with other universities worldwide
(Universitas Indonesia 2018).
During the design phase of UI GreenMetric, a few existing sustainability assess-
ment systems and academic university rankings were studied including Holcim
Sustainability Awards, GREENSHIP, Sustainability, Tracking, Assessment and
Rating System (STARS), Green Report Card, Times Higher Education (THE)
World University Rankings, QS World University Rankings, Academic Ranking
of World Universities (ARWU) and Webometrics Ranking of World Universities
(Webometrics) (Universitas Indonesia 2018).
The ranking method is employed based on six (6) main categories, which are
Setting and Infrastructure, Energy and Climate Change, Waste, Water, Transportation
and Education and Research (Universitas Indonesia 2018). Since 2010, UI has been
updating and improving environmental sustainability criteria and indicators to match
with the diversity of each university.
4 Methodology
The review was based on the ESI of three RU in Malaysia in accordance with the main
environmental category in UI GreenMetric World University Ranking. Firstly, the
existing ESI implemented by each RU was listed such as campaigns, events or pro-
grammes. Then, using the environmental category stated in UI GreenMetric, the ESI
was categorised based on the environmental characteristic designed by universities
to achieve environmental sustainability goals and targets. Lastly, the ESI was con-
structively reviewed by highlighting underlying issues and necessary improvements.
5 Results and Discussion: Critical Review of ESI
5.1 List of Environmental Sustainability Initiative
5.1.1 Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)
UPM was first established as the School of Agriculture in 1931. Over the years, the
status of UPM changes from School of Agriculture to College of Agriculture Malaya
in 1947. Then, the Universiti Pertanian Malaysia was established in 1973. Due to
the extended fields of studies, in 1997, the name Universiti Pertanian Malaysia was
changed to Universiti Putra Malaysia by Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Moham-
mad (Universiti Putra Malaysia 2018a).
UPM has at least 14 initiatives that have been carried out around the univer-
sity under their Faculty of Environmental Studies (GREEN INITIATIVE). In UI
GreenMetric World University Rankings, UPM has ranked 27th with total score
6420 (64%). The score for each main category is Setting and Infrastructure, 73%;
Energy and Climate Change, 55%; Waste, 89%; Water, 72%; Transportation, 53%
and Education and Research, 49%. Table 2 displays the UPM’s ESI contributed for
this achievement.
5.1.2 Universiti Malaya (UM)
University of Malaya (UM) is Malaysia’s oldest university. UM has its root in Sin-
gapore with the establishment of King Edward VII College of Medicine in 1905. In
1962, University of Malaya Kuala Lumpur was established (2018a).
UM has 9 main initiatives that have been carried out around the university. In
UI GreenMetric World University Rankings, UM has ranked 34th with total score
6280 (63%). The score for each main category is Setting and Infrastructure, 62%;
Energy and Climate Change, 56%; Waste, 79%; Water, 94%; Transportation, 62%
and Education and Research, 37%. Table 3 depicts the UM’s ESI contributed for this
achievement.
5.1.3 Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM)
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) contributes to the country’s technical and

professional workforce since 1904 as one of the key players in engineering and
knowledge and technological expertise. For over 70 years of difficulties and chal-
lenges especially in the early years, from Technical School to Technical College
(in 1955) and then to Institut Teknologi Kebangsaan (in 1972), UTM was finally
established in 1975 (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia 2018).
UTM has at least 13 main initiatives that have been carried out around the univer-
sity under their UTM Campus Sustainability (UTMCS). In UI GreenMetric World
Table 2 Environmental sustainability initiatives in UPM (Universiti Putra Malaysia 2018b)

No. Initiative Environmental sustainability categories
1 Upcycling Innovation Waste
2 Ipoh Car Free Day Transportation
3 River of Life at Serdang Water
4 Recycling@U Exhibition Waste
5 Compost Pit Waste
6 Urban Garden Setting and Infrastructure
7 E-Waste [Mobile] Waste
8 Used Cooking Oil Recycling Campaign Waste
9 UPM Waste Bank Waste
10 Waste Bank UPM-Kundasang Waste
11 Monthly Tree Planting Program Setting and Infrastructure
12 Saujana Lestari Program Setting and Infrastructure
13 Sensory Garden Setting and Infrastructure
14 Zero Net Carbon Emissions Programme Energy and Climate Change and
Transportation
15 Environmental sustainability courses: Education
• Bachelor of Environmental Management
• Bachelor of Environmental Science and
Technology
• Master of Environment
• Master of Science and PhD
University Rankings, UTM has ranked 66th with total score 5952 (60%). The score
for each main category is Setting and Infrastructure, 75%; Energy and Climate
Change, 56%; Waste, 79%; Water, 63%; Transportation, 45% and Education and
Research, 44%. Table 4 demonstrates the UTM’s ESI contributed for this achieve-
ment.
5.2 Critical Review Based on UI GreenMetric’s

Environmental Sustainability Categories
5.2.1 Setting and Infrastructure (SI)
According to UI GreenMetric, the purposes of this category are to provide more

spaces for greenery in university and to safe guard the environment as well as the
development of sustainable energy (Universitas Indonesia 2018). There are six (6)
indicators in SI that focus on open space green area (or green space) including
forest, planted vegetation and water absorbance area. There are a lot of environmental
Table 3 Environmental sustainability initiatives in UM (Universiti Malaya 2018b)

No. Initiative Environmental sustainability categories
1 UM Eco-Campus Initiatives Setting and Infrastructure, Energy and
Climate Change, Waste, Water and
Transportation
2 UM Eco-Campus Blueprint Setting and Infrastructure, Energy and
Transportation
3 UM Living Labs (UMLL) Setting and Infrastructure, Energy and
Transportation
4 UM in Low Carbon Cities Framework Energy and Climate Change
(LCCF)
5 Rimba Project Setting and Infrastructure
6 UM Cares Environmental Competition Setting and Infrastructure, Energy and
Transportation
7 UM Cares Green Office Energy and Climate Change and Waste
8 UM Zero Waste Campaign (UM ZWC) Waste
9 Water Warriors Water
• Bachelor of Engineering
(Environmental)
• Bachelor of Science in Environmental
Management (with 14 core and elective
courses)
• Master of Sustainability Science
• Master of Science (Environmental
Management Technology)
benefits of green space such as improved air quality, decreased temperature, rainfall
retention and reduced soil erosion. In general, green space is very important to the
ecosystem and to the surrounding community (Refaat et al. 2016).
Forest tree planting and urban garden programme are simple approaches from the
ESI that can improve the amount of green space. However, these initiatives have a few
disadvantages. For forest tree planting, although this programme is done monthly,
the outcome cannot be achieved in the near future since it may take decades for trees
to mature. For urban garden, it will take less time to grow, but the outcome will be
much smaller compared to forest tree planting. Nevertheless, reforestation holds a
promise to confront global warming. Therefore, these initiatives must be continued
by planting trees in a large scale using inexpensive, fast-growing and suitable trees
with the climate’s area and the most important steps are updating and monitoring the
green space from time to time.
Table 4 Environmental Sustainability Initiatives in UTM (UTM Campus Sustainability 2018)

No. Initiative Environmental sustainability
categories
1 UTM Eco-Home Setting and Infrastructure
2 Sustainable Arcade Waste
3 Green Office Campaign: Energy and Climate Change
• Save Energy and Waste
• Sustainable Meeting
• Green Packaging
• Green E-WASTE
• Practice Recycling
• Save Paper
4 Sustainable Energy Management (SEM): Energy and Climate Change,
• UTM Self-Made Biodiesel Waste and Transportation
• UTM Building Automation System
• UTM A Cycling Campus
• UTM Hybrid Car
• UTM Optimal Audit Software
• ASEAN Energy Management Scheme
• UTM Carbon Calculator
• UTM Electrical Billing Management System (EBMS)
5 UTM Recycling Center (paper, glass, plastic, and aluminium) Waste
6 Bio-Recycling Station (food waste and landscape waste) Waste
7 Food Waste Utilization Waste
8 Waste Separation Awareness and Procurement UTM Waste
9 Program “Bring Your Own Container” Waste
10 Sikal Electric Rakyat 1 Malaysia (SER1M) Energy and Climate Change
and Transportation
11 Car Free Day Energy and Climate Change
and Transportation
12 Energy Saving Campaign Energy and Climate Change
13 Program of Water Conservation Activity Water
14 Ground Water Project Setting and Infrastructure
and Water
15 Water Sustainability Program (WSP): Lata Jernih in Setting and Infrastructure
Recreational Forests
inside UTM campus
• Bachelor of Civil Engineering
• Master of Engineering (Environmental Management)
• Master of Philosophy (Environmental Engineering)
• Master of Engineering (Environmental)
• Master of Philosophy (Environmental)
• Doctor of Philosophy (Environmental Engineering)
5.2.2 Energy and Climate Change (EC)
The aims of EC are to increase university’s efforts in building’s energy efficiency and
to take care and focus more on nature and energy resources (Universitas Indonesia
2018). In UI GreenMetric, the EC has the highest weightage with eight (8) indicators
in the areas of concern such as energy efficient appliance usage, implementation of
smart buildings, renewable energy usage policy, total electricity use, energy con-
servation programmes, elements of green buildings, climate change adaptation and
mitigation programmes, greenhouse gas emission reduction policy and carbon foot-
print (Universitas Indonesia 2018).
The well-known initiative for these criteria is the establishment of Green Office
(GO). According to Green Office Programme by WWF (2011), the basic principle
of the GO initiative is to promote sustainable improvements in the environmental
work by reducing the environmental impacts of office work. The GO initiatives
include energy efficiency, sustainable management, environmental efficiency, waste
management, environmental awareness and behaviour as well as climate change
mitigation. These initiatives are able to give positive impact on staff’s health and
their surroundings, which in turn would improve productivity.
5.2.3 Waste (WS)
Reducing waste generation is one of the most straightforward ways to save natural
resources. In UI GreenMetric (Universitas Indonesia 2018), there are six (6) indica-
tors in the WS category with the main purpose to encourage more waste treatment
and recycling activities among university staff and students on campus. A good waste
management will become a major factor in creating a sustainable environment. For-
tunately, there is a simple approach to achieve this goal. For example, the common
and basic ESI are Zero Waste Campaign, Recycling Activities and Environmental
Awareness and Behaviour Programmes. Every university has a few campaigns and
activities with waste management as a programme objective. The success rate is
high, the process is easy to be sustained and the results are satisfactory. Compost-
ing practices also one of the common waste management programmes nowadays.
For example, composting the universities cafeterias’ food waste. From this practice,
the food waste will be handled properly, and the compost produced can be used as
fertiliser and will further improves soil structure.
However, the most environmentally and economically efficient and cost-effective
way to manage waste is using waste minimisation strategy. According to Mallak
(2014), waste minimisation is a “reduction of wastes at the point of generation with
the perception of process due to wastes prevention and reduction”. The growing
numbers of university’s staff and students will generally increase waste generation.
Instead of focusing on reuse, recycling or waste treatment, creating an efficient
process or practices to reduce waste at the point of generation is of crucial.
5.2.4 Water (WR)
Another category in UI GreenMetric is water use (WR). There are four (4) indicators
included in this category, which are the implementation of water conservative and
recycling programmes, water efficient appliance’s use and treated water consumed.
Its main purpose is to reduce water usage, not only among university’s staff and
students, but importantly in university’s operation and management (Universitas
Indonesia 2018). Water is the most importance resource in human life. It should be
conserved to ensure that the availability of water resources will meet the current and
future human demand since it is one of the limited natural resources.
The main focus in water conservation effort is to reduce unnecessary water intake.
University’s management should be aware of water consumption rate by monitor-
ing water sources such as surface water resources and ground water levels. Besides,
universities also need to inspect, improve and maintain the pipeline system within
the campus to prevent leakage problem. The ESI for this aspect including aware-
ness programme (helping staff and students to be more aware and understand the
importance of water), recycling water (using grey water for irrigation and cleaning),
rainwater harvesting (installing rainwater tanks) and using water efficient devices.
According to Siwar (2014), the important goal in effective water resource planning
is to treat water conservation as a source of new water supply.
The ESI for water bodies in campus is very important to restore ecosystem services
and natural habitats. The aim for this initiative is to increase the awareness and
involvement in protecting water resources among university’s staff and students as
well as the surrounding communities about the importance of clean water bodies by
conducting a simple monitoring stewardship. Krasny (2015) revealed that nature-
based stewardship does not only provides direct benefits to the campus environment,
but can also enhance students’ sense of place and play a role in students’ mental
well-being.
5.2.5 Transportation (TR)
In UI GreenMetric, TR category has eight (8) indicators that mainly focus on the
number of vehicles (public and private vehicle), zero emission carbon footprint pro-
gramme and transportation policies (Universitas Indonesia 2018). The purposes of
TR category according to UI GreenMetric are to reduce the carbon emission and
pollutant levels in universities, improve the safety and air quality, decrease noise
pollution, as well as to increase students’ and staff physical activities.
The famous ESI among universities is Car Free Day Programme. Basically, this
programme is conducted once a month and the streets on certain areas in university
will be closed for a few hours (8.00 am–4.30 pm). This will encourage university’s
staff and student to walk or cycle around the campus or use environmentally friendly
public transportations such as electric bicycle or hybrid car. To achieve maximum
outcome from this programme, the transportation policy and pedestrian policy should
be embedded and followed. University must provide a proper pedestrian area to assure
the safety of consumers.
Another ESI in this category is Carpooling Campaign. Carpooling, also known as

car-sharing, can reduce the number of cars and vehicles on the road, which in return
will reduce carbon emission and traffic congestion. The best part about carpooling
is that it helps students and staff to save more money.
5.2.6 Education and Research (ED)
The purpose of ED category in UI GreenMetric is to give information on the

environmental and sustainability education implemented in university teaching and
learning (Universitas Indonesia 2018). This information is defined by the number of
courses or subjects offered in university’s education programme related to environ-
mental sustainability and by the sustainability research activities. There are seven (7)
indicators in ED category that basically focus on sustainability effort in education
and research, which are number of courses, research funding, publications, events,
student organisations, website and report (Universitas Indonesia 2018).
Environmental education (EE) is a very important process in providing students
with environmental knowledge. As a result, students are able to develop a better
understanding of environmental issues, generate the skills to solve the issues and
take effective actions to keep a healthy environment. Universities are responsible
to help students in understanding the effects of their decisions and actions toward
environment. EE will become a lifelong learning process at creating responsible
individuals that are aware and concern about environmental challenges in the future.
Universities can improve EE by developing programme guidelines and policy as well
as producing an innovative and flexible approaches not only for students, but also
for university’s staff.
6 Conclusion
To improve environmental sustainability performance and become a Green Campus,

universities in Malaysia have implemented various ESIs through the years. By
applying the environmental sustainability categories from UI GreenMetric, the ESI
has been observed to give a positive impact towards university’s environmental
sustainability management and to improve university’s ranking. Therefore, UI
GreenMetric can be used as a guideline in constructing the best initiatives and
operational practices. Although there was a study (Ragazzi and Ghidini 2017)
stating that the UI GreenMetric needs to be improved and strengthen due to the
imperfection of its method, there are other measurement methods or tools for
examples GREENSHIP, Sustainability, Tracking, Assessment and Rating System
(STARS) and Green Report Card as well as environmental criteria that can be
referred to and implemented by the universities.
Thus, it can be concluded that the key factors that should be included in the
ESI plan are awareness and environmental knowledge, green space and land use
management, energy efficiency and water conservation, natural resource limitation,

climate change mitigation, waste minimisation, greenhouse gas emission reduction,
environmental education programme and research collaboration, as well as envi-
ronmental sustainability guidelines and policies. These factors can help and guide
universities to set-up a good and strategic plan in practicing and conducting ESI
towards a better future. To determine the success of the plan, all parties within the
university including students, staff, management and the surrounding community
must ensure that the monitoring can be conducted from time to time with a full
commitment from all parties.
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The Green Vision of Technical University
of Crete’s Campus
Nikolaos Sifakis, Efprepios Baradakis, Spyros Psychis

and Theocharis Tsoutsos
Abstract The global interest in green universities is growing as they can be used as
a replicable example not only for Universities but, also, for communities, in general.
Technical University of Crete (TUC) was established in 1977, near the city of Chania.
Alongside with the increased number of students, the energy needs of the university
are keen on increasing, as well. Some actions had to be taken to avoid getting into
a dead end regarding energy expenses and the total allocated budget for such needs.
As an attempt, they represent a confident effort of academic communities toward a
sustainable, decarbonized and greenified culture. The first attempt of the greenifying
of TUC took place in 2013, when the council adjudicated some crucial decisions
toward sustainability. Various actions were planned to be taken and the results of
them are being presented into this chapter. The first encouraged results indicate a,
about 20%, reduction in energy consumption and therefore a thorough analysis of
the results has been conducted which can be used as a useful tool in order reveal the
process for future actions toward sustainability and green development.
Abbreviations list
LED Light-Emitting Diode

LPG Liquefied Petroleum Gas
TUC Technical University of Crete
N. Sifakis · E. Baradakis · S. Psychis · T. Tsoutsos (B)

Renewable & Sustainable Energy Lab, School of Environmental Engineering, Technical
University of Crete, 73100 Chania, Greece
e-mail: Theocharis.Tsoutsos@enveng.tuc.gr

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7260-5_3
20 N. Sifakis et al.
Table 1 Students number into 5-year periods (TUC and Digalakis 2013)
2000 2005 2010 2015 2018
Architectural Engineering Department 0 101 429 812 1,011
Electronics and Computer Engineering Department 390 713 904 1,326 1,632
Mineral Resources Engineering Department 311 471 573 822 971
Production Engineering and Management 504 762 932 1,307 1,572
Department
Environmental Engineering Department 193 357 451 746 916
Total 1,398 2,404 3,289 5,013 6,102
1 Case Study of TUC—Preliminary Phase (Before)

2002–2012
Technical University of Crete (TUC) was established in 1977, in an area almost 7 km

outside the city of Chania. The climate in Crete is temperate and the atmosphere can
be quite humid, depending on the closeness to the sea. The winter is fairly mild
and bearable. Snowfall is practically unknown to the plains but quite frequent in
the mountains. During summer, average temperatures are in the high 30s–low 20s
(Celsius). “Bad weather” days in winter are often interrupted, during January and the
first fortnight of February, with sunny days, known as ‘Halcyon days’ since ancient
times (Tsoutsos et al. 2018).
During the academic year 1984–85, the Production Engineering and Manage-
ment Department initiated the operation of its educational program and welcomed
its first 120 students together with the Sciences Department. The Mineral Resources
Engineering Department followed in the season 1987–88 and the Electronics and
Computer Engineering Department in season 1990–91, as well. Later on, the Chem-
ical Engineering Department was converted into Environmental Engineering Depart-
ment; it admitted its first students in 1997. Finally, in 2004 the Architectural Engineer-
ing Department was established and welcomed its first students (TUC and Digalakis
2013).
From the first admission of each faculty, the number of admitted students has
been increased, resulting in yearly fluctuations. The total number of students for the
period 2002–2018, for 5-year periods, for each faculty, is presented in Table 1.
It is obvious that the number of students attaining each and every faculty of TUC is
increasing steadily which practically means that its needs, not only regarding energy,
are rocketing up, as well (Fig. 1). This is utilized in order to comprehend deeply that
such needs are increasing yearly and that in the near future, it can lead to devastating
results. It can be easily understood that the university has extremely high energy
demands and as the number of students is rocketing, the number of professors and
researchers will increase as well. The first attempt of greenifying TUC took place
in 2013, when the council adjudicated some crucial decisions toward sustainability.
The results of this attempt are demonstrated in Fig. 1, in which a 20% reduction
The Green Vision of Technical University of Crete’s Campus 21
Energy ConsumpƟon [GWh] 4.60 6000
4.40
5000
4.20
No of students
4000
4.00
3.80 3000
3.60
2000
3.40
1000
3.20
3.00 0
Year
Energy ConsumpƟon No of students
Fig. 1 The trend of number of TUC students and of energy consumption during 2002–2017
in energy consumption (in 2014, since 2012) is obvious while the total number of
students has been increased by a little more than 25%.
The energy needs of the university are increasing and, obviously, the operational
energy costs of it are rocketing up. This can be easily understood from Fig. 1, where
the annual energy consumption of the TUC facilities, is presented. The energy costs
have been doubled by 2010 since 2002 and almost tripled by 2012, making the
need for immediate actions mandatory, especially taking into account the increased
number of students in the university by more than 1,500 students during the past
5 years and is projected to be increased by 1,000 more by 2020. These needs are
growing annually, so the budget allocated to energy needs have reached tremendous
high percentages.
More specifically there are five blocks, of a total area of 58,815 m2 , into the campus
that serve the needs of the university. These buildings were not created all together
but each one individually. First and foremost, the main buildings (Block 5) were
created in 1995 covering about 4,000 m2 and their energy needs are 232 kWh/m2 year.
Block 5 consumes the most energy per m2 year as there are located at the network
facilities of the university and covers the needs not only of the campus but of the
students via the TUC@Home service, as well. In addition, there is the restaurant in the
university which operates and serves students’ needs daily. Alongside, the building of
Mineral Resources Department (Block 3) was created in 1995, covering 10,098 m2 ;
their energy needs are reaching the 66 kWh/m2 year. After these, the facilities of
Production Engineering and Management Department (Block 4) were established in
1997, covering 22,279 m2 where the annual energy consumption per square meter is
41 kWh/m2 year. Furthermore, the facilities of the Science Department (Block 1) were
constructed, covering almost 14,000 m2 , which require 54 kWh/m2 year. Last but not
least, the building which covers the needs of the Environmental Engineering and
Architecture Engineering Departments was constructed into two phases, in 2004 and
Fig. 2 TUC Campus blocks’ main characteristics
2013, respectively. These buildings cover about 8,500 m2 requiring 66 kWh/m2 year
(Barth and Rieckmann 2012).
The aforementioned can be observed in Fig. 2, in which there is a schematic
depiction of the TUC campus and all the blocks constituting it. The energy needs of
the whole University are very high and the funds that are allocated to these needs
are, inevitably, extremely devastating if someone considers the total national bud-
get allocated for TUC. These facts lead to a dead end for the University as the
allocated budget for its laboratories, students and student care matters, is very low
and inadequate. As for laboratories, their staff is not able to conduct proper research
if they are not funded by external organizations and European Union programs. Fur-
thermore, the majority of student care problems are hard to be fixed in a proper way
and they remain half-fixed or not fixed at all, as there are insufficient funds to cover
such needs.
In 2013 TUC Senate decided to take actions toward energy conservation and
sustainability in order not only to tackle energy poverty, climate change, but also
to save annual expenses. There was a lot of effort by the TUC Community in order
to examine the best techniques and technologies to face the problem. Last but not
least, it was obligatory to discover both an efficient and applicable way to install and
apply such technologies and techniques. It was an excellent opportunity to follow
up with Green Universities’ concept and to invest into greener buildings, greener
practices and products, and ways of engaging staff and students and had the prospect
to produce principles of sustainability for current students and tomorrow’s engineers.
2 Vision
TUC is coping to become a leading technical institute for the future and therefore,
entered in the global effort for a future that is ecological, socially and economically
sustainable within a local and global context (Barth and Rieckmann 2012). Energy
consumption and poverty were among the main problems in the medium and long-
term plans, because:
• They lead to a financial impasse and takes advantage of valuable resources that
could be directed to other needs (education, student care, etc.).
• They cause an inhibition of the University’s growth prospects as the proportional
increase in its size and its energy needs lead to an unsustainable and volatile
situation that is virtually impossible to be maintained indefinitely.
• They encourage misconduct of energy resources misuse and lack of interest.
• They encumber the environment as it contributes decisively and negatively to the
greenhouse gas emissions.
So, the management authorities proceeded directly in the summer of 2013 to the
elaboration of the strategic plan for sustainable development and to the design of
concrete actions focusing on two main directions:
(a) Collection of data regarding energy consumption
The university started systematically to record and documentation the energy flows;
there was a limited number of electric energy consumption points, one per case, at
the 3 main groups of the TUC buildings (main campus, French buildings at Chania,
old administration at Chania).
(b) Interventions for energy saving
The competent authorities focused on designing and implementing interventions in
both medium and long-term targeting. Particular emphasis was placed on minimizing
the use of fossil fuels and replacing the conventional boilers with heat pumps.
The main goal of these actions was to manage to reduce the ecological footprint
of the university to reduce the energy cost following the most efficient way, without
diminishing the quality of its services. The actual mid-term reduction rate to be
achieved was set to 20%. The plan provisioned action aimed towards the following:
• Energy consumption reduction
• Water consumption reduction
• Paper usage reduction
• Recycling
TUC planned in a mid-term reduction by 20% of the energy consumption, with a
long-term plan of a 60% energy consumption reduction. The first goal was achieved,
as it can be seen in the results section, and this allows the responsible authorities
to have faith that the long-term goal is realistic and achievable (TUC and Digalakis
2013).
3 Completed Actions
The actions taken can be grouped into two main categories:

(a) Monitoring systems and
(b) Interventions regarding energy saving.
3.1 Monitoring Systems
In the context of the recording and collection of the required data, the following were
implemented:
• Access to the telemetry data was enabled provided by the power supply company
to medium-voltage consumers, as well as the web access to the e-bill service. In
this way, the university had the opportunity to immediately monitor the monthly
total consumption of electricity.
• A web-based database of oil consumption-related receipts was created and the
storage tanks were written down in order to enhance the transparency. In addition,
there is undergoing a necessary update of the delivery system before the payment
of the bills.
• Eighteen (18) energy-metering telemetry devices were bought, implemented, and
placed into crucial points of the campus. At the same time, easy-to-use software
has been developed in order to record and analyze the data.
• An energy map of the university was created showing in real time the energy
consumption of the preferred points in the university. This is publically open to
the visitors of the TUC official website.
• The power consumption data of the TUC are open source (available to everyone)
and can be used by research and study groups.
• Energy-metering devices were installed into the rooms of the dormitory, enhancing
and aiding the students’ attempt to reduce their energy consumption and be more
environmentally aware.
By combining the above measures, the TUC’s authorities were confident that
they would manage to reduce energy consumption and achieve their mid-term goals.
These techniques were still a step forward, and indicate the simple problems that
have to be tackled first if energy poverty is to be avoided (TUC and Digalakis 2013).
3.2 Interventions Regarding Energy Saving
The energy-saving interventions had not only short but mid-term targeting, aiming
to achieve great improvements gradually and not at once. Special emphasis was paid
into diminishing the oil-energy consumption and the replacement of the conventional
boilers with innovative ones, such as heat pumps.
• In collaboration with the laboratories of the university, changes were made into
the time of operation of high power-consuming devices, in order to take the most
advantage of the night, reduced, electricity rate.
• Old conventional spotlights of extremely high consumption in public areas and
sports facilities were replaced by innovative LED technology ones.
• The boiler room of the dormitory of the campus was rebuilt and renovated, new
water heaters and a new heat pump were installed for the optimal use of the solar
thermal system. Furthermore, the hot-water recirculation systems were repaired
and set to operate.
• Modern air conditioners were installed in all rooms and public spaces of the dor-
mitory, as well as controllers that incorporate metering and presence sensors to
ensure the most efficient operation possible.
• Thermo-interlocking aluminum frames with Low Thermal Emission Glass (Low
E), were installed for the first time in the premises.
• The old conventional air conditioners of all the buildings were replaced by modern
(high energy class) ones.
• The obsolete cooling unit of the Mineral Sources Department was replaced by
a heat pump, which, contrary to the old one, can serve the heating needs of the
building during the winter period, as well.
• The diagnostic procedure of the replacement of the lightning pillars located into
the campus, and new ones, based on magnetic induction technology, were imple-
mented.
• The operation of the central automation system of the air-conditioning units was
restored, in collaboration with the Energy Management in the Built Environment
Research Lab.
• Posters and web banners were created to raise the energy awareness of the com-
munity and eliminate the waste of resources
3.3 Undergoing Actions
Several actions are planned to be executed in the near future, such as

• Purchase and implementation of a solar thermal system in the campus’ restaurant
for the supply of hot water. An oil-burning conventional boiler has been used until
now.
• Installation of controllers and energy meters in every office space using
autonomous split-type air-conditioning systems.
• Supply and installation of additional heat-shrinkable frames equipped with low-
temperature glass (Low E).
• Gradual replacement of electrical kitchen utensils with LPG ones.
• Replacement of old conventional lamps with energy-saving LED ones into interior
places.
4 Results
It is of high importance to underline the fact that the energy data of the TUC became
available for anyone interested. It is a good initial point to start and perform research
activities such as data analysis, modeling and therefore runs optimization algorithms
in order to enhance the buildings and the end-users’ (staff, students, etc.) behavior
toward sustainability.
On the other hand, since there were not dynamic measures regarding the energy
consumption of the campus facilities and the supply of the energy-metering telemetry
devices was, practically, a huge step forward that can enable the optimization of
the consumption schemes and diminish extreme and improvident energy use. The
analysis of the data is operated by easy-to-use software that can be used to extract
some secure and concrete conclusions.
All the undertaken actions had an impact on the campus activities toward a greener
manner and as a result, they have led to immediate results that can be taken seriously
into account and permeate confidence for the future. These actions were not just
some distinct energy policies that had to be applied but a common attempt, of the
responsible authorities, to achieve their much desired, mandatory, energy goal and
comply with European Commission’s guidelines regarding energy.
By observing Table 2, someone can easily understand that these 4 actions had a
remarkable impact on the energy savings of the university and especially the two
first, as they indicate that something so simple can lead to huge energy savings.
Following the same motive, the first action presented remarkable energy savings and
the comfort of the users is improved, drastically, as well.
First and foremost, the number of students was increased since 2012, but the
same did not happen to the total energy consumption. The main reason for it was the
aforementioned actions and the exact data for these two parameters are presented in
Fig. 3.
Table 2 Results of the most noteworthy actions

a/a Actions Description Basic factor of Energy savings
change in regard to
energy saving
1 The diagnostic Replacing 84 lamps The old design 69,140 kWh/yr
procedure of the (300 W each) of provides 25 lux
replacement of the Metal Halide luminance levels on
lightning pillars Quartz Technology the road according
located into the with 95 W lamps of to the idea that as
campus, and new Magnetic Induction lighter as better. In
ones, based on technology the new design, we
magnetic induction follow the EN13201
technology, were regulation that
implemented requires 8–10 lux
luminance levels
2 Old conventional Replacing 54 lamps Also, the old design 91.652 kWh/yr
spotlights (1,000 W each) of provides much
floodlights of Metal Halide higher luminance
extremely high Quartz Technology levels than actually,
consumption in with 54 LED lamps these facilities need.
public areas and 70 W The hydrargyrum
sports facilities quartz iodide lamps
were replaced by degrade more
innovative LED rapidly by time in
technology ones comparison with
LED and magnetic
induction
technology
3 Moving facilities The Rector Office, On the point of 132.000 kWh only
from two Energy the Financial Energy Savings, the regarding the
Intensive Buildings Facilities of the Energy electricity
Campus and the consumption of 2 consumption
Architecture extra IT servers
Engineering with consumption
Department was in 7.5 kW each for
the City of Chania a 24 h is avoided.
road distance about Also, the oil
12 km from consumption for the
university campus heating of the two
buildings is
avoided, as well
4 Stop the operation Permits of leave for High energy 58.400 kWh/yr
of the each staff member demand due to
administrative of these facilities cooling systems in
facilities with such period and the
compulsory permits workload is
of leave in August relatively low
1200
1,134
Energy consumpƟon per student [kWh/std] 1100
1000
923
900
797
800 764 760 768
700
600
500
400
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Year
Fig. 3 Yearly energy consumption per student
It would be extremely interesting to examine the energy consumption per students

yearly, as it is a very useful indicator in order to prove the usefulness of the energy-
saving actions. The declining trend is being depicted in Fig. 3, in which there is a
slight increase in the past year due to the extreme weather conditions and the increase
of the newcomer students.
The most significant reduction regarding energy consumption was regarding the
oil expenses for heating. After the implementation of the heating-related actions
(Sect. 3.2), there was a diminishing of oil-related expenses as almost all these systems
were replaced with ones of different technology(heat pumps). The reduction of oil
consumption energy equivalent as well as of total energy, are presented in Fig. 4.
The mean energy consumption of the second period is less than the one of the first
one by 1.19 GWh, which is an extremely high amount of energy (a little higher than
the total energy consumption of a typical village of 500 inhabitants). The total reduc-
tion regarding energy consumption since 2012 is almost 20%, which can alleviate
the university of a severe problem. The importance of this reduction can be depicted
in a diagram, where the proportion of the energy expenses to the total budget of the
university is presented (Fig. 6).
The energy consumption of the university has fluctuations during 1-year period,
which are strongly related to weather conditions and to laboratories’ operation. In
Fig. 5, the total monthly energy consumption of the University’s campus during the
past 5-year period is presented. It is observed that the consumption scheme is the same
as the most energy-demanding month is February, except for 2012 where the action
with the replacement of air-conditioning systems with heat pumps had not taken
place yet. Furthermore, the results are surprisingly well as the line of each next year
seem to be, in general terms(except for 2015, when there were no extreme weather
Fig. 4 Total yearly energy consumption incl. oil-energy equivalent
500
Energy ConsumpƟon [MWh]
450
400
350
300
250
200
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Month
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Fig. 5 Monthly TUC campus energy consumption since 2012
conditions), lower than the previous one, meaning that the energy consumption is
being reduced in each and every month and not because any other imponderable
factor (Fig. 5).
In order to evaluate our previous assumption, as seen in Fig. 5 energy saving in
the same month of each year seems to be better than the previous year. There was an
increase in 2017 consumptions due to the extremely cold winter and extremely hot
summer this year in Crete.
Due to the economic austerity, there were huge reductions in the state allocated
a budget of TUC, which is being reduced further year by year. As seen in Fig. 6,
100
Percentage of energy to total expenses

90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Year
Total expenses Energy expenses
Fig. 6 Percentage of energy expenses to total expenses
Table 3 Yearly energy Year Energy expenses per student [e/student]

expenses per student
2006 125.6
2007 164.2
2008 171.0
2009 160.7
2010 168.7
2011 149.5
2012 163.9
2013 138.4
2014 123.6
2015 114.7
2016 121.3
2017 115.1
although there are huge savings regarding energy consumption, it is not enough and
further actions should be taken.
It is heavy for the university to pay 20% of its budget to energy expenses reducing
the allocated budget to other factors such as laboratories (equipment, staff, dormito-
ries, etc.), students’ ultimately needs and amenities, renovation of existing facilities,
etc.
The results of the calculation of the annual energy cost per student are presented
in Table 3 and Fig. 7.
Fig. 7 Energy expenses per 180
Energy expenses per student

student through the 170
examined period
160
[€/student]
150
140
130
120
110
100
2005 2010 2015 2020
Date
It is clear that the energy expenses per student have been reduced dramatically,
by almost 30% which is a solid decrease and can enhance the sustainability and the
ecological footprint of the University.
5 Discussion
The global interest in green universities is growing as they can be used as a replicable
example not only for universities but, also, for communities, in general. As an attempt,
they represent a confident effort of academic communities toward a sustainable,
decarbonized, and greenified culture (Ramos et al. 2015).
On this way of manner, TUC community formulated a plan to greenify its campus
toward a sustainable future. The actions referred to two main pillars, (a) monitoring
systems and (b) interventions regarding energy savings, but during the interval time
of their implementation, new actions have been recommended and are undergoing.
Speaking about the initial results, there has been a reduction of almost 0.35 GWh
regarding energy consumption only by implementing the four actions of Table 3.
These measurements seem to be extremely simple and have a great impact on the
university’s operations, both functional and economical. The total energy savings are
calculated either in 1-year periods before and after periods, with the second ones to
be more reliable as they describe a greater time period. The difference between the
energy consumption during the two periods reaches the 1.20 GWh yearly or almost
21% less energy which is an extremely high proportion compared to the total energy
consumption of the campus.
Alongside with energy savings, the implemented actions and systems offer a
great variety of advantages to the university as, according to the strategic plan, they
provide a great database for researcher either inside the University or from affiliates.
In addition, the existence of the power metering systems can offer a great bunch of
details regarding the power consumption during different hours in a day, different
periods of the year, etc. Furthermore, future actions and plans can be introduced as
the required studies can be held easier due to these systems (Hasapis et al. 2017). For
example, the university planned and have now initiated the process to install some
new photovoltaic systems in order to produce 300 kWp of green power generation,
although there is a limit on the inland produced the amount of energy, according
to Greek law restrictions, because the island of Crete is still off-grid. Last but not
least, bureaucracy in Greece and procurements are holding back this action and the
university’s authorities do their best to overcome these obstacles and, implement the
system, at last (Petidis et al. 2018).
Additionally, the existence of a strategic plan into a university can be crucial for all
its operations/functions as it aids the human resources of the campus to move collab-
oratively toward a common direction, which is the sustainable development and TUC
green future. There is a common target for all the TUC schools and administration
departments, making this goal reliable.
A notable example, is the previously installed lighting installations in which there
was the opinion that more light is better and more emphasis was paid on design.
This, according to the new strategic plan toward sustainability, was changed and the
lighting installations were replaced with new ones, in which the energy consumption
and the comfort of the end-users, as well, were of major importance.
Last but not least, the awareness of the faculty staff and the students was greatly
increased. TUC was experiencing a lot of empty classrooms where the lights and
the windows were left open and the conditioning system, as well. Another example
was a 42 kW laboratory machine which produces liquid nitrogen, that was operating
during peak hours (high electricity demand and therefore costs are high). At this time,
this machine was scheduled to operate only on Saturdays which leads to significant
energy savings, by only a machine.
Taking into account that on the one hand, many of the above actions have been
recently completed, but on the other hand, several of them are to be completed in the
near future, reducing the energy consumption will continue. For example, only the
routed replacement of lights bodies of perimeter road lighting are expected to save
energy of their order 60 MWh per year.
The university prepared a study to install the photovoltaic unit at the Technical
University of Crete for self-consumption and energy saving. The study was suc-
cessfully completed and competition notices were prepared for the installation of
infrastructure.
Last but not least, it is extremely important to mention that according to the
national power supplier’s data, the average CO2 emission factor of its total power
generation system, was 1.18 tnCO2 /MWh. Consequently, the benefits from the energy
savings for these 2 years (2013 and 2014), are estimated to be around 1,300 tonnes
of CO2 . As a result, approximately 350 tonnes of CO2 are estimated to be avoided
just from the oil savings these 2 years.
Apart from savings, it is crucial to implement the planned actions, related to the
production of energy from photovoltaic systems, for two main reasons:
(a) The favorable geographic position of the university allows the maximization of
energy production of photovoltaic systems, increasing their actual performance,
(b) The expected extremely important impact on the minimization of energy costs,
which is going to lead to significant saving benefits, related to both energy
and costs. All these can be easily proved, because photovoltaic systems are
maximizing their power generation at the middle of the day, synchronized with
the peak of demand in the university (rush hours).
Since 2014 various attempts have been held by the two Cretan universities and
finally in 2017, TUC got the state approval for implementing a 300 kWp photovoltaic
system.
Concluding, these and various more actions that can be implemented are extremely
useful not only regarding the financial matter of the university but they are a solid
move toward a sustainable, green future with a reduced, or even zero, environmental
footprint.
Acknowledgements The sole responsibility for the content of this paper lies with the authors.
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The Construction of Green Building
Using Interlocking Brick System
Abdul Karim Mirasa and Chee-Siang Chong
Abstract Campus sustainability intends to minimize the negative effects that impact
on their resources, while fulfils the activities of the universities for assisting the soci-
ety in transition as the sustainable lifestyles. Since the activities of universities require
many structures and the construction projects inevitably cause unfriendly effects on
the environment, this research aims to investigate the effectiveness of interlocking
brick system in reducing the energy consumption. In this research, a single-storey
building had been built-up to validate the sustainability of the interlocking brick in
constructing the green campus. By implementing the reinforced concrete construc-
tion method, it has found that about 1356.28 kg cement is needed to construct the
required beams and columns. The invented interlocking brick system has avoided
the exhaustion of 1356.28 kg cement and thus, saved 5.425 GI energy depletion,
reduced 1.35-ton greenhouse gases emission and eliminated the formwork consump-
tion. Moreover, this system is also proved to be competent in taking the essential
role as load-bearing system of a building.
1 Introduction
Campus sustainability has drawn global attention, especially from the planners and
policymaker of the university as perceiving the consequences that the activities of
universities have bought on the environment (Alshuwaikhat and Abubakar 2008).
According to Velazquez et al. (2006), a sustainable campus is defined as a whole
or a part of higher education institution, which addresses, promotes and involves
the actions of limiting the negative effects (in terms of environmental, economic,
societal and health) that impacts their resources, while fulfil the activities of teaching,
research, outreach, partnership and stewardship for assisting the society to transition
as the sustainable lifestyles. Universities, which can be termed as “small cities”,
generally require numerous building structures to carry out a wide range of teaching,
A. K. Mirasa (B) · C.-S. Chong

Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sabah,
88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
e-mail: irdrakm@gmail.com

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7260-5_4
36 A. K. Mirasa and C.-S. Chong
researching and industrial activities. Yet, the construction projects inevitably bring
certain direct or indirect negative impact on the environment.
In the construction industry, concrete, as one of the most versatile materials,
require mainly the aggregate and cement paste (Chee et al. 2011). Thus, ordinary
Portland Cement (OPC) is the major substance of the conventional construction
industry. A large number of energy (1000 kg of cement needs 4 GI of energy) is
consumed during the production process of cement, and this process also emits a great
deal of CO2 (around 1 ton) together with other greenhouse gases (Mehta 2001, 2002).
The conventional masonry brick is another significant construction material and
produced by mixing the raw materials, moulding the mixture, drying and firing until
it acquires the strength as brick. Similar to the cement production, the manufacture
process of the fired bricks caused a huge depletion of resources and consume high
energy that about 300% higher over those of the concrete blocks, therefore, this
process causes the serious environmental degradation owing to the high emissions of
greenhouse gas (Al-Fakih et al. 2019). In order to limit the environmentally unfriendly
effects of the construction, the researchers have been stimulated to develop a new
method for replacing these construction materials.
Reinforced concrete construction (RCC) structure is the youngest structure if
compared to the soil and timber structure (which appeared earliest on earth and
constructed by the original mankind), the masonry structure (which constructs using
stone or brick and commonly used in the early society of ancient civilization) and
the steel and other metal structures (that invented after the Industrial Revolution)
(Guo 2014). Yet nowadays, RCC structure has become the most used structure in
modern and contemporary architecture of many countries due to its continuously
improving performance, manufacture techniques, construction methods and a variety
of application scope (Guo 2014 and Ling 2018).
Contrary to RCC structure, the application scope of the masonry structure is very
much narrow. Indeed, a load-bearing masonry structure is commonly designed as
a vertical cantilever member for sustaining the permissible compressive and shear
stress (without tension) with the principles of engineering mechanics. The transfer-
ring of moment from floor-to-wall connection is not allowed and the lateral force is
assumed to be supported by the diaphragm action of the roof slab or the above floor
that acts as a beam (Bureau of Indian Standard 1991). The load-carrying capacity of
the masonry structure principally depends on its slenderness ratio. When the slender-
ness ratio rises, the crippling stress of the wall decreases due to the elastic instability.
In general, the masonry structure may fail owing to the excessive stress or buckling
effect (Bureau of Indian Standard 1991).
In terms of masonry standard, the strength of conventional masonry wall basically
depends on the strength of the mortar and the relative values of unit strength of
brick and mortar strength (Ahmad et al. 2011). Since the interlocking brick wall
is constructed with none or less mortar, the strength of interlocking brick wall can
be improved. Furthermore, the interlocking mechanisms of the interlocking brick
construction system highly enhance the continuing of the wall. Whereas, the grout,
vertical and horizontal reinforcements that have been used to strengthen the wall
also increase the buckling resistance of the interlocking brick. A detailed discussion
The Construction of Green Building … 37
related to the structural behaviour of the interlocking brick wall as a load-bearing

member will be presented in another research paper prepared by the authors.
Interlocking brick is a recently developed product that can be acted as a load-
bearing system. Since interlocking brick system (IBS) is competent to support the
structural members above it and their interlocking mechanism facilitates the mortar-
less technology, the utilization of interlocking brick system can significantly reduce
the usage of cement and constructs the green building. In the year 2018, Al-Fakih
et al. had reviewed the literature regarding interlocking bricks and concluded that
the concept of interlocking system has been widely used and gradually replaced the
conventional construction system.
Fundi et al. (2018) ensured that the interlocking brick technology has encouraged
the sustainable construction. They also conducted the static compressive testing
towards the interlocking wall and found that the compressive strength of the wall
can be enhanced by using the optimum stabilizers content to stabilize the laterite
soil. In contrast to the structural behaviour of interlocking brick towards static load,
the investigation regarding the impact behaviour of the plate-like assemblies made
of interlocking bricks had been carried out with the drop weight experiment (Rezaee
Javan et al. 2017) and the three dimensional finite element model (Rezaee Javan et al.
2018). Based on these researches, they concluded that the plate-like assembling,
which constructed using the interlocking bricks, have significantly enhanced the
flexural performances of the monolithic plate in terms of impact energy absorption
(Rezaee Javan et al. 2017, 2018)
Even though many laboratory testing or modelling analyses regarding the struc-
tural behaviour of interlocking brick have been carried out, the publication about
the construction procedures using interlocking brick is still limited (Simion 2009).
Mahmood et al. (2017) had compared the economic aspect of interlocking brick
system with the conventional construction method of typical reinforced concrete
construction (RCC). Yet, the reduction of concrete or cement usage as the construc-
tion carried out using interlocking brick system has not yet been studied. Thus, this
chapter aims to clarify the reduction of the concrete (or cement) consumption when
a single-storey building is constructed using the interlocking brick system.
The first section of this chapter briefly introduces the fundamental concepts of the
interlocking brick system. Then, the production method and the construction process
using interlocking brick system are discussed correspondingly. In order to clearly
study the sustainability of the interlocking brick in constructing the green campus,
a single-storey building had been built-up and the reduction of cement usage is
discussed.
2 The Interlocking Brick System
For briefly introducing the fundamental concepts of the interlocking brick system,
the first subsection of the following describes the basic theories of the interlocking
bricks. Subsequently, the types of the interlocking brick and their usage are discussed.
Lastly, the interlocking mechanism is explained.
2.1 Description of the Interlocking Brick
As stated in BS 6073-1:1981, clause 3.12, brick is a masonry structure that has

measurements less than 337.5 mm length, 225 mm width and 112.5 mm height.
Any unit with a higher dimension of these afore-mentioned sides is known as
block. Commonly, bricks can be produced from clay by using high firing method
or by binding cement paste. While burnt or baked brick method has brought a lot
of shortcomings to the environment, which is the greenhouse gas emission and
consumption of high amount of energy, the interlocking brick of this research is
innovated to reduce the usage of cement and eliminate the firing procedure.
Interlocking brick system has adopted soil as a major raw material. Morris and
Booysen (2000) had emphasized that the utilization of soil that is a commonly
available resource for construction has facilitated the appropriate and sustainable
technology for the built environment and the advantageous bring across the eco-
nomic spectrum and a wide variety of social or technology development. With the
hydrometer tests, the utilized soil of this research is classified as clayey soil. As stated
by Walker (1995), the plasticity index of the most ideal soil for producing the cement
soil brick is within the range of 5–15, whereas soils have plasticity index larger than
20–25 are not appropriate to cement stabilization with manual pressing owing to the
problems of low compressive strength, excessive drying shrinkage and inadequate
durability. In general, the plasticity index of the utilized soil of this research has
always been examined and to ensure the soil has the acceptable plasticity index.
According to ASTM C129, the minimum required unit compressive strength of
brick is 2.5 N/mm2 . By conducting the experimental test, it has found that the unit
compressive strength of the produced interlocking brick is broadly above 5 N/mm2 .
Based on the research investigation of Jayasinghe (2007), the required design com-
pressive stress of the wall for constructing a 5.0 m high wall to sustain 0.12 N/mm2
roof load is 1.4 N/mm2 . The compressive strength of the constructed interlocking
brick walls in this research has satisfied this required strength.
Moreover, the wet strength of this produced interlocking brick has been exam-
ined. With reference to New Mexico Earthen Building Material code, the Australian
Standard and the New Zealand Standard, the wet strength of the brick should be
higher than half of its dry strength. The obtained wet strength results of this inter-
locking brick have fulfilled these standards. As a conclusion, the structural behaviour
of the innovated interlocking brick construction system has been assessed and the
results are satisfactory. Thus, this interlocking brick construction system is apt and
competent to be a load-carrying member of a building.
The interlocking brick, which is used to construct the green building in this
research, is demonstrated in Fig. 1. Basically, the alignment of the wall system
can be formed in terms of the faces of the brick. As illustrated in Fig. 1, these faces
can be termed as end faces (header), top face, bottom face, stretcher (front face) and
back face.
Top face End face Stretcher

(Header) (Front face)
Bottom
face
Stretcher
End face Back face
(Front face)
(Header)
Fig. 1 The specification regarding the sides of the interlocking brick
2.2 Types of the Interlocking Brick and Their Usage
In order to construct a building using the interlocking brick system, three common
shapes of interlocking brick are invented. Figure 2 has described the standard inter-
locking brick, the U-shaped interlocking brick and the half interlocking brick. For
achieving the interlocking mechanism of the interlocking brick system, half interlock-
ing brick and standard interlocking brick are the major constituents of the wall system.
Since the interlocking brick system aims to eliminate or reduce the usage of
reinforced concrete structural members, U-shaped interlocking brick is produced to
act as the supporting element of the wall system. The empty portion of the U-shaped
interlocking brick intends to be reinforced with the steel bar and the pouring of the
binding grout able to strengthen its loading capacity. Thus, U-shaped interlocking
brick normally laying at the bottom of the interlocking brick system, above the door
or window and the top of the wall to support the above structural members.
a) Standard Interlocking Brick
b) U-shape Interlocking Brick c) Half Interlocking Brick
Fig. 2 The types of the interlocking brick

2.3 The Interlocking Mechanism
A wall is known as a vertical structure where its length and height are far larger than
its thickness. Through the conventional mortared-brick techniques, the wall con-
struction stages broadly involve bricklaying, jointing and plastering process. When
the conventional bricks are used to construct the wall, mortar is applied around the
headers and the top face of each brick to joint with bricks beside and above it.
For the interlocking brick system, the mortar layers or plastering on both sides
of the bricks are eliminated. Indeed, the specially designed shapes or forms of inter-
locking bricks enable the interlocking mechanism establishing among the bricks. By
implementing this locking bond, the stability (horizontal and vertical alignment) of
the constructed interlocking brick system is enhanced (Fundi et al. 2018).
The loads that act on the interlocking brick system are transmitted from a brick
directly to others and do not across the intermediate mortar layers. Moreover, each
face of interlocking brick restrains the out-of-plane displacement both along and
normal to the wall (Rezaee Javan et al. 2018). In short, the interlocking mechanism
of the interlocking brick system not only reduces the usage of joining mortar, but
also enhance the structural behaviour of the interlocking brick wall.
3 The Production Method of the Interlocking Brick
In general, the interlocking brick is manufactured by first identifying the soil types
with the respective testing. After the essential characteristics of the soil are examined,
the soil extraction which includes excavation, sieving or pulverizing and preparations
that covers drying and crushing are carried out. Subsequently, the raw material of
the interlocking bricks, which consist of soil, fine aggregate, cement and water, are
mixed with manual, machine, pressing or any other methods. Hereafter, the mixture
is compressed in a mould by using manual or hydraulic press.
Compaction ratio is defined as the ratio of the height of the brick mould (before
the compaction) to the height of the completed compressed brick. Bahar et al. (2004)
have suggested that the compaction ratios exceeding 1.65 are capable to produce
brick with good strength. In this research, the compaction ratio of the compactor
by the hydraulic press is about 1.7. Then, the manufacturing process of bricks is
completed and the curing process should be carried on for 14 days. Within the first 7
days, the manufactured bricks are watered every day during morning, afternoon and
evening (three times per day). Thence, the bricks are moved to an open space to dry
naturally during the 8th–14th day. Figure 3 has summarized this production method
of the interlocking bricks.
Interlocking bricks usually are fabricated in the form of solid, perforated or hollow.
The distinction between perforated and hollow bricks is divided based on the surface
area of the brick holes. As the surface area of the holes occupies less than 25%, the
bricks are classified as perforated bricks. For producing the solid interlocking bricks,
Soil Characteristic Soil Preparation

Identification Testing (Drying and Crushing)
Mixing Process Moulding Curing Process

(Soil, Sand, Cement (with the - Watering every day
th
and Water) compactor) (Day 1 to 7 )
- Naturally dried
th th
(Day 8 to 14 day)
Fig. 3 The general concept for producing the interlocking brick
Crushing Compacting
Machine Machine
Mixing
Machine
Fig. 4 The manufacturing process of the interlocking bricks
additional material and more power is required for pressing the mixture to form the
solid brick with enough density. Yet, lesser cement binder is used for attaining enough
strength of the solid brick. Nevertheless, more cement binder is needed in the mixture
of hollow interlocking bricks for earning its satisfactory strength (Simion 2009).
Until recently, the researchers and engineers have innovated several interlocking
brick manufacture machine types, which comprise of manually operated, electric
operated, hydraulic, automatic, semi-automatic, etc. Figure 4 demonstrates the man-
ufacture machine of this research. This machine can be broadly divided into three
major parts, which are the crushing machine, the mixing machine and the compacting
machine. Two long runways are designed to connect these three machine parts.
As a summary of the manufacture process of this research, after the dry soil is
well grounded with the crushing machine, the fine soil is transferred into the mixing
machine for mixing together with cement, sand and water. Lastly, these mixtures
are delivered into the compacting machine, which is operated with the hydraulic
jack, to apply compression force up to 2500 lb per square inch for moulding as
the interlocking bricks. The moulds are fabricated with different shapes to cast the
interlocking bricks of varied shapes that are described previously in Sect. 2.2. Though
the operation concepts of them are the same.
4 The Construction Process Using the Interlocking Brick

System
Overall, the construction process using the interlocking brick system is similar to
those of conventional reinforced concrete construction (RCC). The major differ-
ences between them are the elimination of the timber formwork and the concreting
regarding the supporting structural element, i.e. beam and column. Both of these
constructions are initiated with the earthwork or land cleaning process and followed
by the foundation constructions. Once the foundation and slab of the building are
built, the placement of U-shaped interlocking brick along the wall is conducted for
supporting the interlocking brick wall system. Successively, the interlocking brick
walls are built-in and the PVC pipe is implemented along the wall for installing the
electrical conduit. Lastly, the roofing installation is carried out above the interlock-
ing brick system. Figure 5 briefly describes the construction process of the building
using the interlocking brick system.
For erecting the wall with the interlocking brick system, the interlocking bricks
are built in the following process. First, the bricklaying process that aligns and levels
the related bricks in the wall position. Thereafter, the pointing process ensures these
bricks having the proper interlocking feature with the nearby brick to establish the
stable, vertically levelling and aligned wall system. The interlocking brick wall is
strengthened with reinforced steel bar that embeds into the system every 1 m span.
After every five–seven layers of interlocking bricks are built-in, the grout of cement,
sand and water is poured through the vertical holes. Thus, the interlocking brick wall
has an adequate load-carrying capacity to act as a load-bearing wall.
5 Green Building Construction
In order to prove the effectiveness of the interlocking brick system in reducing the
cement usage, the necessary load-bearing structural members of the conventional
reinforced concrete construction method, i.e. beam and column are designed and
the required cement is computed in Sect. 5.1. A single-storey building with three
Earth Work Foundation Placement of U-shape

and Construction Interlocking brick
Land Cleaning (For supporting the Interlocking
Brick Wall)
Wall Construction Strengthening Electrical Conduit Installation

(Every 5-7 layers) (Pouring the - Implementing PVC pipe
Placement of vertical grout for
reinforcement bars strengthening the
wall system)
Roofing Finishing
Installation
(after completion of
Interlocking Brick
Wall System)
Fig. 5 The general concept for constructing a building using interlocking brick system
bedrooms, a dining room, a kitchen, a lounge, a bathroom and a water closet had
been built-up for validating the feasibility of the interlocking brick system in acting
as a load-bearing system. This construction is explained in Sect. 5.2.
5.1 Conventional Construct Method
By implementing the conventional construction method, the reinforced concrete

structural members, i.e. beam and column are the most essential load-bearing
members that support the whole building. Figure 6 presents the common design
drawing plan of the one-storey house. The total area of the proposed building is
about 57.156 m2 (7750 mm wide and 7375 mm long). Based on the conventional
reinforced concrete construction method, the locations of beam and column for
sustaining the building for residential purpose are designed and shown in Fig. 6.
As a brief description, a total of 14 units of column and 19 units of beams with dif-
ferent dimensions, which have been listed in Table 1, is required to be constructed for
supporting the proposed building with conventional reinforced concrete construction
method. In reference to BS 8110-1:1997, Sect. 3, Fig. 3.2, the minimum widths of
beam and column (with fully exposed condition) for the fire resistance are 200 mm.
Since the design of the structural members is dependent on the intuition and experi-
ence of the engineers, it is not possible to figure out the exact amount of concrete and
cement required by different engineers. Thus, this study only chose the minimum
dimensions of beam and column, which are about 200 mm × 200 mm (column) and
All Dimensions are in mm.
Plan Legend:
Column
A Single Storey House Beam
Table 1 The required Dimension (mm) Unit Total required

amount of concrete in the concrete (m3 )
conventional construction
system Column 200 × 200 × 2800 14 1.568
Beam 200 × 150 × 2500 3 0.225
Beam 200 × 150 × 2625 8 0.63
Beam 200 × 150 × 4000 4 0.48
Beam 200 × 150 × 3375 4 0.405
Total 3.308
200 mm width × 150 mm depth (beam), for computing the required concrete in the
construction project.
Generally, grade 35 concrete is the commonly used concrete for the residential
building. Even though some may use a higher grade for higher and more expo-
sure building or a lower grade for smaller and well cover booth, grade 35 concrete
is acceptable. For calculating the required cement quantity, Table 2 has listed the
concrete mix design form to clearly clarify the procedure of the calculation.
Based on Table 2, the required contents of water, cement, fine aggregate and
coarse aggregate for mixing grade 35 concrete are shown in detail. By referring to
Table 1, the total concrete required in constructing the required columns and beams
is about 3.308 m3 . In terms of these data, the quantity of cement that needed to be
prepared for constructing the conventional load-bearing system is computed as listed
in Table 3.
Table 2 Concrete mix design form of grade 35 concrete

Stage Item Reference Values
1 1.1 Characteristic strength Specified 35 N/mm2 at 28 days
BS 5328, 5 % defective level for the design
BS 8110 and construction of concrete
structure
1.2 Standard deviation Figure 3 8 N/mm2
(less than 20 results are available)
1.3 Margin Figure 1 5 % defectives, k = 1.64
1.64 × 8 = 13.12 N/mm2
1.4 Target mean strength 35 + 13.12 = 48.12 N/mm2
1.5 Cement strength class Specified 42.5 or 52.5
1.6 Aggregate type: coarse Crushed or Uncrushed
Aggregate type: fine Crushed or Uncrushed
1.7 Free-water/cement ratio Table 2, 0.51
Fig. 4
1.8 Maximum free-water/cement BS 8110, 0.60
ratio Table 3.3
– Use the lower value of 0.51
free-water/cement ratio
2 2.1 Slump or Vebe time Slump 30 – 60 mm
2.2 Maximum Aggregate size Crushed – 20 mm
2.3 Free-water content Table 3 210 kg/m3
3 3.1 Cement content 210/0.51 = 411.764 kg/m3
3.2 Maximum cement content
3.3 Minimum cement content 300 kg/m3
– Cement content 411.764 kg/m3
4 4.1Relative density of aggregate 2.7 known
(SSD)
4.2 Concrete density Figure 5 2400 kg/m3
4.3 Total aggregate content 2400 – 411.764 – 210 =
1778.236 kg/m3
5 5.1 Grading of fine aggregate Percentage passing 600 µm sieve
= 65 %
5.2 Proportion of fine aggregate Figure 6 33 %
5.3 Fine aggregate content 33% x 1778.236 = 586.818
kg/m3
5.4 Coarse aggregate content 1778.236 – 586.818 = 1191.418
kg/m3
Table 3 The required cement based on mix design concrete G35

Quantities of Cement (kg) Water (kg or Fine aggregate Coarse aggregate
concrete litres) (kg) −20 mm (kg)
per m3 (to 410 210 585 1190
nearest 5 kg)
per trial mix of 1356.28 694.68 1935.18 3936.52
(3.308 m3 )
5.2 The Construction Method of Interlocking Brick System
For demonstrating evidently about the achievability of the interlocking brick con-
struction system in supporting the building, Fig. 7 is presented. As clearly shown
from the figure, only the interlocking bricks are constructed to support the roofing
system of the building.
This constructed one-storey building is termed as green building due to the fact
that it not only reduces about 1356.28 kg consumption of cement, but also eliminates
the requirement of formwork usage, which is fabricated with timber and necessary
for casting the reinforced concrete beam and column. As stated previously, the pro-
duction process of 1000 kg cement consumes about 4 GI energy and emits around
1 ton CO2 and other greenhouse gases (Mehta 2001, 2002), this green building has
saved about 5.425 GI energy and reduce around 1.35 ton CO2 and other greenhouse
gases emission.
According to Bahaudin et al. (2014), there is a lack of standard criteria for rating
or assessing the green buildings. Most of the countries have their rating system
for green building. In Malaysia, more than one rating tool has been established by
various organisations, which include of those developed by the Malaysian Institute of
Architects (PAM), Malaysian Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) and
Malaysian Public Works Department (JKR). Green Building Index (GBI) is a rating
tool of green building that has been developed by Malaysian Institute of Architects
(PAM) in 2008, which has stated that a green building focusses on increasing the
efficiency of resource use (energy, water and materials) while reducing building
impact on human health and the environment during the building’s life cycle, through
better sitting, design, construction, operation, maintenance and removal. In short, the
green building shall be designed, constructed and operated for decreasing the negative
impact to the environment.
World Green Building Council (WGBC), as an alliance between 80 national Green
Building Councils worldwide, is the largest international organisations that have led
the green building market places. WGBC emphasizes that any building can be a green
building provided it include the features regarding the efficient use of resources,
reduction of the pollution, consideration of the environment in design, construction
and operation, etc. This alliance has also addressed two essential global issues, which
are the climate change and CO2 emissions (Bahaudin et al. 2014).
The Interlocking Brick Construction System
U-shape Interlocking
Half
Interlocking brick
Interlocking
brick (standard)
brick
Green Building Constructed with

Interlocking Brick Construction System
From the previous sections of this paper, it can be clearly noticed that a total
of 5.425 GI energy have been saved and 1.35 ton CO2 and other greenhouse gases
emission has been reduced by constructed this one-storey (built-up area 57.156 m2 )
housing using the interlocking brick system if compared to construct it with the
conventional RCC structural members. Since the built-up housing of this research
has the characteristics related to the efficient use of resources and reduce the pollution
effect in the construction process, it certainly can be termed as a green building.
Moreover, this interlocking brick is fabricated mostly with the natural resource
(soil) and only compressed with the hydraulic press (which has eliminated the fire
process), these also contribute the green building characteristic to the interlocking
brick construction system. Besides, the construction of this green building spent
only 2 weeks as the interlocking brick system can immediately support the roofing
system. This is different from the reinforced concrete structural members that require
setting time for attaining strength. Therefore, the conventional reinforced concrete
construction system needs a longer period to complete a construction project.
6 Conclusions
In this chapter, the basic concepts about campus sustainability, conventional construc-
tion industry, research of the interlocking brick and the insufficiency of the studied
topics for interlocking brick construction system are briefly reviewed. Subsequently,
the descriptions regarding the interlocking brick system are presented. The produc-
tion method and construction process of the system is also introduced accordingly.
For verifying the feasibility of the interlocking brick system as the load-bearing struc-
tural member, a single-storey house had been built-up. This research had investigated
the required amount of beam and column (according to the design of the proposed
house) by using the conventional reinforced concrete construction method. It was
found that about 1356.28 kg cement is needed to construct the proposed building.
Based on the previous finding of the afore-mentioned researchers, the production
of 1356.28 kg cement requires about 5.425 GI energy and emits around 1.35 ton
CO2 and other greenhouse gases. Since the innovated interlocking brick system had
reduced the consumption of 1356.28 kg cement, it had saved about 5.425 GI energy
and reduced emission of 1.35 ton CO2 and other greenhouse gases. Moreover, the
elimination of formwork in the interlocking brick system also reduces the depletion
of timber. As WGBC has addressed the imperative to reduce the CO2 emissions
and the main objective of the green building based on GBI is to efficiently use the
resource while reducing the pollution of construction to the environment, these data
have validated the competency of interlocking brick system in constructing the green
building. Conclusively, the interlocking brick system is proved as competent to build
out the green building, which is environmental-friendly and able to fulfil the need of
the campus for conducting its necessary activities.
Acknowledgements The authors wish to express the appreciation to the financial assistance from
the Ministry of Higher Education (KPT) Malaysia under Translational Research Program, Grant no.
LRGS0008-2017. Sincere gratitude is also extended to all the members of Faculty of Engineering,
Universiti Malaysia Sabah and School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia who
had contributed their efforts in the construction projects of this research.
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The Feasibility of Using Palm Oil Ash
in the Mix Design of Interlocking
Compressed Brick
Hidayati Asrah, Nadiah Sabana, Abdul Karim Mirasa, Nurmin Bolong

and Lim Chung Han
Abstract The conventional clay bricks, which are used mainly for the masonry wall
construction, are suffering from the increase of energy price as well as environmental
problems due to soil excavation and high carbon dioxide emission. The use of green
interlocking compressed brick (ICB) containing palm oil fuel ash (POFA) may be
the solution for these problems. However, the mix design of ICB containing POFA
is not well established. This paper reports on the feasibility of using POFA in the
mix design of compressed brick for the ICB production. The mixes were formulated
using two different sizes of POFA, which were the ultrafine and unground POFA, and
combined with the cement and sand. The results demonstrated that the compressive
strength test and water absorption test satisfied the minimum limit specified for the
clay masonry unit. The maximum compressive strength of 39.2 MPa was obtained
with UF-10 at 24 days curing. Increasing the amount of ultrafine POFA to 40%
decreases the strength to 19.26 MPa. The utilization of ultrafine POFA into bricks
has produced bricks with good engineering properties compared to the unground
POFA brick. Nevertheless, these results indicate significant potential of using POFA
in the production of ICB for use in building construction. Application of POFA in
the ICB production will help to reduce the energy consumption of the conventional
clay brick firing process and reduce the environmental damages associated with the
greenhouse gas emission.
Keywords Interlocking compressed brick · Green building · Palm oil fuel ash ·
Ultrafine POFA · Compressive strength · Water absorption
1 Introduction
The construction industry in Malaysia integrates a variety type of construction

materials. The common types such as concrete and brick have long been used to
construct buildings and infrastructures. Concrete is usually used to construct the
main structural parts of the building, such as column and beam. Meanwhile, bricks
H. Asrah (B) · N. Sabana · A. K. Mirasa · N. Bolong · L. C. Han

Civil Engineering Program, Faculty of Engineering,
Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu 88400, Sabah, Malaysia
e-mail: hidayati@ums.edu.my

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7260-5_5
52 H. Asrah et al.
are used in the construction of wall and partition of the buildings. With the increase in
the urbanization and population growth, the demand on building infrastructures for
both materials has rapidly increased. However, the crucial problems with the industry
are, however, the impact of the materials on the environment. The production of clay
brick may lead to environmental damages due to soil excavation and requires high
construction cost, meanwhile concrete requires cement, which has a high carbon
footprint. As cement is used as a binding element for both concrete and brick in
construction, this has also stimulated the growth of the demand for cement. However,
the cement manufacturing process consumes high energy, which is about 12–15%
of the total energy consumption (Madlool et al. 2011). In addition, the calcination
process releases high amount of carbon dioxide, which triggered climate change
problem. On the other hand, the conventional clay brick, which is produced through
the firing method has also used high energy and released carbon dioxides (Oti and
Kinuthia 2018). As the need for housing increase, our responsibility for the environ-
mental impact should not be left behind. Hence, choosing green building materials
is possibly the best key to reduce the environmental impact due to construction.
Implementation of the green concept in construction through reduction of green-
house emission, reduction of natural resources consumption and using of waste mate-
rials in construction has been done in Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS). This is
through the production of interlocking compressed brick (ICB), which meets all
three requirements for the brick to be considered as green construction product. The
interlocking bricks are different from the conventional earth bricks as it requires no
mortar or concrete for the brickwork. This brick is joined with one another by meth-
ods of tongue and groove on the top and base of the bricks, which prevent the lateral
movement of the brick (Malavika et al. 2017) (Fig. 1). Unlike conventional clay
brick, this interlocking brick is produced through the compression method, using
the semi-mechanized stationary-type machine. Hence, the production itself does not
lead to the environmental destruction.
Production of the interlocking compressed brick required moderate to low skilled
worker since the ICB manufacture is very simple. It only takes three (3) main stages
Fig. 1 Interlocking
compressed soil brick
The Feasibility of Using Palm Oil Ash … 53
Fig. 2 Production of interlocking compressed brick a Soil preparation and mixing, b Compression,
c Curing
in the production process which are: soil preparation and mixing, compression and
curing (Fig. 2). To increase the green application in ICB, the commonly used mate-
rial, which is laterite clay soil can be replaced by waste materials from other industrial
processes, such as the palm oil fuel ash (POFA). This may reduce reliance on the
quarrying material from the natural sources and disposal of the waste to landfills.
However, information on the effect of POFA as a soil replacement in the ICB pro-
duction is very limited. Hence, to assess the suitability of POFA as material in the
ICB production, a preliminary investigation has been conducted to study the mixture
design of ICB with POFA replacing 100% of the clay soil using the compressed
brick samples. This includes determination on the engineering properties of the
compressed brick containing unground and ultrafine POFA, such as the compressive
strength, density, and water absorption of the brick.
Palm oil fuel ash (POFA) is a waste material from the palm oil production mill.
The production of POFA waste starts with the extraction of palm oil from the fruit
and copra of the palm oil tree. After the oil extraction process, waste products such
as palm oil fibres and shells are used as biomass fuel and burnt at a temperature of
200–500 °C to boil water, which generates steam for electricity and the extraction
process in palm oil mills. Generally, after combustion, about 5% of POFA by weight
of the solid wastes is produced (Sata et al. 2004). In practice, POFA produced in the
Malaysian Palm Oil mills are usually dumped in the plantation mill area (Sumadi and
Hussin 1995). Hence, this has created many environmental problems due to improper
POFA disposal.
Studies have found that ground POFA is a good pozzolanic material. It contains
high silica content and can be used to replace some amount of cement in the mixture
of concrete, mortar, brick and many other construction materials (Aldahdooh et al.
2014; Kroehong et al. 2011). The silica content in POFA can react with the calcium
hydroxide (CH) from the cement hydration process and produces extra calcium
54 H. Asrah et al.
silicate hydrate (CSH) gel compound for strength development process (Karim et al.
2011). Instead of having pozzolanic properties, POFA also acts as microfiller to fill
voids within the concrete microstructure when ground to a finer size (Asrah et al.
2015). In raw condition, unground POFA usually has larger sizes and known as
porous material. However, ultrafine POFA has better quality and produced concrete
with higher engineering properties compared to the unground POFA when used as
cement replacement. These properties have improved the role of POFA in making
strong and durable construction materials.
2 Materials and Methods
The materials used in this study include the Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), river
sand, clay soil, water and POFA. The clay soil was extracted from UMS site area and
used to produce the control brick samples. Meanwhile, POFA was collected from
Lumadan Palm Oil Mill in Beaufort, Sabah. The river sand has a specific gravity
of 2.72, which 90% passing through the 600 µm sieve. Two (2) types of POFA
were used in this research; the unground POFA and ultrafine POFA. Table 1 shows
the mix proportions of the compressed brick samples using unground and ultrafine
POFA at various amounts. The water to POFA and cement ratio is fixed at 0.25.
In the compressed brick sample production, the prescribed quantity of POFA and
cement were mixed thoroughly, and water was added gradually until the mixture is
consistent in colour. The mixture was then poured into 50 × 50 × 50 mm moulds
and compressed using the compression machine at 43 kN pressure. The sample was
demoulded and left for 24 h with cover to prevent from evaporation. The curing was
only commenced on the second day after casting by sprinkling of water for 12 and
24 days.
Table 1 Mix proportion for Mix Cement (g) Sand (g) POFA (g)
compressed brick (Soil)a
Control 250 125 (750)a
UF-10 250 125 250
UF-20 250 125 500
UF-30 250 125 750
UF-40 250 125 1000
UG-10 250 125 250
UG-20 250 125 500
UG-30 250 125 750
UG-40 250 125 1000
a Note:
UF–ultrafine POFA
UG–unground POFA
3 Properties of the Compressed POFA Brick
(i) Compressive Strength of Compressed POFA Brick
The compressive strength results shown in Fig. 3 indicate that compressed bricks
containing ultrafine POFA have higher strength compared to the control and unground
POFA brick samples. The highest strength was shown by UF-10 with 30.4 MPa
and 32.9 MPa at 12 and 24 days, respectively. Meanwhile, all compressed bricks
containing unground POFA tend to show lower strength at all ages of curing, except
UG-10 (25.92 MPa) and UG-20 (12.74 MPa), which showed higher strength than
the control sample (11.66 MPa) at 24 days curing. The lowest strength was observed
in UG-40 with 7.7 MPa (12 days) and 8.2 MPa (24 days). The ultrafine POFA used
in this research resulting in an excellent pozzolanic reaction, thus producing a good
compressive strength in brick. Meanwhile, the compressive strength of compressed
unground POFA brick reduced due to large particles of unground POFA with high
porosity.
The strength development observed in the compressed POFA brick occurs due
to the hydration and pozzolanic reaction process. The hydration reaction occurs
within the brick specimen forms the calcium hydroxide (CH) and calcium silicate
hydrate (CSH), which able to bind the materials together for strength development.
Meanwhile, the pozzolanic reaction between silica from POFA and CH leads to the
formation of extra CSH. When POFA is ground to finer size, the pozzolanic reaction
increases due to more reaction sites for the reaction to occur, resulting increment
in the quantity of CSH (Sinsiri et al. 2012). With high CSH, binding of particles is
more effective. Increase in the CSH gel also reduces the voids content, which makes
35
12d
30 24d
Compressive Strength, MPa
25
20
15
10
BS3921:1985
5 limit
Fig. 3 Compressive strength of compressed POFA bricks at 12 and 24 days curing

56 H. Asrah et al.
the brick denser and may contribute for better strength development compared to
unground POFA brick.
It was also noticed that the compressive strength of both compressed unground
and ultrafine POFA brick samples decreased with the increasing amount of POFA.
The likely factor in the reduction of strength for the brick at high POFA content is
possibly due to the lower amount of calcium silicate hydrate (CSH) formed. Since
POFA is categorized as a pozzolanic material, the strength gain of the resulting brick
is dependent on the reaction of silica (from POFA) with cement hydration (CH) to
form CSH. However, at high amount of POFA, there may be an insufficient amount
of CH formed from the cement hydration to react with the silica (Mo et al. 2017).
Hence, it limits the amount of CSH produced and resulted in lower strength of brick.
Nevertheless, both compressed unground and ultrafine POFA brick samples, and
control brick produced in this research have exceeded and satisfied the minimum
limits of 5 MPa as defined by BS 3921:1985. On the other hand, MS 76:1972 specifies
that the minimum strength required to produce load bearing brick is 7 MPa. Therefore,
all compressed brick samples produced in this research can be classified as load
bearing brick ranging from Class 1–Class 5. These results also indicated that POFA
has significant potential to be used as materials in the ICB production, especially
when it is crushed to ultrafine size.
(ii) Density Test
As illustrated in Fig. 4, the densities of compressed ultrafine POFA brick samples
were higher than the compressed unground POFA bricks at all curing ages. However,
the density of compressed ultrafine POFA brick was slightly lower than the control
brick at 24 days curing when 30 and 40% of ultrafine POFA were used in the mix.
With highest value in the chart, this indicated that the compressed ultrafine POFA
brick has a good pozzolanic reaction within the sample. The pozzolanic reaction
produced a secondary gel to interlock the bonding between the particles and enabled
a production of denser brick which was high in compressive strength. With finer size,
the ultrafine POFA provides a better filler effect, which filled up pore voids between
the particles and decreases the internal pores. The increment of the density is also due
to the fact that the finer POFA boosted the pozzolanic reaction with the by-product of
hydration to produce secondary CSH gel (Kroehong et al. 2011). The large amount of
CSH gel provides a path for the densification of brick, thus assisting pore refinement
to produce higher density brick as well as the brick strength. However, with an
increased in the amount of POFA, both ultrafine and unground POFA compressed
brick had shown a reduction in the density. This is probably due to the dilution effect,
which resulted from the excess amount of the POFA at fixed cement content. The
degree and the rate of hydration is reduced due to the increased amount of POFA
in total weight of paste, resulting in gradual reduction of the CH content and finally
leads to the arising issue of the reduction of CSH gel (Altwair et al. 2013).
(iii) Water Absorption
The results shown in Fig. 5 reveal that all compressed brick made with ultrafine
POFA (5.8–15.4%) has lower water absorption than those bricks made from
2500
12d
24d
2000
Density, kg/m³
1500
1000
500
Fig. 4 Density of compressed POFA bricks at 12 and 24 days curing
25
12-d
24-d
20
Water absorption, %
15
10
Fig. 5 Water absorption of compressed POFA brick samples at 12 and 24 days curing
unground POFA (11.9–20.5%), particularly at 24 day curing period. At the early

age of curing, all brick samples absorbed more water due to less formation of the
hydration product. As initial water curing duration increased, more solid hydration
products were formed, resulting in lower absorptivity of longer cured specimens
(Jaturapitakkul et al. 2011). Significant reduction in the water absorption of all
compressed ultrafine POFA brick samples was due to diminishing of the voids
through the pore void modification. With high pozzolanic activity, formation of the
solid hydration products has produced compressed ultrafine POFA brick with more
58 H. Asrah et al.
compact microstructure. In addition, the ultrafine POFA also acts as microfiller,

which able to cause further pore refinement and air volume reduction.
Based on BS 3921:1985, both UF-10 (5.84%) and UF-20 (6.68%) compressed
bricks can be considered to fall under the Damp proof Course 2 Class (≤7.0%).
Meanwhile, other brick samples (Control, UF-30, UF-40, UG-10, UG-20, UG-30,
and UG-40) with water absorption ranging between 11.99 and 20.52% can be cate-
gorized under the ‘All other class’ with no restriction to any water absorption limits
(≤no limits). On the other hand, MS 76:1972 has specified that for load-bearing brick
Class 1–Class 15, there are no specific requirements on the water absorption of the
brick. Hence, by considering the compressive strength and water absorption, based
on MS 76:1972, the compressed bricks produced in this research can be classified
under the load-bearing brick Class 1–Class 5.
4 Conclusion
Based on the result obtained, the use of waste material such as POFA is recom-
mended, especially when the material is ground to the finer size. The properties
such as compressive strength, density, and water absorption improved by using the
ultrafine POFA compared to unground POFA material. All the samples produced
in this research complied within the acceptable limit for stabilized clay masonry
unit. The production of interlocking compressed soil brick has been started for use
in building construction within the UMS campus. The research on POFA, however,
still in progress, but some positive findings on their engineering properties have
been determined, indicating the potential use of POFA in producing interlocking
compressed POFA brick to be used in future construction.
References
Altwair, N. M., Johari, M. A. M., & Hashim, S. F. S. (2013). Influence of treated palm oil fuel
ash on compressive properties and chloride resistance of engineered cementitious composites.
Materials and Structures, 47(4), 667–682.
Aldahdooh, M. A. A., Muhamad Bunnori, N., & Megat Johari, M. A. (2014) Influence of palm oil
fuel ash on ultimate flexural and uniaxial tensile strength of green ultra-high performance fiber
reinforced cementitious composites. Materials and Design, 54, 694–701.
Asrah, H., Mirasa, A. K., & Mannan, A. (2015). The performance of ultrafine palm oil fuel ash in
suppressing the alkali silica reaction in mortar bar. International Journal of Engineering Applied
Science, 9, 60–66.
B. Standard. (2004). BS 3921: 1985 Specification for Clay bricks.
Jaturapitakkul, C., Tangpagasit, J., Songmue, S., & Kiattikomol, K. (2011). Filler effect and poz-
zolanic reaction of ground palm oil fuel ash, 25, 4287–4293.
Karim, M. R., Zain, M. F. M., Jamil, M., & Islam, M. N. (2011). Strength of concrete as influenced
by palm oil. Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 5(5), 990–997.
Kroehong, W., Sinsiri, T., & Jaturapitakkul, C. (2011a). Effect of palm oil fuel ash fineness on pack-
ing effect and pozzolanic reaction of blended cement paste. Procedia Engineering, 14, 361–369.
Kroehong, W., Sinsiri, T., Jaturapitakkul, C., & Chindaprasirt, P. (2011b). Effect of palm oil fuel ash
fineness on the microstructure of blended cement paste. Construction and Building Materials,
25(11), 4095–4104.
M. Standard. (1972). MS 76:1972 Specification for bricks and blocks of fired brickearth, clay or
shale part 2: Metric units.
Madlool, N. A., Saidur, R., Hossain, M. S., & Rahim, N. A. (2011). A critical review on energy
use and savings in the cement industries. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 15(4),
2042–2060.
Malavika, I. P., Nipuna, M., Raina, T. R., Sreelakshmi, A. V., & Kripa, K. M. (2017). Design of
interlocking block and replacement of msand by concrete roof tile waste. International Journal
of Research in Engineering and Technology, 4(5), 1224–1229.
Mo, K. H., Bong, C. S., Alengaram, U. J., Jumaat, M. Z., & Yap, S. P. (2017). Thermal conductivity,
compressive and residual strength evaluation of polymer fibre-reinforced high volume palm oil
fuel ash blended mortar. Construction and Building Materials, 130, 113–121.
Oti, J. E., & Kinuthia, J. (2009). Engineering properties of unfired clay masonry bricks. Engineering
Geology, 107(3–4), 130–139.
Sata, V., Jaturapitakkul, C., & Kiattikomol, K. (2004) Utilization of palm oil fuel ash in high-strength
concrete. ASCE, 623–628.
Sinsiri, T., Kroehong, W., Jaturapitakkul, C., & Chindaprasirt, P. (2012). Assessing the effect of
biomass ashes with different finenesses on the compressive strength of blended cement paste.
Materials and Design, 42, 424–433.
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replacement material in housing construction, 25–34.
Second-Generation Bioethanol:
Advancement of Ethanologenic
Microorganisms Toward Industrial
Production
Husnul Azan Tajarudin, Muhammad Syazwan Azmi,

Muaz Mohd Zaini Makhtar, Mohd Firdaus Othman
and Mardiana Idayu Ahmad
Abstract Bioethanol, as a clean and renewable fuel with its major environmental
benefits, represents a promising biofuel today which has the potential to provide
a sustainable replacement for traditional oil-based fuels. In order to minimize the
competition between fuels and food production, researchers are focusing their efforts
on the utilization of wastes and by-products as raw materials for the production
of ethanol. Food waste and lignocellulosic biomass are being produced in great
quantities in any campus cafeteria and their handling can be a challenge. They contain
significant amounts of sugars (both soluble and insoluble) and they can be used as
raw material for the production of ethanol. The review highlighted a specific part in
the production chain of refining lignocellulosic biomass, production of sugar from
lignocellulosic biomass during enzymatic hydrolysis and the fermentation of the
produced sugars to bioethanol. The study also covered a metabolism of ethanologenic
microorganism focusing on glucose and xylose catabolism.
Keywords Bioethanol · Fermentation · Bioreactor
1 Introduction
In order to promote sustainable living on campus, there is a need to improve the

resource conservation. The food waste from campus events and lignocellulosic
biomass abundantly in campus have high potential to be recovered their energy
H. A. Tajarudin (B) · M. S. Azmi · M. M. Z. Makhtar · M. F. Othman · M. I. Ahmad

Division of Bioprocess Technology, School of Industrial Technology,
Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
e-mail: azan@usm.my
H. A. Tajarudin
Cluster of Solid Waste Management, Engineering Campus,
M. F. Othman · M. I. Ahmad
Division of Environment Technology, School of Industrial Technology,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7260-5_6
62 H. A. Tajarudin et al.
(Costello et al. 2016). The reduction of these ‘waste’ would support the energy con-
servation, water conservation and waste reduction goals of any campus. There is high
percentage of food produced goes uneaten, and the potential to divert some of this
would have a tremendous environmental and social impact. At the same time, there
is significant environmental cost to food that goes to waste, both on the front and
back ends (Parfitt et al. 2010). In addition to the resources (i.e., land, water, oil) that
go into producing the food, discarded food contributes to over one-fifth of municipal
landfills and is the single largest contributor to municipal solid waste in landfills,
which is among the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in any countries
(Manaf et al. 2009).
In recent years, the development of alternative energy and transport fuels con-
tinues to advance. The shifting focus in energy resource is mainly driven by the
massive consumption of fossil fuels and elevating consciousness on climate change
worldwide. In 2014, world fossils fuels recorded large amount of consumption at
approximately 3,639 PJ, 66,076 PJ and 1,764 Mt for oil, natural gas, and coal (World
Energy Statistics 2016). The trend is expected to increase and the dependency of
fossils fuel as energy and refinery resources will continue for at least the next few
decades (Shafiee and Topal 2009). In environmental perspective, this apparent and
alarming trend definitely requires a thoughtful countermeasure to reduce emission of
greenhouse gas and its negative impacts on the environment. One of the promising
solutions is the use of bioethanol as substitute or additive for fossil fuel, achieving
that sustainable, clean and economically viable bioenergy production (Balat 2011).
The most common renewable resources for bioethanol today are from the first-
generation feedstock, which are from corn and sugarcane (Boundy et al. 2011).
However, first-generation bioethanol faces controversies such as food security and
limited resources since the energy demand only achievable through agricultural of
edible crops. The net of greenhouse gas production is also questionable because of
deforestation for a new arable land result in substantial amount of biofuel carbon debt
(Fargione et al. 2008). The emergence of advanced bioethanol or second-generation
bioethanol has paved the way for more sustainable production of bioethanol. Lig-
nocellulosic material from nonedible crops or agricultural waste can be used as
the feedstock, hence alleviating environmental and social issues related with first-
generation bioethanol. Third generation bioethanol, although not discussed in this
article, is also a sustainable resource of bioethanol. The only drawback is the expen-
sive production, which rendered bioethanol from algal biomass as not commercially
viable for now (Slade and Bauen 2013).
Superiorities of second-generation bioethanol are cheap, renewable, and abundant
source of lignocellulosic biomass. Waste from agricultural the industry and nonedible
crop from marginal land covers a large portion of the biomass. The abundant of
agricultural waste is undeniable with estimation of 998 Mt being produced annually
(Obi et al. 2016). More importantly, it is estimated that global lignocellulosic biomass
can potentially produce 442 GL of bioethanol per year, roughly 16 times higher than
the current bioethanol production (Kim and Dale 2004). Many researchers have
recognized the potential of second-generation bioethanol with extensive researches
being conducted for the past three decades (Chandrakant and Bisaria 1998; Lynd et al.
Second-Generation Bioethanol: Advancement of Ethanologenic … 63
1991). Results from various pilot-scale researches have indicated positive outcomes,
which in turn support that assertion of second-generation bioethanol as fuel for the
future (Menetrez 2014; Naik et al. 2010).
Ethanologenic microorganisms serve as a collective ‘mini-factories’ in the pro-
duction of bioethanol. These microbes have distinct fermentation behaviors depend-
ing on feedstock’s origin. For lignocellulosic biomass, there is lack of wild strain
ethanologens that capable of fermenting all sugars (hexose and pentose) released
by hydrolysis. This major challenge promotes metabolic engineering technology
to tailor an advanced ethanologens by combining advantageous traits from various
microbes. To date, mostly, studied ethanologens for plant biomass conversion are
Escherichia coli, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Zymomonas mobilis (Saxena et al.
2009; Sprenger 1993; Taylor et al. 2012). Other approach includes random muta-
genesis and screening to resolve high sensitivity of ethanologens toward process
hardiness.
Presently, most review articles have focused on pretreatment and hydrolysis pro-
cesses due to their high impact on the economic viability of bioethanol production
(Sun and Cheng 2002; Taherzadeh and Karimi 2008; Yang and Wyman 2008). Nev-
ertheless, fermentation is another important process in achieving high yield, faster
conversion rate and high concentration bioethanol. This review presents a discussion
on the development of ethanologenic microorganisms for high-performance fermen-
tation, its desired characteristics, feedstock resources, and the employed fermenta-
tion system for production of second-generation bioethanol. In addition, this review
includes current efforts in the creation of superior ethanologenic microorganism or
also known as superbug for industrial production of bioethanol.
The main process steps in bioethanol processes will be the same regardless of
the raw material used and what kind of by/co-products are produced in the process.
The operation of each of the core steps will, however, differ depending on both
feedstock and product distribution. The process steps are pretreatment, hydrolysis
and fermentation (Fig. 1). In addition to these three core processes, product recovery
(mainly distillation) is also needed.
Pretreatment of the biomass targets to open up the structure of the fibers and/or to
liquefy parts of the material, primarily either the hemicelluloses or the lignin. There
are numerous pretreatment methods exist and commonly divided into physical and
chemical methods depending on their main mode of action, although a combination
of the two is often used (Alvira et al. 2010). Physical methods, such as communition
and extrusion, rely on size reduction, and defibrillation of the material. This is as
a way to open up the fiber structure and create a larger accessible surface area to
improve the enzymatic hydrolysis. Purely physical methods are typically very energy
Pre-treatment Hydrolysis Fermentation Distillation
Fig. 1 Flow diagram for bioethanol production

rigorous and are therefore often regarded unfeasible (Hendriks and Zeeman 2009).
However, in combination with other pretreatment methods they can be useful.
Once pretreatment was done, the important component of the cellulose still
remains in polymeric form, and depending on the pretreatment method, some of
the hemicelluloses may also remain in polymeric or oligomeric form. To breakdown
the reminder of the sugars, a set of enzymes, mainly cellulases, are needed. For a long
time, enzymatic hydrolysis was regarded as the primary bottleneck in the production
of bioethanol from lingocellulose (Lynd et al. 2008). This was mainly due to the
slow action of the cellulase mixtures and the need for large amounts of expensive
enzymes.
For the fermentation part, there are many potential candidates for bioethanol
production such Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Scheffersomyces stipitis, Kluyveromyces
marxianus, Dekkera bruxellensis which are commonly used microorganism in
sugar- and starch-based bioethanol production today (De Souza Liberal et al. 2007).
This will be elaborated later in the fermentation of ethanologenic microorganism’s
subsection.
2 Biomass Resource for Second-Generation Bioethanol
Biomass is a transformed solar energy from photosynthesis, hence stored chemical

energy available for satisfying renewable energy demand. The biomass processes of
sucrose or starch containing crops such as sugarcane, sugar beet, maize, and wheat
are relatively easy and simple, considering the accessibility of matured bioconversion
technology (Lin and Tanaka 2006). However, the increase in bioethanol production
from food crops will affect global agricultural commodity prices and food security.
This is especially true for most of the feedstocks except sugarcane scenario in Brazil
where Brazilian biofuel program promotes agricultural development (Koizumi 2015;
Sims et al. 2010). Overall, albeit with conflicts from different studies, many agreed
that first-generation bioethanol has several limitations in term of land competition
for growing crops and residence (Mohr and Raman 2013; Naik et al. 2010).
The conversion of biomass into second-generation bioethanol is different from the
first generation due to its variation of biochemical composition. The first-generation
biomass conversion is easier due to the presence of readily fermented soluble sugars
(mono and disaccharides) and hydrolysed starch prior to fermentation. In contrast,
second-generation bioethanol faces more difficulties in the preparation of soluble
sugars for the fermentation process. This is due to the presence of recalcitrant
molecules with complex linkages, which in turn provides robustness toward enzy-
matic and chemical degradation. Nevertheless, the concept of second-generation
bioethanol is promising due to the abundance of lignocellulosic biomass and its
accessibility without the interference of additional land for crops cultivation. The
worldwide production of lignocellulosic biomass is around 200 Gt per year, where
roughly 20 Gt is available for biofuel production (Limayem and Ricke 2012).
Generally, plants are consists of three biopolymers: cellulose, hemicellulose, and

lignin. Together, these three constituents form a highly complex lignocellulosic
matrix that is unique in composition and degree of complexity with different plant
species, its age, and stage of growth. Cellulose is a linear, unbranched homopolysac-
charide consist of β-D-glucose units joined by β–1,4 glycosidic linkage. There is the
formation of hydrogen bonds between hydroxyl groups and oxygen atoms within the
repeated single glucose chain and adjacent glucose chains. In addition, the forma-
tion of intermolecular and intramolecular Van der Waals forces attach each cellulose
chain together and promote parallel stacking of cellulose microfibrils (Somerville
2006). Cellulose exists in two forms, namely crystalline and amorphous form. For-
mer configuration requires more specialized enzyme and less susceptible to enzyme
degradation compared with latter configuration (Pérez et al. 2002; Hall et al. 2010).
In the economical perspective, lignocellulosic biomass with high content of cellulose
is preferred because cellulose content is directly proportional with bioethanol yield
(van der Weijde et al. 2013).
Hemicellulose is a complex and diverse heteropolysaccharide comprises hex-
ose (β–D–glucose, α–D–galactose and β–D–mannose), pentose (β–D–xylose
and α–L–arabinose) and uronic acids (α–D–glucuronic, α–D–galacturonic and
α–D–4–O–methylgalacturonic acid). Trace amount of sugars such as α–L–rhamnose
and α–L–fructose may also present in this biopolymer. Hemicellulose is more sol-
uble and relatively easy to hydrolyze compared to cellulose due to their amorphous
form with short lateral chains and lower molecular weight (Saha 2003). The main
structure of hemicellulose is either short branches homopolymer or a heteropolymer
linked by β–1,4 glycosidic linkage and sometimes β–1,3 glycosidic linkage. Hemi-
celluloses in hardwoods, municipal wastes, and agricultural residues, are typically
xylan while softwoods are highly in glucomannan (Bajpai 2016). Due to sugars
diversity, hemicellulose requires various enzymes to hydrolyze the biopolymer into
fermentable sugars. However, the formation of unwanted products such as furfurals
and hydroxymethyl furfurals must be avoided to prevent inhibition of fermentation
process (Palmqvist and Hahn-Hägerdal 2000).
Lignin is a unique amorphous complex biopolymer that does not sacchar-
ify into fermentable sugar. The monomers of lignin are three hydroxycinnamyl
alcohols of p-coumaryl, coniferyl and sinapyl that forms respective aromatic unit p-
hydroxyphenyl, guaiacyl, and syringyl units (Feofilova and Mysyakina 2016). It has
been studied that, lignin from different sources has different ratios of these aromatic
units which in turn affect enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose (Studer et al. 2011).
Lignin functions as a supportive polymer that strengthens cell walls within xylem
tissue, forming dense structure that binds cellulose microfibrils and other cell walls
components, thus giving rigid support and prevents collapsing of vascular plants
(Martone et al. 2009). Among lignocellulosic biomass, softwoods have highest lignin
content with 30–60% (dry weight), followed by hardwoods with 30–55%. Grasses
and agricultural residues have lower lignin content with 10–30% and 3–15%, respec-
tively (Limayem and Ricke 2012). Typical composition inside the woody biomass is
presented in Fig. 2. Currently, most lignin residue is burned for the source of heat and
power for the processing plant, despite many potential applications (Yuan et al. 2013).
Fig. 2 Pie chart for the Chart Title

composition inside the
woody biomass 2%
Cellulose: 45 %
SW: 25 % Hemicellulose:
HW :21% SW 25 %
HW 30 %
lignin carbohydrate extractive
Many lignocellulosic biomass has been studied for the production of bioethanol
in the last three decades (DiPardo 2000; Zabed et al. 2017). According to the authors,
lignocellulosic biomass can be divided into four groups based on respective sources:
dedicated energy crops (switchgrass, silvergrass, and napier grass), forest residues
(woodchips, sawdust), agricultural residues (rice straw, cane bagasse, and pulp),
and organic municipal solid wastes (recycled paper sludge, waste office paper). Each
group has their distinctive characteristics and notable potential for ethanol production
and the summary is shown in Table 1. Despite numerous reports, the interest on
lignocellulosic feedstock always renewed with discoveries of significant findings
and novel technology, particularly in the group of dedicated energy crops.
Easily grown crops with fast-growing rate and high biomass yield are the ideal
candidates of cellulosic energy crops. These crops are commonly dedicated for
biofuel production and they are either belongs to C3 or C4 photosynthetic plants.
During photosynthesis, the two types of plant differ in Rubisco oxygenase activity,
in which the former may use oxygen as substrate, rendering it less efficient in carbon
fixation than the latter (van der Weijde et al. 2013). Apparently, the latter possess
higher efficiency in converting solar energy into biomass especially in warm and
arid climate. Moreover, nitrogen and water use efficiency is 1.3–4 times higher in
C4 plants (Sage and Zhu 2011). Some C4 energy crops are silvergrass (Miscanthus
spp.), switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) and bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon) while
C3 energy crops include timothy grass (Phleum pratense L.), reed canary grass
(Phalaris arundinacea), giant reed (Arundo donax) and alfalfa (Medicago sativa).
These are the common grass that is present in the backyard of any campus and
conventionally, the grass waste will be burned out without noticed their valuable
profit if converted into the bioethanol fuel (Table 1).
Industrial crop and food crop are the two sources of agricultural residues.
Available form of industrial crop residues is cotton stalks, flax shives, and hemp
hurds. Nevertheless, world top four agricultural residues all originates from food
crops, viz. rice straw (731.30 Mt year−1 ), wheat straw (354.34 Mt year−1 ), corn
Table 1 Summary of the lignocellulosic biomass group for bioethanol production

Biomass Prominent features and notable potential References
source
Dedicated • Crops grown specifically for fuel: Switchgrass David et al. (2010),
energy (Panicum virgatum L.), Napiergrass (Pennisetum Somerville et al. (2010),
crops purpureum Schumach), Silvergrass (Miscanthus Rengsirikul et al. (2013)
spp)
• Able to grow in marginal and polluted lands
• High biomass productivity
• High tolerance against disease and pests
• Convenient for the application of genetic
engineering
• Low energy investment for cultivation
• Biomass yield 5.2–11.1 t DM ha−1 Switchgrass,
27.1–88 t DM ha−1 Napiergrass, not more than
30 t DM ha−1 Silvergrass
• Potential ethanol yield is up to 460 L t−1 of
biomass
Agricultural • Rice straw, wheat straw, corn straw, and bagasse Kadam and McMillan
residues are the four major residues in the world (2003), Sarkar et al.
• Most tonnage compared to other resources (2012)
• Easily accessible for agriculture-based countries
• Biomass yield 2.25 t DM ha−1 wheat straw, corn
stover 2.2–3.4 t DM ha−1
biomass
Forest • Logging residues, forest thinning residue Duff and Murrayh
residues • High bark content will decrease biomass (1996), Galbe and
conversion Zacchi (2002)
• Non-seasonal harvesting
• Increase landfill capacity for other waste and avoid
decomposition cost
biomass
Municipal • Cellulose waste comprises 60% dry weight: paper, Kalogo et al. (2007),
solid waste wood and yard waste Ballesteros et al. (2010),
• 65 wt% carbohydrate and 10 wt% lignin content Li et al. (2012)
• Lower net energy than corn ethanol or cellulosic
ethanol
• Offset landfill cost such as tipping fees
biomass
t–tonne, DM–dry matter, ha–hectare
straw (203.61 Mt year−1 ), and cane bagasse (180.73 Mt year−1 ) (Sarkar et al. 2012).
Asia is the main producer of rice straw and wheat straw, while America is the top
contributor for corn straw and cane bagasse generation. The total of four sources
can potentially produce 418.9 GL per year bioethanol, in which rice straw alone
can potentially produce 205 GL per year (Kim and Dale 2004; Georgieva et al.
2008). For the campus scope, the agricultural residue still among the contributor
for the waste in the campus as clearly in the majority of the campus throughout
the nation having their some area of clear land which allows the students or staff
to farm anything. Unfortunately, during the harvesting process, commonly a huge
agricultural residues are throw away/burn. By implementing the technique that was
written in this review, all the campus should be implemented this technique.
Forest residues include by-products of wood processing mills (sawdust and wood-
chips) and forest harvest residues from logging operation and forest thinning. These
residues typically contain a substantial amount of bark that has different biochemical
composition and structure than wood. Bark has less carbohydrate with more extrac-
tives and ash, thus leads to lower ethanol yield than woody biomass (Taherzadeh
et al. 1997). However, debarking of logging residues is not necessary due to techni-
cal challenges and cost related issue. It was reported that bark inclusion (up to 30%
dry weight) in the feedstock has a negligible effect on hydrolysates fermentation.
The recorded ethanol yield was able to reach more than 0.43 g g−1 (Robinson et al.
2002). Though not all the campus have forest area (some campus having large area of
reserve forest), but they are still in the campus which has their own backyard which
is being kept for the landscape purpose. So, the residue also can be applied in the
bioprocess for harvesting the bioethanol.
Municipal solid waste (MSW) is waste generated from household and commer-
cial establishments. Generally, most MSW contains high fractions of organics and
papers with lower amounts of inorganic material such as plastics, glass, and met-
als. Estimation on annual MSW generation around the world has exceeded 2 billion
tonnes per year, which suggest a potential threat to environmental sustainability in
near future (Karak et al. 2012). With regard to that matter, bioethanol derived from
MSW is definitely one of the promising solutions. A study reported that net life cycle
energy used in producing MSW ethanol is less than the energy used for producing
corn ethanol or cellulosic biomass ethanol (Kalogo et al. 2007). The production of
MSW-ethanol also requires less energy from the petroleum source, thus saving more
fossil energy (Taherzadeh and Karimi 2008).
Patently, cost-effective, and well-established technologies are required for
economically feasible bioethanol production. Apart from the difficulty in saccharifi-
cation process, feedstock characteristics also determine the total cost of bioethanol.
Although plant biomass is cheap and abundant, few challenges remain as critical
impediments. These include low biomass yield, naturally recalcitrance and costly
feedstock’s management. The recent breakthrough involves genetic engineering
technology for expression of desired feedstock characteristics in dedicated energy
crops. The introduction of ester linkage into the lignin backbone by Ralph et al.
(2014) gives nearly double saccharification yield of glucose as compared to normal
biomass. Other researches have increased biomass by up to 63% whereas ethanol
yield by up to 38% in switchgrass plant (downregulation, overexpressing myb4).

These studies have opened the possibility of large cost reduction, especially through
genetically engineered crops.
3 Metabolism of Ethanologenic Microorganism
Hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass releases accessible sugars that comprise

mainly glucose and xylose, as well as small amounts of arabinose, galacturonic
acid, and rhamnose. Metabolism of ethanologens involves biochemical reaction that
converts these fermentable sugars into ethanol. While many microorganisms can
metabolize glucose and other hexose sugars, only a few microorganisms are able to
metabolize xylose and pentose sugars. However, these xylose-fermenting microor-
ganisms such as Escherichia coli, Pachysolen tannophilus and Candida tropicalis
can only achieve low rate and yield of ethanol in comparison to glucose fermentation
(Jeffries 1981; Slininger et al. 1982). Moreover, pentose sugars are only utilized after
D-glucose has depleted in the fermentation, hence leads to an uneconomical long
fermentation time (Oreb et al. 2012; Bren et al. 2016). These challenges or undesir-
able traits of ethanologenic microbes truly require the understanding on pentose and
hexose metabolic pathways before the construction of industrial ethanologens can
be performed.
3.1 Glucose Catabolism
Glycolysis or also known as Embden–Meyerhof–Parnas pathway plays a major role

in initial catabolism of glucose into three carbon units, pyruvate. It occurs in two
stages namely ATP investment stage (stage 1) and ATP pay off stage (stage 2). In
the former, glucose is phosphorylated twice and is split to form two molecules of
glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate (G-3-P). Two ATP molecules are utilized in this stage,
which is regarded as an investment for further oxidation process. In the latter, G-3-P
is converted to pyruvate that yields four ATP and two NADH molecules. Due to the
consumption of two ATPs in stage 1, the net production of ATP per glucose molecule
is two.
In the presence of oxygen, the energy-rich pyruvate can be completely oxidized to
CO2 and H2 O that potentially yields 30 more ATP molecules. However, in the anaer-
obic condition, it can be converted to several types of reduced molecules depending
on the type of microorganisms. In ethanologenic microorganism such as yeast and
certain bacteria, pyruvate is decarboxylated to acetaldehyde and CO2 . The acetalde-
hyde is then reduced by NADH to form ethanol, which is excreted later by the cell.
Technically, fermentation of glucose to ethanol does not face any grave challenges in
contract with xylose, since glucose is always the preferred carbon source that allows
faster growth than other sugars. (citation) Fig. 3 shows the overview of ethanol
metabolism.
D-xylose
NADH
Xylose reductase
Xylose reductase
Xylitol
NAD+
NADPH NADP
Xylitol
NAD+ H2O
Pentose Phosphate
Xylitol dehydrogenase Pathway
CO2
NADH
Xylose isomerase Ethanol

D-xylose D-xylulose
ATP
Xylulokinase
ADP
D-Xylulose-5-P
Fig. 3 Outline of xylose metabolic pathway in fungi and bacteria. Red and blue arrows represent
initial xylose metabolism by bacteria and fungi respectively
3.2 Xylose Catabolism
There are three different pathways for xylose catabolism carried out by bacteria,
fungi, and Archaea. Figure 3 shows the difference in the way fungi and bacteria
channel xylose into the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP). In xylose metabolism by
filamentous fungi and some yeasts, D-xylose is converted into xylitol and subse-
quently into D-xylulose by two respective oxidoreductases, xylose reductase (XR)
and xylitol dehydrogenase (XDH), which involve respective cofactors NAD(P)H
and NAD+ acting as cofactors. Whereas, bacteria require single enzyme, xylose iso-
merase (XI) to convert D-xylose directly into D-xylulose without any cofactors. Both
fungi and bacteria produce D-xylulose that will be phosphorylated to D-xylulose 5-
phosphate by xylulokinase (XK) before it is further metabolized through PPP.
Most wild xylose-fermenting yeasts produce relatively high amounts of the
by-product xylitol, which facilitated by cofactor NADPH. Since there is no tran-
shydrogenase activity in yeasts, redox reaction relies on the balance of cofactors
NAD+/NADH and NADP+/NADPH in the yeast intracellular system to metabolize
xylose efficiently (Kötter and Ciriacy 1993). Thus, the dual cofactor dependence
of XR causes a shortage in NAD since NADH generated by the XDH reaction is
only partially regenerate by XR. Consequently, the excess NADH could restrain
metabolic activity and it elucidates the poor growth of S. cerevisiae on xylose
medium (Matsushika et al. 2009). P. stipitis is one of the few yeasts that possess the
ability to excrete less xylitol than other yeasts (Debus et al. 1983).
Theoretically, prokaryotic XI should be more efficient in metabolizing xylose
compared to yeasts because no cofactor is necessary to produce D-xylulose in
prokaryote hence intracellular redox imbalance will not occur. Few studies have
been conducted which involve two strategies, the expression of prokaryotic XI in
high yield ethanologenic yeast and the simultaneous isomerization and fermentation
of D-xylose to ethanol. In the former, Brat et al. (2009) have accomplished heterolo-
gous expression of XI from bacteria, Clostridium phytofermentansthat have enabled
S. cerevisiae to metabolize xylose. However, the growth rates of their recombinant
strains are rather low with ethanol yield at 0.43 g ethanol g D-xylose−1 . While in the
latter, two-step process by Gong et al. (1981) allows non-xylose-fermenting yeast to
ferment xylose using preceding prokaryotic XI in a separate process. The separate
isomerization is preferable due to different optimal conditions for isomerization and
fermentation. The results indicate that ethanol could be produced from D-xylose with
a yield of greater than 80%.
The latest discovery of xylose metabolic pathway was in halophilic archaea such
as Haloferax volcanii and Haloarcula marismortui (Johnsen and Schönheit 2004;
Johnsen et al. 2009). The catabolism occurs through the oxidation of D-xylose to an
intermediate of tricarboxylic acid cycle, α-ketoglutarate. The enzymes involved in the
degradation process are D-xylose dehydrogenase, xylonate dehydratase, 2-keto-3-
deoxyxylonate dehydratase, and α-ketoglutarate semialdehyde dehydrogenase. This
finding definitely opens a new opportunity toward further manipulation of xylose
metabolic pathway. However, due to the inclusion of multiple genes and conversion
complexity, there is no research on expressing this metabolic pathway on potential
ethanologens yet.
4 On Improving Tolerance Toward Inhibitors
The utilization of lignocellulosic biomass demands advantageous traits from the

potential ethanologens. These are due to difficulties in achieving an efficient model
of integrated process involving the selection of biomass toward the harvesting of
bioethanol. Prior to fermentation, pretreatment and hydrolysis processes generate
few inhibitors commonly lignin residues, acids, and aldehydes. To date, there was
no known method to avoid the formation of these inhibitors except for less severe
pretreatment and detoxification process for reducing inhibitors content (Palmqvist
and Hahn-Hägerdal 2000). However, one of the drawbacks for such process is the
extra cost, which burden on attempts to market bioethanol at a low price (Taylor et al.
2012). Thus, an apparent solution is to enhance the ability of potential ethanologens
to become tolerant to these inhibitors.
5 Fermentation of Ethanologenic Microorganisms
The cellulose and hemicellulose fraction of rice straw can be converted to ethanol by
either simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) or separate enzymatic
hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF) processes. SSF is more favored because of its
low potential costs (Wyman 1994). It results in higher yield of ethanol compared
to SHF by minimizing product inhibition. One of the drawbacks of this process is
the difference in optimum temperature of the hydrolyzing enzymes and ferment-
ing microorganisms. Most of the reports state that the optimum temperature for
enzymatic hydrolysis is at 40–50 °C, while the microorganisms with good ethanol
productivity and yield do not usually tolerate this high temperature. This problem
can be avoided by applying thermo-tolerant microorganisms such as Kluyveromyces
marxianus, andida lusitaniae, and Zymomonas mobilis or mixed culture of some
microorganisms like Brettanomyces clausenii and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Golias
et al. 2002; Spindler et al. 1988). Table 2 shows the different substrate, method, and
microorganism involved in previous ethanol production research
Cellulose processing cannot commence until the improvement of (i) the rela-
tively slow kinetics of breaking down pure cellulose into sugars, (ii) the low yields
of sugars from other plant polysaccharides, and (iii) the removal of lignin, a rela-
tively intractable polymer of phenylpropanoid subunits. It is clear that technological
advances must be realized to make biofuels sustainable and cost-effective.
6 Toxic Compounds Generated from Pretreatment
The attribute and concentration of toxic compounds generated from various

pretreatment depend on biomass source, pretreatment condition and the use of
catalyst. Three types of toxic compounds were known, viz., furans, phenolic com-
pounds, and carboxylic acids. Among furan derivatives, 2-furaldehyde (furfural)
and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) constitute the main degradation compounds
generated from pentoses and hexoses degradation, respectively. Pretreatments which
employ acids as hydrolytic agents and utilize high temperature and time to the
reaction will produce furfural and HMF at higher levels (Wyman 2007). Most of
the fermenting microorganisms are able to reduce furans to their corresponding
less toxic alcohols. HMF is reduced to 2,5-bis-hydroxymethylfuran and furfural to
furfuryl alcohol, and both could be also oxidized to formic acid under anaerobic
conditions (Taherzadeh et al. 1999). If furans are present at high concentration,
they exert an inhibitory effect interfering with glycolytic enzymes and synthesis
of macromolecules provoking an enlarge of the lag phase and reducing the ethanol
productivity (Almeida et al. 2007; Klinke et al. 2004). These effects depend on
furan concentration but are highly related with the yeast strain.
Main carboxylic acids generated during pretreatment are acetic acid, produced
from the acetyl groups in hemicelluloses, and formic acid, derived from furfural and
Table 2 Different substrate, method, and microorganism involved in the previous ethanol produc-
tion research
Substrate Method Microorganism/yeast Ethanol References
used produced
(g/L)
Sugar cane Immobilized S. Fungal species A. 15.40 Singh et al.
bagasse cerevisiae under flavus ITCC 7680, (2013)
solid-state S. cerevisiae
fermentation
Dried Simultaneous Celluclast from 42.66 Alamanou et al.
Household Food saccharification and Trichoderma reesei (2015)
Waste fermentation (SSF) ATCC 26921,
and non-isothermal β-glucosidase from
simultaneous Aspergillus niger
saccharification and
fermentation
(NSSF) in fed-batch
mode
Cassava S. cerevisiae with Saccharomyces 36.00 Ji et al. (2015)
residues and SSF cerevisiae
furfural residues
Water hyacinth Enzymatic Saccharomyces 1.29 Zhang et al.
hydrolysis and SSF cerevisiae (2015)
Mahula flowers Submerged S. cerevisiae 37.20 Behera et al.
fermentation (CTCRI strain) (2011)
Oil palm empty Fungal pretreatment, White-rot fungus 23.00 Ishola et al.
fruit bunches phosphoric acid Pleurotus (2014)
pretreatment, floridanus
enzymatic LIPIMC996
hydrolysis, SSF
Sugar beet Cell immobilization S. cerevisiae (strain 60.36 Razmovski and
molasses and batch DTN) Vucurovic,
fermentation (2011)
Sweet potato Liquefaction, S. cerevisiae ATCC 104.30 Shen et al.
chips saccharification, 6508 (2012)
batch and
continuous
fermentations
Coffee pulp hydrolysis, S. cerevisiae 7.40 Kefale et al.
fermentation (2012)
Corn meal Hydrolysis, ethanol S. cerevisiae var. 89.68 Nikolić et al.
hydrolyzates fermentation ellipsoideus, S. (2010)
cerevisiae, S.
carlsbergensis and
Schizosaccha-
romyces
pombe
Rice straw Acid hydrolysis, S. cerevisiae OVB 12.00 Yadav et al.
ethanol fermentation 11 (2011)
(continued)
Table 2 (continued)
Substrate Method Microorganism/yeast Ethanol References
used produced
(g/L)
Empty palm The fermentation S. cerevisiae 62.50 Park et al.
fruit bunch was carried out L3262a w (2013)
fibers under SSF with
cellulase and yeast.
Cashew apple Dilute acid Saccharomyces 9.59 Rocha et al.
bagasse pretreatment, batch cerevisiae (2014)
fermentation
Corn stover Steam explosion Saccharomyces 40.00 Li et al. (2011)
pretreatment, cerevisiae Y5
ethanol fermentation
Starch cassava Saccharification of Saccharomyces 9.90 Akaracharanya
pulp starch and cerevisiae TISTR et al. (2010)
lignocellulosic fiber 5596
in cassava pulp,
fermentation
Waste Hydrolysis, Pichia stipitis CBS 14.29 Xin et al. (2010)
newspaper fermentation 6054
Newspaper Fed-batch and batch S. cerevisiae 5.64 Chander Kuhad
cellulosics fermentation RCK-1 (batch) et al. (2010) and
14.77 Xin et al. (2010)
(fed-
batch)
HMF degradation. HMF could be also decomposed to levulinic acid being detected
at lower concentration. Furthermore, hydroxycarboxylic acids such as glycolic acid
and lactic acid are common degradation products from alkaline carbohydrate degra-
dation (Klinke et al. 2004). The dissociated form of weak acids can diffuse across
the cell membrane and dissociate inside the cell due to the higher intracellular pH.
This fact decreases intracellular pH which must be compensated by pumping protons
out of the cell at expense of ATP. Thus, less ATP is available for biomass formation.
Furthermore, if pumping capacity of the plasma membrane ATPase is overcome,
acidification of cytoplasm and cellular death occur. Some studies have also reported
that small amounts of acetic, levulinic, or formic acid could increase glucose con-
sumption rates and ethanol yields because low concentration of acids stimulated
the production of ATP (Almeida et al. 2007; Keating et al. 2006). The concentra-
tion of dissociated acids in lignocellulosic hydrolysates is dependent on the pH, and
therefore pH control is necessary for minimizing acids toxicity.
A wide range of phenolic compounds derived from lignin decomposition is also
generated during pretreatment. Identified phenols are monomers with an aliphatic
substituent with different functional groups: aldehydes, ketones, or acids. Pheno-
lic compounds are present in lower concentrations due to its minor solubilization.
The concentration and type of phenolic compounds are highly dependent on the
raw material since lignin content and chemical structure differ among the differ-
ent lignocellulosic materials. The hydrolytic conditions during pretreatment are also
very important for the functionality of the degradation products, that is, the pheno-
lic aldehydes have been shown to be favored at oxidative acidic conditions (Klinke
et al. 2002). After soda pulping wheat straw, phenols r-cumaric and ferulic acids
are produced by the hydrolysis of esterified hemicellulose and lignin. Alkaline wet
oxidation of wheat straw also produces cinnamic acid derivates. Furthermore, owing
to oxidative cleavage of the conjugated double bonds, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid and
vanillic acid are formed (Klinke et al. 2002). Some other more abundant phenolic
compounds are 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde, vanillin, synringaldehyde, syringic acid,
and cathecol. These compounds are toxic because they affect the integrity of biolog-
ical membranes (Almeida et al. 2007). In general, it is accepted that there is a high
amount of degradation products derived from lignin that remain unidentified.
As have been mentioned, severe conditions during pretreatment lead to the gen-
eration of some toxic compounds that could affect the subsequent hydrolysis and
fermentation steps. Some studies have also reported that small amounts of acetic,
levulinic, or formic acid could increase glucose consumption rates and ethanol yields
because low concentration of acids stimulated the production of ATP (Almeida et al.
2007; Keating et al. 2006). Production of bioethanol usually will undergo whether
submerged fermentation or solid-state fermentation (SSF). Submerged fermentation
usually implemented in the industrial scale because of the familiarity of the process
but this process required a lot of water. Whereas, solid-state fermentation did not gain
an interest because of the difficulty in process scale up. However, solid-state fermen-
tation mimic the natural environment that microorganism inhibits which offers more
possibilities (Jain et al. 2013). Currently, ethanol fermentation is carried out mainly
by submerged fed-batch processes with cell recycle, and a small part is produced
through multistage continuous fermentation with cell recycle (Mussatto et al. 2010).
7 Submerge Fermentation
In order to produce bioethanol in a cost-effective way, it is important to have a low-

cost substrate for fermentation. Commonly submerged fermentation of agricultural
wastes such as corn, banana, and potato peels, molasses, and waste food grain was
utilized to produce bioethanol. As the agricultural waste is in solid form, in order to
carry out submerged fermentation, a solution containing carbon source especially
glucose needs to be obtained. Hydrolysate containing different composition of
saccharides could be done using acid hydrolysis method or enzyme hydrolysis
method. This additional step usually referred to pretreatment process. Pretreatment
of the waste such as hydrolysis can be carried out by HCl hydrolysis. Higher
yield was observed when 10% substrate concentration, pH 5.5 and particle size of
0.157 mm were used. Saccharomyces species was normally used for fermentation.
A 10% inoculum was used and temperatures of 30–35 °C wee applied. A range
Table 3 An example of enzyme used to feedstock pretreatment for bioethanol production (Ara-
poglou et al. 2010)
Enzyme Function
Viscozyme Cell wall degrading enzyme complex from Aspergillus aculeatus which
can degrade barley α-glucan to reducing carbohydrate
Ternamyl Heat-stable amylase from B. licheniformis which can degrade starch
Liquozyme Supra Heat-stable α-amylase from Bacillus lichneniformis
Celluclast Liquid cellulase produced from Trichoderma reesei which can degrade
carboxymethylcellulose to reducing carbohydrate
of yield of 41–46% ethanol was obtained (Kulkarni et al. 2015). The strategy
for the use of enzymes in the production of bioethanol from starch includes two
stages: liquefaction and saccharification. In liquefaction, α-amylase, obtained either
from thermo-resistant bacteria such as Bacillus licheniformis or from engineered
strains of Escherichia coli or Bacillus subtilis is used to reduce the viscosity in the
slurry or produce dextrins. In saccharification, the enzymes use dextrins to make
glucose. Table 3 below shows an example of an enzyme which is used to feedstock
pretreatment for bioethanol production.
Sweet sorghum stem was also used as submerged fermentation for bioethanol pro-
duction, and the cells can first be immobilized on the sweet sorghum bagasse. Then,
fermentation is started with sweet sorghum juice with initial sugar concentration of
180.7 g L−1 and the productivity achieved 6.02 g (L h)−1 (Yu et al. 2012). A commer-
cial plant which began its operation in 2005 in China, use a self-flocculating yeast
with a production capacity of 680 m3 per day. In this system, six fermentors with
volumes of 1000 m3 each were arranged in a cascade, and corn meal hydrolyzate,
with a sugar concentration of 200–220 g L−1 , was fed to the fermentation system
at a dilution rate of 0.05 h−1 . The final ethanol concentration was reported to be
11–12% v/v. Yeast flocs were retained within the fermentor by baffles to effectively
immobilize them, and the yeast concentration within the fermentor was maintained
at 40–60 g DCW L−1 (Brethauer and Wyman 2010). Whereas, an advancement in
sugarcane fermentation in which low-temperature fermentation was carried out in
25–30 °C. (Palacios-Bereche et al. 2014).
8 Solid-State Fermentation
Solid-state fermentation (SSF) is a technique to grow microorganism on moist

solid without free-flowing water. The advantage of SSF in bioethanol production
is the elimination of sugar extraction step before fermentation during submerged
fermentation. Besides, SSF also offer others advantages such as low operation cost,
low liquid waste generation, less physical consumption, and benefit the region with
water supply problem (Yu et al. 2008). The substrate of SSF should not soluble and
act as a physical support (Pandey 2001). However, SSF poses some problem which
is poor heat removal, hardly to agitate the substrate, aeration problem, moisture dis-
tribution problem, rapid microorganism determination and limited type of organism
which can adapt to low moisture level (Wang et al. 2010). Table 4 shows an example
of different reports published regarding the SSF for bioethanol production.
The yield using SSF still relatively low compared to submerged fermentation
despite its low cost and easy to operate (Jain et al. 2013). Unfortunately, at this time,
SSF may not able to replace solid-state fermentation in producing bioethanol (Hölker
and Lenz 2005). SSF cut down the spending on the recovery process. It also allows
the reduction of waste mass produce by the local industry, as the substrate is taken
from the wine industry. Then, after the SSF produces ethanol, the solid waste of the
depleted grape pomace and sweet beet pomace can be used to make fertilizer and
paper, respectively (Rodríguez et al. 2010).
The US Department of Energy Office of the Biomass Program has developed a
scenario for supplying 30% of the 2004 motor gasoline demand with biofuels by
Table 4 Solid-state fermentation (SSF) reported used to produce bioethanol

Substrate Microorganism Pretreatment Yield Reference
Agro residues Saccharomyces Autoclave at S. cerevisiae Mishra et al.
(Pineapple cerevisiae and 121 °C for produce 1.36% (2012)
Orange Sweet Candida 20 min yield through
lime) albicans. 72 h in
pineapple
residue
Agro waste Saccharomyces – Sugar beet Rodríguez et al.
(Grape pomace, cerevisiae pomace gives (2010)
Sugar beet PM-16 98.2%
pomace) theoretical yield
in 48 h
Grape pomace
give 77.7%
theoretical yield
in 48 h
Sweet potato Tricoderma sp. – 172 g/kg of Swain et al.
(Ipomoea batatas and substrate (2013)
L.) Saccharomyces
cerevisiae
Sugarcane Using crude – 50% ethanol Shaibani et al.
bagasse enzyme solution yield (2011)
from T.
longibrachiatum
and
Saccharomyces
cerevisiae
Sweet sorghum Zymomonas Sodium 179.20 g/kg Yu et al. (2014)
bagasse mobilis hydroxide substrate
the year 2030, which roughly translates to a target of 60 billion gallons per year
on a British thermal unit-adjusted basis (Himmel et al. 2007). European Union has
developed a vision in which one-fourth of the EU’s transportation fuels will be
derived from biofuels by 2030. How to achieve, possible? Biomass has the potential
to simultaneously meet the nation’s needs for liquid transportation fuel and for food,
feed, and fiber provided that we develop more advanced technologies and make
certain land-use changes that would not require more net.
9 Conclusion
It was clearly could be seen that around the campus had plenty of sources of waste
which could be fully utilized then as sources for the second generation of bioethanol.
Green campus objective could be achieved by transforming all the wastes to become
a value-added product bioethanol. It looks at potential waste feedstock such as grass,
municipal solid waste, and agricultural residue that are readily found in the campus.
It is clear from this review that the second-generation sources for bioethanol have an
important role in achieving environmental improvement in the campus.
Acknowledgements This work was supported by the Fundamental Research

Grant Scheme (FRGS)(203/PTEKIND/6711373) and Research University Individual
(RUI)(1001/PTEKIND/811262) from the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia.
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Microalgae Chlorella as a Sustainable
Feedstock for Bioethanol Production
Rahmath Abdulla, Tan Kah King, Siti Azmah Jambo and Ainol Azifa Faik
Abstract Microlgae can serve as an excellent feedstock for bioethanol production.

The microalgae cells of Chlorella were cultivated and acid hydrolyzed to extract the
glucose content in the cells. Production of bioethanol was achieved by fermentation
process with the use of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The bioethanol content
was determined by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The effect
of different parameters such as sulphuric acid concentration, temperature and time
on acid hydrolysis was studied. The maximum glucose concentration of 5.382 ±
0.063 g/l was obtained with the conditions of 2.0 M sulphuric acid, 30 °C and 30 min
of incubation time. On the other hand, the highest ethanol concentration of 1.126 g/l
was obtained with 15% v/v yeast inoculum concentration. Meanwhile, the bioethanol
production reached its maximum after 24 h with ethanol concentration and yield of
1.020 g/l and 0.190 g/g glucose, respectively.
Keywords Bioethanol · Microalgae · Chlorella · Biofuel
1 Introduction
The rapid increase in world population led to the rise of global energy consump-
tion significantly from time to time. Among the energy sources, fossil fuels are the
most popular one as it accounts for approximately 87% of the total utilization (BP
2014; ExxonMobil 2014). Furthermore, the continued dependence on fossil fuels is
somehow considered unsustainable due to its associated environmental issues and
non-renewable properties. Considering these facts, there is an urgent call to explore
the alternatives for fossil fuel resources to support the increasing energy demand in
R. Abdulla (B) · T. K. King · S. A. Jambo · A. A. Faik

Faculty of Science and Natural Resources, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota
e-mail: rahmahabdulla@gmail.com
R. Abdulla
Energy Research Unit, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah,
Malaysia

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7260-5_7
82 R. Abdulla et al.
the world. Renewable energy is a form of alternative energy that can be replenished
for continuous utilization. One of the examples of this alternative energy is biofuels,
which are the fuels derived from biomass (renewable sources) and can be divided
into three common types including biodiesel, bioethanol and biogas (Forssberg 2010;
Salar 2013). Quite a number of promising research have been done on the efficiency
of substituting bioethanol with gasoline. The compatibility of bioethanol especially
with gasoline fuels is undeniable as it can be used as a mixture or in its pure form.
So far, United States and Brazil are the world’s leading bioethanol producers with
about 45 Mt and 24 Mt, respectively (Proskurina et al. 2018).
Varieties of feedstocks can be used up as the starting materials for bioethanol
production and the choice of feedstock is dependent on numerous factors such as
geography, economy and industry (Harun et al. 2010). Based on the feedstocks used,
bioethanol can be divided into three generations. First-generation bioethanol is a fuel
that is extracted from food crops such as sugarcane, corn, soybean and others (Naik
et al. 2010). However, the first-generation bioethanol has created food-versus fuel
debates and some food security issues (Mohr and Raman 2013; Ho et al. 2014). Due
to this debate, second-generation bioethanol has been developed which is derived
from lignocellulosic feedstocks including agricultural forestry residues, energy crops
and short rotation forests (SRFs). Generally, second-generation bioethanol had suc-
cessfully counteracted the conflicts and competition with food industry (Jambo et al.
2016). Yet, the production of second-generation bioethanol is still not commercially
viable as extensive processing and pretreatment stages are required, thus it is cost
inefficient (Guo et al. 2013). Third-generation bioethanol refers to algae (micro-
and macro-algae)-based fuel. Recently, the promising features of microalgae have
attracted the continuous attention of the world’s researchers to focus on its full utiliza-
tion for the production of bioethanol. Even though the production of third-generation
bioethanol is still under developmental stages, microalgal-based fuel is expected to
be the benchmark for a better commercialization in the future (Klein et al. 2018).
Microalgae are known to have numerous advantages over other feedstocks. It is
able to provide a high content of carbohydrates which are 50–70% per unit of dry
weight. These contents then can be used as the fermentation substrate or carbon
source for bioethanol production (Ho et al. 2014). The carbohydrates components
are glucose, mannose, ribose, xylose, rhamnose and fucose (Harun and Danquah
2011a). Its high growth rates and a very short harvesting cycle make it a viable
choice as a sustainable feedstock to meet the demands of continuous bioethanol pro-
duction (Chia et al. 2018). Compared to lignocellulosic feedstock, microalgae is less
resistant to conversion into simple sugars due to its lignin-free composition, thus
no delignification process needs to be performed (Guo et al. 2013). Therefore, it is
more cost-efficient in the aspect of bioethanol conversion processes. The impacts
of microalgal-based bioethanol on the environment are also more beneficial as it
is known to have associated with CO2 emissions mitigation. Microalgae are effi-
cient in CO2 fixation since they are able to capture atmospheric CO2 together with
solar energy from the sun and convert them into biomass through photosynthesis.
Microalgae such as Chlorella vulgaris and Chlamydomonas sp. exhibit this property,
which enables them to emerge as one of the most effective channels to reduce the
Microalgae Chlorella as a Sustainable Feedstock … 83
composition of the gas in the atmosphere (Ho et al. 2014; Ribeiro et al. 2014). In
addition, CO2 released during the fermentation process for bioethanol production
can be recycled back for the use of microalgae cultivation. This can effectively min-
imize the amount of CO2 being released into the atmosphere (Harun et al. 2010).
Regarding the living environment, microalgae are able to live in a variety of water
environment, which make the cultivation not dependent on arable land availability
(Hernández et al. 2015). Microalgae are highly specialized group of microorganisms
that are able to live in harsh conditions due to their unicellular or simple multicellu-
lar structures (Miranda et al. 2012). High degrees of environmental tolerance ensure
their easier isolation from the habitat (Ho et al. 2014).
So far, the potential of microalgae in biodiesel production has been acknowl-
edged due to its high lipid content. As a matter of fact, the outstanding benefits that
offered by microalgae for bioethanol production mainly depend on its high carbohy-
drate content (Ho et al. 2013a, b). The exploitation of microalgae such as Chlorella,
Chlamydomonas, Porphyridium, Scenedesmus and Spirogyra has proven their capa-
bility as a potential feedstock for bioethanol production (Hernández et al. 2015). As
a comparison, Chlorella sp. is one step ahead than the others in its sustainability
as the growth rate is exceptionally fast and no controversial issues related to food
shortage (Lee et al. 2014). However, the major concern in the industry nowadays
is the commercial viability of the bioethanol production technologies. Hence, it is
important to employ the most effective and economical technology that can produce
high-quality bioethanol with lesser cost.
This research was set out to study the utilization of microalgae Chlorella sp. as
a sustainable feedstock for bioethanol production. The initial part of this research
started with the monitoring of Chlorella sp. growth rate to determine the most suit-
able period to harvest the microalgae cells. Under optimum or favourable growth
conditions, microalgae are believed to grow at an optimum rate, which leads to a
high rate of carbohydrate accumulation. Then, the main focus was directed for the
optimization of conversion technologies which were acid hydrolysis at the first stage
and followed by the optimization of bioethanol fermentation at the second stage.
2 Cultivation of Chlorella Species
Microalgae Chlorella sp. was kindly gifted by the Borneo Marine Research Institute
(BMRI) of Universiti Malaysia Sabah. Microalgae Chlorella sp. was cultivated in 1 L
conical flask with 10 replicates. Jaworski’s Medium (JM) was used for the cultivation
of Chlorella sp. The microalgae cultures were maintained at a temperature of 25–27
°C. The air was supplied throughout the cultivation process as shown in Fig. 1.
Microalgae growth was monitored and determined throughout the cultivation pro-
cess. Approximately 20 ml of sample was taken once in three days for this analysis.
Microalgae cell concentration was estimated by measuring optical density at a wave-
length of 750 nm (OD750 ) using a calibrated UV/Vis spectrophotometer (Cecil CE
Fig. 1 Cultivation of Chlorella sp.
1011, 1000 series) for every 3 days, up to 30 days (Leupold et al. 2013; Tuantet et al.
2014).
Microalgae cells were harvested during their mid-exponential phase. The microal-
gae cultures were centrifuged at 4500 × g for 10 min. The resulting supernatant was
discarded and the pellet was washed with distilled water (dH2 O) in order to discard
the impurities. The centrifugation process was repeated under the same condition.
The concentrated pellet was transferred to a petri dish and dried in an oven at 60 °C
for 24 h. The dried microalgae were homogenized by using a blender and stored at
room temperature (Harun et al. 2010; Harun and Danquah 2011b).
Figure 1.2 shows the growth curve of microalgae cells for 30 days. According to
the growth curve, the microalgae cells showed positive growth pattern from day 0
up to day 27. From day 0 to day 6, the number of microalgae cells were increased
moderately as the absorbance value was increased from 0.013 ± 0.002 to 0.100 ±
0.005. From day 6 to day 15, the microalgae cells showed a significant growth trend
as observed in Fig. 1.2 and the absorbance increased from 0.100 ± 0.005 to 0.608 ±
0.060. From day 15 to day 27, the growth rate started to decrease with the increase
of absorbance value of only 0.143, to 0.751 ± 0.094 at day 27. From day 27 to day
30, the number of microalgae cells had started to decline. The absorbance value at
day 30 was 0.690 ± 0.077, which was 0.061 lesser than that at day 27.
Fig. 2 Microalgae growth

curve for 30 days
According to Fog and Thake (1987), there are five defined growth phases in batch
cultures of microalgae which are lag, exponential, declining growth rate, stationary,
and death phase. However, according to Fig. 1.2, only four growth phases were
observed with no stationary phase. From day 0 to day 6, the microalgae cells were in
their lag phase. Lag phase is the phase where the microalgae cells start to adapt to their
environment including temperature, light intensity, as well as medium composition
and pH. At this stage, the number of viable cells remained nearly stationary (Held
2011). Following lag phase, the microalgae cells entered the exponential phase or
log phase during day 6–day 15. During this phase, the microalgae cells were growing
at a rapid rate as there were plenty of nutrients to be utilized for the cell metabolism.
From day 15 to day 27, the cells entered declining growth rate phase. During this
phase, the cells grew at a slower rate and yet, the number of viable cells was still
increasing. From day 27 to day 30, the cells entered death phase where the number
of viable cells started to decrease (Held 2011; Burlew 1976).
The growth phase determination was important as microalgae cells would be har-
vested during the exponential phase for the subsequent acid hydrolysis process. This
is due to the maximum growth rate of microalgae cells achieved during exponential
phase. Similar growth curve and growth pattern were reported in previous studies.
Makarevičienė et al. (2011) reported that the exponential phase of microalgae cells
was observed in the period of day 5–day 15. In their study, microalgae Chlorella sp.
was cultivated in medium with different nitrogen concentration and sources, yet sim-
ilar periods of exponential phase were observed through different cell densities. The
cell density is strongly influenced by dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide concen-
tration, light intensity, temperature, medium composition and pH as well as salinity
(Ho et al. 2014; Liu et al. 2014a, b). According to Guo et al. (2013), the exponential
phase of growing microalgae cells was reported to be in the period of day 4–day 15.
The length of the exponential phase is dependent on the nature of several factors
and these factors decide when the microalgae cells will enter the declining growth
phase and stationary phase. One of the most important factors is the depletion of
Table 1 Optimized Parameter Values

parameters for acid hydrolysis
Sulphuric acid concentration (M) 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5
Temperature (°C) 110, 115, 120, 125, 130
Time (min) 10, 20, 30, 40, 50
nutrients. The addition of the limiting nutrients is going to prolong the exponential
phase until the other factors become limiting. Other factors are the reduction of light
intensity by self-shading, change in pH, rate of gaseous supply, and availability of
auto-inhibitors (Fog and Thake 1987).
3 Optimization of Acid Hydrolysis
The dried microalgae (10 g/l) was loaded in 250 ml conical flask containing 100 ml
distilled water and sulphuric acid. After acid hydrolysis, the sample was cooled
down to room temperature, followed by centrifugation at 4500 × g for 10 min. The
resulting pellet was discarded and the supernatant was adjusted to pH 7 by using
5 M sodium hydroxide (NaOH). The supernatant or hydrolysate was subjected to
a temperature of 120 °C for 30 min prior to fermentation. Once the process was
completed, the sugar content of the hydrolysate was analysed (Harun et al. 2010;
Harun and Danquah 2011a). The acid hydrolysis parameters including sulphuric acid
concentration, temperature and time were also optimized. The baseline parameters
of acid hydrolysis were 1 M of sulphuric acid, 120 °C and time of 30 min of reaction
time (Harun et al. 2010; Harun and Danquah 2011b). Table 1 shows the optimized
parameters for acid hydrolysis.
The sugar content of the sample was determined by Dinitrosalicylic acid (DNS)
method (Fu et al. 2010). 3.0 ml of the sample solution were mixed with 1.0 ml of
DNS reagent. The mixtures were heated to 100 °C for 5 min. The absorbance of the
sample mixtures was determined by a spectrophotometer at a wavelength of 540 nm.
Glucose solutions with different concentrations were prepared and used to obtain the
calibration curve. Acid hydrolysis was carried out by adding 10 g/L dried microalgae
into a solution containing different concentrations of sulphuric acid at a specified
high temperature. Following incubation, the resulting glucose concentration of the
hydrolysate was measured spectrophotometrically by using DNS method.
Fig. 3 Effect of sulphuric

acid concentration on acid
hydrolysis of Chlorella
3.1 Effect of Sulphuric Acid Concentration on Acid

Hydrolysis
Different concentrations of sulphuric acid, ranging from 0.5 to 2.5 M, were used
in the acid hydrolysis while temperature (120 °C) and incubation time (30 min)
were kept constant. Figure 1.3 shows the relationship between the concentration of
sulphuric acid used in the hydrolysis process and the concentration of the glucose
released. The concentration of glucose was increasing trend, starting from 0.5 M
until 2.0 M sulphuric acid where the highest peak was observed. Based on Fig. 1.3,
acid hydrolysis with 2.0 M sulphuric acid showed the highest peak with highest
concentration of glucose, which was 3.107 ± 0.043 g/l. Higher concentration of
sulphuric acid (2.5 M) showed lower glucose concentration with value of 2.267 ±
0.022 g/l. Acid hydrolysis with 0.5 M sulphuric acid had only 0.049 ± 0.017 g/l
glucose, which was the lowest among different sulphuric acid concentrations used.
Thus, in this study, acid hydrolysis with 2.0 M sulphuric acid showed the highest
concentration of glucose (3.107 ± 0.043 g/l). However, at higher acid concentration,
the concentration of glucose was reduced to 2.267 ± 0.022 g/l. This result was similar
to the study conducted by Atidiya et al. (2015). In their study, 2.0 M sulphuric acid
was proven to have the highest sugar yield which was 9.71 g/l or 32.37 g/g % with
rice straw as a substrate. A similar trend was reported by Wang et al. (2014), Miranda
et al. (2012) and Manzoor et al. (2012) from different types of microalgae namely
Tribonema sp., Scenedesmus obliquus and also dry sugar cane bagasse, respectively.
The above trend can be explained by the inhibitory effect of high concentration
of sulphuric acid. According to Ajani et al. (2011), acid hydrolysis conducted at
high acid concentration and relatively high temperature might result in the lower
amount of glucose concentration in the hydrolysate as the extracted glucose can
be converted to organic acid. The inhibitory effect was also reported by Talukder
et al. (2012) when they were working with microalgae Nannochloropsis salina.
Higher acid concentration might result in degradation of glucose into furfural and
Fig. 4 Effect of incubation

temperature on acid
hydrolysis
hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). In their study, higher sulphuric acid concentration

showed lower concentration of glucose but a higher concentration of furfural and
HMF. The presence of organic acids, furfural and HMF affects the subsequent
fermentation process, delaying or inhibiting it (Miranda et al. 2012).
Nevertheless, some studies reported different results. Harun and Danquah (2011b)
reported that the amount of sugars released was decreasing with the increase of sul-
phuric acid concentration even at very low acid concentration. In their study, the
lowest sulphuric acid concentration performed (1% v/v) was proven to yield the
highest concentration of extracted glucose from microalgae Chlorococcum humo-
cola. In contrast, Ho et al. (2013) reported that higher concentration of sulphuric
acid resulted in a higher concentration of extracted glucose. In their study, microal-
gae Scenedesmus obliquus biomass pretreated with 2.5% of sulphuric acid or higher
showed nearly 100% glucose yield.
3.2 Effect of Temperature on Acid Hydrolysis
The acid hydrolysis was carried out at different incubation temperatures, ranging
from 110 to 130 °C with 5 °C increment, while sulphuric acid concentration (2.0 M)
and incubation time (30 min) were kept constant. Figure 1.4 shows the relationship
between the incubation temperature and the concentration of glucose. According to
Fig. 1.4, higher temperature resulted in a higher concentration of extracted glucose
as an increasing trend was observed. Highest peak was obtained at 130 °C with a
concentration of glucose of 5.382 ± 0.063 g/l. The lowest peak can be observed when
110 and 115 °C were used which had a glucose concentration of 1.604 ± 0.036 g/l.
In this study, the highest concentration of extracted glucose (5.382 ± 0.063 g/l)
was found to be achieved with the incubation temperature of 130 °C. However,
different studies had reported different optimum temperatures or temperature ranges
Fig. 5 Effect of incubation

time on acid hydrolysis
for acid hydrolysis. Harun and Danquah (2011b) who were working with microalgae
C. hemicola suggested that temperature of 140 °C was the most suitable condition for
acid hydrolysis. However, Miranda et al. (2012) reported that incubation temperature
of 120 °C was the optimum one for the acid hydrolysis of microalgae S. obliquus.
It was proven that 120 °C was the most efficient temperature for biomass sugar
recovery. Mutripah et al. (2014) reported that temperature range of 120 °C–130 °C
was the optimum condition for acid hydrolysis when they were working with seaweed
Palmaria palmate.
Nevertheless, several studies reported that increase in temperature resulted in an
increase in the amount of extracted glucose. Chen et al. (2012) reported that extracted
sugar concentration in hydrolysate was generally increasing with the increase in
temperature. However, decomposition of glucose may occur at a higher temperature.
In addition, Harun and Danquah (2011b) also stated that temperature of 160 °C or
above resulted in a decrease of the concentration of extracted glucose. This is due
to the direct solubilization of the complex sugars which led to the distortion of the
formation of glucose molecules.
3.3 Effect of Time on Acid Hydrolysis
The acid hydrolysis was conducted for different periods of time (10, 20, 30, 40 and
50 min) while the sulphuric acid concentration (2.0 M) and incubation temperature
(130 °C) was kept constant. Figure 1.5 shows the relationship between the incuba-
tion time and the concentration of the glucose. The concentration of glucose was
increasing gradually with the increase of incubation time from 10 min to 30 min
where the highest peak was observed. The concentration of the extracted glucose at
the peak (30 min) was 5.382 ± 0.063 g/l. From 30 to 50 min, a decreasing trend was
observed. The concentration of extracted glucose dropped significantly to 1.897 ±
0.066 g/l for 50 min.
Incubation duration affects the acid hydrolysis significantly as the duration influ-
ences the availability of free glucose that is fermentable. In this study, the concen-
tration of extracted glucose was found to be maximum for incubation duration of
30 min. At time above 30 min, the concentration of glucose reduced. The decrease in
glucose yield with increased incubation longer than 30 min is supported by the study
conducted by Chen et al. (2012). In their study, 30 min was proven to be the optimum
incubation time for acid hydrolysis of algal biomass. Besides, the obtained result is
in agreement with Harun and Danquah (2011b). They reported that pretreating the
microalgae cells for a duration longer than 30 min resulted in lower sugar yield and
thus lower bioethanol production.
Similar incubation duration was proven to be optimal as reported by earlier studies.
Sarkar and Aikat (2013) reported that 30 min was the optimum duration for acid
hydrolysis when they were working with rice straw. In their study, the maximum
sugar yield of 19.35 g/L was obtained when the rice straw waste was pretreated with
0.24 mol/l sulphuric acid for 30 min. Apart from that, Saucedo-Luna et al. (2010)
reported that acid hydrolysis of the bagasse of Agave tequilana Weber had their
maximum yield of 15.0 g/l fermentable sugars for the duration of 30 min. Most of
the related studies stated that higher incubation duration might result in a reduction
of sugar yield. Higher duration tends to prolong the acid hydrolysis process and
under the condition of high temperature and high sulphuric acid concentration, this
will enhance the production of furfural, HMF and organic acids. Hence, a lower
concentration of extracted glucose or sugar will be obtained (Saucedo-Luna et al.
2010; Talukder et al. 2012; Wang et al. 2014).
Despite the studies highlighted above, some studies had reported very different
ranges of the optimum incubation period. Markou et al. (2013) reported that the
maximum reducing sugars yield was achieved after the incubation period of 30 h
when they were working with cyanobacteria Arthrospira platensis. Other than that,
Laopaiboon et al. (2009) suggested the incubation period of hours for acid hydroly-
sis when they were working with sugarcane bagasse. The incubation period for acid
hydrolysis is believed to be correlated to the temperature and sulphuric acid con-
centration. If relatively high acid concentration and high temperature are used in the
acid hydrolysis, shorter duration is preferred to prevent the formation of inhibitors.
4 Yeast Inoculum for Fermentation
Yeast inoculum was prepared by dissolving 1.0 g of dry Saccharomyces cerevisiae

powder in 20 ml of warm water at room temperature. The solution was left for 30 min
with shaking and stirring uniformly to suspend the yeast cells (Harun et al. 2010).
The yeast cells were inoculated on Yeast Extract–Peptone–Dextrose (YPD) agar
plates using streaking method for single colony isolation purpose. The agar plates
were incubated at 30 °C for 24 h. After incubation, the yeast colony was aseptically
transferred from the YPD agar plate into 100 ml of sterilized YPD medium containing
Fig. 6 Yeast growth curve

for 48 h
2% glucose. The yeast culture was incubated in a shaking incubator at 200 rpm and
30 °C (Zhou et al. 2011).
Yeast growth was monitored by periodically measuring the optical density of the
culture at 600 nm (OD600 ) by using UV/Vis spectrophotometer (Cecil CE 1011,
1000 series) for every 3 h, up to 48 h (Zhou et al. 2011; Cho et al. 2013; Kim
et al. 2013).Yeast cells were harvested during their mid-log phase by centrifugation.
Centrifugation was carried out at 3,000 × g for 10 min. The supernatant was dis-
carded and the pellet was washed with distilled water. The centrifugation process
was repeated three times to eliminate the residual sugars in the culture medium.
The resulting supernatant was discarded. The pellet was transferred to 250 ml con-
ical flask containing 100 ml fresh YPD medium and was used in the subsequent
fermentation process (Harun and Danquah 2011b).
Yeast growth was observed by measuring optical density of the yeast suspension
culture at 600 nm (OD600 ) using UV-Vis spectrophotometer for every 3 h up to 48 h.
The growth curve was plotted as shown in Fig. 1.6. The growth curve showed an
increasing trend from 0 to 42 h and decreasing trend from 42 to 48 h. According to
Fig. 1.6, there was a negligible increase in yeast growth from 0 to 3 h as the increase
of absorbance value was only 0.013. From 3 to 9 h, yeast growth showed a small
degree increase, from absorbance value 0.013 ± 0.004 to 0.191 ± 0.003. From 9 h
to 15 h, yeast cells had shown a significant growth as the absorbance value was
increased sharply to 1.661 ± 0.004. From 15 to 42 h, the yeast growth was slowed
down. The absorbance value recorded at 42 h was 1.990 ± 0.003 which was only
0.361 increased from that of 15 h. From 42 to 48 h, yeast growth had started to
decline as the absorbance value was dropped to 1.983 ± 0.002 and 1.972 ± 0.01 at
45 and 48 h, respectively.
In this study, yeast growth was monitored by measuring the optical density. The
absorbance value recorded was proportional to the cell mass. According to Fig. 1.6,
from 0 to 6 h, the yeast cells were adapting to the external environment. At this
stage, the yeast cells are said to be in their lag phase as negligible growth was
observed. During this phase, the cells were actively metabolizing, in preparation for
cell division in the subsequent exponential phase. Following lag phase, yeast cells
Table 2 Optimized Parameter Values

parameters for bioethanol
production Yeast inoculum concentration (% v/v) 5, 10, 15, 20, 25
Time (h) 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72
entered their exponential phase from 6 to 15 h. During this phase, the yeast cells
showed significant growth as steep growth curve pattern was shown in Fig. 1.6. The
generation time or rate of growth is dependent on the organism itself while strongly
influenced by the growth medium and the other growth conditions. From 15 to 42 h,
the yeast cells were said to be in their stationary phase. During this phase, the yeast
cells stopped dividing rapidly and slowed down their metabolism. From 42 to 48 h,
the yeast cells were in their death phase as the growth pattern started to decline due
to the presence of inhibitors, alteration of growth conditions, and nutrients depletion
(Asaduzzaman 2007).
Generally, a similar growth curve pattern was shown in most of the studies that
were related to yeast growth monitoring. As stated by Asaduzzaman (2007) who was
working on the standardization of yeast growth curves, yeast cells experienced lag
phase, exponential phase, stationary phase and death phase. A sigmoidal curve was
reported in his study. The similar growth curve was also reported by Medawar et al.
(2003) and Held (2010). A similar period of exponential phase was reported in the
study conducted by Lange and Steinbüchel (2011). In their study, the exponential
phase of yeast cells Saccharomyces cerevisiae was observed during the period of
8–18 h when they were cultivated in YPD medium, similar to that in this study.
For the use in subsequent alcoholic fermentation, microalgae cells were harvested
during their exponential phase, which was between 6 and 15 h, as the maximum rate
of cell division was achieved during the exponential phase. Yeast cells with maximum
growth rate and metabolism rate were known to utilize the nutrients in their growing
medium efficiently. Therefore, yeast cells in exponential phase were used in the
production of bioethanol to permit the maximum utilization of available glucose in
the hydrolysate, so that maximum ethanol yield could be achieved.
5 Optimization of Bioethanol Production
The hydrolysate (50 ml) obtained from acid hydrolysis was added to the YPD fermen-
tation medium with different inoculum concentrations. The fermentation process was
conducted for 72 h. The sample was withdrawn from the fermentation medium for
bioethanol analysis. Table 1.2 shows the parameters optimized and their respective
range of values.
The bioethanol content of the sample was analysed by using Gas Chromatog-
raphy–Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) equipped with a thermal conductivity detector
(TCD) and an HP-5MS column (0.25 mm × 30 mm × 0.25 µm ID). 1.0 µl of sample
was injected into the GC-MS in split mode with a split ratio of 200:1. Helium gas with
99.995% purity was used as the carrier gas and its flow rate was set at 0.7 ml/min.
The initial temperature of the oven is 40 °C and was increased at a rate of 10 °C/min
up to 100 °C (Mansa et al. 2013).
Prior to the analysis, the sample was distilled and sodium sulphate anhydrous
(NaSO4 .H2 O) was added to the resulting distillate to remove the water in it. The
addition of NaSO4 .H2 O was conducted slowly until there is no formation of solid
upon further addition. The sample was diluted with HPLC grade dichloromethane
buffer. The sample was then syringed through a 0.45 µm Durapore (PVDF) syringe-
driven filter unit into 1.5 ml vials. The vials were sealed with a crimp cap and stored
at 5–8 °C prior to analysis (Mansa et al. 2013). Ethanol solutions with different
concentrations were prepared and used to plot the calibration curve in order to obtain
the bioethanol concentration of the sample.
5.1 Effect of Yeast Inoculum Concentration on Bioethanol

Production
Fermentation was carried out with different yeast inoculum concentrations and
the fermentation samples were analysed after 24 h to determine their respective
bioethanol content. Figure 1.7 shows the relationship between the inoculum concen-
tration and the bioethanol production. From the inoculum concentration of 5.0–15.0%
v/v, both the ethanol concentration and ethanol yield were in an increasing trend. Nev-
ertheless, from 15.0 to 25.0% v/v, the bioethanol production showed a decreasing
trend for both the ethanol concentration and ethanol yield. According to Fig. 1.7,
the maximum bioethanol production was achieved with the inoculum concentration
of 15.0% v/v. The ethanol concentration of 1.126 g/l was achieved and the ethanol
yield obtained was 0.209 g/g glucose.
In this study, up to 15% v/v, increasing the concentration of yeast inoculum
resulted in an increase of bioethanol production from microalgal hydrolysate. At
higher concentration of yeast inoculum, both the concentration of bioethanol and
the ethanol yield were decreasing. Optimum inoculum concentration of 15% v/v
produced an ethanol yield of 0.209 g/g glucose with 1.126 g/l of bioethanol concen-
tration.
A similar trend was observed in previous studies where lower bioethanol concen-
tration or yield was obtained at yeast inoculum concentration that was higher than
optimal. Minh and Dao (2013) reported that fermentation with yeast ratio of 11%
v/v showed lower ethanol concentration than that of 9% v/v. In their study, 0.43%
v/v of ethanol was produced with 11% v/v yeast ratio while 1.43% v/v of ethanol
was obtained with 9% v/v yeast ratio. Besides, Thenmozhi and Victoria (2013) stated
the similar bioethanol production trend when they were working with cauliflower
and cabbage waste samples. In their study, 20% v/v yeast inoculum was proven
to be optimal. However, at higher yeast inoculum concentration, the ethanol yield
decreased. This trend might be related to the inhibitory effect of the oversaturation of
Fig. 7 Effect of yeast inoculum concentration on bioethanol production from Chlorella sp.
the yeast cells in the fermentation broth. Excessive colonization of yeast cells in the
fermentation broth may cause the stimulation of the formation of inhibitors and the
presence of inhibitors may affect the fermentation efficiency, thus lower bioethanol
concentration is obtained.
However, there are studies that reported different results. In those studies, increas-
ing yeast inoculum concentration resulted in the increase in bioethanol production.
No reduction of bioethanol production was shown even though the yeast inoculum
concentration used was higher than the optimum concentration. The study of Gib-
dons and Westby (1986) showed that higher yeast inoculum concentration showed no
advantages as compared to the optimum concentration. This result is in agreement
with the study conducted by Sevda and Rodrigues (2011). Higher inoculum con-
centration gave almost similar ethanol concentration as optimum when they were
working with guava. Higher concentration may require higher capital investment
and operating costs to produce a large amount of inoculum. Therefore, the lower
optimum concentration with highest bioethanol production was preferred.
5.2 Effect of Time on Bioethanol Production
Fermentation was carried out for 72 h to determine the bioethanol production at dif-
ferent duration. Figure 1.8 shows the relationship between the time and the bioethanol
production. From 12 to 24 h, both the ethanol concentration and ethanol yield were
Fig. 8 Effect of time on bioethanol production from Chlorella sp.
increased. However, starting from 24 until 72 h, both the ethanol concentration and
ethanol yield were decreased. The ethanol concentration and ethanol yield obtained
were 1.020 g/l and 0.190 g/g glucose, respectively.
Different ethanol concentrations and yields were observed at different time. In
this study, both the ethanol concentration and yield were at their peak at 24 h as
shown in Fig. 1.8. This result was supported by previous studies. The study of Harun
et al. (2010) reported that the maximum bioethanol concentration was achieved
at 24 h when they were working on microalgal biomass. The maximum glucose
consumption of approximately 60% was achieved at 24 h. Besides, Kim et al. (2013),
who was working with microalgae Chlorella Vulgaris, also stated that bioethanol
concentration reached its maximum at 24 h. In their study, 89% conversion was
achieved at 24 h in batch-type fermentation. This result is in agreement with the
study conducted by Scholz et al. (2013). In their study, glucose was consumed almost
entirely at 24 h and the rate of ethanol production was proven to be maximum during
the time period of 8 to 24 h. Harun and Danquah (2011b) also reported that the
highest ethanol concentration was produced at 24 h, same time as the highest yeast
concentration in the fermentation medium when they were working with microalgae
Chlorococcum sp.
At time above 24 h, the bioethanol concentration in the fermentation medium was
decreasing and then slowly stabilized. The decrease in bioethanol concentration can
be explained by the depletion of glucose. As the glucose is depleted, yeast cells switch
their metabolism. Harun et al. (2010) suggested that the change in yeast metabolism
might also include the consumption of bioethanol as the substrate. Therefore, lower
bioethanol concentration was observed at the time above the optimum duration.
Furthermore, the yeast concentration in the fermentation medium decreased after

24 h as reported by Harun and Danquah (2011b). Lower yeast concentration resulted
in the decrease of bioethanol production.
Other than previous studies on microalgae, the time course of the ethanol fermen-
tation was also studied on other biomass. Yu et al. (2014) reported that ethanol was
accumulated rapidly during the first 24 h of fermentation when they were working
with fermented sweet sorghum bagasse. This indicates that maximum bioethanol
production reached by 24 h with ethanol yield of 157.68 g/kg. However, a study on
oil palm fond showed different optimum time for alcoholic fermentation. Hong et al.
(2013) reported that the optimum time for maximum bioethanol was at 36 h instead
of 24 h. From here, it is believed that optimum fermentation time for bioethanol
production may be biomass-specific or may be influenced by the biomass sources.
6 Economical Aspects of Bioethanol Production

from Microalgae
It is forecasted that microalgal biomass can contribute to the sustainable feedstock

sources for bioethanol in the incoming years. The valuable characteristics which
come from its high productivity rate, adaptability to the extreme conditions and dif-
ferent water environment and its form of renewable energy are the major driven
forces that make it the fuels of the future (Brownbridge et al. 2013). Though these
are the main advantages, problems still arise, especially on its viability for the large-
scale production. Technical challenges, including high input cost for cultivation and
harvesting, inadequate consistency in conversion technologies as well as high energy
requirements are some constraints that need to be addressed for a better microalgal-
based bioethanol commercialization (Brownbridge et al. 2014). Each stage in the
cycle during the production process must be taken into account during the eco-
nomical analysis. The high cost of supply chains such as raw materials, storage,
transportation and processing technologies mainly affects the economic viability of
bioethanol at this stage. Figure 1.9 shows the general production flow of bioethanol
from microalgae feedstock which involves strain selection, cultivation, harvesting,
conversion technologies and finally production of bioethanol.
There are many conflicts that need to be managed properly in the first place
before any difficulties occur during the process of bioethanol production. According
to IAE Bioenergy (2011), to compete with the fuels derived from non-renewable
energy sources, several technical challenges must be confronted. These include the
identification of production chains with net energy output, targeted research and
development (R&D) which focus on reducing the cost in all segments of the pro-
duction spectrum, the intense identification of algal strain high production rates and
the initiatives to integrate microalgal biofuels into the existing transportation sector.
For the past several years, the majority of the researchers conducted are focusing on
the sustainability and the economic viability of microalgal biofuels. As an example,
Fig. 9 General production

flow of bioethanol from
microalgae feedstock
Life-cycle assessment (LCA) is widely used as an intermediate to analyse the environ-

mental impacts associated with all stages of microalgal’s life from raw to end product
for large-scale bioethanol production. However, based on the results, no uniform con-
clusion can be made as to compare each and every method applied from different
research is quite impractical. These variations specifically come from a different
approach in the processing of microalgal biomass, efficient conversion technologies,
different LCA methods, hypotheses and parameters being used (Driver et al. 2014).
Among the stages of bioethanol production, downstream processing is found to be
significantly important in determining the efficiency and economy of the whole pro-
cesses. In order to make the process more attainable, the enhancement in R&D must
be strengthened so that reliable, competent and economical processing technologies
could be developed (Kirrolia et al. 2013). Furthermore, the main challenges itself
come from the input materials such as the feedstock recovery and high energy require-
ment (Wan et al. 2015). From the estimation, the harvesting of microalgal biomass
is about 20–30% of total production cost which is quite unreasonable, especially
for the large-scale production (Pienkos and Darzins 2009). Hence, it is demanded
by the biofuels industry an efficient harvesting method which can attenuate the cost
of production. The high microalgal growth rate is expected to minimize the cost as
it reduces the time between harvesting and decreasing the water consumption per
each cycle (Kiran et al. 2014). In terms of conversion technologies, the extraction
or hydrolysis of the microalgal carbohydrate content into reducing sugars involves
different types of physical, chemical and biological approach. Chemical hydrolysis
approach generally results in the formation of high concentration of reducing sug-
ars, but usually limited by the production of many inhibitory compounds which have
negative effects on the growth of fermentative organisms and results in lower produc-
tion of desired end products (Miranda et al. 2012). A more environmentally friendly
approach such as enzymatic hydrolysis is currently attracting many researchers in
the field due to its advantages over the physical and chemical methods such as mild
hydrolysis conditions and no formation of inhibitory compounds. Nevertheless, enzy-
matic hydrolysis still has very significant weakness which comes from the high cost
of enzymes as well as inactivation of enzymes in the presence of solvents and other
physical parameters (Pancha et al. 2016).
Overall, when discussing the economical aspect of microalgal-based bioethanol,
the total production cost is the major indicator that determines its feasibility for
commercialization. Figure 10 shows the production cost of bioethanol from microal-
gae including the cost for feedstock, capital, operation and total production cost.
This clearly shows that the cost is high per unit of production. Generally, it can be
stated that the entire production processes are very expensive when compared with
the energy extraction from fossil fuels. The research also basically still in the pro-
gressing state in which no significant established technologies have been developed.
Throughout the production processes, the cost will certainly increase exponentially
starting from the initial capital for feedstock cultivation followed by the electrical
equipment, storage, and transportation to move supplies from one area to the next.
The conversion technologies together with the distribution of the products also need
significant financial sources to aid its penetration into the market. All these disad-
vantages eventually urge for more intense research and initiatives from all parties to
come out with solutions which can bring maturity into the bioethanol industries. A
lot of efforts have been made especially for algal fuel companies for the past several
years where not even a single commercial facility has come to reality. Only persistent
technologies that are able to produce bioethanol in very large scale and at very low
cost are expected to open a new dimension in the bioethanol industry (John et al.
2011). In this case, most of the suggested solutions regarding the minimization of
production cost simply to reduce the number of steps in biofuel production so that
its efficiency can be boosted. Origin Oil Ltd., is an example of biofuel company
which has taken the prior initiative by developing a systematic process that is able to
reduce the cost where the harvesting and extraction of feedstocks are combined into
a single process (Kiran et al. 2014). In future, more advanced and realistic production
processes are longed for addressing the economic limitation faced by the bioethanol
world.
7 Conclusion
The superior features of microalgae especially Chlorella sp. Because of its high car-
bohydrate content is critically important to be employed for bioethanol production.
The chemical approach for the hydrolysis of the carbohydrate content using acid is
an efficient method due to short reaction time as well as high recovery of reduc-
ing sugars. In this study, the critical parameters for acid hydrolysis and bioethanol
fermentation from microalgae Chlorella sp. were optimized. The Chlorella sp. was
Fig. 10 The production cost

of microalgal-based
bioethanol (Jambo et al.
2016)
cultivated in Jaworski’s Medium (JM) cultivation to observe the optimum growth of

the microalgae so that the most suitable period to harvest the cell can be determined.
From the observation, day 6–15 were found to be the best time for harvesting. Among
the different conditions studied, acid hydrolysis carried out under the condition of
2.0 M sulphuric acid and 130 °C for 30 min gave the highest concentration of glucose
which was 5.382 ± 0.063 g/l. Hence, these conditions are said to be the optimum
condition for acid hydrolysis of microalgae Chlorella sp.
On the other hand, yeast cell growth monitoring is also crucial to determine the
exponential phase of the yeast cells as the maximum rate of cell division was achieved
during this phase. Subsequently, during this phase, it is expected that it permits the
maximum utilization of available glucose in the hydrolysate so that maximum ethanol
yield could be achieved. Experimental results showed that the most optimum growth
of yeast cells can be observed between 6 and 15 h. During this period, the yeast cells
are most suitable to be harvested for the fermentation process. Among the different
yeast inoculum concentrations used in the fermentation process, 15% v/v showed the
highest ethanol concentration and ethanol yield which were 1.126 g/l and 0.209 g/g
glucose, respectively. The time course of bioethanol fermentation was also studied
by collecting the samples at different period of time. A duration of 24 h was found
to be the optimum for maximum bioethanol production with ethanol concentrations
of 1.020 g/l and ethanol yield of 0.190 g/g glucose.
In a nutshell, this study provides new information especially on the laboratory-
scale bioethanol production from microalgae Chlorella sp. Future research can be
conducted by using immobilized yeasts in the fermentation processes to improve the
bioethanol yield. Besides, enzymatic hydrolysis can be carried out on microalgae

Chlorella sp. to identify its effect in terms of concentration of extracted glucose.
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Conversion of Landscape Waste
into Bio-coke Solid Fuel
Santhana Krishnan, Mohd Fadhil Md Din, Shazwin Mat Taib,

Norfarah Hanim Binti Kamaludin, Norhisyam Hanafi, Tamio Ida,
Mohd Suhaizan Shamsuddin and Shreeshivadasan Chelliapan
Abstract A rapid increase in organic wastes requires an integrated management

system that enhances the use of such wastes to achieve sustainable waste manage-
ment. Among that, landscape waste is an organic yard or garden waste such as leaves
and plant trimmings (excluded grass clippings, sod and dirt). The landscape wastes
that are dumped or buried in the landfill takes a period of time to decompose but
the wastes are increasing from day to day. This research was aimed to study on the
abandon landscape waste at the landscape landfill in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
(UTM); the pattern of landscape wastes generation in each zone in UTM region; and
the suitable evaluation using bio-coke as a new treatment option to treat the landscape
wastes. Landscape waste collection form was distributed to all the contractors in each
zone to collect the data of the five types of waste; dry leaves, twigs, branches, palm
front, and wood. The data analysis obtained show that the dry leaves are the major
landscape waste at the UTM landscape landfill which was left abandoned without
proper treatment. Finally, the empty fruit bunch (EFB) and dry leaves (combined in
S. Krishnan · M. F. M. Din (B)

Center of Environmental Sustainability and Water Security (IPASA), Research Institute of
Sustainable Environment (RISE), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia UTM, 81310 Johor Bahru,
Johor, Malaysia
e-mail: mfadhil@utm.my
S. Krishnan · M. F. M. Din · S. M. Taib · N. H. B. Kamaludin
Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi
Malaysia UTM, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
M. F. M. Din · S. M. Taib · N. Hanafi
Campus Sustainability Office, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia UTM, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor,
Malaysia
T. Ida
Kinki University, Higashiosaka, Japan
M. S. Shamsuddin
Office of the Asset and Development, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia UTM, 81310 Johor Bahru,
Johor, Malaysia
S. Chelliapan
Department of Engineering, Razak Faculty of Engineering and Informatics, Universiti Teknologi
Malaysia, Jalan Sultan Yahya Petra, 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7260-5_8
106 S. Krishnan et al.
a three different aspect ratio of 90:10, 50:50, 0:100) were pyrolyzed at a highly com-
pressed state and at moderate temperature (160 °C). The calorific analyses revealed
that bio-coke (Product 1, Product 2, Product 3) had an energy density of 17520.7 J/g,
17338 J/g, and 17186.6 J/g, respectively. Conversion of the landscape waste into
solid fuel; bio-coke is the best way to treat the abandon landscape waste.
1 Introduction
Nowadays, the rapid development pace in our country, especially in the capitals,
has encouraged new buildings to be erected everywhere. In addition, an increase
in population growth rate and huge economic activities in urban areas cause an
increase in the waste generation as a by-product of these civil developments (Peters
and Luengen 2011). Landscape waste also includes green or garden waste materi-
als such as branches, bushes and tree stumps. Although the development destroys
the landscape, the aim to be a sustainable development country is not forgotten and
developers must promote the initiative to treat the landscape wastes. The amount of
landscape waste at landfills increases from year to year. To overcome the problem of
uncontrolled dumping of waste, people burn the waste frequently and this method is
not environmental-friendly. The landscape wastes that dump or buried in the landfill
take a period of time to decompose but the wastes are increasing from day to day. Pro-
cessing and recycling landscape waste will extend the life of the landfill by 20 years
(Lauri et al. 2014). The landfill life will be shortened and next, it will no longer han-
dle the increasing the amount of the wastes. Furthermore, there is also a problem in
agricultural landfills which are the best places for insects such as Isoptera (termites)
and Diptera (mosquito) groups to thrive. These sites are also a breeding ground for
rats. They can cause serious diseases such as Dengue (caused by mosquitoes) and
Leptospirosis (caused by rats).
There is a general lack of awareness towards sustainable management of landscape
wastes. The maturity of the trees is the main factor that contributes to the landscape
wastes generation. Although recycling activities have been growing in recent years,
landscape waste has been a largely ignored source. Landscape waste can be valuable
by converting them into solid fuel. The steps taken to produce a final output such as
bio-coke are the best choice for sustainable waste management (Mizuno et al. 2011).
The production of bio-coke is performed by mixing landscape waste with dry leaves,
twigs, branches, woods and palm trees. In addition to bringing economic values, bio-
coke also helps in minimizing the amount of landscape waste that is being dumped
into landfills and increasing the amount of the wastes due to ever growing of the
trees will cause the wastage of the landfill area uses to dump the landscape wastes.
The study on conversion of landscape wastes into bio-coke solid fuel will determine
either it can be one of the solutions to treat the wastes.
There are not enough biomass utilization technologies to simultaneously achieve
the two targets: the utilization of about 80% waste biomass and 6 percent reduction
in the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) emissions. Thus, it is a necessity to develop
Conversion of Landscape Waste into Bio-coke Solid Fuel 107
new technologies aimed at the utilization of unused biomass as energy and fuels
to solve the problems of emission control of waste biomass and CO2 emissions
reduction (Mizuno et al. 2015). Bio-coke is classified as a solid fuel because it is a
solid material which is compatible with fuel utilization to provide thermal energy and
to generate electric power. Bio-coke, as a sustainable biomass-derived carbonaceous
solid fuel, is characterized by low sulphur content, high feedstock availability and
has an economically efficient production process (Murata et al. 2014). Hence, the
characteristics are attributed to bio-coke’s production route of biomass pyrolysis
(Montiano et al. 2014a), which is an irreversible process in which organic materials
undergo thermochemical decomposition at an elevated temperature with the absence
of oxygen. It is one of the environmental-friendly product that made up from the wood
wastes which is that is suitable to be replaced and can be used in the industries that
use coal as their energy to burning and it really suitable especially for metallurgical
industries. Production demonstration trials have shown that applicable raw materials
include used tea leaves, used ground coffee, rice husks, swine manure, wood waste
(konara oak, cherry tree), sawdust, tree bark, apple peel, banana peel, distillery waste,
soymeal, and reeds (Montiano et al. 2014b).
Therefore, this chapter deals with the identification the pattern of landscape wastes
generation in each zone in UTM region and evaluate the suitability using bio-coke
production as a new treatment option to treat the landscape wastes in order to justify
either final product, bio-coke meets the solution of the landscape wastes. This empir-
ical evidence that with a sustainable treatment of landscape wastes can and will help
UTM in decreasing its landscape waste generation. The total area of study is 1222
hectare. The selection of UTM as the study area is because there is a huge amount
of landscape waste being dumped to landfills and the data on this dumping is not
recorded. This study will cover five out of eight main landscapes wastes which are
palm fronds, branches, dry leaves, tree branches, and twigs. These groups of wasted
are characterized according to their type and size. The collected dry leaves from the
UTM were mixed in different ratios (10, 50, 90%) with the palm oil empty fruit
bunches (EFB) and bio-coke was produced and the energy density was determined
(Fig. 1).
2 Methods
2.1 Landscape Waste Collection
The collection of landscape wastes is done daily with as much as two trips for some
cleaning zones. Collection forms were distributed to all contractors for the eleven
zones and they are required to complete the form and give back to the person in
charge in the office of the assets and development. Lorries weighing three tonnes are
used to collect landscape waste. The contractors used a weighting scale to estimate
the weight for each gunny sacks containing dry leaves, while other landscape wastes
Fig. 1 Bio-coke product

from palm leaves
such twigs, branches, palm frond, and wood are directly loaded into the lorry. The
weight of each gunny sacks will be estimated by the contractors by taking the average
weight of the dry leaves in the gunny sacks.
2.2 Waste Generation Zones
Landscape waste in UTM was collected by the cleaning contractors in each zone and
directly dumps the landscape waste to the landscape landfill at UTM. Figure 2 shows
the region size for each zone for the year 2015 and 2016. UTM area is divided into
eleven zones. The location (L) of the landscape landfill is at L1. L1 to L11 stands
for Location 1 to location 11. This helps to know the distribution and the types
of landscape waste for each zone and focus more on the zone that produces high
percentage on dry leaves because the dry leaves will be used for making bio-coke.
Fig. 2 Area of UTM cleaning zone
3 Bio-coke Production
3.1 Process Flow
The most important tool is the machine to produce bio-coke. The factory location
is located at Gelang Patah, Johor, Malaysia. There are several steps taken during
the processing the landscape wastes in order to produce the final output product
(Fig. 3). The dry leaves will be ground and shredded and the leaves shoul be dry
first before shredding and grinding. Additionally, several attributes of the landscape
Fig. 3 Flow processing of bio-coke
wastes such as level of moisture will be considered in the production of bio-coke

because landscape waste must be void of moisture to be eligible in being used for
bio-coke production. Later, the dry leaves will be put into the compressor machine
and it will be compressed at higher pressure until it becomes solid form.1 .
1 Handle by Kinki University and Osaka Gas.

Table 1 Chemical Elemental analysis Wt. (%)

constituents of palm oil
empty fruit bunches Cellulose 59.1
Hemicellulose 21.8
Lignin 17.9
Carbon 47.2
Hydrogen 6.5
Nitrogen 0.9
Sulphur 0.3
Oxygen 37.1
Potassium 2.6
Moisture 8.21
Volatiles 74.7
Ash 4.5
Fixed carbon 18
High heat value (MJ/kg) 18.9
Low heat value (MJ/kg) 17.4
3.2 Biomass Characterisation
Two different biomass samples were pyrolyzed: empty fruit bunches and dry leaves
and the EFB was obtained from the palm oil mill located at FELDA Bukit Besar,
Kulai, and Johor. The composition of the raw biomass is shown in Table 1. The EFB
and dry leaves were collected and dried at sunlight for 4 days and ground into a
fine powder of 200 µm. Both the EFB and dried leaves were mixed in the defined
ratio and bio-coke was prepared. The Elemental composition of the raw EFB was
determined according to the ASTM standard E711-87 (Demirbas 1997).
3.3 Pyrolysis Process
EFB and dry leaves are pyrolyzed at 160 °C for at least 2 h to obtain char and
pyrolysis liquid needed. Char is prepared as a main source for the bio-coke mixture,
meanwhile, the pyrolysis liquid acts as the binder. The char and pyrolysis liquid at
70:30 was maintained for three different EFB to dry leaves proportion of biomass
90:10, 50:50 and 0:100. 10 g of cassava starch was added as a binder agent. The
defined parameters and range during the operation is given in Table 2. Calorific
value was measured by using IKA C 2000 calorimeter Bomb calorimeter according
to ASTM standard E711-87.
Table 2 Operating Parameters Range

conditions of the Instrument
Mixing ratio (EFB:Dry Leaves) 90:10, 50:50, 0:100
Cutting Wt. 53.5 kg
Crusher Wt. 27.5 kg
Leaf Wt. 9 kg
Cutting H2 O% 7.50%
Crusher H2 O% 8.86%
Combined H2 O% 9.74%
Machine Compression reactor
Pressure 21 MPa
Retention time 120 min
Pyrolysis temp 160 °C
4 Result and Discussion
4.1 Landscape Waste Management
Figures 4 and 5 show the average of two daily trips of landscape waste collected by the
contractor. There are seven zones requiring two trips of landscape waste collection
while four zones- 3, 8, 9, and 10—require only one trip of landscape wastes collection
daily. The first trip of the collection of dry leaves shows that the highest percentage
belongs to zone 8 with 93% and the lower percentage of dry leaves collection is zone
2 with 58%. Next composition of landscape wastes is twigs. The highest percentage
which is 29% belongs to zone 1, while the lowest percentage of twigs are zones 8,
9, and 11 with 8% of wastes. For branches, zone 7 shows the highest percentage
(11.4%) compared to other zones and the lowest percentage of branches collected
is zone 6 with 6.4%. Palm frond with 43% in zone 11 is the highest percentage
compared to other zones and the lower percentage in zone 8 with 6% of palm frond
waste collection. The last composition in landscape wastes is wood. The highest
percentage of waste collection is zone 2 with 12% of wood and the lowest is zone 4
with 2% of wood.
The second trip is performed only on seven zones. This is because the landscape
wastes for zones 3, 8, 9, and 10 are already all collected on the first trip. In this
trip, zone 4 shows the highest percentage collection of dry leaves with 98% of the
collection while zone 2 is the lowest with 55% of the collection of dry leaves. For
twigs, the highest percentage collection belongs to zone 7 with 20% and zone 11
has the lowest collection with 5% only. Next landscape wastes composition is the
branches. This landscape waste composition will be compared among five zones
only which are zone 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6. Zone 6 shows the highest percentage (15%)
among all zones and zone 1 shows the lowest collection with 0.9% compared to other
zones. For palm frond, the difference in collection amount among zones is small.
Fig. 4 Average daily first

trip collected by the
contractors for each zone
Fig. 5 Average daily second

trip collected by the
contractors for each zone
The highest percentage collection is 11% that belongs to zone 5 and zone 7. While
the lowest collection is zone 4 with 5% collection only. The last landscape waste
composition is wood. This trip collection will be compared among three zones only
which are zone 1, 2 and 5 only. The highest collection with 10% is zone 2 while the
lowest collection is zone 1 with 0.9% only.
The pattern of landscape wastes between the trips is difficult to understand and
to compare to determine which zone has the highest percentage of each composition
of landscape wastes. Table 3 below shows the average of the daily collection of
landscape wastes for each composition in eleven zones in UTM. It also includes the
number of gunny sack of dry leaves. The average weight of a fully filled gunny sack
is about 6 kg. There is some problem where not all the contractors contribute their
collection data. In this study, zones 8, 10, 11 have no data on how much gunny sack
have been collected daily in UTM.
Table 3 shows the percentage of a daily number of gunny sacks containing dry
leaves on eight zones only. The contractors responsible for collection in zone 8, 9,
Table 3 Total average daily landscape wastes collection

Average trip
Zone Dry leaves Gunny sacks Twigs Branches Palm frond Wood
(%) (%) (%) (%) (%)
1 74 32.5 20 9.35 11 10
2 57 47.75 13 11 10 11
3 30 12.5 5 5 5 5
4 93 44.5 12 5 7 1
5 82 35.5 11 9.30 11 8
6 90 54.5 9 10.70 8
7 89 32 15 5.70 13 3
8 47 4 3
9 35 24 4 4 5 3
10 44 6 5 4
11 76 7 26
and 11 did not comply with the regulation requiring them to complete the collection
form, hence the missing data for these regions. So here, we can see the analysis that
has been done on eight zones only. From the result obtained, we can conclude that
the highest number of gunny sack monopoly among eight zones is 54.4 gunnies from
zone 6, followed by zone 2 with 47.75 gunnies. There are three zones with a small
difference in the number of gunnies, which are zone 1, 5 and 7. The lowest number of
gunny sacks is zone 3 with only 12.5 gunnies per day. The average weight of gunny
sack, if we weigh each gunny sack, is around 6 kg per gunny.
4.2 Bio-coke as New Treatment Option to Treat Landscape

Wastes
After collecting and analysing the data, the next step is transporting the landscape
waste to the bio-coke factory for processing the raw material (landscape waste)
into bio-coke. From the estimation transporting the landscape waste to the bio-coke
factory, we can know that the volume that we can supply daily from UTM landscape
landfill to the bio-coke factory. Table 4 below shows the estimation daily weight
of dry leaves that can be transported to the bio-coke factory. From this estimation,
we can supply about 1.7 tonnes dry leaves to the bio-coke factory as an alternative
to treat landscape waste every day. Thus, from this method, we can minimize the
amount of landscape waste at the UTM landscape landfill.
Table 4 Average weight Zone Dry leaves (%) Gunny sacksa Weight (kg)
daily landscape waste
1 74 32.5 195
2 57 47.75 285.5
3 30 12.5 75
4 93 44.5 267
5 82 35.5 213
6 90 54.5 327
7 89 32 192
8 47 – –
9 35 24 144
10 44 – –
11 76 – –
Total 1698.5 kg
a Average 1 gunny sack estimated by the contractors = 6 kg
4.3 Bio-coke Production and Analysis
The bio-coke was prepared using different ratios of EFB to dry leaves ratio such as
90:10, 50:50 and 0:100 (Fig. 7). After pyrolysis, the biomass showed an increase in
carbon content and it is attributed to the great influence of dehydration, which also
makes a slight reduction of hydrogen content indicating that the bio-coke produced
at moderate temperature was pyrolyzed more thoroughly (Yang et al. 2016). The
products, generated by the polymerization of these radicals and precursor which is
formed by the macro-molecules cracking, deposit on the EFB: dry leaves bio-coke
leading to an increase in C and H content. It is ascribed that the large amount of
dehydration which reduces the chemical bonds resulting in an increase in the relative
proportion of oxygen-free functional groups (Montiano et al. 2014c).
Among the three products, Product 1 (i.e. 90:10) was found to have slightly
higher calorific value than the other two products. The calorific content of product
1 was found to have 17357.5 J/g, while product 2 and product 3 had an average
caloric value of 17338 J/g and 17186.6 J/g, respectively. There are many factors
influencing a pyrolysis process such as effect of particle size, heating rate and the
properties of biomass itself. The results of the calorific content of bio-coke are given
in Table 5. The calorific value was also declined from EFB: Dry Leaves ratio of
90:10 to 100% leaves bio-coke. The higher heating value of product 1 could be
attributed to the low resistance of hemicellulose toward thermal degradation and
also depends on moisture and ash content (Suopajärvi et al. 2018). According to
Suhartini et al., the calorific value of fuel bio-coke is directly proportional to the
removal of volatile matter and moisture content. High volatile matter content of the
biomass makes it contribute more fractional heat, and, consequently, make it more
reactive than coal. Thus, biomass solid fuel has a faster combustion rate during the
Fig. 7 Bicoke produced from three different ratios of dry EFB: dry leaves
devolatization process which makes it easy to ignite and burn (Suhartini et al. 2011).
Parikh et al. (2005) and Yin (2011) discovered a quick and economical method for the
estimation of calorific value by correlating heating value with proximate analyses
data. By estimating high heating value (HHV) on a dry basis, both studies used
large data points of agricultural wastes. Parikh et al. (2005) stated that the algebraic
expression of theoretical heating value calculation is applicable for all kinds of solid
fuel including biomass materials.
4.4 Economic Analysis
The potential demand for bio-coke in furnaces is estimated at 200,000–300,000

tonnes a year. It is estimated that the plan, which will produce bio-coke from biomass
(EFB from palm oil mills), will need an initial investment of 15 million RM (in the
case of EFB) as well as a total of 15 employees. Of the annual output of 3,330 tonnes,
Table 5 Calorific values of bio-coke with three different ratios of dry EFB to dry leaves
S. no. Product Pyrolysis Ignition Extraneous Weight Calorific
temp (°C) energy (J) energy (J) (g) values (J/g)
1 Product 1 160 70 50 0.51 17357.5
(90% dry
EFB 10%,
leaf)
2 Product 2 160 70 50 0.51 17338
(50% dry
EFB, 50%
leaf)
3 Product 3 160 70 50 0.51 17186.6
(100% dry
leaf)
Values are the mean + S.D. of the 3 observations
1,000 tonnes will be sold to foundries in Malaysia and the remaining 2,330 tonnes
will be exported to foundries in Japan. Annual sales will be 100 million RM. Local
palm oil mills can benefit from such a plant, which will be a steady buyer of EFB,
because they have long had difficulty disposing of. This plan is thus expected to
help promote local palm-related industries, which play a key role in the region. The
construction of a bio-coke plant will have a good chance of being warmly accepted
as in the Malaysia region.
5 Conclusions
The result of the study shows that dry leaves have the highest percentage compared
to four other landscape wastes within the three months period. We predict that by
converting landscape waste into solid fuel, bio-coke can minimize the abandoned
landscape waste at the landscape landfill. The calorific analyses revealed that bio-
coke had an energy density of 17520.7 J/g. From this applied technique, there are
many advantages such can minimize the size of the landscape waste, control land pol-
lution, and having an organized landscape wastes documents for future planning of
landscape waste management or landscape waste control. In addition, by converting
landscape wastes into solid fuel, bio-coke, we can also monetize the commercializa-
tion the bio-coke production. Good quality briquette not only acts as an alternative
energy fuel, but also proves beneficial impacts for the environment. Besides, with
this side income, it can replace or can minimize the other cost such transportation of
landscape waste to bio-coke factory.
Acknowledgements The study was collaborated by between Kindai University- Japan, Osaka Gas
Co-Japan, and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, was funded by GUP Q.J130000.2522.20H32, GUP
Q.J130000.3022.01M12, by Research Management Centre, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. These

supports are highly appreciated.
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The Effect of Enzyme Addition
on the Anaerobic Digestion of Food Waste
Mariani Rajin, Abu Zahrim Yaser, Sariah Saalah, Yogananthini Jagadeson

and Marhaini Ag Duraim
Abstract Due to increase in the amount of food waste, the proper method to dis-
pose food waste has become a concern. Anaerobic digestion has received increasing
attention because of its advantages such as reducing waste pollution and producing
clean energy. Hydrolysis, the first step in anaerobic digestion, has been identified as
rate-limiting step in this process. Enzyme addition during hydrolysis of a substrate
has been reported as a promising alternative to stimulate waste degradation, thus
improving the efficiency of the anaerobic digestion system. In this work, Candida
Antarctica Lipase B (CALB) was used to facilitate the anaerobic digestion of food
waste for 40 days. The effects of lipase addition on the total organic carbon (TOC),
biogas production, pH, electrical conductivity and moisture content were studied.
The finding showed that the food waste digestion with lipase achieved higher reduc-
tion in pH at a shorter time, indicating a higher degradation rate when lipase was
added into the system. However, lipase addition had no effect on the final values
of both pH and conductivity after 40 days of digestion. It was also found that the
usage of lipase in this study did not help in increasing the biogas production due to
acidification of food waste during digestion that inhibited the biogas production. On
the other hand, it was found that the final moisture content of 88% achieved by food
waste with lipase was higher as compared to the control sample. The finding also
showed that higher reduction in TOC value was achieved when lipase was added
into the digestion system, showing higher degradation rate by microorganisms. The
complex molecule in food waste was hydrolysed to a simple molecule assisted by
the enzyme added so that it can be easily utilised by the microorganisms.
Keywords Anaerobic digestion · Lipase · Hydrolysis · Physiochemical

properties · Biogas
M. Rajin (B) · A. Z. Yaser · S. Saalah · Y. Jagadeson · M. Ag Duraim

Chemical Engineering Programme, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan
UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
e-mail: mariani@ums.edu.my
S. Saalah
e-mail: s_sariah@ums.edu.my

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7260-5_9
120 M. Rajin et al.
1 Introduction
Food waste has been recorded as the largest components of waste in the world as
reported by Zhang et al. (2014) and Capson-Tojo et al. (2016). Food waste is recog-
nised as pollutants, since it readily decomposes, generates odours, and sometimes
causes illness under natural condition due to its high biodegradable organic com-
pound and moisture content (Moon and Song 2011). The amount of food waste is
expected to keep increasing as the population growth and the development of world-
wide economy increase (Agamuthu and Fauziah 2011). Therefore, a proper man-
agement of food waste is needed to avoid severe health problems and environmental
pollution.
Landfill disposal, incineration and anaerobic digestion are among the traditional
methods used for food waste treatment (Polprasert 2007). However, the approaches
of disposals for food waste management by landfills and incinerator have some draw-
backs. Many countries fully banned the landfilling approach as well as the incinerator
where it produces intensive energy to the surrounding due to the high moisture con-
tent and can cause air pollution from the release of smoke from chimneys. Moreover,
incineration also decreases the economic value of the waste as it inhibits the recovery
of nutrients and valuable chemical compounds from the incinerated substrate. On the
other hand, the increasing number of food waste generated every year leads to insuf-
ficient area for landfill management (Kunwar et al. 2017). Thus, anaerobic digestion
has been considered as an attractive alternative to overcome these limitations.
Anaerobic digestion involves the degradation and stabilisation of organic materi-
als under anaerobic conditions by microbial organisms. The degradation of organic
material will lead to the formation of biogas which is a mixture of carbon dioxide and
methane as renewable energy source and microbial biomass (Kelleher et al. 2002).
This technology is widely applied in waste management including food waste and
other organic waste treatments (Yaser 2014; Rajin 2018). Furthermore, the produc-
tion of biogas from anaerobic digestion is one of the renewable energies that can be
used for heating and power generation.
Generally, there are four steps involved in anaerobic digestion which are hydroly-
sis, acidogenesis, acetogenesis and methanogenesis. Among these steps, hydrolysis is
known as the rate limiting step. During hydrolysis, the polysaccharides (macronutri-
ents) are converted into monosaccharides (micronutrients) by extracellular microbial
enzymes. The slow degradation rate of crude lipid which includes floatable grease,
oil and fats in the food waste leads to low digestion efficiency and therefore inhibits
the digestion process. Various methods have been reported to improve the perfor-
mance of anaerobic digestion system. Among them is the addition of enzymes to
accelerate the hydrolysis reaction of various types of substrates as reported by Meng
et al. (2017), Dors and Mendes (2013) and Kanmani et al. (2016). In these previous
works, commercial enzymes such as carbohydrases, proteases, and lipases have been
used to improve hydrolysis of food waste from various sources.
Therefore, this research was conducted to determine the feasibility of lipase to
be used in the anaerobic digestion system of Malaysian food waste. The effects of
The Effect of Enzyme Addition on the Anaerobic Digestion … 121
lipase addition on the physiochemical properties of the food waste digestate and the
biogas production were also investigated.
2.1 Food Waste, Inoculum and Enzyme
Food waste was collected from a cafeteria in the Faculty of Engineering (FKJ), Uni-
versiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. The collected food waste was sealed
and stored in laboratory for further use. Inoculum was prepared through 51 days
anaerobic digestion of food waste. The Candida Antartica lipase B Lipozyme (CALB
L) used was purchased from Novozyme Inc. (Davis, CA) and was selected based on
its ability to hydrolyse high fat content substrate.
2.2 Anaerobic Digestion of Food Waste
The anaerobic digestion process was carried out by feeding 350 g of food waste
into a 500 mL bottle as a batch reactor. The amount of lipase used was 0.015 g
lipase/100 g of food waste. Control reactors without enzyme were also prepared.
All reactors were sealed for 40 days. For each consecutive 10 days, the sample of
food waste was collected for physiochemical analysis. The biogas produced from
the anaerobic digestion process was collected using the water displacement method.
All experiments were done in duplicates.
2.3 Physiochemical Analysis
The food waste samples for days 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 were analysed for pH, conduc-
tivity, moisture content and Total Organic Carbon (TOC). All analysis methods and
calculation were adapted from Yaser et al. (2007).
2.3.1 Total Organic Carbon (TOC)
The samples were oven dried at 105 °C for 24 h. The dried samples were burned in
the furnace at 550 °C for 4 h. The organic matter was determined as volatile solid.
The percentage of TOC was determined by using Eq. 2.1.
122 M. Rajin et al.
100 − Ash (%) Organic matter (%)

TOC (%) = = (2.1)
1.8 1.8
2.3.2 pH and Conductivity
5 g of food waste sample was oven dried at 105 °C for 24 h. The mashed food waste
was mixed with 50 ml of distilled water, shaken at 130 rpm for 24 h and then filtered.
The solution was analysed by using a pH meter and conductivity meter (HI 9811-5).
2.3.3 Moisture Content
The food waste was dried at 105 °C for 24 h before determining the moisture content.
The initial and final mass of the mixture were recorded. The moisture content was
calculated by using Eq. 2.2.
Initial Mass − Final Mass

Moisture content = × 100% (2.2)
Initial Mass
3 Results and Discussions
3.1 Effect of Lipase Addition on Total Organic Carbon
Figure 3.1 shows the Total Organic Carbon (TOC) profile of the digestate obtained in
this work, for food waste with and without lipase. Total Organic Carbon (TOC) is used
as the energy source for microorganisms during digestion process and the degradation
of carbon illustrates the level of digestate maturity (Zhang et al. 2017). The decrease
in total organic carbon is related to the amount of carbon dioxide released. Carbon
dioxide released depends on the degree of utilisation of organic carbon through
microbial degradation (Kulikowska 2016). Furthermore, the decrease in total organic
carbon is related to the microbial respiration (Kulcu and Yaldiz 2004). Thus, a larger
decrease in total organic carbon shows higher degradation by microorganisms.
Based on Fig. 3.1, the average TOC value in this research was unsteady throughout
the digestion process. Initially, the TOC decreased from 55.41 to 55.26% for food
waste without lipase and 55.41–54.93% for food waste with lipase. After 20 days of
digestion, the TOC for food waste without lipase slightly decreased from 55.26 to
55.04%, while the TOC increased from 54.93 to 55.15% for food waste with lipase.
The TOC for food waste without lipase increased from 55.15 to 55.26% at day 40. On
the other hand, the TOC for food waste with lipase decreased from 55.15 to 55.06%
at day 30 and increased again from 55.06 to 55.09% at day 40.
During the first 10 days, both food wastes with and without lipase showed a
significant loss of total organic carbon. A high amount of organic carbon loss may
55.5 Food Waste
55.4 Food Waste

and Lipase
Total Organic Carbon, %
55.3
55.2
55.1
55.0
54.9
54.8
0 10 20 30 40 50
Time, days
Fig. 3.1 TOC profiles from anaerobic digestion of food waste with and without lipase
be because of the increased degradation of biodegradable fractions in the waste. The

increasing trend of TOC may be influenced by hardly degradable fractions in the
food waste (Petric and Mustafić 2015). Furthermore, the increasing trend of organic
carbon was due to the increasing population of microorganisms. As the population
of microorganisms increased, the degradation process became more rapid and the
degradation of the waste resulted in residue in the form of carbon source material
which increased the carbon content at the end of the digestion process (Narkhede
et al. 2010).
Based on the results obtained, the effect of lipase addition on the TOC can be
observed. After 10 days of digestion, there was a decrease in the value of TOC
for both samples. However, the decrease in TOC value for the digestion of food
waste with lipase was higher than the digestion of food waste without lipase. This
was probably due to increase in the degradation rate of organic matter due to the
addition of enzymes. Studies showed that food waste consists of macromolecules or
bigger molecules such as carbohydrates, proteins and lipids. Thus, to achieve a high
degradation rate, the proper enzyme needs to be supplied to the system so that the
substances can be degraded easily. Additional enzymes are needed to hydrolyse the
molecules into simpler substances so that they can be utilised by the microorganisms
easily (Rajin 2018). It can be concluded that the addition of lipase has enhanced the
degradation of organic waste. Meng et al. (2017) have also supported this finding by
stating that food waste pre-treated with lipase is able to shorten the digestion time
within 10–40 days and increase the methane yield.
124 M. Rajin et al.
7000
6000
Volume of Gas, mL
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Time, days
Food Waste Food Waste and Lipase
Fig. 3.2 Cumulative biogas production of food waste in 40 days
3.2 Effect of Lipase Addition on Biogas Production
Figure 3.2 shows the result for the cumulative volume of biogas production within
the retention period of 40 days. The production of biogas increased rapidly within the
first 10 days and then it decreased, as the anaerobic digestion was almost complete
for both conditions. At the end of 40 days of retention period, the cumulative volume
of biogas produced from food waste and food waste with lipase were 19,448 mL and
16,174 mL respectively.
Theoretically, the biogas production will be higher when there is an addition of
enzyme(s) into the substrate. These enzymes will help to increase the rate of degra-
dation during the hydrolysis stage so that more biogas can be produced. However,
in this study, the result showed a different trend, where it can be observed that the
biogas production was higher with the absence of lipase, as shown in Fig. 3.2.
Li et al. (2016) reported that there was no biogas produced in their study because
the hydrolysis and acidification continued during mono-digestion of food waste,
which converted the biomass particles into soluble matters. The methanogenic activ-
ity was inhibited because of high concentration of volatile fatty acid and it was
related to the pH drop at the initial stage of digestion. The operational range of pH
in anaerobic digesters should be between 6.6 and 7.6 with the optimum range being
7–7.2. Thus, methanogenic bacteria inhibited at such low pH (acidic), even though
the acid-forming bacteria can tolerate pH as low as 5.5. The pH of a digester may
drop to below 6.6 if there is an excessive accumulation of volatile fatty acids. This
kind of accumulation may occur when the organic loading rates are excessively high
and/or when toxic materials are present in the digester, hence producing inhibitory
effects to the methanogenic bacteria as well as the biogas production (Polprasert
2007).
The study from Romano et al. (2009) showed that the result for biogas production
for Jose Tall Wheatgrass in a one-stage digestion configuration with enzyme product
N342 differed from Domingues et al. (2015). The biogas production within the first
5.5 Food Waste

5.3
5.1 Food Waste and
Lipase
4.9
4.7
pH
4.5
4.3
4.1
3.9
3.7
3.5
0 10 20 30 40 50
Time, days
Fig. 3.3 pH profiles from anaerobic digestion of food waste with and without lipase
eight days with enzyme was higher compared to without enzyme. However, the
biogas production without enzyme was higher compared to with enzyme in the last
six days. Therefore, this study agreed with the findings of Romano et al. (2009)
where the solid reduction was similar between the enzyme treated and non-enzyme
treated systems (Higgins and Swartzbaugh 1986). Besides that, the characteristics
of food waste itself which are high labile organic matter, salt, oil, protein contents,
low carbon to nitrogen (C/N ratio and insufficient trace elements make anaerobic
digesters prone to acidification, ammonia, salt, long chain fatty acid inhibition, and
nutrient deficiency (Banks et al. 2012; Dai et al. 2013; Gao et al. 2015; Li et al. 2015;
Zhang et al. 2013).
3.3 Effect of Lipase Addition on pH
pH plays an important role in anaerobic digestion. Variation in pH affects the anaer-

obic digestion as the operation of the digester is influenced by the concentration of
hydrogen ions (Ajay et al. 2011). Figure 3.3 shows the pH profile for anaerobic diges-
tion of food waste with and without lipase. It is shown that for the first 10 days, the
pH for food waste only and food waste with lipase dropped rapidly from 5.14 to 3.95
and 3.98, respectively. Past researchers stated that the pH of food waste generally lies
in the acidic range which is 3.6–6.0 (Carucci et al. 2005), as obtained in the present
work. The drop in the pH was due to the formation of organic acids resulted from the
initial microbial degradation of food waste during anaerobic digestion (Lin 2008;
Ishak et al. 2014). This finding is also supported by other researchers who stated that
the initial decrease in pH value is the result of formation of organic acids such as
acetic acid and butyric acid produced by the reaction of microorganisms (Yang et al.
2013).
126 M. Rajin et al.
The data plotted in Fig. 3.3 also showed that there was further decrease in the
pH reading for food waste without lipase; which was 3.98–3.86 from day 10 to day
20, then a small increase in pH was observed from day 20 to day 40. On the other
hand, the pH for food waste with lipase showed a slight rise from day 20 to day 40.
The subsequent rise of pH of food waste and food waste with lipase was due to the
decomposition of nitrogen-containing organic matter which led to the accumulation
of NH3 which dissolved in moisture to form alkaline NH4+ . Moreover, the organic
acids formed were decomposed to form gaseous carbon dioxide and water. The
further decomposition of fatty acids into smaller molecular acids to evaporate will
also result in an increase of pH. Furthermore, mineralisation of proteins, amino acids
and peptides contributes to the release of ammonium or volatile ammonia which
results in the increase of pH (Lin 2008).
It was found that the changes in pH within day 10 to day 40 were less significant as
compared to the first 10 days of digestion for both samples. This was due to the hardly
degradable fractions of the organic wastes (Petric and Mustafić 2015). In comparison,
both samples showed identical pH at the end of the digestion process. However, from
the graph, it is shown that the food waste with lipase achieved the constant and lowest
pH on day 30, which was 10 days earlier as compared to the control. This may be due
to the action of lipase which sped up the reaction by lowering the activation energy
(Salwanee et al. 2013).
3.4 Effect of Lipase Addition on Electrical Conductivity
Figure 3.4 displays the electrical conductivity profile for the food wastes with and
without lipase. Electrical conductivity (EC) indicates the total salt content in an
anaerobic digestate which shows whether the salt content may affect the quality of
digestate to be used as a fertiliser. EC measures the total soluble salts in the food
waste digestate. The higher the EC, the higher the nutrient content of the digestate.
However, EC exceeding 4 dS/m (4 mS/cm) will cause a negative impact on plant
growth (Lin 2008). It has been suggested that the suitable electrical conductivity for
safe plant growth is 2.5 mS/cm (Himanen and Hänninen 2011). Digestate with low
EC can be used directly as fertiliser, whereas digestate with high value of EC must
be mixed with soil or other materials with low ECs before it can be used for growing
crops (Ishak et al. 2014).
As shown by the plot in Fig. 3.4, the initial EC for both samples were 6.26
mS/cm. After 10 days, The EC rose to a maximum value of 8.16 mS/cm and 8.26
mS/cm for food waste without lipase and food waste with lipase, respectively. The
increasing trend of EC at the earlier stage was caused by the presence of large
quantities of mineral salts such as phosphate and ammonium in the food waste, which
were released during the decomposition of organic substance (Lin 2008; Chan et al.
2016). The basic ions released after degradation increased the electrical conductivity
(Fang and Wong 1999).
9.0
Food Waste
8.0
Electrical Conductivity, mS/cm Food Waste
7.0 and Lipase
6.0
5.0
4.0
3.0
0 10 20 30 40 50
Time, days
Fig. 3.4 Electrical conductivity profiles from anaerobic digestion of food waste with and without
lipase
From Fig. 3.4, it can be observed that after 10 days of anaerobic digestion, the
value of EC gradually decreased to 3.08 and 3.05 mS/cm for food waste without
lipase and food waste with lipase, respectively. The reduced value of EC was caused
by the evaporation of ammonium ion (in the form of ammonia) and reduction of
other basic ions as reported by Wong et al. (1995). It was also a direct consequence
of the increased concentration of nutrients such as nitrate and nitrite (Bazrafshan
et al. 2016). The precipitation and loss of mineral salts also tend to reduce the EC
value of organic waste digestate (Ishak et al. 2014; Rawoteea et al. 2017).
Finally, it is shown that the increase in electrical conductivity of food waste
with lipase was slightly higher than food wastes without lipase due to the higher
degradation of the organic waste assisted by lipase, obviously for the first 10 days
of digestion, in line with the findings of Chan et al. (2016). The lipase enhanced
the hydrolysis of fats, oil and grease in the food waste mixture. The final electrical
conductivity of food waste with lipase was lower than the electrical conductivity of
the control sample. This finding indicates that anaerobic digestion of food waste with
lipase has increased the nutrient content of the digestate.
3.5 Effect of Lipase Addition on Moisture Content
Figure 3.5 presents the moisture content profile for the anaerobic digestion of food
wastes with and without lipase. Based on the moisture content profile in Fig. 3.5,
there were rapid increases in moisture content from day 0 to day 20, decreases from
day 20 to day 30, then further increases from day 30 to day 40 for both samples.
128 M. Rajin et al.
86.0 Food Waste

85.0
84.0 Food Waste and
Moisture Content, % Lipase
83.0
82.0
81.0
80.0
79.0
78.0
77.0
76.0
0 10 20 30 40 50
Time, days
Fig. 3.5 Moisture content profiles from anaerobic digestion of food waste with and without lipase
The average moisture contents of food waste and food waste with lipase were
found to be unsteady throughout the anaerobic digestion process. Similar trends
were observed by Rawoteea et al. (2017) and Narkhede et al. (2010). The fluctuation
of moisture content throughout the process was due to the changing of microbial
population (Narkhede et al. 2010). The decreasing trend of moisture content for both
conditions could be due to the increase in temperature as anaerobic digestion is an
exothermic process (Manu et al. 2017). Meanwhile, the increase of moisture content
was caused by the condensation of evaporated water on the lid and wall of the reactor.
As anaerobic digestion was carried out in a closed system, the condensed water fell
back in the mixture which caused an increase in the moisture level of the system
(Rawoteea et al. 2017).
Moisture content is important as a medium of nutrient transport for the utilisation
of microorganisms (Ishak et al. 2014). This is also supported by other researchers
who stated that enough amount of water is important for microorganisms to move
and transport nutrients (Kulikowska 2016; Manu et al. 2017). The increase in mois-
ture during the digestion process facilitates the growth of microorganisms which
eventually enhances the anaerobic digestion of food waste. However, it is difficult to
maintain the same availability of water throughout the digestion cycle.
In the present work, it was found that the final moisture content achieved by food
waste with lipase was higher as compared to the control sample. High moisture con-
tent will also affect the process performance by dissolving biodegradable organic
wastes. Researchers suggested that anaerobic digestion of wastes with moisture con-
tent of 60–80% will yield the highest methane (Bouallagui et al. 2003). On the other
hand, there are also researchers who suggested that food waste with moisture content
of 95–97% is suitable for anaerobic digestion (Tanimu et al. 2014). Thus, based on
the findings, it can be said that the food waste in this work has a suitable moisture
content for anaerobic digestion which is in the range of 77–86%, which fall in the
ideal range of 60–90%.
4 Conclusion
The anaerobic digestion of food waste has been conducted. The effects of lipase
addition on the Total Organic Carbon (TOC), pH, conductivity and moisture con-
tent have been investigated. The addition of lipase has improved the phycochemical
properties of the food waste digestate in terms of moisture content and TOC. The
addition of lipase shows significant effect of the pH and conductivity for the first
10 days of digestion. However, it has no effect on the final pH and conductivity
of the digestate at the end of the digestion process. Based on the findings, it was
also found that the lipase used in the present work did not improve the production
of biogas. Overall, it can be concluded that the addition of lipase has successfully
enhanced the degradation rate but inhibited the biogas production. Therefore, further
works such as screening on the type of lipase and optimisation on lipase amount are
needed to achieve the desired results.
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Anaerobic Digestion of Organic Waste
in UMS Campus for Resource Recovery
and Waste Reduction
Newati Wid and Lucita Felicity Ayut
Abstract Phosphorus, a limited non-renewable mineral source can be recovered

from food waste in a form of struvite, a slow-release fertiliser. This study was con-
ducted to determine the physical and chemical characteristics of food wastes col-
lected from Tun Mustapha Residences café of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS),
to recover phosphorus and reduce the amount of food waste produced. Anaerobic
digestion was used to degrade the organic solid waste and solubilise nutrients, which
was performed at controlled conditions (pH 6.8–7.2; 37 °C) for 15 days. The results
showed that the total solids and volatile solids for the raw sample were high, 42.9%
and 94.3%, respectively; due to high solid and organic content. The concentration of
magnesium (Mg2+ ), ammonium (NH4 + ) and phosphate (PO4 3− ) after digestion were
114.00 mg/L, 73.87 mg/L and 554.04 mg/L, respectively. The phosphorus can be
potentially recovered in the form of struvite with 136 g struvite/g food waste. After
anaerobic digestion, total solids and volatile solids were degraded with 40.11% and
76.51% reduction, respectively. Throughout this study, it can be suggested that food
waste is naturally high in nutrient content that can be a source for phosphorus recov-
ery in which the waste volume can be reduced after performing anaerobic digestion.
Keywords Kitchen food wastes · Phosphorus recovery · Struvite · Anaerobic

digestion · UMS
1 Introduction
Kitchen waste is one of the municipal wastes comprising degradable and non-
degradable materials produced in a kitchen. Non-degradable kitchen wastes refer
N. Wid (B) · L. F. Ayut

Faculty of Science and Natural Resources, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota
e-mail: newati@ums.edu.my
N. Wid
Water Research Unit, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah,
Malaysia

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7260-5_10
134 N. Wid and L. F. Ayut
to materials used mainly for food packaging and wrappings such as plastic, glass
and many other synthetic materials. Meanwhile, degradable kitchen wastes refer to
wastes that can degrade such as food wastes (Guttentag 2014), including rice leftover,
vegetables and fruits peels. One of the main disposal technique of food waste is by
landfilling, thus, high generation of food waste may lead to overflowing of landfill
sites. Consequently, contributes to leachate release, air pollution by food decay and
odour problems (Zhang et al. 2005).
Food waste has high organic content; thus, they are potentially high in phosphorus
content, an essential nutrient for living organisms. Phosphorus (P) regards as the most
crucial ingredient in food production where it has been used as fertiliser ingredients
in agricultural industry. To date, the depletion issue of P is one of the main concern
as P is an element which cannot be synthesised or manufactured elsewhere. The
prominent source of P is from phosphate rock, which was predicted to be depleted
within 100 years, due to the world’s high demand especially in fertiliser industry
(Song et al. 2014; Cordell et al. 2009, 2011; Ashley et al. 2011). Unlike oil, P is a non-
renewable source, naturally limited and has no substitute when it reaches its scarcity.
Nevertheless, it can be recovered from organic wastes by using proper methods such
as anaerobic digestion (Wid et al. 2017; Wid and Horan 2016). Anaerobic digestion
is a decomposition of organic material in the absence of oxygen, where it is becoming
an emerging technique for resource recovery (Wid and Horan 2016). Ironically, not
many people are aware that the leftover on their plates is very rich in nutrient, in
which unconsciously the nutrients are lost when disposed on landfill, thus leads to
high waste generation and many environmental issues.
Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), located in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia,
has established the EcoCampus Management Centre in 2013 in which one of the
elements the university committed to incorporate is environmental consideration in
its planning and activities. Therefore, the present study used food waste sample
collected from Tun Mustapha Residences, to consider environmental issues such as
waste production and odour problem from food waste. Tun Mustapha Residences
is one of the student residences in UMS with a high number of boarders with 1746
students (UMS Housing and Hospitality Section 2018). It is estimated about 10%
of students turned up for lunch which contributed to the production of 14 g food
waste every day by each student (14 g food waste/person/day). In order to secure the
source of P and instead of regarding the excess P in soils as a pollutant, it is more
beneficial to remove and recover them as a back up for phosphate rock which takes
millions of years to be formed. Thus, the aim of this study is to identify the physical
and chemical characteristics of kitchen food waste from Tun Mustapha Residences;
and also to determine waste reduction and the potential of phosphorus recovery in
the form of struvite through anaerobic digestion.
Anaerobic Digestion of Organic Waste in UMS Campus … 135
2.1 Sample Collection and Preparation
The sample used in this study was food waste collected from the café of Tun Mustapha
residence, UMS. The type of sample used was degradable food waste which was
collected after lunchtime when needed. The sample included vegetable and fruit
peels, chicken and fish bones, egg shells, onion and garlic skins, tea leaves and
coffee dregs, waste cooking oil, and leftover rice. The collected samples were cut
into small pieces and stored in a fridge at −20 °C to maintain the freshness. Primary
sludge (PS) was collected from a water treatment plant and used as inoculum to boost
up anaerobic digestion. The PS was stored in a polystyrene bottle and undergone
degasification in a water bath at 37 °C for 7 days. The water bath level was set to
be a little higher from the PS level in the bottle. Upon completing the degasification
process, the PS was then incubated in the water bath at the same temperature (as
degasification) for storage.
2.2 Determination of Food Waste Composition
The composition percentage (%) of each food waste type was determined using Eq. 1.
(F W, g)
Composition (%) = × 100% (1)
(F W t, g)
where,
FW = weight of food waste type (g)
FWt = total weight of food waste (g)
2.3 Preparation of Food Waste Raw Liquid (FWRL)
The sample was cut into smaller pieces, weighed and placed in a polystyrene bottle;
and mixed with distilled water at ratio 1:10 (sample, g to distilled water, mL) in
200 mL of working volume. The bottle was shaken in an orbital shaker for 24 h at
room temperature. The mixture was then filtered using vacuum filter, followed by
0.45 μm Whatman syringe filter. The filtered liquid was stored in a fridge prior to
use.
2.4 Preparation of Food Waste Digested Liquor (FWDL)

for Anaerobic Digestion
The FWDL was prepared by performing 15 days anaerobic digestion (AD) using
200 mL working volume as described by Owen et al. (1979), Hansen et al. (2003) and
Angelidaki et al. (2009). PS was added into the anaerobic reactor (250 mL Duran
bottle with stopcock) at ratio 1.5:1.0 (sample to inoculum). The percentage of total
solids (TS) and volatile solids (VS) were first obtained in order to determine the
amount of sample added into the reactor. The pH value of the mixture on Day 1 was
controlled to be in the range of 6.8–7.2 using 1.0 M hydrochloric acid (HCl) and
1.0 M sodium hydroxide (NaOH). The reactor was placed in a water bath for 15 days
at 37° and was manually shaken once per day. The biogas produced was released
daily to avoid reactor explosion and the pH value and temperature were monitored
every three days. On Day 15 (final day) about 5 mL of digested liquor was taken and
filtered for physicochemical analysis.
2.5 Physical Characterisation of Food Waste
The physical characterisation of the sample was performed based on the method
outlined by APHA (2005). The raw sample of food waste was used to determine the
physical characteristics. The studied parameters including pH, TS, and VS. The pH
was determined using a pH meter which calibrated using standard buffer solutions of
pH 4 and pH 7. The TS and VS were determined by weighing out an empty crucible,
g (A), followed by the loading of wet sample into the crucible. The crucible with
a wet sample, g (B), was placed in an oven for 24 h at 105 °C. A further step was
transferring into desiccator to cool down. The crucible with dried sample, g (C), was
weighed and then placed into a furnace for 4 h at 550 °C. Upon complete, it was
again transferred into the desiccator for the same purpose and the crucible with ash
sample, g (D), was then weighed. The percentage of TS and VS were calculated by
using Eqs. 2 and 3, respectively (APHA 2005).
(C − A)
T S (%) = × 100% (2)
(B − A)
(C − D)
V S (%) = × 100% (3)
(C − A)
2.6 Chemical Characterisation of Food Waste
The chemical characteristics were determined in terms of the concentrations of mag-

nesium (Mg2+ ), ammonium (NH4 + ) and phosphate (PO4 3− ) ions. The concentration
of Mg2+ was obtained using Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AAS), at 285.2 nm

of wavelength (λ). Five (5) standard solutions with different concentrations (0.5,
1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 ppm) were prepared from 1000 ppm of Mg standard solution
and used to generate a calibration curve. The concentration of NH4 + was determined
using Kjeldahl method (Buchi), where the concentration of PO4 3− was determined
using UV-Vis Spectrophotometer (Cary 60), λ = 800 nm, using five (5) standard
solutions with different concentrations (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 ppm) which were prepared
from 100 ppm of PO4 3− stock solution. The chemical characteristics were carried
out using FWRL and FWDL according to the method described by APHA (2005).
3 Results and Discussion
3.1 Composition of Food Waste Samples
Figure 1 shows the percentage (%) of different components of food waste used in this
study, where vegetables and fruit peels comprised the highest percentage (45.73%)
followed by chicken and fish bones (19.68%), while unused part of meats contributes
the lowest percentage (0.62%). Other components were between 3.28 and 12.59%.
The sampling points and sampling period are the important factors, which may affect
the percentages. The unused vegetable parts such as stem and spoiled leaves that are
produced during food preparation stage may be the reason for its highest percentage.
In addition, the café may also produce a huge amount of vegetable leftovers as most
students refused to eat vegetables (Griffin et al. 2009). The unused part of meats such
as chicken skins and fats has contributed the lowest percentage because most people
consumed those parts of meat (Y-Sing 2007).
3.2 Physical Characterisation of Food Waste
The pH values of FWRL and FWDL fell in the range of 6.30–7.10, contrary to the
previous study done by Griffin et al. (2009) which between pH 3.0–4.0. The sample
in this study has undergone neutralisation due to the presence of calcium carbonate,
CaCO3 , contributed by eggshell. CaCO3 is an alkali, which when reacting with acidic
medium (food waste) will change properties to neutral (Hamer 2003). The TS and
VS of FWRL and FWDL were 42.9% and 94.29%, respectively, indicate that the
food waste was very high in organic content. These high values also suggest that
food waste is not suitable to be disposed on landfill, due to the high potential of
greenhouse gases (GHGs) release and odour problem.
The determination of TS and VS was done in order to determine the organic
loading rate of the substrate to be used in the AD process. According to Zhang et al.
(2005), AD process can be proceeded if the TS and VS values were approximately
3.28 0.62
3.96
6.18 Vegetable & fruit peels
Chicken & fish bones
7.96
45.73 Others
Egg shells
Onion & garlic skins
12.59
Waste cooking oil
Tea leaves & coffee dregs
Unused part of meats
19.68
Fig. 1 Composition percentage of food waste samples
Table 1 Concentration of Nutrient FWRL FWDL

Mg2+ , NH4 + and PO4 3− in
FWRL and FWDL Mg2+ (mg/L) 45.73 114.00
+
NH4 (mg/L) 192.06 73.87
PO4 3− (mg/L) 509.18 554.04
20% and 90%, respectively. Hence, based on the results obtained, the TS and VS
values were found to be in the suitable ranges, albeit rather high for TS due to high
solid component was found in the food waste, such as chicken and fish bones.
3.3 Chemical Characterisation of Food Waste
Table 1 shows the average concentration of Mg2+ , NH4 + and PO4 3− in FWRL and
FWDL samples obtained by AAS, Kjedahl and UV-vis spectrometer, respectively.
It was found that the concentration of Mg2+ increased from 45.73 mg/L in FWRL
to 114.00 mg/L in FWDL. Both samples contained dissolved solids (inorganic) and
suspended solids (organic) which made up the total solids in the sample. During the
AD, as the organic solid degraded, the inorganic solids solubilised. Thus, an inorganic
nutrient such as Mg2+ will be increased due to the solubilisation (Telliard 2001;
Othman et al. 2010). While the concentration of NH4 + decreased from 192.06 mg/L
in FWRL to 73.87 mg/L in FWDL. This contradicts to the previous study by Tyagi and
Lo (2013) where the NH4 + concentration increased after undergone AD. Nitrogen
entered the AD reactor in organic form which was easily converted to NH4 + during the
AD via nitrogen mineralisation. However, due to incomplete mineralisation which
occurred when mildly acidic NH4 + ions react with Brønsted bases; some of the
organic nitrogen may be converted to ammonia, NH3 gas as shown in Eqs. 4 and 5
(Metcalf and Eddy 1991).
H + + N H3 → N H4+ (4)
N H4+ + B − → H B + N H3 (5)
Thus, it can be assumed that a certain amount of NH3 gas was released as biogas
during the degasification of 15 days AD period. This occurrence also explained the
unpleasant odour released from the reactor during the degasification.
The concentration of PO4 3− slightly increased from 509.18 mg/L in FWRL to
554.04 mg/L in FWDL. According to the past research by Frear and Dvorak (2011),
the amount of PO4 3− should increase ~60% after the AD. Instead, in this study, it
only occurs at ~8.8%. As mentioned earlier, when nutrients such as Mg2+ , NH4 +
and PO4 3− exist in equimolar ratio, they can form a directly used fertiliser called
struvite. During the 15 days period of the AD, all those ions may already present in
an equimolar ratio in the reactor which subsequently leads to struvite precipitation.
This is possible because the controlled conditions of the AD (37 °C and pH 6.8–7.2)
is the optimum condition for struvite formation. Hence, it can be assumed that some
of the PO4 3− were precipitated as struvite in the digested liquor. This explained the
cloudy solutions and the brownish-white precipitate that appeared and settled at the
bottom of the glass bottle during sample storage after filtration.
3.4 Potential of Phosphorus (P) Recovery from Anaerobic

Digestion of Food Waste
In this study, P recovery is represented by the concentration of soluble phosphate,

PO4 3− in the digested liquor. The percentage of P recovery was low (~8.8%), which
was calculated based on the initial PO4 3− concentration before AD. Even though
the percentage of recovery was low, the concentrations of PO4 3− in food waste,
both before and after AD, were significantly high. This indicates that food waste
is a naturally nutrient-rich waste and an excellent source of phosphorus. Table 2
compares P concentrations with previous studies which revealed the current study
has the highest P concentration.
One of a way to recover P from the digested liquor is through precipitation to
form struvite (magnesium ammonium phosphate, MgNH4 PO4 .6H2 O.6H2 O). Table 3
shows the potential of P recovery in a form of struvite which was calculated using
a molar ratio of Mg2+ , NH4 + and PO4 3− in the digested liquor. This suggests that
1 g of struvite can be precipitated from 1 L of digested liquor. The recovery can also
be expressed based on the weight of food waste added in the anaerobic digester. In
this case, 136 mg of struvite can be recovered from every 1 g of food waste used
for anaerobic digestion. If we consider the amount of food waste produced by the
Table 2 Comparison of P Type of substrate P recovery (mg/L) References

recovery with previous
studies POME 139 Wid et al. (2017)
POME 180 Madaki and Seng
(2013)
Sewage sludge 400 Murto et al. (2004)
Food waste 483 El-Mashad and
Zhang (2010)
Food waste 355 Kubaska et al.
(2010)
Food waste (fiber) 147 Selaman and
Wid (2016)
Food waste 520 Shin et al. (2004)
Food waste 554 This study
Table 3 Potential of P Recovery (unit) Value

recovery in a form of struvite
Struvite recovery (g/L) 1.00
Struvite recovery from the wet weight of food 136
waste (mg struvite/g food waste)
Struvite recovery from food waste in UMS (Tun 340,816
Mustapha Residences) (mg struvite/g food waste)
students each day, which was 2,506 g food waste (contributed by the 10% students
turned up for lunch), about 340,816 mg struvite can be potentially recovered daily.
3.5 Total Solids and Volatile Solids Destruction
The destruction of TS and VS occurs as the organic substances in food waste were
degraded by microorganisms and turned to digested liquor and biogas. The digested
liquor is rich in nutrients by which when exists in equimolar ratio of Mg2+ , NH4 +
and PO4 3− can form struvite, a substance that can be used as direct slow-release
fertiliser. The destruction of TS and VS were very high with 40.11% and 76.51%,
respectively, compared to the previous study only 17.81% and 41.34%, respectively
(Deressa et al. 2015). High destruction indicates that the type of food waste used
in this study was highly degradable due to high in organic content, thus suitable for
AD. There are possibilities that may cause the difference in TS and VS destruction
with the previous study, which is the type of food waste and inoculum used for AD.
The previous study used rice, fruits and meat leftovers only, while this study used
a mixture of all composition of food waste as shown in Fig. 1. This suggests using
multiple types of food waste may enhance the solids and volatile solids destruction
during AD. Type of inoculum used as the source of bacteria during AD also affects
degradation. In this study, sewage sludge was used as inoculum, while Deressa et al.
(2015) used cow manure. Cow manure contains high lignocellulosic which is due
to the food consumed by the cow. Since cow is fed with grass, part of the grass that
indigestible will be excreted out in their manure. The presence of lignocellulosic
in manure inhibits the completion process of AD (Nielsen and Angelidaki 2008)
making the process in the non-optimal state. Hence, this might cause the low TS and
VS destruction in the previous study. Iacovidou et al. (2012) reported that digestion
of food waste with sewage sludge as inoculum causes high reduction of organic
content in food waste. Therefore, the type of inoculum used in AD is very important
in order to have a high degradation of solid wastes (Forster-Carneiro et al. 2008).
4 Conclusions
In this study, the physical and chemical characteristics of kitchen food wastes samples
were determined using FWRL (raw sample liquid) and FWDL (digested sample
liquor). Anaerobic digestion was chosen as a method of study as it can release
a significant amount of nutrients due to the breakdown of organic substances by
anaerobic bacteria. Determination of physical characteristics including pH, TS and
VS are very important as they affect greatly on the digestion performance and to
design the experimental work of anaerobic digestion. In this study the pH of the
food waste ranged between pH 6.30 and 7.10, suggests anaerobic digestion of food
waste does not highly dependent on chemical addition to control the pH, because
the optimum pH for anaerobic digestion was reported to be between pH 6.8and 7.2.
The presence of CaCO3 , represented by eggshell may contribute to the pH values.
Chemical characteristics such as the concentration of Mg2+ , NH4 + and PO4 3− , on
the other hand, show that kitchen food waste contains high nutrients. Mg2+ and
PO4 3− increased after digestion, but not for NH4 + . At least there are two possibilities
which may cause the decreased in NH4 + and low PO4 3− increased in FWDL, i.e.,
NH4 + may be converted to ammonia (NH3 ) or struvite may be formed during the
AD process, when the molar ratio present in equimolar. Nevertheless, the P content
was very high both in FWRL and FWDL and if precipitated, 136 g struvite can be
formed from 1 g of food waste. This suggests that food waste is naturally high in
nutrient content. If we consider the amount of food waste generated in Tun Mustapha
Residences each day, about 0.34 kg struvite (340,816 mg struvite/g food waste) can
be potentially recovered. In this study, P recovery was also addressed as struvite
recovery because phosphate can be precipitated as struvite with the presence of
magnesium and ammonium ions. Anaerobic digestion was not only to stabilised
sludge and recover resources, but also to reduce waste volume. In this study the
total solids and volatile solids were successfully reduced with a high percentage of
40.11% and 76.51%, respectively, indicates that the type of food waste used in this
study was highly degradable and high in organic content. This destruction can help
in diverting waste from landfill and saving space, reduce unpleasant odour as well
as greenhouse gases release. This study is important as this is the first study was
conducted to investigate the potential of phosphorus recovery from food waste that
generated in the student residences in UMS which should be continued. By turning
food waste into struvite, it can be an alternative to the existing fertiliser in the market
as it is reportedly an effective slow-release fertiliser or soil conditioner, at the same
time reduce waste generation in the UMS campus.
Acknowledgements The authors would like to acknowledge the Ministry of Higher Education
(FRG0368-SG-1/2014) and Universiti Malaysia Sabah (GUG0119-1/2017) for the financial support.
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Green Engineering for Waste
Management System
in University—A Case Study
of Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia
Arif Kusumawanto and Mega Setyowati
Abstract Green engineering and green architecture are one of the concepts of sus-
tainability by considering the economic feasibility and human well-being, and keep-
ing in mind the risk factors to keep them to a minimum. The concept can be used as
a basis for making policies or regulations for the sustainability of a green campus.
Assessment and ranking of the sustainability of the green campus can use the UI
GreenMetric research method and has 6 criteria. Waste management is one of the
criteria that must be met to achieve sustainability of the green campus program and
has a weight of 18% of the total assessment. Green engineering has 12 principles that
can be used as a basis for the realization of green campus sustainability, especially
in the waste management system. Universitas Gadjah Mada has implemented the 12
principles of green engineering ranging from the preparation of the Standard Opera-
tional Procedure system for campus waste management to the selection of renewable
waste processing technology in accordance with the type of campus waste genera-
tion. Based on the GreenMetric valuation method regarding the waste management
system, Universitas Gadjah Mada has a weight value of 10.50% of the total 18%.
Keywords Green engineering · Sustainability · Waste management system ·

GreenMetric
1 Introduction
Green engineering is the design, commercialization, and use of processes and prod-
ucts that apply feasible technology, consider economic viability and efficiency, mini-
mize pollution, avoid human health and environment damages, promote sustainability
(Sadiku et al. 2018). In addition, green engineering also focuses on how sustainability
A. Kusumawanto · M. Setyowati (B)

Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
e-mail: mega.setyowati@mail.ugm.ac.id
A. Kusumawanto
e-mail: arifk@ugm.ac.id

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7260-5_11
146 A. Kusumawanto and M. Setyowati
can be achieved both in terms of science and technology (Anastas and Zimmerman
2007).
A green engineer is required to apply a feasible strategy or technology that mini-
mize all risk factors or potential hazards in order to achieve sustainable development
without sacrificing economic viability and efficiency. Pollution, human health, the
threat of environmental damages, and the use of material and energy are urgent fac-
tors that should be analyzed and calculated in the beginning to the end of cycles of
product or processes.
Global warming is one example of the potential danger of environmental damage.
One of the factors causing global warming also comes from buildings. Buildings and
cities have contributed to greenhouse gases and global warming issue through some
human activities inside the building and in the city, e.g., the use of not eco-friendly
air-conditioning room, and mining and burning fossil-fuel activities to run the car
and other devices. We all realize that the energy reserves are limited and will run
out. Efforts that can be made to reduce global warming can be achieved by applying
a green movement.
The green movement arises as a result in awareness of the fact that our earth is
getting warmer due to various processes of human life, especially in burning fossil
fuels to produce carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas effect or well known as GHG.
Since architecture, building, and city are contributors in global warming, so both
architect and city planner play an important role to deal with this issue through their
product in building-design and city-planning. The Green Architecture Movement is
no longer a motto or wishful thinking on the cloud, but it is a joint obligation to be
realized and strived together.
The green architecture contains two focus of attention. The two focuses are cre-
ating beauty and welfare through the architectural work, while focusing on how to
minimize environmental damage. The greener architecture means the greater the
welfare produced and the smaller the environmental damage that occurs.
A building can’t be categorized as part of green architecture if the building has
considerable damage factors, even though the building has minimized energy use and
reduced environmental damage in operational activities. Damage that might occur
in a building for example; buildings are not beautiful, less prosperous residents, do
not function properly. This condition is based on the theory of sustainability habitat
system, where sustainability will decrease if the damage factor is greater or more
diverse when compared to the welfare obtained. Take the extreme example of a small
house inhabited by many people. Although using very little electricity, and small
land, it becomes very humid and hot, not comfortable because the ventilation is not
enough to supply air, and it causes unproductive activities inside the house and more
dispute among the residents. And vice versa, the very artistic and beautiful building
and liked by many people, but taking very large environmental damage due to the
erection of the building, many tree logging, taking a large ground surface, blocking
the absorption of rainwater and consuming very large energy, can’t be called as green
architecture, because the value of the Throughput (T) is very low.
What is green architecture? Going back to the rock era to live in caves, without
vehicles and computers, gadgets and all the comforts we have enjoyed at the previous
Green Engineering for Waste Management System … 147
time is not the answer or solution. Architecture still has to function well, sturdy, and
beautiful and support the current lifestyle and keep being eco-friendly. All in all,
green architecture should be able to achieve maximum welfare, minimal damage to
the environment. The greater the welfare created and at the same time the smaller
the environmental damage occurs, the greener the architecture becomes.
To optimize the prosperity through architectural works, there is a theory of Archi-
tecture of Habitat System for Sustainable Development that can be referred to. This
theory was developed by a Kyushu University research team in Japan in 2007 and
this theory is about the sustainability of this natural habitat system. In this theory,
welfare is explained as all factors impacting safety, relief, health, comfort, and sense.
Through comprehensive research, for 5 years Kyushu University has formulated
a mathematical formula, which is easily understood by everyone with different mul-
tidisciplinary science and background, namely T = W − D (Matsufuji 2004). Based
on the mathematical formula, it can be explained that “T” stands for Throughput,
“W” stands for Welfare and “D” is (environmental) Damage. The higher the value
of Throughput (T), the more sustainable the architecture will be. The resulting wel-
fare is carried out as much as possible and damage that is caused by environmental
damage is minimized.
In the description of the theory, welfare created by an architectural work can be
identified in 4 + 1 factors. The 4 + 1 factors are the form of safety, happiness, health,
comfort, and the plus one factor is sense, taste, or awareness. These four factors are
achieved by an efficiency strategy along with 1 factor “taste” so the five factors are
achieved by a sufficient strategy (Matsufuji 2004).
How should the green architecture be designed to be more efficient in terms of
building safety and more sufficient in terms of this sense of security? To be able to
answer this, we could take an example in designing a building for the earthquake risk.
After the earthquake in 2006 in Yogyakarta, the architect will design buildings and
structure responding efficiently to the building standard for earthquake area. How
to meet the minimum standards without too excessive effort and material causing
waste and ineffective strategy is the main consideration to make a decision in design.
When creating a building, there are standards and requirements that have been set in
an area. However, if the construction of a building exceeds the existing requirements
and is too strong, then the building can be said to be inefficient and waste building
materials and other resources to over-create the building. A sense of security for
residents and building users must be sufficiently created, such as information about
mitigation system in the building during the earthquake time, by installing evacuation
signs, designing safe gathering places to facilitate rescue activities, and so on.
Moreover, the other three important factors are happiness or feeling of pleasure,
health, and comfort. The approaches of the three important factors are responding to
the efficient principles and creating these feelings adequately.
Now, we can understand that maximizing prosperity in the context of green archi-
tecture is through an effective strategy and sufficient security for all users and resi-
dents of the designed building or area, not from strengthening or adding excessively.
In order to achieve sustainable development and to maximize benefits, we must be
able to minimize environmental damages.
Green engineering and green architecture have the same goal of minimizing envi-
ronmental impacts as well as human health in order to achieve sustainable develop-
ment. Sustainable development is “Development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”
(Sonnemann and Margni 2015). Green engineering and green architecture have the
same goal of minimizing environmental impacts as well as human health in order
to achieve sustainable development. Sustainable development is “Development that
meets the needs of the future without compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their own needs”.
2 Methods
2.1 The Principle of Green Engineering
The green campus is part of green engineering and the 12 principles in green engi-
neering can be applied to support sustainability. The sustainability assessment of
campus can utilize the UI GreenMetric World University Rankings. In GreenMetric,
there are six categories, namely Structuring and Infrastructure, Energy and Climate
Change, Waste, Water, Transportation, Education, and Research.
Waste management is one of the categories and indicators that must be met by
the university so that the sustainability of the green campus can be assessed. The
university activities and the environment in a tropical climate have made a different
type of waste. The green landscapes on a whole year in tropical climates tend to
produce more waste from the garden and leaves, so composting the waste can be a
strategic approach to deal with this climate to give more benefit to environment and
human. In addition, lifestyle plays important role in the waste management system.
The plastic usage in lives of current people has become uncontrollable and created a
waste dump in ocean and land and pollution in the air. Plastic waste is still the most
challenging problem for the environment.
The university can take important action to design a waste management system
regarding the conditions of the university and the climate where the university is
located. Every university has a different type of garbage, even though located in
the same city and climate. Campus with an open design with no fence and any
boundary will have a more diverse type of garbage compared to a campus with a
closed design. This is possible because the campus with an open design can be a
mediator of household waste disposal in the surrounding community.
The way to deal with the waste in the university area depends on the policies made
by each university. Mostly the strategy was taken by many universities still dispose
of the waste in the closed landfills or burn the waste dump. The more universities take
action in waste management, the fewer the landfills bear the amount of the dump.
Green engineering has 12 principles. The 12 principles are inherent rather than cir-
cumstantial; prevention instead of treatment; design for separation; maximize mass,
energy, space, and time; output-pulled versus input-pushed; conserve complexity;

meet need, minimize excess; minimize material diversity; integrate local material
and energy; design for commercial “afterlife”; and renewable rather than deleting
(Anastas and Zimmerman 2007).
Those 12 principles of green engineering can be implemented in the university
area to support and optimize the sustainability of green campus programs.
The population and human necessities have increased over time. And it produced
more waste. Both residential and university areas, which have intense activities also
produce a lot of waste on a daily basis. Without a good waste management strategy, it
will result in a waste dump and problems at the residential or university area itself or
at the final waste disposal. This is certainly not in accordance with the principles of
green engineering. Regarding the 12 principles of green engineering, the university
should have a strategy in waste management to realize the sustainability of green
campus and to minimize the risk factors or potential hazards posed by waste.
The 12 principles of green engineering can be applied in the university area as
a basis or reference to minimize waste generation and support the sustainability of
green campus programs.
1. Inherent rather than circumstantial
The university (stakeholders) can act as a waste management system designer by
issuing SOPs or Regulations that deal with the problem of waste from source to
processing products. Before designing, the university must first study what inputs
to output are involved during the process. The main and supporting material for the
waste treatment process must be ensured that it does not endanger human health and
the environment. The energy needed and produced during the process must also be
free from potential hazards.
2. Prevention instead of treatment
During the waste management process, the potential for the formation of waste
can still occur. In the campus waste management system, the university can design
regulations regarding limiting the amount of waste generation from the source. For
example, the academic community as a source of waste is encouraged to reduce the
use of paper in academic activities, not to use too much plastic in the canteen area,
always to consume the food that has been ordered, etc. If the effort to reduce waste
has started from the waste source, it is expected that the potential for waste that is
formed during the waste management process can be minimized.
3. Design for separation
Garbage comes from human or natural waste and has different types or properties
of different materials. In the waste management system, the type and nature of the
waste must be known to facilitate the production process, streamline costs during the
process, and can minimize the amount of energy and supporting materials needed.
Waste sorting must be done from the source to facilitate the process and selection
of the technology used. University stakeholders who act as green engineers can set
regulations regarding the standardization of sorting waste types. Sorting types of
waste can be divided according to the type of waste produced at each university.
Simply put, this type of waste can be divided into organic waste and inorganic waste.
4. Maximize mass, energy, space, and time efficiency
The waste management system must be designed to maximize material use, energy,
equipment, and time efficiency. The amount of waste generation must also be known
for the sustainability of the production process. The amount of waste generation based
on its type can be the basis for maximizing the type of technology and production
capacity. Sorting waste types from the source will make it easier to choose the type
of technology used and save processing time. Energy efficiency during the process
can also be maximized with the selection of appropriate technology.
5. Output-pulled versus input-pushed
In waste management, system inputs will have an influence on the sustainability
of the system or process, so that the type and nature must be considered properly.
Stakeholders as green engineers need to consider the quality and quantity of material
and energy involved during the process. In addition to material/raw material inputs,
the number of resources involved during the process must also be minimized so
that operational costs are low. The number of operators can be minimized by being
supported by waste processing technology that is suitable for campus conditions. The
campus area which has a large amount of vegetation will be more effective when
processing organic waste produced, into products that are useful for plants such as
compost.
6. Conserve complexity
In designing a system in waste management, all aspects from the input to the output
of the complexity of the production process should be considered. The raw material
in waste management system needs to be explored and identified further whether the
material is more suitable to reduce, recycle, reuse, reprocessing, or more efficient to
dispose of directly by considering environmental factors and economic feasibility.
The material with a high complexity component needs considering and calculat-
ing the time, cost, and process before taking the recycle process. The high complexity
components of material need more time in the recycling process because the con-
stituent components must go through several difficult treatments. Considering eco-
nomic feasibility, the recycle process with high complexity components has a low
level of feasibility regarding the objectives of green engineering. Reuse is a strategic
solution for material with high complexity components, and recycle is more suitable
for material with low complexity components.
7. Durability rather than immobility
The selected technology in waste management system must be durable following at
least the expected time and flexible through time and technological development. The
technology used in a process must reach the specified time and avoid the risk of harm
to the environment. The effective and efficient technology with regular maintenance
and repair is more likely to occur compared to long-lasting technology.
8. Meet the need, minimize excess

On the one hand, a waste management system or process must be designed and
adjusted to the magnitude of the needs and on the other hand, the system and process
should take into account the factors impacting the input to output. Excessive design
in a waste management system or production process will result in high costs in
capital and operational costs. The high cost of both costs leads to a lack of economic
feasibility in the waste management system or production process. And the high-
cost result in excessive design should be avoided in accordance with the objectives
of green engineering. In addition to minimizing costs and waste during the process,
the green engineer must design specifically and pay attention to the selected system
or process to remain in line with the users’ demand and final targets.
9. Minimize material diversity
The diversity of the material components used in the waste management system or
production process give a significant impact on the waste management system and
treatment. Components or materials used in inputs must be as low as possible in
diversity. The more diverse components in a system or process will ask the more
treatment. The diversity of components will allow more material to be wasted than
further processed. Components with low diversity in the material will be easier to be
processed by reusing or recycled into new products..
10. Integrate local material and energy flow
The design of a waste management system or production process in green engi-
neering tries to integrate available local material with the amount of energy needed.
Integration between material and energy in the production system or process can be
carried out starting from input to output, as well as other factors, such as support and
transport facilities to the area. The availability and integration of local raw material
and energy on the site could give benefit to the system or process.
11. Design for commercial “Afterlife”
Considering the use value at the end of material and involved components is also
a strategy in the waste management system. Components involved in the system
or production process must be considered whether it can be reused or recycled to
maintain its value and usefulness. Components with high commercial value or easily
reused will reduce waste and maintain environmental health and have economic
viability.
12. Renewables rather than depleting
The renewable material and energy are better than depleted material and energy.
System design or production process must pay attention to the nature of the raw
material. The renewable raw material and energy are less damaging to the environ-
ment. In addition, waste processing technology must be renewable to overcome the
increasing quantity or even the quality of waste disposed of in line with human needs.
2.2 Waste Management as an Approach in Green

Engineering
Waste management in the university has different characteristics from waste man-
agement in city level and general. This is due to campus activities, which are uniquely
compared to other areas in the city. Garbage generation generated by the campus with
open areas has different types of waste when compared to campuses with closed cam-
pus areas. Garbage generation in the open campus area has more complex types of
waste and the type of waste is almost the same as the type of urban waste. This condi-
tion occurs because people around the campus area can easily dispose of household
waste at certain points within the campus area. In the Green Architecture study,
waste management is a principle in Zero Waste concept and activity, in creating a
sustainable area.
Designing, analyzing, and evaluating a process or a region, a green engineer must
be able to minimize the risk factors, potential hazards, direct, and indirect impact
on human health and the environment that might occur. All the efforts to mitigate
all the risk factors and potential hazards must be holistic, starting from the input
information, data, and source to the final output of a planning process or design.
Waste is unwanted and unusable materials as a result of human activity or activities
in the region. Trough period of time and the growth of population and human needs,
it can be accumulated creating a mound of unusable material and generate potential
hazards for human health and environment. Waste can be minimized and reduced by
a certain approach, effort, and strategy. In accordance with the basic principles of
green engineering.
Waste as an issue is not only found in the residential area but also in university areas
although the type of waste produced in both residential and university areas is slightly
different. Mostly the waste management in university area still uses conventional
methods, in the sense that the generated waste generation will usually be collected
at the garbage collection points and then will be transported by the garbage truck to
be disposed of in the Final Waste Disposal Site. The transport of waste to the final
disposal site will only solve the problem of solid waste generation in an area but will
cause problems for the environment of the landfill.
Mostly waste management in university still applies conventional methods in
which all the wastes will be collected and transferred to the nearest waste collecting
points and then will be transported by scavenger truck to be disposed of in the
final waste disposal site or final landfill. Transporting waste to the final disposal site
will only solve the problem in the university area, but will cause problems for the
environment of the landfill.
The lack of capability to manage, recycle, and reuse the dump of waste has caused
environmental problems. Moreover, it is often reported that plastic waste fills the
oceans and kill many animals who eat it. In consequence, waste management as one
of many approaches in green engineering can contribute to minimizing the impact
of environmental damage that can affect human health. Waste management is better
started from waste sources to shorten the process. By providing sorted garbage bins,
sorting the type of waste, separating between organic waste and inorganic waste, and
improving waste sorting behavior can be the earliest step in waste management and
speed up the process. Sorted garbage bins labeled according to their types such as
organic waste, plastic waste, paper waste, and other waste should be placed at several
points in university.
2.3 Assessment of the Sustainability of the Waste

Management System to Realize a Green Campus
The green campus program has six assessment categories. The six assessment cate-
gories are Structuring and Infrastructure; Energy and Climate Change; Waste; Water;
Transportation; along Education and Research (Sari 2018). The implementation of
green engineering principles in the university area, especially in the category of
campus waste management will be explained in this chapter.
As a green engineer, studies and assessments of in the university area and the
process must be carried out thoroughly to determine the value of sustainability.
Moreover, based on the study and assessment of the region and process, it can be
seen what factors still have risks or potential hazards both for human health and the
surrounding environment.
Green Engineering Spatial Assessment, especially in the university area, can use
the assessment methods issued by the University of Indonesia. In 2010, the University
of Indonesia has developed the university ranking system and has tried to find out
about the sustainability in University area known as the “UI GreenMetric World
University Rankings”. Continuous programs and policies in Green Campus around
the world can be identified based on online survey methods, where each university as a
participant will collect and send category data and predetermined ranking indicators.
There are 6 categories as the parameters for the realization of the sustainability
of the green campus, namely: Structuring and Infrastructure, Energy and Climate
Change, Waste, Water, Transportation, Education, and Research. The 6 categories in
the GreenMetric assessment have derived to 39 assessment indicators (Sari 2018).
The research method applied in the assessment “UI GreenMetric World University
Rankings” refers to the criteria weight in each category and indicator. Assessment
of each category and indicator has been formulated in numbers statistically. The
university which will take part in the “UI GreenMetric World University Rankings”
is asked to fill the form, collect files, or send the file via email. And The GreenMetric
in Campus Area will be determined based on the completeness of the documents in
the assessment of the six categories of questionnaires. The number or response in
each category and indicator will be valued and processed, then the gross value will
be multiplied by the weighted score that has been determined to get the final value
(Sari 2018).
Fig. 1 Waste management system in Universitas Gadjah Mada. Source Author’s research 2016
3.1 Case Study of Waste Management System in Universitas

Gadjah Mada
Universitas Gadjah Mada campus has declared a green campus since 1986, when
it was led by Prof. Koesnadi Hardja Soemantri as a rector of Universitas Gadjah
Mada. The waste management system at Universitas Gadjah Mada is an integrated
waste management system. Universitas Gadjah Mada’s waste management system
has a standard operational procedure (SOP) on handling waste generation from waste
sources to waste management and its use.
Garbage generation is separated by type. Universitas Gadjah Mada provides trash
bins in every building and has different labels and colors according to its type.
The type of garbage in Universitas Gadjah Mada is divided into organic waste,
inorganic waste (plastic and paper), and other waste. Garbage from each building is
then collected at a garbage collection point or called a garbage depot. The garbage that
has been collected in the garbage depot will be transported to a garbage processing
facility or integrated landfill every morning.
Universitas Gadjah Mada has a waste processing unit, especially organic waste,
which is mostly dominated by garden waste and a small portion of plastic waste.
Incurable waste generation will be disposed of in the Integrated Waste Disposal Site.
Landscaping waste is processed into compost which can be used as fertilizer for
plants or trees owned by Universitas Gadjah Mada (Fig. 1).
3.2 Implementing the 12 Principles of Green Engineering

in Universitas Gadjah Mada
The Universitas Gadjah Mada waste management system has applied the green engi-
neering principle to support sustainable development. The implementation of the 12
principles of green engineering is expected to reduce the impact of waste generation
on environmental damage and the potential danger to human health. The imple-
mentation of the green engineering principle must also consider financial factors or
economic feasibility from input to system output. The academic community also
has an important role in implementing and monitoring matters that affect the waste
management system. Table 1 shows the implementation of the green engineering
principles at Universitas Gadjah Mada.
3.3 Examples of Assessments GreenMetric
Universitas Gadjah Mada technically has not followed the GreenMetric UI rating
system, but based on the guideline of the Universitas Gadjah Mada assessment system
can find out the magnitude of the sustainability score of the green campus program
on existing conditions. UI GreenMetric has six parameters or categories to assess the
sustainability of the green campus program and one of them is the problem of garbage.
The waste parameter has six indicators consisting of a program or campus policy
regarding waste generation and recycling, processing of organic and inorganic waste,
handling of toxic waste, and liquid waste disposal. The indicator of campus waste
assessment has a total value of 18% of the total parameters (Sari 2018). Assessment
of waste management systems at Universitas Gadjah Mada can be seen in Table 2.
Based on the results of interviews and research, Universitas Gadjah Mada has
a total value/weight of 10.50% of a maximum weight of 18%. With this score, the
sustainability of the waste management system is considered quite good.
a. Recycling program for university waste
Universitas Gadjah Mada has a campus waste recycling program and can handle up
to 50% of the waste generated in the campus area. In supporting the campus waste
recycling program, in 2014 Universitas Gadjah Mada has a Standard Operational
Procedure for handling waste from the depot to the place of processing and final
waste disposal. The waste that is recycled by Universitas Gadjah Mada is organic
waste which mostly comes from leaf waste. The collected leaf waste is then processed
at the House of Recycling Innovation, Universitas Gadjah Mada’s Agro Technology
Innovation Center (PIAT) into organic fertilizer through the composting method. In
addition to leaf waste, PIAT also has plastic waste processing technology, especially
those derived from used plastic bottles in the form of pyrolysis. Pyrolysis results in
the form of fuel can be used as additional energy or energy to run incinerators.
Table 1 Implementation of the green engineering principles at Universitas Gadjah Mada
156
No. Green engineering principles Implementation

1 Inherent rather than circumstantial Universitas Gadjah Mada has compiled a Waste Management Standard
Operating Procedure in 2014. Waste collected in the waste depot is
organic, plastic, paper, and other waste that is harmless or toxic. While
hazardous waste is collected at special depots for further processing by
third parties
2 Prevention instead of treatment Universitas Gadjah Mada has compiled a program to reduce waste
generation from its source. Lecturers and employees are encouraged to
use electronic correspondence programs, while student assignments can
be sent via email
3 Design for separation Garbage at Universitas Gadjah Mada is generally divided into 4 types,
namely organic waste, plastic waste, paper waste, and other waste. Waste
segregation is intended to facilitate the processing process so that the
waste produced is more useful and does not cause negative impacts on
the environment
4 Maximize mass, energy, space, and time efficiency Organic waste is a type of waste with the largest volume compared to
other types of waste so that composting technology is the right
technology with consideration of the availability of raw materials
throughout the year, the energy required is not too large, Universitas
Gadjah Mada has sufficient land during the process that can streamline
processing time
5 Output-pulled versus input-pushed Leaf waste produced at Universitas Gadjah Mada is processed into
compost. The composting process does not require a lot of human
resources because this process has a long processing time between 15
and 60 days. If the composting process is not in progress, the waste
processing employees can process other types of waste such as plastic
into fuel
(continued)
A. Kusumawanto and M. Setyowati
Table 1 (continued)
6 Conserve complexity Before determining waste processing technology, Universitas Gadjah
Mada has conducted a survey on the type of waste generated every day.
The type of waste that is processed is organic waste and some plastic
waste especially used mineral water bottles because both types of waste
have a low complexity of material properties. Garbage that has high
material complexity will be disposed of in landfills for time efficiency
7 Durability rather than immortality Waste processing technology must have an age target that lasts relatively
long and is not risky for the environment. Composting technology has a
long age target because it can be done simply and has no equipment with
high complexity
8 Meet the need, minimize excess Composting technology is considered more effective when compared to
other technologies in terms of handling organic waste. This has a reason
that the area of Universitas Gadjah Mada has many vegetation plants or
trees so that compost is needed
Green Engineering for Waste Management System …
9 Minimize material diversity The composting process is a process that does not require too much
additional material. In addition to organic waste, the material used is only
activator and water as supporting material for the fermentation process
10 Integrate local material and energy flows Leaf waste is a local material used during the process. Availability of
locally available raw materials that will easily save energy and employee
time during the composting process
(continued)
157
Table 1 (continued)
158

11 Design for commercial “afterlife” Waste generation at Universitas Gadjah Mada which still has selling
value and is not processed is not disposed of directly to the final landfill.
The waste will be recycled into other products to maintain its value and
usefulness. The House of Recycling Innovation (RINDU) teaches
visitors to make crafts from garbage
Waste generated at Gadjah Mada University cannot all be processed. The
accumulation of organic waste produced in the area of Gadjah Mada
University is not all processed, only leaf waste through the composting
process. The compost produced is then used for fertilizer crops owned by
Gadjah Mada University. The generation of inorganic waste, only plastic
waste in the form of bottles of used mineral water is processed by the
pyrolysis method. The result of pyrolysis is in the form of fuel oil which
can be used as an incinerator fuel
12 Renewable rather than depleting Composting technology initially only uses a composter tub, but along
with raw material quantity and product demand, renewable composting
technologies such as windrow composter and rotary composter are
needed
A. Kusumawanto and M. Setyowati
Table 2 GreenMetric scoring in solid waste management at UGM

No. Criteria and indicators Score green metric UGM points
Waste (WS)
Recycling program for university waste
WS1 Not applicable 0
Partial (1%–25% of waste) 0.25 × 300
Partial (>25%–50% of waste) 0.50 × 300 150
Partial (>50%–75% of waste) 0.75 × 300
Extensive (>75% waste free) 1.00 × 300
Program to reduce the use of paper and plastic on campus
WS2 Not applicable 0
1 Program 0.25 × 300
2 Programs 0.50 × 300 150
3 Programs 0.75 × 300
More than 3 programs 1.00 × 300
Organic waste treatment
WS3 Open dumping 0
Partial (1%–25% treated) 0.25 × 300
Partial (>25%–50% treated) 0.50 × 300
Partial (>50%–75% treated) 0.75 × 300
Extensive (>75% treated and recycled) 1.00 × 300 300
Inorganic waste treatment
WS4 Burned in open area 0
Partial (>25%–50% treated) 0.50 × 300 150
Partial (>50%–75% treated) 0.75 × 300
Extensive (>75% treated and recycled) 1.00 × 300
Toxic waste treatment
WS5 Not managed 0
Partial (>25%–50% treated) 0.50 × 300
Partial (>50%–75% treated) 0.75 × 300 225
Extensive (>75% treated and recycled) 1.00 × 300
Sewerage disposal
WS6 Untreated into waterways 0
Treated conventionally 0.25 × 300 75
Treated technically 0.50 × 300
Treatment for down cycling 0.75 × 300
Treatment for upcycling 1.00 × 300
Weight 1800 1050
b. Program to reduce the use of paper and plastic on campus

In order to support the paper waste reduction program on campus, Universitas Gad-
jah Mada has implemented a correspondence program, especially for lecturers and
employees and calls for the use of two-sided paper. In addition, students can collect
coursework or final assignments via e-mail to reduce the amount of paper usage on
campus.
c. Organic waste treatment
The percentage of the amount of organic waste produced at Universitas Gadjah
Mada is 41.53–79.03% (Setyowati et al. 2018). Based on the 2016 waste survey
report issued by the Directorate of Assets of Gadjah Mada University, the average
generation of waste generated is 2595.8 kg/day (Aset 2016). The waste is then taken
to “RINDU” to be processed into fertilizer with composting technology. Composting
technology owned is Indore heap, which has a 60 day processing time and windrow
composter which has a 45 day processing time (Setyowati et al. 2018). In addition,
there is a rotary composter that has a processing time of up to 15 days shorter than
the 2 composting technologies that have been running. With the three technologies
owned, RINDU as UGM’s waste management manager can process waste more than
75% of the total waste generation.
d. Inorganic waste treatment
Inorganic waste produced by Universitas Gadjah Mada is divided into three
types, namely plastic waste 0.88–18%, paper waste 1.96–25.10%, and other waste
4.01–37.27% (Setyowati et al. 2018). Recycling Innovation House (RINDU) besides
processing organic waste also processes inorganic waste, although its capacity is not
as big as in the processing of organic waste. Inorganic waste processed is a plas-
tic waste and processed with pyrolysis technology with a tool capacity of 30 kg/h.
Inorganic waste that cannot be processed in the pyrolysis process is then burnt in an
incinerator, which has a capacity of 20 kg/h. The pyrolysis process produces about
1–2 L of fuel oil, which is then used as incinerator fuel (Setyowati et al. 2018).
e. Toxic waste treatment
Toxic waste at Universitas Gadjah Mada comes from the remnants of practicum
or research. Toxic waste has been handled but not recycled by Universitas Gadjah
Mada. The waste has its own shelter/depot (e.g.,: southern mechanical engineering
workshop). The toxic waste that is disposed of is then classified, then every 6 months
will be transported using containers to Cileungsi to be handed over to third parties.
f. Sewerage disposal
The liquid waste produced at Universitas Gadjah Mada can be divided into greywater
and blackwater. Greywater in the form of liquid waste originating from the canteen
kitchen. The handling of liquid waste from the canteen kitchen will be handled
conventionally by each canteen manager. While blackwater is in the form of liquid
waste originating from latrines. Management of liquid waste in the form of urine and
feces originating from each building, uses an on-site wastewater treatment system.
Urine and feces flown toward the septic tank in each building, and in the septic tank,
there is a decomposition process by microorganisms.
4 Conclusion
Sustainability has three main pillars, namely economic, social, and environmental.
Green engineering and green architecture use these three pillars as the basis of the
concept whereby, in a system or process must have economic feasibility that can
maximize human welfare but still calculate risk factors for humans and the environ-
ment.
Green engineering has 12 principles that can be applied in the university to support
the sustainability of the campus waste management system as one of the green campus
programs and then can be assessed using the GreenMetric UI assessment method.
Universitas Gadjah Mada has implemented the 12 principles of green engineering
from the start of the preparation of the Standard Operational Procedure system for
managing campus waste to the selection of renewable waste processing technology
in accordance with the type of campus waste generation. Based on the GreenMetric
assessment method, Universitas Gadjah Mada has a sustainability score of 10.50%
from a total of 18%.
References
Anastas, P. T., & Zimmerman, J. B. (2007). Design through the 12 principles of green engineering.
IEEE Engineering Management Review, 35(3), 16. https://doi.org/10.1109/EMR.2007.4296421.
Aset, D. (2016) Laporan Survei Sampah UGM. Yogyakarta.
Matsufuji, Y. (2004) In First International Workshop on Sustainable Habitat Systems—Concept
and Technology—Environment, pp. 00–18.
Sadiku, M. N. O., Nelatury, S., & Musa, S. M. (2018). Green engineering: A primer. Journal of
Scientific and Engineering Research, (August), 3–7.
Sari, R. F. (2018) UI GreenMetric World University Ranking. Jakarta.
Setyowati, M., Kusumawanto, A., & Prasetya, A. (2018) Study of waste management towards
sustainable green campus in Universitas Gadjah Mada. Journal of Physics: Conference Series,
1022(1). https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1022/1/012041.
Sonnemann, G., & Margni, M. (2015) Life cycle management, information & management. In G.
Sonnemann & M. Margni (Eds.). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-7206(81)90003-3.
Sustainable Waste Management
in Higher Education
Institutions—A Case Study in AC Tech,
Anna University, Chennai, India
Jayapriya Jayaprakash and Hema Jagadeesan
Abstract Educational institutions are major contributors to municipal solid waste

(MSW) such as vegetable wastes (cooked and uncooked), leftover food, packaging
materials, papers, plastics, rags and other fabrics, dust, ash and a variety of com-
bustible and noncombustible substances. Approximately, 500 kg/d of vegetable and
food waste from the canteens and mess and 8,000 kg/month of paper and hardboards
are generated in the educational institutions with a footfall of 12000 persons per day.
The key problems faced by the institutions due to solid waste generation are (i) cost of
disposing the waste appropriately, (ii) clogging of drains due to dispersal of the waste
into the surrounding and (iii) vector breeding apart from the contamination of soil
from these wastes. Therefore, appropriate collection and disposal of generated solid
waste is crucial in MSW management. Nowadays, institutions focus on minimizing
the amount of waste generates and maximizing the value-added products extracted
from them. This chapter enlightens the importance of solid waste management in
the educational institutions and responsibilities of the institution for proper waste
treatment.
Keywords Solid waste management · Educational institution · Composting ·

Sustainability
1 Introduction
Higher educational institutions accommodate young adults. This target group is a

very important one in all aspects of nation-building. A community can be clean
only if all sectors of it practice proper waste management. Institutions, especially
J. Jayaprakash (B)
Department of Applied Science and Technology, A.C. Technology, Anna University,
Chennai 600025, India
e-mail: jayapriyachem@gmail.com
H. Jagadeesan
Department of Biotechnology, PSG College of Technology,
Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7260-5_12
164 J. Jayaprakash and H. Jagadeesan
higher education institutions, are high population density areas; although majority
are present onsite only for part of the day, they do generate a large volume of waste
which needs to be managed properly for maintaining the campus cleanliness. Apart
from the teaching campuses, the residential areas (hostels, on-campus residences of
staff) also generate waste. The major waste categories are the papers, plastics and
wrappers, food wastes, yard waste, etc. Proper management of solid waste in the
institutions requires segregation of waste at source that is important. It is mandatory
that all the stakeholders in the institution cooperate for the sustainability of the clean
and green campuses. Moreover, as these young adults are going to be the future
policymakers, it is very important to understand their attitudes and inculcate in them
the need for appropriate waste management. The propaganda for Swatch Bharat has
made people aware of keeping their environment clean and they are slowly moving
out of the NIMBY (Not in My Backyard) attitude. It is high time this momentum is
increased so as to ensure the success of this movement.
2 Solid Waste Disposal and Management

in the Educational Institution
There exist a major difference between household waste management and insti-
tutional waste management. Apart from the area to be covered, volume of waste
generated and the number of persons involved, the transient nature of the population
in the institutions creates their own limitations for successful waste management.
In a survey conducted by the authors’ (unpublished data) students as well as staff
are aware of the need to source segregate waste but there is a wide gap between
this awareness and practice similar to situations elsewhere (Barloa et al. 2016). Even
those who are aware of the need to source segregate do not know how to do it properly,
there is willingness to separate which corresponds to the level of awareness (65%
of the surveyed persons were willing to segregate) but only 35% of them practice
segregation.
2.1 Sources of Waste in Educational Institution and Types

of Waste
Solid waste generated in the institution campus from the following major sources
such as (i) administrative offices, (ii) classrooms, (iii) hostel, (iv) canteen, (iv) sports
complex and (v) other amenities such as bank, ATMs, post office, health centre, etc.
In general, solid waste can be classified into four different categories: (i) dry waste,
(ii) wet waste, (iii) hazardous waste and (iv) electronic waste. Different types of
waste are generated from the waste generators in the campus as shown in Table 1.
Sustainable Waste Management in Higher Education ... 165
Table 1 Types of waste generated

S.no. Types of Items
waste
1 Dry waste Plastic water cans, cardboards, waste paper, used perfume bottles,
plastic carry bags, aluminium foils, old furniture, and sofa
2 Wet waste Vegetable and fruit peels, yard trimmings; rotten fruits and
vegetables, expired food items leftover food items, used tea leaves
and coffee grounds, eggshells, etc.
3 Hazardous Napkins, unused paints and chemicals, expired medicines and
waste cosmetics, pesticides and insecticides, fused bulbs, etc.
4 Electronic Batteries, electronic scrap parts, monitor, mouse, keyboard, etc.,
waste laptops, printers, etc.
2.2 Waste Segregation
The major constraints for the source segregation seem to be the availability of infras-
tructure and time. It has been noted that the practicing of source segregation is
usually in line with the demand. Other aspects of waste management also are as
per the requirements set by the collection system in the community (Davies et al.
2006). So, the requirement of suitable infrastructure for separating the different waste
categories is mandatory. In households, this is much easier to achieve than in large
areas of the institutions. Appropriate receptacles have to be placed in relevant areas
for the success of source separation. This mandates understanding of the types of
waste generated in different areas in the campus, for example, classrooms generate
more of paper waste, whereas canteen and dining areas generate more of food waste.
So the size of collection bins in these areas has to be appropriate for the specific
waste generated; at the same time, one cannot exclude the presence of food waste
in the classrooms (albeit in smaller volumes); so provision has to be there for these
wastes near the classroom areas. This would automatically reduce the time they have
to spend in going and finding appropriate bins to put the waste. Different coloured
bins such as green (wet waste), blue (dry waste) and red (hazardous waste) must be
used to discard the different types of wastes (primary segregated). The bins are to be
collected by sanitation workers from different waste generators and dumped in the
segregation shed. One of the major concerns in creating awareness in this setup is the
peer group pressure and the attitude of adolescents. Some of them would not want to
follow set rules. It is important to cater to this group as they might discourage those
who are practicing proper segregation. One way of reaching out to these groups is
to involve them all through student activities.
2.3 Waste Management and Methods of Waste Disposal
Waste minimization is one of the major thrusts of waste management. Student activ-
ities could focus on reducing the waste generated. Another aspect is reuse. If student
groups can plan for supporting needy with the excess food or donating their clothing
and other reusable accessories to the needy or reusing papers, the much needed min-
imization of waste requiring treatment will be achieved. An ideal waste management
technique should be simple, cost-effective and easily scalable and comply with the
7 R’s in waste management to ensure sustainability of a green campus (Fig. 1).
The other thrust is developing technologies for onsite treatment. Transport of waste
to treatment facilities is as much of an issue as the first step of source segregation.
There would be higher degree of compliance if the stakeholders could observe the
final product of waste management, whether be it reduced wastes or recycled wastes.
One of the reasons for reluctance to source segregation in many communities is that
if all waste is to be landfilled, what is the purpose of source segregation. Different
methods used for solid waste treatment in educational institutions include (i) recy-
cling, (ii) composting, (iii) incineration and (iv) landfill. The merits and demerits of
different methods for solid waste disposal are outlined in Table 2.
Choose the products with simple

packaging.
Borrow rather than buy if possible
Carpooling, walking and usage of
public transport
Usage of e-media for news and
magazines
Pick durable products over

What we buy
single use material
Why we buy
Replace paper towels with
Mode of disposal
hand dryers or cloth towels
Donate unwanted clothes and

Do not buy anything which are household items
not really needed Use reusable cutlery
Use one side printed paper for
rough work
Opt for recycled products
Energy recovery from

Refuse disposable where incineration
appropriate Manure from composting
Buy only what is needed/avoid
impulse buying
Fig. 1 7 R’s in waste management

Table 2 Different methods for solid waste disposal (Gray 2002)

Method Advantages Disadvantages
Recycling • Reduces the demand for new • Questionable durability of recycled
materials material
• Reduces water and air pollution • High upfront capital costs of
caused by landfills recycling units
• Reuse of waste paper can reduce • Low demand for recycled products
deforestation and protect the
environment
• Minimizes combustion and
emission of greenhouse gases
• Reduces energy consumption
• Conserves natural resources
Composting Final product used for • Chances of bad odour
• Soil amendment • Limited flexibility to handle
• Fertilizer supplement changing
• Conditions needed are
maintenance-intensive
• Uncertainty of nutrient composition
in final products
Incineration • Reduces landfill • Expensive
• Reduces water pollution • Smoke production—acid gases,
• Production of heat and power carcinogen dioxin, particulates,
• Decreases quantity of waste heavy metals and nitrogen oxide.
• Saves on transportation of waste • Ash waste can potentially harm
people and environment
Landfill • Cost-efficient • Rotting food generates greenhouse
• Monitoring of disposal location is gases like methane and carbon
possible dioxide
• Recyclables can be recovered • Risk of chemicals leaching into the
groundwater and streams
3 Case Study
Considering the infrastructure available for proper treatment of waste in larger scale,
small- or medium-scale onsite treatment and management is much preferable if space
permits. This will also help in ensuring proper adherence of the community members
to the norms. One such trial was done in the campus of a higher education institution
with specific waste streams. The waste management hierarchy suggests resource
recovery before waste disposal, and an environmentally friendly one would be to
reduce waste generation followed by reuse and composting rather than incineration
or landfill (Giusti 2009).
Institutional wastes are of low calorific value and thus cannot be used for effi-
cient energy recovery through incineration (Rand et al. 2000). As the major portion
of waste generated in the educational institutions are organic wastes (food waste,
yard waste, paper waste, etc.), composting can be a cost-effective waste reduction
process and leads to resource recovery. Composting is the natural biological process
consisting of decomposition of organic matter by microorganisms into compost that

is stable, free of pathogens and can be used as soil amendment. In general, there are
three types of composting—aerobic (with oxygen), anaerobic also known as trench
composting (without oxygen) and vermicomposting (Sinha and Sinha 2016). Gen-
erally, composting process occurs in three phases such as mesophilic, thermophilic
and curing. In the first phase, acid-producing bacteria such as Lactobacillus spp. and
Acetobacter spp. metabolize carbohydrates, sugars and proteins. During this phase,
the temperature of the composting increases from ambient to 40 °C. In the second
phase, thermophilic bacteria such as Bacillus spp. and Actinobacteria are involved
in the protein and lipid metabolism, and it reaches the temperature of 40–70 °C. The
last curing phase (cooling phase) composting is a long time process where the nutri-
ents in the compost become depleted, and simultaneously slows down the metabolic
activity of microorganisms (Epstein 1996). As a result, heat generation is gradually
decreased, and the compost becomes dry and crumbly texture. Several factors such
as oxygen, temperature, moisture, C:N ratio, particle size, pH, aeration rate, etc. are
affecting the growth of microorganisms (Makan et al. 2013), and thereby the opti-
mization of these parameters has a great influence on the rate of composting and
quality of composts.
The current study was conducted in an educational institution with a footfall of
12000 persons/day in Anna University, Chennai, India. This study aimed to deter-
mine the feasibility of in-vessel composting to treat yard waste generated inside the
campus and also evaluates the effect of additives (food wastes and paper waste) in co-
composting. Yard waste was prepared by mixing browns and greens at an arbitrary
ratio of approximately 1:1 (dry content basis), respectively. Browns include dried
fall leaves and wooden debris in the ratio 2:1. Greens includes fresh plant materials
and grass clippings. Other additives were mixed with yard waste (CY) in proportions
(2:1) that resulted in acceptable C: N ratios (5:1–25:1). The feedstock combinations
were as follows:
• Yard wastes (dried fall leaves: grass clippings: wooden debris, 1:1:1) (CY).
• Yard wastes + vegetable waste (2:1), (CYV).
• Yard wastes +fruit wastes (2:1) (CYF).
• Yard wastes + spent coffee grounds (2:1) (CYCo).
• Yard wastes + spent tea leaves (2:1) (CYT).
• Yard wastes + paper waste (2:1) (CYP).
Three kg of feedstock in various combinations as described above was chosen as
feedstock. The experiments were run in closed, perforated cylindrical vessel (30L
capacity) in three replicates per treatment. The drums are of diameter 50 inches and
height 48 inches approximately ensuring to hold a capacity of 3 kg of waste with
head space for good aeration (Fig. 2). They were watered as required, and no extra
fertilization was applied. Aeration was facilitated by perforation of diameter about
0.5 cm. The composts were characterized in terms of total solids, volatile solids,
pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total organic carbon (TOC), total Kjeldahl nitrogen
(TKN), carbon: nitrogen ratio (C:N ratio), micronutrients like Fe, K, Mg, Ca, P, Na,
microbial population, stability index, seed germination test, heavy metal content and
Fig. 2 In vessel composting–cylindrical vessel (30L capacity)
heavy metal uptake (Febrisiantosa et al. 2018). Compost maturity and stability was
analysed in terms of C/N ratio, stability index and seed germination index.
The physicochemical characteristics of the different composts are given in Table 3.
A mature compost should have an C:N ratio ≤ 25, and it is an indicator of compost
stability (Woods End Research Laboratory 2005). The C: N ratio of all the different
composts (except CYP) produced in this is 25:1, which satisfies the basic require-
ments for compost. Another parameter, stability index based on CO2 evolution, has
also been used for the evaluation of compost stability. The composts are consid-
ered to be to be stable if the index has a value lesser than 2 mg CO2 g−1 compost
day−1 (Tinoco et al. 2004). The respiration rates of different composts such as CY,
CYF, CYT and CYCo were lesser than 2 mg CO2 g−1 compost/day, and it showed
that the composts are not phytotoxic to seedlings and would be considered stable
(Sangamithirai et al. 2015).
Synthetic fertilizer is typically high in nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium;
however, the composts from yard waste co-composting are often high in iron when
compared with other micronutrients. However, the presence of heavy metals in com-
posts is the main cause of adverse effect on human health, transmitted through the
food chain from the plants (Gigliotti et al. 1996), and it was essential to analyse the
contents of heavy metal in composts. Heavy metal levels in the different composts
from the institutional wastes did not exceed the limits for application of compost
as a soil amendment recommended by the US EPA.2000 (EPA 2000). Each type of
compost has its own merits and demerits (Table 4) so that it can be formulated with
other ingredients to improve the soil structure and plant nutrition.
Table 3 Physicochemical characteristics of the different composts (Sangamithirai et al. 2015)

Feedstock EC dS/m TKN in C:N Stability N (mg/g) P (ppm) K (ppm)
mg/g index
(mg
CO2 –
g−1
compost
day−1 )
CY (1:1) 5.9 ± 0.5 17.2 ± 10.75 ± 1.41 ± 17.2 ± 1200 ± 1050 ±
0.1 1.6 0.1 0.1 1.2 0.3
CYF(2:1) 4.9 ± 1.5 19.9 ± 11.10 ± 2.4 ± 19.9 ± 1724 ± 1480 ±
1.1 2 1.2 1.1 2.2 0.1
CYCo(2:1) 6.7 ± 0.8 3.76 ± 16.9 ± 1.06 ± 3.76 ± 1775 ± 1059 ±
0.3 3.1 0.5 0.3 1.8 0.4
CYT(2:1) 7.2 ± 0.2 29.4 ± 9.1 ± 1.14 ± 29.4 ± 3465 ± 1075 ±
1.2 2.3 0.3 1.2 1.4 0.2
CYV(2:1) 9 ± 0.5 20.4 ± 19.85 ± 8.6 ± 20.4 ± 1795 ± 1066 ±
0.4 0.4 0.9 0.4 3.1 0.0
CYP(2:1) 8.1 ± 1.1 9.67 ± 47.25 ± 7.3 ± 9.67 ± 1354 ± 1007 ±
0.7 2.8 0.4 0.7 0.8 0.1
CYM(2:1) 9.6 ± 0.9 18.44 ± 16.97 ± 8.82 ± 18.44 ± 2823 ± 1042 ±
1.8 1.2 1.8 1.8 4.1 0.5
Table 4 Merits and limitations of the different composts

Composts Merits Limitations Recommendations
CY (1:1) Highly stable, neutral Comparatively low Amendment with
pH, Ca- and Mg-rich phosphorus phosphate salt such as
compost and high uptake Na2 HPO4
of Cr
CYF(2:1) Stable, neutral pH, K- High Ca in the compost –
and Mg-rich compost may form complex with
other nutrients, and
thereby it affects the
plant growth
CYCo(2:1) Stable. Na- and Fe-rich N is quite less Amendment with urea
compost
CYT(2:1) Stable. High content N, – –
P, and balance nutrients
of Ca, Mg and Na
CYV(2:1) Nitrogen-rich compost High EC and Na rich Soil additive gypsum
compost may be added with
compost
CYP(2:1) Carbon-rich compost Nitrogen levels are low. Amendment with urea
High EC
CYM(2:1) High phosphorus. EC is high. Low Ca and Soil additive gypsum
Provide the rapid root high Na levels may be added with
growth compost
4 Conclusions
Higher education institutions have the challenge of source segregation and manage-
ment of wastes. The possibility of transient population requires proper awareness cre-
ation about source segregation. Notifications and instructions at appropriate places,
along with suitable infrastructure, would result in proper source segregation of waste
generated. It has been demonstrated that source segregated wastes could be effec-
tively treated on-campus by many institutions, including for use in biogas generation
and compost preparation. The effectiveness of the on-campus waste management
strategy would depend on source segregation, and this requires the cooperation of
all stakeholders.
5 Recommendations
To practice the solid waste management in any educational institution in a successful

way, the key components are implemented as follows:
1. The management of an institution shall provide the following facilities for a
sustainable green campus:
(a) Different colour coded bins for waste storage and collection;
(b) Adequate sanitation workers and officers for waste management;
(c) Equipment such as shredder/crusher, incinerator, composter or biogas plant;
(d) Space for waste storage and segregation shed, which are protected against
infestation by insects, rats, birds and animals; and
(e) Proper transportation for waste disposal
2. Must not allow dumping inside the campus.
3. Create opportunities to recover resources from waste.
4. Every person should get trained to identify the type of waste and segregate prop-
erly into the three different categories (Wet/Dry/Hazardous) before handling them
over to waste collectors.
5. Create awareness among the students, staff and workers in various centres inside
the campus and residents by conducting the cultural events, activities and drills
on waste management so that they understand the consequences of improper
waste management and its impact on human health and environment.
6. Appreciate, encourage and honour people who contribute substantially to main-
taining the campus green by awarding with a certificate of appreciation.
7. Workers involved in waste segregation and disposal should be provided with
proper personal protective equipment (PPE) such as waterproof gloves, face
masks, goggles, rubber boots, etc.
8. Training must be provided to the workers on the following aspects: (a) understand
the potential risks associated with waste handling and disposal, (b) importance
and proper usage of personal protection equipment (PPE) and (c) value of immu-
nization against viral hepatitis and tetanus.
References
Andi, F., Ravindran, B., & Choi, H. L. (2018). The effect of co-additives (Biochar and FGD Gypsum)
on ammonia volatilization during the composting of livestock waste. Sustainability, 10(3), 795.
https://doi.org/10.3390/su10030795.
Anna, D., Taylor, D., Fahy, F., Meade, H., & O’Callaghan-Platt, A. (2006). Environmental attitudes
and behaviour: Values, actions and waste management. Final Report of Environmental RTDI
Programme 2000–2006. Environment Protection Act, Ireland.
Barloa, P. E., Lapie, L. P., & de la Cruz, C. P. P. (2016). Knowledge, attitudes, and practices on
solid waste management among undergraduate students in a Philippine State University. Journal
of Environment and Earth Science 6(6), 146–153.
EPA, US. (2000). Biosolids technology fact sheet: In-vessel composting of biosolids. United States,
Environmental Protection Agency; Office of Water; Washington, D.C. http://purl.access.gpo.gov/
GPO/LPS50760.
Epstein, E. (1996). The science of composting. CRC Press.
Giovanni, G., Businelli, D., & Giusquiani, P. L. (1996). Trace metals uptake and distribution in
corn plants grown on a 6-year urban waste compost amended soil. Agriculture, Ecosystems &
Environment, 58, 199–206.
Giusti, L. (2009). A review of waste management practices and their impact on human health. Waste
Management 29(8), 2227–2239. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2009.03.028.
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South West Public Health Observatory. http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/3504.
Makan, A., Assobhei, O., & Mountadar, M. (2013). Effect of initial moisture content on the in-
vessel composting under air pressure of organic fraction of municipal solid waste in Morocco.
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Food Waste Composting at Faculty
of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia
Sabah
Sariah Saalah, Mariani Rajin, Abu Zahrim Yaser, Nur Ain Syafiqah Azmi
and Ahmad Fathuddin Fikri Mohammad
Abstract The initiative of campus sustainability has been introduced in Universiti

Malaysia Sabah (UMS) in 2013, through the establishment of UMS EcoCampus
Management Centre. Waste management is one of the EcoCampus management
strategies. In this work, waste audit was conducted to determine food waste generation
at the cafeteria of Faculty of Engineering, UMS. Food waste is the major group of
waste generated which is equivalent to 75% of total waste collected in four weeks.
Around 127.7 kg of food waste is generated per week, with average 25.5 kg per day.
The moisture content and density of the food waste were in the range of 75.0–77.5%
and 2733 to 3877 kg/m3 , respectively. The food waste collected was combined with
dry leaves and successfully used as feedstock for composting process over 55 days.
During composting process, the highest temperature achieved was 57 °C on day 25.
Interestingly, the maximum intensity of the odour detected at 1 m distance from the
composter is considered very weak. In terms of mass reduction, the residual mass
after 55 days of composting process is 124.99 kg out of 232 kg, which is equivalent
to 46.3% of mass reduction from the total weight of the feedstock.
Keywords UMS EcoCampus · Composting · Food waste generation
1 Introduction
Waste minimization is at the forefront of campus sustainability initiatives. Univer-

siti Malaysia Sabah UMS) has established the EcoCampus Management Centre in
February 2013 as a platform for the university to provide a framework that is to be
S. Saalah (B) · M. Rajin · A. Z. Yaser · N. A. S. Azmi · A. F. F. Mohammad

Chemical Engineering Programme, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan
UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
e-mail: s_sariah@ums.edu.my
M. Rajin
e-mail: mariani@ums.edu.my
A. Z. Yaser
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7260-5_13
174 S. Saalah et al.
implemented, enforced, monitored, assessed and reviewed based on the key elements
of the EcoCampus Transformation Plan (Azril 2017a). Interestingly, UMS received
first place in the Special Award Category on Green Campus Sustainability in con-
junction with the Green Campus Sustainability Convention on 25 May 2017 (Azril
2017b).
Waste management is one of the main concerns of EcoCampus. For instance, a
program to increase awareness on minimizing waste such as double-sided printing
and use of tumbler as a replacement for plastic bottles were actively conducted at
the university. Besides, an initiative for waste recycling can be observed with many
recycle bins available at every place. However, to the knowledge of the author, there
are no updated reports available on the actual waste generation in UMS.
Audit of waste in UMS was done in 2006 and found out that the organic waste that
mainly consists of food waste represented the largest percentage of 53% (Budin and
Praveena 2006). In Malaysia, about 80% of municipal solid waste (MSW) are food
waste, paper, and plastic (Aja and Al-Kayiem 2014). Food waste mainly consists of
carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and traces of inorganic compounds. The composition
varies in accordance with the type of food waste and its constituents. Proper treatment
and management of food waste is a challenge faced by any developing nation as
untreated and unmanaged food waste creates odour, hygiene concerns, and cause
adverse environmental impacts (Khoo et al. 2010). Therefore, appropriate methods
are required for the management of food waste.
Currently, various kinds of approaches were investigated in food waste processing
and management for societal benefits and applications. Landfilling and incineration
are not suitable for the disposal of food waste as food waste contains high moisture
and organic matter contents (Fan et al. 2016). Incineration of food waste consisting
high-moisture content results in the release of dioxins which may further lead to
several environmental problems. Also, incineration reduces the economic value of
the substrate as it hinders the recovery of nutrients and valuable chemical compounds
from the incinerated substrate (Paritosh et al. 2017). On the bright side, food waste,
in general, has high water content with various plant required nutrients and organic
matters but is non-toxic, and therefore, it is a good composting material.
The composting process is defined as an anaerobic biological process that depends
on a microorganism population, which converts the organic substance of the wastes
into stabilized humus and less complex compound. In composting, carbon and nitro-
gen compounds are easily transformed and used as energy and protein sources of
microorganisms, thereby producing heat, CO2 , NH3 , H2 O, organic acids and mature
compost product at the end of the process (Bernal et al. 2009; Asis et al. 2017).
Composting is a process highly valued in waste management owing to its robustness
and the possibility of obtaining a valuable product with soil amendment potential
(Cerda et al. 2017). This approach is considered as among the most eco-friendly
and promising solutions for food wastes management. Composting of food waste
Food Waste Composting at Faculty of Engineering … 175
has been successfully conducted worldwide by various improved composting tech-

niques, for example, applying bulking agent and co-composting (Adhikari et al. 2009;
Fan et al. 2016; Zahrim et al. 2016). Bulking agent such as sugar cane bagasse, rice
husk, wood chips, chopped wheat straw, wood shavings, waste paper, and dry leaves
have received significant attention nowadays (Adhikari et al. 2009; Fan et al. 2016;
Zhang and Sun 2018). The bulking agents help to absorb part of the leachate produced
during the decomposition process, to keep the mixture moist and sustain an active
microbial activity (Iqbal et al. 2010). In addition, bulking agents gives structure and
porosity to the mixture for proper aeration (Adhikari et al. 2009).
The National Strategic Plan for Food Waste Management in Malaysia
(NSPFWMM) was planned and proposed by the Ministry of Housing and Local
Government of Malaysia with collaboration with the Japan government’s Ministry
of the Environment in 2010. There are six main strategies highlighted which aim
to inculcate public with a good habit of food waste disposal including food waste
segregation for reducing greenhouse gases emission and reducing land utilization
(Lim et al. 2016). In line with this, the Petaling Jaya Municipal Council (MBPJ) has
established a pilot-scale composting facility in association with Shence Greentech
Sdn Bhd. in 2013. The food waste treatment model by MBPJ probably could be a
model for other councils in Malaysia. At research capacity, local tertiary institutions
such as Universiti Malaya and Universiti Putra Malaysia have set up a pilot-scale food
waste digester (Cowtech CTM-100, CH Green Sdn. Bhd., Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia),
which is able to process food waste into liquid fertilizer and biogas at a capacity of
100 kg/day for its Zero Waste Campaign and efforts towards sustainable agricul-
tural farming, respectively (Lim et al. 2016). These motivates further research on
this particular area as food waste can be highly variable depending on its source
and is strongly dependent on the eating habits of consumers (Cerda et al. 2018). For
this reason, local characterization of food waste is important for the accurate design
of composting systems. The recipes of compost highly depend on the food waste
characteristics (Adhikari et al. 2008).
Therefore, in this work, an audit on waste generation in Faculty of Engineering
(FKJ) cafeteria UMS has been conducted to quantitatively determine the amount
and profile of waste. Food waste was further utilized as composting material with
the use of dry leaves as bulking agent. Besides readily available, utilization of dry
leaves collected from landscape at FKJ would not require extra transportation cost.
Composting process was conducted in a locally fabricated composter.
2.1 Materials
Waste collected from the cafeteria of Faculty of Engineering, UMS. On the other
hand, the dry leaves used in this works is a landscape waste which was collected
from Faculty of Engineering campus area.
2.2 Determination of Waste Generation and Profile
Waste audit has been conducted in Faculty of Engineering cafeteria (FKJ Cafeteria)
UMS to provide food waste generation, according to a method described by Rispo
et al. (2015). The waste collected was unloaded on floor of a canvas 2 m2 . The waste
collected represented materials disposed by the cafeteria for one day. The collected
waste were classified into five category namely food waste, eggshells, bones, plastic,
paper, others (glass, aluminium can). The cafeteria wastes were collected every day
after lunch hour. Segregation of wastes was conducted immediately after collection,
and the volume and weight were determined for each wastes category.
2.3 Physical Characterizations of Food Waste
The mass and volume of the segregated wastes were used to determine the densities
of food waste. The moisture content was determined by placing the Petri dishes
containing 10 g food waste into an oven for 24 h with a temperature of 104 °C (Yaser
et al. 2007). The weight of the Petri dish containing the food waste before and after
drying was used to calculate the moisture content using Eq. 1:
w−d
Moistur e Content, % = × 100 (1)
w
where w is wet weight, and d is dry weight.
Statistical Analysis
A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to perform statistical analysis
to determine whether there is a significant difference in mean of waste generation,
profile and properties of food waste at four different weeks on which the experiment
was conducted. The Excel 2010 for Windows was used for all statistical analysis.
Table 1 Weight of food Time (date) Weight of leaves Weight of food

waste and dry leaves used as (kg) waste (kg)
composting material
14/2/2018 20 4.9
15/2/2018 – 3.9
19/2/2018 – 8.9
20/2/2018 – 20.9
21/2/2018 35.4 21.6
22/2/2018 11 10
26/2/2018 15.1 16.2
28/2/2018 – 10
1/3/2018 14.9 –
9/3/2018 20 20
Total weight (kg) 116.4 116.4
2.4 Composting of Food Waste
Feedstock
For composting process, the previously collected food waste from FKJ cafeteria was
used as a feedstock, which was combined with dry leaves. Dry leaves were used as
a bulking agent to improve aeration of the composting. Table 1 shows the amount of
feedstock comprises of dry leaves and food waste that has been fed into the composter
for ten consecutive days. Overall, a total of 116 kg of food waste and 116 kg of dry
leaves (1:1 by weight) were used as a feedstock.
Composting Process
Composting of the food waste and dry leaves was performed in feed batch reactors
consists of three compartments. Two of the compartments are active zone (compart-
ment A and B), where the composting process was performed. On the other hand,
the third compartment is the yield compartment (compartment C), where the end
products from the composting process were stored. The dimensions of the compart-
ment are illustrated in Fig. 1. Each compartment was designed to contain 15 holes at
the posterior wall with a diameter of 26 mm to facilitate natural air circulation. The
holes have been constructed and arranged into three levels; bottom, middle, and top
level of the compartment. Two windows were provided for each compartment at the
top and anterior wall of the compartment. The configuration for each compartment
can be seen in Table 2.
Composting process was conducted in Compartments A and B. The waste was
turned from compartment A to compartment B and the other way round every 7 days.
About 232 kg of the feedstock was subjected to composting for 55 days. Conse-
quently, the compost was weighted to determine the mass reduction of the compost
material.
(a) Two dimensional front view

Compartment C
Compartment B Compartment A
(b) Three dimensional view
Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of composting reactor. a Two-dimensional front view. b Three-

dimensional view
Table 2 Configurations of Configuration Reactor 1 Reactor 2 Reactor 3

reactors used for composting
process Window at the top of Yes Yes Yes
compartment
Window at the front side Yes Yes Yes
of compartment
Holes Yes Yes Yes
Turning Yes Yes No
Table 3 Scale for odour test Grade scale Description

during the composting
process 1 No odour Odourless
1.5 Very week odour Not unpleasant
2 Week odour Not unpleasant
2.5 Slightly unpleasant
3 Bearable odour Not unpleasant
3.5 Slightly unpleasant
4 Pestering odour Slightly unpleasant
4.5 Unpleasant
5 Unbearable odour Very unpleasant
6 Extremely unbearable Extremely unpleasant
odour
Monitoring of the Composting Process

(a) Temperature profile
Temperature of the compost was measured daily by inserting the digital thermometer
at the holes of the composter. Temperature reading was taken at three different loca-
tion which are bottom (T1), middle (T2) and top (T3) of the compartment (Fig. 1).
The ambient temperature was also recorded.
(b) Odour
In this work, the odour was measured qualitatively by scaling the intensity of the
odour from 1 (Odourless) to 6 (Extremely unpleasant), as shown in Table 3. Odour test
was conducted three times per week, by four different students which was standing at
each corner of the composting reactor as shown in Fig. 2. The odour at two different
distance was recorded accordingly: 1 and 2 m from the composting reactor.
Fig. 2 The odour evaluation points at four corners of the composting reactor (Distance between
evaluators and composter are 1 and 2 m)
3.1 Waste Generation and Profile
The waste generation was successfully recorded for three consecutive weeks of the
school semester starting from 6th of November 2017 until 24th of November 2017
excluding weekends. The data was also recorded on 26th of February 2017 until 2nd
of March 2018 for comparison purpose.
Total waste generation weekly of FKJ Cafeteria for the whole 4 weeks are shown
in Table 4. About 680.2 kg of waste was generated in 4 weeks, with average 170 kg per
week, and 33.9 kg per day. From this figure, a total food waste generation per week
is around 127.7 kg, and average food waste generation per day is around 25.5 kg.
Figure 3 shows the waste composition profile of FKJ Cafeteria. Obviously, food
waste is the major group of waste generated at 510.9 kg which is equivalent to
75% of total waste collected in four weeks. This is followed by plastics (9%), paper
(7%), bones (5%), eggshells (3%) and others (1%) which includes sponge, diapers,
Aluminium can, Tin can, glass bottle, spoon, wire, doorknob and organic lunch box.
Since the current audit works were conducted in a cafeteria, the amount of food waste
is dominant. For comparison, the portions of food waste in municipal solid waste
in developing countries including Malaysia was 51–55%, indicating that it is more
convenient to adopt composting as a food waste treatment method in developing
nations (Thi et al. 2015).
Table 4 Waste generation from FKJ Cafeteria UMS

Type of waste Total cafeteria waste Average cafeteria waste Average cafeteria waste
generated for total four generated weekly (kg) generated daily (kg)
weeks (kg)
Food waste 510.9 127.7 25.5
Plastic 60.9 15.2 3.0
Paper 47.9 12.0 2.4
Bones 34.1 8.5 1.7
Eggshells 18.4 4.6 0.9
Others 8.0 2.0 0.4
Total 680.2 170 33.9
EGGSHELL OTHERS
3% 1%
BONE
5%
PAPER
7%
PLASTIC
9%
FOOD WASTE
75%
Fig. 3 Composition of waste collected from FKJ Cafeteria, UMS
3.2 Physical Properties of Food Waste
3.2.1 Food Waste Generation
Figure 4 shows the weight of food waste generated during weekdays, while Fig. 5
shows the percentage of the food waste per total waste generated. Overall, the highest
amount of food waste was collected on Wednesday which is 30.9 kg, while the lowest
amount collected was on Monday with 23.1 kg. In terms of percentage of food waste
per total waste, the value was in a range of 72.4–79.5%. It can be seen that the
difference are not much significant for both weight and percentage of the food waste
collected for each day. Further statistical analysis of this difference was reported in
Sect. 3.2.4.
35.00
30.9 25.7
30.00
23.1 23.8 23.4
25.00
Weight (Kg)
20.00
15.00
10.00
5.00
0.00
MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY
Days
Fig. 4 Weight of food waste collected from FKJ Cafeteria UMS during weekdays
90.00 79.5
80.00 73.8 75.9 74.1 72.4
70.00
Food waste (%)
60.00
50.00
40.00
30.00
20.00
10.00
0.00
Days
Fig. 5 Portion of food waste in waste collected from FKJ Cafeteria UMS during weekdays
3.2.2 Moisture Content of Food Waste
The moisture contents of food waste generated from FKJ cafeteria during weekdays
is shown in Fig. 6. Based on the results, the lowest moisture content value was on
Tuesday at 75% while the highest was on Monday (77.2%). However, the error bars
shown in Fig. 6 indicates that the difference is not statistically significant. These
will be further confirmed by ANOVA analysis in Sect. 3.2.4. The moisture content of
food waste collected in this work is in comparison with value reported in other places
such as Taiwan (70–80%) and Saudi Arabia (82.6%) (Kumar et al. 2010; Waqas et al.
2018).
Moisture content is an important parameter to determine the successfulness of
composting. Physical and chemical properties of the waste material change with
moisture which acts as a transporting medium of nutrients for microbial activity (Iqbal
et al. 2010). Previous studies reported that 50–60% moisture content is suitable for
efficient composting (Kumar et al. 2010; Liang et al. 2003). However, the moisture
content of food waste is considerably higher. The use of such moisture rich waste
mixture in the composting process can create waterlogged or anaerobic conditions
(Waqas et al. 2018). Therefore, it is recommended to mix it with carbon-rich material
80.00
78.00 77.2 76.8 76.2 75.6
76.00
Moisture Content (%)
74.00
72.00 75.0
70.00
68.00
66.00
64.00
62.00
60.00
Days
Fig. 6 Moisture content of food waste collected from FKJ Cafeteria UMS
to correct the C: N ratio and to absorb the excess moisture. Moreover, cooked food
waste composter is highly recommended to be mixed with bulking agent such as
woodchip, wood pellets or sawdust (‘Carry on Composting’, n.d.). It is important to
monitor the moisture content of the composter containing high-moisture food waste
such as fruits as they may become too moist. Constant turning to aerate dry coir or
adding shredded paper is normally proposed to absorb excess moisture (‘Carry on
Composting’, n.d.).
3.2.3 Density of Food Waste
Figure 7 shows density of food waste measured daily. The average density of the
food waste was in the range of 2733–3877 kg/m3 , with the highest density recorded
on Wednesday and the lowest density recorded on Friday. From the error bars, it can
be concluded that the difference in the density value per days was not significant.
Generally, different condition of food waste being measured will result in different
density values. For instance, raw food waste will result in higher density while pro-
cessed food waste results in lower density value (Zen et al. 2016). Further statistical
analysis will be shown in Sect. 3.2.4 to further confirm if the density is dependent
on the days.
3.2.4 Statistical Analysis
Food Waste Generation

Table 5 shows the results of one-way ANOVA analyses on the weight of food waste
for five days, in 4 weeks. Based on the results, F = 1.128 and p < 0.367, while the
critical value of F is 3.239. There is no statistically significant difference in mean
for the four weeks listed for analysis at the significance level of 0.05 because the F
6000.00
5000.00
Density (kg/m3)
3877
4000.00 3216
2918 3052
3000.00 2733
2000.00
1000.00
0.00
Days
Fig. 7 Density of food waste collected from FKJ Cafeteria UMS
Table 5 ANOVA to compare mean of the summary of food waste weight collection
Groups Count Sum Average Variance
Week 1 5 151.55 30.31 66.148
Week 2 5 117.25 23.45 47.6525
Week 3 5 121.75 24.35 9.83
Week 4 5 120.4 24.08 57.56575
Source of Variation SS df MS F P-value F crit
ANOVA
Between groups 153.3424 3 51.11413 1.12837 0.367218 3.238872
Within groups 724.785 16 45.29906
Total 878.1274 19
statistic obtained is less than the F critical value (1.128 < 3.239). Hence, it can be
concluded that food waste weight collection for the 4 weeks was not significantly
different from each other. In other words, the weight of food waste was independent
of the period the collections.
The results of one-way ANOVA on the effect of days on the food waste composi-
tion was shown in Table 6. It was determined that F = 4.150 and p < 0.024, while the
critical value of F is 3.239. Therefore, there is a statistically significant difference in
the composition of food waste collected among the four weeks of data collected at the
significance level of 0.05 because the F statistics obtained is greater than the critical
value (4.150 > 3.239). Another way to analyze the ANOVA result is by comparing
the p-value with the significance (α) level. Since the p-value corresponding to the F
statistic of the one-way ANOVA is lower than 0.05, this suggests that at least two
means are significantly different from one another. Hence, it can be concluded that
the difference in the period of the composition of food waste measured were effectual
to result in a significant difference in the food waste composition collection of the
four weeks.
Table 6 ANOVA to compare mean of the summary of food waste composition collection
Week 1 5 364.95 72.99 56.24215
Week 2 5 347.25 69.45 19.61365
Week 3 5 398.35 79.67 20.3995
Week 4 5 392.3357 78.46713 13.93328
ANOVA
Between groups 342.9461 3 114.3154 4.149809 0.023594 3.238872
Within groups 440.7543 16 27.54714
Total 783.7005 19
Table 7 ANOVA to compare mean of the summary of food waste density collection
Week 1 5 23728.29 4745.658 2178827
Week 2 5 17500 3500 1061543
Week 3 5 18588.4 3717.68 174407.7
Week 4 5 3367.28 673.456 87657.59
ANOVA
Between groups 45619084 3 15206361 17.36662 2.76E-05 3.238872
Within groups 14009739 16 875608.7
Total 59628822 19
Density of Food Waste

The ANOVA results on the effect of days towards the density of food waste is shown
in Table 7, with F = 17.367 and p < 0.0000276. The critical value of F is 3.239.
Since the F statistics obtained is greater than the critical value (17.367 > 3.239),
it suggested that there is a statistically significant difference in the density of food
waste collected among the four weeks of data collected at the significance level of
0.05. On the other hand, the p-value is much lower than 0.05 suggesting that at least
two means are significantly different from one another. Hence, it can be concluded
that the densities of the food waste were dependent on the period the food waste
collection.
Moisture Content of Food Waste
Table 8 shows the results of one-way ANOVA analyses of the moisture content of
the food waste, with F = 1.4 and p < 0.279. The critical value of F is 3.239. There is
no statistically significant difference in mean for the four weeks listed for analyses at
the significance level of 0.05 because the F statistic obtained is less than the F critical
value (1.4 < 3.239). Therefore, it can be concluded that the difference in the period
Table 8 ANOVA to compare mean of the summary of food waste moisture content collection
Week 1 5 383.67 76.734 4.69693
Week 2 5 379.18 75.836 6.81348
Week 3 5 384.7 76.94 2.06745
Week 4 5 358.61 71.722 71.32402
ANOVA
Between groups 89.1754 3 29.72513 1.400446 0.279045 3.238872
Within groups 339.6075 16 21.22547
Total 428.7829 19
of food waste moisture content measured was not effectual to result in a significant
difference in the food waste moisture content collection of the four weeks.
3.3 Monitoring the Composting Process
3.3.1 Temperature
Temperature is considered to be one of the important factors during the composting

process because it is related to the microbial activity during the degradation of organic
material (Kumar et al. 2010). The variation in temperature as a function of time
during the composting process is illustrated in Fig. 8. It was found that ambient
temperature over 55 days of composting process is varied from 25 to 32 °C. In active
zone compartment, there is no significant change for temperature at the bottom level
indicating less microbial population. On the other hand, temperature at the top level
of compartment was increased significantly until maximum temperature of 57 °C,
possibly due to aerobic conditions. The maximum temperature would reach 57 °C
because most of the fungal species dominated this area.
The air circulation through the holes at the posterior wall of the reactor and regular
turning of waste could have significantly increased the temperature of the composting
pile. The temperature of the active zone compartment was in mesophilic range as the
value is less than 45 °C until day-11. Subsequently, rapid increase in temperature
to thermophilic range (>55 °C) was observed in top portion within 25 days of the
composting. The temperature remains in this region for three days before gradually
decrease. In contrast, the temperature in middle portions significantly decreased to
ambient level in day-17. After six weeks, the temperature of the compost drop to
ambient temperature. During composting process, if the temperature of the compost
is more than 55 °C for 4 h or longer it is considered sufficient to kill many pathogens
(Kreith and Tchobanoglous 2002). While temperature between 55 and 60 °C, most
Food Waste Composting at Faculty of Engineering …
Fig. 8 Temperature profile and weight of feedstock over 55 days of composting process
187
2.5
2
Odour Scale
1.5
1
OT (1m)
0.5
OT (2m)
0
Date
Fig. 9 The intensity of odour at 1 m and 2 m distance from composter
parasites, weed seeds, human and plant pathogens (Salmonella sp. and Bacillus sp.)
are expected to be destroyed.
3.3.2 Odour
During the composting process, characteristics of the raw materials are very impor-
tant particularly food waste (Cerda et al. 2017), as it contributes to the odour generated
during the composting process. The intensity of odour depends on the initial types
of raw material that has been used for this composting process and optimum pro-
cess condition. Odour could impact the environment. In worst case, it could cause to
the plant closure and the implementation of prevention measures become necessary
(Colón et al. 2012). Figure 9 shows the average data from odour test measured from
the distance of one meter and two meter from the composting reactor.
At the initial phase of composting process, the odour reaches scale 2 where the
odour is very weak from one meter distance. For two meter distance, there is no
odour of the compost detected. The results were continuously taken until the end of
the composting process, and it was found that no odour was detected from one meter
or two meter away from the composter. Usually, the source of odour coming from the
VOC, where the very common emitted VOC families are terpenes, aliphatic carbon,
aromatic hydrocarbons, ketones and esters (Zang et al. 2016).
It was also reported that limonene is one of the most relevant VOCs (Komilis et al.
2004). However, in this study, the intensity of odour that has been produced from the
composting material is very weak. Another aspects possibly contributes to these are
the temperature and aeration rate that can affect the development of microbes during
the composting process (Zang et al. 2016), where higher temperature could help the
development of microorganism to enhance degradation of the composting material.
Besides, good aeration rate could avoid anaerobic condition during degradation pro-
cess, which subsequently reduces the production of odour. Interestingly, the odour
produced from this composting process may not disturb the people surrounding the
composter.
3.4 Overall Mass Reduction
The change in the volume of waste in all the compartments was monitored at reg-
ular intervals. At the initial phase of the composting process, the volume reduction
was high due to the self-compaction of waste accompanied with the degradation of
biodegradable organic matter (Manu et al. 2017). At the middle stage of the com-
posting process, volume reduction of the compost material started to slow down,
as the compost material becoming more compact. Turning process may result in
rapid increase of temperature and at the same time could enhance the activity of the
microorganism (Manu et al. 2017) thus facilitating the volume reduction. In terms of
mass reduction, the residual mass after 55 days of composting process is 124.99 kg
out of 232 kg, which is equivalent to 46.3% of mass reduction from the total weight
of the feedstock. The mass reduction was reported to be proportional to the initial
moisture content as most of the wet loss through evaporation of water and leaching.
About 20–86% mass loss reported for food waste consisting of vegetables and fruits
residues, with different bulking agents (Adhikari et al. 2009).
4 Conclusions
Waste generation from FKJ cafeteria, UMS was successfully determined. About
680.2 kg of waste was generated in 4 weeks, with average 170 kg per week, and
33.9 kg per day. From this figure, a total food waste generation per week is around
127.7 kg, and average food waste generation per day is around 25.5 kg. Food waste
is the major group of waste generated which is equivalent to 75% of total waste
collected. The moisture content and density of the food waste were in the range of
75.0–77.5% and 2733–3877 kg/m3 , respectively. The food waste collected was com-
bined with dry leaves and successfully used as feedstock for composting process over
55 days. The temperature and odour of the compost were carefully monitored during
the process. The highest temperature achieved was 57 °C on day 25 of composting.
The maximum intensity of the odour detected at 1 m distance from the composter is
at scale 2 indicating that odour is very weak. In terms of mass reduction, the residual
mass after 55 days of composting process is 124.99 kg out of 232 kg, which is equiv-
alent to 46.3% of mass reduction from the total weight of the feedstock. Overall,
food waste generated from FKJ cafeteria was successfully turned into compost in
a locally fabricated composter with minimum emission of odour. The data on food
waste generation and characteristics can be used as a basis for better food waste
management in UMS.
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Characterization of University
Residential and Canteen Solid Waste
for Composting and Vermicomposting
Development
Nurmin Bolong and Ismail Saad
Abstract Composting involves the biological decomposition of materials (solid

or semi-solid) using microorganisms over a period of time, resulting in organic
material degradation and volume reduction. The composting process has always been
a part of natural ecosystems and four basic components: organic matter, moisture,
oxygen, and bacteria. However, failure to understand the complexity of biological,
chemical, and physical processes can hinder a composting system. Furthermore,
inadequate optimization of modern composting in urban waste streams can lead to
excessive waste in open dumps and landfills. In this study, solid waste taken from
four residential sources and one commercial source (canteen) at Universiti Malaysia
Sabah (UMS) was characterized. The main component (87%) of this waste was found
to be organic or food refuse. Composting experiments on this waste were conducted
using a laboratory-scale custom-made setup under five different conditions, and their
compost products were quantitatively analyzed. Vermicomposting produced compost
with better NPK content than an open composting system. All compost products
were found to have pH values between 6 and 7.5, making them suitable for plant
growth. Electrical conductivity (EC) was observed to be lower than that required for
plant growth (<2.0 dS/m EC) but in the optimum range for earthworm biological
conditions. Vermicomposting reduced bulk density, which is preferred for healthy
soil since it promotes root movement and increases water and air penetration. Actual
plant growth using the compost product from red worms was found to yield better
plant weight (g/g), height, and leaves (mm2 /mm2 ). The addition of BOPS was found
to slightly reduce plant growth, however resulted moisture content reduction and
potentially reduce bad odors.
Keywords Vermicomposting · Waste characterization · Sustainable campus
N. Bolong (B) · I. Saad

Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu 88400, Sabah, Malaysia
e-mail: nurmin@ums.edu.my

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7260-5_14
194 N. Bolong and I. Saad
1 Introduction
The food industry is one of the largest and most important industrial sectors, and its
size is directly proportional to population and demand. In line with the rapid growth of
population and industry, the generation of municipal solid waste has also increased.
Perhaps shockingly, the largest contribution to municipal solid waste comes from
food. In Malaysia, solid waste is produced at a rate of 38,000 tons per day with
15,000 tons of this being food waste (Naidu 2017). Facilities for waste treatment
are also inadequate to meet the requirements for proper waste management on this
scale (Agamuthu 2001). In developing countries, a lack of environmental awareness,
indifferent attitudes, and a lack of public participation have caused many waste
management strategies to fail (Saeed et al. 2009). Given this tremendous rate of
waste generation, food waste disposal becomes one of the main issues affecting
environmental and sustainable development.
Landfilling is the most common method for food waste disposal, and most landfill
sites in Malaysia are open dumping areas which pose serious environmental threats
such as soil, water, and air contamination. Many landfills in Malaysia have reached
their capacity (Moh and Manaf 2014). Most Malaysians generate an average of 1.7 kg
of solids per day (Jusoh et al. 2013) which has increased from 0.7 kg per day in 1987
(Kathrivale et al. 2003). There is an acute shortage of landfill space in Malaysia,
and the continued disposal of solid waste (include food waste) at landfills would the
strategic use of landfills for the disposal of the more demanding waste types such as
persistent domestic refuse and hazardous waste.
Composting provides an attractive alternative approach to solid waste manage-
ment. It is simple to perform and is known to be safe and beneficial as an organic
fertilizer and soil conditioner (Arslan et al. 2008). Unfortunately, large-scale com-
posting (1–10 tons/day) was reported disadvantaged due to poor source separation
at origin and lack of operation monitoring (temperature and moisture) lead to low
demand and low quality of compost (Madusanka et al. 2017). The effectiveness of
individual composting systems relies on their environmental conditions. Factors that
greatly affect the decomposition process in any composting method are moisture,
temperature, aeration (oxygen availability), C-to-N ratio, pH value, metabolic heat
generation, available nutrients, and the physical state of the materials (Beffa et al.
1996; Sartaj et al. 1995). Composting itself can be carried out using various methods
which include open-air composting and vermicomposting, which uses earthworms
in the process. Common problems encountered in composting can be attributed to a
lack of moisture, which can cause the compost pile temperature to be too low, killing
earthworms, and resulting in slow degradation and a lack of movement. Temperature
is a dominant parameter for composting, with a range from 40 to 65 °C being suitable
to control microbial activity (Antil et al. 2014). Temperature can be maintained by
adding water into the pile or manually turning the pile from time to time. The success
of vermicomposting depends on the abiotic and biotic factors illustrated in Fig. 1.
Vermicomposting is a method of composting worms (Kimbal and Doeksen 2007)
to help fragment, mix, and aerate the waste (Frederickson and Ross-Smith 2004).
Characterization of University Residential and Canteen … 195
Moisture content within the composting

environment should be maintained at 45% for
optimum performance
Acceptable pH range, suitable for earthworms and

microorganisms activity: 5.5– 8.5
optimum temperature range for earthworms

during vermicomposting process : 12°–35°C.
C:N ratio of feed material affects the
earthworms’ growth and reproduction : range
20 to 25: 1
Oxygen supply, suitable food quantity, away
from light (earthworm are photophobic)
Appropriatepopulationsize of earthworm
Microorganismassist on breakdown bio-
organic materials
Earthwormenzymes for bio-chemical
process
Fig. 1 Environmental factors in vermicomposting
Vermicomposting is a bio-oxidation and stabilization process of organic material

that, in contrast to standard composting, involves the interaction between earthworms
and microorganisms degrade organic matter (Aroancon et al. 2005). The resulting
vermicompost is a source of nutrients which promote plant growth. It improves crop
growth and yield, reduces the carbon and nitrogen ratio in soil, plays a role in the
nitrogen cycle, and improves the soil’s physical, chemical, and biological properties
(Nagavallemma et al. 2004). Vermicompost contains plant growth regulators and
other plant growth influencing materials produced by microorganisms.
In this study, the composting food waste from Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS)
is evaluated. The potential of composting food waste by comparing open-air com-
posting and vermicomposting systems is assessed. The influence of Burnt Oil Palm
Shell (BOPS) is an additive in the composting process, and the effect of different
vermicomposting worms (red and blue) was also explored.
The operational framework was carried out in four phases as shown in Fig. 2. The
details of the four main experimental phases are discussed further in the following
sections.
UCA: University Condo Apartment

RHA: Rimbunan Hijau Apartment
UA: University Apartment
BT: Kampung Bontoi Tamparuli
FKJ: Canteen at faculty of Engineering
‘Avoidable’: waste that can be avoided into landfill

Recyclable: unused material and can be send to the recycle centre
Disposable: other waste that need to be disposed to landfill
C-1: Windrow (Open air compost)
V-1: Vermicompost (red worm)

V-2: Vermicompost with BOPS (red worm)
V-R: Vermicompost specific to fruits and vegetable waste (red worm)
V-B: Vermicompost specific to fruits and vegetable waste (blue
• FerƟlity properƟes: Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium (NPK)

• pH, electrical conducƟvity (EC), moisture content, waster
absorpƟon and bulk density
• Growing index (plant growth using compost)
Fig. 2 Operational framework of the experimental research work
2.1 Solid Waste Characterization and Sampling Preparation
Waste sampling was conducted by analyzing the waste produced by several local
university areas, as shown in Table 1. Samples were taken from residential houses and
apartments at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and from the Faculty of Engineering
canteen in order to compare the composition of the solid waste produced. The solid
waste samples were collected between April and May 2018 and were taken using
standard black plastic garbage bags. The solid waste was measured by spreading it on
a clean surface. The reduction of sample volume was carried out using the “quartering
with a sampling cross” approach (Tiew et al. 2010a). The original heap of food
waste was quartered, and one portion of it was quartered again. One portion from the
second-level quartering was then randomly selected for the waste characterization
study. Depending on the sampling day, the total waste sample ranged from 2 to 10 kg,
and all were combined to form a representative sample. Finally, manual sorting was
carried out and the waste was separated into three different categories: (i) “avoidable”,
(ii) recyclable, and (iii) disposable.
Recyclable waste is unused material such as plastic bottles, paper, and aluminum
cans which can be sent directly to the recycle center. Disposable waste, such as
latex and aluminum foil, is surplus that can neither be further processed nor properly
recycled. It will be sent to the landfill for disposal. The term “avoidable” refers to
solid waste that need not be dumped into landfills nor collected as municipal garbage.
Table 1 Types and locations Location of solid waste Type of Location ID

of solid waste sampling sampling source
University Condo apartment Residential UCA
1
Rimbunan Hijau apartment Residential RHA
University apartment 1 Residential UA
Kampung Bontoi Tamparuli Residential BT
Faculty of Engineering Commercial FKJ
canteen
Avoidable waste is organic food wastes such as meat and fish, plus vegetable and
fruit leftovers. In this work, only “avoidable” waste was used for composting.
During sampling in the residential areas, the collected waste was approximately
10–12 kg per house and this is in accordance with the figure of nearly 2 kg waste
generated per individual per day with 4.8 people per household (Jusoh et al. 2013).
2.2 Composting Preparation and Design Setup
In this study, the waste samples prepared for composting were divided according
to the two main methods (windrow and vermicomposting) as illustrated previously
in Fig. 2 and detailed in Table 2. First, food waste samples from UCA, RHA, and
UA were used to evaluate the performance difference between open-air composting
(windrow), and vermicomposting are referred to with sample IDs C-1, V-1, and V-2.
Red worms (Eisenia Fetida) are used for both in V-1 and V-2 with added BOPS
(V-2). Burnt Oil Palm Shell (BOPS) is an agricultural waste product, gentler to
the environment than activated or coal-based product that may improve compost
moisture and control odor.
The second method uses waste vegetable and fruit waste of from FKJ and BT to
study the influence of the two types of composting worms, the red worm (Eisenia
Fetida) and the blue worm (Perionyx Excavatus). The types of compost and food
waste source are summarized in Table 2. The layout of the composting bin is illus-
trated in Fig. 3a for the open-air system and (b) for vermicomposting. Each bin was
stacked on a short bin in order to collect residual liquid. It is noted here that the
bedding material and food waste was used for nitrogen materials and soil for carbon
content in order to improve the C-to-N ratio of the composting system.
Table 2 Compost preparation and experimental design setup

Compost ID Bin volume Mass of Amount of Type of Bedding
(m3 ) waste (kg) worm used compost material
(kg)
C-1 0.05 2.5 0 Windrow Shredded
(open-air paper and
system) dark soil
(≈0.02 m
depth)
V-1 0.05 2.5 0.25 Vermicompost Shredded
(red worm) paper and
dark soil
(≈0.02 m
depth)
V-2 0.05 2.5 0.25 Vermicompost Shredded
(red worm) paper and
with added dark soil and
burnt palm BOPS
oil shell (≈0.02 m
(BOPS) depth)
V-R 0.05 4 0.2 Vermicompost Shredded
(red paper, dry
worm)—for leaves and
fruits and damp soil
vegetable (≈0.05 m
waste depth)
V-B 0.05 4 0.2 Vermicompost Shredded
(blue paper, dry
worm)—for leaves and
fruits and damp soil
vegetable (≈0.05 m
waste depth)
Fig. 3 Illustration for a Open-air system (windrow compost pile) and b Vermicompost experimen-
tal setup
2.3 Compost Harvesting and Product Characterization
Each composting system required monitoring to promote a successful compost pile

by ensuring sufficient water and an appropriate temperature. For the windrow (open-
air) compost, the pile was turned every 5 days to aerate it while avoiding overturning
that may cause reduced microbial activity. Water was then added at 100–200 mL
after turning the pile to achieve an optimum moisture content as measured with a
soil moisture sensor (PMS710). The optimum moisture content is within the range
of 40–60% mc (Rynk 1992). At less than 40% moisture, bacteria slow their activity
and may become dormant. But with more than 60% moisture, water will force air
out of the pile pore spaces, suffocating the aerobic bacteria. Anaerobic bacteria
will then take over, resulting in unpleasant odors. An optimum level of moisture in
vermicompost also aids worm movement inside the pile. If the compost pile is too
dry, worms will be unable to move to the upper layer of the pile in order to consume
the foods deposited there.
For C-1, V-1, and V-2, the final compost product was collected after 7–10 days
of composting on 2.5 kg food waste. For the windrow bin system (C-1), waste was
considered mature or at the end stage of decomposition when the pile temperature
was at 40–60 °C. For the V-4 and V-5 compost bins, the vermicompost was collected
after 20 days of processing on 4 kg of vegetable and fruit waste. This harvesting
period was calculated based on the assumption that worms eat nearly their body
weight per day (Edwards 2004), and that they produce 50% of their body weight as
a cast (Nagavallemma et al. 2004).
To harvest the product of vermicomposting, black-colored topsoil from each worm
bin was extracted. It was then stored inside a plastic bag and brought to the laboratory
for chemical and physical testing. Nitrogen was measured using the Total Kjeldahl
Nitrogen by Digestion and Titration Method ASTM D3590-A (2006). Phosphorus
testing was carried out at the UMS Environmental Laboratory using a spectropho-
tometric method (Hach DR6000). Potassium testing was conducted by digesting
compost products according to the ISO16729:2013 Standard and measured using
an Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AAS) (Perkin Elmer 4100). Other chemical
properties of the compost products were also measured such as pH, temperature, and
conductivity (Hanna digital meter).
The comparison of compost products was also quantified in terms of moisture
content, water absorption, and bulk density. Moisture content (wet basis) was mea-
sured by drying the compost soil at 105 °C in an oven for approximately 24 h and then
calculating the percentage difference between wet and dry soils. Bulk density was
measured using an approximately 500 g container, compacted to ensure the absence
of large void spaces, and was calculated by dividing the weight of the material by
the volume of material in the container.
The growth substrate evaluation for 6 weeks was measured for the compost prod-
ucts of C-1, V-1, and V-2 using the Growing Index (GI) adapted from Edwards (2004),
which is based on plant growth rate in terms of height, width, and leaf growth. Plant
height measures the vertical height of the plant from the lowest part to the top, includ-
Fig. 4 Profile of waste at the five residential locations and canteen
ing the stem. Plant width is the side-to-side plant shape measurement, determined by
a caliper vernier. Both plant height and width have units in centimeters, whereas the
surface area of leaves is measured in units of mm2 . The leaf surface area is measured
by tracing each leaf in the respective plant on graph paper.
3.1 Waste Characterization Profile
The categorization of waste samples into three categories (avoidable, recyclable,

and disposable) was based on a previous study (Cordingley et al. 2011), and the
distribution of waste categories across sampling locations is shown in Fig. 4. It is
clear that the largest contribution comes from food and organic materials (avoidable
waste) which accounts for more than half (58–87%) of all solid waste generated.
These values are consistent with other studies done in Malaysia where organic or
food waste was found to be the largest waste component (Tiew et al. 2010b) at 60%
(Abdul Hamid et al. 2012). These findings are alarming because this category of
waste need not be sent to landfill but poor waste management strategies are still
doing so. However, better management of this waste category could reduce landfill
usage significantly.
The “avoidable” waste from the BT and FKJ samples (both highest “avoidable”
portion) was then further categorized into more specific types: either (i) staple food,
Fig. 5 Component of
“avoidable” waste types
from FKJ and BT suitable
for composting (i) staple
food, (ii) meats, (iii) fish, and
(iv) vegetables/fruits
(ii) meats, (iii) fish, and (iv) vegetables/fruits. Staple food is routinely eaten in such
quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a standard diet. These foods include
rice, noodles, sweet potatoes, and bread, all of which decompose quickly and become
smelly within hours if not stored well. The distribution of specific food types is
illustrated in Fig. 5.
Also as shown in Fig. 5, both commercial (FKJ) or residential (BT) solid waste
samples in the “avoidable” category consist of more than 50% vegetables and fruits.
This comprises the skin layer of vegetables (e.g., cabbages), fruit peels, spoiled
vegetables, and leftovers from cooking preparation. Due to its higher proportion,
vegetable/fruit waste has great potential as compost material, especially with appro-
priate segregation and waste management at the source itself. Unfortunately, food
waste reduction among Malaysians is low due to lack of public participation (Moh
and Manaf 2014) and limited budget initiatives for food waste management (Thi
et al. 2015).
The samples from FKJ and BT waste with high proportions of vegetables and fruits
were used in vermicomposting to evaluate the influence of red and blue worms, as
specified earlier in Table 2.
3.2 Compost Physical–Chemical Characterization
The chemical properties of the compost products were determined with respect to
plant fertility. NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium) are the most common
indicators of compost effectiveness. Figure 6 shows the distribution of NPK param-
eters over their respective composting environments.
Generally, the higher the nitrogen content, the better the performance of the ver-
micompost. It was found that all five compost products exceeded the minimum
Fig. 6 NPK values from the compost of C-1, V-1, V-2, V-R, and V-B compared to typical NPK
range*
value provided previously by other work (Nagavallemma et al. 2004). Although

the improvements are minor (except for the potassium value yielded by V-2), all
vermicomposting environments provided better NPK than open composting (C-1).
Vermicomposting establishes environment in which worms can thrive and reproduce,
whereas composting is particularly heat-producing process, thus making vermicom-
posting richer nutrients than compost (Yadav and Gupta 2017). Casting by earth-
worms is believed to improve the organic matter and nutrient content of the soil by
recycling (Kale et al. 1992; Saranraj and Stella 2012).
Adding BOPS to sample V-2 increased the potassium content in the vermicompost,
which might be due to the absorption capabilities of BOPS which prevented the
easily leached potassium from dissolving in water (Mangan et al. 2013). Blue worms
produced higher total nitrogen (2.2%) than red worms (1.8%). However, an inverse
effect in terms of phosphorus (0.4% < 0.6%) and potassium (0.7% < 0.9%) values,
respectively, was found. The results from V-R and V-B also indicated that by using
only vegetables and fruits refuse, the NPK or fertility of compost products is less
than the combination food waste mixtures used in V-1 and V-2.
Table 3 shows the physical–chemical properties (pH, electrical conductivity (EC),
moisture content, water absorption, and bulk density) for the different types of com-
post products. The results indicate that the compost product pH value is within the
range suitable for plant growth (6–7.5) (Abreu et al. 2007).
The EC values ranged from 1.6 to 2.0 dS/m which is within the critical range for
plant growth (0.75–3.49 dS/m) (Abad et al. 2001). However, the results obtained here
are outside the optimum EC for plant growth, which is 2.0–4.0 according to Hanlon
(2012). This is because the use of worms induces exchangeable calcium, magnesium,
Table 3 Physical–chemical properties according to compost product types

Properties Compost types
Windrow Vermicompost Modified Vermicompost Vermicompost
compost red worm vermicom- (red worm) (blue worm)
post fruits/vege fruits/vege
(BOPS)
C-1 V-1 V-2 V-R V-B
pH 6.8 6.5 6.5 6.8 6.6
Conductivity 2.0 1.9 1.6 1.6 1.8
(EC) (dS/m)
Moisture 49.9 52.2 49.3 45.0 58.0
content (%)
Bulk density 0.65 0.62 0.63 0.64 0.62
(g/cm3 )
and potassium in the worm cast rather than the soil (Karim et al. 2011). The lowest
value of EC (1.6 dS/m) was found for both the modified vermicompost (V-2) and
the fruit/vegetable vermicompost using red worms (V-R). It should be noted that the
observed EC (<2.0 dS/m) is optimum for earthworms (Hoornweg et al. 2000).
The moisture content of the compost product ranged between 45 and 58%. The
lowest value was found in V-R (45%) and the highest in V-B (58%). This can be
attributed to the characteristics of the composting medium (fruits and vegetables)
and the worm type, as reviewed from other work (Yadav and Gupta 2017). The
vermicompost V-1 had higher moisture content (52%) than the windrow compost
(49.9%) but this reduced to 49% with the addition of BOPS (V-2). The addition of
BOPS was intended to control moisture content, and this effect is seen in this study
at a modest level. High water content in vermicompost reflects the environment of
the worm bins. Too much water can cause the compost pile to go anaerobic and emit
bad odors, while too little water will prevent the microorganisms from propagating
(Ecochem 2009).
It can be seen that the bulk density of compost decreases with the existence of
worms during composting. The highest value of bulk density was found for the
windrow compost (0.65 g/cm3 ) which exceeded all the vermicompost products (V-1,
V-2, V-R, and V-B). A soil bulk density of less than 1.5 g/cm3 is preferred to promote
root movement (McKenzie et al. 2004) and for optimum air and water penetration
(Hunt and Gilkes 1992).
The effects on actual plant growth after 6 weeks yielded by three growing sub-
strates based on compost systems C-1, V-1, and V-2 are shown in Fig. 7. In terms
of weight, height, and leaf growth, the vermicomposts V-1 and V-2 produced better
results than the windrow compost C-1. These growth responses are consistent with
the higher NPK content measured in the previous section for vermicomposts V-1
and V-2. The addition of Burnt Oil Palm Shell (BOPS) in V-2 results in significantly
larger plant height (113%), probably as a consequence of the high potassium con-
Fig. 7 Increment of plant growth using compost products C-1, V-1, and V-2 over 6 weeks duration
tent detected previously. BOPS is also one of palm biomasses as raw material for
fertilizers (Chong et al. 2017). However, greater leaf growth was observed in V-1
(63%) compared to V-2 (55%). It is anticipated that vermicompost substrates will
yield better crop growth than windrow compost even though the growth may also be
subject to other variables.
4 Conclusion
Solid waste from different university residential and commercial sources was char-
acterized and evaluated. Nearly, 80% of this waste was categorized as “avoidable”
and need not be directly sent to landfill. The potential for adapting composting tech-
nology for green and ecocampus is feasible. Waste reduction at source, such as the
vermicomposting studied in this work, is an important strategy to improve municipal
waste management. Five different composting conditions were analyzed and, based
on the results, it is observed that the use of worms and the addition of Burnt Oil Palm
Shell (BOPS) have a positive effect on the nutrient and physical–chemical proper-
ties of compost products. More specifically, the following conclusions are made.
The addition of BOPS has a slight effect on the compost moisture and increases
potassium retention in the soil, whereas the growth of plants using vermicomposting
(using red worms) yields better plant growth than conventional open type compost.
Composts produced by worms, regardless of worm type, have better NPK content,
with improved physical–chemical properties and benefits for crop growth.
Acknowledgements The authors would like to acknowledge the support from Department of
Higher Education (KPT) and Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS). The author is thankful to the
EcoCampus Waste management UMS, the residences of the study areas, and Mr. Gilbert Raymond
Misin and Mr. Gordon Julius for assisting in the completion of this research work.
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Sewage Treatment in Campus
for Recycling Purpose: A Review
Abu Zahrim Yaser and Nurliyana Nasuha Safie
Abstract Sewage generated in campus is a type of wastewater that requires attention

since the volume is raising yearly with the increment of students intakes. Campus
sewage has BOD and COD not higher than ~600 mg/L and ~700 mg/L, respectively.
The presence of heavy metals such as barium (Ba), iron (Fe), copper (Cu), Strontium
(Sr), cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) have been identified in campus sewage. Other
than that, the occurrence of organic contaminants such as phenols is also detected
in campus sewage which has the tendency to be transformed into micropollutants.
Various techniques have been tested and used to treat campus sewage which can
be grouped into physical, chemical, biological, and combination treatment systems.
Based on the review, the highest removal efficiency in treating campus sewage is
bioaugmentation using the mixed species of microalgae. This method is also cost-
effective and requires less maintenance albeit the fact that it is affected by the light
intensity and sensitive towards toxic contaminants present in the sewage. Treated
water from campus sewage is feasible to be reused in landscape maintenance, non-
crop irrigation, toilet flushing system, and aquaculture which can compensate for the
cost of sewage treatment. The recycled water has to meet guidelines prior to reuse to
protect public health. Besides that, regulations, policies, and standard procedure in
implementing a proper sewage management should be implemented in universities
for a better and sustainable campus environment.
Keywords Sewage · Campus · Treatment · Reuse · Recycle · Water
1 Introduction
Recently, the focus has been on recycling the sewage using cost-effective and less
energy consumption alternatives. Campus sewage is one of the sewage sources that
requires attention. The demand for recycling the campus sewage is associated with
the increment of campus societies that is in parallel with the increment of sewage
A. Z. Yaser (B) · N. N. Safie

Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7260-5_15
208 A. Z. Yaser and N. N. Safie
volume generated daily. According to US EPA (1992), water recycling is reusing

treated wastewater for beneficial purposes such as agricultural and landscape irri-
gation, industrial processes, toilet flushing, and replenishing a groundwater basin
(referred to as groundwater recharge). The term water recycling is generally used
synonymously with water reclamation and water reuse (US EPA 1992). Nie et al.
(2017) have reported that campus sewage contains low metal contents and pollutants
which makes it suitable for recycle and reuse purposes. However, the awareness and
lack of information on how to treat and recycle campus sewage effectively compared
to municipal sewage have impeded the process (Gao et al. 2015). There are many
feasible methods for campus sewage treatment at a cost-effective method with lower
retention time to provide an efficient sewage management. The treated water from
campus sewage can be reused as a supplementary water source for irrigation, wet-
land, aquaculture, toilet flushing, etc. However, prior to recycle, treated water from
sewage must follow certain guidelines such as EPA based on the level of human
exposure since recycle water can be detrimental to human health if it is not prop-
erly treated. Objectively, the recycle and reuse of sewage can provide a greener and
sustainable campus environment.
2 Campus Sewage Characteristic
Sewage is wastewater that contains contaminants mainly from human excreta (i.e.,
feces and urine) that transferred from source to the discharge point via a pipe or
sewer. The sewage characteristics may vary from one place to another as it is highly
influenced by the origin of the sewage. The origin of the sewage can vary based on
criteria such as the original composition sewage supply and nature of residential or
communities that contribute to the sewage volume (Rahman et al. 2016). In a campus,
the common societies include academics staffs, students as well as research facilities
who are the main contributors to the sewage volume (Gao et al. 2015).
Sewage characteristics can be explained based on parameters such as biochem-
ical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen, total
phosphorus, pH, etc. Sewage characteristics in a few campuses and universities are
tabulated in Table 2. As shown, the characteristics of sewage generated from cam-
puses sewage have BOD not higher than ~600 mg/L and COD is not higher than
~700 mg/L. The BOD level is in the range of 18–526.4 mg/L. As compared to
domestic raw sewage, BOD of sewage campus is much higher; 150–450 mg/L (Ben-
venuti et al. 2018). The COD value for campus sewage is in the range of 54–660 mg/L
which is much lower compared to domestic sewage that can reach up to 1104.0 mg/L
as reported by Su et al. (2012). The pH of sewage from all the campus is in the range
of 6–8.3 which is the general level of pH in common sewage. Total Suspended Solid
(TSS) is in the range of 6–695.8 mg/L.
Total phosphorus (TP) is in the range of 3.1–11.8 mg/L which is higher than
phosphorus in domestic wastewaters that is in the range of 6–10 mg/L which can
Sewage Treatment in Campus for Recycling Purpose: A Review 209
Table 1 Concentrations of heavy metals in sewage campusa

Ba Al Fe \Cu Mg Sr Cd Ca Pb Phenols References
0.05 NA 0.03 NA 30.24 1.08 NA NA NA NA Kumar
et al.
(2008)
NA <0.01 0.37 NA 6.1 NA 0.01 2.81 <0.01 NA Awuah
et al.
(2014)
NA 1.214 0.527 NA NA NA NA NA 0.013 NA Torres
et al.
(2015)
NA NA 0.381 0.0722 NA NA NA NA NA NA Lavagnolo
et al.
(2017)
NA NA NA NA 0.34 NA NA 0.71 NA 0.034 Deshmukh
et al.
(2017)
a All concentrations of heavy metals listed in the table above are in (mg/L)
lead to the eutrophication of water which is usually in the form of orthophosphate.

Meanwhile, the range of N–NH3 is in the range of 6.1–199 mg/L.
Sewage is generated mainly from toilets and comprised of human excreta (feaces
and urine) that contains many pathogenic organisms (bacteria and viruses). Types
of pathogenic microbes that may be contained in sewage are Eschericia coli, total
coliforms, intestinal enterococci, sulfate-reducing clostridia, and Bacteroids spp.
(Adrados et al. 2018). Other than that, free-living amoebae (FLA) which is a type of
amphizoic protozoa can also be found commonly in domestic wastewater (Cui et al.
2018). These pathogens are needed to be removed from the treated water prior to
recycling because it may cause endemic waterborne diseases (Gibson 2014). Other
than that, helminth eggs were found in KNUST wastewater treatment plant such as
Ascaris sp., tapeworms, Fasciola sp., and Schitosoma sp. (Awuah et al. 2014).
Most of the fecal–oral-transmitted viruses are highly stable and persist in water,
on foods and on environmental surfaces for a long period of time, particularly, at
a cooler temperature such as E.coli which has emerged a heavy concern. Based on
Table 1, the range of E.coli in the campus sewage is within 1.2 × 106 –19.5 × 106
CFU/100 mL. However, not many papers recorded the amount of E.coli present in
the campus sewage.
The presence of heavy metals such as barium (Ba), iron (Fe), copper (Cu), stron-
tium (Sr), cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) are detected in campus and listed in Table 1.
The occurrence of heavy metals such as Ni and Pb is of high concern in the munic-
ipal wastewater treatment process, as their tendency to accumulate in sludge can
counteract its beneficial reuse for nutrient recovery and soil conditioning (Revitt et al.
2011). For instance, national and European regulations specify acceptable levels of
metal pollutants in sludge destined for recycling to agricultural land (e.g., European
Commission 1986) and sludge not meeting those criteria must be disposed of via
alternative means such as incineration or landfilling (European Commission 1986).
Meanwhile, Cd is toxic to humans, has an unknown biological function, and is one
of the more mobile metals in soil. It is thus of particular concern in terms of crop
uptake potential as it can pose health risks to humans and animals at levels well
below phytotoxic concentration (McLaughlin et al. 2000).
Although the report of the presence of micropollutants in campus sewage is
still rare, however, domestic sewage or municipal wastewater are commonly being
reported to contain micropollutants in very low concentrations (µg.L−1 –ng.L−1 )
which essentially distinguish them from traditional contaminants (organic matter,
nitrogen and phosphorus) (Luo et al. 2014; Margot et al. 2015). They originate
mainly from mass-produced consumables used for medical care (pharmaceuticals),
hygienic or cosmetic reasons (personal care products, PCPs), plant/crop protection
(pesticides), and enhancement of the physical properties and performance of products
(industrial chemicals) (Luo et al. 2014).
At present, most wastewater treatment plant is ineffective to remove micropollu-
tants that will flow to the natural water bodies which have the potential in causing
adverse effects to the aquatic life as some of these compounds are toxic at very low
concentrations and should therefore be properly removed (Luo et al. 2014).
Other than that, organic contaminants such as phenol are detected in cam-
pus sewage of COEA Campus (Deshmukh et al. 2017). This compound
has the tendency to get converted to micropollutants containing phenol moi-
eties. Range of transformation processes may occur during high concen-
tration of phenols during wastewater treatment (Beel et al. 2013). More-
over, phenol derivatives are not easily biodegradable due to its high tox-
icity (Ma et al. 2018) https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/immunology-and-
microbiology/microorganism.
The range of parameters that describe the characteristics of campus sewage may
vary since campus sewage characteristics may change diurnally and seasonally. The
variation diurnally can be observed during peak and off season. As in Curtin Univer-
sity Sarawak, the diurnal variation is more established compared to domestic diurnal
patterns that occur during peak hour between 12 noon and 2 pm as it is the lunch
period for students and staff. Meanwhile, seasonal variation in the water consump-
tion and wastewater generation can also be observed, with less volume of water
consumed during off-peak periods such as the semester break. Therefore, both diur-
nal and seasonal variation for water consumption is strongly dependent on population
and ongoing activities (Table 2).
3 Overview of Conventional Sewage Treatments
In ancient times, sewage can be treated naturally by self-purification via streams and
river bodies but the amount of growing population has increased which exceeded the
available capacity of the streams and rivers (Rajasulochana and Preethy 2016). Not
Table 2 Characteristics of sewage influent in campuses
University (Country) BODa CODa TPa TNa N- TSSa pH E.coli (CFU/100 mL) References
NHa3
Vellore Institute of 180 448 NA NA NA 400 7.5 18.5 × 106 Kumar et al. (2008)
Technology (VIT), (India)
Scottsdale Water Campus NA 18 6.2 13.38 6.1 6 NA – Zhang et al. (2009)
(Arizona)
Selcuk University, (Turkey) 280 383 8.9 16.5 NA 204 7 NA Aygun et al. (2014)
Indian Institute of Science NA 660 18 32 25 540 6.8 NA Mahapatra et al. (2013)
(IISc), (India)
Kwame Nkrumah University 198.3 399 11.8 NA 84.8 212 7.5 5.4 × 106 Awuah et al. (2014)
of Science and Technology
(KNUST), (Africa)
University Kattankulathur 295 502 NA NA NA 268 6 NA Prasanna and Sudarsan
Campus, (India) (2014)
University of Santa Cruz do 526.4 NA 7.71 NA 68.8 NA 7.7 9.35 × 106 Silveira et al. (2017)
Sul (UNISC), (Brazil)
North China University, NA 313.85 NA NA 38.42 NA 7.87 NA Sun and Shi (2014)
Sewage Treatment in Campus for Recycling Purpose: A Review
(China)
Universidade de Santa Cruz 224.3 265.9 8.6 41.8 NA NA 7.9 1.2 × 106 Horn et al. (2014)
do Sul (Brazil)
Shandong University (China) NA 220 3.4 NA NA NA 8.3 NA Han et al. (2015)
Universidad Autonoma 208.7 416 NA NA NA 206 6.91 NA Torres et al. (2015)
Metropolitana-Unidad
Azcapotzalco (UAM-A),
(Mexico)
(continued)
211
Table 2 (continued)
212
University (Country) BODa CODa TPa TNa N- TSSa pH E.coli (CFU/100 mL) References
NHa3
College of Engineering 26 NA NA NA NA 695.8 7.10 NA Sanghamitra et al. (2016)
Kalahandi (G.C.E.K), India
Hebei University of 200.5 NA NA NA 69.1 NA NA NA Liu et al. (2016)
Architecture, (China)
University of Padova, (Italy) 30 54 3.1 NA NA NA 7.7 NA Lavagnolo et al. (2017)
COE Ambajogai Campus 18 286 NA 7.5 NA 80 8.1 NA Deshmukh et al. (2017)
(India)
a The
concentration is in mg/L
NA—Not available
A. Z. Yaser and N. N. Safie
only that, the concern over the spreadable diseases in the river basin due to the over-
loaded of untreated wastewater has raised an awareness on treating the wastewater
extensively for better domestic health (Salgot et al. 2018). Conventionally, wastewa-
ter has been treated physically, chemically, and biologically (Metcalf and Eddy 2003).
The advantages and disadvantages of these conventional methods are summarized
in Table 3.
3.1 Sewage Treatments in Campus
Nowadays, many universities and institutes have been built around the world and
there are increments of intakes as the education level has been improved worldwide.
Hence, the sewage volume that is generated by the university or campus has also
increased. This has attracted the focus of research to treat campus sewage as well
as recycle or reuse the water in order to compensate the treatment cost, provide
sustainable campus environment, and reduce the consumption of clean and fresh
water.
Based on the review, the sewage treatments that have been done in campus can be
divided into four categories which are physical, chemical, biological, and combined
systems. Physical sewage treatments in campus are adsorption and filtration. Chemi-
cal sewage treatments in campus are coagulation–flocculation. Biological treatments
that have been used in campus are phytoremediation and bioaugmentation. Besides
these three, combined sewage treatment systems have also been used to treat campus
sewage. Sewage treatments in university and campuses are summarized in Table 4.
3.1.1 Physical Treatments
Adsorption
Generally, adsorption is a process of diffusion of solute (adsorbate) from the bulk
solution into the pore of the adsorbents. Physical adsorption or Van der Waals adsorp-
tion usually occurs between adsorbed molecules and the solid internal pore structure
or surface and it is readily reversible (Geankoplis 2003). Adsorption is one of the
effective methods to remove the soluble contaminants in most wastewater. Adsorption
is being used as the posttreatment after biological treatment to treat wastewater such
as leachate that contains soluble organic components that mostly non-biodegradable
(Azreen and Zahrim 2018). Also, it is considered as a better process due to its con-
venience, ease of operation and simplicity of design (Bhatnagar et al. 2015).
Recently, few materials have been used in adsorption treatment for campus sewage
such as banana peel (Al-Asheh et al. 2013), oil palm shell or coconut shell (Syafiuddin
et al. 2018), and fly ash (Li et al. 2016). The properties of adsorbents materials are
highly affected by the type of precursors such as source of materials and methods
of preparations. Moreover, the effectiveness of adsorbents during adsorption process
Table 3 Advantages and disadvantages of conventional sewage treatments
214
TOT Sewage treatment Advantages Disadvantages References

Physical treatments Screening Function to remove gross solids such Unable to remove small molecules of Metcalf and Eddy (2003), Stephenson
Coarse solid reduction flow as large floating and suspended solids, contaminants et al. (2009)
equalization mixing slit and grit, flocs and biomass in order
Flocculation to protect downstream equipment and
grit removal, sedimentation processes have been long used as
high rate clarification accelerated primary treatment
gravity separation flotation, oxygen
transfer aeration
volatilization
stripping of volatile organic
compounds (VOCs)
Septic tank Inexpensive Cause odor problem not effective in Massoud et al. (2009)
Imhoff tank phosphorus and nitrate removal as
well as pathogens removal
Chemical treatment Chemical precipitation Transformation of nutrients (mainly N Require large amount of chemicals, Mo and Zhang (2012), Salgot et al.
Chemical oxidation forms), chemicals and organic matter time-consuming process as well as (2018)
Advanced oxidation process (AOP) (depending on the redox conditions) maintenance of the technologies used
Ion-exchange For coagulation–flocculation process, are an energy demanding processes.
Chemical neutralization reactive should be added. Stirring is
necessary. Needs a settling step.
Biological treatment Phytoremediation Applications of wetlands, grasslands, Dependent on the environmental Zhang et al. (2010)
crops, and tree plantations have been changes at different seasons, the
successful for a variety of wastes, biological components are sensitive to
usually present in low concentrations toxic contaminants and flushes of
that are not acutely phytotoxic. pollutants or surges in water flow may
Low cost of operation and temporarily reduce treatment
maintenance effectiveness as well as only has
excess to shallow contaminants
plumes.
(continued)
Table 3 (continued)
Conventional waste stabilization Low maintenance and operational cost Cannot remove toxic heavy metals, Rajasulochana and Preethy (2016)
ponds (WSPs) nitrogen, phosphorous, organic and
Anaerobic ponds (APs) inorganic substances from wastewater
Facultative ponds (FPs) in a single step which will require
Maturation ponds (MPs) additional cost for another advance
treatment, removal efficiency is highly
depending on the environmental
factors as well as require high
retention time
Suspended Growth Able to be handled at high organic High capital investment required, high Noyes (1994), Araneda et al. (2017),
Conventional activated sludge (CAS) loads using relatively short retention energy costs, the lengthy start-up time, Guo et al. (2017), Li et al. (2017)
times and sensitivity to toxic and hydraulic
Able to be controlled to achieve shocks
various degrees of treatment. CAS has technical limitations such as
low COD removal
Long retention time and most
importantly the dependence on active
microorganisms to perform
the biodegradation.
Poor sludge settling and carryover of
biological solids are common

operating problems that are evident
due to sludge bulking in CAS
(excessive growth of filamentous
microorganisms)
(continued)
215
Table 3 (continued)
216

Attached growth High biomass concentrations are The trickling filter is not Odegaard et al. (1994), Gupta and
Trickling filters reached in trickling filters and RBC (> volume-effective. Gupta (1999), von Sperling (2007),
Rotating biological contactors (RBC) 20 kg TSS/m3 ) resulting in a high Conventional RBC was reported to Cervantes et al. (2006)
Fixed media submerged biofilters treatment capacity have long start-up time and low
Granular media biofilters Provided with some variants a higher capacity and low COD removal. It is
Fluidized bed reactors biomass concentration is feasible, difficult to get even distribution of the
Conventional biofilm reactors (FBR leading to an efficient treatment with a load on the whole carrier surface in
and MBBR) more compact system fixed media submerged biofilters.
Greater resistance to toxicity due to The granular media biofilters have to
physiological differences and also by be operated discontinuously because
the protective effect of the of the need for backwashing and many
extracellular matrix to the attached of the fluidized bed reactors show
biofilm hydraulic instability.
Conventional biofilm reactors are
prone to clogging at high organic
loading rate and particulate matter
which resulting in frequent backwash
TOT—Type of treatment
Table 4 Sewage treatment techniques in various campuses and university area
TOF Sewage treatment (s) Source of sewage T (o C) HRT Pollutant removal(%) Reference
Physical Adsorption (fly ash and Jordan University of 25, 35, 40 NA 95.2 Al-Asheh et al. (2013)
treatment banana peel) Science and
Technology, Jordan
Multimedia sand COE Ambajogai RT 5h COD : 85 -90 Deshmukh et al. (2017)
filtration (activated Campus, India BOD: 60–70
charcoal, sand, Ca and Mg:
aggregate) 90–95
SS: 85–90
Chemical Coagulation–flocculation Universidad Autonoma RT 38 min COD: 65.8 Torres et al. (2015)
Treatment Metropolitana-Unidad Turbidity: 54.1
Azcapotzalco (UAM-A)
Biological Bioaugmentation (S. Campus of Shandong 25 NA P: 100 Han et al. (2015)
Treatment quadricauda SDEC-13) University N: 70
Bioaugmentation Shandong University 25 NA N: 100 Nie et al. (2018)
(Golenkinia sp.) P: 100
Bioaugmentation University Campus 27 NA P: 66 Sacristán de Alva et al.
(Scenedesmusacutus) (México City, México) N: 94 (2013)
Bioaugmentation University of Santa NA 3d N-NH3 : 100 Silveira et al. (2017)

(Mixture of Cruz do Sul (UNISC), BOD: 55
Desmodesmus and southern Brazil.
Scenedesmus) combine
with vertical flow
constructed wetlands
Bioaugmentation Indian Institute of RT NA NH4 -N: 98 Mahapatra et al. (2013)
(Euglena.sp) Science (IISc), Campus, Orthophosphate: 85
Bangalore, India TP: 66
Organic Carbon: 92
(continued)
217
Table 4 (continued)
218
TOF Sewage treatment (s) Source of sewage T (o C) HRT Pollutant removal(%) Reference
Bioaugmentation Shandong University, 25 NA TN, TP, Nitrate, NH3 : Jiang et al. (2018)
(Scenedesmus China < 90
quadricauda SDEC-13)
Phytotreatment (Plants: Padova University, Italy 24 7d N: 80 Lavagnolo et al. (2017)
Brassica napus P: 90
(rapeseed), Glycine max COD: 90
(soybean) and
Helianthus annuus
(sunflower))
Combined Subsurface infiltration Shenyang University, 0–10 NA COD: 87.5 Cirelli et al. (2012)
treatment (SWI) system China TP: 91.8
TN: 80.1
NH3 -N: 86.9
Dual membrane Scottsdale Water 5–40 NA Turbidity: 96.41 Zhang et al. (2009)
filtration Campus, Arizona SS: 88.33
(UF + RO) Color: 50
Membrane bioreactor North China University, NA NA COD: 82.6 Sun and Shi (2014)
(MBR) Zhengzhou, China NH3 -N: 72.2
Constructed Wetlands Universidade de Santa NA Phase 1: 1.87 d for COD: 62.1 Horn et al. (2014)
coupled with Cruz do Sul, in Santa Phase 2: BOD: 88.7
photocatalytic Cruz do Sul, state of Rio 7d TKN: 27.6
ozonation Grande do Sul, Brazil NH3 -N: 27.1
(Plants: Hymenachne TP: 63.4
grumosa
(Nees)Zuloaga)
RT—Room temperature
HRT—Hydraulic retention time
TOF—Types of treatments
will highly depend on the porosity, surface area, and hydrophobicity because this will
provide more available sites for contaminants adsorption. Activated carbon such as
fly ash that has been used to treat JUST campus sewage has a removal efficiency of
about 95.19% (Al-Asheh et al. 2013).
The adsorption process of adsorbates from the bulk solution onto the surface of
adsorbates at equilibrium is commonly described by using models such as Langmuir-
Freundlich (Sips 1948) and Toth (for heterogeneous surfaces) (Toth 1971), the
Tempkin (model for systems with adsorbate–adsorbate interactions) (Tempkin and
Pyzhev 1940), and Frumkin (model for systems with adsorbate–adsorbate interac-
tions) (Frumkin 1925). As compared to other models, Langmuir has been used widely
to describe the adsorption process model at equilibrium.
However, according to Azizian et al. (2018), some assumptions are not met for the
Langmuir mode in certain systems and reveals the need to modify the isotherm model
in a revised form. The primary assumption was logical but the role of solution con-
centration on desorption rate was unclear and lack of unified method for estimation
of thermodynamics parameters. Furthermore, different values for entropy, S were
identified by using different units of Langmuir equilibrium constant, K L . Besides
that, Langmuir adsorption model is the subsequent application from gas phase to
liquid phase application which leaves an uncertainty.
Filtration
Filtration is a typical energy-saving nonthermal dehydration (liquid) unit operation
that uses filtration media to separate solids and liquids and has attracted wide attention
(Guo et al. 2018). In China, most sewage treatment plants have been using flocculation
and sand filtration as the advanced treatment for reclaimed water prior to disinfection
(Qi et al. 2019). Filtration can be classified into three namely depth filtration, surface
filtration, and membrane filtration (Gholikandi et al. 2012). The media that commonly
used in filtration are coal, silica, sand, and anthracite. Media is either being utilized
as single or in combination of few media. Instead of that, biofilter such as empty fruit
bunch (EFB) can also be used to filter contaminants (Bolong 2016). In conventional
sand filters, most of the solids are removed at or near the surface of sand bed forming
a layer of solids. If the solids concentration is high, head loss increases rapidly, filter
runs are short, and most of the capacity of filter bed is not fully utilized which has
led to dual or multi filtering medium.
In conventional sand filters, most of the solids are removed at or near the surface
of sand bed forming a layer of solids. If the solids concentration is high, head loss
increases rapidly, filter runs are short and most of the capacity of filter bed is not fully
utilized which has led to dual or multi filtering medium (Matsumoto et al. 1982).
Sand filtration has been used to treat campus sewage. Slow sand filtration was the first
principal unit operation used in wastewater treatment which is also known as depth
filtration that involves the removal of particulate material suspended in a liquid by
passing the liquid through a filter bed comprised of granular (sand) or compressible
filter medium (Metcalf and Eddy 2003). The granular medium filtration is commonly
used for achieving supplemental removal of suspended solids following biological
and chemical process (Matsumoto et al. 1982).
Multimedium filtration has been done by Deshmukh et al. (2017) by using three
layers that comprised of activated charcoal (~75 µ), sand (1–1.36 mm) and aggre-
gate (10–12.5 mm). The activated charcoal functions to increase the surface area for
removal of contaminants and aggregate or filter gravel has been used as a support
media to sand filter that has slower break down. This method can remove about
85%–90% and 60%–70% COD and BOD removal, respectively. During the experi-
mental study, it is observed that for finer particles, efficiency of filter is high and for
larger size particles, efficiency of filter is less.
3.1.2 Chemical Treatment
Coagulation–Flocculation
Coagulation–flocculation process is regarded as one of the most important and widely
used treatment processes of industrial wastewaters due to its simplicity and effec-
tiveness (Teh et al. 2016). Hydrolyzing Al (III) salts and Fe (III) salts are the most
common metal coagulants used in the coagulation/flocculation process (Teh et al.
2016). This is due to the availability of strong trivalent electrolytes which is excellent
in coagulation process. These metal coagulants are known to produce acidic effect
on the treated wastewater in which neutralization is needed prior to discharge to the
water bodies (Tamrin and Zahrim 2017). This has led to the usage of other types of
coagulants such as organic polymer and synthetic polymer. Organic polymers are
typically classified as long-chain organic molecules with molecular weights vary-
ing from 104 to 106 and it can be cationic (positively charged), anionic (negatively
charged) or nonionic (no charge) (Metcalf and Eddy 2003).
Coagulation–flocculation method has been used to treat campus sewage of Uni-
versidad Autonoma Metropolitana-Unidad Azcapotzalco (UAM-A) in Mexico City
which originated from sources such as laboratories, toilets, kitchens, and general
services (Torres et al. 2015). This study investigated the usage of metal and polymer
coagulants such as ferric chloride, guar gum, HPTAC-guar, LBG Prosopislaevigata,
and Annonamuricata. Highest COD removals were assessed using Annonamuricata
seed gum (66.05%), and ferric chloride (65.81%). Regarding the turbidity removal,
the best results were achieved for ferric chloride (54.08%) and guar gum (45.92%).
Significant variations in sludge generation were observed. The largest amount of
sludge was obtained using ferric chloride (26 mL/L), followed by Annona muricata
seed gum (10 mL/L). Higher rate of COD and turbidity removal was recorded at the
highest polymer coagulant concentration being used.
Commercial synthetic polymer based coagulants and metal coagulants reported
to cause fouling effect or cloth blinding on surface of membrane during nanofiltra-
tion process due to the formation of sticky or gelatinous cake layer that block the
mechanical pore of the filter (Genter et al. 2018). According to Liu et al. (2012),
the performance of coagulation is effective when metal salts is used in low dosage
of coagulants. According to Zahrim et al. (2017), employing dual coagulants can
also improve the coagulation rates. Zahrim et al. (2010) stated that best polymer
coagulant should be selected to reduce the cost as well as time. However, based on
Cirelli et al. (2012), the constituents of campus sewage constantly vary seasonally
and diurnally, which will render problems in selection of optimum dosage and types
of coagulant to be used in coagulation.
3.1.3 Biological Treatment
Bioaugmentation
Bioaugmentation is a type of bioremediations or biological treatment of adding
selected strains or mixed cultures into sewage in stabilization ponds or enclosed
(tubular, flat plate) systems to improve the catabolism of specific contaminants com-
pounds that will result in a clean treated water (Herrero and Stuckey 2015). Bioaug-
mentation can be applied not only in wastewater but also soil, sediments, and sludge
(Cycoń et al. 2017). It has not been reviewed in a number of years until recently which
is due to the rapid of knowledge development such as ecogonomics (the application of
genomics to ecological and environmental science as well as other molecular meth-
ods) are providing an enormous source of information for monitoring, detection,
quantification, and characterization of microorganisms has opened up the possibility
of exploring bioaugmentation extensively (El Fantroussi and Agathos 2005).
Microorganisms communities are identified that had the ability to colonize such
harsh niches with desired catabolic traits and provided an opportunity to develop
specialized inocula that could be exploited by bioaugmentation (Van Der Gast et al.
2003). Bioaugmentation cannot be explained on the basis of single free energy chem-
ical equation due to the combination of roles of microbial consortia present in the
sewage or wastewater (Herrero and Stuckey 2015).
The effectiveness of this technique relies on the active microorganisms that carry
out the process and its synergy with the exist microorganisms inside the wastewater.
This is because specific target contaminant (or mixture of compounds) can only be
degraded by a very specific mixture of microorganisms (a consortium) harboring
the key metabolic pathways and cooperating in a synergistic way (El Fantroussi and
Agathos 2005). Also, effective bioaugmentation strategies should achieve a quick
diminution in toxicity to the microbial community present which in turn may help
to select “cooperators” for treating complicated wastewater by synergism (Wang
et al. 2009). For instance, it was proven that heterotrophic bacteria not only decom-
pose plant and animal organic matter but also promote plant growth by complex
communication mechanisms and nutrient exchange (Philippot et al. 2013).
There are many bioaugmentation options that have been proven useful ranging
from the use of commercial products, culture collections, and indigenous or exoge-
nous strain/s or tailor-made consortia (Herrero and Stuckey 2015). There are many
microorganisms such as bacteria that have been used for bioaugmentation in wastewa-
ter and sewage treatment namely photosynthetic bacteria (Talaiekhozani and Rezania
2017), anaerobic bacteria (Cyprowski et al. 2018), cyanobacteria (Cuellar-Bermudez
et al. 2017), and oleaginous bacteria (Huang et al. 2017). The application of microor-
Organic
Bacterial Microalgal
matter
Oxidation photosynthesis Biomass
O
Light
Fig. 1 Principle of photosynthetic oxygenation in BOD removal process
ganisms is not limited to treat the sewage or wastewater, but they generate valuable
by-products as well. For instance, oleaginous bacteria including yeast, algae, fungi,
and bacteria could accumulate lipid to 20% of their dry weight (Huang et al. 2017).
However, there is concern regarding the relationship of the microorganisms with
its new biotic and abiotic environments, in terms of survival, activity, and migration
can be decisive in the outcome of any bioaugmentation strategy and in order to over-
come this problem, there is an increasing focus of research to use microorganisms
from the same ecological niche as the polluted area such as using microalgae (El
Fantroussi and Agathos 2005). The application of microalgae in treatment and recy-
cling wastewater has attracted a great deal of interest because of excessive biomass
generation at cheaper cost without extra input of nutrients because wastewater con-
tains sufficient nutrients that are required for the growth of microalgae (Kothari et al.
2013).
Microalgae is species of algae in the size of micron and scattered density (Zhuang
et al. 2018). Conventionally, before microalgae being introduced, algae has long
being used in facultative pond for nutrients removal (e.g., nitrogen and phosphorus).
The photosynthetic of algae species in facultative ponds affected by the sunlight
intensity and during peak algal activity, carbonate and bicarbonate ion will react to
provide carbon dioxide for the algae leaving hydroxyls ion in excess subsequently
provide basic conditions (pH > 9) that will kill the fecal coliform.
Figure 1 shows the biological pathway of contaminants removal by using microal-
gae. Microalgae will consume the contaminants in the sewage and release oxygen
as the by-product. In the same time, heterotrophic bacteria will use the oxygen to
make their own food. Sewage is used as a medium to culture microalgae without any
additional sources and cleans the sewage for reuse or recycling purpose which is the
reason it is an eco-friendly and resource saving.
The most tolerant eight genera were found to be Euglena, Oscillatoria, Chlamy-
domonas, Scenedesmus, Chlorella, Nitzschia, Navicula, and Stigeoclonium. Algae
are broadly classified as Rhodophyta (red algae), Phaeophyta (brown algae), and
Chlorophyta (green algae) and classified by size as macroalgae or microalgae.
Macroalgae (seaweed) are multicellular, large-size algae, visible with the naked eye,
while microalgae are microscopic single cells and may be prokaryotic, similar to
cyanobacteria (Chloroxybacteria), or eukaryotic, similar to green algae (Chloro-
phyta).
Based on the review, different species of microalgae have been used in campus
sewage treatment namely S. quadricauda SDEC-13, Golenkinia sp., Scenedesmusa-
cutus, and Euglena.sp. It is recorded to have an efficiency of 55–100% which depends
on the type of microalgae being used. In fact, it can also be combined with other
treatment such as wetland and has removal of 55% (BOD) and 100% (N–NH3 ).
Till date, microalgae have been used as secondary treatment and tertiary treatment.
The bioremediation using algae does not limit to one species, in fact, more than one
species can be combined to treat campus wastewater as being done by Silveira et al.
(2017) with 100% removal of N–NH3 .
The selection of microalgae for a particular treatment option can be based
on the knowledge about the indigenous species in such wastewaters, mak-
ing use of their characteristics for our advantage. Several microalgae species
(such as Chlorella sp. Scenedesmus sp. or Desmodesmus sp. (Ji et al. 2014;
Martinez-Sosa et al. 2011), Neochloris sp., Chlamydomonas sp. (Xiong et al.
2016), Nitzschia sp., and Cosmarium sp. (Daneshvar et al. 2007) have been
applied for various types of wastewater treatments coupled with biofuels pro-
duction. The most commonly applied species are Chlorella, Scenedesmus and
some other cynobacteria due to their high growth rate, high environmental tol-
erance as well as high lipid/starch accumulation potential (Wang et al. 2016).
Also, strains such as Oscillatoria, Scenedesmus, Chlorella, and Nitzschia have
been ranked as the most pollution-tolerant microalgae in wastewater treatment sys-
tems (Colzi Lopes et al. 2018). Chlorella sp. is widely applied in the wastew-
ater treatment because of its enhanced ability in removing nitrogen, phospho-
rus, and chemical oxygen demand https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-
planetary-sciences/chemical-oxygen-demand (COD), while Scenedesmus sp. can
be cultivated in high piggery wastewater (Kim et al. 2016), and high COD-
loading swine https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-
sciences/swine wastewater (Prandini et al. 2016). Zhou et al. (2011) had isolated
microalgae strains from various wastewater treatment sites and found that five strains
(of the genera Chlorella sp., Hindakia sp., Scenedesmus sp., and Auxenochlorella
protothecoides) recorded higher biomass and lipid productivity.
Optimal growth temperatures for most microalgae species are in the range of
15–35 °C. Under low temperatures, lower growth rates are recorded while high tem-
peratures may result in oxidative stress (Posadas et al. 2017). On the other hand,
a positive correlation between the photoperiod and microalgae growth is expected,
although a long light exposure and high irradiance may result in growth photoinhibi-
tion and culture photodamage. For instance, Chlamydomonas reindhardtii, Chlorella
vulgaris, and Scenedesmus obliquus grown independently in swine WW showed
higher biomass productions and greater nutrient removal rates at 23 °C and 14/10 h/h
light/dark cycles (irradiance of 5500 lx) than at 15 °C and 11/13 h/h light/dark cycles
(Molinuevo-Salces et al. 2016).
However, microalgae are reported by Aksman and Tukaj (2004) to be sensitive

with hazardous contaminants and special care must be taken to improve the microbial
activity. In addition, the presence of heavy toxic metals like cadmium, mercury or
zinc in industrial wastewater can interfere with the microalgae growth metabolic
pathway (Zhen-Feng et al. 2011). Moreover, nutrients present in wastewater might
support the growth of other microorganisms (fungus, bacteria, protozoa, metazoa and
other microlife) that would compete with the microalgae for nutrients (Gebremedhin
et al. 2018). As a result, one has to consider the composition of wastewater and
optimize it in such a way that it would be more suitable for the enhanced microalgae
biomass yield (Zhang et al. 2014). Furthermore, the optimum biomass concentration
is dependent on the reactor configuration and light intensity whereby higher biomass
concentration is recorded at high light intensity.
Phytoremediation
Phytoremediation has also been used to treat sewage in campus. Phytoremediation is
a well-established environmental protection technique that has received increasing
attention since the term has been coined two decades ago (Vamerali et al. 2010).
According to Susarla et al. (2002), phytoremediation can be accomplished by three
methods of applications which are in situ, in vivo and in vitro. In situ phytoremedi-
ation is conducted by placing the selected living plants in the contaminated surface
water, soil, or sediment for the purpose of remediation which is also applied in most
wetland. In vivo phytoremediation is applicable for plants that are inaccessible to
the contaminants such as wastewater in deep aquifer. It is done by transferring out
the wastewater by using mechanical means prior to treatment. The treatment is done
outside by using the living plants and transferred back to its original location. Lastly,
in vitro phytoremediation is done by applying the components of the living plants
instead of the whole living plants, for instance, the extracted enzymes to treat con-
taminated pond or wetland. Living plants that were used in treating campus sewage
namely Brassica napus (rapeseed), Glycine max (soybean) and Helianthus annuus
(sunflower), and Hymenachne grumosa (Nees) Zuloaga.
The mechanism of phytoremediation is explained by Zhang et al. (2010) whereby
all the contaminants are amenable to one of these actions which are phytoransforma-
tions, rhizosphere bioremediation, phytoextraction, rhizofiltration, and phytostabi-
lization. Furthermore, the rate of biodegradation and mineralization of contaminants
during phytoremediation is usually affected by the nature and concentrations of con-
taminants present as well as surrounding soil/air moisture, pH, temperature, soil
elemental composition, and their bioavailability and the supporting microbial media
(McCutcheon et al. 2008). The advantages and disadvantages of phytoremediation
are tabulated in Table 5.
Wetland is one of the common in situ phytoremediation treatments that are widely
being used. The mechanism of treatment using wetland is contaminant plumes from
the sewage water flow into the wetland may travel downgradient into the ground and
as it approaches shallower depths, the contaminants will encounter the rhizosphere
of upland plant communities in wetland where initial in situ phytoremediation may
occur (Randerson 2006).
Table 5 Advantages and constraints of phytoremediation

Advantages Constraints
In situ Limited to shallow ground, water, soils, and
sediments
Passive High concentrations of hazardous materials can be
toxic to plants and animals that consume the plants
Solar driven Mass transfer limitations associated as with other
biotreatments
Cost 10–20% of mechanical treatments Only effective for moderately hydrophobic
compounds
Faster than natural attenuation Toxicity and bioavailability of biodegradation
products are not known
High public acceptance Contaminants may be mobilized into the
groundwater
Fewer air and water emissions Influenced by soil and climate conditions of the site
Conserve natural resources
Source Gao et al. (2015)
This process includes: (1) modifying the physical and chemical properties of
contaminated soils; (2) releasing root exudates and increasing organic carbon; (3)
improving aeration by releasing oxygen directly to the root zone as well as increas-
ing the porosity of upper soil zones; (4) intercepting and retarding the movement
of chemicals; (5) effecting co-metabolic microbial and plant enzymatic transforma-
tions of recalcitrant chemicals; and (6) decreasing vertical and lateral migration of
pollutants to groundwater by extracting available water and reversing the hydraulic
gradient (Susarla et al. 2002).
Due to this, the waste treatment is dependent on the depth of the root where it is
best to be applied on shallow depth basis and low contaminants and more suitable
for polishing step after the initial treatment for high level contaminant albeit it is the
least expensive for sewage or wastewater remediation (Zhang et al. 2010; Susarla
et al. 2002).
Wetland is a biofilter which contains plants that provide substrate (roots, stems, and
leaves) upon which microorganisms can grow as they break down organic materials
and uptake heavy materials (McCutcheon et al. 2008). The disadvantages of natural
wetlands such as lack of efficiencies for desired objective and stringent water quality
standard has led to the rapid development of constructed wetland (CW) (Zhang et al.
2010). Constructed wetland (CW) is a man-made filter system constructed from
plants, mixed soil as media, and a set of microbes helping to remove pollutants in
wastewater (Winanti et al. 2018). Constructed wetlands are considered as low-cost
alternatives for the treatment of domestic wastewaters due to the advantages such as
lowering the initial costs by using cheap materials, eliminating the need for sludge
removal, and developing a pathogenically safe as well as aesthetic treatment by
applying subsurface flow (Ayaz and Akca 2000).
There are two types of constructed wetlands namely, free surface flow and sub-
surface flow. Free surface flow requires larger areas than subsurface flow, but it has
lower costs, while subsurface flow depends on the wastewater discharge in media. In
urban areas subsurface flow is more suitable to be used because of the availability of
areas (ElZein et al. 2016). There are two hydraulic flow systems in subsurface flow
constructed wetland, horizontal flow type, and vertical flow type. In horizontal flow
system, the water laterally flows beneath the surface through the gravel bed, while in
vertical flow system, the water downwardly flows through the increased particle size
layers. The vertical flow system is an efficient, and small-scale wastewater alternative
treatment (approximately 30 people) Randerson (2006).
Generally, CW removes about 80–99% of organic matter, 92–95% of bacteria,
30–80% of nitrogen, and 20–70% of phosphorus from domestic wastewaters depend-
ing on the plant type used and flow regime (Ayaz and Akca 2000). Despite its benefits,
the performance of CW may be less consistent than in conventional treatments due
to the environmental changes at different seasons. During the normal flow, high rate
pollutants removal was achieved but the performance was decreased during the heavy
rainfall due to surface overflow. Under normal flow conditions, the removal of pol-
lutants may occur extensively but during the heavy rainfall the surface overflow may
occur and disrupt the effectiveness of CW.
3.1.4 Combined Systems
Membrane Bioreactor (MBR)

Membrane bioreactor is commonly known as the combination of membrane filtration
and biological treatment such as in activated sludge, where the membrane primarily
serves to replace the clarifier in the water treatment (Meng et al. 2009). There are
three types of membranes that are commonly used namely flat sheet (FS), hollow
fiber membrane (HFM) and multi tubular (MT). As compared with the conventional
wastewater treatment processes, MBR has smaller footprint and reactor requirements,
higher effluent quality, better disinfection capability, higher volumetric loading, and
less sludge production (Sari Erkan et al. 2018). Basically, there are two types of
membrane bioreactor (MBR) which are submerged membrane bioreactor and exter-
nal membrane bioreactor. Even though external MBR is robust and flexible and both
can be used for aerobic and anaerobic process (provided this compartment is added to
the system), but submerged MBR is mostly used in municipal wastewater compared
to external MBRs. This is because submerged MBR has constant permeate flux, less
equipment, easier membrane cleaning and low energy requirements (Sari Erkan et al.
2018).
MBR has been used in treating sewage in North China University, China and
reported average removal for COD and NH3 –N is 82.6% and 72.2%, respectively
(Sun and Shi 2014). Despite its advantages, MBR is subjected to several disadvan-
tages starting from high operation costs to the membrane fouling problem which
reduces both water quantity and quality as well as increasing the operating costs by
60% (Kimura et al. 2009). Other consequences due to the fouling are lower permeate
flux, higher transmembrane pressure (TMP), and frequent membrane cleaning and
replacement (Mahendran et al. 2011).
However, membrane fouling can be reduced by pretreatment of feed, membrane
material/surface modification, and operating parameters (Zahrim et al. 2011). It is
reported that feed pretreatment such as coagulation–flocculation is the most success-
ful and straightforward method to alleviate membrane fouling (Hilal et al. 2005; Lau
and Ismail 2009).
Dual—Membrane Filtration
Filtration using membrane filtration is a surface filtration device but different in terms
of size of the pores and filter medium. The size of pores for membrane ranging from
0.0001 to 1.0 µm used dual membrane filtration where ultrafiltration (UF) is con-
ducted as pretreatment followed by reverse osmosis (RO) (Metcalf and Eddy 2003;
Zhang et al. 2010). Ultrafiltration usually removed macromolecules colloids, most
bacteria, some viruses, and proteins. Meanwhile, reverse osmosis can remove very
small molecules, color hardness, sulfates, nitrate, sodium, and other ions (Metcalf
and Eddy 2003).
UF processes predominantly use organic membranes, with cellulose acetate (CA),
polysulfone (PS), polyethylene (PE), polyethersulfone (PES) and polyvinylidene
difluoride (PVDF) in wastewater treatment (del Pino and Durham 1999). Reportedly
by Zhang et al. (2010), the PVC-UF membrane efficiently removed turbidity, sus-
pended solids, and color, with removal efficiencies of 96.41%, 88.33%, and 50.00%,
respectively. Furthermore, the UF pretreatment was found to enhance the RO average
permeate flux and recovery by 34% and 21%, respectively, compared to the simu-
lated conventional pretreatment system. However, the high levels of particulates,
dissolved organic matter (DOM) and microorganisms in wastewater can easily foul
UF membranes (Zhang et al. 2010).
CW Combined with Photocatalytic Ozonation
CW can also be coupled with other type of treatment to treat campus sewage. This
has been done by Horn et al. (2014) where CW was combined with photocatalytic
ozonation reactor (POR). Photocatalytic ozonation (PO) is an advanced oxidation
treatment which is also a combination of ozonation and photocatalysis process that is
objected to produce more hydroxyl radicals (OH·) by using high oxidation property of
ozone. Oxygen atoms of ozone will be reduced in the conduction band to ozonide ion
radicals (O3.− ) that rapidly can be converted to HO· . High concentration of HO· will
increase the contaminants oxidation rate and minimize the potential of undesirable
recombination reaction of electrons as well as positive holes in the valence band,
which can result inhibition of the oxidation rate. However, CW coupled with POR
has lower COD removal compared to CW with subsurface infiltration by 25.4%.
4 Acceptable Criteria for Sewage Recycling
Sewage is known to be recycled which offers resource and financial savings. Water
recycling is reusing treated wastewater for beneficial purposes such as agricultural
and landscape irrigation, industrial processes, toilet flushing, and replenishing a
groundwater basin (referred to as groundwater recharge). Sewage that has been
treated needs to meet certain criteria before it is being used for further use in order to
protect public health (Rahman et al. 2016). Although the water has been treated, the
containment of pathogens and contaminants still persist that are potentially detrimen-
tal to soils or plant growth and pose a risk to the environment and public health. Hence,
strict regulations and guidelines have been outlined to meet the safety requirements
for the treated water prior to recycling.
The reusability of treated water must undergo scientific examinations to ensure
that it is safe to be reused (Jeong et al. 2016). Organizations and agencies such
as Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Food and Agricultural Organization
(FAO), World Health Organization (WHO) and Department of Environment and
Conservation (DEC) have outlined their rules and regulations that need to be enforced
prior to water recycling as an objective of protecting the environment and human
from danger.
As shown in Table 6, US EPA has outlined strict standards where it totally elim-
inates the risk of infection especially on the crop that for human consumption or
expose to public people especially as in campus. The guidelines for irrigation using
recycled water have also been outlined by World Health Organization (WHO) that
has been successfully applied to irrigation reuse applications throughout the world.
Irrigation of crops (both food and nonfood) with untreated wastewater is widely
practiced in many parts of the developing world with accompanying adverse public
health outcomes (WHO 2006). According to WHO (2006), the microbial reduction
target has to achieve certain target for different types of irrigation in agriculture that
is to achieve the health-based target.
When using treated wastewater for irrigation, water quality must be strictly con-
trolled considering factors such as the possible accumulation of substances which
are harmful for crop growth, the potential damage to soil by the transformation of
its physical and chemical characteristics, and microbe infection (Rhee et al. 2009).
Using untreated wastewater for agriculture can cause parasitosis or waterborne epi-
demics, and there have been numerous reports on the break of infectious diseases
due to inappropriate wastewater reuse (WHO 2006).
The permissible limit for the conventional and nonconventional contaminants
in sewage or wastewater is not only different for each of the organizations but also
countries around the world as shown in Table 7 below. Different country has different
regulations regarding the water recycling as it gaining attention due to its applica-
bility in many areas For instance in Australia, levels of different contaminants in
the recycled water are within the range of Australian Standards for urban irrigation
(Rahman et al. 2016).
Table 6 Suggested guidelines for water reuse by US EPA
Reuse category and description Treatment Reclaimed water quality
Unrestricted Secondary pH = 6.0–9.0
The use of reclaimed water in nonpotable applications in municipal settings where Filtration ≤10 mg/L
public access is not restricted. Disinfection ≤2 NTU
No detectable fecal coliform/100 mL
1 mg/L Cl2 residual (min.)
Restricted Secondary pH = 6.0–9.0
The use of reclaimed water in nonpotable applications in municipal settings where Disinfection ≤30 mg/L
public access is controlled or restricted by physical or institutional barriers, such as ≤30 mg/l TSS
fencing, advisory signage, or temporal access restriction ≤200 fecal coliform/100 ml
1 mg/L Cl2 residual (min.)
Food crops Secondary pH = 6.0-9.0
The use of reclaimed water for surface or spray irrigation of food crops which are Filtration ≤10 mg/l BOD
intended for human consumption, consumed raw. Disinfection ≤2 NTU
No detectable fecal coliform/100 ml
1 mg/l Cl2 residual (min.)
Processed food crops Secondary pH = 6.0-9.0
The use of reclaimed water for surface irrigation of food crops which are intended Disinfection ≤30 mg/l BOD (7)
for human consumption, commercially processed. ≤30 mg/l TSS
Non-food crops ≤200 fecal coli/100 ml
The use of reclaimed water for irrigation of crops which are not consumed by 1 mg/l Cl2 residual (min.)
humans, including fodder, fiber, and seed crops, or to irrigate pasture land,
commercial nurseries, and sod farms.

Environmental reuse Variable Variable, but not to exceed:
The use of reclaimed water to create wetlands, enhance natural wetlands, or sustain Secondary (and disinfection ≤30 mg/l BOD
stream flows. (min.) ≤30 mg/l TSS
≤200 fecal coliform/100 ml
1 mg/l Cl2 residual (min.)
(continued)
229
Table 6 (continued)
230
Reuse category and description Treatment Reclaimed water quality

Groundwater recharge by spreading into potable aquifers Disinfection Disinfection
Secondary Secondary
Filtration Filtration
Soil aquifer treatment Soil aquifer treatment
pH—daily
Total coliform—daily
Cl2 residual—continuous
Drinking water standards—quarterly
Other—depends on constituent
TOC—weekly
Turbidity—continuous
Monitoring is not required for viruses and parasites: their removal rates are
prescribed by treatment requirements
Groundwater recharge by injection into potable aquifers Secondary Includes, but not limited to, the following:
Filtration No detectable
Disinfection No detectable total coliform/100 ml
Advanced wastewater pH = 6.5–8.5
treatment 1 mg/l Cl2 residual (min.)
≤2 NTU
≤2 mg/l TOC of wastewater origin
Meet drinking water standards
Secondary Includes, but not limited to, the following:
Filtration Disinfection No detectable total coliform/100 ml (9, 10)
Advanced wastewater 1 mg/l Cl2 residual (min.)
treatment pH = 6.5–8.5
≤2 NTU (8)
≤2 mg/l TOC of wastewater origin
Meet drinking water standards
Source 2012 Guidelines for Water Reuse, United States Environmental Protection Agency (2012)
Table 7 Irrigation water quality guidelines and standards for wastewater reuse in agriculture
Parameters South Korea1 WHO2 Cyprus3 France Portugal Spain
Coliform FC ND TC UR E.coli Cooked FC (MPN) UR E.coli Vegetables FC (cfu) Uncooked E.coli
(/100 mL) (cfu) vegetables ≤ 100 (cfu) consume ≤ 100 vegetables (cfu)
≤ 1000 ≤ 250 raw ≤ 100
PFC TC R E.coli Crops for FC (MPN) All crops E.coli Cooked FC (cfu) Crops for E.coli
(MPN) ≤ (cfu) human ≤ 1000 except (cfu) vegetables ≤ 1000 human (cfu)
200 ≤10,000 consump- those ≤10,000 consump- ≤1000
tion consumed tion
raw
Turbidity FC ≤2 – a – – TSS ≤ 60 Uncooked ≤10
vegetables
PFC ≤5 Crops for –
human
consump-
tion
Suspended – – Cooked ≤15 UR <15 – Uncooked ≤20
solids vegetables vegetables
(mg/L) Crops for ≤45 All crops Variesb Crops for ≤35
human except human

consump- those consump-
tion consumed tion
raw
(continued)
231
Table 7 (continued)
232
Parameters South Korea1 WHO2 Cyprus3 France Portugal Spain

BOD ≤8 – Cooked ≤15 – – –
(mg/L) vegetables
Crops for ≤30
human
consump-
tion
COD – – – Unrestricted <60 – –
(mg/L) All crops Varies
except
those
consumed
raw
Intestinal – ≤1 ND – ≤1 ≤1 (/10 L)
nematodes
pH 5.8–8.5 – – – 6.5–8.4 –
EC Food ≤700 – – ≤1000 –
(µs/cm) crops
Processed ≤2,000
food crops
ND = not detected; TC = total coliform; FC = fecal coliform; TSS = total suspended solids; FC = food crops; PFC = Process food crops; R = restricted
UR = unrestricted. 1 Standards for direct wastewater reuse. 2 The most stringent verification monitoring level, which refers to what has previously been referred
to as effluent guideline levels, for each irrigation type and arithmetic mean value. 3 For vegetables eaten raw is not allowed and maximum value allowed. a No
recommendation. b In accordance with wastewater treatment standards
Source Jeong et al. (2016)
As in Malaysia, according to the report by Azman et al. (2011), currently, there

is no information on the area of food crops irrigated with wastewater as the Gov-
ernment of Malaysian has yet to have a policy on the reuse of wastewater whether
treated or untreated, for irrigation. However, according to the Sustainability Report
2011 by Indah Water Konsortium (IWK) (2011), the organization has been practic-
ing the reuse of sewage by-products at 13 of their regional plants as an initial effort
to conserving water, energy, and the environment. The reuse of the treated effluent
from their plants is currently confined to internal housekeeping or nonpotable use,
such as STP compound cleaning, vehicles cleaning and watering of plants for land-
scaping purpose. The treated effluent is also recycled as makeup water for polymer
preparation as well as for water filling for sewer cleaning vehicles for sewer cleaning
maintenance works and clearing of blockages (Indah Water Konsortium 2011).
5 Sewage Recycling in Campus
Recent concerns over public health, environmental protection, and resource recovery
have induced to look at domestic wastewater more as a resource than as a waste. So,
many authorities are not in a position to afford complete treatment of sewage to meet
standards for various reuses. It is therefore necessary to look for a cost-effective
solution for treatment of sewage and wherever possible reuse of treated sewage to
solve.
Water recycling allows communities to address system vulnerabilities resulting
from population growth, drought, diminishing supplies, scarcity, and reliance on a
single water source (Wade Miller 2006). These systems can be centralized, decen-
tralized, or at an intermediate scale, and can be used for a variety of applications
including cooling water for power plants, boiler feed water, industrial process water,
irrigation, or indoor residential and commercial end uses (Makropoulos and Butler
2010).
Recycled water can assist in the water scarcity problem that it could reduce the
water and nutrient usage by 84 and 55% and has become one of the major and less
expensive nonconventional water sources for agriculture which is roughly 20 out of
200 million Ha of irrigated land worldwide (Jaramillo and Restrepo 2017). There
are many areas of recycled water from sewage can be implied for instance vegetable
production (Cirelli et al. 2012), developing the plants, trees, and landscaping works in
the university campus (Ghangrekar et al. 2007) and irrigation water. Due to stringent
treated water quality, the application of recycled sewage water in UMS is focusing
on low levels quality of recycled water to be used in areas which has less human
involvement and direct feed or use.
As aforementioned, recycled water from sewage can be used for developing the
plants, trees, and landscaping works in the university campus. Since most of the
landscape are using clean water for watering the landscape plants, domestic sewage
in the campus can be treated as the supplementary water source for the landscape
water body (Liu et al. 2016). Based on the environmental impacts evaluation done
by Bhakar et al. (2016), the impact of treated water on global warming potential is
negligible while the impact of fresh tap water has 77% impact and treated water used
for irrigation is the origin of 0.01% of the impacts only. The study also shows that
the use of treated water for gardening activities will reduce the environmental impact
of the university by almost 25%.
Wastewater recycling for irrigation is a potentially important as well as relatively
low-cost source of water and therefore is used in more than 40 countries (Jiménez
and Asano 2008). Instead of being used for irrigation, Ghangrekar et al. (2007) have
utilized a sewage pond for aquaculture, by releasing fish like tilapia into the pond.
Also, duckweed has been reproduced in the same sewage pond and has shown that
sewage pond is feasible for aquaculture activities.
Sewage generated from colleges and universities contain low heavy metal and
contaminants which make it suitable to be reused on-site for nonpotable uses such
as lawn irrigation and toilet flushing. Toilet flushing can be done in a compound
such as hotel as being done by March et al. (2004). The water is filtrated, treated,
and disinfected using hypochlorite as the disinfecting agent before it is being used in
toilet flushing system. An average amount of water of 5.2 m3 /d−1 was reused, which
represents 23% of the total water consumption of the hotel.
Instead of toilet flush system, analysis by Zhang et al. (2017) has shown that
bathing sewage is very suitable for the waste heat recovery by using sewage source
heat pump because of its suitable water flow, water temperature, and water quality.
Also, it is economically feasible with payback period 3.39 year. This is suitable to
be used to preheat the water bath in hostel shower rooms.
Based on the life cycle assessment (LCA) by Raghuvanshi et al. (2017), it has been
found that the recycled water from the plant provides positive impact on the assessed
categories. Effect of treatment system is overriding the effect of recycled water
in other categories like terrestrial ecotoxicity potential, global warming potential,
particulate matter formation, fossil depletion potential, etc. However, the social effect
of untreated sewer and environmental effect of compost produced by the system have
not been studied. This founding is also concurred with founding by Bhakar et al.
(2015) that the recycled water used for irrigation has nearly zero impact and the tap
water used in buildings has the highest impact on environment due to the extraction
of groundwater and its supply consumes a lot of energy.
Despite the variability and advantages of recycled water from sewage, there are
several concerns related to environmental and health risks. If not properly man-
aged, recycled water could deteriorate soil health in terms of increased salinity and
solidicity, heavy metal accumulation, and decreased hydraulic conductivity of soil
(Rahman et al. 2016). Nevertheless, recycled water may contain undesirable chemi-
cal constituents and pathogens which may threaten the environmental and domestic
health (Papadopoulos 1995). A few risk factors have been identified due to the con-
tinuous usage of recycling wastewater which can be short and long term impacts
(WHO 1987).
For instance, the Hawkesbury campus of the University of Western Sydney
(UWS), with its strong agricultural and environmental ethos, has had an agree-
ment with the Sydney Water Corporation to accept tertiary-treated (chlorinated but
unfiltered) effluent from the Richmond sewage treatment plant (STP) for irrigation.
Currently, lawns, sports fields, fruit orchards, vegetable beds and pasture for horses,
deer, sheep, and dairy cattle are irrigated with this valuable resource (Attwater et al.
2006). While this long-term usage of recycle water has been without recorded health
incident, in late 2002, analytical laboratory reports from the STP suggested deterio-
ration in microbial quality of the effluent being supplied to the campus (Derry et al.
2006).
Furthermore, the irrigation of marigold plants using treated sewage from VIT
college have shown that the growth parameters of all marigold plants were better as
compared to the control plant, but chlorinated water irrigated plant was having an
adverse effect on leaf surface area and chlorophyll content and also did not show
much difference in their growth patterns with the control sample (Kumar et al. 2008).
A study conducted by Shakir et al. (2017) also indicated a slight to moderate degree
of restriction on the use of this treated wastewater in irrigation due to the chloride
hazard. Also, residual sodium carbonate (RSC) value is more than 1.25 at all seasons,
indicating that samples in summer and autumn are doubtful for irrigation purposes,
while the samples in spring and winter are unsuitable for irrigation.
Although pathogen transfer is generally considered the most pressing concern,
it is nonetheless important to ensure that the lack of information regarding chemi-
cal pollutant dynamics of greywater does not lead to the prevalence of suboptimal
treatment trains or inappropriate reuse practices (Revitt et al. 2011). This is currently
being brought into focus with the development of national standards and codes of
practice for both greywater treatment and specific reuse applications (e.g., in the UK
and Australia). There are a few knowledge gaps related to the potential effects of
reusing wastewater such as degradation mechanisms and transformation products of
the contaminants, possibilities of pharmaceutical residues reaching humans through
biomagnification in the food chain and better detection as well as source tracking for
resistant pathogens (Fatta-Kassinos et al. 2011).
Nevertheless, the risk of using recycled water from sewage or municipal wastew-
ater to environmental and health aspects can be reduced by using tertiary treatment.
The LCA done by Licciardello et al. (2018) proven that the cost of treating the munic-
ipal wastewater using two extensive tertiary treatment is just the same and can be
compensated by recycling the wastewater for vegetable crop irrigation, especially
for rural areas in developing countries.
6 Conclusion and Future Remarks
Sewage characteristics, ways to treat sewage, acceptable criteria for sewage recycle,
and ways to reuse the treated sewage in campus have been reviewed in this paper.
The process will not require high cost and complications since the level of contami-
nants in campus sewage is rather low and safe for reuse purposes. Low-cost methods
such as bioaugmentation, phytoremediation, and wetland should be introduced to the
university authorities to treat sewage. Based on the review, bioaugmentation method
using mix species of microalgae has been reported to have the highest contaminants
removal which is up to 100%. This method should be considered to be used as a
method to treat campus sewage as it is cheap, simple application, less maintenance,
and highly effective. At once, this will reduce the cost for campus sewage man-
agement. However, microalgae are reported to be vulnerable towards the hazardous
contaminants, light dependent, and affected by the design of the photobioreactor.
Treated sewage from campus has the potential to be reused in irrigation, developing
university landscape, water source for toilet flush and aquaculture. Based on the LCA,
the benefits of using recycled water from campus sewage can override the effect of
recycled water in other categories like terrestrial ecotoxicity potential, global warm-
ing potential, particulate matter formation, fossil depletion potential, etc. However,
if it is not properly managed, treated water can deteriorate the soil properties and
lead to significant change in total nitrogen, pH, and heavy metals content in the soil.
It may contain undesirable chemical constituents and pathogens that pose environ-
mental and health risk. As reported, when used for a long term, laboratory reports
revealed that there is a deterioration in microbial quality of the effluent being sup-
plied to the campus. Also, irrigation of crops using treated water has been reported
to have adverse effects on leaf surface area and chlorophyll content. The detection of
chloride hazard and RSC in the soil has made it unsuitable for irrigation of vegetable
crops that will be delivered to the consumers. Nevertheless, the risk of using recycled
water from sewage or municipal wastewater to environmental and health aspects can
be reduced by using tertiary treatment and the cost will be compensated by the cost
reduction in using recycled water from sewage for vegetable irrigation especially in
rural areas. Besides, it is compulsory to outline a standardize legislation for sewage
reuse in university campus that needs to be followed to ensure campus community
safety. Moreover, every university should build a proper sewage management to treat
sewage efficiently so that it can fully be reused in the campus. There is also lack of
awareness on the reusing of treated campus sewage albeit the fact that sewage gener-
ated from campus is increasing daily. Lastly, a proper plan on sewage management
system must be emphasized as it will ensure promising initiatives towards greener
environment and sustainable campus area.
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Advanced Treatment of Campus Sewage
by MV/UV/O3 for Water Reclamation
Shengying Gong, Yanting Wang and Jie Fu
Abstract The microwave/electrodeless ultraviolet/ozone (MV/UV/O3 ) system was

designed to deeply treat the outflow from the membrane bioreactor (MBR) process
to meet the requirements for campus water reclamation. The effects of microwave
power and UV intensity were studied by using factor experiments to find the rel-
atively optimum technical parameters for disinfection, decolorization and deodor-
ization. As the power of microwave raised from 300 to 450 W, the efficiencies of
disinfection, decolorization, and deodorization were significantly increased; how-
ever, continuously increasing the microwave power to 600 W, the increased trend of
treatment efficiency would be largely retarded. Similarly, the treatment efficiency of
MV/UV/O3 system fiercely increased with increasing the UV light intensity from
0.52 to 1.04 mW/cm2 , and then slowly climbed when further increasing the UV light
intensity to 1.56 mW/cm2 . Therefore, 300 W of microwave power and 1.04 mW/cm2
of UV light intensity (2 lamps) are the optimal parameters. Overall, MV/UV/O3 is
an effective process to guarantee the effluent quality to meet the requirements of
reclaimed water for miscellaneous use in campus.
Keywords Campus water reclamation · Microwave · Electrodeless ultraviolet ·

Disinfection · Ozone · Decolonization
1 Introduction
Water is of vital importance to life, it covers about 70% of the terrestrial crust,
while only 2.5% of total water, which is considered as fresh water, is available
for life forms (Gleick 1993). With the rapid development of both our society and
the constant changes of the natural environment, the water source has been dwindled
sharply and water quality is continuously degrading (Fu et al. 2017; Worrall and Burt
2009). Water shortage has become a prominent problem that restricts the sustainable
development of human society and the improvement of the ecological environment.
S. Gong · Y. Wang · J. Fu (B)

Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
e-mail: jiefu@fudan.edu.cn

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7260-5_16
246 S. Gong et al.
As is reported by Veldkamp et al. (2017), almost all countries in a belt around 10–40
degrees north are affected by water scarcity. Be faced with this phenomenon, the
reuse of treated wastewater and promoting the rational allocation have represented
an effective choice in sustainable use of water resources. At present, one of the
measures frequently taken by countries with high water resource utilization rate
is to deeply treat the urban domestic sewage and industrial wastewater to reach the
standard of water reclamation (Cheng et al. 2018; Fu et al. 2012). The reclaimed water
has the widespread use such as agricultural land irrigation, aquaculture, landscape
irrigation, urban and industrial applications, artificial recharging of groundwater, and
even providing potable water (Cheng et al. 2018; Purnell et al. 2016).
During the sewage treatment process, the main chemical pollutants can be effec-
tively removed, while the pathogenic microorganisms can be partially removed in
the conventional treatment, and the remained pathogens pose potential health risks.
Therefore, an advanced disinfection process is needed for the production of recycled
water (Agulló-Barceló et al. 2013). At present, the main methods of sewage disin-
fection include chemical method [e.g., liquid chlorine (Huang et al. 1997), chlorine
dioxide (Aieta and Berg 1986), and ozone (Xu et al. 2002)], physical method [e.g.,
ultraviolet radiation (Hijnen et al. 2006)] and their combination [e.g., UV/O3 (Wu
et al. 2011)].
For UV disinfection, low-pressure mercury lamps are typically used with a main
spectral line of 254 nm, which is in good agreement with the absorption maxi-
mum peak of amino acids in microorganisms (Giese and Darby 2000). During UV
disinfection, the irreversible damages in the cell membrane and cellular adenosine
triphosphate can be observed (Xu et al. 2018). In contrast to normal lamps fired
by electrodes, the UV lamps can work without contacted electrodes and be stim-
ulated by microwave. Bergmann and the colleagues (2002) first demonstrated the
applicability of electrodeless UV lamps for water disinfection. The advantages of
electrodeless UV lamps are longer lifetime, less inner deposits and good radiation
energy dispersion as a result of their positive irradiation geometry. In addition, during
the microwave-stimulated UV process, a certain amount of ozone can be produced
by UV irradiating oxygen gas in the air to form the MV/UV/O3 system (Shi et al.
2011), which can greatly enhance the disinfection efficiency through the synergistic
effects. Yet, the application of MV/UV/O3 system in advanced sewage treatment for
water reclamation has been kept unexplored.
There is a large population density in university campus and the wastewater in the
dormitory is concentrated. The water quality can be classified as domestic sewage,
which is stable and convenient for collection and centralized treatment. In this paper,
we have studied the feasibility of MV/UV/O3 system for the advanced treatment of
campus sewage and evaluated its performance on disinfection, decolorization, and
deodorization. The effects of technical parameters including microwave power and
UV light intensity were investigated. The results of the present study provided some
practicable solutions for water reclamation, which is one of the important aspects
for sustainable management of green campus.
Advanced Treatment of Campus Sewage... 247
2 Theory Basis of MV/UV/O3 Disinfection Technology
When adapting MV/UV/O3 process for disinfection, the microwave is used to excite
the electrodeless UV lamp which was surrounded in the microwave field. The excited
UV light irradiates the air to generate a trace of ozone, and that could be combined
with UV light for disinfection. The disinfection mechanisms of MV/UV/O3 involved
the bactericidal action of microwave, UV irradiation, and ozonation as well as the
strong oxidation of hydroxyl radical (·OH) produced by UV/O3 process (Fu et al.
2009; Larson and Marifias 2003). OH is one of the most reactive and nonselective
species and can react at high rates with almost any organic substances (Sun et al.
2018; Zeng et al. 2009).
2.1 Microwave Action
Microwave is a kind of electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength ranging from

1 mm to 1 m and a frequency between 300 MHz and 300 GHz. The sterilization func-
tion of microwave is resulted from the thermal effect and nonthermal effect as well
as other factors. Microwaves have shorter wavelengths and higher frequencies, and
when they go through the medium, some polar molecules such as water, protein, and
nucleic acid are about to move with the changes of alternating electric field (AEF),
thereby generating quite an amount of friction heat (Fu et al. 2010a). And as a result,
the temperature of the medium raises which results in structural change and inactiva-
tion of protein and nucleic acid molecules. At the same time, the polar molecules in
microbes including protein, nucleic acid, and water will rotate and vibrate at a high
frequency due to the change of microwave polarity in the strong electric field, which
result in the denaturation of protein molecules and killing microorganisms (Mima
et al. 2008).
2.2 UV Light Action
The UV light disinfection is relatively a complicated process. It mainly kills microor-

ganisms (i.e., bacteria, viruses, spores, and other pathogens) by activating radiation
damage to nucleic acids. UV irradiation on nucleic acids can lead to interference with
the biological activity of DNA, when breaking the chemical bonds and crosslinking
between DNA strands. The alteration in the chemical structure of DNA results in
errors during DNA replication, which causes mutation or disinfection to microorgan-
ism (Hu et al. 2005; Oguma et al. 2002, 2004). The advantages of UV disinfection
include non-chemicals input, or not increasing the effluent smell, no disinfection
byproducts (DBPs), high efficiency of disinfection and easy operation. However, the
main disadvantages are large consumption of electricity, and high cost of routinely
248 S. Gong et al.
maintaining UV lamps and quartz bushings. Besides, the UV treatment may lose its
edge in sustained disinfection when treating high-level turbidity wastewater (Cecili
and Claudio 2003; Shaban et al. 1997). UV disinfection method adapted to water
treatment was firstly applied in the United States. In 1970, the US Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) completed a first project of treating sewage by UV irradi-
ation. And then, UV disinfection in sewage treatment has been widely used in the
United States and Canada. Up to now, there are approximately 4000 large-scaled
systems of UV disinfection having been installed in sewage treatment plants in west-
ern developed countries, accounting for about 10% of the total number of sewage
treatment plants (Hijnen et al. 2006; Jolis et al. 1999; Liberti et al. 2000).
2.3 Ozone Action
Ozone is an inorganic molecule with the chemical formula O3 . It is a pale blue gas
with a distinctively pungent smell. Studies have shown that ozone can be applied to
removal of organic contaminants and inactivation of bacteria and virus due to compre-
hensive effect of physical, chemical, and biological actions. The related mechanisms
can be summarized as follows: (1) Ozone can oxidize and decompose the glucose
oxidase which is necessary for oxidizing glucose in bacteria, and it can directly
interact with bacteria and viruses, destroying cells and ribonucleic acids, decom-
posing DNA, RNA, protein, and macromolecules such as fats and polysaccharides,
interfering metabolic process, and reproduction of bacteria; (2) ozone can penetrate
the membrane of cells and invade the outer membrane lipoprotein and the internal
lipopolysaccharide, causing aberration and lysis of the cells (Cooper and Burch 1999;
Larson and Marifias 2003; Wen et al. 2018). Ozone is formed from dioxygen by the
action of UV irradiation. The advantage of utilizing UV light to produce ozone is
that the method is not sensitive to humidity or temperature. Besides, the concen-
tration and yield of ozone can be controlled linearly by UV power. However, the
disadvantage is that the amount of ozone is so small, and the current electro-optical
conversion rate of UV irradiation is ≤15% with the 185 nm wavelength producing
the higher level of ozone (Al-Shamma’a et al. 2001).
2.4 Synergistic Combination of UV and Ozone
Ozone can produce ·OH with extremely strong oxidation ability under the irradiation
of UV light emitted by an electrodeless UV device (Fu et al. 2009), then enhancing
sterilization and algae-inactivation.
3.1 Water Samples for Test
The water samples were taken from the membrane bioreactor (MBR) effluent in the
sewage treatment station at Sunshine Campus of Wuhan Textile University (Wuhan,
China), and the water quality is shown in Table 1. This work focuses on disinfection,
decolorization, and deodorization.
3.2 Experimental Device and Procedure
For short lamps the useful emission length is proportionally shorter than for long
lamps because of the Faraday dark space of about 1-cm length on the cathode side.
To compensate for short low pressure Hg lamps, we used U-shaped other than bent
lamps for experiment (Masschelein and Rice 2002). The low pressure electrodeless
UV lamp produces more ozone than that of the medium pressure lamp. When the
microwave power is set to 800 W, eight low-pressure electrodeless UV lamps (Ø15
× L600) will generate a total light intensity of 4.38 mW/cm2 , which reaches the
maximum of absorbing microwave power. Under this condition and with an air pump
ventilation of 20 L/min, 0.202 mg/L of ozone can be produced, which corresponds
to a generation rate of 4.04 mg/min or 242.4 mg/h. Further increasing lamp number
shows no effect on the total light intensity and ozone production.
As is shown in Fig. 1, the experiment device is a laboratory-scale MW/UV/O3
reactor with an effective volume of 1 L. The reactor is comprised of a microwave
irradiation zone and a reaction zone. The microwave generator is installed in the
upper part of the reactor, and the electrodeless UV lamps are evenly arranged all
over the reactor. A self-made controller can be used to adjust the power of the
microwave. Microwave radiation raises the temperature inside the reactor, so this
device is designed to recirculate externally to control the temperature. The water
will be cooled in the external condensing system and then returned to the MW/UV
reactor for a recirculation.
3.3 Water Quality Analysis
The determinations of water quality indices such as Chemical Oxygen Demand

(COD), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (Herridge et al. 2008) total nitrogen (TN),
ammonia nitrogen (NH3 –N), total phosphorus (Sekar et al. 2004), and chroma were
according to the standard methods (Fu et al. 2012; State Environmental Protection
Administration 2002). The total number of bacteria was determined using the dilution
spread plate method (Cheng et al. 2018). The odor threshold was measured by the
250
Table 1 Water quality index of water samples for test

COD (mg/L) BOD (mg/L) NH3 –N TN TP PH Chroma Turbidity Olfactory Total bacteria
(mg/L) (mg/L) (mg/L) (Gledhill et al. (NTU) threshold (cfu/L)
2004) (Gledhill et al.
2004)
≤50 ≤10 ≤5 ≤15 ≤1.5 6–9 ≤20 ≤30 ≤20 ≤1 × 103
S. Gong et al.
Fig. 1 The flow chart of MW/UV/O3 experimental device
standard method (Water Environmental Federation 2005). The turbidity was deter-
mined with a HACH2100AN turbidimeter (Hach, Loveland, USA). The pH value
was determined with an Orion 828 pH meter (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham,
USA).
3.4 Study on the Factors Affecting Disinfection
In this study, the MW/UV/O3 reactor is adapted to strengthen the treatment for MBR
outflow, of which the water quality is shown in Table 1. Microwave technology has
been studied widely in the enhancement of water treatment due to its rapid heating at
the molecular level and its “hot spots” effect on the surface of an absorbent (Fu et al.
2010a, b). However, microwave will lose its edge for sterilization when applied to
a large-capacity water treatment device, because it is possible for the thermal effect
diminishing in the water. Accordingly, the microwave in this MW/UV/O3 reactor is
mainly designed to stimulate the electrodeless UV lamp. In addition, when putting
MW/UV/O3 reactor into use, the oxygen in the air can be excited and transformed
into ozone, which can further promote the efficiency of water treatment. To optimize
the best condition for sterilization, decolorization and deodorization, the effects of
microwave power and UV light intensity on the treatment efficiency of MW/UV/O3
reactor were comprehensively studied:
252 S. Gong et al.
Fig. 2 Effect of microwave

power on disinfection by 1000 100
MW/UV/O3
Removal efficiency (%)

Total bacterium (cfu/L)
800 300W 80
450W
600W
600 300W 60
450W
600W
400 40
200 20
0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10
Time (min)
(1) Effect of microwave power: A 500 mL of water sample was placed into the
MW/UV reactor with one electrodeless UV lamp. The microwave power was
set to 300 W, 450 W and 600 W, respectively, with a reaction time of 10 min,
and the external condensation circulating system was open when starting the
experiment. At different time intervals, 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 min, samples were
taken to measure total bacteria number, chroma and olfactory threshold.
(2) Effect of UV light intensity: A 500 mL of water sample was placed into the
MW/UV reactor with a constant microwave power of 450 W. The number of
electrodeless UV lamps inside the reactor was 1, 2, and 3 respectively. The
other operations were the same with above experimental procedure for effect of
microwave procedure.
4.1 Effect of Microwave Power
It is illustrated in Fig. 2 that the bactericidal ability can be obviously observed as

soon as the reaction proceeded to the second minute, when the disinfection efficiency
reached 86.46%, 89.77%, and 90.54% with a microwave power of 300 W, 450 W,
and 600 W, respectively. The result shows that, when the other conditions are given,
as the microwave power raises, the sterilization efficiency gradually becomes higher.
It can be seen in Fig. 3 that when the microwave power was set to 450 or 600 W, the
decolorization effect can be apparently observed as soon as the reaction proceeded
to the second minute. As the time extended, removal efficiency of color increased
gradually, eventually reaching up to 95%. While the decolorization effect under a
weaker microwave of 300 W deferred to appear until at the fourth minute, and the
Fig. 3 Effect of microwave 30 100

power on decolorization by 90

MW/UV/O3 25 80
70
20
Chroma (fold)
300W 60
450W
15 600W 50
300W
40
450W
10 600W 30
20
5
10
0
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
Time(min)
Fig. 4 Effect of microwave 30 100

power on deodorization by
MW/UV/O3 25
Olfactory threshold (fold)
80

20 300 W
450 W 60
600 W
15 300 W
450 W 40
600 W
10
20
5
0
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
Time (min)
final decolorization efficiency was 90%. The data concludes that, when the other
conditions are given, as the microwave power raises, the efficiency of decolorization
grows higher. However, continuous increase of power to 600 W cannot significantly
further enhance the treatment performance.
It can be known in Fig. 4 that when the power of microwave was set to 450
or 600 W, the deodorizing effect can be apparently noticed as soon as the reaction
proceeded to the second minute. As the time extended, removal efficiency raised
gradually, eventually climbing up to 95%. While the deodorizing process under a
weaker microwave of 300 W showed a retardance, and the final removal rate was
90%. It can be concluded that, when the other conditions are given, as the power
of microwave raised, the efficiency of deodorizing grows higher. However, after
increasing the power to 450 W, the improvement of deodorization with increase
of microwave power can be ignored. Comparing Fig. 3 with Fig. 4, the treatment
effects on chroma and odor are consistent with each other, indicating that MW/UV/O3
reactor can degrade certain amount of organic matter which resulting in the removal
of color and odor at the same time.
254 S. Gong et al.
Fig. 5 Effect of UV
1000 100
intensity on disinfection by
Total bacterium (cfu/L)

MW/UV/O3

800 0.52 mW/cm
2 80
2
1.04 mW/cm
2
600 1.56 mW/cm 60
2
0.52 mW/cm
2
400 1.04 mW/cm 40
2
1.56 mW/cm
200 20
0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time (min)
Comparing the treatment results with three different microwave powers, it can be
seen that as the microwave power became stronger, the intensity of generated UV
light would be greater. The treatment efficiency with microwave power of 300 W was
worse than that with power of 450 and 600 W, while there was no obvious difference
in treatment effect between 450 and 600 W. The result shows that when the power
reached 450 W, the increase of the microwave power contributed little to the enhanced
radiation intensity of electrodeless UV lamp and that is also confirmed by Klán et al.
(1999). The microwave power acts on the intensity of UV light merely within a
certain range. In Klán et al.’s work (1999), they declared that the microwave power
greater than or equal to 200 W will no longer affect the intensity of the UV light. In
our laboratory-scale study, both the water molecules and the electrodeless UV lamps
are in the range of microwave radiation. Polar molecules absorbed a large amount
of microwave energy, which left limited energy to electrodeless lamp to generate
UV light. Therefore, the reactor should be improved to encourage utilization of
microwave energy absorbed by electrodeless UV lamp for further pilot-scale study.
4.2 Effect of UV Light Intensity
When the microwave power was 450 W, the measured light intensity at 254 nm was
0.52 mW/cm2 , 1.04 mW/cm2 , and 1.56 mW/cm2 for one, two, and three electrodeless
UV lamps, respectively. As can be seen in Fig. 5, the treatment performance of
the MW/UV/O3 reactor changed significantly as the UV light intensity changed.
When the reaction was carried out for 2 min, the sterilization rate of was 90.10%,
94.57%, and 94.49% with the light intensity of 0.52 mW/cm2 , 1.04 mW/cm2 and
1.56 mW/cm2 , respectively.
As shown in Fig. 6, when the light intensity was set to 0.52 mW/cm2 , the decol-
orization can be observed from the second minute, and at last, the decolorization rate
reached 90% after 5-min treatment. While the decolorization performance under the
Fig. 6 Effect of UV light 40 2 2 2 120

0.52 mW/cm 1.04 mW/cm 1.56 mW/cm
intensity on decolorization 35
2 2 2
0.52 mW/cm 1.04 mW/cm 1.56 mW/cm
by MW/UV/O3 100
30

Chroma (fold)
80
25
20 60
15 40
10
20
5
0
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time (min)
Fig. 7 Effect of UV light 2 2 2

0.52 mW/cm 1.04 mW/cm 1.56 mW/cm
intensity nm on 40
Olfactory threshold (fold)
2 2 2
0.52 mW/cm 1.04 mW/cm 1.56 mW/cm 100
deodorization by

MW/UV/O3 80
30
60
20
40
10 20
0
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time (min)
light intensity of 1.04 and 1.56 mW/cm2 was almost the same. The decolorization
appeared at the first minute, and the final decolorization rate was 95%.
It can be seen in Fig. 7 that the deodorization efficiency of the MW/UV reactor
raised significantly as the number of the electrodeless UV lamps increased. When
the light intensity was set to 0.52 mW/cm2 , the deodorization was obviously noticed
at the second minute, and the final removal rate at the fifth minute was 90%. The
deodorization effect was apparently shown at the first minute with the light intensity
of 1.04 mW/cm2 and 1.56 mW/cm2 , and the final removal rate was 95% and 93.75%
respectively.
It can be concluded that when the microwave power was set to a certain value, as the
number of electrodeless UV lamps increased, the total energy can be absorbed from
microwave would grow, and therefore, the UV light intensity at 254 nm increased
linearly. However, the amount of microwave energy absorbed by each lamps dimin-
ished relatively, leading to ineffective light citation, and also the cost would rise,
when the number of electrodeless UV lamps increased. Similar results were also
obtained in by Kim and Ahn (2014). Therefore, the number of UV lamps should be
determined according to the actual situation in the further pilot-scale experiment.
256
Table 2 Water quality index of treated effluent by MW/UV reactor and standards of China and USA for recreational use
COD (mg/L) BOD (mg/L) NH3 –N TN TP PH Chroma Turbidity Olfactory Total bacteria
(mg/L) (mg/L) (mg/L) (Gledhill et al. (NTU) threshold (cfu/L)
2004) (Gledhill et al.
2004)
Treated water:
≤50 ≤10 ≤5 ≤15 ≤1.5 6–9 ≤10 ≤1 ≤2 ≤10
Standard of China (GB 18918-2002):
\ ≤6 ≤5 ≤15 ≤1 6–9 ≤30 \ \ ≤500
Standard of USA (EPA-820-F-12-058):
\ ≤30 \ \ \ \ \ \ \ ≤2000
S. Gong et al.
4.3 Treatment Effect on Water Quality by MW/UV/O3
Under the operating conditions of 450 W microwave power, two electrodeless UV

lamps (with a UV intensity at 254 nm being 1.04 mW/cm2 and 2 min reaction time),
the water quality of treated effluent by MW/UV/O3 reactor is shown in Table 2. The
removal efficiency of bacteria, color, and odor reached over 99%. The total number
of bacteria, chroma and odor threshold of the effluent was kept at a very low level,
which can meet the requirements of reclaimed water for miscellaneous use based on
the standards of China (GB 18918-2002) and USA (EPA-820-F-12-058).
5 Conclusions
This study has demonstrated that MW/UV/O3 process can effectively remove the
bacteria, color, and odor in the outflow from the MBR process, and the water quality
of the final effluents meets the requirements for miscellaneous use in daily life.
Two important technical parameters, microwave power and UV light intensity, were
optimizing, and the medium values, 450 W and 1.04 mW/cm2 , are the optimal ones,
under which high efficiencies of disinfection, decolorization, and deodorization can
be achieved with relatively lower energy consumption. The proposed MW/UV/O3
technology has a high feasibility for the advanced treatment of campus sewage, and
the reclaimed water can be used for multipurpose such as campus miscellaneous
water consumption and scenic environment use. This is an important solution for
sustainable operation and management of green campus.
Acknowledgements This project was supported by POWERCHINA HUADONG Science and

Technology Project (KY2016-02-04), National Natural Science Foundation of China (41701541),
and Shanghai Pujiang Program (17PJ1400900).
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Abu Zahrim Yaser Editor

ISBN 978-981-13-7259-9 ISBN 978-981-13-7260-5 (eBook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019934776

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020

Waste management at busy street of Delhi, India

Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia Prof. Dr. How Siew Eng

The Effect of Enzyme Addition on the Anaerobic Digestion

About the Editor

Abu Zahrim Yaser obtained his Ph.D. from Swansea

secretary for the 4th International Conference on

Rahmath Abdulla Faculty of Science and Natural Resources, Universiti Malaysia

Chee-Siang Chong Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota

Arif Kusumawanto Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Shazwin Mat Taib Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Civil

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 1

Abstract Nowadays, there have been various environmental sustainability

Keywords Environmental sustainability of universities · Environmental

N. H. Mohamed (B) · Z. Z. Noor · C. L. I. Sing

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 5

2 Research University (RU) in Malaysia

3 UI GreenMetric World University Ranking

5 Results and Discussion: Critical Review of ESI

5.1 List of Environmental Sustainability Initiative

5.1.1 Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)

5.1.2 Universiti Malaya (UM)

5.1.3 Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM)

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) contributes to the country’s technical and

Table 2 Environmental sustainability initiatives in UPM (Universiti Putra Malaysia 2018b)

5.2 Critical Review Based on UI GreenMetric’s

5.2.1 Setting and Infrastructure (SI)

According to UI GreenMetric, the purposes of this category are to provide more

Table 3 Environmental sustainability initiatives in UM (Universiti Malaya 2018b)

Table 4 Environmental Sustainability Initiatives in UTM (UTM Campus Sustainability 2018)

5.2.2 Energy and Climate Change (EC)

5.2.3 Waste (WS)

5.2.4 Water (WR)

5.2.5 Transportation (TR)

Another ESI in this category is Carpooling Campaign. Carpooling, also known as

5.2.6 Education and Research (ED)

The purpose of ED category in UI GreenMetric is to give information on the

To improve environmental sustainability performance and become a Green Campus,

management, energy efficiency and water conservation, natural resource limitation,

Nikolaos Sifakis, Efprepios Baradakis, Spyros Psychis

LED Light-Emitting Diode

N. Sifakis · E. Baradakis · S. Psychis · T. Tsoutsos (B)

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 19

1 Case Study of TUC—Preliminary Phase (Before)

Technical University of Crete (TUC) was established in 1977, in an area almost 7 km

Energy ConsumpƟon [GWh] 4.60 6000

Fig. 2 TUC Campus blocks’ main characteristics

The actions taken can be grouped into two main categories:

3.1 Monitoring Systems

3.2 Interventions Regarding Energy Saving

3.3 Undergoing Actions

Several actions are planned to be executed in the near future, such as

Table 2 Results of the most noteworthy actions

Energy consumpƟon per student [kWh/std] 1100