Industrial practitioners and policy makers in the Malaysian palm oil industry are now focusing on understanding the factors that influence sustainability of palm oil supply chain network involving the fundamental principle of triple bottom line of social, environmental, and economic performance impacts of supply chain network design. In order to achieve sustainable products, an interpretive structural modelling approach method was used to better understand the drivers related to environmental sustainability reporting in the supply chain network related to the Malaysian palm oil industry. This paper has identified nine (9) environmental sustainability drivers (environmental management, life cycle assessment, green labelling, GHG emissions, climate change, energy efficiency, renewable resources, water, soil and air quality and lastly waste management) and the relationships between them. The findings from the environmental sustainability reporting drivers of this study can be furthered use to explore the potential impacts of supply chain network design on sustainability using the Malaysian palm oil industry as a reference. The novelty of this research is that it identifies the significance of environmental sustainability reporting based on the analyzed drivers and provides evaluation of environmental sustainability criteria's. This paper has provided a structural model of environmental sustainability and its associated method was developed by using the interpretive structural modeling model to determine the potential drivers in environmental sustainability reporting.
ABSTRCT:For decades, it has been a challenging task for brake engineers to reduce or totally eliminate squeal that emanates from brake systems. Despite the large number of proposals that have been implemented in tackling disc brake squeal, very few solutions are totally effective to reduce or suppress it. This paper presents an approach to tackle disc brake squeal through chamfered and slotted pad. A three-dimensional FE model of an actual disc brake system is developed. The baseline FE model is first simulated using complex eigenvalue and transient analysis to predict squeal and compared to the squeal tests data obtained in the brake dynamometer. A reasonable correlation is found between these results. Then, three different pad modifications are proposed, simulated and tested. It is shown that pad with chamfers and diagonal slot can totally suppress squeal both in prediction and squeal test.
Young coconut shell and husk shredder machine is designed for shredding the husks after the process of coconut shell crushing. The main objective of this machine is to reduce coconut shell waste after the completion of harvest. The machine contains of two shafts of 25 blades per shafts (1st stage) and another two shafts of 30 blades per shaft (2nd stage) placed side by side in order to put pressure on the coconut shell and husk during the cutting process. At stage 1, which is the shredding stage, it has 2 shafts which both rotate in the opposite direction. The blades have bigger surface area, thick, hard-faced cutting surfaces and run in low rotation per minute (rpm) in order to crush the coconut shell and husk. At stage 2, which is the cutting stage, it consists of 2 shafts which rotate in the opposite direction and each shafts consist of 30 blades. The blades in stage 2 is thinner compared to the blades in stage 1, sharp cutting edge and the distance from each blades are closer to each other in order to cut and shred the coconut shell and husks into small, fine and desired size. Furthermore, the rotations of the blades are both in opposite directions toward each other which mean that the cutting process will consists pressure into the shell and husks. The output for the machine is able to produce 50 - 80 kg of young coconut shell and husks after the shredding process hourly. The machine uses electrical motor to reduce sound pollution. Besides that, a 1420 rpm motor is fitted to run the machine entirely which is equivalent to 1 Horsepower (Hp). The output power achieved is 544 kiloWatt hour (kWh) with an efficiency of 73%. Lastly, the objectives are achieved, that is to reduce young coconut shell and husks waste by converting to animal feeds.
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