Universiti Teknologi Petronas

About: Universiti Teknologi Petronas is a education organization based out in Ipoh, Malaysia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Adsorption & Ionic liquid. The organization has 6127 authors who have published 11284 publications receiving 119400 citations.

Static adsorption of anionic surfactant onto crushed Berea sandstone

Abstract: Surfactant adsorption in porous media is one of the major criteria which decide the economic viability of surfactant flooding in chemical enhance oil recovery applications (CEOR). In this study, the static adsorption of a novel in-house synthesized anionic surfactant was investigated onto crushed Berea sandstone. The point of zero (PZC) charge for Berea sandstone and critical micelle concentration (CMC) of anionic surfactant are also reported in this paper. The investigated PZC for Berea core was at pH 8.0 and the maximum adsorption of anionic surfactant was 0.96 mg/g. Furthermore, the effects of alkali, salinity and temperature on static adsorption of anionic surfactant were investigated at variable conditions. It was concluded that the anionic surfactant performs better at higher pH, higher temperature and lower salt concentration. An effective control of all these parameters can lead to the situation which helps in minimizing the surfactant loss and improved economic efficiency of CEOR process.

Development of project cost contingency estimation model using risk analysis and fuzzy expert system

Abstract: Contractors traditionally estimate cost contingency based on subjective judgment, such as 5-10% from the cost estimated by considering past similar project. However, such method does not have a sound basis and is difficult to justify or defend. Therefore, more objective methods for estimating project cost contingency have been presented. However, most of the methods still rely on formal modeling techniques, which is not easy to be applied in construction industry. This research proposes a method to estimate cost contingency using a flexible and rational approach that could accommodate contractors' subjective judgment based on risk analysis and fuzzy expert system concept. In this research, the proposed method involved the development of cost contingency model for building and infrastructure projects in Malaysia. According to the validation result, it was found that the predictions given by the system were within 20% accuracy compared to actual cost contingencies.