Hydrophobicity Characterization of Bio-Wax Derived from Taro Leaf for

Surface Coating Applications NASRI Noor Shawal1,2,a,* , AHMED Murtala

Musa1,2,3,b , MOHD NOOR Naemah1,4,c, MOHAMMED Jibril1,4,d , HAMZA
Usman Dadum1,4,e and MOHD ZAIN Husna1,f 1Sustainability Waste-To-
Wealth Unit, UTM-MPRC Institute for Oil and Gas, Energy Research
Alliance, Research University, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310
UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia 2Gas Engineering Department, Faculty
of Petroleum and Renewable Energy Engineering, Research University,
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
3Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering,
University of Maiduguri, P.M.B 1069 Maiduguri, Borno, Nigeria
4Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Chemical Engineering,
Research University, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor
Bahru, Johor, Malaysia a noorshaw@petroleum.utm.my,
bmuriahmed@yahoo.com, cnaemah_globeam@yahoo.com, d
jibrilmuhammad@gmail.com, eusmandhamza@gmail.com, f hhusnae@yahoo.com
Keywords: Hydrophobicity, characterization, bio-wax, taro leaf, n-
octacasanol, coating Abstract. The hydrophobic properties as well as
the presence of 1-octacosanol of taro wax extracted from taro leaf
were investigated using various analytical techniques. The bio-wax
extraction was achieved by immersing taro leaves samples in 500 mL
chloroform at 50oC for 30 seconds and the step was repeated for the
same sample using fresh chloroform. The solvent was evaporated using
rotary evaporator and the raw bio-wax solution was obtained.
Hydrophobicity test showed the average time for the test was 981s
which exceeded the 300 s limited for hydrophilicity. TGA results
indicate the existence of multi-components in taro wax with the
decomposition occurring at three stages. The DSC result showed that
the taro wax is composed of at least two contents, ie lower content
with smaller melting point range of 50 to 60⁰C as well as upper
content with higher melting point range of 65 to 75⁰C. Contact angle
of droplets of distilled water on the taro wax surfaces were found to
be greater than 90⁰ and this confirmed its hydrophobic property. The
n-octacosanol presented was identified through FTIR and GC-FID
analyses. The functional compounds OH, CH3, CH2, and C=O were
detected. From the GC-FID, the n-octacosanol was presented at 34.5
min compared to the standard solution. Plant base taro wax can be a
source of sustainable and renewable hydrophobic material for use in
HVAC application system. Introduction The provision of thermal
comfort, acceptable indoor air quality within reasonable
installation, operation, and maintenance costs of commercial
buildings cannot be over emphasis [1]. In modern buildings, the
design, installation, and control systems are integrated into one or
more Heating Ventilating and Air Conditioning systems. More often,
the HVAC components are face with various contaminants that usually
originate from microbes [1]. These contaminants circulate through the
system several hundred times a day and as the air passes through
untreated filters and coils, it carries with it, a range of
contaminants. Although market provides many corrective measures for
energy system such as cooling coils, heat exchangers, distribution
pipes, cooling tower in-fills, etc through various processes using
disinfectants chemical (acidic or alkaline based). Those processes
are costly and only effective for short term and need to be repeated
on a regular basis. This thereby causes adverse effects on both
humans as well as the environment [2]. In addition, most cleaning
agents increase corrosion of the metal, leaving the surface pitted.
Biomimetic mainly A