Spoil Your Appetite

Two days ago I made an unplanned trip to the dumpster. Yeap. (If you're eating lunch while reading this please stop.) The actual planning was to complete a base map for the area. Its a small assignment for Environmental Geology. Since the map is mysteriously missing from the lab, my group and I decided to go empty handed - which explains we spent almost 30mins pusing-pusing sampai pekan Inanam instead of reaching Kayu Madang in Pekan Telipok.

We collected about 2-3kgs of soil and 3 bottles of water samples around the area. Baunya, masyaAllah~!

This will be the new dumping site. After the topsoil extraction, they will fill it with geosynthethics material to prevent leaks. But geosynthethic fabrics is still expensive in Malaysia, I'm pretty sure they would just dump it like that and let the water leach all sorts of chemicals and pollutants into the soil. Which brings us to the case study of Research on Pollution in Soil and Water at Kayu Madang "Sanitary" Landfill Site, Telipok.

And these are the group members. I was so not prepared to go to field. Siapalah yang pakai aviators and turtleneck top ditengah panas dan berselipar bukan made-in-Japan itu? At least the others are wearing shoes. =.="

Sangat tidak menyelerakan, bukan? This is the water seeping out of the soil. I witnessed bubbles coming out from the water, and NO, its not the fish farting. There is hardly any fish at all!

I have no idea how can these two be so happy while I'm quietly chanting cepatla ambik, cepatla, nak balik, nak balik. I didn't want to climb up. Ok, not that I didn't want to but I can't. Tinggi bah tu, kalo sa jatuh konfem-konfem masuk air sampah ni.

Mudcracks yang saya rasakan artistic. KUNUN! :P Tapi sangatla berbahaya ok. I thought it was safe to walk on it since its the sign of "dried" areas. Truth is the mud clung to my selipar not-made-in-Japan that makes it feel like I have extra 2kgs on my legs.

Panjat-memanjat memang favorite pastime ahli Geologi. This is not very high and steep so can still climb lah. Takkan la nak jadi mandur the whole day kan? :P Don't care lah, I'm climbing with style~~ bwahaha!

The last stop is a pond not far from the dumpsite. This place spooky lah. Seriously. The sound of crow from the dumpsite and it looks like its going to pour soon - nampak macam movie hantu. Paya Berpuaka. Dan yang sedang mengambil sampel air itu adalah puakanya. HOHOHOHO~!

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I was supposed to be at Manukan Island with coursemates today but Mom called me last night. Told me not to go because the sea is raging now. Makanya saya terpaksa berhikayat "sehari di tapak pelupusan sampah" buat tatapan sekalian.
sedihnyaa~~
=.="

Crude Oil Distillation

The first two weeks of February 2009 will be very interesting for Petroleum Geology laboratory work. This week is the Stage 1 crude oil distillation. The source of crude oil is from Petronas, I think.ERB West Complex is located just offshore Sabah.

Firstly, Mr. Jalal the lab assistant poured the crude oil from its big container into a giant beaker for us all to share. And that's Cassidy's shoes. haha. The smell is kind of bittersweet but very strong. Petroleum is generally dark in colour depending on the amount of hidrocarbons and percentage of pollutants present in it. Crude oil rich in resin and asphalt is the darkest just like this one.

The set up manual.

Our set up at the lab.

Mr. Jalal making sure the set up is complete and all the corks are tight enough to prevent gas leaks. That's my team standing by for the experiment.


The first product of distillation. Its a bit cloudy and the smell is very much like being at a petrol station. The first product smells sweet unlike the bittersweet of the crude oil. The sweet scent is from the paraffin and naphtene-rich compounds. The bittersweet scent of crude oil on the other hand is due to the high content of sulphur and nitrogen compounds. Crude oil produced in Malaysia has the sweet scent and this indicates the best quality.

The firs product was obtained at a temperature of 120 degree Celcius and it is called kerosene.


The second product is obtained at 200 degree Celcius, this is what we call the gas oil and diesel that we pump into the car. In order to reach 200 degree Celcius and finish up the experiment early, we had to use two Bunsen burners.


This is the leftover of the crude oil to be used to next week's experiment which is the second stage of crude oil distillation. The first and second product of the distillation in the graduated cylinder is sealed with aluminium foil and kept in the dark to be used next week. (I wonder if anyone will curi the first two to put in their gas tank! :P )

More on crude oil distillation or oil refining

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Its raining again in Kota Kinabalu. Bunny had her rounds on the balcony but its wet. She ran back inside and hide behind the box. Im afraid she'll nibble the cables again. >.<

And this is Bunny tengah buat muka protes because I put her back in the cage since I have to do some revision tonight. She's a fatty-bum now. But still comel... and don't even dare to think about satay arnab, burger arnab or arnab panggang! I'll Kill You!