This study was an attempt to produce bio-oil from empty fruit bunches (EFB) of oil palm waste usi... more This study was an attempt to produce bio-oil from empty fruit bunches (EFB) of oil palm waste using fast pyrolysis technology. A 150 g/h fluidised bed bench scale fast pyrolysis unit operating at atmospheric pressure was used to obtain the pyrolysis liquid. A comparison of the elemental composition of unwashed and washed feedstock was made in this study. With the five methods of treatment being considered, elements such as Al, P, Cl, Ti, Fe and Cu were removed during the washing. However, Na, S and K decreased with the reduction of the ash content of the feedstock. The properties of the liquid product were analysed and compared with wood derived bio-oil and petroleum fuels. The liquids produced had high acid content, with a High Heating Value (HHV) of about 50% of conventional petroleum fuel. The char content was in the range of 0.2–2.0%. The composition and particle size distribution of the washed and unwashed feedstock were determined, and the thermal degradation behaviour was ana...
Banana pseudo-stem and fruit-bunch-stem are agricultural residues that can be used for conversion... more Banana pseudo-stem and fruit-bunch-stem are agricultural residues that can be used for conversion to bio-char, bio-oil, and gases by using thermochemical process. The aim of this work is to characterize banana pseudo-stem and banana fruit-bunch-stem through proximate analysis, elemental analysis, chemical analysis, thermo-gravimetric analysis, and heating calorific value. The ash contents of the banana pseudo-stem and banana fruit-bunch-stem are 11.0 mf wt.% and 20.6 mf wt.%; while the carbon content of banana pseudo-stem and fruit-bunch-stem are 37.9 mf wt.% and 35.58 mf wt.% respectively. The molecular formulas for banana stem and banana fruit-bunch-stem are C 24 H 33 NO 26 and C 19 H 29 NO 33 respectively. The measured higher heating values of banana pseudo-stem and banana fruit-bunch-stem are 15.5MJ/kg and 12.7 MJ/kg respectively. By chemical analysis, the lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose contents in the samples will also be presented. The feasibility of the banana wastes to...
In palm oil industry, oil palm biomass wastes such as empty fruit bunches (EFB), pressed fruit fi... more In palm oil industry, oil palm biomass wastes such as empty fruit bunches (EFB), pressed fruit fibres (PFF) and kernel shells (OPS) from the mills, and also fronds (OPF) and trunks (OPT) from the fields are generated with an annual increment of 5% every year in Malaysia. These biomasses are major solid wastes which are potentially valuable source of energy for commercial power consumption. Characterization on biomass feedstock is important in knowing their basic properties for further applications in obtaining value added products. In this study, proximate, ultimate and heating value analyses are done on oil palm wastes. Results for unwashed OPS showed that this sample consist of 4.34 mf wt% moisture content. It has ash content around of 4.5 mf wt% and high volatile content which is 75 mf wt%. Results for other unwashed oil palm wastes are discussed in the paper. In addition, characterization on washed oil palm wastes were also done and presented in the paper. Simple water washing u...
Pyrolysis of empty fruit bunches (EFB) was performed in a fixed bed reactor equipped with liquid ... more Pyrolysis of empty fruit bunches (EFB) was performed in a fixed bed reactor equipped with liquid collecting system. Pyrolysis process was conducted by varying the terminal pyrolysis temperature from 300 to 500OC under heating rate of 10OC/min for at least 2 hours. Char yield was obtained highest at 300OC around 55.88 wt%, and started to decrease as temperature increase. The maximum yield of pyrolysis liquid was obtained around 54.75 wt% as pyrolysis temperature reach 450OC. For gas yield percentage, the yield gained as temperature was increased from 300 to 500OC, within the range between 8.44 to 19.32 wt%. The char obtained at 400OC has great potential as an alternative solid fuel, due to its high heating value of 23.37 MJ/kg, low in volatile matter and ash content which are approximately around 40.32 and 11.12 wt%, respectively. The collected pyrolysis liquid within this temperature range found to have high water content of around 16.15 to 18.20 wt%. The high aqueous fraction seemed to cause the pyrolysis liquid to have low HHV which only ranging from 10.81 to 12.94 MJ/kg. These trends of results showed that necessary enhancement should be employ either on the raw biomass or pyrolysis products in order to approach at least the minimum quality of common hydrocarbon solid or liquid fuel. For energy production, both produced biochar and pyrolysis liquid are considered as sustainable sources of bio-energy since they contained low amounts of nitrogen and sulphur, which are considered as environmental friendly solid and liquid fuel.
The abundance of empty fruit bunches (EFB) from oil palm mill made them an economically attractiv... more The abundance of empty fruit bunches (EFB) from oil palm mill made them an economically attractive and viable source of energy nowadays. Converting pyrolyzed EFB into densified solid fuel (briquette) could overcome the troublesome of using raw material which has low energy density and lack of uniform properties for domestic and industrial energy utilization. In this work, EFB is pyrolyzed at 400OC under heating rate of 10oC/min for at least 2 hours to obtain char and pyrolysis liquid needed. Char is prepared as a main source for the briquette mixture, meanwhile the pyrolysis liquid acts as the binder. Both char and pyrolysis liquid were mixed at various percentage of concentrations; 90:10, 80:20, 70:30 and 60:40, and then manually compressed at 10MPa for at least 10 minutes. The results of the properties found that the proportion of 60:40 mixtures has the highest density value of approximately around 0.95 g/cm3, with largest weight loss of production up to 4.83%. The increased pyrolysis liquid added into the mixture has seemly lowered the energy value of the briquette from 23.13 to 21.23 MJ/kg. In the burning test determination, briquettes mixture of 70:30 was found to generate the highest temperature up to 483oC compared to others, and could retain a temperature of 100oC for at least 10 minutes after the flame was gradually put out by itself.
This study is focused on the drying pre-treatment on whole empty fruit bunches [EFB] oil palm was... more This study is focused on the drying pre-treatment on whole empty fruit bunches [EFB] oil palm wastes. The drying process of whole EFB wastes by conventional method is investigated using the conventional oven in order to obtain less than 10 mf wt % moisture content. Normally, the biomass is dried to less than 10 mf wt % in most laboratory
ABSTRACT Interest in producing energy to reduce green house gas emissions using biomass as a feed... more ABSTRACT Interest in producing energy to reduce green house gas emissions using biomass as a feedstock is increasing worldwide. In a fluidized bed reactor, the feeding of the feedstock plays an important role in the burning process. In this study, feeding tests were carried out using gravitational method for oil palm shell (OPS) and oil palm fronds (OPF). The design of the feeder of 150 g/h is also presented. The objective of this paper is to study the feed rate of the samples used and to find the relationship between the physical characteristic of the samples (the shape of the samples, particle size and moisture content) and the feed rate. The result shows that the feed rate of OPS and OPF was around 120 g/h and 90 g/h, respectively. After grinding and sieving, OPS appeared to be more granular compared to OPF making it easier to feed. Other characteristics and results are also discussed in this paper.
A solar drying system which consists of six solar collectors arranged in two banks of three colle... more A solar drying system which consists of six solar collectors arranged in two banks of three collectors each in series and a drying chamber is investigated. The collector is a double-pass type with the second channel filled with porous media while the drying chamber consists of three levels of trays with the upper side covered with a transparent glass. The objective of this paper is to present the temperature variation of the system including the drying chamber temperature, glass temperature, absorber temperature and also the temperature of the first and second pass of the collector. Data of solar radiation is also shown to see the effect on the temperature variation of the drying system.
ABSTRACT Biomass seems to have a great potential as a source of renewable energy compared with ot... more ABSTRACT Biomass seems to have a great potential as a source of renewable energy compared with other sources. The use of biomass as a source of energy could help to reduce the wastes and also to minimize the dependency on non-renewable energy, hence minimize environmental degradation. Among other types of biomass, oil palm wastes are the major contribution for energy production in Malaysia since Malaysia is one of the primary palm oil producers in the world. Currently, Malaysia's plantation area covers around 5 million hectares. In the oil palm mill, only 10% palm oil is produced and the other 90% is in the form of wastes such as empty fruit bunches (EFB), oil palm shells (OPS), oil palm fibre (OPFb) and palm oil mill effluent (POME). If these wastes are being used as a source of renewable energy, it is believed that it will help to increase the country's economy. Recently, the most potential and efficient thermal energy conversion technology is pyrolysis process. The objective of this paper is to review the current research on pyrolysis of oil palm wastes in Malaysia. The scope of this paper is to discuss on the types of pyrolysis process and its production. At present, most of the research conducted in this country is on EFB and OPS by fast, slow and microwave-assisted pyrolysis processes for fuel applications.
This study was an attempt to produce bio-oil from empty fruit bunches (EFB) of oil palm waste usi... more This study was an attempt to produce bio-oil from empty fruit bunches (EFB) of oil palm waste using fast pyrolysis technology. A 150 g/h fluidised bed bench scale fast pyrolysis unit operating at atmospheric pressure was used to obtain the pyrolysis liquid. A comparison of the elemental composition of unwashed and washed feedstock was made in this study. With the five methods of treatment being considered, elements such as Al, P, Cl, Ti, Fe and Cu were removed during the washing. However, Na, S and K decreased with the reduction of the ash content of the feedstock. The properties of the liquid product were analysed and compared with wood derived bio-oil and petroleum fuels. The liquids produced had high acid content, with a High Heating Value (HHV) of about 50% of conventional petroleum fuel. The char content was in the range of 0.2–2.0%. The composition and particle size distribution of the washed and unwashed feedstock were determined, and the thermal degradation behaviour was ana...
Banana pseudo-stem and fruit-bunch-stem are agricultural residues that can be used for conversion... more Banana pseudo-stem and fruit-bunch-stem are agricultural residues that can be used for conversion to bio-char, bio-oil, and gases by using thermochemical process. The aim of this work is to characterize banana pseudo-stem and banana fruit-bunch-stem through proximate analysis, elemental analysis, chemical analysis, thermo-gravimetric analysis, and heating calorific value. The ash contents of the banana pseudo-stem and banana fruit-bunch-stem are 11.0 mf wt.% and 20.6 mf wt.%; while the carbon content of banana pseudo-stem and fruit-bunch-stem are 37.9 mf wt.% and 35.58 mf wt.% respectively. The molecular formulas for banana stem and banana fruit-bunch-stem are C 24 H 33 NO 26 and C 19 H 29 NO 33 respectively. The measured higher heating values of banana pseudo-stem and banana fruit-bunch-stem are 15.5MJ/kg and 12.7 MJ/kg respectively. By chemical analysis, the lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose contents in the samples will also be presented. The feasibility of the banana wastes to...
In palm oil industry, oil palm biomass wastes such as empty fruit bunches (EFB), pressed fruit fi... more In palm oil industry, oil palm biomass wastes such as empty fruit bunches (EFB), pressed fruit fibres (PFF) and kernel shells (OPS) from the mills, and also fronds (OPF) and trunks (OPT) from the fields are generated with an annual increment of 5% every year in Malaysia. These biomasses are major solid wastes which are potentially valuable source of energy for commercial power consumption. Characterization on biomass feedstock is important in knowing their basic properties for further applications in obtaining value added products. In this study, proximate, ultimate and heating value analyses are done on oil palm wastes. Results for unwashed OPS showed that this sample consist of 4.34 mf wt% moisture content. It has ash content around of 4.5 mf wt% and high volatile content which is 75 mf wt%. Results for other unwashed oil palm wastes are discussed in the paper. In addition, characterization on washed oil palm wastes were also done and presented in the paper. Simple water washing u...
Pyrolysis of empty fruit bunches (EFB) was performed in a fixed bed reactor equipped with liquid ... more Pyrolysis of empty fruit bunches (EFB) was performed in a fixed bed reactor equipped with liquid collecting system. Pyrolysis process was conducted by varying the terminal pyrolysis temperature from 300 to 500OC under heating rate of 10OC/min for at least 2 hours. Char yield was obtained highest at 300OC around 55.88 wt%, and started to decrease as temperature increase. The maximum yield of pyrolysis liquid was obtained around 54.75 wt% as pyrolysis temperature reach 450OC. For gas yield percentage, the yield gained as temperature was increased from 300 to 500OC, within the range between 8.44 to 19.32 wt%. The char obtained at 400OC has great potential as an alternative solid fuel, due to its high heating value of 23.37 MJ/kg, low in volatile matter and ash content which are approximately around 40.32 and 11.12 wt%, respectively. The collected pyrolysis liquid within this temperature range found to have high water content of around 16.15 to 18.20 wt%. The high aqueous fraction seemed to cause the pyrolysis liquid to have low HHV which only ranging from 10.81 to 12.94 MJ/kg. These trends of results showed that necessary enhancement should be employ either on the raw biomass or pyrolysis products in order to approach at least the minimum quality of common hydrocarbon solid or liquid fuel. For energy production, both produced biochar and pyrolysis liquid are considered as sustainable sources of bio-energy since they contained low amounts of nitrogen and sulphur, which are considered as environmental friendly solid and liquid fuel.
The abundance of empty fruit bunches (EFB) from oil palm mill made them an economically attractiv... more The abundance of empty fruit bunches (EFB) from oil palm mill made them an economically attractive and viable source of energy nowadays. Converting pyrolyzed EFB into densified solid fuel (briquette) could overcome the troublesome of using raw material which has low energy density and lack of uniform properties for domestic and industrial energy utilization. In this work, EFB is pyrolyzed at 400OC under heating rate of 10oC/min for at least 2 hours to obtain char and pyrolysis liquid needed. Char is prepared as a main source for the briquette mixture, meanwhile the pyrolysis liquid acts as the binder. Both char and pyrolysis liquid were mixed at various percentage of concentrations; 90:10, 80:20, 70:30 and 60:40, and then manually compressed at 10MPa for at least 10 minutes. The results of the properties found that the proportion of 60:40 mixtures has the highest density value of approximately around 0.95 g/cm3, with largest weight loss of production up to 4.83%. The increased pyrolysis liquid added into the mixture has seemly lowered the energy value of the briquette from 23.13 to 21.23 MJ/kg. In the burning test determination, briquettes mixture of 70:30 was found to generate the highest temperature up to 483oC compared to others, and could retain a temperature of 100oC for at least 10 minutes after the flame was gradually put out by itself.
This study is focused on the drying pre-treatment on whole empty fruit bunches [EFB] oil palm was... more This study is focused on the drying pre-treatment on whole empty fruit bunches [EFB] oil palm wastes. The drying process of whole EFB wastes by conventional method is investigated using the conventional oven in order to obtain less than 10 mf wt % moisture content. Normally, the biomass is dried to less than 10 mf wt % in most laboratory
ABSTRACT Interest in producing energy to reduce green house gas emissions using biomass as a feed... more ABSTRACT Interest in producing energy to reduce green house gas emissions using biomass as a feedstock is increasing worldwide. In a fluidized bed reactor, the feeding of the feedstock plays an important role in the burning process. In this study, feeding tests were carried out using gravitational method for oil palm shell (OPS) and oil palm fronds (OPF). The design of the feeder of 150 g/h is also presented. The objective of this paper is to study the feed rate of the samples used and to find the relationship between the physical characteristic of the samples (the shape of the samples, particle size and moisture content) and the feed rate. The result shows that the feed rate of OPS and OPF was around 120 g/h and 90 g/h, respectively. After grinding and sieving, OPS appeared to be more granular compared to OPF making it easier to feed. Other characteristics and results are also discussed in this paper.
A solar drying system which consists of six solar collectors arranged in two banks of three colle... more A solar drying system which consists of six solar collectors arranged in two banks of three collectors each in series and a drying chamber is investigated. The collector is a double-pass type with the second channel filled with porous media while the drying chamber consists of three levels of trays with the upper side covered with a transparent glass. The objective of this paper is to present the temperature variation of the system including the drying chamber temperature, glass temperature, absorber temperature and also the temperature of the first and second pass of the collector. Data of solar radiation is also shown to see the effect on the temperature variation of the drying system.
ABSTRACT Biomass seems to have a great potential as a source of renewable energy compared with ot... more ABSTRACT Biomass seems to have a great potential as a source of renewable energy compared with other sources. The use of biomass as a source of energy could help to reduce the wastes and also to minimize the dependency on non-renewable energy, hence minimize environmental degradation. Among other types of biomass, oil palm wastes are the major contribution for energy production in Malaysia since Malaysia is one of the primary palm oil producers in the world. Currently, Malaysia's plantation area covers around 5 million hectares. In the oil palm mill, only 10% palm oil is produced and the other 90% is in the form of wastes such as empty fruit bunches (EFB), oil palm shells (OPS), oil palm fibre (OPFb) and palm oil mill effluent (POME). If these wastes are being used as a source of renewable energy, it is believed that it will help to increase the country's economy. Recently, the most potential and efficient thermal energy conversion technology is pyrolysis process. The objective of this paper is to review the current research on pyrolysis of oil palm wastes in Malaysia. The scope of this paper is to discuss on the types of pyrolysis process and its production. At present, most of the research conducted in this country is on EFB and OPS by fast, slow and microwave-assisted pyrolysis processes for fuel applications.
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Pyrolysis process was conducted by varying the terminal pyrolysis temperature from 300 to 500OC under heating rate of 10OC/min for at least 2 hours. Char yield was obtained highest at 300OC around 55.88 wt%, and started to decrease as temperature increase. The maximum yield of pyrolysis liquid was obtained around 54.75 wt% as pyrolysis temperature reach 450OC. For gas yield percentage, the yield gained as temperature was increased from 300 to 500OC, within the range between 8.44 to 19.32 wt%. The char obtained at 400OC has great potential as an alternative solid fuel, due to its high heating value of 23.37 MJ/kg, low in volatile matter and ash content which are approximately around 40.32 and 11.12 wt%, respectively. The
collected pyrolysis liquid within this temperature range found to have high water content of around 16.15 to 18.20 wt%. The high aqueous fraction seemed to cause the pyrolysis liquid to have low HHV which only ranging from 10.81 to 12.94 MJ/kg. These trends of results showed that necessary enhancement should be employ either on the raw biomass or pyrolysis products in order to approach at least the minimum quality of common hydrocarbon solid or liquid fuel. For energy production, both produced biochar and pyrolysis liquid are considered as sustainable sources of bio-energy since they contained low amounts of nitrogen and
sulphur, which are considered as environmental friendly solid and liquid fuel.
Pyrolysis process was conducted by varying the terminal pyrolysis temperature from 300 to 500OC under heating rate of 10OC/min for at least 2 hours. Char yield was obtained highest at 300OC around 55.88 wt%, and started to decrease as temperature increase. The maximum yield of pyrolysis liquid was obtained around 54.75 wt% as pyrolysis temperature reach 450OC. For gas yield percentage, the yield gained as temperature was increased from 300 to 500OC, within the range between 8.44 to 19.32 wt%. The char obtained at 400OC has great potential as an alternative solid fuel, due to its high heating value of 23.37 MJ/kg, low in volatile matter and ash content which are approximately around 40.32 and 11.12 wt%, respectively. The
collected pyrolysis liquid within this temperature range found to have high water content of around 16.15 to 18.20 wt%. The high aqueous fraction seemed to cause the pyrolysis liquid to have low HHV which only ranging from 10.81 to 12.94 MJ/kg. These trends of results showed that necessary enhancement should be employ either on the raw biomass or pyrolysis products in order to approach at least the minimum quality of common hydrocarbon solid or liquid fuel. For energy production, both produced biochar and pyrolysis liquid are considered as sustainable sources of bio-energy since they contained low amounts of nitrogen and
sulphur, which are considered as environmental friendly solid and liquid fuel.