Empty Fruit Bunch

A study on gasification of empty fruit bunch (EFB), a waste of the palm oil industry, was investigated. The composition and particle size distribution of feedstock were determined and the thermal degradation behaviour was analysed by a thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Then fluidized bed bench scale gasification unit was used to investigate the effect of the operating parameters on EFB air gasification namely reactor temperature in the range of 700–1000 °C, feedstock particle size in the range of 0.3–1.0 mm and equivalence ratio (ER) in the range of 0.15–0.35. The main gas species generated, as identified by a gas chromatography (GC), were H2, CO, CO2 and CH4. With temperature increasing from 700 °C to 1000 °C, the total gas yield was enhanced greatly and reached the maximum value (∼92 wt.%, on the raw biomass sample basis) at 1000 °C with big portions of H2 (38.02 vol.%) and CO (36.36 vol.%). Feedstock particle size showed an influence on the upgrading of H2, CO and CH4 yields. The feedstock particle size of 0.3–0.5 mm, was found to obtain a higher H2 yield (33.93 vol.%), and higher LHV of gas product (15.26 MJ/m3). Equivalence ratio (ER) showed a significant influence on the upgrading of hydrogen production and product distribution. The optimum ER (0.25) was found to attain a higher H2 yield (27.31 vol.%) at 850 °C. Due to the low efficiency of bench scale gasification unit the system needs to be scaling-up. The cost analysis for scale-up EFB gasification unit showed that the hydrogen supply cost is RM 6.70/kg EFB ($2.11/kg = $0.18/Nm3).

Formation of compost from oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB) and decanter cake slurry by adding palm oil mill effluent (POME) with regular turning operation was investigated. The experiment was conducted in a commercial composting plant under the normal production process. The addition of decanter cake slurry has hastened the composting process of the EFB. The C/N ratio after 51 days for the mature compost with the decanter cake slurry was 18.65 while that of the matured compost without the decanter cake slurry remained high at 28.96. The compost formed from the addition of decanter cake to EFB and POME had 46.4% nitrogen, 17.9% phosphorus, 17.7% potassium and 23.1% calcium more than that without decanter cake. The use of compost produced from EFB, POME and decanter cake slurry could solve more environmental problems and enhance economic benefits in the oil palm industry.

Malaysia is blessed with abundant natural resources and bears a favorable climate for commercial cultivation of crops such as oil palm. In Malaysia the total plantation area of oil palm was 4,487,957 ha in 2008. It has been reported that in 2005 there was a total of 423 palm oil mills having production capacity of approximately 89 million tonnes of fresh fruit bunch (FFB) per year. Waste from the oil palm mill process include palm oil mill effluent (POME), generated mainly from oil extraction, washing and cleaning up processes. POME contains cellulosic material, fat, oil, and grease. Discharging untreated effluent into water streams may cause considerable environmental problems. The solid wastes generated are mainly decanter cake, empty fruit bunches, seed shells and fibre from the mesocarp. POME as well as the solid wastes may rapidly deteriorate the surrounding environment if not dealt with properly. Hence there is an urgent need for a sustainable waste management system to tackle these wastes. As these wastes are organic in origin, they are rich in plant nutrients. Composting of waste generated from palm oil mills can be good practice as it will be helpful in recycling useful plant nutrients. This review deals with various aspects of waste management practices in palm oil mills and the possibility of composting the wastes.

Malaysia is blessed with abundant natural resources and bears a favorable climate for commercial cultivation of crops such as oil palm. In Malaysia the total plantation area of oil palm was 4,487,957 ha in 2008. It has been reported that in 2005 there was a total of 423 palm oil mills having production capacity of approximately 89 million tonnes of fresh fruit bunch (FFB) per year. Waste from the oil palm mill process include palm oil mill effluent (POME), generated mainly from oil extraction, washing and cleaning up processes. POME contains cellulosic material, fat, oil, and grease. Discharging untreated effluent into water streams may cause considerable environmental problems. The solid wastes generated are mainly decanter cake, empty fruit bunches, seed shells and fibre from the mesocarp. POME as well as the solid wastes may rapidly deteriorate the surrounding environment if not dealt with properly. Hence there is an urgent need for a sustainable waste management system to tackle these wastes. As these wastes are organic in origin, they are rich in plant nutrients. Composting of waste generated from palm oil mills can be good practice as it will be helpful in recycling useful plant nutrients. This review deals with various aspects of waste management practices in palm oil mills and the possibility of composting the wastes.

A model was developed for the enriched air-steam biomass gasification in a bubbling fluidized bed (BFB) gasifier using Aspen Plus. Restricted equilibrium method was used to eliminate the deviation caused by the diffusion effect of gas-particle. The model has been divided into three stages (drying and pyrolysis, partial combustion and gasification) for predicting the gasifier performance. Simulation results for gas composition, carbon conversion and cold gas efficiency versus oxygen percentage and steam to biomass ratio (S/B) were compared with the experimental results. Higher oxygen percentage improves the gasification process, increases the production of H2 and CO and results in better gasification efficiency. With increasing oxygen percentage, the production of CO2 and CH4 show decreasing trends. Steam injection enhances the H2 and CO2 production but decreases CO and CH4 production. Carbon conversion presents a slight decrease trend over the S/B range, while cold gas efficiency is first constant and then decreased.

The palm oil mills are characterized by the availability of considerable amounts of by-products of high-energy value such as empty fruit bunches (EFB), fibers, shells and liquid effluents with high content of organics called palm oil mill effluent (POME). A palm oil mill produces residues equivalent to almost three times the amount of oil produced by biomass, showing a huge potential for increasing the power efficiency of the plants and installed power, mainly by the use of by-products in cogeneration plants with high steam parameters and by reducing steam consumption in process. The objective of this paper is to present the results of the study about the cogeneration potential for three representative palm oil mills located in two important palm oil producing regions in Colombia (South-America), fifth palm oil producers of the world. The sizing of the cogeneration system was made assuming it operation during the greatest possible number of hours throughout the year (based on the seasonal availability of fruit) considering parameters for the steam at 2 MPa and 350 °C, using a condensing-extraction turbine. The balance of mass and energy was made by using the Gate Cycle Enter Software, version 5.51, to estimate the potential of electricity generation. The results showed that for fresh fruit bunch (FFB) processing capacities between 18 and 60 t FFB h−1, it is possible to have surplus power ranging between 1 and 7 MW, if the plants are self-sufficient in electric energy and steam for process. With an average Capacity Factor (approximately 0.4), it is possible to expect a generation index of 75 and 160 kWh t−1 FFB when the processing plant is operating or shutdown, respectively, 3 or 4 times better than when a traditional system with a back-pressure steam turbines is used. This analysis used up to 60% of EFB produced in plant as fuel, considering its value as fertilizer for the palm crop. Several economic conditions were considered to estimate the economic and technical feasibility of cogeneration systems in palm oil mill for Colombian palm oil sector.

Solid waste management is one of the challenging problems worldwide and it is becoming more complex by the increase in population and subsequently the waste generated. In Malaysia, among industrial solid waste palm oil mill waste (POMW) contributes the highest share. Wastes from the oil palm mill includes palm oil mill effluent (POME), decanter cake, empty fruit bunches, seed shells and the fibre from mesocarp. Generally most of the waste generated is either disposed of via open dumping or used as fertilizers as such or as animal feed. Land application of POMW and POME is very common practice as it contains numbers of plant nutrients. Direct application of POMW into agricultural soil can result in a number of problems such as water pollution, leaching etc. To deal with these problems, vermicomposting of palm oil mill waste may be a sustainable waste management option.There are number of researches going on management of biomass residues from palm oil mill, but very few works are going on vermicomposting of these agro-industrial waste. Vermicomposting of POMW can be a good practice as it will also be helpful in recycling the useful plant nutrients and it is better than that of composting process. Present review deals with the various aspects of vermicomposting of POMW and its importance. Review also put forward the effect of potential application of vermicompost on plant growth. On the whole it looks for the possibility of vermicomposting of waste from palm oil mill as a sustainable waste management alternative.

Tri layer hybrid composites of oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB) and jute fibres was prepared by keeping oil palm EFB as skin material and jute as the core material and vice versa. The chemical resistance, void content and tensile properties of oil palm EFB/Jute composites was investigated with reference to the relative weight of oil palm EFB/Jute, i.e. 4:1, the fibre loading was optimized and different layering pattern were investigated. It is found from the chemical resistance test that all the composites are resistant to various chemicals. It was observed that marked reduction in void content of hybrid composites in different layering pattern. From the different layering pattern, the tensile properties were slightly higher for the composite having jute as skin and oil palm EFB as core material. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to study tensile fracture surfaces of different composites.

An experiment for the use of empty fruit bunch palm ash as source of base catalyst in aplication for reaction of transesterification from castor oil has been done. Content of base compound in empty fruit bunch palm ash was analyzed by AAS and acidy alkalimetry. The base catalyst was extracted using methanol, and then to be used in transesterification reaction