Regulation of ash slagging behavior of palm oil decanter cake by alum sludge addition

Abioye KJ 1 , Harun NY 2 , Sufian S 1 , Yusuf M 3 , Kamyab H 4 , Hassan MA 5 Show all authors , Jagaba AH 6 , Sikiru S 7 , Ubaidullah M 8 , Pandit B 9 , Dhaliwal N 10

Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610, Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia
  • 2 Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610, Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia. Electronic address: noorfidza.yub@utp.edu.my
  • 3 Institute of Hydrocarbon Recovery, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak, 32610, Malaysia
  • 4 Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, UTE University, Calle Rumipamba S/N and Bourgeois, Quito, Ecuador; Department of Biomaterials, Saveetha Dental College and Hospital, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai 600 077, India; Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Jalan Sultan Yahya Petra, 54100, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 5 HICoE-Centre of Biofuel and Biochemical Research, Institute for Sustainable Building, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610, Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia
  • 6 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610, Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia
  • 7 Department of Fundamental and Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610, Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia
  • 8 Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O.Box 2455, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia
  • 9 Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Chemical Engineering, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Avenida de la Universidad 30, 28911 Leganés, Madrid, Spain
  • 10 Division of Research and Development, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab, India
Chemosphere, 2023 Mar 23;330:138452.
PMID: 36965529 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.138452

Abstract

Combustion of palm oil decanter cake (PODC) is a propitious alternative waste to energy means. However, the mono-combustion of PODC prompt severe ash slagging behavior which give rise to reduction in heat transfer and also shorten the lifespan of combustion reactors. In this study, alum sludge (AS) was introduced at different proportion of 30%, 50% and 70% to revamp the slagging characteristics of PODC during combustion. The addition of AS improved ash fusion temperature of PODC during co-combustion as ash fusion temperature increased significantly under high AS dosage. Slagging and fouling indices showed that at 50% AS addition, slagging tendency of the co-combustion ashes can be ignored. The predictive model for PODC-AS combustion showed good correlation coefficient with 0.89. Overall, co-combustion of PODC and AS is an ideal ash related problem-solving route. The proposed PODC slagging preventive method by AS was based on: (1) limited amount of aluminum content in PODC-AS system resulted in development of refractory ash (2) reduction in proportion of basic oxide which act as ash bonding glue played important role in the regulation of slagging (3) reduction of cohesive bond by formation of spongy and porous structure which prevented ash slagging.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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