Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Chemical & Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Bioresour Technol, 2012 Apr;110:628-36.
PMID: 22326334 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2012.01.056

Abstract

Empty fruit bunches (EFBs), a waste material from the palm oil industry, were subjected to pyrolysis and gasification. A high content of volatiles (>82%) increased the reactivity of EFBs, and more than 90% decomposed at 700°C; however, a high content of moisture (>50%) and oxygen (>45%) resulted in a low calorific value. Thermogravimetric analysis demonstrated that the higher the heating rate and the smaller the particle size, the higher the peak and final reaction temperatures. The least squares estimation for a first-order reaction model was used to study the degradation kinetics. The values of activation energy increased from 61.14 to 73.76 and from 40.06 to 47.99kJ/mol when the EFB particle size increased from 0.3 to 1.0mm for holocellulose and lignin degradation stages, respectively. The fuel characteristics of EFB are comparable to those of other biomasses and EFB can be considered a good candidate for gasification.

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