Investigation of oil palm wastes' pyrolysis by thermogravimetric analyzer for potential biofuel production

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the thermal degradation behaviour of oil palm trunk (OPT) and empty fruit bunch (EFB) wastes in pyrolytic environment by using thermagravimetric analyzer (TGA). The pyrolysis process was being carried out at room temperature up to 700°C in the presence of nitrogen gas flowing at the rate of 150 ml/min. The investigated parameters are particle sizes and heating rates. The particle sizes varied in the range of dp1 < 0.25 mm and 0.25 ≤ dp bsubesub ≤ 0.30 mm. The heating rate of 50°C/min and 80°C/min were applied to study the effect on thermal degradation during the progress of pyrolysis reaction. The decomposition of OPT shows a 'shoulder' form while EFB degrades with 2 distinctive peaks. Smaller OPT size produces 0.04-0.86% more volatile product when degraded at both heating rates. EFB on the other hand shows a 3.81-9.81% increment. Heating rates speed up the peak degradation by 1.42-1.56 mg/s at dp1 and 3.13-4.92 mg/s at dp2. It also causes biomass to be degraded under a narrow temperature range by 21°C. This study can provide an important basis in determining suitable type of feedstock and processing parameters for bio-fuel production via advanced pyrolysis technology.