Torrefaction of Palm Waste Biomass

• Main Author: Mohamad Saleh, Noor Akmal
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS 2009
• Subjects: TP Chemical technology
• Online Access: http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/9173/1/2009%20-%20Torrefaction%20of%20Palm%20Waste%20Biomass.pdf; http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/9173/

Torrefaction of oil palm solid waste mainly empty fruit bunch at atmospheric pressure under nitrogen atmosphere was performed for production of solid biofuel. Due to the problem arising on the gasification of biomass such as high moisture content, production of tar, low energy production and high ash content, this project has been proposed to overcome the problems. This report discusses on the torrefaction of empty fruit bunches. Throughout the experiment, the effect of temperature, particle size and reaction time on the yields of product will be investigated and the results will be analyzed and compared with the previous study. This project is divided into 3 steps which are sample pretreatment step, sample analysis step and experimental procedure by Fix Bed Activation Unit (FBAU). Apart from that, some proximate analysis needs to be carried out to analyze the volatile matter, fixed carbon content and also ash content of the products using Thermal Gravimetric Analyzer (TGA). Based on the results, some observation and justification have been done to explain the difference between the results obtained. Moreover, chemical properties such as elemental analysis, proximate analysis and product analysis are deciding factors for the selection of the biomass as solid fuel.