Thermogravimetric Analysis of Char Waste from the Air Gasification of Empty Fruit Bunch Briquette.

Institute of Hydrogen Economy (IHE), Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Skudai, Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

Abstract

The thermal decomposition behavior of char waste produced from the air gasification of Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) briquette was examined using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). A comparison between the thermal decomposition behavior of char waste and EFB briquette is also presented. The results indicate that the char waste produced decreased from 22 % to 18 % with increasing temperature from 600 °C to 700 °C during gasification. This is due to the effect of high temperatures on the primary char decomposition reactions. It was observed that char degradation occurs in two steps; char degradation I & II with weight losses of 17 % and 32 % respectively. This showed that only ~ 50 % char was decomposed during thermal analysis, hence higher temperatures are required to ensure complete decomposition. The TGA curve for EFB briquette showed that complete thermal decomposition of EFB briquette occurs in four stages namely; drying, devolatization, reduction and char degradation. The most significant weight loss 2.51 mg or 49.31 % occurred during devolatization.