Pre-treatment of oil palm fronds biomass for gasification

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610, Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia
² Electrical & Instrumentation, PETRONAS Level 2, East Coast Regional Office Complex, 24300, Kertih, Kemaman, Terengganu, Malaysia

^* Corresponding author: shaharin@utp.edu.my

Abstract

Oil Palm Fronds (OPF) has been proven as one of the potential types of biomass feedstock for power generation. The low ash content and high calorific value are making OPF an attractive source for gasification. The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of pre-treatments of OPF residual on gasification. The pre-treatments included the briquetting process and extensive drying of OPF which are studied separately. In briquetting process, the OPF were mixed with some portions of paper as an additives, leaflets, and water, to form a soupy slurry. The extensive drying of OPF needs to cut down OPF in 4–6 cm particle size and left to dry in the oven at 150°C for 24 hours. Gasification process was carried out at the end of each of the pre-treated processes. It was found that the average gas composition obtained from briquetting process was 8.07%, 2.06%, 0.54%,and 11.02% for CO, H₂, CH₄, and CO₂ respectively. A good composition of syngas was produced from extensive dried OPF, as 16.48%, 4.03%, 0.91%,and 11.15% for CO, H₂, CH₄, and CO₂ contents respectively. It can be concluded that pre-treatments improved the physical characteristics of biomass. The bulk density of biomass can be increased by briquetting but the stability of the structure is depending on the composition of briquette formulation. Furthermore, the stability of gasification process also depended on briquette density, mechanical strength, and formulation.