Fast pyrolysis of oil palm empty fruit bunch in an auger reactor: bio-oil composition and characteristics

• Published in: IOP conference series. Materials Science and Engineering Vol. 736; no. 3; pp. 32021 - 32029
• Main Authors: Rasid, Nurul Suhada Ab, Asadullah, M, Malek, N H, Amin, N A S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bristol IOP Publishing 01.01.2020
• Subjects: Augers; Flow velocity; Fourier transforms; Gas chromatography; Gas flow; Infrared spectroscopy; Mass spectrometry; Moisture content; Operating temperature; Phenols; Pyrolysis
• ISSN: 1757-8981; 1757-899X
• DOI: 10.1088/1757-899X/736/3/032021

Fast pyrolysis of oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) has been conducted in an auger reactor to produce bio-oil. The reactor was a continuous feeding auger reactor heated by gas-fired external heater. The experiments were conducted under different operating temperatures ranging from 400 °C to 650 °C, different nitrogen flow rates ranging from 1 to 4 L/min, and various feeding rates ranging from 2 to 8 kg/h. The maximum yield of bio-oil from EFB was 58.67 % obtained at temperature of 500 °C with feeding rate of 8 kg/h under 1 L/min of nitrogen gas flow rate. The average moisture content of bio-oil was varied between 30 and 40 % and the bio-oil produced at 500 °C provided the maximum HHV of 27.38 MJ/kg, respectively. The Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) spectra shows bio-oil contains high phenolic compounds. This paper explains the fast pyrolysis of empty fruit bunch using auger reactor to enhance the bio-oil yield and characteristics.