Downdraft Gasification of Oil-palm Fronds

Renewable energy is becoming a focus of interest due to increased fossil fuel prices, their possible depletion in the near future, as well as increasing environmental concerns. Malaysia has a tremendous source of renewable energy in the form of oil-palm waste. Preliminary characterization studies on oil-palm fronds biomass showed that, it has a higher potential as a gasification feedstock. However, no previous study has been recorded on gasification of oil-palm wastes. In order to investigate the performance and gasification characteristics of this feedstock, a downdraft gasifier of capacity 50 kW, designed and manufactured for the purpose of this study, is used. In addition, study of pyrolysis characteristics is carried out using fixed bed activation reactor. As the reactor temperature is the key factor in the performance of a gasifier unit, the experimental study in the current research focused on investigating the temperature profile along the gasifier bed, as well as the dynamic temperature profile with reaction time. The experimental results showed that, temperature profiles in close agreement with literature are obtained for the various zones of gasification of oil-palm fronds. Peak oxidation zone temperature of 940°C and pyrolysis zone temperature in the range of 400°C is obtained which are favorable conditions for gasification. Furthermore, the pyrolysis study showed that oil-palm fronds give better yield of pyrolysis products compared to rice husk. And the optimum pyrolysis temperature, for cubical shaped oil-palm fronds feedstock of size 25 mm, is determined to be 500°C.