Study on Pyrolysis Behavior of Oil-Palm Fronds

Pyrolysis which is a thermal devolatilization of solid fuels in the absence of oxygen or air is the most important process in biomass energy conversion. There are few number of studies carried out on pyrolysis of oil-palm biomass, which are mainly focused on empty fruit bunches, shells and fibers. On the other hand, studies on pyrolysis behavior of oil-palm fronds (OPF) are found to be very limited. In this paper experimental study of pyrolysis characteristics of OPF biomass samples, carried out making use of fixed bed activation unit (FBAU) reactor is presented. Initial moisture content determination of freshly collected OPF
biomass showed that it has average moisture content of 70.04% on wet basis. The experimental study investigated the influence of particle size, pyrolysis temperature, and residence time on pyrolysis behavior of OPF. The results showed that the total volatile organic components yield from OPF pyrolysis generally
increases with temperature and residence time, and the volatile yield is higher for smaller particle sizes.
More than 75% weight percentage of the biomass was observed to be volatilized at temperature lower than 450°C for residence time of 30 minutes. For higher residence time of 90 minutes, almost all volatile contents were found to be pyrolyzed at reactor temperature lower than 450°C. Furthermore, comparison of pyrolysis characteristics of OPF with other biomass types showed that OPF has higher reactivity which is comparable with sugar cane biomass. The devolatilization reactivity of OPF was found to be much higher than rice husk and coconut shell biomass types. The study showed that OPF has higher potential to be used as solid energy fuel in thermochemical conversion.