PYROLYSIS LIQUID DERIVED FROM OIL PALM EMPTY FRUIT BUNCHES

Oil palm waste especially empty fruit bunches (EFB) is a major management and disposal problem in Malaysia. This is an exploratory evaluation of the potential for recovering renewable fuels from the EFB via fast pyrolysis. Preliminary studies were done on the characteristics of the empty fruit bunches, and the thermal behaviours using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were included as well. For the fast pyrolysis experimentation, a 150 g/h fluidized bed bench scale unit was used to study the effect of reaction temperature and vapour residence time on the pyrolysis products. Reaction temperatures studied were from 400 to 600ºC. It was found that the maximum organics liquid yield was at a reactor temperature of 450ºC. In all cases the pyrolysis liquid separated into two phases: an aqueous and a tarry phase. The pyrolysis liquid was analyzed by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. From the FTIR analysis, it was found that the pyrolysis liquid derived from empty EFB consisted mostly of hydrocarbon compounds