Assessment of the Economic and Energetic Potential of Residues from the Green Coconut Industry

Débora Romão,Magale Rambo,Claudio Santana Jr,Elisandra Scapin,Marcelo Pedroza,Mateus Brito,Michele Rambo

doi:10.21577/0103-5053.20220042

Abstract

This work uses new waste feedstock, essential to increase the range of new biomasses, demonstrating experimentally and numerically the economic potential of coconut husk residues to produce renewable biofuels (pyrolytic oil and biochar) through slow pyrolysis. The samples were submitted to a pyrolysis process (500 ºC for 30 min, with a heating rate of 20 ºC min-1, using water vapor as carrier gas), where the biochar and bio-oil yields reached were 31 and 30%, respectively. The main components found in bio-oil were furfural (29.23%), phenol (22.18%), and isoeugenol (10.26%). The surface area values (Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) and Langmuir) found for biochar were greater than 300 m2 g-1 and a micropore volume of 0.11 cm3 g-1. The estimated theoretical energy potential of biochar and bio-oil were 208,107,180 MJ and 190,205,438 MJ, equivalent to 3,729,518.4 tons of coconut husks. Thus, this study brings as a novelty a new feedstock associated with bioprocess technological models that will pave sustainable avenues for the development of biorefineries, offering a sustainable green option to produce bioproducts and bioenergy. In the proposed model, the wastes are valorized using various processes addressing economy.

Highlights

There is a growing search for renewable energy resources that can replace the existing global dependence on fossilbased resources.[1]
The results of the bio-oil collected revealed that the constituents are predominantly phenols, aldehydes, and ketones, with traces of acid, alkenes, and alcohols, important sources for production of quality biofuel and valuable chemicals
The produced biochar is considered promising for use in adsorption processes, as a biofertilizer or solid fuel, because it has an excellent surface area (> 300 m2 g-1) and micropore characteristics, in addition to its use for energy production, since it showed a satisfactory theoretical energy potential, and can be applied in combustion processes

Summary

Introduction

There is a growing search for renewable energy resources that can replace the existing global dependence on fossilbased resources.[1]. Studies have projected that 476 million tons of lignocellulosic biomass will be required to meet the growing market for bio-based products by 2030. To meet these needs, the wide-scale utilization of non-traditional waste biomass sources will be adopted by biorefineries.[5]. The wide-scale utilization of non-traditional waste biomass sources will be adopted by biorefineries.[5] Between these underutilised crops, Brazil is one of the largest coconut producers in the world and, generates a large amount of residues from this market. In 2019, Brazil produced approximately 1.5 million tons of this waste, which becomes an environmental liability due to the huge space it occupies in landfills and its slow degradation (8 years on average).[7]

Objectives

Results

Conclusion