Carbon-neutral synfuel production via continuous solar H2O and CO2 gasification of oil palm empty fruit bunch

Abstract

Solar gasification offers a promising carbon-neutral pathway to thermochemically convert waste biomass and solar energy into synfuel. In this study, a thermodynamic analysis of solar gasification of oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) with H2O and CO2 gasifying agents was first performed to predict equilibrium product distribution. Subsequently, on-sun continuous solar gasification of EFB was experimentally carried out in a solar particle-fed gasifier to evaluate the influence of gasifying agent types (H2O and CO2), gasifying agent/EFB molar ratios (1.8–3.4), temperatures (1050–1350 °C), and to assess overall process feasibility and reliability. As a result, solar EFB gasification performed efficiently with both H2O and CO2 gasifying agents under continuous on-sun operation. Syngas product composition and gasification reaction rate strongly depended on gasifying agent type. Increasing temperature enhanced syngas yield and quality, and changed the CO/H2 mole ratio, especially in EFB + CO2 gasification. A gasifying agent/EFB molar ratio of 2.6 (slight excess of gasifying agents) and a temperature of 1300 °C were shown to be optimal for continuous solar EFB gasification. The maximum total syngas yield above 76 mmol/gdry_EFB, syngas lower heating value above 22 kJ/gdry_EFB, and energy upgrade factor above 1.37 were achieved from both EFB + H2O and EFB + CO2 gasification, which closely approached their theoretical equilibrium values. The maximum carbon conversion exceeding 93% and solar-to-fuel energy conversion efficiency up to 19.3% were achieved, demonstrating efficient EFB-to-synfuel conversion performance. Continuous solar EFB gasification with both H2O and CO2 was thus established to be a reliable process for EFB waste biomass valorization into high-quality and carbon-neutral synfuel.