Combustion Characteristics of Coal with Palm Kernel Shells (PKS) Using Thermogravimetric Analysis

Abstract

Indonesian government is commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, so it is necessary to utilize biomass in power generation as an alternative fuel. This study aims to analyze and evaluate combustion characteristics using TG-DTA (Thermo et al.) with coal, palm kernel shells (PKS), and a mixture of palm kernel shells (PKS) with coal. Sample testing was carried out with four variations of the mixture between PK and coal, namely 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40%, Tests were carried out with nitrogen gas and air with a constant heating rate of 20 °C/min at flow gas of 50 mL/min. Then, the mass reduction is calculated as the heating rate increases up to a temperature of 900 °C. Combustion characteristics can be analyzed by observing the combustion profile graph to obtain derived thermogravimetric data (DTG) to obtain the initiation temperature, temperature burnout, maximum combustion temperature, combustion reactivity, and energy activity of palm kernel shells (PKS), and a mixture of palm kernel shells (PKS) with coal with various composition variations. This research obtained the optimal composition for mixing palm kernel shells (PKS) and coal by TG-DTA.