Abstract
The increasing global demand for palm oil and its products has led to a significant growth in palm plantations and palm oil production. Unfortunately, these bring serious environmental problems, largely because of the large amounts of waste material produced, including palm kernel shell (PKS). In this study, we used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to investigate the PKS co-firing of a 300 MWe pulverized coal-fired power plant in terms of thermal behavior of the plant and the CO2, CO, O2, NOx, and SOx produced. Five different PKS mass fractions were evaluated: 0%, 10%, 15%, 25%, and 50%. The results suggest that PKS co-firing is favorable in terms of both thermal behavior and exhaust gas emissions. A PKS mass fraction of 25% showed the best combustion characteristics in terms of temperature and the production of CO2, CO, and SOx. However, relatively large amounts of thermal NOx were produced by high temperature oxidation. Considering all these factors, PKS mass fractions of 10%–15% emerged as the most appropriate co-firing condition. The PKS supply capacity of the palm mills surrounding the power plants is a further parameter to be considered when setting the fuel mix.
Highlights
The demand for palm oil and palm oil products has increased following rapid economic development in China, India, and South East Asian countries
Malaysia, and Thailand are the largest producers of palm oil and palm kernel oil, accounting for more than 80% of the total world production [1]
The study modeled the co-firing behavior of palm kernel shell (PKS) and coal using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method, as this is an effective tool for calculating fluid flows, heat and mass transfers, chemical reactions, and solid and (a) fluid interactions [20,21]
Summary
The demand for palm oil and palm oil products has increased following rapid economic development in China, India, and South East Asian countries. Malaysia, and Thailand are the largest producers of palm oil and palm kernel oil, accounting for more than 80% of the total world production [1]. Indonesia has seen a considerable increase in palm oil production, with an annual growth of about 10% during 2002–2009 [2]. This reflects massive expansion in palm plantations, in Sumatera and Kalimantan. Palm oil and palm kernel oil are extracted from the mesocarp fiber and palm kernel, respectively. The former is rich in unsaturated acids (palmitic, oleic, and linoleic), while the latter is rich in saturated acids (lauric and myristic) [4]
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