Improving the quality of liquid smoke from pyrolysis of oil palm fronds with the adsorption–distillation purification process

Abstract

Oil palm fronds have the potential to be processed into liquid smoke. The main compounds contained in liquid smoke are acids, phenols and carbonyl produced from the decomposition of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. The aim of this research is to purify the liquid smoke from the oil palm frond pyrolysis through the adsorption process with activated zeolite and distillation. The pyrolysis process takes place at a pyrolysis temperature of 400°C for 120 minutes, and the distillation process was carried out at the temperature of 150°C, 175°C and 200°C with 30 minutes, 45 minutes and 60 minutes. The analysis of liquid smoke conducted using the GC-MS Shimadzu QP 2100 brans instrument. The results indicated the highest acetic acid in liquid smoke was 63,09% at a distillation temperature of 150°C for 45 minutes. The highest total phenol content was 12,44% at 200°C distillation temperature for 60 minutes, and the highest total carbonyl content was 21,56% at 200°C distillation temperature for 60 minutes.