Optimisation of microwave-assisted pyrolysis for biochar production from empty fruit bunches and palm kernel shell for controlled-release urea fertiliser

To address the accumulation of solid waste from empty oil palm fruit bunches and beef cattle farming waste, handling efforts were undertaken, one of which involved utilizing recycling technology to convert solid waste into high-value organic fertilizer products. This study aimed to assess the quality of organic fertilizer derived from a blend of cow feces and empty fruit bunches (EFB) at various proportions. The materials employed encompassed beef cattle feces and empty fruit bunches (EFB) waste. Employing a completely randomized design (CRD), the study encompassed three treatments: P1 (40% cow feces with 60% EFB), P2 (50% cow feces with 50% EFB), and P3 (60% cow feces with 40% EFB). The quality of the compost measured includes levels of Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P2O5), Potassium (K2O), Carbon (C-organic), C/N ratio, and moisture content. Research findings indicated that the quality of organic fertilizer resulting from varied ratios of cow feces and EFB insignificantly influences (p>0.05) Potassium, Phosphorus and C-Organic Conversely, it exhibited a significant impact (p<0.05) on Nitrogen content, moisture content, and the C/N ratio. The average values for organic fertilizer were 0.29% for Potassium, 0.23% for Phosphorus, 31.49% for organic Carbon, 1.80% for Nitrogen, and 42.30% for moisture content. The C/N ratio of the organic fertilizer was determined to be 17.87. In conclusion, organic fertilizer derived from a combination of EFB and cow feces complies with the Indonesian National Standard (SNI 19-7030-2004). The optimal ratio for utilizing EFB and cow feces in organic fertilizer production was determined to be 1:1.

Indonesia is one of the world's leading producers of crude palm oil. This large production, however, creates a huge quantity of waste, one of which is empty palm fruit bunches. These empty fruit bunches have a high potential for use as a renewable energy source, such as in the creation of briquettes employing the torrefaction process with co-firing addition, with the goal of increasing their heating content. Furthermore, the goal of this research is to determine the best composition of co-firing with variation adhesive addition for increasing heating value and to compare the heating value, ash content, and volatile matter content of various compositions of co-firing. The study began with the preparation of raw material samples of empty palm fruit bunches and coconut shells. Torrefaction at 300°C for one hour is utilized. The torrefaction results are produced into briquettes with a variety of compositions of empty palm fruit bunches and coconut shells. CPO sludge is also used as an adhesive with concentrations of 20% and 30%. The briquettes produced with an addition co-firing from coconut shells fulfilled SNI requirements such as heating value, moisture content, volatile matter, and ash content. The best briquette quality is composed of 40% empty palm fruit bunches and 40% coconut shell, with a heating value of 6241.26 cal/g, 3.15% moisture, 5.8% ash, and 9.9% volatile matter.

Thailand sits in the third place of the global rankings for crude palm oil production with an annual output of approximately 2 million tons/p.a., or 1.2% of the global output. Empty palm fruit bunches is one of residual from palm oil extraction process of Palm Oil industry. The objective of this research was to study properties and characteristics of biofuel made from empty fruit bunches and mixed with black rice hush with various composition ratios of empty palm fruit bunches and black rice husk as 100:0, 90:10, 80:20, 70:30, 60:40 and 50:50. Only the biofuels with a ratio of 100:0 and 90:10 could be formed to be compressed biofuels. The heating values of biofuels were analyzed by Gallenkamp Autobomb Calorimeter whereas other fuel properties and characteristics were tested and analyzed according to ASTM standards. The comparison results between biofuel from a mixture ratio 100:0 and 90:10 showed that the average of heating value, ash content, carbon content and combustion time (minute per one piece) were 4,672.46 and 4,199.33 cal/g, 21.73% and 29.30%, 12.07% and 16.28%, 92.33 and 63 minutes, respectively.

Empty fruit bunches (EFB) from the production of palm oil constitute a significant and increasingly problematic waste stream. Direct firing is hindered by a water content of 65 %. This paper investigates hydrothermal carbonisation (HTC) as one method of upgrading EFB waste to an exportable fuel. We first undertook bench experiments using EFB from Sumatra, Indonesia. The reactor was operated at 220 °C and the product was dewatered with a laboratory piston press to a water content of 32–37 %. The resulting dried HTC coal has an HHV of 28 MJ/kg and the process achieves an energetic yield of 73 %. If the process water is reused, the yield increases to 77 %. Between 10 and 80 % of the inorganic compounds remain dissolved in the process water. These results are used to calibrate a simulation model of an industrial scale HTC plant, using Aspen Plus software. Investment and operating costs are estimated for plant capacities of 0.04–0.1 megatonnes per year. 16 kJ of electricity and 67 kJ of boiler fuel are required for each MJ of EFB processed. The landed cost in Europe, with shipping, is 7.9–9.7 €/GJ. Avoided greenhouse gas emissions can improve the economics: EFB are routinely dumped and release methane and the HTC coal can replace bituminous coal in power stations. The avoided net emissions are 190 and 100 kg CO2eq/GJ of HTC coal for avoided methane and avoided carbon dioxide, respectively.

An oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) sample was sequentially treated with ozone, 5 % NaOH, and ozone again under environmentally friendly and mild conditions to prepare cellulose-rich materials from agricultural EFB wastes. The ozonated, 5 % NaOH-treated, and re-ozonated products (O 3 -EFB, Ex-O 3 -EFB, and O 3 -Ex-O 3 -EFB, respectively) were obtained at mass recovery ratios of 83 %, 65 %, and 50 %, respectively, based on the dry mass of the raw EFB. The O 3 -EFB and Ex-O 3 -EFB samples maintained their original stick-like fiber bundle morphologies. In contrast, the O 3 -Ex-O 3 -EFB sample exhibited mostly individualized fibers. The relative glucose unit content increased from 39 % EFB to 79 % in O 3 -Ex-O 3 -EFB after removal of non-cellulosic components. The O 3 -Ex-O 3 -EFB contained a carboxy-group content of 0.37 mmol/g, which could be used as electrostatic adsorption sites of cationic compounds, nanoparticles, and metals by ion-exchange in aqueous systems. Ozonation remarkably depolymerized the cellulose molecules. However, this sample exhibited a broad molar-mass-distribution characteristic of the EFB sample, which are advantageous for better mechanical properties. The solid-state 13 C NMR spectra of the EFB samples showed the removal of acetyl ester groups in hemicelluloses and lignin during sequential treatment. Based on the results obtained in this study, suitable and unique application fields of EFB samples, different from wood chemical pulps, are provided. • Sequential O 3 -5 % NaOH-O 3 treatment increases cellulose content of EFB from 39 to 79 %. • O 3 -Ex-O 3 -treated EFB exhibits mostly individualized fibers by delignification. • O 3 -Ex-O 3 -treated EFB contains a high weak acid-group content of 0.37 mmol/g. • Degree of polymerization drops from ∼2000 for EFB to ∼330 for O 3 -Ex-O 3 -treated EFB. • 13 C NMR spectra show efficient removal of acetyl groups and lignin during treatment.

The increasing global demand for graphite and environmental issues due to the extraction of natural graphite has become motivations to improve the process development of synthetic graphite. However, the conventional process for synthetic graphite production requires high temperatures, extreme process conditions, and expensive equipment. This drives further research work on finding more straightforward options. This research study a simpler direct transformation method using Palm Kernel Shell (PKS), Oil Palm Fond (OPF, Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) as carbon precursors via a catalytic graphitization process. The process involved raw material preparation, carbonization process, Iron-Silica catalyst impregnation and graphitization. Three parameters were observed, including graphitization temperature, type of raw material and amount of Iron catalyst loadings. The Bio-synthetic graphite produced were later undergone an “improved method” to form Graphene Oxide (GO). The graphitic carbon produced was characterized using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy, Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET) Surface Area and High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscope (HRTEM). Overall successful transformation of amorphous carbon to graphitic structure for PKS, EFB, and OPF was evidenced by the XRD pattern and Raman spectra. It was found that PKS was the greatest carbon precursor for the graphitization process, followed by EFB and OPF. The former exhibited the nearest interlayer spacing to natural graphite with the lowest Id/Ig value. This can be seen from the HRTEM image of the PKS-1300-40 sample. The results attributed to the highest percentage of lignin in PKS rather than in EFB and OPF. A very significant transformation of bio-synthetic graphite to GO powder was also evidenced in XRD patterns and RAMAN spectroscopy. As for bio-synthetic graphene PKS, EFB and OPF depicted XRD patterns with broad peak centring around 2𝜃~25°. It was found an absence of GO characteristic peak at 2𝜃~10.7°.

Empty fruit bunches (EFB), which are wastes from fresh palm fruit bunches, are one of organic wastes from palm oil processing industries as much as 23% of the total production. The utilization of this waste, which has a high economic value, is still not optimum although it has been used as a boiler fuel. In fact, EFB has a high economic value if processed further. The EFB as a waste can be processed using hydrolysis method to obtain its pentosan content and changed into furfural with the addition of acid as a catalyst. The objectives of this research are to find out the optimum yield on the sulfuric acid concentration and the effects of the power of microwaves used on hydrolysis process of EFB. On this hydrolysis process, 10 grams of EFB was added with 250ml of sulfuric acid with the variations of 3%, 6%, 9%, 12%, 15%, and 18%, and microwave was used with the power variations of 400W, 600W, and 800W for 75 minutes. The analysis method used in this study to determine the furfural contentis Gas Chromatography (GC). The results showed the highest furfural content was obtained at H2SO4concentration of 9% with 800W power on the microwave and the concentration of 0.39 mg/mL and furfural yield of 0.9620%.

Electricity is very important for the growth and economy of a country. Biomass wastes such as waste from oil palm plantation companies can be harnessed for this purpose since they are usually abundant in nature. The aim of this study is to evaluate the utilization of empty palm fruit bunch for the generation of electricity. The empty fruit bunch (EFB) was used in firing a steam turbine plant (boiler) for the generation of electricity. The power plant that was used in this research is owned by PRESCO Nigeria Limited located in Ikpoba-Okha local government area of Edo state. 1.7 MW of electricity was generated by burning empty fruit bunch (EFB) at a rate of 896 kg/h when the steam boiler was used. This value was compared with the traditional power plant fired using methane gas which produces 4.5MW. This value (1.7 MW) shows that EFB is a very good alternative for firing a boiler plant, power generation and elimination of wastes.

Effects of torrefaction on the physiochemical properties of oil palm empty fruit bunches, mesocarp fiber and kernel shell

Applicability assessment of empty fruit bunches from palm oil mills for use as bio-solid refuse fuels

The economic withdrawal of oil and gas from the Niger Delta oil wells has given rise to a lot of wells being abandoned as production declined to below the economic limit. Tertiary recovery of the remnant oil will demand a strategy to squeeze the remnant oil locked in the pores of the reservoir formation. One such technique is emulsion flooding. This paper evaluates the stability of a locally formulated emulsion fluid synthesized from the waste (palm oil mill effluent, and empty palm fruit bunch) of the palm oil mill industry. The palm oil mill effluent and empty palm fruit bunch were characterized using Gas Chromatography - Mass Spectroscope, the oil component as indicated from the characterization was extracted using a centrifuge and separating funnel. The empty fruit bunch was burnt in an open space, and the ash was further homogenized using an electric blender. 350g of the ash was dissolved in 500 ml of distilled water, and the solution after thorough stirring, was filtered to remove undissolved particles. The oil extracted from the palm oil mill effluent, and the ash solution were mixed in a ratio of 30/70 and stirred vigorously to form emulsion fluid. The emulsion was evaluated for stability through visual observation, centrifugal test by varying the temperature from 30oc to 100oc with the RPM varied from 1000 to 1200, the interfacial tension between oil /ash solution of the emulsion fluid, shear stress determination, and droplet size distribution analysis. The result showed emulsion stability (%) of 100%, 99.5%, 99.2%, 98.8%, 98.3%, 97%, 96%, and 96% for temperature (oc ) of 30, 40, 50, 60,70,80,90 respectively. The analysis indicated that the emulsion sample has low interfacial tension, and moderate viscosity, and it is stable, and suitable for moderate-temperature reservoirs.

The economic withdrawal of oil and gas from the Niger Delta oil wells has given rise to a lot of wells being abandoned as production declined to below the economic limit. Tertiary recovery of the remnant oil will demand a strategy to squeeze the remnant oil locked in the pores of the reservoir formation. One such technique is emulsion flooding. This paper evaluates the stability of a locally formulated emulsion fluid synthesized from the waste (palm oil mill effluent, and empty palm fruit bunch) of the palm oil mill industry. The palm oil mill effluent and empty palm fruit bunch were characterized using Gas Chromatography - Mass Spectroscope, the oil component as indicated from the characterization was extracted using a centrifuge and separating funnel. The empty fruit bunch was burnt in an open space, and the ash was further homogenized using an electric blender. 350g of the ash was dissolved in 500 ml of distilled water, and the solution after thorough stirring, was filtered to remove undissolved particles. The oil extracted from the palm oil mill effluent, and the ash solution were mixed in a ratio of 30/70 and stirred vigorously to form emulsion fluid. The emulsion was evaluated for stability through visual observation, centrifugal test by varying the temperature from 30oc to 100oc with the RPM varied from 1000 to 1200, the interfacial tension between oil /ash solution of the emulsion fluid, shear stress determination, and droplet size distribution analysis. The result showed emulsion stability (%) of 100%, 99.5%, 99.2%, 98.8%, 98.3%, 97%, 96%, and 96% for temperature (oc ) of 30, 40, 50, 60,70,80,90 respectively. The analysis indicated that the emulsion sample has low interfacial tension, and moderate viscosity, and it is stable, and suitable for moderate-temperature reservoirs.

The rapid growth in demand for palm oil throughout the world has triggered the development of plantations which has an impact on the accumulation of palm oil waste. The resulting waste consists of empty oil palm fruit bunches, palm kernel shells, fiber, stems and fronds which have significant calorific value. This research aims to utilize liquid and solid waste produced from palm oil processing, especially liquid waste which is currently minimally utilized. One solution to this problem is briquette making to evaluate the characteristics of briquettes produced from a combination of shells, empty fruit bunches, solid decanters and liquid palm oil mill waste. The method applied in this research is an experiment that begins with literature study, survey, briquette making, testing, and data analysis. The test results showed that the highest heating value in sample A2 was 25137.95 cal/gram, the highest water content was in A2 with a value of 7.1%, the highest combustion rate was recorded in A1 at 0.16%, the highest ash content was obtained from A2 with a value of 14.4%, and the highest density was in A2B3 at 0.58%.

Empty fruit bunches (EFB) are a kind of biomass waste from the palm oil industry with a cellulose content of 45.95%. Cellulose can be modified into cellulose acetate through an acetylation process, resulting in a product that has the potential to be applied in various industrial fields. The study utilised Response Surface Methodology (RSM) as an optimisation technique by examining multiple process parameters to assess the impact of acetate anhydride ratio, reaction temperature, and reaction duration on the yield and degree of substitution (DS) of cellulose acetate produced from empty palm fruit bunches. This approach enables a systematic assessment of the impact and interplay between various process factors. The research variables used include the ratio of acetic anhydride to cellulose (2:1, 4:1, and 6:1), reaction temperature (30, 60, and 90°C), and reaction time (20–100 minutes). The research methods included the TKKS isolation process, the production of cellulose acetate through acetylation, and characterization based on yield and degree of substitution values. Experimental conditions determined through response surface methodology were met at a 6:1 acetic anhydride to cellulose ratio, a 60°C reaction temperature, and a 100-minute reaction duration. These conditions yielded a 96%, a degree of substitution (DS) of 1.1, and a desirability value of 0.975. Therefore, the optimization of this acetylation process demonstrates the potential of TKKS as a raw material for the production of value-added cellulose acetate that supports the development of environmentally friendly materials.

This research aimed to study the effects of palm oil bunch waste and crab shells on chemical characteristics in the fermentation process, analyze chemical properties, and complete decomposition by seed germination test using a completely randomized design (CRD) with 3 replications. consisted of 3 experimental formulas as follows: Experimental formula 1 (T1) consisted of empty fruit bunch: fermented decanter cake in the ratio of 4:6 by volume; Experimental formula 2 (T2) empty fruit bunch: fermented decanter cake: fresh decanter cake: ground crab shells in the ratio of 5:2:2:1 by volume; and Experimental formula 3 (T3) empty fruit bunch: fermented decanter cake: ground crab shells in the ratio of 4:4:2 by volume. The experimental results found that experimental formula 2 was the most suitable for producing high quality organic fertilizer. It has a pH of 7.12, electrical conductivity of 3.76 dS/m, moisture content 17.41 %, organic matter 23.77 %, organic carbon is 13.82 %, carbon to nitrogen ratio of 11:1, a total nitrogen 3.36 %, total phosphorus 1.18 %, total potassium 2.32 %, total sodium 0.08 %, total calcium 2.07 %, total magnesium 0.62 %. And the amount of heavy metals does not exceed the standard criteria for organic fertilizers that are of quality and safe according to the Fertilizer Act (No. 2) B.E. 2550 announced by the Department of Agriculture. And the results of the complete decomposition test by measuring the seed germination index found that it was more than 80 percent, which it can be used for agricultural purposes without being toxic to plants. The estimation of the cost of organic fertilizer production at a production capacity of 1,000 kg/day has a production cost value of 2.11 baht/kg.