Abstract
Microwave vacuum pyrolysis of waste palm shell (WPS) was performed to produce biochar, which was then tested as bio-fertilizer in growing Oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus). The pyrolysis approach generated a biochar containing a highly porous structure with a high BET surface area (up to 1250 m2/g) and a low moisture content (≤ 10 wt%), exhibiting desirable adsorption properties to be used as bio-fertilizer since it can act as a housing that provides many sites on which living microorganisms (mycelium or plant-growth promoting bacteria) and organic nutrients can be attached or adsorbed onto. This could in turn stimulate plant growth by increasing the availability and supply of nutrients to the targeted host plant. The results from growing Oyster mushroom using the biochar record an impressive growth rate and a monthly production of up to about 550 g of mushroom. The shorter time for mycelium growth on whole baglog (30 days) and the highest yield of Oyster mushroom (550 g) was obtained from the cultivation medium added with 20 g of biochar. Our results demonstrate that the biochar-based bio-fertilizer produce from microwave vacuum pyrolysis of WPS show exceptional promise as an alternative growing substrate for mushroom cultivation.
Highlights
Malaysia is one of the global leading palm oil producer which have palm oil plantation covering 80% of the agricultural area in Malaysia
The results showed that waste palm shell (WPS) consisted mainly of carbon (50.5%) with low contents of hydrogen (7.0%) and nitrogen (3.1%)
Proximate analysis showed that WPS was dominated by volatile matter (66.5%) followed by fixed carbon (27.6%) with a small amount of moisture content (1.9%) and ash (4%)
Summary
Malaysia is one of the global leading palm oil producer which have palm oil plantation covering 80% of the agricultural area in Malaysia. The production of crude palm oil is approaching 20 million tonnes yearly [1] in order to satisfy the world demand on oil and fats [2]. Microwave vacuum pyrolysis (MVP) is an innovative pyrolysis approach recently developed to transform the oil palm wastes into potentially useful products such as biochar, bio-oil and biogas. Biochar is a main product derived from MVP after the evaporation of volatile matter and moisture content from the feedstocks. It is a carbon dense material with high porosity and large surface area. Biochar gives many environment benefits such as improving water quality by retaining agrochemicals in soils, mitigating climate change by storing the carbon in soil, and serving as a simple way to manage agricultural waste [4]. Its good adsorption property could contribute to soil amendment by enhancing the nutrients and water retention, and boost up the growth rate and product yield of crops [5]
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