Thermal and catalytic pyrolysis of palm-pressed fibre (PPF) with copper oxide doped zirconia (CuO/ZrO2) catalyst in a fixed-bed reactor

Abstract

The utilization of agriculture solid waste such as palm pressed fibre (PPF) in pyrolysis reaction is an alternative way in converting the solid waste into bio-oil. In this research, thermal and catalytic pyrolysis of PPF was conducted using a tubular fixed bed reactor. A series of CuO/ZrO2 catalysts were prepared using the aqueous sol-gel technique. The catalysts were calcined at 400, 600 and 800 °C for 17 hours. The thermal and catalytic pyrolysis of PPF were carried out at 500 °C pyrolysis temperature for 5 minutes holding time using PPF particle size of 250-500 µm. The pyrolysis results showed that 44.35% bio-oil was obtained under thermal condition and their yields reduced to 41.07%, 35.45% and 38.18% respectively when CuO/ZrO2 catalysts calcined at 400, 600 and 800 °C were incorporated in PPF pyrolysis. The bio-oil was analyzed by using fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy for the determination of functional groups. It was found that bio-oil from thermal and catalytic conditions possessed oxygenated functional groups such as aldehyde, ketone and carboxylic acid. In addition, the bio oil from catalytic conditions CuO/ZrO2 catalysts calcined at 400 and 600 °C showed the presence of saturated hydrocarbon.