Abstract
Since the industrialisation of Malaysia, the energy demand which mainly relied on fossil fuels has risen continuously. Therefore, all parties including the government, academic society and communities have explored alternative fuel resources to improve the reliability and security of energy supply to meet the future energy. In recent years, biomass has been identified as one of the most promising renewable energy resources compared to hydro, solar, wind, etc. It is projected that energy crops could potentially supply around 200-400 EJ/year in Malaysia at a competitive cost by 2050. Perennial grass is one type of energy crop that could address the above mentioned challenge. In this work, Napier grass (NG) is chosen as the subject due to its desirable characteristics (availability, high growth rates, carbon neutrality and high volatility). In order to investigate the feasibility of NG for heat and power application, the thermal decomposition characteristics, reactivity, and kinetic of NG needed were tested via thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) under inert (nitrogen) and air atmosphere conditions, respectively. The results indicated that NG biomass has great potential as sustainable energy fuel source for energy generation via gasification process.
Highlights
Energy consumption has risen continuously and soon Malaysia will be facing shortage of fossil fuels due to industrialisation.[1]
It is forecast that in 2004–2030, the gross domestic product (GDP) in Malaysia will increase to 4.6% whereas the energy demand can grow up to 216 TWh in 2030.2,3 it is inevitable that all parties explore new alternative fuel resources to ensure the reliability and security of energy supply for to meet the future energy demands
Since the trend at all heating rates was almost same with different atmospheric conditions, respectively, the results acquired at 10°C/min were taken into consideration for further explanation
Summary
Energy consumption has risen continuously and soon Malaysia will be facing shortage of fossil fuels (primary energy supply) due to industrialisation.[1]. Gasification is one of the thermo-chemical conversion processes that is commonly used to transform bio-fuel due to its simplicity, flexibility, efficiency and less pollutants emission.[8] Substantial research on biomass gasification has been performed lately to better understand the effect of temperature, equivalence ratio, particle size, heating rate, etc. Raheem et al studied the effect of gasification temperature (700°C, 800°C and 900°C), microalgal loading (5, 10 and 20 g) and heating rate (5°C/min, 10°C/min and 20°C/min) on Chlorella vulgaris biomass.[9] The maximum H2 production was found at 800°C temperature with a biomass loading of 0.5 g. The objective of present study is to investigate the thermogravimetric characteristic of the NG which was provided by Crops for the Future Research Centre (CFFRC) via TGA under an oxidative (air) and inert (N2) atmospheres with different heating rates (5°C/min, 10°C/min and 20°C/min). Thermogram interpretation and kinetic analysis on the biomass characteristic are indispensable to delve into the thermochemical conversion efficiency for bioenergy production purpose
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