Pyrolysis of palm empty fruit bunch: Yields and analysis of bio-oil

Abstract

The palm oil industry is currently growing rapidly and generating large amounts of biomass waste that is not utilized properly. Palm empty fruit bunch (PEFB), by product of palm oil industry is considered as a promising alternative and renewable energy source that can be converted to a liquid product by pyrolysis process. In this work, pyrolysis of PEFB was studied to produce bio-oil. Pyrolysis experiments were carried out in a bench scale tubular furnace reactor. The effects of pyrolysis temperatures (400-600 °C) at heating rate of 10 °C/min to optimize the pyrolysis process for maximum liquid yield were investigated. The characteristics of bio-oil were analyzed using FTIR and GC-MS. The results showed that the maximum bio-oil yield was 44.5 wt. % of the product at 450 °C. The bio-oil products were mainly composed of acids, aldehydes, ketones, alcohols, phenols, and oligomers. The chemical characterization showed that the bio-oil obtained from PEFB may be potentially valuable as a fuel and chemical feedstock.