Process optimization of microwave assisted co-pyrolysis of coal and oil palm shell blend with carbon surfaces

Abstract

In this study, Oil Palm Shell (OPS) waste biomass and coal were subjected to Microwave (MW) co-pyrolysis conditions. The effects of process parameters on the efficiency of co-pyrolysis blended fuel were tested to identify the optimal processing conditions. The results of this study suggest that co-pyrolysis blended fuel over 35-55-75wt% carbon loading with 3-Layer method at 600W and 4LPM of N2 flow rate suggests that increasing the carbon loading increases the oil yield. This suggests that experimental design space for carbon loading can be narrowed down. For that reason, 55wt% carbon loading was selected as the minimum and 75wt% carbon loading as the maximum range. The levels of MW selected power were 600W and 720W, where the highest is based on the maximum rated capacity of multimode MW oven (800W). The response surface methodology was used to establish model yields. The process temperature of blended fuel solids with 3-Layer method were recorded by online thermocouples and discussed. The co-pyrolysis oil obtained under various conditions were tested for chemical composition and reported.