Comparing characteristics of oil palm biochar using conventional and microwave heating

Abstract

Microwave heating technique is one of the most attractive alternative applications in the thermal conversion process. In addition, microwave pyrolysis is one of the thermochemical technologies using microwave irradiation heating in order to obtain biofuels and materials from biomass. Microwave pyrolysis not only overcomes the disadvantages of conventional pyrolysis methods such as slow heating, but also improves the quality of final pyrolysis products. Recently, the biomass from oil palm wastes (empty fruit bunch, oil palm shell and oil palm fiber) has been gaining more attention in order to produce the biochar. In addition, biochar is important for sequestering carbon and as an effectively additive to improve soil fertility, aid sustainable production, reduce contamination of water streams. This paper focused on the comparison of biochar characteristics produced from oil palm biomass via microwave heating and conventional heating. Analysis on the characteristics of the biochar includes its physical properties, proximate and elemental analysis, the Brunauer- Emmet- Teller (BET) surface area and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). © 2014 Penerbit UTM Press. All rights reserved.